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diff --git a/17845-0.txt b/17845-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..afd5617 --- /dev/null +++ b/17845-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,31362 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II, by Charles Upham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II +With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects + +Author: Charles Upham + +Release Date: February 24, 2006 [eBook #17845] +[Most recently updated: October 15, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALEM WITCHCRAFT *** + + + + +AMERICAN CLASSICS + + + + +SALEM WITCHCRAFT + + +_With an Account of Salem Village +and +A History of Opinions on +Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects_ + + +CHARLES W. UPHAM + +_Volumes I and II_ + +Charles W. Upham + +Charles W. Upham + +FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO. + +_New York_ + +[Transcriber's Note: Originally published 1867] + +_Fourth Printing, 1969_ +_Printed in the United States of America_ +Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-10887 + + +CONTENTS. + +VOLUME I. + +Page +Preface vii to xiv +Map and Illustrations xv to xvii +Index to the Map xix to xxvii +General Index xxix to xl +Introduction 1 to 12 +Part First.—Salem Village 13 to 322 +Part Second.—Witchcraft 325 to 469 + +VOLUME II. + +Part Third.—Witchcraft at Salem Village 1 to 444 +Supplement 447 to 522 +Appendix 525 to 553 + +Townsend Bishop House + +THE TOWNSEND BISHOP HOUSE.—Vol. I., 70, 96; Vol. II., 294, 467. + +DEDICATED + +TO + +OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, + +PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN + +HARVARD UNIVERSITY. + + + + +VOLUME I. + +[i.vii] +PREFACE. + + +THIS work was originally constructed, and in previous editions +appeared, in the form of Lectures. The only vestiges of that form, in +its present shape, are certain modes of expression. The language +retains the character of an address by a speaker to his hearers; being +more familiar, direct, and personal than is ordinarily employed in the +relations of an author to a reader. + +The former work was prepared under circumstances which prevented a +thorough investigation of the subject. Leisure and freedom from +professional duties have now enabled me to prosecute the researches +necessary to do justice to it. + +The "Lectures on Witchcraft," published in 1831, have long been out of +print. Although frequently importuned to prepare a new edition, I was +unwilling to issue again what I had discovered to be an insufficient +presentation of the subject. In the mean time,[i.viii] it constantly +became more and more apparent, that much injury was resulting from the +want of a complete and correct view of a transaction so often referred +to, and universally misunderstood. + +The first volume of this work contains what seems to me necessary to +prepare the reader for the second, in which the incidents and +circumstances connected with the witchcraft prosecutions in 1692, at +the village and in the town of Salem, are reduced to chronological +order, and exhibited in detail. + +As showing how far the beliefs of the understanding, the perceptions of +the senses, and the delusions of the imagination, may be confounded, +the subject belongs not only to theology and moral and political +science, but to physiology, in its original and proper use, as +embracing our whole nature; and the facts presented may help to +conclusions relating to what is justly regarded as the great mystery of +our being,—the connection between the body and the mind. + +It is unnecessary to mention the various well-known works of authority +and illustration, as they are referred to in the text. But I cannot +refrain from bearing my grateful testimony to the value of the +"Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society" and the +"New-England Historical and Genealogical Register." The "Historical +Collections" and the "Proceedings" of the Essex Institute have afforded +me inestimable assistance. Such works as these are providing the +materials[i.ix] that will secure to our country a history such as no +other nation can have. Our first age will not be shrouded in darkness +and consigned to fable, but, in all its details, brought within the +realm of knowledge. Every person who desires to preserve the memory of +his ancestors, and appreciate the elements of our institutions and +civilization, ought to place these works, and others like them, on the +shelves of his library, in an unbroken and continuing series. A debt of +gratitude is due to the earnest, laborious, and disinterested students +who are contributing the results of their explorations to the treasures +of antiquarian and genealogical learning which accumulate in these +publications. + +A source of investigation, especially indispensable in the preparation +of the present work, deserves to be particularly noticed. In 1647, the +General Court of Massachusetts provided by law for the taking of +testimony, in all cases, under certain regulations, in the form of +depositions, to be preserved _in perpetuam rei memoriam_. The evidence +of witnesses was prepared in writing, beforehand, to be used at the +trials; they to be present at the time, to meet further inquiry, if +living within ten miles, and not unavoidably prevented. In a capital +case, the presence of the witness, as well as his written testimony, +was absolutely required. These depositions were lodged in the files, +and constitute the most valuable materials of history. In our[i.x] day, +the statements of witnesses ordinarily live only in the memory of +persons present at the trials, and are soon lost in oblivion. In cases +attracting unusual interest, stenographers are employed to furnish them +to the press. There were no newspaper reporters or "court calendars" in +the early colonial times; but these depositions more than supply their +place. Given in, as they were, in all sorts of cases,—of wills, +contracts, boundaries and encroachments, assault and battery, slander, +larceny, &c., they let us into the interior, the very inmost recesses, +of life and society in all their forms. The extent to which, by the aid +of William P. Upham, Esq., of Salem, I have drawn from this source is +apparent at every page. + +A word is necessary to be said relating to the originals of the +documents that belong to the witchcraft proceedings. They were probably +all deposited at the time in the clerk's office of Essex County. A +considerable number of them were, from some cause, transferred to the +State archives, and have been carefully preserved. Of the residue, a +very large proportion have been abstracted from time to time by +unauthorized hands, and many, it is feared, destroyed or otherwise +lost. Two very valuable parcels have found their way into the libraries +of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Essex Institute, where +they are faithfully secured. A few others have come to light among +papers in the possession of individuals. It is to be[i.xi] hoped, that, +if any more should be found, they will be lodged in some public +institution; so that, if thought best, they may all be collected, +arranged, and placed beyond wear, tear, and loss, in the perpetual +custody of type. + +The papers remaining in the office of the clerk of this county were +transcribed into a volume a few years since; the copyist supplying, +conjecturally, headings to the several documents. Although he executed +his work in an elegant manner, and succeeded in giving correctly many +documents hard to be deciphered, such errors, owing to the condition of +the papers, occurred in arranging them, transcribing their contents, +and framing their headings, that I have had to resort to the originals +throughout. + +As the object of this work is to give to the reader of the present day +an intelligible view of a transaction of the past, and not to +illustrate any thing else than the said transaction, no attempt has +been made to preserve the orthography of that period. Most of the +original papers were written without any expectation that they would +ever be submitted to inspection in print; many of them by plain country +people, without skill in the structure of sentences, or regard to +spelling; which, in truth, was then quite unsettled. It is no uncommon +thing to find the same word spelled differently in the same document. +It is very questionable whether it is expedient or just to +perpetuate[i.xii] blemishes, often the result of haste or carelessness, +arising from mere inadvertence. In some instances, where the interest +of the passage seemed to require it, the antique style is preserved. In +no case is a word changed or the structure altered; but the now +received spelling is generally adopted, and the punctuation made to +express the original sense. + +It is indeed necessary, in what claims to be an exact reprint of an old +work, to imitate its orthography precisely, even at the expense of +difficulty in apprehending at once the meaning, and of perpetuating +errors of carelessness and ignorance. Such modern reproductions are +valuable, and have an interest of their own. They deserve the favor of +all who desire to examine critically, and in the most authentic form, +publications of which the original copies are rare, and the earliest +editions exhausted. The enlightened and enterprising publishers who are +thus providing facsimiles of old books and important documents of past +ages ought to be encouraged and rewarded by a generous public. But the +present work does not belong to that class, or make any pretensions of +that kind. + +My thanks are especially due to the Hon. Asahel Huntington, clerk of +the courts in Essex County, for his kindness in facilitating the use of +the materials in his office; to the Hon. Oliver Warner, secretary of +the Commonwealth, and the officers of his department; and to Stephen N. +Gifford, Esq., clerk of the Senate.[i.xiii] + +David Pulsifer, Esq., in the office of the Secretary of State, is well +known for his pre-eminent skill and experience in mastering the +chirography of the primitive colonial times, and elucidating its +peculiarities. He has been unwearied in his labors, and most earnest in +his efforts, to serve me. + +Mr. Samuel G. Drake, who has so largely illustrated our history and +explored its sources, has, by spontaneous and considerate acts of +courtesy rendered me important help. Similar expressions of friendly +interest by Mr. William B. Towne, of Brookline, Mass.; Hon. J. Hammond +Trumbull, of Hartford, Conn.; and George H. Moore, Esq., of New-York +City,—are gratefully acknowledged. + +Samuel P. Fowler, Esq., of Danvers, generously placed at my disposal +his valuable stores of knowledge relating to the subject. The officers +in charge of the original papers, in the Historical Society and the +Essex Institute, have allowed me to examine and use them. + +I cordially express my acknowledgments to the Hon. Benjamin F. Browne, +of Salem, who, retired from public life and the cares of business, is +giving the leisure of his venerable years to the collection, +preservation, and liberal contribution of an unequalled amount of +knowledge respecting our local antiquities. + +Charles W. Palfray, Esq., while attending the General Court as a +Representative of Salem, in 1866,[i.xiv] gave me the great benefit of +his explorations among the records and papers in the State House. + +Mr. Moses Prince, of Danvers Centre, is an embodiment of the history, +genealogy, and traditions of that locality, and has taken an active and +zealous interest in the preparation of this work. Andrew Nichols, Esq., +of Danvers, and the family of the late Colonel Perley Putnam, of Salem, +also rendered me much aid. + +I am indebted to Charles Davis, Esq., of Beverly, for the use of the +record-book of the church, composed of "the brethren and sisters +belonging to Bass River," gathered Sept. 20, 1667, now the First Church +of Beverly; and to James Hill, Esq., town-clerk of that place, for +access to the records in his charge. + +To Gilbert Tapley, Esq., chairman of the committee of the parish, and +Augustus Mudge, Esq., its clerk, and to the Rev. Mr. Rice, pastor of +the church, at Danvers Centre, I cannot adequately express my +obligations. Without the free use of the original parish and church +record-books with which they intrusted me, and having them constantly +at hand, I could not have begun adequately to tell the story of Salem +Village or the Witchcraft Delusion. + +C.W.U. + + + + +[i.xv] +MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +The map, based upon various local maps and the Coast-Survey chart, is +the result of much personal exploration and perambulation of the +ground. It may claim to be a very exact representation of many of the +original grants and farms. The locality of the houses, mills, and +bridges, in 1692, is given in some cases precisely, and in all with +near approximation. The task has been a difficult one. An original plot +of Governor Endicott's Ipswich River grant, No. III., is in the State +House, and one of the Swinnerton grant, No. XIX., in the Salem +town-books. Neither of them, however, affords elements by which to +establish its exact location. A plot of the Townsend Bishop grant, No. +XX., as its boundaries were finally determined, is in the State House, +and another of the same in the court-files of the county. This gives +one fixed and known point, Hadlock's Bridge, from which, following the +lines by points of compass and distances, as indicated on the plot and +described in the Colonial Records, all the sides of the grant are laid +out with accuracy, and its place on the map determined with absolute +certainty. A very perfect and scientifically executed plan of a part of +the boundary between Salem and Reading in[i.xvi] 1666 is in the State +House; of which an exact tracing was kindly furnished by Mr. H.J. +Coolidge, of the Secretary of State's office. It gives two of the sides +of the Governor Bellingham grant, No. IV., in such a manner as to +afford the means of projecting it with entire certainty, and fixing its +locality. There are no other plots of original or early grants or farms +on this territory; but, starting from the Bishop and Bellingham grants +thus laid out in their respective places, by a collation of deeds of +conveyance and partition on record, with the aid of portions of the +primitive stone-walls still remaining, and measurements resting on +permanent objects, the entire region has been reduced to a demarkation +comprehending the whole area. The locations of then-existing roads have +been obtained from the returns of laying-out committees, and other +evidence in the records and files. The construction of the map, in all +its details, is the result of the researches and labors of W.P. Upham. + +The death-warrant is a photograph by E.R. Perkins, of Salem. The +original, among the papers on file in the office of the clerk of the +courts of Essex County, having always been regarded as a great +curiosity, has been subjected to constant handling, and become much +obscured by dilapidation. The letters, and in some instances entire +words, at the end of the lines, are worn off. To preserve it, if +possible, from further injury, it has been pasted on cloth. Owing to +this circumstance, and the yellowish hue to which the paper has faded, +it does not take favorably by photograph; but the exactness of +imitation, which can only thus be obtained with absolute certainty, is +more important than any other consideration. Only so much as contains +the body of the warrant, the sheriff's return, and the seal, are +given.[i.xvii] The tattered margins are avoided, as they reveal the +cloth, and impair the antique aspect of the document. The original is +slowly disintegrating and wasting away, notwithstanding the efforts to +preserve it; and its appearance, as seen to-day, can only be +perpetuated in photograph. The warrant is reduced about one-third, and +the return one-half. + +The Townsend Bishop house and the outlines of Witch Hill are from +sketches by O.W.H. Upham. The English house is from a drawing made on +the spot by J.R. Penniman of Boston, in 1822, a few years before its +demolition, for the use of which I am indebted to James Kimball, Esq., +of Salem. The view of Salem Village and of the Jacobs' house are +reduced, by O.W.H. Upham, from photographs by E.R. Perkins. + +The map and other engravings, including the autographs, were all +delineated by O.W.H. Upham. + +[Transcriber's Note: The map was missing from the volume used to +prepare this e-text. The map image below was reproduced from a scan at +the University of Virginia's Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and +Transcription Project, +http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/maps.] + + + +Salem map + + +Map of Salem Village. +1692. + +View large map (566K) + + + + +[i.xix] +INDEX TO THE MAP. + + +DWELLINGS IN 1692. + +[The Map shows all the houses standing in 1692 within the bounds of +Salem Village; some others in the vicinity are also given. The houses +are numbered on the Map with Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3, &c., beginning +at the top, and proceeding from left to right. In the following list, +against each number, is given the name of the occupant in 1692, and, in +some cases, that of the recent occupant or owner of the locality is +added in parenthesis.] + + +ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS LIST. + +_s._ The same house believed to be still standing. _s.m._ The +same house standing within the memory of persons now living. +_t.r._ Traces of the house remain. _c._ The site given is +conjectural. + + +1. John Willard. _c._ + +2. Isaac Easty. + +3. Francis Peabody. _c._ + +4. Joseph Porter. (John Bradstreet.) + +5. William Hobbs. _t.r._ + +6. John Robinson. + +7. William Nichols. _t.r._ + +8. Bray Wilkins. _c._ + +9. Aaron Way. (A. Batchelder.) + +10. Thomas Bailey. + +11. Thomas Fuller, Sr. (Abijah Fuller.) + +12. William Way. + +13. Francis Elliot. _c._ + +14. Jonathan Knight. _c._ + +15. Thomas Cave. (Jonathan Berry.) + +16. Philip Knight. (J.D. Andrews.) + +17. Isaac Burton. + +18. John Nichols, Jr. (Jonathan Perry and Aaron Jenkins.) _s._ + +19. Humphrey Case. _t.r._ + +20. Thomas Fuller, Jr. (J.A. Esty.) _s._ + +21. Jacob Fuller. + +22. Benjamin Fuller. + +23. Deacon Edward Putnam. _s.m._ + +24. Sergeant Thomas Putnam. (Moses Perkins.) _s._ + +25. Peter Prescot. (Daniel Towne.) + +26. Ezekiel Cheever. (Chas. P. Preston.) _s.m._ + +27. Eleazer Putnam. (John Preston.) _s.m._ + +28. Henry Kenny. + +29. John Martin. (Edward Wyatt.) + +30. John Dale. (Philip H. Wentworth.) + +31. Joseph Prince. (Philip H. Wentworth.) + +32. Joseph Putnam. (S. Clark.) _s._ + +33. John Putnam 3d. + +34. Benjamin Putnam. + +35. Daniel Andrew. (Joel Wilkins.)[i.xx] + +36. John Leach, Jr. _c._ + +37. John Putnam, Jr. (Charles Peabody.) + +38. Joshua Rea. (Francis Dodge.) _s._ + +39. Mary, wid. of Thos. Putnam. (William R. Putnam.) _s._ + +[Birthplace of Gen. Israel Putnam. Gen. Putnam also lived in a house, +the cellar and well of which are still visible, about one hundred rods +north of this, and just west of the present dwelling of Andrew +Nichols.] + +40. Alexander Osburn and James Prince. (Stephen Driver.) _s._ + +41. Jonathan Putnam. (Nath. Boardman.) _s._ + +42. George Jacobs, Jr. + +43. Peter Cloyse. _t.r._ + +44. William Small. _s.m._ + +45. John Darling. (George Peabody.) _s.m._ + +46. James Putnam. (Wm. A. Lander.) _s.m._ + +47. Capt. John Putnam. (Wm. A. Lander.) + +48. Daniel Rea. (Augustus Fowler.) _s._ + +49. Henry Brown. + +50. John Hutchinson. (George Peabody.) _t.r._ + +51. Joseph Whipple. _s.m._ + +52. Benjamin Porter. (Joseph S. Cabot.) + +53. Joseph Herrick. (R.P. Waters.) + +54. John Phelps. _c._ + +55. George Flint. _c._ + +56. Ruth Sibley. _s.m._ + +57. John Buxton. + +58. William Allin. + +59. Samuel Brabrook. _c._ + +60. James Smith. + +61. Samuel Sibley. _t.r._ + +62. Rev. James Bayley. (Benjamin Hutchinson.) + +63. John Shepherd. (Rev. M.P. Braman.) + +64. John Flint. + +65. John Rea. _s.m._ + +66. Joshua Rea. (Adam Nesmith.) _s.m._ + +67. Jeremiah Watts. + +68. Edward Bishop, the sawyer. (Josiah Trask.) + +69. Edward Bishop, husbandman. + +70. Capt. Thomas Rayment. + +71. Joseph Hutchinson, Jr. (Job Hutchinson.) + +72. William Buckley. + +73. Joseph Houlton, Jr. _t.r._ + +74. Thomas Haines. (Elijah Pope.) _s._ + +75. John Houlton. (F.A. Wilkins.) _s._ + +76. Joseph Houlton, Sr. (Isaac Demsey.) + +77. Joseph Hutchinson, Sr. _t.r._ + +78. John Hadlock. (Saml. P. Nourse.) _s.m._ + +79. Nathaniel Putnam. (Judge Putnam.) _t.r._ + +80. Israel Porter. _s.m._ + +81. James Kettle. + +82. Royal Side Schoolhouse. + +83. Dr. William Griggs. + +84. John Trask. (I. Trask.) _s._ + +85. Cornelius Baker. + +86. Exercise Conant. (Subsequently, Rev. John Chipman.) + +87. Deacon Peter Woodberry. _t.r._ + +88. John Rayment, Sr. (Col. J.W. Raymond.) + +89. Joseph Swinnerton. (Nathl. Pope.) + +90. Benjamin Hutchinson. _s.m._ + +91. Job Swinnerton. (Amos Cross.) + +92. Henry Houlton. (Artemas Wilson.) + +93. Sarah, widow of Benjamin Houlton. (Judge Houlton.) _s._ + +94. Samuel Rea. + +95. Francis Nurse. (Orin Putnam.) _s._ + +96. Samuel Nurse. (E.G. Hyde.) _s._ + +97. John Tarbell. _s._ + +98. Thomas Preston. + +99. Jacob Barney. + +100. Sergeant John Leach, Sr. (George Southwick.) _s.m._ + +101. Capt. John Dodge, Jr. (Charles Davis.) _t.r._ + +102. Henry Herrick. (Nathl. Porter.) + +[This had been the homestead of his father, Henry Herrick.] [i.xxi] + +103. Lot Conant. + +[This was the homestead of his father, Roger Conant.] + +104. Benjamin Balch, Sr. (Azor Dodge.) _s._ + +[This was the homestead of his father, John Balch.] + +105. Thomas Gage. (Charles Davis.) _s._ + +106. Families of Trask, Grover, Haskell, and Elliott. + +107. Rev. John Hale. + +108. Dorcas, widow of William Hoar. + +109. William and Samuel Upton. _c._ + +110. Abraham and John Smith. (J. Smith.) _s._ + +[This had been the homestead of Robert Goodell.] + +111. Isaac Goodell. (Perley Goodale.) + +112. Abraham Walcot. (Jasper Pope.) _s.m._ + +113. Zachariah Goodell. (Jasper Pope.) + +114. Samuel Abbey. + +115. John Walcot. + +116. Jasper Swinnerton. _s.m._ + +117. John Weldon. Captain Samuel Gardner's farm. (Asa Gardner.) + +118. Gertrude, widow of Joseph Pope. (Rev. Willard Spaulding.) _s.m._ + +119. Capt. Thomas Flint. _s._ + +120. Joseph Flint. _s._ + +121. Isaac Needham. _c._ + +122. The widow Sheldon and her daughter Susannah. + +123. Walter Phillips. (F. Peabody, Jr.) + +124. Samuel Endicott. _s.m._ + +125. Families of Creasy, King, Batchelder, and Howard. + +126. John Green. (J. Green) _s._ + +127. John Parker. + +128. Giles Corey. _t.r._ + +129. Henry Crosby. + +130. Anthony Needham, Jr. (E. and J.S. Needham.) + +131. Anthony Needham, Sr. + +132. Nathaniel Felton. (Nathaniel Felton.) _s._ + +133. James Houlton. (Thorndike Procter.) + +134. John Felton. + +135. Sarah Phillips. + +136. Benjamin Scarlett. (District Schoolhouse No. 6.) + +137. Benjamin Pope. + +138. Robert Moulton. (T. Taylor.) _c._ + +139. John Procter. + +140. Daniel Epps. _c._ + +141. Joseph Buxton. _c._ + +142. George Jacobs, Sr. (Allen Jacobs.) _s._ + +143. William Shaw. + +144. Alice, widow of Michael Shaflin. (J. King.) + +145. Families of Buffington, Stone, and Southwick. + +146. William Osborne. + +147. Families of Very, Gould, Follet, and Meacham. + + ++ Nathaniel Ingersoll. + +¶ Rev. Samuel Parris. _t.r._ + +□ Captain Jonathan Walcot. _t.r._ + + +[i.xxii] + +TOWN OF SALEM. + +[For the sites of the following dwellings, &c., referred to in the +book, see the small capitals in the lower right-hand corner of the +Map.] + +A. Jonathan Corwin. +B. Samuel Shattock, John Cook, Isaac Sterns, John Bly. +C. Bartholomew Gedney. +D. Stephen Sewall. +E. Court House. +F. Rev. Nicholas Noyes. +G. John Hathorne. +H. George Corwin, High-sheriff. +I. Bridget Bishop. +J. Meeting-house. +K. Gedney's "Ship Tavern." +L. The Prison. +M. Samuel Beadle. +N. Rev. John Higginson. +O. Ann Pudeator, John Best. +P. Capt. John Higginson. +Q. The Town Common. +R. John Robinson. +S. Christopher Babbage. +T. Thomas Beadle. +U. Philip English. +W. Place of execution, "Witch Hill." + + +GRANTS. + +Note.—The grants are numbered on the Map with Roman numerals, the +bounds being indicated by broken lines. They were all granted by the +town of Salem, unless otherwise stated. + +I. John Gould. + +Sold by him to Capt. George Corwin, March 29, 1674; and by Capt. +Corwin's widow sold to Philip Knight, Thomas Wilkins, Sr., Henry +Wilkins, and John Willard, March 1, 1690. + +II. Zaccheus Gould. + +Sold by him to Capt. John Putnam before 1662; owned in 1692 by Capt. +Putnam, Thomas Cave, Francis Elliot, John Nichols, Jr., Thomas Nichols, +and William Way. + +The above, together, comprised land granted by the General Court to +Rowley, May 31, 1652, and laid out by Rowley to John and Zaccheus +Gould.[i.xxiii] + +III. Gov. John Endicott. + +Ipswich-river Farm, 550 acres, granted by the General Court, Nov. 5, +1639; owned in 1692 by his grandsons, Zerubabel, Benjamin, and Joseph. + +The General Court, Oct. 14, 1651, also granted to Gov. Endicott 300 +acres on the southerly side of this farm, in "Blind Hole," on condition +that he would set up copper-works. As the land appears afterwards to +have been owned by John Porter, it is probable that the copper-mine was +soon abandoned; but traces of it are still to be seen there. + +IV. Gov. Richard Bellingham. + +Granted by the General Court, Nov. 5, 1639. + +V. Farmer John Porter. + +Owned in 1692 by his son, Benjamin Porter. This includes a grant to +Townsend Bishop, sold to John Porter in 1648; also 200 acres granted to +John Porter, Sept. 30, 1647. That part in Topsfield was released by +Topsfield to Benjamin Porter, May 2, 1687. + +VI. Capt. Richard Davenport. + +Granted Feb. 20, 1637, and Nov. 26, 1638; sold, with the Hathorne farm, +to John Putnam, John Hathorne, Richard Hutchinson, and Daniel Rea, +April 17, 1662. + +VII. Capt. William Hathorne. + +Granted Feb. 17, 1637; sold with the above. + +VIII. John Putnam the Elder. + +This comprises a grant of 100 acres to John Putnam, Jan. 20, 1641; 80 +acres to Ralph Fogg, in 1636; 40 acres (formerly Richard Waterman's) to +Thomas Lothrop, Nov. 29, 1642; and 30 acres to Ann Scarlett, in 1636. +The whole owned by James and Jonathan Putnam in 1692. + +IX. Daniel Rea. + +Granted to him in 1636; owned by his grandson, Daniel Rea, in 1692. + +X. Rev. Hugh Peters. + +Granted Nov. 12, 1638; laid out June 15, 1674, being then in the +possession of Capt. John Corwin; sold by Mrs. Margaret Corwin to Henry +Brown, May 22, 1693. + +XI. Capt. George Corwin. + +Granted Aug. 21, 1648; sold (including 30 acres formerly John +Bridgman's) to Job Swinnerton, Jr., and William Cantlebury, Jan. 18, +1661.[i.xxiv] + +XII. Richard Hutchinson, John Thorndike, and Mr. Freeman. + +Granted in 1636 and 1637; owned in 1692 by Joseph, son of Richard +Hutchinson, and by Sarah, wife of Joseph Whipple, daughter of John, and +grand-daughter of Richard Hutchinson. + +XIII. Samuel Sharpe. + +Granted Jan. 23, 1637; sold to John Porter, May 10, 1643; owned by his +son, Israel Porter, in 1692. + +XIV. John Holgrave. + +Granted Nov. 26, 1638; sold to Jeffry Massey and Nicholas Woodberry, +April 2, 1652; and to Joshua Rea, Jan. 1, 1657. + +XV. William Alford. + +Granted in 1636; sold to Henry Herrick before 1653. + +XVI. Francis Weston. + +Granted in 1636; sold by John Pease to Richard Ingersoll and William +Haynes, in 1644. + +XVII. Elias Stileman. + +Granted in 1636; sold to Richard Hutchinson, June 1, 1648. + +XVIII. Robert Goodell. + +504 acres laid out to him, Feb. 13, 1652: comprising 40 acres granted +to him "long since," and other parcels bought by him of the original +grantees; viz., Joseph Grafton, John Sanders, Henry Herrick, William +Bound, Robert Pease and his brother, Robert Cotta, William Walcott, +Edmund Marshall, Thomas Antrum, Michael Shaflin, Thomas Venner, John +Barber, Philemon Dickenson, and William Goose. + +XIX. Job Swinnerton. + +300 acres laid out, Jan. 5, 1697, to Job Swinnerton, Jr.; having been +owned by his father, by grant and purchase, as early as 1650. + +XX. Townsend Bishop. + +Granted Jan. 11, 1636; sold to Francis Nurse, April 29, 1678. + +XXI. Rev. Samuel Skelton. + +Granted by the General Court, July 3, 1632; sold to John Porter, March +8, 1649; owned by the heirs of John Porter in 1692.[i.xxv] + +XXII. John Winthrop, Jr. + +Granted June 25, 1638; sold by his daughter to John Green, Aug. 9, +1683. + +XXIII. Rev. Edward Norris. + +Granted Jan. 21, 1640: sold to Elleanor Trusler, Aug. 7, 1654; to +Joseph Pope, July 18, 1664. + +XXIV. Robert Cole. + +Granted Dec. 21, 1635; sold to Emanuel Downing before July 16th, 1638; +conveyed by him to John and Adam Winthrop, in trust for himself and +wife during their lives, and then for his son, George Downing, July 23, +1644; leased to John Procter in 1666; occupied by him and his son +Benjamin in 1692. + +XXV. Col. Thomas Reed. + +Granted Feb. 16, 1636; sold to Daniel Epps, June 28, 1701, by Wait +Winthrop, as attorney to Samuel Reed, only son and heir of Thomas Reed. + +XXVI. John Humphrey. + +Granted by the General Court, Nov. 7, 1632, May 6, 1635, and March 12, +1638, 1,500 acres, part in Salem and part in Lynn; sold, on execution, +to Robert Saltonstall, Dec. 6, 1642, and by him sold to Stephen +Winthrop, June 7, 1645, whose daughters—Margaret Willie and Judith +Hancock—owned it in 1692: that part within the bounds of Salem is given +in the Map according to the report of a committee, July 11, 1695. + +Orchard Farm. + +Granted by the General Court to Gov. Endicott; owned by his grandsons, +John and Samuel, in 1692. + +The Governor's Plain. + +Granted to Gov. Endicott, Jan. 27, 1637, Dec. 23, 1639, and Feb. 5, +1644; including land granted under the name of "small lots." + +Johnson's Plain. + +Granted to Francis Johnson, Jan. 23, 1637. + + +[i.xxvi] + +FARMS. + +[The bounds of farms are indicated by dotted lines, except where they +coincide with the bounds of grants. The following are those given on +the Map.] + +_1st_, Between grants No. XI. and VII., and extending north of the +Village bounds, and south as far as Andover Road,—about 500 acres; +bought by Thomas and Nathaniel Putnam of Philip Cromwell, Walter Price +and Thomas Cole, Jeffry Massey, John Reaves, Joseph and John Gardner, +and Giles Corey; owned, in 1692, by Edward Putnam, Thomas Putnam, and +John Putnam, Jr. This includes also 50 acres granted to Nathaniel +Putnam, Nov. 19, 1649. + +_2d_, At the northerly end of Grant No. VII., and extending north of +the Village bounds,—100 acres, known as the "Ruck Farm;" granted to +Thomas Ruck, May 27, 1654, and sold to Philip Knight and Thomas Cave, +July 24, 1672. + +_3d_, North of the "Ruck Farm,"—100 acres; sold by William Robinson to +Richard Richards and William Hobbs, Jan. 1, 1660, and owned, in 1692, +by William Hobbs and John Robinson. + +_4th_, Next east, bounded northeast by Nichols Brook, and extending +within the Village bounds,—200 acres; granted to Henry Bartholomew, and +sold by him to William Nichols before 1652. + +_5th_, East of the "Ruck Farm," and extending across the Village +bounds,—about 150 acres; granted to John Putnam and Richard Graves. +Part of this was sold by John Putnam to Capt. Thomas Lothrop, June 2, +1669, and was owned by Ezekiel Cheever in 1692: the rest was owned by +John Putnam. + +_6th_, East of the above, and south of the Nichols Farm,—60 acres, +owned by Henry Kenny; also 50 acres granted to Job Swinnerton, given by +him to his son, Dr. John Swinnerton, and sold to John Martin and John +Dale, March 20, 1693. + +_7th_, South of the above, and east of Grant No. VII.,—150 acres; +granted to William Pester, July 16, 1638, and sold by Capt. William +Trask to Robert Prince, Dec. 20, 1655. + +_8th_, East of Grant No. VI., and extending north to Smith's Hill and +south to Grant No. IX.,—about 400 acres; granted to Allen Kenniston, +John Porter, and Thomas Smith, and owned, in 1692, by Daniel Andrew and +Peter Cloyse.[i.xxvii] + +_9th_, East and southeast of Smith's Hill,—500 acres; granted to +Emanuel Downing in 1638 and 1649, and sold by him to John Porter, April +15, 1650. John Porter gave this farm to his son Joseph, upon his +marriage with Anna daughter of William Hathorne. + +_10th_, East of Frost-fish River, including the northerly end of +Leach's Hill, and extending across Ipswich Road,—about 250 acres, known +as the "Barney Farm;" originally granted to Richard Ingersoll, Jacob +Barney, and Pascha Foote. + +_11th_, South of the "Barney Farm,"—about 200 acres; granted to +Lawrence, Richard, and John Leach; owned, in 1692, by John Leach. + +_12th_, North of the "Barney Farm," and between grants No. XIII. and +XIV.,—about 250 acres, known as "Gott's Corner;" granted to Charles +Gott, Jeffry Massey, Thomas Watson, John Pickard, and Jacob Barney, and +by them sold to John Porter. (Recently known as the "Burley Farm.") + +_13th_, Eastward of the "Barney Farm,"—40 acres; originally granted to +George Harris, and afterwards to Osmond Trask; owned, in 1692, by his +son, John Trask. + +_14th_, Next east, and extending across Ipswich Road,—40 acres; granted +to Edward Bishop, Dec. 28, 1646; owned, in 1692, by his son, Edward +Bishop, "the sawyer." + +_15th_, At the northwest end of Felton's Hill, and extending across the +Village line,—about 60 acres; owned by Nathaniel Putnam. + +_16th_, Southeast of Grant No. XXIII.,—a farm of about 150 acres; owned +by Giles Corey, including 50 acres bought by him of Robert Goodell, +March 15, 1660, and 50 acres bought by him of Ezra and Nathaniel Clapp, +of Dorchester, heirs of John Alderman, July 4, 1663. + +_17th_, Northeast of the above,—150 acres granted to Mrs. Anna +Higginson in 1636; sold by Rev. John Higginson to John Pickering, March +23, 1652; and by him to John Woody and Thomas Flint, Oct. 18, 1654; +owned in 1692 by Thomas and Joseph Flint. + + + + +[i.xxix] +GENERAL INDEX. + + + +A. + + +Abbey, Thomas, 129. + +Abbey, Samuel, ii. 200, 272. + +Abbot, Joseph, 123. + +Abbot, Nehemiah, ii. 128, 133, 208. + +Aborn, Samuel, Jr., ii. 272. + +Addington, Isaac, ii. 102, 474. + +Afflicted children, ii. 112, 384, 465. + +Age, reverence for, 217. + +Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, 367. + +Alford, William, 66. + +Alden, John, ii. 208, 243-247, 255, 453. + +Allen, James, 78-84; ii. 89, 309, 494, 550-553. + +Allin, James, ii. 226. + +America, the peopling of, 395. + +Amsterdam, 460. + +Andover, ii. 247. + +Andrew, Daniel, 155, 214, 251, 270, 296, 319; ii. 59, 187, 272, 497, +550. + +Andrews, Ann, ii. 170, 319. + +Andrews, John, ii. 306. + +Andrews, John, Jr., ii. 306. + +Andrews, Joseph, ii. 306. + +Andrews, William, ii. 306. + +Andrews, Robert, 123. + +Andros, Sir Edmund, ii. 99, 154. + +Appleton, Samuel, 119; ii. 102, 250. + +Apon, Peter, 342. + +Arnold de Villa Nova, 342. + +Arnold, Margaret, 356. + + +B. + +Babbage, Christopher, ii. 184. + +Bachelder, Mark, 123. + +Bacheler, John, ii. 475. + +Bacon, Francis, 383. + +Bacon, Roger, 341. + +Badger, John, 445. + +Baker, Eben, 123. + +Bailey, John, ii. 89, 310. + +Balch, John, 129. + +Balch, Joseph, 105. + +Baptism: its subjects, 307. + +Barbadoes, 287. + +Barker, Abigail, ii. 349, 404. + +Barnard, Thomas, ii. 477. + +Barnes, Benjamin, ii. 499. + +Barney, Jacob, 40, 140. + +Barrett, Thomas, ii. 353. + +Bartholomew, Henry, 206. + +Bartholomew, William, 428. + +Barton, Elizabeth, 343. + +Bassett, William, ii. 207. + +Batter, Edmund, 40, 46, 57. + +Baxter, Richard, 352, 353, 355, 401, 459. + +Bayley, James, 245-255, 278; +autograph, 280; ii. 514. + +Bayley, Joseph, ii. 417. + +Bayley, Thomas, 105. + +Beadle, Samuel, 132; ii. 164, 181. + +Beadle, Thomas, ii. 164, 170, 172. + +Beale, William, ii. 141. + +Beard, Thomas, 360. + +Bears, 210. + +Becket, John, ii. 267. + +Beers, Richard, 104. + +Bekker, Balthasar, 371. + +Belcher, Jonathan, ii. 481. + +Bellingham, Richard, 144. + +Bentley, Richard, 372. + +Bentley, William, ii. 143, 365, 377. + +Best, John, ii. 329. + +Best, John, Jr., ii. 329. + +Bibber, Sarah, ii. 5, 205, 287. + +Billerica, 9. + +[i.xxx]Bishop, Bridget, 143, 191-197; ii. 114, 125-128, 253; +trial and execution, 256-267; +her house, 463. + +Bishop, Edward, 142; ii. 272. + +Bishop, Edward, 142, 191; ii. 253, 267, 466. + +Bishop, Edward, 141, 143; ii. 128, 135, 383, 465, 478. + +Bishop, Edward, 143. + +Bishop, John, 8. + +Bishop, Richard, 142. + +Bishop, Sarah, ii. 128, 135. + +Bishop, Thomas, 206. + +Bishop, Townsend, 40, 66; +his house, 69-74, 96, 97; +autograph, 279; ii. 294, 467. + +Black, Mary, ii. 128, 136. + +Blackstone, Sir William, ii. 517. + +Blazdell, Henry, 430. + +Blazed trees, 43. + +Bly, John, ii. 261, 266. + +Bly, William, ii. 266. + +Bloody Brook, 105. + +Booth, Elizabeth, ii. 4, 465. + +Bowden, Michael, ii. 467. + +Bowditch, Nathaniel, 172. + +Boyle, Robert, 359. + +Boynton, Joseph, ii. 553. + +Bradbury, Thomas, ii. 224, 450. + +Bradbury, Mary, ii. 208, 224-238; +trial and condemnation, 324, 480. + +Bradford, William, 122. + +Bradstreet, Dudley, ii. 248, 347. + +Bradstreet, John, 428. + +Bradstreet, John, ii. 248, 347. + +Bradstreet, Simon, 124, 139, 147; +autograph 279, 451, 454; ii. 99, 455, 456. + +Braman, Milton P., ii. 516. + +Brattle, William, ii. 450. + +Braybrook, Samuel, ii. 30, 72, 202. + +Bridges, Edmund, 186; ii. 94. + +Bridges, Mary, ii. 349. + +Bridges, Sarah, ii. 349. + +Bridgham, Joseph, ii. 553. + +Bridle-path, 43. + +Britt, Mary, ii. 38. + +Broom-making, 202. + +Browne, Charles, 429. + +Browne, Christopher, 438. + +Browne, Henry, Jr., 55. + +Browne, Sir Thomas, 357. + +Browne, William, Jr., 226, 271. + +Buckley, Sarah, ii. 187, 199, 349. + +Buckley, Thomas, 105. + +Buckley, William, ii. 199. + +Burial of those executed, ii. 266, 293, 301, 312, 320. + +Burnham, John, ii. 306. + +Burnham, John, Jr., ii. 306. + +Burroughs, Charles, ii. 478. + +Burroughs, George, 255, 278; +autograph, 280; +arrest and examination, ii. 140-163; +trial and execution, 296-304, 319, 480, 482, 514. + +Burt, Goody, 437. + +Burton, John, 151. + +Burton, Isaac, 152, 241. + +Burton, Warren, 152. + +Butler, Samuel, 352, 367. + +Butler, William, ii. 306. + +Buxton, Elizabeth, ii 272. + +Buxton, John, 154, 262. + +Byfield, Nathaniel, ii. 455. + + +C. + +Calamy, Edmund, 283, 352. + +Calef, Robert, ii. 32, 461, 490. + +Candy, ii. 208, 215, 349. + +Canoes, 61. + +Cantlebury, William, 154. + +Cantlebury, Ruth, ii. 18. + +Capen, Joseph, ii. 326, 478. + +Capital punishment, 377. + +Cary, Elizabeth, ii. 208, 238, 453, 456. + +Cary, Jonathan, ii. 238. + +Carr, Ann, 253; ii. 465. + +Carr, George, ii. 229. + +Carr, James, ii. 232. + +Carr, John, ii. 234. + +Carr, Mary, 253. + +Carr, Richard, ii. 230. + +Carr, Sir Robert, 220. + +Carr, William, ii. 234, 465. + +Carrier, Martha, arrest and examination, ii. 208-215; +trial and execution, 296, 480. + +Carrier, Sarah, ii. 209. + +Carter, Bethiah, ii. 187. + +Cartwright, George, 220. + +Casco, 256. + +Case, Humphrey, 154. + +Castle Island, 102. + +Cave, Thomas, 154. + +Chapman, Simon, ii. 219. + +Charter of Massachusetts, 15. + +Checkley, Samuel, ii. 553. + +Cheever, Ezekiel, 111. + +Cheever, Ezekiel, Jr., 113, 117, 226, 299; ii. 15, 40, 550. + +Cheever, Peter, 226. + +Cheever, Samuel, 113; ii. 193, 478, 550. + +[i.xxxi]Cheever, Thomas, 113. + +Chickering, Henry, 74. + +Chipman, John, 130. + +Choate, John, ii. 306. + +Choate, Thomas, ii. 306. + +Church, Benjamin, 123. + +Church-of-England Canon, 347. + +Churchill, Sarah, ii. 4, 166, 169. + +Clark, Peter, 171; ii. 513, 516. + +Clark, Thomas, 425. + +Clark, William, 40. + +Cleaves, William, ii. 38, 336. + +Clenton, Rachel, ii. 198. + +Cloutman, William, ii. 267. + +Cloyse, Peter, 269; ii. 9, 59, 94, 465, 485. + +Cloyse, Sarah, ii. 60, 94, 101, 111, 326. + +Cobbye, Goodman, 431. + +Code, Roman, 374. + +Cogswell, John, ii. 306. + +Cogswell, John, Jr., ii. 306. + +Cogswell, Jonathan, ii. 306. + +Cogswell, William, ii. 306. + +Cogswell, William, Jr., ii. 306. + +Coldum, Clement, ii. 191. + +Cole, Eunice, 437. + +Colman, Benjamin, ii. 505. + +Colson, Elizabeth, ii. 187. + +Conant, Lot, 133. + +Conant, Roger, 60, 63, 129. + +Confessors, ii. 350, 397. + +Constables, 21. + +Cook, Elisha, ii. 497. + +Cook, Elizabeth, ii. 272. + +Cook, Henry, 57. + +Cook, John, ii. 261. + +Cook, Isaac, ii. 272. + +Cook, Samuel, 230. + +Copper mine, 45. + +Corey, Giles, 181-191, 205; ii. 38, 44, 52, 114, 121, 128; +pressed to death, 334-343; +excommunicated, 343, 480, 483. + +Corey, Martha, 190; ii. 38-42; +examination, 43-55, 111; +trial and execution, 324, 458, 507. + +Corlet, Elijah, 111. + +Corwin, George, 57, 98, 226. + +Corwin, George, ii. 252, 470, 472. + +Corwin, George, ii. 484. + +Corwin, John, 55. + +Corwin, Jonathan, 101; ii. 11, 13; +autograph, (29, 50, 69, 314,) 89, 101, 116, 157, 165, 250, 345; +letter to, 447, 485, 538. + +Court House, ii. 253. + +Court, Special, ii. 251, 254. + +Court, Superior, of Judicature, ii. 349. + +Cox, Mary, ii. 198. + +Cox, Robert, 123. + +Cradock, Matthew, 17. + +Crane River Bridge, 194. + +Cranmer, Archbishop, 343. + +Creesy, John, 141. + +Crosby, Henry, ii. 38, 45, 50, 124. + +Cullender, Rose, 355. + + +D. + +Daland, Benjamin, 230. + +Dane, Francis, ii. 223, 330, 459, 478. + +Dane, Deliverance, ii. 404. + +Dane, John, ii. 475. + +Dane, Nathaniel, ii. 460. + +Danforth, Thomas, 461; ii. 101, 250, 349, 354, 455, 456. + +Darby, Mrs., 260. + +Darling, James, ii. 201. + +Davenport, John, 385. + +Davenport, Nathaniel, 121, 125-128. + +Davenport, Richard, 100-103. + +Davenport, True Cross, 101, 126. + +Davis, Ephraim, 429. + +Davis, James, 429. + +De La Torre, 361. + +Deane, Charles, 50. + +Death-warrant, ii. 266. + +Deland, Thorndike, ii. 267. + +Demonology, 325, 327. + +Dennison, Daniel, 147. + +Derich, Mary, ii. 208. + +Devil, 325, 338, 387. + +Dexter, Henry M., 123. + +Dodge, Granville M., 232. + +Dodge, John, 129. + +Dodge, Josiah, 105. + +Dodge, William, 130. + +Dodge, William, Jr., 129. + +Dole, John, 444. + +Dolliver, Ann, ii. 194. + +Dolliver, William, ii. 194. + +Douglas, Ann, ii. 179. + +Dounton, William, ii. 274. + +Downer, Robert, ii. 413. + +Downing, Emanuel, 38-46; +autograph, 279. + +Downing, Lucy, 39; +autograph, 279. + +Downing, Sir George, 46. + +Drake, Samuel G, ii. 26. + +Dreams, ii. 411. + +Druillettes, Gabriel, 37. + +Dudley, Joseph, ii. 480. + +Dudley, Thomas, 23. + +[i.xxxii]Dugdale, Richard, 354. + +Dummer, Jeremiah, ii. 553. + +Dunny, Amey, 355. + +Dunton, John, ii. 90, 471. + +Dustin, Hannah, 9. + +Dustin, Lydia, ii. 208. + +Dustin, Sarah, ii. 208. + +Dutch, Martha, ii. 179. + + +E. + +Eames, Daniel, ii. 331. + +Eames, Rebecca, ii. 324, 480. + +Easty, Isaac, 241; ii. 56, 478. + +Easty, John, 241. + +Easty, Mary, ii. 60; +arrest, 128; +examination, 137; +re-arrest, 200-205; +trial and execution, 324-327, 480. + +Education, 111, 213-216, 280, 284; ii. 221. + +Eliot, Andrew, ii. 475. + +Eliot, Daniel, ii. 191. + +Eliot, Edmund, ii. 412. + +Eliot, Elizabeth, 126. + +Emerson, John, 444, 462. + +Emory, George, 57. + +Endicott, John, 16-20, 23, 32-38, 45, 50, 74-79, 95, 454. + +Endicott, John, Jr., 74-78. + +Endicott, Samuel, 32; ii. 231, 272, 307. + +Endicott, Zerubabel, 32, 35, 58, 84-95. + +Endicott, Zerubabel, ii. 230. + +English, Mary, ii. 128, 136; +autograph, 313. + +English, Philip, ii. 128, 140, 255; +autograph, 313, 470, 473, 478, 482. + +Essex, Flower of, 104. + +Eveleth, Joseph, ii. 306, 475. + + +F. + +Fairfax, Edward, 347. + +Fairfield, William, ii. 267. + +Farmer, Hugh, 335, 390. + +Farrar, Thomas, ii. 187. + +Farrington, John, 123. + +Faulkner, Abigail, ii. 330, 476, 480. + +Fellows, John, ii. 306. + +Felt, David, ii. 267. + +Felton, Benjamin, 56. + +Felton, John, 236; ii. 307. + +Felton, Nathaniel, ii. 272, 307. + +Felton, Nathaniel, Jr., ii. 307. + +Filmer, Sir Robert, 373. + +Fireplaces, 202. + +First Church in Salem, 243, 246, 271; ii. 257, 290, 483. + +Fisk, Thomas, ii. 284, 475. + +Fisk, Thomas, Jr., ii. 475. + +Fisk, William, ii. 475. + +Fitch, Jabez, ii. 477. + +Fletcher, Benjamin, ii. 242. + +Flint, John, 141, 154. + +Flint, Samuel, 229. + +Flint, Thomas, 123, 188, 226, 270. + +Flood, John, ii. 208, 331. + +Fogg, Ralph, 57. + +Forests, 7, 27. + +Fosdick, Elizabeth, ii. 208. + +Foster, Abraham, ii. 384. + +Foster, Ann, ii. 351, 398, 480. + +Foster, Isaac, ii. 306. + +Foster, John, ii. 466. + +Foster, Reginald, ii. 306. + +Fowler, Joseph, ii. 206. + +Fowler, Philip, ii. 206. + +Fowler, Samuel P., ii. 206. + +Fox, Rebecca, ii. 188. + +Foxcroft, Francis, ii. 455. + +Frayll, Samuel, ii. 307. + +Fuller, Benjamin, ii. 177. + +Fuller, Jacob, 227. + +Fuller, John, ii. 280. + +Fuller, Samuel, ii. 177. + +Fuller, Thomas, 187, 227, 250, 288; ii. 25. + +Fuller, Thomas, Jr., 288; ii. 173. + + +G. + +Gallop, John, 122. + +Game, pursuit of, 208. + +Gammon, ——, ii. 354. + +Gardiner, Sir Christopher, 68. + +Gardner, Joseph, 45, 122, 123, 124. + +Gardner, Samuel, 45. + +Gardner, Thomas, 45, 117. + +Gaskill, Edward, ii. 307. + +Gaskill, Samuel, ii. 307. + +Gaule, John, 363. + +Gedney, Bartholomew, 271; ii. 89, 243, 244, 250, 251, 254, 496. + +Gedney, John, 158, 258; ii. 254. + +Gedney, John, Jr., ii. 254. + +Gedney, Susannah, ii. 254, 264. + +General Court responsible for the executions, ii. 268. + +Gerbert (Sylvester II.), 339. + +Gerrish, Joseph, ii. 478, 550. + +Gidding, Samuel, ii. 306. + +Gifford, Margaret, 437. + +[i.xxxiii]Gingle, John, 144. + +Glover, Goody, 454. + +Gloyd, John, 186, 189. + +Godfrey, John, 428-436. + +Good, Dorcas, examination of, ii. 71, 111. + +Good, Sarah, ii. 11; +examination of, 12-17; +trial and execution, 268, 269, 480. + +Good, William, ii. 12, 481. + +Goodell, Abner C., 141. + +Goodell, Robert, 141. + +Goodhew, William, ii. 306. + +Goodwin, Mr., 454. + +Governors of Massachusetts, time of election by charter, 17. + +Governor's Plain, 24. + +Gould, Nathan, 432. + +Gould, Thomas, 188. + +Grants, policy of, 22. + +Gray, William, 130. + +Graves, Thomas, ii. 455. + +Green, Joseph, 9, 146, 170; ii. 199, 477, 506, 516. + +Greenslit, John, ii. 298. + +Greenslit, Thomas, ii. 298. + +Griggs, William, ii. 4, 6. + +Griggs, Goody, ii. 111. + +Grover, Edmund, 31. + + +H. + +Hakins, Nicholas, 123. + +Hale, John, 195-197, 299, 452; ii. 43, 70, 257, 345, 475, 478, 550. + +Hale, Sir Matthew, 355; ii. 269. + +Halliwell, Henry, 364. + +Handwriting, 214, 277-281; ii. 55. + +Harding, Edward, 123. + +Hardy, George, 443. + +Harris, Benjamin, ii. 90. + +Harris, George, 63. + +Harsnett, Samuel, 369. + +Hart, Thomas, ii. 352. + +Hart, Elizabeth, ii. 187. + +Harwood, John, ii. 275. + +Hathorne, John, 40, 99, 271; ii. 11, 13, 20, 28; +autograph, (29, 50, 69, 314), 43, 60, 89, 101, 102, 116, 241, 250. + +Hathorne, William, 46, 57, 99. + +Haverhill, 9. + +Hawkes, Mrs., ii. 216, 349. + +Haynes, John, 139. + +Haynes, Richard, 138, 140. + +Haynes, Thomas, 139, 260, 431; ii. 132, 465. + +Haynes, William, 40, 138. + +Hazeldon, John, 429. + +Herrick, George, ii. 49, 60, 71, 202, 252, 274, 471. + +Herrick, Henry, 66, 153. + +Herrick, Henry, ii. 475. + +Herrick, Joseph, 129, 141, 269, 270; ii. 12, 28, 272. + +Hibbert's Philosophy of Apparitions, ii. 518. + +Hibbins, Ann, 420-427, 453. + +Higginson, John, 271, 273; ii. 89, 193, 478, 550. + +Highways, 43, 212. + +Highways, surveyors of, 21. + +Hill, Captain, ii. 244. + +Hoar, Dorcas, ii. 140, 144, 384, 480. + +Hobbs, Abigail, ii. 114, 128, 480, 481. + +Hobbs, Deliverance, ii. 128, 161. + +Hobbs, William, ii. 114, 128, 130. + +Holgrave, John, 63. + +Holyoke, Edward, 156. + +Holyoke, Edward Augustus, 156; ii. 377. + +Hopkins, Matthew, 351. + +Horace, 366. + +Horse Bridge, 234. + +Houchins, Jeremiah, 74. + +Houlton, Benjamin, ii. 275, 280, 281. + +Houlton, James, ii. 307. + +Houlton, Joseph, 86, 147, 243, 270; ii. 272, 496. + +Houlton, Joseph, Jr., 123; ii. 272. + +Houlton, Samuel, 148, 223. + +Houlton, Sarah, ii. 281, 495, 506. + +Houlton, town of, 151. + +Houses, 184. + +How, Elizabeth, ii. 208; +examination of, 216-223; +trial and execution, 268, 270, 480. + +How, James, Sr., ii. 221. + +How, John, 241. + +Howard, John, ii. 198. + +Howard, Nathaniel, 141. + +Hubbard, Elizabeth, ii. 4, 191. + +Hubbard, William, ii. 193, 477. + +Hudson, William, 425. + +Hungerford, Earl of, 343. + +Hunniwell, Richard, ii. 298. + +Hunt, Ephraim, ii. 553. + +Huskings, 201. + +Hutchinson, Benjamin, 172; ii. 151, 197, 201. + +Hutchinson, Edward, 425. + +Hutchinson, Elisha, ii. 150. + +Hutchinson, Israel, 223, 228. + +[i.xxxiv]Hutchinson, Joseph, 243, 250, 270, 285, 319; ii. 11, 28, 33, +272, 393, 545, 550. + +Hutchinson, Lydia, ii. 272. + +Hutchinson, Richard, 27, 40, 86, 137. + +Hutchinson, Thomas, History of Massachusetts, 415. + + +I. + + +Indians, 7, 25, 62, 286. + +Ingersoll, Hannah, 166, 261; ii. 192. + +Ingersoll, John, 40, 172; ii. 171. + +Ingersoll, Joseph, ii. 129. + +Ingersoll, Nathaniel, 35, 86, 165-179, 225, 244, 249, 251, 259, 261; +autograph, 280, 288, 294, 301, 303; +ordination as deacon, 305; ii. 11, 33, 42, 60, 73, 100, 112, 114, 128, +132, 140, 499. + +Ingersoll, Sarah, ii. 169. + +Ingersoll, Richard, 36, 40, 138. + +Ingersoll's Point, 138. + +Inquest, jury of, ii. 178. + +Ipswich road, 43. + +Ireson, Benjamin, ii. 208. + +Iron works, 147. + +Izard, Ann, ii. 520. + + +J. + + +Jackson, John, ii. 198, 223. + +Jackson, John, Jr., ii. 198, 223. + +Jacobs, George, 198; ii. 4; +arrest and examination, 164-172, 274; +execution, 296, 312, 382, 480. + +Jacobs, George, Jr., 198; ii. 187. + +Jacobs, Margaret, ii. 164, 172, 315, 349, 353, 466. + +Jacobs, Rebecca, ii. 187, 349. + +Jacobs, Thomas, ii. 207. + +James I., 368, 375, 410. + +Jewell, John, 345. + +Jewett, Nehemiah, ii. 553. + +Joan of Arc, 343. + +Jones, Hugh, 91. + +Jones, Margaret, 415, 453. + +John Indian, ii. 2, 95, 106, 241. + +Johnson, Elizabeth, ii. 349. + +Johnson, Elizabeth, Jr., ii. 349. + +Johnson, Francis, 40. + +Johnson, Isaac, 121, 122. + +Johnson, Samuel, 357. + +Johnson, Captain, 425. + +Jovius Paulus, 367. + +Judges, ii. 354. + +Jury to examine the bodies of prisoners, ii. 274. + +Jury of trials, ii. 284, 474. + + +K. + + +Kembal, John, ii. 412. + +Kenny, Henry, 251; ii. 61. + +Kepler, John, 345. + +King, Daniel, ii. 181. + +King, Joseph, 105. + +King, Margaret, 196. + +Kircher, Athanasius, 388. + +Kitchen, John, 205. + +Knight, Charles, 123. + +Knight, John, 138. + +Knight, Jonathan, ii. 177. + +Knight, Philip, ii. 177. + +Knight, Walter, 35. + +Knowlton, Joseph, ii. 220. + + +L. + + +Lacy, Mary, ii. 400, 480. + +Lacy, Mary, Jr., ii. 349, 401. + +Lamb, Dr., 348. + +Land, policy concerning, 16, 22; +given up to towns, 20; +clearing of, 26; +disposition of, to children, 158; +value of, 159. + +Landlord, 218. + +Laodicea, Council of, 375. + +Law under which the trials took place, ii. 256, 268, 360. + +Lawson, Deodat, 268-284; +autograph, 280; ii. 7, 70, 73; +his sermon, 76-92, 515, 525-537. + +Lawson, Thomas, 283. + +Law-suits, 232. + +Layman, Paul, 361. + +Leach, John, 141. + +Leach, Lawrence, 141. + +Leach, Robert, 129. + +Leach, Sarah, ii. 272. + +Lecture-day, 313, 450; ii. 76. + +Lewis, Mercy, ii. 4, 287; +autograph, 313. + +Lewis, Rev. Mr., 353. + +Lexington, 229. + +Lightning, 72. + +Locke, John, 372. + +Locker, George, ii. 12, 307. + +Lothrop, Ellen, 111. + +Lothrop, Thomas, 100, 103-117. + +Louder, John, ii. 264. + +[i.xxxv]Lovkine, Thomas, ii. 306. + +Low, Thomas, ii. 306. + +Luther, Martin, 344. + + +M. + + +Mackenzie, Sir George, 350. + +Magistrates, ii. 354. + +Manning, Jacob, ii. 142. + +Maple-sugar, 203. + +Marblehead, ii. 519. + +March, John, ii. 234. + +Marriage, early, 160; ii. 236. + +Marsh, Samuel, ii. 307. + +Marsh, Zachariah, ii. 307. + +Marshall, Benjamin, ii. 306. + +Marshall, Samuel, 122. + +Marston, Mary, ii. 349. + +Martin, Susannah, 427; +arrest and examination, ii. 145; +trial and execution, 268. + +Mascon, Devil of, 359. + +Mason, Thomas, ii. 267. + +Maverick, Samuel, 220. + +Maverick, Samuel, Jr., ii. 228. + +Mather, Cotton, 112, 384, 391, 454; ii. 89, 211, 250, 257, 299, 341, +366, 487, 494, 503, 553. + +Mather, Increase, ii. 89, 299, 308, 345, 404, 494, 553. + +Mechanical occupations, 224. + +Mede, Joseph, 394. + +Medical profession, ii. 361. + +Meeting, intermission of, on the Lord's Day, 207. + +Meeting-house of Salem Village, 243, 244, 285. + +Meeting-house of Salem Village, scenes at, 263; ii. 34, 60, 94, 510. + +Meeting-house of First Church in Salem, scenes at, ii. 111, 257, 290. + +Melancthon, Philip, 344. + +Middlecot, Richard, ii. 553. + +Milton, John, 387, 467. + +Ministers, ii. 267, 362. + +Minot, Stephen, 125. + +Mirage, 386. + +Mitchel, Jonathan, 434, 437. + +Moody, Lady Deborah, 57, 183. + +Moody, Joshua, ii. 309. + +Moore, Captain, 187. + +Moore, Caleb, 188. + +Moore, Jane, 188. + +More, Henry, 400. + +Morrel, Robert, ii. 153, 191. + +Morrell, Sarah, ii. 140, 144. + +Morse, Anthony, 447. + +Morse, Elizabeth, 449-453. + +Morse, William, 438. + +Morton, Charles ii. 89. + +Mosely, Samuel, 121. + +Moulton, John, ii. 38, 336, 478. + +Moulton, Robert, 40. + +Moulton, Robert, Jr., 40. + +Moxon, George, 419. + + +N. + + +Narragansett expedition, 118-135. + +Narragansett townships, 133. + +Nauscopy, 386. + +Navigation, early New-England, 440. + +Neal, Joseph, ii. 164, 274. + +Needham, Anthony, 155, 184, 226, 236; ii. 48. + +Newbury, 9. + +New-Haven Phantom-ship, 384. + +New-York Negro Plot, ii. 437. + +Newman, Antipas, 58. + +New Salem, 149. + +Newton, Thomas, ii. 254; +autograph, 314. + +Nichols, Isaac, ii. 177. + +Nichols, John, 241, ii. 133. + +Nichols, Richard, 220. + +Nichols, William, 154. + +Norfolk, old county of, ii. 228. + +Norris, Edward, 57, 237. + +Norris, Edward, Jr., 205. + +Norton, John, 423, 425; ii. 450. + +Noyes, Nicholas, 117, 271, 299; ii. 43, 48, 55, 89, 170, 172, 184, 245, +253, 269, 290, 292, 365, 485, 550; +autograph, 314. + +Numa Pompilius, 330. + +Nurse, Francis, 79, 84, 91, 214, 287, 319, 320; ii. 9, 467. + +Nurse, Rebecca, 80; +her arrest and examination, ii. 56-71, 111, 136; +trial, 268, 270-289; +excommunication, 290; +execution, 292, 480, 483. + +Nurse, Samuel, 80; ii. 57, 288, 479, 485, 497, 506, 545-553. + +Nurse, Sarah, 80; ii. 287, 467. + + +O. + + +Obinson, Mrs., ii. 456. + +Ocular fascination, 412; ii. 520. + +Oliver, Christian, ii. 267. + +Oliver, Mary, 420. + +Oliver, Peter, 425. + +[i.xxxvi]Oliver, Thomas, 143, 191; ii. 253, 267. + +Orchard Farm, 24, 87. + +Orne, John, 57. + +Osborne, Hannah, ii. 272. + +Osborne, William, 152, 227; ii. 272. + +Osburn, Alexander, ii. 18. + +Osburn, John, ii. 19. + +Osburn, Sarah, ii. 11, 17; +examination, 20; +death, 32. + +Osgood, Mary, ii. 349, 404, 406. + +Osgood, William, 432. + + +P. + + +Page, Abraham, 139. + +Paine, Elizabeth, ii. 208. + +Paine, Stephen, ii. 208. + +Paine, Robert, 423; ii. 449. + +Palfrey, Peter, 63, 129. + +Palfrey, John G., 125. + +Palisadoes, 31. + +Parker, Alice, ii. 179-185; +trial and execution, 324. + +Parker, John, ii. 179, 181. + +Parker, John, 189; ii. 38, 48, 124. + +Parker, Mary, trial and execution, ii. 324, 325, 480. + +Parris, Elizabeth, ii. 3. + +Parris, Samuel, 170, 172, 278; +autograph, 280, 286-320; ii. 1, 7, 9, 25, 31, 43, 49, 55, 92, 275, 290, +485-503, 515, 545-553. + +Parris, Thomas, 286; ii. 499. + +Parsonage of Salem Village, 243, 386; ii. 74, 466, 493. + +Parsons, Hugh, 419. + +Parsons, Mary, 418. + +Partridge, John, ii. 150. + +Payson, Edward, ii. 218, 494, 553. + +Peabody, John, ii. 475. + +Peach, Barnard, ii. 414. + +Pease, Robert, ii. 208. + +Peele, William, ii. 267. + +Peine forte et dure, ii. 338, 484. + +Peirce, Joseph, 123. + +Pendleton, Bryan, 256. + +Penn, William, 414. + +Perkins, Isaac, ii. 306. + +Perkins, Nathaniel, ii. 306. + +Perkins, Thomas, ii. 475. + +Perkins, William, 362. + +Perley, Samuel, ii. 216. + +Perley, Thomas, ii. 475. + +Peters, Elizabeth, 50-53, 57. + +Peters, Hugh, 47, 50, 51-59. + +Pettingell, Richard, 40. + +Phelps, Henry, 237. + +Phelps, John, 187. + +Phips, Sir William, 131, 451; ii. 99, 250; +autograph, 314, 345. + +Phips, Spencer, ii. 482. + +Phillips, Margaret, ii. 272. + +Phillips, Samuel, 299; ii. 218, 494, 553. + +Phillips, Tabitha, ii. 272. + +Phillips, Walter, ii. 272. + +Pickering, John, 46. + +Pickering, Timothy, 46, 227. + +Pierpont, James, 384. + +Pike, John, ii. 226, 229. + +Pike, Robert, ii. 226, 228, 250, 449, 538-544. + +Pikeworth, 123; ii. 329. + +Pitcher, Moll, ii. 521. + +Pit-saw, 191. + +Poindexter, ii. 185. + +Poland, James, 188. + +Pope, Gertrude, 236. + +Pope, Joseph, 237, 238; ii. 65, 496. + +Pope Innocent VIII., 342. + +Porter, Benjamin, 141. + +Porter, Elizabeth, ii. 272. + +Porter, Israel, 141; ii. 59, 272, 550. + +Porter, John, 40, 136. + +Porter, John, Jr., 219. + +Porter, John, ii. 207. + +Porter, Joseph, 270, 296, 319. + +Porter, Moses, 223, 230. + +Post, Hannah, ii. 349. + +Post, Mary, ii. 349, 480. + +Powell, Caleb, 439. + +Pratt, Francis, 428. + +Prescott, Peter, 129, 316; ii. 153. + +Preston, Thomas, 80, 91; ii. 11, 57, 496, 550. + +Price, Walter, 226. + +Prince, James, ii. 17. + +Prince, Joseph, ii. 17. + +Prince, Robert, ii. 17. + +Prison, ii. 254. + +Procter, Benjamin, ii. 207. + +Procter, Elizabeth, arrest and examination, ii. 101-111; +trial and condemnation, 296, 312, 466. + +Procter, John, 179, 184, 227; ii. 4, 106, 111; +trial and execution, 296, 304-312; +autograph, 313, 458, 480. + +Procter, Joseph, ii. 306. + +Procter, Sarah, ii. 207. + +Procter, William, ii. 208, 311. + +Procter's Corner, 49. + +Pronunciation, ii. 233. + +Pudeator, Ann, ii. 179, 185, 300; +trial and execution, 324, 329. + +Pudeator, Jacob, ii. 185, 329. + +[i.xxxvii]Puppets, 408, ii. 12, 266. + +Putnam, Ann, 253; ii. 5, 61, 69, 74, 177, 229, 236, 276, 282, 465, 495, +506. + +Putnam, Ann, Jr., 214; ii. 3, 8, 40, 190; +autograph, 313, 341, 511, 509-512. + +Putnam, Archelaus, 164. + +Putnam, Benjamin, 164; ii. 72, 272, 481. + +Putnam, Daniel, 164. + +Putnam, David, 227. + +Putnam, Edward, 8, 161-164, 288, 302; ii. 11, 40, 44, 60, 71, 203, 288, +465. + +Putnam, Eleazer, 132; ii. 152. + +Putnam, Enoch, 229. + +Putnam, Holyoke, 9. + +Putnam, Israel, 160, 164, 227, 238. + +Putnam, James, ii. 506. + +Putnam, Jeremiah, 229. + +Putnam, John, 34, 40, 155. + +Putnam, John, 34, 155, 157, 241, 250, 251, 258, 267, 270, 284, 287, +316, 317; ii. 272, 359, 496, 550. + +Putnam, John, Jr., 259; ii. 4, 172, 202, 506. + +Putnam, John, 3d, ii. 506. + +Putnam, Jonathan, 269; ii. 60, 71, 201, 272. + +Putnam, Joseph, 160, 296, 319; ii. 9, 272, 457, 497. + +Putnam, Lydia, ii. 272. + +Putnam, Miriam, ii. 295. + +Putnam, Nathaniel, 84, 86, 155, 157, 186, 198, 236, 250, 288, 296; ii. +33, 128, 178, 271. + +Putnam, Orin, ii. 295. + +Putnam, Perley, 230. + +Putnam, Phinehas, ii. 295. + +Putnam, Rebecca, 267; ii. 272, 359. + +Putnam, Rufus, 227. + +Putnam, Samuel, 223. + +Putnam, Sarah, ii. 272. + +Putnam, Susannah, 143. + +Putnam, Thomas, 155, 226, 250, 251, 259; +autograph, 279. + +Putnam, Thomas, 129, 225, 227, 236, 253; +autograph, 279, 281, 316; ii. 3, 4, 11, 28, 55, 140, 232, 341, 464, +465, 506. + +Putnam, William Lowell, 232. + + +Q. + + +Queen Elizabeth, 345. + +Quick, John, 283. + + +R. + + +Rabbits, 209. + +Raising of a house, 201. + +Rawson, Edward, 425, 450. + +Raymond, John, 66. + +Raymond, John, 129, 134; ii. 465. + +Raymond, John W., 232. + +Raymond, Richard, 141. + +Raymond, Thomas, 129, 133, 141. + +Raymond, William, 129, 132, 143. + +Raymond, William, Jr., ii. 192. + +Rea, Bethiah, 113, 116. + +Rea, Daniel, 40, 113, 140. + +Rea, Daniel, Jr., 288; ii. 272. + +Rea, Hepzibah, ii. 272. + +Rea, Joshua, 114, 140, 141, 287, 288; ii. 272, 545. + +Rea, Sarah, ii. 272. + +Read, Christopher, 123. + +Read, Thomas, 49. + +Records of Salem Village, 269, 272, 273-278. + +Redemptioners, ii. 18. + +Reed, Nicholas, 8. + +Reed, Philip, 437. + +Reed, Wilmot, arrest, ii. 208; +trial and execution, 324, 325. + +Reinolds, Alexius, 91. + +Remigius, 344. + +Rice, Charles B., ii. 513. + +Rice, Sarah, ii. 208. + +Richards, John, ii. 251, 349. + +Richardson, Mr., 442. + +Richardson, Mary, 448. + +Ring, Jarvis, ii. 414. + +Rist, Nicholas, ii. 352. + +Roads, 43. + +Robinson, John, ii. 181, 184. + +Rogers, John, ii. 477. + +Rogers, Thomas, 443. + +Rolfe, Benjamin, 9; ii. 478. + +Roots, Susannah, ii. 207. + +Ropes, Nathaniel, 237. + +Rose, Richard, ii. 171. + +Royal Neck, 58. + +Ruck, Thomas, 57. + +Rule, Margaret, ii. 489. + +Russell, James, ii. 102. + +Russell, William, 80. + + +S. + + +Salem Farms, 136. + +Salem Village, 199, 216, 223, 224, 233, 234, 242, 248, 269-278, 298, +[i.xxxviii]312, 321, 322; ii. 485, 513. + +Saltonstall, Nathaniel, ii. 251, 455. + +Satan, 325, 338. + +Sargent, Peter, ii. 251. + +Savage, James, 50, 384. + +Saw-pit, 191. + +Sawyers, 191. + +Sayer, Samuel, ii. 475. + +Scarlett, Benjamin, 32. + +Science, physical, 380. + +Scott, Margaret, trial and execution, ii. 324, 325. + +Scott, Reginald, 368, 410. + +Scott, Sir Walter, 335. + +Scottow, Joshua, 424, 425; ii. 298. + +Scriptures, King James's Translation of, 375. + +Scruggs, Margery, 66. + +Scruggs, Rachel, 65. + +Scruggs, Thomas, 64, 130. + +Sears, Ann, ii. 208. + +Seating the meeting-house, 217; ii. 506. + +Seely, Robert, 122. + +Settlers, provision of land for, 16. + +Sewall, Mitchel, ii. 481. + +Sewall, Samuel, ii. 102, 111, 157, 251, 441, 497. + +Sewall, Samuel, ii. 481. + +Sewall, Stephen, 57; ii. 3, 230, 384, 487, 497. + +Shakespeare, William, 379, 467. + +Sharp, Samuel, 46, 57, 388. + +Shattuck, Samuel, 193; ii. 180, 259. + +Shaw, Israel, ii. 465. + +Sheldon, Godfrey, 8. + +Sheldon, Susannah, ii. 4, 322. + +Shepard, John, ii. 465. + +Shepard, Rebecca, ii. 275, 280. + +Sherringham, Robert, 356. + +Shippen, Mr., 261. + +Ship Tavern, ii. 254. + +Shirley, William, ii. 482. + +Shovel-board, 196, 204. + +Sibley, John, 141, 154. + +Sibley, John L., 141. + +Sibley, Mary, ii. 95, 97. + +Sibley, Samuel, 259, 262; ii. 97, 465. + +Sibley, William, 262; ii. 18. + +Silsbee, Nathaniel, ii. 267. + +Sinclair, George, 350. + +Singletary, Jonathan, 433. + +Skelton, Samuel, 57, 85. + +Skerry, Henry, 259. + +Sleighs, 203. + +Small, Thomas, 154; ii. 19. + +Smith, George, ii. 307. + +Smith, Thomas, 105. + +Soames, Abigail, ii. 208. + +Soames, Joseph, 123. + +Spaulding, Willard, 237. + +Spencer, John, 432. + +Spenser, Edmund, 346, 365. + +Sprenger, James, 361. + +Stacy, William, ii. 263. + +Stearns, Isaac, ii. 263. + +Stileman, Elias, 40, 86. + +Stone, Samuel, ii. 307. + +Story, Joseph, ii. 440. + +Story, William, ii. 306. + +Stoughton, William, 125; ii. 157, 250, 301, 349, 355. + +Sunday patrol, 40. + +Surey Demoniac, 354. + +Sweden, King of, 344. + +Swinnerton, Esther, ii. 272. + +Swinnerton, Job, 140, 270. + +Swinnerton, Job, ii. 272. + +Swinnerton, Ruth, ii. 495. + +Switchell, Abraham, 123. + +Syllogism, 381. + +Symmes, Thomas, ii. 478. + +Symmes, Zachariah, ii. 478. + +Symonds, John, ii. 377. + +Symonds, Samuel, 433. + +Symonds, William, 433. + + +T. + + +Tanner, Adam, 361. + +Tarbell, John, 80, 91, 288; ii. 57, 287, 486, 497, 506, 545-553. + +Taylor, Benjamin, 182. + +Taylor, Zachary, 124. + +Tears, trial by, 409. + +Thacher, Mrs., ii. 345, 448, 453. + +Thomasius, Christian, 373. + +Thompson, William, ii. 306. + +Tibullus, Elegy, 337. + +Titcomb, Elizabeth, 444. + +Tituba, ii. 2, 11; +examination and confession, 23, 32, 255. + +Tookey, Job, arrest, ii. 208; +examination, 223, 349. + +Toothacre, Mrs., ii. 208. + +Topsfield, controversy with, 238. + +Torrey, Samuel, ii. 494, 553. + +Torrey, William, 450; ii. 553. + +Towne, Jacob, 241; ii. 56. + +Towne, John, 241; ii. 56. + +Towne, Joseph, 241; ii. 56. + +Towne, William, ii. 466. + +Towns, 20. + +Train-band, 100, 224. + +Training-field, 176, 178, 225. + +[i.xxxix]Trask, Edward, 105. + +Trask, William, 34, 64, 129. + +Travel, modes of, 43, 61, 203. + +Troopers, company of, 226. + +Trusler, Eleanor, 237. + +Tucker, John, 444. + +Tucker, Mary, 448. + +Tufts, James, 105. + +Turner, Sharon, 375. + +Twiss, William, 395. + +Tycho Brahe, 345. + +Tyler, Hannah, ii. 349, 404. + +Tyler, Mary, ii. 349, 404. + +Tyng, Edward, 125. + + +U. + + +Upham, Phinehas, 118, 122. + +Upton family, 155. + +Urbain Grandier, 348. + +Usher, Hezekiah, ii. 453. + + +V. + + +Varney, Thomas, ii. 306. + +Verrin, Hilliard, 40. + +Verrin, Joshua, 40. + +Verrin, Nathaniel, 156, 287. + +Verrin, Philip, 40, 63. + +Verrin, Philip, Jr., 40. + +Vigilance Committee, ii. 286. + +Villalpando, Don Francisco Torreblanca, 361. + +Virgil, 336, 413. + + +W. + + +Wade, Thomas, ii. 337. + +Wadsworth, Benjamin, ii. 505. + +Wadsworth, Benjamin, ii. 516. + +Wagstaff, John, 370. + +Wainwright, Simon, 9. + +Walcot, Abraham, 188. + +Walcot, Jonathan, 155, 225, 270; ii. 3, 100, 140, 464, 466. + +Walcot, Jonathan, Jr., ii. 125, 550. + +Walcot, Mary, ii. 3, 465. + +Walker, Richard, ii. 207. + +Walley, John, ii. 553. + +Ward, George A., 98. + +Wardwell, Mary, ii. 349. + +Wardwell, Samuel, trial and execution, ii. 324, 384, 480. + +Wardwell, Sarah, ii. 349. + +Warren, Mary, ii. 4, 114, 128. + +Warren, Sarah, ii. 17. + +Wassalbe, Bridget, 191. + +Waterman, Richard, 60. + +Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, 414. + +Watts, Isaac, ii. 516. + +Watts, Jeremiah, 179. + +Way, Aaron, 145; ii. 68, 177. + +Way, William, ii. 493. + +Weld, Daniel, 57. + +Wells, town of, 256. + +Wesley, John, ii. 518. + +Westgate, John, ii. 181. + +Weston, Francis, 60. + +Wheelwright, John, ii. 228. + +Whitaker, Abraham, 429. + +White, James, ii. 306. + +White, John, 389. + +Whittier, John G., ii. 444. + +Whittredge, Mary, ii. 187, 197, 199. + +Wierus, John, 368, 376. + +Wilds, John, ii. 128, 135. + +Wilds, Sarah, arrest and examination, ii. 135; +trial and execution, 268, 480. + +Wilds, William, 143; ii. 135. + +Wilderness, opening of, 26. + +Wilkins, Benjamin, 227; ii. 173, 550. + +Wilkins, Bray, 143-146, 214, 309; ii. 173, 174. + +Wilkins, Daniel, ii. 174, 179. + +Wilkins, Hannah, 309. + +Wilkins, Henry, ii. 174. + +Wilkins, Samuel, ii. 173. + +Wilkins, Thomas, 154, 227, 316; ii. 491-495, 506, 546-553. + +Willard, John, arrest, ii. 172-179; +trial and execution, 321, 480. + +Willard, Margaret, ii. 466. + +Willard, Samuel, ii. 89, 289, 309, 494, 550-553. + +Willard, Simon, ii. 210. + +Williams, Abigail, ii. 3, 7, 46, 393. + +Williams, Nathaniel, ii. 553. + +Williams, Roger, 50, 56, 68. + +Wilson, Robert, 105. + +Wilson, Sarah, ii. 404. + +Wills, 65, 75, 78, 92, 137, 162, 175, 425; ii. 304, 312, 511. + +Wills Hill, 26, 144. + +Winslow, Josiah, 119. + +Winthrop, Fitz John, 54. + +Winthrop, John, 17, 23, 39, 95, 454. + +Winthrop, John, Jr., 39, 50, 58. + +Winthrop, Wait, 54; ii. 251, 349, 497. + +Wise, John, ii. 304, 306; +autograph, 314, 477, 494. + +[i.xl]Witch, 402. + +Witchcraft, 337; +law relating to, ii. 256, 516. + +Witch-imp, 406. + +Witch-mark, 405. + +Witch-puppets, 408. + +Witch Hill, ii. 376-380. + +Witch of Endor, 333. + +Wood, Anthony, 370. + +Woodbridge, John, 438. + +Wooden Bridge, 234. + +Woodbury, Humphrey, 141. + +Woodbury, John, 129. + +Woodbury, Nicholas, 98. + +Woodbury, Peter, 105. + +Woodbury, William, 141. + +Wooleston River, 23. + +Wolf-pits, 212. + +Wolves, 211. + + +Y. + + +Young, William, 51. + + + + +[i.1] +INTRODUCTION. + + + + IT is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human being, + that he loves to contemplate the scenes of the past, and desires to + have his own history borne down to the future. This, like all the + other propensities of our nature, is accompanied by faculties to + secure its gratification. The gift of speech, by which the parent can + convey information to the child—the old transmit intelligence to the + young—is an indication that it is the design of the Author of our + being that we should receive from those passing away the narrative of + their experience, and communicate the results of our own to the + generations that succeed us. All nations have, to a greater or less + degree, been faithful to their trust in using the gift to fulfil the + design of the Giver. It is impossible to name a people who do not + possess cherished traditions that have descended from their early + ancestors. + +Although it is generally considered that the invention of a system of +arbitrary and external signs to communicate thought is one of the +greatest and most[i.2] arduous achievements of human ingenuity, yet so +universal is the disposition to make future generations acquainted with +our condition and history,—a disposition the efficient cause of which +can only be found in a sense of the value of such knowledge,—that you +can scarcely find a people on the face of the globe, who have not +contrived, by some means or other, from the rude monument of shapeless +rock to the most perfect alphabetical language, to communicate with +posterity; thus declaring, as with the voice of Nature herself, that it +is desirable and proper that all men should know as much as possible of +the character, actions, and fortunes of their predecessors on the stage +of life. + +It is not difficult to discern the end for which this disposition to +preserve for the future and contemplate the past was imparted to us. If +all that we knew were what is taught by our individual experience, our +minds would have but little, comparatively, to exercise and expand +them, and our characters would be the result of the limited influences +embraced within the narrow sphere of our particular and immediate +relations and circumstances. But, as our notice is extended in the +observation of those who have lived before us, our materials for +reflection and sources of instruction are multiplied. The virtues we +admire in our ancestors not only adorn and dignify their names, but win +us to their imitation. Their prosperity and happiness spread abroad a +diffusive light that reaches us, and brightens our condition. The +wisdom that[i.3] guided their footsteps becomes, at the same time, a +lamp to our path. The observation of the errors of their course, and of +the consequent disappointments and sufferings that befell them, enables +us to pass in safety through rocks and ledges on which they were +shipwrecked; and, while we grieve to see them eating the bitter fruits +of their own ignorance and folly as well as vices and crimes, we can +seize the benefit of their experience without paying the price at which +they purchased it. + +In the desire which every man feels to learn the history, and be +instructed by the example, of his predecessors, and in the accompanying +disposition, with the means of carrying it into effect, to transmit a +knowledge of himself and his own times to his successors, we discover +the wise and admirable arrangement of a providence which removes the +worn-out individual to a better country, but leaves the acquisitions of +his mind and the benefit of his experience as an accumulating and +common fund for the use of his posterity; which has secured the +continued renovation of the race, without the loss of the wisdom of +each generation. + +These considerations suggest the true definition of history. It is the +instrument by which the results of the great experiment of human action +on this theatre of being are collected and transmitted from age to age. +Speaking through the records of history, the generations that have gone +warn and guide the generations that follow. History is the Past, +teaching Philosophy to the Present, for the Future.[i.4] + +Since this is the true and proper design of history, it assumes an +exalted station among the branches of human knowledge. Every community +that aspires to become intelligent and virtuous should cherish it. +Institutions for the promotion and diffusion of useful information +should have special reference to it. And all people should be induced +to look back to the days of their forefathers, to be warned by their +errors, instructed by their wisdom, and stimulated in the career of +improvement by the example of their virtues. + +The historian would find a great amount and variety of materials in the +annals of this old town,—greater, perhaps, than in any other of its +grade in the country. But there is one chapter in our history of +pre-eminent interest and importance. The witchcraft delusion of 1692 +has attracted universal attention since the date of its occurrence, and +will, in all coming ages, render the name of Salem notable throughout +the world. Wherever the place we live in is mentioned, this memorable +transaction will be found associated with it; and those who know +nothing else of our history or our character will be sure to know, and +tauntingly to inform us that they know, that we hanged the witches. + +It is surely incumbent upon us to possess ourselves of correct and just +views of a transaction thus indissolubly connected with the reputation +of our home, with the memory of our fathers, and, of course, with the +most precious part of the inheritance of our chil[i.5]dren. I am +apprehensive that the community is very superficially acquainted with +this transaction. All have heard of the Salem witchcraft; hardly any +are aware of the real character of that event. Its mention creates a +smile of astonishment, and perhaps a sneer of contempt, or, it may be, +a thrill of horror for the innocent who suffered; but there is reason +to fear, that it fails to suggest those reflections, and impart that +salutary instruction, without which the design of Providence in +permitting it to take place cannot be accomplished. There are, indeed, +few passages in the history of any people to be compared with it in all +that constitutes the pitiable and tragical, the mysterious and awful. +The student of human nature will contemplate in its scenes one of the +most remarkable developments which that nature ever assumed; while the +moralist, the statesman, and the Christian philosopher will severally +find that it opens widely before them a field fruitful in instruction. + +Our ancestors have been visited with unmeasured reproach for their +conduct on the occasion. Sad, indeed, was the delusion that came over +them, and shocking the extent to which their bewildered imaginations +and excited passions hurried and drove them on. Still, however, many +considerations deserve to be well weighed before sentence is passed +upon them. And while I hope to give evidence of a readiness to have +every thing appear in its own just light, and to expose to view the +very darkest features of the transaction, I am confident of being able +to bring forward[i.6] such facts and reflections as will satisfy you +that no reproach ought to be attached to them, in consequence of this +affair, which does not belong, at least equally, to all other nations, +and to the greatest and best men of their times and of previous ages; +and, in short, that the final predominating sentiment their conduct +should awaken is not so much that of anger and indignation as of pity +and compassion. + +Let us endeavor to carry ourselves back to the state of the colony of +Massachusetts one hundred and seventy years ago. The persecutions our +ancestors had undergone in their own country, and the privations, +altogether inconceivable by us, they suffered during the early years of +their residence here, acting upon their minds and characters, in +co-operation with the influences of the political and ecclesiastical +occurrences that marked the seventeenth century, had imparted a gloomy, +solemn, and romantic turn to their dispositions and associations, which +was transmitted without diminution to their children, strengthened and +aggravated by their peculiar circumstances. It was the triumphant age +of superstition. The imagination had been expanded by credulity, until +it had reached a wild and monstrous growth. The Puritans were always +prone to subject themselves to its influence; and New England, at the +time to which we are referring, was a most fit and congenial theatre +upon which to display its power. Cultivation had made but a slight +encroachment on the wilderness. Wide, dark, unexplored forests covered +the[i.7] hills, hung over the lonely roads, and frowned upon the +scattered settlements. Persons whose lives have been passed where the +surface has long been opened, and the land generally cleared, little +know the power of a primitive wilderness upon the mind. There is +nothing more impressive than its sombre shadows and gloomy recesses. +The solitary wanderer is ever and anon startled by the strange, +mysterious sounds that issue from its hidden depths. The distant fall +of an ancient and decayed trunk, or the tread of animals as they prowl +over the mouldering branches with which the ground is strown; the +fluttering of unseen birds brushing through the foliage, or the moaning +of the wind sweeping over the topmost boughs,—these all tend to excite +the imagination and solemnize the mind. But the stillness of a forest +is more startling and awe-inspiring than its sounds. Its silence is so +deep as itself to become audible to the inner soul. It is not +surprising that wooded countries have been the fruitful fountains and +nurseries of superstition. + +"In such a place as this, at such an hour, +If ancestry can be in aught believed, +Descending spirits have conversed with man, +And told the secrets of the world unknown." + +The forests which surrounded our ancestors were the abode of a +mysterious race of men of strange demeanor and unascertained origin. +The aspects they presented, the stories told of them, and every thing +connected with them, served to awaken fear, bewilder the imagination, +and aggravate the tendencies of the general condition of things to +fanatical enthusiasm.[i.8] + +It was the common belief, sanctioned, as will appear in the course of +this discussion, not by the clergy alone, but by the most learned +scholars of that and the preceding ages, that the American Indians were +the subjects and worshippers of the Devil, and their powwows, wizards. + +In consequence of this opinion, the entire want of confidence and +sympathy to which it gave rise, and the provocations naturally incident +to two races of men, of dissimilar habits, feelings, and ideas, thrown +into close proximity, a state of things was soon brought about which +led to conflicts and wars of the most distressing and shocking +character. A strongly rooted sentiment of hostility and horror became +associated in the minds of the colonists with the name of Indian. There +was scarcely a village where the marks of savage violence and cruelty +could not be pointed out, or an individual whose family history did not +contain some illustration of the stealth, the malice or the vengeance +of the savage foe. In 1689, John Bishop, and Nicholas Reed a servant of +Edward Putnam; and, in 1690, Godfrey Sheldon, were killed by Indians in +Salem. In the year 1691, about six months previous to the commencement +of the witchcraft delusion, the county of Essex was ordered to keep +twenty-four scouts constantly in the field, to guard the frontiers +against the savage enemy, and to give notice of his approach, then +looked for every hour with the greatest alarm and apprehension. + +Events soon justified the dread of Indian hostilities[i.9] felt by the +people of this neighborhood. Within six years after the witchcraft +delusion, incursions of the savage foe took place at various points, +carrying terror to all hearts. In August, 1696, they killed or took +prisoners fifteen persons at Billerica, burning many houses. In October +of the same year, they came upon Newbury, and carried off and +tomahawked nine persons; all of whom perished, except a lad who +survived his wounds. In 1698, they made a murderous and destructive +assault upon Haverhill. The story of the capture, sufferings, and +heroic achievements of Hannah Dustin, belongs to the history of this +event. It stands by the side of the immortal deed of Judith, and has no +other parallel in all the annals of female daring and prowess. On the +3d of July, 1706, a garrison was stormed at night in Dunstable; and +Holyoke, a son of Edward Putnam, with three other soldiers, was killed. +He was twenty-two years of age. In 1708, seven hundred Algonquin and +St. Francis Indians, under the command of French officers, fell again +upon Haverhill about break of day, on the 29th of August; consigned the +town to conflagration and plunder; destroyed a large amount of +property; massacred the minister Mr. Rolfe, the commander of the post +Captain Wainwright, together with nearly forty others; and carried off +many into captivity. On this occasion, a troop of horse and a foot +company from Salem Village rushed to the rescue; the then minister of +the parish, the Rev. Joseph Green, seized his gun and went with them. +They pursued the flying Indians for[i.10] some distance. So deeply were +the people of Haverhill impressed by the valor and conduct of Mr. Green +and his people, that they sent a letter of thanks, and desired him to +come and preach to them. He complied with the invitation, spent a +Sunday there, and thus gave them an opportunity to express personally +their gratitude. On other occasions, he accompanied his people on +similar expeditions. + +These occurrences show that the fears and anxieties of the colonists in +reference to Indian assaults were not without grounds at the period of +the witchcraft delusion. They were, at that very time, hanging like a +storm-cloud over their heads, soon to burst, and spread death and +destruction among them. + +There was but little communication between the several villages and +settlements. To travel from Boston to Salem, for instance, which the +ordinary means of conveyance enable us to do at present in less than an +hour, was then the fatiguing, adventurous, and doubtful work of an +entire day. + +It was the darkest and most desponding period in the civil history of +New England. The people, whose ruling passion then was, as it has ever +since been, a love for constitutional rights, had, a few years before, +been thrown into dismay by the loss of their charter, and, from that +time, kept in a feverish state of anxiety respecting their future +political destinies. In addition to all this, the whole sea-coast was +exposed to danger: ruthless pirates were continually prowling along the +shores. Commerce was nearly[i.11] extinguished, and great losses had +been experienced by men in business. A recent expedition against Canada +had exposed the colonies to the vengeance of France. + +The province was encumbered with oppressive taxes, and weighed down by +a heavy debt. The sum assessed upon Salem to defray the expenses of the +country at large, the year before the witchcraft prosecutions, was +£1,346. 1_s._ Besides this, there were the town taxes. The whole +amounted, no doubt, inclusive of the support of the ministry, to a +weight of taxation, considering the greater value of money at that +time, of which we have no experience, and can hardly form an adequate +conception. The burden pressed directly upon the whole community. There +were then no great private fortunes, no moneyed institutions, no +considerable foreign commerce, few, if any, articles of luxury, and no +large business-capitals to intercept and divert its pressure. It was +borne to its whole extent by the unaided industry of a population of +extremely moderate estates and very limited earnings, and almost +crushed it to the earth. + +The people were dissatisfied with the new charter. They were becoming +the victims of political jealousies, discontent, and animosities. They +had been agitated by great revolutions. They were surrounded by +alarming indications of change, and their ears were constantly assailed +by rumors of war. Their minds were startled and confounded by the +prevalence of prophecies and forebodings of dark and dismal[i.12] +events. At this most unfortunate moment, and, as it were, to crown the +whole and fill up the measure of their affliction and terror, it was +their universal and sober belief, that the Evil One himself was, in a +special manner, let loose, and permitted to descend upon them with +unexampled fury. + +The people of Salem participated in their full share of the gloom and +despondency that pervaded the province, and, in addition to that, had +their own peculiar troubles and distresses. Within a short time, the +town had lost almost all its venerable fathers and leading citizens, +the men whose councils had governed and whose wisdom had guided them +from the first years of the settlement of the place. Only those who are +intimately acquainted with the condition of a community of simple +manners and primitive feelings, such as were the early New-England +settlements, can have an adequate conception of the degree to which the +people were attached to their patriarchs, the extent of their +dependence upon them, and the amount of the loss when they were +removed. + +In the midst of this general distress and local gloom and depression, +the great and awful tragedy, whose incidents, scenes, and characters I +am to present, took place. + +[i.13] + +decoration + +PART FIRST. + +decoration + +[i.14] + +decoration + +SALEM VILLAGE. + +decoration + +[i.15] + +Salem Village, 1866. + + + + +PART FIRST. + + +SALEM VILLAGE. + + IT is necessary, before entering upon the subject of the witchcraft + delusion, to give a particular and extended account of the immediate + locality where it occurred, and of the community occupying it. This is + demanded by justice to the parties concerned, and indispensable to a + correct understanding of the transaction. No one, in truth, can + rightly appreciate the character of the rural population of the towns + first settled in Massachusetts, without tracing it to its origin, and + taking into view the policy that regulated the colonization of the + country at the start. + +"The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England" +possessed, by its charter from James the First, dated Nov. 3, 1620, and +renewed by Charles the First, March 4, 1629, the entire sovereignty +over all the territory assigned to it. Some few conditions and +exceptions were incorporated in the grant, which, in the event, proved +to be merely nom[i.16]inal. The company, so far as the crown and +sovereignty of England were concerned, became absolute owner of the +whole territory within its limits, and exercised its powers +accordingly. It adopted wise and efficient measures to promote the +settlement of the country by emigrants of the best description. It gave +to every man who transported himself at his own charge fifty acres of +land, and lots, in distinction from farms, to those who should choose +to settle and build in towns. In 1628, Captain John Endicott, one of +the original patentees, was sent over to superintend the management of +affairs on the spot, and carry out the views of the company. On the +30th of April, 1629, the company, by a full and free election, chose +said Endicott to be "Governor of the Plantation in the Massachusetts +Bay," to hold office for one year "from the time he shall take the +oath," and gave him instructions for his government. In reference to +the disposal of lands, they provided that persons "who were +adventurers," that is, subscribers to the common stock, to the amount +of fifty pounds, should have two hundred acres of land, and, at that +rate, more or less, "to the intent to build their houses, and to +improve their labors thereon." Adventurers who carried families with +them were to have fifty acres for each member of their respective +families. Other provisions were made, on the same principles, to meet +the case of servants taken over; for each of whom an additional number +of acres was to be allowed. If a person should choose "to build on +the[i.17] plot of ground where the town is intended to be built," he +was to have half an acre for every fifty pounds subscribed by him to +the common stock. A general discretion was given to Endicott and his +council to make grants to particular persons, "according to their +charge and quality;" having reference always to the ability of the +grantee to improve his allotment. Energetic and intelligent men, having +able-bodied sons or servants, even if not adventurers, were to be +favorably regarded. Endicott carried out these instructions faithfully +and judiciously during his brief administration. In the mean time, it +had been determined to transfer the charter, and the company bodily, to +New England. Upon this being settled, John Winthrop, with others, +joined the company, and he was elected its governor on the 29th of +October, 1629. On the 12th of June, 1630, he arrived in Salem, and held +his first court at Charlestown on the 28th of August. + +There was some irregularity in these proceedings. The charter fixed a +certain time, "yearly, once in the year, for ever hereafter," for the +election of governor, deputy-governor, and assistants. Matthew Cradock +had been elected accordingly, on the 13th of May, 1629, governor of the +company "for the year following." He presided at the General Court of +the company when Winthrop was elected governor. There does not appear +to have been any formal resignation of his office by Cradock. In point +of fact, the charter made no provision for a resignation of office, but +only for cases where a vacancy might be occasioned[i.18] by death, or +removal by an act of the company. It would have been more regular for +the company to have removed Cradock by a formal vote; but the great and +weighty matter in which they were engaged prevented their thinking of a +mere formality. Cradock had himself conceived the project they had met +to carry into effect, and labored to bring it about. He vacated the +chair to his successor, on the spot. Still forgetting the provisions of +the charter, they declared Winthrop elected "for the ensuing year, to +begin on this present day," the 20th of October, 1629. By the language +of the charter, he could only be elected to fill the vacancy "in the +room or place" of Cradock; that is, for the residue of the official +year established by the express provision of that instrument, namely, +until the "last Wednesday in Easter term" ensuing. All usage is in +favor of this construction. The terms of the charter are explicit; and, +if persons chosen to fill vacancies during the course of a year could +thus be commissioned to hold an entire year from the date of their +election, the provision fixing a certain day "yearly" for the choice of +officers would be utterly nullified. Whether this subsequently occurred +to Winthrop and his associates is not known; but, if it did, it was +impossible for them to act in conformity to the view now given; for, in +the ensuing "last Wednesday of Easter term," he was at sea, in mid +ocean, and the several members of the company dispersed throughout his +fleet. When he arrived in Salem, he found Endicott—who, in the records +of the[i.19] company before its transfer to New England, is styled "the +Governor beyond the seas"—with his year of office not yet expired. The +company had not chosen another in his place, and his commission still +held good. It was so evident that the vote extending the term of +Winthrop's tenure to a year from the day on which he was chosen, Oct. +20, 1629, was illegal, that when that year expired, in October, 1630, +no motion was made to proceed to a new election. In the mean time, +however, Endicott's year had expired; and, for aught that appears, +there was not, for several months, any legal governor or government at +all in the colony. When the next "last Wednesday of Easter term" came +round, on the 18th of May, 1631, Winthrop was chosen governor, as the +record says, "according to the meaning of the patent;" and all went on +smoothly afterwards. If the difficulty into which they had got was +apprehended by Winthrop, Endicott, or any of their associates, they +were wise enough to see that nothing but mischief could arise from +taking notice of it; that no human ingenuity could disentangle the +snarl; and that all they could do was to wait for the lapse of time to +drift them through. The conduct of these two men on the occasion was +truly admirable. Endicott welcomed Winthrop with all the honors due to +his position as governor; opened his doors to receive him and his +family; and manifested the affectionate respect and veneration with +which, from his earliest manhood to his dying day, Winthrop ever +inspired all men in all circumstances. Winthrop per[i.20]formed the +ceremony at Endicott's marriage. They each went about his own business, +and said nothing of the embarrassments attached to their official +titles or powers. After a few months, Winthrop held his courts, as +though all was in good shape; and Endicott took his seat as an +assistant. They proved themselves sensible, high-minded men, of true +public spirit, and friends to each other and to the country, which will +for ever honor them both as founders and fathers. They entered into no +disputes—and their descendants never should—about which was governor, +or which first governor. + +The disposal of lands, at the expiration of Endicott's delegated +administration, passed back into the hands of the company, and was +conducted by the General Court upon the policy established at its +meetings in London. On the 3d of March, 1635, the General Court +relinquished the control and disposal of lands, within the limits of +towns, to the towns themselves. After this, all grants of lands in +Salem were made by the people of the town or their own local courts. +The original land policy was faithfully adhered to here, as it probably +was in the other towns. + +The following is a copy of the Act:— + +"Whereas particular towns have many things which concern only +themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of +businesses in their own towns, it is therefore ordered, that the +freemen of any town, or the major part of them, shall only have power +to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the privileges and +appurtenances of the[i.21] said towns, to grant lots, and make such +orders as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not +repugnant to the laws and orders here established by the General Court; +as also to lay mulcts and penalties for the breach of these orders, and +to levy and distress the same, not exceeding the sum of twenty +shillings; also to choose their own particular officers, as constables, +surveyors of the high-ways, and the like; and because much business is +like to ensue to the constables of several towns, by reason they are to +make distress, and gather fines, therefore that every town shall have +two constables, where there is need, that so their office may not be a +burthen unto them, and they may attend more carefully upon the +discharge of their office, for which they shall be liable to give their +accounts to this court, when they shall be called thereunto." + +The reflecting student of political science will probably regard this +as the most important legislative act in our annals. Towns had existed +before, but were scarcely more than local designations, or convenient +divisions of the people and territories. This called them into being as +depositories and agents of political power in its mightiest efficacy +and most vital force. It remitted to the people their original +sovereignty. Before, that sovereignty had rested in the hands of a +remote central deputation; this returned it to them in their primary +capacity, and brought it back, in its most important elements, to their +immediate control. It gave them complete possession and absolute power +over their own lands, and provided the machinery for managing their own +neighborhoods and making and[i.22] executing their own laws in what is, +after all, the greatest sphere of government,—that which concerns +ordinary, daily, immediate relations. It gave to the people the power +to do and determine all that the people can do and determine, by +themselves. It created the towns as the solid foundation of the whole +political structure of the State, trained the people as in a perpetual +school for self-government, and fitted them to be the guardians of +republican liberty and order. + +Large tracts were granted to men who had the disposition and the means +for improving them by opening roads, building bridges, clearing +forests, and bringing the surface into a state for cultivation. Men of +property, education, and high social position, were thus made to lead +the way in developing the agricultural resources of the country, and +giving character to the farming interest and class. In cases where men +of energy, industry, and intelligence presented themselves, if not +adventurers in the common stock, with no other property than their +strong arms and resolute wills, particularly if they had able-bodied +sons, liberal grants were made. Every one who had received a town lot +of half an acre was allowed to relinquish it, receiving, in exchange, a +country lot of fifty acres or more. Under this system, a population of +a superior order was led out into the forest. Farms quickly spread into +the interior, seeking the meadows, occupying the arable land, and +especially following up the streams. + +I propose to illustrate this by a very particular enumeration of +instances, and by details that will give[i.23] us an insight of the +personal, domestic, and social elements that constituted the condition +of life in the earliest age of New England, particularly in that part +of the old township of Salem where the scene of our story is laid. I +shall give an account of the persons and families who first settled the +region included in, and immediately contiguous to, Salem Village, and +whose children and grandchildren were actors or sufferers in, or +witnesses of, the witchcraft delusion. I am able, by the map, to show +the boundaries, to some degree of precision, of their farms, and the +spots on or near which their houses stood. + +The first grant of land made by the company, after it had got fairly +under way, was of six hundred acres to Governor Winthrop, on the 6th of +September, 1631, "near his house at Mystic." The next was to the +deputy-governor, Thomas Dudley, on the 5th of June, 1632, of two +hundred acres "on the west side of Charles River, over against the new +town," now Cambridge. The next, on the 3d of July, 1632, was three +hundred acres to John Endicott. It is described, in the record, as +"bounded on the south side with a river, commonly called the Cow House +River, on the north side with a river, commonly called the Duck River, +on the east with a river, leading up to the two former rivers, known by +the name of Wooleston River, and on the west with the main land." The +meaning of the Indian word applied to this territory was "Birch-wood." +At the period of the witchcraft delusion, and for some time afterwards, +"Cow House River" was[i.24] called "Endicott River." Subsequently it +acquired the name of "Waters River." + +This grant constituted what was called "the Governor's Orchard Farm." +In conformity with the policy on which grants were made, Endicott at +once proceeded to occupy and improve it, by clearing off the woods, +erecting buildings, making roads, and building bridges. His +dwelling-house embraced in its view the whole surrounding country, with +the arms of the sea. From the more elevated points of his farm, the +open sea was in sight. A road was opened by him, from the head of tide +water on Duck, now Crane, River, through the Orchard Farm, and round +the head of Cow House River, to the town of Salem, in one direction, +and to Lynn and Boston in another. A few years afterwards, the town +granted him two hundred acres more, contiguous to the western line of +the Orchard Farm. After this, and as a part of the transaction, the +present Ipswich road was made, and the old road through the Orchard +Farm discontinued. This illustrates the policy of the land grants. They +were made to persons who had the ability to lay out roads. The present +bridge over Crane River was probably built by Endicott and the parties +to whom what is now called the Plains, one of the principal villages of +Danvers, had been granted. The tract granted by the town was popularly +called the "Governor's Plain." By giving, in this way, large tracts of +land to men of means, the country was opened and made accessible to +settlers who had no pecuniary ability to incur large[i.25] outlays in +the way of general improvements, but had the requisite energy and +industry to commence the work of subduing the forest and making farms +for themselves. To them, smaller grants were made. + +The character of the population, thus aided at the beginning in +settling the country, cannot be appreciated without giving some idea of +what it was to open the wilderness for occupancy and cultivation. This +is a subject which those who have always lived in other than frontier +towns do not perhaps understand. + +How much of the land had been previously cleared by the aboriginal +tribes, it may be somewhat difficult to determine. They were but +slightly attached to the soil, had temporary and movable habitations, +and no bulky implements or articles of furniture. They were nomadic in +their habits. On the coast and its inlets, their light canoes gave easy +means of transportation, for their families and all that they +possessed, from point to point, and, further inland, over intervening +territory, from river to river. They probably seldom attempted, in this +part of the country, to clear the rugged and stony uplands. In some +instances, they removed the trees from the soft alluvial meadows, +although it is probable that in only a very few localities they would +have attempted such a persistent and laborious undertaking. There were +large salt marshes, and here and there meadows, free from timber. There +were spots where fires had swept over the land and the trees +disappeared. On such spots they probably planted their corn; the land +being made at once fertile[i.26] and easily cultivable, by the effects +of the fires. Near large inland sheets of water, having no outlets +passable by their canoes, and well stocked with fish, they sometimes +had permanent plantations, as at Will's Hill. With such slight +exceptions, when the white settler came upon his grant, he found it +covered by the primeval wilderness, thickly set with old trees, whose +roots, as well as branches, were interlocked firmly with each other, +the surface obstructed with tangled and prickly underbrush; the soil +broken, and mixed with rocks and stones,—the entire face of the country +hilly, rugged, and intersected by swamps and winding streams. + +Among all the achievements of human labor and perseverance recorded in +history, there is none more herculean than the opening of a New-England +forest to cultivation. The fables of antiquity are all suggestive of +instruction, and infold wisdom. The earliest inhabitants of every +wooded country, who subdued its wilderness, were truly a race of +giants. + +Let any one try the experiment of felling and eradicating a single +tree, and he will begin to approach an estimate of what the first +English settler had before him, as he entered upon his work. It was not +only a work of the utmost difficulty, calling for the greatest possible +exercise of physical toil, strength, patience, and perseverance, but it +was a work of years and generations. The axe, swung by muscular arms, +could, one by one, fell the trees. There was no machinery to aid in +extracting the tough roots, equal, often, in[i.27] size and spread, to +the branches. The practice was to level by the axe a portion of the +forest, managing so as to have the trees fall inward, early in the +season. After the summer had passed, and the fallen timber become +dried, fire would be set to the whole tract covered by it. After it had +smouldered out, there would be left charred trunks and stumps. The +trunks would then be drawn together, piled in heaps, and burned again. +Between the blackened stumps, barley or some other grain, and probably +corn, would be planted, and the lapse of years waited for, before the +roots would be sufficiently decayed to enable oxen with chains to +extract them. Then the rocks and stones would have to be removed, +before the plough could, to any considerable extent, be applied. As +late as 1637, the people of Salem voted twenty acres, to be added +within two years to his previous grant, to Richard Hutchinson, upon the +condition that he would, in the mean time, "set up ploughing." The +meadow to the eastward of the meeting-house, seen in the head-piece of +this Part, probably was the ground where ploughing was thus first "set +up." The plough had undoubtedly been used before in town-lots, and by +some of the old planters who had secured favorable open locations along +the coves and shores; but it required all this length of time to bring +the interior country into a condition for its use. + +The opening of a wilderness combined circumstances of interest which +are not, perhaps, equalled in any other occupation. It is impossible to +imagine a[i.28] more exhilarating or invigorating employment. It +developed the muscular powers more equally and effectively than any +other. The handling of the axe brought into exercise every part of the +manly frame. It afforded room for experience and skill, as well as +strength; it was an athletic art of the highest kind, and awakened +energy, enterprise, and ambition; it was accompanied with sufficient +danger to invest it with interest, and demand the most careful judgment +and observation. He who best knew how to fell a tree was justly looked +upon as the most valuable and the leading man. To bring a tall giant of +the woods to the ground was a noble and perilous achievement. As it +slowly trembled and tottered to its fall, it was all-important to give +it the right direction, so that, as it came down with a thundering +crash, it might not be diverted from its expected course by the +surrounding trees and their multifarious branches, or its trunk slide +off or rebound in an unforeseen manner, scattering fragments and +throwing limbs upon the choppers below. Accidents often, deaths +sometimes, occurred. A skilful woodman, by a glance at the surrounding +trees and their branches, could tell where the tree on which he was +about to operate should fall, and bring it unerringly to the ground in +the right direction. There was, moreover, danger from lurking savages; +and, if the chopper was alone in the deep woods, from the prowling +solitary bear, or hungry wolves, which, going in packs, were sometimes +formidable. There were elements also, in the work, that awakened[i.29] +the finer sentiments. The lonely and solemn woods are God's first +temples. They are full of mystic influences; they nourish the poetic +nature; they feed the imagination. The air is elastic, and every sound +reverberates in broken, strange, and inexplicable intonations. The +woods are impregnated with a health-giving and delightful fragrance +nowhere else experienced. All the arts of modern luxury fail to produce +an aroma like that which pervades a primitive forest of pines and +spruces. Indeed, all trees, in an original wilderness, where they exist +in every stage of growth and decay, contribute to this peculiar charm +of the woods. It was not only a manly, but a most lively, occupation. +When many were working near each other, the echoes of their voices of +cheer, of the sharp and ringing tones of their axes, and of the heavy +concussions of the falling timber, produced a music that filled the old +forests with life, and made labor joyous and refreshing. + +The length of time required to prepare a country covered by a +wilderness, on a New-England soil, for cultivation, may be estimated by +the facts I have stated. A long lapse of years must intervene, after +the woods have been felled and their dried trunks and branches burned, +before the stumps can be extracted, the land levelled, the stones +removed, the plough introduced, or the smooth green fields, which give +such beauty to agricultural scenes, be presented. An immense amount of +the most exhausting labor must be expended in the process. The world +looks with[i.30] wonder on the dykes of Holland, the wall of China, the +pyramids of Egypt. I do not hesitate to say that the results produced +by the small, scattered population of the American colonies, during +their first century, in tearing up a wilderness by its roots, +transforming the rocks, with which the surface was covered, into walls, +opening roads, building bridges, and making a rough and broken country +smooth and level, converting a sterile waste into fertile fields +blossoming with verdure and grains and fruitage, is a more wonderful +monument of human industry and perseverance than them all. It was a +work, not of mere hired laborers, still less of servile minions, but of +freemen owning, or winning by their voluntary and cheerful toil, the +acres on which they labored, and thus entitling themselves to be the +sovereigns of the country they were creating. A few thousands of such +men, with such incentives, wrought wonders greater than millions of +slaves or serfs ever have accomplished, or ever will. + +It was not, therefore, from mere favoritism, or a blind subserviency to +men of wealth or station, that such liberal grants of land were made to +Winthrop, Dudley, Endicott, and others, but for various wise and good +reasons, having the welfare and happiness of the whole people, +especially the poorer classes, in view. In illustration of the one now +under consideration, a few facts may be presented. They will show the +amount of labor required to bring the "Orchard Farm" into cultivation, +and which must have been procured[i.31] at a large outlay in money by +the proprietor. In the court-files are many curious papers, in the +shape of depositions given by witnesses in suits of various kinds, +arising from time to time, showing that large numbers of hired men were +kept constantly at work. Nov. 10, 1678, Edmund Grover, seventy-eight +years old, testified, "that, above forty-five years since, I, this +deponent, wrought much upon Governor Endicott's farm, called Orchard, +and did, about that time, help to cut and cleave about seven thousand +palisadoes, as I remember, and was the first that made improvement +thereof, by breaking up of ground and planting of Indian-corn." The +land was granted to Endicott in July, 1632; and the work in which +Grover, with others, was engaged, commenced undoubtedly forthwith. +Palisadoes were young trees, of about six inches in diameter at the +butt, cut into poles of about ten feet in length, sharpened at the +larger end, and driven into the ground; those that were split or cloven +were used as rails. In this way, lots were fenced in. In some cases, +the upright posts were placed close together, as palisades in +fortifications, to prevent the escape of domestic animals, and as a +safeguard against depredations upon the young cattle, sheep, and +poultry, by bears, wolves, foxes, the loup-cervier, or wild-cat, with +which the woods were infested. Grover seems to have wrought on the +Orchard Farm for a short time. We find, that, a few years after the +point to which his testimony goes back, he had a farm of his own. Some +wrought there for a longer time, and were permanent[i.32] retainers on +the farm. In 1635, the widow Scarlett apprenticed her son Benjamin, +then eleven years of age, to Governor Endicott. The following document, +recorded in Essex Registry of Deeds, tells his story:— + +"To all christian people to whom these presents shall come, I, Benjamin +Scarlett of Salem, in New England, sendeth Greeting—Know ye, that I, +the said Benjamin Scarlett, having lived as a servant with Mr. John +Endicott, Esq., sometimes Governor in New England, and served him near +upon thirty years, for, and in consideration whereof, the said Governor +Endicott gave unto me, the said Benjamin Scarlett, a certain tract of +land, in the year 1650, being about 10 acres, more or less, the which +land hath ever since been possessed by me, the said Benjamin Scarlett, +and it lyeth at the head of Cow House River, bounded on the north with +the land of Mr. Endicott called Orchard Farm, on the South with the +high way leading to the salt water, on the West with the road way +leading to Salem, on the East with the salt water, which tract of land +was given to me, as aforesaid, during my life, and in case I should +leave no issue of my body, to give it to such of his posterity as I +should see cause to bestow it upon; Know ye, therefore, that I, the +said Benjamin Scarlett, for divers considerations me thereunto moving, +have given, granted, and by these presents do give and grant, assign, +sett over, and bestow the aforesaid tract of land, with all the +improvements I have made thereon, both by building, fencing, or +otherwise, unto Samuel Endicott, second son to Zerubabel Endicott +deceased, and unto Hannah his wife, to have and to hold the said ten +acres of land, more or less, with all the privileges and appurtenances +thereunto belonging, unto the said Samuel[i.33] Endicott and Hannah his +wife, to his and her own proper use and behoof forever; and after their +decease I give the said tract of land to their son Samuel Endicott. In +case he should depart this life without issue, then to be given to the +next heir of the said Samuel and Hannah.—In witness whereof I have +hereunto set my hand and seal.—Dated the ninth of January one thousand +six hundred and ninety one.—Benjamin Scarlett, his mark." + +It is to be observed, that Governor Endicott had died twenty-six years, +and his son Zerubabel seven years, before the date of the foregoing +deed. No writings had passed between them in reference to the final +disposition Scarlett was conditionally to make of the estate. There +were no living witnesses of the original understanding. But the old man +was true to the sentiments of honor and gratitude. The master to whom +he had been apprenticed in his boyhood had been kind and generous to +him, and he was faithful to the letter and spirit of his engagement. He +evidently made a point to have the language of the deed as strong as it +could be. He did not leave the matter to be settled by a will, but +determined to enjoy, while living, the satisfaction of being true to +his plighted faith. He was known, in his later years, as "old Ben +Scarlett." He did not feel ashamed to call himself a servant. But +humble and unpretending as he was, I feel a pride in rescuing his name +from oblivion. Old Ben Scarlett will for ever hold his place among +nature's nobles,—honest men. + +The extent to which Endicott went in improving his[i.34] lands is shown +in the particular department which gave the name to his original grant. +In 1648, he bought of Captain Trask two hundred and fifty acres of +land, in another locality, giving in exchange five hundred apple-trees, +of three years' growth. Such a number of fruit-trees of that age, +disposable at so early a period, could only be the result of a great +expenditure of labor and money. So many operations going on under his +direction and within his premises made his farm a school, in which +large numbers were trained to every variety of knowledge needed by an +original settler. The subduing of the wilderness; the breaking of the +ground; the building of bridges, stone-walls, "palisadoes," houses, and +barns; the processes of planting; the introduction of all suitable +articles of culture; the methods best adapted to the preparation of the +rugged soil for production; the rearing of abundant orchards and +bountiful crops; the smoothing and levelling of lands, and the +laying-out of roads,—these were all going at once, and it was quite +desirable for young men to work on his farm, before going out deeper +into the wilderness to make farms for themselves. There were many +besides Grover who availed themselves of the advantage. John Putnam was +a large landholder, and an original grantee; but we find his youngest +son, John, attached to Endicott's establishment, and working on his +farm about the time of his maturity. In a deposition in court, in a +land case of disputed boundaries, August, 1705, "John Putnam, Sr., of +full age, testifieth and saith that—being a re[i.35]tainer in Governor +Endicott's family, about fifty years since, and being intimately +acquainted with the governor himself and with his son, Mr. Zerubabel +Endicott, late of Salem, deceased, who succeeded in his father's right, +and lived and died on the farm called Orchard Farm, in Salem—the said +Governor Endicott did oftentimes tell this deponent," &c. The same John +Putnam, in a deposition dated 1678, says that he was then fifty years +old, and that, thirty-five years before, he was at Mr. Endicott's farm, +and went out to a certain place called "Vine Cove," where he found Mr. +Endicott; and he testifies to a conversation that he heard between Mr. +Endicott and one of his men, Walter Knight. I mention these things to +show that a lad of fifteen, a son of a neighbor of large estate in +lands, was an intimate visitor at the Orchard Farm; and that, when he +became of age, before entering upon the work of clearing lands of his +own, given by his father, he went as "a retainer" to work on the +governor's farm. He went as a voluntary laborer, as to a school of +agricultural training. This was done on other farms, first occupied by +men who had the means and the enterprise to carry on large operations. +It gave a high character, in their particular employment, to the first +settlers generally. + +I cannot leave this subject of Endicott on his farm, without presenting +another picture, drawn from a wilderness scene. In 1678, Nathaniel +Ingersol, then forty-five years of age, in a deposition sworn to in +court, describes an incident that occurred on the east[i.36]ern end of +the Townsend Bishop farm as laid out on the map, when he was about +eleven years of age. His father, Richard Ingersol, had leased the farm. +It was contiguous to Endicott's land, and controversies of boundary +arose, which subsequently contributed to aggravate the feuds and +passions that were let loose in the fury of the witchcraft proceedings. +Nathaniel Ingersol says,— + +"This deponent testifieth, that, when my father had fenced in a parcel +of land where the wolf-pits now are, the said Governor Endicott came to +my father where we were at plough, and said to my father he had fenced +in some of the said Governor's land. My father replied, then he would +remove the fence. No, said Governor Endicott, let it stand; and, when +you set up a new fence, we will settle in the bounds." + +This statement is worthy of being preserved, as it illustrates the +character of the two men, exhibiting them in a most honorable light. +The gentlemanly bearing of each is quite observable. Ingersol manifests +an instant willingness to repair a wrong, and set the matter right; +Endicott is considerate and obliging on a point where men are most +prone to be obstinate and unyielding,—a conflict of land rights: both +are courteous, and disposed to accommodate. Endicott was governor of +the colony, and a large conterminous landowner; Ingersol was a +husbandman, at work with his boys on land into which their labor had +incorporated value, and with which, for the time being, he was +identified. But Endicott showed no arrogance,[i.37] and assumed no +authority; Ingersol manifested no resentment or irritation. If a +similar spirit had been everywhere exhibited, the good-will and harmony +of neighborhoods would never have been disturbed, and the records of +courts reduced to less than half their bulk. + +To his dying day, John Endicott retained a lively interest in promoting +the welfare of his neighbors in the vicinity of the Orchard Farm. + +Father Gabriel Druillettes was sent by the Governor of Canada, in 1650, +to Boston, in a diplomatic character, to treat with the Government +here. He kept a journal, during his visit, from which the following is +an extract: "I went to Salem to speak to the Sieur Indicatt who speaks +and understands French well, and is a good friend of the nation, and +very desirous to have his children entertain this sentiment. Finding I +had no money, he supplied me, and gave me an invitation to the +magistrates' table." Endicott had undoubtedly received a good +education. His natural force of character had been brought under the +influence of the knowledge prevalent in his day, and invigorated by an +experience and aptitude in practical affairs. There is some evidence +that he had, in early life, been a surgeon or physician. + +He was a captain in the military service before leaving England. +Although he was the earliest who bore the title of governor here, +having been deputed to exercise that office by the governor and company +in England, and subsequently elected to that station[i.38] for a +greater length of time than any other person in our history, had been +colonel of the Essex militia, commandant of the expedition against the +Indians at Block Island, and, for several years, major-general, at the +head of the military forces of the colony, the title of captain was +attached to him, more or less, from beginning to end; and it is a +singular circumstance, that it has adhered to the name to this day. His +descendants early manifested a predilection for maritime life. During +the first half of the present century, many of them were shipmasters. +In our foreign, particularly our East-India, navigation, the title has +clung to the name; so much so, that the story is told, that, half a +century ago, when American ships arrived at Sumatra or Java, the +natives, on approaching or entering the vessels to ascertain the name +of the captain, were accustomed to inquire, "Who is the Endicott?" The +public station, rank, and influence of Governor Endicott required that +he should first be mentioned, in describing the elements that went to +form the character of the original agricultural population of this +region. + +The map shows the farm of Emanuel Downing. The lines are substantially +correct, although precise accuracy cannot be claimed for them, as the +points mentioned in this and other cases were marked trees, heaps of +stones, or other perishable or removable objects, and no survey or plot +has come down to us. A collation of conterminous grants or subsequent +conveyances, with references in some of them to[i.39] permanent +objects, enables us to approximate to a pretty certain conclusion. This +gentleman was one of the most distinguished of the early New-England +colonists. He was a lawyer of the Inner Temple. He married, in the +first instance, a daughter of Sir James Ware, a person of great +eminence in the learned lore of his times. His second wife was Lucy, +sister of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, who was born July 9, +1601. They were married, April 10, 1622. There seems to have been a +very strong attachment between Emanuel Downing and his brother +Winthrop; and they went together, with their whole heart, into the plan +of building up the colony. They devoted to it their fortunes and lives. +Downing is supposed to have arrived at Boston in August, 1638, with his +family. On the 4th of November, he and his wife were admitted to the +Church at Salem. So great had been the value of his services in behalf +of the colony, in defending its interests and watching over its welfare +before leaving England, that he was welcomed with the utmost cordiality +to his new home. His nephew, John Winthrop, Jr., afterwards Governor of +Connecticut, was associated with John Endicott to administer to him the +freeman's oath. The General Court granted him six hundred acres of +land. He was immediately appointed a judge of the local court in Salem, +and, for many years, elected one of its two deputies to the General +Court. In anticipation of his arrival in the country, the town of +Salem, on the 16th of July, granted him five hundred acres. He +after[i.40]wards purchased the farm on which he seems to have lived, +for the most part, until he went to England in 1652. The condition of +public affairs, and his own connection with them, detained him in the +mother-country much of the latter part of his life. While in this +colony, he was indefatigable in his exertions to secure its prosperity. +His wealth and time and faculties were liberally and constantly devoted +to this end. + +The active part taken by Mr. Downing in the affairs of the settlement +is illustrated in the following extract from the Salem town records:— + +"At a general Town meeting, held the 7th day of the 5th month, +1644—ordered that two be appointed every Lord's Day, to walk forth in +the time of God's worship, to take notice of such as either lye about +the meeting house, without attending to the word and ordinances, or +that lye at home or in the fields without giving good account thereof, +and to take the names of such persons, and to present them to the +magistrates, whereby they may be accordingly proceeded against. The +names of such as are ordered to this service are for the 1st day, Mr. +Stileman and Philip Veren Jr. 2d day, Philip Veren Sr. and Hilliard +Veren. 3d day, Mr. Batter and Joshua Veren. 4th day, Mr. Johnson and +Mr. Clark. 5th day, Mr. Downing and Robert Molton Sr. 6th day, Robert +Molton Jr. and Richard Ingersol. 7th day, John Ingersol and Richard +Pettingell. 8th day, William Haynes and Richard Hutchinson. 9th day, +John Putnam and John Hathorne. 10th day, Townsend Bishop and Daniel +Rea. 11th day, John Porter and Jacob Barney." [i.41] + +Each patrol, on concluding its day's service, was to notify the +succeeding one; and they were to start on their rounds, severally, from +"Goodman Porter's near the Meeting House." + +The men appointed to this service were all leading characters, reliable +and energetic persons. It was a singular arrangement, and gives a vivid +idea of the state of things at the time. Its design was probably, not +merely that expressed in the vote of the town, but also to prevent any +disorderly conduct on the part of those not attending public worship, +and to give prompt alarm in case of fire or an Indian assault. The +population had not then spread out far into the country; and the range +of exploration did not much extend beyond the settlement in the town. +None but active men, however, could have performed the duty thoroughly, +and in all directions, so as to have kept the whole community under +strict inspection. + +Mr. Downing probably expended liberally his fortune and time in +improving his farm, upon which there were, at least, four +dwelling-houses prior to 1661, and large numbers of men employed. He +was a ready contributor to all public objects. His education had been +superior and his attainments in knowledge extensive. He was of an +enlightened spirit, and strove to mitigate the severity of the +procedures against Antinomians and others. He seems to have had an +ingenious and enterprising mind. At a General Court held at Boston, +Sept. 6, 1638, it was voted that, "Whereas Emanuel Downing, Esq., hath +brought[i.42] over, at his great charges, all things fitting for taking +wild fowl by way of duck-coy, this court, being desirous to encourage +him and others in such designs as tend to the public good," &c., orders +that liberty shall be given him to set up his duck-coy within the +limits of Salem; and all persons are forbidden to molest him in his +experiments, by "shooting in any gun within half a mile of the ponds," +where, by the regulations of the town, he shall be allowed to place the +decoys. The court afterwards granted to other towns liberty to set up +duck-coys, with similar privileges. What was the particular structure +of the contrivance, and how far it succeeded in operation, is not +known; but the thing shows the spirit of the man. He at once took hold +of his farm with energy, and gathered workmen upon it. Winthrop in his +journal has this entry, Aug. 2, 1645:— + +"Mr. Downing having built a new house at his farm, he being gone to +England, and his wife and family gone to the church meeting on the +Lord's day, the chimney took fire and burned down the house, and +bedding, apparel and household, to the value of 200 pounds." + +This proves that his family resided on the farm; and it indicates, +that, when he first occupied it, he had only such a house as could have +been seasonably put up at the start, but that a more commodious one had +been erected at his leisure: the expression "having built a new house" +appears to carry this idea. On his return from England, he undoubtedly +built again, and[i.43] had other houses for his workmen and tenants; +for we find that one of them, in 1648, was allowed to keep an ordinary, +"as Mr. Downing's farm, on the road between Lynn and Ipswich, was a +convenient place" for such an accommodation to travellers. Public +travel to and from those points goes over that same road to-day. That +it was so early laid out is probably owing to the fact, that such men +as Emanuel Downing were on its route, and John Winthrop, Jr., at +Ipswich. Downing called his farm "Groton," in dear remembrance of his +wife's ancestral home in "the old country." + +Originally, travel was on a track more interior. The opening of roads +did not begin until after the more immediate and necessary operations +of erecting houses and bringing the land, on the most available spots +near them at the points first settled, under culture. Originally, +communication from farm to farm, through the woods, was by marking the +trees,—sometimes by burning and blackening spots on their sides, and +sometimes by cutting off a piece of the bark. The traveller found his +way step by step, following the trees thus marked, or "blazed," as it +was called whichever method had been adopted. When the branches and +brush were sufficiently cleared away, horses could be used. At places +rendered difficult by large roots, partly above ground, intercepting +the passage, or by rough stones, the rider would dismount, and lead the +horse. From this, it was called a "bridle-path." After the way had +become sufficiently opened for ox-carts or other vehicles to pass, it +would begin to receive the name of a[i.44] road. On reaching a cleared +and fenced piece of land, the traveller would cross it, opening and +closing gates, or taking down and replacing bars, as the case might be. +There were arrangements among the settlers, and, before long, acts of +the General Court, regulating the matter. This was the origin of what +were called "press-roads," or "farm-roads," or "gate-roads." When a +proprietor concluded it to be for his interest to do so, he would fence +in the road on both sides where it crossed his land, and remove the +gates or bars from each end. Ultimately, the road, if convenient for +long travel, would be fenced in for a great distance, and become a +permanent "public highway." In all these stages of progress, it would +be called a "highway." The fee would remain with the several +proprietors through whose lands it passed; and, if travel should +forsake it for a more eligible route, it would be discontinued, and the +road-track, enclosed in the fields to which it originally belonged, be +obliterated by the plough. Many of the "highways," by which the farmers +passed over each other's lands to get to the meeting-house or out to +public roads, in 1692, have thus disappeared, while some have hardened +into permanent public roads used to this day. When thus fully and +finally established, it became a "town road," and if leading some +distance into the interior, and through other towns, was called a +"country road." The early name of "path" continued some time in use +long after it had got to be worthy of a more pretentious title. The old +"Boston Path," by which the country was originally[i.45] penetrated, +long retained that name. It ran through the southern and western part +of Salem Village by the Gardners, Popes, Goodales, Flints, Needhams, +Swinnertons, Houltons, and so on towards Ipswich and Newbury. + +On the 30th of September, 1648, Governor Winthrop, writing to his son +John, says "they are well at Salem, and your uncle is now beginning to +distil. Mr. Endicott hath found a copper mine in his own ground. Mr. +Leader hath tried it. The furnace runs eight tons per week, and their +bar iron is as good as Spanish." Whatever may be thought by some of the +logic which infers that "all is well" in Salem, because they are +beginning "to distil;" and however little has, as yet, resulted here +from the discovery of copper-mines, or the manufacture of iron, the +foregoing extract shows the zeal and enthusiasm with which the +wealthier settlers were applying themselves to the development of the +capabilities of the country. + +Mr. Downing seems to have resided permanently on his farm, and to have +been identified with the agricultural portion of the community. His +house-lot in the town bounded south on Essex Street, extending from +Newbury to St. Peter's Street. He may not, perhaps, have built upon it +for some time, as it long continued to be called "Downing's Field." Two +of his daughters married sons of Thomas Gardner: Mary married Samuel; +and Ann, Joseph. They came into possession of the "Downing Field." Mary +was the mother of John, the progenitor of a large branch of[i.46] the +Gardner family. Mr. Downing had another large lot in the town, which, +on the 11th of February, 1641, was sold to John Pickering, described in +the deed as follows: "All that parcel of ground, lying before the now +dwelling-house of the said John Pickering, late in the occupation of +John Endicott, Esq., with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging, +abutting on the east and south on the river commonly called the South +River, and on the west on the land of William Hathorne, and on the +north on the Town Common." The deed is signed by Lucy Downing, and by +Edmund Batter, acting for her husband in his absence. On the 10th of +February, 1644, he indorsed the transaction as follows: "I do freely +agree to the sale of the said Field in Salem, made by my wife to John +Pickering: witness my hand," &c. The attesting witnesses were Samuel +Sharpe and William Hathorne. This land was then called "Broad Field." +On his estate, thus enlarged, Pickering, a few years afterwards, built +a house, still standing. The estate has remained, or rather so much of +it as was attached to the homestead, in that family to this day, and is +now owned and occupied by John Pickering, Esq., son of the eminent +scholar and philologist of that name, and grandson of Colonel Timothy +Pickering, of Revolutionary fame,—the trusted friend of Washington. + +Emanuel Downing was the father of Sir George Downing, one of the first +class that graduated at Harvard College,—a man of extraordinary talents +and wonderful fortunes. After finishing his collegiate[i.47] course, in +1642, he studied divinity, probably under the direction of Hugh Peters; +went to the West Indies, acting as chaplain in the vessel; preached and +received calls to settle in several places; went on to England; entered +the parliamentary service as chaplain to a regiment; was rapidly drawn +into notice, and promoted from point to point, until he became +scoutmaster-general in Cromwell's army. This office seems to have +combined the functions of inspector and commissary-general, and head of +the reconnoitering department. In 1654, he was married to Frances, +sister of Viscount Morpeth, afterwards Earl of Carlisle; thus uniting +himself with "the blood of all the Howards," one of the noblest +families in England. The nuptials were celebrated with great pomp, an +epithalamium in Latin, &c. All this, within eleven years after he took +his degree at Harvard, is surely an extraordinary instance of rising in +the world. He was a member of Parliament for Scotland. Cromwell sent +him to France on diplomatic business, and his correspondence in Latin +from that court was the beginning of a career of great services in that +line. He was soon commissioned ambassador to the Hague, then the great +court in Europe. Thurlow's state papers show with what marvellous +vigilance, activity, and efficiency he conducted, from that centre, the +diplomatic affairs of the commonwealth. At the restoration of the +monarchy, he made the quickest and the loftiest somersault in all +political history. It was done between two days. He saw Charles the +Second at the Hague, on his way to England to re[i.48]sume his crown: +and the man who, up to that moment, had been one of the most zealous +supporters of the commonwealth, came out next morning as an equally +zealous supporter of the king. He accompanied this wonderful exploit by +an act of treachery to three of his old associates,—including Colonel +Oakey, in whose regiment he had served as chaplain,—which cost them +their lives. He was forthwith knighted, and his commission as +ambassador renewed. After a while, he returned to England; went into +Parliament from Morpeth, and ever after the exchequer was in his hands. +By his knowledge, skill, and ability, he enlarged the financial +resources of the country, multiplied its manufactures, and extended its +power and wealth. He was probably the original contriver of the policy +enforced in the celebrated Navigation Act, having suggested it in +Cromwell's time. By that single short act of Parliament, England became +the great naval power of the world; her colonial possessions, however +widely dispersed, were consolidated into one vast fountain of wealth to +the imperial realm; the empire of the seas was fixed on an immovable +basis, and the proud Hollander compelled to take down the besom from +the mast-head of his high-admiral. + +Sir George Downing did one thing in favor of the power of the people, +in the British system of government, which may mitigate the resentment +of mankind for his execrable seizure and delivery to the royal +vengeance of Oakey, Corbett, and Barkstead. He introduced into +Parliament and established the prin[i.49]ciple of Specific +Appropriations. The House of Commons has, ever since, not only held the +keys of the treasury, but the power of controlling expenditures. The +fortune of Sir George, on the failure of issue in the third generation, +went to the foundation of Downing College, in Cambridge, England. It +amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. It is not +improbable, that Downing Street, in London, owes its name to the great +diplomatist. + +This remarkable man spent his later youth and opening manhood on Salem +Farms. In his college vacations and intervals of study, he partook, +perhaps, in the labors of the plantation, mingled with the rural +population, and shared in their sports. The crack of his fowling-piece +re-echoed through the wild woods beyond Procter's Corner; he tended his +father's duck-coys at Humphries' Pond, and angled along the clear +brooks. It is an observable circumstance, as illustrating the +transmission of family traits, that the same ingenious activity and +versatility of mind, which led Emanuel Downing, while carrying on the +multifarious operations of opening a large farm in the forest, +presiding in the local court at Salem, and serving year after year in +the General Court as a deputy, to contrive complicated machinery for +taking wild fowl and getting up distilleries, re-appeared in his son, +on the broader field of the manufactures, finances, and foreign +relations of a great nation. + +A tract of three hundred acres, next eastward of the Downing farm, was +granted to Thomas Read. He[i.50] became a freeman in 1634, was a member +of the Salem Church in 1636, received his grant the same year, and was +acknowledged as an inhabitant, May 2, 1637. The farm is now occupied +and owned by the Hon. Richard S. Rogers. It is a beautiful and +commanding situation, and attests the taste of its original proprietor. +Mr. Read seems to have had a passion for military affairs. In 1636, he +was ensign in a regiment composed of men from Saugus, Ipswich, Newbury, +and Salem, of which John Endicott was colonel, and John Winthrop, Jr., +lieutenant-colonel. In 1647, he commanded a company. During the civil +wars in England, he was attracted back to his native country. He +commanded a regiment in 1660, and held his place after the Restoration. +He died about 1663. + +Our antiquarians were long at a loss to understand a sentence in one of +Roger Williams's letters to John Winthrop, Jr., in which he says, "Sir, +you were not long since the son of two noble fathers, Mr. John Winthrop +and Mr. Hugh Peters." How John Winthrop, Jr., could be a son of Hugh +Peters was the puzzle. Peters was not the father of either of +Winthrop's two wives; and there was nothing in any family records or +memorials to justify the notion. On the contrary, they absolutely +precluded it. By the labors and acumen of the Hon. James Savage and Mr. +Charles Deane, of Cambridge, who have no superiors in grappling with +such a difficulty, its solution seems, at last, to be reached. "After +long fruitless search," Mr. Savage has expressed a conviction that Mr. +Deane has "ac[i.51]quired the probable explication." The clue was thus +obtained: Mr. Savage says, "This approach to explanation is gained from +'the Life and Death of Hugh Peters, by William Yonge, Dr. Med. London. +1663,' a very curious and more scarce tract." The facts discovered are +that Peters taught a free school at Maldon, in Essex; and that a widow +lady with children and an estate of two or three hundred pounds a year +befriended him. She was known as "Mistress Read." Peters married her. +The second wife of John Winthrop, Jr., was Elizabeth, daughter of +Colonel Read, of Essex. By marrying Mrs. Read, Peters became the +step-father of the younger Winthrop's wife; and, by the usage of that +day, he would be called Winthrop's father. + +A few additional particulars, in reference to Peters and our Salem +Read, may shed further light on the subject. While a prisoner in the +Tower of London, awaiting the trial which, in a few short days, +consigned him to his fate, Peters wrote "A Dying Father's Last Legacy +to an only Child," and delivered it to his daughter just before his +execution. This is one of the most admirable productions of genius, +wisdom, and affection, anywhere to be found. In it he gives a condensed +history of his life, which enables us to settle some questions, which +have given rise to conflicting statements, and kept some points in his +biography in obscurity. In the first place, the title proves that he +had, at the time of his death, no other child. In the course of it, he +tells his daughter, that, when he was[i.52] fourteen years of age, his +mother, then a widow, removed with him to Cambridge, and connected him +with the University there. His elder brother had been sent to Oxford +for his education. After residing eight years in Cambridge, he took his +Master's degree, and then went up to London, where he was "struck with +the sense of his sinful estate by a sermon he heard under Paul's, which +was about forty years since, which text was the _burden of Dumah or +Idumea_, and stuck fast. This made me to go into Essex; and after being +quieted by another sermon in that country, and the love and labors of +Mr. Thomas Hooker, I there preached, there married with a good +gentlewoman, till I went to London to ripen my studies, not intending +to preach at all." He then relates the circumstances which subsequently +led him again to engage in preaching. He is stated to have been born in +1599: his death was in 1660. Putting together these dates and facts, it +becomes evident that he could not have been more than twenty-two years +of age when he married "Mistress Read." The "Last Legacy" shows, not +merely in the manner in which he speaks of her,—"a good +gentlewoman,"—but, in its express terms, that she was not the mother of +the "only child" to whom it was addressed. "Besides your mother," he +states that he had had "a godly wife before." There is no indication +that there were children by the earlier marriage. If there were, they +died young. He married, for his second wife, Deliverance Sheffield, at +Boston, in March, 1639.[i.53] + +His first wife, the time of whose death is unknown, had left the +children by her former husband in his hands and under his care. He +evidently cherished the memory of the "good gentlewoman of Essex" with +the tenderest and most sacred affection. She had not only been the dear +wife of his youth, but her property placed him above want. No wonder +that the strongest attachment existed between him and her children. +John Winthrop, Jr., and his wife, called him father, not merely in +conformity with custom, being their step-father in point of fact, but +with the fondness and devotion of actual children. It was on account of +this intimate and endeared connection, and in consideration of the +pecuniary benefit he had derived from his marriage to the mother of the +younger Winthrop's wife, that he made arrangements, in case he should +not return to America, that his Salem property should go to her and her +husband. Having married a second wife, and there being issue of said +marriage, he would not have alienated so considerable a part of his +property from the legal heir without some good and sufficient reason. +The foregoing view of the case explains the whole. The solution of the +mystery which had enveloped Roger Williams's language is complete. +Elizabeth, the daughter of the second marriage, to whom the "Last +Legacy" was addressed, was baptized in the First Church at Salem, on +the 8th of March, 1640. It does not appear, that, during her subsequent +life, there was any intimacy, or even acquaintance, between her and +the[i.54] Winthrops, as there was no ground for it, she being in no way +connected with them. + +May not Thomas Read, of Salem, have been a son of Colonel Read, of +Maldon in Essex, and a brother of the wife of the younger Winthrop? +Peters says, in the "Last Legacy," "Many of my acquaintances, going for +New England, had engaged me to come to them when they sent, which +accordingly I did." Thomas Read came over some time before him; so did +John Winthrop, Jr., and wife. They were the same as children to him. +They sent for him, and he came. After it was ascertained and determined +that Peters should settle in Salem, Read joined the church here, and +became a full inhabitant. Peters located his grant of land in sight of +Read's residence, on the next then unappropriated territory, at a +distance of about two and a half miles. When Read returned to England, +he left his property here in the care of the Winthrops. Wait Winthrop, +as the agent and attorney of his heirs, sold it to Daniel Eppes. If, as +I conjecture, Thomas Read was a son of Colonel Read, of Essex, his +coming here with Peters, and his connection with the Winthrops, are +accounted for. His strong predilection for military affairs was natural +in a son of a colonel of the English army. It led him back to the +mother-country, on the first sound of the great civil war reaching +these shores, and raised him to the rank he finally attained. The +conjecture that he was a brother of the wife of the younger Winthrop is +favored by the fact, that her son, Fitz John Win[i.55]throp, was a +captain in Read's regiment, at the time of the restoration of the +Stuarts. + +During the short period of the residence of Hugh Peters in America, +professional duties, and the extent to which his great talents were +called upon in ecclesiastical and political affairs, in all parts of +the colony, left him but little opportunity to attend to his +two-hundred-acre grant. It was to the north of the present village of +Danvers Plains, on the eastern side and adjoining to Frost-Fish Brook. +The history of this grant confirms the supposition of his particular +connection with the family of the younger Winthrop. It seems that it +had not been formally laid out by metes and bounds while Peters was +here. Owing to this circumstance, perhaps, it escaped confiscation at +the time of his condemnation and execution. Some years afterwards, June +4, 1674, a committee of the town laid out the grant "to Mr. Peters." +The record of this transaction says, "The land is in the possession of +John Corwin." Captain John Corwin had married, in May, 1665, Margaret, +daughter of John Winthrop, Jr. She survived her husband, and sold the +same land, May 22, 1693, to "Henry Brown, Jr., of Salisbury, yeoman." +These facts show that this portion of Mr. Peters's lands did go, +according to the agreement when he left America, to the family of John +Winthrop, Jr. + +Whether he had erected a house on this grant is not known. From his +characteristic energy, activity, and promptitude, it is probable that +he had begun to clear[i.56] it. In agriculture, as in every thing else, +he gave a decisive impulse. It is stated that he had a particular +design to attempt the culture of hemp. He introduced many implements of +labor, and started new methods of improvement. He disclosed to the +producer of agricultural growths the idea of raising what the land was +most capable of yielding in abundance, in greater quantities than were +needed for local consumption, and finding for the surplus an outside +market. He is allowed to have introduced the coasting and foreign trade +on an intelligent and organized basis, and to have promoted +ship-building and the export of the products of the forests and the +fields generally to the Southern plantations, the West Indies, and even +more distant points. If he had remained longer in the country, the +farming interests, and the settlers in what was afterwards called Salem +Village, within which his tract was situated, would have felt his great +influence. As it was, he undoubtedly did much to inspire a zeal for +improvement. His town residence was on the south-western corner of +Essex and Washington Street, then known as "Salem Corner," where the +office of the Horse-railroad Company now is. The lot was a quarter of +an acre. Roger Williams probably had resided there, and sold to Peters, +who was his successor in the ministry of the First Church, and whose +attorney sold it to Benjamin Felton, in 1659. The range of ground +included within what are now Washington, Essex, Summer, and Chestnut +Streets, and extending to the South River, as it was before any[i.57] +dam or mills had been erected over or across it, was a beautiful swell +of land, with sloping surfaces, intersected by a creek from near the +foot of Chestnut Street to its junction with the South River under the +present grade of Mill Street. To the south of the corner, occupied +successively by Roger Williams and Hugh Peters, Ralph Fogg, the Lady +Deborah Moody, George Corwin, Dr. George Emory, Thomas Ruck, Samuel +Skelton, Endicott, Pickering, Downing, and Hathorne, each had lots, +extending in order to the foot of what is now Phelps Street. Most, if +not all of them, had houses on their lots. Elder Sharp had what was +called "Sharp's Field," bordering on the north side of Essex Street, +extending from Washington to North Streets. His house was at the north +corner of Lynde and Washington Streets. Edmund Batter, Henry Cook, Dr. +Daniel Weld, Stephen Sewall, and Edward Norris, were afterwards on his +land. Hugh Peters also owned the lot, consisting of a quarter of an +acre, on the north-eastern corner of Essex and Washington Streets, now +occupied by what is known as Stearns's Building, and was preparing to +erect a house upon it when he was sent to England. His attorney sold +it, in 1652, to John Orne, the founder of the family of that name. + +The daughter of Mr. Peters came over to America shortly after his +death, bringing with her her mother, who, for many years, had been +subject to derangement. They were kindly received; and some of his +property, particularly a valuable farm in the vicinity[i.58] of +Marblehead, which the daughter sold to the American ancestor of the +Devereux family, was recovered from the effect of his attainder. She +probably soon went back to England, where she spent her days. Papers on +file in the county court show that Elizabeth Barker, widow, "daughter +of Mr. Hugh Peters," was living, in March, 1702, in good health, at +Deptford, Kent, in the immediate vicinity of London, and had been +living there for about forty years. + +In consequence, perhaps, of the intimate connection between Mr. Peters +and the family of John Winthrop, Jr., the name of the latter is to be +added to the cluster of eminent men who, at that time, were drawn to +reside in Salem. He was here, it is quite certain, from 1638 to 1641, +if not for a longer period. There are indications of his presence as +early as March of the former year, when he was appointed with Endicott +to administer the freeman's oath to his uncle Downing. On the 25th of +the next June, he had liberty to set up a salt-house at Royal Neck, on +the east side of Wooleston River. There he erected a dwelling-house and +other buildings, as appears by the depositions of sundry persons in a +land suit about thirty years afterwards, who state that they worked for +him, and were conversant with him there for several years. His first +experiments and enterprises in the salt-manufacture, which he +subsequently conducted on a very extensive scale in Connecticut, were +performed at Royal Neck. His daughter, the widow successively of +Antipas Newman and Zerubabel Endicott, in the suit just +men[i.59]tioned, recovered possession of that property, comprising +forty acres, with the buildings and improvements. In 1646, John +Winthrop, Jr., accompanied by a brother of Hugh Peters, Rev. Thomas +Peters from Cornwall in England, began a plantation at Pequot River; +and Trumbull, in his "History of Connecticut," says that "Mr. Thomas +Peters was the first minister of Saybrook." The fortunes and families +of Hugh Peters and John Winthrop, Jr., seem all along to have been +linked together. + +Downing, Read, and Peters, three of the original planters of Salem +Farms, were drawn back to England and kept there by the engrossing +interest which the wonderful revolution then breaking out in that +kingdom could not but awaken in such minds as theirs. Here and +everywhere, a great check was given to the early progress of the +country by the turn of the tide which carried such men back to England, +and prevented others from coming over. If the Parliament had not +attempted to arrest the usurpations of the crown at that time, and the +Stuarts been suffered to establish an absolute monarchy, the eyes and +hearts of all free spirits would have remained fixed on America, and a +perpetual stream of emigration brought over, for generations and for +ever, thousands upon thousands of such men as came at the beginning. +The effects that would have been thus produced in America and in +England, in accelerating the progress of society here, and sinking it +into debasement there; and thereby upon the fortunes of mankind the +world[i.60] over, is a subject on which a meditative and philosophical +mind may well be exercised. + +But, although these men were lost, others are worthy of being +enumerated, in forming an estimate of the elements that went to make +the character of the people, a chapter in whose history, of awful +import, we are preparing ourselves to explore. + +Francis Weston was a leading man at the very beginning. In 1634, with +Roger Conant and John Holgrave, he represented Salem in the first House +of Deputies ever assembled. His land grant was some little distance to +the west of the meeting-house of the village. He must have been a +person of more than ordinary liberality of spirit; for he +discountenanced the intolerance of his age, and kept his mind open to +receive truth and light. He did not conceal his sympathy with those who +suffered for entertaining Antinomian sentiments. He was ordered to quit +the colony in 1638. For the same offence, his wife, who probably had +refused to go, was placed in the stocks "two hours at Boston and two at +Salem, on a lecture day." Weston, having ventured back, five years +afterwards, was put in irons, and imprisoned to hard labor. But, as he +stood to his principles, and there was danger to be apprehended from +his influence, he was again driven out of the colony. + +Richard Waterman came over from England in 1629, recommended to +Governor Endicott by the governor and deputy in London. He was a noted +hunter. "His chief employment," says the letter introducing[i.61] him +to Endicott, "will be to get you good venison." A land grant was +assigned him near Davenport's Hill. But he, too, had a spirit that +resisted the severe and arbitrary policy of the times. He became a +dissenter from the prevalent creed, and sympathized with those who +suffered oppression. In 1664, he was brought before the court, +condemned to imprisonment, and finally banished. Weston and Waterman +subsequently were conspicuous in Rhode-Island affairs. While residing +in the village, the latter probably devoted himself to the opening of +his land, and the pursuit of game through the forests. I find but one +notice of him as connected with public affairs. + +For some years, the settlements were necessarily confined to the shores +of bays or coves, and the banks of rivers. There were no +wheel-carriages of any kind, for transportation or travel, until +something like roads could be made; and that was the work of time. A +few horses had been imported; but it was long before they could be +raised to meet the general wants, or come much into use. Every thing +had to be water-borne. The only vehicles were boats or canoes, mostly +the latter. There were two kinds of canoes. Large white-pine logs were +scooped or hollowed out, and wrought into suitable shape, about two and +a half feet in breadth and twenty in length. These were often quite +convenient and serviceable, but not to be compared with the Indian +canoes, which were made of the bark of trees, wrought with great skill +into a beautiful shape. The birch canoe was an admirable +struc[i.62]ture, combining elements and principles which modern naval +architecture may well study to imitate. In lightness, rapidity, freedom +and ease of motion, it has not been, and cannot be, surpassed. Its +draft, even when bearing a considerable burden, was so slight, that it +would glide over the shallowest bars. It was strong, durable, and +easily kept in repair. Although dangerous to the highest degree under +an inexperienced and unskilful hand, no vessel has ever been safer when +managed by persons trained to its use. The cool and quick-sighted +Indian could guide it, with his exquisitely moulded paddle, in perfect +security, through whirling rapids and over heavy seas, around headlands +and across bays. The settlers early supplied themselves with canoes, by +which to thread the interior streams, and cross from shore to shore in +the harbors. One great advantage of the light canoe, before roads were +opened through the woods, was, that it could be unloaded, and borne on +the shoulders across the land, at any point, to another stream or lake, +thus cutting off long curves, and getting from river to river. The +lading would be transported in convenient parcels, the canoe launched, +loaded, and again be floated on its way. Canoes soon came into +universal use, particularly in this neighborhood. Wood, in his +"New-England's Prospect," speaking of Salem, says, "There be more +canowes in this town than in all the whole Patent, every household +having a water horse or two." It was so important for the public safety +to have them kept in good condition, that the town took the +matter[i.63] in hand. The quarterly court records have the following +entry under the date of June 27, 1636:— + +"It was ordered and agreed, that all the canoes of the north side of +the town shall be brought the next second day, being the 4th day of the +5th month, about 9 o'clock, a.m., unto the cove of the common landing +place of the North River, by George Harris his house—And that all the +canoes of the south side are to be brought before the port-house in the +South River, at the same time, then and there to be viewed by J. +Holgrave, P. Palfrey, R. Waterman, R. Conant, P. Veren, or the greater +number of them. And that there shall be no canoe used (upon penalty, of +forty shillings, to the owner thereof) than such as the said surveyors +shall allow of and set their mark upon; and if any shall refuse or +neglect to bring their canoes to the said places at the time appointed, +they shall pay for said fault 10 shillings." + +The names of the men associated with Waterman prove that he was ranked +among the chief citizens of the town. The austere manners of the age, +among communities like that established here; the exclusion, at that +time, by inexorable laws, of many forms of amusement; and the general +sombre aspect of society, kept down the natural exhilaration of life to +such a degree, that, when the pressure was occasionally removed, the +whole people bounded into the liveliest outbursts of glad excitement. +It was no doubt a gala day. Ceremony, sport, and festivity, in all +their forms, took full effect. The surveyors performed their functions +with the utmost display of authority, examined the canoes with the +gravest scrutiny, and affixed[i.64] their marks with all due formality. +A light, graceful, and most picturesque fleet swarmed, from all +directions, to the appointed rendezvous. The harbor glittered with the +flashing paddles, and was the scene of swift races and rival feats of +skill, displaying manly strength and agility. It must have been an +aquatic spectacle of rare gayety and beauty, not surpassed nor equalled +in some respects, when, more than a century afterwards, the "Grand +Turk" or the "Essex" frigate was launched, or when Commodore Forbes, +still later, swept into our peaceful waters with his boat flotilla. It +was the first Fourth of July ever celebrated in America. + +Thomas Scruggs was an early inhabitant of Salem; often represented the +town as deputy in the General Court; was one of the judges of the local +court, and always recognized among the rulers of the town. In January, +1636, he received a grant of three hundred acres on the south-west +limits of its territory. The next month, an exchange took place, which +is thus recorded in the town-book of grants: "It was ordered, that, +whereas Mr. Scruggs had a farm of three hundred acres beyond Forest +River, and that Captain Trask had one of two hundred acres beyond Bass +River, and Captain Trask freely relinquishing his farm of two hundred +acres, it was granted unto Mr. Thomas Scruggs, and he thereupon freely +relinquished his farm of three hundred acres." This brought Scruggs +upon the Salem Farms, between Bass River and the great pond, Wenham +Lake. The real object in making this arrangement was to advance a +project which the lead[i.65]ing people of Salem at that time had much +at heart. They were very desirous to have the college established on +the tract relinquished by Scruggs. What would have been the effect of +placing it there, in the immediate neighborhood of the sea-shore, in +full view of the spacious bay, its promontories, islands, and +navigation, is a question on which we may speculate at our leisure. The +effort failed: Captain Trask and Mr. Scruggs had done all they could to +accomplish it, and gave their energies to the welfare of the community +in other directions. From the little that is recorded of Scruggs, it is +quite evident that he was an intelligent and valuable citizen. The +event that brought his career as a public man to a close proves that +his mind was enlightened, liberal, and independent; that he was in +advance of the times in which he lived. When the bitter and violent +persecution of the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, on account of her +Antinomian sentiments, took place, Mr. Scruggs disapproved and +denounced it. He gave his whole influence, earnestly and openly, +against such attempts to suppress freedom of inquiry and the rights of +conscience. He, with others in Salem, was proscribed, disarmed, and +deprived of his public functions. He appears to have been suffered to +remain unmolested on his estate, and died there in 1654. He had but one +child, Rachel; and the name, as derived from him, became extinct. The +inventory of his property is dated on the 24th of June of that year. +The items mentioned in it amount to £244. 10_s._ 2_d._ +Consider[i.66]ing the rates of value at that time, it was a large +property. At the same date, an agreement is recorded by which his +widow, Margery, conveys to her son-in-law, John Raymond, all her real +estate, upon these conditions: She to have the use of her house during +her life, the bedding, and other "household stuff;" and he to pay her +five pounds "in hand," twenty pounds per annum, and five pounds "at the +hour of her death." This was an ample provision, in those times, for +her comfort while she lived, and for her funeral charges. I do not +remember to have found this last point arranged for, in such a form of +expression, in any other instance. + +William Alford was an early settler. He was a member of the numerous +and wealthy society, or guild, of Skinners, in the city of London, and +probably came here with the view of establishing an extensive trade in +furs. He received accordingly, in 1636, a grant of two hundred acres, +including what was for some time called Alford's Hill, afterwards Long +Hill, now known as Cherry Hill. It is owned and occupied by R.P. +Waters, Esq. Alford sympathized in religious views with his neighbor +Scruggs, and with him was subjected to censure, and disarmed by order +of the General Court. He sold his lands to Henry Herrick, and left the +jurisdiction. + +One of the most enlightened, and perhaps most accomplished, men among +the first inhabitants of Salem Village, was Townsend Bishop. He was +admitted a freeman in 1635. The next year, he appears on the list of +members of the Salem Church. He was one[i.67] of the judges of the +local court, and, almost without intermission from his first coming +here, a deputy to the General Court. In 1645, as his attention had been +led to the subject, he conceived doubts in reference to infant baptism; +and it was noticed that he did not bring forward a child, recently +born, to the rite. Although himself on the bench, and ever before the +object of popular favor and public honors, he was at once brought up, +and handed over for discipline. The next year, he sold his estates, and +probably removed elsewhere. He appears no more in our annals. Where he +went, I have not been able to learn. It is to be hoped that he found +somewhere a more congenial and tolerant abode. It is evident that he +could not breathe in an atmosphere of bigotry; and it was difficult to +find one free from the miasma in those days. + +Five of the most valuable of the first settlers of the village—Weston, +Waterman, Scruggs, Alford, and Bishop—were thus early driven into +exile, or subdued to silence, by the stern policy on which the colony +was founded. It is an error to characterize this as religious bigotry. +It was not so much a theological as a political persecution. Its +apparent form was in reference to tenets of faith, but the policy was +deeper than this. Any attempt to make opposition to the existing +administration was treated with equal severity, whatever might be the +subject on which it ventured to display itself. + +The men who sought this far-off "nook and corner of the world," +crossing a tempestuous and dangerous[i.68] ocean, and landing on the +shores of a wilderness, leaving every thing, however dear and valuable, +behind, came to have a country and a social system for themselves and +of themselves alone. Their resolve was inexorable not to allow the +mother-country, or the whole outside world combined, to interfere with +them. And it was equally inexorable not to suffer dissent or any +discordant element to get foothold among them. Sir Christopher +Gardner's rank and title could not save him: he was not of the sort +they wanted, and they shipped him back. Roger Williams's virtues, +learning, apostolic piety, could not save him; and they drove him into +a wintry wilderness, hunting him beyond their borders. It was not so +much a question whether Baptists, Antinomians, or Quakers were right or +wrong, as a preformed determination not to have any dissentients of any +description among them. They had sacrificed all to find and to make a +country for themselves, and they meant to keep it to themselves. They +had gone out of everybody else's way, and they did not mean to let +anybody else come into their way. They did not understand the great +truth which Hugh Peters preached to Parliament, "Why," said he, "cannot +Christians differ, and yet be friends? All children should be fed, +though they have different faces and shapes: unity, not uniformity, is +the Christian word." They admitted no such notion as this. They thought +uniformity the only basis of unity. They meant to make and to keep this +a country after their own pattern, a Congregational, Puritan, +Cambridge-[i.69]Platform-man's country. The time has not yet come when +we can lift up clean hands against them. Two successive +chief-magistrates of the United States have opened the door and +signified to one-eighth part of our whole people, that it will be best +for them to walk out. So long as the doctrine is maintained that this +is the white man's country, or any man's, or any class or kind of men's +country, it becomes us to close our lips against denunciation of the +Fathers of New England because they tried to keep the country to +themselves. The sentiment or notion on which they acted, in whatever +form it appears, however high the station from which it emanates, or +however long it lasts in the world, is equally false and detestable in +all its shapes. It is a defiant rebellion against that law which +declares that "all nature's difference is all nature's peace;" that +there can be no harmony without variety of sound, no social unity +without unlimited freedom, and no true liberty where any are deprived +of equal rights; that differences ought to bring men together, rather +than keep them apart; and that the only government that can stand +against the shocks of time, and grow stronger and dearer to all its +people, is one that recognizes no differences of whatever kind among +them. The only consistent or solid foundation on which a republic or a +church can be built, is an absolute level, with no enclosures and no +exclusion. + +Townsend Bishop's grant of three hundred acres was made on the 16th of +January, 1636. When he sold it, Oct. 18, 1641, it appears by the deed, +that there[i.70] were on it edifices, gardens, yards, enclosures, and +meadows. A large force must have been put and kept upon it, from the +first, to have produced such results in so short a time. Orchards had +been planted. The manner in which the grounds were laid out is still +indicated by embankments, with artificial slopes and roadways, which +exhibit the fine taste of the proprietor, and must have required a +large expenditure of money and labor. Although the estate has always +been in the hands of owners competent to take care of it and keep it in +good preservation, none but the original proprietor would have been +likely to have made the outlay apparent on its face, on the plan +adopted. The mansion in which he resided stands to-day. Its front, +facing the south, has apparently been widened, at some remote +intermediate date since its original erection, by a slight extension on +the western end, beyond the porch. It has been otherwise, perhaps, +somewhat altered in the course of time by repairs; but its general +aspect, as exhibited in the frontispiece of this volume, and its +original strongly compacted and imperishable frame, remain. No saw was +used in shaping its timbers; they were all hewn, by the broad-axe, of +the most durable oak: they are massive, and rendered by time as hard to +penetrate almost as iron. The walls and stairway of the cellar, the +entrance to which is seen by the side of the porch, constructed of such +stones as could be gathered on the surface of a new country, bear the +marks of great antiquity. A long, low kitchen, with a stud of +scarcely[i.71] six feet, extended originally the whole length of the +lean-to, on the north side of the house. The rooms of the main house +were of considerably higher stud. The old roadway, the outlines of +which still remain, approached the house from the east, came up to its +north-east corner, wound round its front, and continued from its +north-west corner, on a track still visible, over a brook and through +the apple-orchard planted by Bishop, to the point where the +burial-ground of the village now is; and so on towards the lands then +occupied by Richard Hutchinson, also to the lands afterwards owned by +Nathaniel Ingersol, towards Beaver Dam, and the first settlements in +that direction and to the westward. In general it may be said, that the +structural proportions and internal arrangements of the house, taken in +its relations to the vestiges and indications on the face of the +grounds, show that it is coeval with the first occupancy of the farm. +But we do not depend, in this case, upon conjectural considerations, or +on mere tradition, which, on such a point, is not always reliable. It +happens to be demonstrated, that this is the veritable house built and +occupied by Townsend Bishop, in 1636, by a singular and irrefragable +chain of specific proof. A protracted land suit, hereafter to be +described, gave rise to a great mass of papers, which are preserved in +the files of the county courts and the State Department; among them are +several plots made by surveyors, and adduced in evidence by the +parties. Not only the locality but a diagram of the house, as then +standing, are given.[i.72] The spot on which it stood is shown. +Further, it appears, that in the deeds of transference of the estate, +the homestead is specially described as the house in which Townsend +Bishop lived, called "Bishop's Mansion." This continues to a period +subsequent to the style of its architecture, and within recent +tradition and the memory of the living. In the old Salem Commoner's +records, it is called "Bishop's Cottage," which was the name generally +given to dwelling-houses in those early times. Having, as occasion +required, been seasonably repaired, it is as strong and good a house +to-day as can be found. Its original timbers, if kept dry and well +aired, are beyond decay; and it may stand, a useful, eligible, and +comely residence, through a future as long as the past. It may be +doubted whether any dwelling-house now in use in this country can be +carried back, by any thing like a similar strength of evidence, to an +equal antiquity. Its site, in reference to the surrounding landscape, +was well chosen. Here its hospitable and distinguished first proprietor +lived, in the interims of his public and official service, in peace and +tranquillity, until ferreted out by the intrusive spirit of an +intolerant age. Here he welcomed his neighbors,—Endicott, Downing, +Peters, John Winthrop, Jr., Read, and other kindred spirits.[A] + +[i.73] + +In the course of a mysterious providence, this venerable mansion was +destined to be rendered mem[i.74]orable by its connection with the +darkest scene in our annals. As that scene cannot otherwise be +comprehended in all the elements that led to it, it is necessary to +give the intermediate history of the Townsend Bishop farm and mansion. +In 1641, Bishop sold it to Henry Chickering, who seems to have been +residing for some time in Salem, and to whom, in January, 1640, a grant +of land had been made by the town. He continued to own it until the 4th +of October, 1648; although he does not appear to have resided on the +farm long, as he soon removed to Dedham, from which place he was deputy +to the General Court in 1642, and several years afterwards. He sold the +farm at the above-mentioned date to Governor Endicott for one hundred +and sixty pounds. In 1653, John Endicott, Jr., the eldest son of the +Governor, married Elizabeth, daughter of Jeremiah Houchins, an eminent +citizen of Boston, who had before resided in Hingham, which place he +represented as deputy for six years. The name was pronounced "Houkins," +and so perhaps was finally spelled "Hawkins." By agreement, or +"articles of marriage contract," Endicott bestowed the farm upon his +son. "Present possession" was given. How long, or how much of the time, +the young couple lived on the estate, is not known. Their principal +residence was in Boston. The General Court, in 1660, granted John +Endicott,[i.75] Jr., four hundred acres of land on the eastern side of +the upper part of Merrimac River. After the purchase of the farm from +Chickering, the Endicott property covered nearly a thousand acres in +one tract, extending from the arms of the sea to the centre of the +present village of Tapleyville. On the 10th of May, 1662, the Governor +executed a deed, carrying out the engagements of the marriage contract, +giving to his son John, his heirs, and assigns for ever, the Bishop +farm. Governor Endicott died in 1665. A will was found signed and +sealed by him, dated May 2, 1659, in which, referring to the marriage +gift to John, he bequeathes the aforesaid farm to "him and his heirs," +but does not add, "and assigns." Another item of the will is, "The land +I have bequeathed to my two sons, in one place or another, my will is +that the longest liver of them shall enjoy the whole, except the Lord +send them children to inherit it after them." Unfortunately, there were +no witnesses to the will. It was not allowed in Probate. The matter was +carried up to the General Court; and it was decided Aug. 1, 1665, that +the court "do not approve of the instrument produced in court to be the +last will and testament of the late John Endicott, Esq., governor." In +October of the same year, John Endicott, Jr., petitioned the General +Court to act on the settlement of his father's estate; and the court +directs administration to be granted to "Mrs. Elizabeth Endicott and +her two sons, John and Zerubabel," and that they bring in an inventory +to the next county court at Boston, and[i.76] to dispose of the same as +the law directs. Upon this, the widow of the Governor, and his son +Zerubabel, again appeal to the General Court; and on the 23d of May, +1666, "after a full hearing of all parties concerned in the said +estate, i.e., the said Mrs. Elizabeth Endicott and her two sons, Mr. +John and Mr. Zerubabel Endicott, Mr. Jeremiah Houchin being also +present in court, and respectively presenting their pleas and evidences +in the case," it was finally decided and ordered by the court, that the +provisions of the document purporting to be the will of Governor +Endicott should be carried into effect, with these exceptions: that the +Bishop or Chickering farm shall go to his son John "to him, his heirs +and assigns for ever;" and that Elizabeth, the wife of said son John, +if she should survive her husband, shall enjoy during her life all the +estate of her husband in all the other houses and lands mentioned in +the instrument purporting to be his father's will. The court adjudge +that this must have been "the real intent of the aforesaid John +Endicott, Esq., deceased, who had during his life special favor and +respect for her." They give the widow of the Governor "the goods and +chattels" of the said John Endicott, Esq., her late husband, provided +that, if "she shall die seized to the value of more than eighty pounds +sterling" thereof, the surplus shall be divided between her two sons: +John to have a double portion thereof. Finally, they appoint the widow +sole administratrix, and require her to bring in a true inventory to +the next court for the county of Suffolk, and to pay all debts.[i.77] + +John and his father-in-law had it all their own way. The decision of +the court was perhaps correct, according to legal principles; although +it is not so certain that it was, in all respects, in conformity with +the intent of Governor Endicott. Undoubtedly, as the language of the +deed shows, he had made up his mind to give to his son John and "his +assigns" absolute, full, and final possession of the Bishop farm. But +it seems equally certain, that he meant to have the rest of his landed +estate, including the Orchard Farm and the Ipswich-river farm, go +directly and wholly to the survivor, if either of his sons died without +issue. The facts and dates are as follows: His son John was married in +1653. The Governor's will was made in 1659. It had then become quite +probable that John might not have issue. The will gives him and his +heirs, but not his assigns, the Bishop farm. In the event of his death +without issue, his widow would have her dower and legal life right in +it, but the final heir would be Zerubabel. In 1662, the Governor, who +had, some years before, removed to Boston, where he resided the +remainder of his life, executed a deed, giving to his son John, "his +heirs and assigns," a full and permanent title to the Bishop farm. This +was a variation of the plan for the disposition of his estate as shown +in his will. He probably designed to make a new will, securing to his +natural heirs, so far as his other landed property was concerned, what +he had thus permitted to pass away from them in the Bishop farm; that +is, the full and immediate possession by[i.78] the survivor, if either +of the sons died without issue. It was a favorite idea, almost a sacred +principle, in those days, to have lands go in the natural descent. The +sentiment is quite apparent in the tenor of the Governor's will. When +he deprived, by his deed to John in 1662, Zerubabel's family of the +right to the final possession of the Bishop farm, it can hardly be +doubted that he relied upon the provisions of his will to secure to +them the immediate, complete possession of all his other lands, without +the incumbrance of any claim of dower or otherwise of John's widow. But +the pressure of public duties prevented his duly executing his will, +and putting it into a new shape, in conformity with the circumstances +of the case. The troubles that followed teach the necessity of the +utmost caution and carefulness in that most difficult and most +irremediable of all business transactions,—the attempt to continue the +control of property, after death, by written instruments. + +John Endicott, Jr., died in February, 1668, without issue; leaving his +whole estate to his widow, "her heirs and assigns for ever." His will +is dated Jan. 27, 1668, and was offered to Probate on the 29th of +February, 1668. His widow married, Aug. 31, 1668, the Rev. James Allen, +one of the ministers of the First Church in Boston, whose previous +wife, Hannah Dummer, by whom he received five hundred acres of land, +had died in March, 1668. His Endicott wife died April 5, 1673, leaving +the Townsend-Bishop farm and all her other property to him; and[i.79] +on the 11th of September, of the same year, he married Sarah Hawlins. +By his two preceding wives he received twelve hundred acres of land. +How much he got by the last-mentioned, we have no information. Besides +these matrimonial accumulations, the accounts seem to indicate that he +was rich before. + +It may well be imagined, that it could not have been very agreeable to +the family at the Orchard Farm to see this choice and extensive portion +of their estate, which was within full view from their windows, swept +into the hands of utter strangers in so rapid and extraordinary a +manner, by a series of circumstances most distasteful and provoking. +But this was but the beginning of their trouble. + +On the 29th of April, 1678, Allen sold the Bishop farm to Francis +Nurse, of the town of Salem, for four hundred pounds. Nurse was an +early settler, and, before this purchase, had lived, for some forty +years, "near Skerry's," on the North River, between the main part of +the settlement in the town of Salem and the ferry to Beverly. He is +described as a "tray-maker." The making of these articles, and similar +objects of domestic use, was an important employment in a new country +remote from foreign supply. He appears to have been a very respectable +person, of great stability and energy of character, whose judgment was +much relied on by his neighbors. No one is mentioned more frequently as +umpire to settle disputes, or arbitrator to adjust conflicting claims. +He was often on committees to determine boundaries or estimate[i.80] +valuations, or on local juries to lay out highways and assess damages. +The fact that he was willing to encounter the difficulties connected +with such a heavy transaction as the purchase of the Bishop farm at +such a price at his time of life proves that he had a spirit equal to a +bold undertaking. He was then fifty-eight years of age. His wife +Rebecca was fifty-seven years of age. We shall meet her again. + +They had four sons,—Samuel, John, Francis, and Benjamin; and four +daughters,—Rebecca, married to Thomas Preston, Mary to John Tarbell, +Elizabeth to William Russell, and Sarah, who remained unmarried until +after the death of her mother. With this strong force of stalwart sons +and sons-in-law, and their industrious wives, Francis Nurse took hold +of the farm. The terms of the purchase were so judicious and ingenious, +that they are worthy of being related, and show in what manner +energetic and able-bodied men, even if not possessed of capital, +particularly if they could command an effective co-operation in the +labor of their families, obtained possession of valuable landed +estates. The purchase-money was not required to be paid until the +expiration of twenty-one years. In the mean time, a moderate annual +rent was fixed upon; seven pounds for each of the first twelve years, +and ten pounds for each of the remaining nine years. If, at the end of +the time, the amount stipulated had not been paid, or Nurse should +abandon the undertaking, the property was to relapse to Allen. +Disinterested and suitable men, whose appointment was[i.81] provided +for, were then to estimate the value added to the estate by Nurse +during his occupancy, by the clearing of meadows or erection of +buildings or other permanent improvements, and all of that value over +and above one hundred and fifty pounds was to be paid to him. If any +part of the principal sum should be paid prior to the expiration of +twenty-one years, a proportionate part of the farm was to be relieved +of all obligation to Allen, vest absolutely in Nurse, and be disposable +by him. By these terms, Allen felt authorized to fix a very high price +for the farm, it not being payable until the lapse of a long period of +time. If not paid at all, the property would come back to him, with one +hundred and fifty pounds of value added to it. It was not a bad bargain +for him,—a man of independent means derived from other sources, and so +situated as not to be able to carry on the farm himself. It was a good +investment ahead. To Nurse the terms were most favorable. He did not +have to pay down a dollar at the start. The low rent required enabled +him to apply almost the entire income from the farm to improvements +that would make it more and more productive. Before half the time had +elapsed, a value was created competent to discharge the whole sum due +to Allen. His children severally had good farms within the bounds of +the estate, were able to assume with ease their respective shares of +the obligations of the purchase; and the property was thus fully +secured within the allotted time. Allen gave, at the beginning, a full +deed, in the ordinary form, which[i.82] was recorded in this county. +Nurse gave a duly executed bond, in which the foregoing conditions are +carefully and clearly defined. That was recorded in Suffolk County; and +nothing, perhaps, was known in the neighborhood, at the time or ever +after, of the terms of the transaction. When the success of the +enterprise was fully secured, Nurse conveyed to his children the larger +half of the farm, reserving the homestead and a convenient amount of +land in his own possession. The plan of this division shows great +fairness and judgment, and was entirely satisfactory to them all. They +were required, by the deeds he gave them, to maintain a roadway by +which they could communicate with each other and with the old parental +home. + +Here the venerable couple were living in truly patriarchal style, +occupying the "mansion" of Townsend Bishop, when the witchcraft +delusion occurred. They and their children were all clustered within +the limits of the three-hundred-acre farm. They were one family. The +territory was their own, secured by their united action, and made +commodious, productive, valuable, and beautiful to behold, by their +harmonious, patient, and persevering labor. Each family had a +homestead, and fields and gardens; and children were growing up in +every household. The elder sons and sons-in-law had become men of +influence in the affairs of the church and village. It was a scene of +domestic happiness and prosperity rarely surpassed. The work of life +having been successfully done, it seemed that a peaceful and serene +descent into the vale of years was[i.83] secured to Francis and Rebecca +Nurse. But far otherwise was the allotment of a dark and inscrutable +providence. + +There is some reason to suspect that the prosperity of the Nurses had +awakened envy and jealousy among the neighbors. The very fact that they +were a community of themselves and by themselves, may have operated +prejudicially. To have a man, who, for forty years, had been known, in +the immediate vicinity, as a farmer and mechanic on a small scale, +without any pecuniary means, get possession of such a property, and +spread out his family to such an extent, was inexplicable to all, and +not relished perhaps by some. There seems to have been a disposition to +persist in withholding from him the dignity of a landholder; and, long +after he had distributed his estate among his descendants, it is +mentioned in deeds made by parties that bounded upon it, as "the farm +which Mr. Allen, of Boston, lets to the Nurses." Not knowing probably +any thing about it, they call it, even after Nurse's death, "Mr. +Allen's farm." This, however, was a slight matter. When Allen sold the +farm to Nurse, he bound himself to defend the title; and he was true to +his bond. What was required to be done in this direction may, perhaps, +have exposed the Nurses to animosities which afterwards took terrible +effect against them. + +In granting lands originally, neither the General Court nor the town +exercised sufficient care to define boundaries. There does not appear +to have been any well-arranged system, based upon elaborate, +accurate,[i.84] scientific surveys. Of the dimensions of the area of a +rough, thickly wooded, unfrequented country, the best estimates of the +most practised eyes, and measurements resting on mere exploration or +perambulation, are very unreliable. The consequence was, that, in many +cases, grants were found to overlap each other. This was the case with +the Bishop farm; and soon after Nurse came into possession, and had +begun to operate upon it, a conflict commenced; trespasses were +complained of; suits were instituted; and one of the most memorable and +obstinately contested land-controversies known to our courts took +place. In that controversy Nurse was not formally a principal. The case +was between James Allen and Zerubabel Endicott, or between Allen and +Nathaniel Putnam. + +An inspection of the map, at this point, will enable us to understand +the grounds on which the suit was contested. The Orchard Farm was +granted to Endicott, as has been stated, July 3, 1632, by the General +Court. The grant states the bounds on the south and on the north to be +two rivers; on the east, another river, into which they both flow; and, +on the west, the mainland. Where this western line was to strike the +rivers on the north and south is not specified; but the natural +interpretation would seem to be, in the absence of any thing to the +contrary, that it was to strike them at their respective heads. The +evidence of all persons who were conversant with the premises during +the life of the Governor as connected with the farm was unanimous and +conclusive to[i.85] this point; that is, that he and they always +supposed that the west line was, as drawn on the map, from the head of +one river to the head of the other; that the farm embraced all between +them as far up as the tide set. It was objected, on the other side, +that this made the farm much more than three hundred acres; but as an +offset to that was the fact, that a considerable part of the area was +swamp or marsh, not usually taken into the account in reckoning the +extent of a grant, and the additional fact, that the language of the +General Court in reference to quantity was not precise,—"about" three +hundred acres. At the same date with the grant to Endicott, the General +Court granted two hundred acres to Mr. Skelton, which tract is given on +the map. + +As has been stated, the General Court conferred upon the towns the +exclusive right to dispose of the lands within their limits, March 3, +1635. On the 10th of December of that year, the town of Salem granted +to Robert Cole the tract of three hundred acres subsequently purchased +by Emanuel Downing, which is indicated on the map. On the 11th of +January, 1636, the grant of three hundred acres was made to Townsend +Bishop. Its language is unfortunately obscure in some expressions; but +it is clear, that the tract was to be four hundred rods in length, one +hundred and twenty-four rods in width at the western end, and one +hundred and sixteen rods at the eastern. At the north-east corner it +was to meet the water or brook that separated it from the grant to +Skelton; and it[i.86] was also to "but" upon, or touch, at the eastern +end, the land granted to Endicott by the General Court. After the grant +to Bishop, the town, from time to time, made grants to Stileman of land +north of the Bishop grant. Stileman's grants adjoined Skelton's at the +north-eastern corner of the Bishop farm. That part of Stileman's land +had come into possession of Nathaniel Putnam, and the residue +westwardly, together with the grant to Weston, into the possession of +Hutchinson, Houlton, and Ingersol. Still further west, the town had +made grants to Swinnerton. Their respective locations are given in the +map. The point of difficulty which gave rise to litigation was this: +The Bishop farm was required, by the terms of the grant, to be one +hundred and sixteen rods wide at its eastern end. But there was no room +for it. The requisite width could not be got without encroaching upon +either Putnam or Endicott, or both. As Endicott stood upon an earlier +title than that of Bishop, and from a higher authority, and Putnam upon +a later title from an inferior authority, the court of trials might +have disposed of the matter, at the opening, on that ground, and Putnam +been left to suffer the encroachment. But it did not so decide; and the +case went on. The struggle was between Endicott to push it north, and +thereby save his Orchard Farm, and the land between it and the Bishop +grant, given by the town to his father, called the Governor's Plain, +and Nathaniel Putnam to push it south, and thereby save the land he had +received from his wife's father, Rich[i.87]ard Hutchinson, who had +purchased from Stileman. Allen stood on the defensive against both of +them. The Nurses had nothing to do but to attend to their own business, +carrying on their farming operations up to the limits of their deed, +looking to Allen for redress, if, in the end, the dimensions of their +estate should be curtailed. But, being the occupants, and, until +finally ousted, the owners of the land, if there was any intrusion to +be repelled, or violence to be met, or fighting to be done, they were +the ones to do it. They were equal to the situation. + +After various trials in the courts of law in all possible shapes, the +whole subject was carried up to the General Court, where it was +decided, in conformity with the report of a special commission in May, +1679, substantially in favor of Putnam and Allen. Endicott petitioned +for a new hearing. Another commission was appointed; and their report +was accepted in May, 1682. It was more unfavorable to Endicott than the +previous one. He protested against the judgment of the court in earnest +but respectful language, and petitioned for still another hearing. They +again complied with his request, and appointed a day for once more +examining the case; but, when the day came, Nov. 24, 1683, he was sick +in bed, and the case was settled irrevocably against him. + +The map gives the lines of the Bishop farm as finally settled by the +General Court. It will be noticed, that it is laid directly across the +Governor's Plain, and runs far into the Orchard Farm "up to the +rocks[i.88] near Endicott's dwelling-house," or, as it is otherwise +stated, "within a few rods of Guppy's ditch, near to" the said house. +It may be said to have been a necessity, as the original three hundred +acres of the grant to Townsend Bishop had to be made up. It could not +go north; for Houlton and Ingersol stood upon the Weston grant, and +Hutchinson and Nathaniel Putnam stood upon Stileman's grants, to push +it back. It could not go west or south-west, for there Swinnerton stood +to fend off upon his grants; and there, too, was Nathaniel Putnam, upon +his own grant, and lands he had purchased of another original grantee. +It could not be swung round to the south without jamming up the lands +of Felton and others, or pushing them over the grants, made to Robert +Cole—under which Downing had purchased—and to Thomas Read. All these +parties were combined to force it south-eastwardly over the grounds of +Endicott. Nathaniel Putnam was his most fatal antagonist. He was a man +of remarkable energy, of consummate adroitness, and untiring resources +in such a transaction; and he so managed to press in the bounds of the +Bishop farm, at the north-east, as to gain a valuable strip for +himself. With this strong man against him, acting in combination with +the rich and influential James Allen, minister of the great +metropolitan First Church, and licenser of the press, who brought the +whole power of his clerical and social connections in Boston and +throughout the colony to bear upon the General Court, Zerubabel +Endicott had no chance for justice, and no redress for[i.89] wrong. In +vain he invoked the memory of his father, or of Winthrop, the +grandfather of his wife. His father and both the Winthrops had long +before left the scene: a new generation had risen, and there was none +to help him. + +One would have supposed, that the General Court, which had granted the +Orchard Farm to Governor Endicott, would have felt bound, in +self-respect and in honor, to have protected it against any overlapping +grants subsequently made by an inferior authority. Under the +circumstances of the case, it was its duty to have held the Orchard +Farm intact, and made it up to the satisfaction of Allen and Nurse by a +grant elsewhere, or an equitable compensation in money. It owed so much +to the son of Endicott and the grand-daughter of Winthrop, the first +noble Fathers of the colony. Perhaps the court found its justification +in the phraseology of the deed of conveyance of the Bishop farm from +Governor Endicott to his son John. After reciting or referring to the +original town grant to Bishop, and the deeds from Bishop to Chickering, +and from Chickering to himself, the Governor conveys to his son John +all the houses, &c., and every part and parcel of the land "to the +utmost extent thereof, according as is expressed or included in either +of the forecited deeds, or town grant." It was maintained, and justly, +by Allen, that he held all that was conveyed to John Endicott, Jr. But +the Court had no right to encroach upon the Orchard Farm, which +had[i.90] been granted to the Governor by them prior to all deeds and +to the town grant to Bishop. + +Never did that deep and sagacious observation on the mysteries of human +nature, "Men's judgments are a parcel of their fortunes," receive a +more striking or melancholy illustration than in the case of Zerubabel +Endicott. With his falling fortunes, his judgment and discretion fell +also; his mind, maddened by a sense of wrong, seemed bent upon exposing +itself to new wrongs. Having been broken down by lawsuits, that had +wasted his estate, he seemed to have acquired a blind passion for them. +Having destroyed his peace and embarrassed his affairs in attempts to +resist the adjudications of the Court, he persisted in struggling +against them. He had tried to push the Bishop grant west, over the land +of Nathaniel Putnam in that quarter. The highest tribunal had settled +it against him. But he appeared to be incapable of realizing the fact. +He sent his hired men to cut timber on that land. They worked there +some days, felled a large number of trees, and hewed them into beams +and joists for the frame of a house. One morning, returning to their +work, there was no timber to be found; logs, framework, and all, were +gone. They were carefully piled up a mile away, by the side of Putnam's +dwelling-house, who had sent two teams, one of four oxen, the other of +two oxen and a horse, with an adequate force of men, and in two +loadings had cleaned out the whole. Endicott of course sued him, and of +course was cast. + +When the General Court had consented to give him[i.91] a rehearing of +the case of the Bishop farm, they expressly forbade his making any +"strip" of the land in the mean while. But with the infatuation which +seemed to possess him, and not heeding how fatally it would prejudice +his cause at the impending hearing to violate the order of the Court, +he again sent a gang of men to cut wood on the land in controversy. The +following shows the result:— + +"Hugh Jones, aged 46 years, and Alexius Reinolds, aged 25 years, +testify and say, that we, these deponents, being desired by Mr. +Zerubabel Endicott to cut up some wood, for his winter firewood, +accordingly went with our teams, which had four oxen and a horse; and +there we met with several other teams of our neighbors, which were upon +the same account, that is to say, to help carry up Mr. Endicott some +wood for his winter firewood, and when we had loaded our sleds, Thomas +Preston and John Tarbell came in a violent manner, and hauled the wood +out of our sleds; and Francis Nurse, being present, demanded whose men +we were. Mr. Endicott, being present, answered, they were his men." + +These witnesses testify that this "battle of the wilderness" lasted two +days,—Endicott's men cutting the wood and loading the teams, and +Nurse's men pitching it off. The altercations and conflicts that took +place between the parties during those two days may easily be imagined. +Whether there was a final, decisive pitched battle, we are not +informed. Perhaps there was. The woods rang with rough echoes, we may +be well assured. A lawsuit followed; the result could not be in doubt. +Endicott had no right there;[i.92] he was there in direct violation of +the order of Court. Nurse was in possession, had a right, and was +bound, to keep the land from being stripped. + +Shortly after this, Endicott broke down, under the difficulties that +had accumulated around him. On the 24th of November, 1683, as we have +seen, he was "sick in bed." Two days before,—that is, on the 22d of +November,—he had made his will, which was presented in court on the +27th of March, 1684. He was game to the last; for this is an item of +the will:— + +"Whereas my late father, by his last will, bequeathed to me his farm +called Bishop's or Chickering's farm, I do give the said farm to my +five sons, to be equally divided among them." + +The will of his father had been declared invalid on that point, and +others. The whole thing had been conclusively settled for years; but he +never would recognize the fact. It is a singular instance of an +obstinacy of will completely superseding and suppressing the reason and +the judgment. He lost the perception of the actual and real, in +clinging to what he felt to be the right. + +Every association and sentiment of his soul had been shocked by the +wrongs he had suffered. He could not walk over his fields, or look from +his windows, without feeling that a property which his father had given +to his brother had, in a manner that he knew would have been as odious +to that father as it was to him, passed into the hands of strangers, +and been used as a wedge on which everybody had conspired to deal +blows,[i.93] driving it into the centre of his patrimonial acres, +splitting and rending them through and through. He brooded over the +thought, until, whenever his mind was turned to it, his reason was +dethroned, his heart broken, and under its weight he fell into his +grave. + +An argument addressed by him to the court and jury, in one of the +innumerable trials of the Bishop-farm case, is among the papers on +file. It appears to be a verbatim report of the speech as it was +delivered at the time, and proves him to have been a man of talents. It +is courteous, gentlemanly, and, I might say, scholarly in its diction +and style, skilful in its statements, and forcible in its arguments. + +In all the earlier trials, the juries uniformly gave verdicts in favor +of Endicott; but Allen carried the cases up to the General Court, which +exercised a final and unrestrained jurisdiction in all matters referred +to it. It usually appointed committees or commissioners to examine such +questions, accepted their reports, and made them binding. Lands were +thus disposed of without the agency, and against the decisions, of +juries. In his arguments addressed to the General Court, Zerubabel +Endicott protested against this jurisdiction, by which his lands were +taken from him "by a committee, in an arbitrary way, being neither +bound nor sworn by law or evidence." He boldly denounced it. + +"To be disseized of my inheritance; to be judged by three or four +committee-men, who are neither bound to law nor evidence,—who are, or +may be, mutable in their apprehensions,[i.94] doing one thing to-day, +and soon again undoing what they did,—I conceive, to be judged in such +an arbitrary way is repugnant to the fundamental law of England +contained in Magna Charta, chap. 29, which says no freeman shall be +disseized of his freehold but by the lawful judgment of his peers,—that +is to say, by due process of law; which was also confirmed by the +Petition of Right, by Act of Parliament, _tertio Caroli I_. And also +such arbitrary jurisdiction was exploded in putting down the +Star-Chamber Court; and the excessive fines imposed upon all such +actings. See 'English Liberties,' as also the fourth and sixth articles +against the Earl of Strafford in Baker's 'Chronicle,' folio 518." + +He closes one of his remonstrances thus:— + +"The humble request of your petitioner to the Hon. Gen. Court, that, as +an Englishman,—as a freeman of this jurisdiction; as descended from him +who, in his time, sought the welfare of this commonwealth,—I may have +the benefit and protection of the wholesome laws established in this +jurisdiction: that, in my extreme wrong, I may have liberty to seek +relief in a way of law, and may not, contrary to Magna Charta, be +disseized of my freehold by the arbitrary act of two or three +committee-men; the fundamental law of England knowing no such +constitution, abhorring such administrations: and that the Hon. Court +would release your petitioner from the injurious effects of the said +committee's act, and explode so pernicious a precedent." + +Zerubabel Endicott was an imprudent and obstinate man, but had the +traits of a generous, ardent, and noble character. He was a physician +by profession. His second wife—the widow, as has been stated, of Rev. +Antipas Newman, of Wenham, and daughter of[i.95] John Winthrop, Jr., +governor of Connecticut—survived him. Although he left five sons, the +name, at one time, was borne by a single descendant only, a lad of +seven years of age,—Samuel, a grandson of Zerubabel. On him it hung +suspended, but he saved it. From that boy, those who bear the name in +New England have been derived. We rejoice to believe that they will +preserve it, and keep its honor bright. + +Winthrop was recognized as the great leader in the early history of the +Colony. He had a combination of qualities that marked him as a wise and +good man, and gave him precedence. The eminent dignity of his character +was admired and revered by all. No one was more ready to admit this +than Endicott. Never were men placed towards each other in relations +more severely testing their magnanimity, and none ever bore the test +more perfectly. But Endicott was, after all, the most complete +representative man of that generation. He was thoroughly identified +with the people, participating in their virtues and in their defects. +He was a strict religionist, a sturdy Puritan, a firm administrator of +the law; at the same time, there are indications that he was of a +genial spirit. He was personally brave, and officially intrepid. His +administration of the government required nerve, and he had it. +Sometimes the ardor of his temperament put him for a moment off his +guard; but he was quick to acknowledge his error. He was true to the +people, who never faltered in their fidelity to him. The author of +"Wonder-working Providence" de[i.96]scribed him as "a fit instrument to +begin the wilderness worke, of courage bold undaunted, yet sociable and +of a cheerful spirit." I have presented some instances of his kind and +pleasant relations with his workmen and neighbors. His name will ever +be held in honored remembrance in this vicinity, where his useful +enterprise was appreciated; and his descendants in our day, and to the +present time, have contributed to the prosperity and the adornment of +the community. + +It is not unlikely, that hostile feelings towards the Nurses, which +contributed afterwards to serious results, may have been engendered in +this long-continued land quarrel. There is evidence that no such +feeling existed on the part of the Endicotts: but there were many +others interested; for, by testimony at the trials and in outside +discussions, the whole community had become more or less implicated in +the strife. The Nurses, as holding the ground and having to bear the +brunt of defending it in all cases of intrusion, had a difficult +position, and may have made some enemies. At any rate, this controversy +was one of the means of stirring up animosities in the neighborhood; +and an account of it has been deemed necessary, as contributing to +indicate the elements of the awful convulsions which soon afterwards +desolated Salem Village. + +When we reach the story, for which this account of the farms of the +village and the population that grew up on them is a preparative, we +shall come back to the Townsend-Bishop grant, and to the house, still +standing, that he built and dwelt in, upon it. It may be[i.97] well to +pause, and view its interesting history prior to 1692. While occupied +by its original owner, the "mansion," or "cottage," was the scene of +social intercourse among the choicest spirits of the earliest age of +New England. Here Bishop, and, after him, Chickering, entertained their +friends. Here the fine family of Richard Ingersoll was brought up. Here +Governor Endicott projected plans for opening the country; and the road +that passes its entrance-gate was laid out by him. To this same house, +young John Endicott brought his youthful Boston bride. Here she came +again, fifteen years afterwards, as the bride of the learned and +distinguished James Allen, to show him the farm which, received as a +"marriage gift" from her former husband, she had brought as a "marriage +gift" to him. Here the same Allen, in less than six years afterwards, +brought still another bride. In all these various, and some of them +rather rapid, changes, it was, no doubt, often the resort of +distinguished guests, and the place of meeting of many pleasant +companies. During the protracted years of litigation for its +possession, frequent consultations were held within it; and now, for +twelve years, it had been the home of a happy, harmonious, and +prosperous family, exemplifying the industry, energy, and enterprise of +a New England household. A new chapter was destined, as we shall see, +to be opened in its singular and diversified history. But we must +return to the enumeration of the original landholders of the +village.[i.98] + +George Corwin came to Salem in 1638. He had large tracts of land in +various places. He lived, a part of his time, on his farm in the +village; is found to have taken an active part in the proceedings of +the people, particularly in military affairs; and was captain of a +company of cavalry. His great mercantile transactions probably led him +to have his residence mostly in the town, first on a lot on Washington +Street, near the corner of Norman Street, where his grandson the +sheriff lived in 1692. In 1660, he bought of Ann, the relict of +Nicholas Woodbury, a lot on Essex Street, next east of the Browne +Block, with a front of about one hundred and fifty feet. Here he built +a fine mansion, in which he lived the remainder of his days. He died +Jan. 6, 1685, leaving an estate inventoried at £5,964. 10_s._ 7_d._,—a +large fortune for those times. His portrait is preserved by his +descendants, one of whom, the late George A. Ward, describes his dress +as represented in the picture: "A wrought flowing neckcloth, a sash +covered with lace, a coat with short cuffs and reaching half-way +between the wrist and elbow; the skirts in plaits below; an octagon +ring and cane." The last two articles are still preserved. His +inventory mentions "a silver-laced cloth coat, a velvet ditto, a satin +waistcoat embroidered with gold, a trooping scarf and silver hat-band, +golden-topped and embroidered, and a silver-headed cane." His farms in +the vicinity contained fifteen hundred acres. His connections were +distinguished, and his descendants have included many eminent persons. +The name, by male[i.99] descent, disappeared for a time in this part of +the country; but in the last generation it was restored in the female +descent by an act of the Legislature, and is honorably borne by one of +our most respectable families, who inherit his blood, and cherish the +memorials which time has spared of their first American ancestor. + +William Hathorne appears on the church records as early as 1636. He +died in June, 1681, seventy-four years of age. No one in our annals +fills a larger space. As soldier commanding important and difficult +expeditions, as counsel in cases before the courts, as judge on the +bench, and in innumerable other positions requiring talent and +intelligence, he was constantly called to serve the public. He was +distinguished as a public speaker, and is the only person, I believe, +of that period, whose reputation as an orator has come down to us. He +was an Assistant, that is, in the upper branch of the Legislature, +seventeen years. He was a deputy twenty years. When the deputies, who +before sat with the assistants, were separated into a distinct body, +and the House of Representatives thus came into existence, in 1644, +Hathorne was their first Speaker. He occupied the chair, with +intermediate services on the floor from time to time, until raised to +the other House. He was an inhabitant of Salem Village, having his farm +there, and a dwelling-house, in which he resided when his legislative, +military, and other official duties permitted. His son John, who +succeeded him in all his public honors, also lived on his own farm in +the village[i.100] a great part of the time. The name is indelibly +stamped on the hills and meadows of the region, as it was in the civil +history of that age, and has been in the elegant literature of the +present. + +William Trask was one of what are called the "First Planters." He came +over before Endicott, had his residence on Salem Farms, was a most +energetic, enterprising, and useful citizen, and filled a great variety +of public stations. He brought large tracts of land under culture, +planted orchards, and established mills at the head of tide-water on +the North River. He was the military leader of the first age of the +plantations in this neighborhood, was captain of the train-band from +the beginning, and, by his gallantry and energy in action, commanded +the applause of his contemporaries. For his services in the Pequot +Expedition, the General Court gave him and his associates large grants +of land. His obsequies were celebrated, on the 16th of May, 1666, with +great military parade; and the people of the town and the whole +surrounding country followed his honored remains to the grave. + +Richard Davenport came to Salem in 1631. His first residence was in the +town; but soon he was led to the Farms. In 1636, he received a grant of +eighty acres; in 1638, of two hundred and twenty acres; and, in 1642, +eighty acres more, to be divided between him and Captain Lothrop. +Besides these, he received several smaller grants of meadow and salt +marsh. Such grants were made only with the view of having[i.101] them +duly improved; and it cannot be doubted that he was zealously engaged +in agricultural operations. His town residence was on a lot reaching +from Essex Street to the North River. Its front extended from the +grounds now the site of the North Church to North Street. His house +stood at some distance back from Essex Street. This estate was sold by +his administrators, in 1674, to Jonathan Corwin, whose family occupied +it until a very recent period. He left the town in 1643, and +subsequently lived in what was afterwards Salem Village, until the +public service called him away. He sold some of his estates, but +retained others, on the Farms and in the town, to the time of his +death. He continued the superintendence of his country estate, which +seems to have been his family home, to the last. His military career +gave him early distinction, and closed only with his life. In 1634, the +General Court chose him "Ensign to Capt. Trask." He was concerned with +Endicott in cutting out the cross from the king's colors. The following +is from the record of a meeting of the court, Nov. 7, 1634: "It is +ordered that Ensign Davenport shall be sent for by warrant, with +command to bring his colors with him to the next court, as also any +other that hath defaced the said colors." Davenport did not seem +anxious to cover up his agency in this matter; for, when he offered his +next child to baptism, he signified to the assembly that he was +determined to commemorate and perpetuate the memory of the transaction, +by having her christened "True[i.102] Cross." It was necessary to make +a show of punishing Endicott and Davenport on this occasion, to prevent +trouble from the home government. Soon after, we find the General Court +heaping honors upon Davenport, and finally, in 1639, making him a grant +of one hundred and fifty acres of land, specially noticing his services +in the Pequot War, which appear to have elicited general applause. In +some desperate encounters with the savages, seventeen arrows were shot +"into his coat of mail," and he was wounded in unprotected parts of his +person. He was twice deputy to the General Court. In 1644, the General +Court organized an elaborate system of external defence, the whole +based upon Castle Island, now Fort Independence, in Boston Harbor. From +that point, hostile invasion by a naval force was to be repelled. Every +vessel, on entering, was to report to the castle, be examined and +subject to the orders of the commandant. It became the military +headquarters of the colony, the protection and oversight of whose +commerce were intrusted to the officer in command. This was the highest +military station and trust in the gift of the Government. It was +assigned to Richard Davenport; and he held it for twenty-one years, to +the moment of his death. The country reposed in confidence upon his +watchful fidelity. He put and kept the castle in an efficient +condition. In 1659, as evidence of their satisfaction and approval of +his official conduct, the General Court made him a grant of five +hundred acres of land laid out in Lancaster. On the 15th of July, 1665, +he was killed by[i.103] lightning, at his post. The records of the +General Court speak of "the solemn stroke of thunder that took away +Captain Davenport." The whole country mourned the loss of the veteran +soldier; and the Court granted his family an additional tract of one +hundred acres of land on the Merrimac River. He was in his sixtieth +year at the time of his death. Of the company required to be raised in +Salem for the Block-Island Expedition, in 1636, the three commissioned +officers were furnished from the Farms,—Trask, Davenport, and Read. +They were soldiers by nature and instinct, and to the end. The volleys +of devoted, faithful, and mourning comrades were fired over their +graves, with no great interval of time. United in early service, +separated by the course of their lives, they were united again in +death. + +Thomas Lothrop originally lived in the town, between Collins Cove and +the North River. He became a member of the First Church in Salem, and +was admitted a freeman in 1634. He soon removed to the Farms; and his +name appears among the rate-payers at the formation of the village +parish. For many years he was deputy from Salem to the General Court; +and after Beverly was set off, as his residence at the time was on that +side of the line, he was always in the General Court, as deputy from +the new town, when his other public employments permitted. No man was +ever more identified with the history of the Salem Farms. He +contributed to form the structure of its society, and the character of +its population, by all that[i.104] a wise and good man could do. During +his whole life in America, he was more or less engaged in the military +service, in arduous, difficult, and dangerous positions and operations; +acting sometimes against Indians, and sometimes against the French, or, +as was usually the case, against them both combined. He was +occasionally sent to distant posts; commanding expeditions to the +eastward as far as Acadia. He was at one time in charge of a force at +Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. Increase Mather calls him a +"godly and courageous commander." When the last decisive struggle with +King Philip was approaching, and aid was needed from the eastern part +of the colony to rescue the settlements on the Connecticut River from +utter destruction, the "Flower of Essex" was summoned to the field. It +was a choice body of efficient men, "all culled out of the towns +belonging to this county," numbering about one hundred men. Lothrop, of +course, was their captain. In August, 1675, they were on the ground at +Hadley, the place of rendezvous. On the 26th of that month, Captain +Lothrop, with his company, and Captain Beers, of Watertown, with his, +after a vigorous pursuit, attacked the Indians in a swamp, about ten +miles from Hatfield, at the foot of Sugar-Loaf Hill. Ten were killed on +the side of the English, and twenty-six on the side of the Indians, who +were driven from the swamp, and scattered in their flight; to fall, as +was their custom, upon detached settlements; and continuing to waste +and destroy, by fire and sword, with[i.105] hatchet, scalping-knife, +torch, and gun. On the 18th of September, Lothrop, with his company, +started from Deerfield, to convoy a train of eighteen wagons, loaded +with grain, and furniture of the inhabitants seeking refuge from +danger, with teamsters and others. Moseley, with his men, remained +behind, to scout the woods, and give notice of the approach of Indians; +but the stealthy savages succeeded in effecting a complete surprise, +and fell upon Lothrop as his wagons were crossing a stream. They poured +in a destructive fire from the woods, in all directions. They were +seven to one. A perfect carnage ensued. Lothrop fell early in the +unequal fight, and only seven or eight of his whole party were left to +tell the story of the fatal scene. The locality of this disastrous and +sanguinary tragedy has ever since been known as "Bloody Brook." In the +list of those who perished by bullet, tomahawk, or arrow, on that +fearful morning, we read the names of many village neighbors of the +brave and lamented commander,—Thomas Bayley, Edward Trask, Josiah +Dodge, Peter Woodbury, Joseph Balch, Thomas Buckley, Joseph King, +Robert Wilson, and James Tufts. One of Lothrop's sergeants, who was +among the slain, Thomas Smith, then of Newbury, originated in the +village. His family had grants of land, including the hill called by +their name. + +Captain Lothrop was as remarkable for the benevolence of his spirit and +the tenderness of his nature as for his wisdom in council, energy in +command, or gallantry in battle. Indeed, his character in private +life[i.106] was so beautiful and lovable, that I cannot refrain from +leading you into the recesses of his domestic circle. It presents a +picture of rare attractiveness. He had no children. His wife was a kind +and amiable person. They longed for objects upon which to gratify the +yearnings of their affectionate hearts. He had a large estate. His +character became known to the neighbors and the country people around. +If there was an occurrence calling for commiseration anywhere in the +vicinity, it was managed to bring it to his notice. Orphan children +were received into his household, and brought up with parental care and +tenderness. Many were, in this way, the objects of his charity and +affections. Persons especially, who were in any degree connected with +his wife's family, naturally conceived the desire to have him adopt +their children. This was the case particularly with those who were in +straitened circumstances. Others, knowing his disposition, would bring +tales of distress and destitution to his ears. Some, perhaps, turned +out to be unworthy of his goodness. In one instance, at least, where he +had taken a child into his family in its infancy, touched by appeals +made to his compassion by the parents, brought it up carefully, watched +over its education, and become attached to it, when it had reached an +age to be serviceable, the parents claimed and insisted on their right +to it, and took it away, much against his will. But the good man's +benevolence was not impaired, nor the stream of his affectionate +charities checked, by the misconduct[i.107] or ingratitude of his wards +or of their friends. His plan was to do all the good in his power to +the children thus brought into his family, to prepare them for +usefulness, and start them favorably in life. In the case of boys, he +would get them apprenticed to worthy people in useful callings. At the +time of his death, there were two grown-up members of his family, who +appear to have been foisted upon his care in their earliest childhood. +But there was no blame to be attached to them in the premises; and they +were regarded by him with much affection. There were no relations of +his own in this country in need of charitable aid or without adequate +parental protection; and it was not strange that several of his wife's +connections should have availed themselves of the benefit of his +generous disposition. She herself gives a very interesting account of +an instance of this sort, in a deposition found wrapped up among some +old papers in the county court-house. The object of the statement was +to explain how a connection of hers became domesticated in the family. + +"When the child's mother was dead, my husband being with me at my +cousin's burial, and seeing our friends in so sad a condition, the poor +babe having lost its mother, and the woman that nursed it being fallen +sick, I then did say to some of my friends, that, if my husband would +give me leave, I could be very willing to take my cousin's little one +for a while, till he could better dispose of it; whereupon the child's +father did move it to my husband. My dear husband, considering my +weakness, and the incumbrance I had in the family,[i.108] was pleased +to return this answer,—that he did not see how it was possible for his +wife to undergo such a burden. The next day there came a friend to our +house, a woman which gave suck, and she understanding how the poor babe +was left, being intreated, was willing to take it to nurse, and +forthwith it was brought to her: but it had not been with her three +weeks before it pleased the Lord to visit that nurse with sickness +also; and the nurse's mother came to me desiring I would take the child +from her daughter, and then my dear husband, observing the providence +of God, was freely willing to receive her into his house." + +At the time when this addition was made to his family, there was +certainly already in it another of his wife's connections, who had been +brought there when an infant in a manner perhaps equally singular, and +who had grown up to maturity. The particular "incumbrance," however, +spoken of by her, related to another matter. She was an only daughter. +Her father had died many years before, at quite an advanced age. Her +mother, who was sickly and infirm as well as aged, was taken +immediately into her family, and remained under her roof until her +death. In her weak and helpless condition, much care and exertion were +thrown upon her daughter. The only objection the captain seemed to have +to increasing the burden of the household, by receiving into it this +additional child with its nurse, resulted from conjugal tenderness and +considerateness. It must be confessed that there are some indications +of well-arranged management in the foregoing account. The friend who +happened to[i.109] call at the house the "next day," and who was able +to supply what the "poor babe" needed, certainly came very opportunely; +and there was altogether a remarkable concurrence and sequence of +circumstances. But all that he saw was a case of suffering, helpless +innocence, and an opportunity for benevolence and charity; and in +these, with a true theology, he read "a providence of God." That child +continued, to the hour when he took his last farewell of his family, +beneath his roof, and was an object of affectionate care, and in her +amiable qualities a source of happiness to him and his good wife. It is +stated that the children, thus from time to time domesticated in the +family, called him father, and that he addressed them as his children. +While they were infants, he was "a tender nursing father" to them. When +fondling them in his arms, in the presence of his wife, he would +solemnly take notice of the providence of God that had "disposed of +them from one place to another" until they had been brought to him; and +"would present them in his desires to God, and implore a blessing upon +them." + +The picture presented in the foregoing details is worth rescuing from +oblivion. Such instances of actual life, exhibited in the most private +spheres, constitute a branch of history more valuable, in some +respects, than the public acts of official dignitaries. History has +been too exclusively confined, in its materials, to the movements of +states and of armies. It ought to paint the portraits of individual men +and[i.110] women in their common lives; it ought to lead us into the +interior of society, and introduce us to the family circles and home +experiences of the past. It cannot but do us good to know Thomas +Lothrop, not only as an early counsellor among the legislators of the +colony, and as having immortalized by his blood a memorable field of +battle and slaughter, but as the centre of a happy and virtuous +household on a New England farm. He made that home happy by his +benignant virtue. Although denied the blessing of children of his own, +his fireside was enlivened with the prattle and gayeties of the young. +Joy and hope and growth were within his walls. He was not a parent; but +his heart was kept warm with parental affections. He had a home where +dear ones waited for him, and rushed out to meet and cling round him +with loving arms, and welcome him with merry voices, when he returned +from the sessions of the General Court, or from campaigns against the +French and Indians. + +Besides these offices of beneficence in the domestic sphere, we find +traces, in the local records, of constant usefulness and kindness among +his rural neighbors. He was called, on all occasions, to advise and +assist. As a judicious friend, he was relied upon and sought at the +bedside of the sick and dying, and in families bereaved of their head. +His name appears as a witness to wills, appraiser of estates, trustee +and guardian of the young. He was the friend of all. I know not where +to find a more perfect union of the hero and[i.111] the Christian; of +all that is manly and chivalrous with all that is tender, benevolent, +and devout. + +Somewhere about the year 1650, after he had been married a considerable +time, he revisited his native country. A sister, Ellen, had, in the +mean while, grown up from early childhood; and he found her all that a +fond brother could have hoped for. With much persuasion, he besought +his mother to allow her to return with him to America. He stated that +he had no children; that he would be a father to her, and watch over +and care for her as for his own child. At length the mother yielded, +and committed her daughter to his custody, not without great +reluctance, trusting to his fraternal affection and plighted promise. +He brought her over with him to his American home. She was worthy of +his love, and he was true to his sacred and precious trust. + +Ellen Lothrop became the wife of Ezekiel Cheever, the great +schoolmaster; and I should consider myself false to all good learning, +if I allowed the name of this famous old man to slip by, without +pausing to pay homage to it. His record, as a teacher of a Latin +Grammar School, is unrivalled. Twelve years at New Haven, eleven at +Ipswich, nine at Charlestown, and more than thirty-eight at +Boston,—more than seventy in all,—may it not be safely said that he was +one of the very greatest benefactors of America? With Elijah Corlett, +who taught a similar school at Cambridge for more than forty years, he +bridged over the wide chasm between the education brought with +them[i.112] by the fathers from the old country, and the education that +was reared in the new. They fed and kept alive the lamp of learning +through the dark age of our history. All the scholars raised here were +trained by them. One of Cotton Mather's most characteristic productions +is the tribute to his venerated master. It flows from a heart warm with +gratitude. "Although he had usefully spent his life among children, yet +he was not become twice a child," but held his faculties to the last. +"In this great work of bringing our sons to be men, he was my master +seven and thirty years ago, was master to my betters no less than +seventy years ago; so long ago, that I must even mention my father's +tutor for one of them. He was a Christian of the old fashion,—an old +New England Christian; and I may tell you, that was as venerable a +sight, as the world, since the days of primitive Christianity, has ever +looked upon. He lived, as a master, the term which has been, for above +three thousand years, assigned for the life of a man." Mather +celebrated his praises in a poetical effusion:— + +"He lived, and to vast age no illness knew, +Till Time's scythe, waiting for him, rusty grew. +He lived and wrought; his labors were immense, +But ne'er declined to preterperfect tense. + +* * * * * + +'Tis Corlett's pains, and Cheever's, we must own, +That thou, New England, art not Scythia grown." + +To our early schoolmasters, as Mather says, and the later too, I may +add, it is owing, that the whole country did not become another +Scythia.[i.113] + +Ezekiel Cheever was in this country as early as 1637. He was then in +New Haven, sharing in the work of the first settlement of that colony, +teaching school as his ordinary employment, but sometimes preaching, +and in other ways helping to lay the foundations of church and +commonwealth. While there, he had a family of several children. The +first-born, Samuel, became the minister of Marblehead. In 1650, he was +keeping a school at Ipswich. About this time, he lost his wife. On the +18th of November, 1652, he married Ellen, the sister whom Captain +Lothrop had brought with him from England. They had several children; +one of them, Thomas, was ordained first at Malden, and afterwards at +Chelsea. The old schoolmaster died on the 21st of August, 1708, aged +ninety-three years and seven months. His son Thomas reached the same +age. Samuel, the minister at Marblehead, was eighty-five years old at +his death. The name of Ezekiel, jr., appears on the rate-list of the +village parish as late as 1731, so that he must have reached the age of +at least seventy-seven years. + +The antiquarians have been sorely perplexed in determining the +relationship of the Cheevers and Reas, as they appear to be connected +together as heirs of the Lothrop property, in an order of the General +Court of the 11th of June, 1681. + +The facts are these: Captain Lothrop married Bethia, daughter of Daniel +Rea. He died without issue, and had made no will. As he was killed in +battle, his widow undertook to set up a nuncupative[i.114] will. A +snow-storm, on the day appointed to act upon the matter, so blocked up +the roads, that neither Ezekiel Cheever nor his son Thomas, who had +charge of his mother's rights, could get to Salem; and the court +granted administration to the widow. The Cheevers demanded a rehearing: +it was granted; and quite an interesting and pertinacious law-suit +arose, which was finally carried up to the General Court, who decided +it in 1681. The widow does not appear to have been actuated by merely +selfish motives, but sought to divert a portion of the landed estate +from the only legal heir, Ellen, the wife of Ezekiel Cheever, to other +parties, in favor of whom her feelings were much enlisted. There is no +indication of any unfriendliness between her and her "sister Cheever." + +Lothrop's wife had become much attached to one of her connections, who +had been brought into the family. Her husband, having been fond of +children, had often expressed great affection for those of her brother, +Joshua Rea. He had also sometimes, in expressing his interest in the +Beverly Church, evinced a disposition to leave to it "his ten acre lot +and his house upon the same," as a parsonage. Perhaps, if he had not +been suddenly called away, he might have done something, particularly +for the latter object. It appeared in evidence, from her statements and +from others, that he had been importuned to make a will, and that it +was much on his mind, particularly when recovering from a long and +dangerous sickness the winter before his death; but he never could +be[i.115] brought to do it. There was no evidence that he had ever +absolutely determined on any thing positively or specifically. His +widow, who seems to have been a perfectly honest and truthful woman, +testified to a conversation that passed between them on the subject, as +they were riding "together towards Wenham, the last spring, in the week +before the Court of election." In passing by particular pieces of +property owned by him, he indulged in some speculations as to what +disposal he should make of this or that pasture or plain or woodland. +But she did not represent that his expressions were absolute and +determinate, but rather indicative of the then inclination of his mind. +In another part of her statement, she said, "I did desire him to make +his will, which, when he was sick, I did more than once or twice; and +his answer to me was, that he did look upon it as that which was very +requisite and fit should be done. But, dear wife, thou hast no cause to +be troubled; if I should die and not make a will, it would be never the +worse for thee; thyself would have the more." It is not difficult to +understand the case as it probably stood in the mind of Captain +Lothrop. Whenever the subject of making a will, and doing kind things +for the Beverly parish, and the individuals in whose behalf his wife +was so anxious, was brought up, he felt the force, as he expressed it, +"of the duty which God required of a master of a family to set his +house in order;" and he was no doubt strongly moved, and sometimes +almost resolved, to gratify her wishes: but he remembered the[i.116] +solemn promise he had made to his mother, as he parted from her for +ever, and received his sister from her hands, and every sentiment of +honor, and of filial and fraternal love, restrained him; and his mind +settled into a conviction that it was his duty to allow his sister the +benefit of the final inheritance of his property. As the particular +persons to whom his wife wished him to make bequests were her +relatives, and the law would give her an ample allowance in the use, +for life, of his large landed property, she would be able to provide +for them after his death, as he had been in the habit of doing. + +The General Court took a just view of the case, and decided that she +should have the whole movable estate for her own "use and dispose," and +the "use and benefit" for life of the houses and lands, "making no +strip nor waste;" after her death, the same to go to Ellen, the wife of +Ezekiel Cheever. The widow was to pay all debts due from the estate, +and also twenty pounds to the children of her brother, Joshua Rea. The +Court seemed to think, that, if any expectations had been excited in +that quarter, she was fully as responsible for it as her late husband; +and, as the Cheevers were to get nothing, while she lived, out of the +estate, the Court required her to pay the sum just named to her nephews +and nieces. They ordered Ezekiel Cheever to pay five pounds as costs +for their hearing the case, which he did on the spot. + +It may be mentioned, by the way, that the widow of Captain Lothrop was +married again within eight[i.117] months of his death; but that was +quite usual in those days. She and her new husband concluded that it +would be troublesome to take care of Captain Lothrop's several farms. +They preferred to live in the town. She was probably over sixty years +of age. The conclusion of the whole matter was, that, in consideration +of sixty pounds paid down, they surrendered all claim whatever to the +"houseing and lands" left by Captain Lothrop, to Cheever and his wife. +They conveyed them "free and clear of and from all debts owing from the +estate of said Lothrop, and gifts or bequests pretended to be made by +him, or by any ways or means to be had, claimed, or challenged +therefrom by any person or persons whomsoever." The relict of Captain +Lothrop died in 1688. + +Ezekiel Cheever and his wife, having thus become possessed of all her +brother's real estate, conveyed the lands belonging to it in Salem +Village to their son, Ezekiel Cheever, Jr. He had, for some years, been +living in the town of Salem, carrying on the business of a tailor. He +was a member of the First Church, and appears to have been a +respectable person. His dwelling-house stood on the lot in Washington +Street occupied by the late Robert Brookhouse. He sold it to the Rev. +Nicholas Noyes, on the 14th of April, 1684, removed to the village, +took possession of the Lothrop farm, and was there in time to bear a +share in the witchcraft delusion. + +In 1636, a grant of land was made to Thomas Gardner of one hundred +acres. He came to this[i.118] country as early as 1624, and resided at +Cape Ann. Subsequently he removed to Salem, and, with his wife, was +admitted to the church. He was deputy to the General Court in 1637. His +grant was in the western part of the township, and embraced land +included within the limits of Salem Village. The name still remains on +the same territory. His sons became proprietors of several additional +tracts in the neighborhood. One of them, Joseph, is connected, in the +most conspicuous and interesting manner, with our military history. + +The destruction of Captain Lothrop and his company, on the 18th of +September, filled the country with grief and consternation; and, as the +year 1675 drew towards a close, the conviction became general, that the +crisis of the fate of the colonies was near at hand. The Indians were +carrying all before them. Philip was spreading conflagration, +devastation, and slaughter around the borders, and striking sudden and +deadly blows into the heart of the country. It was evident that he was +consolidating the Indian power into irresistible strength. Among papers +on file in the State House is a letter addressed to the governor and +council, dated at Mendon, Oct. 1, 1675, from Lieutenant Phinehas Upham, +of Malden. In command of a company, acting under Captain Gorham of +Barnstable, who had also a company of his own, he had been on a scout +for Indians beyond Mendon, which was a frontier town. Their route had +been over a sweep of territory then an almost un[i.119]broken +wilderness, embracing the present sites of Grafton, Worcester, Oxford, +and Dudley. The result of the exploration is thus given: "Now, seeing +that in all our marches we find no Indians, we verily think that they +are drawn together into great bodies far remote from these parts." From +other scouting parties, it became evident that this opinion was +correct, and that the Indians were collecting stores and assembling +their warriors somewhere, to fall upon the colonies at the first +opening of spring. Further information made it certain, that their +place of gathering was in the Narragansett country, in the +south-westerly part of the colony of Rhode Island. There was no +alternative but, as a last effort, to strike the enemy at that point, +with the utmost available force. A thousand men were raised, 527 by +Massachusetts, 315 by Connecticut, and 158 by Plymouth. Massachusetts +organized a company of cavalry and six companies of foot soldiers, +Connecticut five and Plymouth two companies of foot. All were placed +under the command of Governor Winslow, of Plymouth. The winter had set +in earlier than usual; much snow had fallen, and the weather was +extremely cold. The seven companies of Massachusetts, under the command +of Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, started on their march, Dec. 10. +On the evening of the 12th, having effected a junction with the +Plymouth companies, they reached the rendezvous, on the north side of +Wickford Hill, in North Kingston, R.I. On the 13th, Winslow commenced +his move upon the enemy. On the 18th,[i.120] the Connecticut troops +joined him. His army was complete; the enemy was known to be near, and +all haste made to reach him. The snow was deep. The Narragansetts were +intrenched on a somewhat elevated piece of ground of five or six acres +in area, surrounded by a swamp, within the limits of the present town +of South Kingston. The Indian camp was strongly fortified by a double +row of palisades, about a rod apart, and also by a thick hedge. There +was but a single entrance known to our troops, which could only be +reached, one at a time, over a slanting log or felled tree, slippery +from frost and falling snow, about six feet above a ditch. There were +other passages, known only to the Indians, by which they could steal +out, a few at a time, and get a shot at our people in the flank and +rear. Many of our men were cut off in this way. The allied forces had +expected to pass the night, previous to reaching the hostile camp, at a +garrison about fifteen miles distant from that point; but the Indians +had destroyed the buildings, and slaughtered the occupants, seventeen +in number, two days before. Here the troops passed the night, +unsheltered from the bitter weather. The next day, Dec. 19, was Sunday; +but their provisions were exhausted, and the supply they had expected +to find had been destroyed with the garrison-house. There could be no +delay. They recommenced their march, at half-past five o'clock in the +morning, through the deep snow, which continued falling all day, and +reached the borders of what was described, by a[i.121] writer well +acquainted with it, as "a hideous swamp." Fortunately, the early and +long-continued extreme cold weather of that winter had rendered it more +passable than it otherwise would have been. But the ground was rough, +and very difficult to traverse. They were chilled and worn by their +long march, following winding paths through thick woods, across +gullies, and over hills and fields. It was between one and two o'clock +in the afternoon, and the short winter day was wearing away. Winslow +saw the position at a glance, and, by the promptness of his decision, +proved himself a great captain. He ordered an instant assault. The +Massachusetts troops were in the van; the Plymouth, with the +commander-in-chief, in the centre; the Connecticut, in the rear. The +Indians had erected a block-house near the entrance, filled with +sharp-shooters, who also lined the palisades. The men rushed on, +although it was into the jaws of death, under an unerring fire. The +block-house told them where the entrance was. The companies of Moseley +and Davenport led the way. Moseley succeeded in passing through. +Davenport fell beneath three fatal shots, just within the entrance. +Isaac Johnson, captain of the Roxbury company, was killed while on the +log. But death had no terrors to that army. The centre and rear +divisions pressed up to support the front and fill the gaps; and all +equally shared the glory of the hour. Enough survived the terrible +passage to bring the Indians to a hand-to-hand fight within the fort. +After a desperate struggle of nearly three hours, the[i.122] savages +were driven from their stronghold; and, with the setting of that sun, +their power was broken. Philip's fortunes had received a decided +overthrow, and the colonies were saved. In all military history, there +is not a more daring exploit. Never, on any field, has more heroic +prowess been displayed. By the best computations, the Indian loss was +at least one thousand, including the large numbers who perished from +cold, as they scattered in their flight without shelter, food, or place +of refuge. Of the colonial force, over eighty were killed, and one +hundred and fifty wounded. Three of the Massachusetts captains—Johnson, +Gardner, and Davenport—were killed on the spot. Three of the +Connecticut captains—John Gallop, Samuel Marshall, and Robert +Seely—also fell in the fight. Captain William Bradford, of Plymouth, +was wounded by a musket-ball, which he carried in his body to his +grave. Captain John Gorham, also of the Plymouth colony, was shortly +after carried off by a fever, occasioned by the over-exhaustion of the +march and the battle. Lieutenant Phinehas Upham, of Johnson's company, +was mortally wounded. Great value appears to have been attached to the +services of this officer. In the hurried preparation for the campaign, +Captain Johnson had nominated his brother as his lieutenant. The +General Court overruled the appointment. Johnson cheerfully acquiesced, +and, in a paper addressed to the Court, assured them that he "most +readily submitted to their choice of Lieutenant Upham." This single +passage is an imperishable eulo[i.123]gium upon the characters of the +two brave men who gave their lives to the country on that fatal but +glorious day. + +Captain Gardner's company was raised in this neighborhood. Joseph +Peirce and Samuel Pikeworth of Salem, and Mark Bachelder of Wenham, +were killed before entering the fort. Abraham Switchell of Marblehead, +Joseph Soames of Cape Ann, and Robert Andrews of Topsfield, were killed +at the fort. Charles Knight, Thomas Flint, and Joseph Houlton, Jr., of +Salem Village; Nicholas Hakins and John Farrington, of Lynn; Robert +Cox, of Marblehead; Eben Baker and Joseph Abbot, of Andover; Edward +Harding, of Cape Ann; and Christopher Read, of Beverly,—were wounded. +An account of the death of Captain Gardner, in detail, has been +preserved. The famous warrior, and final conqueror of King Philip, +Benjamin Church, was in the fight as a volunteer, rendered efficient +service, and was wounded. His "History of King Philip's War" is +reprinted, by John Kimball Wiggin, as one of his series of elegant +editions of rare and valuable early colonial publications entitled +"Library of New England History." In the second number, Part I. of +Church's history is edited by Henry Martyn Dexter. Church's account of +what came within his observation in this fight, with the notes of the +learned editor, is the most valuable source of information we have in +reference to it. He says, that, in the heat of the battle, he came +across Gardner, "amidst the wigwams in the east end of the fort,[i.124] +making towards him; but, on a sudden, while they were looking each +other in the face, Captain Gardner settled down." He instantly went to +him. The blood was running over his cheek. Church lifted up his cap, +calling him by name. "Gardner looked up in his face, but spoke not a +word, being mortally shot through the head." The widow of Captain +Gardner (Ann, sister of Sir George Downing) became the successor of Ann +Dudley, the celebrated poetess of her day, by marrying Governor +Bradstreet, in 1680. She died in 1713. + +There is a curious parallelism between the first and the last great +victory over the Indian power in the history of America. An interval of +one hundred and sixty one years separates them. On the 19th of +December, 1836,—the anniversary of the day when Winslow stormed the +Narragansett fort,—Colonel Taylor received his orders to pursue the +Florida Indians. It was a last attempt to subdue them. They had long +baffled and defied the whole power of the United States. Every general +in the army had laid down his laurels in inglorious and utter failure. +He started on the 20th, with an army of about one thousand men. On the +25th, he found himself on the edge of a swamp, impassable by artillery +or horses. On the opposite side were the Indian warriors, ready to deal +destruction, if he should attempt to cross the swamp. He had the same +question to decide which Winslow had; and he decided it in the same +way, with equal promptness. The struggle lasted about the same time; +and[i.125] the loss, in proportion to the numbers engaged, was about +the same. The results were alike permanently decisive. Okee-cho-bee +stands by the side of Narragansett, and the names of Josiah Winslow and +Zachary Taylor are imperishably inscribed together on the tablets of +military glory. + +Dr. Palfrey says that Captain Nathaniel Davenport was a son of +"Davenport of the Pequot War." He was born in Salem, and brought up in +the village. His name, with those of his brave father, and his +associate in youth and in death Joseph Gardner, belongs to our local +annals. They were both the idols of their men. Davenport was dressed, +when he fell, in a "full buff suit," and was probably thought by the +Indians to be the commander-in-chief. On receiving his triple wound, he +called his lieutenant, Edward Tyng, to him, gave him his gun in charge, +delivered over to him the command of his company, and died. + +There has been some uncertainty on the point whether Nathaniel +Davenport was a son of Richard, the commandant at the castle. The fact +that he was associated with William Stoughton, and Stephen Minot whose +wife was a daughter of Richard Davenport, as an administrator of the +estate of the latter, has been regarded as rendering it probable. Dr. +Palfrey's unhesitating statement to that effect is, of itself, enough +to settle the question. There is, moreover, a document on file which +proves that he is correct. Nathaniel's widow had some difficulty in +settling his estate, and applied to the General Court for its +interposition.[i.126] Quite a mass of papers belong to the case. Among +them is a bill of expenses incurred by her in connection with his +funeral charges, such as, "twenty-one rings to relatives," and to those +"who took care to bring him off slain, eight pounds;" and "for mourning +for my mother Davenport, sisters Minot and Elliot, and myself, sixteen +pounds." This latter item is decisive, as we know that two of Richard +Davenport's daughters married persons of those names. It is a +circumstance of singular interest, as showing by how slight an +accident—for it is a mere accident—important questions of history are +sometimes determinable. This item, so far as I have been able to find, +is the only absolute evidence we have to the point that Richard was the +father of Nathaniel Davenport; and it would not have been in existence, +had not questions arisen in the settlement of the estate of the latter +requiring the action of the General Court. The record of baptisms in +the First Church at Salem, prior to 1636, is lost. The names of Richard +Davenport's children, baptized subsequent to that date, are in the +records of the Salem or Boston churches. As Nathaniel is understood to +have been one of the earliest born, the record of his baptism was +probably in the lost part of the Salem book. + +It may be thought surprising, that so little appears to have been known +concerning an officer of his rank and parentage, and whose death has +rendered his name so memorable. To account for it, I must recur to the +history of the Narragansett expedition. No military organization was +ever more rapidly effected, or more[i.127] thoroughly and promptly +executed its work. The commissioners of the three united colonies were +satisfied that the Indian rendezvous at Narragansett, where their +forces and stores were being collected and their resources +concentrated, must be struck at without a moment's delay; that the blow +must be swift and decisive; that it must be struck then, in the depth +of winter; that, if deferred to the spring, all would be lost; that, if +the Indian power was allowed to remain and to gather strength until the +next season, nothing could save the settlements from destruction. Early +in November, they formed their plan, and put the machinery for +summoning all their utmost resources into instant action. On the 30th +of November, the officers appointed for the purpose made return, that +they had impressed the required number in the several counties and +towns, fitted them out with arms, ammunition, clothes, and all +necessary equipments; that the men were on the ground, ready to go +forward. There was no time for recruiting, or raising bounties, or +substitute brokerage; no time for electioneering to get commissions. +The rank and file were ready: they had been brought in by a process +that gave no time for canvassing for offices. A summons had been left +at the house of every drafted man, to report himself the next morning. +If any one failed to appear, some other member of the family, brother +or father, had to take his place. The organizing and officering of this +force must be done instanter. All depended upon suitable officers being +selected. A company was wait[i.128]ing at Boston for a captain, and a +captain must be found. Some one in authority happened to think of +Nathaniel Davenport. His childhood and youth had been passed at Salem +Village and on Castle Island: on reaching maturity, he had removed to +New York, and been there for years in commercial pursuits. A short time +before, he had returned to Boston, and engaged in business there. His +father had been dead since 1665, and not many persons knew him,—only, +perhaps, a few of his early associates, and the old friends of his +father: but they knew, that, from his birth to his manhood, he had +breathed a military atmosphere,—was a soldier, by inheritance, of the +school of Lothrop, Read, and Trask; and it was determined at once to +hunt him up. He was serving at Court; taken out of the jury-box in a +pending trial; and placed at the head of the company. The accurate +historian of Boston, Samuel G. Drake, says, "Captain Davenport's men +were extremely grieved at the death of their leader; he having, by his +courteous carriage, much attached them to himself, although he was a +stranger to most of them when he was appointed their captain. On which +occasion he made 'a very civil speech,' and allowed them to choose +their sergeants themselves." He had no time to settle his accounts, +arrange his affairs, or confer with any one, but led his company at +once to the rendezvous. These circumstances, perhaps, partially explain +why so little seems to have been known of him in Boston, or to local +writers.[i.129] + +Besides Captains Gardner and Davenport and the men whose names have +been mentioned as killed or wounded, there were in the Narragansett +fight the following from Salem Village and its farming neighborhood: +John Dodge, William Dodge, William Raymond, Thomas Raymond, John +Raymond, Joseph Herrick, Thomas Putnam, Jr., Thomas Abbey, Robert +Leach, and Peter Prescott. There may have been others: no full roll is +on record. The foregoing are gathered from partial returns +miscellaneously collected in the files at the State House. The Dodges +(sometimes the name is written Dodds, which appears, I think, to have +been its original form), and the Raymonds (sometimes written Rayment), +were, from the first, conspicuous in military affairs. A few words +explanatory of their relation to the village may be here properly +given. + +On the 25th of January, 1635, the town of Salem voted to William Trask, +John Woodbury, Roger Conant, Peter Palfrey, and John Balch, a tract of +land, as follows: "Two hundred acres apiece together lying, being at +the head of Bass River, one hundred and twenty-four poles in breadth, +and so running northerly to the river by the great pond side, and so in +breadth, making up the full quantity of a thousand acres." These men +were original settlers, having been in the country for some time before +Endicott's arrival. This circumstance gave to them and others the +distinguishing title of "old planters." The grant of a thousand acres, +comprising the five farms above mentioned, was always known as "the Old +Planters' Farms." The[i.130] first proprietors of them, and their +immediate successors, appear to have arranged and managed them in +concert,—to have had homesteads near together between the head of Bass +River and the neighborhood of the "horse bridge," where the +meeting-house of the Second Congregational Society of Beverly, or of +the "Precinct of Salem and Beverly" now stands. Their woodlands and +pasture lands were further to the north and east. An inspection of the +map will give an idea of the general locality of the "Old Planters' +Farms" in the aggregate—above the head of Bass River, extending +northerly towards "the river," as the Ipswich River was called, and +easterly to the "great pond," that is, Wenham Lake. Conant, Woodbury, +and Balch occupied their lands at once. I have stated how Trask's +portion of the grant went into the hands of Scruggs, and then of John +Raymond. Palfrey is thought never to have occupied his portion. He sold +it to William Dodge, the founder of the family of that name, known by +way of eminence as "Farmer Dodge," whose wife was a daughter of Conant. +A portion of the grant assigned to Conant was sold by one of his +descendants to John Chipman, who, on the 28th of December, 1715, was +ordained as the first minister of the "Second Beverly Society." He was +the grandfather of Ward Chipman, Judge of the Supreme Court, and for +some time President, of the Province of New Brunswick, and whose son of +the same name was chief-justice of that court. He was also grandfather +of the wife of the great merchant, William Gray,[i.131] whose family +has contributed such invaluable service to the literature, legislation, +judicial learning, and general welfare of the country. The Rev. Mr. +Chipman was the ancestor of many other distinguished persons. The house +in which he lived is still standing, near the site of the church in +which he preached. It is occupied by his descendants, bearing his name, +and, although much time-worn, has the marks of having been a structure +of a very superior order for that day. The venerable mansion stands +back from the road, on a smooth and beautiful lawn, bordered by a solid +stone wall of even lines and surfaces. In these respects it well +compares with any country residence upon which taste, skill, and wealth +have, in more recent times, been bestowed. + +The dividing line between Beverly and Salem Village, as seen on the +map, finally agreed upon in 1703, ran through the "Old Planters' +Farms," particularly the portions belonging to the Dodges, Raymonds, +and Woodbury. It went through "Captain John Dodge's dwelling-house, six +foot to the eastward of his brick chimney as it now stands." At the +time of the witchcraft delusion, the Raymonds and Dodges mostly +belonged to the Salem Village parish and church. They continued on the +rate-list, and connected with the proceedings entered on the +record-books, until the meeting-house at the "horse bridge" was opened +for worship, in 1715, when they transferred their relations to the +"Precinct of Salem and Beverly." + +When Sir William Phipps got up his expedition[i.132] against Quebec, in +1690, William Raymond raised a company from the neighborhood; and so +deep was the impression made upon the public mind by his ability and +courage, and so long did it remain in vivid remembrance, that, in 1735, +the General Court granted a township of land, six miles square, "to +Captain William Raymond, and the officers and soldiers" under his +command, and "to their heirs," for their distinguished services in the +"Canada Expedition." The grant was laid out on the Merrimack, but, +being found within the bounds of New Hampshire, a tract of equivalent +value was substituted for it on the Saco River. Among the men who +served in this expedition was Eleazer, a son of Captain John Putnam, +who afterwards, for many years, was one of the deacons of the Salem +Village Church. + +The short, rapid, sharp, and sanguinary campaign against the +Narragansetts seems to have tried to the utmost, not only the courage +and spirit of the men, but the powers of human endurance. The +constitutions of many were permanently impaired. As much fatigue and +suffering were crowded into that short month as the physical forces of +strong men could bear. We find such entries as this in the +town-books:—"Salem, 1683. Samuel Beadle, who lost his health in the +Narragansett Expedition, is allowed to take the place of Mr. Stephens +as an innkeeper." A petition, dated in 1685, is among the papers in the +State House, signed by men from Lynn, the Village, Beverly, Reading, +and Hingham, praying for a grant of land, for[i.133] their services and +sufferings in that expedition. The petition was granted. The following +extract from it tells the story: "We think we have reason to fear our +days may be much shortened by our hard service in the war, from the +pains and aches of our bodies, that we feel in our bones and sinews, +and lameness thereby taking hold of us much, especially in the spring +and fall." + +While there is "reason to fear" that the days of many were shortened, +there were some so tough as to survive the strain, and bid defiance to +aches and pains, and almost to time itself. In a list of fourteen who +went from Beverly, six, including Thomas Raymond and Lott, a descendant +of Roger Conant, were alive in 1735! + +The grants of land made to these gallant men and their heirs amounted +in all, and ultimately, to seven distinct tracts, called "Narragansett +Townships." They were made in fulfilment of an express public promise +to that effect. It is stated in an official document, that +"proclamation was made to them, when mustered on Dedham Plain" on the +9th of December, just as they took up their march, "that, if they +played the man, took the fort, and drove the enemy out of the +Narragansett country, which was their great seat, they should have a +gratuity in land, besides their wages." The same document, which is in +the form of a message from the House of Representatives to the Council +of the Province of Massachusetts, dated Jan. 10, 1732, goes on to say, +"And as the condition has been performed, certainly the promise, in all +equity and justice,[i.134] ought to be fulfilled. And if we consider +the difficulties these brave men went through in storming the fort in +the depth of winter, and the pinching wants they afterwards underwent +in pursuing the Indians that escaped, through a hideous wilderness, +known throughout New England to this day by the name of the _hungry +march_; and if we further consider, that, until this brave though small +army thus played the man, the whole country was filled with distress +and fear, and we trembled in this capital, Boston itself; and that to +the goodness of God to this army we owe our fathers' and our own safety +and estates,"—therefore they urge the full discharge of the obligations +of public justice and gratitude. They did not urge in vain. The grants +were made on a scale, that finally was liberal and honorable to the +government. + +I have dwelt at this great length on the Narragansett campaign and +fight, partly because the details have not been kept as familiar to the +memory of the people as they deserve, but chiefly because they +demonstrate the military genius of the community with whose character +our subject requires us to be fully acquainted. The enthusiasm of the +troops, when Winslow gave the order for the assault, was so great, that +they rushed over the swamp with an eagerness that could not be +restrained, struggling as in a race to see who could first reach the +log that led into the fiery mouth of the fort. A Salem villager, John +Raymond, was the winner. He passed through, survived the ordeal, and +came unharmed out of the terrible fight.[i.135] He was twenty-seven +years of age. He signed his name to a petition to the General Court, in +1685, as having gone in the expedition from Salem Village, and as then +living there. Some years afterwards, he removed to Middleborough, +joined the church in that place in 1722, and died in 1725. The fact +that his last years were spent there has led to the supposition that he +went from Middleborough to the Narragansett fight; but no men were +drafted into that army from Middleborough. It was not a town at the +time, but was organized some years afterwards. It had no inhabitants +then. Philip had destroyed what few houses had been there, and +slaughtered or dispersed their occupants. + +Thus far our attention has been directed to that portion of the +population of Salem Village drawn there by the original policy of the +company in London to attract persons of superior social position, +wealth, and education to take up tracts of land, and lead the way into +the interior. It operated to give a high character to the early +agriculture of the country, and facilitate the settling of the lands. +Without taking into view the means they had to make the necessary +outlays in constructing bridges and roads, and introducing costly +implements of husbandry and tasteful improvements, but looking solely +at the social, intellectual, and moral influence they exerted, it must +be acknowledged that the benefit derived from them was incalculable. +They gave a powerful impulse to the farming interest, and introduced a +high tone to the[i.136] spirit of the community. They were early on the +ground, and remained more or less through the period of the first +generation. Their impress was long seen in the manners and character of +the people. There was surely a goodly proportion of such men among the +first settlers of this neighborhood. + +I come now to another class drawn along with and after the +preceding,—the permanent, substantial yeomanry with no capital but +their sturdy industry, doing hard work with their strong arms, and +striking the roots of the settlement down deep into the soil by mixing +their own labor with it. A glance at the map will be useful, at this +point, showing the general direction by which the farming population +advanced to the interior. All between the North and Cow House Rivers +was, as now, called North Fields, and is still for the most part a +farming territory. All north of Cow House River, westwardly to Reading +and eastwardly to the sea, was originally known as the "Farms" or +"Salem Farms." When the First Beverly Parish was set off in 1667, it +took from the "Farms" all east of Bass River. As Topsfield and other +townships were established, they were more or less encroached upon. The +"Farmers" as they were called, although unorganized, regarded +themselves as one community, having a common interest. The tide of +settlement flowed up the rivers and brooks, sought out the meadows, and +was drawn into the valleys among the hills. + +John Porter, called "Farmer Porter," came with[i.137] his sons from +Hingham, and bought up lands to the north of Duck or Crane River. His +family before long held among them more land, it is probable, than any +other. He served many years as deputy in the General Court, first from +Hingham and then from Salem. He is spoken of in the colonial records of +Massachusetts as "of good repute for piety, integrity, and estate." The +Barneys, Leaches, and others went eastwardly towards Bass River. The +Putnams followed up Beaver Brook to Beaver Dam, and spread out towards +the north and west; while Richard Hutchinson turned southerly to the +interval between Whipple and Hathorne Hills, bought the Stileman grant, +and cleared the beautiful meadows where the old village meeting-house +afterwards stood. He was a vigorous and intelligent agriculturist, and +a man of character. He died in 1681, at eighty years of age, leaving a +large and well-improved estate. His will has this item: I give "five +acres of land to Black Peter, my servant." He had given fine farms to +his children severally, many years before his death. His second wife, +who survived him, had no children. He had come by her into possession +of a valuable addition to his estate. After distributing his property, +and providing legacies for children and grandchildren, his will left it +to the option of his widow to spend the residue of her days either in +the family of his son Joseph, or elsewhere; if she should prefer to +live elsewhere, then she should receive back, in her own right, all the +property she had originally owned; if she continued[i.138] to live to +her death in Joseph's family, then her property was to go to him and +his heirs. This, I think, shows that he was as sagacious as he was +just. + +Richard Ingersoll came from Bedfordshire in England in 1629, bringing +letters of recommendation from Matthew Cradock to Governor Endicott. +After living awhile in town, a tract of land of eighty acres was +granted to him, on the east side of Wooleston River, opposite the site +of Danversport, at a place called, after him, Ingersoll's Point. He +there proceeded to clear and break ground, plant corn, fence in his +land, and make other improvements. He also carried on a fishery. +Subsequently he leased the Townsend Bishop farm, where he lived several +years. He died in 1644. Not long before his death, he purchased, +jointly with his son-in-law Haynes, the Weston grant. His half of it he +bequeathed to his son Nathaniel. He was evidently a man of real dignity +and worth, enjoying the friendship of the best men of his day. Governor +Endicott and Townsend Bishop were with him in his last sickness, and +witnesses to his will. His widow married John Knight of Newbury. In a +legal instrument filed among the papers connected with a case of land +title, dated twenty-seven years after her first husband's death, she +expresses in very striking language the tender affection and respect +with which she still cherished his memory. + +William Haynes married Sarah, daughter of Richard Ingersoll, and +occupied his half of the Weston grant. In company with his brother, +Richard Haynes, he[i.139] had before bought of Townsend Bishop five +hundred and forty acres, covering a considerable part of the northern +end of the village territory. They sold one-third part of it to Abraham +Page. Page sold to Simon Bradstreet, and John Porter bought all the +three parts from the Hayneses and Bradstreet. It long constituted a +portion of the great landed property of the Porter family. These facts +show that William Haynes was a person of means; and the manner in which +he is uniformly spoken of proves that he was regarded with singular +respect and esteem. He died about 1650, and his son Thomas became +subsequently a leading man in the village. + +There has been uncertainty where William Haynes came from, or to what +family of the name he belonged. Among the papers of the Ingersoll +family, it has recently been found that he is mentioned as "brother to +Lieutenant-Governor Haynes." There seems to be no other person to whom +this language can refer than John Haynes, who, after being Governor of +Massachusetts, removed to Connecticut where he was governor and +deputy-governor, in alternate years, to the day of his death. John +Haynes, as Winthrop informs us, was a gentleman of "great estate." His +property in England is stated to have yielded a thousand pounds per +annum. Dr. Palfrey says he was "a man of family as well as fortune; and +the dignified and courteous manners, which testified to the care +bestowed on his early nurture, won popularity by their graciousness, at +the same time that they diffused a refining[i.140] influence by their +example." If William of the village was brother to John of Connecticut, +the fact that he and his brother Richard could make such large +purchases of lands, and the remarkable respect manifested towards him, +are well accounted for. The Ingersoll family traditions and entries +would seem to be the highest authority on such a point. + +Job Swinnerton was a brother of John who for many years was the +principal physician in the town of Salem. He had several grants of +land, and was a worthy, peaceable, unobtrusive citizen. He seems to +have kept out of the heat of the various contentions that occurred in +the village; and, although his influence was sometimes decisively put +forth, he evidently did nothing to aggravate them. He died April 11, +1689, over eighty-eight years of age. He had a large family, and his +descendants continue the name in the village to this day. Daniel Rea +came originally to Plymouth, and in 1630 bought a dwelling-house, +garden, and "all the privileges thereunto belonging," in that town. In +1632 he removed to Salem, and at once became a leading man in the +management of town affairs. He had a grant of one hundred and sixty +acres, which he occupied and cultivated till his death in 1662. He had +but two children: one, the wife of Captain Lothrop; the other, Joshua +Rea, became the founder of a large family who acted conspicuously in +the affairs of the village for several generations. Jacob Barney was an +original grantee, and for several years a deputy. His son of[i.141] the +same name became a large landholder, and, on the 5th of April, 1692, at +the very moment when the witchcraft delusion was at its height, gave +two acres conveniently situated for the erection of a schoolhouse. He +conveyed it to inhabitants of the neighborhood to be used for that +purpose, mentioning them severally by name. I give the list, as it +shows who were the principal people thereabouts at the time: "Mr. +Israel Porter; Sergeant John Leach; Cornet Nathaniel Howard, Sr.; +Corporal Joseph Herrick, Sr.; Benjamin Porter; Joshua Rea, Sr.; Thomas +Raymond, Sr.; Edward Bishop, _secundus_; John Trask, Jr.; John Creesy; +Joshua Rea, Jr.; John Rea; John Flint, Sr." Lawrence Leach received a +grant of one hundred acres; and others of the same name and family had +similar evidence that they were regarded as valuable accessions to the +population. William Dodge and Richard Raymond had grants of sixty acres +each; Humphrey and William Woodbury had forty each. The families of +Leach, Raymond, Dodge, and Woodbury, still remain in the community of +which their ancestors were the founders. John Sibley had a grant of +fifty acres. Robert Goodell was a grantee, and became a large +landholder. + +The descendants of the two last-named persons are very numerous, and +have maintained the respectability of their family names. They are +each, at this day, represented by gentlemen whose enthusiastic interest +in our antiquities is proved by their invaluable labors and +acquisitions in the interesting depart[i.142]ments of genealogy and +local history,—John L. Sibley, Librarian of Harvard University; and +Abner C. Goodell, Register of Probate for the County of Essex. + +Besides Townsend Bishop, there were two other persons of that name +among the original inhabitants of Salem. They do not appear to have +been related to him or to each other. Richard Bishop, whose wife +Dulcibell had died Aug. 6, 1658, married the widow Galt, July 22, 1660. +He died Dec. 30, 1674. + +Edward Bishop was in Salem in 1639, and became a member of the church +in 1645. In 1660 he was one of the constables of Salem, an original +member of the Beverly Church in 1667, and died in January, 1695. He was +an early settler on the Farms; his lands were on both sides of Bass +River, the parcels on the west side being above and below the Ipswich +road. His own residence was on the Beverly side; and he was not usually +connected with the concerns of the village. His name appears but once +in the witchcraft proceedings, and then in favor of an accused person. + +Edward Bishop, commonly called "the sawyer," from the tenor of +conveyances of land, dates, and other evidences, appears to have been a +son of the preceding. In his earlier life, he was somewhat notable for +irregularities and aberrations of conduct. With his wife Hannah, he was +fined by the local court, in 1653, for depredating upon the premises of +his neighbors. During the subsequent period of his history, he +bore[i.143] the character of an industrious and reputable person. At +some time previous to 1680, he married Bridget, widow of Thomas Oliver. +On the 9th of March, 1693, he married Elizabeth Cash. He lived +originally in Beverly; afterwards, at different times, on the land +belonging to his father in Salem Village,—the estate he occupied being +on both sides of the Ipswich road. His last years were passed in the +town of Salem. He died in 1705. His daughter Hannah, born in 1646, +became the wife of Captain William Raymond, one of the founders of the +numerous family of that name. + +Edward Bishop, son of the preceding, called, for distinction, +"husbandman," was born in 1648. He married Sarah, daughter of William +Wilds, of Ipswich. He was a respectable person, and lived in the +village on an estate also occupied by "the sawyer." His house was west +of the avenue leading to Cherry Hill. In 1703 he removed to Rehoboth. + +Edward Bishop, the eldest of his sons, married Susanna, daughter of +John Putnam, and in 1713 removed to that part of Ipswich now Hamilton. +Prior to 1695, these four Edward Bishops were all living; and the +youngest had a wife and children. All will be found connected with our +story, the second and third prominently. The fourth owed his safety, +perhaps, to the influential connections of his wife. + +The first notice we have of Bray Wilkins is in the Massachusetts +colonial records, Sept. 6, 1638, when he was authorized to set up a +house and keep a ferry at Neponset River, and have "a penny a person." +On[i.144] the 5th of November, 1639, the General Court accepted a +report made by William Hathorne and Richard Davenport, commissioners +appointed for the purpose, and, in accordance therewith, laid out a +farm for Richard Bellingham, who had been deputy-governor, was then an +assistant, and afterwards governor, "on the head of Salem, to the +north-west of the town; there being in it a hill, and an Indian +plantation, and a pond." This nice little farm included seven hundred +acres, and "about one hundred or one hundred and fifty acres of meadow" +beside. The next thing we hear about the matter is a petition to the +General Court, May 22, 1661, of "Bray Wilkins and John Gingle, humbly +desiring that the farm called by the name of Will's Hill, which this +Court granted to the worshipful Richard Bellingham, Esq., and they +purchased of him, may be laid to, and appointed to belong to, Salem; +being nigh its lands, and the petitioners of its society." The Court +granted the request. It seems that, about a year before, on the 9th of +March, "Bray Wilkins, husbandman, and John Gingle, tailor, both of +Lynn," had bought the Bellingham farm for two hundred and fifty pounds, +of which they paid at the time twenty-five pounds, and mortgaged it +back for the residue. The twenty-five pounds was paid as follows: +twenty-four pounds in a ton of bar-iron, and one pound in money. +Wilkins had, some time before, removed from Neponset, and perhaps had +been working in one of the iron-manufactories then in operation at +Lynn. When the balance of his wages over his[i.145] expenses enabled +him, with the aid of Gingle, to raise a ton of iron and scrape together +twenty shillings, they entered upon their bold undertaking. He had not +a dollar in his pocket; but he had what was better than +dollars,—industrious habits, a resolute will, a strong constitution, an +iron frame, and six stout sons. After a while, he took into the work, +in addition to his own effective family force, two trusty kinsmen, +Aaron Way and William Ireland, conveying to them good farms out of his +seven hundred acres. He enlarged his farm, from time to time, by new +purchases, so as to more than make up for what he sold to Way and +Ireland. In 1676 the mortgage was fully discharged. He and his sons +bought out the heirs of Gingle, and the work was done. They held, free +from debt, in one tract, a territory about two miles in length on the +Reading line. Each member of the family had a house, barns, orchards, +gardens, meadows, upland, and woodland; and the homestead of the old +patriarch was in the midst of them, the enterprise of his laborious +life crowned with complete success. The innumerable family of the name, +scattered all over the country, has largely, if not wholly, been +derived from this source. Bray Wilkins, and the members of his +household in all its branches, were always on hand at parish meetings +in Salem Village. Over a distance, as their route must have been, of +five miles, they came, in all seasons and all weathers, by the roughest +roads, and, in the earlier period, where there were no roads at all, +through the woods, fording streams, to[i.146] meeting on the Lord's +Day. He continued vigorous, hale, and active to the last; and died, as +he truly characterizes himself in his will, "an ancient," Jan. 1, 1702, +at the age of ninety-two. + +This was the way in which the large grants made to wealthy and eminent +persons, governors, deputy-governors, and assistants, came into the +possession and under the productive labor of a yeomanry who made good +their title to the soil by the force of their characters and the +strength of their muscles. One of the terms of Wilkins's purchase was, +that, if he found and wrought minerals on the land, he was to pay to +Bellingham or his heirs a royalty of ten pounds per annum. Believing +that the best mine to be found in land is the crops that can be raised +from it, he never tried to find any other. + +Bray Wilkins will appear to have shared in the witchcraft delusion, and +been very unhappily connected with it; but he lived to behold its +termination, and to participate in the restoration of reason. The +minister of the parish at the time of his death, the Rev. Joseph Green, +kept a diary which has been preserved. He thus speaks of the old man: +"He lived to a good old age, and saw his children's children, and their +children, and peace upon our little Israel." + +It is rather curious to notice such indications as the mineral clause +in Wilkins's deed affords of the prevalent expectation, at the +beginning of settlements in this region, that valuable minerals would +be found in it. What makes it worthy of particular inquiry is, that +they[i.147] were found and wrought for some time, but that no one +thinks of looking after them now. Simon Bradstreet, Daniel Dennison, +and John Putnam put up and carried on together, upon a large scale, +iron-works, in 1674, at Rowley Village, now Boxford. Samuel and Nathan +Leonard were employed to construct them, and carried them on by +contract. These iron-works were long regarded as a promising enterprise +and valuable investment. The Leonards were probably of the same family +that, at Raynham and the neighborhood, engaged in this business to a +great extent, and for a long period, making it a source of wealth and +the foundation of eminent families. We know that the business was +carried on extensively in Lynn, and that Governor Endicott was quite +sure that he had found copper on his Orchard Farm. Who knows but that +modern science and more searching methods of detection may yet discover +the hidden treasures of which the fathers caught a glimpse, and their +enterprises be revived and conducted with permanent energy and success? + +In 1669, Joseph Houlton testified, that, when he was about twenty years +of age, in 1641, he was "a servant to Richard Ingersoll," and worked on +his land at Ingersoll's Point. About the year 1652, he married Sarah, +daughter of Richard Ingersoll, and widow of William Haynes. By her he +had five sons and two daughters, who lived to maturity. He gave to each +of them a farm; and their houses were in his near neighborhood. The +sons were respectable and substantial[i.148] citizens, and persons of +just views and amiable sentiments. The father was one of the honored +heads of the village, and lived to a good old age. He died May 30, +1705. From him, it is probable, all of the name in this country have +sprung. It will be for ever preserved in the public annals and on the +geographical face of the country. Samuel Houlton, great-grandson of the +original Joseph, was a representative of Massachusetts for ten years in +the old Congress of the Confederation, for a time presiding over its +deliberations. He was also a member of the first Congress under the +Constitution, and subsequently, for a very long period, Judge of +Probate for the county of Essex. He was a true patriot and wise +legislator; enjoyed to an extraordinary degree the confidence and love +of the people; had a commanding person and a noble and venerable +aspect; and was always conspicuous by the dignity and courtesy of his +manners. He was a physician by profession; but his whole life was spent +in the public service. He was in both branches of the Legislature of +the State, also in the Executive Council. He was major of the Essex +regiment at the opening of the Revolution; was a member of the +Committee of Safety, and of every convention for the framing of the +Government; and, for more than thirty years, a judge of the Court of +Common Pleas. He died, where he was born and had his home for the +greater part of his life, in Salem Village, Jan. 2, 1816, in the +seventy-eighth year of his age. + +In 1724 a petition was presented to the Legislature,[i.149] commencing +as follows: "Whereas Salem is a most ancient town of Massachusetts +Province, and very much straitened for land," the petitioners pray for +a grant in the western part of the province. The petition was allowed +on condition that one lot be reserved for the first settled minister, +one for the ministry, and one for a school. Each grantee was required +to give a bond of twenty-five pounds to be on the spot; have a house of +seven feet stud and eighteen square at least, seven acres of English +hay ready to be mowed, and help to build a meeting-house and settle a +minister, within five years. A grandson of Joseph Houlton, of the same +name, led the company that emigrated to the assigned location. The +first result was the town of New Salem, in Franklin County, +incorporated in 1753; named in honor of the old town from which their +leading founder had come. But the people were not satisfied with having +merely a school. They must have an academy. They went to work with a +will, and an academy was established and incorporated in 1795. This was +the second result. The academy did not flourish to an extent to suit +their views, and they beset the Legislature to grant them a township of +land in the woods of Maine to enable them to endow it. They carried +their point, and in 1797 obtained the grant. The effort had been great, +and great was the rejoicing at its successful issue. But, as bad luck +would have it, just at that time land could not be sold at any price. +The grant became worthless; and deep and bitter was the disappointment +of the people of[i.150] New Salem. The doom of the academy seemed to be +settled, and its days numbered and finished. But there were men in New +Salem who were determined that the academy should be saved. They met in +consultation, and, under the lead of still another Joseph Houlton, of +the same descent, fixed their purpose. They sold or mortgaged their +farms, which more than half a century of labor had rendered productive, +and which every association and every sentiment rendered dear to them. +With the money thus raised they bought the granted tract, paying a good +price for it. The preservation and endowment of the academy were thus +secured; but all benefit from it to themselves or their descendants was +wholly relinquished. It was the only way in which the academy could be +saved. Some must make the sacrifice, and they made it. They packed up +bag and baggage; sold off all they could not carry; gathered their +families together; bid farewell to the scenes of their birth and +childhood, the homes of their life, and the fruits of their labor; and +started in wagons and carts on the journey to Boston. Their location +was hundreds of miles distant, far down in the eastern wilderness, and +inaccessible from the extremes of settlement at that time on the +Penobscot. As the only alternative, they embarked in a coasting-vessel; +went down the Bay of Fundy to St. John, N.B.; took a river-sloop up to +Fredericton,—a hundred miles; got up the river as they could, in barges +or canoes, eighty miles further to Woodstock; and there, turning to the +left, struck[i.151] into the forest, until they reached their location. +The third result of this emigration, in successive generations and +stages, from Salem Farms, is to be seen to-day in a handsome and +flourishing village, interspersed and surrounded with well-cultivated +fields,—the shire town of the county of Aroostook, in the State of +Maine; which bears the name of the leader of this disinterested, +self-sacrificing, and noble company. Three times was it the lot of this +one family to encounter and conquer the difficulties, endure and +triumph over the privations, and carry through the herculean labors, of +subduing a rugged wilderness, and bringing it into the domain of +civilization,—at Salem Village, New Salem, and Houlton. It would be +difficult to find, in all our history, a story that more strikingly +than this illustrates the elements of the glory and strength of New +England,—zeal for education,—enterprise invigorated by +difficulties,—and prowess equal to all emergencies. + +John Burton came early to Salem by way of Barbadoes. He combined the +pursuits of a farmer and a tanner. He was a sturdy old Englishman, who, +while probably holding the theological sentiments that prevailed in his +day, abhorred the spirit of persecution, and was unwilling to live +where it was allowed to bear sway. He does not appear to have been a +Quaker, but sympathized with all who suffered wrong. In 1658, he went +off in their company to Rhode Island, sharing their banishment. But his +conscience would not let him rest in voluntary flight. He came[i.152] +back in 1661, to bear his testimony against oppression. He was brought +before the Court, as an abettor and shelterer of Quakers. He told the +justices that they were robbers and destroyers of the widows and +fatherless, that their priests divined for money, and that their +worship was not the worship of God. They commanded him to keep silent. +He commanded them to keep silent. They thought it best to bring the +colloquy to a close by ordering him to the stocks. They finally +concluded, upon the whole, to let him alone; and he remained here the +rest of his life. His descendants are through a daughter (who married +William Osborne) and his son Isaac. They are numerous, under both +names. Isaac was an active and respectable citizen of the village, and +a farmer of enterprise and energy. He carried on, under a lease, +Governor Endicott's farm of over five hundred acres on Ipswich River, +and had lands of his own. In subsequent generations, this family +branched off in various directions to Connecticut, Vermont, and +elsewhere. One detachment of them went to Wilton, N.H., where the +family still remains on the original homestead. The late Warren Burton, +who was born in Wilton,—a graduate of Harvard College in the class of +1821, and well known for his invaluable services in the cause of +education, philanthropy, and letters,—was a direct descendant of John +Burton, and as true to the rights of conscience as the old tanner, who +bearded the lion of persecution in the day of his utmost wrath, and in +his very den.[i.153] + +Henry Herrick, who, as has been stated, purchased the Cherry-Hill farm +of Alford, was the fifth son of Sir William Herrick, of Beau Manor +Park, in the parish of Loughborough, in the county of Leicester, +England. He came first to Virginia, and then to Salem. He was +accompanied to America by another emigrant from Loughborough, named +Cleaveland. Herrick became a member of the First Church at Salem in +1629, and his wife Edith about the same time. Their fifth son, Joseph, +baptized Aug. 6, 1645, owned and occupied Cherry Hill in 1692. He +married Sarah, daughter of Richard Leach, Feb. 7, 1667. He was a man of +great firmness and dignity of character, and, in addition to the care +and management of his large farm, was engaged in foreign commerce. As +he bore the title of Governor, he had probably been at some time in +command of a military post or district, or perhaps of a West-India +colony. His descendants are numerous, and have occupied distinguished +stations, often exhibiting a transmitted military stamp. Joseph Herrick +was in the Narragansett fight. It illustrates the state of things at +that time, that this eminent citizen, a large landholder, engaged in +prosperous mercantile affairs, and who had been abroad, was, in 1692, +when forty-seven years of age, a corporal in the village company. He +was the acting constable of the place, and, as such, concerned in the +early proceedings connected with the witchcraft prosecutions. For a +while he was under the influence of the delusion; but his strong and +enlightened mind soon led him out of it. He was one of[i.154] the +petitioners in behalf of an accused person, when intercession, by any +for any, was highly dangerous; and he was a leader in the party that +rose against the fanaticism, and vindicated the characters of its +victims. He inherited a repugnance to oppression, and sympathy for the +persecuted. His father and mother appear, by a record of Court, to have +been fined "for aiding and comforting an excommunicated person, +contrary to order." + +William Nichols, in 1651, bought two hundred acres, which had been +granted to Henry Bartholomew, partly in the village, but mostly beyond +the "six-mile extent," and consequently set off to Topsfield. He had +several other lots of land. He distributed nearly all his real estate, +during his lifetime, to his son John; his adopted son, Isaac Burton; +his daughters, the wives of Thomas Wilkins and Thomas Cave; and his +grand-daughter, the wife of Humphrey Case. His only son John had +several sons, and from them the name has been widely dispersed. In a +deposition dated May 14, 1694, William Nichols declares himself "aged +upwards of one hundred years." As his will was offered for Probate Feb. +24, 1696, he must have been one hundred and two years of age at his +death. + +William Cantlebury was a large landholder, having purchased +three-quarters of the Corwin grant. He died June 1, 1663. His name died +with him, as he had no male issue. His property went to his daughters, +who were represented, in 1692, under the names of Small, Sibley, and +Buxton. The Flints, Popes,[i.155] Uptons, Princes, Phillipses, +Needhams, and Walcotts, had valuable farms, and appear, from the +records and documents, to have been respectable, energetic, and +intelligent people. Daniel Andrew was one of the strong men of the +village; had been a deputy to the General Court, and acted a prominent +part before and after the witchcraft convulsion. But the great family +of the village—greater in numbers and in aggregate wealth than any +other, and eminently conspicuous on both sides in the witchcraft +proceedings—remains to be mentioned. + +John Putnam had a grant of one hundred acres, Jan. 20, 1641. With his +wife Priscilla, he came from Buckinghamshire, England, and was probably +about fifty years of age on his arrival in this country. He was a man +of great energy and industry, and acquired a large estate. He died in +1662, leaving three sons,—Thomas, born in 1616; Nathaniel, in 1620; and +John, in 1628. For a more convenient classification, I shall, in +speaking of this family, refer, not to the original John at all, but to +the sons as its three heads. + +Thomas, the eldest, inherited a double share of his father's lands. He +was of age when he came to America, and had received a good education. +He appears to have settled, in the first instance, in Lynn, where for +several years he acted as a magistrate, holding local courts, by +appointment of the General Court. Upon removing to Salem, he was +chosen, as the town-records show, to the office of constable. This was +considered at that time as quite a distinguished position, +carrying[i.156] with it a high authority, covering the whole executive +local administration. Thomas Putnam was the first clerk of Salem +Village, and acted prominently in military, ecclesiastical, and +municipal affairs. He seems to have been a person of a quieter +temperament than his younger brothers, and led a somewhat less stirring +life. Possessing a large property by inheritance, he was not quite so +active in increasing it; but, enjoying the society and friendship of +the leading men, lived a more retired life. At the same time, he was +always ready to serve the community if called for, as he often was, +when occasion arose for the aid of his superior intelligence and +personal influence. He married first, while in Lynn, Ann, daughter of +Edward Holyoke, great-grandfather of the President of Harvard College +of that name whose son, the venerable centenarian, Dr. Edward Augustus +Holyoke, is remembered as a true Christian philosopher by the +generation still lingering on the stage. Having lost his wife on the +1st of September, 1665, he married, on the 14th of November, 1666, +Mary, widow of Nathaniel Veren; coming, through her, into possession of +property in Jamaica and Barbadoes, in which places Veren had resided, +more or less, in the prosecution of commercial business. His homestead, +as shown on the map, was occupied by his widow in 1692, and, after her +death, by her son Joseph, the father of General Israel Putnam. He had +also a town residence on the north side of Essex Street, extending back +to[i.157] the North River. Its front on Essex Street embraced the +western part of the grounds now occupied by the North Church, and +extended to a point beyond the head of Cambridge Street. He left the +eastern half of this property to his son Thomas, and the western half +to his son Joseph. To his son Edward he left another estate in the +town, on the western side of St. Peter's Street, to the north of +Federal Street. + +Thomas Putnam died on the 5th of May, 1686. He left large estates in +the village to each of his children, and a valuable piece of meadow +land, of fifteen acres, to a faithful servant. + +Nathaniel Putnam married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Hutchinson, +and, besides what he received from his father, came, through his wife, +into possession of seventy-five acres. On that tract he built his house +and passed his life. The property has remained uninterruptedly in his +family. One of them, the late Judge Samuel Putnam, of the Supreme Court +of Massachusetts, enjoyed it as a country residence, and it is still +held by his children. Nathaniel Putnam was a deputy to the General +Court, and constantly connected with all the interests of the +community. He had great business activity and ability, and was a person +of extraordinary powers of mind, of great energy and skill in the +management of affairs, and of singular sagacity, acumen, and quickness +of perception. He died July 23, 1700, leaving a numerous family and a +large estate. + +John Putnam had the same indefatigable activity as[i.158] Nathaniel. He +was often deputy to the General Court, and accumulated a very great +landed property. He married Rebecca Prince, step-daughter of John +Gedney, and died on the 7th of April, 1710. He was buried with military +honors. He left a large family of sons and daughters. We shall often +meet him in our narrative, and gather the materials, as we go along, to +form an opinion of his character. The earliest rate-list in the parish +record book is for 1681. At that time the three brothers were all +living; the aggregate sum assessed upon ninety-four names was two +hundred pounds. The rate of Thomas was £10. 6_s._ 3_d._; that of +Nathaniel, £9. 10_s._; that of John, £8. No other person paid as much +as either of them. + +These brothers, as well as many others of the large landholders in the +village, adopted the practice of giving to their sons and sons-in-law, +outright, by deed, good farms, as soon as they became heads of +families; so that, as the fathers advanced in life, their own estates +were gradually diminished; and, when unable any longer to take an +active part in managing their lands, they divided up their whole +remaining real estate, making careful contracts with their children for +an adequate maintenance, to the extent of their personal wants and +comfort. Joseph Houlton did this: so did the widow Margery Scruggs, old +William Nichols, Francis Nurse, and many others. In his last years, +John Putnam was on the rate-list for five shillings only, while all his +sons and daughters were assessed severally in large sums. In this way +they had the satisfac[i.159]tion of making their children independent, +and of seeing them take their places among the heads of the community. + +Where this practice was followed, there were few quarrels in families +over the graves of parents, and controversies seldom arose about the +provisions of wills. In some cases no wills were needed to be made. It +is apparent, that, in many respects, this was a wise and good practice. +It was, moreover, a strictly just one. As the sons were growing to an +adult age, they added, by their labors, to the value of lands,—inserted +a property into them that was truly their own; and their title was duly +recognized. In a new country, land has but little value in itself; the +value is imparted by the labor that clears it and prepares it to yield +its products. In 1686, Nathaniel Putnam testified that for more than +forty years he had lived in the village, and that in the early part of +that time unimproved land brought only a shilling an acre, while a cow +was worth five pounds. In 1672, the rate of taxation on unimproved land +was a half penny per acre, and, for land on which labor had been +expended, a penny per acre. In 1685 it was taxed at the rates of three +shillings for a hundred acres of wild land, and one penny an acre for +"land within fence." The relative value of improved land constantly +increased with the length of time it had been under culture. It may be +said that labor added two-thirds to the value of land, and that he who +by the sweat of his brow added those two-thirds, to that extent owned +the land. An industrious young man went out into his[i.160] father's +woods, cut down the trees, cleared the ground, fenced it in, and +prepared it for cultivation. All that was thus added to its value was +his creation, and he its rightful owner. The right was recognized, and +full possession given him, by deed, as soon as he had opened a farm, +and built a house, and brought a wife into it. + +The effect of this was to anchor a family, from generation to +generation, fast to its ancestral acres. It strengthened the ties that +bound them to their native fields. Its moral effect was beyond +calculation. When a young man was thus enabled to start in life on an +independent footing, it made a man of him while he was young. It +invested him with the dignity of a citizen by making him feel his share +of responsibility for the security and welfare of society. It gave +scope for enterprise, and inspiration to industry, at home. It led to +early marriages, under circumstances that justified them. Joseph +Putnam, the youngest son of Thomas, at the age of twenty years and +seven months, took as his bride Elizabeth, daughter of Israel Porter, +and grand-daughter of William Hathorne, when she was sixteen years and +six months old. We shall see what a valuable citizen he became; and she +was worthy of him. A large and noble family of children grew up to +honor them, one of the youngest of whom was Israel Putnam, of +illustrious Revolutionary fame. + +Though there were descendants of this family in every company of +emigrants that went forth from[i.161] Salem Village, in all directions, +in every generation, to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, +and all parts of the New England, Middle, Western, and Pacific States, +there is about as large a proportionate representation of the name +within the precincts of Salem Village to-day, as there ever was. Fifty +Putnams are at present voters in Danvers, on a list of eight hundred +names,—one-sixteenth of the whole number. The rate-schedule of 1712 +shows almost precisely the same proportion. + +Edward Putnam, whom we shall meet again, was baptized July 4, 1654. +After serving as deacon of the church from its organization, a period +of forty years, he resigned on account of advancing age; and in 1733, +as he was entering on his eightieth year, gave this account of his +family: "From the three brothers proceeded twelve males; from these +twelve males, forty males; and from these forty males, eighty-two +males: there were none of the name of Putnam in New England but those +from this family." With respect to their situation in life, he remarks: +"I can say with the Psalmist, I have been young, and now am old; yet I +have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging bread +except of God, who provides for all. For God hath given to the +generation of my fathers a generous portion, neither poverty nor +riches." When the infirmities of age prevented his longer partaking in +the worship of the Lord's Day, this good old man relinquished his +residence near the church, and removed to his original homestead, +in[i.162] the neighborhood of his children, which had then been +included in the new town of Middleton. His will is dated March 11, +1731. It was offered in Probate, April 11, 1748. After making every +reasonable deduction, in view of his share of responsibility for the +earlier proceedings in the witchcraft prosecutions, we may participate +in the affection and veneration with which this amiable and +gentle-hearted man was regarded by his contemporaries. + +The provisions of his will contain items which so strikingly illustrate +his character, and give us such an insight of the domestic life of the +times, that a few of them will be presented. According to the prevalent +custom, he had given good farms to his several children when they +became heads of families. In his will, he distributes the residue of +his real estate among them with carefulness and an equal hand, +describing the metes and bounds of the various tracts with great +minuteness, so as to prevent all questions of controversy among them. +He gives legacies in money to his daughters, ten pounds each; and, to +his grand-daughters, five pounds each. To one of his five sons, he +gives his "cross-cut saw." This was used to saw large logs crosswise, +having two handles worked by two persons, and distinguished from the +"pit saw," which was used to saw logs lengthwise. All his other tools +were to be divided among his sons, to one of whom he also gives his +cane; to another, his "Great Bible;" to another, "Mr. Jeremiah +Burroughs's Works;" to another, "Mr. Flavel's Works;" and, to the +other, his[i.163] "girdle and sword." To one of them he gives his desk, +and "that box wherein are so many writings;" to another, his "share in +the iron-works;" and to another, his share "in the great timber chain." +This, with other evidence, shows that there was a boom, and +arrangements on a large scale for the lumbering business, at that time, +on Ipswich River. The provisions for his wife were very considerate, +exact, and minute, so as to prevent all possibility of there being any +difficulty in reference to her rights, or of her ever suffering want or +neglect. He gives to her, absolutely and for her own disposal, the +residue of his books and all his "movable estate" in the house and out +of it, including all "cattle, sheep, swine," the whole stock of the +homestead farm, agricultural implements, and carriages. He makes it the +duty of one of his sons to furnish her with all the "firewood" she may +want, with ten bushels of corn-meal, two bushels of English meal, four +bushels of ground malt, four barrels of good cider,—he to find the +barrels—as many apples "as she shall see cause," and nine or ten score +weight of good pork, annually: he was to "keep for her two cows, winter +and summer," and generally to provide all "things needful." The will +specifies, apartment by apartment, from cellar to garret, one-half of +the house, to be for her accommodation, use, and exclusive control, and +half of the garden. The sons were to pay, in specified proportions, all +his funeral charges. One of the sons was to pay her forthwith four +pounds in money; and they were severally to deliver to her +annu[i.164]ally, in proportions expressly stated, ten pounds for pocket +money. When the relative value of money at that time is considered, and +the other particulars above named taken into account, it will be +allowed that he was faithful and wise in caring for the wife of his +youth and the companion of his long life. There is no better criterion +of the good sense and good feeling of a person than his last will and +testament. The result of a quite extensive examination is a conviction +that the application of this test to the early inhabitants of Salem +Village is most creditable to them, particularly in the tender but +judicious and effectual manner in which the rights, comfort, +independence, and security of their wives were provided for. + +In the third generation, the three Putnam families began to give their +sons to the general service of the country in conspicuous public +stations, and in the professional walks of life. Their names appear on +the page of history and in the catalogues of colleges. Major-General +Israel Putnam was a grandson of the first Thomas. On the 14th of May, +1718, Archelaus, a grandson of John, and son of James, died at +Cambridge, while an undergraduate. Benjamin, a son of Nathaniel, in his +will, presented for Probate, April 25, 1715, says, "I give my son +Daniel one hundred and fifty pounds for his learning." Daniel lived and +died in the ministry, at North Reading. His name heads the list of more +than thirty—all, it is probable, of this family—in the last Triennial +Catalogue of Harvard University.[i.165] + +The brightest name in the annals of Salem Village, though frequently +referred to, has not yet been presented for your contemplation. I shall +hold it up and keep it in your view by a somewhat detailed description, +not only because it is necessary to a full understanding of our +subject, but because it is good to gaze upon a life of virtue; to pause +while beholding a portrait beaming with beneficence, and radiant with +all excellent, beautiful, and attractive affections. + +Nathaniel Ingersoll was about eleven years old at the death of his +father. His mother married John Knights, of Newbury, who became the +head of her household, and continued to carry on the Townsend Bishop +farm for several years. Governor Endicott, the friend and neighbor of +Richard Ingersoll, took Nathaniel, while still a lad, into his family. +In a deposition made in Court, June 24, 1701, Nathaniel Ingersoll says, +"I went to live with Governor Endicott as his servant four years, on +the Orchard Farm." At that time, the term "servant" had no derogatory +sense connected with it. It merely implied the relations between an +employer and the employed, without the least tint of the feeling which +we associate with the condition of servility. Here was a youth, who, by +his father's will, was the owner of a valuable estate of seventy-five +acres in the immediate neighborhood, voluntarily seeking the privilege +of entering the service of his father's friend, because he thereby +would be better qualified, when old enough, to enter upon his own +estate. Governor Endicott's political duties were[i.166] not then +regarded as requiring him to live in Boston; and his usual residence +was at the Orchard Farm, where he was making improvements and +conducting agricultural operations upon so large a scale that it was +the best school of instruction anywhere to be found for a young person +intending to make that his pursuit in life. Young John Putnam, as has +been stated, was there for the same purpose, under similar +circumstances. + +Having built a house and barn, and provided the necessary stock and +materials, Nathaniel Ingersoll went upon his farm when about nineteen +years of age. Soon after, probably, he married Hannah Collins of Lynn, +who, during their long lives, proved a worthy helpmeet. His house was +on a larger scale than was usual at that time. One of its rooms is +spoken of as very large; and the uses to which his establishment was +put, from time to time, prove that it must have had capacious +apartments. Its site is shown on the map. The road from Salem to +Andover passed it, not at an angle as now, but by a curve. The present +parsonage of Danvers Centre stands on the lot. But Ingersoll's house +was a little in the rear of the site occupied by the present parsonage. +It faced south. In front was an open space, or lawn, called Ingersoll's +Common. Here he lived nearly seventy years. During that long period, +his doors were ever open to hospitality and benevolence. His house was +the centre of good neighborhood and of all movements for the public +welfare. His latch-string was always out[i.167] for friend or stranger. +In a military sense, and every other sense, it was the head-quarters of +the village. On his land, a few rods to the north-east, stood the +block-house where watch was kept against Indian attacks. There a +sentinel was posted day and night, under his supervision. The spot was +central to the several farming settlements; and all meetings of every +kind took place there. To accommodate the public, he was licensed to +keep a victualling-house; also to sell beer and cider by the quart "on +the Lord's Day." This last provision was for the benefit of those who +came great distances to meeting, and had to find refreshment somewhere +between the services. To meet the occasions arising out of this +business, he probably had a separate building. Indeed, the evidence, in +the language used in reference to it, is quite decisive that there was +an "ordinary," distinct from the dwelling-house. The location was +thought to render such an establishment necessary, and his character +secured its orderly maintenance. + +Travellers through the country stopped at "Nathaniel Ingersoll's +corner." The earliest path or roadway to and from the eastern +settlements went by it. Here Increase and Cotton Mather, and all +magistrates and ministers, were entertained. Here the wants of the poor +and unfortunate were made known, and all men came for counsel and +advice. From the first, even when he had not reached the age of +maturity, he commanded to a singular extent the confidence and respect +of all men. The influence of his bearing and character,[i.168] thus +early established, was never lost or abated, or disturbed for a moment +during his long life. He was the umpire to settle all differences, but +never made an enemy by his decisions. Although of moderate estate, +compared with some of his neighbors, they all treated him with a +deference greater than they sometimes paid to each other. It was his +lot to be mixed up with innumerable controversies, to be in the very +centre of the most vehement and frightful social convulsions, and to +act decisively in some of them; but it is most marvellous to witness +how uniform and universal was the consideration in which he was held. +These statements are justified abundantly by evidence in records and +documents. + +When village business was to be transacted, or consultation of any kind +had, the house of Deacon Ingersoll was designated, as a matter of +course, for the place of meeting. Whether it was an ecclesiastical or a +military gathering, a prayer-meeting or a train-band drill, it was +there. Before they had a meeting-house, it cannot be doubted, they met +for worship in his large room. We find it recorded, that, after the +meeting-house was built, if from the bitterness of the weather, or any +other cause, it was too uncomfortable to remain in, they would adjourn +to Deacon Ingersoll's. Such a free use of a particular person's +premises sometimes engenders a familiarity that runs into license, and +is apt to breed contempt. Not so at all in his case. There was a +native-born dignity, an honest manliness and pervading integrity[i.169] +about him, that were appreciated by all persons at all times. When +wrong was meditated, his admonition was received with respectful +consideration; when it had been committed, his rebuke awakened no +resentment. The fact, that he was acknowledged and felt by all to be a +perfectly just man, is apparent through the whole course of his action +in all the affairs of life. His uprightness, freedom from unworthy +prejudice, and clear and transparent conscientiousness, appear in all +documents, depositions, and records that proceeded from him. He was +often called to give evidence in land causes and other trials at law; +and his testimony is always straightforward, fair, and lucid. You can +tell from the style, temper, or tone of other witnesses, which side of +the controversy they espoused, but not from his. In the great and +protracted conflict in the courts, relating to the Townsend Bishop +farm, he and all his most intimate connections and relatives were +parties of adverse interest; but Zerubabel Endicott paid homage, and +left it on record, to the truthfulness and uprightness of the testimony +and the fairness of the course of Nathaniel Ingersoll. We shall meet +other illustrations to the same effect in the course of our narrative. + +Although it is anticipating the course of events, it may be well to +trace the outlines of the life of this man to its distant close. +Partaking of the general views of his age, he participated in the +proceedings that led to the witchcraft prosecutions. He believed in +what was regarded as decisive evidence against the[i.170] accused, and +acted accordingly. But no one ever felt that there was any +vindictiveness in his course. + +He lived to see the storm that desolated his beloved village pass away, +and to enjoy the restoration of reason, peace, and good-will among a +people who had so long been torn by strife, and subjected to untold +horrors,—horrors that have never yet been fully described, and which I +despair of being able adequately to depict. He did all that a good and +true man could do to eradicate the causes of the mischief. He +participated in the exercises of a day of Thanksgiving, set apart for +the purpose, in 1700, to express the devout and contrite gratitude of +the people to a merciful God for deliverance from the errors and +passions that had overwhelmed them with such awful judgments. The +removal of Mr. Parris having been effected, Joseph Green was settled +near the close of the year 1697. He was a wise and prudent man. By +kind, cautious, and well-timed measures, he gradually succeeded in +extracting every root of bitterness, healing all the breaches, and +restoring harmony to a long-distracted people. In this work, Deacon +Ingersoll and his good associate, Edward Putnam, aided him to the +utmost. When, by their united counsels and labors, the difficult work +was about accomplished, Mr. Green was taken to his reward, in 1715. +Greatly was he lamented; but Nathaniel Ingersoll had realized all his +best wishes at last. The prayers he had poured forth for fifty years +had been answered. He had seen the completed service of a pastor who +had fulfilled his[i.171] highest estimate of what a Christian minister +should be. He lived to witness and share in the warm and unanimous +welcome of Peter Clark to a useful, honored, happy ministry which +lasted more than half a century. The ordination of Mr. Clark, which +took place on the 8th of June, 1717, was made the occasion of +demonstrating the complete re-establishment of social harmony and +Christian love throughout that entire community. The storms of strife +had commenced with the settlement of the first minister, more than +forty years before: they had increased in violence, until, at the +witchcraft delusion, they swept in a tornado every thing to ruin. The +clouds had been slowly dispersed, and the angry waves smoothed down, by +Mr. Green's benignant ministry. The long, and yet unbroken, "era of +good feeling" was fully inaugurated. It was a day of great rejoicing. +Old men and matrons, young men and maidens, met together in happy +union. Tradition says that they carried their grateful festivities to +the highest point allowable by the proprieties of that period. Having +witnessed this scene, and beheld the church and village of his +affections start on a new and sure career of peace and prosperity, the +Good Parishioner folded his mantle and departed from sight. He died in +1719, in his eighty-fifth year. He was truly the "Man of Ross." The +celebrated portrait, which poetry has drawn under this name, was from +an actual example in real life, not more shining than his. He left no +issue; but his brothers were the founders of a family[i.172] widely +diffused, many members of which have, in every subsequent age, +contributed to the honor of the name. Innumerable branches have spread +out from the same stock under other names. The children of the late Dr. +Nathaniel Bowditch, through both father and mother, have descended from +a brother of Nathaniel Ingersoll. + +Citations and extracts from documents on file will justify all I have +said of this man. + +His wife was a spirit kindred to his own. Their only child, a daughter, +died when quite young. Their hearts demanded an object on which to +exercise parental affection, and to give opportunity for benevolent +care, within their own household; and they induced their neighbor, +Joseph Hutchinson, who had several sons, to give one of them to be +theirs by adoption. When this child had grown to manhood, a deed was +recorded in the Essex Registry, Oct. 2, 1691, of which this is the +purport:— + +"Benjamin Hutchinson, being an infant when he was given to us by his +parents, we have brought him up as our own child; and he, the said +Benjamin, living with us as an obedient son, until he came of one and +twenty years of age, he then marrying from us, I, the said Nathaniel +Ingersoll, and Hannah, my wife, on these considerations, do, upon the +marriage of our adopted son, Benjamin Hutchinson, give and bequeath to +him, his heirs and assigns for ever, this deed of gift of ten acres of +upland, and also three acres of meadow," &c. + +When Mr. Parris was settled, it occurred to Deacon[i.173] Ingersoll, +that it would be very convenient for him to have a certain piece of +ground between the parsonage land and the Andover road; and he gave him +a deed, from which the following is an extract. It is dated Jan. 2, +1689. + +"To all Christian people to whom this present writing shall come, +Nathaniel Ingersoll, of Salem Village, in the county of Essex, sendeth +greeting. Know ye, that the said Nathaniel Ingersoll, husbandman, and +Hannah, his wife, for and in consideration of the love, respect, and +honor which they justly bear unto the public worship of the true and +only God, and therefore for the encouragement of their well-beloved +pastor, the Rev. Samuel Parris, who hath lately taken that office +amongst them, and also for and in consideration of a very small sum of +money to them in hand paid, with which they do acknowledge themselves +fully contented and satisfied, do grant to said Samuel Parris and +Elizabeth, his wife, for life, and then to the children of said Samuel +and Elizabeth Parris, four and a half acres of land, adjoining upon the +home field of the said Nathaniel Ingersoll; the three acres on the +south alienated by gift, and the remainder by sale." + +There was a fine young orchard on the land. + +Joseph Houlton had conveyed to the parish a lot for the use of the +ministry, attached to the parsonage house. A question having arisen in +consequence of a lost deed, or some other imagined defect in the +Houlton title, whether the land originally belonged to him or to +Nathaniel Ingersoll, the latter disposed of it at once by an instrument +recorded in the Essex Registry, of which the following is the +substance:[i.174]— + +"Nathaniel Ingersoll to the Trustees of Salem Village Ministry land, +for divers good causes and considerations me thereunto moving, but more +especially for the true love and desire I have to the peace and welfare +of Salem Village wherein I dwell, I hereby release, &c., all my right +and title to five acres described in my brother Houlton's deed of +sale," &c. + +In the same Registry, the following extract is found, in a deed dated +Jan. 28, 1708:— + +"For the desire I have that children may be educated in Salem Village, +I freely give four poles square of land to Rev. Joseph Green, to have +and to hold the same, not for his own particular use, but for the +setting a schoolhouse upon, and the encouragement of a school in this +place." + +The Essex Registry has a deed dated Jan. 6, 1714, of which the +following is the substance:— + +"For the good affection that I bear unto Deacon Edward Putnam, and the +desire that I have of his comfortable attendance upon the public +worship of God, I have freely given unto him, the said Deacon Edward +Putnam, of Salem aforesaid, for him and his heirs for ever, a piece of +land, bounded northerly upon the land of Joseph Green, next to his +orchard gate, westerly on the highway, and southerly and easterly on my +land." + +Deacon Putnam was, at this time, sixty years of age. His homestead was +at some distance; and it was often difficult for him to get to meeting. +Ingersoll had always enjoyed the convenience of having only a few rods +to go to the place of worship; and he desired to[i.175] have his +beloved colleague enjoy the same privilege. Besides, he longed to have +him near. The proffer was probably accepted. We find that +church-meetings were held at the house of Deacon Putnam, which would +not probably so often have been the case, had he remained on his farm; +and we know that there were two dwelling-houses, some time afterwards, +on the Ingersoll lot. It was a pleasant arrangement: the two deacons +and the minister being thus brought close together, and reaching each +other through Ingersoll's garden and the minister's orchard. Of the +personal friendship, attachment, and genial affection between the two +good old deacons, the foregoing extract is a pleasing illustration. + +Nathaniel Ingersoll's property was never very large; and, as he had +enjoyed the luxury, all his life long, of benevolence and beneficence, +there was no great amount to be left after suitably providing for his +wife. But there was enough to enable him to express the family +affection to which he was always true, and to give a parting assurance +of his devotion to the church and people of the village. By his will, +certain legacies were required to be paid by the residuary legatee and +final heir within a reasonable time specified in the document. It bears +date July 8, 1709, and was offered for Probate, Feb. 17, 1719. It +begins thus:— + +"In the name of God, Amen. I, Nathaniel Ingersoll, of Salem, in the +county of Essex, in the Province of Massachutetts Bay, in New England, +being through God's mercy in good health of body and of perfect memory, +but not[i.176] knowing how soon my great change may come, do make this +my last will, in manner and form following: First, I give up my soul to +God, in and through Jesus Christ my Redeemer, when he shall please to +call for it, hoping for a glorious resurrection, in and through his +merits; and my body to decent burial, at the discretion of my +executors; and, as for the worldly estate God hath been pleased to give +me, I dispose of it in the manner following," &c. + +He gives a small sum of money, varying from thirty shillings to four +pounds, to each and every nephew and niece then living, twenty-two in +number. He provides for an annuity of twenty shillings a year for a +sister, the only remaining member of his own immediate family, to be +paid into the hands of the daughter who took care of her. Not being +able to leave a large amount to any, he preferred to express his love +for all. There were two items in the will which may be specially +preserved from oblivion. + +"I give to the church in Salem Village the sum of fifty shillings in +money, for the more adorning the Lord's Table, to be laid out in some +silver cup, at the discretion of the Pastor, Deacons, and my +overseers."—"After my wife's decease, I give to Benjamin (my adopted +son) who was very dutiful to me, while he lived with me, and helpful to +me since he has gone from me, all the remaining part of my whole +estate, both real and personal,—excepting a small parcel of land of +about two acres, that lyeth between Mrs. Walcots and George Wyotts by +the highway, which I give to the inhabitants of Salem Village, for a +training place for ever." [i.177] + +The bonds required of the executors by the Probate Court were to the +amount of two hundred pounds only, showing that his movable or personal +estate was a very moderate one. There is a feature in the will, which +is, I think, worthy of being mentioned, as evincing the excellent +judgment and practical wisdom of this man. + +"I give to Hannah, my well-beloved wife, the use and improvement of my +whole estate during her natural life: and my will is, that, if my wife +should marry again, he that she so marrieth, before she marry, shall +give sufficient security to my overseers not to make strip or waste +upon any of my estate; and, if he do not become so bound, I give +one-half of my whole estate to Benjamin Hutchinson, at the time of my +wife's marriage." + +He did not cut her off entirely, as is sometimes attempted to be done, +in the event of a second marriage, but secured her and the estate +against suffering in case she took that step. He adopted an effectual +method to prevent any one from seeking to marry her for the purpose of +getting the benefit of her whole income and a comfortable establishment +upon his property without providing for its preservation; and, if she +should be so improvident as to marry again without having his +conditions complied with, he took care that she should not thereby +expose to injury or loss more than one-half of his estate. Ingenuity is +much exercised in making wills, particularly in reference to the +rights, interests, and security of wives. It is worthy of +consideration, whether, all things considered, Nathaniel[i.178] +Ingersoll's plan is not about as skilful and just as any that has been +devised. + +We shall meet this man again in the course of our story. I trust to +your good feeling in vindication of the space I have given to his +biography; being strongly impressed with a conviction, that you will +agree with me,—taking into view the influence he constantly exerted, +his steadfast integrity and honor, his personal dignity and public +spirit,—that the life of this citizen of a retired rural community, +this plain "husbandman," is itself a monument to his memory more truly +glorious than many which have been reared to perpetuate the names of +men whom the world has called great. The "training place" has been +carefully preserved. Occupying a central point, by the side of the +principal street, this pretty lawn is a fitting memorial of the Father +of the village. In its proper character, as a training-field, it is +invested with an interest not elsewhere surpassed, if equalled. Within +its enclosure the elements of the military art have been imparted to a +greater number of persons distinguished in their day, and who have left +an imperishable glory behind them as the defenders of the country, a +brave yeomanry in arms, than on any other spot. It was probably used as +a training field at the first settlement of the village. From the +slaughter of Bloody Brook, the storming of the Narragansett Fort, and +all the early Indian wars; from the Heights of Abraham, Lake George, +Lexington, Bunker Hill, Brandywine, Pea Ridge, and a hundred other +battle-fields, a lustre[i.179] is reflected back upon this village +parade-ground. It is associated with all the military traditions of the +country, down to the late Rebellion. Lothrop, Davenport, Gardners, +Dodges, Raymonds, Putnams, Porters, Hutchinsons, Herricks, Flints, and +others, who here taught or learned the manual and drill, are names +inscribed on the rolls of history for deeds of heroism and prowess. + +There was the usual diversity and variety of character among the people +of the village. John Procter originally lived in Ipswich, where he, as +well as his father before him, had a farm of considerable value. In +1666, or about that time, he removed to Salem, and carried on the +Downing farm, which had before been leased to the Flints. After a +while, Procter purchased a part of it. If a conclusion can be drawn +from the prevalent type of his posterity of our day, he was a man of +herculean frame. There is, I think, a tradition to this effect. At any +rate, his character was of that stamp. He had great native force and +energy. He was bold in his spirit and in his language,—an upright man, +no doubt, as the whole tone of the memorials of him indicate, but free +and imprudent in speech, impulsive in feeling, and sometimes rash in +action. He was liable from this cause, as we shall see, to get into +contention and give offence. There was Jeremiah Watts, a representative +of a class of men existing in every community where the intellect is +stimulated and idiosyncrasies allowed to develop themselves. By +occupation he was a dish-turner, but by temperament an +enthu[i.180]siast, a zealot, and an agitator. He was not satisfied with +things as they were, nor willing to give time an opportunity to improve +them. He took hold of the horns of the altar with daring hands. He +denounced the Church and the world,—undertook to overturn every thing, +and to put all on a new foundation. He entered on a crusade against +what he called "pulpit preaching," whereby particular persons, called +ministers, "may deliver what they please, and none must object; and +this we must pay largely for; our bread must be taken out of our +mouths, to maintain the beast's mark; and be wholly deprived of our +Christian privileges. This is the time of Antichrist's reign, and he +must reign this time: now are the witnesses slain, and the leaders in +churches are these slayers. But I see plainly that it is a vain thing +to debate about these things with our fellow-brethren; for they are all +for lording it, and trampling under foot." This man imagined that he +"was singled out alone to give his testimony for Christ, discovering +Antichrist's marks." "If any," he cried out, "will be faithful for +Christ, they must witness against Antichrist, which is self-love, and +lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. The witnesses are now +slain, but shortly they will rise again," &c. He tried to get up +"private Christian meetings," to run an opposition to "pulpit +preaching." After going about from house to house, declaiming in this +style, denouncing all who would not fall in with his notions and act +with him, and not succeeding in overthrowing things in general, he hit +upon a new ex[i.181]pedient. As his neighbors had wit enough to let him +alone, and did not suffer themselves to be tempted to resort to the +civil power to make him keep quiet, he did it himself. He instituted +proceedings against the ministers and churches, on the charge, that, by +taking the rule into their own hands, they were supplanting the +magistrates and usurping the civil power. This was not in itself a bad +move; but the Court wisely declined to engage in the proceedings. They +neither prosecuted the case nor him, but let the whole go by. They +adhered severely to the do-nothing policy. What a world of mischief +would have been avoided, if all courts, everywhere, at all times, had +shown an equal wisdom! Watts was allowed to vex the village, torment +the minister, and perplex those who listened to him by the ingenuity +and ability with which he urged his views. He continued his brawling +declamations until he was tired; but, not being noticed by ministers or +magistrates, no great harm was done, and he probably subsided into a +quiet and respectable citizen. + +The prominent place Giles Corey is to occupy in the scene before us +renders an account of him particularly necessary. It is not easy to +describe him. He was a very singular person. His manner of life and +general bearing and conversation were so disregardful, in many +particulars, of the conventional proprieties of his day, that it is not +safe to receive implicitly the statements made by his contemporaries. +By his peculiarities of some sort, he got a bad name. In the Book of +Records of the First Church in Salem, where[i.182] his public +profession of religion is recorded, he is spoken of as a man of eighty +years of age, and of a "scandalous life," but who made a confession of +his sins satisfactory to that body. It cannot be denied that he was +regarded in this light by some; but there is no reason to believe, +that, in referring to the sinfulness of his past life, the old man +meant more than was usually understood by such language on such +occasions. He was often charged with criminal acts; but in every +instance the charge was proved to be either wholly unfounded or greatly +exaggerated. He had a good many contentions and rough passages; but +they were the natural consequences, when a bold and strong man was put +upon the defensive, or drawn to the offensive, by the habit of +inconsiderate aspersion into which some of his neighbors had been led, +and the bad repute put upon him by scandal-mongers. He was evidently an +industrious, hard-working man. He was a person of some means, a holder +of considerable property in lands and other forms. Deeds are often +found on record from and to him. He owned meadows near Ipswich River. +His homestead, during the last thirty years of his life, was a farm of +more than a hundred acres of very valuable land, which has been in the +possession of the family, now owning it, for a hundred years. The +present proprietor, Mr. Benjamin Taylor, some twenty years ago, +ploughed up the site of Corey's dwelling-house; the vestiges of the +cellar being then quite visible. It was near the crossing of the Salem +and Lowell, and Georgetown and Boston Railroads,[i.183] about three +hundred feet to the west of the crossing, and close to the track of the +former road, on its south side. The spot is surrounded by beautiful +fields; and their aspect shows that it must have been, in all respects, +an eligible estate. What is now known as "the Curtis Field" is a part +of Corey's farm. + +Giles Corey lived previously, for some time, in the town of Salem. He +sold his house there in 1659. The contract with a carpenter for +building his farmhouse is preserved. It was stipulated to be erected +"where he shall appoint." While the carpenter was getting out the +materials, he selected and bought the farm, on which he lived ever +afterwards. The house was to be "twenty feet in length, fifteen in +breadth, and eight feet stud." Nothing strikes us more, as strange and +unaccountable, than the small size of houses in those days. One would +have thought, that, where wood was so plenty and near at hand, and land +of no account, they would have built larger houses. In a letter, dated +Nov. 16, 1646, from Governor Winthrop to his son John, of Connecticut, +he gives an account "of a tempest (than which I never observed a +greater);" and mentions that the roof of "Lady Moody's house, at +Salem," with all of the chimney above it, was blown off in two parts, +and "carried six or eight rods. Ten persons lay under it, and knew not +of it till they arose in the morning." The house had a flat roof, was +of one story, and nine feet in height! Lady Deborah Moody was a person +of high position, a connection of Sir Henry Vane, and a[i.184] woman of +property. She bought Mr. Humphreys' great plantation. But, like +Townsend Bishop, she was dealt with, and compelled to quit the colony, +on account of her doubts about infant baptism. Winthrop calls her a +"wise and anciently religious woman." She went to Long Island, where +her influence was so important, that Governor Stuyvesant consulted her +in his administration, and conceded to her the nomination of +magistrates. It seems very strange that such a lady should have had a +house only nine feet high. The early houses were built either as +temporary structures or with a view to enlargement. Perhaps Lady Moody +intended to add a story to hers. They were low-studded for warmth. The +farm-houses generally were designed to be increased in length, when +convenience required. The chimney was very large, placed at one end, +and so constructed, that, on the extension of the building, fire-places +could be opened into it on the new end. A building of twenty feet was +prepared to become one of forty feet in width or length, as the case +might be; and then the chimney would be in the middle of it. + +As has been intimated, Corey was in bad repute. Either he was a lawless +man, or much misunderstood. I am inclined to the latter opinion. He +belonged to that class of persons, instances of which we occasionally +meet, who care little about the opinions or the talk of others. On one +occasion, he was going into town with a cartload of wood. He met +Anthony Needham, in company with John Procter whose house[i.185] he had +just passed. Procter accosted him thus: "How now, Giles, wilt thou +never leave thy old trade? Thou hast got some of my wood here upon thy +cart." Corey answered, "True, I did take two or three sticks to lay +behind the cart to ease the oxen, because they bore too hard." This +shows the free way in which Procter bantered with Corey, and the slight +account the latter made of it. But the thing before long got to be too +serious to be trifled with. It became the fashion to charge all sorts +of offences against Corey; and, whatever any one lost or mislaid, he +was considered as having abstracted it. The gossip against him was +quite unrestrained, and created a bitter and angry feeling in the +neighborhood. In the winter of 1676, a man named Goodell, who had been +working on Corey's farm, was carried home to his friends by Corey's +wife, in a feeble state of health, and died soon after. It was +whispered about, and before long openly asserted, that he had come to +his death in consequence of having been violently beaten by Corey, who +was accordingly arrested and brought to trial for killing the man. +There was a great excitement against him. He probably had punished the +man severely for some alleged misconduct; and it was charged that the +castigation had been so unmerciful and excessive as to have broken down +his constitution and caused his death. There was conflicting evidence +going to show that the man had been beaten, for some misconduct, after +he had returned to his family. It was a circumstance in favor of Corey, +that his wife[i.186] had taken the invalid to his home; and there was +no evidence of any ill feeling between her and the sick man during a +stop they made at Procter's house on their way. The death, too, it was +supposed by some, might have resulted from ordinary disease, and not +from whipping, either at Corey's or at home. The result was, that, +notwithstanding the prejudice against Corey, he was discharged on +paying a fine; showing that the Court did not consider it a very +serious offence. We shall hear of this affair again. + +In the year 1678, there was a suit at law between Corey and a man named +John Gloyd, a laborer on his farm, on a question of wages. The case +was, by agreement of the parties, passed out of court into the hands of +arbitrators mutually chosen. John Procter was one of the arbitrators, +and, as it would seem, chosen as the friend of Gloyd: Nathaniel Putnam +and Edmund Bridges were the others; one of them chosen by Corey, and +the other mutually agreed upon. They brought in their award. Its +precise character is not stated; but the circumstances indicate that it +was favorable to Gloyd. The conduct of Corey on this occasion shows, +that, though a rough man perhaps, and liable, from his peculiar ways, +to be harshly spoken of, he had, after all, a generous, forgiving, and +genial nature. Nathaniel Putnam and Edmund Bridges state, that, when +they brought in their award, "it was greatly to the satisfaction of the +parties concerned; and Giles Corey did manifest as much satisfaction, +and gave as many thanks to every one of us, as[i.187] ever we heard; +and Goodman Corey did manifest, to our observation, as much +satisfaction to John Procter as he did to the rest of the arbitrators." +Captain Moore, being by when the award was brought in, says, "I did see +and take notice of the abundance of love manifested from Corey to +Procter, and from Procter to Corey: for they drank wine together; and +Procter paid for part, and Corey for part." + +This remarkable overflow of affection between these two men is rendered +interesting, not merely by the collisions into which, before and after, +their impulsive and imprudent natures brought them, but by the part +they were destined to enact in an impending tragedy, which was to bring +them to a fearful end in a manner and on a scene that will arrest the +notice of all ages, and attest to their strong characters and heroic +spirit. The passage has a unique interest, and is worthy of a painter. + +It happened unfortunately, that, a few days after the loving embraces +of these hardy men, Procter's house took fire. According to their +habit, some of the neighbors at once started the idea, that Corey had +set fire to it because of the award of the arbitrators, of whom Procter +was one. Under the excitement of the conflagration, with his usual +rashness, and forgetting the pledges of reconciliation that had just +passed between them, Procter fell in with the accusation, and Corey was +brought to trial. It appeared, in evidence, that John Phelps and Thomas +Fuller, who lived on the western borders of the village, near +Ipswich[i.188] River, coming along the road towards Procter's Corner +about two hours before daylight, on the way probably to Salem market, +saw his roof on fire, gave the alarm, and stopped to help put it out. +Thomas Gould and Thomas Flint thought it must be the work of an +incendiary, or of "an evil hand," as they expressed it, from the place +where it took and the hour when it occurred. On the other hand, it was +testified by James Poland and Caleb and Jane Moore, that they heard +John Procter say that his boy carried a lamp and set the fire by +accident. This was said by him, probably before the idea of Corey's +agency in the matter had been put into his head. The prisoner proved an +_alibi_ by the most conclusive evidence, which is so curious, as giving +an insight of a farmer's life at that time, and of Corey's domestic +condition, that it may well be inserted. + +Abraham Walcot testifies, that, "Tuesday night last was a week, I +lodged at Giles Corey's house, which night John Procter's house was +damaged by fire; and Giles Corey went to bed before nine o'clock, and +rose about sunrise again, and could not have gone out of the house but +I should have heard him; and it must have been impossible that he +should have gone to Procter's house that night; for he cannot in a long +time go afoot, and, for his horse-kind, they were all in the woods. And +further testifieth, that said Corey came home very weary from work, and +went to bed the rather." His wife testified that he was in bed from +nine o'clock until sunrise.[i.189] + +John Parker, one of Corey's four sons-in-law, testified as follows: "I +being at work with my father, Goodman Corey, the day Goodman Procter's +house was on fire. I going home with my father the night before, he +complained that he was very weary, and said he would go to bed. I did, +on our way going, ask him whether or no he would eat his supper: my +father answered me again, no, he could not eat any thing that night; +and so went to bed, and so I left him abed. And, the next morning, my +father came to me about sun-rising, and asked me to go with Abraham +Walcot to fetch a load of hay; and my father said he would try whether +or not he could cart up a load of peas. I do also testify that he had +no horse-kind near at home at that time." + +John Gloyd, the hired man, with whom he had the lawsuit that had been +settled a day or two before by arbitrators, testified, in corroboration +of Parker, and to show that the latter could not have had any thing to +do with the fire, that he slept in the same room with said Parker that +night, and that he came to bed between nine and ten o'clock in the +evening, and never rose until the break of day. Gloyd's wife testified +to the same effect. There turned out to be no evidence against Corey +whatever, but abundant proof of his innocence. The hard-working, +"weary" old man was triumphantly acquitted. He thought, however, from +this high-handed and utterly groundless attempt to wrong and ruin him, +and from calumnious general statements that had been made against him +in the[i.190] course of the trial, that it was time to put a stop to +the malignant and mischievous slanders which had been current in the +neighborhood. He instituted prosecutions of Procter and others for +defamation, and recovered against them all. After this, we hear no more +of him until he experienced religion and was received into the First +Church. Whether he and Procter became reconciled again is not known. +Probably they did; for they seem to have had points of attraction, and +each of them traits of kind-heartedness and generosity, under a rather +rough exterior. The manner in which they bore themselves in their last +hours is a matter of history, and stamps them both with true manliness. + +The incidents which have now been related, and the peculiar traits of +this man, are perhaps sufficient to account for the fact, that he was +spoken of as a person of "a scandalous" life. He had afforded food for +scandal; and it is not surprising, that, in a rural community, where +but few topics for talk occur beyond the village boundaries, all should +have participated, more or less, in criticising his ways, and that the +various difficulties into which he had been drawn, and the charges +against him, should have made him the object of much prejudice. His +wife Martha was also a noticeable character. She was a professor of +religion, a member of the village church, and found her chief happiness +in attendance upon public worship and in private devotions. Much of her +time—indeed, all that she could rescue from the labors of the +household[i.191]—was spent in prayer. She was a woman of spirit and +pluck, as we shall see. + +Another notability of the village was Bridget Bishop. In 1666—then the +widow Wasselbe—she was married to Thomas Oliver. After his death, she +became the wife of Edward Bishop, who is spoken of as a "sawyer." This +term did not describe the same occupation then to which it is almost +wholly applied now. Firewood, in those days, was not, as a general +thing, sawed, but chopped. The sawyer got out boards and joists, beams, +and timber of all kinds, from logs; and before mills were constructed, +or where they were not conveniently accessible, it was an indispensable +employment, and held a high rank among the departments of useful +industry. It was in constant requisition in shipyards. It was a manly +form of labor, requiring a considerable outlay of apparatus, and +developing finely the whole muscular organization. The implement +employed, beside the ordinary tools, such as wedges, beetles, the +broad-axe, chains, and crowbar, was a strong steel cutting-plate, of +great breadth, with large teeth, highly polished and thoroughly +wrought, some eight or ten feet in length, with a double handle, +crossing the plate at each end at a right angle. It was worked by two +men, and called a "pit-saw," because sometimes the man at the lower +handle stood in a deep pit, dug for the purpose, and called a +"saw-pit." But, among the early settlers, the usual method was to make +a frame of strong timbers. The log to be sawed was raised by slings, or +slid up an inclined plane, and[i.192] placed upon cross-beams. Above +it, a scaffolding was made on which one man stood; the other stood on +the ground below. They each held the saw by both hands, and worked in +unison. The log was pushed along by handspikes as they reached the +cross-timbers, and wedges were used to keep the cleft open, that the +saw might work free. So important was this business considered, that, +from time to time, the General Court regulated by law the rates of pay +to the sawyer. If a farmer had suitable woodlands, he provided in many +cases a saw-frame or saw-pit of his own, got out his logs, and worked +them into boards or square timber for sale. This was a profitable +business. + +Edward Bishop had resided, for some seven years previous to the +witchcraft delusion, within the limits of Salem, near the Beverly line. +His wife Bridget was a singular character, not easily described. She +kept a house of refreshment for travellers, and a shovel-board for the +entertainment of her guests, and generally seems to have countenanced +amusements and gayeties to an extent that exposed her to some scandal. +She is described as wearing "a black cap and a black hat, and a red +paragon bodice," bordered and looped with different colors. This would +appear to have been rather a showy costume for the times. Her freedom +from the austerity of Puritan manners, and disregard of conventional +decorum in her conversation and conduct, brought her into disrepute; +and the tongue of gossip was generally loosened against her. She was +charged with witchcraft, and actually[i.193] brought to trial on the +charge, in 1680, but was acquitted; the popular mind not being quite +ripe for such proceedings as took place twelve years afterwards. She +still continued to brave public sentiment, lived on in the same free +and easy style, paying no regard to the scowls of the sanctimonious or +the foolish tittle-tattle of the superstitious. She kept her house of +entertainment, shovel-board, and other appurtenances. Sometimes, +however, she resented the calumnies circulated about her being a witch, +in a manner that made it to be felt that it was best to let her alone. +A man called one day at the house of Samuel Shattuck, where there was a +sick child. He was a stranger to the inmates of the family, and +evidently had come to the place to make trouble for Bridget Bishop. He +pretended great pity for the child, and said, among other things, in an +oracular way, "We are all born, some to one thing, and some to +another." The mother asked him what he thought her poor, suffering +child was born to. He replied, "He is born to be bewitched, and is +bewitched: you have a neighbor, that lives not far off, who is a +witch." The good woman does not appear to have entertained any +suspicion of the kind; but the man insisted on the truth of what he had +affirmed. He succeeded in exciting her feelings on the subject, and, by +vague insinuations and general descriptions of the witch, led her mind +to fix upon Bridget Bishop. He said he should go and see her, and that +he could bring her out as the afflicter of her child. She consented to +let another[i.194] of her boys go with him, and show the way. They +proceeded to the house, and knocked at the door. Bridget opened it, and +asked what he would have: he said a pot of cider. There was something +in the manner of the man which satisfied her that he had come with +mischievous intent. She ordered him off, seized a spade that happened +to be near, drove him out of her porch, and chased him from her +premises. When he and the boy got back, they bore marks of the bad luck +of the adventure. Such things had perhaps happened before, and it was +found that whoever provoked her resentment was very likely to come off +second best from the encounter; yet Bridget was a member of Mr. Hale's +Church in Beverly, and retained her standing in full fellowship there. +It must have been thought, by the pastor and members of that church, +that no charge seriously affecting her moral or Christian character was +justly imputable to her. + +The traveller of to-day, in passing over Crane-river Bridge, +approaching the present village of "The Plains," near the eastern end +of the Townsend Bishop or Nurse farm, will notice a roadway by the side +of the bridge descending through the brook and going up to rejoin the +main road on the other side. Such turnouts are frequent by the side of +bridges over small streams. They are refreshing and useful, cooling the +feet and cleansing the fetlocks of horses, and washing the wheels of +carriages. One afternoon, Edward Bishop, with his wife behind him on a +pillion, was riding home from Salem. Two women, mounted in[i.195] the +same way, joined them; and they chatted together pleasantly as their +horses ambled along. When they came to the bridge, Bishop, probably +merely for the fun of the thing, dashed down into the brook, instead of +going over the bridge, to the great consternation and against the +vehement remonstrances of his wife, who berated him soundly for his +reckless disregard of her safety. They got through without accident; +and the four jogged on together until the Bishops turned up to their +house, and the other two kept on to their home in Beverly. But all the +way from the bridge, until they parted company, Bishop was finding +great fault with his wife, saying that he should not have been sorry if +any mishap had occurred. She did not say much after her first fright +and resentment were over; but he kept on talking very freely about her, +and using some pretty hard language. This affair, which perhaps is not +without a parallel in the occasional experiences of married life, was, +with other things of an equally trivial and irrelevant character, +brought to bear fatally against her at her trial on the charge of +witchcraft, between seven and eight years afterward. + +I can find no evidence against the moral character of this woman. One +person, at least, who participated largely in getting up accusations +against her, acknowledged, in a death-bed repentance, the wrong she had +done. Mr. Hale, the minister of the Beverly congregation, states, in a +deposition, that a certain woman, "being in full communion in our +church, came to me to desire that Goodwife Bishop, her neighbor, wife +of[i.196] Edward Bishop, Jr., might not be permitted to receive the +Lord's Supper in our church till she had given her satisfaction for +some offences that were against her; namely, because the said Bishop +did entertain people in her house at unseasonable hours in the night, +to keep drinking and playing at shovel-board, whereby discord did arise +in other families, and young people were in danger to be corrupted; +that she knew these things, and had once gone into the house, and, +finding some at shovel-board, had taken the pieces they played with and +thrown them into the fire, and had reproved the said Bishop for +promoting such disorders, but received no satisfaction from her about +it." According to Mr. Hale's statement, the night after this complaint +was brought to him, the woman was found to be distracted. "She +continuing some time distracted, we sought the Lord by fasting and +prayer." After a while, the woman recovered her senses, and, as Mr. +Hale says he understood, expressed a suspicion "that she had been +bewitched by Bishop's wife." He declares that he did not, at the time, +countenance the idea, "hoping better of Goody Bishop." He says further, +that he "inquired of Margaret King, who kept at or near the house," +what she had observed concerning the woman who had been distracted. +"She told me that she was much given to reading and searching the +prophecies of Scripture." At length the woman appeared to have entirely +recovered, went to Goody Bishop, gave satisfaction for what she had +said and done against her, and they became[i.197] friends again. Mr. +Hale goes on to say, "I was oft praying with and counselling of her +before her death." She earnestly desired that "Edward Bishop might be +sent for, that she might make friends with him. I asked her if she had +wronged Edward Bishop. She said, not that she knew of, unless it were +in taking his shovel-board pieces, when people were at play with them, +and throwing them into the fire; and, if she did evil in it, she was +very sorry for it, and desired he would be friends with her, or forgive +her. This was the very day before she died." That night her distemper +returned, and, in a paroxysm of insanity, she destroyed herself. + +It is evident, from his own account, that Mr. Hale did not then fall in +with, or countenance at all, any unfavorable impressions against +Bridget Bishop; and that the poor diseased woman, when entirely free +from her malady, repented bitterly of what she had done and said of +Goodman Bishop and his wife, and heartily desired their forgiveness. So +far as the facts stated by Mr. Hale of his own knowledge go, they prove +that Bridget Bishop was the victim of gross misrepresentation. Five +years afterwards, as we shall see, Mr. Hale gave a very different +version of the affair, and one which it is extremely difficult to +reconcile with his own former deliberate convictions at the time when +the circumstances occurred. + +As it is my object to bring before you every thing that may help to +explain the particular occurrences embraced in the account I am to give +of the witchcraft[i.198] prosecutions, two other persons must be +mentioned before concluding this branch of my subject,—George Jacobs, +Sr., and his son George Jacobs, Jr. They each had given offence to some +persons, and suffered that sort of notoriety which led to the selection +of victims, although both were persons of respectability. The father +owned and had lived for about a half-century on a farm in North Fields, +on the banks of Endicott River, a little to the eastward of the bridge +at the iron-foundery. He was a person of good estate and an estimable +man; but it was his misfortune to have an impulsive nature and quick +passions. In June, 1677, he was prosecuted and fined for striking a man +who had incensed him. George Jacobs, Jr., his only son, at a court held +Nov. 7, 1674, was prosecuted, "found blamable, and ordered to pay costs +of court." His offence and defence are embraced in his deposition on +the occasion. + +"George Jacobs's Answer to Nathaniel Putnam's Complaint.—That I did +follow some horses in our enclosure on the Royal Side, where they were +trespassing upon us; that the end of my following them was to take +them; but, rather than they would be taken, they took the water, and I +did follow them no further; but straightway they turned ashore, and I +did run to take them as they came out of the water, but could not: and +I can truly take my oath that since that time I did never follow any +horses or mares; and I hope my own oath will clear me." + +The result of his attempt to drive off the horses was, that several +valuable animals were drowned.[i.199] Their owner, Nathaniel Putnam, +brought an action; but he could not recover damages. The horses were +evidently trespassing, and the Court did not seem to regard Jacobs's +conduct as a heinous matter. It is not to be supposed, that Nathaniel +Putnam harbored sentiments of revenge or resentment for eighteen years, +or had any hand in prosecuting Jacobs in 1692. There is every +indication that he did not sympathize in the violent passions which +raged on that occasion, although he was much under the power of the +delusion. But the affair of drowning the horses was probably for a long +time a topic of gossip, and may have given to the author of the +catastrophe a notoriety which nearly cost him his life. + +The account that has been given of the elements of the population of +the Salem Farms or Village, shows that, while there were the usual +varieties entering into the composition of all communities, it is +wholly inadmissible to suppose that the witchcraft delusion took place +there because it was the scene of greater ignorance or stupidity or +barbarism than prevailed elsewhere. This will be made more apparent +still by some general views of the state of society and manners. The +people of a remote age are in general only regarded as they are seen +through prominent occurrences and public movements. These constitute +the ordinary materials of history. Dynasties, reigns of kings, armies, +legislative proceedings, large ecclesiastical synods, dogmatic creeds, +and the like, are, as a general thing, about all we know of the past. +Por[i.200]traits of individuals appear here and there; but, separated +from the ordinary life of the times, they cannot be fairly or fully +appreciated. The public life of the past is but the outline, or, more +strictly speaking, the mere skeleton, of humanity. To fill up the +outline, to clothe the skeleton with elastic nerves and warm flesh, and +quicken it with a vital circulation, we must get at the domestic, +social, familiar, and ordinary experience of individuals and private +persons; we must obtain a view of the popular customs and the daily +routine of life. In this way only can history fulfil its office in +making the past present. + +The people of the early colonial settlements had a private and interior +life, as much as we have now, and the people of all ages and countries +have had. It is common to regard them in no other light than as a +severe, sombre, and pleasure-abhorring generation. It was not so with +them altogether. They had the same nature that we have. It was not all +gloom and severity. They had their recreations, amusements, gayeties, +and frolics. Youth was as buoyant with hope and gladness, love as warm +and tender, mirth as natural to innocence, wit as sprightly, then as +now. There was as much poetry and romance: the merry laugh enlivened +the newly opened fields, and rang through the bordering woods as loud, +jocund, and unrestrained as in these older and more crowded +settlements. It is true that their theology was austere, and their +polity, in Church and State, stern; but, in their modes of life, there +were some features which[i.201] gave peculiar opportunity to exercise +and gratify a love of social excitement of a pleasurable kind. Let me +mention some of the customs having a tendency in this direction, that +prevailed in the early settlements of New England. + +Whenever a young man had made his clearing in the forest, got out the +frame of his house, and selected a helpmeet to dwell with him in it, +there was "a raising." On an appointed day, the neighbors far and near +assembled; all together put their shoulders to the work; and, before +the shadows of night enveloped the scene, the house was up, and covered +from sill to ridgepole. The same was done if the house of a neighbor +had been destroyed by fire. In this case, often the timbers, joists, +and boards were contributed as well as the labor. These were made the +occasions of general merriment, in which all ages and both sexes +participated. Then there were the "huskings." After the barns were +filled with hay and grain, and the corn was ripe, at "harvest home," +gatherings would be seen on the bright autumnal afternoons of +successive days, in the neighborhood of the different farmhouses. The +sheaves would be taken from the shocks and brought up from the fields, +the golden leaves and milky tassels stripped from the full ear, and the +crib filled to the brim. These were scenes of unalloyed enjoyment and +unrestrained gayety. + +At that time were prevalent, in rural neighborhoods, other recreations +promotive of social hilarity to the[i.202] highest degree. As a wintry +evening drew on, the wide, deep fireplace—equalling in width nearly the +whole of one side of the room, and so deep that benches were +permanently attached to the jambs, on which two or more could +comfortably sit—was duly prepared. A huge log, of a diameter equal to +that of "the mast of some great admiral," six feet perhaps in length, +was worked in by handspikes to its place as the "back-log;" a smaller +one, as "back-stick," placed over it; the great andirons duly adjusted, +and the wood piled on artistically—for there was an art in building a +wood-fire. The kindlings were placed on top of the whole; never by an +experienced hand below. More than the light of day, from dazzling +chandeliers or the magic tongues of flaming gas-burners, blazes through +the halls of modern luxury and splendor; but the lights and shadows +from a glowing, old-fashioned, New-England country fireplace created a +scene as enlivening, exhilarating, and genial as has ever been +witnessed, and cannot be surpassed. Assembled neighbors in a single +evening accomplished what would have been the work of a family for +months. The corn and the nuts were all shelled; the young birch was +stripped down in thin strands, and brooms enough made for a year's +service in house and barn; and various other useful offices rendered. +The sound of busy hands and nimble fingers was lost in commingling +happy voices. Fun and jest, joy and love, ruled the hour. The whole +affair was followed by "Blind-man's Buff" or some[i.203] other sport. +After the "old folks" had considerately retired, who knows but that the +sons and daughters of Puritans sometimes wound up with a dance? There +were sleigh-rides, and the woods rang with the happy laugh and jingling +bells. The vehicles used on these occasions were, prior to 1700, more +properly called "sleds." Our modern "sleigh" had not then been +introduced. As the spring came on, logs would be hollowed or scooped +out and placed near the feet of sugar maples, a slanting incision made +a foot or two above them in the trunks of the trees, a slip of shingle +inserted, and the delicious sap would trickle down into the troughs. +When the proper time came, tents or booths made of evergreen boughs +would be erected in the woods, great kettles hung over blazing fires, +and a whole neighborhood camp out for several days and nights, until +the work was accomplished, and the flavory syrup or solid cakes of +sugar brought out. + +These were some of the recreations of the country people in the early +settlements of New England; continuing, perhaps, in frontier towns to +this day. They constituted forms of enjoyment which cannot exist in +cities or older communities; and possessed a charm, in the memory of +all who ever participated in them, greater, far greater, than society +in any later stage can possess. + +The principal method of travelling in those days was on horseback. It +afforded many special opportunities for social enjoyment. Women as well +as men were trained to it. The people of the village were all[i.204] at +home in the saddle. The daughters of Joseph Putnam, sisters of Israel, +were celebrated as equestrians. Tradition relates adventurous feats of +theirs in this line, equal to that which constitutes a part of the +history of their famous brother. There were, perhaps, several games of +skill or chance practised more or less, even in those days, in this +neighborhood. The only one that seems to have been openly allowed, of +which we have any evidence, was shovel-board. This game, now supposed +to be out of use, is referred to by Shakespeare, and was quite common +in England as well as in this country. A board about two and a half +feet wide and twenty feet long was placed three feet above the floor, +somewhat like a billiard-table, though not with so wide a surface, +precisely level and perfectly smooth, covered with a sprinkling of fine +sand. It was provided with weights or balls, called "pieces," flattened +on one end. The game consisted in shoving them as far as possible, +without going over the end. A trough surrounded the table to catch the +pieces if they fell. Richard Grant White, from whom this account of the +game has been derived, says that "it required great accuracy of eye, +and steadiness of hand, much more than ten-pins." He states that, when +a boy, he saw it played by "brawny" men, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and that +the pieces then used were of brass. It is probable that the "pieces" +used on Bridget Bishop's shovel-board were made of some heavy wood, as +they were thrown into the fire for the purpose of destroying them. The +fact that a game like this was suffered to[i.205] be openly played in +Salem Village is quite remarkable, and shows that some license was left +for such amusements. + +The records and files of the local courts show, that, notwithstanding +the austere gravity and strictness of manners and morals usually +ascribed to our New-England ancestors, occasional irregularities +occurred in the early settlements, which would be considered high +misdemeanors in our day. The following deposition was given "on oath +before the Court," Feb. 26, 1651. Edward Norris was the son of the +minister of the First Church; had been for more than ten years, and +continued to be for twenty years after, schoolmaster of the town; and, +by his character as well as office, commanded the highest respect. John +Kitchen, in 1655, was chosen "searcher and sealer of leather." Giles +Corey had not yet purchased his farm, but lived on his town-lot, +extending from Essex Street, near its western extremity, to the North +River. They were severally persons of good estate. + +"The Testimony of Giles Corey.—Mr. Edward Norris and I were going +towards the brickkiln: John Kitchen, going with us, fell a nipping and +pinching of us. And, when we came back again, John Kitchen struck up +Mr. Edward Norris his heels and mine, and fell upon me, and catched me +by the throat, and held me so long till he had almost stopped my +breath. And I said unto John Kitchen, 'This is not good jesting.' And +John Kitchen replied, 'This is nothing: I do owe you more than this of +old: this is not half of that which you shall have afterwards.' After +this,[i.206] he went into his house, and he took stinking water and +threw upon us, and took me and thrust me out of doors, and I went my +ways. And John Kitchen followed me half-way up the lane, or +thereabouts. Perceiving him to follow me, I went to go over the rails. +He took me again, and threw me down off the rails, and fell a beating +of me until I was all bloody. And, Thomas Bishop being present, I +desired him to bear witness of what he saw. Upon my words, he let me +rise. As soon as I was up, he fell a beating of me again. + +"Testified on oath before the Court, 26th Feb., 1651. + +"Henry Bartholomew, _Clerk_." + +This was indeed an extraordinary outburst of lawless violence, and +gives a singular insight of the state of society. Such an occurrence in +our day would create astonishment. The organized power of the community +to suppress vicious and rude passions was probably never brought to +bear with greater rigidness than in our Puritan villages; but it did +not fully accomplish its end. Behind and beneath the solemn and formal +exterior, there was, after all, perhaps as much irregularity of life as +now. The nature of man had not been subdued. The people had their +quarrels and fights, and their frolics and merriments, in defiance of +the restraints of authority. Violations of local and general laws were +not infrequent; and flowed, as ever since, from intemperance, in as +large a measure. Kitchen, in this instance, acted as if under the +influence of liquor. His behavior, in tripping up the heels and +throwing dirty water upon the person of the school[i.207]master of the +town, the dignity of whose social position is indicated by the title of +"Mr.;" and in giving to Corey such a persistent and gratuitous +pommelling,—bears the aspect of a drunken delirium. The latter seems +not to have supposed, for some time, that he was in earnest, but to +have looked upon his conduct as rough play, which was carried rather +too far. Poor Corey was often getting before the town Court as accused +or accuser. He was, to the end, the victim of ill-usage, either given +or taken. Though not a bad-natured man, he was almost always in +trouble. The tenor of his long life was as eccentric and unruly as the +manner of his death was strange and horrible. + +There was what may be called an institution in the rural parishes of +the early times, still existing to some extent perhaps in country +places, which must not be omitted in an enumeration of controlling +influences. The people lived on farms, at some distance from each +other, and almost all at great distances from the meeting-house. Local +and parental authority, church discipline, public opinion, enforced +attendance upon the regular religious services. Fashion, habit, and +choice concurred in bringing all to meeting on the Lord's Day. It was +impossible for many to return home during the intermission between the +services of the forenoon and afternoon. The effect was, that the whole +community were thrown and kept together every week for several hours, +during which they could not avoid social intercourse. It was a more +effective institution than the town-meeting; for it occurred oftener, +and[i.208] included women and children. In pleasant weather, they would +perhaps gather together in knots at eligible places, or stroll off in +companies to the shades of the neighboring woods. In bad weather, they +would remain in the meeting-house, or congregate at Deacon Ingersoll's +ordinary, or in the great rooms of his dwelling-house. As a whole, this +practice must have produced important results upon the character of the +people. In the absence of newspapers, or of much intercourse with +remote places, the day was made the occasion for hearing and telling +all the news. It provided for the circulation of ideas, good and bad. +It widened the sphere of influence of the wiser and better sort, and +gave opportunity for mischievous people to do much harm. It was a sort +of central bazaar, open every week, where all the varieties of local +gossip could be interchanged and circulated far and wide. Of the +aggregate character of the effects thus produced, I do not propose to +strike the balance. It was undoubtedly an effective instrumentality in +moulding the population of the country, developing the elements of +society, quickening and rendering more vigorous the action of the +people in masses, and elucidating the phenomena of their history. It +answers my purpose, at present, to suggest, that, if any popular +delusion or fanaticism arose, the means of giving it a rapid diffusion, +and of intensifying its power, were in this way provided. + +In the early settlement of the country, the pursuit of game in the +forests, rivers, and lakes, was necessary as a means of subsistence, +and has always been im[i.209]portant in that view. A war against beasts +and birds of prey was also required to be incessantly kept up. The +methods adopted for these ends were various and ingenious, often +requiring courage and skill, and in most instances conducted in +companies. Deer and moose were sometimes caged by surrounding them, or +trapped; but the gun was chiefly relied upon in their pursuit. There +were various methods for catching the smaller animals. One of the +sports of boyhood was to spring the rabbits or hares. A sapling, or +young tree, was bent down and fastened to a stick slid into notches cut +in trees, on each side of the path of the animal. The rabbit is wont to +race through the woods at great speed, and along established tracks, +which, particularly after snow has fallen, are clearly traceable. To +the cross-stick, thus placed above the path, one end of a strong +horse-hair was tied. The other end was in a slip-knot, with a noose +just large enough, and hanging at the height, to receive the head of +the rabbit. Not seeing the noose, and rushing along the path, the +rabbit would jerk the cross-stick out of the notches. The tree would +bound back to its original upright direction, and the rabbit remain +swinging aloft, until, at the break of day, the boys would rejoice in +the success of their stratagem. Pigeons in clouds frequented the +country in their seasons, and acres upon acres of the forests bowed +beneath their weight. They were taken by nets, dozens at a time, or +brought down in great numbers by shot-guns. The marshalled hosts of +wild geese made their noisy flights over the land in the[i.210] spring +and fall, traversing a space spanning the continent north and south. +They were brought down by the gun, on the wing, or surprised while +resting in their long route or stopped by storms, around secluded ponds +or swamps. Ducks and other aquatic birds were abundant on the rivers +and marshes, and pursued in canoes along the bays and seashores. +Salt-water fish were within reach in the neighboring ocean; while an +unfailing supply of fresh-water fish was yielded by Wenham Lake, +Wilkins's Pond, and the running streams. + +The bear was a formidable prowler around the settlements, killing young +cattle, making havoc in the sheepfold, and depredating upon the barn +and farm yard. He was a dangerous antagonist, of immense strength in +his arms and claws. Sometimes he was reached effectually by the gun, +but the trap was mainly relied upon to secure him. His skin made him a +valuable prize, and he supplied other beneficial uses. The earliest and +rudest method of trapping a bear was as follows: A place was selected +in the woods, where two large fallen and mouldering trees were side by +side within two or three feet of each other. The space between them +would be roofed over by throwing branches and boughs across them, and +closed up at one end. The other end would be left open. A gun was +placed inside, heavily loaded, the muzzle towards the open end; to the +trigger a cord was fastened running along by the barrel of the gun, +passing over a cross-bar, and hanging down directly before the muzzle, +baited with a piece of fresh meat. The bear,[i.211] ranging in the +woods at night, would be attracted by the smell of meat, and come +snuffing around. At the open end, he would see the bait, rush in, seize +it between his jaws, pull the cord, discharge the gun, and his head and +breast be torn to pieces. The men engaged in the enterprise would +remain awake in some neighboring house, waiting and listening, with the +extremest interest, for the report of the gun to announce their +success. At the break of day, they would gather to the spot, and +participate in the profit of the capture. After a while, iron or steel +traps were introduced. They would be skilfully baited and set, and +fastened to a tree by a chain. The whole was covered over with light +soil and leaves. The bear would make for the bait. The weight of his +paw would spring the trap. The iron-teeth would hold him fast till the +morning. In his suffering and exasperation, it would require +considerable effort to despatch him. In catching bears, as well as +foxes, much skill and art were needed. They were each very wary and +cautious; and, where iron was used in the traps, some scent was +necessary to disguise the smell of the metal. All appearance of having +been disturbed had to be removed from the ground. Trapping became quite +a science, and was a pursuit of much importance. + +Wolves were perhaps the most destructive of the beasts of prey. +Although not so large or strong as bears, they were far more fierce and +rapacious. Bears could be tamed, but wolves not. Bears were not +dangerous, unless provoked, or suffering from hunger, or[i.212] alarmed +for the safety of their young. It was thought that kind treatment would +awaken strong attachment in them, but wolves were always snarling and +ferocious. They roamed mostly in packs, and would kill sheep, lambs, +and poultry long after hunger was appeased. The farmers regarded them +as their great enemy. A long and deep trench would be dug, lined with +slippery logs, from which the bark had been taken, standing upright, +and touching each other. The trench was covered by a slight framework, +upon which leaves and dirt were scattered, to make the surface appear +like the surrounding territory. Some savory bait would be placed over +it. The wolves, rushing on, would break through. Not being able to +ascend the sides, they would be found alive, the next morning, at the +bottom. These were called "wolf-pits." It was no easy matter to dispose +of or despatch the furious animals, and the wolf-pits were often the +scenes of much excitement. There was another class of animals,—divided +into different species, mostly according to their size,—smaller but +fiercer than wolves, of extraordinary strength and activity, called +wild-cats, catamounts, or loup-cerviers, pronounced by the farmers +lucifees. These were only taken by the gun. It was considered a useful +public service, and no inconsiderable feat, to kill them. + +Some of the laborious employments, at that time, were especially +promotive of social influence; for instance, the making and mending +highways. This was secured by a tax, annually levied in town-meeting. +The work was placed under the care and direction of[i.213] surveyors, +annually chosen. A small part of this tax, however, was paid in money. +Most of it was "worked out." At convenient seasons, when there was a +respite from the ordinary farm work, the men of a neighborhood would +come together, in greater or less numbers, at a designated time and +place, with their oxen and implements. Working in unison, they would +work merrily and with energy; and, as the tough roots and deeply bedded +rocks gave way to the pickaxe, crowbar, and chain, and rough places +became smooth, the wilderness would echo back their voices of +gratulation, and a spirit of animating rivalry stimulate their toils. +Many other operations were carried on, such as getting up hay from the +salt-marshes and building stone-walls, by neighbors working in +companies. + +Particular circumstances in the history of the population of Salem +Village contributed to keep up a condition of general intelligence, +which served, to some degree, as a substitute for an organized system +of education. Indeed, any thing like regular schools was rendered +impossible by the then-existing circumstances. Clearings had made a +very inconsiderable encroachment on the wilderness. There were here and +there farmhouses, with deep forests between. It was long before easily +traversable roads could be made. A schoolhouse placed permanently on +any particular spot would be within the reach of but very few. Farmers +most competent to the work, who had enjoyed the advantages of some +degree of education, and could manage to set apart any time for the +pur[i.214]pose, were, in some instances, prevailed upon to receive such +children as were within reaching distance as pupils in their own +houses, to be instructed by them at stated times and for a limited +period. Daniel Andrew rendered this service occasionally. At one +period, we find them practising the plan of a movable school and +schoolmaster. He would be stationed in the houses of particular +persons, with whom the arrangement could be made, a month at a time, in +the different quarters of the village, from Will's Hill to Bass River. +Of course, there was a great lack of elementary education. For a +considerable time, it was reduced to a very low point; and there were +heads of families,—men who had good farms, and possessed the confidence +and respect of their neighbors,—who appear not to have been able to +write. + +It is difficult, however, to come to a definite estimate on this +subject, as the singular fact is discovered, that some persons, who +could write, occasionally preferred to "make their mark." Ann Putnam, +in executing her will, made her mark; but her confession, with her own +proper written signature, is spread out in the Church-book. Francis +Nurse very frequently used his peculiar mark, representing, perhaps, +some implement of his original mechanical trade; but, on other +occasions, he wrote out his name in a good, round hand. The same was +the case with Bray Wilkins. We can hardly reach any decisive +conclusions as to the intelligence or education of the people of that +day from their handwriting, or construction of sentences, much[i.215] +less from their spelling. Their forms of speech were very different +from ours in many respects. What, at first view, we might be apt to +call errors of ignorance, were perhaps conformity to good usage at the +time. Their use of verbs is different from ours, particularly in the +subjunctive mood, and in conjugation generally. They did not follow our +rule in reference to number. When the nominative was a plural noun, or +several nouns, they often employ the connected verb in the singular +number, and _vice versâ_. They were inclined to make construction +conform to the sense, rather than to the letter. It is not certain that +their usage, in this particular, is wholly indefensible. Cicero, in his +fifth oration against Verres, couples _rem_ with _futurum_. This was +looked upon by some editors as an error, and they altered the text +accordingly; but Aulus Gelius, in his "Attic Nights," maintains that it +is the true reading, and, in view of the sense of the passage, a +legitimate and elegant use of language. He cites instances, in Latin +and Greek authors of the highest standard, of a similar usage. + +Nothing, or scarcely any thing, can be inferred from spelling. It was +wholly unsettled among the best-educated men, and in the practice of +the same person. In Winthrop's "Journal," he spells the name of his +distinguished friend—the governor of both Massachusetts and +Connecticut—sometimes Haynes, and sometimes Haines. The _r_ is +generally dropped from his own signature, or, if not intentionally +dropped, is quite lost in one or the other of the contiguous +let[i.216]ters. It is a curious circumstance, that the name "Winthrop" +is spelled differently by our governor, his wife, and his son, the +governor of Connecticut; each varying from either of the other two. +George Burroughs, a graduate of Harvard College, wrote his own name +sometimes with, and sometimes without, the _s_. In our General-court +records, the name of the first Captain Davenport is spelled in at least +four different ways. The Putnams sometimes wrote their name Putman. The +name of the Nurses was often written Nourse, and sometimes Nurs. + +Unable to come to any reliable conclusions in reference to the general +intelligence of the people of Salem Village from their orthography, +etymology, syntax, or chirography, compared with their contemporaries, +I can only say, that, in examining the records and papers which have +come down to us, the wonder to me is that they expressed themselves so +well. I do not hesitate to say, that, in the various controversies in +which they were involved, prior to and immediately after the witchcraft +delusion, there is a pervading appearance of uncommon appreciation of +the questions at issue, and substantial evidence that there was a solid +substratum of good sense among them. + +Their manners appear to have been remarkably courteous and respectful, +showing the effect still remaining upon their style of intercourse and +personal bearing, of the society and example of the great number of +eminent, enlightened, and accomplished men and families that had +resided or mingled with them during all[i.217] the early period of +their history. In their deportment to each other, there was that sort +of decorum which indicates good breeding. They paid honor to gray +hairs, and assigned to age the first rank in seating the +congregation,—a matter to which, before the introduction of pews as a +particular property, they gave the greatest consideration. The +"seating" was to continue for a year; and a committee of persons who +would command the greatest confidence was regularly appointed to report +on the delicate and difficult subject. Their report, signed by them +severally, was entered in full in the parish record-book. The +invariable rule was, first, age; then, office; last, rates. The chief +seats were given to old men and women of respectable characters, +without regard to their circumstances in life or position in society. +Then came the families of the minister and deacons, the parish +committee and clerk, the constable of the village, magistrates, and +military officers. These were preferred, because all offices were then +honorable, and held, if they were called to them, by the principal +people. Last came rates,—that is, property. The richest man in the +parish, if not holding office, or old enough to be counted among the +aged, would take his place with the residue of the congregation. The +manner in which parents were spoken of on all occasions is quite +observable, not only in written documents, but ordinary +conversation,—always with tender respectfulness. In almost all cases, +the expressions used are "my honored father" or "my honored mother," +and this by per[i.218]sons in the humblest and most inferior positions +in life. The terms "Goodman" and "Goodwife" were applied to the heads +of families. The latter word was abbreviated to "Goody," but not at +all, as our dictionaries have it, as a "low term of civility." It was +applied to the most honored matrons, such as the wife of Deacon +Ingersoll. It was a term of respect; conveying, perhaps, an +affectionate sentiment, but not in the slightest degree disrespectful, +derogatory, or belittling. Surely no better terms were ever used to +characterize a worthy person. "Goodman" comprehends all that can be +ascribed to a citizen of mature years in the way of commendation; and +the whole catalogue of pretentious titles ever given by flatterers or +courtiers to a married lady cannot, all combined, convey a higher +encomium than the term "Goodwife." How much more expressive, courteous +to the persons to whom they are applied, and consistent with the +self-respect of the person using them, than "Mr." and "Mrs."! A more +than questionable taste and a foolish pride have led us to adopt these +terms because they were originally applicable to the gentry or to +magistrates, and to abandon the good old words which had a meaning +truly polite to others, and not degrading to ourselves! + +A patriarchal authority and dignity was recognized in families. The +oldest member was often called, by way of distinction, "Landlord," +merely on account of his seniority, without reference particularly to +the extent of his domain or the value of his acres. After[i.219] the +death of Thomas Putnam, in 1686, his brother Nathaniel had the title; +after him, the surviving brother, Captain John; after him, it fell to +the next generation, and Benjamin, a son of Nathaniel, became "Landlord +Putnam." It was so with other families. + +The liberal and judicious policy, before described, of giving estates +to children on their marriage, with the maintenance of parental +authority in the household, produced the desired effect upon the +character of the people. It was almost a matter of course, that, on +reaching mature years, young men and women would own the covenant, and +become members of the church. The general tone of society was +undoubtedly favorable to the moral and religious welfare of the younger +portion of the community. Some exceptions occurred, but few in number. +One case, however, in which there was a flagrant violation of filial +duty, may not be omitted in this connection; for it belongs to the +public history of the country. + +John Porter, Jr., the eldest son of the founder of that most +respectable family, about thirty years of age, appears to have been a +very wicked and incorrigible person. His abusive treatment of his +parents reached a point where it became necessary, in the last resort, +to appeal to the protection of the law. After various proceedings, he +was finally sentenced to stand on the ladder of the gallows with a rope +around his neck for an hour; to be severely whipped; committed to the +House of Correction; kept closely at work on[i.220] prison diet, not to +be released until so ordered by the Court of Assistants or the General +Court; and to pay "a fine to the country of two hundred pounds." It is +stated, that, if the mother of the culprit "had not been overmoved by +her tender affections to forbear appearing against him, the Court must +necessarily have proceeded with him as a capital offender, according to +our law being grounded upon and expressed in the Word of God, in Deut. +xxi. 18 to 21. See Capital Laws, p. 9, § 14." Some time afterward, the +General Court, upon his petition, granted him a release from +imprisonment, on condition of his immediate departure from this +jurisdiction; first giving a bond of two hundred pounds not to return +without leave of the General Court or Court of Assistants. + +In 1664, four commissioners, Colonel Richard Nichols, Sir Robert Carr, +George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverick, Esqs., were sent over by +Charles II. "to hear and determine complaints and appeals in all +causes, as well military as criminal and civil." There had always been +a powerful influence at work in the English Court adverse to New +England. It had been thus far successfully baffled by the admirable +diplomacy of the colonial government and agents. All conflicts of +authority had been prevented from coming to a head by a skilful policy +of "protracting and avoiding." But the restoration of the Stuarts boded +no good to the liberties of the colonies; and the arrival of these +commissioners with their sweeping authority was regarded as designed to +deal the long-deferred[i.221] fatal blow at chartered rights. They +began with a high hand. The General Court did not quail before them, +but stood ready to take advantage of the first false step of the +commissioners; and they did not have long to wait. + +Porter had taken refuge in Rhode Island. When the commissioners visited +that colony, he appealed to them for redress against the Massachusetts +General Court. They were inconsiderate enough to espouse his cause, and +issued a proclamation giving him protection to return to Boston to have +his case tried before them. The General Court at once took issue with +them, and changed their attitude from the defensive to the offensive; +denounced their proceedings; spread upon the official records a full +account, in the plainest language, of Porter's outrages upon his +parents, exhibiting it in details that could not but shock every +sentiment of humanity and decency; holding up the commissioners as the +abettors and protectors of criminality of the deepest dye; and planting +themselves fair and square against them on the merits of Porter's case. +The commissioners tried to explain and extricate themselves; but they +could not escape from the toils in which, through rashness, they had +become entangled. The General Court made a public declaration charging +the commissioners with "obstructing the sentence of justice passed +against that notorious offender," and with sheltering and countenancing +"his rebellion against his natural parents;" with violating a court of +justice, discharging a whole[i.222] country "from their oaths whereby +they had sworn obedience to His Majesty's authority according to the +Constitution of his Royal Charter;" and with attempting to overthrow +the rights of the colony under the charter by bringing in a military +force to overawe and suppress the civil authorities. They denounced +them as guilty of a perversion of their trust, and as having committed +a breach upon the dignity of the crown, by pursuing a course +"derogatory to His Majesty's authority here established," and +"repugnant to His Majesty's princely and gracious intention in +betrusting them with such a commission." The Court held the +vantage-ground, and the commissioners were unable to dislodge them. The +end of the matter was, that the power of the commissioners was +completely broken down. They ingloriously gave up the contest, and went +home to England. + +The instance of John Porter, Jr., to which such extraordinary publicity +and prominence were given by the circumstances now related, does not +bear against what I have said of the general prevalence, in the rural +community of Salem Village, of parental authority and filial duty, as +he was early withdrawn from it to pursuits that led him into totally +different spheres of life. He had been engaged in trade, and exposed to +vicious influences in foreign ports. In voyages to "Barbadoes, and so +for England, he had prodigally wasted and riotously expended about four +hundred pounds." Besides this, he had run himself, by his vicious +courses, into debts which his father had to pay[i.223] in order to +release him from prison abroad. He came back the desperate character +described by the General Court. His punishment was severe, but +absolutely necessary, in the judgment of the whole community, for the +safety of his parents and the preservation of domestic and public +order. + +Although living in humble dwellings on plain fare, working with their +hands for daily bread, clad in rude garments, and practising a frugal +economy, there was a certain style of things about the people I am +describing unlike what is ordinarily associated with our ideas of them. +The men wore swords or rapiers as a part of their daily apparel. Their +wives had domestic servants. Every farmer had his hired laborers, and +many of them had slaves. The relation of servitude, however, differed +from that on Southern plantations in many respects. The slaves, without +any formal manumission, easily obtained their freedom, and often became +landholders. The courteous decorum acquired from the example of the +eminent men among the first planters long continued to mark the manners +of this people; and its vestiges remain to the present day. It +strikingly appeared in the latter half of the last and the earlier +period of this century in the persons of Judge Samuel Houlton, Colonel +Israel Hutchinson, General Moses Porter, and the late Judge Samuel +Putnam. + +The wise forethought of the company in London, at the outset of its +operations, in providing for all that was needful to the establishment +and welfare of the[i.224] colony, has already been described. It was +most strikingly illustrated in the careful selection of the first +emigrants. Men were sought out who were experienced and skilful in the +various mechanic arts. In the early population of Salem Farms, every +species of handicraft was represented. When the number was less than a +hundred householders, there were weavers, spinners, potters, joiners, +housewrights, wheelwrights, brickmakers and masons, blacksmiths, +coopers, painters, tailors, cordwainers, glovers, tanners, millers, +maltsters, skinners, sawyers, tray-makers, and dish-turners. Every +absolute want was provided for. These trades and callings were carried +on in connection with agricultural employments, and their continuance +kept carefully in view by the heads of the principal families. John +Putnam not only gave large farms to each of his sons, but he trained +them severally to some mechanical art. One was a weaver, another a +bricklayer, &c. The farmer was also a mechanic, and every description +of useful labor held in equal honor. + +Another marked feature of this people was their military spirit. They +were kept in a state of universal and thorough organization to protect +themselves from Indian hostilities, or to respond, on any occasion, at +a moment's warning, to the call of the country. The sentinel at the +watch-house was ever on the alert. Authority was early obtained from +the General Court to form a foot company. All adults of every +description, including men much beyond middle life,—every[i.225] one, +in fact, who could carry a musket, belonged to it. Its officers were +the fathers of the village. Every title of rank, from corporal to +captain, once obtained, was worn ever after through life. Jonathan +Walcot, a citizen of the highest respectability, who had married as a +second wife Deliverance a daughter of Thomas Putnam, and was one of the +deacons of the parish, was its captain. Nathaniel Ingersoll, the other +deacon, is spoken of from time to time as corporal, then sergeant, and +finally lieutenant. He served with that commission till late in life, +and was always, after attaining that rank, known as either Lieutenant +or Deacon Ingersoll. The eldest son of Thomas Putnam, a leading member +of the church, a man of large property, and the clerk of the parish, +was one of the sergeants, always known as such. In our narrative, with +which he will be found in most unfortunate connection, I shall speak of +him by that title. It will distinguish him from his father. This +"company" had frequent drills, probably from the first, in the field +left by will afterwards for that purpose by Nathaniel Ingersoll. Often, +no doubt, it paraded on the open grounds around the meeting-house, or +in the fields of Joseph Hutchinson after the harvest had been gathered. +It marched and countermarched along the neighboring roads. It was +almost as much thought of as the "church," officered by the same +persons, and composed of the same men. It was a common practice, at the +close of a parade, before "breaking line," for the captain to give +notices of prayer, church,[i.226] or parish meetings. Such men as +Richard Leach, Thomas Fuller, and Nathaniel Putnam, esteemed it an +honor to bear titles in this company; and held them ever after through +life with pride, whether corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, or captain. + +A company of troopers was early formed, made up from the village and +neighboring settlements. In the colonial records, under date of Oct. 8, +1662, we find the following: "Mr. George Corwin for captain, Mr. Thomas +Putnam for lieutenant, Mr. Walter Price for cornet, being presented to +this Court as so chosen by the troopers of Salem, Lynn, &c., the Court +allows and approves thereof." The inventory of Captain Corwin, before +cited, indicates the stylish uniform he wore as captain of the +troopers. Each of the officers was a wealthy man; and it cannot be +doubted that a parade of the company was a dashing affair. The lapse of +time having thinned their ranks and removed their officers, a vigorous +and successful attempt was made in October, 1678, to revive the +company. Thirty-six men, belonging, as they say, "to the reserve of +Salem old troop," and very desirous "of being serviceable to God and +the country," petition the General Court to re-organize them as a troop +of horse, and to issue the necessary commissions. They request the +appointment of William Brown, Jr., as captain, and Corporal John Putnam +as lieutenant. The petition was granted, and the commissions issued. +Among the signers of this petition are Anthony Needham, Peter and +Ezekiel Cheever, Thomas Flint,[i.227] Thomas and Benjamin Wilkins, +Thomas and Jacob Fuller, John Procter, William Osborne, Thomas Putnam, +Jr., and others of the Farms. The officers named were men of property +and energy; and the company of troopers was kept up ever afterwards, +until all danger from Indians or other foes had passed away. + +It is very observable how the military spirit with which this rural +community was so early imbued has descended through all generations. +Israel Putnam, the famous Revolutionary hero, a son of Joseph who was a +younger brother of Sergeant Thomas and Deacon Edward Putnam, was born +in the village. His brother David, much older than himself, who +flourished in the period anterior to the Revolution, was a celebrated +cavalry officer. Colonel Timothy Pickering used to mention, among the +recollections of his boyhood, that David Putnam "rode the best horse in +the province." General Rufus Putnam, a grandson of Deacon Edward, was a +distinguished brigadier in the army of the Revolution. There are few +officers of that army whose names are more honored than his by +encomiums from the pen of Washington: and praise from him was praise +indeed, for it was, like all his other judgments, the result of careful +and discriminating observation. In a letter to the President of +Congress, dated "At camp above Trenton Falls, Dec. 20, 1776," he speaks +of the fact, that, owing to a neglect on the part of the Government to +place the Engineer Department upon a proper footing, "Colo[i.228]nel +Putnam, who was at the head of it, has quitted, and taken a regiment in +the State of Massachusetts." He expresses the opinion, that Putnam's +qualifications as a military engineer were superior to those of any +other man within his knowledge, far superior to those of the foreign +officers whom he had seen. In a letter to the same, dated "Pompton +Plains," July 12, 1777, speaking of General Schuyler's army, he says, +"Colonel Putnam, I imagine, will be with him before this, as his +regiment is a part of Nixon's Brigade, who will answer every purpose he +can possibly have for an engineer at this crisis." The high opinion of +Washington took effect in his promotion as brigadier-general. At the +end of the war, he returned to civil life, but was soon called back and +re-commissioned as brigadier-general. Washington felt the need of him. +In a letter to General Knox, Secretary of War, dated Aug. 13, 1792, he +says, "General Putnam merits thanks, in my opinion, for his plan, and +the sentiments he has delivered on what he conceives to be a proper +mode of carrying on the war against the hostile nations of Indians; and +I wish he would continue to furnish them without reserve in future." +During Washington's administration of the government under the +Constitution, Rufus Putnam held the office of Surveyor-General of the +United States. In addition to his military reputation, he will be for +ever memorable as the first settler of Marietta, and founder of the +State of Ohio. + +Israel Hutchinson was born in 1727. In 1757 he[i.229] was one of a +scouting-party under the command of his neighbor, Captain Israel +Herrick, that penetrated through the wilderness in Maine in perilous +Indian warfare. He fought at Ticonderoga and Lake George, and was with +Wolfe when he scaled the Heights of Abraham. On the morning of the 19th +of April, 1775, he led a company of minute-men, who met and fought the +British in their bloody retreat from Lexington. He was prominently +concerned during the siege of Boston; and, on its evacuation, took +command at Fort Hill. He was afterwards in command at Forts Lee and +Washington. Throughout the war, he, like both the Putnams, had the +confidence of his commander-in-chief. For twenty-one years, he was +elected to one or the other branch of the Legislature, or to the +Council. He was distinguished for the courtesy of his manners and the +dignity of his address. Colonel Enoch Putnam was also at the battle of +Lexington, and served with honor through the Revolutionary War, as did +also Captain Jeremiah Putnam, both of them descendants of John. Captain +Samuel Flint was among the bravest of the brave at Lexington, exciting +universal admiration by his intrepidity; and fell at the head of his +company at Stillwater, Oct. 7, 1777. + +Intelligence of the marching of the British towards Lexington, on the +19th of April, 1775, reached the lower part of Danvers about nine +o'clock that morning. With a rapidity that is perfectly marvellous, +when we consider the distances from each other over which the[i.230] +inhabitants were scattered, five companies, fully organized and +equipped,—each of them containing men of the village,—rushed to the +field in time to meet the retreating enemy at West Cambridge. It was a +rally and a march without precedent, and never yet surpassed. The day +was extremely sultry for the season; and the distance traversed by many +of the men from the village, before they got into that fight, could not +have been less than twenty miles. Seven belonging to Danvers companies +were killed, and others wounded. A larger offering was made that day at +the baptismal sacrifice to American liberty by Danvers than by any +other town except Lexington; and no town represented in the scene was +more remote. Of the men who fell on this occasion, the following appear +to have been of the village: Samuel Cook, Benjamin Daland, and Perley +Putnam,—the last a descendant of John. Their bodies were brought home, +and buried with appropriate honors; two companies from Salem, and +military detachments from Newburyport, Amesbury, and Salisbury +participating in the ceremonies, and giving the soldier's tribute to +their glory, by volleys over their closing graves. + +Moses Porter, when eighteen years of age, attracted attention by his +heroic courage and indomitable pluck at Bunker Hill. He was in an +artillery company, and would not quit his gun when almost every other +man had fallen. His country never allowed him to quit it afterwards. +From that day, he bore a commission in the army of the United States. +He was retained on[i.231] every peace establishment, always in the +artillery, and at the head of that arm of the service for a great +length of time, and until the day of his death. He was in the battle of +Brandywine, and wounded in a subsequent fight on the banks of the +Delaware. He was with Wayne in his campaign against the Western +Indians, and won his share of the glory that crowned it in the final +bloody and decisive conflict. He was at the head of the artillery when +the war of 1812 took place, in active service on the Niagara frontier, +and on the 10th of September, 1813, brevetted "for distinguished +services." He commanded at Norfolk, in Virginia, in 1814, and received +great credit for the ability and vigilance with which he held that most +vital point of the coast defence. At successive periods after the war, +he was at the head of each of the geographical military divisions of +the country. He died at Cambridge, Mass., in 1822, while in command of +the Eastern Department, near the scene of his youthful glory, +forty-seven years before. No man who fought at Bunker Hill remained so +long a soldier of the United States. No man had so extended a record, +and it was bright with honor from the beginning to the end. His +pre-eminent reputation, as a disciplinarian and artillerist of the +highest class, was uniformly maintained. He added to the sterner +qualities required by professional duty a polished urbanity of manners, +and a dignified and commanding aspect and bearing. His ashes rest +beneath the sod of his ancestral acres in Salem Village.[i.232] + +When the great war for the suppression of the Southern Rebellion came +on, and the life of the Union was at stake, the same old spirit was +found unabated. A descendant of the family of Raymonds, emulating the +example of his ancestors, rallied his company to the front. At the end +of the war, Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Raymond brought back, in +command, the remnant of his veteran regiment, with its tattered +banners; two of his predecessors in that commission having fallen in +battle. The youthful patriot, William Lowell Putnam, who fell at Ball's +Bluff on the 21st of October, 1861, was a direct descendant of +Nathaniel Putnam. It is an interesting circumstance, that the names of +men who trained in the foot company and with the troopers on the fields +and roads about the village meeting-house two hundred years ago have +re-appeared in the persons of their descendants, in the highest lines +of service and with unsurpassed distinction, in the three great wars of +America,—Major-General Israel, and Brigadier-General Rufus, Putnam, in +the War of the Revolution; Brigadier-General Moses Porter, in the War +of 1812; and Major-General Granville M. Dodge, in the War of the +Rebellion. The last-named is a descendant of a hero of the Narragansett +fight, and was born and educated in Salem Village. + +Several lawsuits, particularly in land cases, have been referred to. +They indicate, perhaps, to some extent the ingredients that aggravated +the terrible scenes we are preparing to contemplate. They served to +keep up the general intelligence of the community[i.233] through a +period necessarily destitute of such means of information as we enjoy. +Attendance upon courts of law, serving on juries, having to give +testimony at trials, are indeed in themselves no unimportant part in +the education of a people. Principles and questions of great moment are +forced upon general attention, and become topics of discussion in +places of gathering and at private firesides. Of this material of +intelligence, the people of the village had their full share. It was +their fate to have their minds, and more or less their passions, +stirred up by special local controversies thrust upon them. As a +religious society, they had difficult points of disagreement with the +mother-church, and the town of Salem. While they were supporting a +minister and trying to build a meeting-house for themselves, attempts +were made to tax them to support the minister and build a new +meeting-house in the town. There was a natural reluctance to part with +them, and it was long before an arrangement could be made. The great +distance of many of the farmers from the town prevented their +exercising what they deemed their rightful influence in municipal +affairs. They felt, that, in many respects, their interests were not +identical, and in some absolutely at variance. These topics were much +discussed, and with considerable feeling at times on both sides. The +papers which remain relating to the subject show that the farmers +understood it in all its bearings, and maintained their cause with +clearness of perception and forcibleness of argument and expression. At +one time, they were[i.234] very desirous to be set off as a distinct +town, but this could not be allowed; and, finally, a sort of compromise +was effected. A partial separation—a semi-municipality—was agreed upon. +Salem Village was the result. + +In 1670, a petition, with twenty signers, was presented to the town to +be set off as a parish, and be allowed to provide a minister for +themselves. In March, 1672, the town granted the request; and, in +October following, the General Court approved of the project, and gave +it legal effect. The line agreed upon by the town and the village is +substantially defined by the vote of the former, which was as follows: +"All farmers that now are, or hereafter shall be, willing to join +together for providing a minister among themselves, whose habitations +are above Ipswich Highway, from the horse bridge to the wooden bridge, +at the hither end of Mr. Endicott's Plain, and from thence on a west +line, shall have liberty to have a minister by themselves; and when +they shall provide and pay him in a maintenance, that then they shall +be discharged from their part of Salem ministers' maintenance," &c. The +"horse bridge" was across Bass River. The "wooden bridge" was at the +head of Cow-House or Endicott River. Ipswich highway runs along from +one of these points to the other. The south line, beyond the wooden +bridge, is seen on the map. All to the north of this line, and of +Ipswich highway between the bridges, to the bounds of Beverly and +Wenham on the east; Topsfield, Rowley Village,—since Boxford,[i.235] +and Andover on the north; and Reading and Lynn on the west,—was the +Village. Middleton, incorporated afterwards, absorbed a large part of +its western portion; but, at the time of the witchcraft delusion, the +Village was bounded as above described, and as in the map. There was a +specific arrangement fixing the point of time when the farmers were to +become exempt from all charges in aid of the mother-church; that is, as +soon as they had provided for the support of a minister and the +erection of a meeting-house of their own. It was further stipulated, +that the villagers should not form a church until a minister was +ordained; and that they should not settle a minister permanently +without the approval of the old church, and its consent to proceed to +an ordination. This latter restriction was perhaps the cause of all the +subsequent troubles. + +Owing, as has been stated in another connection, to erroneous notions +about the topography of the country; the incompetency perhaps, in some +cases, of surveyors; and the want of due care in the General Court and +the towns to have boundaries clearly defined,—uncertainties and +conflicting claims arose in various portions of the colony, but nowhere +to a greater extent than here. The village became involved in +controversies about boundaries with each one of its neighbors; +producing, at times, much exasperation. The documents drawn forth on +these questions, as they appear in the record-book of the village, are +written with ability, and show that there were men among them who knew +how to express and enforce their[i.236] views. The plain, lucid, +well-considered style of Nathaniel Ingersoll's depositions on the +court-files, in numerous cases, render it not improbable that his pen +was put in requisition. Sergeant Thomas Putnam, the parish recorder, as +he was sometimes entitled, was a good writer. His chirography, although +not handsome, is singularly uniform, full, open, and clear, so easily +legible that it is a refreshment to meet with it; and his sentences are +well-constructed, simple, condensed, and to the purpose. His words do +their office in conveying his meaning. No public body ever had a better +clerk. Somehow or other, he and others, brought up in the woods, had +contrived to acquire considerable efficiency in the use of the pen. +Perhaps, a few who, like him, had parents able to afford it, had been +sent to Ipswich or Charlestown to enjoy the privilege of what Cotton +Mather calls "the Cheverian education." + +The southern boundary of the village was intended to run due west from +the Ipswich road to Lynn, and was accordingly spoken of as "on a west +line." As originally established, it was defined by an enumeration of a +variety of objects such as trees of different kinds and sizes, as +running through the lands of John Felton, Nathaniel Putnam, and Anthony +Needham, to "a dry stump standing at the corner of Widow Pope's +cow-pen, leaving her house and the saw-mill within the farmer's range," +and so on to "the top of the hill by the highway side near Berry Pond." +From the changeable conditions of some of the objects, and a diversity +of methods adopted by surveyors,—many[i.237] of them being unacquainted +with, or making no allowance for, the variation of the +compass,—controversies arose with the mother-town: and some +proprietors, like the Gardners, were left in doubt how the line +affected them; and there was, in consequence, much disquietude. The +line was not accurately run until 1700. + +It is observable, that the "saw-mill" is still in operation on the same +spot. The "cow-pen," then on the south side of the mill, was, more than +a century ago, removed to the north side, where it has remained ever +since. This estate has interesting reminiscences. It was an original +grant in January, 1640, to Edward Norris, at the time of his settlement +as pastor of the First Church in Salem. He sold to Eleanor Trussler in +1654. It then went into the possession of Henry Phelps, who sold to +Joseph Pope in 1664. His widow, Gertrude, owned it in 1672. In 1793, +Eleazer Pope sold to Nathaniel Ropes, son of Judge Ropes, of Salem. His +heirs sold it back to the Phelpses; and it is now in the possession of +the Rev. Willard Spaulding, of Salem. Originally given as an ordination +present to a minister of the old town, it has, after the lapse of two +hundred and twenty-six years, come round into the hands of another. The +house in which the Popes lived one hundred and twenty-nine years, and +the families that succeeded them for above half a century more,—a +venerable and picturesque specimen of the rural architecture, in its +best form, of the earliest times,—has, within the last ten years, given +place to a[i.238] new one on the same spot. In that old house, besides +unnumbered and unknown instances of the same sort, Israel Putnam +conducted his courtship; and there, on the 19th of July, 1739, he was +married to Hannah, daughter of Joseph Pope. + +Contests for what they deemed their rights with the old church and the +border towns and their own town, as in the case just mentioned, +undoubtedly produced a bad effect upon the temper of the people, by +occasional expenses that consumed their substance, and incidents that +sowed the seeds of personal animosities; preparing the way for that +dreadful convulsion which was near at hand. At the very time when the +witchcraft frenzy broke out, they were in the crisis of an exasperating +conflict with Topsfield, occasioned by a wrong done them by the General +Court. This requires to be explained, as it can be, by a collation of +facts of record. + +On the 3d of March, 1636, the General Court passed an order that the +bounds of Salem, Ipswich, and Newbury, should extend six miles into the +country. It was afterwards defined to mean that "the six-mile extent," +as it was called, should be measured from the meeting-houses of the +respective towns. On the 5th of November, 1639, the General Court +passed an order in these words: "Whereas the inhabitants of Salem have +agreed to plant a village near the river that runs to Ipswich, it is +ordered that all the land near their bounds between Salem and the said +river, not belonging to any other town or person by any former +grant,[i.239] shall belong to the said village." On the strength of +this order, the farmers in that part of Salem pushed settlements out +beyond the "six-mile extent," over the ground thus pledged to them; +cleared off the forests, built houses, brought the land under culture, +erected bridges, made roads, and fulfilled their part of the contract +by preparing to establish their village. Four years after the General +Court had thus pledged to "inhabitants of Salem" the privileges of a +village organization on the lands between "Salem and the said river," +they authorized some inhabitants of Ipswich, who had gone there, to +establish the village on the territory, independent of the Salem men. +This was an unjustifiable and flagrant violation of the stipulated +agreement on the part of the General Court; because it appears by their +own records, that Salem farmers had promptly fulfilled the condition on +their part by going directly upon the ground, and getting farms under +way there before 1643. This careless and indefensible procedure by the +General Court was the cause of interminable trouble and strife on the +tract between Salem bounds and the river, introduced the elements of +discord, and gave a color of legal justification to a conflict of +authority between Salem and Ipswich men. It sowed the seeds of +animosities which aggravated the scenes that occurred in Salem Village +in 1692. In 1658, the General Court passed an order creating the town +of Topsfield, including the larger part of these lands within its +limits. No heed was paid to the remonstrances, against these[i.240] +proceedings, of the Salem farmers, who found themselves, without their +consent, permanently bereft of the benefit that had been promised them, +cut off from all connection with the town of Salem, to which they +originally belonged, and put in the outskirts of another town. It was a +clear case of wrong, and ought to have been rectified. But public +bodies are more reluctant even than individuals to acknowledge +themselves in fault. The people of Salem Village joined in earnest +protests against the acts of the General Court. The old town of Salem +declared by a public vote, that they had always regarded the lands in +controversy as belonging to the village which, under the plighted faith +of the General Court, their inhabitants had been forming. But it was +all in vain. Neither remedy nor reparation could be obtained. The +struggle against this injustice lasted until some time after the +witchcraft occurrences had terminated, and was finally brought to a +close by an order of the Court, that the people on the territory might +maintain parish relations with Salem Village or with Topsfield, at +their individual option. Entire satisfaction was never realized until, +in 1728, they were incorporated, in accordance with their petition, +into a township, under the name of Middleton, with parts of Topsfield, +Boxford, and Andover added. During a period of half a century, this +grievance remained unadjusted. The proceedings on the part of the +village in its public action, as shown in the records, were conducted +with skill, ability, and firmness. But the col[i.241]lisions that +occurred between particular parties were violent and bitter. Salem +settlers were called to pay parish and town rates to Topsfield, but +refused to do it. Constables and tax-collectors were defied. Topsfield +went so far as to claim not only unoccupied lands, but lands within +fence, with houses on them, and families within them, and orchards and +growing fields around them, as part of its "commons;" and it disputed +the titles given by Salem. Of course, the question went, in various +forms, into the county courts; but sometimes, there is reason to +believe, it came to a rougher arbitrament, in the depths of the woods, +between man and man. + +John Putnam had gone out and settled lands between the "six-mile +extent" of Salem and Ipswich River. Some of his sons had gone with him. +They had two dwelling-houses, cultivated meadows, orchards, &c. Isaac +Burton says, that, one day, when near John Nichols's house, he heard a +tree fall in the woods; and that he went to see who was chopping there. +It seems that Jacob Towne and John How, Topsfield men, had come in +defiance of John Putnam, and cut down a tree before his face. As they +were two to one, Putnam had to swallow the insult; but he was not the +man to let it rest so. He went out shortly after, accompanied by an +adequate force of sons and nephews, and proceeded to fell the trees. +The sound of the axes reached the ears of the Topsfield men; and Isaac +Easty, Sr., John Easty, John Towne, and Joseph Towne, Jr., undertook to +put a stop to the operation. On reaching the spot, they[i.242] warned +Putnam against cutting timber. He replied, "The timber now and here cut +down has been felled by me and my orders;" and he proceeded to say, "I +will keep cutting and carrying away from this land until next March." +They asked him, "What, by violence?" He answered, "Aye, by violence. +You may sue me: you know where I dwell;" and, turning to his company, +he said, "Fall on." The Putnams were evidently the stronger party; and +the Topsfield men, counting forces, concluded, in their turn, that +discretion, at that time, was the better part of valor. Such scenes +occurred on the disputed ground for a whole generation. It is not +wonderful that all sorts of animosities were kindled. The fact will be +borne in mind, that Isaac Easty and son, with John Towne and son, +constituted the Topsfield force on this occasion. + +It cannot be doubted, that these controversies with the surrounding +towns, the mother-church, and the General Court itself, gradually +engendered a very bad state of feeling. The people were deeply +impressed with a conviction that they had been wronged all around and +all the way through. They felt that the whole world was against them; +and when, by a train of mischievous influences, hell itself seemed to +be let loose upon them, it is not strange that they were driven to +distraction. + +We come, at last, to that chapter in the history of Salem Village which +will lead us directly to the witchcraft delusion. Its religious +organization was some[i.243]what peculiar; and, although instituted by +a particular arrangement made by the General Court, was, in one or two +features, a complete departure from the ecclesiastical polity elsewhere +rigidly enforced. It was a congregation forbidden, for the time being, +to have a church. It was a society for religious worship, administered, +not by professors of religion or by persons regarded at all in a +religious light, but by householders. The people of the village liked +it, perhaps, all the better for this; and they took hold of it with a +will. Joseph Houlton gave to the parish five and a half acres of land, +in the centre of the village, for the use of the minister. A +parsonage-house was built, "forty-two feet in length, twenty feet +broad, thirteen-feet stud, four chimneys, and no gable-ends." It was +the custom to have a leanto attached to their houses, generally on the +northern side; and one was finally added to the parsonage. There was a +garden within the enclosure. Joseph Hutchinson gave an acre out of his +broad meadow as a site for the meeting-house and it was erected; +"thirty-four feet in length, twenty-eight feet broad, and sixteen feet +between joints." Two end galleries were added, and a "canopy" placed +over the pulpit. The mother-church, having about the same time built a +new meeting-house, voted to give "the farmers their old pulpit and +deacons' seats," which were brought up and duly installed. In the +course of these proceedings, some slight differences arose among them +about matters of detail, but not more than is usual in such cases. In +order[i.244] to despatch at once all that may be required to be said +about the meeting-houses of the village, it may be allowable here to +mention, that the original building did not survive the century. In +1700, partly because the growth of the society began to require it, but +mainly, no doubt, to escape from the painful associations which had +become connected with it, a new meeting-house was built on another +site. The old one was dismantled of all its removable parts, and the +site reverted to Joseph Hutchinson. It is supposed that he removed the +frame to the other side of the road, and converted it into a barn; and +that it was used as such until, in the memory of old persons now +living, it mouldered, crumbled into powder-post, and sunk to the +ground. It stood, after being converted into a barn, on the south side +of the road, nearly in front of Joseph Hutchinson's homestead. +Hutchinson's dwelling-house was probably some distance further down in +the field, where the remains of an old cellar are still to be seen. +Nathaniel Ingersoll gave the land for the new meeting-house. The +records contain the vote, that it "shall stand upon Watch-House Hill, +before Deacon Ingersoll's door." The meeting-houses of the society have +stood there ever since. At that time, it was an elevated spot, probably +covered with the original forest; for the work of clearing, levelling, +and preparing it for occupancy was so considerable as to require a +special provision. The labor and expense of the operation were put on +that portion of the[i.245] congregation brought nearer to the +meeting-house by the change of the site. + +In urging their petition to be set off as an independent parish, +distinct from the First Church in Salem, the people of the village +declared, that, if they could not have a ministry established among +them, they would soon "become worse than the heathen around them." +Little did they foresee the immediate, long-continued, and terrible +effects that were to follow the boon thus prayed for. The establishment +of the ministry among them was not merely an opening of Pandora's box: +it was emptying and shaking it over their heads. It led them to a +condition of bitterness and violence, of confusion and convulsion, of +horror and misery, of cruelty and outrage, worse than heathen ever +experienced or savages inflicted. + +James Bayley of Newbury, born Sept. 12, 1650, a graduate of Harvard +College in the class of 1669, was employed to preach at the village. In +October, 1671, he transferred his relations from the church in Newbury +to the First Church in Salem. It seems that several persons of +considerable influence in the village were dissatisfied with the manner +in which he had been brought forward, and became prejudiced against +him. The disaffection was not removed, but suffered to take deep root +in their minds. The parish soon became the scene of one of those +violent and heated dissensions to which religious societies are +sometimes liable. The unhappy strife was aggravated from day to day, +until it spread alienation and acrimony[i.246] throughout the village. +A majority of the people were all along in favor of Bayley; but the +minority were implacable. His engagement to preach was renewed from +year to year. At length, the controversy waxed so warm that some +definite action became necessary. On the 10th of March, 1679, both +parties applied to the mother-church for advice. A paper was presented +by his opponents, with sixteen, and another from his friends, with +thirty-nine signers. There was still another, also in his favor, signed +by ten persons living near, but not within the village line. Although +the number of his opponents was so much less than of his friends, they +included persons, such as Nathaniel Putnam and Bray Wilkins, of large +estates and families, and much general influence; and it is evident +that the First Church was not inclined wholly to disregard them. The +record of that church says, "There was much agitation on both sides, +and divers things were spoken of by the brethren; but the business +being long, and many of the brethren gone, we could not make a church +act of advice in the case; therefore it was left to another time." At a +meeting on the 22d of April, the Salem Church advised the minority "to +submit to the generality for the present;" but, when a church should be +formed there, "then they might choose him or any other." This advice +does not appear to have satisfied either party; and the quarrel went on +with renewed vehemence on both sides. At length, it reached such a +pitch that it became necessary to carry it up to the General[i.247] +Court. The whole affair was investigated by that body, and all the +papers that had passed in relation to it were adduced. They are quite +voluminous, and on file in the office of the Secretary of State, in +Boston. These interesting and curious documents illustrate the energy +of action of both parties; and give, it is probable, the best picture +anywhere to be found of a first-rate parish controversy of the olden +times. + +The General Court came down upon the case with a strong hand. They +decided in favor of Bayley, whom they pronounced "orthodox, and +competently able, and of a blameless and self-denying conversation;" +and they "do order, that Mr. Bayley be continued and settled the +minister of that place, and that he be allowed sixty pounds per annum +for his maintenance, one-third part thereof in money, the other +two-thirds in provisions of all sorts such as a family needs, at equal +prices, and fuel for his family's occasions; this sum to be paid by the +inhabitants of that place." This was thirteen pounds a year more than +Bayley's friends had ever voted for him. To make the matter sure, the +General Court required the parish to choose three or five men among +themselves to apportion every man's share of the tax to secure the +sixty pounds: and, if any difficulty should occur in getting men among +themselves to perform this duty, they appointed to act, in that event, +Mr. Batter, Captain Jonathan Corwin, and Captain Price, of the old +parish of Salem, to make the rate; and gave[i.248] ample power to the +constable of the village or the marshal of the county, to enforce the +collection of it, by distress and attachment, if any should neglect or +refuse to pay the sum assessed upon him. To make it still more certain +that Mr. Bayley should get his money, they ordered "that all the rate +is to be paid in for the use of the ministry unto two persons chosen by +the householders to supply the place of deacons for the time, who are +to reckon with the people, and to deliver the same to the said minister +or to his order." The arrangement as to the agency of deacons was "to +continue until the Court shall take further order, or that there be a +church of Christ orderly gathered and approved in that place." This +procedure of the Court was a pretty high-handed stretch of power even +for those days; and giving the appointment of officers, with the title +and character of deacons to mere householders, and where there was no +church or organized body of professed believers, was in absolute +conflict with the whole tenor and spirit of the ecclesiastical system +then in force and rigidly maintained elsewhere throughout the colony. +The Court seems itself to have been alarmed at the extent to which it +had gone in forcing Mr. Bayley upon the people of Salem Village, and +fell back, in conclusion, upon the following proviso: "This order shall +continue for one year only from the last of September last past." The +date of the order was the 15th of October, 1679. It had less than a +year to run. In fact, the order, after all, before it comes to the end, +is[i.249] diluted into a mere recommendation of Mr. Bayley. "In the +mean while, all parties," it is hoped, will "endeavor an agreement in +him or some other meet person for a minister among them;" but the +General Court takes care to wind up by demanding "five pounds for +hearing the case, the whole number of villagers equally to bear their +proportion thereof." + +While the power thus incautiously conceded to householders was duly +noted, the apparently formidable action of the Court did not in the +least alarm the opposition, or in the slightest degree abate their +zeal. The householders continued, as before, to manage all affairs +relating to the ministry in general meetings of the inhabitants. They +proceeded at once to elect their two deacons. "Corporal Nathaniel +Ingersoll" was one of them; and he continued to hold the office, in +parish and in church, for forty years. + +As no attention was paid to the order of the General Court, so far as +it attempted to fasten Mr. Bayley upon the parish; as the church in +Salem would not take the responsibility of recommending his ordination +in the face of such an opposition; and as it was out of the question to +think of reconciling or reducing it, Mr. Bayley concluded to retire +from the conflict and quit the field; and his ministry in the village +came to an end. As evidence that the heat of this protracted +controversy had not consumed all just and considerate sentiments in the +minds of the people, I present the substance of a deed found in the +Essex Registry. It will be noticed, that the most conspicu[i.250]ous of +Mr. Bayley's opponents, Nathaniel Putnam, is one of the parties to the +instrument. + +"Thomas Putnam, Sr., Nathaniel Putnam, Sr., Thomas Fuller, Sr., John +Putnam, Sr., and Joseph Hutchinson, Sr. Deed of gift to Mr. James +Bayley. Whereas, Mr. James Bayley, minister of the gospel, now resident +of Salem Village, hath been in the exercise of his gifts by preaching +amongst us several years, having had a call thereunto by the +inhabitants of the place; and at the said Mr. Bayley's first coming +amongst us, we above-named put the said Bayley in possession of a +suitable accommodation of land and meadow, for his more comfortable +subsistence amongst us. But the providence of God having so ordered it, +that the said Mr. Bayley doth not continue amongst us in the work of +the ministry, yet, considering the premises, and as a testimony of our +good affection to the said Mr. Bayley, and as full satisfaction of all +demands of us or any of us, of land relating to the premises, do by +these presents fully grant, &c., to said Bayley" twenty-eight acres of +upland, and thirteen acres of meadow in all. The several lots are +described in the deed, and constitute a very valuable property. The +instrument bears date May 6, 1680. Mr. Bayley's residence is indicated +on the map. The land on which it stood belonged to the part contributed +by Nathaniel Putnam, with some acres in front of it contributed by +Joseph Hutchinson. He continued to own and occasionally occupy his +property in the village for some years after the witchcraft +trans[i.251]actions. He left the ministry, and prepared himself for the +profession of medicine, which he practised in Roxbury. He died on the +17th of January, 1707. + +It is not very easy to ascertain from the parish records, or from the +mass of papers in the State-house files, the precise grounds of the +obstinate controversy in reference to him. It is evident that it began +in consequence of some alleged irregularity in the proceedings that led +to his first engagement to preach at the village. There are +intimations, that, in the tone and style of his preaching, he did not +quite come up to the mark required by some. The objection does not seem +to have been against his talents or learning, but, rather, that he did +not take hold with sufficient vehemence, or handle with sufficient zeal +and warmth, points then engrossing attention. One or two expressions in +the papers which proceeded from his opponents seem to hint that he had +not the degree of strictness or severity in his aspect or ways thought +necessary in a minister. Papers in the files of the County Court bring +to light, perhaps, precisely the shape in which the charges against him +had currency. On the 4th of April, 1679, complaint was made by Thomas +and John Putnam, Srs., Daniel Andrew, and Nathaniel Ingersoll, against +Henry Kenny "for slandering our minister, Mr. Bayley, by reporting that +he doth not perform family duties in his family." This was an +expression then in use for "family prayers." One young woman testified +as follows: "Being at Mr. Bayley's house three weeks together, I never +heard Mr. Bayley read a[i.252] chapter, nor expound on any part of the +Scripture, which was a great grief to me." On the other hand, three men +and one woman depose thus: "Having, for a year, some more, some less, +since Mr. Bayley's coming to Salem Farms, lived at his house, we +testify to our knowledge, that he hath continually performed family +duties, morning and evening, unless sickness or some other unavoidable +providence hath prevented." Two of the above witnesses depose more +specifically as follows: "We testify,—one of us being a boarder at Mr. +Bayley's house, at times, for two or three years, and the other having +lived there about a year and a quarter,—that Mr. Bayley did not only +constantly perform family prayers twice a day, except some unusual +providence at any time prevented, but also did sometimes read the +Scriptures and other profitable books, and also repeat his own sermons +in his family that he preached upon the Lord's Days; always endeavoring +to keep good order in his family, carrying himself exemplarily +therein." The evidence against Bayley was afterwards found to be +unworthy of credit, and was wholly overborne at the time by +unimpeachable testimony in his favor. The conclusion seems to be safe, +from all the papers and proceedings, that Mr. Bayley was, as the +General Court had pronounced him, "of a blameless conversation." A +letter from him to his people, relating to the disaffection of some, +and expressing a willingness to relinquish his position, if the +interests of the society would thereby be promoted, is among the +papers. It[i.253] is creditable to his understanding, temper, and +character. + +The opposition to Mr. Bayley laid the train for all the disastrous and +terrible scenes that followed. His wife was Mary Carr, of Salisbury. +Her family, besides land in that town, owned the large island in the +Merrimack, just above Newburyport, called still by their name, and +occupied by their descendants to this day. Mrs. Bayley brought with her +to the village a younger sister, Ann, who, when scarcely sixteen years +of age,—on the 25th of November, 1678,—married Sergeant Thomas Putnam. +The Carrs were evidently well-educated young women; and there is every +indication that Ann was possessed of qualities which gave her much +influence in private circles. Her husband was the eldest son of the +richest man in the village, had the most powerful and extensive +connections, was a member of the company of troopers, had been in the +Narragansett fight, and, as his records show, was a well-educated +person. Marriage with him brought his wife into the centre of the great +Putnam family; and, her sister Bayley being the wife of the minister, a +powerful combination was secured to his support. The opposition so +obstinately made to his settlement, appearing to his friends, as it +does to us, so unreasonable, if not perverse, engendered a very bitter +resentment, which spread from house to house. Every thing served to +aggravate it. The disregard, by the opposition, of the advice of the +old church to agree to his ordination, and of the strong[i.254] +endorsement of him by the General Court; and the failure of either of +those bodies to take the responsibility of proceeding to his +ordination,—made the dissatisfaction and disappointment of his friends +intense. His connection by marriage with such a wide-spread influence, +and the harmony and happiness of social life, made his settlement so +very desirable that his friends could not account for the resistance +made to it. His amiable character, which had been shown to be proof +against slander; and his domestic bereavements in the loss of his wife +and three children,—made him dear to his friends. More than three to +one earnestly, persistently, from year to year, begged that he might be +ordained; but what was regarded as an unworthy faction was permitted to +succeed in preventing it. All these things sunk deep into the heart of +the wife of Sergeant Thomas Putnam. She was a woman of an excitable +temperament, and, by her talents, zeal, and personal qualities, wrought +all within her influence into the highest state of exasperation. This +must be borne in mind when we reach the details of our story. It is the +key to all that followed. + +The friends of Bayley, while they yielded to his determination to +withdraw from his disagreeable position, never relinquished the hope to +get him back, but renewed a struggle to that end, whenever a vacancy +occurred in the village ministry. With that object in view, they were +unwise and unjust enough to cherish aversion to every one who succeeded +him, and thus kept alive the fatal elements of division. But it is due +to[i.255] him to say, that he does not appear to have been at all +responsible for the course of his friends. Although retaining his +property in the village, and often residing there, there is no +indication that he had a hand in subsequent proceedings, or was in the +slightest degree connected with the troubles that afterwards arose. +Arts were used to inveigle him into the witchcraft prosecutions: his +resentments, if he had any, were invoked; but in vain. He resisted +attempts, which were made with more effect upon one of his successors, +to rouse his passions against parties accused. He kept himself free +from the whole affair. His name nowhere appears as complainant, +witness, or actor in any shape. He was, so far as the evidence goes, a +peaceable, prudent, kind, and good man; and if the people of Salem +Village had been wise enough, or been permitted, to settle him, the +world might never have known that such a place existed. + +George Burroughs, in November, 1680, was engaged to preach at Salem +Village. He is supposed to have been born in Scituate; but his origin +is as uncertain as his history was sad, and his end tragical. He was a +graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1670. What little is known +of him shows that he was a man of ability and integrity. Papers on file +in the State House prove, that, in the district of Maine, where he +lived and preached before and after his settlement at the village, he +was regarded with confidence by his neighbors, and looked up to as a +friend and counsellor. Certain incidents are related, which prove that +he was[i.256] self-denying, generous, and public-spirited, laboring in +humility and with zeal in the midst of great privations, sharing the +exposures of his people to Indian violence, and experiencing all the +sufferings of an unprotected outpost. In 1676, while preaching at +Casco,—now Portland,—the entire settlement was broken up by an Indian +assault. Thirty-two of the inhabitants were killed or carried into +captivity. Mr. Burroughs escaped to an island in the bay, from which he +was rescued by timely aid from the mainland. He wrote an account of the +catastrophe, communicated by Brian Pendleton to the Governor and +Council at Boston. In 1683 he was again at Casco; and, again driven off +by the Indians in 1690, transferred his labors to Wells. A grant of one +hundred and fifty acres of land was made to him, included in the site +of the present city of Portland. As population began to thicken near +the spot, the town applied to him to relinquish a part of it, other +lands to be given him in exchange. In their account of the transaction, +they state, that, in answer to their application, Mr. Burroughs said +they were welcome to it; that he freely gave it back, "not desiring any +land anywhere else, nor any thing else in consideration thereof." + +In a vote passed at a meeting of Salem Village parish, Feb. 10, 1681, +it was agreed that Mr. Burroughs should receive £93. 6_s._ 8_d._ per +annum for three years, and £60 per annum afterwards. I suppose that he +had no money or property of any kind. The parsonage was out of repair; +and the larger sum for the first[i.257] three years, amounting to £100, +in three instalments, was to be given him as an outfit in housekeeping. +Immediately upon coming to the village to reside, he encountered the +hostility of those persons who, as the special friends of Mr. Bayley, +allowed their prejudices to be concentrated upon his innocent +successor. The unhappy animosities arising from this source entirely +demoralized the Society, and, besides making it otherwise very +uncomfortable to a minister, led to a neglect and derangement of all +financial affairs. In September, 1681, Mr. Burroughs's wife died, and +he had to run in debt for her funeral expenses. Rates were not +collected, and his salary was in arrears. In making the contract with +the parish, he had taken care to add, at the end of the articles, these +words, "All is to be understood so long as I have gospel +encouragement." It is not improbable that there was a lack of sympathy +between him and the ministers in this part of the country. He concluded +that no benefit would accrue from calling a council to put things into +order; and, as he was in despair of remedying the evils that had become +fastened upon the village, he concluded to give up the idea of getting +a settlement of his accounts, abandoned his claims altogether, and +removed from the village. + +At the April term of Court in Ipswich, 1683, a committee of the parish +petitioned for relief, stating that Mr. Burroughs had left them, and +that they had been without services in their meeting-house for four +sabbaths. They pray the Court, that "they be pleased to[i.258] write to +Mr. Burroughs, requiring him to attend an orderly hearing and clearing +up the case," and "to come to account" with them. The Court accordingly +directed a meeting of the inhabitants to be held, and wrote to Mr. +Burroughs to attend it. When the day came, the Court sent a letter to +be read at the meeting, directing the parties to "reckon," and settle +their accounts. What transpired at this curious meeting is best given +by presenting the documents on file in a case that went into Court. +They show the proceedings that interrupted the "reckoning" at the +meeting in a most extraordinary manner:— + +[County Court, June, 1683.—Lieutenant John Putnam _versus_ Mr. George +Burroughs. Action of debt for two gallons of Canary wine, and cloth, +&c., bought of Mr. Gedney on John Putnam's account, for the funeral of +Mrs. Burroughs.] + +"_Deposition_. + +"We, whose names are underwritten, testify and say, that at a public +meeting of the people of Salem Farms, April 24, 1683, we heard a letter +read, which letter was sent from the Court. After the said letter was +read, Mr. Burroughs came in. After the said Burroughs had been a while +in, he asked 'whether they took up with the advice of the Court, given +in the letter, or whether they rejected it.' The moderator made answer, +'Yes, we take up with it;' and not a man contradicted it to any of our +hearing. After this was passed, was a discourse of settling accounts +between the said Burroughs and the inhabitants, and issuing things in +peace, and parting in love, as they came together in love. Further, we +say that the second, third, and fourth days of the following week were +agreed upon by Mr. Burroughs and[i.259] the people to be the days for +every man to come in and to reckon with the said Burroughs; and so they +adjourned the meeting to the last of the aforesaid three days, in the +afternoon, then to make up the whole account in public. + +"We further testify and say, that, May the second, 1683, Mr. Burroughs +and the inhabitants met at the meeting-house to make up accounts in +public, according to their agreement the meeting before; and, just as +the said Burroughs began to give in his accounts, the marshal came in, +and, after a while, went up to John Putnam, Sr., and whispered to him, +and said Putnam said to him, 'You know what you have to do: do your +office.' Then the marshal came to Mr. Burroughs, and said, 'Sir, I have +a writing to read to you.' Then he read the attachment, and demanded +goods. Mr. Burroughs answered, 'that he had no goods to show, and that +he was now reckoning with the inhabitants, for we know not yet who is +in debt, but there was his body.' As we were ready to go out of the +meeting-house, Mr. Burroughs said, 'Well, what will you do with me?' +Then the marshal went to John Putnam, Sr., and said to him, 'What shall +I do?' The said Putnam replied, 'You know your business.' And then the +said Putnam went to his brother, Thomas Putnam, and pulled him by the +coat; and they went out of the house together, and presently came in +again. Then said John Putnam, 'Marshal, take your prisoner, and have +him up to the ordinary,—that is a public house,—and secure him till the +morning.' + +(Signed) "Nathaniel Ingersoll, aged about fifty. +Samuel Sibley, aged about twenty-four. + + +"To the first of these, I, John Putnam, Jr., testify, being at the +meeting." [i.260] + +The above document illustrates the general position of the Putnam +family through all the troubles of the Salem Village parish. Thomas and +John were the heads of two of its branches, and participated in the +proceedings against Burroughs. Nathaniel generally was on the other +side in the course of the various controversies which finally +culminated in the witchcraft delusion. His son, John Putnam, Jr., on +this occasion, was a witness friendly to Mr. Burroughs. Nathaniel +Ingersoll does not appear to have been a partisan on either side. His +sympathies, generally, were with the friends of Bayley; but, on this +occasion, his sense of justice led him to take the lead in behalf of +Burroughs. Other depositions are as follows:— + +"The Testimony of Thomas Haynes, aged thirty-two years or +thereabouts.—Testifieth and saith, that, at a meeting of the +inhabitants of Salem Farms, May the second, 1683, after the marshal had +read John Putnam's attachment to Mr. Burroughs, then Mr. Burroughs +asked Putnam 'what money it was he attached him for.' John Putnam +answered, 'For five pounds and odd money at Shippen's at Boston, and +for thirteen shillings at his father Gedney's, and for twenty-four +shillings at Mrs. Darby's;' that then Nathaniel Ingersoll stood up, and +said, 'Lieutenant, I wonder that you attach Mr. Burroughs for the money +at Darby's and your father Gedney's, when, to my knowledge, you and Mr. +Burroughs have reckoned and balanced accounts two or three times since, +as you say, it was due, and you never made any mention of it when you +reckoned with Mr. Burroughs.' John Putnam answered, 'It is true, and I +own it.'[i.261] Samuel Sibley, aged twenty-four years or thereabouts, +testifieth to all above written." + +"The Testimony of Nathaniel Ingersoll, _aged, &c._—Testifieth, that I +heard Mr. Burroughs ask Lieutenant John Putnam to give him a bill to +Mr. Shippen. The said Putnam asked the said Burroughs how much he would +take up at Mr. Shippen's. Mr. Burroughs said it might be five pounds; +but, after the said Burroughs had considered a little, he said to the +said Putnam, 'It may be it might come to more:' therefore he would have +him give him a bill to the value of five or six pounds,—when Putnam +answered, it was all one to him. Then the said Putnam went and writ it, +and read it to Mr. Burroughs, and said to him that it should go for +part of the £33. 6_s._ 8_d._ for which he had given a bill to him in +behalf of the inhabitants. I, Hannah Ingersoll, aged forty-six years or +thereabouts, testify the same." + +It seems by the foregoing, that Mr. Burroughs had presented a bill, of +the amount just mentioned, to John Putnam, who, as chairman of the +committee the preceding year, represented the inhabitants; and it was +deliberately and formally agreed, that the sum borrowed of Putnam by +Burroughs should "go for part of it." The records of the parish show, +that, on the 24th of May,—three weeks after this meeting "for +reckoning,"—a vote was passed to raise, by a rate, "fifteen pounds for +Mr. Burroughs for the last quarter of a year he preached with us." At a +meeting in December of the same year, a rate was ordered, to pay the +debts of the parish, amounting to £52. 1_s._ 1_d._ On the 22d of the +ensuing February, the parish voted to raise "fifteen pounds for Mr. +Burroughs."[i.262] The record of a meeting in April, 1684, contains an +order, left on the book, with Mr. Burroughs's proper signature, +authorizing Lieutenant Thomas Putnam to receive of the committee "what +is due to me from the inhabitants of Salem Farms." Thus it is evident, +that, at the very day when the ruthless proceedings above described +took place, a considerable balance was due to Mr. Burroughs, after all +claims from all quarters had been "reckoned." The return of the +marshal, made to the Court, was as follows:— + +"I have attached the body of George Burroughs he tendered to me,—for he +said he had no pay,—and taken bonds to the value of fourteen pounds +money, and read this to him. + +Per me, + +Henry Skerry, _Marshal_." + +The bond is as follows. I give the names of the signers. The persons +who interposed to rescue a persecuted man from unjust imprisonment +deserve to be held in honored remembrance. + +"We whose names are underwritten do bind ourselves jointly and +severally to Henry Skerry, Marshal of Salem, our heirs, executors, and +administrators, in the sum of fourteen pounds money, that George +Burroughs shall appear at the next court at Salem, to answer to +Lieutenant John Putnam, according to the summons of this attachment, +and to abide the order of the court therein, and not to depart without +license; as witness our hands this 2d of May, 1683. + +"George Burroughs. +Nathaniel Ingersoll. +John Buxton. +Thomas Haynes. +Samuel Sibley. +William Sibley. +William Ireland, Jr." + +[i.263] + +The case was withdrawn, and Burroughs was glad to get away. He +preferred the Indians at Casco Bay to the people here. When we +consider, that a committee of the parish petitioned the Court to have +such a meeting of the inhabitants; that it was held, by an order of +Court, in compliance with said petition; that Burroughs came back to +the village to attend it; that the meeting agreed, in answer to an +inquiry from him to that effect, to conform to the order of the Court +in making it the occasion of a full and final "reckoning" between them; +that they spent two days and a half in bringing in and sifting all +claims on either side; and that, when, at the time agreed upon,—the +afternoon of the third day,—the whole body of the inhabitants had come +together to ratify and give effect to the "reckoning," the marshal came +in with a writ, and, evidently in violation of his feelings, was forced +by John Putnam to arrest Burroughs, thereby breaking up the proceedings +asked for by the parish and ordered by the Court, for a debt which he +did not owe,—it must be allowed, that it was one of the most audacious +and abominable outrages ever committed. + +The scene presented in these documents is perhaps as vivid, and brings +the actual life before us as strikingly, as any thing that has come +down to us from that day. We can see, as though we were looking in at +the door, the spectacle presented in the old meeting-house: the farmers +gathered from their remote and widely scattered plantations, some +possibly coming in travelling family-vehicles,—although it is +quite[i.264] uncertain whether there were any at that time among the +farmers; some in companies on farm-carts; many on foot; but the greater +number on horseback, in their picturesque costume of homespun or +moose-skin, with cowl-shaped hoods, or hats with a brim, narrow in +front, but broad and slouching behind, hanging over the shoulders. +Every man was belted and sworded. They did not wear weapons merely for +show. There was half a score of men in that assembly who were in the +Narragansett fight; and some bore on their persons scars from that +bloody scene of desperate heroism. Every man, it is probable, had come +to the meeting with his firelock on his shoulder, to defend himself and +companions against Indians lurking in the thick woods through which +they had to pass. Their countenances bespoke the passions to which they +had been wrought up by their fierce parish quarrels,—rugged, severe, +and earnest. We can see the grim bearing of the cavalry lieutenant, +John Putnam, and of his elder brother and predecessor in commission. +Marshal Skerry, with his badges of office, is reluctant to execute its +functions upon a persecuted and penniless minister; but, in accordance +with the stern demands of the inexorable prosecutors, is faithful still +to his painful duty. The minister is the central object in the +picture,—a small, dark-complexioned man, the amazed but calm and +patient victim of an animosity in which he had no part, and for which +he was in no wise responsible. The unresisting dignity of his bearing +is quite observable. "We are now reckoning; we know not[i.265] yet who +is in debt. I have no pay; but here is my body." Perhaps, in that +unconspicuous frame, and through that humble garb, the sinewy nerves +and muscles of steel, the compact and concentrated forces, that were +the marvel of his times, and finally cost him his life, were apparent +in his movements and attitudes. It may be, that the sufferings and +exposures of his previous life had left upon his swarthy features a +stamp of care and melancholy, foreshadowing the greater wrongs and +trials in store for him. But the chief figure in the group is the just +man who rose and rebuked the harsh and reprehensible procedure of the +powerful landholder, neighbor and friend though he was. The manner in +which the arbitrary trooper bowed to the rebuke, if it does not +mitigate our resentment of his conduct, illustrates the extraordinary +influence of Nathaniel Ingersoll's character, and demonstrates the +deference in which all men held him. + +There are in this affair other points worthy of notice, as showing the +effects of their bitter feuds in rendering them insensible to every +appeal of charity or humanity. Their minds had become so soured, and +their sense of what was right so impaired, that they neglected and +refused to fulfil their most ordinary obligations to each other, and to +themselves as a society. Rates were not collected, and contracts were +not complied with. The minister and his family were left without the +necessaries of life. They were compelled to borrow even their clothing, +articles of which constituted a part of the debt for which he was +arrested in such a[i.266] public and unfeeling manner. A young woman +testifies that she lived with Mr. Burroughs about two years, and says: +"My mistress did tell me that she had some serge of John Putnam's wife, +to make Mary a coat; and also some fustian of his wife, to make my +mistress a pair of sleeves." The principal items in the account were +for articles required at the death of his wife, by the usages of that +day on funeral occasions. Surely it was an outrage upon human nature to +spring a suit at law and have a writ served on him, and take him as a +prisoner, on such an occasion, under such circumstances, on an alleged +debt incurred by such a bereavement, when poverty and necessity had +left him no alternative. The whole procedure receives the stamp, not +only of cruelty, but of infamy, from the fact, which Nathaniel +Ingersoll compelled Putnam to acknowledge before the whole +congregation, that the account had been settled and the debt paid long +before. + +John Putnam, although a hard and stern man, had many traits of dignity +and respectability in his character. That he could have done this +thing, in this way, proves the extent to which prejudice and passion +may carry one, particularly where party spirit consumes individual +reason and conscience. At this point it is well to consider a piece of +testimony brought against Burroughs nine years afterwards. There was no +propriety or sense in giving it when it was adduced. It was, in truth, +an outrage to have introduced such testimony in a case where +Burroughs[i.267] was on trial for witchcraft; and it was allowed, only +to prejudice and mislead the minds of a jury and of the public. But it +is proper to be taken into view, in forming a just estimate, with an +impartial aim, of his general character. The document is found in a +promiscuous bundle of witchcraft papers. + +"The Deposition of John Putnam and Rebecca his Wife.—Testifieth and +saith, that, in the year 1680, Mr. Burroughs lived in our house nine +months. There being a great difference betwixt said Burroughs and his +wife, the difference was so great that they did desire us, the +deponents, to come into their room to hear their difference. The +controversy that was betwixt them was, that the aforesaid Burroughs did +require his wife to give him a written covenant, under her hand and +seal, that she would never reveal his secrets. Our answer was, that +they had once made a covenant we did conceive did bind each other to +keep their lawful secrets. And further saith, that, all the time that +said Burroughs did live at our house, he was a very harsh and sharp man +to his wife; notwithstanding, to our observation, she was a very good +and dutiful wife to him." + +The first observation that occurs in examining this piece of testimony +is, that the answer made by Putnam and his wife was excellent, and, +like every thing from him, shows that he was a man of strong common +sense, and had a forcible and effectual way of expressing himself. The +next thing to be considered is, that Mr. Burroughs probably discovered, +soon after coming to the village, into what a hornets' nest he had +got,[i.268]—every one tattling about and backbiting each other. His +innocent and unsuspicious wife may have indulged a little in what is +considered the amiable proclivity of her sex, and have let fall, in +tea-table talk, what cavillers and mischief-makers were on hand to take +up; and he may have found it both necessary and difficult to teach her +caution and reserve. He saw, more perhaps than she did, the danger of +getting involved in the personal acrimonies with which the whole +community was poisoned. Her unguarded carelessness might get herself +and him into trouble, and vitally impair their happiness and his +usefulness. The only other point to be remarked upon is the general +charge against Mr. Burroughs's temper and disposition. It may be that +he became so disgusted with the state of things as to have shown some +acerbity in his manners, but such a supposition is not in harmony with +what little is known of him from other sources; and John Putnam's +conduct at the meeting described proves that his mind was fully +perverted, and bereft as it were of all moral rectitude of judgment, in +reference to Mr. Burroughs. We must part with Mr. Burroughs for the +present. We shall meet him again, where the powers of malignity will be +more shamelessly let loose upon him, and prevail to his destruction. + +He was succeeded in the ministry at Salem Village by a character of a +totally different class. Deodat Lawson is first heard of in this +country, according to Mr. Savage, at Martha's Vineyard in 1671. He took +the freeman's oath at Boston in 1680, and continued[i.269] to have his +residence there. It was not until after much negotiation and +considerable importunity, that he was prevailed upon to enter into an +engagement to preach at the Village. He began his ministry early in +1684, as appears by the parish record of a meeting Feb. 22, 1684: +"Voted that Joseph Herrick, Jonathan Putnam, and Goodman Cloyse are +desired to take care for to get a boat for the removing of Mr. Lawson's +goods." Votes, about this time, were passed to repair the parsonage, +and the fences around the ministry land; thus putting things in +readiness to receive him. It does not appear that he became +particularly entangled in the conflicts which had so long disturbed the +Village, although, while the mother-church signified its readiness to +approve of his ordination, and some movement was made in the Village to +that end, it was found impossible to bring the hostile parties +sufficiently into co-operation to allow of any thing being definitely +accomplished. Fortunately for Mr. Lawson, the spirit of strife found +other objects upon which to expend its energies for the time being. +Some persons brought forward complaints, that the records of the parish +had not been correctly kept (this was before Sergeant Thomas Putnam had +been charged with that trust); that votes which had passed in "Mr. +Bayley's days" and in "Mr. Burroughs's days" had not been truly +recorded, or recorded at all; and that what had never been passed had +been entered as votes. A great agitation arose on this subject, and +many meetings were held. Some demanded that the[i.270] spurious votes +should be expunged; others, that the omitted votes should be inserted. +Then there was an excited disputation about the ministry lands, and the +validity or sufficiency of their title to them. Joseph Houlton had +given them; but he had nothing to do with raising the question, and did +all he could to suppress it. Some person had discovered that William +Haynes, to whom Houlton had succeeded by the right of his wife, had +omitted to get his deed of purchase recorded, and the original could +not be found. Disputes also arose about the use of the grounds around +the meeting-house. These, added to the conflicts with the "Topsfield +men," and matters not fully adjusted with the town of Salem, created +and kept up a violent fermentation, in which all were miscellaneously +involved. In the midst of this confusion, the matter of ordaining Mr. +Lawson was put into the warrant for a meeting to be held on the 10th of +December, 1686. But it was found impossible to recall the people from +their divisions, and no favorable action could be had. + +At length, all attempts to settle their difficulties among themselves +were abandoned; and they called for help from outside. At a legally +warned meeting on the 17th of January, 1687, the inhabitants made +choice of "Captain John Putnam" (he had been promoted in the military +line since the affair in the meeting-house with Mr. Burroughs), +"Lieutenant Jonathan Walcot, Ensign Thomas Flint, and Corporal Joseph +Herrick, for to transact with Joseph Hutchinson, Job Swinnerton, Joseph +Porter, and Daniel An[i.271]drew about their grievances relating to the +public affairs of this place; and, if they cannot agree among +themselves, that then they shall refer their differences to the Honored +Major Gedney and John Hathorne, Esqs., and to the reverend elders of +the Salem Church, for a full determination of those differences." Of +course, it was impossible to settle the matter among themselves, and +the referees were called in. William Brown, Jr., Esq., was added to +them. They were all of the old town, and men of the highest +consideration. Their judgment in the case is a well-drawn and +interesting document, and shows the view which near neighbors took of +the distractions in the village. The following passage will exhibit the +purport and spirit of it:— + +"_Loving Brethren, Friends and Neighbors_,—Upon serious consideration +of, and mature deliberation upon, what hath been offered to us about +your calling and transacting in order to the settling and ordaining the +Rev. Mr. Deodat Lawson, and the grievances offered by some to obstruct +and impede that proceeding, our sense of the matter is this,—first, +that the affair of calling and transacting in order to the settling and +ordaining the Reverend Mr. Lawson hath not been so inoffensively +managed as might have been,—at least, not in all the parts and passages +of it; second, that the grievances offered by some amongst you are not +in themselves of sufficient weight to obstruct so great a work, and +that they have not been improved so peaceably and orderly as Christian +prudence and self-denial doth direct; third, to our grief, we observe +such uncharitable expressions and uncomely reflections tossed to and +fro as look like the effects[i.272] of settled prejudice and resolved +animosity, though we are much rather willing to account them the +product of weakness than wilfulness: however, we must needs say, that, +come whence they will, they have a tendency to make such a gap as we +fear, if not timely prevented, will let out peace and order, and let in +confusion and every evil work." + +They then proceed to give some good advice to "prevent contention and +trouble for the future, that it may not devour for ever, and that, if +the Lord please, you may be happier henceforth than to make one another +miserable; and not make your place uncomfortable to your present, and +undesirable to any other, minister, and the ministry itself in a great +measure unprofitable: and that you may not bring impositions on +yourselves by convincing all about you that you cannot, or will not, +use your liberty as becomes the gospel." Their advice is, "that you +desist, at present, from urging the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Lawson, +till your spirits are better quieted and composed." They give some +judicious suggestions about various matters that had been the occasion +of difficulty among them, especially to help them get their records put +into good shape, and kept so for the future; and wind up in the +following excellent, and in some of the clauses rather emphatic and +pithy, expressions:— + +"Finally, we think peace cheap, if it may be procured by complying with +the aforementioned particulars, which are few, fair, and easy; and that +they will hardly pass for lovers of peace, truth, ministry, and order, +in the day of the Lord,[i.273] that shall so lean to their own +understanding and will that they shall refuse such easy methods for the +obtaining of them. And, if peace and agreement amongst you be once +comfortably obtained, we advise you with all convenient speed to go on +with your intended ordination; and so we shall follow our advice with +our prayers. But, if our advice be rejected, we wish you better, and +hearts to follow it; and only add, if you will unreasonably trouble +yourselves, we pray you not any further to trouble us. We leave all to +the blessing of God, the wonderful Counsellor, and your own serious +consideration: praying you to read and consider the whole, and then act +as God shall direct you. Farewell." + +[Salem, Feb. 14, 1687. Signed by the five referees,—John Higginson and +Nicholas Noyes (the elders of the old church), and the three gentlemen +before named.] + +At a meeting of the inhabitants of the Village on the 18th of February, +it was voted that "we do accept of and embrace the advice of the +honored and reverend gentlemen of Salem, sent to us under their hands, +and order that it shall be entered on our book of records." But they +took care further to vote, that they accepted it "in general, and not +in parts." In accordance with the advice of the referees, they brought +up, considered anew, and put to question, every entry in their past +records about the genuineness and validity of which any division of +opinion existed. Some entries that had been complained of and given +offence as incorrect were voted out, and others were confirmed by being +adopted on a new vote. A new book of records was[i.274] prepared, to +conform to these decisions, which, having been submitted for +examination to leading persons, appointed for the purpose at a legal +meeting representing both parties, and approved by them, was adopted +and sanctioned at a subsequent meeting also called for the purpose. + +In accordance with the same advice "that the old book of records be +kept in being," it was ordered by the meeting to leave the votes that +had, by the foregoing proceedings, been rendered null and void, to "lie +in the old book of records as they are." From the new book of records +we learn that "some votes are left out that passed in Mr. Bayley's +days, and some that passed in Mr. Burroughs's days," particularly all +the votes but one that passed at a meeting held on the fifth day of +June, 1683, the very time that Mr. Burroughs was under bonds in the +action of debt brought by John Putnam. The new record specifies some +few, but not all, of the votes that were rescinded because it was +adjudged that they had not rightfully passed, or been correctly stated. +Unfortunately, the old book, after all, has not been "kept in being;" +and much that would have exhibited more fully and clearly the unhappy +early history of the parish is for ever lost. If the records that have +been suffered to remain present the picture I have endeavored +faithfully to draw, how much darker might have been its shades had we +been permitted to behold what the parties concerned concurred in +thinking too bad to be left to view! + +The attempt to expunge records is always indefensi[i.275]ble, besides +being in itself irrational and absurd. It may cover up the details of +wrong and folly; but it leaves an unlimited range to the most +unfriendly conjecture. We are compelled to imagine what we ought to be +allowed to know; and, in many particulars, our fancies may be worse +than the facts. But later times, and public bodies of greater +pretensions than "the inhabitants of Salem Village," have attempted, +and succeeded in perpetrating, this outrage upon history. In trying to +conceal their errors, men have sometimes destroyed the means of their +vindication. This may be the case with the story that is to be told of +"Salem Witchcraft." It has been the case in reference to wider fields +of history. The Parliamentary journals and other public records of the +period of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate were suppressed by the +infatuated stupidity of the Government of the Restoration. They +foolishly imagined that they were hiding the shame, while they were +obscuring the glory, of their country. Every Englishman, every +intelligent man, now knows, that, during that very period, all that has +made England great was done. The seeds of her naval and maritime +prosperity were planted: and she was pushed at once by wise measures of +policy, internal and external; by legislation developing her resources +and invigorating the power of her people; by a decisive and +comprehensive diplomacy that commanded the respect of foreign courts, +and secured to her a controlling influence upon the traffic of the +world; by developments of her military genius under[i.276] the greatest +of all the great generals of modern times; and by naval achievements +that snatched into her hands the balancing trident of the seas,—to the +place she still holds (how much longer she may hold it remains to be +seen) as the leading power of the world. If she has to relinquish that +position, it will only be to a power that is true to the spirit, and is +not ashamed of the name, of a republic. The nation that fully develops +the policy which pervaded the records of the English Commonwealth will +be the leader of the world. The suppression of those records has not +suppressed the spirit of popular liberty, or the progress of mankind in +the path of reform, freedom, equal rights, and a true civilization. It +has only cast a shadow, which can never wholly be dispelled, over what +otherwise would have been the brightest page in the annals of a great +people. We depend for our knowledge of the steps by which England then +made a most wonderful stride to prosperity and power, not upon official +and authoritative records, but upon the desultory and sometimes merely +gossiping memoirs of particular persons, and such other miscellaneous +materials as can be picked up. The only consequence of an attempt to +extinguish the memory of republicans, radicals, reformers, and +regicides has been, that the history of England's true glory can never +be adequately written. + +The referees used the following language touching the point of the +ordination of Mr. Lawson: "If more than a mere major part should not +consent to it, we[i.277] should be loath to advise our brethren to +proceed." This, in connection with the other sentence I have quoted +from their communication recommending them "to desist at present" from +urging it, was fatal to the immediate movement in his favor; and, not +seeing any prospect of their "spirits becoming better quieted and +composed," and weary of the attempt to bring them to any comfortable +degree of unanimity, Mr. Lawson threw up his connection with them, and +removed back to Boston. We shall meet him again; but it is well to +despatch at this point what is to be said of his character and history. + +It is evident that Deodat Lawson had received the best education of his +day. It is not easy to account for his not having left a more +distinguished mark in Old or New England. He had much learning and +great talents. Of his power in getting up pulpit performances in the +highest style of eloquence, of which that period afforded remarkable +specimens, I shall have occasion to speak. Among his other attainments, +he was, what cannot be said of learned and professional men generally +now any more than then, an admirable penman. The village parish adopted +the practice at the beginning, when paying the salaries of its +ministers from time to time, instead of taking receipts on detached and +loose pieces of paper, of having them write them out in their own hand +on the pages of the record-book, with their signatures. It is a luxury, +in looking over the old volume, to come upon the receipts of Deodat +Lawson, in his plain, round hand.[i.278] A specimen is given among the +autographs. His chirography is easy, free, graceful, clear, and clean. +It unites with wonderful taste the highest degrees of simplicity and +ornament. Each style is used, and both are blended, as occasion +required. During his ministry, the trouble about the old record-book +occurred. The first four pages of the new book are in his handwriting. +The ink has somewhat faded; the paper has become discolored, and, +around the margins and at the bottom of the leaves, lamentably worn and +broken. The first page exhibits Lawson's penmanship in its various +styles. It is artistically executed in several sizes of letters, +appropriate to the position of the clauses and the import and weight of +the matter. In each there is an elegant combination of ornament and +simplicity. His chirography was often had in requisition; and papers, +evidently from his pen, are on file in various cases, occurring in +court at the time, in which his friends were interested. + +The first four ministers of the village parish were excellent penmen. +Bayley's hand is more like the modern style than the rest. Burroughs's +is as legible as print, uniform in its character, open and upright. The +specimen among the autographs is from the record referred to at the top +of page 262. As it was written at the bottom of a page in the +record-book, where there was hardly sufficient room, it had to be in a +slanting line. I give it just as it there appears. Parris wrote three +different hands, all perfectly easy to read. The larger kind was used +when signing his[i.281] name to important papers, or in brief entries +of record. The specimen I give is from a receipt in the parish-book, +which Thomas Putnam, as clerk, made oath in court, that Parris wrote +and signed in his presence. His notes of examinations of persons +charged with witchcraft by the committing magistrate, many of which are +preserved, are in his smallest hand, very minute, but always legible. +In his church-records he uses sometimes a medium hand, and sometimes +the smallest. The autographs of Townsend Bishop and Thomas Putnam show +the handwriting that seems to have prevailed among well-educated people +in England at the time of the first settlement of this country. There +was often a profusion of flourishes that obscured the letters. The +initial capitals were quite complicated and very curious. The signature +of Thomas Putnam, Jr., exhibits his excellent handwriting. + +[i.279] + +autographs + + +[i.280] + +autographs + + +I have adduced these facts and given these illustrations to show, that, +in this branch of education,—the value and desirableness of which +cannot be overrated,—it is at least an open question, whether we have +much ground to boast of being in advance of the first generations of +our ancestors in America. The early ministers of the Salem Village +parish certainly compare, in this particular, favorably with ministers +and professional men, and recording officers generally in public bodies +of all kinds, in later times. + +Sergeant Thomas Putnam did not act as clerk of the parish from April, +1687, to April, 1694. A few entries are made by his hand; but the +record, very[i.282] meagre and fragmentary, is for the most part made +by others. This is much to be regretted, as the interval covers the +very period of our history. His time, probably, was taken up, and his +mind wholly engrossed, by an unhappy family difficulty, in which, +during that period, he was involved. Thomas Putnam Sr. died, as has +been stated, in 1686. It was thought, by the children of his first +wife, that the influence of the second wife had been unduly exercised +over him, in his last years, so as to induce him to make a will giving +to her, and her only child by him, Joseph, a very unfair proportion of +his estate. It was felt by them to be so unjust that they attempted to +break the will. The management of the case was confided to Sergeant +Thomas Putnam, as the eldest son of the family; and the affair, it may +be supposed, absorbed his thoughts to such a degree as to render it +necessary for him to abandon his services as clerk of the parish. The +attempt to set aside the will failed. The circumstances connected with +the subject disturbed very seriously—perhaps permanently—the happiness +of the whole family, and may have contributed to create the morbid +excitement which afterwards was so fearfully displayed by the wife of +the younger Thomas. + +While Mr. Lawson was at the village, he lost his wife and daughter. In +1690, he was again married, to Deborah Allen. He was settled afterwards +over the Second Society in Scituate,—it is singular that our local +histories do not tell us when, but that we get all we know on the point +from a sentence written by the[i.283] pen on a leaf of one of the two +folio volumes of John Quick's "Synodicon in Gallia Reformata," in the +possession of a gentleman in this country, Henry M. Dexter, who says it +is evidently Quick's autograph. It is in these words: "For my reverend +and dear brother, Mr. Lawson, minister of the gospel, and pastor of the +church of Scituate, in the province of Massachusetts in New England; +from the publisher, John Quick, _honoris et amoris ergo_, Aug. 6, +1693." In 1696, Mr. Lawson went over to England, merely for a short +visit, as his people supposed. They heard from him no more. He never +asked a dismission, or communicated with them in any way. In 1698, an +ecclesiastical council declared them free to settle another minister, +which they did in due time. He was, no doubt, alive and in London when, +in 1704, his famous Salem Village sermon was reprinted there. But this +is the last glimpse we have of him. An inscrutable mystery covers the +rest of his history. His manner of leaving the Scituate parish shows +him to have been an eccentric person, leaves an unfavorable impression +of his character, and is as inexplicable as the only other reference to +him that has thus far been found. Calamy, in his "Continuation of the +Account of Ejected Ministers," published in 1727, has a notice of +Thomas Lawson, whom he describes as minister of Denton in the county of +Norfolk, educated at Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and afterwards chosen +"to a fellowship in St. John's. He was a man of parts, but had no good +utterance. He was the[i.284] father of the unhappy Mr. Deodat Lawson, +who came hither from New England." With all his abilities, learning, +and eloquence, he disappears, after the re-publication of his Salem +Village sermon in London, in the dark, impenetrable cloud of this +expression, "the unhappy Mr. Deodat Lawson." Of the melancholy fate +implied in the language of Calamy, I have not been able to obtain the +slightest information. + +The troubles that covered the whole period, since the beginning of Mr. +Bayley's ministry, had led to the neglect and derangement of the entire +organization of the Village, and resulted in the loss of what little +opportunities for education might otherwise have been provided. So +great was this evil regarded, that the old town felt it necessary to +interpose; and we find it voted Jan. 24, 1682, that "Lieutenant John +Putnam is desired, and is hereby empowered, to take care that the law +relating to the catechising of children and youth be duly attended at +the Village." He is also "desired to have a diligent care that all the +families do carefully and constantly attend the due education of their +children and youth according to law." We cannot but feel that the man +who was ready to fight the "Topsfield men" in the woods—who, when they +asked him, "What, by violence?" answered, with axe in hand, "Ay, by +violence," and who figured in the manner described in the scene with +Mr. Burroughs—was a singular person to intrust with the charge of +"catechising the children and youth." But those were queer times, and +he was a queer character. He[i.285] had always been a church-member; +and, to the day of his death, church and prayer meetings were more +frequently held at his house than in any other. He was a rough man, but +he was no hypocrite. He was in the front of every encounter; but he was +tolerant, too, of difference of opinion. When, at one time, the +contests of the Village were at their height, and two committees were +raised representing the two conflicting parties, he was at the head of +one, and his eldest son (Jonathan) of the other. Their opposition does +not seem to have alienated them. While I have found it necessary to +hold him up, in some of his actions, for condemnation, there were many +good points about him; although he was not the sort of man that would +be likely, in our times, to be selected to execute the functions of a +Sunday-school teacher. + +During all this period, there was a variety of minor controversies +among themselves, causing greater or less disturbance. Joseph +Hutchinson, who had given a site out of his homestead-grounds for the +meeting-house, had no patience with their perpetual wranglings. He +fenced up his lands around the meeting-house lot, leaving them an +entrance on the end towards the road. They went to court about it, and +he was called to account by the usual process of law. The plain, gruff +old farmer, who seems all along to have been a man of strong sense and +decided character, filed an answer, which is unsurpassed for bluntness +of expression. It has no language of ceremony, but goes to the point at +once. It has a general inter[i.286]est as showing, to how late a period +the inhabitants of this neighborhood were exposed to Indian attacks, +and what means of defence were resorted to by the Village worshippers. +The document manifests the contempt in which he held the complainants, +and it was all the satisfaction they got. + +"Joseph Hutchinson his answer is as followeth:— + +"First, as to the covenant they spoke of, I conceive it is neither +known of by me nor them, as will appear by records from the farmer's +book. + +"Second, I conceive they have no cause to complain of me for fencing in +my own land; for I am sure I fenced in none of theirs. I wish they +would not pull down my fences. I am loath to complain, though I have +just cause. + +"Third, for blocking up the meeting-house, it was they did it, and not +I, in the time of the Indian wars; and they made Salem pay for it. I +wish they would bring me my rocks they took to do it with; for I want +them to make fence with. + +"Thus, hoping this honored Court will see that there was no just cause +to complain against me, and their cause will appear unjust in that they +would in an unjust way take away my land, I trust I shall have relief; +so I rest, your Honor's servant, + +Joseph Hutchinson." + +[Nov. 27, 1686.] + +The next minister of Salem Village brought matters to a crisis. Samuel +Parris is stated to have been a son of Thomas Parris, of London, and +was born in 1653. He was, for a time, a member of Harvard College, but +did not finish the academic course, being[i.287] drawn to a commercial +life. He was engaged in the West-India business, and probably lived at +Barbadoes. After a while, he abandoned commerce, and prepared himself +for the ministry. There was at this time, and long subsequently, a very +particular mercantile connection between Salem and Barbadoes. The +former husband of the wife of Thomas Putnam, Sr.,—Nathaniel Veren,—as +has been stated, had property in that island, and was more or less +acquainted with its people. Perhaps it was through this channel that +the thoughts of the people of the Village were turned towards Mr. +Parris. From a deposition made by him a few years afterwards in a suit +at law between him and his parishioners, we learn some interesting +facts relating to the negotiations that led to his settlement. + +It appears from his statement that a committee, consisting of "Captain +John Putnam, Mr. Joshua Rea, Sr., and Francis Nurse," was appointed, on +the 15th of November, 1688, to treat with him "about taking ministerial +office." On the 25th of November, "after the services in the afternoon, +the audience was stayed, and, by a general vote, requested Mr. Parris +to take office." He hung back for a while, and exercised the skill and +adroitness acquired in his mercantile life in making as sharp a bargain +as he could. + +At that time, there appeared to be a degree of harmony among the +people, such as they had never known before. There was a disposition on +all sides to come together, and avail themselves of the occasion +of[i.288] settling a new minister, to bury their past animosities, and +forget their grievances; and there is every reason to believe, if Mr. +Parris had promptly closed with their terms, he might have enjoyed a +peaceful ministry, and a happy oblivion have covered for ever his name +and the history of the village. But he withheld response to the call. +The people were impatient, and felt that the golden opportunity might +be lost, and the old feuds revive. On the 10th of December, another +committee was raised, consisting of Lieutenant Nathaniel Putnam, +Sergeant Fuller, Mr. Joshua Rea, Sr., and Sergeant Ingersoll, as +"messengers, to know whether Mr. Parris would accept of office." His +answer was, "the work was weighty; they should know in due time." They +were thus kept in suspense during the whole winter, getting no reply +from him. On the 29th of April, 1689, "Deacons Nathaniel Ingersoll and +Edward Putnam, Daniel Rea, Thomas Fuller, Jr., and John Tarbell, came +to Mr. Parris from the meeting-house," where there had been a general +meeting of the inhabitants, and said, "Being the aged men had had the +matter of Mr. Parris's settlement so long in hand, and effected +nothing, they were desirous to try what the younger could do." Deacon +Ingersoll was about fifty-five years of age; but his spirit and +character kept him in sympathy with the progressive impulses of younger +men. Deacon Putnam was thirty-four years of age. Daniel Rea was the son +of Joshua; Thomas Fuller, Jr., the son of Sergeant Fuller; and John +Tarbell, the son-in-law of Francis Nurse.[i.289] + +This is the first appearance, I believe, in our history, of that +notorious and most pretentious personage who has figured so largely in +all our affairs ever since, "Young America." The sequel shows, that, in +this instance at least, no benefit arose from discarding the caution +and experience of years. The "younger men" were determined to "go +ahead." They said they were desirous of a speedy answer. Finding them +in a temper to "finish the thing up," at any rate, and seeing that they +were ambitious to get the credit of "effecting something," and, for +that end, predisposed to come to his terms, he disclosed them. They had +offered him a salary of sixty pounds per annum,—one third in money, the +rest in provisions, at certain specified rates. He agreed to accept the +call on the foregoing terms, with certain additional conditions thus +described by himself: "First, when money shall be more plenteous, the +money part to be paid me shall accordingly be increased. Second, though +corn or like provisions should arise to a higher price than you have +set, yet, for my own family use, I shall have what is needful at the +price now stated, and so if it fall lower. Third, the whole sixty +pounds to be only from our inhabitants that are dwelling in our bounds, +proportionable to what lands they have within the same. Fourth, no +provision to be brought in without first asking whether needed, and +myself to make choice of what, unless the person is unable to pay in +any sort but one. Fifth, firewood to be given in yearly, freely. Sixth, +two men to be chosen yearly to see that due payments be made.[i.290] +Seventh, contributions each sabbath in papers; and only such as are in +papers, and dwelling within our bounds, to be accounted a part of the +sixty pounds. Eighth, as God shall please to bless the place so as to +be able to rise higher than the sixty pounds, that then a +proportionable increase be made. If God shall please, for our sins, to +diminish the substance of said place, I will endeavor accordingly to +bear such losses, by proportionable abatements of such as shall +reasonably desire it." + +A contribution-box was either handed around by the deacons, before the +congregation was dismissed, or attached permanently near the porch or +door. Rate-payers would inclose their money in papers, with their +names, and drop them in. When the box was opened, the sums inclosed +would be entered to their credit on the rate-schedule. There was always +a considerable number of stated worshippers in the congregation who +lived without the bounds of the village, and often transient visitors +or strangers happened to be at meeting. It was a point that had not +been determined, whether moneys collected from the above descriptions +of persons should go into the general treasury of the parish, to be +used in meeting their contract to pay the minister's salary, or be kept +as a separate surplus. + +The terms, as thus described by Mr. Parris, show that he had profited +by his experience in trade, and knew how to make a shrewd bargain. It +was quite certain that a farming community in a new country, with +fields continually reclaimed from the wilderness and[i.291] added to +culture, would increase in substance: if so, his annual stipend would +increase. If the place should decline, he was to abate the tax of +individuals, if desired by them personally, so far as he should judge +their petition to that effect reasonable. If "strangers' money," or +contributions from "outsiders," were not to go to make up his sixty +pounds, it was quite probable that it would come into his pocket as an +extra allowance, or perquisite. + +He says that the committee accepted these terms, and agreed to them, +expressing their belief that the people also would. No record appears +on the parish-books of the appointment of this committee of the +"younger men," or of the action of the society on their report, or of +any report having been made at that time. In the mean while, Mr. Parris +continued to preach and act as the minister of the society until his +ordination, near the close of the year. There was a meeting on the 21st +of May; but the record consists of but a single entry,—the appointment +of a committee "as overseers for the year ensuing, to take care of our +meeting-house and other public charges, and to make return according to +law." The next entry is of a general meeting of the inhabitants, on the +18th of June, 1689. The choice of the regular standing committee for +the year is recorded. Immediately following this entry, are these +words:— + +"At the same meeting,—the 18th of June, 1689,—it was agreed and voted +by general concurrence, that, for Mr. Parris, his encouragement and +settlement in the work of the[i.292] ministry amongst us, we will give +him sixty six pounds for his yearly salary,—one-third paid in money, +the other two-third parts for provisions, &c.; and Mr. Parris to find +himself firewood, and Mr. Parris to keep the ministry-house in good +repair; and that Mr. Parris shall also have the use of the +ministry-pasture, and the inhabitants to keep the fence in repair; and +that we will keep up our contributions, and our inhabitants to put +their money in papers, and this to continue so long as Mr. Parris +continues in the work of the ministry amongst us, and all productions +to be good and merchantable. And, if it please God to bless the +inhabitants, we shall be willing to give more; and to expect, that if +God shall diminish the estates of the people, that then Mr. Parris do +abate of his salary according to proportion." + +Comparing this record with the account given by Mr. Parris of the eight +conditions upon which he agreed, in conference with the committee of +the "younger" sort, on the 29th of April, to accept the call of the +parish, the difference is not very essential. The matter of firewood +was arranged, according to his account, by mutual agreement, they to +add six pounds to his salary, and he to find his own wood. The rates of +"the inhabitants" were to be paid "in papers." The only point of +difference, touching this matter, is that the record is silent about +contributions by outsiders and strangers; whereas he says it was +agreed, on the 29th of April, that they should not go towards making up +his salary. The idea of his salary rising with the growth and sinking +with the decline of the society is expressed in the record[i.293] +substantially as it is by him, only it is made exact; and, in case of a +decline in the means of the people, a corresponding decline is to be in +the aggregate of his salary, and not by abatements made by him in +individual cases. The variations are nearly, if not quite, all +unimportant in their nature, and such as a regard to mutual convenience +would suggest. Yet there was something in the above record which highly +exasperated Mr. Parris. + +In his deposition he states, that, at a meeting held on the 17th of +May, of which there is no record in the parish book, he was sent for +and was present. He says that there was "much agitation" at the +meeting. He says that objection was made by the people to two of his +"eight" conditions, the fifth and seventh. But there is nothing in the +record of the 18th of June in conflict with what he says was finally +agreed upon, except the disposition that should be made of "strangers' +money." The question then recurs, What was the cause of the "much +agitation" at that meeting? What was it in the language of that record +which always so excited Mr. Parris's wrath? + +I am inclined to think that the offensive words were those which +require "Mr. Parris to keep the ministry house in good repair," and +that he "shall also have the use of the ministry pasture;" and this was +not objectionable as involving any expense upon him, but solely because +the language employed precluded the supposition that the parish had +countenanced the idea of ever conveying the parsonage and parsonage +lands[i.294] to him in his own right and absolutely. This was an object +which he evidently had in view from the first, and to which he clung to +the last. It is to be feared, that some of the members of the +"Young-America" committee, in their heedless and inconsiderate +eagerness to "effect" something, to settle Mr. Parris forthwith, and +thereby prove how much more competent they were than "the aged men" to +transact a weighty business, had encouraged Mr. Parris to think that +his favorite object could be accomplished. Upon a little inquiry, +however, they discovered that it could not be done; but that the house +and land were secured by the original deeds of conveyance, and by +irreversible agreements and conditions, to the use of the ministry, for +the time being and for ever. So far as the committee or any of its +members had favored this idea in their conference with Mr. Parris, they +had taken a position from which they had to retreat. They had +compromised themselves and the parish. For this reason, perhaps, they +made no report; and no mention of their agency appears on the records. +How far Deacon Ingersoll was misled by his younger associates on this +occasion, I know not; but he was not a man to break a promise if he +could keep it, no matter how much to his own loss. He recognized his +responsibility as chairman of the unfortunate committee, and retrieved +the mistake they had made, by giving to Mr. Parris, by deed, a lot of +land adjoining the parsonage property, and in value equal to the whole +of it. The date of that conveyance, immediately after Mr. Parris's +ordination, corroborates[i.295] the conjecture that it was made to +compensate Mr. Parris for the failure of his expectation to get +possession of the ministry property. It ought to have been received by +him as an equivalent, and have soothed his angry disappointment; but it +did not. He had indulged the belief, that he had effected a bargain +with the parish, at his settlement, which had made him the owner, in +fee simple, of the parish property; and when he found that the record +of the terms of his settlement, in the parish-book, absolutely +precluded that idea, his exasperation was great, and no reparation +Deacon Ingersoll or any one else could make was suffered to appease it. +The following deposition, made in court some years afterwards, gives an +account of a scene in the meeting-house after Parris's ordination:— + +"Ipswich Court, 1697.—Parris _versus_ Inhabitants of Salem Village. + +"We the undersigned testify and say, that, a considerable time after +Mr. Parris his ordination, there was a meeting of the inhabitants of +Salem Village at the usual place of meeting; and the occasion of the +meeting was concerning Mr. Parris, and several persons were at that +meeting, that had not, before this meeting, joined with the people in +calling or agreeing with Mr. Parris; and the said persons desired that +those things that concerned Mr. Parris and the people might be read, +and accordingly it was. And the entry, that some call a salary, being +read, there arose a difference among the people, the occasion of which +was finding an entry in the book of the Village records, relating to +Mr. Parris his maintenance, which was dated the 18th of June,[i.296] +1689; and, the entry being read to the people, some replied that they +believed that Mr. Parris would not comply with that entry; whereupon +one said it was best to send for Mr. Parris to resolve the question. +Accordingly, he was sent for. He coming to the people, this entry of +the 18th of June, 1689, was read to Mr. Parris. His answer was as +follows: 'He never heard or knew any thing of it, neither could or +would he take up with it, or any part of it;' and further he said, +'They were knaves and cheaters that entered it.' And Lieutenant +Nathaniel Putnam, being moderator of that meeting, replied to Mr. +Parris, and said, 'Sir, then there is only proposals on both sides, and +no agreement between you and the people.' And Mr. Parris answered and +said, 'No more, there is not; for I am free from the people, and the +people free from me:' and so the meeting broke up. And we further +testify, that there hath not been any agreement made with Mr. Parris, +that we knew of or ever heard of,—never since. + +"Joseph Porter. +Daniel Andrew. +Joseph Putnam. + +"Sworn in Court, at Ipswich, April 13, 1697, by all three. + +Attest, Stephen Sewall, _Clerk_." + +The answer which Mr. Parris made to Nathaniel Putnam's inquiry probably +settled the question in the suit then pending, and led to the final +release of the parish from him. It is hard to find any point of +difference between his own account of the conditions he himself made, +and the record of the parish-book, of sufficient importance to account +for the storm of passion[i.297] into which the reading of the latter +drove him, except in the language which I have suggested as the +probable occasion of his wrath. Unfortunately for him, there is +evidence quite corroborative of this suggestion. + +The parish-book has the following record:— + +"At a general meeting of the inhabitants of Salem Village, Oct. 10, +1689, it was agreed and voted, that the vote, in our book of record of +1681, that lays, as some say, an entailment upon our ministry house and +land, is hereby made void and of no effect; one man only dissenting. + +"It was voted and agreed by a general concurrence, that we will give to +Mr. Parris our ministry house and barn, and two acres of land next +adjoining to the house; and that Mr. Parris take office amongst us, and +live and die in the work of the ministry among us; and, if Mr. Parris +or his heirs do sell the house and land, that the people may have the +first refusal of it, by giving as much as other men will. A committee +was chosen to lay out the land, and make a conveyance of the house and +land, and to make the conveyance in the name and in the behalf of the +inhabitants unto Mr. Parris and his heirs." + +The record of these votes is not signed by the clerk, and there is no +evidence that the meeting was legally warned. It does not appear in +whose custody the book then was. But, however the entry got in, it +proves that Parris's friends were determined to gratify his all but +insane purpose to get possession of what he ought to have known it was +impossible for the parish to give, or for him or his heirs to hold. It +was indeed a miserable commencement of his ministry, to introduce +such[i.298] a strife with a people who really seem to have had an +earnest desire to receive him with united hearts, and make his +settlement and ministry the harbinger of a better day. But he alienated +many of them, at the very start, by his sharp practice in negotiating +about the pecuniary details of his agreement with the parish. When, +after all their care to prevent it, it became known that somehow or +other a vote had got upon the records, conveying to him outright their +ministerial property, there was great indignation; and a determined +effort was made to recover what they declared to be "a fraudulent +conveying-away" of the property of the society. + +A more violent conflict than any before was let loose upon that devoted +people. The old passions were rekindled. Men ranged themselves as the +friends and opponents of Mr. Parris in bitter antagonism. Rates were +not collected; the meeting-house went into dilapidation; complaints +were made to the County Court; orders were issued to collect rates, but +they were disregarded; and all was confusion, disorder, and contention. + +A church was organized in connection with the village parish, and Mr. +Parris ordained on Monday, Nov. 19, 1689. The covenant adopted was the +"confession of faith owned and consented unto by the elders and +messengers of the churches assembled at Boston, New England, May 12, +1680." In the library of the Connecticut Historical Society, there is a +manuscript volume of sermons and abstracts of sermons preached[i.299] +by Mr. Parris between November, 1689, and May, 1694. It begins with his +ordination sermon, which has this prefix: "My poor and weak ordination +sermon, at the embodying of a church at Salem Village on the 19th of +the ninth month, 1689, the Rev. Mr. Nicholas Noyes embodying of us; who +also ordained my most unworthy self pastor, and, together with the Rev. +Mr. Samuel Phillips and the Rev. Mr. John Hale, imposed hands,—the same +Mr. Phillips giving me the right hand of fellowship with beautiful +loveliness and humility." The text is from Josh. v. 9: "And the Lord +said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt +from off you." + +The first entry in the church-records, after the covenant and the names +of the members, is the following: "Nov. 24, 1689.—Sab: day. Brother +Nathaniel Ingersoll chosen, by a general vote of the brethren, to +officiate in the place of a deacon for a time." + +Mr. Parris commenced his administration by showing that he meant to +exercise the disciplinary powers intrusted to him, as pastor of a +church, with a high hand, and without much regard to persons or +circumstances. Ezekiel Cheever had been a member of the mother-church +in Salem twenty years before, was one of the founders of the parish +church, and appears to have been a worthy and amiable person, occupying +and owning the farm of his uncle, Captain Lothrop. On the sudden +illness of a member of his family, being "in distress for a horse," +none of his own being[i.300] available at the time, he rushed, in his +hurry and alarm, to the stable of a neighbor, took one of his horses, +"without leave or asking of it," and rode, post haste, for a doctor. +One would have thought that an affair of this sort, in such an +exigency, might have been left to neighborly explanation or adjustment. +But Mr. Parris regarded it as giving a good opportunity for an exercise +of power that would strike the terrors of discipline home upon the +whole community. About five or six weeks after the occurrence, Cheever +was dealt with in the manner thus described by Mr. Parris, in his +church-record, dated "Sab: 30 March, 1690." He was "called forth to +give satisfaction to the offended church, as also the last sabbath he +was called forth for the same purpose; but then he failed in giving +satisfaction, by reason of somewhat mincing in the latter part of his +confession, which, in the former, he had more ingenuously acknowledged: +but this day, the church received satisfaction, as was testified by +their holding-up of their hands; and, after the whole, a word of +caution by the pastor was dropped upon the offender in particular, and +upon us all in general." + +Mr. Parris was evidently inclined to magnify the importance of the +church, and to get it into such a state of subserviency to his +authority, that he could wield it effectually as a weapon in his fight +with the congregation. With this view, he endeavored to render the +action of the church as dignified and imposing as possible; to enlarge +and expand its ceremonial proceedings, and make it the theatre for the +exercise of[i.301] his authority as its head and ruler. This feature of +his policy was so strikingly illustrated in the course he took in +reference to the deacons, that I must present it as recorded by him in +the church-book. It is worth preserving as a curiosity in +ecclesiastical administration. + +Nathaniel Ingersoll had been a professor of religion almost as long as +Mr. Parris had lived. He was eminently a Christian man, of acknowledged +piety, and beloved and revered by all. He had been the patron, +benefactor, and guardian of the parish and all its interests from its +formation. He had long held the title of deacon, and exercised the +functions of that office so far as they could be exercised previous to +the organization of a church. He had been the almoner of the charities +of the people, and their adviser and religious friend in all things. He +was approaching the boundaries of advanced years, and already +recognized among the fathers of the community. It would have seemed no +more than what all might have expected, to have had him recognized as a +deacon of the church, in full standing, at the first. It was, no doubt, +what all did expect. But no: he must be put upon probation. He was +chosen deacon "for the present" in November, 1689. Mr. Parris kept the +matter of confirmation hanging in his own hands for a year and a half. +The appointment of the other deacon was kept suspended for a full year. +On the 30th of November, 1690, there is the following entry:[i.302]— + +"This evening, after the public service was over, the church was, by +the pastor, desired to stay, and then by him Brother Edward Putnam was +propounded as a meet person for to be chosen as another deacon. The +issue whereof was, that, it being now an excessive cold day, some did +propose that another season might be pitched upon for discourse +thereof. Whereupon the pastor mentioned the next fourth day, at two of +the clock, at the pastor's house, for further discourse thereof; to +which the church agreed by not dissenting." + +The record of the proceedings on the "next fourth day" is as follows:— + +"3 December, 1690.—This afternoon, at a church meeting appointed the +last sabbath, Brother Edward Putnam was again propounded to the church +for choice to office in the place of a deacon to join with, and be +assistant to, Brother Ingersoll in the service, and in order to said +Putnam's ordination in the office, upon his well approving himself +therein. Some proposed that two might be nominated to the church, out +of which the church to choose one. But arguments satisfactory were +produced against that way. Some also moved for a choice by papers; but +that way also was disapproved by the arguments of the pastor and some +others. In fine, the pastor put it to vote (there appearing not the +least exception from any, unless a modest and humble exception of the +person himself, once and again), and it was carried in the affirmative +by a universal vote, _nemine non suffragante_. + +"Afterwards, the pastor addressed himself to the elected brother, and, +in the name of the church, desired his answer, who replied to this +purpose:[i.303]— + +'Seeing, sir, you say the voice of God's people is the voice of God, +desiring your prayers and the prayers of the church for divine +assistance therein, I do accept of the call.'" + +When we consider that Edward Putnam was, at Mr. Parris's ordination +more than a year before, and had been for some time previous to that +event, Ingersoll's associate deacon, and that there probably never was +any other person spoken or thought of than these two for deacons, it is +evident that it was Mr. Parris's policy to make a great matter of the +affair, and produce a general feeling of the weighty importance of +church action in the premises. But this was only the beginning of the +long-drawn ceremonial solemnities by which the occasion was magnified. + +"Sab: day, 7 December, 1690.—After the evening public service was over, +several things needful were transacted; viz.:— + +"1. The pastor acquainted those of the church that were ignorant of it, +that Brother Edward Putnam was chosen deacon the last church meeting. + +"2. He also generally admonished those of the brethren that were absent +at that time, of their disorderliness therein, telling them that such, +the apostle bids, should be noted or marked (2 Thess. iii. 6-16); that +is, with a church mark,—a mark in a disciplinary way; and therefore +begged amendment for the future in that point and to that purpose. + +"3. He propounded whether they so far were satisfied in Brother +Ingersoll's service as to call him to settlement in[i.304] the +deaconship by ordination, or had aught against it. But no brother made +personal exception. Therefore, it being put to vote, it was carried in +the affirmative by a plurality, if not universality. + +"4. The Lord's Table, not being provided for with aught else but two +pewter tankards, the pastor propounded and desired that the next +sacrament-day, which is to be the 21st instant, there be a more open +and liberal contribution by the communicants, that so the deacons may +have wherewith to furnish the said table decently; which was consented +to." + +The last clause, "which was consented to," is in a smaller hand than +the rest of the record. It was written by Mr. Parris, but apparently +some time afterwards, and with fainter ink. There is reason to suppose +that nothing was accomplished at that time in the way of getting rid of +the "pewter tankards." The farmers were too hard pressed by taxes +imposed by the province, and by the weight of local assessments, to +listen to fanciful appeals. They probably continued for some time, and +perhaps until after receiving Deacon Ingersoll's legacy, in 1720, to +get along as they were. They did not believe, that, in order to +approach the presence, and partake of the memorials, of the Saviour, it +was necessary to bring vessels of silver or gold. In their +circumstances, gathered in their humble rustic edifice for worship, +they did not feel that, in the sight of the Lord, costly furniture +would add to the adornment of his table. + +Nearly six months after Putnam's election, Mr.[i.305] Parris brought up +the matter again at a meeting of the church, on the 31st of May, 1691, +and made a speech relating to it, which he entered on the records +thus:— + +"The pastor spoke to the brethren to this purpose, viz.:— + +"Brethren,—The ordination of Brother Ingersoll has already been voted a +good while since, and I thought to have consummated the affair a good +time since, but have been put by, by diversity of occurrents; and, +seeing it is so long since, I think it needless to make two works of +one, and therefore intend the ordination of Brother Putnam together +with Brother Ingersoll in the deaconship, if you continue in the same +mind as when you elected him: therefore, if you are so, let a vote +manifest it. Voted by all, or at least the most. I observed none that +voted not." + +At last the mighty work was accomplished. Deacon Ingersoll had been on +probation for eighteen months from the date of his election, which took +place five days after Mr. Parris's ordination. His final induction to +office was observed with great formality, and in the presence of the +whole congregation. Mr. Parris enters the order of performances in the +church records as follows:— + +"Sab: 28 June, 1691.—After the afternoon sermon upon 1 Tim. iii. 8, 9, +10, 11, 12, 13, as the brethren had renewed their call of Brother +Ingersoll to the office of a deacon, and he himself had declared his +acceptance, the pastor proceeded to ordain him, using the form +following: + +"Beloved Brother, God having called you to the office[i.306] of a +deacon by the choice of the brethren and your own acceptance, and that +call being now to be consummated according to the primitive pattern, 6 +Acts 6, by prayer and imposition of hands,— + +"We do, therefore, by this solemnity, declare your investiture into +that office, solemnly charging you in the name of our Lord Jesus +Christ, the King of his Church, who walks in the midst of his golden +candlesticks, with eyes as of a flame of fire, exactly observing the +demeanor of all in his house, both officers and members, that you labor +so to carry it, as to evidence you are sanctified by grace, qualified +for this work, and to grow in those qualifications; behaving of +yourself gravely, sincerely, temperately, with due care for the +government of your own house, holding the mystery of the faith in a +pure conscience; that as they in this office are called 'helps,' so you +be helpful in your place and capacity, doing what is your part for the +promoting of the work of Christ here. We do charge you, that, whatever +you do in this office, you do it faithfully, giving with simplicity, +showing mercy with cheerfulness. Look on it, brother, as matter of +care, and likewise of encouragement, that both the office itself and +also your being set up in it is of God, who, being waited upon, will be +with you, and accept you therein, assisting you to use the office of a +deacon well, so as that you may be blameless, purchasing to yourself a +good degree and great boldness in the faith. + +"Note.—That Brother Putnam was not yet willing to be ordained, but +desired further considering time, between him and I and Brother +Ingersoll, in private discourse the week before the ordination above +said." + +"Brother Putnam" probably partook of the general[i.307] wonder what all +this appearance of difficulty and delay, under the peculiar +circumstances of the case, meant; and being, as the record truly says, +a modest and humble man, he naturally shrank from the formidable +ceremoniousness and pretentious parade with which Mr. Parris surrounded +the transaction. At any rate, he hesitated long before he was willing +to encounter it. It is probable that he positively refused to have his +induction to the office heralded with such solemn pomp. There is no +mention of his public ordination, which Mr. Parris would not have +omitted to record, had any such scene occurred. All we know is that he +was recognized as deacon forthwith, and held the office for forty +years. + +The disposition of Mr. Parris to make use of his office, as the head of +the church, to multiply occasions for the exercise of his influence, +and to gain control over the minds of the brethren, is apparent +throughout his records. He raised objections in order to show how he +could remove them, and started difficulties about matters which had not +before been brought into question. In the beginning of his ministry, he +manifested this propensity. At a church meeting at John Putnam's house, +Feb. 20, 1690, less than three months after his ordination, he threw +open the whole question of baptism for discussion among the brethren. +There is no reason to suppose that their attention had been drawn to it +before. He propounded the question to the plain, practical husbandmen, +"Who are the proper subjects of baptism?" He laid down the true[i.308] +doctrine, as he regarded it, in this answer, "Covenant-professing +believers and their infant seed." He put the answer to vote, and none +voted against it. He then proceeded with another question, "How far may +we account such seed infant seed, and so to be baptized?" Here he had +got beyond their depth, and, as some of them thought, his own too; for +there was only a "major vote" in favor of his answer: "two or three, I +think not four, dissented." There was some danger of getting into +divisions by introducing such questions; but he managed to avoid it, so +far as his church was concerned. He worked them up to the highest +confidence in his learning and wisdom, and gained complete ascendency +over them. He aggrandized their sense of importance, and accomplished +his object in securing their support in his controversies with his +congregation. The brethren, after a while, became his devoted +body-guard, and the church a fortress of defence and assault. There is +reason, however, to believe, that the points he raised on the subject +of baptism led to perplexities, in some minds, which long continued to +disturb them. While showing off his learning, and displaying his +capacity to dispose of the deep questions of theology, he let fall +seeds of division and doubt that ripened into contention in subsequent +generations. The only ripple on the surface of the Village Church +during its long record of peace, since the close of his disastrous +ministry, was occasioned by differing opinions on this subject. It +required all the wisdom of his successors to quiet them. From time to +time, formulas had[i.309] to be constructed, half-way covenants of +varying expressions to be framed, to meet and dispose of the +difficulties thus gratuitously raised by him. + +The following passages from his record-book show how he made much of a +matter which any other pastor would have quietly arranged without +calling for the intervention of church or congregation: they are also +interesting as a picture of the times:— + +"Sab: 9 Aug. 1691.—After all public worship was over, and the church +stayed on purpose, I proposed to the church whether they were free to +admit to baptism, upon occasion, such as were not at present free to +come up to full communion. I told them there was a young woman, by name +Han: Wilkins, the daughter of our Brother Thomas Wilkins, who much +desired to be baptized, but yet did not dare to come to the Lord's +Supper. If they had nothing against it, I should take their silence for +consent, and in due time acquaint them with what she had offered me to +my satisfaction, and proceed accordingly." + +No answer was made _pro_ or _con_, and so the church was dismissed. + +"Sab: 23 Aug. 1691.—Hannah Wilkins, aged about twenty-one years, was +called forth, and her relation read in the full assembly, and then it +was propounded to the church, that, if they had just exceptions, or, on +the other hand, had any thing farther to encourage, they had +opportunity and liberty to speak. None said any thing but Brother Bray +Wilkins (Han: grandfather), who said, that, for all he knew, such a +relation as had been given and a conversation suitable[i.310] (as he +judged hers to be) was enough to enjoy full communion. None else saying +any thing, it was put to vote whether they were so well satisfied as to +receive this young woman into membership, and therefore initiate her +therein by baptism. It was voted fully. Whereupon the covenant was +given to her as if she had entered into full communion. And the pastor +told her, in the name of the church, that we would expect and wait for +her rising higher, and therefore advised her to attend all means +conscientiously for that end. + +"After all, I pronounced her a member of this church, and then baptized +her. + +"28 August, 1691.—This day, Sister Hannah Wilkins aforesaid came to me, +and spake to this like effect, following:— + +"Before I was baptized (you know, sir), I was desirous of communion at +the Lord's Table, but not yet; I was afraid of going so far: but since +my baptism I find my desires growing to the Lord's Table, and I am +afraid to turn my back upon that ordinance, or to refuse to partake +thereof. And that which moves me now to desire full communion, which I +was afraid of before, is that of Thomas, 20 John 26, &c., where he, +being absent from the disciples, though but once, lost a sight of +Christ, and got more hardness of heart, or increase of unbelief. And +also those words of Ananias to Paul after his conversion, 22 Acts 16, +'And now why tarriest thou? Arise,' &c. So I am afraid of tarrying. The +present time is only mine. And God having, beyond my deserts, +graciously opened a door, I look upon it my duty to make present +improvement of it. + +"Sab: and Sacrament Day, 30 Aug. 1691.—Sister Han: Wilkins's motion +(before the celebration of the[i.311] Lord's Supper was begun) was +mentioned or propounded to the church, and what she said to me (before +hinted) read to them, and then their vote was called for, to answer her +desire if they saw good; whereupon the church voted in the affirmative +plentifully." + +The foregoing passages illustrate Mr. Parris's propensity to magnify +the operations of the church, and to bring its movements as +conspicuously and as often as possible before the eyes of the people. +It is evident that the humble and timid scruples of this interesting +and intelligent young woman might have been met and removed by personal +conference with her pastor. As her old grandfather seemed to think, +there was no difficulty in the case whatever. The reflections of a few +days made the path plain before her. But Mr. Parris paraded the matter +on three sabbaths before the church, and on one of them at least before +the congregation. He called her to come forth, and stand out in the +presence of the "full assembly." As the result of the ordeal, she owned +the covenant; the church voted her in, as to full communion; and the +pastor pronounced her a member of the church, and baptized her as such. +Her sensible conversation with him the next Friday was evidently +intended for the satisfaction of him and others, as explaining her +appearance at the next communion. But another opportunity was offered +to make a display of the case, and he could not resist the temptation. +He desired to create an impression by reading what she had said to him +in his study, before the church, if not before the whole +congregation.[i.312] To give a show of propriety in bringing it forward +again, he felt that some action must be had upon it; hence the vote. +Accordingly, Hannah Wilkins appears by the record to have been twice, +on two successive Lord's Days, voted "plentifully" into the Salem +Village Church, when there was no occasion for such an extraordinary +repetition, as everybody from the first welcomed her into it with the +cordial confidence she merited. I have spread out this proceeding to +your view, not altogether from its intrinsic interest, but because, +perhaps, it affords the key to interpret the course of this ill-starred +man in his wrangles with his congregation, and his terrible prominency +in the awful scenes of the witchcraft delusion. He seemed to have had a +love of excitement that was irrepressible, an all but insane passion +for getting up a scene. When we come to the details of our story, it +will be for a charitable judgment to determine whether this trait of +his nature may not be regarded as the cause of all the woes in which he +involved others and became involved himself. + +The church records are, in one respect, in singular contrast with the +parish records. The latter are often silent in reference to matters of +interest at the time, which might without impropriety have been entered +in them. They are confined strictly to votes and proceedings in legal +meetings, or what purport to have been meetings legally called; and we +look in vain for comments or notices relating to outside matters. +Except when kept by Sergeant Thomas Putnam, they[i.313] are defective +and imperfect. The church records, while made by Mr. Parris, are full +of side remarks, and touches of criticism concerning whatever was going +on. This makes them particularly interesting and valuable now. They are +composed in their author's clear, natural, and sprightly style; and, +although for the most part in an exceedingly small hand, are legible +with perfect ease, and give us a transcript, not only of the formal +doings of the church, but of the writer's mind and feelings about +matters and things in general. We gather from them by far the greater +part of all we know relating to his quarrel with his congregation. + +This subject constantly engrossed his thoughts. He was continually +introducing, at church meetings, complaints against the conduct of the +parish committee, and enlarging upon the wrongs he was suffering at +their hands. He took occasion on Lecture days, if not in ordinary +discourses on the Lord's Day, to give all possible circulation and +publicity to his grievances. The effect of this was, instead of +bringing his people into subjection and carrying his points against +them, to aggravate their alienation. His manner of dealing with the +difficulties of the situation into which they had been brought was +harsh and exasperating, and utterly injudicious, imprudent, and +mischievous in all its bearings, producing a condition of things truly +scandalous. His notions and methods, acquired in his mercantile life; +his haggling with the people about the terms of his salary; and his +general manner and tone, particularly so far as they had been formed by +residence[i.314] in West-India slave Islands,—were thoroughly +distasteful, and entirely repugnant, to the feelings, notions, ideas, +and spirit of the farmers of Salem Village. At their meetings, they +showed a continually increasing strength of opposition to him, and were +careful to appoint committees who could not be brought under his +influence, and would stand firm against all outside pressure. + +It is quite apparent, that Mr. Parris employed his church, and the +ministerial offices generally, as engines to operate against his +opponents; and sometimes rather unscrupulously, as a collocation of +dates and entries shows. A meeting of the parish was warned to be held +Oct. 16, 1691. It was important to bring his machinery to bear upon the +feelings of the people, so as to strengthen the hands of his friends at +that meeting. The following entry is in the church-book, dated 8th +October, 1691: "Being my Lecture-day, after public service was ended, I +was so bare of firewood, that I was forced publicly to desire the +inhabitants to take care that I might be provided for; telling them, +that, had it not been for Mr. Corwin (who had bought wood, being then +at my house), I should hardly have any to burn." According to his own +account, as we have seen, it had been arranged, by mutual agreement, +that he was to provide his own firewood, six pounds per annum having +been added to his salary for that purpose. He selected that item as one +of the necessaries of which he was in want, probably because, as the +winter was approaching, it would be the best point on[i.315] which to +appeal to the public sympathies, and get up a clamor against his +opponents. + +The parish meeting was duly held on the 16th of October. Mr. Parris's +speech, at the preceding Lecture-day, about "firewood," was found not +to have produced the desired effect. The majority against him was as +strong as ever. A committee made up of his opponents was elected. A +motion to instruct them to make a rate was rejected, and a warrant +ordered to be forthwith issued for a special meeting of the +inhabitants, to examine into all the circumstances connected with the +settlement of Mr. Parris, and to ascertain whether the meetings which +had acted therein were legally called, and by what means the right and +title of the parish to its ministry house and lands had been brought +into question. This was pressing matters to an issue. Mr. Parris saw +it, and determined to meet it in advance. He resorted to his church, as +usual, to execute his plan, as the following entries on the record-book +show:— + +"1 Nov. 1691.—The pastor desired the brethren to meet at my house, on +to-morrow, an hour and half before sundown. + +"2 Nov. 1691.—After sunset, about seventeen of the brethren met; to +whom, after prayer, I spoke to this effect: Brethren, I have not much +to trouble you with now; but you know what committee, the last +town-meeting here, were chosen; and what they have done, or intend to +do; it may be better than I. But, you see, I have hardly any +wood[i.316] to burn. I need say no more, but leave the matter to your +serious and godly consideration. + +"In fine, after some discourse to and fro, the church voted that +Captain Putnam and the two deacons should go, as messengers from the +church, to the committee, to desire them to make a rate for the +minister, and to take care of necessary supplies for him; and that said +messengers should make their return to the church the next tenth day, +an hour before sunset, at the minister's house, where they would expect +it. + +"10 Nov. 1691.—The messengers abovesaid came with their return, as +appointed; which was, that the committee did not see good to take +notice of their message, without they had some letter to show under the +church's and pastor's hand. But, at this last church meeting, besides +the three messengers, but three other brethren did appear,—namely, +Brother Thomas Putnam, Thomas Wilkins, and Peter Prescot,—which slight +and neglect of other brethren did not a little trouble me, as I +expressed myself. But I told these brethren I expected the church +should be more mindful of me than other people, and their way was plain +before them, &c. + +"Sab: 15 Nov. 1691.—The church were desired to meet at Brother +Nathaniel Putnam's, the next 18th instant, at twelve o'clock, to spend +some time in prayer, and seeking God's presence with us, the next +Lord's Day, at his table, as has been usual with us, some time before +the sacrament. + +"18 Nov. 1691.—After some time spent, as above said, at this church +meeting, the pastor desired the brethren to stay, forasmuch as he had +somewhat to offer to them, which was to this purpose; viz.: Brethren, +several church[i.317] meetings have been occasionally warned, and +sometimes the appearance of the brethren is but small to what it might +be expected, and particularly the case mentioned 10th instant. I told +them I did not desire to warn meetings unnecessarily, and, therefore, +when I did, I prayed them they would regularly attend them. + +"Furthermore, I told them I had scarce wood enough to burn till the +morrow, and prayed that some care might be taken. In fine, after +discourses passed, these following votes were made unanimously, +namely:— + +"1. That it was needful that complaint should be made to the next +honored County Court, to sit at Salem, the next third day of the week, +against the neglects of the present committee. + +"2. That the said complaint should be drawn up, which was immediately +done by one of the brethren, and consented to. + +"3. That our brethren, Nathaniel Putnam, Thomas Putnam, and Thomas +Wilkins, should sign said complaint in behalf of the church. + +"4. Last, That our brethren, Captain John Putnam and the two deacons, +should be improved to present the said complaint to the said Court. + +"In the mean time, the pastor desired the brethren that care might be +taken that he might not be destitute of wood." + +The record proceeds to give several other votes, the object of which +was to arrange the details of the manner in which the business was to +be put into court. There we leave it for the present, and there it +remained for nearly seven years. Mr. Parris probably[i.318] got the +start of his opponents, in being first to invoke the law. This is what +he meant when he told his church "that their way was plain before +them." If extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances had not +intervened, the case would more speedily have been disposed of, and we +cannot doubt what would have been its issue. Whatever might be the bias +or prejudice of the courts, or however they might have attempted to +enforce their first decisions, there can be no question, that, in such +a contest, the people would have finally prevailed. The committee were +men competent to carry the parish through. A religious society, with +such feelings between them and their minister, after all that had +happened, and the just grounds given them of dissatisfaction and +resentment, could not always, or long, have been kept under such an +infliction. + +In the immediately preceding entries, there are some points that +illustrate the policy on which Mr. Parris acted, and exhibit the skill +and vigilance of his management. The motive that led him to harp so +constantly upon "firewood" is obvious. It was to create a sympathy in +his behalf, and bring opprobrium upon his opponents. But it cannot +stand the test of scrutiny: for it had been expressly agreed, as I have +said, that he should find his own fuel; and it cannot be supposed that +his friends, if he then had any real ones, surrounded, as they were, +with forests of their own, within sight of the parsonage, would have +allowed him to suffer from this cause. There is indication[i.319] that +the "brethren of the church" were getting lukewarm, as their +non-attendance at important meetings led Mr. Parris to fear. At any +rate, he felt it necessary to administer some rather significant +rebukes to them. The meeting for prayer, preparatory to the ensuing +communion service, was very adroitly converted into a business +consultation to inaugurate a lawsuit. But the most characteristic +thing, in this part of the church-book, is a marginal entry, against +the first paragraph of the record of the 2d November, 1691. It is in +these words:— + +"The town-meeting, about or at 16th October last. Jos: Porter, Jos: +Hutchinson, Jos: Putnam, Dan: Andrew, Francis Nurse." + +These were the committee appointed at the meeting. Their names, thus +abbreviated, are given, and not a syllable added. But the manner, the +then state of things, and their relation to the controversy, give a +deep import and intense bitterness to this entry. He knew the men, and +in their names read the handwriting on the wall. + +But a turn was soon given to the current that was bearing Mr. Parris +down. A power was evoked—whether he raised it designedly, or whether it +merely happened to appear on the scene, we cannot certainly say; but it +came into action just at the nick of time—which instantly reversed the +position of the parties, and clothed him with a terrible strength, +enabling him to crush his opponents beneath his feet. In a few +short[i.320] months, he was the arbiter of life and death of all the +people of the village and the country. "Jos: Porter and Jos: +Hutchinson" escaped. The power of destruction broke down before it +became strong enough to reach them perhaps. "Jos: Putnam" was kept for +six months in the constant peril of his life. During all that time, he +and his family were armed, and kept watch. "Dan: Andrew" saved himself +from the gallows by flight to a foreign land. The unutterable woes +brought upon the family of "Francis Nurse" remain to be related. + +The witchcraft delusion at Salem Village, in 1692, has attracted +universal attention, constitutes a permanent chapter in the world's +history, and demands a full exposition, and, if possible, a true +solution. Being convinced that it cannot be correctly interpreted +without a thorough knowledge of the people among whom it appeared, I +have felt it indispensable, before opening its scenes to view, or +treating the subject of demonology, of which it was an outgrowth, in +the first place to prepare myself, and those who accompany me in its +examination and discussion, to fully comprehend it, by traversing the +ground over which we have now passed. By a thorough history of Salem +Village from its origin to the period of our story, by calling its +founders and their children and successors into life before you by +personal, private, domestic, and local details, gleaned from old +records and documents, I have tried to place you at the standpoint from +which the entire occurrence can be intelligibly contemplated. We can in +no other[i.321] way get a true view of a passage of history than by +looking at the men who acted in it, as they really were. We must +understand their characters, enter into their life, see with their +eyes, feel with their hearts, and be enveloped, as it were, with their +associations, sentiments, beliefs, and principles of action. In this +way only can we bring the past into our presence, comprehend its +elements, fathom its depths, read its meaning, or receive its lessons. + +I am confident you will agree with me, that it was not because the +people of Salem Village were more ignorant, stupid, or weak-minded than +the people of other places, that the delusion made its appearance or +held its sway among them. This is a vital point to the just +consideration of the subject. I do not mean justice to them so much as +to ourselves and all who wish to understand, and be benefited by +understanding, the subject. There never was a community composed +originally of better materials, or better trained in all good usages. +Although the generations subsequent to the first had not enjoyed, to +any considerable extent, the advantages of education, the circumstances +of their experience had kept their faculties in the fullest exercise. +They were an energetic and intelligent people. Their moral condition, +social intercourse, manners, and personal bearing, were excellent. The +lesson of the catastrophe impending over them, at the point to which we +have arrived, can only be truly and fully received, for the warning of +all coming time, by having correct views on this point. The +delusion[i.322] that brought ruin upon them was not the result of any +essential inferiority in their moral or intellectual condition. What we +call their ignorance was the received philosophy and wisdom of the day, +accepted generally by the great scholars of that and previous ages, +preached from the pulpits, taught in the universities, recognized in +law and in medicine as well as theology, and carried out in the +proceedings of public tribunals and legislative assemblies. + +The history of the planting, settlement, and progress of Salem Village, +to 1692, has now been given. We know, so far as existing materials +within reach enable us to know, what sort of a population occupied the +place at the date of our story. Their descent, breeding, and +experiences have been related. They were, at least, equal in +intelligence to any of the people of their day. They were strenuous in +action, trained to earnestness and zeal, accustomed to become deeply +engaged in whatever interested them, and to take strong hold of the +ideas and sentiments they received. It becomes necessary, therefore, in +the next place, to ascertain what their ideas were in reference to +witchcraft, diabolical agency, and supernaturalism generally. I shall +proceed accordingly to give the condition of opinion, at that time, on +the subject of demonology. + + +[i.323] + +decoration + +PART SECOND. + + decoration + + + + +[i.325] + +PART SECOND. + + +WITCHCRAFT. + +DEMONOLOGY, as a general term, may be employed, for convenience, to +include a whole class of ideas—which, under different names and a vast +variety of conceptions, have come through all ages, and prevailed among +all races of mankind—relating to the supposed agency of supernatural, +invisible, and spiritual beings in terrestrial affairs. As necessarily +applicable to evil spirits, particularly to the arch-enemy and supreme +adversary of God and man under the name of Satan or the Devil, the term +does not appear to have been used in ancient times. Professed +communications with supernatural beings were not originally stamped +with a diabolical character, but, like some alleged to be had in our +day, were regarded as innocent, and even creditable. Men sought to hold +intercourse with spirits belonging to the unseen world, as some persons +do now; assuming that they were worthy of confidence, and that +responses from[i.326] them were valuable and desirable. This was the +case under the reign of classical mythology, and of heathen +superstition in general. Those individuals who were supposed to be +conversant with demons were looked upon by the credulous multitude as a +highly privileged class; and they arrogated the credit of being raised +to a higher sphere of knowledge than the rest of mankind. + +It is one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the Hebrew polity, +that it denounced such pretended communications as criminal, and +subjected the practice to the highest penalties. It was assumed to be +dangerous; the welfare of individuals and of society requiring that +such pretensions and practices should be abandoned. The observation and +experience of mankind have justified this view. In the first ages of +Christianity, it was believed that the Divine Being alone was to be +sought in prayer for light and guidance by the human soul. Gradually, +as the dark ages began to settle upon Christendom, the doctrine of the +Devil as the head and ruler of a world of demons, and as able to hold +communications with mortals, to interfere in their affairs, and to +exercise more or less control over the laws and phenomena of nature, +began to become prevalent. It was believed that human beings could +enter into alliance with the Prince of the power of the air; become his +confederates; join in a league with him and wicked spirits subordinate +to him, in undermining the Gospel and overthrowing the Church; and +conspire and co-operate[i.327] in rebellion against God. This, of +course, was regarded as the most flagrant of crimes, and constituted +the real character of the sin denominated "witchcraft." + +As the fullest, most memorable, and, by the notice it has ever since +attracted throughout the world, the pre-eminent instance and +demonstration of this supposed iniquity was in the crisis that took +place in Salem Village in 1692, it justly claims a place in history. +The community in which it occurred has been fully described, in its +moral, social, and intellectual condition, so far as the materials I +have been enabled to obtain have rendered possible. It has, I believe, +been made to appear, that, in their training, experience, and traits of +character, they were well adapted to give full effect to any +excitement, or earnest action of any kind, that could be got up among +them,—a people of great energy, courage, and resolution, well prepared +to carry out to its natural and legitimate results any movement, and +follow established convictions fearlessly to logical conclusions. The +experiment of bringing supernaturalism to operate in human affairs, to +become a ground of action in society, and to interfere in the relations +of life and the dealings of men with each other, was as well tried upon +this people as it ever could or can be anywhere. + +All that remains to be brought to view, before entering upon the +details of the narrative, is to give a just and adequate idea of the +form and shape in which the general subject of supernaturalism, in its +aspect as demonology, lay in the minds of men here at that[i.328] time. +To do this, I must give a sketch, as condensed and brief as I can make +it, of the formation and progress of opinions and notions touching the +subject, until they reached their full demonstration and final +explosion, in this neighborhood, at Salem Village, near the close of +the seventeenth century. + +No person who looks around him on the scene in which he is placed, +reflects upon the infinite wonders of creation, and meditates upon the +equal wonders of his own mind, can be at a loss respecting the sources +and causes of superstition. Let him transport himself back to the +condition of a primitive and unlettered people, before whom the world +appears in all its original and sublime mystery. Science has not lifted +to their eyes the curtain behind which the secret operations of nature +are carried on. They observe the tides rise and fall, but know not the +attractive law that regulates their movements; they contemplate the +procession of the seasons, without any conception of the principles and +causes that determine and produce their changes; they witness the storm +as it rises in its wrath; they listen with awe to the thunder-peal, and +gaze with startling terror upon the lightning as it flashes from within +the bosom of the black cloud, and are utterly ignorant to what power to +attribute the dreadful phenomena; they look upward to the face of the +sky, and see the myriad starry hosts that glitter there, and all is to +them a mighty maze of dazzling confusion. It is for their fancy to +explain, interpret, and fill up the brilliant and magnificent +scene.[i.329] + +The imagination was the faculty the exercise of which was chiefly +called for in such a state as this. Before science had traced the +operations and unfolded the secrets of nature, man was living in a +world full of marvel and mystery. His curiosity was attracted to every +object within the reach of his senses; and, in the absence of +knowledge, it was imagination alone that could make answer to its +inquiries. It is natural to suppose that he would be led to attribute +all the movements and operations of the external world which did not +appear to be occasioned by the exercise of his own power, or the power +of any other animal, to the agency of supernatural beings. We may also +conclude, that his belief would not be likely to fix upon the notion of +a single overruling Being. Although revelation and science have +disclosed to us a beautiful and entire unity and harmony in the +creation, the phenomena of the external world would probably impress +the unenlightened and unphilosophic observer with the belief that there +was a diversity in the powers which caused them. He would imagine the +agency of a being of an amiable and beneficent spirit in the bright +sunshine, the fresh breeze, and the mild moonlight; and his fancy would +suggest to his fears, that a dark, severe, and terrible being was in +the ascendant during a day overshadowed by frowning clouds, or a night +black with the storm and torn by the tempest. + +By the aid of such reflections as these, we are easily conducted to a +satisfactory and sufficient explanation of the origin of the mythology +and fabulous super[i.330]stitions of all ancient and primitive nations. +From this the progress is plain, obvious, and immediate to the +pretensions of magicians, diviners, sorcerers, conjurers, oracles, +soothsayers, augurs, and the whole catalogue of those persons who +professed to hold intercourse with higher and spiritual powers. There +are several classes into which they may be divided. + +There were those who, to acquire an influence over the people, +pretended to possess the confidence, and enjoy the friendship and +counsel, of some one or more deities. Such was Numa, the early lawgiver +of the Roman State. In order to induce the people to adopt the +regulations, institutions, and religious rites he proposed, he made +them believe that he had access to a divinity, and received all his +plans and ideas as a communication from on high. + +Persons who, in consequence of their superior acquirements, were +enabled to excel others in any pursuit, or who could foresee and avail +themselves of events in the natural world, were liable, without any +intention to deceive, to be classed under some of these denominations. +For instance, a Roman farmer, Furius Cresinus, surpassed all his +neighbors in the skill and success with which he managed his +agricultural affairs. He was accordingly accused of using magic arts in +the operations of his farm. So far were his neighbors carried by their +feelings of envy and jealousy, that they explained the fact of his +being able to derive more produce from a small lot of land than they +could from large ones, by charging him[i.331] with attracting and +drawing off the productions of their fields into his own by the +employment of certain mysterious charms. For his defence, as we are +informed by Pliny, he produced his strong and well-constructed ploughs, +his light and convenient spades, and his sun-burnt daughters, and +pointing to them exclaimed: "Here are my charms; this is my magic; +these only are the witchcraft I have used." Zoroaster, the great +philosopher and astronomer of the ancient East, was charged with +divination and magic, merely, it is probable, because he possessed +uncommon acquirements. + +There were persons who had acquired an extraordinary amount of natural +knowledge, and, for the sake of being regarded with wonder and awe by +the people, pretended to obtain their superior endowments from +supernatural beings. They affected the name and character of sorcerers, +diviners, and soothsayers. It is easy to conceive of the early +existence and the great influence of such impostors. Patient +observation, and often mere accident, would suggest discoveries of the +existence and operation of natural causes in producing phenomena before +ascribed to superhuman agency. The knowledge thus acquired would be +cautiously concealed, and cunningly used, to create astonishment and +win admiration. Its fortunate possessors were enabled to secure the +confidence, obedience, and even reverence, of the benighted and +deceived people. + +Every one, indeed, who could discover a secret of[i.332] nature, and +keep it secret, was able to impose himself on the world as being allied +with supernatural powers. Hence arose the whole host of diviners, +astrologers, soothsayers, and oracles. After having once acquired +possession of the credulous faith of the people, they could impose upon +them almost without limit. + +Those who pretended to hold this kind of intercourse with divinity +became, as a natural consequence, the priests of the nation, +constituted a distinct and regular profession, and perpetuated their +body by the admission of new members, to whom they explained their +arts, and communicated their knowledge. While they were continually +discovering and applying the secret principles and laws of nature, and +the people were kept in utter ignorance and darkness, it is no wonder +that they reached a great and unparalleled degree of power over the +mass of the population. In this manner we account for the origin, and +trace the history, of the Chaldean priests in Assyria, the Bramins of +India, the Magi of Persia, the Oracles of Greece, the Augurs of Italy, +the Druids of Britain, and the Pow-wows, Prophets, or "Medicins," as +they sometimes called them, among our Indians. + +It is probable that the witches mentioned in the Scriptures were of +this description. Neither in sacred nor profane ancient history do we +find what was understood in the days of our ancestors by witchcraft, +which meant a formal and actual compact with the great Prince of evil +beings. The sorcery of antiquity[i.333] consisted in pretending to +possess certain mysterious charms, and to do by their means, or by the +co-operation of superhuman spirits, without any reference to their +character as evil or good beings, what transcends the action of mere +natural powers. + +The witch of Endor, for instance, was a conjurer and necromancer, +rather than a witch. By referring to the 28th chapter of 1 Samuel, +where the interview between her and Saul is related, you will find no +ground for the opinion that the being from whom she pretended to +receive her mysterious power was Satan. Saul, as the ruler of a people +who were under the special government, and enjoyed the peculiar +protection of the true God, had forbidden, under the sanction of the +highest penalties, the exercise of the arts of divination and sorcery +within his jurisdiction. Some time after this, the unfortunate monarch +was overtaken by trouble and distress. His enemies had risen up, and +were gathered in fearful strength around him. His "heart greatly +trembled," a dark and gloomy presentiment came over his spirit, and his +bosom was convulsed by an agony of solicitude. He turned toward his God +for light and strength. He applied for relief to the priests of the +altar, and to the prophets of the Most High; but his prayers were +unanswered, and his efforts vain. In his sorrow and apprehension, he +appealed to a woman who was reputed to have supernatural powers, and to +hold communion with spiritual beings; thus violating his own law, and +departing from duty and fidelity to his God. He[i.334] begged her to +recall Samuel to life, that he might be comforted and instructed by +him. She pretended to comply with his request; but, before she could +commence her usual mysterious operations, Samuel arose! and the +forlorn, wretched, and heart-broken king listened to his tremendous +doom, as it was uttered by the spirit of the departed prophet. + +I have alluded particularly to the witch of Endor, because she will +serve to illustrate the sorcery or divination of antiquity. She was +probably possessed of some secret knowledge of natural properties; was +skilful in the use of her arts and pretended charms; had, perhaps, the +peculiar powers of a ventriloquist; and, by successful imposture, had +acquired an uncommon degree of notoriety, and the entire confidence of +the public. She professed to be in alliance with supernatural beings, +and, by their assistance, to raise the dead. + +This passage has afforded a topic for a great deal of discussion among +interpreters. It seems to me, on the face of the narrative, to suggest +the following view of the transaction: The woman was an impostor. When +she summoned the spirit of Samuel, instead of the results of her magic +lantern, or of whatever contrivances she may have had, by the immediate +agency of the Almighty the spirit of Samuel really rose, to the +consternation and horror of the pretended necromancer. The writer +appears to have indicated this as the proper interpretation of the +scene, by saying, "that, when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a +loud[i.335] voice;" thus giving evidence of alarm and surprise totally +different from the deportment of such pretenders on such occasions: +they used rather to exhibit joy at the success of their arts, and a +proud composure and dignified complacency in the control they were +believed to exercise over the spirits that appeared to have obeyed +their call. Sir Walter Scott took this view of the transaction. His +opinion, it is true, would be considered more important in any other +department than that of biblical interpretation: on all questions, +however, connected with the spiritual world of fancy and with its +history, he must be allowed to speak, if not with the authority, at +least with the tone of a master. This wonderful author, in the infinite +profusion and variety of his productions, published a volume upon +Demonology and Witchcraft: it is, of course, entertaining and +instructive to all who are curious to know the capacity and to +appreciate the operations of the human imagination. + +It will be regarded by intelligent and judicious persons as a +circumstance of importance in reference to the view now given of the +transaction in which the witch of Endor acts the leading part, that +Hugh Farmer, beyond all question the most learned, discreet, and +profound writer on such subjects, is inclined to throw the weight of +his authority in its favor. His ample and elaborate discussion of the +question is to be seen in his work on Miracles, chap. iv. sec. 2. + +Among the heathen nations of antiquity, the art of divination +consisted, to a great degree, in the magical[i.336] use of mysterious +charms. Many plants were considered as possessed of wonderful virtues, +and there was scarcely a limit to the supposed power of those persons +who knew how to use and apply them skilfully. Virgil, in his eighth +eclogue, thus speaks of this species of sorcery:— + +"These herbs did Moeris give to me +And poisons pluckt at Pontus; +For there they grow and multiplie +And do not so amongst us: +With these she made herselfe become +A wolfe, and hid hir in the wood; +She fetcht up souls out of their toome, +Removing corne from where it stood." + +In the fourth Æneid, the lovesick Tyrian queen is thus made to describe +the magic which was then believed to be practised:— + +"Rejoice," she said: "instructed from above, +My lover I shall gain, or lose my love; +Nigh rising Atlas, next the falling sun +Long tracts of Ethiopian climates run: +There a Massylian priestess I have found, +Honored for age, for magic arts renowned: +The Hesperian temple was her trusted care; +'Twas she supplied the wakeful dragon's fare; +She, poppy-seeds in honey taught to steep, +Reclaimed his rage, and soothed him into sleep; +She watched the golden fruit. Her charms unbind +The chains of love, or fix them on the mind; +She stops the torrent, leaves the channel dry, +Repels the stars, and backward bears the sky. +The yawning earth rebellows to her call, +Pale ghosts ascend, and mountain ashes fall." +[i.337] + +Tibullus, in the second elegy of his first book, gives the following +account of the powers ascribed to a magician:— + +"She plucks each star out of his throne, +And turneth back the raging waves; +With charms she makes the earth to cone, +And raiseth souls out of their graves; +She burns men's bones as with a fire, +And pulleth down the lights of Heaven, +And makes it snow at her desire +E'en in the midst of summer season." + +These views continued to hold undisturbed dominion over the people +during a long succession of centuries. As the twilight of the dark ages +began to settle upon Christendom, superstition, that night-blooming +plant, extended itself rapidly, and in all directions, over the surface +of the world. While every thing else drooped and withered, it struck +deeper its roots, spread wider its branches, and brought forth more +abundantly its fruit. The unnumbered fables of Greek and Roman +mythology, the arts of augury and divination, the visions of oriental +romance, the fanciful and attenuated theories of the later philosophy, +the abstract and spiritual doctrines of Platonism, and all the grosser +and wilder conceptions of the northern conquerors of the Roman Empire, +became mingled together in the faith of the inhabitants of the European +kingdoms. From this multifarious combination, the infinitely +diversified popular superstitions of the modern nations have sprung. + +We first begin to trace the clear outlines of the doc[i.338]trine of +witchcraft not far from the commencement of the Christian era. It +presupposes the belief of the Devil. I shall not enter upon the +question, whether the Scriptures, properly interpreted, require the +belief of the existence of such a being. Directing our attention solely +to profane sources of information, we discover the heathen origin of +the belief of the existence of the Devil in the ancient systems of +oriental philosophy. Early observers of nature in the East were led to +the conclusion, that the world was a divided empire, ruled by the +alternate or simultaneous energy of two great antagonist principles or +beings, one perfectly good, and the other perfectly bad. It was for a +long time, and perhaps is at this day, a prevalent faith among +Christians, that the Bible teaches a similar doctrine; that it +presents, to our adoration and obedience, a being of infinite +perfections in the Deity; and to our abhorrence and our fears, a being +infinitely wicked, and of great power, in the Devil. + +It is obvious, that, when the entire enginery of supernaturalism was +organized in adaptation to the idea of the Devil, and demonology became +synonymous with diabolism, the credulity and superstition of mankind +would give a wide extension to that form of belief. It soon occupied a +large space in the theories of religion and the fancies of the people, +and got to be a leading element in the life of society. It made its +impress on the forms of speech, and many of the phrases to which it +gave rise still remain in familiar use. It figured in the rituals of +religion, in the paraphernalia of public shows,[i.339] and in fireside +tales. It afforded leading characters to the drama in the miracle plays +and the moral plays, as they were called, at successive periods. It +offered a ready weapon to satire, and also to defamation. Gerbert, a +native of France, who was elevated to the pontificate about the close +of the tenth century, under the name of Sylvester II., is eulogized by +Mosheim as the first great restorer of science and literature. He was a +person of an extensive and sublime genius, of wonderful attainments in +learning, particularly mathematics, geometry, and arithmetic. He broke +the profound sleep of the dark ages, and awakened the torpid intellect +of the European nations. His efforts in this direction roused the +apprehensions and resentment of the monks; and they circulated, after +Gerbert's death, and made the ignorant masses believe the story, that +he had obtained his rapid promotion in the Church by the practice of +the black art, which he disguised under the show of learning; that he +secured the Archbishopric of Ravenna by bribery and corruption; and +that, finally, he made a bargain with Satan, promising him his soul +after death, on condition that he (Satan) should put forth his great +influence over the cardinals in such a manner as would secure his +election to the throne of St. Peter. The arrangement was carried into +successful operation. Sylvester, the monks averred, consulted the Devil +through the medium of a brazen head during his whole reign, and enjoyed +his faithful friendship and unwavering patronage. But, when His +Holiness came to die, he endeavored to defraud Satan[i.340] of his +rightful claim to his soul, by repenting, and acknowledging his sin. +This illustrates the way in which the popular idea of the Devil was +used to awaken ridicule and gratify malignity. + +The natural and ultimate effect of the diffusion of Christianity was to +overthrow, or rather to revolutionize, the whole system of incantation +and sorcery. + +In heathen countries, as in the East at present and with those among us +who profess to hold communications with spirits, no reproach or +sentiment of disapprobation, as has already been observed, was +necessarily connected with the arts of divination; for the supernatural +beings with whom intercourse was alleged to be had were not, with a few +exceptions, regarded as evil beings. The persons who were thought to be +skilful in their use were, on the contrary, held in great esteem, and +looked upon with reverence. Magicians and philosophers were convertible +and synonymous terms. Learned and scientific men were induced to +encourage, and turn to their own advantage, the popular credulity that +ascribed their extraordinary skill to their connection with spiritual +and divine beings. At length, however, they found themselves placed in +a very uncomfortable predicament by the prevalence of the new theology. +It was exceedingly difficult to dispel the delusion, and correct the +error they had previously found it for their interest to perpetuate in +the minds of the community. They could not convince them that their +knowledge was acquired from natural sources, or their operations[i.341] +conducted solely by the aid of natural causes and laws. The people +would not surrender the belief, that the results of scientific +experiments, and the accuracy of predictions of physical phenomena, +were secured by the assistance of supernatural beings. + +As the doctrines of the gospel gradually undermined the popular belief +in other spiritual beings inferior to the Deity, and were at the same +time supposed to teach the existence and extensively diffused energy of +an almost infinite and omnipotent agent of evil, it was exceedingly +natural, nay, it necessarily followed, that the credulity and +superstition which had led to the supposition of an alliance between +philosophers and spiritual beings should settle down into a full +conviction that the Devil was the being with whom they were thus +confederated. The consequence was that they were charged with +witchcraft, and many fell victims to the general prejudice and +abhorrence occasioned by the imputation. The influence of this state of +things was soon seen: it was one of the most effectual causes of the +rapid diffusion of knowledge in modern times. Philosophers and men of +science became as anxious to explain and publish their discoveries as +they had been in former ages to conceal and cover them with mystery. +The following instances will be sufficient to illustrate the +correctness of these views. + +In the thirteenth century, Roger Bacon was charged with witchcraft on +account of his discoveries in optics, chemistry, and astronomy; and, +although he did what[i.342] he could to circulate and explain his own +acquirements, he could not escape a papal denunciation, and two long +and painful imprisonments. In 1305, Arnold de Villa Nova, a learned +physician and philosopher, was burned at Padua, by order of +inquisitors, on the charge of witchcraft. He was eighty years of age. +Ten years afterwards, Peter Apon, also of Padua, who had made +extraordinary progress in knowledge, was accused of the same crime, and +condemned to death, but expired previous to the time appointed for his +execution. + +I will now present a brief sketch of the most noticeable facts relating +to the subject in Europe and Great Britain previous to the close of the +seventeenth century. Some writers have computed that thirty thousand +persons were executed for this supposed crime, within one hundred and +fifty years. It will of course be in my power to mention only a few +instances. + +In 1484, Pope Innocent the Eighth issued a bull encouraging and +requiring the arrest and punishment of persons suspected of witchcraft. +From this moment, the prosecutions became frequent and the victims +numerous in every country. The very next year, forty-one aged females +were consigned to the flames in one nation; and, not long after, a +hundred were burned by one inquisition in the devoted valleys of +Piedmont; forty-eight were burned in Ravensburg in five years; and, in +the year 1515, five hundred were burned at Geneva in three months! One +writer de[i.343]clares that "almost an infinite number" were burned for +witchcraft in France,—a thousand in a single diocese! These sanguinary +and horrible transactions were promoted and sanctioned by theological +hatred and rancor. It was soon perceived that there was no kind of +difficulty in clearing the Church of heretics by hanging or burning +them all as witches! The imputation of witchcraft could be fixed upon +any one with the greatest facility. In the earlier part of the +fifteenth century, the Earl of Bedford, having taken the celebrated +Joan of Arc prisoner, put her to death on this charge. She had been +almost adored by the people rescued by her romantic valor, and was +universally known among them by the venerable title of "Holy Maid of +God;" but no difficulty was experienced in procuring evidence enough to +lead her to the stake as a servant and confederate of Satan! Luther was +just beginning his attack upon the papal power, and he was instantly +accused of being in confederacy with the Devil. + +In 1534, Elizabeth Barton, "the Maid of Kent," was executed for +witchcraft in England, together with seven men who had been confederate +with her. In 1541 the Earl of Hungerford was beheaded for inquiring of +a witch how long Henry VIII. would live. In 1549 it was made the duty +of bishops, by Archbishop Cranmer's articles of visitation, to inquire +of their clergy, whether "they know of any that use charms, sorcery, +enchantments, witchcraft, soothsaying, or any like craft invented by +the Devil." In 1563[i.344] the King of Sweden carried four witches with +him, as a part of his armament, to aid him in his wars with the Danes. +In 1576, seventeen or eighteen were condemned in Essex, in England. A +single judge or inquisitor, Remigius, condemned and burned nine hundred +within fifteen years, from 1580 to 1595, in the single district of +Lorraine; and as many more fled out of the country; whole villages were +depopulated, and fifteen persons destroyed themselves rather than +submit to the torture which, under the administration of this successor +of Draco and rival of Jeffries, was the first step taken in the trial +of an accused person. The application of the rack and other instruments +of torment, in the examination of prisoners, was recommended by him in +a work on witchcraft. He observes that "scarcely any one was known to +be brought to repentance and confession but by these means"! + +The most eminent persons of the sixteenth century were believers in the +popular superstition respecting the existence of compacts between Satan +and human beings, and in the notions associated with it. The excellent +Melancthon was an interpreter of dreams and caster of nativities. +Luther was a strenuous supporter of the doctrine of witchcraft, and +seems to have seriously believed that he had had frequent interviews +with the arch-enemy himself, and had disputed with him on points of +theology, face to face. In his "Table-Talk," he gives the following +account of his intimacy with the Devil: speaking of his confinement in +the Castle of Wartburg, he says, "Among other things[i.345] they +brought me hazel-nuts, which I put into a box, and sometimes I used to +crack and eat of them. In the night-times, my gentleman, the Devil, +came and got the nuts out of the box, and cracked them against one of +the bedposts, making a very great noise and rumbling about my bed; but +I regarded him nothing at all: when afterwards I began to slumber, then +he kept such a racket and rumbling upon the chamber stairs, as if many +empty barrels and hogsheads had been tumbled down." Kepler, whose name +is immortalized by being associated with the laws he discovered that +regulate the orbits of the heavenly bodies, was a zealous advocate of +astrology; and his great predecessor and master, the Prince of +Astronomers, as he is called, Tycho Brahe, kept an idiot in his +presence, fed him from his own table, with his own hand, and listened +to his incoherent, unmeaning, and fatuous expressions as to a +revelation from the spiritual world. + +The following is the language addressed to Queen Elizabeth by Bishop +Jewell. He was one of the most learned persons of his age, and is to +this day regarded as the mighty champion of the Church of England, and +of the cause of the Reformation in Great Britain. He was the terrible +foe of Roman-Catholic superstition. "It may please Your Grace," says +he, "to understand that witches and sorcerers within these four last +years are marvellously increased within Your Grace's realm; Your +Grace's subjects pine away even unto the death; their color fadeth, +their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, their senses are bereft. +I[i.346] pray God," continues the courtly preacher, "they never +practise further than upon the subject." The petition of the polite +prelate appears to have been answered. The virgin queen resisted +inexorably the arts of all charmers, and is thought never to have been +bewitched in her life. + +It is probable that Spenser, in his "Faërie Queen," has described with +accuracy the witch of the sixteenth century in the following beautiful +lines:— + +"There, in a gloomy hollow glen, she found +A little cottage built of sticks and weedes, +In homely wise, and wald with sods around, +In which a witch did dwell in loathly weedes +And wilful want, all careless of her needes; +So choosing solitarie to abide +Far from all neighbors, that her devilish deedes +And hellish arts from people she might hide, +And hurt far off unknowne whomever she envide." + +So prone were some to indulge in the contemplation of the agency of the +Devil and his myrmidons, that they strained, violated, and perverted +the language of Scripture to make it speak of them. Thus they insisted +that the word "Philistines" meant confederates and subjects of the +Devil, and accordingly interpreted the expression, "I will deliver you +into the hands of the Philistines," thus, "I will deliver you into the +hands of demons." + +I cannot describe the extent to which the superstition we are reviewing +was carried about the close of the sixteenth century in stronger +language than the following, from a candid and learned French +Roman-[i.347]Catholic historian: "So great folly," says he, "did then +oppress the miserable world, that Christians believed greater +absurdities than could ever be imposed upon the heathens." + + +We have now arrived at the commencement of the seventeenth century, +within which the prosecutions for witchcraft took place in Salem. To +show the opinions of the clergy of the English Church at this time, I +will quote the following curious canon, made by the convocation in +1603:— + +"That no minister or ministers, without license and direction of the +bishop, under his hand and seal obtained, attempt, upon any pretence +whatsoever, either of possession or obsession, by fasting and prayer, +to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of the imputation of +imposture or cozenage, and deposition from the ministry." In the same +year, licenses were actually granted, as required above, by the Bishop +of Chester; and several ministers were duly authorized by him to cast +out devils! + +During this whole century, there were trials and executions for +witchcraft in all civilized countries. More than two hundred were +hanged in England, thousands were burned in Scotland, and still larger +numbers in various parts of Europe. + +Edward Fairfax, the poet, was one of the most accomplished men in +England. He is celebrated as the translator of Tasso's "Jerusalem +Delivered," in allusion to which work Collins thus speaks of +him:[i.348]— + +"How have I sate, while piped the pensive wind, +To hear thy harp, by British Fairfax strung, +Prevailing poet, whose undoubting mind +Believed the magic wonders that he sung." + +This same Fairfax prosecuted six of his neighbors for bewitching his +children. The trials took place about the time the first pilgrims came +to America. + +In 1634, Urbain Grandier, a very learned and eminent French minister, +rendered himself odious to the bigoted nuns of Loudun, by his +moderation towards heretics. Secretly instigated, as has been supposed, +by Cardinal Richelieu, against whom he had written a satire, they +pretended to be bewitched by him, and procured his prosecution: he was +tortured upon the rack until he swooned, and then was burned at the +stake. In 1640, Dr. Lamb, of London, was murdered in the streets of +that city by the mob, on suspicion of witchcraft. Several were hanged +in England, only a few years before the proceedings commenced in Salem. +Some were tried by water ordeal, and drowned in the process, in +Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire, at the very time +the executions were going on here; and a considerable number of capital +punishments took place in various parts of Great Britain, some years +after the prosecution had ceased in America. + +The trials and executions in England and Scotland were attended by +circumstances as painful, as barbarous, and in all respects as +disgraceful, as those occurring in Salem. Every species of torture +seems to[i.349] have been resorted to: the principles of reason, +justice, and humanity were set at defiance, and the whole body of the +people kept in a state of the most fierce excitement against the +sufferers. Indeed, there is nothing more distressing in the +contemplation of these sanguinary proceedings than the spirit of +deliberate and unmitigated cruelty with which they were conducted. No +symptoms of pity, compassion, or sympathy, appear to have been +manifested by the judges or the community. The following account of the +expenses attending the execution of two persons convicted of witchcraft +in Scotland, shows in what a cool, business-like style the affair was +managed:— + + +"For ten loads of coal, to burn them £3 6 8 For a tar +barrel 0 14 0 For towes 0 6 0 For hurden to be jumps +for them 3 10 0 For making of them 0 8 0 For one to +go to Finmouth for the Laird to sit +upon their assize as judge 0 6 0 For the executioner for his +pains 8 14 0 For his expenses here 0 16 4" + + +The brutalizing effects of capital punishments are clearly seen in +these, as in all other instances. They gradually impart a feeling of +indifference to the value of human life, or to the idea of cutting it +off by the hand of violence, to all who become accustomed to the +spectacle. In various ways they exercise influences upon the tone and +temper of society, which can[i.350]not but be regarded with regret by +the citizen, the legislator, the moralist, the philanthropist, and the +Christian. + +Sinclair, in his work called "Satan's Invisible World Discovered," +gives the following affecting declaration made by one of the confessing +witches, as she was on her way to the stake:— + +"Now all you that see me this day know that I am now to die as a witch +by my own confession; and I free all men, especially the ministers and +magistrates, of the guilt of my blood; I take it wholly upon myself, my +blood be upon my own head: and, as I must make answer to the God of +heaven presently, I declare I am as free of witchcraft as any child; +but, being delated by a malicious woman, and put in prison under the +name of a witch, disowned by my husband and friends, and seeing no +ground of hope of my coming out of prison, or ever coming in credit +again, through the temptation of the Devil, I made up that confession +on purpose to destroy my own life, being weary of it, and choosing +rather to die than live." + +Sir George Mackenzie says that he went to examine some women who had +confessed, and that one of them, who was a silly creature, told him, +"under secresie," "that she had not confessed because she was guilty, +but, being a poor creature, who wrought for her meat, and being defamed +for a witch, she knew she would starve, for no person thereafter would +either give her meat or lodging, and that all men would beat her, and +hound dogs at her, and that therefore she[i.351] desired to be out of +the world." Whereupon she wept most bitterly, and, upon her knees, +called God to witness to what she said. + +A wretch, named Matthew Hopkins, rendered himself infamously +conspicuous in the prosecutions for witchcraft that took place in the +counties of Essex, Sussex, Norfolk, and Huntingdon, in England, in the +years 1645 and 1646. The title he assumed indicates the part he acted: +it was "Witch-finder-general." He travelled from place to place; his +expenses were paid; and he required, in addition, regular fees for the +discovery of a witch. Besides pricking the body to find the witch-mark, +he compelled the wretched and decrepit victims of his cruel practices +to sit in a painful posture, on an elevated stool, with their limbs +crossed; and, if they persevered in refusing to confess, he would +prolong their torture, in some cases, to more than twenty-four hours. +He would prevent their going to sleep, and drag them about barefoot +over the rough ground, thus overcoming them with extreme weariness and +pain: but his favorite method was to tie the thumb of the right hand +close to the great toe of the left foot, and draw them through a river +or pond; if they floated, as they would be likely to do, while their +heavier limbs were thus sustained and upborne by the rope, it was +considered as conclusive proof of their guilt. This monster was +encouraged and sanctioned by the government; and he procured the death, +in one year and in one county, of more than three times as many as +suffered in Salem during the whole delusion. He[i.352] and his exploits +are referred to in the following lines, from that storehouse of good +sense and keen wit, Butler's "Hudibras:"— + +"Hath not this present Parliament +A leiger to the Devil sent, +Fully empowered to treat about +Finding revolted witches out? +And has he not within a year +Hanged threescore of them in one shire?" + +The infatuated people looked upon this Hopkins with admiration and +astonishment, and could only account for his success by the +supposition, which, we are told, was generally entertained, that he had +stolen the memorandum-book in which Satan had recorded the names of all +the persons in England who were in league with him! + +The most melancholy circumstance connected with the history of this +creature is, that Richard Baxter and Edmund Calamy—names dear and +venerable in the estimation of all virtuous and pious men—were deceived +and deluded by him: they countenanced his conduct, followed him in his +movements, and aided him in his proceedings. + +At length, however, some gentlemen, shocked at the cruelty and +suspicious of the integrity of Hopkins, seized him, tied his thumbs and +toes together, threw him into a pond, and dragged him about to their +hearts' content. They were fully satisfied with the result of the +experiment. It was found that he did not sink. He stood condemned on +his own principles; and thus[i.353] the country was rescued from the +power of the malicious impostor. + +Among the persons whose death Hopkins procured, was a venerable, +gray-headed clergyman, named Lewis. He was of the Church of England, +had been the minister of a congregation for more than half a century, +and was over eighty years of age. His infirm frame was subjected to the +customary tests, even to the trial by water ordeal: he was compelled to +walk almost incessantly for several days and nights, until, in the +exhaustion of his nature, he yielded assent to a confession that was +adduced against him in Court; which, however, he disowned and denied +there and at all times, from the moment of release from the torments, +by which it had been extorted, to his last breath. As he was about to +die the death of a felon, he knew that the rites of sepulture, +according to the forms of his denomination, would be denied to his +remains. The aged sufferer, it is related, read his own funeral service +while on the scaffold. Solemn, sublime, and affecting as are passages +of this portion of the ritual of the Church, surely it was never +performed under circumstances so well suited to impress with awe and +tenderness as when uttered by the calumniated, oppressed, and dying old +man. Baxter had been tried for sedition, on the ground that one of his +publications contained a reflection upon Episcopacy, and was imprisoned +for two years. It is a striking and melancholy illustration of the +moral infirmity of human nature, that the author of the "Saints' +Everlast[i.354]ing Rest," and the "Call to the Unconverted," permitted +such a vengeful feeling against the Establishment to enter his breast, +that he took pleasure, and almost exulted, in relating the fate of this +innocent and aged clergyman, whom he denominates, in derision, a +"Reading Parson." + +Baxter's writings are pervaded by his belief in all sorts of +supernatural things. In the "Saints' Everlasting Rest," he declares his +conviction of the reality and authenticity of stories of ghosts, +apparitions, haunted houses, &c. He placed full faith in a tale, +current among the people of his day, of the "dispossession of the Devil +out of many persons together in a room in Lancashire, at the prayer of +some godly ministers." In his "Dying Thoughts," he says, "I have had +many convincing proofs of witches, the contracts they have made with +devils, and the power which they have received from them;" and he seems +to have credited the most absurd fables ever invented on the subject by +ignorance, folly, or fraud. + +The case to which he refers, as one of the "dispossession of devils," +may be found in a tract published in London in 1697, entitled, "The +Surey Demoniac; or, an Account of Satan's strange and dreadful actings, +in and about the body of Richard Dugdale, of Surey, near Whalley, in +Lancashire. And how he was dispossessed by God's blessing on the +Fastings and Prayers of divers Ministers and People. The matter of fact +attested by the oaths of several creditable persons, before some of his +Majestie's Justices of the Peace[i.355] in the said county." The +"London Monthly Repository" (vol. v., 1810) describes the affair as +follows: "These dreadful actings of Satan continued above a year; +during which there was a desperate struggle between him and nine +ministers of the gospel, who had undertaken to cast him out, and, for +that purpose, successively relieved each other in their daily combats +with him: while Satan tried all his arts to baffle their attempts, +insulting them with scoffs and raillery, puzzling them sometimes with +Greek and Latin, and threatening them with the effects of his +vengeance, till he was finally vanquished and put to flight by the +persevering prayers and fastings of the said ministers." + +No name in English history is regarded with more respect and +admiration, by wise and virtuous men, than that of Sir Matthew Hale. +His character was almost venerated by our ancestors; and it has been +thought that it was the influence of his authority, more than any thing +else, that prevailed upon them to pursue the course they adopted in the +prosecutions at Salem. This great and good man presided, as Lord Chief +Baron, at the trial of two females,—Amy Dunny and Rose Cullender,—at +Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, in the year 1664. They were convicted and +executed. + +Baxter relates the following circumstance as having occurred at this +trial: "A godly minister, yet living, sitting by to see one of the +girls (who appeared as a witness against the prisoners) in her fits, +suddenly felt a force pull one of the hooks from his breeches; and, +while he looked with wonder at what was become[i.356] of it, the +tormented girl vomited it up out of her mouth." + +To give an idea of the nature of the testimony upon which the principal +stress was laid by the government, I will extract the following +passages from the report of the trial: "Robert Sherringham testified +that the axle-tree of his cart, happening, in passing, to break some +part of Rose Cullender's house, in her anger at it, she vehemently +threatened him his horses should suffer for it; and, within a short +time, all his four horses died; after which he sustained many other +losses, in the sudden dying of his cattle. He was also taken with a +lameness in his limbs, and so far vexed with lice of an extraordinary +number and bigness, that no art could hinder the swarming of them, till +he burned up two suits of apparel."—"Margaret Arnold testified that Amy +Dunny afflicted her children: they (the children), she said, would see +mice running round the house, and, when they caught them and threw them +into the fire, they would screech out like rats."—"A thing like a bee +flew at the face of the younger child; the child fell into a fit, and +at last vomited up a two-penny nail, with a broad head, affirming that +the bee brought this nail, and forced it into her mouth."—"She one day +caught an invisible mouse, and, throwing it into the fire, it flashed +like to gunpowder. None besides the child saw the mouse, but every one +saw the flash!" + +In this instance we perceive the influence of prejudice in perverting +evidence. The circumstance that[i.357] the mouse was invisible to all +eyes but those of the child ought to have satisfied the Court and jury +that she was either under the power of a delusion or practising an +imposture. But, as they were predisposed to find something supernatural +in the transaction, their minds seized upon the pretended invisibility +of the mouse as conclusive proof of diabolical agency. + +Many persons who were present expressed the opinion, that the issue of +the trial would have been favorable to the prisoners, had it not been +for the following circumstance: Sir Thomas Browne, a physician, +philosopher, and scholar of unrivalled celebrity at that time, happened +to be upon the spot; and it was the universal wish that he should be +called to the stand, and his opinion be obtained on the general subject +of witchcraft. An enthusiastic contemporary admirer of Sir Thomas +Browne thus describes him: "The horizon of his understanding was much +larger than the hemisphere of the world: all that was visible in the +heavens he comprehended so well, that few that are under them knew so +much; and of the earth he had such a minute and exact geographical +knowledge as if he had been by Divine Providence ordained +surveyor-general of the whole terrestrial globe and its products, +minerals, plants, and animals." His memory is stated to have been +inferior only to that of Seneca or Scaliger; and he was reputed master +of seven languages. Dr. Johnson, who has written his biography, sums up +his character in the following terms: "But it is not on the praises of +others, but on his[i.358] own writings, that he is to depend for the +esteem of posterity, of which he will not easily be deprived, while +learning shall have any reverence among men: for there is no science in +which he does not discover some skill; and scarce any kind of +knowledge, profane or sacred, abstruse or elegant, which he does not +appear to have cultivated with success." + +Sir Thomas Browne was considered by those of his own generation to have +made great advances beyond the wisdom of his age. He claimed the +character of a reformer, and gave to his principal publication the +title of an "Enquiry into Vulgar Errors." So bold and free were his +speculations, that he was looked upon invidiously by many as a daring +innovator, and did not escape the denunciatory imputation of heresy. +Nothing could be more unjust, however, than this latter charge. He was +a most ardent and zealous believer in the doctrines of the Established +Church. He declares "that he assumes the honorable style of a +Christian," not because "it is the religion of his country," but +because, "having in his riper years and confirmed judgment seen and +examined all, he finds himself obliged, by the principles of grace and +the law of his own reason, to embrace no other name but this." He +exults and "blesses himself, that he lived not in the days of miracles, +when faith had been thrust upon him, but enjoys that greater blessing +pronounced to all that believed, and saw not:" nay, he goes so far as +to say, that they only had the advantage "of a bold and noble faith, +who lived before the[i.359] coming of the Saviour, and, upon obscure +prophecies and mystical types, could raise a belief." The fact that +such a man was accused of infidelity is an affecting proof of the +injustice that is sometimes done by the judgment of contemporaries. + +This prodigy of learning and philosophy went into Court, took the +stand, and declared his opinion in favor of the reality of witchcraft, +entered into a particular discussion of the subject before the jury, +threw the whole weight of his great name into the wavering scales of +justice, and the poor women were convicted. The authority of Sir Thomas +Browne, added to the other evidence, perplexed Sir Matthew Hale. A +reporter of the trial says, "that it made this great and good man +doubtful; but he was in such fears, and proceeded with such caution, +that he would not so much as sum up the evidence, but left it to the +jury with prayers, 'that the great God of heaven would direct their +hearts in that weighty matter.'" + +The result of this important trial established decisively the +interpretation of English law; and the printed report of it was used as +an authoritative text-book in the Court at Salem. + +The celebrated Robert Boyle flourished in the latter half of the +seventeenth century. He is allowed by all to have done much towards the +introduction of an improved philosophy, and the promotion of +experimental science. But he could not entirely shake off the +superstition of his age. + +A small city in Burgundy, called Mascon, was[i.360] famous in the +annals of witchcraft. In a work called "The Theatre of God's +Judgments," published, in London, by Thomas Beard in 1612, there is the +following passage: "It was a very lamentable spectacle that chanced to +the Governor of Mascon, a magician, whom the Devil snatched up in +dinner-while, and hoisted aloft, carrying him three times about the +town of Mascon, in the presence of many beholders, to whom he cried in +this manner, 'Help, help, my friends!' so that the whole town stood +amazed thereat; yea, and the remembrance of this strange accident +sticketh at this day fast in the minds of all the inhabitants of this +country." A malicious and bigoted monk, who discharged the office of +chief legend-maker to the Benedictine Abbey, in the vicinity of Mascon, +fabricated this ridiculous story for the purpose of bringing the +Governor into disrepute. An account of another diabolical visitation, +suggested, it is probable, by the one just described, was issued from +the press, under the title of "The Devil of Mascon," during the +lifetime of Boyle, who gave his sanction to the work, promoted its +version into English, and, as late as 1678, publicly declared his +belief of the supernatural transaction it related. + +The subject of demonology, in all its forms and phases, embracing +witchcraft, held a more commanding place throughout Europe, in the +literature of the centuries immediately preceding the eighteenth, than +any other. Works of the highest pretension, elaborate, learned, +voluminous, and exhausting, were published,[i.361] by the authority of +governments and universities, to expound it. It was regarded as +occupying the most eminent department of jurisprudence, as well as of +science and theology. + +Raphael De La Torre and Adam Tanner published treatises establishing +the right and duty of ecclesiastical tribunals to punish all who +practised or dealt with the arts of demonology. In 1484, Sprenger came +out with his famous book, "Malleus Maleficarum;" or, the "Hammer of +Witches." Paul Layman, in 1629, issued an elaborate work on "Judicial +Processes against Sorcerers and Witches." The following is the title of +a bulky volume of some seven hundred pages: "Demonology, or Natural +Magic or demoniacal, lawful and unlawful, also open or secret, by the +intervention and invocation of a Demon," published in 1612. It consists +of four books, treating of the crime of witchcraft, and its punishment +in the ordinary tribunals and the Inquisitorial office. Its author was +Don Francisco Torreblanca Villalpando, of Cordova, Advocate Royal in +the courts of Grenada. It was republished in 1623, by command of Philip +III. of Spain, on the recommendation of the Fiscal General, and with +the sanction of the Royal Council and the Holy Inquisition. This work +may be considered as establishing and defining the doctrines, in +reference to witchcraft, prevailing in all Catholic countries. It was +indorsed by royal, judicial, academical, and ecclesiastical approval; +is replete with extraordinary erudition, arranged in the most +scientific form, em[i.362]bracing in a methodical classification all +the minutest details of the subject, and codifying it into a complete +system of law. There was no particular in all the proceedings and all +the doctrines brought out at the trials in Salem, which did not find +ample justification and support in this work of Catholic, imperial, and +European authority. + +But perhaps the writer of the greatest influence on this subject in +England and America, during the whole of the seventeenth century, was +William Perkins, "the learned, pious, and painful preacher of God's +Word, at St. Andrew's, in Cambridge," where he died, in 1602, aged +forty-four years. He was quite a voluminous author; and many of his +works were translated into French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish. Fuller, +in "The Holy State," selects him as the impersonation of the qualities +requisite to "the Faithful Minister." In his glowing eulogium upon his +learning and talents, he says:— + +"He would pronounce the word _damne_ with such an emphasis as left a +doleful echo in his auditors' ears a good while after. And, when +catechist of Christ's College, in expounding the Commandments, applied +them so home,—able almost to make his hearers' hearts fall down, and +hairs to stand upright. But, in his older age, he altered his voice, +and remitted much of his former rigidness, often professing that to +preach mercy was that proper office of the ministers of the +gospel."—"Our Perkins brought the schools into the pulpit, and, +unshelling their controversies out of their hard school-terms, made +thereof plain and wholesome meat for his peo[i.363]ple; for he had a +capacious head, with angles winding, and roomy enough to lodge all +controversial intricacies."—"He had a rare felicity in speedy reading +of books; so that, as it were, riding post through an author, he took +strict notice of all passages. Perusing books so speedily, one would +think he read nothing; so accurately, one would think he read all." + +An octavo volume, written by this great scholar and divine, was +published at Cambridge in England, under the title, "Discourse of the +Damned Art of Witchcraft." It went through several editions, and had a +wide and permanent circulation. + +This work, the character of which is sufficiently indicated in its +emphatic title, was the great authority on the subject with our +fathers; and Mr. Parris had a copy of it in his possession when the +proceedings in reference to witchcraft began at Salem Village. + +John Gaule published an octavo volume in London, in 1646, entitled, +"Select Cases of Conscience concerning Witches and Witchcraft." He is +one of the most exact writers on the subject, and arranges witches in +the following classes: "1. The diviner, gypsy, or fortune-telling +witch; 2. The astrologian, star-gazing, planetary, prognosticating +witch; 3. The chanting, canting, or calculating witch, who works by +signs and numbers; 4. The venefical, or poisoning witch; 5. The +exorcist, or conjuring witch; 6. The gastronomic witch; 7. The magical, +speculative, sciential, or arted witch; 8. The necromancer." + +Besides innumerable writers of this class, who spread out the +scholastic learning on the subject,[i.364] and presented it in a +logical and theological form, there were others who treated it in a +more popular style, and invested it with the charms of elegant +literature. Henry Hallywell published an octavo in London, in 1681, in +which, while the main doctrines of witchcraft as then almost +universally received are enforced, an attempt was made to divest it of +some of its most repulsive and terrible features. He gives the +following account of the means by which a person may place himself +beyond the reach of the power of witchcraft:— + +"It is possible for the soul to arise to such a height, and become so +divine, that no witchcraft or evil demons can have any power upon the +body. When the bodily life is too far invigorated and awakened, and +draws the intellect, the flower and summity of the soul, into a +conspiration with it, then are we subject and obnoxious to magical +assaults. For magic or sorcery, being founded only in this lower or +mundane spirit, he that makes it his business to be freed and released +from all its blandishments and flattering devocations, and endeavors +wholly to withdraw himself from the love of corporeity and too near a +sympathy with the frail flesh, he, by it, enkindles such a divine +principle as lifts him above the fate of this inferior world, and +adorns his mind with such an awful majesty that beats back all +enchantments, and makes the infernal fiends tremble at his presence, +hating those vigorous beams of light which are so contrary and +repugnant to their dark natures." + +The mind of this beautiful writer found encouragement and security in +the midst of the diabolical spir[i.365]its, with whom he believed the +world to be infested, in the following views and speculations:— + +"For there is a chain of government that runs down from God, the +Supreme Monarch, whose bright and piercing eyes look through all that +he has made, to the lowest degree of the creation; and there are +presidential angels of empires and kingdoms, and such as under them +have the tutelage of private families; and, lastly, every man's +particular guardian genius. Nor is the inanimate or material world left +to blind chance or fortune; but there are, likewise, mighty and potent +spirits, to whom is committed the guidance and care of the fluctuating +and uncertain motions of it, and by their ministry, fire and vapor, +storms and tempests, snow and hail, heat and cold, are all kept within +such bounds and limits as are most serviceable to the ends of +Providence. They take care of the variety of seasons, and superintend +the tillage and fruits of the earth; upon which account, Origen calls +them _invisible_ husbandmen. So that, all affairs and things being +under the inspection and government of these incorporeal beings, the +power of the dark kingdom and its agents is under a strict confinement +and restraint; and they cannot bring a general mischief upon the world +without a special permission of a superior Providence." + +Spenser has the same imagery and sentiment:— + +"How oft do they their silver bowers leave, +To come to succor us, that succor want? +How oft do they with golden pinions cleave +The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant, +Against foul fiends to aid us militant? +They for us fight, they watch and duly ward, +And their bright squadrons round about us plant, +And all for love and nothing for reward: +Oh! why should heavenly God to man have such regard?" +[i.366] + +While there can be no doubt that the superstitious opinions we have +been reviewing were diffused generally among the great body of the +people of all ranks and conditions, it would be unjust to truth not to +mention that there were some persons who looked upon them as empty +fables and vain imaginations. Error has never yet made a complete and +universal conquest. In the darkest ages and most benighted regions, it +has been found impossible utterly to extinguish the light of reason. +There always have been some in whose souls the torch of truth has been +kept burning with vestal watchfulness: we can discern its glimmer here +and there through the deepest night that has yet settled upon the +earth. In the midst of the most extravagant superstition, there have +been individuals who have disowned the popular belief, and considered +it a mark of wisdom and true philosophy to discard the idle fancies and +absurd schemes of faith that possessed the minds of the great mass of +their contemporaries. This was the case with Horace, as appears from +lines thus quite freely but effectively translated:— + +"These dreams and terrors magical, +These miracles and witches, +Night-walking spirites or Thessal bugs, +Esteeme them not two rushes." + +The intellect of Seneca also rose above the reach of the popular +credulity with respect to the agency of supernatural beings and the +efficacy of mysterious charms. + +If we could but obtain access to the secret thoughts[i.367] of the +wisest philosophers and of the men of genius of antiquity, we should +probably find that many of them were superior to the superstitions of +their times. Even in the thick darkness of the dark ages, there were +minds too powerful to be kept in chains by error and delusion. + +Henry Cornelius Agrippa, who was born in the latter part of the +fifteenth century, was, perhaps, the greatest philosopher and scholar +of his period. In early life, he was very much devoted to the science +of magic, and was a strenuous supporter of demonology and witchcraft. +In the course of his studies and meditations, he was led to a change of +views on these subjects, and did all that he could to warn others from +putting confidence in such vain, frivolous, and absurd superstitions as +then possessed the world. The consequence was, that he was denounced +and prosecuted as a conjurer, and charged with having written against +magic and witchcraft, in order the more securely to shelter himself +from the suspicion of practising them. As an instance of the calumnies +that were heaped upon him, I would mention that Paulus Jovius asserted +that "Cornelius Agrippa went always accompanied with an evil spirit in +the similitude of a black dog;" and that, when the time of his death +drew near, "he took off the enchanted collar from the dog's neck, and +sent him away with these terms, 'Get thee hence, thou cursed beast, +which hast utterly destroyed me:' neither was the dog ever seen after." +Butler, in his "Hudibras," has not neg[i.368]lected to celebrate this +remarkable connection between Satan and the man of learning:— + +"Agrippa kept a Stygian pug +I' th' garb and habit of a dog, +That was his tutor; and the cur +Read to th' occult philosopher." + +John Wierus wrote an elaborate, learned, and judicious book, in which +he treated at large of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft, and did all that +scholarship, talent, and philosophy could do to undermine and subvert +the whole system of the prevailing popular superstition. But he fared +no better than his predecessor, patron, and master, Agrippa; for, like +him, he was accused of having attempted to persuade the world that +there was no reality in supernatural charms and diabolical +confederacies, in order that he might devote himself to them without +suspicion or molestation, and was borne down by the bigotry and +fanaticism of his times. + +King James merely gave utterance to the general sentiment, and +pronounced the verdict of popular opinion, in the following extract +from the preface to his "Demonologie:" "Wierus, a German physician, +sets out a public apologie for all these crafts-folkes, whereby, +procuring for them impunitie, he plainly bewrays himself to have been +of that profession." + +In 1584, a quarto volume was published in London, the work of Reginald +Scott, a learned English gentleman, whose title sufficiently indicates +its import, "The Discovery of Witchcraft, wherein the lewde dealing +of[i.369] witches and witchmongers is notably detected; the knavery of +conjurers, the impiety of inchanters, the folly of soothsayers, the +impudent falsehood of cozeners, the infidelity of atheists, the +pestilent practices of pythonists, the curiosities of figure-casters, +the vanity of dreamers, the beggarly art of alcumstrie, the abomination +of idolatrie, the horrible art of poisoning, the virtue and power of +natural magic, and all the conveniencies of legerdemaine and juggling, +are discovered, &c." + +In 1599, Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York, wrote a work, published +in London, to expose certain persons who pretended to have the power of +casting out devils, and detecting their "deceitful trade." This writer +was among the first to bring the power of bold satire and open +denunciation to bear against the superstitions of demonology. He thus +describes the motives and the methods of such impostors:— + +"Out of these," saith he, "is shaped us the true idea of a witch,—an +old, weather-beaten crone, having her chin and her knees meeting for +age, walking like a bow, leaning on a staff; hollow-eyed, untoothed, +furrowed on her face, having her limbs trembling with the palsy, going +mumbling in the streets; one that hath forgotten her Pater-noster, and +yet hath a shrewd tongue to call a drab a drab. If she hath learned of +an old wife, in a chimney-end, Pax, Max, Fax, for a spell, or can say +Sir John Grantham's curse for the miller's eels, 'All ye that have +stolen the miller's eels, Laudate dominum de coelis: and all they that +have consented thereto, Benedicamus domino:' why then, beware! look +about[i.370] you, my neighbors. If any of you have a sheep sick of the +giddies, or a hog of the mumps, or a horse of the staggers, or a +knavish boy of the school, or an idle girl of the wheel, or a young +drab of the sullens, and hath not fat enough for her porridge, or +butter enough for her bread, and she hath a little help of the epilepsy +or cramp, to teach her to roll her eyes, wry her mouth, gnash her +teeth, startle with her body, hold her arms and hands stiff, &c.; and +then, when an old Mother Nobs hath by chance called her an idle young +housewife, or bid the Devil scratch her, then no doubt but Mother Nobs +is the witch, and the young girl is owl blasted, &c. They that have +their brains baited and their fancies distempered with the imaginations +and apprehensions of witches, conjurers, and fairies, and all that +lymphatic chimera, I find to be marshalled in one of these five ranks: +children, fools, women, cowards, sick or black melancholic discomposed +wits." + +In 1669, a work was published in London with the following title: "The +Question of Witchcraft Debated; or, a Discourse against their Opinions +that affirm Witches." It is a work of great merit, and would do honor +to a scholar and logician of the present day. The author was John +Wagstaffe, of Oxford University: he is described as a crooked, +shrivelled, little man, of a most despicable appearance. This +circumstance, together with his writings against the popular belief in +witchcraft, led his academical associates to accuse him, some of them +in sport, but others with grave suspicion, of being a wizard. Wood, the +historian of Oxford, says that "he died in a manner distracted, +occasioned by a deep conceit of his own parts, and by a +continual[i.371] bibbing of strong and high-tasted liquors." But poor +Wagstaffe was assailed by something more than private raillery and +slander. His heretical sentiments exposed him to the battery of the +host of writers who will always be found ready to advocate a prevailing +opinion. But Wagstaffe was not left entirely alone to defend the cause +of reason and truth. He had one most zealous advocate and ardent +admirer in the author of a work on "The Doctrine of Devils," published +in 1676. This writer sums up a panegyric upon Wagstaffe's performance, +by pronouncing it "a judicious book, that contains more good reason, +true religion, and right Christianity, than all those lumps and +cartloads of luggage that hath been fardled up by all the faggeters of +demonologistical winter-tales, and witchcraftical legendaries, since +they first began to foul clean paper." + +Dr. Balthasar Bekker, of Amsterdam, who was equally eminent in +astronomy, philosophy, and theology, published in 1691 a learned and +powerful work, called "The World Bewitched," in which he openly +assailed the doctrines of witchcraft and of the Devil, and anticipated +many of the views and arguments presented in Farmer's excellent +publications. As a reward for his exertions to enlighten his +fellow-creatures, he was turned out of the ministry, and assaulted by +nearly all the writers of his age. + +Dr. Bekker was one of the ablest and boldest writers of his day, and +did much to advance the cause of natural science, scriptural +interpretation, and the princi[i.372]ples of enlightened Christianity. +In 1680 he published an "Inquiry concerning Comets," rescuing them from +the realm of superstition, placing them within the natural physical +laws, and exploding the then-received opinion, that, in any way, they +are the presages or forerunners of evil. His "Exposition on the Prophet +Daniel" gives proof of his learning and judgment. His great merits were +recognized by John Locke and Richard Bentley. In the preface to his +"World Bewitched," he says, that it grieved him to see the great +honors, powers, and miracles which are ascribed to the Devil. "It has +come to that pass," to use his own language, "that men think it piety +and godliness to ascribe a great many wonders to the Devil, and impiety +and heresy, if a man will not believe that the Devil can do what a +thousand persons say he does. It is now reckoned godliness, if a man +who fears God fear also the Devil. If he be not afraid of the Devil, he +passes for an atheist, who does not believe in God, because he cannot +think that there are two gods, the one good, the other bad. But these, +I think, with much more reason, may be called ditheists. For my part, +if, on account of my opinion, they will give me a new name, let them +call me a monotheist, a believer of but one God." The work struck down +the whole system of demonology and witchcraft, by proving that there +never was really such a thing as sorcery or possession, and that devils +have no influence over human affairs or the persons of men. It is not +surprising that it raised a great clamor. The wonder is that it did not +cost him[i.373] his life. It is probable that his protection was the +confidence the people had in his character and learning. Attempts were +made to diminish that confidence, and bring him into odium, by +levelling against him every form of abuse. A medal was struck, and +extensively circulated, representing the Devil, clothed like a minister +or priest, riding on an ass. The device was so arranged as to excite +ridicule and abhorrence, in the vulgar mind, against Bekker. But it was +found impossible to turn the popular feeling, which had set in his +favor; and his persecutors and defamers were completely baffled. He was +followed, soon after, by the learned Thomasius, whose writings against +demonology produced a decided effect upon the convictions of the age. + +While Bekker, and the other writers of his class, endeavored to +overthrow the superstitious practices and fancies then prevalent +respecting demonology and communications with spiritual beings, they so +far acceded to the popular theology as to maintain the doctrine of the +personality of the Devil. They believed in the existence of the +arch-fiend, but denied his agency in human affairs. They held that he +was kept confined "to bottomless perdition, there to dwell— + +"In adamantine chains and penal fire." + +Sir Robert Filmer, in 1680, published "An Advertisement to the jurymen +of England, touching Witches," in which he criticised and condemned +many of the opinions and methods then countenanced on the +subject.[i.374] + +But Bekker, Thomasius, and Filmer appeared too late to operate upon the +prevalent opinions of Europe or America prior to the witchcraft +delusion of 1692. The productions of the other writers, in the same +direction, to whom I have referred, probably had a very limited +circulation, and made at the time but little impression. Error is +seldom overthrown by mere reasoning. It yields only to the logic of +events. No power of learning or wit could have rooted the witchcraft +superstitions out of the minds of men. Nothing short of a demonstration +of their deformities, follies, and horrors, such as here was held up to +the view of the world, could have given their death-blow. This was the +final cause of Salem Witchcraft, and makes it one of the great +landmarks in the world's history. + +A full and just view of the position and obligations of the persons who +took part in the transactions at Salem requires a previous knowledge of +the principles and the state of the law, as it was then in force and +understood by the courts, and all concerned in judicial proceedings. +Although the ancients did not regard pretended intercourse between +magicians and enchanters and spiritual beings as necessarily or always +criminal, we find that they enacted laws against the abuse of the power +supposed to result from the connection. The old Roman code of the +Twelve Tables contained the following prohibition: "That they should +not bewitch the fruits of the earth, nor use any charms, to draw their +neighbor's corn into their own fields." There were several special +edicts on the subject during[i.375] the existence of the Roman State. +In the early Christian councils, sorcery was frequently made the object +of denunciation. At Laodicea, for instance, in the year 364, it was +voted to excommunicate any clergymen who were magicians, enchanters, +astrologers, or mathematicians! The Bull of Pope Innocent VIII., near +the close of the fifteenth century, has already been mentioned. + +Dr. Turner, in his history of the Anglo-Saxons, says that they had laws +against sorcerers and witches, but that they did not punish them with +death. There was an English statute against witchcraft, in the reign of +Henry VIII., and another in that of Elizabeth. + +Up to this time, however, the legislation of parliament on the subject +was merciful and judicious: for it did not attach to the guilt of +witchcraft the punishment of death, unless it had been used to destroy +life; that is, unless it had become murder. + +On the demise of Elizabeth, James of Scotland ascended the throne. His +pedantic and eccentric character is well known. He had an early and +decided inclination towards abstruse or mysterious speculations. Before +he had reached his twentieth year, he undertook to accomplish what only +the most sanguine and profound theologians have ever dared to attempt: +he expounded the Book of Revelation. When he was about twenty-five +years of age, he published a work on the "Doctrine of Devils and +Witchcraft." Not long after, he succeeded to the British crown. It may +easily be imagined that the subject of demonology[i.376] soon became a +fashionable and prevailing topic of conversation in the royal saloons +and throughout the nation. It served as a medium through which +obsequious courtiers could convey their flattery to the ears of their +accomplished and learned sovereign. His Majesty's book was reprinted +and extensively circulated. It was of course praised and recommended in +all quarters. + +The parliament, actuated by a base desire to compliment the vain and +superstitious king, enacted a new and much more severe statute against +witchcraft, in the very first year of his reign. It was under this law +that so many persons here and in England were deprived of their lives. +The blood of hundreds of innocent persons was thus unrighteously shed. +It was a fearful price which these servile lawgivers paid for the favor +of their prince. + +But this was not the only mischief brought about by courtly deference +to the prejudices of King James. It was under his direction that our +present translation of the Scriptures was made. To please His Royal +Majesty, and to strengthen the arguments in his work on demonology, the +word "witch" was used to represent expressions in the original Hebrew, +that conveyed an entirely different idea; and it was freely inserted in +the headings of the chapters.[B] A person having "a familiar spirit" +was a favorite description of a witch in the king's book. The +trans[i.377]lators, forgetful of their high and solemn function, +endeavored to establish this definition by inserting it into their +version. Accordingly, they introduced it in several places; in the +eleventh verse of the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, for instance, +"a consulter with familiar spirits." There is no word in the Hebrew +which corresponds with "familiar." And this is the important, the +essential word in the definition. It conveys the idea of alliance, +stated connection, confederacy, or compact, which is characteristic and +distinctive of a witch. The expression in the original signifies "a +consulter with spirits,"—especially, as was the case with the "Witch of +Endor," a consulter with departed spirits. It was a shocking perversion +of the word of God, for the purpose of flattering a frail and mortal +sovereign! King James lived to see and acknowledge the error of his +early opinions, and he would gladly have counteracted their bad effect; +but it is easier to make laws and translations than it is to alter and +amend them. + +While the law of the land required the capital punishment of witches, +no blame ought to be attached to judges and jurors for discharging +their respective duties in carrying it into execution. It will not do +for us to assert, that they ought to have refused, let the consequences +to themselves have been what they would, to sanction and give effect to +such inhuman and unreasonable enactments. We cannot consistently take +this ground; for there is nothing more certain than that, with their +notions, our ancestors had at least as[i.378] good reasons to advance +in favor of punishing witchcraft with death, as we have for punishing +any crime whatsoever in the same awful and summary manner. We appeal, +in defence of our capital punishments, to the text of Moses, "Whoso +sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." The apologist of +our fathers, for carrying into effect the law making witchcraft a +capital offence, tells us in reply, in the first place, that this +passage is not of the nature of a precept, but merely of an admonition; +that it does not enjoin any particular method of proceeding, but simply +describes the natural consequences of cruel and contentious conduct; +and that it amounts only to this: that quarrelsome, violent, and +bloodthirsty persons will be apt to meet the same fate they bring upon +others; that the duellist will be likely to fall in private combat, the +ambitious conqueror to perish, and the warlike nation to be destroyed, +on the field of battle. If this is not considered by us a sufficient +and satisfactory answer, he advances to our own ground, points to the +same text where we place our defence, and puts his finger on the +following plain and authoritative precept: "Thou shalt not suffer a +witch to live." Indeed we must acknowledge, that the capital punishment +of witches is as strongly supported and fortified by the Scriptures of +the Old Testament—at least, as they appear in our present version—as +the capital punishment of any crime whatever. + +If we adopt another line of argument, and say that it is necessary to +punish some particular crimes with[i.379] death, in order to maintain +the security of society, or hold up an impressive warning to others, +here also we find that our opponent has full as much to offer in +defence of our fathers as can be offered in our own defence. He +describes to us the tremendous and infernal power which was universally +believed by them to be possessed by a witch; a power which, as it was +not derived from a natural source, could not easily be held in check by +natural restraints: neither chains nor dungeons could bind it down or +confine it. You might load the witch with irons, you might bury her in +the lowest cell of a feudal prison, and still it was believed that she +could send forth her imps or her spectre to ravage the fields, and +blight the meadows, and throw the elements into confusion, and torture +the bodies, and craze the minds, of any who might be the objects of her +malice. + +Shakspeare, in the description which he puts into the mouth of Macbeth +of the supernatural energy of witchcraft, does not surpass, if he does +justice to, the prevailing belief on the subject:— + +"I conjure you, by that which you profess, +(Howe'er you came to know it) answer me,— +Though you untie the winds, and let them fight +Against the churches; though the yesty waves +Confound and swallow navigation up; +Though bladed corn be lodged, and trees blown down; +Though castles topple on their warders' heads; +Though palaces and pyramids do slope +Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure +Of nature's germins tumble all together, +Even till destruction sicken,—answer me +To what I ask you." +[i.380] + +There was indeed an almost infinite power to do mischief associated +with a disposition to do it. No human strength could strip the witch of +these mighty energies while she lived; nothing but death could destroy +them. There was, as our ancestors considered, incontestable evidence, +that she had put them forth to the injury, loss, and perhaps death, of +others. + +Can it be wondered at, that, under such circumstances, the law +connecting capital punishment with the guilt of witchcraft was resorted +to as the only means to protect society, and warn others from entering +into the dark, wicked, and malignant compact? + +It is not probable that even King James's Parliament would have been +willing to go to the length of Selden in his "Table-Talk," who takes +this ground in defence of the capital punishment of witches. "The law +against witches does not prove there be any, but it punishes the malice +of those people that use such means to take away men's lives. If one +should profess, that, by turning his hat thrice and crying 'Buzz,' he +could take away a man's life (though in truth he could do no such +thing), yet this were a just law made by the State, that whoever should +turn his hat thrice and cry 'Buzz,' with an intention to take away a +man's life, shall be put to death." + +There are other considerations that deserve to be weighed before a +final judgment should be made up respecting the conduct of our fathers +in the witchcraft delusion. Among these is the condition of physical +science in their day. But little knowledge of the[i.381] laws of nature +was possessed, and that little was confined to a few. The world was +still, to the mass of the people, almost as full of mystery in its +physical departments as it was to its first inhabitants. Politics, +poetry, rhetoric, ethics, and history had been cultivated to a great +extent in previous ages; but the philosophy of the natural and material +world was almost unknown. Astronomy, chemistry, optics, pneumatics, and +even geography, were involved in the general darkness and error. Some +of our most important sciences, such as electricity, date their origin +from a later period. + +This remarkable tardiness in the progress of physical science for some +time after the era of the revival of learning is to be accounted for by +referring to the erroneous methods of reasoning and observation then +prevalent in the world. A false logic was adopted in the schools of +learning and philosophy. The great instrument for the discovery and +investigation of truth was the syllogism, the most absurd contrivance +of the human mind; an argumentative process whose conclusion is +contained in the premises; a method of proof, in the first step of +which the matter to be proved is taken for granted.[C] In a word, the +whole system of philosophy was made up of hypotheses, and[i.382] the +only foundation of science was laid in conjecture. The imagination, +called necessarily into extraordinary action, in the absence of +scientific certainty, was still further exercised in vain attempts to +discover, unassisted by observation and experiment, the elements and +first principles of nature. It had reached a monstrous growth about the +time to which we are referring. Indeed it may be said, that all the +intellectual productions of modern times, from the seventeenth century +back to the dark ages, were works of imagination. The bulkiest and most +voluminous writings that proceeded from the cloisters or the +universities, even the metaphysical disquisitions of the Nominalists +and Realists, and the boundless subtleties of the contending schools of +the "Divine Doctors," Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus, fall under this +description. Dull, dreary, unintelligible, and interminable as they +are, they are still in reality works of fancy. They are the offspring, +almost exclusively, of the imaginative faculty. It ought not to create +surprise, to find that this faculty predominated in the minds and +characters of our ancestors, and developed itself to an extent beyond +our conception, when we reflect that it was almost the only one called +into exercise, and that it was the leading element of every branch of +literature and philosophy. + +[i.383] + +It is true, that, in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, Lord +Bacon made his sublime discoveries in the department of physical +science. By disclosing the true method of investigation and reasoning +on such subjects, he may be said to have found, or rather to have +invented, the key that unlocked the hitherto unopened halls of nature. +He introduced man to the secret chambers of the universe, and placed in +his hand the thread by which he has been conducted to the magnificent +results of modern science, and will undoubtedly be led on to results +still more magnificent in times to come. But it was not for human +nature to pass in a moment from darkness to light. The transition was +slow and gradual: a long twilight intervened before the sun shed its +clear and full radiance upon the world. + +The great discoverer himself refused to admit, or was unable to +discern, some of the truths his system had revealed. Bacon was numbered +among the opponents of the Copernican or true system of astronomy to +the day of his death; so also was Sir Thomas Browne, the great +philosopher already described, and who flourished during the latter +half of the same century. Indeed, it may be said, that, at the time of +the witchcraft delusion, the ancient empire of darkness which had +oppressed and crushed the world of science had hardly been shaken. The +great and triumphant progress of modern discovery had scarcely begun. + +I shall now proceed to illustrate these views of the state of science +in the world at that time by presenting[i.384] a few instances. The +slightest examination of the accounts which remain of occurrences +deemed supernatural by our ancestors will satisfy any one that they +were brought about by causes entirely natural, although unknown to +them. For instance, the following circumstances are related by the Rev. +James Pierpont, pastor of a church in New Haven, in a letter to Cotton +Mather, and published by him in his "Magnalia:"[D]— + +In the year 1646, a new ship, containing a valuable cargo, and having +several distinguished persons on board as passengers, put to sea from +New Haven in the month of January, bound to England. The vessels that +came over the ensuing spring brought no tidings of her arrival in the +mother-country. The pious colonists were earnest and instant in their +prayers that intelligence might be received of the missing vessel. In +the month of June, 1648, "a great thunder-storm arose out of the +north-west; after which (the hemisphere being serene), about an hour +before sunset, a ship of like dimensions with the aforesaid, with her +canvas and colors abroad (although[i.385] the wind was northerly), +appeared in the air, coming up from the harbor's mouth, which lies +southward from the town,—seemingly with her sails filled under a fresh +gale, holding her course north, and continuing under observation, +sailing against the wind for the space of half an hour." The +phantom-ship was borne along, until, to the excited imaginations of the +spectators, she seemed to have approached so near that they could throw +a stone into her. Her main-topmast then disappeared, then her +mizzen-topmast; then her masts were entirely carried away; and, +finally, her hull fell off, and vanished from sight,—leaving a dull and +smoke-colored cloud, which soon dissolved, and the whole atmosphere +became clear. All affirmed that the airy vision was a precise copy and +image of the missing vessel, and that it was sent to announce and +describe her fate. They considered it the spectre of the lost ship; and +the Rev. Mr. Davenport declared in public, "that God had condescended, +for the quieting their afflicted spirits, this extraordinary account of +his sovereign disposal of those for whom so many fervent prayers were +made continually." + +The results of modern science enable us to explain the mysterious +appearance. It is probable that some Dutch vessel, proceeding slowly, +quietly, and unconsciously on her voyage from Amsterdam to the New +Netherlands, happened at the time to be passing through the Sound. At +the moment the apparition was seen in the sky, she was so near, that +her reflected image was painted or delineated, to the eyes of +the[i.386] observers, on the clouds, by laws of optics now generally +well known, before her actual outlines could be discerned by them on +the horizon. As the sun sunk behind the western hills, and his rays +were gradually withdrawn, the visionary ship slowly disappeared; and +the approach of night effectually concealed the vessel as she continued +her course along the Sound. + +The optical illusions that present themselves on the sea-shore, by +which distant objects are raised to view, the opposite capes and +islands made to loom up, lifted above the line of the apparent +circumference of the earth, and thrown into every variety of shape +which the imagination can conceive, are among the most beautiful +phenomena of nature; and they impress the mind with the idea of +enchantment and mystery, more perhaps than any others: but they have +received a complete solution from modern discovery. + +It should be observed, that the optical principles which explain these +phenomena have recently afforded a foundation for the science, or +rather art, of nauscopy; and there are persons in some places,—in the +Isle of France, as I have been told,—whose calling and profession is to +ascertain and predict the approach of vessels, by their reflection in +the atmosphere and on the clouds, long before they are visible to the +eye, or through the glass. + +The following opinion prevailed at the time of our narrative. The +discoveries in electricity, itself a recent science, have rendered it +impossible for us to contemplate it without ridicule. But it was the +sober[i.387] opinion of the age. "A great man has noted it," says a +learned writer, "that thunders break oftener on churches than any other +houses, because demons have a peculiar spite at houses that are set +apart for the peculiar service of God." + +Every thing that was strange or remarkable—every thing at all out of +the usual course, every thing that was not clear and plain—was +attributed to supernatural interposition. Indeed, our fathers lived, as +they thought, continually in the midst of miracles; and felt themselves +surrounded, at all times, in all scenes, with innumerable invisible +beings. The beautiful verse of Milton describes their faith:— + +"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth +Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep." + +What was to him, however, a momentary vision of the imagination, was to +them like a perpetual perception of the senses: it was a practical +belief, an everyday common sentiment, an all-pervading feeling. But +these supernatural beings very frequently were believed to have become +visible to our superstitious ancestors. The instances, indeed, were not +rare, of individuals having seen the Devil himself with their mortal +eyes. They may well be brought to notice, as illustrating the ideas +which then prevailed, and had an immediate, practical effect on the +conduct of men, in reference to the power, presence, and action of the +Devil in human affairs. This, in fact, is necessary, that we may +understand the narrative we are preparing to contemplate of +transactions based wholly on those ideas.[i.388] + +The following passage is extracted from a letter written to Increase +Mather by the Rev. John Higginson:— + +"The godly Mr. Sharp, who was ruling elder of the church of Salem +almost thirty years after, related it of himself, that, being bred up +to learning till he was eighteen years old, and then taken off, and put +to be an apprentice to a draper in London, he yet notwithstanding +continued a strong inclination and eager affection to books, with a +curiosity of hearkening after and reading of the strangest and oddest +books he could get, spending much of his time that way to the neglect +of his business. At one time, there came a man into the shop, and +brought a book with him, and said to him, 'Here is a book for you, keep +this till I call for it again;' and so went away. Mr. Sharp, after his +wonted bookish manner, was eagerly affected to look into that book, and +read it, which he did: but, as he read in it, he was seized on by a +strange kind of horror, both of body and mind, the hair of his head +standing up; and, finding these effects several times, he acquainted +his master with it, who, observing the same effects, they concluded it +was a conjuring book, and resolved to burn it, which they did. He that +brought it in the shape of a man never coming to call for it, they +concluded it was the Devil. He, taking this as a solemn warning from +God to take heed what books he read, was much taken off from his former +bookishness; confining himself to reading the Bible, and other known +good books of divinity, which were profitable to his soul." + +Kircher relates the following anecdote, with a full belief of its +truth: He had a friend who was zealously and perseveringly devoted to +the study of al[i.389]chemy. At one time, while he was intent upon his +operations, a gentleman entered his laboratory, and kindly offered to +assist him. In a few moments, a large mass of the purest gold was +brought forth from the crucible. The gentleman then took his hat, and +went out: before leaving the apartment, however, he wrote a recipe for +making the precious article. The grateful and admiring mortal continued +his operations, according to the directions of his visitor; but the +charm was lost: he could not succeed, and was at last completely ruined +by his costly and fruitless experiments. Both he and his friend Kircher +were fully persuaded that the mysterious stranger-visitor was the +Devil. + +Baxter has recorded a curious interview between Satan and Mr. White, of +Dorchester, assessor to the Westminster Assembly:— + +"The Devil, in a light night, stood by his bedside. The assessor looked +a while, whether he would say or do any thing, and then said, 'If thou +hast nothing to do, I have;' and so turned himself to sleep." Dr. +Hibbert is of opinion, that the Rev. Mr. White treated his satanic +majesty, on this occasion, with "a cool contempt, to which he had not +often been accustomed." + +Indeed, there is nothing more curious or instructive, in the history of +that period, than the light which it sheds upon the influence of the +belief of the personal existence and operations of the Devil, when that +belief is carried out fully into its practical effects. The Christian +doctrine had relapsed into a system almost identical with Manicheism. +Wierus thus describes[i.390] Satan, as he was regarded in the prevalent +theology: "He possesses great courage, incredible cunning, superhuman +wisdom, the most acute penetration, consummate prudence, an +incomparable skill in veiling the most pernicious artifices under a +specious disguise, and a malicious and infinite hatred towards the +human race, implacable and incurable." Milton merely responded to the +popular sentiment in making Satan a character of lofty dignity, and in +placing him on an elevation not "less than archangel ruined." +Hallywell, in his work on witchcraft, declares that "that mighty angel +of darkness is not foolishly nor idly to be scoffed at or blasphemed. +The Devil," says he, "may properly be looked upon as a dignity, though +his glory be pale and wan, and those once bright and orient colors +faded and darkened in his robes; and the Scriptures represent him as a +prince, though it be of devils." Although our fathers cannot be charged +with having regarded the Devil in this respectful and deferential +light, it must be acknowledged that they gave him a conspicuous and +distinguished—we might almost say a dignified—agency in the affairs of +life and the government of the world: they were prone to confess, if +not to revere, his presence, in all scenes and at all times. He +occupied a wide space, not merely in their theology and philosophy, but +in their daily and familiar thoughts.[E] + +[i.391] + +Cotton Mather, in one of his sermons, carries home this peculiar belief +to the consciences of his hearers, in a manner that could not have +failed to quicken and startle the most dull and drowsy among them. + +"No place," says he, "that I know of, has got such a spell upon it as +will always keep the Devil out. The meeting-house, wherein we assemble +for the worship of God, is filled with many holy people and many holy +concerns continually; but, if our eyes were so refined as the servant +of the prophet had his of old, I suppose we should now see a throng of +devils in this very place. The apostle has intimated that angels come +in among us: there are angels, it seems, that hark how I preach, and +how you hear, at this hour. And our own sad experience is enough to +intimate that the devils are likewise rendezvousing here. It is +reported in Job i. 5, 'When the sons of God came to present themselves +before the Lord, Satan came also among them.' When we are in our church +assemblies, oh, how many devils, do you imagine, crowd in among us! +There is a devil that rocks one to sleep. There is a devil that makes +another to be thinking of, he scarcely knows what himself. And there is +a devil that makes another to be pleasing himself with wanton and +wicked speculations. It is also possible, that we have our closets or +our studies gloriously perfumed with devotions every day; but, alas! +can we shut the Devil out of them? No: let us go where we will, we +shall still find a devil nigh unto us. Only when we come to heaven, we +shall be out of his reach for ever." [i.392] + +It is very remarkable, that such a train of thought as this did not +suggest to the mind of Dr. Mather the true doctrine of the Bible +respecting the Devil. One would have supposed, that, in carrying out +the mode of speaking of him as a person to this extent, it would have +occurred to him, that it might be that the scriptural expressions of a +similar kind were also mere personifications of moral and abstract +ideas. In describing the inattention, irreverence, and unholy +reflections of his hearers as the operations of the Devil, it is +wonderful that his eyes were not opened to discern the import of our +Saviour's interpretation of the Parable of the Tares, in which he +declares, that he understands by the Devil whatever obstructs the +growth of virtue and piety in the soul, the causes that efface good +impressions and give a wrong inclination to the thoughts and +affections, such as "the cares of this world" or "the deceitfulness of +riches." By these are the tares planted, and by these is their growth +promoted. "The enemy that sowed them is the Devil." + +Satan was regarded as the foe and opposer of all improvement in +knowledge and civilization. The same writer thus quaintly expresses +this opinion: He "has hindered mankind, for many ages, from hitting +those useful inventions which yet were so obvious and facile that it is +everybody's wonder that they were not sooner hit upon. The bemisted +world must jog on for thousands of years without the knowledge of the +loadstone, till a Neapolitan stumbled upon it about three hundred years +ago. Nor must the world be blessed with[i.393] such a matchless engine +of learning and virtue as that of printing, till about the middle of +the fifteenth century. Nor could one old man, all over the face of the +whole earth, have the benefit of such a little, though most needful, +thing as a pair of spectacles, till a Dutchman, a little while ago, +accommodated us. Indeed, as the Devil does begrudge us all manner of +good, so he does annoy us with all manner of woe." In one of his +sermons, Cotton Mather claimed for himself and his clerical brethren +the honor of being particularly obnoxious to the malice of the Evil +One. "The ministers of God," says he, "are more dogged by the Devil +than other persons are." + +Without a knowledge of this sentiment, the witchcraft delusion of our +fathers cannot be understood. They were under an impression, that the +Devil, having failed to prevent the progress of knowledge in Europe, +had abandoned his efforts to obstruct it effectually there; had +withdrawn into the American wilderness, intending here to make a final +stand; and had resolved to retain an undiminished empire over the whole +continent and his pagan allies, the native inhabitants. Our fathers +accounted for the extraordinary descent and incursions of the Evil One +among them, in 1692, on the supposition that it was a desperate effort +to prevent them from bringing civilization and Christianity within his +favorite retreat; and their souls were fired with the glorious thought, +that, by carrying on the war with vigor against him and his +confederates, the witches, they would become chosen and honored[i.394] +instruments in the hand of God for breaking down and abolishing the +last stronghold on the earth of the kingdom of darkness. + +That this opinion was not merely a conceit of their vanity, or an +overweening estimate of their local importance, but a calm, deliberate +conviction entertained by others as well as themselves, can be shown by +abundant evidence from the literature of that period. I will quote a +single illustration of the form in which this thought occupied their +minds. The subject is worthy of being thoroughly appreciated, as it +affords the key that opens to view the motives and sentiments which +gave the mighty impetus to the witchcraft prosecution here in New +England. + +Joseph Mede, B.D., Fellow of Christ's College, in Cambridge, England, +died in 1638, at the age of fifty-three years. He was perhaps, all +things considered, the most profound scholar of his times. His writings +give evidence of a brilliant genius and an enlightened spirit. They +were held in the highest esteem by his contemporaries of all +denominations, and in all parts of Europe. He was a Churchman; but had, +to a remarkable degree, the confidence of nonconformists. He +entertained, as will appear by what follows, in the boldest form, the +then prevalent opinions concerning diabolical agency and influence; +but, at the same time, was singularly free from some of the worst +traits of superstition and bigotry. His intimacy with the learned Dr. +William Ames, and the general tone and tendency of his writings, +naturally made him an[i.395] authority with Protestants, particularly +the Pilgrims and Puritans of New England. His posthumous writings, +published in 1652, are exceedingly interesting. They contain fragments +found among his papers, brief discussions of points of criticism, +philosophy, and theology, and a varied correspondence on such subjects +with eminent men of his day. Among his principal correspondents was Dr. +William Twiss, himself a person of much ingenious learning, and whom +John Norton, as we are told by Cotton Mather, "loved and admired" above +all men of that age. The following passages between them illustrate the +point before us. + +In a letter dated March 2, 1634, Twiss writes thus:— + +"Now, I beseech you, let me know what your opinion is of our English +plantations in the New World. Heretofore, I have wondered in my +thoughts at the providence of God concerning that world; not discovered +till this Old World of ours is almost at an end; and then no footsteps +found of the knowledge of the true God, much less of Christ; and then +considering our English plantations of late, and the opinion of many +grave divines concerning the gospel's fleeting westward. Sometimes I +have had such thoughts, Why may not _that_ be the place of the _New +Jerusalem_? But you have handsomely and fully cleared me from such odd +conceits. But what, I pray? Shall our English there degenerate, and +join themselves with Gog and Magog? We have heard lately divers ways, +that our people there have no hope of the conversion of the natives. +And, the very week after I received your last letter, I saw a letter, +written from New[i.396] England, discoursing of an impossibility of +subsisting there; and seems to prefer the confession of God's truth in +any condition here in Old England, rather than run over to enjoy their +liberty there; yea, and that the gospel is like to be more dear in New +England than in Old. And, lastly, unless they be exceeding careful, and +God wonderfully merciful, they are like to lose that life and zeal for +God and his truth in New England which they enjoyed in Old; as whereof +they have already woful experience, and many there feel it to their +smart." + +Mr. Mede's answer was as follows:— + +"Concerning our plantations in the American world, I wish them as well +as anybody; though I differ from them far, both in other things, and on +the grounds they go upon. And though there be but little hope of the +general conversion of those natives or any considerable part of that +continent, yet I suppose it may be a work pleasing to Almighty God and +our blessed Saviour to affront the Devil with the sound of the gospel +and the cross of Christ, in those places where he had thought to have +reigned securely, and out of the din thereof; and, though we make no +Christians there, yet to bring some thither to disturb and vex him, +where he reigned without check. + +"For that I may reveal my conceit further, though perhaps I cannot +prove it, yet I think thus,—that those countries were first inhabited +since our Saviour and his apostles' times, and not before; yea, +perhaps, some ages after, there being no signs or footsteps found among +them, or any monuments of older habitation, as there is with us. + +"That the Devil, being impatient of the sound of the gospel and cross +of Christ, in every part of this Old World,[i.397] so that he could in +no place be quiet for it; and foreseeing that he was like to lose all +here; so he thought to provide himself of a seed over which he might +reign securely, and in a place _ubi nec Pelopidarum facta neque nomen +audiret_. That, accordingly, he drew a colony out of some of those +barbarous nations dwelling upon the Northern Ocean (whither the sound +of Christ had not yet come), and promising them by some oracle to show +them a country far better than their own (which he might soon do), +pleasant and large, where never man yet inhabited; he conducted them +over those desert lands and islands (of which there are many in that +sea) by the way of the north into America, which none would ever have +gone, had they not first been assured there was a passage that way into +a more desirable country. Namely, as when the world apostatized from +the worship of the true God, God called Abraham out of Chaldee into the +land of Canaan, of him to raise a seed to preserve a light unto his +name: so the Devil, when he saw the world apostatizing from him, laid +the foundations of a new kingdom, by deducting this colony from the +north into America, where they have increased since into an innumerable +multitude. And where did the Devil ever reign more absolutely, and +without control, since mankind first fell under his clutches? + +"And here it is to be noted, that the story of the Mexican kingdom +(which was not founded above four hundred years before ours came +thither) relates, out of their own memorials and traditions, that they +came to that place from the _north_, whence their god, _Vitziliputzli_, +led them, going in an ark before them: and, after divers years' travel +and many stations (like enough after some generations), they came to +the place which the sign he had given them at[i.398] their first +setting-forth pointed out; where they were to finish their travels, +build themselves a _city_, and their god a _temple_, which is the place +where Mexico was built. Now, if the Devil were God's ape in _this_, why +might he not be likewise in bringing the first colony of men into that +world out of ours? namely, by oracle, as God did Abraham out of +Chaldee, whereto I before resembled it. + +"But see the hand of Divine Providence. When the offspring of these +_runagates_ from the sound of Christ's gospel had now replenished that +other world, and began to flourish in those two kingdoms of Peru and +Mexico, Christ our Lord sends his mastives, the Spaniards, to hunt them +out, and worry them; which they did in so hideous a manner, as the like +thereunto scarce ever was done since the sons of Noah came out of the +ark. What an affront to the Devil was this, where he had thought to +have reigned securely, and been for ever concealed from the knowledge +of the followers of Christ! + +"Yet the Devil perhaps is _less grieved_ for the loss of his servants +by the _destroying_ of them, than he would be to lose them by the +_saving_ of them; by which latter way, I doubt the Spaniards have +despoiled him but of a few. What, then, if Christ our Lord will give +him his _second affront_ with better Christians, which may be more +grievous to him than the former? And, if Christ shall set him up a +light in this manner to dazzle and torment the Devil at his own home, I +hope they (viz., the Americans) shall not so far degenerate (not all of +them) as to come into that army of Gog and Magog against the kingdom of +Christ, but be translated thither before the Devil be loosed; if not, +presently after his tying up." [i.399] + +Dr. Twiss, in a reply to the above, dated April 6, 1635, thanks Mede +for his letter, which he says he read "with recreation and delight;" +and, particularly in reference to the "peopling of the New World," he +affirms that there is "more in this letter of yours than formerly I +have been acquainted with. Your conceit thereabouts, if I have any +judgment, is grave and ponderous." + +This correspondence, while it serves as a specimen of the style of +Mede, is a remarkable instance of the power of a sagacious intellect to +penetrate through the darkness of theoretical and fanciful errors, and +behold the truth that lies behind and beyond. The whole superstructure +of the Devil, his oracles, and his schemes of policy and dominion, +covers, in this brief familiar epistle, what is, I suppose, the theory +most accredited at this day of the origin and traduction of the +aboriginal races of America, proceeding from the nearest portions of +the ancient continent on the North, and advancing down over the vast +spaces towards Central and South America. The letter also foreshadows +the decisive conflict which is here to be waged between the elements of +freedom and slavery, between social and political systems that will +rescue and exalt humanity, and those which depress and degrade it. In +the phraseology of that age, it was to be determined whether—the Old +World, in the language of Twiss, "being almost at an end"—a "light" +should be "set up" here to usher in the "kingdom of Christ,"[i.400] or +America also be for ever given over to the "army of Gog and Magog." + +Our fathers were justified in feeling that this was the sense of their +responsibility entertained by all learned men and true Christians in +the Old World; and they were ready to meet and discharge it faithfully +and manfully. They were told, and they believed, that it had fallen to +their lot to be the champions of the cross of Christ against the power +of the Devil. They felt, as I have said, that they were fighting him in +his last stronghold, and they were determined to "tie him up" for ever. + +This is the true and just explanation of their general policy of +administration, in other matters, as well as in the witchcraft +prosecutions. + +The conclusion to which we are brought, by a review of the seventeenth +century up to the period when the prosecutions took place here, is, +that the witchcraft delusion pervaded the whole civilized world and +every profession and department of society. It received the sanction of +all the learned and distinguished English judges who flourished within +the century, from Sir Edward Coke to Sir Matthew Hale. It was +countenanced by the greatest philosophers and physicians, and was +embraced by men of the highest genius and accomplishments, even by Lord +Bacon himself. It was established by the convocation of bishops, and +preached by the clergy. Dr. Henry More, of Christ's College, Cambridge, +in addition to his admirable poetical and philosophical works, wrote +volumes to defend it. It[i.401] was considered as worthy of the study +of the most cultivated and liberal minds to discover and distinguish "a +true witch by proper trials and symptoms." The excellent Dr. Calamy has +already been mentioned in this connection; and Richard Baxter wrote his +work entitled "The Certainty of the World of Spirits," for the special +purpose of confirming and diffusing the belief. He kept up a +correspondence with Cotton Mather, and with his father, Increase +Mather, through the medium of which he stimulated and encouraged them +in their proceedings against supposed witches in Boston and elsewhere. +The divines of that day seem to have persuaded themselves into the +belief that the doctrines of demonology were essential to the gospel, +and that the rejection of them was equivalent to infidelity. A writer +in one of our modern journals, in speaking of the prosecutions for +witchcraft, happily and justly observes, "It was truly hazardous to +oppose those judicial murders. If any one ventured to do so, the +Catholics burned him as a heretic, and the Protestants had a vehement +longing to hang him for an atheist." The writings of Dr. More, of +Baxter, Glanvil, Perkins, and others, had been circulating for a long +time in New England before the trials began at Salem. It was such a +review of the history of opinion as we have now made, which led Dr. +Bentley to declare that "the agency of invisible beings, if not a part +of every religion, is not contrary to any one. It may be found in all +ages, and in the most remote countries. It is then no just subject for +our admiration, that a[i.402] belief so alarming to our fears, so +natural to our prejudices, and so easily abused by superstition, should +obtain among our fathers, when it had not been rejected in the ages of +philosophy, letters, and even revelation." + +The works on demonology, the legal proceedings in prosecutions, and the +phraseology of the people, gave more or less definite form to certain +prominent points which may be summarily noticed. Several terms and +expressions were employed to characterize persons supposed to be +conversant with supernatural and magic art; such as diviner, enchanter, +charmer, conjurer, necromancer, fortune-teller, soothsayer, augur, and +sorcerer. These words are sometimes used as more or less synonymous, +although, strictly speaking, they have meanings quite distinct. But +none of them convey the idea attached to the name of witch. It was +sometimes especially used to signify a female, while wizard was +exclusively applied to a male. The distinction was not, however, often +attempted to be made; the former title being prevailingly applied to +either sex. A witch was regarded as a person who had made an actual, +deliberate, formal compact with Satan, by which it was agreed that she +should become his faithful subject, and do all in her power to aid him +in his rebellion against God and his warfare against the gospel and +church of Christ; and, in consideration of such allegiance and service, +Satan, on his part, agreed to exercise his supernatural powers in her +favor, and communicate to her those powers, in a greater or less[i.403] +degree, as she proved herself an efficient and devoted supporter of his +cause. Thus, a witch was considered as a person who had transferred +allegiance and worship from God to the Devil. + +The existence of this compact was supposed to confer great additional +power on the Devil, as well as on his new subject; for the doctrine +seems to have prevailed, that, for him to act with effect upon men, the +intervention, instrumentality, and co-operation of human beings was +necessary; and almost unlimited potency was ascribed to the combined +exertions of Satan and those persons in league with him. A witch was +believed to have the power, through her compact with the Devil, of +afflicting, distressing, and rending whomsoever she would. She could +cause them to pine away, throw them into the most frightful +convulsions, choke, bruise, pierce, and craze them, subjecting them to +every description of pain, disease, and torture, and even to death +itself. She was believed to possess the faculty of being present, in +her shape or apparition, at a different place, at any distance +whatever, from that which her actual body occupied. Indeed, an +indefinite amount of supernatural ability, and a boundless freedom and +variety of methods for its exercise, were supposed to result from the +diabolical compact. Those upon whom she thus exercised her malignant +and mysterious energies were said to be bewitched. + +Beside these infernal powers, the alliance with Satan was believed to +confer knowledge such as no other mortal possessed. The witch could +perform the same[i.404] wonders, in giving information of the things +that belong to the invisible world, which is alleged in our day, by +spirit-rappers, to be received through mediums. She could read inmost +thoughts, suggest ideas to the minds of the absent, throw temptations +in the path of those whom she desired to delude and destroy, bring up +the spirits of the departed, and hear from them the secrets of their +lives and of their deaths, and their experiences in the scenes of being +on which they entered at their departure from this. + +When we consider that these opinions were not merely prevalent among +the common people, but sanctioned by learning and philosophy, science +and jurisprudence; that they possessed an authority, which but few +ventured to question and had been firmly established by the convictions +of centuries,—none can be surprised at the alarm it created, when the +belief became current, that there were those in the community, and even +in the churches, who had actually entered into this dark confederacy +against God and heaven, religion and virtue; and that individuals were +beginning to suffer from their diabolical power. It cannot be +considered strange, that men looked with more than common horror upon +persons against whom what was regarded as overwhelming evidence was +borne of having engaged in this conspiracy with all that was evil, and +this treason against all that was good. + +Elaborate works, scientific, philosophical, and judicial in their +pretensions and reputation,—to some of which reference has been +made,—defined and par[i.405]ticularized the various forms of evidence +by which the crime of confederacy with Satan could be proved. + +It was believed that the Devil affixed his mark to the bodies of those +in alliance with him, and that the point where this mark was made +became callous and dead. The law provided, specifically, the means of +detecting and identifying this sign. It required that the prisoner +should be subjected to the scrutiny of a jury of the same sex, who +would make a minute inspection of the body, shaving the head and +handling every part. They would pierce it with pins; and if, as might +have been expected, particularly in aged persons, any spot could be +found insensible to the torture, or any excrescence, induration, or +fixed discoloration, it was looked upon as visible evidence and +demonstration of guilt. A physician or "chirurgeon" was required to be +present at these examinations. In conducting them, there was liability +to great roughness and unfeeling recklessness of treatment; and the +whole procedure was barbarous and shocking to every just and delicate +sensibility. There is reason to believe, that, in the trials here, +there was more considerateness, humanity, and regard to a sense of +decent propriety, than in similar proceedings in other countries, so +far as this branch of the investigation is regarded. + +Another accredited field of evidence, recognized in the books and in +legal proceedings, was as follows: It was believed, that, when witches +found it inconvenient from any cause to execute their infernal designs +upon[i.406] those whom they wished to afflict by going to them in their +natural human persons, they transformed themselves into the likeness of +some animal,—a dog, hog, cat, rat, mouse, or toad; birds—particularly +yellow birds—were often imagined to perform this service, as +representing witches or the Devil. They also had imps under their +control. These imps were generally supposed to bear the resemblance of +some small insect,—such as a fly or a spider. The latter animal was +prevailingly considered as most likely to act in this character. The +accused person was closely watched, in order that the spider imp might +be seen when it approached to obtain its nourishment, as it was thought +to do, from the witchmark on the body of the culprit. Within the cells +of a prison, spiders were, of course, often seen. Whenever one made its +appearance, the guard attacked it with all the zeal and vehemence with +which it was natural and proper to assault an agent of the Wicked One. +If the spider was killed in the encounter, it was considered as an +innocent animal, and all suspicion was removed from its character as +the diabolical confederate of the prisoner; but if it escaped into a +crack or crevice of the apartment, as spiders often do when assailed, +all doubt of its guilty connection with the person accused of +witchcraft was removed: it was set down as, beyond question or cavil, +her veritable imp; and the evidence of her confederacy with Satan was +thenceforward regarded as complete. The books of law and other learned +writings, as well as the practice of courts in the old[i.407] +countries, recognized this doctrine of transformation into the shapes +of animals, and the employment of imps. Where judicial tribunals +countenanced the popular credulity in maintaining these ideas, there +was no security for innocence, and no escape from wrong. No matter how +clear and certain the evidence adduced, that an accused individual, at +the time alleged, was absent from the specified place; no matter how +far distant, whether twenty or a thousand miles, it availed him +nothing; for it was charged that he was present, and acted through his +agent or imp. This notion was further enlarged by the establishment of +the additional doctrine, that a witch could be present, and act with +demoniac power upon her victims, anywhere, at all times, and at any +distance, without the instrumental agency of any other animal or being, +in her spirit, spectre, or apparition. When the person on trial was +accused of having tortured or strangled or pinched or bruised another, +it did not break the force of the accusation to bring hundreds of +witnesses to prove that he was, at the very time, in another remote +place or country; for it was alleged that he was present in the +spectral shape in which Satan enabled his spirit to be and to act any +and every where at once. It was impossible to disprove the charge, and +the last defence of innocence was swept away. + +If any thing strange or remarkable could be discovered in the persons, +histories, or deportment of accused persons, the usage of the +tribunals, and the books of authority on the subject, allowed it to be +brought in[i.408] evidence against them. If any thing they had +forewarned, or even conjectured, happened to come to pass, any careless +speech had been verified by events, any extraordinary knowledge had +been manifested, or any marvellous feats of strength or agility been +displayed, they were brought up with decisive and fatal effect. + +A witch was believed to have the power of operating upon her victims, +at any distance, by the instrumentality of puppets. She would procure +or make an object like a doll, or a figure of some animal,—any little +bunch of cloth or bundle of rags would answer the purpose. She would +will the puppet to represent the person whom she proposed to torment or +afflict; and then whatever she did to the puppet would be suffered by +the party it represented at any distance, however remote. A pin stuck +into the puppet would pierce the flesh of the person whom she wished to +afflict, and produce the appropriate sensations of pain. So would a +pinch, or a blow, or any kind of violence. When any one was arrested on +the charge of witchcraft, a search was immediately made for puppets +from garret to cellar; and if any thing could be found that might +possibly be imagined to possess that character,—any remnant of flannel +or linen wrapped up, the foot of an old stocking, or a cushion of any +kind, particularly if there were any pins in it,—it was considered as +weighty and quite decisive evidence against the accused party. + +A writer, in a recent number of the "North-Ameri[i.409]can Review," on +the superstitions of the American Indians, makes the following +statement:— + +"The sorcerer, by charms, magic songs, magic feats, and the beating of +his drum, had power over the spirits, and those occult influences +inherent in animals and inanimate things. He could call to him the +souls of his enemies. They appeared before him in the form of stones. +He chopped and bruised them with his hatchet; blood and flesh issued +forth; and the intended victim, however distant, languished and died. +Like the sorcerer of the middle ages, he made images of those he wished +to destroy, and, muttering incantations, punctured them with an awl; +whereupon the persons represented sickened and pined away." + +It was a received opinion, accredited and acted upon in courts, that a +person in confederacy with the Evil One could not weep. Those accused +of this crime, both in Europe and America, were, in many instances, of +an age and condition which rendered it impossible for them, however +innocent, to escape the effect of this test. A decrepit, emaciated +person, shrivelled and desiccated by age, was placed at the bar: and if +she could not weep on the spot; if, in consequence of her withered +frame, her amazement and indignation at the false and malignant charges +by which she was circumvented, her exhausted sensibility, her sullen +despair, the hopeless horror of her situation, or, from what often was +found to be the effect of the treatment such persons received, a +high-toned consciousness of innocence, and a brave defiance and stern +condemnation of her maligners and persecutors; if, from any +cause,[i.410] the fountain of tears was closed or dried up,—their +failure to come forth at the bidding of her defamers was regarded as a +sure and irrefragable proof of her guilt. + +King James explains the circumstance, that witches could not weep, in +rather a curious manner:— + +"For as, in a secret murther, if the dead carkasse bee at any time +thereafter handled by the murtherer it will gush out of bloud, as if +the bloud were crying to the heaven for revenge of the murtherer, God +having appointed that secret supernaturall signe for triall of that +secret unnaturall crime; so it appeares that God hath appointed (for a +supernaturall signe of the monstrous impietie of witches), that the +water shall refuse to receive them in her bosome that have shaken off +them the sacred water of baptisme, and wilfully refused the benefite +thereof: no, not so much as their eyes are able to shed teares +(threaten and torture them as ye please), while first they repent (God +not permitting them to dissemble their obstinacie in so horrible a +crime), albeit the woman kind especially be able otherwise to shed +teares at every light occasion when they will,—yea, although it were +dissemblingly like the crocodiles." + +Reginald Scott, in introducing a Romish form of adjuration, makes the +following excellent remarks on the trial by tears:— + +"But alas that teares should be thought sufficient to excuse or condemn +in so great a cause, and so weightie a triall! I am sure that the worst +sort of the children of Israel wept bitterlie; yea, if there were any +witches at all in Israel, they wept. For it is written, that all the +children[i.411] of Israel wept. Finallie, if there be any witches in +hell, I am sure they weepe; for there is weeping and wailing and +gnashing of teeth. But God knoweth many an honest matron cannot +sometimes in the heaviness of her heart shed teares; the which +oftentimes are more readie and common with crafty queans and strumpets +than with sober women. For we read of two kinds of teares in a woman's +eie; the one of true greefe, and the other of deceipt. And it is +written, that 'Dediscere flere foeminam est mendacium;' which argueth +that they lie, which saie that wicked women cannot weepe. But let these +tormentors take heed, that the teares in this case which runne down the +widowe's cheeks, with their crie, spoken of by Jesus Sirach, be not +heard above. But, lo, what learned, godlie and lawful meanes these +Popish Inquisitors have invented for the triall of true or false +teares:— + +'I conjure thee, by the amorous tears which Jesus Christ, our Saviour, +shed upon the crosse for the salvation of the world; and by the most +earnest and burning teares of his mother, the most glorious Virgine +Marie, sprinkled upon his wounds late in the evening; and by all the +teares which everie saint and elect vessell of God hath poured out +heere in the world, and from whose eies he hath wiped awaie all +teares,—that, if thou be without fault, thou maist poure downe teares +aboundantlie; and, if thou be guiltie, that thou weep in no wise. In +the name of the Father, of the Sonne, and of the Holie Ghost. Amen.' + +"The more you conjure, the lesse she weepeth." + +A distinction was made between black and white witches. The former were +those who had leagued with Satan for the purpose of doing injury to +others,[i.412] while the latter class was composed of such persons as +had resorted to the arts and charms of divination and sorcery in order +to protect themselves and others from diabolical influence. They were +both considered as highly, if not equally, criminal. Fuller, in his +"Profane State," thus speaks of them: "Better is it to lap one's +pottage like a dog, than to eat it mannerly, with a spoon of the +Devil's giving. Black witches hurt and do mischief; but, in deeds of +darkness, there is no difference of colors. The white and the black are +both guilty alike in compounding with the Devil." White witches +pretended to extract their power from the mysterious virtues of certain +plants. The following form of charmed words was used in plucking them:— + +"Hail to thee, holy herb, +Growing in the ground; +On the Mount of Calvarie, +First wert thou found; +Thou art good for many a grief, +And healest many a wound: +In the name of sweet Jesu, +I lift thee from the ground." + +Then there was the evidence of ocular fascination. The accused and the +accusers were brought into the presence of the examining magistrate, +and the supposed witch was ordered to look upon the afflicted persons; +instantly upon coming within the glance of her eye, they would scream +out, and fall down as in a fit. It was thought that an invisible and +impalpable fluid darted from the eye of the witch, and penetrated the +brain of the bewitched. By bringing the witch so[i.413] near that she +could touch the afflicted persons with her hand, the malignant fluid +was attracted back into her hand, and the sufferers recovered their +senses. It is singular to notice the curious resemblance between this +opinion—the joint product of superstition and imposture—and the results +to which modern science has led us in the discoveries of galvanism and +animal electricity. The doctrine of fascination maintained its hold +upon the public credulity for a long time, and gave occasion to the +phrase, still in familiar use among us, of "looking upon a person with +an evil eye." Its advocates claimed, in its defence, the authority of +the Cartesian philosophy; but it cannot be considered, in an age of +science and reason, as having any better support than the rural +superstition of Virgil's simple shepherd, who thus complains of the +condition of his emaciated flock:— + +"They look so thin, +Their bones are barely covered with their skin. +What magic has bewitched the woolly dams? +And what ill eyes beheld the tender lambs?" + +Witchcraft, in all ages and countries, was recognized as a reality, +just as much as any of the facts of nature, or incidents to which +mankind is liable. By the laws of all nations, Catholic and Protestant +alike, in the old country and in the new, it was treated as a capital +offence, and classed with murder and other highest crimes, although +regarded as of a deeper dye and blacker character than them all. +Indictments and trials of persons accused of it were not, +therefore,[i.414] considered as of any special interest, or as +differing in any essential particulars from proceedings against any +other description of offenders. There had been many such proceedings in +the American colonies,—more, perhaps, than have come to our +knowledge,—previous to 1692. They were not looked upon as sufficiently +extraordinary to be transferred, from the oblivion sweeping like a +perpetual deluge over the vast multitude of human experiences, to the +ark of history, which rescues only a select few. The following are the +principal facts of this class of which we have information:— + +William Penn presided, in his judicial character, at the trial of two +Swedish women for witchcraft; the grand jury, acting under instructions +from him, having found bills against them. They were saved, not in +consequence of any peculiar reluctance to proceed against them arising +out of the nature of the alleged crime, but only from some technical +defect in the indictment. If it had not been for this accidental +circumstance, as the annalist of Philadelphia suggests, scenes similar +to those subsequently occurring in Salem Village might have darkened +the history of the Quakers, Swedes, Germans, and Dutch, who dwelt in +the City of Brotherly Love and the adjacent colonies. There had been +trials and executions for witchcraft in other parts of New England, and +excitements had obtained more or less currency in reference to the +assaults of the powers of darkness upon human affairs. These incidents +prepared the way for the delusion in Salem, and[i.415] provided +elements to form its character. They must not, therefore, be wholly +overlooked. But the memorials for their elucidation are very defective. +Hutchinson's "History of Massachusetts" is, perhaps, the most valuable +authority on the subject. He enjoyed an advantage over any other +writer, before, since, or hereafter, so far as relates to the +witchcraft proceedings in 1692; for he had access to all the records +and documents connected with it, a great part of which have +subsequently been lost or destroyed. His treatment of that particular +topic is more satisfactory than can elsewhere be found. But of +incidents of the sort that preceded it, his information appears to have +been very slight and unreliable. It is a singular fact, that we know +more of the history of the first century of New England than was known +by the most enlightened persons of the intermediate century. There was +no regular organized newspaper press, the commemorative age had not +begun, and none seem to have been fully aware of the importance of +putting events on record. The publication, but a few years since, of +the colonial journals of the first half-century of Massachusetts; +researches by innumerable hands among papers on file in public offices; +the printing of town-histories, and the collections made by historical +and genealogical societies,—have rescued from oblivion, and redeemed +from error, many points of the greatest interest and importance. + +Winthrop, in his "Journal," gives an account of the execution of +Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, who had been tried and condemned by the +Court of Assistants.[i.416] The charges against her were, that she had +a malignant touch, so that many persons,—"men, women, and children,"—on +coming in contact with her, were "taken with deafness, vomiting, or +other violent pains or sickness;" that she practised physic, and her +medicines, "being such things as (by her own confession) were harmless, +as aniseed, liquors, &c., yet had extraordinary violent effects;" and +that they found on her body, "upon a forced search," the witchmarks, +particularly "a teat, as fresh if it had been newly sucked." Other +ridiculous allegations were made against her. As for the effects of the +touch, it is obvious that they could be easily simulated by +evil-disposed persons. The whole substance of her offence seems to have +been, that she was very successful in the use of simple prescriptions +for the cure of diseases. Her practice was charged as "against the +ordinary course, and beyond the apprehension of all physicians and +surgeons." A bitter animosity was, accordingly, raised against her. She +treated her accusers and defamers with indignant resentment. "Her +behavior at her trial," says Winthrop, "was very intemperate, lying +notoriously, and railing upon the jury and witnesses, &c.; and, in the +like distemper, she died." We shall find that the bold assertion of +innocence, and indignant denunciations of the persecutors and defamers +who had destroyed their reputations and pursued them to the death, by +persons tried and executed for witchcraft, in 1692, were regarded by +some, as they were by Winthrop, as proofs of ill-temper and falsehood. +The Governor closes his statement[i.417] about Margaret Jones, by +relating what he regarded as a demonstration of her guilt: "The same +day and hour she was executed, there was a very great tempest at +Connecticut, which blew down many trees, &c." The records of the +General Court contain no express notice of this case. Perhaps it is +referred to in the following paragraph, under date of May 13, 1648:— + +"This Court, being desirous that the same course which hath been taken +in England for the discovery of witches, by watching, may also be taken +here, with the witch now in question, and therefore do order that a +strict watch be set about her every night, and that her husband be +confined to a private room, and watched also." + +Margaret Jones was executed in Boston on the 15th of June. Hutchinson +refers to the statement made by Johnson, in the "Wonder-working +Providence," that "more than one or two in Springfield, in 1645, were +suspected of witchcraft; that much diligence was used, both for the +finding them and for the Lord's assisting them against their witchery; +yet have they, as is supposed, bewitched not a few persons, among whom +two of the reverend elder's children." Johnson's loose and immethodical +narrative covers the period from 1645 till toward the end of 1651; and +Hutchinson was probably misled in supposing that the Springfield cases +occurred as early as 1645. The Massachusetts colonial records, under +the date of May 8, 1651, have this entry:[i.418]— + +"The Court, understanding that Mary Parsons, now in prison, accused for +a witch, is likely, through weakness, to die before trial, if it be +deferred, do order, that, on the morrow, by eight o'clock in the +morning, she be brought before and tried by the General Court, the +rather that Mr. Pinchon may be present to give his testimony in the +case." + +Mr. Pinchon was probably able to stay a few days longer. She was not +brought to trial before the Court until the 13th, under which date is +the following:— + +"Mary Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons, of Springfield, being committed to +prison for suspicion of witchcraft, as also for murdering her own +child, was this day called forth, and indicted for witchcraft. 'By the +name of Mary Parsons, you are here, before the General Court, charged, +in the name of this Commonwealth, that, not having the fear of God +before your eyes nor in your heart, being seduced by the Devil, and +yielding to his malicious motion, about the end of February last, at +Springfield, to have familiarity, or consulted with, a familiar spirit, +making a covenant with him; and have used divers devilish practices by +witchcraft, to the hurt of the persons of Martha and Rebecca Moxon, +against the word of God and the laws of this jurisdiction, long since +made and published.' To which indictment she pleaded 'Not guilty.' All +evidences brought in against her being heard and examined, the Court +found the evidences were not sufficient to prove her a witch, and +therefore she was cleared in that respect. + +"At the same time, she was indicted for murdering her child. 'By the +name of Mary Parsons, you are here, before the General Court, charged, +in the name of this Common[i.419]wealth, that, not having the fear of +God before your eyes nor in your heart, being seduced by the Devil, and +yielding to his instigations and the wickedness of your own heart, +about the beginning of March last, in Springfield, in or near your own +house, did wilfully and most wickedly murder your own child, against +the word of God and the laws of this jurisdiction, long since made and +published.' To which she acknowledged herself guilty. + +"The Court, finding her guilty of murder by her own confession, &c., +proceeded to judgment: 'You shall be carried from this place to the +place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, +and there hang till you be dead.'" + +Under the same date—May 13—is an order of the Court appointing a day of +humiliation "throughout our jurisdiction in all the churches," in +consideration, among other things, of the extent to which "Satan +prevails amongst us in respect of witchcrafts." + +The colonial records, under date of May 31, 1652, recite the facts, +that Hugh Parsons, of Springfield, had been tried before the Court of +Assistants—held at Boston, May 12, 1652—for witchcraft; that the case +was transferred to a "jury of trials," which found him guilty. The +magistrates not consenting to the verdict of the jury, the case came +legally to the General Court, which body decided that "he was not +legally guilty of witchcraft, and so not to die by law." + +When these citations are collated and examined, and it is remembered +that Mr. Moxon was the "reverend elder" of the church at Springfield, +it cannot be doubted[i.420] that the case of the Parsonses is that +referred to by Johnson in the "Wonder-working Providence," and that +Hutchinson was in error as to the date. We are left in doubt as to the +fate of Mary Parsons. There is a marginal entry on the records, to the +effect that she was reprieved to the 29th of May. Neither Johnson nor +Hutchinson seem to have thought that the sentence was ever carried into +effect. It clearly never ought to have been. The woman was in a weak +and dying condition, her mind was probably broken down,—the victim of +that peculiar kind of mania—partaking of the character of a religious +fanaticism and perversion of ideas—that has often led to child-murder. + +These instances show, that, at that time, the General Court exercised +consideration and discrimination in the treatment of questions of this +kind brought before it. + +Hutchinson, on the authority of Hale, says that a woman at Dorchester, +and another at Cambridge, were executed, not far from this time, for +witchcraft; and that they asserted their innocence with their dying +breath. He also says, that, in 1650, "a poor wretch,—Mary +Oliver,—probably weary of her life from the general reputation of being +a witch, after long examination, was brought to a confession of her +guilt; but I do not find that she was executed." + +In 1656, a very remarkable case occurred. William Hibbins was a +merchant in Boston, and one of the most prominent and honored citizens +of Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman in 1640; was deputy in +the[i.421] General Court in that and the following year; was elected an +assistant for twelve successive years,—from 1643 to 1654; represented +the Colony, for a time, as its agent in England, and received the +thanks of the General Court for his valuable service there. No one +appears to have had more influence, or to have enjoyed more honorable +distinction, during his long legislative career. He died in 1654. +Hutchinson says, in the text of his first and second volumes, that his +widow was tried, condemned, and hanged as a witch in 1655, although he +corrects the error in a note to the passage in the first volume. The +following is the statement of the case in the Massachusetts colonial +records, under the date of May 14, 1656:— + +"The magistrates not receiving the verdict of the jury in Mrs. Hibbins +her case, having been on trial for witchcraft, it came and fell, of +course, to the General Court. Mrs. Ann Hibbins was called forth, +appeared at the bar, the indictment against her was read; to which she +answered, 'Not guilty,' and was willing to be tried by God and this +Court. The evidence against her was read, the parties witnessing being +present, her answers considered on; and the whole Court, being met +together, by their vote, determined that Mrs. Ann Hibbins is guilty of +witchcraft, according to the bill of indictment found against her by +the jury of life and death. The Governor, in open Court, pronounced +sentence accordingly; declaring she was to go from the bar to the place +from whence she came, and from thence to the place of execution, and +there to hang till she was dead. + +"It is ordered, that warrant shall issue out from the secretary to the +marshal general, for the execution of Mrs. Hib[i.422]bins, on the fifth +day next come fortnight, presently after the lecture at Boston, being +the 19th of June next; the marshal general taking with him a sufficient +guard." + +Mrs. Hibbins is stated to have been a sister of Richard Bellingham, at +that very time deputy-governor, and always regarded as one of the chief +men in the country. Strange to say, very little notice appears to have +been taken of this event, beyond the immediate locality; but what +little has come down to us indicates that it was a case of outrageous +folly and barbarity, justly reflecting infamy upon the community at the +time. Hutchinson, who wrote a hundred years after the event, and +evidently had no other foundation for his opinion than vague +conjectural tradition, gives the following explanation of the +proceedings against her: "Losses, in the latter part of her husband's +life, had reduced his estate, and increased the natural crabbedness of +his wife's temper, which made her turbulent and quarrelsome, and +brought her under church censures, and at length rendered her so odious +to her neighbors as to cause some of them to accuse her of witchcraft." + +While this is hardly worthy of being considered a sufficient +explanation of the matter,—it being beyond belief, that, even at that +time, a person could be condemned and executed merely on account of a +"crabbed temper,"—it is not consistent with the facts, as made known to +us from the record-offices. She could not have been so reduced in +circumstances as to produce such extraordinary effects upon her +character, for she[i.423] left a good estate. The truth is, that the +tongue of slander was let loose upon her, and the calumnies circulated +by reckless gossip became so magnified and exaggerated, and assumed +such proportions, as enabled her vilifiers to bring her under the +censure of the church, and that emboldened them to cry out against her +as a witch. Hutchinson expresses the opinion that she was the victim of +popular clamor. But that alone, without some pretence or show of +evidence, could not have brought the General Court, in reversal of the +judgment of the magistrates, to condemn to death a person of such a +high social position. + +The only clue we have to the kind of evidence bearing upon the charge +of witchcraft that brought this recently bereaved widow to so cruel and +shameful a death, is in a letter, written by a clergyman in Jamaica to +Increase Mather in 1684, in which he says, "You may remember what I +have sometimes told you your famous Mr. Norton once said at his own +table,—before Mr. Wilson, the pastor, elder Penn, and myself and wife, +&c., who had the honor to be his guests,—that one of your magistrate's +wives, as I remember, was hanged for a witch only for having more wit +than her neighbors. It was his very expression; she having, as he +explained it, unhappily guessed that two of her persecutors, whom she +saw talking in the street, were talking of her, which, proving true, +cost her her life, notwithstanding all he could do to the contrary, as +he himself told us." Nothing was more natural than for her to suppose, +knowing the parties, witnessing their[i.424] manner, considering their +active co-operation in getting up the excitement against her, which was +then the all-engrossing topic, that they were talking about her. But, +in the blind infatuation of the time, it was considered proof positive +of her being possessed, by the aid of the Devil, of supernatural +insight,—precisely as, forty years afterwards, such evidence was +brought to bear, with telling effect, against George Burroughs.—The +body of this unfortunate lady was searched for witchmarks, and her +trunks and premises rummaged for puppets. + +It is quite evident that means were used to get up a violent popular +excitement against her, which became so formidable as to silence every +voice that dared to speak in her favor. Joshua Scottow, a citizen of +great respectability and a selectman, ventured to give evidence in her +favor, counter, in its bearings, to some testimony against her; and he +was dealt with very severely, and compelled to write an humble apology +to the Court, to disavow all friendly interest in Mrs. Hibbins, and to +pray "that the sword of justice may be drawn forth against all +wickedness." He says, "I am cordially sorry that any thing from me, +either by word or writing, should give offence to the honored Court, my +dear brethren in the church, or any others." + +Hutchinson states that there were, however, some persons then in +Boston, who denounced the proceedings against Mrs. Hibbins, and +regarded her, not merely as a persecuted woman, but as "a saint;" that +a deep feeling of resentment against her persecutors long[i.425] +remained in their minds; and that they afterwards "observed solemn +marks of Providence set upon those who were very forward to condemn +her." It is evident that the Court of Magistrates were opposed to her +conviction, and that Mr. Norton did what he could to save her. He was +one of the four "great Johns," who were the first ministers of the +church in Boston; and it is remarkable, as showing the violence of the +people against her, that even his influence was of no avail in her +favor. But she had other friends, as appears from her will, which, +after all, is the only source of reliable information we have +respecting her character. It is dated May 27, 1656, a few days after +she received the sentence of death. In it she names, as overseers and +administrators of her estate, "Captain Thomas Clarke, Lieutenant Edward +Hutchinson, Lieutenant William Hudson, Ensign Joshua Scottow, and +Cornet Peter Oliver." In a codicil, she says, "I do earnestly desire my +loving friends, Captain Johnson and Mr. Edward Rawson, to be added to +the rest of the gentlemen mentioned as overseers of my will." It can +hardly be doubted, that these persons—and they were all leading +citizens—were known by her to be among her friends. + +The whole tone and manner of these instruments give evidence, that she +had a mind capable of rising above the power of wrong, suffering, and +death itself. They show a spirit calm and serene. The disposition of +her property indicates good sense, good feeling, and business faculties +suitable to the occasion. In the[i.426] body of the will, there is not +a word, a syllable, or a turn of expression, that refers to, or is in +the slightest degree colored by, her peculiar situation. In the +codicil, dated June 16, there is this sentence: "My desire is, that all +my overseers would be pleased to show so much respect unto my dead +corpse as to cause it to be decently interred, and, if it may be, near +my late husband." + +When married to Mr. Hibbins, she was a widow, named Moore. There were +no children by her last marriage,—certainly none living at the time of +her death. There were three sons by her former marriage,—John, Joseph, +and Jonathan. These were all in England; but the youngest, hearing of +her situation, embarked for America. When she wrote the codicil,—three +days before her execution,—she added, at the end, having apparently +just heard of his coming, "I give my son Jonathan twenty pounds, over +and above what I have already given him, towards his pains and charge +in coming to see me, which shall be first paid out of my estate." There +is reason to cherish the belief that he reached her in the short +interval between the date of the codicil and her death, from the tenor +of the following postscript, written and signed on the morning of her +execution: "My further mind and will is, out of my sense of the more +than ordinary affection and pains of my son Jonathan in the times of my +distress, I give him, as a further legacy, ten pounds." The will was +proved in Court, July 2, 1656. The will and codicil speak of her "farms +at Muddy River;" and[i.427] of chests and a desk, in which were +valuables of such importance that she took especial pains to intrust +the keys of them to Edward Rawson, in a provision of the codicil. The +estate was inventoried at £344. 14_s._, which was a considerable +property in those days, as money was then valued. + +Hutchinson mentions a case of witchcraft in Hartford, in 1662, where +some women were accused, and, after being proceeded against until they +were confounded and bewildered, one of them made the most preposterous +confessions, which ought to have satisfied every one that her reason +was overthrown; three of them were condemned, and one, +certainly,—probably all,—executed. In 1669, he says that Susanna +Martin, of Salisbury,—whom we shall meet again,—was bound over to the +Court on the same charge, "but escaped at that time." Another case is +mentioned by him as having occurred, in 1671, at Groton, in which the +party confessed, and thereby avoided condemnation. In 1673, a case +occurred at Hampton; but the jury, although, as they said, there was +strong ground of suspicion, returned a verdict of "Not guilty;" the +evidence not being deemed quite sufficient. There were several other +cases, about this time, in which some persons were severely handled in +consequence of being reputed witches; and others suffered, as they +imagined, "under an evil hand." + +In this immediate neighborhood, there had been several attempts, +previous to the delusion at Salem Village in 1692, to get up witchcraft +prosecutions,[i.428] but without much success. The people of this +county had not become sufficiently infected with the fanaticism of the +times to proceed to extremities. + +In September, 1652, the following presentment was made by the grand +jury:— + +"We present John Bradstreet, of Rowley, for suspicion of having +familiarity with the Devil. He said he read in a book of magic, and +that he heard a voice asking him what work he had for him. He answered, +'Go make a bridge of sand over the sea; go make a ladder of sand up to +heaven, and go to God, and come down no more.' + +"Witness hereof, Francis Parat and his wife, of Rowley. +"Witness, William Bartholomew, of Ipswich." + + +On the 28th of that month, the jury at Ipswich, "upon examination of +the case, found he had told a lie, which was a second, being convicted +once before. The Court sets a fine of twenty shillings, or else to be +whipped." + +Bradstreet was probably in the habit of romancing, and it was wisely +concluded not to take a more serious view of his offences. + +In 1658, a singular case of this kind occurred in Essex County. The +following papers relating to it illustrate the sentiments and forms of +thought prevalent at that time, and give an insight of the state of +society in some particulars:— + +_"To the Honored Court to be holden at Ipswich, this twelfth month, '58 +or '59._ + +"Honored Gentlemen,—Whereas divers of esteem with us, and as we hear in +other places also, have for[i.429] some time suffered losses in their +estates, and some affliction in their bodies also,—which, as they +suppose, doth not arise from any natural cause, or any neglect in +themselves, but rather from some ill-disposed person,—that, upon +differences had betwixt themselves and one John Godfrey, resident at +Andover or elsewhere at his pleasure, we whose names are underwritten +do make bold to sue by way of request to this honored court, that you, +in your wisdom, will be pleased, if you see cause for it, to call him +in question, and to hear, at present or at some after sessions, what +may be said in this respect. + +"James Davis, Sr., in the behalf of his son Ephraim Davis. +John Haseldin, and Jane his wife. +Abraham Whitaker, for his ox and other things. +Ephraim Davis, in the behalf of himself." + + +The petitioners mention in brief some instances in confirmation of +their complaint. There are several depositions. That of Charles Browne +and wife says:— + +"About six or seven years since, in the meeting-house of Rowley, being +in the gallery in the first seat, there was one in the second seat +which he doth, to his best remembrance, think and believe it was John +Godfrey. This deponent did see him, yawning, open his mouth; and, while +he so yawned, this deponent did see a small teat under his tongue. And, +further, this deponent saith that John Godfrey was in this deponent's +house about three years since. Speaking about the power of witches, he +the said Godfrey spoke, that, if witches were not kindly entertained, +the Devil will appear unto them, and ask them if they were grieved or +vexed with anybody, and ask them what he should do for them; and, +if[i.430] they would not give them beer or victuals, they might let all +the beer run out of the cellar; and, if they looked steadfastly upon +any creature, it would die; and, if it were hard to some witches to +take away life, either of man or beast, yet, when they once begin it, +then it is easy to them." + +The depositions in this case are presented as they are in the originals +on file, leaving in blank such words or parts of words as have been +worn off. They are given in full. + +"The Deposition of Isabel Holdred, who testifieth that John Godfree +came to the house of Henry Blazdall, where her husband and herself +were, and demanded a debt of her husband, and said a warrant was out, +and Goodman Lord was suddenly to come. John Godfree asked if we would +not pay him. The deponent answered, 'Yes, to-night or to-morrow, if we +had it; for I believe we shall not ... we are in thy debt.' John +Godfree answered, 'That is a bitter word;' ... said, 'I must begin, and +must send Goodman Lord.' The deponent answered, '... when thou wilt. I +fear thee not, nor all the devils in hell!' And, further, this deponent +testifieth, that, two days after this, she was taken with those strange +fits, with which she was tormented a fortnight together, night and day. +And several apparitions appeared to the deponent in the night. The +first night, a humble-bee, the next night a bear, appeared, which +grinned the teeth and shook the claw: 'Thou sayest thou art not afraid. +Thou thinkest Harry Blazdall's house will save thee.' The deponent +answered, 'I hope the Lord Jesus Christ will save me.' The apparition +then spake: 'Thou sayst thou art not afraid of all the devils in hell; +but I will[i.431] have thy heart's blood within a few hours!' The next +was the apparition of a great snake, at which the deponent was +exceedingly affrighted, and skipt to Nathan Gold, who was in the +opposite chimney-corner, and caught hold of the hair of his head; and +her speech was taken away for the space of half an hour. The next night +appeared a great horse; and, Thomas Hayne being there, the deponent +told him of it, and showed him where. The said Tho. Hayne took a stick, +and struck at the place where the apparition was; and his stroke +glanced by the side of it, and it went under the table. And he went to +strike again; then the apparition fled to the ... and made it shake, +and went away. And, about a week after, the deponent ... son were at +the door of Nathan Gold, and heard a rushing on the ... The deponent +said to her son, 'Yonder is a beast.' He answered, ''Tis one of Goodman +Cobbye's black oxen;' and it came toward them, and came within ... +yards of them. The deponent her heart began to ache, for it seemed to +have great eyes; and spoke to the boy, 'Let's go in.' But suddenly the +ox beat her up against the wall, and struck her down; and she was much +hurt by it, not being able to rise up. But some others carried me into +the house, all my face being bloody, being much bruised. The boy was +much affrighted a long time after; and, for the space of two hours, he +was in a sweat that one might have washed hands on his hair. Further +this deponent affirmeth, that she hath been often troubled with ... +black cat sometimes appearing in the house, and sometimes in the night +... bed, and lay on her, and sometimes stroking her face. The cat +seemed ... thrice as big as an ordinary cat." + +"Thomas Hayne testifieth, that, being with Goodwife Holdridge, she told +me that she saw a great horse, and[i.432] showed me where it stood. I +then took a stick, and struck on the place, but felt nothing; and I +heard the door shake, and Good. H. said it was gone out at the door. +Immediately after, she was taken with extremity of fear and pain, so +that she presently fell into a sweat, and I thought she would swoon. +She trembled and shook like a leaf. + +"Thomas Hayne." + +"Nathan Gould being with Goodwife Holgreg one night, there appeared a +great snake, as she said, with open mouth; and she, being weak,—hardly +able to go alone,—yet then ran and laid hold of Nathan Gould by the +head, and could not speak for the space of half an hour. + +"Nathan Gould." + +"William Osgood testifieth, that, in the yeare '40, in the month of +August,—he being then building a barn for Mr. Spencer,—John Godfree +being then Mr. Spencer's herdsman, he on an evening came to the frame, +where divers men were at work, and said that he had gotten a new master +against the time he had done keeping cows. The said William Osgood +asked him who it was. He answered, he knew not. He again asked him +where he dwelt. He answered, he knew not. He asked him what his name +was. He answered, he knew not. He then said to him, 'How, then, wilt +thou go to him when thy time is out?' He said, 'The man will come and +fetch me then.' I asked him, 'Hast thou made an absolute bargain?' He +answered that a covenant was made, and he had set his hand to it. He +then asked of him whether he had not a counter covenant. Godfree +answered, 'No.' W.O. said, 'What a mad fellow art thou to make a +covenant in this manner!' He said, 'He's an honest man.'—'How knowest +thou?' said W.O. J. Godfree answered. 'He looks like one.' W.O. +then[i.433] answered, 'I am persuaded thou hast made a covenant with +the Devil.' He then skipped about, and said, 'I profess, I profess!' + +William Osgood." + +The proceedings against Godfrey were carried up to other tribunals, as +appears by a record of the County Court at Salem, 28th of June, 1659:— + +"John Godfrey stands bound in one hundred pound bond to the treasurer +of this county for his appearance at a General Court, or Court of +Assistants, when he shall be legally summonsed thereunto." + +What action, if any, was had by either of these high courts, I have +found no information. But he must have come off unscathed; for, soon +after, he commenced actions in the County Court for defamation against +his accusers; with the following results:— + +"John Godfery plt. agst. Will. Simonds & Sam.ll his son dfts. in an +action of slander that the said Sam.ll son to Will. Simons, hath don +him in his name, Charging him to be a witch, the jury find for the plt. +2d damage & cost of Court 29sh., yet notwithstanding doe conceiue, that +by the testmonyes he is rendred suspicious." + +"John Godfery plt. agst. Jonathan Singletary defendt. in an action of +Slander & Defamation for calling him witch & said is this witch on this +side Boston Gallows yet, the attachm.t & other evidences were read, +committed to the Jury & are on file. The Jury found for the plt. a +publique acknowledgmt, at Haverhill within a month that he hath done +the plt. wrong in his words or 10sh damage & costs of Court £2-16-0." +[i.434] + +In the trial of the case between Godfrey and Singletary, the latter +attempted to prove the truth of his allegations against the former, by +giving the following piece of testimony, which, while it failed to +convince the jury, is worth preserving, from the inherent interest of +some of its details:— + +"Date the fourteenth the twelfth month, '62.—The Deposition of Jonathan +Singletary, aged about 23, who testifieth that I, being in the prison +at Ipswich this night last past between nine and ten of the clock at +night, after the bell had rung, I being set in a corner of the prison, +upon a sudden I heard a great noise as if many cats had been climbing +up the prison walls, and skipping into the house at the windows, and +jumping about the chamber; and a noise as if boards' ends or stools had +been thrown about, and men walking in the chambers, and a crackling and +shaking as if the house would have fallen upon me. I seeing this, and +considering what I knew by a young man that kept at my house last +Indian Harvest, and, upon some difference with John Godfre, he was +presently several nights in a strange manner troubled, and complaining +as he did, and upon consideration of this and other things that I knew +by him, I was at present something affrighted; yet considering what I +had lately heard made out by Mr. Mitchel at Cambridge, that there is +more good in God than there is evil in sin, and that although God is +the greatest good, and sin the greatest evil, yet the first Being of +evil cannot weane the scales or overpower the first Being of good: so +considering that the author of good was of greater power than the +author of evil, God was pleased of his goodness to keep me from being +out of measure frighted. So this noise above[i.435]said held as I +suppose about a quarter of an hour, and then ceased: and presently I +heard the bolt of the door shoot or go back as perfectly, to my +thinking, as I did the next morning when the keeper came to unlock it; +and I could not see the door open, but I saw John Godfre stand within +the door and said, 'Jonathan, Jonathan.' So I, looking on him, said, +'What have you to do with me?' He said, 'I come to see you: are you +weary of your place yet?' I answered, 'I take no delight in being here, +but I will be out as soon as I can.' He said, 'If you will pay me in +corn, you shall come out.' I answered, 'No: if that had been my intent, +I would have paid the marshal, and never have come hither.' He, +knocking of his fist at me in a kind of a threatening way, said he +would make me weary of my part, and so went away, I knew not how nor +which way; and, as I was walking about in the prison, I tripped upon a +stone with my heel, and took it up in my hand, thinking that if he came +again I would strike at him. So, as I was walking about, he called at +the window, 'Jonathan,' said he, 'if you will pay me corn, I will give +you two years day, and we will come to an agreement;' I answered him +saying, 'Why do you come dissembling and playing the Devil's part here? +Your nature is nothing but envy and malice, which you will vent, though +to your own loss; and you seek peace with no man.'—'I do not +dissemble,' said he: 'I will give you my hand upon it, I am in +earnest.' So he put his hand in at the window, and I took hold of it +with my left hand, and pulled him to me; and with the stone in my right +hand I thought I struck him, and went to recover my hand to strike +again, and his hand was gone, and I would have struck, but there was +nothing to strike: and how he went away I know not; for I could[i.436] +neither feel when his hand went out of mine, nor see which way he +went." + +It can hardly be doubted, that Singletary's story was the result of the +workings of an excited imagination, in wild and frightful dreams under +the spasms of nightmare. We shall meet similar phenomena, when we come +to the testimony in the trials of 1692. + +Godfrey was a most eccentric character. He courted and challenged the +imputation of witchcraft, and took delight in playing upon the +credulity of his neighbors, enjoying the exhibition of their amazement, +horror, and consternation. He was a person of much notoriety, had more +lawsuits, it is probable, than any other man in the colony, and in one +instance came under the criminal jurisdiction for familiarity with +other than immaterial spirits; for we find, by the record of Sept. 25, +1666, that John Godfrey was "fined for being drunk." + +I have allowed so much space to the foregoing documents, because they +show the fancies which, fermenting in the public mind, and inflamed by +the prevalent literature, theology, and philosophy, came to a head +thirty years afterwards; and because they prove that in 1660 a +conviction for witchcraft could not be obtained in this county. The +evidence against none of the convicts in 1692, throwing out of view the +statements and actings of the "afflicted children," was half so strong +as that against Godfrey. Short work would have been made with him then. + +There is one particularly interesting item in Single[i.437]tary's +deposition. It illustrates the value of good preaching. This young man, +in his gloomy prison, and overwhelmed with the terrors of superstition, +found consolation, courage, and strength in what he remembered of a +sermon, to which he had happened to listen, from "Matchless Mitchel." +It was indeed good doctrine; and it is to be lamented that it was not +carried out to its logical conclusions, and constantly enforced by the +divines of that and subsequent times. + +In November, 1669, there was a prosecution of "Goody Burt," a widow, +concerning whom the most marvellous stories were told. The principal +witness against her was Philip Reed, a physician, who on oath declared +his belief that "no natural cause" could produce such effects as were +wrought by Goody Burt upon persons whom she afflicted. Her range of +operations seems to have been confined to Marblehead, Lynn, Salem, and +the vicinity: as nothing more was ever heard of the case, another +evidence is afforded, that an Essex jury, notwithstanding this positive +opinion of a doctor, was not ready to convict on the charge of +witchcraft. This same Philip Reed tried very hard to prosecute +proceedings, eleven years afterwards, against Margaret Gifford as a +witch. But she failed to appear, and no effort is recorded as having +been made to apprehend her. + +In 1673, Eunice Cole, of Hampton, was tried before a county court, at +Salisbury, on the charge of witchcraft; and she was committed to jail, +in Boston, for[i.438] further proceedings. She was subsequently +indicted by the Grand Jury for the Massachusetts jurisdiction for +"familiarity with the Devil." The Court of Assistants found that there +was "just ground of vehement suspicion of her having had familiarity +with the Devil," and got rid of the case by ordering her "to depart +from and abide out of this jurisdiction." + +At a County Court, held at Salem, Nov. 24, 1674, a case was brought up, +of which the following is all we know:— + +"Christopher Browne having reported that he had been treating or +discoursing with one whom he apprehended to be the Devil, which came +like a gentleman, in order to his binding himself to be a servant to +him, upon his examination, his discourse seeming inconsistent with +truth, &c., the Court, giving him good counsel and caution, for the +present dismiss him." + +It would have been well if the action of this Court had been followed +as an authoritative precedent. + +In the year 1679, the house of William Morse, of Newbury, was, for more +than two months, infested in a most strange and vexatious manner. The +affair was brought into court, where it played a conspicuous part, and +was near reaching a tragical conclusion. The history of the proceedings +in reference to it is very curious. + +Mr. John Woodbridge, of Newbury, had been for some time an associate +county judge, and was commissioned to administer oaths and join persons +in marriage. The following is a record of what occurred[i.439] before +him, sitting as a magistrate, and as a commissioner to adjudicate in +small, local causes, and hold examinations in matters that went to +higher courts:— + +"Dec. 3, 1679.—Caleb Powell, being complained of for suspicion of +working with the Devil to the molesting of William Morse and his +family, was by warrant directed to the constable brought in by him. The +accusation and testimonies were read, and the complaint respited till +the Monday following. + +"Dec. 8, 1679.—Caleb Powell appeared according to order, and further +testimony produced against him by William Morse, which being read and +considered, it was determined that the said William Morse should +prosecute the case against said Powell at the County Court to be held +at Ipswich the last Tuesday in March ensuing; and, in order hereunto, +William Morse acknowledgeth himself indebted to the Treasurer of the +County of Essex the full sum of twenty pounds. The condition of this +obligation is, that the said William Morse shall prosecute his +complaint against Caleb Powell at that Court. + +"Caleb Powell was delivered as a prisoner to the constable till he +could find security of twenty pounds for the answering of the said +complaint, or else he was to be carried to prison. + +"Jo: Woodbridge, _Commissioner_." + +Powell was accordingly brought before the Court at Ipswich, March 30, +1680, under an indictment for witchcraft. Before giving the substance +of the evidence adduced on this occasion, it will be well to mention +the manner in which he got into the case as[i.440] a principal. He was +a mate of a vessel. While at home, between voyages, he happened to hear +of the wonderful occurrences at Mr. Morse's house. His curiosity was +awakened, and he was also actuated by feelings of commiseration for the +family under the torments and terrors with which they were said to be +afflicted. Determined to see what it all meant, and to put a stop to it +if he could, he went to the house, and soon became satisfied that a +roguish grandchild was the cause of all the trouble. He prevailed upon +the old grandparents to let him take off the boy. Immediately upon his +removal, the difficulty ceased. + +New-England navigators, at that time and long afterwards, sailed almost +wholly by the stars; and Powell probably had often related his own +skill, which, as mate of a vessel, he would have been likely to +acquire, in calculating his position, rate of sailing, and distances, +on the boundless and trackless ocean, by his knowledge and observations +of the heavenly bodies. He had said, perhaps, that, by gazing among the +stars, he could, at any hour of the night, however long or far he had +been tossed and driven on the ocean, tell exactly where his vessel was. +Hence the charge of being an astrologist. Probably, like other sailors, +Powell may have indulged in "long yarns" to the country people, of the +wonders he had seen, "some in one country, and some in another." It is +not unlikely, that, in foreign ports, he had witnessed exhibitions of +necromancy and mesmerism, which, in various forms and under different +names,[i.441] have always been practised. Possibly he may have boasted +to be a medium himself, a scholar and adept in the mystic art, able to +read and divine "the workings of spirits." At any rate, when it became +known, that, at a glance, he attributed to the boy the cause of the +mischief, and that it ceased on his taking him away from the house, the +opinion became settled that he was a wizard. He was arrested forthwith, +and brought to trial, as has been stated, for witchcraft. His +astronomy, astrology, and spiritualism brought him in peril of his +life. + +"The Testimony of William Morse: which saith, together with his wife, +aged both about sixty-five years: that, Thursday night, being the +twenty-seventh day of November, we heard a great noise without, round +the house, of knocking the boards of the house, and, as we conceived, +throwing of stones against the house. Whereupon myself and wife looked +out and saw nobody, and the boy all this time with us; but we had +stones and sticks thrown at us, that we were forced to retire into the +house again. Afterwards we went to bed, and the boy with us; and then +the like noise was upon the roof of the house. + +"2. The same night about midnight, the door being locked when we went +to bed, we heard a great hog in the house grunt and make a noise, as we +thought willing to get out; and, that we might not be disturbed in our +sleep, I rose to let him out, and I found a hog in the house and the +door unlocked: the door was firmly locked when we went to bed. + +"3. The next morning, a stick of links hanging in the chimney, they +were thrown out of their place, and we[i.442] hanged them up again, and +they were thrown down again, and some into the fire. + +"4. The night following, I had a great awl lying in the window, the +which awl we saw fall down out of the chimney into the ashes by the +fire. + +"5. After this, I bid the boy put the same awl into the cupboard, which +we saw done, and the door shut to: this same awl came presently down +the chimney again in our sight, and I took it up myself. Again, the +same night, we saw a little Indian basket, that was in the loft before, +come down the chimney again. And I took the same basket, and put a +piece of brick into it, and the basket with the brick was gone, and +came down again the third time with the brick in it, and went up again +the fourth time, and came down again without the brick; and the brick +came down again a little after. + +"6. The next day, being Saturday, stones, sticks, and pieces of bricks +came down, so that we could not quietly dress our breakfast; and sticks +of fire also came down at the same time. + +"7. That day in the afternoon, my thread four times taken away, and +came down the chimney; again, my awl and gimlet, wanting, came down the +chimney; again, my leather, taken away, came down the chimney; again, +my nails, being in the cover of a firkin, taken away, came down the +chimney. Again, the same night, the door being locked, a little before +day, hearing a hog in the house, I rose, and saw the hog to be mine: I +let him out. + +"8. The next day being sabbath-day, many stones and sticks and pieces +of bricks came down the chimney: on the Monday, Mr. Richardson and my +brother being there, the frame of my cowhouse they saw very firm. I +sent my boy[i.443] out to scare the fowls from my hog's meat: he went +to the cowhouse, and it fell down, my boy crying with the hurt of the +fall. In the afternoon, the pots hanging over the fire did dash so +vehemently one against the other, we set down one that they might not +dash to pieces. I saw the andiron leap into the pot, and dance and leap +out, and again leap in and dance and leap out again, and leap on a +table and there abide, and my wife saw the andiron on the table: also I +saw the pot turn itself over, and throw down all the water. Again, we +saw a tray with wool leap up and down, and throw the wool out, and so +many times, and saw nobody meddle with it. Again, a tub his hoop fly +off of itself and the tub turn over, and nobody near it. Again, the +woollen wheel turned upside down, and stood up on its end, and a spade +set on it; Steph. Greenleafe saw it, and myself and my wife. Again, my +rope-tools fell down upon the ground before my boy could take them, +being sent for them; and the same thing of nails tumbled down from the +loft into the ground, and nobody near. Again, my wife and boy making +the bed, the chest did open and shut: the bed-clothes could not be made +to lie on the bed, but fly off again. + +"Again, Caleb Powell came in, and, being affected to see our trouble, +did promise me and my wife, that, if we would be willing to let him +keep the boy, we should see ourselves that we should be never disturbed +while he was gone with him: he had the boy, and had been quiet ever +since. + +"Tho. Rogers and George Hardy, being at William Morse his house, affirm +that the earth in the chimney-corner moved, and scattered on them; that +Tho. Rogers was hit with somewhat, Hardy with an iron ladle as is +supposed. Somewhat hit William Morse a great blow, but it was so swift +that they could not certainly tell what it was; but,[i.444] looking +down after they heard the noise, they saw a shoe. The boy was in the +corner at the first, afterwards in the house. + +"Mr. Richardson on Saturday testifieth that a board flew against his +chair, and he heard a noise in another room, which he supposed in all +reason to be diabolical. + +"John Dole saw a pine stick of candlewood to fall down, a stone, a +firebrand; and these things he saw not what way they came, till they +fell down by him. + +"The same affirmed by John Tucker: the boy was in one corner, whom they +saw and observed all the while, and saw no motion in him. + +"Elizabeth Titcomb affirmeth that Powell said that he could find the +witch by his learning, if he had another scholar with him: this she +saith were his expressions, to the best of her memory. + +"Jo. Tucker affirmeth that Powell said to him, he saw the boy throw the +shoe while he was at prayer. + +"Jo. Emerson affirmeth that Powell said he was brought up under +Norwood; and it was judged by the people there, that Norwood studied +the black art. + +"A further Testimony of William Morse and his Wife.—We saw a keeler of +bread turn over against me, and struck me, not any being near it, and +so overturned. I saw a chair standing in the house, and not anybody +near: it did often bow towards me, and so rise up again. My wife also +being in the chamber, the chamber-door did violently fly together, not +anybody being near it. My wife, going to make a bed, it did move to and +fro, not anybody being near it. I also saw an iron wedge and spade was +flying out of the chamber on my wife, and did not strike her. My wife +going into the cellar, a drum, standing in the house, did roll[i.445] +over the door of the cellar; and, being taken up again, the door did +violently fly down again. My barn-doors four times unpinned, I know not +how. I, going to shut my barn-door, looking for the pin,—the boy being +with me, as I did judge,—the pin, coming down out of the air, did fall +down near to me. Again, Caleb Powell came in, as beforesaid, and, +seeing our spirits very low by the sense of our great affliction, began +to bemoan our condition, and said that he was troubled for our +afflictions, and said that he had eyed this boy, and drawed near to us +with great compassion: 'Poor old man, poor old woman! this boy is the +occasion of your grief; for he hath done these things, and hath caused +his good old grandmother to be counted a witch.' 'Then,' said I, 'how +can all these things be done by him?' Said he, 'Although he may not +have done all, yet most of them; for this boy is a young rogue, a vile +rogue: I have watched him, and see him do things as to come up and +down.' Caleb Powell also said he had understanding in astrology and +astronomy, and knew the working of spirits, some in one country, and +some in another; and, looking on the boy, said, 'You young rogue, to +begin so soon. Goodman Morse, if you be willing to let me have this +boy, I will undertake you shall be free from any trouble of this kind +while he is with me.' I was very unwilling at the first, and my wife; +but, by often urging me, till he told me whither, and what employment +and company, he should go, I did consent to it, and this was before Jo. +Badger came; and we have been freed from any trouble of this kind ever +since that promise, made on Monday night last, to this time, being +Friday in the afternoon. Then we heard a great noise in the other room, +oftentimes, but, looking after it, could not see any thing; but, +afterwards looking into the room, we saw a board hanged to the press. +Then[i.446] we, being by the fire, sitting in a chair, my chair often +would not stand still, but ready to throw me backward oftentimes. +Afterward, my cap almost taken off my head three times. Again, a great +blow on my poll, and my cat did leap from me into the chimney corner. +Presently after, this cat was thrown at my wife. We saw the cat to be +ours: we put her out of the house, and shut the door. Presently, the +cat was throwed into the house. We went to go to bed. Suddenly,—my wife +being with me in bed, the lamp-light by our side,—my cat again throwed +at us five times, jumping away presently into the floor; and, one of +those times, a red waistcoat throwed on the bed, and the cat wrapped up +in it. Again, the lamp, standing by us on the chest, we said it should +stand and burn out; but presently was beaten down, and all the oil +shed, and we left in the dark. Again, a great voice, a great while, +very dreadful. Again, in the morning, a great stone, being six-pound +weight, did remove from place to place,—we saw it,—two spoons throwed +off the table, and presently the table throwed down. And, being minded +to write, my inkhorn was hid from me, which I found, covered with a +rag, and my pen quite gone. I made a new pen; and, while I was writing, +one ear of corn hit me in the face, and fire, sticks, and stones +throwed at me, and my pen brought to me. While I was writing with my +new pen, my inkhorn taken away: and, not knowing how to write any more, +we looked under the table, and there found him; and so I was able to +write again. Again, my wife her hat taken from her head, sitting by the +fire by me, the table almost thrown down. Again, my spectacles thrown +from the table, and thrown almost into the fire by me, and my wife and +the boy. Again, my book of all my accounts thrown into the fire, and +had been burnt presently, if I had not taken it up. Again,[i.447] +boards taken off a tub, and set upright by themselves; and my paper, do +what I could, hardly keep it while I was writing this relation, and +things thrown at me while a-writing. Presently, before I could dry my +writing, a mormouth hat rubbed along it; but I held so fast that it did +blot but some of it. My wife and I, being much afraid that I should not +preserve it for public use, did think best to lay it in the Bible, and +it lay safe that night. Again, the next, I would lay it there again; +but, in the morning, it was not there to be found, the bag hanged down +empty; but, after, was found in a box alone. Again, while I was writing +this morning, I was forced to forbear writing any more, I was so +disturbed with so many things constantly thrown at me. + +"This relation brought in Dec. 8. + +"I, Anthony Morse, occasionally being at my brother Morse's house, my +brother showed me a piece of a brick which had several times come down +the chimney. I sitting in the corner, I took the piece of brick in my +hand. Within a little space of time, the piece of brick was gone from +me, I knew not by what means. Quickly after, the piece of brick came +down the chimney. Also, in the chimney-corner I saw a hammer on the +ground: there being no person near the hammer, it was suddenly gone, by +what means I know not. But, within a little space after, the hammer +came down the chimney. And, within a little space of time after that, +came a piece of wood down the chimney, about a foot long; and, within a +little after that, came down a firebrand, the fire being out. This was +about ten days ago. + +"John Badger affirmeth, that, being at William Morse his house, and +heard Caleb Powell say that he thought by astrology, and I think he +said by astronomy too, with it, he could find out whether or no there +were diabolical means[i.448] used about the said Morse his trouble, and +that the said Caleb said he thought to try to find it out. + +"The Deposition of Mary Tucker, aged about twenty.—She remembered that +Caleb Powell came into her house, and said to this purpose: That he, +coming to William Morse his house, and the old man, being at prayer, he +thought not fit to go in, but looked in at the window; and he said he +had broken the enchantment; for he saw the boy play tricks while he was +at prayer, and mentioned some, and, among the rest, that he saw him to +fling the shoe at the said Morse's head. + +"Taken on oath, March 29, 1680, before me, + +"Jo: Woodbridge, _Commissioner_. + +"Mary Richardson confirmed the truth of the above written testimony, on +oath, at the same time." + +There seem to have been several hearings before Commissioner +Woodbridge. The boy had returned to his grandparents before the last +deposition of William Morse, and his audacious operations were +persisted in to the last. The final decision of the Court was as +follows:— + +"Upon the hearing the complaint brought to this Court against Caleb +Powell for suspicion of working by the Devil to the molesting of the +family of William Morse of Newbury, though this court cannot find any +evident ground of proceeding further against the said Caleb Powell, yet +we determine that he hath given such ground of suspicion of his so +dealing that we cannot so acquit him, but that he justly deserves to +bear his own share and the costs of the prosecution of the complaint. + +"Referred to Mr. Woodbridge to examine and determine the charges." +[i.449] + +The entry of this sentence, in the records of the County Court, is as +follows; the clerk strangely mistaking the name of the party:— + +"The Court held at Ipswich, the 30th of March, 1680. + +"In the case of Abell Powell, though the Court do not see sufficient to +charge further, yet find so much suspicion as that he pay the charges. +The ordering of the charges left to Mr. Jo: Woodbridge." + +The matter of Powell's connection with the affair being thus disposed +of, and no one seeming to entertain his idea of the guilt of the boy, +the next step was to fasten suspicion upon the good old grandmother; +and a general outcry was raised against her. Her arrest and +condemnation were clamored for. But the result of Powell's trial, and +all preceding cases, showed that an Essex jury could not yet be relied +on for a conviction in witchcraft cases; and it was resolved to +institute proceedings in a more favorable quarter. The Grand Jury +returned a bill of indictment against her to the Court of Assistants, +sitting in Boston. This was the highest tribunal in the country, +subject only to the General Court, and embracing the whole colony in +its jurisdiction. The following is the substance of the record of the +case:— + +At a Court of Assistants, on adjournment, held at Boston, on the 20th +of May, 1680. + +The Grand Jury having presented Elizabeth Morse, wife of William Morse, +she was tried and convicted of the crime of witchcraft. The Governor, +on the 27th[i.450] of May, "after the lecture," in the First Church of +Boston, pronounced the sentence of death upon her. On the 1st of June, +the Governor and Assistants voted to reprieve her "until the next +session of the Court in Boston." At the said next session, the +reprieval was still further continued. This seems to have produced much +dissatisfaction, as is shown by the following extract from the records +of the House of Deputies:— + +"The Deputies, on perusal of the Acts of the Honored Court of +Assistants, relating to the woman condemned for witchcraft, do not +understand the reason why the sentence, given against her by said +Court, is not executed: and the second reprieval seems to us beyond +what the law will allow, and do therefore judge meet to declare +ourselves against it, with reference to the concurrence of the honored +magistrates hereto. + +William Torrey, _Clerk_." + +The action of the magistrates, on this reference, is recorded as +follows:— + +"3d of November, 1680.—Not consented to by magistrates. + +Edward Rawson, Secretary." + +The evidence against Mrs. Morse was frivolous to the last degree, +without any of the force and effect given to support the prosecutions +in Salem, twelve years afterwards, by the astounding confessions of the +accused, and the splendid acting of the "afflicted children;" yet she +was tried and condemned in Boston, and sentenced there on +"Lecture-day." The representatives of the people, in the House of +Deputies, cried out against her reprieve. She was saved[i.451] by the +courage and wisdom of Governor Bradstreet, subsequently a resident of +Salem, where his ashes rest. He was living here, at the age of ninety +years, during the witchcraft prosecutions in 1692; but, old as he was, +he made known his entire disapprobation of them. It is safe to say, +that, if he had not been superseded by the arrival of Sir William +Phipps as governor under the new charter, they would never have taken +place. Notwithstanding all this,—in spite of the remonstrances, at the +time, of Brattle, and afterwards of Hutchinson,—Boston and other towns +(earlier, if not equally, committed to such proceedings) have, by a +sort of general conspiracy, joined the rest of the world in trying to +throw and fasten the whole responsibility and disgrace of witchcraft +prosecutions upon Salem. + +Things continued in the condition just described,—Mrs. Morse in jail +under sentence of death; that sentence suspended by reprieves from the +Governor, from time to time, until the next year, when her husband, in +her behalf and in her name, presented an earnest and touching petition +"to the honored Governor, Deputy-governor, Magistrates, and Deputies +now assembled in Court, May the 18th, 1681," that her case might be +concluded, one way or another. After referring to her condemnation, and +to her attestation of innocence, she says, "By the mercy of God, and +the goodness of the honored Governor, I am reprieved." She begs the +Court to "hearken to her cry, a poor prisoner." She places herself at +the foot of the tribunal[i.452] of the General Court: "I now stand +humbly praying your justice in hearing my case, and to determine +therein as the Lord shall direct. I do not understand law, nor do I +know how to lay my case before you as I ought; for want of which I +humbly beg of your honors that my request may not be rejected." The +House of Deputies, on the 24th of May, voted to give her a new trial. +But the magistrates refused to concur in the vote; and so the matter +stood, for how long a time there are, I believe, no means of knowing. +Finally, however, she was released from prison, and allowed to return +to her own house. This we learn from a publication made by Mr. Hale, of +Beverly, in 1697. It seems, that, after getting her out of prison and +restored to her home, to use Mr. Hale's words, "her husband, who was +esteemed a sincere and understanding Christian by those that knew him, +desired some neighbor ministers, of whom I was one, to discourse his +wife, which we did; and her discourse was very Christian, and still +pleaded her innocence as to that which was laid to her charge." From +Mr. Hale's language, it may be inferred that she had not been pardoned +or discharged, but still lay under sentence of death, after her removal +to her own house: for he and his brethren did not "esteem it prudence +to pass any definite sentence upon one under her circumstances;" but +they ventured to say that they were "inclined to the more charitable +side." Mr. Hale states, that, "in her last sickness, she was in much +trouble and darkness of spirit, which occasioned a[i.453] judicious +friend to examine her strictly, whether she had been guilty of +witchcraft; but she said _no_, but the ground of her trouble was some +impatient and passionate speeches and actions of hers while in prison, +upon the account of her suffering wrongfully, whereby she had provoked +the Lord by putting contempt upon his Word. And, in fine, she sought +her pardon and comfort from God in Christ; and died, so far as I +understand, praying to and relying upon God in Christ for salvation." + +The cases of Margaret Jones, Ann Hibbins, and Elizabeth Morse +illustrate strikingly and fully the history and condition of the public +mind in New England, and the world over, in reference to witchcraft in +the seventeenth century. They show that there was nothing +unprecedented, unusual, or eminently shocking, after all, in what I am +about to relate as occurring in Salem, in 1692. The only real offence +proved upon Margaret Jones was that she was a successful practitioner +of medicine, using only simple remedies. Ann Hibbins was the victim of +the slanderous gossip of a prejudiced neighborhood; all our actual +knowledge of her being her Will, which proves that she was a person of +much more than ordinary dignity of mind, which was kept unruffled and +serene in the bitterest trials and most outrageous wrongs which it is +possible for folly and "man's inhumanity to man" to bring upon us in +this life. Elizabeth Morse appears to have been one of the best of +Christian women. The accusations against them, as a whole, cover nearly +the[i.454] whole ground upon which the subsequent prosecutions in Salem +rested. John Winthrop passed sentence upon Margaret Jones, John +Endicott upon Ann Hibbins, and Simon Bradstreet upon Elizabeth Morse. +The last-named governor performed the office as an unavoidable act of +official duty, and prevented the execution of the sentence by the +courageous use of his prerogative, in defiance of public clamor and the +wrath of the representatives of the whole people of the colony. These +facts sufficiently show, that the proceedings afterwards had in Salem +accorded with those in like cases, of that and preceding generations; +and were sanctioned by the all but universal sentiments of mankind and +a uniform chain of precedents. + +The trial of Bridget Bishop, in 1680, before the County Court at Salem, +for witchcraft, and her acquittal, have already been mentioned in the +account of Salem Village, in the First Part. + +In 1688, an Irish woman, named Glover, was executed in Boston for +bewitching four children belonging to the family of a Mr. Goodwin. She +was a Roman Catholic, represented to have been quite an ignorant +person, and seems, moreover, from the accounts given of her, to have +been crazy. The oldest of the children was only about thirteen years of +age. The most experienced physicians pronounced them bewitched. Their +conduct, as it is related by Cotton Mather, was indeed very +extraordinary. At one time they would bark like dogs, and then again +they would purr like[i.455] cats. "Yea," says he, "they would fly like +geese, and be carried with an incredible swiftness, having but just +their toes now and then upon the ground, sometimes not once in twenty +feet, and their arms waved like the wings of a bird." + +One of the children seems to have had a genius scarcely inferior to +that of Master Burke himself: there was no part nor passion she could +not enact. She would complain that the old Irish woman had tied an +invisible noose round her neck, and was choking her; and her complexion +and features would instantly assume the various hues and violent +distortions natural to a person in such a predicament. She would +declare that an invisible chain was fastened to one of her limbs, and +would limp about precisely as though it were really the case. She would +say that she was in an oven; the perspiration would drop from her face, +and she would exhibit every appearance of being roasted: then she would +cry out that cold water was thrown upon her, and her whole frame would +shiver and shake. She pretended that the evil spirit came to her in the +shape of an invisible horse; and she would canter, gallop, trot, and +amble round the rooms and entries in such admirable imitation, that an +observer could hardly believe that a horse was not beneath her, and +bearing her about. She would go up stairs with exactly such a toss and +bound as a person on horseback would exhibit. + +After some time, Cotton Mather took her into his own family, to see +whether he could not exorcise her.[i.456] His account of her conduct, +while there, is highly amusing for its credulous simplicity. The +cunning and ingenious child seems to have taken great delight in +perplexing and playing off her tricks upon the learned man. Once he +wished to say something in her presence, to a third person, which he +did not intend she should understand. He accordingly spoke in Latin. +But she had penetration enough to conjecture what he had said: he was +amazed. He then tried Greek: she was equally successful. He next spoke +in Hebrew: she instantly detected the meaning. At last he resorted to +the Indian language, and that she pretended not to know. He drew the +conclusion that the evil being with whom she was in compact was +acquainted familiarly with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but not with +the Indian tongue. + +It is curious to notice how adroitly she fell into the line of his +prejudices. He handed her a book written by a Quaker, to which sect it +is well known he was violently opposed: she would read it off with +great ease, rapidity, and pleasure. A book written against the Quakers +she could not read at all. She could read Popish books, but could not +decipher a syllable of the Assembly's Catechism. Dr. Mather was +earnestly opposed to the order and liturgy of the Church of England. +The artful little girl worked with great success upon this prejudice. +She pretended to be very fond of the Book of Common Prayer, and called +it her Bible. It would relieve her of her sufferings, in a moment, to +put it into her hands. While she could[i.457] not read a word of the +Scriptures in the Bible, she could read them very easily in the +Prayer-book; but she could not read the Lord's Prayer even in this her +favorite volume. All these things went far to strengthen the conviction +of Dr. Mather that she was in league with the Devil; for this was the +only explanation that could be given to satisfy his mind of her +partiality to the productions of Quakers, Catholics, and Episcopalians, +and her aversion to the Bible and the Catechism. + +She exhibited the most exquisite ingenuity in beguiling Dr. Mather by +the force of a charm, the power of which he could not resist for a +moment,—flattery. He thus describes, with a complacency but thinly +concealed under the veil of affected modesty, the part she played, in +order to give the impression—which it was the great object of his +ambition to make upon the public mind—that the Devil stood in special +fear of his presence:— + +"There then stood open the study of one belonging to the family, into +which, entering, she stood immediately on her feet, and cried out, +'They are gone! they are gone! They say that they cannot,—God won't let +'em come here!' adding a reason for it which the owner of the study +thought more kind than true; and she presently and perfectly came to +herself, so that her whole discourse and carriage was altered into the +greatest measure of sobriety." + +Upon quitting the study, "the demons" would instantly again take hold +of her. Mather continues the statement, by saying that some persons, +wishing to try[i.458] the experiment, had her brought "up into the +study;" but he says that she at once became— + +"so strangely distorted, that it was an extreme difficulty to drag her +up stairs. The demons would pull her out of the people's hands, and +make her heavier than, perhaps, three of herself. With incredible toil +(though she kept screaming, 'They say I must not go in'), she was +pulled in; where she was no sooner got, but she could stand on her +feet, and, with altered note, say, 'Now I am well.' She would be faint +at first, and say 'she felt something to go out of her' (the noises +whereof we sometimes heard like those of a mouse); but, in a minute or +two, she could apply herself to devotion. To satisfy some strangers, +the experiment was, divers times, with the same success, repeated, +until my lothness to have any thing done like making a charm of a room, +caused me to forbid the repetition of it." + +Even in her most riotous proceedings, she kept her eye fixed upon the +doctor's weak point. When he called the family to prayers, she would +whistle and sing and yell to drown his voice, would strike him with her +fist, and try to kick him. But her hand or foot would always recoil +when within an inch or two of his body; thus giving the idea that there +was a sort of invisible coat of mail, of heavenly temper, and proof +against the assaults of the Devil, around his sacred person! After a +while, Dr. Mather concluded to prepare an account of these +extraordinary circumstances, wherewithal to entertain his congregation +in a sermon. She seemed to be quite displeased at the thought of his +making public the doings of her master, the Evil[i.459] One, attempted +to prevent his writing the intended sermon, and disturbed and +interrupted him in all manner of ways. For instance, she once knocked +at his study door, and said that "there was somebody down stairs that +would be glad to see him." He dropped his pen, and went down. Upon +entering the room, he found nobody there but the family. The next time +he met her, he undertook to chide her for having told him a falsehood. +She denied that she had told a falsehood. "Didn't you say," said he, +"that there was somebody down stairs that would be glad to see +me?"—"Well," she replied, with inimitable pertness, "is not Mrs. Mather +always glad to see you?" + +She even went much farther than this in persecuting the good man while +he was writing his sermon: she threw large books at his head. But he +struggled manfully against these buffetings of Satan, as he considered +her conduct to be, finished the sermon, related all these circumstances +in it, preached, and published it. Richard Baxter wrote the preface to +an edition printed in London, in which he declares that he who will not +be convinced by all the evidence Dr. Mather presents that the child was +bewitched "must be a very obdurate Sadducee." It is so obvious, that, +in this whole affair, Cotton Mather was grossly deceived and +audaciously imposed upon by the most consummate and precocious cunning, +that it needs no comment. I have given this particular account of it, +because there is reason to believe that it originated the delusion in +Salem. It occurred only four years[i.460] before. Dr. Mather's account +of the transaction filled the whole country; and it is probable that +the children in Mr. Parris's family undertook to re-enact it. + +There is nothing in the annals of the histrionic art more illustrative +of the infinite versatility of the human faculties, both physical and +mental, and of the amazing extent to which cunning, ingenuity, +contrivance, quickness of invention, and presence of mind can be +cultivated, even in very young persons, than such cases as this just +related. It seems, at first, incredible that a mere child could carry +on such a complex piece of fraud and imposture as that enacted by the +little girl whose achievements have been immortalized by the famous +author of the "Magnalia." Many other instances, however, are found +recorded in the history of the delusion we are discussing. + +That of the grandchild of William and Elizabeth Morse, in Newbury, was +nearly as marvellous, and perfectly successful in deceiving the whole +country except Caleb Powell; and he got into much trouble in +consequence of seeing through it. A similar instance of juvenile +imposture is related as having occurred at Amsterdam in 1560. Twenty or +thirty boys pretended to be suddenly seized with a kind of rage and +fury, were cast upon the ground, and tormented with great agony. These +fits were intermittent; and, when they had passed off, their subjects +did not seem to be conscious of what had taken place. While they +lasted, the boys threw up, apparently from their stomachs, large +quantities of needles, pins, thimbles, pieces of[i.461] cloth, +fragments of pots and kettles, bits of glass, locks of hair, and a +variety of other articles. There was no doubt, at the time, that they +were suffering under the influence of the Devil; and multitudes crowded +round them, and gazed upon them with wonder and horror. + +The details of the cases in Newbury and Charlestown were dressed up by +Cotton Mather and other writers in the strongest colors that credulous +superstition and the peculiar views of that age on the subject of +demonology could employ. They were almost universally received as proof +that Satan had commenced an onslaught, such as had never before been +known, upon the Church and the world! They appear to us as simply +absurd, and the result of precocious knavery; not so to the people of +that generation. They were looked upon as fearful demonstrations of +diabolical power, and preludes to the coming of Satan, with his +infernal confederates, to overwhelm the land. The imaginations of all +were excited, and their apprehensions morbidly aroused. The very air +was filled with rumors, fancies, and fears. The ministers sounded the +alarm from their pulpits. The magistrates sharpened the sword of +justice. The deputy-governor of the colony, Danforth, began to arrest +suspected persons months before proceedings commenced, or were thought +of, in Salem Village. It was believed that evil spirits had been seen, +by men's bodily eyes, in a neighboring town. They glided over the +fields, hovered around the houses, appeared, van[i.462]ished, and +re-appeared on the outskirts of the woods, in the vicinity of +Gloucester. Their movements were observed by several of the +inhabitants; and the whole population of the Cape was kept in a state +of agitation and alarm, in consequence of the mysterious phenomena, for +three weeks. The inhabitants retired to the garrison, and put +themselves in a state of defence against the diabolical besiegers. +Sixty men were despatched from Ipswich, in military array, to +re-enforce the garrison, and several valiant sallies were made from its +walls. Much powder was expended, but no corporeal or incorporeal blood +was shed. An account of these events was drawn up by the Rev. John +Emerson, then the minister of the first parish in Gloucester, from +which the facts now mentioned have been selected. It is very minute and +particular. The appearance and dress of the supernatural enemies are +described. They wore white waistcoats, blue shirts, and white breeches, +and had bushy heads of black hair. Mr. Emerson concludes his account by +expressing the hope that "all rational persons will be satisfied that +Gloucester was not alarmed last summer for above a fortnight together +by real French and Indians, but that the Devil and his agents were the +cause of all the molestation which at this time befell the town." + +These wonderful things took place at Cape Ann, about the time that the +great conflict between the Devil and his confederates on the one hand, +and the ministers and magistrates on the other, at Salem Village, was +reaching its height. It is said that it was[i.463] regarded by the most +considerate persons, at the time, as an artful contrivance of the Devil +to create a diversion of the attention of the pious colonists from his +operations through the witches in Salem, and, by dividing and +distracting their forces, to obtain an advantage over them in the war +he was waging against their churches and their religion. + + +We are now ready to enter upon the story of Salem witchcraft. We have +endeavored to become acquainted with the people who acted conspicuous +parts in the drama, and to understand their character; and have tried +to collect, and bring into appreciating view, the opinions and +theories, the habits of thought, the associations of mind, the +passions, impulses, and fantasies that guided, moulded, and controlled +their conduct. The law, literature, and theology of the age, as they +bore on the subject, have been brought before us. The last great +display of the effects of the doctrines of demonology, of the belief of +the agency of invisible, irresponsible beings, whether fallen angels or +departed spirits, upon the actions of men and human affairs, is now to +open before us. The final results of superstitions and fables and +fancies, accumulating through the ages, are to be exhibited in a +transaction, an actual demonstration in real life. They are to present +an exemplification that will at once fully display their power, and +deal their death-blow. + +Without the least purpose or wish to cover up or extenuate the follies, +excesses, or outrages I am about[i.464] to describe, into which the +community suffered itself to be led in the witchcraft proceedings of +1692,—with a desire, on the contrary, to make the lesson then given of +the mischief resulting from misguided enthusiasm, and which will always +result when popular excitement is allowed to wield the organized powers +of society, as impressive as facts and truth will justify,—I feel bound +to say, in advance, that there are some considerations which we must +keep before us, while reviewing the incidents of the transaction. The +theological, legal, and philosophical doctrines and the popular +beliefs, on which it was founded, have, as I have shown, led, in other +countries and periods, to similar, and often vastly more shameful, +cruel, and destructive results. But there was something in the affair, +as it was developed here, that has arrested the notice of mankind, and +clothed it with an inherent interest, beyond all other events of the +kind that have elsewhere or ever occurred. + +The moral force engendered in the civilization planted on these shores, +and pervading the whole body of society, supplied a mightier momentum, +as it does to this day, and ever will, to the movement of the people, +acting in a mass and as a unit, than can anywhere else be found. A +population, invigorated by hardy enterprise, and the constant exercise +of all the faculties of freedom, and actuated throughout by individual +energy of character, must be mightier in motion than any other people. +Such a population multiplies tenfold its physical forces, by the +addition of[i.465] moral and intellectual energies. The men of the day +and scene we are now to contemplate, however deluded, to whatever +extremities carried, were controlled by fixed, absolute, sharply +defined, and, in themselves, great ideas. They believed in God. They +also believed in the Devil. They bowed in an adoration that penetrated +their inmost souls, before the one as a being of infinite holiness: +they regarded the other as a being of an all but infinite power of +evil. They feared and worshipped God. They hated and defied the Devil. +They believed that Satan was waging war against Jehovah, and that the +conflict was for the dominion of the world, for the establishment or +the overthrow of the Church of Christ. The battle, they fully believed, +could have no other issue than the salvation or the ruin of the souls +of men. This was not, with them, a mere technical, verbal creed. It was +a deep-seated conviction, held earnestly with a clear and distinct +apprehension of its import, by every individual mind. For this warfare, +they put on the whole armor of faith, rallied to the banner of the Most +High, and met Satan face to face. In this one great idea, a stern, +determined, unflinching, all-sacrificing people concentrated their +strength. No wonder that the conflict reached a magnitude which made it +observable to the whole country and all countries at the time, and will +make it memorable throughout all time. Those engaged in it, with this +sentiment absorbing their very souls, passed, for the time, out of the +realm of all other sentiments, and were insensible to all other +considera[i.466]tions. The nearer and dearer the relatives, the higher +and more conspicuous the persons, who, in their belief, were in league +with the Devil, the more profound the abhorrence of their crime, and +the determination to cut off and destroy them utterly. They believed +that Satan had, once before, "against the throne and monarchy of God, +raised impious war and battle proud;" and that for this he had been +cast out from "heaven, with all his host of rebel angels;" that he, +with his army of subordinate wicked spirits, was making a desperate +effort to retrieve his lost estate, by a renewed rebellion against God; +and they were determined to drive him, and all his confederates, for +ever from the confines of the earth. The humble hamlet of Salem Village +was felt to be the great and final battle-ground. However wild and +absurd this idea is now regarded, it was then sincerely and thoroughly +entertained, and must be taken into the account, in coming to a just +estimate of the character of the transaction, and of those engaged in +it. + +One other thought is to be borne in mind, as we pass through the scenes +that are to be spread before us. The theology of Christendom, at that +time, so far as it relates to the power and agency of Satan and +demonology in general,—and this is the only point of view on which I +ever refer to theology in this discussion,—and the whole fabric of +popular superstitions founded upon it, had reached their culmination. +The beginning, middle, and close of the seventeenth century, witnessed +the greatest display of those supersti[i.467]tions, and prepared the +way for their final explosion. As the hour of their dissolution was at +hand, and they were doomed to vanish before the light of science and +education, to pass from the realm of supposed reality into that of +acknowledged fiction, it seems to have been ordered that they should +leave monuments behind them, from which their character, elements, and +features, and their terrible influence, might be read and studied in +all subsequent ages. + +The ideas in reference to the agency and designs of the great enemy of +God and man, and all his subordinate hosts, witches, fairies, ghosts, +"gorgons and hydras, and chimeras dire," "apparitions, signs, and +prodigies," by which the minds of men had so long been filled, and +their fearful imaginations exercised, as they took their flight, +imprinted themselves, for perpetual remembrance, in productions which, +more than any works of mere human genius, are sure to live for ever. +They left their forms crystallized, with imperishable lineaments, in +the greatest of dramas and the greatest of epics. The plays of +Shakespeare, as the century opened, and the verse of Milton in its +central period, are their record and their picture. + +But there was another shape and aspect in which it was pre-eminently +important to have their memory preserved; and that was their +application to life, their influence upon the conduct of men, the +action of tribunals, and the movements of society, and, in general, +their effects, when allowed full operation, upon human happiness and +welfare. This want was supplied, as[i.468] the century terminated, by +the tragedy in real life, whose scenes are now to be presented in +Witchcraft at Salem Village. + +However strange it seems, it is quite worthy of observation, that the +actors in that tragedy, the "afflicted children," and other witnesses, +in their various statements and operations, embraced about the whole +circle of popular superstition. How those young country girls, some of +them mere children, most of them wholly illiterate, could have become +familiar with such fancies, to such an extent, is truly surprising. +They acted out, and brought to bear with tremendous effect, almost all +that can be found in the literature of that day, and the period +preceding it, relating to such subjects. Images and visions which had +been portrayed in tales of romance, and given interest to the pages of +poetry, will be made by them, as we shall see, to throng the woods, +flit through the air, and hover over the heads of a terrified court. +The ghosts of murdered wives and children will play their parts with a +vividness of representation and artistic skill of expression that have +hardly been surpassed in scenic representations on the stage. In the +Salem-witchcraft proceedings, the superstition of the middle ages was +embodied in real action. All its extravagances, absurdities, and +monstrosities appear in their application to human experience. We see +what the effect has been, and must be, when the affairs of life, in +courts of law and the relations of society, or the conduct or feelings +of individuals, are suffered to[i.469] be under the control of fanciful +or mystical notions. When a whole people abandons the solid ground of +common sense, overleaps the boundaries of human knowledge, gives itself +up to wild reveries, and lets loose its passions without restraint, it +presents a spectacle more terrific to behold, and becomes more +destructive and disastrous, than any convulsion of mere material +nature; than tornado, conflagration, or earthquake. + + +END OF VOL. I. + +Go to Volume II + + +FOOTNOTES + +[A] Not only the storms of two hundred and thirty years, but the bolts +of heaven, have beat in vain upon this mansion. The view given of it in +the frontispiece is from a sketch taken in winter. The leafless +branches of a tall elm at its western end are represented. At noon on +Saturday, July 28, 1866, during a violent thunder-storm, the electric +fluid seems to have passed down the tree, rending and tearing some of +its branches, and leaving its traces on the trunk. It flashed into the +house. It tore the roof, knocking away one corner, displacing in +patches the mortar that coated the old chimney top and sides, hacking +the edges of the brick-work, splitting off the side of an extension to +the building at the western end, entering a chamber at that point, +where two children were sitting at a window, and throwing upon the +floor, within two or three feet of them, a considerable portion of the +plastered ceiling. It then scattered all through the apartments. What +looked like perforations, as if made by shot or pistol-balls, were +found in many places; but there were no corresponding marks on the +opposite sides of the walls or partitions. Portions of the +paper-hangings were stripped off, and small slivers ripped up from the +floors. It struck the frames of looking-glasses, cracking off small +pieces of the wood, but only in one instance breaking the mirror. It +cut a velvet band by which one was hung; and it was found on the floor, +the mirror downward and unbroken, as if it had been carefully laid +there. In the attic, fragments of the old gnarled and knotted rafters, +of different lengths,—from four or five feet to mere chips,—were +scattered in quantities upon the floor, and grooves made lengthwise +along posts and implements of household use. Large cracks were left in +the wooden casings of some of the doors and windows. A family of eight +persons were seated around the dinner-table. All were more or less +affected. They were deprived for the time of the use of their feet and +ancles; were stunned, paralyzed, and rendered insensible for a few +moments by the shock; and felt the effects, some of them, for a day or +two in their lower limbs. In front of each person at the table was a +tall goblet, which had just been filled with water. As soon as they +were able to notice, they found the water dripping on all sides to the +floor, the whole table-cloth wet, seven of the goblets entirely empty, +the eighth half emptied, and not one of them thrown over, or in the +slightest manner displaced. The whole house was filled with what +seemed, to the sight and smell, to be smoke; but no combustion, scorch, +discoloration, or the least indication of heat, could be found on any +of the objects struck. The building, in its thirteen rooms, from the +garret to the ground-floor, had been flooded with lightning; but, with +all its inmates, escaped without considerable or permanent injury. + +[B] For a thorough discussion of the several Hebrew words that relate +to Divination and Magic, see Wierus de Præstigiis, L. 2, c. 1. + +[C] The syllogism was originally designed to serve as a _method of +determining the arrangement and classification of truth already shown_; +and, when employed for this purpose, was of great value and excellence. +It was its perverted application to the _discovery_ of truth which +rendered utterly worthless so large a part of the learning and +philosophy of the middle ages. The reader will perceive, that it is to +the syllogism, as thus misapplied and misunderstood by the schoolmen, +not as designed and used by Aristotle, that the remarks in the text are +intended to apply. + +[D] The manner in which Dr. Mather brings forward this affair shows how +loose and inaccurate he was in his description of events. It also +illustrates the tendency of the times to exaggerate, or to paint in the +highest colors, whatever was susceptible of being represented as +miraculous. There is no reason, however, to doubt that the facts took +place substantially as described in the text. The reader is referred, +on this as on all points connected with our early history, to Mr. +Savage's instructive, elaborate, and entertaining edition of Winthrop's +"New England." + +[E] It is much to be regretted, that Farmer, after having written with +such admirable success upon the temptation, the demoniacs, miracles, +and the worship of human spirits, did not live to accomplish his +original design, by giving the world a complete discussion and +elucidation of the Scripture doctrine of the Devil. + + + + +VOLUME II. + + +The Philip English House + + +THE PHILIP ENGLISH HOUSE.—Vol. II., 142. + + +[ii.1] + Witch Hill. 1866. + + + + +PART THIRD. + + +WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE. + +W E left Mr. Parris in the early part of November, 1691, at the crisis +of his controversy with the inhabitants of Salem Village, under +circumstances which seemed to indicate that its termination was near at +hand. The opposition to him had assumed a form which made it quite +probable that it would succeed in dislodging him from his position. But +the end was not yet. Events were ripening that were to give him a new +and fearful strength, and open a scene in which he was to act a part +destined to attract the notice of the world, and become a permanent +portion of human history. The doctrines of demonology had produced +their full effect upon the minds of men, and every thing was ready for +a final display of their power. The story of the Goodwin children, as +told by Cotton Mather, was known and read in all the dwellings of the +land, and filled the imaginations of a credulous age. +[ii.2]Deputy-governor Danforth had begun the work of arrests; and +persons charged with witchcraft, belonging to neighboring towns, were +already in prison. + +Mr. Parris appears to have had in his family several slaves, probably +brought by him from the West Indies. One of them, whom he calls, in his +church-record book, "my negro lad," had died, a year or two before, at +the age of nineteen. Two of them were man and wife. The former was +always known by the name of "John Indian;" the latter was called +"Tituba." These two persons may have originated the "Salem witchcraft." +They are spoken of as having come from New Spain, as it was then +called,—that is, the Spanish West Indies, and the adjacent mainlands of +Central and South America,—and, in all probability, contributed, from +the wild and strange superstitions prevalent among their native tribes, +materials which, added to the commonly received notions on such +subjects, heightened the infatuation of the times, and inflamed still +more the imaginations of the credulous. Persons conversant with the +Indians of Mexico, and on both sides of the Isthmus, discern many +similarities in their systems of demonology with ideas and practices +developed here. + +Mr. Parris's former residence in the neighborhood of the Spanish Main, +and the prominent part taken by his Indian slaves in originating the +proceedings at the village, may account for some of the features of the +transaction. + +During the winter of 1691 and 1692, a circle of young girls had been +formed, who were in the habit of meeting at Mr. Parris's house for the +[ii.3]purpose of practising palmistry, and other arts of +fortune-telling, and of becoming experts in the wonders of necromancy, +magic, and spiritualism. It consisted, besides the Indian servants, +mainly of the following persons:— + +Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Parris, was nine years of age. She seems to +have performed a leading part in the first stages of the affair, and +must have been a child of remarkable precocity. It is a noticeable +fact, that her father early removed her from the scene. She was sent to +the town, where she remained in the family of Stephen Sewall, until the +proceedings at the village were brought to a close. Abigail Williams, a +niece of Mr. Parris, and a member of his household, was eleven years of +age. She acted conspicuously in the witchcraft prosecutions from +beginning to end. Ann Putnam, daughter of Sergeant Thomas Putnam, the +parish clerk or recorder, was twelve years of age. The character and +social position of her parents gave her a prominence which an +extraordinary development of the imaginative faculty, and of mental +powers generally, enabled her to hold throughout. This young girl is +perhaps entitled to be regarded as, in many respects, the leading agent +in all the mischief that followed. Mary Walcot was seventeen years of +age. Her father was Jonathan Walcot (vol. i. p. 225). His first wife, +Mary Sibley, to whom he was married in 1664, had died in 1683. She was +the mother of Mary. It is a singular fact, and indicates the estimation +in which Captain Walcot was held, that, although not a church-member, +he filled the office of deacon of the parish[ii.4] for several years +before the formation of the church. Mercy Lewis was also seventeen +years of age. When quite young, she was, for a time, in the family of +the Rev. George Burroughs: and, in 1692, was living as a servant in the +family of Thomas Putnam; although, occasionally, she seems to have +lived, in the same capacity, with that of John Putnam, Jr., the +constable of the village. He was a son of Nathaniel, and resided in the +neighborhood of Thomas and Deacon Edward Putnam. Mercy Lewis performed +a leading part in the proceedings, had great energy of purpose and +capacity of management, and became responsible for much of the crime +and horror connected with them. Elizabeth Hubbard, seventeen years of +age, who also occupies a bad eminence in the scene, was a niece of Mrs. +Dr. Griggs, and lived in her family. Elizabeth Booth and Susannah +Sheldon, each eighteen years of age, belonged to families in the +neighborhood. Mary Warren, twenty years of age, was a servant in the +family of John Procter; and Sarah Churchill, of the same age, was a +servant in that of George Jacobs, Sr. These two last were actuated, it +is too apparent, by malicious feelings towards the families in which +they resided, and contributed largely to the horrible tragedy. The +facts to be exhibited will enable every one who carefully considers +them, to form an estimate, for himself, of the respective character and +conduct of these young persons. It is almost beyond belief that they +were wholly actuated by deliberate and cold-blooded malignity. Their +crime would, in that view, have been[ii.5] without a parallel in +monstrosity of wickedness, and beyond what can be imagined of the +guiltiest and most depraved natures. For myself, I am unable to +determine how much may be attributed to credulity, hallucination, and +the delirium of excitement, or to deliberate malice and falsehood. +There is too much evidence of guile and conspiracy to attribute all +their actions and declarations to delusion; and their conduct +throughout was stamped with a bold assurance and audacious bearing. +With one or two slight and momentary exceptions, there was a total +absence of compunction or commiseration, and a reckless disregard of +the agonies and destruction they were scattering around them. They +present a subject that justly claims, and will for ever task, the +examination of those who are most competent to fathom the mysteries of +the human soul, sound its depths, and measure the extent to which it is +liable to become wicked and devilish. It will be seen that other +persons were drawn to act with these "afflicted children," as they were +called, some from contagious delusion, and some, as was quite well +proved, from a false, mischievous, and malignant spirit. + +Besides the above-mentioned persons, there were three married women, +rather under middle life, who acted with the afflicted children,—Mrs. +Ann Putnam, the mother of the child of that name; Mrs. Pope; and a +woman, named Bibber, who appears to have lived at Wenham. Another +married woman,—spoken of as "ancient,"—named Goodell, had also been in +the[ii.6] habit of attending their meetings; but she is not named in +any of the documents on file, and was probably withdrawn, at an early +period, from participating in the transaction. + +In the course of the winter, they became quite skilful and expert in +the arts they were learning, and gradually began to display their +attainments to the admiration and amazement of beholders. At first, +they made no charges against any person, but confined themselves to +strange actions, exclamations, and contortions. They would creep into +holes, and under benches and chairs, put themselves into odd and +unnatural postures, make wild and antic gestures, and utter incoherent +and unintelligible sounds. They would be seized with spasms, drop +insensible to the floor, or writhe in agony, suffering dreadful +tortures, and uttering loud and piercing outcries. The attention of the +families in which they held their meetings was called to their +extraordinary condition and proceedings; and the whole neighborhood and +surrounding country soon were filled with the story of the strange and +unaccountable sufferings of the "afflicted girls." No explanation could +be given, and their condition became worse and worse. The physician of +the village, Dr. Griggs, was called in, a consultation had, and the +opinion finally and gravely given, that the afflicted children were +bewitched. It was quite common in those days for the faculty to dispose +of difficult cases by this resort. When their remedies were baffled, +and their skill at fault, the patient was[ii.7] said to be "under an +evil hand." In all cases, the sage conclusion was received by nurses, +and elderly women called in on such occasions, if the symptoms were out +of the common course, or did not yield to the prescriptions these +persons were in the habit of applying. Very soon, the whole community +became excited and alarmed to the highest degree. All other topics were +forgotten. The only thing spoken or thought of was the terrible +condition of the afflicted children in Mr. Parris's house, or wherever, +from time to time, the girls assembled. They were the objects of +universal compassion and wonder. The people flocked from all quarters +to witness their sufferings, and gaze with awe upon their convulsions. +Becoming objects of such notice, they were stimulated to vary and +expand the manifestations of the extraordinary influence that was upon +them. They extended their operations beyond the houses of Mr. Parris, +and the families to which they belonged, to public places; and their +fits, exclamations, and outcries disturbed the exercises of prayer +meetings, and the ordinary services of the congregation. On one +occasion, on the Lord's Day, March 20th, when the singing of the psalm +previous to the sermon was concluded, before the person preaching—Mr. +Lawson—could come forward, Abigail Williams cried out, "Now stand up, +and name your text." When he had read it, in a loud and insolent voice +she exclaimed, "It's a long text." In the midst of the discourse, Mrs. +Pope broke in, "Now, there is enough of that." In the afternoon of the +same day, while re[ii.8]ferring to the doctrine he had been expounding +in the preceding service, Abigail Williams rudely ejaculated, "I know +no doctrine you had. If you did name one, I have forgot it." An aged +member of the church was present, against whom a warrant on the charge +of witchcraft had been procured the day before. Being apprised of the +proceeding, Abigail Williams spoke aloud, during the service, calling +by name the person about to be apprehended, "Look where she sits upon +the beam, sucking her yellow-bird betwixt her fingers." Ann Putnam, +joining in, exclaimed, "There is a yellow-bird sitting on the +minister's hat, as it hangs on the pin in the pulpit." Mr. Lawson +remarks, with much simplicity, that these things, occurring "in the +time of public worship, did something interrupt me in my first prayer, +being so unusual." But he braced himself up to the emergency, and went +on with the service. There is no intimation that Mr. Parris rebuked his +niece for her disorderly behavior. As at several other times, the +people sitting near Ann Putnam had to lay hold of her to prevent her +proceeding to greater extremities, and wholly breaking up the meeting. +The girls were supposed to be under an irresistible and supernatural +impulse; and, instead of being severely punished, were looked upon with +mingled pity, terror, and awe, and made objects of the greatest +attention. Of course, where members of the minister's family were +countenanced in such proceedings, during the exercises of public +worship, on the Lord's Day, in the meeting-house, it was not[ii.9] +strange that people in general yielded to the excitement. But all did +not. Several members of the family of Francis Nurse, Peter Cloyse and +wife, and Joseph Putnam, expressed their disapprobation of such doings +being allowed, and absented themselves from meeting. Perhaps others +took the same course; but whoever did were marked, as the sequel will +show. + +In the mean while the excitement was worked up to the highest pitch. +The families to which several of the "afflicted children" belonged were +led to apply themselves to fasting and prayer, on which occasions the +neighbors, under the guidance of the minister, would assemble, and +unite in invocations to the Divine Being to interpose and deliver them +from the snares and dominion of Satan. The "afflicted children" who +might be present would not, as a general thing, interrupt the prayers +while in progress, but would break out with their wild outcries and +convulsive spasms in the intervals of the service. In due time, Mr. +Parris sent for the neighboring ministers to assemble at his house, and +unite with him in devoting a day to solemn religious services and +earnest supplications to the throne of Mercy for rescue from the power +of the great enemy of souls. The ministers spent the day in Mr. +Parris's house, and the children performed their feats before their +eyes. The reverend gentlemen were astounded at what they saw, fully +corroborated the opinion of Dr. Griggs, and formally declared their +belief that the Evil One had commenced his operations with a bolder +front and[ii.10] on a broader scale than ever before in this or any +other country. + +This judgment of the ministers was quickly made known everywhere; and, +if doubt remained in any mind, it was suppressed by the irresistible +power of an overwhelming public conviction. Individuals were lost in +the universal fanaticism. Society was dissolved into a wild and excited +crowd. Men and women left their fields, their houses, their labors and +employments, to witness the awful unveiling of the demoniac power, and +to behold the workings of Satan himself upon the victims of his wrath. + +It must be borne in mind, that it was then an established doctrine in +theology, philosophy, and law, that the Devil could not operate upon +mortals, or mortal affairs, except through the intermediate +instrumentality of human beings in confederacy with him, that is, +witches or wizards. The question, of course, in all minds and on all +tongues, was, "Who are the agents of the Devil in afflicting these +girls? There must be some among us thus acting, and who are they?" For +some time the girls held back from mentioning names; or, if they did, +it was prevented from being divulged to the public. In the mean time, +the excitement spread and deepened. At length the people had become so +thoroughly prepared for the work, that it was concluded to begin +operations in earnest. The continued pressure upon the "afflicted +children," the earnest and importunate inquiry, on all sides, "Who is +it that bewitches you?" opened their lips in response, and[ii.11] they +began to select and bring forward their victims. One after another, +they cried out "Good," "Osburn," "Tituba." On the 29th of February, +1692, warrants were duly issued against those persons. It is +observable, that the complainants who procured the warrants in these +cases were Joseph Hutchinson, Edward Putnam, Thomas Putnam, and Thomas +Preston. This fact shows how nearly unanimous, at this time, was the +conviction that the sufferings of the girls were the result of +witchcraft. Joseph Hutchinson was a firm-minded man, of strong common +sense, and from his general character and ways of thinking and acting, +one of the last persons liable to be carried away by a popular +enthusiasm, and was found among the earliest rescued from it. Thomas +Preston was a son-in-law of Francis Nurse. + +As all was ripe for the development of the plot, extraordinary means +were taken to give publicity, notoriety, and effect to the first +examinations. On the 1st of March the two leading magistrates of the +neighborhood, men of great note and influence, whose fathers had been +among the chief founders of the settlement, and who were +Assistants,—that is, members of the highest legislative and judicial +body in the colony, combining with the functions of a senate those of a +court of last resort with most comprehensive jurisdiction,—John +Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, entered the village, in imposing array, +escorted by the marshal, constables, and their aids, with all the +trappings of their offices; reined up at Nathaniel In[ii.12]gersoll's +corner, and dismounted at his door. The whole population of the +neighborhood, apprised of the occasion, was gathered on the lawn, or +came flocking along the roads. The crowd was so great that it was +necessary to adjourn to the meeting-house, which was filled at once by +a multitude excited to the highest pitch of indignation and abhorrence +towards the prisoners, and of curiosity to witness the novel and +imposing spectacle and proceedings. The magistrates took seats in front +of the pulpit, facing the assembly; a long table or raised platform +being placed before them; and it was announced, that they were ready to +enter upon the examination. On bringing in and delivering over the +accused parties, the officers who had executed the warrants stated that +they "had made diligent search for images and such like, but could find +none." After prayer, Constable George Locker produced the body of Sarah +Good; and Constable Joseph Herrick, the bodies of Sarah Osburn, and +Tituba Mr. Parris's Indian woman. The evidence seems to indicate, that, +on these occasions, the prisoners were placed on the platform, to keep +them from the contact of the general crowd, and that all might see +them. + +Sarah Good was first examined, the other two being removed from the +house for the time. In complaining of her, and bringing her forward +first, the prosecutors showed that they were well advised. There was a +general readiness to receive the charge against her, as she was +evidently the object of much prejudice in the neighborhood. Her +husband, who was a weak,[ii.13] ignorant, and dependent person, had +become alienated from her. The family were very poor; and she and her +children had sometimes been without a house to shelter them, and left +to wander from door to door for relief. Whether justly or not, she +appears to have been subject to general obloquy. Probably there was no +one in the country around, against whom popular suspicion could have +been more readily directed, or in whose favor and defence less interest +could be awakened. She was a forlorn, friendless, and forsaken +creature, broken down by wretchedness of condition and ill-repute. The +following are the minutes of her examination, as found among the +files:— + +"_The Examination of Sarah Good before the Worshipful Esqrs. John +Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin._ + +"Sarah Good, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?—None. + +"Have you made no contracts with the Devil?—No. + +"Why do you hurt these children?—I do not hurt them. I scorn it. + +"Who do you employ then to do it?—I employ nobody. + +"What creature do you employ then?—No creature: but I am falsely +accused. + +"Why did you go away muttering from Mr. Parris his house?—I did not +mutter, but I thanked him for what he gave my child. + +"Have you made no contract with the Devil?—No. + +"Hathorne desired the children all of them to look upon her, and see if +this were the person that hurt them; and so they all did look upon her, +and said this was one of the persons that did torment them. Presently +they were all tormented.[ii.14] + +"Sarah Good, do you not see now what you have done? Why do you not tell +us the truth? Why do you thus torment these poor children?—I do not +torment them. + +"Who do you employ then?—I employ nobody. I scorn it. + +"How came they thus tormented?—What do I know? You bring others here, +and now you charge me with it. + +"Why, who was it?—I do not know but it was some you brought into the +meeting-house with you. + +"We brought you into the meeting-house.—But you brought in two more. + +"Who was it, then, that tormented the children?—It was Osburn. + +"What is it you say when you go muttering away from persons' houses?—If +I must tell, I will tell. + +"Do tell us then.—If I must tell, I will tell: it is the Commandments. +I may say my Commandments, I hope. + +"What Commandment is it?—If I must tell you, I will tell: it is a +psalm. + +"What psalm? + +"(After a long time she muttered over some part of a psalm.) + +"Who do you serve?—I serve God. + +"What God do you serve?—The God that made heaven and earth (though she +was not willing to mention the word 'God'). Her answers were in a very +wicked, spiteful manner, reflecting and retorting against the authority +with base and abusive words; and many lies she was taken in. It was +here said that her husband had said that he was afraid that she either +was a witch or would be one very quickly. The worshipful Mr. Hathorne, +asked him his reason why he[ii.15] said so of her, whether he had ever +seen any thing by her. He answered 'No, not in this nature; but it was +her bad carriage to him: and indeed,' said he, 'I may say with tears, +that she is an enemy to all good.'" + +The foregoing is in the handwriting of Ezekiel Cheever. The following +is in that of John Hathorne:— + +"Salem Village, March the 1st, 1692.—Sarah Good, upon examination, +denied the matter of fact (viz.) that she ever used any witchcraft, or +hurt the abovesaid children, or any of them. + +"The abovenamed children, being all present, positively accused her of +hurting of them sundry times within this two months, and also that +morning. Sarah Good denied that she had been at their houses in said +time or near them, or had done them any hurt. All the abovesaid +children then present accused her face to face; upon which they were +all dreadfully tortured and tormented for a short space of time; and, +the affliction and tortures being over, they charged said Sarah Good +again that she had then so tortured them, and came to them and did it, +although she was personally then kept at a considerable distance from +them. + +"Sarah Good being asked if that she did not then hurt them, who did it; +and the children being again tortured, she looked upon them, and said +that it was one of them we brought into the house with us. We asked her +who it was: she then answered, and said it was Sarah Osburn, and Sarah +Osburn was then under custody, and not in the house; and the children, +being quickly after recovered out of their fit, said that it was Sarah +Good and also Sarah Osburn that then did hurt and torment or afflict +them, although both of them at the same time at a distance[ii.16] or +remote from them personally. There were also sundry other questions put +to her, and answers given thereunto by her according as is also given +in." + +It will be noticed that the examination was conducted in the form of +questions put by the magistrate, Hathorne, based upon a foregone +conclusion of the prisoner's guilt, and expressive of a conviction, all +along on his part, that the evidence of "the afflicted" against her +amounted to, and was, absolute demonstration. It will also be noticed, +that, severe as was the opinion of her husband in reference to her +general conduct, he could not be made to say that he had ever noticed +any thing in her of the nature of witchcraft. The torments the girls +affected to experience in looking at her must have produced an +overwhelming effect on the crowd, as they did on the magistrate, and +even on the poor, amazed creature herself. She did not seem to doubt +the reality of their sufferings. In this, and in all cases, it must be +remembered that the account of the examination comes to us from those +who were under the wildest excitement against the prisoners; that no +counsel was allowed them; that, if any thing was suffered to be said in +their defence by others, it has failed to reach us; that the accused +persons were wholly unaccustomed to such scenes and exposures, +unsuspicious of the perils of a cross-examination, or of an inquisition +conducted with a design to entrap and ensnare; and that what they did +say was liable to be misunderstood, as well as misrepresented. We +cannot hear their story. All we know is from parties[ii.17] prejudiced, +to the highest degree, against them. Sarah Good was an unfortunate and +miserable woman in her circumstances and condition: but, from all that +appears on the record, making due allowance for the credulity, +extravagance, prejudice, folly, or malignity of the witnesses; giving +full effect to every thing that can claim the character of substantial +force alleged against her, it is undeniable, that there was not, beyond +the afflicted girls, a particle of evidence to sustain the charge on +which she was arraigned; and that, in the worst aspect of her case, she +was an object for compassion, rather than punishment. Altogether, the +proceedings against her, which terminated with her execution, were +cruel and shameful to the highest degree. + +On the conclusion of her examination, she was removed from the +meeting-house, and Sarah Osburn brought in. Her selection, as one of +the persons to be first cried out upon, was judicious. The public mind +was prepared to believe the charge against her. Her original name was +Sarah Warren. She was married, April 5, 1662, to Robert Prince, who +belonged to a leading family, and owned a valuable farm. He died early, +leaving her with two young children, James and Joseph. + +In the early colonial period, it was the custom for persons who desired +to come from the old country to America, but had not the means to +defray the expenses of the passage, to let or sell themselves, for a +greater or less length of time, to individuals residing here who needed +their service. The practice continued[ii.18] down to the present +century. Emigrants who thus sold themselves for a period of years were +called "redemptioners." Alexander Osburn came over from Ireland in this +character. The widow of Robert Prince bought out the residue of his +time from the person to whom he was thus under contract, for fifteen +pounds, and employed him to carry on her farm. After a while, she +married him. This, it is probable, gave rise to some criticism; and, as +her boys grew up, became more and more disagreeable to them. The +marriage, as was natural, led to unhappy results. In 1720, after Osburn +had been dead some years, a curious case was brought into court, in +which the sons of Robert Prince testified that Osburn treated their +mother and them with great cruelty and barbarity. They had become of +age before their mother's death, and had signed their names to a deed +conveying away land belonging to their patrimony. The object of the +suit was to invalidate the conveyance by proving that they were +compelled by Osburn to sign the deed, he using threats and violence +upon them at the time. There was an extraordinary conflict of testimony +in the trial; some witnesses strongly corroborating the accusations of +the Princes, and some equally strong in vindication of the character of +Osburn. It was shown, that, in the opinion of several of his neighbors, +he was an industrious, respectable, and worthy person. It is difficult +to determine the precise merits of the case. After the death of his +wife, Osburn married Ruth, a daughter of William Cantlebury, and widow +of William Sibley.[ii.19] She was a woman of unquestioned excellence of +character, and of a large landed estate. Osburn was her third husband, +the first having been Thomas Small. After her marriage to Osburn, he +and she joined the church, and were reputable persons in all respects. +He was well regarded as a citizen, and often on the parish committee. +Neither he nor the widow Sibley appear to have been implicated in the +witchcraft proceedings in any other particular than that he testified +that his then wife Sarah had not been for some time at meeting. There +is no indication that this was volunteer testimony. He and his wife +Ruth were among the firmest opponents of Mr. Parris. There is no +mention of his having had children by either of his American wives. His +son John, who probably came with him to the country, was an inhabitant +of the Village; and his name is on the rate-list, for the last time, in +1718, his father having died some years before. The Osborne family, in +this part of the country, does not appear to have sprung from this +source. + +Without attempting to decide where, or in what proportions, the blame +is to be laid, the fact is evident, that the marriage of the widow +Sarah Prince to Alexander Osburn was an unhappy one. Her mind became +depressed, if not distracted. For some time, she had been bedridden. Of +course, as she had occupied a respectable social position, and was a +woman of property, her case naturally gave rise to scandal. Rumor was +busy and gossip rife in reference to her; and it was quite natural that +she should have been suggested[ii.20] for the accusing girls to pitch +upon. The following is an account of her examination by the +magistrates, in the handwriting of John Hathorne:— + +"Sarah Osburne, upon examination, denied the matter of fact, viz., that +she ever understood or used any witchcraft, or hurt any of the +abovesaid children. + +"The children above named, being all personally present, accused her +face to face; which, being done, they were all hurt, afflicted, and +tortured very much; which, being over, and they out of their fits, they +said that said Sarah Osburne did then come to them, and hurt them, +Sarah Osburne being then kept at a distance personally from them. Sarah +Osburne was asked why she then hurt them. She denied it. It being asked +of her how she could so pinch and hurt them, and yet she be at that +distance personally from them, she answered she did not then hurt them, +nor ever did. She was asked who, then, did it, or who she employed to +do it. She answered she did not know that the Devil goes about in her +likeness to do any hurt. Sarah Osburne, being told that Sarah Good, one +of her companions, had, upon examination, accused her, she, +notwithstanding, denied the same, according to her examination, which +is more at large given in, as therein will appear." + +The following is in the handwriting of Ezekiel Cheever:— + +"_Sarah Osburn her Examination._ + +"What evil spirit have you familiarity with?—None. + +"Have you made no contract with the Devil?—No: I never saw the Devil in +my life. + +"Why do you hurt these children?—I do not hurt them.[ii.21] + +"Who do you employ, then, to hurt them?—I employ nobody. + +"What familiarity have you with Sarah Good?—None: I have not seen her +these two years. + +"Where did you see her then?—One day, agoing to town. + +"What communications had you with her?—I had none, only 'How do you +do?' or so. I do not know her by name. + +"What did you call her, then? + +"(Osburn made a stand at that; at last, said she called her Sarah.) + +"Sarah Good saith that it was you that hurt the children.—I do not know +that the Devil goes about in my likeness to do any hurt. + +"Mr. Hathorne desired all the children to stand up, and look upon her, +and see if they did know her, which they all did; and every one of them +said that this was one of the women that did afflict them, and that +they had constantly seen her in the very habit that she was now in. +Three evidences declared that she said this morning, that she was more +like to be bewitched than that she was a witch. Mr. Hathorne asked her +what made her say so. She answered that she was frighted one time in +her sleep, and either saw, or dreamed that she saw, a thing like an +Indian all black, which did pinch her in her neck, and pulled her by +the back part of her head to the door of the house. + +"Did you never see any thing else?—No. + +"(It was said by some in the meeting-house, that she had said that she +would never believe that lying spirit any more.) + +"What lying spirit is this? Hath the Devil ever deceived you, and been +false to you?—I do not know the Devil. I never did see him.[ii.22] + +"What lying spirit was it, then?—It was a voice that I thought I heard. + +"What did it propound to you?—That I should go no more to meeting; but +I said I would, and did go the next sabbath-day. + +"Were you never tempted further?—No. + +"Why did you yield thus far to the Devil as never to go to meeting +since?—Alas! I have been sick, and not able to go. + +"Her husband and others said that she had not been at meeting three +years and two months." + +The foregoing illustrates the unfairness practised by the examining +magistrate. He took for granted, as we shall find to have been the case +in all instances, the guilt of the prisoner, and endeavored to entangle +her by leading questions, thus involving her in contradiction. By the +force of his own assumptions, he had compelled Sarah Good to admit the +reality of the sufferings of the girls, and that they must be caused by +some one. The amount of what she had said was, that, if caused by one +or the other of them, "then it must be Osburn," for she was sure of her +own innocence. This expression, to which she was driven in +self-exculpation, was perverted by the reporter, Ezekiel Cheever, and +by the magistrate, into an indirect confession and a direct accusation +of Osburn. In the absence of Good, the magistrate told Osburn that Good +had confessed and accused her. This was a misrepresentation of one, and +a false and fraudulent trick upon the other. Considering the feeble +condition of Sarah Osburn generally, the snares by which she[ii.23] was +beset, the distressing and bewildering circumstances in which she was +placed, and the infirm state of her reason, as evidenced in her +statement of what she saw, or dreamed that she saw and heard,—not +having a clear idea which,—her answers, as reported by the prosecutors, +show that her broken and disordered mind was essentially truthful and +innocent. + +Sarah Osburn was removed from the meeting-house, and Tituba brought in +and examined, as follows:— + +"Tituba, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?—None. + +"Why do you hurt these children?—I do not hurt them. + +"Who is it then?—The Devil, for aught I know. + +"Did you never see the Devil?—The Devil came to me, and bid me serve +him. + +"Who have you seen?—Four women sometimes hurt the children. + +"Who were they?—Goody Osburn and Sarah Good, and I do not know who the +others were. Sarah Good and Osburn would have me hurt the children, but +I would not. + +"(She further saith there was a tall man of Boston that she did see.) + +"When did you see them?—Last night, at Boston. + +"What did they say to you?—They said, 'Hurt the children.' + +"And did you hurt them?—No: there is four women and one man, they hurt +the children, and then they lay all upon me; and they tell me, if I +will not hurt the children, they will hurt me.[ii.24] + +"But did you not hurt them?—Yes; but I will hurt them no more. + +"Are you not sorry that you did hurt them?—Yes. + +"And why, then, do you hurt them?—They say, 'Hurt children, or we will +do worse to you.' + +"What have you seen?—A man come to me, and say, 'Serve me.' + +"What service?—Hurt the children: and last night there was an +appearance that said, 'Kill the children;' and, if I would not go on +hurting the children, they would do worse to me. + +"What is this appearance you see?—Sometimes it is like a hog, and +sometimes like a great dog. + +"(This appearance she saith she did see four times.) + +"What did it say to you?—The black dog said, 'Serve me;' but I said, 'I +am afraid.' He said, if I did not, he would do worse to me. + +"What did you say to it?—I will serve you no longer. Then he said he +would hurt me; and then he looks like a man, and threatens to hurt me. +(She said that this man had a yellow-bird that kept with him.) And he +told me he had more pretty things that he would give me, if I would +serve him. + +"What were these pretty things?—He did not show me them. + +"What else have you seen?—Two cats; a red cat, and a black cat. + +"What did they say to you?—They said, 'Serve me.' + +"When did you see them?—Last night; and they said, 'Serve me;' but I +said I would not. + +"What service?—She said, hurt the children.[ii.25] + +"Did you not pinch Elizabeth Hubbard this morning?—The man brought her +to me, and made pinch her. + +"Why did you go to Thomas Putnam's last night, and hurt his child?—They +pull and haul me, and make go. + +"And what would they have you do?—Kill her with a knife. + +"(Lieutenant Fuller and others said at this time, when the child saw +these persons, and was tormented by them, that she did complain of a +knife,—that they would have her cut her head off with a knife.) + +"How did you go?—We ride upon sticks, and are there presently. + +"Do you go through the trees or over them?—We see nothing, but are +there presently. + +"Why did you not tell your master?—I was afraid: they said they would +cut off my head if I told. + +"Would you not have hurt others, if you could?—They said they would +hurt others, but they could not. + +"What attendants hath Sarah Good?—A yellow-bird, and she would have +given me one. + +"What meat did she give it?—It did suck her between her fingers. + +"Did you not hurt Mr. Curren's child?—Goody Good and Goody Osburn told +that they did hurt Mr. Curren's child, and would have had me hurt him +too; but I did not. + +"What hath Sarah Osburn?—Yesterday she had a thing with a head like a +woman, with two legs and wings. + +"(Abigail Williams, that lives with her uncle Mr. Parris, said that she +did see the same creature, and it turned into the shape of Goodie +Osburn.) + +"What else have you seen with Osburn?—Another thing, hairy: it goes +upright like a man, it hath only two legs.[ii.26] + +"Did you not see Sarah Good upon Elizabeth Hubbard, last Saturday?—I +did see her set a wolf upon her to afflict her. + +"(The persons with this maid did say that she did complain of a wolf. +She further said that she saw a cat with Good at another time.) + +"What clothes doth the man go in?—He goes in black clothes; a tall man, +with white hair, I think. + +"How doth the woman go?—In a white hood, and a black hood with a +top-knot. + +"Do you see who it is that torments these children now?—Yes: it is +Goody Good; she hurts them in her own shape. + +"Who is it that hurts them now?—I am blind now: I cannot see. + +"Written by Ezekiel Cheever. + +"Salem Village, March the 1st, 1692." + +Another report of Tituba's examination has been preserved, and may be +found in the second volume of the collection edited by Samuel G. Drake, +entitled the "Witchcraft Delusion in New England." It is in the +handwriting of Jonathan Corwin, very full and minute, and shows that +the Indian woman was familiar with all the ridiculous and monstrous +fancies then prevalent. The details of her statement cover nearly the +whole ground of them. While indicating, in most respects, a mind at the +lowest level of general intelligence, they give evidence of cunning and +wariness in the highest degree. This document is also valuable, as it +affords information about particulars, incidentally mentioned and thus +rescued from oblivion, which[ii.27] serve to bring back the life of the +past. Tituba describes the dresses of some of the witches: "A black +silk hood, with a white silk hood under it, with top-knots." One of +them wore "a serge coat, with a white cap." The Devil appeared "in +black clothes sometimes, sometimes serge coat of other color." She +speaks of the "lean-to chamber" in the parsonage, and describes an +aërial night ride "up" to Thomas Putnam's. "How did you go? What did +you ride upon?" asked the wondering magistrate. "I ride upon a stick, +or pole, and Good and Osburn behind me: we ride taking hold of one +another; don't know how we go, for I saw no trees nor path, but was +presently there when we were up." In both reports, Tituba describes, +quite graphically, the likenesses in which the Devil appeared to his +confederates; but Corwin gives the details more fully than Cheever. +What the latter reports of the appearances in which the Devil +accompanied Osburn, the former amplifies. "The thing with two legs and +wings, and a face like a woman," "turns" into a full woman. The "hairy +thing" becomes "a thing all over hairy, all the face hairy, and a long +nose, and I don't know how to tell how the face looks; is about two or +three feet high, and goeth upright like a man; and, last night, it +stood before the fire in Mr. Parris's hall." + +It is quite evident that the part played by the Indian woman on this +occasion was pre-arranged. She had, from the first, been concerned with +the circle of girls in their necromantic operations; and her +state[ii.28]ments show the materials out of which their ridiculous and +monstrous stories were constructed. She said that there were four who +"hurt the children." Upon being pressed by the magistrate to tell who +they were, she named Osburn and Good, but did "not know who the others +were." Two others were marked; but it was not thought best to bring +them out until these three examinations had first been made to tell +upon the public mind. Tituba had been apprised of Elizabeth Hubbard's +story, that she had been "pinched" that morning; and, as well as +"Lieutenant Fuller and others," had heard of the delirious exclamation +of Thomas Putnam's sick child during the night. "Abigail Williams, that +lives with her uncle Parris," had communicated to the Indian slave the +story of "the woman with two legs and wings." In fact, she had been +fully admitted to their councils, and made acquainted with all the +stories they were to tell. But, when it became necessary to avoid +specifications touching parties whose names it had been decided not to +divulge at that stage of the business, the wily old servant escapes +further interrogation, "I am blind now: I cannot see." + +Proceedings connected with these examinations were continued several +days. The result appears, in the handwriting of John Hathorne, as +follows:— + +"Salem Village, March 1, 1691/2.—Tituba, an Indian woman, brought +before us by Constable Jos. Herrick, of Salem, upon suspicion of +witchcraft by her committed, according to the complaint of Jos. +Hutchinson and Thomas[ii.29] Putnam, &c., of Salem Village, as appears +per warrant granted, Salem, 29th February, 1691/2. Tituba, upon +examination, and after some denial, acknowledged the matter of fact, +as, according to her examination given in, more fully will appear, and +who also charged Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn with the same. + +"Salem Village, March the 1st, 1691/2.—Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and +Tituba, an Indian woman, all of Salem Village, being this day brought +before us, upon suspicion of witchcraft, &c., by them and every one of +them committed; Tituba, an Indian woman, acknowledging the matter of +fact, and Sarah Osburn and Sarah Good denying the same before us; but +there appearing, in all their examinations, sufficient ground to secure +them all. And, in order to further examination, they were all _per +mittimus_ sent to the jails in the county of Essex. + +"Salem, March 2.—Sarah Osburn again examined, and also Tituba, as will +appear in their examinations given in. Tituba again acknowledged the +fact, and also accused the other two. + +"Salem, March 3.—Sarah Osburn, and Tituba, Indian, again examined. The +examination now given in. Tituba again said the same. + +"Salem, March 5.—Sarah Good and Tituba again examined; and, in their +examination, Tituba acknowledged the same she did formerly, and accused +the other two above said. + +signatures + +[ii.30] + +"Salem, March the 7th, 1691/2.—Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba, an +Indian woman, all sent to the jail in Boston, according to their +_mittimuses_, then sent to their Majesties' jail-keeper." + +It will be noticed that the magistrates did not venture to put into +this their final record, what they had unfairly tried to make Sarah +Osborn believe, that Sarah Good had been a witness against her. The +jail at Ipswich was at a distance of at least ten miles from the +village meeting-house, by any road that could then have been travelled. +The transference of the prisoners day after day must have been very +fatiguing to a sick woman like Sarah Osburn. Sarah Good seems to have +been able to bear it. Samuel Braybrook, an assistant constable, having +charge of her, says, that, on the way to Ipswich, she "leaped off her +horse three times;" that she "railed against the magistrates, and +endeavored to kill herself." He further testified, that, at the very +time she was performing these feats, Thomas Putnam's daughter, "at her +father's house, declared the same." As Braybrook was many miles from +Thomas Putnam's house, at the moment when his wonderful daughter +exercised this miraculous extent of vision, it would have been more +satisfactory to have had some other testimony to the fact. I mention +this to show of what stuff the evidence in these cases was made, and +the credulity with which every thing was swallowed. The prisoners were +put to examination each day. + +Osburn and Good steadily maintained their innocence. Tituba all along +declared herself guilty, and[ii.31] accused the other two of having +been with her in confederacy with the Devil. Mr. Parris made the +following deposition, in relation to these examinations, to which he +subsequently swore in Court, at the trial of Sarah Good:— + +"The Deposition of Sam: Parris, aged about thirty and nine +years.—Testifieth and saith, that Elizabeth Parris, Jr., and Abigail +Williams, and Ann Putnam, Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard, were most +grievously and several times tortured during the examination of Sarah +Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba, Indian, before the magistrates at Salem +Village, 1 March, 1692. And the said Tituba being the last of the above +said that was examined, they, the above said afflicted persons, were +grievously distressed until the said Indian began to confess, and then +they were immediately all quiet the rest of the said Indian woman's +examination. Also Thomas Putnam, aged about forty years, and Ezekiel +Cheever, aged about thirty and six years, testify to the whole of the +above said; and all the three deponents aforesaid further testify, +that, after the said Indian began to confess, she was herself very much +afflicted, and in the face of authority at the same time, and openly +charged the abovesaid Good and Osburn as the persons that afflicted +her, the aforesaid Indian." + +By comparing these depositions with the other documents I have +presented, it will be seen how admirably the whole affair was arranged, +so far as concerned the part played by Tituba. She commences her +testimony by declaring her innocence. The afflicted children are +instantly thrown into torments, which, however,[ii.32] subside as soon +as she begins to confess. Immediately after commencing her confession, +and as she proceeds in it, she herself becomes tormented "in the face +of authority," before the eyes of the magistrates and the awestruck +crowd. Her power to afflict ceases as she breaks loose from her compact +with the Devil, who sends some unseen confederate, not then brought to +light, to wreak his vengeance upon her for having confessed. Tituba, as +well as the girls, showed herself an adept in the arts taught in the +circle. + +All we know of Sarah Osburn beyond this date are the following items in +the Boston jailer's bill "against the country," dated May 29, 1692: "To +chains for Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn, 14 shillings:" "To the keeping +of Sarah Osburn, from the 7th of March to the 10th of May, when she +died, being nine weeks and two days, £1. 3_s._ 5_d._" + +The only further information we have of Tituba is from Calef, who says, +"The account she since gives of it is, that her master did beat her, +and otherwise abuse her, to make her confess and accuse (such as he +called) her sister-witches; and that whatsoever she said by way of +confessing or accusing others was the effect of such usage: her master +refused to pay her fees, unless she would stand to what she had said. +Calef further states that she laid in jail until finally "sold for her +fees." The jailer's charge for her "diet in prison for a year and a +month" appears in a shape that corroborates Calef's statements, which +were prepared for publication in 1697, and printed in London in +1700.[ii.33] Although zealously devoted to the work of exposing the +enormities connected with the witchcraft prosecutions, there is no +ground to dispute the veracity of Calef as to matters of fact. What he +says of the declarations of Tituba, subsequent to her examination, is +quite consistent with a critical analysis of the details of the record +of that examination. It can hardly be doubted, whatever the amount of +severity employed to make her act the part assigned her, that she was +used as an instrument to give effect to the delusion. + +Now let us consider the state of things that had been brought about in +the village, and in the surrounding country, at the close of the first +week in March, 1692. The terrible sufferings of the girls in Mr. +Parris's family and of their associates, for the two preceding months, +had become known far and wide. A universal sympathy was awakened in +their behalf; and a sentiment of horror sunk deep into all hearts, at +the dread demonstration of the diabolical rage in their afflicted and +tortured persons. A few, very few, distrusted; but the great majority, +ninety-nine in a hundred of all the people, were completely swept into +the torrent. Nathaniel Putnam and Nathaniel Ingersoll were entirely +deluded, and continued so to the end. Even Joseph Hutchinson was, for a +while, carried away. The physicians had all given their opinion that +the girls were suffering from an "evil hand." The neighboring +ministers, after a day's fasting and prayer, and a scrutinizing +inspection of the condition of the afflicted children, had given it, +as[ii.34] the result of their most solemn judgment, that it was a case +of witchcraft. Persons from the neighboring towns had come to the +place, and with their own eyes received demonstration of the same fact. +Mr. Parris made it the topic of his public prayers and preaching. The +girls, Sunday after Sunday, were under the malign influence, to the +disturbance and affrightment of the congregation. In all companies, in +all families, all the day long, the sufferings and distraction +occurring in the houses of Mr. Parris, Thomas Putnam, and others, and +in the meeting-house, were topics of excited conversation; and every +voice was loud in demanding, every mind earnest to ascertain, who were +the persons, in confederacy with the Devil, thus torturing, pinching, +convulsing, and bringing to the last extremities of mortal agony, these +afflicted girls. Every one felt, that, if the guilty authors of the +mischief could not be discovered, and put out of the way, no one was +safe for a moment. At length, when the girls cried out upon Good, +Osburn, and Tituba, there was a general sense of satisfaction and +relief. It was thought that Satan's power might be checked. The +selection of the first victims was well made. They were just the kind +of persons whom the public prejudice and credulity were prepared to +suspect and condemn. Their examination was looked for with the utmost +interest, and all flocked to witness the proceedings. + +In considering the state of mind of the people, as they crowded into +and around the old meeting-house, we can have no difficulty in +realizing the[ii.35] tremendous effects of what there occurred. It was +felt that then, on that spot, the most momentous crisis in the world's +history had come. A crime, in comparison with which all other crimes +sink out of notice, was being notoriously and defiantly committed in +their midst. The great enemy of God and man was let loose among them. +What had filled the hearts of mankind for ages, the world over, with +dread apprehension, was come to pass; and in that village the great +battle, on whose issue the preservation of the kingdom of the Lord on +the earth was suspended, had begun. Indeed, no language, no imagery, no +conception of ours, can adequately express the feeling of awful and +terrible solemnity with which all were overwhelmed. No body of men ever +convened in a more highly wrought state of excitement than pervaded +that assembly, when the magistrates entered, in all their stern +authority, and the scene opened on the 1st of March, 1692. A minister, +probably Mr. Parris, began, according to the custom of the times, with +prayer. From what we know of his skill and talent in meeting such +occasions, it may well be supposed that his language and manner +heightened still more the passions of the hour. The marshal, of tall +and imposing stature and aspect, accompanied by his constables, brought +in the prisoners. Sarah Good, a poverty-stricken, wandering, and +wretched victim of ill-fortune and ill-usage, was put to the bar. Every +effort was made by the examining magistrate, aided by the officious +interference of the marshal, or other deluded or[ii.36] evil-disposed +persons,—who, like him, were permitted to interpose with charges or +abusive expressions,—to overawe and confound, involve in +contradictions, and mislead the poor creature, and force her to confess +herself guilty and accuse others. In due time, the "afflicted children" +were brought in; and a scene ensued, such as no person in that crowd or +in that generation had ever witnessed before. Immediately on being +confronted with the prisoner, and meeting her eye, they fell, as if +struck dead, to the floor; or screeched in agony; or went into fearful +spasms or convulsive fits; or cried out that they were pricked with +pins, pinched, or throttled by invisible hands. They were severally +brought up to the prisoner, and, upon touching her person, instantly +became calm, quiet, and fully restored to their senses. With one voice +they all declared that Sarah Good had thus tormented them, by her power +as a witch in league with the Devil. The truth of this charge, in the +effect produced by the malign influence proceeding from her, was thus +visible to all eyes. All saw, too, how instantly upon touching her the +diabolical effect ceased; the malignant fluid passing back, like an +electric stream, into the body of the witch. The spectacle was repeated +once and again, the acting perfect, and the delusion consummated. The +magistrates and all present considered the guilt of the prisoner +demonstrated, and regarded her as wilfully and wickedly obstinate in +not at once confessing what her eyes, as well as theirs, saw. Her +refusal to confess was considered as the[ii.37] highest proof of her +guilt. They passed judgment against her, committed her to the marshal, +who hurried her to prison, bound her with cords, and loaded her with +irons; for it was thought that no ordinary fastenings could hold a +witch. Similar proceedings, with suitable variations, were had with +Sarah Osburn and Tituba. The confession of the last-named, the +immediate relief thereafter of the afflicted children, and the dreadful +torments which Tituba herself experienced, on the spot, from the unseen +hand of the Devil wreaking vengeance upon her, put the finishing touch +to the delusion. The excitement was kept up, and spread far and wide, +by the officers and magistrates riding in cavalcade, day after day, to +and from the town and village; and by the constables, with their +assistants, carrying their manacled prisoners from jail to jail in +Ipswich, Salem, and Boston. + +The point was now reached when the accusers could safely strike at +higher game. But time was taken to mature arrangements. Great curiosity +was felt to know who the other two were whom Tituba saw in connection +with Good and Osburn in their hellish operations. The girls continued +to suffer torments and fall in fits, and were constantly urged by large +numbers of people, going from house to house to witness their +sufferings, to reveal who the witches were that still afflicted them. +When all was prepared, they began to cry out, with more or less +distinctness; at first, in significant but general descriptions, and at +last calling names. The next victim was also well chosen. An +account[ii.38] has been given, in the First Part, of the notoriety +which circumstances had attached to Giles Corey. In 1691 he became a +member of the church, being then (Vol. I. p. 182) eighty years of age. +Four daughters, all probably by his first wife Margaret, the only +children of whom there is any mention, were married to John Moulton, +John Parker, and Henry Crosby, of Salem, and William Cleaves, of +Beverly. On the 11th of April, 1664, Corey was married to Mary Britt, +who died, as appears by the inscription on her gravestone in the old +Salem burial-ground, Aug. 27, 1684. Martha was his third wife. Her age +is unknown. It was entered on the record of the village church, at the +time of her admission to it, April 27, 1690; but the figures are worn +away from the edge of the page. She was a very intelligent and devout +person. + +When the proceedings relating to witchcraft began, she did not approve +of them, and expressed her want of faith in the "afflicted children." +She discountenanced the whole affair, and would not follow the +multitude to the examinations; but was said to have spoken freely of +the course of the magistrates, saying that their eyes were blinded, and +that she could open them. It seemed to her clear that they were +violating common sense and the Word of God, and she was confident that +she could convince them of their errors. Instead of falling into the +delusion, she applied herself with renewed earnestness to keep her own +mind under the influence of prayer, and[ii.39] spent more time in +devotion than ever before. Her husband, however, was completely carried +away by the prevalent fanaticism, believed all he heard, and frequented +the examinations and the exhibitions of the afflicted children. This +disagreement became quite serious. Her preferring to stay at home, +shunning the proceedings, and expressing her disapprobation of what was +going on, caused an estrangement between them. Her peculiar course +created comment, in which he and two of his sons-in-law took part. Some +strong expressions were used by him, because she acted so strangely at +variance with everybody else. Her spending so much time on her knees in +devotion was looked upon as a matter of suspicion. It was said that she +tried to prevent him from following up the examinations, and went so +far as to remove the saddle from the horse brought up to convey him to +some meeting at the village connected with the witchcraft excitement. +Angry words, uttered by him, were heard and repeated. As she was a +woman of notable piety, a professor of religion, and a member of the +church, it was evident that her case, if she were proceeded against, +would still more heighten the panic, and convulse the public mind. It +would give ground for an idea which the managers of the affair desired +to circulate, that the Devil had succeeded in making inroads into the +very heart of the church, and was bringing into confederacy with him +aged and eminent church-members, who, under color of their profession, +threatened to extend his influence to the overthrow of[ii.40] all +religion. It was, indeed, established in the popular sentiments, as a +sign and mark of the Devil's coming, that many professing godliness +would join his standard. + +For a day or two, it was whispered round that persons in great repute +for piety were in the diabolical confederacy, and about to be unmasked. +The name of Martha Corey, whose open opposition to the proceedings had +become known, was passed among the girls in an under-breath, and caught +from one to another among those managing the affair. On the 12th of +March, Edward Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever, having heard Ann Putnam +declare that Goody Corey did often appear to her, and torture her by +pinching and otherwise, thought it their duty to go to her, and see +what she would say to this complaint; "she being in church covenant +with us." They mounted their horses about "the middle of the +afternoon," and first went to the house of Thomas Putnam to see his +daughter Ann, to learn from her what clothes Goody Corey appeared to +her in, in order to judge whether she might not have been mistaken in +the person. The girl told them, that Goody Corey, knowing that they +contemplated making this visit, had just appeared in spirit to her, but +had blinded her so that she could not tell what clothes she wore. +Highly wrought upon by the extraordinary statement of the girl, which +they received with perfect credulity, the two brethren remounted, and +pursued their way. Goody Corey had heard that her name had been bandied +about by the accusing girls: she also knew that it was one of +their[ii.41] arts to pretend to see the clothes people were wearing at +the time their spectres appeared to them. This required, indeed, no +great amount of necromancy; as it is not probable that there was much +variety in the costume of farmer's wives, at that time, while about +their ordinary domestic engagements. + +They found her alone in her house. As soon as they commenced +conversation, "in a smiling manner she said, 'I know what you are come +for; you are come to talk with me about being a witch, but I am none: I +cannot help people's talking of me.'" Edward Putnam acknowledged that +their visit was in consequence of complaints made against her by the +afflicted children. She inquired whether they had undertaken to +describe the clothes she then wore. They answered that they had not, +and proceeded to repeat what Ann Putnam had said to them about her +blinding her so that she could not see her clothes. At this she smiled, +no doubt at Ann's cunning artifice to escape having to say what dress +she then had on. She declared to the two brethren, that "she did not +think that there were any witches." After considerable talk, in which +they did not get much to further their purpose, they took their leave. +The account of this interview, given by Putnam and Cheever, indicates +that Martha Corey was a sensible, enlightened, and sprightly woman, +perfectly free from the delusion of the day, courteous in her manners +and bearing, and a Christian, well grounded in Scripture. + +The two brethren returned forthwith to Thomas[ii.42] Putnam's house. +Ann told them that Goody Corey had not troubled her, nor her spectre +appeared, in their absence. She was not inclined to afford them an +opportunity to apply the test of the dress. Both the women showed great +acuteness and caution. As Corey expected the visit, and had heard that +the girls pretended to be able to say what dress persons were wearing, +she probably had attired herself in an unusual way on the occasion, to +put them at fault, and expose the falseness of their claims to +preternatural knowledge; and Ann Putnam—her sagacity suggesting the +risk she was running in the matter of Corey's dress—took refuge in the +pretence of blindness. The brethren were too much under delusion to see +through the sharp practice of both of them, but considered the fact of +Corey's inquiring of them whether Ann described her dress, as, under +the circumstances, proof positive against the former. + +Wishing to make assurance doubly sure, and to fasten the charge upon +Martha Corey, the managers of the affair sent for her to come to the +house of Thomas Putnam two days after this conference. Edward Putnam +was present, and testified that his niece Ann, immediately upon the +entrance of Goodwife Corey, experienced the most dreadful convulsions +and tortures and distinctly and positively declared that Corey was the +author of her sufferings. This was regarded as conclusive evidence; +and, on the 19th of March, a warrant was issued for her arrest. She was +brought to the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll, on Monday the[ii.43] 21st; +and the following is the account of her examination, in the handwriting +of Mr. Parris. The proceedings took place in the meeting-house at the +village. They were introduced by a prayer from the Rev. Nicholas Noyes. +On some of these occasions Mr. Hale and perhaps others, but usually Mr. +Noyes or Mr. Parris officiated. We may suppose, from what we know of +their general deportment in connection with these scenes, that their +performances, under the cover of a devotional exercise, expressed and +enforced a decided prejudgment of the case in hand against the +prisoners, and partook of the character of indictments as much as of +prayers. + +"_The Examination of Martha Corey._ + +"Mr. Hathorne: You are now in the hands of authority. Tell me, now, why +you hurt these persons.—I do not. + +"Who doth?—Pray, give me leave to go to prayer. + +"(This request was made sundry times.) + +"We do not send for you to go to prayer; but tell me why you hurt +these.—I am an innocent person. I never had to do with witchcraft since +I was born. I am a gospel woman. + +"Do not you see these complain of you?—The Lord open the eyes of the +magistrates and ministers: the Lord show his power to discover the +guilty. + +"Tell us who hurts these children.—I do not know. + +"If you be guilty of this fact, do you think you can hide it?—The Lord +knows. + +"Well, tell us what you know of this matter.—Why, I am a gospel woman; +and do you think I can have to do with witchcraft too? + +"How could you tell, then, that the child was bid to ob[ii.44]serve +what clothes you wore, when some came to speak with you? + +"(Cheever interrupted her, and bid her not begin with a lie; and so +Edward Putnam declared the matter.) + +"Mr. Hathorne: Who told you that?—He said the child said. + +"Cheever: You speak falsely. + +"(Then Edward Putnam read again.) + +"Mr. Hathorne: Why did you ask if the child told what clothes you +wore?—My husband told me the others told. + +"Who told you about the clothes? Why did you ask that question?—Because +I heard the children told what clothes the others wore. + +"Goodman Corey, did you tell her? + +"(The old man denied that he told her so.) + +"Did you not say your husband told you so? + +"(No answer.) + +"Who hurts these children? Now look upon them.—I cannot help it. + +"Did you not say you would tell the truth why you asked that question? +how came you to the knowledge?—I did but ask. + +"You dare thus to lie in all this assembly. You are now before +authority. I expect the truth: you promised it. Speak now, and tell who +told you what clothes.—Nobody. + +"How came you to know that the children would be examined what clothes +you wore?—Because I thought the child was wiser than anybody if she +knew. + +"Give an answer: you said your husband told you.—He told me the +children said I afflicted them. + +"How do you know what they came for? Answer me this truly: will you say +how you came to know what they[ii.45] came for?—I had heard speech that +the children said I troubled them, and I thought that they might come +to examine. + +"But how did you know it?—I thought they did. + +"Did not you say you would tell the truth? who told you what they came +for?—Nobody. + +"How did you know?—I did think so. + +"But you said you knew so. + +"(Children: There is a man whispering in her ear.) + +"Hathorne continued: What did he say to you?—We must not believe all +that these distracted children say. + +"Cannot you tell what that man whispered?—I saw nobody. + +"But did not you hear?—No. + +"(Here was extreme agony of all the afflicted.) + +"If you expect mercy of God, you must look for it in God's way, by +confession. Do you think to find mercy by aggravating your sins?—A true +thing. + +"Look for it, then, in God's way.—So I do. + +"Give glory to God and confess, then.—But I cannot confess. + +"Do not you see how these afflicted do charge you?—We must not believe +distracted persons. + +"Who do you improve to hurt them?—I improved none. + +"Did not you say our eyes were blinded, you would open them?—Yes, to +accuse the innocent. + +"(Then Crosby gave in evidence.) + +"Why cannot the girl stand before you?—I do not know. + +"What did you mean by that?—I saw them fall down. + +"It seems to be an insulting speech, as if they could not stand before +you.—They cannot stand before others. + +"But you said they cannot stand before you. Tell me[ii.46] what was +that turning upon the spit by you?—You believe the children that are +distracted. I saw no spit. + +"Here are more than two that accuse you for witchcraft. What do you +say?—I am innocent. + +"(Then Mr. Hathorne read further of Crosby's evidence.) + +"What did you mean by that,—the Devil could not stand before you? + +"(She denied it. Three or four sober witnesses confirmed it.) + +"What can I do? Many rise up against me. + +"Why, confess.—So I would, if I were guilty. + +"Here are sober persons. What do you say to them? You are a gospel +woman; will you lie? + +"(Abigail cried out, 'Next sabbath is sacrament-day; but she shall not +come there.') + +"I do not care. + +"You charge these children with distraction: it is a note of +distraction when persons vary in a minute; but these fix upon you. This +is not the manner of distraction.—When all are against me, what can I +help it? + +"Now tell me the truth, will you? Why did you say that the magistrates' +and ministers' eyes were blinded, you would open them? + +"(She laughed, and denied it.) + +"Now tell us how we shall know who doth hurt these, if you do not?—Can +an innocent person be guilty? + +"Do you deny these words?—Yes. + +"Tell us who hurts these. We came to be a terror to evil-doers. You say +you would open our eyes, we are blind.—If you say I am a witch. + +"You said you would show us. + +"(She denied it.)[ii.47] + +"Why do you not now show us?—I cannot tell: I do not know. + +"What did you strike the maid at Mr. Tho. Putnam's with?—I never struck +her in my life. + +"There are two that saw you strike her with an iron rod.—I had no hand +in it. + +"Who had? Do you believe these children are bewitched?—They may, for +aught I know: I have no hand in it. + +"You say you are no witch. Maybe you mean you never covenanted with the +Devil. Did you never deal with any familiar?—No, never. + +"What bird was that the children spoke of? + +"(Then witnesses spoke: What bird was it?) + +"I know no bird. + +"It may be you have engaged you will not confess; but God knows.—So he +doth. + +"Do you believe you shall go unpunished?—I have nothing to do with +witchcraft. + +"Why was you not willing your husband should come to the former session +here?—But he came, for all. + +"Did not you take the saddle off?—I did not know what it was for. + +"Did you not know what it was for?—I did not know that it would be to +any benefit. + +"(Somebody said that she would not have them help to find out witches.) + +"Did you not say you would open our eyes? Why do you not?—I never +thought of a witch. + +"Is it a laughing matter to see these afflicted persons? + +"(She denied it. Several prove it.) + +"Ye are all against me, and I cannot help it.[ii.48] + +"Do not you believe there are witches in the country?—I do not know +that there is any. + +"Do not you know that Tituba confessed it?—I did not hear her speak. + +"I find you will own nothing without several witnesses, and yet you +will deny for all. + +"(It was noted, when she bit her lip, several of the afflicted were +bitten. When she was urged upon it that she bit her lip, saith she, +What harm is there in it?) + +"(Mr. Noyes: I believe it is apparent she practiseth witchcraft in the +congregation: there is no need of images.) + +"What do you say to all these things that are apparent?—If you will all +go hang me, how can I help it? + +"Were you to serve the Devil ten years? Tell how many. + +"(She laughed. The children cried there was a yellow-bird with her. +When Mr. Hathorne asked her about it, she laughed. When her hands were +at liberty, the afflicted persons were pinched.) + +"Why do not you tell how the Devil comes in your shape, and hurts +these? You said you would.—How can I know how? + +"Why did you say you would show us? + +"(She laughed again.) + +"What book is that you would have these children write in?—What book? +Where should I have a book? I showed them none, nor have none, nor +brought none. + +"(The afflicted cried out there was a man whispering in her ears.) + +"What book did you carry to Mary Walcot?—I carried none. If the Devil +appears in my shape— + +"(Then Needham said that Parker, some time ago, thought this woman was +a witch.)[ii.49] + +"Who is your God?—The God that made me. + +"What is his name?—Jehovah. + +"Do you know any other name?—God Almighty. + +"Doth _he_ tell you, that you pray to, that _he_ is God Almighty?—Who +do I worship but the God that made [me]? + +"How many gods are there?—One. + +"How many persons?—Three. + +"Cannot you say, So there is one God in three blessed persons? + +[The answer is destroyed, being written in the fold of the paper, and +wholly worn off.] + +"Do not you see these children and women are rational and sober as +their neighbors, when your hands are fastened? + +"(Immediately they were seized with fits: and the standers-by said she +was squeezing her fingers, her hands being eased by them that held them +on purpose for trial. + +"Quickly after, the marshal said, 'She hath bit her lip;' and +immediately the afflicted were in an uproar.) + +"[Tell] why you hurt these, or who doth? + +"(She denieth any hand in it.) + +"Why did you say, if you were a witch, you should have no +pardon?—Because I am a —— woman." + +"Salem Village, March the 21st, 1692.—The Reverend Mr. Samuel Parris, +being desired to take, in writing, the examination of Martha Corey, +hath returned it, as aforesaid. + +"Upon hearing the aforesaid, and seeing what we did then see, together +with the charges of the persons then pres[ii.50]ent, we committed +Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey, of Salem Farms, unto the gaol in +Salem, as _per mittimus_ then given out." + +signatures + +The foregoing is a full copy of the original document. One of Giles +Corey's daughters, Deliverance, had married, June 5, 1683, Henry +Crosby, who lived on land conveyed to him by her father in the +immediate neighborhood. He was the person whose written testimony was +read by the magistrate. Its purport seems to have been to prove that +Martha Corey had said that the accusing girls could not stand before +her, and that the Devil could not stand before her. She had, +undoubtedly, great confidence in her own innocence, and in the power of +truth and prayer, to silence false accusers, and expressed herself in +the forcible language which Parris's report of the examination shows +that she was well able to use. It is almost amusing to see how the +pride of the magistrates was touched, and their wrath kindled, by what +she was reported to have said, "that the magistrates' and ministers' +eyes were blinded, and that she would open them." It rankled in +Hathorne's breast: he returns to it again and again, and works himself +up to a higher degree of resentment on each recurrence. Mr. Noyes's ire +was[ii.51] roused, and he, too, put in a stroke. It will be noticed, +that she avoided a contradiction of her husband, and could not be +brought to give the names of persons from whom she had received +information. "If you will all go hang me, how can I help it?" "Ye are +all against me." "What can I do, when many rise up against me?" "When +all are against me, what can I [say to] help it?" Situated as she was, +all that she could do was to give them no advantage, or opportunity to +ensnare her, and to avoid compromising others; and it must be allowed +that she showed much presence and firmness of mind. Her request, made +at the opening of the examination, and at "sundry times," to "go to +prayer," somewhat confounded them. She probably was led to make and +urge the request particularly in consequence of the tenor of Mr. +Noyes's prayer at the opening. She felt that it was no more than fair +that there should be a prayer on her side, as well as on the other. It +might well be feared, that, if allowed to offer a prayer, coming from a +person in her situation, an aged professor, and one accustomed to +express herself in devotional exercises, it might produce a deep +impression upon the whole assembly. To refuse such a request had a hard +look; but, as the magistrates saw, it never would have done to have +permitted it. It would have reversed the position of all concerned. The +latter part of the examination has the appearance that she was +suspected to be unsound on a particular article of the prevalent creed. +It is much to be regretted that the abrasion of the paper at the[ii.52] +folding has obliterated her last answer to this part of the +inquisition. It is singular that Mr. Parris has left the blank in her +final answer. Probably she used her customary expression, "I am a +gospel woman." The writing, at this point, is very clear and distinct; +and a vacant space is left, just as it is given above. + +The fact that Martha Corey was known to be an eminently religious +person, and very much given to acts of devotion, constituted a serious +obstacle, no doubt, in the way of the prosecutors. Parris's record of +the examination shows how they managed to get over it. They gave the +impression that her frequent and long prayers were addressed to the +Devil. + +The disagreement between her and her husband, touching the witchcraft +prosecutions, brought him into a very uncomfortable predicament. With +his characteristic imprudence of speech, he had probably expressed +himself strongly against her unbelief in the sufferings of the girls +and her refusal to attend the exhibitions of their tortures, or the +examination of persons accused. He was, unquestionably, highly shocked +and incensed at her open repudiation of the whole doctrine of +witchcraft. Although he had become, in his old age, a professor and a +fervently religious man, perhaps he fell back, in his resentment of her +course, into his life-long rough phrases, and said that she acted as +though the Devil was in her. He might have said that she prayed like a +witch. Being entirely carried away by the delusion, he had his own +marvellous stories to tell about his cattle's being be[ii.53]witched, +&c. His talk, undoubtedly, came to the ears of the prosecutors; and +they seem to have taken steps to induce him to come forward as a +witness against her. The following document is among the papers:— + +"The evidence of Giles Corey testifieth and saith, that last Saturday, +in the evening, sitting by the fire, my wife asked me to go to bed. I +told her I would go to prayer; and, when I went to prayer, I could not +utter my desires with any sense, nor open my mouth to speak. + +"My wife did perceive it, and came towards me, and said she was coming +to me. + +"After this, in a little space, I did, according to my measure, attend +the duty. + +"Some time last week, I fetched an ox, well, out of the woods about +noon: and, he laying down in the yard, I went to raise him to yoke him; +but he could not rise, but dragged his hinder parts, as if he had been +hip-shot. But after did rise. + +"I had a cat sometimes last week strangely taken on the sudden, and did +make me think she would have died presently. My wife bid me knock her +in the head, but I did not; and since, she is well. + +"Another time, going to duties, I was interrupted for a space; but +afterward I was helped according to my poor measure. My wife hath been +wont to sit up after I went to bed: and I have perceived her to kneel +down on the hearth, as if she were at prayer, but heard nothing. + +"_At the examination of Sarah_ Good and others, my wife was willing + +"March 24, 1692." [ii.54] + +The foregoing document does not express the idea that he thought his +wife was a witch. He states what he observed, and what happened to him +and to his cattle. He evidently supposed they were bewitched, and that +he was obstructed, in going to prayer, in a strange manner; but he does +not, in terms, charge it upon her. It gives an interesting insight of +the innermost domestic life of the period, in a farmhouse, and exhibits +striking touches of the character and ways of these two old people. It +illustrates the state of the imagination prevailing among those who +were carried away by the delusion. If an ox had a sprained muscle, or a +cat a fit of indigestion, it was thought to be the work of an evil +hand. Poor old Giles had come late to a religious life, and, it is to +be feared, was a novice in prayer. It is no wonder that he was not an +adept in "uttering his desires," and experienced occasionally some +difficulty in arranging and expressing his devotional sentiments. + +There is something very singular in the appearance of the foregoing +deposition. Purporting to be a piece of testimony, it was not given in +the usual and regular way. It does not indicate before whom it was +made. It is not attested in the ordinary manner; apparently, was not +sworn to in the presence of persons authorized to act in such cases; +was never offered in court or anywhere. It is a disconnected paper +found among the remnants of the miscellaneous collection in the clerk's +office, and is evidently an unfinished document; the words in Italics, +at the close, being erased by a line running through them.[ii.55] + +It is probable that the parties who tried to get the old man to testify +against his wife discovered that they could not draw any thing from him +to answer their designs, but that there was danger that his evidence +would be favorable to her, and gave up the attempt to use him on the +occasion. The fact that he would not lend himself to their purposes +perhaps led to resentment on their part, which may explain the +subsequent proceedings against him. + +The document, in its chirography, suggests the idea that it was written +by Mr. Noyes, which is not improbable, as Corey was a member of his +congregation and church. Noyes was deeply implicated in the +prosecutions, and violent in driving them on. The handwriting of the +original papers reveals the agency of those who were the most busy in +procuring evidence against persons accused. That of Thomas Putnam +occurs in very many instances. But Mr. Parris was, beyond all others, +the busiest and most active prosecutor. The depositions of the child +Abigail Williams, his niece and a member of his family, were written by +him, as also a great number of others. He took down most of the +examinations, put in a deposition of his own whenever he could, and was +always ready to indorse those of others. + +It will be remembered, that, when Tituba was put through her +examination, she said "four women sometimes hurt the children." She +named Good and Osburn, but pretended to have been blinded as to the +others. Martha Corey was, in due time, as we[ii.56] have seen, brought +out. The fourth was the venerable head of a large and prominent family, +and a member of the mother-church in Salem. She had never transferred +her relations to the village church, with which, however, she had +generally worshipped, and probably communed. Being one of the chief +matrons of the place, she was seated in the meeting-house with ladies +of similar age and standing, occupying the same bench or compartment +with the widow of Thomas Putnam, Sr. The women were seated separately +from the men; and the only rule applied among them was eminence in +years and respectability. + +It has always been considered strange and unaccountable, that a person +of such acknowledged worth as Rebecca Nurse, of infirm health and +advanced years, should have been selected among the early victims of +the witchcraft prosecutions. Jealousies and prejudices, such as often +infest rural neighborhoods, may have been engendered, in minds open to +such influences, by the prosperity and growing influence of her family. +It may be that animosities kindled by the long and violent land +controversy, with which many parties had been incidentally connected, +lingered in some breasts. There are decided indications, that the +passions awakened by the angry contest between the village and +"Topsfield men," and which the collisions of a half-century had all +along exasperated and hardened, may have been concentrated against the +Nurses. Isaac Easty, whose wife was a sister of Rebecca Nurse, and the +Townes, who were her brothers or near kins[ii.57]men, were the leaders +of the Topsfield men. It is a significant circumstance, in this +connection, that to one of the most vehement resolutions passed at +meetings of the inhabitants of the village, against the claims of +Topsfield, Samuel Nurse, her eldest son, and Thomas Preston, her eldest +son-in-law, entered their protest on the record; and, on another +similar occasion, her husband Francis Nurse, her son Samuel, and two of +her sons-in-law, Preston and Tarbell, took the same course. So far as +the family sided with Topsfield in that controversy, it naturally +exposed them to the ill-will of the people of the village. An analysis +of the names and residences of the persons proceeded against, +throughout the prosecutions, will show to what an extent hostile +motives were supplied from this quarter. The families of Wildes, How, +Hobbs, Towne, Easty, and others who were "cried out" upon by the +afflicted children, occupied lands claimed by parties adverse to the +village. What, more than all these causes, was sufficient to create a +feeling against the Nurses, is the fact that they were opposed to the +party which had existed from the beginning in the parish composed +originally of the friends of Bayley. To crown the whole, when the +excitement occasioned by the extraordinary doings in Mr. Parris's +family began to display itself, and the "afflicted children" were +brought into notice, the members of this family, with the exception, +for a time, of Thomas Preston, discountenanced the whole thing. They +absented themselves from meeting, on account of the disturb[ii.58]ances +and disorders the girls were allowed to make during the services of +worship, in the congregation, on the Lord's Day. Unfriendly remarks, +from whatever cause, made in the hearing of the girls, provided +subjects for them to act upon. Some persons behind them, suggesting +names in this way, whether carelessly or with malicious intent, were +guilty of all the misery that was created and blood that was shed. + +It became a topic of rumor, that Rebecca Nurse was soon to be brought +out. It reached the ears of her friends, and the following document +comes in at this point:— + +"We whose names are underwritten being desired to go to Goodman Nurse +his house, to speak with his wife, and to tell her that several of the +afflicted persons mentioned her; and accordingly we went, and we found +her in a weak and low condition in body as she told us, and had been +sick almost a week. And we asked how it was otherwise with her: and she +said she blessed God for it, she had more of his presence in this +sickness than sometime she have had, but not so much as she desired; +but she would, with the apostle, press forward to the mark; and many +other places of Scripture to the like purpose. And then, of her own +accord, she began to speak of the affliction that was amongst them, and +in particular of Mr. Parris his family, and how she was grieved for +them, though she had not been to see them, by reason of fits that she +formerly used to have; for people said it was awful to behold: but she +pitied them with all her heart, and went to God for them. But she said +she heard that there was persons spoke of that were as innocent as she +was, she believed; and, after much to this purpose,[ii.59] we told her +we heard that she was spoken of also. 'Well,' she said, 'if it be so, +the will of the Lord be done:' she sat still a while, being as it were +amazed; and then she said, 'Well, as to this thing I am as innocent as +the child unborn; but surely,' she said, 'what sin hath God found out +in me unrepented of, that he should lay such an affliction upon me in +my old age?' and, according to our best observation, we could not +discern that she knew what we came for before we told her. + +Israel Porter, +Elizabeth Porter. + +"To the substance of what is above, we, if called thereto, are ready to +testify on oath. + +Daniel Andrew, +Peter Cloyse." + +Elizabeth Porter, who joins her husband in making this statement, was a +sister of John Hathorne, the examining magistrate, and the +mother-in-law of Joseph Putnam, who was among the very few that +condemned the proceedings from the first. She stood, therefore, between +the two parties. The character of each of the signers and indorsers of +this interesting paper is sufficient proof that its statements are +truthful. It cannot but excite the most affecting sensibilities in +every breast. This venerable lady, whose conversation and bearing were +so truly saint-like, was an invalid of extremely delicate condition and +appearance, the mother of a large family, embracing sons, daughters, +grandchildren, and one or more great-grandchildren. She was a woman of +piety, and simplicity of heart. In all probability, she shared in the +popular belief on the subject of witchcraft, and sup[ii.60]posed that +the sufferings of the children were real, and that they were afflicted +by an "evil hand." At the very time that she was sorrowfully +sympathizing with them and Mr. Parris's family, and praying for them, +they were circulating suspicions against her, and maturing their plans +for her destruction. + +Rebecca Nurse was a daughter of William Towne, of Yarmouth, Norfolk +County, England, where she was baptized, Feb. 21, 1621. Her sister +Mary, who married Isaac Easty, was baptized at the same place, Aug. 24, +1634. The records of the First Church at Salem, Sept. 3, 1648, give the +baptism of "Joseph and Sarah, children of Sister Towne." Sarah was at +that time seven years of age. She became the wife of Edmund Bridges, +and afterwards of Peter Cloyse. + +On the 23d of March, a warrant was issued, on complaint of Edward +Putnam, and Jonathan, son of John Putnam, for the arrest of "Rebecca, +wife of Francis Nurse;" and the next morning, at eight o'clock, she was +brought to the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll, in the custody of George +Herrick, the marshal of Essex. There were several distinct indictments, +four of which, for having practised "certain detestable arts called +witchcraft" upon Ann Putnam, Mary Walcot, Elizabeth Hubbard, and +Abigail Williams, are preserved. The examination took place forthwith +at the meeting-house. The age, character, connections, and appearance +of the prisoner, made the occasion one of the extremest interest. +Hathorne, the magistrate, began the proceedings by addressing one of +the afflicted:[ii.61] "What do you say? Have you seen this woman hurt +you?" The answer was, "Yes, she beat me this morning." Hathorne, +addressing another of the afflicted, said, "Abigail, have you been hurt +by this woman?" Abigail answered, "Yes." At that point, Ann Putnam fell +into a grievous fit, and, while in her spasms, cried out that it was +Rebecca Nurse who was thus afflicting her. As soon as Ann's fit was +over, and order restored, Hathorne said, "Goody Nurse, here are two, +Ann Putnam the child, and Abigail Williams, complain of your hurting +them. What do you say to it?" The prisoner replied, "I can say, before +my eternal Father, I am innocent, and God will clear my innocency." +Hathorne, apparently touched for the moment by her language and +bearing, said, "Here is never a one in the assembly but desires it; +but, if you be guilty, pray God discover you." Henry Kenney rose up +from the body of the assembly to speak. Hathorne permitted the +interruption, and said, "Goodman Kenney, what do you say?" Then Kenney +complained of the prisoner, "and further said, since this Nurse came +into the house, he was seized twice with an amazed condition." +Hathorne, addressing the prisoner, said, "Not only these, but the wife +of Mr. Thomas Putnam, accuseth you by credible information, and that +both of tempting her to iniquity and of greatly hurting her." The +prisoner again affirmed her innocence, and said, in answer to the +charge of having hurt these persons, that "she had not been able to get +out of doors these eight or nine days."[ii.62] Hathorne then called +upon Edward Putnam, who, as the record says, "gave in his relate," +which undoubtedly was a statement of his having seen the afflicted in +their sufferings, and heard them accuse Rebecca Nurse as their +tormentor. Hathorne said, "Is this true, Goody Nurse?" She denied that +she had ever hurt them or any one else in her life. Hathorne repeated, +"You see these accuse you: is it true?" She answered, "No." He again +put the question, "Are you an innocent person relating to this +witchcraft?" It seems, from his manner, that he was beginning really to +doubt whether she might not be innocent; and perhaps the feeling of the +multitude was yielding in her favor. + +Here Thomas Putnam's wife cried out, "Did you not bring the black man +with you? Did you not bid me tempt God, and die? How oft have you eat +and drank your own damnation?" This sudden outbreak, from such a +source, accompanied with the wild and apparently supernatural energy +and uncontrollable vehemence with which the words were uttered, roused +the multitude to the utmost pitch of horror; and the prisoner seems to +have been shocked at the dreadful exhibition of madness in the woman +and in the assembly. Releasing her hands from confinement, she spread +them out towards heaven, and exclaimed, "O Lord, help me!" Instantly, +the whole company of the afflicted children "were grievously vexed." +After a while, the tumult subsided, and Hathorne again addressed her, +"Do you not see what a solemn condition[ii.63] these are in? When your +hands are loosed, the persons are afflicted." Then Mary Walcot and +Elizabeth Hubbard came forward, and accused her. Hathorne again +addressed her, "Here are these two grown persons now accuse. What say +you? Do not you see these afflicted persons, and hear them accuse you?" +She answered, "The Lord knows I have not hurt them. I am an innocent +person." Hathorne continued, "It is very awful to all to see these +agonies, and you, an old professor, thus charged with contracting with +the Devil by the effects of it, and yet to see you stand with dry eyes +where there are so many wet." She answered, "You do not know my heart." +Hathorne, "You would do well, if you are guilty, to confess, and give +glory to God."—"I am as clear as the child unborn." Hathorne continued, +"What uncertainty there may be in apparitions, I know not: yet this +with me strikes hard upon you, that you are, at this very present, +charged with familiar spirits,—this is your bodily person they speak +to; they say now they see these familiar spirits come to your bodily +person. Now, what do you say to that?"—"I have none, sir."—"If you +have, confess, and give glory to God. I pray God clear you, if you be +innocent, and, if you are guilty, discover you; and therefore give me +an upright answer. Have you any familiarity with these spirits?"—"No: I +have none but with God alone." It looks as if again the magistrate +began to open his mind to a fair view of the case. He seems to have +sought satisfaction in reference to all the charges[ii.64] that had +been made against her. She was suffering from infirmities of body, the +result not only of age, but of the burdens of life often pressing down +the physical frame, particularly of those who have borne large families +of children. The magistrate had heard some malignant gossip of this +kind, and he asked, "How came you sick? for there is an odd discourse +of that in the mouths of many." She replied that she suffered from +weakness of stomach. He inquired, more specifically, "Have you no +wounds?" Her answer was, that her ailments and weaknesses, all her +bodily infirmities, were the natural effects of what she had +experienced in a long life. "I have none but old age."—"You do know +whether you are guilty, and have familiarity with the Devil; and now, +when you are here present, to see such a thing as these testify,—a +black man whispering in your ear, and birds about you,—what do you say +to it?"—"It is all false: I am clear."—"Possibly, you may apprehend you +are no witch; but have you not been led aside by temptations that +way?"—"I have not." At this point, it almost seems that Hathorne was +yielding to the moral effect of the evidence she bore in her deportment +and language, the impress of conscious innocence in her countenance, +and the manifestation of true Christian purity and integrity in her +whole manner and bearing. Instead of pressing her with further +interrogatories, he gave way to an expression, in the form of a +soliloquy or ejaculation, "What a sad thing is it, that a church-member +here, and now another of Salem,[ii.65] should thus be accused and +charged!" Upon hearing this rather ambiguous expression of the +magistrate, Mrs. Pope fell into a grievous fit. + +Mrs. Pope was the wife of Joseph Pope, living with his mother, the +widow Gertrude Pope, on the farm shown on the map. She had followed up +the meetings of the circle, been a constant witness of the sufferings +of the "afflicted children," and attended all the public examinations, +until her nervous system was excited beyond restraint, and for a while +she went into fits and her imagination was bewildered. She acted with +the accusers, and participated in their sufferings. On some occasions, +her conduct was wild and extravagant to the highest degree. At the +examination of Martha Corey, she was conspicuous for the violence of +her actions. In the midst of the proceedings, and in the presence of +the magistrates and hundreds of people, she threw her muff at the +prisoner; and, that missing, pulled off her shoe, and, more successful +this time, hit her square on the head. Hers seems, however, to have +been a case of mere delusion, amounting to temporary insanity. That it +was not deliberate and cold-blooded imposture is rendered probable by +the fact, that she was rescued from the hallucination, and, with her +husband, among the foremost to deplore and denounce the whole affair. +But, when a woman of her position acted in this manner, on such an +occasion, and then went into convulsions, and the whole company of +afflicted persons joined in, the confusion, tumult, and frightfulness +of[ii.66] the scene can hardly be imagined, certainly it cannot be +described in words. + +Quiet being restored, Hathorne proceeded: "Tell us, have you not had +visible appearances, more than what is common in nature?"—"I have none, +nor never had in my life."—"Do you think these suffer voluntary or +involuntary?"—"I cannot tell."—"That is strange: every one can +judge."—"I must be silent."—"They accuse you of hurting them; and, if +you think it is not unwillingly, but by design, you must look upon them +as murderers."—"I cannot tell what to think of it." This answer was +considered as very aspersive in its bearing upon the witnesses, and she +was charged with having called them murderers. Being hard of hearing, +she did not always take in the whole import of questions put to her. +She denied that she said she thought them murderers; all she said, and +that she stood to to the last, was that she could not tell what to make +of their conduct. Finally, Hathorne put this question, and called for +an answer, "Do you think these suffer against their wills or not?" She +answered, "I do not think these suffer against their wills." To this +point she was not afraid or unwilling to go, in giving an opinion of +the conduct of the accusing girls. Infirm, half deaf, cross-questioned, +circumvented, surrounded with folly, uproar, and outrage, as she was, +they could not intimidate her to say less, or entrap her to say more. + +Then another line of criminating questions was started by the +magistrate: "Why did you never visit[ii.67] these afflicted +persons?"—"Because I was afraid I should have fits too." On every +motion of her body, "fits followed upon the complainants, abundantly +and very frequently." As soon as order was again restored, Hathorne, +being, as he always was, wholly convinced of the reality of the +sufferings of the "afflicted children," addressed her thus, "Is it not +an unaccountable case, that, when you are examined, these persons are +afflicted?" Seeing that he and the whole assembly put faith in the +accusers, her only reply was, "I have got nobody to look to but God." +As she uttered these words, she naturally attempted to raise her hands, +whereupon "the afflicted persons were seized with violent fits of +torture." After silence was again restored, the magistrate pressed his +questions still closer. "Do you believe these afflicted persons are +bewitched?" She answered, "I do think they are." It will be noticed +that there was this difference between Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey: +The latter was an utter heretic on the point of the popular faith +respecting witchcraft; she did not believe that there were any witches, +and she looked upon the declarations and actions of the "afflicted +children" as the ravings of "distracted persons." The former seems to +have held the opinions of the day, and had no disbelief in witchcraft: +she was willing to admit that the children were bewitched; but she knew +her own innocence, and nothing could move her from the consciousness of +it. Mr. Hathorne continued, "When this witchcraft came upon the stage, +there was no suspicion[ii.68] of Tituba, Mr. Parris's Indian woman. She +professed much love to that child,—Betty Parris; but it was her +apparition did the mischief: and why should not you also be guilty, for +your apparition doth hurt also?" Her answer was, "Would you have me +belie myself?" Weary, probably, of the protracted proceedings, her head +drooped on one side; and forthwith the necks of the afflicted children +were bent in the same way. This new demonstration of the diabolical +power that proceeded from her filled the house with increased awe, and +spread horrible conviction of her guilt through all minds. Elizabeth +Hubbard's neck was fixed in that direction, and could not be moved. +Abigail Williams cried out, "Set up Goody Nurse's head, the maid's neck +will be broke." Whereupon, some persons held the prisoner's head up, +and "Aaron Way observed that Betty Hubbard's was immediately righted." +To consummate the effect of the whole proceeding, Mr. Parris, by +direction of the magistrates, "read what he had in characters taken +from Mr. Thomas Putnam's wife in her fits." We shall come to the matter +thus introduced by Mr. Parris, at a future stage of the story. It is +sufficient here to say, that it contained the most positive and minute +declarations that the apparition of Rebecca Nurse had appeared to her, +on several occasions, and horribly tortured her. After hearing Parris's +statement, Hathorne asked the prisoner, "What do you think of this?" +Her reply was, "I cannot help it: the Devil may appear in my shape." It +may be mentioned, that Mrs. Ann Putnam was present during this[ii.69] +examination, and, in the course of it, went into the most dreadful +bodily agony, charging it on Rebecca Nurse. Her sufferings were so +violent, and held on so long, that the magistrates gave permission to +her husband to carry her out of the meeting-house, to free her from the +malignant presence of the prisoner. The record of the examination +closes thus:— + +"Salem Village, March 24th, 1691/2.—The Reverend Mr. Samuel Parris, +being desired to take in writing the examination of Rebecca Nurse, hath +returned it as aforesaid. + +"Upon hearing the aforesaid, and seeing what we then did see, together +with the charges of the persons then present, we committed Rebecca +Nurse, the wife of Francis Nurse of Salem Village, unto Her Majesty's +jail in Salem, as _per mittimus_ then given out, in order to further +examination." + +signatures + +The presence of Ann Putnam, the mother, on this occasion; the statement +from her, read by Mr. Parris; and the terrible sufferings she +exhibited, produced, no doubt, a deep effect upon the magistrates and +all present. Her social position and personal appearance undoubtedly +contributed to heighten it. For two months, her house had been the +constant scene of the extraordinary actings of the circle of girls of +which her daughter and maid-servant were the leading spirits.[ii.70] +Her mind had been absorbed in the mysteries of spiritualism. The +marvels of necromancy and magic had been kept perpetually before it. +She had been living in the invisible world, with a constant sense of +supernaturalism surrounding her. Unconsciously, perhaps, the passions, +prejudices, irritations, and animosities, to which she had been +subject, became mixed with the vagaries of an excited imagination; and, +laid open to the inroads of delusion as her mind had long been by +perpetual tamperings with spiritual ideas and phantoms, she may have +lost the balance of reason and sanity. This, added to a morbid +sensibility, probably gave a deep intensity to her voice, action, and +countenance. The effect upon the excited multitude must have been very +great. Although she lived to realize the utter falseness of all her +statements, her monstrous fictions were felt by her, at the time, to be +a reality. + +In concluding his report of this examination, Mr. Parris says, "By +reason of great noises by the afflicted and many speakers, many things +are pretermitted." He was probably quite willing to avoid telling the +whole story of the disgraceful and shocking scenes enacted in the +meeting-house that day. Deodat Lawson was present during the earlier +part of the proceedings. He says that Mr. Hale began with prayer; that +the prisoner "pleaded her innocency with earnestness;" that, at the +opening, some of the girls, Mary Walcot among them, declared that the +prisoner had never hurt them. Presently, however, Mary Walcot screamed +out that she was bitten, and charged[ii.71] it upon Rebecca Nurse. The +marks of teeth were produced on her wrist. Lawson says, "It was so +disposed that I had not leisure to attend the whole time of +examination." The meaning is, I suppose, that he desired to withdraw +into the neighboring fields to con over his manuscript, and make +himself more able to perform with effect the part he was to act that +afternoon. "There was once," he says, "such an hideous screech and +noise (which I heard as I walked at a little distance from the +meeting-house) as did amaze me; and some that were within told me the +whole assembly was struck with consternation, and they were afraid that +those that sat next to them were under the influence of witchcraft." +The whole congregation was in an uproar, every one afflicted by and +affrighting every other, amid a universal outcry of terror and horror. + +As it was a part of the policy of the managers of the business to +utterly overwhelm the influence of all natural sentiment in the +community, they coupled with this proceeding against a venerable and +infirm great-grandmother, another of the same kind against a little +child. Immediately after the examination of Rebecca Nurse was +concluded, Dorcas, a daughter of Sarah Good, was brought before the +magistrates. She was between four and five years old. Lawson says, "The +child looked hale and well as other children." A warrant had been +issued for her apprehension, the day before, on complaint of Edward and +Jonathan Putnam. Herrick the marshal, who was a man that magnified his +office, and of much personal pride, did[ii.72] not, perhaps, fancy the +idea of bringing up such a little prisoner; and he deputized the +operation to Samuel Braybrook, who, the next morning, made return, in +due form, that "he had taken the body of Dorcas Good," and sent her to +the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll, where she was in custody. It seems +that Braybrook did not like the job, and passed the handling of the +child over to still another. Whoever performed the service probably +brought her in his arms, or on a pillion. The little thing could not +have walked the distance from Benjamin Putnam's farm. When led in to be +examined, Ann Putnam, Mary Walcot, and Mercy Lewis, all charged her +with biting, pinching, and almost choking them. The two former went +through their usual evolutions in the presence of the awe and terror +stricken magistrates and multitude. They showed the marks of her little +teeth on their arms; and the pins with which she pricked them were +found on their bodies, precisely where, in their shrieks, they had +averred that she was piercing them. The evidence was considered +overwhelming; and Dorcas was, _per mittimus_, committed to the jail, +where she joined her mother. By the bill of the Boston jailer, it +appears that they both were confined there: as they were too poor to +provide for themselves, "the country" was charged with ten shillings +for "two blankets for Sarah Good's child." The mother, we know, was +kept in chains; the child was probably chained too. Extraordinary +fastenings, as has been stated, were thought necessary to hold a +witch.[ii.73] + +There was no longer any doubt, in the mass of the community, that the +Devil had effected a lodgement at Salem Village. Church-members, +persons of all social positions, of the highest repute and profession +of piety, eminent for visible manifestations of devotion, and of every +age, had joined his standard, and become his active allies and +confederates. + +The effect of these two examinations was unquestionably very great in +spreading consternation and bewilderment far and wide; but they were +only the prelude to the work, to that end, arranged for the day. The +public mind was worked to red heat, and now was the moment to strike +the blow that would fix an impression deep and irremovable upon it. It +was Thursday, Lecture-day; and the public services usual on the +occasion were to be held at the meeting-house. + +Deodat Lawson had arrived at the village on the 19th of March, and +lodged at Deacon Ingersoll's. The fact at once became known; and Mary +Walcot immediately went to the deacon's to see him. She had a fit on +the spot, which filled Lawson with amazement and horror. His turn of +mind led him to be interested in such an excitement; and he had become +additionally and specially exercised by learning that the afflicted +persons had intimated that the deaths of his wife and daughter, which +occurred during his ministry at the village, had been brought about by +the diabolical agency of the persons then beginning to be unmasked, and +brought to justice. He was prepared to listen to the hints thus thrown +out, and was ready to push[ii.74] the prosecutions on with an +earnestness in which resentment and rage were mingled with the blindest +credulity. After Mary Walcot had given him a specimen of what the girls +were suffering, he walked over, early in the evening, to Mr. Parris's +house; and there Abigail Williams went into the craziest +manifestations, throwing firebrands about the house in the presence of +her uncle, rushing to the back of the chimney as though she would fly +up through its wide flue, and performing many wonderful works. The next +day being Sunday, he preached; and the services were interrupted, in +the manner already described, by the outbreaks of the afflicted, under +diabolic influence. The next day, he attended the examination of Martha +Corey. On Wednesday, the 23d, he went up to Thomas Putnam's, as he +says, "on purpose to see his wife." He "found her lying on the bed, +having had a sore fit a little before: her husband and she both desired +me to pray with her while she was sensible, which I did, though the +apparition said I should not go to prayer. At the first beginning, she +attended; but, after a little time, was taken with a fit, yet continued +silent, and seemed to be asleep." She had represented herself as being +in conflict with the shape, or spectre, of a witch, which, she told +Lawson, said he should not pray on the occasion. But he courageously +ventured on the work. At the conclusion of the prayer, "her husband, +going to her, found her in a fit. He took her off the bed to sit her on +his knees; but at first she was so stiff she could not be bended, but +she after[ii.75]wards sat down." Then she went into that state of +supernatural vision and exaltation in which she was accustomed to utter +the wildest strains, in fervid, extravagant, but solemn and melancholy, +rhapsodies: she disputed with the spectre about a text of Scripture, +and then poured forth the most terrible denunciations upon it for +tormenting and tempting her. She was evidently a very intellectual and +imaginative woman, and was perfectly versed in all the imagery and +lofty diction supplied by the prophetic and poetic parts of Scripture. +Again she was seized with a terrible fit, that lasted "near half an +hour." At times, her mouth was drawn on one side and her body strained. +At last she broke forth, and succeeded, after many violent struggles +against the spectre and many convulsions of her frame, in saying what +part of the Bible Lawson was to read aloud, in order to relieve her. +"It is," she said, "the third chapter of the Revelation."—"I did," says +Lawson, "something scruple the reading it." He was loath to be engaged +in an affair of that kind in which the Devil was an actor. At length he +overcame his scruples, and the effect was decisive. "Before I had near +read through the first verse, she opened her eyes, and was well." +Bewildered and amazed, he went back to Parris's house, and they talked +over the awful manifestations of Satan's power. The next morning, he +attended the examination of Rebecca Nurse, retiring from it, at an +early hour, to complete his preparation for the service that had been +arranged for him that afternoon.[ii.76] + +I say arranged, because the facts in this case prove long-concerted +arrangement. He was to preach a sermon that day. Word must have been +sent to him weeks before. After reaching the village, every hour had +been occupied in exciting spectacles and engrossing experiences, +filling his mind with the fanatical enthusiasm requisite to give force +and fire to the delivery of the discourse. He could not possibly have +written it after coming to the place. He must have brought it in his +pocket. It is a thoroughly elaborated and carefully constructed +performance, requiring long and patient application to compose it, and +exhausting all the resources of theological research and reference, and +of artistic skill and finish. It is adapted to the details of an +occasion which was prepared to meet it. Not only the sermon but the +audience were the result of arrangement carefully made in the stages of +preparation and in the elements comprised in it. The preceding steps +had all been seasonably and appositely taken, so that, when the regular +lecture afternoon came, Lawson would have his voluminous discourse +ready, and a congregation be in waiting to hear it, with minds suitably +wrought upon by the preceding incidents of the day, to be thoroughly +and permanently impressed by it. The occasion had been heralded by a +train of circumstances drawing everybody to the spot. The magistrates +were already there, some of them by virtue of the necessity of official +presence in the earlier part of the day, and others came in from the +neighborhood; the ministers gathered from[ii.77] the towns in the +vicinity; men and women came from all quarters, flocking along the +highways and the by-ways, large numbers on horseback, and crowds on +foot. Probably the village meeting-house, and the grounds around it, +presented a spectacle such as never was exhibited elsewhere. Awe, +dread, earnestness, a stern but wild fanaticism, were stamped on all +countenances, and stirred the heaving multitude to its depths, and in +all its movements and utterances. It is impossible to imagine a +combination of circumstances that could give greater advantage and +power to a speaker, and Lawson was equal to the situation. No discourse +was ever more equal, or better adapted, to its occasion. It was +irresistible in its power, and carried the public mind as by storm. + +The text is Zechariah, iii. 2: "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord +rebuke thee, O Satan! even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke +thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" After an allusion +to the rebellion of Satan, and his fall from heaven with his "accursed +legions," and after representing them as filled "with envy and malice +against all mankind," seeking "by all ways and means to work their ruin +and destruction for ever, opposing to the utmost all persons and things +appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ as means or instruments of their +comfort here or salvation hereafter," he proceeds, in the manner of +those days, to open his text and spread out his subject, all along +exhibiting great ability, skill, and power, showing learning in his +illustrations, draw[ii.78]ing aptly and abundantly from the Scriptures, +and, at the right points, rising to high strains of eloquence in +diction and imagery. + +He describes, at great length and with abundant instances ingeniously +selected from sacred and profane literature, the marvellous power with +which Satan is enabled to operate upon mankind. He says,— + +"He is a spirit, and hence strikes at the spiritual part, the most +excellent (constituent) part of man. Primarily disturbing and +interrupting the animal and vital spirits, he maliciously operates upon +the more common powers of the soul by strange and frightful +representations to the fancy or imagination; and, by violent tortures +of the body, often threatening to extinguish life, as hath been +observed in those that are afflicted amongst us. And not only so, but +he vents his malice in diabolical operations on the more sublime and +distinguishing faculties of the rational soul, raising mists of +darkness and ignorance in the understanding.... Sometimes he brings +distress upon the bodies of men, by malignant operations in, and +diabolical impressions on, the spirituous principle or vehicle of life +and motion.... There are certainly some lower operations of Satan +(whereof there are sundry examples among us), which the bodies and +souls of men and women are liable unto. And whosoever hath carefully +observed those things must needs be convinced, that the motions of the +persons afflicted, both as to the manner and as to the violence of +them, are the mere effects of diabolical malice and operations, and +that it cannot rationally be imagined to proceed from any other cause +whatever.... Satan exerts his malice mediately by employing some of +mankind and other creatures, and he frequently[ii.79] useth other +persons or things, that his designs may be the more undiscernible. Thus +he used the serpent in the first temptation (Gen. iii. 1). Hence he +contracts and indents with witches and wizards, that they shall be the +instruments by whom he may more secretly affect and afflict the bodies +and minds of others; and, if he can prevail upon those that make a +visible profession, it may be the better covert unto his diabolical +enterprise, and may the more readily pervert others to consenting unto +his subjection. So far as we can look into those hellish mysteries, and +guess at the administration of that kingdom of darkness, we may learn +that witches make witches by persuading one the other to subscribe to a +book or articles, &c.; and the Devil, having them in his subjection, by +their consent, he will use their bodies and minds, shapes and +representations, to affright and afflict others at his pleasure, for +the propagation of his infernal kingdom, and accomplishing his devised +mischiefs to the souls, bodies, and lives of the children of men, yea, +and of the children of God too, so far as permitted and is possible.... +He insinuates into the society of the adopted children of God, in their +most solemn approaches to him, in sacred ordinances, endeavoring to +look so like the true saints and ministers of Christ, that, if it were +possible, he would deceive the very elect (Matt. xxiv. 24) by his +subtilty: for it is certain he never works more like the Prince of +darkness than when he looks most like an angel of light; and, when he +most pretends to holiness, he then doth most secretly, and by +consequence most surely, undermine it, and those that most excel in the +exercise thereof." + +The following is a specimen of the style in which he stirred up the +people:[ii.80]— + +"The application of this doctrine to ourselves remains now to be +attended. Let it be for solemn warning and awakening to all of us that +are before the Lord at this time, and to all others of this whole +people, who shall come to the knowledge of these direful operations of +Satan, which the holy God hath permitted in the midst of us. + +"The Lord doth terrible things amongst us, by lengthening the chain of +the roaring lion in an extraordinary manner, so that the Devil is come +down in great wrath (Rev. xii. 12), endeavoring to set up his kingdom, +and, by racking torments on the bodies, and affrightening +representations to the minds of many amongst us, to force and fright +them to become his subjects. I may well say, then, in the words of the +prophet (Mic. vi. 9), 'The Lord's voice crieth to the city,' and to the +country also, with an unusual and amazing loudness. Surely, it warns us +to awaken out of all sleep, of security or stupidity, to arise, and +take our Bibles, turn to, and learn that lesson, not by rote only, but +by heart. 1 Pet. v. 8: 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary +the Devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom amongst you he may +distress, delude, and devour.'... Awake, awake then, I beseech you, and +remain no longer under the dominion of that prince of cruelty and +malice, whose tyrannical fury we see thus exerted against the bodies +and minds of these afflicted persons!... This warning is directed to +all manner of persons, according to their condition of life, both in +civil and sacred order; both high and low, rich and poor, old and +young, bond and free. Oh, let the observation of these amazing +dispensations of God's unusual and strange Providence quicken us to our +duty, at such a time as this, in our respective places and stations, +relations and capacities! The great God hath done such things amongst +us as do[ii.81] make the ears of those that hear them to tingle (Jer. +xix. 3); and serious souls are at a loss to what these things may grow, +and what we shall find to be the end of this dreadful visitation, in +the permission whereof the provoked God as a lion hath roared, who can +but fear? the Lord hath spoken, who can but prophesy? (Amos iii. 8.) +The loud trumpet of God, in this thundering providence, is blown in the +city, and the echo of it heard through the country, surely then the +people must and ought to be afraid (Amos iii. 6).... You are therefore +to be deeply humbled, and sit in the dust, considering the signal hand +of God in singling out this place, this poor village, for the first +seat of Satan's tyranny, and to make it (as 'twere) the rendezvous of +devils, where they muster their infernal forces; appearing to the +afflicted as coming armed to carry on their malicious designs against +the bodies, and, if God in mercy prevent not, against the souls, of +many in this place.... Be humbled also that so many members of this +church of the Lord Jesus Christ should be under the influences of +Satan's malice in these his operations; some as the objects of his +tyranny on their bodies to that degree of distress which none can be +sensible of but those that see and feel it, who are in the mean time +also sorely distressed in their minds by frightful representations made +by the devils unto them. Other professors and visible members of this +church are under the awful accusations and imputations of being the +instruments of Satan in his mischievous actings. It cannot but be +matter of deep humiliation, to such as are innocent, that the righteous +and holy God should permit them to be named in such pernicious and +unheard-of practices, and not only so, but that he who cannot but do +right should suffer the stain of suspected guilt to be, as it were, +rubbed on and[ii.82] soaked in by many sore and amazing circumstances. +And it is a matter of soul-abasement to all that are in the bond of +God's holy covenant in this place, that Satan's seat should be amongst +them, where he attempts to set up his kingdom in opposition to Christ's +kingdom, and to take some of the visible subjects of our Lord Jesus, +and use at least their shapes and appearances, instrumentally, to +afflict and torture other visible subjects of the same kingdom. Surely +his design is that Christ's kingdom may be divided against itself, +that, being thereby weakened, he may the better take opportunity to set +up his own accursed powers and dominions. It calls aloud then to all in +this place in the name of the blessed Jesus, and words of his holy +apostle (1 Peter v. 6), 'Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of +God.' + +"It is matter of terror, amazement, and astonishment, to all such +wretched souls (if there be any here in the congregation; and God, of +his infinite mercy, grant that none of you may ever be found such!) as +have given up their names and souls to the Devil; who by covenant, +explicit or implicit, have bound themselves to be his slaves and +drudges, consenting to be instruments in whose shapes he may torment +and afflict their fellow-creatures (even of their own kind) to the +amazing and astonishing of the standers-by. I would hope I might have +spared this use, but I desire (by divine assistance) to declare the +whole counsel of God; and if it come not as conviction where it is so, +it may serve for warning, that it may never be so. For it is a most +dreadful thing to consider that any should change the service of God +for the service of the Devil, the worship of the blessed God for the +worship of the cursed enemy of God and man. But, oh! (which is yet a +thousand times worse) how shall I name it? if any that are in the +visible covenant of[ii.83] God should break that covenant, and make a +league with Satan; if any that have sat down and eat at Christ's Table, +should so lift up their heel against him as to have fellowship at the +table of devils, and (as it hath been represented to some of the +afflicted) eat of the bread and drink of the wine that Satan hath +mingled. Surely, if this be so, the poet is in the right, "Audax omnia +perpeti. Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas:" audacious mortals are +grown to a fearful height of impiety; and we must cry out in Scripture +language, and that emphatical apostrophe of the Prophet Jeremy (chap. +ii. 12), 'Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid: +be ye very desolate, saith the Lord.'... If you are in covenant with +the Devil, the intercession of the blessed Jesus is against you. His +prayer is for the subduing of Satan's power and kingdom, and the utter +confounding of all his instruments. If it be so, then the great God is +set against you. The omnipotent Jehovah, one God in three Persons; +Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in their several distinct operations and +all their divine attributes,—are engaged against you. Therefore know ye +that are guilty of such monstrous iniquity, that He that made you will +not save you, and that He that formed you will show you no favor (Isa. +xxvii. 11). Be assured, that, although you should now evade the +condemnation of man's judgment, and escape a violent death by the hand +of justice; yet, unless God shall give you repentance (which we +heartily pray for), there is a day coming when the secrets of all +hearts shall be revealed by Jesus Christ (Rom. ii. 16). Then, then, +your sin will find you out; and you shall be punished with everlasting +destruction from the presence of the Lord, and doomed to those endless, +easeless, and remediless torments prepared for the Devil and his angels +(Matt. xxv. 41).... If you[ii.84] have been guilty of such impiety, the +prayers of the people of God are against you on that account. It is +their duty to pray daily, that Satan's kingdom may be suppressed, +weakened, brought down, and at last totally destroyed; hence that all +abettors, subjects, defenders, and promoters thereof, may be utterly +crushed and confounded. They are constrained to suppress that kindness +and compassion that in their sacred addresses they once bare unto you +(as those of their own kind, and framed out of the same mould), praying +with one consent, as the royal prophet did against his malicious +enemies, the instruments of Satan (Ps. cix. 6), 'Set thou a wicked man +over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand' (i.e.), to withstand +all that is for his good, and promote all that is for his hurt; and +(verse 7) 'When he is judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer +become sin.' + +"Be we exhorted and directed to exercise true spiritual sympathy with, +and compassion towards, those poor, afflicted persons that are by +divine permission under the direful influence of Satan's malice. There +is a divine precept enjoining the practice of such duty: Heb. xiii. 3, +'Remember them that suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the +body.' Let us, then, be deeply sensible, and, as the elect of God, put +on bowels of mercy towards those in misery (Col. iii. 12). Oh, pity, +pity them! for the hand of the Lord hath touched them, and the malice +of devils hath fallen upon them. + +"Let us be sure to take unto us and put on the whole armor of God, and +every piece of it; let none be wanting. Let us labor to be in the +exercise and practice of the whole company of sanctifying graces and +religious duties. This important duty is pressed, and the particular +pieces of that armor recited Eph. vi. 11 and 13 to 18. Satan is +repre[ii.85]senting his infernal forces; and the devils seem to come +armed, mustering amongst us. I am this day commanded to call and cry an +alarm unto you: Arm, arm, arm! handle your arms, see that you are fixed +and in a readiness, as faithful soldiers under the Captain of our +salvation, that, by the shield of faith, ye and we all may resist the +fiery darts of the wicked; and may be faithful unto death in our +spiritual warfare; so shall we assuredly receive the crown of life +(Rev. ii. 10). Let us admit no parley, give no quarter: let none of +Satan's forces or furies be more vigilant to hurt us than we are to +resist and repress them, in the name, and by the spirit, grace, and +strength of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us ply the throne of grace, in +the name and merit of our Blessed Mediator, taking all possible +opportunities, public, private, and secret, to pour out our +supplications to the God of our salvation. Prayer is the most proper +and potent antidote against the old Serpent's venomous operations. When +legions of devils do come down among us, multitudes of prayers should +go up to God. Satan, the worst of all our enemies, is called in +Scripture a dragon, to note his malice; a serpent, to note his +subtilty; a lion, to note his strength. But none of all these can stand +before prayer. The most inveterate malice (as that of Haman) sinks +under the prayer of Esther (chap. iv. 16). The deepest policy (the +counsel of Achitophel) withers before the prayer of David (2 Sam. xv. +31); and the vastest army (an host of a thousand thousand Ethiopians) +ran away, like so many cowards, before the prayer of Asa (2 Chron. xiv. +9 to 15). + +"What therefore I say unto one I say unto all, in this important case, +Pray, pray, pray. + +"To our honored magistrates, here present this day, to[ii.86] inquire +into these things, give me leave, much honored, to offer one word to +your consideration. Do all that in you lies to check and rebuke Satan; +endeavoring, by all ways and means that are according to the rule of +God, to discover his instruments in these horrid operations. You are +concerned in the civil government of this people, being invested with +power by their Sacred Majesties, under this glorious Jesus (the King +and Governor of his church), for the supporting of Christ's kingdom +against all oppositions of Satan's kingdom and his instruments. Being +ordained of God to such a station (Rom. xiii. 1), we entreat you, bear +not the sword in vain, as ver. 4; but approve yourselves a terror of +and punishment to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well (1 +Peter ii. 14); ever remembering that ye judge not for men, but for the +Lord (2 Chron. xix. 6); and, as his promise is, so our prayer shall be +for you, without ceasing, that he would be with you in the judgment, as +he that can and will direct, assist, and reward you. Follow the example +of the upright Job (chap. xxix. 16): Be a father to the poor; to these +poor afflicted persons, in pitiful and painful endeavors to help them; +and the cause that seems to be so dark, as you know not how to +determine it, do your utmost, in the use of all regular means, to +search it out. + +"There is comfort in considering that the Lord Jesus, the Captain of +our salvation, hath already overcome the Devil. Christ, that blessed +seed of the woman, hath given this cursed old serpent called the Devil +and Satan a mortal and incurable bruise on the head (Gen. iii. 15). He +was too much for him in a single conflict (Matt. iv.). He opposed his +power and kingdom in the possessed. He suffered not the devils to +speak, because they knew him (Mark i. 34). He com[ii.87]pleted his +victory by his death on the cross, and destroyed his dominion (Heb. ii. +14), that through death he might destroy death, and him that had the +powers of death, that is the Devil; and by and after his resurrection +made show openly unto the world, that he had spoiled principalities and +powers, triumphing over them (Col. ii. 15). Hence, if we are by faith +united to him, his victory is an earnest and prelibation of our +conquest at last. All Satan's strugglings now are but those of a +conquered enemy. It is no small comfort to consider, that Job's +exercise of patience had its beginning from the Devil; but we have seen +the end to be from the Lord (James v. 11). That we also may find by +experience the same blessed issue of our present distresses by Satan's +malice, let us repent of every sin that hath been committed, and labor +to practise every duty which hath been neglected. Then we shall +assuredly and speedily find that the kingly power of our Lord and +Saviour shall be magnified, in delivering his poor sheep and lambs out +of the jaws and paws of the roaring lion." + + + +William Stoughton + +WILLIAM STOUGHTON. +_Eng.d at J. Andrews's by R. Babson_ + + +These extended extracts are given from Lawson's discourse, partly to +enable every one to estimate the effect it must have produced, under +the circumstances of the occasion, but mainly because they present a +living picture of the sentiments, notions, modes of thinking and +reasoning, and convictions, then prevalent. No description given by a +person looking back from our point of view, not having experienced the +delusions of that age, no matter who might attempt the task, could +adequately paint the scene. The foregoing extracts show better, I +think, than any documents that have come down to us, how the subject +lay[ii.88] in the minds of men at that time. They bring before us +directly, without the intervention of any secondary agency, the +thoughts, associations, sentiments, of that generation, in breathing +reality. They carry us back to the hour and to the spot. Deodat Lawson +rises from his unknown grave, comes forth from the impenetrable cloud +which enveloped the closing scenes of his mortal career, and we listen +to his voice, as it spoke to the multitudes that gathered in and around +the meeting-house in Salem Village, on Lecture-day, March 24, 1692. He +lays bare his whole mind to our immediate inspection. In and through +him, we behold the mind and heart, the forms of language and thought, +the feelings and passions, of the people of that day. We mingle with +the crowd that hang upon his lips; we behold their countenances, +discern the passions that glowed upon their features, and enter into +the excitement that moved and tossed them like a tempest. We are thus +prepared, as we could be in no other way, to comprehend our story. + +The sermon answered its end. It re-enforced the powers that had begun +their work. It spread out the whole doctrine of witchcraft in a +methodical, elaborate, and most impressive form. It justified and +commended every thing that had been done, and every thing that remained +to be done; every step in the proceedings; every process in the +examinations; every kind of accusation and evidence that had been +adduced; every phase of the popular belief, however wild and monstrous; +every pretension of the afflicted children[ii.89] to preternatural +experiences and communications, and every tale of apparitions of +departed spirits and the ghosts of murdered men, women, and children, +which, engendered in morbid and maniac imaginations, had been employed +to fill him and others with horror, inspire revenge, and drive on the +general delirium. And it fortified every point by the law and the +testimony, by passages and scraps of Scripture, studiously and +skilfully culled out, and ingeniously applied. It gave form to what had +been vague, and authority to what had floated in blind and baseless +dreams of fancy. It crystallized the disordered vagaries, that had been +seething in turbulent confusion in the public mind, into a fixed, +organized, and permanent shape. + +Its publication was forthwith called for. The manuscript was submitted +to Increase and Cotton Mather of the North, James Allen and John Bailey +of the First, Samuel Willard of the Old South, churches in Boston, and +Charles Morton of the church in Charlestown. It was printed with a +strong, unqualified indorsement of approval, signed by the names +severally of these the most eminent divines of the country. The +discourse was dedicated to the "worshipful and worthily honored +Bartholomew Gedney, John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, Esqrs., together +with the reverend Mr. John Higginson, pastor, and Mr. Nicholas Noyes, +teacher, of the Church of Christ at Salem," with a preface, addressed +to all his "Christian friends and acquaintance, the inhabitants of +Salem Village." It was republished in London in 1704, under the +immediate direction of its[ii.90] author. The subject is described as +"Christ's Fidelity, the only Shield against Satan's Malignity;" and the +titlepage is enforced by passages of Scripture (Rev. xii. 12, and Rom. +xvi. 20). The interest of the volume is highly increased by an +appendix, giving the substance of notes taken by Lawson on the spot, +during the examinations and trials. They are invaluable, as proceeding +from a chief actor in the scenes, who was wholly carried away by the +delusion. They describe, in marvellous colors, the wonderful +manifestations of diabolical agency in, upon, and through the afflicted +children; resembling, in many respects, reports of spiritual +communications prevalent in our day, although not quite coming up to +them. These statements, and the preface to the discourse, are given in +the Appendix to this volume. In a much briefer form, it was printed by +Benjamin Harris, at Boston, in 1692; and soon after by John Dunton, in +London. + +Before dismissing Mr. Lawson's famous sermon, our attention is demanded +to a remarkable paragraph in it. His strong faculties could not be +wholly bereft of reason; and he had sense enough left to see, what does +not appear to have occurred to others, that there might be a re-action +in the popular passions, and that some might be called to account by an +indignant public, if not before a stern tribunal of justice, for the +course of cruelty and outrage they were pursuing, with so high a hand, +against accused persons. He was not entirely satisfied that the appeal +he made in his discourse to[ii.91] the people to suppress and crush out +all vestiges of human feeling, and to stifle compassion and pity in +their breasts, would prevail. He foresaw that the friends and families +of innocent and murdered victims might one day call for vengeance; and +he attempts to provide, beforehand, a defence that is truly ingenious:— + +"Give no place to the Devil by rash censuring of others, without +sufficient grounds, or false accusing any willingly. This is indeed to +be like the Devil, who hath the title, Διαβολος, in the Greek, because +he is the calumniator or false accuser. Hence, when we read of such +accusers in the latter days, they are, in the original, called +Διαβολοι, _calumniatores_ (2 Tim. iii. 3). It is a time of temptation +amongst you, such as never was before: let me entreat you not to be +lavish or severe in reflecting on the malice or envy of your neighbors, +by whom any of you have been accused, lest, whilst you falsely charge +one another,—viz., the relations of the afflicted and relations of the +accused,—the grand accuser (who loves to fish in troubled waters) +should take advantage upon you. Look at sin, the procuring cause; God +in justice, the sovereign efficient; and Satan, the enemy, the +principal instrument, both in afflicting some and accusing others. And, +if innocent persons be suspected, it is to be ascribed to God's +pleasure, supremely permitting, and Satan's malice subordinately +troubling, by representation of such to the afflicting of others, even +of such as have, all the while, we have reason to believe (especially +some of them), no kind of ill-will or disrespect unto those that have +been complained of by them. This giving place to the Devil avoid; for +it will have uncomforta[ii.92]ble and pernicious influence upon the +affairs of this place, by letting out peace, and bringing in confusion +and every evil work, which we heartily pray God, in mercy, to prevent." + +This artifice of statement, speciously covered,—while it outrages every +sentiment of natural justice, and breaks every bond of social +responsibility,—is found, upon close inspection, to be a shocking +imputation against the divine administration. It represents the Deity, +under the phrases "sovereign efficient" and "supremely permitting" in a +view which affords equal shelter to every other class of criminals, +even of the deepest dye, as well as those who were ready and eager to +bring upon their neighbors the charge of confederacy with Satan. + +The next Sunday—March 27—was the regular communion-day of the village +church; and Mr. Parris prepared duly to improve the occasion to advance +the movement then so strongly under way, and to deepen still more the +impression made by the events of the week, especially by Mr. Lawson's +sermon. He accordingly composed an elaborate and effective discourse of +his own; and a scene was arranged to follow the regular service, which +could not but produce important results. An unexpected occurrence—a +part not in the programme—took place, which created a sensation for the +moment; but it tended, upon the whole, to heighten the public +excitement, and, without much disturbing the order, only precipitated a +little the progress of events.[ii.93] + +It may well be supposed, that the congregation assembled that day with +minds awfully solemnized, and altogether in a condition to be deeply +affected by the services. A respectable person always prominently +noticeable for her devout participation in the worship of the +sanctuary, and a member of the church, had, on Monday, after a public +examination, been committed to prison, and was there in irons, waiting +to be tried for her life for the blackest of crimes,—a confederacy with +the enemy of the souls of men, the archtraitor and rebel against the +throne of God. On Thursday, another venerable, and ever before +considered pious, matron of a large and influential family, a +participant in their worship, and a member of the mother-church, had +been consigned to the same fate, to be tried for the same horrible +crime. A little child had been proved to have also joined in the +infernal league. No one could tell to what extent Satan had lengthened +his chain, or who, whether old or young, were in league with him. Every +soul was still alive to the impressions made by Mr. Lawson's great +discourse, and by the throngs of excited people, including magistrates +and ministers, that had been gathered in the village. + +The character and spirit of Mr. Parris's sermon are indicated in a +prefatory note in the manuscript, "occasioned by dreadful witchcraft +broke out here a few weeks past; and one member of this church, and +another of Salem, upon public examination by civil authority, +vehemently suspected for she-witches." The running[ii.94] title is, +"Christ knows how many devils there are in his church, and who they +are;" and the text is John vi. 70, 71, "Jesus answered them, Have not I +chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas +Iscariot, the son of Simon; for he it was that should betray him, being +one of the twelve." + +Peter Cloyse was born May 27, 1639. He came to Salem from York, in +Maine, and was one of the original members of the village church. He +appears to have been a person of the greatest respectability and +strength of character. He married Sarah, sister of Rebecca Nurse, and +widow of Edmund Bridges. She was admitted to the village church, Jan. +12, 1690, being then about forty-eight years of age. It may well be +supposed that she and her family were overwhelmed with affliction and +horror by the proceedings against her sister. But, as she and her +husband were both communicants, and it was sacrament-day, it was +thought best for them to summon resolution to attend the service. After +much persuasion, she was induced to go. She was a very sensitive +person, and it must have required a great effort of fortitude. Her mind +was undoubtedly much harrowed by the allusions made to the events of +the week; and, when Mr. Parris announced his text, and opened his +discourse in the spirit his language indicates, she could bear it no +longer, but rose, and left the meeting. A fresh wind blowing at the +time caused the door to slam after her. The congregation was probably +startled; but Parris was not long embarrassed by the interruption, +and[ii.95] she was attended to in due season. At the close of the +service, the following scene occurred. I give it as Parris describes it +in his church-record book:— + +"After the common auditory was dismissed, and before the church's +communion at the Lord's Table, the following testimony against the +error of our Sister Mary Sibley, who had given direction to my Indian +man in an unwarrantable way to find out witches, was read by the +pastor:— + +"It is altogether undeniable that our great and blessed God, for wise +and holy ends, hath suffered many persons, in several families, of this +little village, to be grievously vexed and tortured in body, and to be +deeply tempted, to the endangering of the destruction of their souls; +and all these amazing feats (well known to many of us) to be done by +witchcraft and diabolical operations. It is also well known, that, when +these calamities first began, which was in my own family, the +affliction was several weeks before such hellish operations as +witchcraft were suspected. Nay, it was not brought forth to any +considerable light, until diabolical means were used by the making of a +cake by my Indian man, who had his direction from this our sister, Mary +Sibley; since which, apparitions have been plenty, and exceeding much +mischief hath followed. But, by these means (it seems), the Devil hath +been raised amongst us, and his rage is vehement and terrible; and, +when he shall be silenced, the Lord only knows. But now that this our +sister should be instrumental to such distress is a great grief to +myself, and our godly honored and reverend neighbors, who have had the +knowledge of it. Nevertheless, I do truly hope and believe, that this +our sister doth truly[ii.96] fear the Lord; and I am well satisfied +from her, that, what she did, she did it ignorantly, from what she had +heard of this nature from other ignorant or worse persons. Yet we are +in duty bound to protest against such actions, as being indeed a going +to the Devil for help against the Devil: we having no such directions +from nature, or God's word, it must therefore be, and is, accounted, by +godly Protestants who write or speak of such matters, as diabolical; +and therefore calls this our sister to deep humiliation for what she +has done, and all of us to be watchful against Satan's wiles and +devices. + +"Therefore, as we, in duty as a church of Christ, are deeply bound to +protest against it, as most directly contrary to the gospel, yet, +inasmuch as this our sister did it in ignorance as she professeth and +we believe, we can continue her in our holy fellowship, upon her +serious promise of future better advisedness and caution, and +acknowledging that she is indeed sorrowful for her rashness herein. + +"Brethren, if this be your mind, that this iniquity should be thus +borne witness against, manifest it by your usual sign of lifting up +your hands.—The brethren voted generally, or universally: none made any +exceptions. + +"Sister Sibley, if you are convinced that you herein did sinfully, and +are sorry for it, let us hear it from your own mouth.—She did manifest +to satisfaction her error and grief for it. + +"Brethren, if herein you have received satisfaction, testify it by +lifting up your hands.—A general vote passed; no exception made. + +"Note.—25th March, 1692. I discoursed said sister in my study about her +grand error aforesaid, and also then read to her what I had written as +above to be read to the[ii.97] church; and said Sister Sibley assented +to the same with tears and sorrowful confession." + +This proceeding was of more importance than appears, perhaps, at first +view. It was one of Mr. Parris's most skilful moves. The course, +pursued by the "afflicted" persons had, thus far, in reference to those +engaged in the prosecutions, been in the right direction. But it was +manifest, after the exhibitions they had given, that they wielded a +fearful power, too fearful to be left without control. They could cry +out upon whomsoever they pleased; and against their accusations, armed +as they were with the power to fix the charge of guilt upon any one by +giving ocular demonstration that he or she was the author of their +sufferings, there could be no defence. They might turn, at any moment, +and cry out upon Parris or Lawson, or either or both of the deacons. +Nothing could withstand the evidence of their fits, convulsions, and +tortures. It was necessary to have and keep them under safe control, +and, to this end, to prevent any outsiders, or any injudicious or +intermeddling people, from holding intimacy with them. Parris saw this, +and, with his characteristic boldness of action and fertility of +resources, at once put a stop to all trouble, and closed the door +against danger, from this quarter. + +Samuel Sibley was a member of the church, and a near neighbor of Mr. +Parris. He was about thirty-six years of age. His wife Mary was +thirty-two years of age, and also a member of the church. They[ii.98] +were persons of respectable standing and good repute. Nothing is known +to her disadvantage, but her foolish connection with the mystical +operations going on in Mr. Parris's family; and of this she was +heartily ashamed. Her penitent sensibility is quite touchingly +described by Mr. Parris. It is true that what she had done was a trifle +in comparison with what was going on every day in the families of Mr. +Parris and Thomas Putnam: but she had acted "rashly," without +"advisedness" from the right quarter, under the lead of "ignorant +persons;" and therefore it was necessary to make a great ado about it, +and hold her up as a warning to prevent other persons from meddling in +such matters. Her husband was an uncle of Mary Walcot, one of the +afflicted children; and it was particularly important to keep their +relatives, and members of their immediate families, from taking any +part or action in connection with them, except under due "advisedness," +and the direction of persons learned in such deep matters. The family +connections of the Sibleys were extensive, and a blow struck at that +point would be felt everywhere. The procedure was undoubtedly +effectual. After Mary Sibley had been thus awfully rebuked and +distressingly exposed for dealing with "John Indian," it is not likely +that any one else ever ventured to intermeddle with the "afflicted," or +have any connection, except as outside spectators, with the marvellous +phenomena of "diabolical operations." It will be noticed, that, while +Mr. Parris thus waved the sword of disciplinary[ii.99] vengeance +against any who should dare to intrude upon the forbidden ground, he +occupied it himself without disguise, and maintained his hold upon it. +He asserts the reality of the "amazing feats" practised by diabolical +power in their midst, and enforces in the strongest language the then +prevalent views and pending proceedings. + +The operations of the week, including the solemn censure of Mary +Sibley, had all worked favorably for the prosecutors and managers of +the business. The magistrates, ministers, and whole body of the people, +had become committed; the accusing girls had proved themselves apt and +competent to their work; the public reason was prostrated, and natural +sensibility stunned. All resisting forces were powerless, and all +collateral dangers avoided and provided against. The movement was fully +in hand. The next step was maturely considered, and, as we shall see, +skilfully taken. + +It is to be observed, that there was, at this time, a break in the +regular government of Massachusetts. In the spring of 1689, the people +had risen, seized the royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros, and put him in +prison. They summoned their old charter governor, Simon Bradstreet, +then living in Salem, eighty-seven years of age, to the chair of state; +called the assistants of 1686 back to their seats, who provided for an +election of representatives by the people of the towns; and the +government thus created conducted affairs until the arrival of Sir +William Phipps, in May, 1692, when Massachusetts ceased to be a[ii.100] +colony, and was thenceforth, until 1774, a royal province. During these +three years, from May, 1689, to May, 1692, the government was based +upon an uprising of the people. It was a period of pure and absolute +independence of the crown or parliament of England. Although +Bradstreet's faculties were unimpaired and his spirit true and firm, +his age prevented his doing much more than to give his loved and +venerated name to the daring movement, and to the official service, of +the people. The executive functions were, for the most part, exercised +by the deputy-governor, Thomas Danforth, who was a person of great +ability and public spirit. Unfortunately, at this time he was zealously +in favor of the witchcraft prosecutions. Bradstreet was throughout +opposed to them. Had time held off its hand, and his physical energies +not been impaired, he would undoubtedly have resisted and prevented +them. Danforth, it is said by Brattle, came to disapprove of them +finally: but he began them by arrests in other towns, months before any +thing of the kind was thought of in Salem Village; and he contributed, +prominently, to give destructive and wide-spread power, in an early +stage of its development, to the witchcraft delusion here. + +After the lapse of a week, preparations were completed to renew +operations, and a higher and more commanding character given to them. +On Monday, April 4, Captain Jonathan Walcot and Lieutenant Nathaniel +Ingersoll went to the town, and, "for themselves and several of their +neighbors," exhibited to the assistants[ii.101] residing there, John +Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, complaints against "Sarah Cloyse, the +wife of Peter Cloyse of Salem Village, and Elizabeth Procter of Salem +Farms, for high suspicion of sundry acts of witchcraft." There the plan +of proceedings in reference to the above-said parties was agreed upon. +It was the result of consultation; communications probably passing with +the deputy-governor in Boston, or at his residence in Cambridge. On the +8th of April, warrants were duly issued, ordering the marshal to bring +in the prisoners "on Monday morning next, being the eleventh day of +this instant April, about eleven of the clock, in the public +meeting-house in the town." It had been arranged, that the examination +should not be, as before, in the ordinary way, before the two local +magistrates, but, in an extraordinary way, before the highest tribunal +in the colony, or a representation of it. For a preliminary hearing, +with a view merely to commitment for trial, this surely may justly be +characterized as an extraordinary, wholly irregular, and, in all points +of view, reprehensible procedure. When the day came, the meeting-house, +which was much more capacious than that at the village, was crowded; +and the old town filled with excited throngs. Upon opening proceedings, +lo and behold, instead of the two magistrates, the government of the +colony was present, in the highest character it then had as "a +council"! The record says,— + +"Salem, April 11, 1692.—At a Council held at Salem, and present Thomas +Danforth, Esq., deputy-governor;[ii.102] James Russell, John Hathorne, +Isaac Addington, Major Samuel Appleton, Captain Samuel Sewall, Jonathan +Corwin, Esquires." + +Russell was of Charlestown, Addington and Sewall of Boston, and +Appleton of Ipswich. Mr. Parris, "being desired and appointed to write +the examination, did take the same, and also read it before the council +in public." This document has not come down to us; but Hutchinson had +access to it, and the substance of it is preserved in his "History of +Massachusetts." + +The marshal (Herrick) brought in Sarah Cloyse and Elizabeth Procter, +and delivered them "before the honorable council:" and the examination +was begun. + +The deputy-governor first called to the stand John Indian, and plied +him, as was the course pursued on all these occasions, with leading +questions:— + +"John, who hurt you?—Goody Procter first, and then Goody Cloyse. + +"What did she do to you?—She brought the book to me. + +"John, tell the truth: who hurts you? Have you been hurt?—The first was +a gentlewoman I saw. + +"Who next?—Goody Cloyse. + +"But who hurt you next?—Goody Procter. + +"What did she do to you?—She choked me, and brought the book. + +"How oft did she come to torment you?—A good many times, she and Goody +Cloyse.[ii.103] + +"Do they come to you in the night, as well as the day?—They come most +in the day. + +"Who?—Goody Cloyse and Goody Procter. + +"Where did she take hold of you?—Upon my throat, to stop my breath. + +"Do you know Goody Cloyse and Goody Procter?—Yes: here is Goody +Cloyse." + +We may well suppose that these two respectable women must have been +filled with indignation, shocked, and amazed at the statements made by +the Indian, following the leading interrogatories of the Court. Sarah +Cloyse broke out, "When did I hurt thee?" He answered, "A great many +times." She exclaimed, "Oh, you are a grievous liar!" The Court +proceeded with their questions:— + +"What did this Goody Cloyse do to you?—She pinched and bit me till the +blood came. + +"How long since this woman came and hurt you?—Yesterday, at meeting. + +"At any time before?—Yes: a great many times." + +Having drawn out John Indian, the Court turned to the other afflicted +ones:— + +"Mary Walcot, who hurts you?—Goody Cloyse. + +"What did she do to you?—She hurt me. + +"Did she bring the book?—Yes. + +"What was you to do with it?—To touch it, and be well. + +"(Then she fell into a fit.)" + +This put a stop to the examination for a time; but it was generally +quite easy to bring witnesses out of a[ii.104] fit, and restore entire +calmness of mind. All that was necessary was to lift them up, and carry +them to the accused person, the touch of any part of whose body would, +in an instant, relieve the sufferer. This having been done, the +examination proceeded:— + +"Doth she come alone?—Sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with +Goody Nurse and Goody Corey, and a great many I do not know. + +"(Then she fell into a fit again.)" + +She was, probably, restored in the same way as before; but, her part +being finished for that stage of the proceeding, another of the +afflicted children took the stand:— + +"Abigail Williams, did you see a company at Mr. Parris's house eat and +drink?—Yes, sir: that was in the sacrament." + +I would call attention to the form of the foregoing questions. +Hutchinson says that "Mr. Parris was over-officious: most of the +examinations, although in the presence of one or more magistrates, were +taken by him." He put the questions. They show, on this occasion, a +minute knowledge beforehand of what the witnesses are to say, which it +cannot be supposed Danforth, Russell, Addington, Appleton, and Sewall, +strangers, as they were, to the place and the details of the affair, +could have had. The examination proceeded:— + +"How many were there?—About forty, and Goody Cloyse and Goody Good were +their deacons.[ii.105] + +"What was it?—They said it was our blood, and they had it twice that +day." + +The interrogator again turned to Mary Walcot, and inquired,— + +"Have you seen a white man?—Yes, sir: a great many times. + +"What sort of a man was he?—A fine grave man; and, when he came, he +made all the witches to tremble. + +"(Abigail Williams confirmed the same, and that they had such a sight +at Deacon Ingersoll's.) + +"Who was at Deacon Ingersoll's then?—Goody Cloyse, Goody Nurse, Goody +Corey, and Goody Good. + +"(Then Sarah Cloyse asked for water, and sat down, as one seized with a +dying, fainting fit; and several of the afflicted fell into fits, and +some of them cried out, 'Oh! her spirit has gone to prison to her +sister Nurse.')" + +The audacious lying of the witnesses; the horrid monstrousness of their +charges against Sarah Cloyse, of having bitten the flesh of the Indian +brute, and drank herself and distributed to others, as deacon, at an +infernal sacrament, the blood of the wicked creatures making these foul +and devilish declarations, known by her to be utterly and wickedly +false; and the fact that they were believed by the deputy, the council, +and the assembly,—were more than she could bear. Her soul sickened at +such unimaginable depravity and wrong; her nervous system gave way; she +fainted, and sunk to the floor. The manner in which the girls turned +the incident against her shows how they were hardened to all human +feeling, and the[ii.106] cunning art which, on all occasions, +characterized their proceedings. That such an insolent interruption and +disturbance, on their part, was permitted, without rebuke from the +Court, is a perpetual dishonor to every member of it. The scene +exhibited at this moment, in the meeting-house, is worthy of an attempt +to imagine. The most terrible sensation was naturally produced, by the +swooning of the prisoner, the loudly uttered and savage mockery of the +girls, and their going simultaneously into fits, screaming at the top +of their voices, twisting into all possible attitudes, stiffened as in +death, or gasping with convulsive spasms of agony, and crying out, at +intervals, "There is the black man whispering in Cloyse's ear," "There +is a yellow-bird flying round her head." John Indian, on such +occasions, used to confine his achievements to tumbling, and rolling +his ugly body about the floor. The deepest commiseration was felt by +all for the "afflicted," and men and women rushed to hold and soothe +them. There was, no doubt, much loud screeching, and some miscellaneous +faintings, through the whole crowd. At length, by bringing the +sufferers into contact with Goody Cloyse, the diabolical fluid passed +back into her, they were all relieved, and the examination was resumed. +Elizabeth Procter was now brought forward. + +In the account given, in the First Part, of the population of Salem +Village and the contiguous farms, her husband, John Procter, was +introduced to our acquaintance. From what we then saw of him, we are +well assured that he would not shrink from the protec[ii.107]tion and +defence of his wife. He accompanied her from her arrest to her +arraignment, and stood by her side, a strong, brave, and resolute +guardian, trying to support her under the terrible trials of her +situation, and ready to comfort and aid her to the extent of his power, +disregardful of all consequences to himself. The examination +proceeded:— + +"Elizabeth Procter, you understand whereof you are charged; viz., to be +guilty of sundry acts of witchcraft. What say you to it? Speak the +truth; and so you that are afflicted, you must speak the truth, as you +will answer it before God another day. Mary Walcot, doth this woman +hurt you?—I never saw her so as to be hurt by her. + +"Mercy Lewis, does she hurt you? + +"(Her mouth was stopped.) + +"Ann Putnam, does she hurt you? + +"(She could not speak.) + +"Abigail Williams, does she hurt you? + +"(Her hand was thrust in her own mouth.) + +"John, does she hurt you?—This is the woman that came in her shift, and +choked me. + +"Did she ever bring the book?—Yes, sir. + +"What to do?—To write. + +"What? this woman?—Yes, sir. + +"Are you sure of it?—Yes, sir. + +"(Again Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam were spoke to by the Court; but +neither of them could make any answer, by reason of dumbness or other +fits.) + +"What do you say, Goody Procter, to these things?—I take God in heaven +to be my witness, that I know nothing of it, no more than the child +unborn.[ii.108] + +"Ann Putnam, doth this woman hurt you?—Yes, sir: a great many times. + +"(Then the accused looked upon them, and they fell into fits.) + +"She does not bring the book to you, does she?—Yes, sir, often; and +saith she hath made her maid set her hand to it. + +"Abigail Williams, does this woman hurt you?—Yes, sir, often. + +"Does she bring the book to you?—Yes. + +"What would she have you do with it?—To write in it, and I shall be +well." + +Turning to the accused, Abigail said, "Did not you tell me that your +maid had written?" Goody Procter seems to have been utterly amazed at +the conduct and charges of the girls. She knew, of course, that what +they said was false; but perhaps she thought them crazy, and therefore +objects of pity and compassion, and felt disposed to treat them kindly, +and see whether they could not be recalled to their senses, and +restored to their better nature: for Parris, in his account, says that +at this point she answered the question thus put to her by Abigail +thus: "Dear child, it is not so. There is another judgment, dear +child." But kindness was thrown away upon them; for Parris says that +immediately "Abigail and Ann had fits." After coming out of them, "they +cried out, 'Look you! there is Goody Procter upon the beam.'" +Instantly, as we may well suppose, the whole audience looked where they +pointed. Their manner gave assurance that they saw her "on the beam," +among the[ii.109] rafters of the meeting-house; but she was invisible +to all other eyes. The people, no doubt, were filled with amazement at +such supernaturalism. But John Procter, her husband, did not believe a +word of it: and it is not to be doubted that he expressed his +indignation at the nonsense and the outrage in his usual bold, strong, +and unguarded language, which brought down the vengeance of the girls +at once on his own head; for Parris, in his report, goes on to say:— + +"(By and by, both of them cried out of Goodman Procter himself, and +said he was a wizard. Immediately, many if not all of the bewitched had +grievous fits.) + +"Ann Putnam, who hurt you?—Goodman Procter, and his wife too. + +"(Afterwards, some of the afflicted cried, 'There is Procter going to +take up Mrs. Pope's feet!' and her feet were immediately taken up.) + +"What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things?—I know not. I am +innocent. + +"(Abigail Williams cried out, 'There is Goodman Procter going to Mrs. +Pope!' and immediately said Pope fell into a fit.)" + +At this point, the deputy, or some member of the Court interposed, if I +interpret rightly Parris's report, which is here obscurely expressed, +inasmuch as he does not say who spoke; but the import of the words +indicates that they proceeded from some member of the Court, who was +perfectly deceived:— + +"You see, the Devil will deceive you: the children could see what you +was going to do before the woman was hurt.[ii.110] I would advise you +to repentance, for the Devil is bringing you out. + +"(Abigail Williams cried out again, 'There is Goodman Procter going to +hurt Goody Bibber!' and immediately Goody Bibber fell into a fit. There +was the like of Mary Walcot, and divers others. Benjamin Gould gave in +his testimony, that he had seen Goodman Corey and his wife, Procter and +his wife, Goody Cloyse, Goody Nurse, and Goody Griggs in his chamber +last Thursday night. Elizabeth Hubbard was in a trance during the whole +examination. During the examination of Elizabeth Procter, Abigail +Williams and Ann Putnam both made offer to strike at said Procter; but, +when Abigail's hand came near, it opened,—whereas it was made up into a +fist before,—and came down exceeding lightly as it drew near to said +Procter, and at length, with open and extended fingers, touched +Procter's hood very lightly. Immediately, Abigail cried out, her +fingers, her fingers, her fingers burned; and Ann Putnam took on most +grievously of her head, and sunk down.)" + +Hutchinson, after giving Parris's account of this examination, +expresses himself thus: "No wonder the whole country was in a +consternation, when persons of sober lives and unblemished characters +were committed to prison upon such sort of evidence. Nobody was safe." +All things considered, it may perhaps be said, that, filled as the +witchcraft proceedings were throughout with folly and outrage, there +was nothing worse than this examination, conducted by the +deputy-governor and council, on the 11th of April, 1692, in the great +meeting-house of the First Church in Salem. It must have been a scene +of the wildest disorder, par[ii.111]ticularly in the latter part of it. +No wonder that the people in general were deluded, when the most +learned councillors of the colony countenanced, participated in, and +gave effect to, such disorderly procedures in a house of worship, in +the presence of a high judicial tribunal, and of the then supreme +government of the colony! + +Benjamin Gould gave his volunteer testimony without "advisedness," and +quite incontinently. He brought out Goodman Corey before the managers +were quite ready to fall upon him; and he antedated, by a considerable +length of time, any such imputation upon Goody Griggs. It was well for +Elizabeth Hubbard to have been in a trance, so that she could not hear +the mention of her aunt's name. The council seems to have adjourned to +the next day, at the same place, when Mr. Parris "gave further +information against said John Procter," which, unfortunately, has not +come down to us. The result was, that Sarah Cloyse, John Procter, and +Elizabeth his wife, were all committed for trial, and, with Rebecca +Nurse, Martha Corey, and Dorcas Good, were sent to the jail in Boston, +in the custody of Marshal Herrick. + +The proceedings of the 11th and 12th of April produced a great effect +in driving on the general infatuation. Judge Sewall, who was present as +one of the council, in his diary at this date, says, "Went to Salem, +where, in the meeting-house, the persons accused of witchcraft were +examined; was a very great assembly; 'twas awful to see how the +afflicted persons[ii.112] were agitated." In the margin is written, +apparently some time afterwards, the interjection "_Væ!_" thrice +repeated,—"Alas, alas, alas!" What perfectly deluded him and Danforth, +and everybody else, were the exhibitions made by the "afflicted +children." This is the grand phenomenon of the witchcraft proceedings +here in 1692. It, and it alone, carried them through. Those girls, by +long practice in "the circle," and day by day, before astonished and +wondering neighbors gathered to witness their distresses, and +especially on the more public occasions of the examinations, had +acquired consummate boldness and tact. In simulation of passions, +sufferings, and physical affections; in sleight of hand, and in the +management of voice and feature and attitude,—no necromancers have +surpassed them. There has seldom been better acting in a theatre than +they displayed in the presence of the astonished and horror-stricken +rulers, magistrates, ministers, judges, jurors, spectators, and +prisoners. No one seems to have dreamed that their actings and +sufferings could have been the result of cunning or imposture. Deodat +Lawson was a man of talents, had seen much of the world, and was by no +means a simpleton, recluse, or novice; but he was wholly deluded by +them. The prisoners, although conscious of their own innocence, were +utterly confounded by the acting of the girls. The austere principles +of that generation forbade, with the utmost severity, all theatrical +shows and performances. But at Salem Village and the old town, in the +respective meeting-houses, and at Deacon[ii.113] Nathaniel Ingersoll's, +some of the best playing ever got up in this country was practised; and +patronized, for weeks and months, at the very centre and heart of +Puritanism, by "the most straitest sect" of that solemn order of men. +Pastors, deacons, church-members, doctors of divinity, college +professors, officers of state, crowded, day after day, to behold feats +which have never been surpassed on the boards of any theatre; which +rivalled the most memorable achievements of pantomimists, +thaumaturgists, and stage-players; and made considerable approaches +towards the best performances of ancient sorcerers and magicians, or +modern jugglers and mesmerizers. + +The meeting of the council at Salem, on the 11th of April, 1692, +changed in one sense the whole character of the transaction. Before, it +had been a Salem affair. After this, it was a Massachusetts affair. The +colonial government at Boston had obtruded itself upon the ground, and, +of its own will and seeking, irregularly, and without call or +justification, had taken the whole thing out of the hands of the local +authorities into its own management. Neither the town nor the village +of Salem is responsible, as a principal actor, for what subsequently +took place. To that meeting of the deputy-governor and his associates +in the colonial administration, at an early period of the transaction, +the calamities, outrages, and shame that followed must in justice be +ascribed. Had it not taken place, the delusion, as in former instances +and other places here and in the mother-country,[ii.114] would have +remained within its original local limits, and soon disappeared. That +meeting, and the proceedings then had, gave to the fanaticism the +momentum that drove it on, and extended its destructive influence far +and wide. + +The next step in the proceedings is one of the most remarkable features +in the case. It is, in some points of view, more suggestive of +suspicion, that there was, behind the whole, a skilful and cunning +management, ingeniously contriving schemes to mislead the public mind, +than almost any other part of the transaction. Mary Warren, as has been +said, was a servant in the family of John Procter. She was a member of +the "circle" that had so long met at Mr. Parris's house or Thomas +Putnam's. She was a constant attendant at its meetings, and a leading +spirit among the girls. She did not take an open part against her +master or mistress at their examination, although she acted with +avidity and malignity against them as an accusing witness at their +trials, two months afterwards. It is to be noticed, that Ann Putnam and +Abigail Williams, at the examination of Elizabeth Procter, April 11, +accused her of having induced or compelled "her maid to set her hand to +the book." + +On the 18th of April, warrants were got out against Giles Corey and +Mary Warren, both of Salem Farms; Abigail Hobbs, daughter of William +Hobbs, of Topsfield; and Bridget Bishop, wife of Edward Bishop, of +Salem,—to be brought in the next forenoon, at about eight o'clock, at +the house of Lieutenant Nathaniel[ii.115] Ingersoll, of Salem Village. +How Mary Warren became transformed from an accuser to an accused, from +an afflicted person to an afflicter, is the question. It is not easy to +fathom the conduct of these girls. They appear to have acted upon a +plan deliberately formed, and to have had an understanding with each +other. At the same time, occasionally, they had or pretended to have a +falling-out, and came into contradiction. This was perhaps a mere +blind, to prevent the suspicion of collusion. The accounts given of +Mary Warren seem to render it quite certain that she acted with +deliberate cunning, and was a guilty conspirator with the other +accusers in carrying on the plot from the beginning. No doubt, it +frequently occurred to those concerned in it, that suspicions might +possibly get into currency that they were acting a part in concert. It +was necessary, by all means, to guard against such an idea. This may be +the key to interpret the arrest and proceedings against Mary Warren. If +it is, the affair, it must be confessed, was managed with great +shrewdness and skill. She conducted the stratagem most dexterously. All +at once she fell away from the circle, and began to talk against the +"afflicted children," and went so far as to say, that they "did but +dissemble." Immediately, they cried out upon her, charged her with +witchcraft, and had her apprehended. After being carried to prison, she +spoke in strong language against the proceedings. Four persons of +unquestionable truthfulness, in prison with her, on the same charge, +prepared a deposition[ii.116] to this effect: "We heard Mary Warren +several times say that the magistrates might as well examine Keysar's +daughter that had been distracted many years, and take notice of what +she said, as well as any of the afflicted persons. 'For,' said Mary +Warren, 'when I was afflicted, I thought I saw the apparitions of a +hundred persons;' for she said her head was distempered that she could +not tell what she said. And the said Mary told us, that, when she was +well again, she could not say that she saw any of the apparitions at +the time aforesaid." I will now give the substance of her examination, +which commenced on the 19th of April. Mr. Parris was, as usual, +requested to take minutes of the proceedings, which have been +preserved:— + +"_Examination of Mary Warren, at a Court held at Salem Village, by John +Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, Esqrs._ + +"(As soon as she was coming towards the bar, the afflicted fell into +fits.) + +"Mary Warren, you stand here charged with sundry acts of witchcraft. +What do you say for yourself? Are you guilty or not?—I am innocent. + +"Hath she hurt you? (Speaking to the sufferers.) + +"(Some were dumb. Betty Hubbard testified against her, and then said +Hubbard fell into a violent fit.) + +"You were, a little while ago, an afflicted person; now you are an +afflicter. How comes this to pass?—I look up to God, and take it to be +a great mercy of God. + +"What! do you take it to be a great mercy to afflict others? + +"(Now they were all but John Indian grievously afflicted,[ii.117] and +Mrs. Pope also, who was not afflicted before hitherto this day; and, +after a few moments, John Indian fell into a violent fit also.)" + +"Well, here" (Mr. Parris, the reporter, goes on to say) "was one that +just now was a tormenter in her apparition, and she owns that she had +made a league with the Devil." The marvel was, that, having before been +a sufferer, as one of the afflicted accusers, she had then, at that +moment, appeared in the opposite character, and owned herself to have +become a confederate with the Evil One. Having established this +conviction in the minds of the magistrates and spectators, the point +was reached at which she completed the delusion by appearing to break +away from her bondage to Satan, assume the functions of a confessing +and abjuring witch, and retake her place, with tenfold effect, among +the accusing witnesses. The manner in which she rescued herself from +the power of Satan exhibits a specimen of acting seldom surpassed. The +account proceeds thus:— + +"Now Mary Warren fell into a fit, and some of the afflicted cried out +that she was going to confess; but Goody Corey, and Procter and his +wife, came in, _in their apparition_, and struck her down, and said she +should tell nothing." + +What is given here in _Italics_, as an "_apparition_," was of course +based upon the declarations of the accusing witnesses. It was an art +they often practised in offering their testimony. They would cry out, +that the Devil, generally in the shape of a black man, appeared to them +at the time, whispering in the[ii.118] ear of the accused, or sitting +on the beams of the meeting-house in which the examinations were +generally conducted. On this occasion, they declared that three of the +persons, then in jail in some other place, came in their apparitions, +forbade Mary Warren's confession, and struck her down. To give full +effect to their statement, she went through the process of tumbling +down. Although nothing was seen by any other person present, the +deception was perfect. The Rev. Mr. Parris wrote it all down as having +actually occurred. His record of the transaction goes on as follows:— + +"Mary Warren continued a good space in a fit, that she did neither see +nor hear nor speak. + +"Afterwards she started up, and said, 'I will speak,' and cried out, +'Oh, I am sorry for it, I am sorry for it!' and wringed her hands, and +fell a little while into a fit again, and then came to speak, but +immediately her teeth were set; and then she fell into a violent fit, +and cried out, 'O Lord, help me! O good Lord, save me!' + +"And then afterwards cried again, 'I will tell, I will tell!' and then +fell into a dead fit again. + +"And afterwards cried, 'I will tell, they did, they did, they did;' and +then fell into a violent fit again. + +"After a little recovery, she cried, 'I will tell, I will tell. They +brought me to it;' and then fell into a fit again, which fits +continuing, she was ordered to be led out, and the next to be brought +in, viz., Bridget Bishop. + +"Some time afterwards, she was called in again, but immediately taken +with fits for a while. + +"'Have you signed the Devil's book?—No.'[ii.119] + +"'Have you not touched it?—No.' + +"Then she fell into fits again, and was sent forth for air. + +"After a considerable space of time, she was brought in again, but +could not give account of things by reason of fits, and so sent forth. + +"Mary Warren called in afterwards in private, before magistrates and +ministers. + +"She said, 'I shall not speak a word: but I will, I will speak, Satan! +She saith she will kill me. Oh! she saith she owes me a spite, and will +claw me off. Avoid Satan, for the name of God, avoid!' and then fell +into fits again, and cried, 'Will ye? I will prevent ye, in the name of +God.'" + +The magistrate inquired earnestly:— + +"'Tell us how far have you yielded?' + +"A fit interrupts her again. + +"'What did they say you should do, and you should be well?' + +"Then her lips were bit, so that she could not speak: so she was sent +away." + +Mr. Parris, the reporter of the case, adds:— + +"Note that not one of the sufferers was afflicted during her +examination, after once she began to confess, though they were +tormented before." + +She was subsequently examined in the prison several times, falling +occasionally into fits, and exhibiting the appearance of a +long-continued conflict with Satan, who was supposed to be resisting +her inclination to confess, and holding her with violence[ii.120] to +the contract she had made with him. The magistrates and ministers +beheld with amazement and awe what they believed to be precisely a +similar scene to that described by the evangelists when the Devil +strove against the power of the Saviour and his disciples, and would +not quit his hold upon the young man, but "threw him down, and tare +him." At length, as in that case, Satan was overcome. After a +protracted, most violent, and terrible contest, Mary Warren got +released from his clutches, and made a full and circumstantial +confession. + +Whoever studies carefully the account of Mary Warren's successive +examinations can hardly question, I think, that she acted a part, and +acted it with wonderful cunning, skill, and effect. + +This examination, beginning on Tuesday, the 19th of April, continued +after she was committed to prison in Salem, at the jail there, for +several days, and was renewed at intervals until the middle of May. +After she had thoroughly broken away from Satan, she revealed all that +she had seen and heard while associating with him and his confederate +subjects: her testimony was implicitly received, and it dealt death and +destruction in all directions. It is a circumstance strongly confirming +this view, that Mary Warren was soon released from confinement. It was +the general practice to keep those, who confessed, in prison, to retain +in that way power over them, and prevent their recanting their +confessions. She is found, by the papers on file, to have acted +afterwards, as a capital witness,[ii.121] against ten persons, all of +whom were convicted, and seven executed. Besides these, she testified, +with the appearance of animosity and vindictiveness, against her master +John Procter, and her mistress his wife; thus contributing to secure +the conviction of both, and the death of the former. In how many more +cases she figured in the same character and to the same effect is +unknown, as the papers in reference to only a very small proportion of +them have come down to us. The interpretation I give to the course of +Mary Warren exhibits her guilt, and that of those participating in the +stratagem, as of the deepest and blackest dye. But it seems to be the +only one which a scrutiny of the details of her examinations, and of +the facts of the case, allows us to receive. The effect was most +decisive. The course of the accusing children in crying out against one +of their own number satisfied the public, and convinced still more the +magistrates, that they were truthful, honest, and upright. They had +before given evidence that they paid no regard to family influence or +eminent reputation. They had now proved that they had no partiality and +no favoritism, but were equally ready to bring to light and to justice +any of their own circle who might fall into the snare of the Evil One, +and become confederate with him. No dramatic artist, no cunning +impostor, ever contrived a more ingenious plot; and no actors ever +carried one out better than Mary Warren and the afflicted children. + +Giles Corey incurred hostility, perhaps, because his[ii.122] deposition +relating to his wife did not come up to the mark required. It is also +highly probable, that, though incensed at her conduct at the time, +reflection had brought him to his senses; and that the circumstances of +her examination and commitment to prison produced a re-action in his +mind. If so, he would have been apt to express himself very freely. His +examination took place April 19th, in the meeting-house at the Village. +The girls acted their usual part, charging him, one by one, with having +afflicted them, and proving it on the spot by tortures and sufferings. +After they had severally got through, they all joined at once in their +demonstrations. The report made by Parris says, "All the afflicted were +seized now with fits, and troubled with pinches. Then the Court ordered +his hands to be tied." The magistrates lost all control of themselves, +and flew into a passion, exclaiming, "What! is it not enough to act +witchcraft at other times, but must you do it now, in face of +authority?" He seems to have been profoundly affected by the +marvellousness of the accusations, and the exhibition of what to him +was inexplicable in the sufferings of the girls; and all he could say +was, "I am a poor creature, and cannot help it."—"Upon the motion of +his head again, they had their heads and necks afflicted." The +magistrates, not having recovered their composure, continued to pour +their wrath upon him, "Why do you tell such wicked lies against +witnesses?"—"One of his hands was let go, and several were afflicted. +He held his head on one side,[ii.123] and then the heads of several of +the afflicted were held on one side. He drew in his cheeks, and the +cheeks of some of the afflicted were sucked in." Goody Bibber was on +hand, and played her accompaniment. She also uttered malignant charges +against him, and "was suddenly seized with a violent fit." One of +Bibber's statements was that he had called her husband "damned devilish +rogue." Through all this outrage, Corey was firm in asserting his +innocence. His language and manner were serious, and solemnized by a +sense of the helplessness of his situation and the wicked falsehoods +heaped upon him. His disagreement with his wife about the witchcraft +proceedings being well known, the accusers endeavored to make it out +that they had often quarrelled. But he insisted that the only +difference which had before existed between them was a conflict of +opinion on one point. In his family devotions, he used this expression, +"living to God and dying to sin." She "found fault" with the language, +and criticised it. He thought it was all right! The characteristic +spirit of the old man was roused most strikingly by one of the charges. +Bibber and others testified that Corey had said he had seen the Devil +in the shape of a black hog and was very much frightened. He could not +stand under the imputation of cowardice, and lost sight of every other +element in the accusation but that. The magistrate asked, "What did you +see in the cow-house? Why do you deny it?"—"I saw nothing but my +cattle."—"(Divers witnessed that he told[ii.124] them he was +frighted.)"—"Well, what do you say to these witnesses? What was it +frighted you?"—"I do not know that ever I spoke the word in my life." + +But while his character retained its manliness, and his soul was truly +insensible to fear, he was very much oppressed and distressed by his +situation. The share he had, with two of his sons-in-law, in bringing +his wife into her awful condition, and in driving on the public +infatuation at the beginning, was more than he could endure to think +of, and he was charged with having meditated suicide. Perhaps he had +already formed the purpose afterwards carried into effect, and may have +dropped expressions, under that thought, which to others might appear +to indicate a design of self-destruction. He was accused of having said +that "he would make away with himself, and charge his death upon his +son." His sons-in-law, Crosby and Parker, were acting with the crowd +that were pursuing him to his death. Little did it enter the +imagination of any one then, that there was a method by which he could +"make away with himself," leaving the entire act of the destruction of +his life upon his persecutors, and the sin to be apportioned between +him and them by the All-wise and All-just. + +Abigail Hobbs had been a reckless vagrant creature, wandering through +the woods at night like a half-deranged person; but she had wit enough +to see that there was safety in confession. She pretended to have +committed, by witchcraft, crimes enough to have[ii.125] hanged her a +dozen times. If she had stood to her confession, we should have heard +of her no more. + +Bridget Bishop's examination filled the intervals of time while Mary +Warren was being carried out of the meeting-house to recover from her +fits. Both Parris and Ezekiel Cheever took minutes of it, from which +the substance is gathered as follows:— + +On her coming in, the afflicted persons, at the same moment, severally +fell into fits, and were dreadfully tormented. Hathorne addressed her, +calling upon her to give an account of the witchcrafts she was +"conversant in." She replied, "I take all this people to witness that I +am clear." He then asked the children, "Hath this woman hurt you?" They +all cried out that she had. The magistrate continued, "You are here +accused by four or five: what do you say to it?"—"I never saw these +persons before, nor I never[A] was in this place before. I never did +hurt them in my life." + +At a meeting of the afflicted children and others, some one declared +that Bridget Bishop was present "in her shape" or apparition, and, +pointing to a particular spot, said, "There, there she is!" Young +Jonathan Walcot, exasperated by his sister's sufferings, struck at the +spot with his sword; whereupon Mary cried out, "You have hit her, you +have torn her coat, and I heard it tear." This story had been brought +to Hathorne's ears; and abruptly, as if to take her off her +guard,[ii.126] he said, "Is not your coat cut?" She answered, "No." +They then examined the coat, and found what they regarded as having +been "cut or torn two ways." It was probably the fashion in which the +garment was made; for she was in the habit of dressing more +artistically than the women of the Village. At any rate, it did not +appear like a direct cut of a sword; but Jonathan got over the +difficulty by saying that "the sword that he struck at Goody Bishop was +not naked, but was within the scabbard." This explained the whole +matter, so that Cheever says, in his report, that "the rent may very +probably be the very same that Mary Walcot did tell that she had in her +coat, by Jonathan's striking at her appearance"! Parris says, with more +caution, more indeed than was usual with him, "Upon some search in the +Court, a rent, that seems to answer what was alleged, was found." + +Hathorne, having heard the scandals they had circulated against her, +proceeded: "They say you bewitched your first husband to death."—"If it +please Your Worship, I know nothing of it."—"What do you say of these +murders you are charged with?"—"I hope I am not guilty of murder." As +she said this, she turned up her eyes, probably to give solemnity to +her declaration. At the opening of the examination, she looked round +upon the people, and called them to witness her innocence. She had +found out by this time, that no justice could be expected from them; +and feeling, with Rebecca Nurse on a recent similar occasion, "I have +got nobody to look to but[ii.127] God," she turned her eyes heavenward. +Instantly, the eyeballs of all the girls were rolled up in their +sockets, and fixed. The effect was awful, and still more increased as +they went, after a moment or two, into dreadful torments. Hathorne +could no longer contain himself, but broke out, "Do you not see how +they are tormented? You are acting witchcraft before us! What do you +say to this? Why have you not a heart to confess the truth?" She calmly +replied, "I am innocent. I know nothing of it. I am no witch. I know +not what a witch is." The "afflicted children" charged her with having +tried to persuade them to sign the Devil's book. As she had never +before seen one of them, she was indignant at this barefaced falsehood, +and, as Cheever says, "shook her head" in her resentment; which, as he +further says, put them all into great torments. Parris represents that +in every motion of her head they were tortured. Marshal Herrick, as +usual, put in his oar, and volunteered charges against her. She bore +herself well through the shocking scene, and did not shrink, at its +close, from expressing her unbelief of the whole thing: "I do not know +whether there be any witches or no." When she was removed from the +place of examination, the accusers all had fits, and broke forth in +outcries of agony. After being taken out, one of the constables in +charge of her asked her if she was not troubled to see the afflicted +persons so tormented; and she replied, "No." In answer to further +questions, she indicated that she could not[ii.128] tell what to think +of them, and did not concern herself about them at all. + +Giles Corey, Bridget Bishop, Abigail Hobbs, together with Mary Warren, +were duly committed to prison. + +Two days after, April 21, warrants were issued "against William Hobbs, +husbandman, and Deliverance his wife; Nehemiah Abbot, Jr., weaver; Mary +Easty, the wife of Isaac Easty; and Sarah Wilds, the wife of John +Wilds,—all of the town of Topsfield, or Ipswich; and Edward Bishop, +husbandman, and Sarah his wife, of Salem Village; and Mary Black, a +negro of Lieutenant Nathaniel Putnam's, of Salem Village also; and Mary +English, the wife of Philip English, merchant in Salem." All of them +were to be delivered to the magistrates for examination at the house of +Lieutenant Nathaniel Ingersoll, at about ten o'clock the next morning, +in Salem Village; and were brought in accordingly. + +What the papers on file enable us to glean of these nine persons is +substantially as follows: William Hobbs was about fifty years of age, +and one of the earliest settlers of the Village, although his residence +was on the territory afterwards included in Topsfield. His daughter +Abigail, of whom I have just spoken, appears from all the accounts to +have acted at this stage of the transaction a most wicked part, ready +to do all the mischief in her power, and allowing herself to be used to +any extent to fasten the imputation of witchcraft upon others. Several +persons testified that, long before, she had boasted that[ii.129] she +was not afraid of any thing, "for she had sold herself body and soul to +the Old Boy;" one witness testified, that, "some time last winter, I +was discoursing with Abigail Hobbs about her wicked carriages and +disobedience to her father and mother, and she told me she did not care +what anybody said to her, for she had seen the Devil, and had made a +covenant or bargain with him;" another, Margaret Knight, testified, +that, about a year before, "Abigail Hobbs and her mother were at my +father's house, and Abigail Hobbs said to me, 'Margaret, are you +baptized?' And I said, 'Yes.' Then said she, 'My mother is not +baptized, but I will baptize her;' and immediately took water, and +sprinkled in her mother's face, and said she did baptize her 'in the +name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.'" + +She was arrested, and brought to the Village, on the 19th of April. The +next day, she began her operations by declaring that "Judah White, a +Jersey maid" that lived with Joseph Ingersoll at Casco, "but now lives +at Boston," appeared to her "in apparition" the day before, and advised +her to "fly, and not to go to be examined," but, if she did go, "not to +confess any thing:" she described the dress of this "apparition,"—she +"came to her in fine clothes, in a sad-colored silk mantle, with a +top-knot and a hood."—"She confesseth further, that the Devil in the +shape of a man came to her," and charged her to afflict the girls; +bringing images made of wood in their likeness with thorns for her to +prick into the images, which she[ii.130] did: whereupon the girls cried +out that they were hurt by her. She further confessed, that, "she was +at the great meeting in Mr. Parris's pasture, when they administered +the sacrament, and did eat of the red bread and drink of the red wine, +at the same time." This confession established her credibility at once; +and, the next day, the warrants were issued for the nine persons above +mentioned, against whom they had secured in her an effective witness. +She had resided for some time at Casco Bay; and we shall soon see how +matters began in a few days to work in that direction. There are two +indictments against this Abigail Hobbs: one charging her with having +made a covenant with "the Evil Spirit, the Devil," at Casco Bay, in +1688; the other with having exercised the arts of witchcraft upon the +afflicted girls, at Salem Village, in 1692. + +When her unhappy father was brought to examination, he found that his +daughter was playing into the hands of the accusers; and that his wife, +overwhelmed by the horrors of the situation, although for a time +protesting her innocence and lamenting that she had been the mother of +such a daughter, had broken down and confessed, saying whatever might +be put in her mouth by the magistrates, the girls, or the crowd. Under +these circumstances, he was brought forward for examination. Parris +took minutes of it. It is to be regretted, that the paper is much +dilapidated, and portions of the lines wholly lost. What is left shows +that the mind of William Hobbs rose superior[ii.131] to the terrors and +powers arrayed against it. The magistrate commenced proceedings by +inquiring of the girls, pointing to the prisoner, "Hath this man hurt +you?" Several of them answered "Yes." Goody Bibber, who seems generally +to have been a very zealous volunteer backer of the girls, on this +occasion, for a wonder, answered "No." The magistrate, addressing the +prisoner, "What say you? Are you guilty or not?"—Answer: "I can speak +in the presence of God safely, as I must look to give account another +day, that I am as clear as a new-born babe."—"Clear of what?"—"Of +witchcraft."—"Have you never hurt these?"—"No." Abigail Williams cried +out that he "was going to Mercy Lewis!" Whereupon Mercy was seized with +a fit. Then Abigail cried out again, "He is coming to Mary Walcot!" and +Mary went into her fit. The magistrate, in consternation, appealed to +him: "How can you be clear," when your appearance is thus seen +producing such effects before our eyes? Then the children went into +fits all together, and "hallooed" at the top of their voices, and +"shouted greatly." The magistrate then brought up the confession of his +wife against him, and expostulated with him for not confessing; the +afflicted, in the mean while, bringing the whole machinery of their +convulsions, shrieks, and uproar to bear against him: but he calmly, +and in brief terms, denied it. + +The circle of accusing girls seems to have been a receptacle, into +which all the scandal, gossip, and[ii.132] defamation of the +surrounding country was emptied. Some one had told them that William +Hobbs was not a regular attendant at meeting. They passed it on to the +magistrate, and he put this question to the accused: "When were you at +any public religious meeting?" He replied, "Not a pretty while."—"Why +so?"—"Because I was not well: I had a distemper that none knows." The +magistrate said, "Can you act witchcraft here, and, by casting your +eyes, turn folks into fits?"—"You may judge your pleasure. My soul is +clear."—"Do you not see you hurt these by your look?"—"No: I do not +know it." After another display of awful sufferings, caused, as they +protested, by the mere look of Hobbs, the magistrate, with triumphant +confidence, again put it home to him, "Can you now deny it?" He +answered, "I can deny it to my dying day." The magistrate inquired of +him for what reason he withdrew from the room whenever the Scriptures +were read in his family. He plumply denied it. Nathaniel Ingersoll and +Thomas Haynes testified that his daughter had told them so. The +confessions of his wife and daughter were over and over again brought +up against him, but to no effect. "Who do you worship?" said the +magistrate. "I hope I worship God only."—"Where?"—"In my heart." The +examination failed to confound or embarrass him in the least. He could +not be drawn into the expression of any of the feelings which the +conduct of his graceless and depraved daughter or his weak and wretched +wife must have[ii.133] excited. He quietly protested that he knew +nothing about witchcraft; and, towards the close, with solemn +earnestness of utterance, declared that his innocence was known to the +"great God in heaven." + +He was committed for trial. All that the documents in existence inform +us further, in relation to William Hobbs, is that he remained in prison +until the 14th of the next December, when two of his neighbors, John +Nichols and Joseph Towne, in some way succeeded in getting him bailed +out; they giving bonds in the sum of two hundred pounds for his +appearance at the sessions of the Court the next month. But it was not, +even then, thought wholly safe to have him come in; and the fine was +incurred. He appeared at the term in May, the fine was remitted, and he +discharged by proclamation. On the 26th of March, 1714, he gave +evidence in a case of commonage rights. He was then seventy-two years +of age. Of his wife and daughter, I shall again have occasion to speak. + +For all that is known of the case of Nehemiah Abbot, we are indebted to +Hutchinson, who had Parris's minutes of the examination before him. +Hutchinson says, that, of "near an hundred" whose examinations he had +seen, he was the only one who, having been brought before the +magistrates, was finally dismissed by them. Perhaps even this case was +not an exception: for a document on file shows that a person named +Abbot of the same locality was subsequently arrested and imprisoned; +but unfortunately[ii.134] the Christian name has been obliterated, or +from some cause is wanting. It seems, from Hutchinson's minutes, that +he protested his innocence in manly and firm declarations. Mary Walcot +testified that she had seen his shape. Ann Putnam cried out that she +saw him "upon the beam." The magistrates told him that his guilt was +certainly proved, and that, if he would find mercy of God, he must +confess. "I speak before God," he answered, "that I am clear from this +accusation."—"What, in all respects?"—"Yes, in all respects." The girls +were struck with dumbness; and Ann Putnam, re-affirming that he was the +man that hurt her, "was taken with a fit." Mary Walcot began to waver +in her confidence, and Mercy Lewis said, "It is not the man." This +unprecedented variance in the testimony of the girls brought matters to +a stand; and he was sent out for a time, while others were examined:— + +"When he was brought in again, by reason of much people, and many in +the windows, so that the accusers could not have a clear view of him, +he was ordered to be abroad, and the accusers to go forth to him, and +view him in the light, which they did in the presence of the +magistrates and many others, discoursed quietly with him, one and all +acquitting him; but yet said he was like that man, but he had not the +wen they saw in his apparition. Note, he was a hilly-faced man, and +stood shaded by reason of his own hair; so that for a time he seemed to +some bystanders and observers to be considerably like the person the +afflicted did describe." [ii.135] + +Such is Parris's statement, as quoted by Hutchinson. What was the real +cause or motive of this discrepancy among the witnesses does not +appear. The facts, that at first they went into fits in beholding him, +were all struck dumb for a while, and Ann Putnam saw him on the beam, +were likely to have an unfavorable effect upon the minds of the people, +and threatened to explode the delusion. But Ann, with a quickness of +wit that never failed to meet any emergency, when Mercy Lewis said it +was not the man, cried out in a fit, "Did you put a mist before my +eyes?" She conveyed the idea that the power of Satan blinded her, and +caused her to mistake the man. This answered the purpose; and, although +Abbot got clear, for the time at least, all were more than ever +convinced that the Evil One, in misleading Ann, had shown his hand on +the occasion. + +The examination of Sarah Wildes had no peculiar features. The afflicted +children and Goody Bibber saw her apparition sitting on the beam while +she was bodily present at the bar, and went through their usual fits +and evolutions. She maintained her innocence with dignity and firmness; +and the magistrate, prejudging the case against her, rebuked her +obstinacy in not confessing, in his accustomed manner. + +No account has come down of the examinations of Edward Bishop, or Sarah +his wife. He was the third of that name, probably the son of the +"Sawyer." His wife Sarah was a daughter of William Wildes of Ipswich, +and, it would seem, a sister of John[ii.136] Wildes, the examination of +whose wife has just been mentioned. Some of the evidence indicates that +she was a niece of Rebecca Nurse. They all belonged to that class of +persons who, under the general appellation of "the Topsfield men," had +been in such frequent collision with the people of the Village. Edward +Bishop was forty-four years of age, and his wife forty-one. They had a +family, at the time of their imprisonment, of twelve children. Sarah +Bishop had been dismissed from the church at the Village, and +recommended to that at Topsfield, May 25, 1690. They had land in +Topsfield, as well as in the Village, and were more intimately +connected in social relations with the former than the latter place. +They effected their escape from prison, and survived the storm. Mary, +the wife of Philip English, was committed to prison. We have no record +of her examination. + +Mary Black, the negro woman, belonged to Nathaniel Putnam, but lived in +the family of his son Benjamin. Her examination shows that she was an +ignorant but an innocent person. She knew nothing about the matter, and +had no idea what it all meant. To the questions with which the +magistrate pressed her, her answers were, "I do not know," "I cannot +tell." The only fact brought out against her besides the actings of the +girls was this: "Her master saith a man sat down upon the form with her +about a twelvemonth ago." Parris, in his minutes, gives this piece of +evidence, but does not enlighten us as to its import. The magistrate +asked her, "What did the man[ii.137] say to you?" Her answer was: "He +said nothing." This is all they got out of her; and it is all the light +we have on the mysterious fact, that a man was once seated, at some +time within twelve months, on the same form or bench with poor Mary +Black. The magistrate asked the girls, "Doth this negro hurt you?" They +said "Yes."—"Why do you hurt them?"—"I did not hurt them." This +question was put to her, "Do you prick sticks?" perhaps the meaning +was, Do you prick the afflicted children with sticks? The simple +creature evidently did not know what they were driving at, and +answered, "No: I pin my neckcloth." The examiner asked her, "Will you +take out the pin, and pin it again?" She did so, and several of the +afflicted cried out that they were pricked. Mary Walcot was pricked in +the arm till the blood came, Abigail Williams was pricked in the +stomach, and Mercy Lewis was pricked in the foot. It is probable, that, +in this case, the girls, as they often appear to have done, provided +themselves by concert beforehand with pins ready to be stuck into the +assigned parts of their bodies, and managed to get the queer and +unusual question put. The whole thing has the appearance of being +pre-arranged; and it answered the purpose, filling the crowd with +amazement, and excluding all possible doubt from the minds of the +magistrates. Mary was committed to prison, where she remained until +discharged, in May, 1693, by proclamation from the governor. + +Mary Easty, wife of Isaac Easty, and sister of Re[ii.138]becca Nurse +and Sarah Cloyse, was about fifty-eight years of age, and the mother of +seven children. Her husband owned and lived upon a large and valuable +farm, which not many years since was the property and country residence +of the late Hon. B.W. Crowninshield, and is now in the possession of +Thomas Pierce, Esq. Her examination was accompanied by the usual +circumstances. The girls had fits, and were speechless at times: the +magistrate expostulated with her for not confessing her guilt, which he +regarded as demonstrated, beyond a question, by the sufferings of the +afflicted. "Would you have me accuse myself?"—"How far," he continued, +"have you complied with Satan?"—"Sir, I never complied, but prayed +against him all my days. What would you have me do?"—"Confess, if you +be guilty."—"I will say it, if it was my last time, I am clear of this +sin." The magistrate, apparently affected by her manner and bearing, +inquired of the girls, "Are you certain this is the woman?" They all +went into fits; and presently Ann Putnam, coming to herself, said "that +was the woman, it was like her, and she told me her name." The accused +clasped her hands together, and Mercy Lewis's hands were clenched; she +separated her hands, and Mercy's were released; she inclined her head, +and the girls screamed out, "Put up her head; for, while her head is +bowed, the necks of these are broken." The magistrate again asked, "Is +this the woman?" They made signs that they could not speak; but +afterwards Ann Putnam and others[ii.139] cried out: "O Goody Easty, +Goody Easty, you are the woman, you are the woman!"—"What do you say to +this?"—"Why, God will know."—"Nay, God knows now."—"I know he +does."—"What did you think of the actions of others before your sisters +came out? did you think it was witchcraft?"—"I cannot tell."—"Why do +you not think it is witchcraft?"—"It is an evil spirit; but whether it +be witchcraft I do not know." She was committed to prison. + +It will be noticed that seven out of the nine examined at this time +either lived in Topsfield or were intimately connected with the church +and people there. The accusing girls had heard them angrily spoken of +by the people around them, and availed themselves, as at all times, of +existing prejudices, to guide them in the selection of their victim. + +The escape of Abbot, and the wavering, in his case and that of Easty, +indicated by the magistrates on this occasion, alarmed the prosecutors; +and they felt that something must be done to stiffen Hathorne and +Corwin to their previous rigid method of procedure. The following +letter was accordingly written to them that very day, immediately after +the close of the examinations:— + +"_These to the Honored John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, Esqrs., +living at Salem, present._ + +"Salem Village, this 21st of April, 1692. + +"Much Honored,—After most humble and hearty thanks presented to Your +Honors for the great care and pains you have already taken for us,—for +which you know[ii.140] we are never able to make you recompense, and we +believe you do not expect it of us; therefore a full reward will be +given you of the Lord God of Israel, whose cause and interest you have +espoused (and we trust this shall add to your crown of glory in the day +of the Lord Jesus): and we—beholding continually the tremendous works +of Divine Providence, not only every day, but every hour—thought it our +duty to inform Your Honors of what we conceive you have not heard, +which are high and dreadful,—of a wheel within a wheel, at which our +ears do tingle. Humbly craving continually your prayers and help in +this distressed case,—so, praying Almighty God continually to prepare +you, that you may be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that +do well, we remain yours to serve in what we are able, + +"Thomas Putnam." + +What was meant by the "wheel within a wheel," the "high and dreadful" +things which were making their ears to tingle, but had not yet been +disclosed to the magistrates, we shall presently see. On the 30th of +April, Captain Jonathan Walcot and Sergeant Thomas Putnam (the writer +of the foregoing letter) got out a warrant against Philip English, of +Salem, merchant; Sarah Morrel, of Beverly; and Dorcas Hoar, of the same +place, widow. Morrel and Hoar were delivered by Marshal Herrick, +according to the tenor of the warrant, at 11, a.m., May 2, at the house +of Lieutenant Nathaniel Ingersoll, in Salem Village. The warrant has an +indorsement in these words: "Mr. Philip English not being to be found. +G.H." As the records of the examinations of Philip English[ii.141] and +his wife have not been preserved, and only a few fragments of the +testimony relating to their case are to be found, all that can be said +is that the girls and their accomplices made their usual charges +against them. There are two depositions in existence, however, which +afford some explanation of the causes that exposed Mr. English to +hostility, and indicate the kind of evidence that was brought against +him. Having many landed estates, in various places, and extensive +business transactions, he was liable to frequent questions of +litigation. He was involved, at one time, in a lawsuit about the bounds +of a piece of land in Marblehead. A person named William Beale, of that +town, had taken great interest in it adversely to the claims of +English; and some harsh words passed between them. A year or two after +the affair, Beale states, "that, as I lay in my bed, in the morning, +presently after it was fair light abroad in the room," "I saw a dark +shade," &c. To his vision it soon assumed the shape of Philip English. +On a previous occasion, when riding through Lynn to get testimony +against English in the aforesaid boundary case, he says, "My nose +gushed out bleeding in a most extraordinary manner, so that it bloodied +a handkerchief of considerable bigness, and also ran down upon my +clothes and upon my horse's mane." He charged it upon English. These +depositions were sworn to in Court, in August, 1692, and January, 1693. +How they got there does not appear, as English was never brought to +trial. All that relates to Mr.[ii.142] English and his wife may be +despatched at this point. On the 6th of May, a warrant was procured at +Boston, "To the marshal-general, or his lawful deputy," to apprehend +Philip English wherever found within the jurisdiction, and convey him +to the "custody of the marshal of Essex." Jacob Manning, a +deputy-marshal, delivered him to the marshal of Essex on the 30th of +May; and he was brought before the magistrates on the next day, and, +after examination, committed to prison. He and his wife effected their +escape from jail, and found refuge in New York until the proceedings +were terminated, when they returned to Salem, and continued to reside +here. She survived the shock given by the accusation, the danger to +which she had been exposed, and the sufferings of imprisonment, but a +short time. They occupied the highest social position. He was a +merchant, conducting an extensive business, and had a large estate; +owning fourteen buildings in the town, a wharf, and twenty-one sail of +vessels. His dwelling-house, represented in the frontispiece of this +volume, stood until a recent period, and is remembered by many of us. +Its site was on the southern side of Essex Street, near its +termination; comprising the area between English and Webb Streets. It +must have been a beautiful situation; commanding at that time a full, +unobstructed view of the Beverly and Marblehead shores, and all the +waters and points of land between them. The mansion was spacious in its +dimensions, and bore the marks of having been constructed in +the[ii.143] best style of elegance, strength, and finish. It was indeed +a curious and venerable specimen of the domestic architecture of its +day. A first-class house then; in its proportions, arrangements, and +attachments, it would compare well with first-class houses now. Mrs. +English was a lady of eminent character and culture. Traditions to this +effect have come down with singular uniformity through all the old +families of the place. She was the only child of Richard Hollingsworth, +and inherited his large property. The Rev. William Bentley, D.D., in +his "Description of Salem," and whose daily life made him conversant +with all that relates to the locality of Mrs. English's residence, says +that the officer came to apprehend her in the evening, after she had +retired to rest. He was admitted by the servants, and read his warrant +in her bedchamber. Guards were placed around the house. To be accused +by the afflicted children was then regarded as certain death. "In the +morning," says Bentley, "she attended the devotions of her family, +kissed her children with great composure, proposed her plan for their +education, took leave of them, and then told the officer she was ready +to die." Dr. Bentley suggests that unfriendly feelings may have existed +against Mr. English in consequence of some controversies he had been +engaged in with the town about the title to lands; that the superior +style in which his family lived had subjected them to vulgar prejudice; +that the existence of this feeling becoming known to the "afflicted +girls" led them[ii.144] to cry out against him and his wife. It may be +so. They availed themselves of every such advantage; and particularly +liked to strike high, so as the more to astound and overawe the public +mind. + +I find no further mention of Sarah Morrel. She doubtless shared the +fate of those escaping death,—a long imprisonment. When Dorcas Hoar was +brought in, there was a general commotion among the afflicted, falling +into fits all around. After coming out of them, they vied with each +other in heaping all sorts of accusations upon the prisoner; Abigail +Williams and Ann Putnam charging her with having choked a woman in +Boston; Elizabeth Hubbard crying out that she was pinching her, "and +showing the marks to the standers by. The marshal said she pinched her +fingers at the time." The magistrate, indignantly believing the whole, +said, "Dorcas Hoar, why do you hurt these?"—"I never hurt any child in +my life." The girls then charged her with having killed her husband, +and with various other crimes. Mary Walcot, Susanna Sheldon, and +Abigail Williams said they saw a black man whispering in her ear. The +spirit of the prisoner was raised; and she said, "Oh, you are liars, +and God will stop the mouth of liars!" The anger of the magistrates was +roused by this bold outbreak. "You are not to speak after this manner +in the Court."—"I will speak the truth as long as I live," she +fearlessly replied. Parris says, at the close of his account, "The +afflicted were much distressed[ii.145] during her examination." Of +course, she was sent to prison. + +Susanna Martin of Amesbury, a widow, was arrested on a warrant dated +April 30, and examined at the Village church May 2. She is described as +a short active woman, wearing a hood and scarf, plump and well +developed in her figure, of remarkable personal neatness. One of the +items of the evidence against her was, that, "in an extraordinary dirty +season, when it was not fit for any person to travel, she came on foot" +to a house at Newbury. The woman of the house, the substance of whose +testimony I am giving, having asked, "whether she came from Amesbury +afoot," expressed her surprise at her having ventured abroad in such +bad walking, and bid her children make way for her to come to the fire +to dry herself. She replied "she was as dry as I was," and turned her +coats aside; "and I could not perceive that the soles of her shoes were +wet. I was startled at it, that she should come so dry; and told her +that I should have been wet up to my knees, if I should have come so +far on foot." She replied that "she scorned to have a drabbled tail." +The good woman who treated Susanna Martin on this occasion with such +hospitable kindness received the impression, as appears by the import +of her deposition, that, because Martin came into the house so +wonderfully dry, she was therefore a witch. The only inference we are +likely to draw is, that she was a particularly neat person; careful to +pick her[ii.146] way; and did not wear skirts of the dimensions of our +times. + +The language reported by this witness to have been used by Susanna +Martin created in her, at the time, visible mortification, as well as +resentment. A writer at the period, not by any means inclined to give a +representation favorable to the prisoners, reports her expression thus: +"She scorned to be drabbled." She was undoubtedly a woman who spoke her +mind freely, and with strength of expression, as the magistrates found. +From this cause, perhaps, she had shocked the prejudices and violated +the conventional scrupulosities then prevalent, to such a degree as to +incur much comment, if not scandal. There had been a good deal of +gossip about her; and, some time before, she had been proceeded against +as a witch. But there was no ground for any serious charges against her +character. Like Mrs. Ann Hibbens, perhaps the head and front of her +offending was that she had more wit than her neighbors. She certainly +was a strong-minded woman, as her examination shows. Two reports of it, +each in the handwriting of Parris, have come down to us. They are +almost identical, and in substance as follows:— + +On the appearance of the accused, many of the witnesses against her +instantly fell into fits. The magistrate inquired of them,— + +"Hath this woman hurt you?" + +"(Abigail Williams declared that she had hurt her[ii.147] often. 'Ann +Putnam threw her glove at her in a fit,' and the rest were struck dumb +at her presence.) + +"What! do you laugh at it? said the magistrate.—Well I may at such +folly. + +"Is this folly to see these so hurt?—I never hurt man, woman, or child. + +"(Mercy Lewis cried out, 'She hath hurt me a great many times, and +plucks me down.' Then Martin laughed again. Several others cried out +upon her, and the magistrate again addressed her.) + +"What do you say to this?—I have no hand in witchcraft. + +"What did you do? did you consent these should be hurt?—No, never in my +life. + +"What ails these people?—I do not know. + +"But what do you think ails them?—I do not desire to spend my judgment +upon it. + +"Do you think they are bewitched?—No: I do not think they are. + +"Well, tell us your thoughts about them.—My thoughts are mine own when +they are in; but, when they are out, they are another's. + +"Who do you think is their master?—If they be dealing in the black art, +you may know as well as I. + +"What have you done towards the hurt of these?—I have done nothing. + +"Why, it is you, or your appearance.—I cannot help it. + +"How comes your appearance just now to hurt these?—How do I know? + +"Are you not willing to tell the truth?—I cannot tell. He that appeared +in Samuel's shape can appear in any one's shape.[ii.148] + +"Do you believe these afflicted persons do not say true?—They may lie, +for aught I know. + +"May not you lie?—I dare not tell a lie, if it would save my life." + +At this point, the marshal declared that "she pinched her hands, and +Elizabeth Hubbard was immediately afflicted. Several of the afflicted +cried out that they saw her upon the beam" of the meeting-house over +their heads; and there was, no doubt, a scene of frightful excitement. +The magistrate, in the depth of his awe and distress, earnestly +appealed to the accused, "Pray God discover you, if you be guilty." +Nothing daunted, she replied, "Amen, amen. A false tongue will never +make a guilty person." A great uproar then arose. The accusers fell +into dreadful convulsions, among the rest John Indian, who cried out, +"She bites, she bites!" The magistrate, overcome by the sight of these +sufferings, again appealed to her, "Have not you compassion for these +afflicted?" She calmly and firmly answered, "No: I have none." The +uproar rose higher. The accusers all declared that they saw the "black +man," Satan himself, standing by her side. They pretended to try to +approach her, but were suddenly deprived of the power of locomotion. +John Indian attempted to rush upon her, but fell sprawling upon the +floor. The magistrate again appealed to her: "What is the reason these +cannot come near you?"—"I cannot tell. It may be the Devil bears me +more malice than another."—"Do[ii.149] you not see God evidently +discovering you?"—"No, not a bit for that."—"All the congregation +besides think so."—"Let them think what they will."—"What is the reason +these cannot come to you?"—"I do not know but they can, if they will; +or else, if you please, I will come to them."—"What was that the black +man whispered to you?"—"There was none whispered to me." She was +committed to prison. + +In the mean while, preparations had been going on to bring upon the +stage a more striking character, and give to the excited public mind a +greater shock than had yet been experienced. Intimations had been +thrown out that higher culprits than had been so far brought to light +were in reserve, and would, in due time, be unmasked. It was hinted +that a minister had joined the standard of the Arch-enemy, and was +leading the devilish confederacy. In the accounts given of the +diabolical sacraments, a man in black had been described, but no name +yet given. As Charles the Second, while they were hanging the +regicides, at the Restoration, was looking about for a preacher to +hang, and used Hugh Peters for the occasion; so the "afflicted +children," or those acting behind them, wanted a minister to complete +the _dramatis personæ_ of their tragedy. His connection with the +society and its controversies, and the animosities which had thus +become attached to him, naturally suggested Mr. Burroughs. He was then +pursuing, as usual, a laborious, humble, self-sacrificing ministry, in +the midst of perils and privations, away[ii.150] down in the frontier +settlements on the coast of Maine, and little dreamed of what was +brewing, for his ruin and destruction, in his former parish at the +village. This is what Thomas Putnam had in his mind when he spoke of a +"wheel within a wheel," and "the high and dreadful" things not then +disclosed that were to make "ears tingle." + +It was necessary to be at once cautious and rapid in their movements, +to prevent the public from getting information which, by reaching the +ears of Burroughs, might put him on his guard. It was no easy thing to +secure him at the great distance of his place of residence. If he +should become apprised of what was going on, his escape into remoter +and inaccessible settlements would have baffled the whole scheme. +Nothing therefore was done at the village, but the steps to arrest him +originated at Boston. Elisha Hutchinson, a magistrate there, issued the +proper order, addressed to John Partridge of Portsmouth, Field-marshal +of the provinces of New Hampshire and Maine, dated April 30, 1692, to +arrest George Burroughs, "preacher at Wells;" he being "suspected of a +confederacy with the Devil." Partridge was directed to deliver him to +the custody of the marshal of Essex, or, not meeting him, was requested +to bring him to Salem, and hand him over to the magistrates there. The +"afflicted children" had begun, shortly before, to use his name. +Abigail Hobbs had resided some years before at Casco; and from her they +obtained all the scandal she had heard there, or chose to fabricate to +suit the[ii.151] purpose of the prosecutors. The way in which the minds +of the deluded people were worked up against Mr. Burroughs is +illustrated in a deposition subsequently made to this effect:— + +Benjamin Hutchinson testified, that, on the 21st of April, 1692, about +eleven o'clock in the forenoon, Abigail Williams told him that she saw +a person whom she described as Mr. George Burroughs, "a little black +minister that lived at Casco Bay." Mr. Burroughs was of small stature +and dark complexion. She gave an account of his wonderful feats of +strength, said that he was a wizard; and that he "had killed three +wives, two for himself and one for Mr. Lawson." She affirmed that she +saw him then. Mr. Burroughs, it will be borne in mind, was at this time +a hundred miles away, at his home in Maine. Hutchinson asked her where +she saw him. She said "There," pointing to a rut in the road made by a +cart-wheel. He had an iron fork in his hand, and threw it where she +said Burroughs was standing. Instantly she fell into a fit; and, when +she came out of it, said, "'You have torn his coat, for I heard it +tear.'—'Whereabouts?' said I. 'On one side,' said she. Then we came +into the house of Lieutenant Ingersoll; and I went into the great room, +and Abigail came in and said, 'There he stands.' I said, 'Where? +where?' and presently drew my rapier." Then Abigail said, he has gone, +but "'there is a gray cat.' Then I said, 'Whereabouts?' 'There!' said +she, 'there!' Then I struck with my rapier, and she fell into a fit; +and, when it[ii.152] was over, she said, 'You killed her.'" Poor +Hutchinson could not see the cat he had killed any more than +Burroughs's coat he had torn. Abigail explained the mystery to his +satisfaction, by saying that the spectre of Sarah Good had come in at +the moment, and carried away the dead cat. This was all in broad +daylight; it being, as Hutchinson testified, "about twelve o'clock." +The same day, "after lecture, in said Ingersoll's chamber," Abigail +Williams and Mary Walcot were present. They said that "Goody Hobbs, of +Topsfield, had bit Mary Walcot by the foot." Then both fell into a fit; +and on coming out, "they saw William Hobbs and his wife go both of them +along the table." Hutchinson instantly stabbed, with his rapier, "Goody +Hobbs on her side," as the two girls declared. They further said that +the room was "full of them," that is of witches, in their apparitions; +then Hutchinson and Eleazer Putnam "stabbed with their rapiers at a +venture." The girls cried out, that they "had killed a great black +woman of Stonington, and an Indian who had come with her:" the girls +said further, "The floor is all covered with blood;" and, rushing to +the window, declared that they saw a great company of witches on a +hill, and that three of them "lay dead" there,—"the black woman, the +Indian, and one more that they knew not." This was about four o'clock +in the afternoon. This evidence was given and received in court. It +shows the audacity with which the girls imposed upon the credulity of a +people wrought up by their arts to the highest pitch of in[ii.153]sane +infatuation; and illustrates a condition of things, at that time and +place, that is truly astonishing. + +On the evening before Hutchinson was imposed upon, as just described, +by Abigail Williams and Mary Walcot, Ann Putnam had made most +astonishing disclosures, at her father's house, in his presence and +that of Peter Prescott, Robert Morrel, and Ezekiel Cheever. An account +of the affair was drawn up by her father, and sworn to by her, in these +words:— + +"The Deposition of Ann Putnam, who testifieth and saith, on the 20th of +April, 1692, at evening, she saw the apparition of a minister, at which +she was grievously affrighted, and cried out, 'Oh, dreadful, dreadful! +here is a minister come! What! are ministers witches too? Whence came +you, and what is your name? for I will complain of you, though you be a +minister, if you be a wizard.' Immediately I was tortured by him, being +racked and almost choked by him. And he tempted me to write in his +book, which I refused with loud outcries, and said I would not write in +his book though he tore me all to pieces, but told him it was a +dreadful thing that he, which was a minister, that should teach +children to fear God, should come to persuade poor creatures to give +their souls to the Devil. 'Oh, dreadful, dreadful! Tell me your name, +that I may know who you are.' Then again he tortured me, and urged me +to write in his book, which I refused. And then, presently, he told me +that his name was George Burroughs, and that he had had three wives, +and that he had bewitched the two first of them to death; and that he +killed Mrs. Lawson, because she was so unwilling to go from the +Village, and also killed Mr. Lawson's child because he went[ii.154] to +the eastward with Sir Edmon, and preached so to the soldiers; and that +he had bewitched a great many soldiers to death at the eastward when +Sir Edmon was there; and that he had made Abigail Hobbs a witch, and +several witches more. And he has continued ever since, by times, +tempting me to write in his book, and grievously torturing me by +beating, pinching, and almost choking me several times a day. He also +told me that he was above a witch. He was a conjurer." + +Her father and the other persons present made oath that they saw and +heard all this at the time; that "they beheld her tortures and +perceived her hellish temptations by her loud outcries, 'I will not, I +will not write, though you torment me all the days of my life.'" It +will be observed that this was the evening before Thomas Putnam wrote +his letter to the magistrates, preparing them for something "high and +dreadful" that was soon to be brought to light. + +A similar scene took place not long afterwards, in the presence of her +father and her uncle Edward, to which they also testify. It was thus +described by her under oath:— + +"The Deposition of Ann Putnam, who testifieth and saith, that, on the +8th of May, at evening, I saw the apparition of Mr. George Burroughs, +who grievously tortured me, and urged me to write in his book, which I +refused. He then told me that his two first wives would appear to me +presently, and tell me a great many lies, but I should not believe +them. Then immediately appeared to me the forms of two women in +winding-sheets, and napkins about[ii.155] their heads, at which I was +greatly affrighted; and they turned their faces towards Mr. Burroughs, +and looked very red and angry, and told him that he had been a cruel +man to them, and that their blood did cry for vengeance against him; +and also told him that they should be clothed with white robes in +heaven, when he should be cast into hell: and immediately he vanished +away. And, as soon as he was gone, the two women turned their faces +towards me, and looked as pale as a white wall; and told me that they +were Mr. Burroughs's two first wives, and that he had murdered them. +And one of them told me that she was his first wife, and he stabbed her +under the left arm, and put a piece of sealing-wax on the wound. And +she pulled aside the winding-sheet, and showed me the place; and also +told me, that she was in the house where Mr. Parris now lives, when it +was done. And the other told me, that Mr. Burroughs and that wife which +he hath now, killed her in the vessel, as she was coming to see her +friends, because they would have one another. And they both charged me +that I should tell these things to the magistrates before Mr. +Burroughs' face; and, if he did not own them, they did not know but +they should appear there. This morning, also, Mrs. Lawson and her +daughter Ann appeared to me, whom I knew, and told me Mr. Burroughs +murdered them. This morning also appeared to me another woman in a +winding-sheet, and told me that she was Goodman Fuller's first wife, +and Mr. Burroughs killed her because there was some difference between +her husband and him." + +This was indeed most extraordinary language and imagery to have been +used by a child of twelve years of age. It is not strange, that, upon a +community,[ii.156] whose fancies and fears had been so long wrought +upon, holding their views, the effect was awfully great. The very fact +that it was a child that spoke made her declarations seem supernatural. +Then, again, they were accompanied with such ocular demonstration, in +her terrible bodily sufferings, that none remained in doubt of the +truthfulness and reality of what they listened to and beheld. It did +not enter their imaginations, for a moment, that there was any +deception or imposture, or even delusion, on her part. Her case is +truly a problem not easily solved even now. While we are filled with +horror and indignation at the thought that she figures as a capital and +fatal witness in all the trials, it is impossible not to feel that a +wisdom greater than ours is necessary to fathom the dark mystery of the +phenomena presented by her and her mother and other accusers, in this +monstrous and terrible affair. + +These occurrences, happening just before Mr. Burroughs was brought to +the village as a prisoner, were bruited from house to house, from mouth +to mouth, and worked the people to a state of horrified exasperation +against him; and he was met with execration, when, on the 4th of May, +Field-marshal Partridge appeared with him at Salem, and delivered him +to the jailer there. When we consider the distance and the +circumstances of travel at that time, it is evident that the officers +charged with the service acted with the greatest promptitude, celerity, +and energy. The tradition is, that they found Mr. Burroughs in his +humble[ii.157] home, partaking of his frugal meal; that he was snatched +from the table without a moment's opportunity to provide for his +family, or prepare himself for the journey, and hurried on his way +roughly, and without the least explanation of what it all meant. As +soon as it was known that he was in jail in Salem, arrangements were +commenced for his examination. The public mind was highly excited; and +it was determined to make the occasion as impressive, effective, and +awe-striking as possible. Another "field-day" was to be had. On the 9th +of May, a special session of the Magistracy was held,—William Stoughton +coming from Dorchester, and Samuel Sewall from Boston, to sit with +Hathorne and Corwin, and give greater solemnity and severity to the +proceedings. Stoughton presided. The first step in the proceedings was +to have a private hearing, in the presence of the magistrates and +ministers only; and the report of what passed there gives proof of what +is indicated more or less clearly in several passages in the accounts +that have come down to us in reference to Mr. Burroughs,—that he was +regarded as not wholly sound in doctrine on points not connected with +witchcraft, was treated with special severity on that account, and made +the victim of bigoted prejudice among his brethren and in the churches. +In this secret inquisition, he was called to account for not attending +the communion service on one or two occasions; he being a member of the +church at Roxbury. It was also brought against him, that none of his +children but the eldest had been[ii.158] baptized. What the facts, in +these respects, were, it is impossible to say; as we know of them only +through the charges of his enemies. After this, he was carried to the +place of public meeting; and, as he entered the room, "many, if not +all, the bewitched were grievously tortured." After the confusion had +subsided, Susanna Sheldon testified that Burroughs' two wives had +appeared to her "in their winding-sheets," and said, "That man killed +them." He was ordered to look on the witness; and, as he turned to do +so, he "knocked down," as the reporter affirms, "all (or most) of the +afflicted that stood behind him." Ann Putnam, and the several other +"afflicted children," bore their testimony in a similar strain against +him, interspersing at intervals, all their various convulsions, +outcries, and tumblings. Mercy Lewis had "a dreadful and tedious fit." +Walcot, Hubbard, and Sheldon were cast into torments simultaneously. At +length, they were "so tortured" that "authority ordered them" to be +removed. Their sufferings were greater than the magistrates and people +could longer endure to look upon. The question was put to Burroughs, +"what he thought of these things." He answered, "it was an amazing and +humbling providence, but he understood nothing of it." Throwing aside +all the foolish and ridiculous gossip and all the monstrous fables that +belong to the accusations against him, and looking at the only known +facts in his history, it appears that Mr. Burroughs was a man of +ingenuous nature, free from guile, unsuspicious of guile in[ii.159] +others; a disinterested, humble, patient, and generous person. He had +suffered much wrong, and endured great hardships in life; but they had +not impaired his readiness to labor and suffer for others. There was no +combativeness or vindictiveness in his disposition. Even in the midst +of the unspeakable outrages he was experiencing on this occasion, he +does not appear to be incensed or irritated, but simply "amazed." To +have such horrid crimes laid to him, instead of rousing a violent +spirit within him, impressed him with a humbling sense of an +inscrutable Providence. There is a remarkable similarity in the manner +in which Rebecca Nurse and George Burroughs received the dreadful +accusations brought against them. "Surely," she said, "what sin hath +God found out in me unrepented of that he should lay such an affliction +upon me in my old age?" His words are, "It is an humbling providence of +God." The more we reflect upon this language, and go to the depths of +the spirit that suggested it, the more we realize, that, in each case, +it arose from a sanctified Christian heart, and is an attestation in +vindication and in honor of the sufferers from whose lips it fell, that +outweighs all passions and prejudices, reverses all verdicts, and +commands the conviction of all fair and honest minds. + +After the "afflicted" had been sent out of the room, there was +testimony to show that Mr. Burroughs had given proof of physical +strength, which, in a man of his small stature, was sure evidence that +he was in league with the Devil. Many marvellous statements[ii.160] +were made to this effect, some of the most extravagant of which he +denied. He undoubtedly was a person of great strength. He had +cultivated muscular exercise and development while an undergraduate at +Cambridge, and was early celebrated as a gymnast. After a while, the +accusers and afflicted were again brought in. Abigail Hobbs testified +that she was present at a "witch meeting, in the field near Mr. +Parris's house," in which Mr. Burroughs acted a conspicuous part. Mary +Warren swore that "Mr. Burroughs had a trumpet which he blew to summon +the witches to their feasts" and other meetings "near Mr. Parris's +house." This trumpet had a sound that reached over the country far and +wide, sending its blasts to Andover, and wakening its echoes along the +Merrimack, to Cape Ann, and the uttermost settlements everywhere; so +that the witches, hearing it, would mount their brooms, and alight, in +a moment, in Mr. Parris's orchard, just to the north and west of the +parsonage; but its sound was not heard by any other ears than those of +confederates with Satan. While the girls were giving their testimony, +every once in a while they would be dreadfully choked, appearing to be +in the last stages of suffocation and strangulation; and, coming to, at +intervals, would charge it upon Burroughs or other witches, calling +them by name; generally, however, confining their selection to persons +already apprehended, and not bringing in others until measures were +matured. Mr. Burroughs was committed for trial.[ii.161] + +The examination of Mr. Burroughs presented a spectacle, all things +considered, of rare interest and curiosity,—the grave dignity of the +magistrates; the plain, dark figure of the prisoner; the half-crazed, +half-demoniac aspect of the girls; the wild, excited crowd; the horror, +rage, and pallid exasperation of Lawson, Goodman Fuller and others, +also of the relatives and friends of Burroughs's two former wives, as +the deep damnation of their taking off and the secrets of their bloody +graves were being brought to light; and the child on the stand telling +her awful tale of ghosts in winding-sheets, with napkins round their +heads, pointing to their death-wounds, and saying that "their blood did +cry for vengeance" upon their murderer. The prisoner stands alone: all +were raving around him, while he is amazed; astounded at such folly and +wrong in others, and humbly sensible of his own unworthiness; bowed +down under the mysterious Providence, that permitted such things for a +season, yet strong and steadfast in conscious innocence and +uprightness. + +To complete the proceedings against Burroughs at this time, and raise +to the highest point the public abhorrence of him, effective use was +made of Deliverance Hobbs, the wife of William Hobbs, of whom I have +spoken before. She was first examined April 22. During the earlier part +of the proceedings, she maintained her integrity and protested her +innocence in a manner which shows that her self-possession held good. +But the examination was protracted; her[ii.162] strength was exhausted; +the declarations of the accusers, their dreadful sufferings, the +prejudgment of the case against her by the magistrates, and the +combined influences of all the circumstances around her, broke her +down. Her firmness, courage, and truth fled; and she began to confess +all that was laid to her charge. The record is interesting as showing +how gradually she was overwhelmed and overcome. But while mentioning +the names of others whom she pretended to have been associated with as +witches, she did not speak of Burroughs. She referred to those who had +been brought out before that date, but not to him. The intended +movement against him had not then been divulged. On the 3d of May, the +day before he arrived, after it was known that officers had been sent +to arrest him, she was examined again. On this occasion, she charged +Burroughs with having been present, and taken a leading part in +witch-meetings, which she had described in detail, at her first +examination, without mentioning him at all. This proves that the +confessing prisoners were apprised of what it was desired they should +say, and that their testimony was prepared for them by the managers of +the affair. The following is one of the confessions made by this woman, +subsequent to her public examination. I give it partly to show what a +flood of falsehood was poured upon Burroughs, and partly because it +will serve as a specimen of the stuff of which the confessions were +composed:[ii.163]— + +"_The First Examination of Deliverance Hobbs in Prison._—She continued +in the free acknowledging herself to be a covenant witch: and further +confesseth she was warned to a meeting yesterday morning, and that +there was present Procter and his wife, Goody Nurse, Giles Corey and +his wife, Goody Bishop alias Oliver; and Mr. Burroughs was their +preacher, and pressed them to bewitch all in the village, telling them +they should do it gradually, and not all at once, assuring them they +should prevail. He administered the sacrament unto them at the same +time, with red bread and red wine like blood. She affirms she saw +Osburn, Sarah Good, Goody Wilds, Goody Nurse: and Goody Wilds +distributed the bread and wine; and a man in a long-crowned white hat +sat next the minister, and they sat seemingly at a table, and they +filled out the wine in tankards. The notice of this meeting was given +her by Goody Wilds. She, herself affirms, did not nor would not eat nor +drink, but all the rest did, who were there present; therefore they +threatened to torment her. The meeting was in the pasture by Mr. +Parris's house, and she saw when Abigail Williams ran out to speak with +them; but, by that time Abigail was come a little distance from the +house, this examinant was struck blind, so that she saw not with whom +Abigail spake. She further saith, that Goody Wilds, to prevail with her +to sign, told her, that, if she would put her hand to the book, she +would give her some clothes, and would not afflict her any more. Her +daughter, Abigail Hobbs, being brought in at the same time, while her +mother was present, was immediately taken with a dreadful fit; and her +mother, being asked who it was that hurt her daughter, answered it was +Goodman Corey, and she saw him and the gentlewoman of Boston striving +to break her daughter's neck." [ii.164] + +On the next day, warrants were procured against George Jacobs, Sr., and +his grand-daughter, Margaret Jacobs. They were forthwith seized and +brought in by Constable Joseph Neal, of Salem, whose return is as +follows: "May 10, 1692. Then I apprehended the bodies of George Jacobs, +Sr., and Margaret, daughter of George Jacobs, Jr., according to the +tenor of the above warrant." The examinations, on this occasion, were +held at the house of Thomas Beadle, in the town of Salem. All the +preliminary examinations, so far as existing documents show, were +either in the meeting-house at the village or that of the town; or at +the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll at the village, or Thomas Beadle in +the town,—both being inns, or places of public entertainment. Beadle's +house was on the south side of Essex Street, on land now occupied by +Nos. 63 and 65. The eastern boundary of the lot was forty-nine feet +from Ingersoll's Lane, now Daniels Street. Its front on Essex Street +was about sixty feet, and its depth about one hundred and forty-five +feet. What is now No. 65 is on the very spot where Beadle's tavern +stood; and with the exception of six feet built, as an addition, on the +eastern side, subsequently to 1733, is probably the identical house. +The ground now occupied by No. 63 was then an open space. It appears by +bills of expenses brought "against the country," that the inn of Samuel +Beadle, a brother of Thomas, was also sometimes used for purposes +connected with the prosecutions. Thomas Beadle's bill amounted to £58. +11_s._ 5_d._; that of Samuel to £21. The latter, being[ii.165] near the +jail, was probably used for the entertainment of constables and the +keeping of their horses, as well as other incidental purposes connected +with the transportation of prisoners. + +A tradition has long prevailed, that the house, still standing, of +Judge Jonathan Corwin, at the western corner of North and Essex +Streets, was used at these examinations. One form in which this +tradition has come down is probably correct. The grand jury was often +in session while the jury for trials was hearing cases in the +Court-house. There may not have been suitable accommodations for both +in that building. The confused sounds and commotions incident to the +trials would have been annoying to the grand jury. The tradition is, +that a place was provided and used temporarily by that body, in the +Corwin house, supposed to have been the spacious room at the +southeastern corner. As the investigations of the grand jury were not +open to the public, its occasional sittings would not be seriously +incompatible with the convenience of a family, or detrimental to the +grounds or apartments of a handsome private residence. Indeed, it would +hardly have been allowable or practicable to have had the examinations +before the magistrates in any other than a public house. They were +always frequented by a promiscuous crowd, and generally scenes of +tumultuary disorder. + +George Jacobs, Sr., was an aged man. He is represented in the evidence +as "very gray-headed;" and he must have been quite infirm, for he +walked with two[ii.166] staffs. His hair was in long, thin, white +locks; and, as he was uncommonly tall of stature, he must have had a +venerable aspect. Perhaps he was the "man in a long-crowned white hat," +referred to by Deliverance Hobbs. The examination shows that his +faculties were vigorous, his bearing fearless, and his utterances +strong and decided. The magistrates began: "Here are them that accuse +you of acts of witchcraft."—"Well, let us hear who are they and what +are they." When Abigail Williams testified against him, going through +undoubtedly her usual operations, he could not refrain from expressing +his contempt for the whole thing by a laugh; explaining it by saying, +"Because I am falsely accused—your worships all of you, do you think +this is true?" They answered, "Nay: what do you think?" "I never did +it."—"Who did it?"—"Don't ask me." The magistrates always took it for +granted that the pretensions and sufferings of the girls were real, and +threw upon the accused the responsibility of explaining them. They +continued: "Why should we not ask you? Sarah Churchill accuseth you. +There she is." Jacobs was of opinion that it was not for him to explain +the actions of the girls, but for the prosecuting party to prove his +guilt. "If you can prove that I am guilty, I will lie under it." Then +Sarah Churchill, who was a servant in his family, said, "Last night, I +was afflicted at Deacon Ingersoll's; and Mary Walcot said it was a man +with two staves: it was my master." It seems, that, after the +proceedings against Burroughs were over, a meeting of "the circle" took +place in the[ii.167] evening, at Deacon Ingersoll's, at which there was +a repetition of the actings of the girls; and that Mary Walcot +suggested to Churchill to accuse her master. This shows the way in +which the delusion was kept up. Probably, such meetings were held at +one house or another in the village, and fresh accusations brought +forward, continually. Jacobs appealed to the magistrates, trying to +recall them to a sense of fairness. "Pray, do not accuse me: I am as +clear as your worships. You must do right judgment." Sarah Churchill +charged him with having hurt her; and the magistrates, pushing her on +to make further charges, said to her, "Did he not appear on the other +side of the river, and hurt you? Did not you see him?" She answered, +"Yes, he did." Then, turning to him, the magistrates said, "There, she +accuseth you to your face: she chargeth you that you hurt her +twice."—"It is not true. What would you have me say? I never wronged no +man in word nor deed."—"Is it no harm to afflict these?"—"I never did +it."—"But how comes it to be in your appearance?"—"The Devil can take +any likeness."—"Not without their consent." Jacobs rejected the +imputation. "You tax me for a wizard: you may as well tax me for a +buzzard. I have done no harm." Churchill said, "I know you lived a +wicked life." Jacobs, turning to the magistrates, said, "Let her make +it out." The magistrates asked her, "Doth he ever pray in his family?" +She replied, "Not unless by himself." The magistrates, addressing him: +"Why do you not pray in your family?"—"I cannot[ii.168] read."—"Well, +but you may pray for all that. Can you say the Lord's Prayer? Let us +hear you." The reporter, Mr. Parris, says, "He missed in several parts +of it, and could not repeat it right after many trials." The +magistrates, addressing her, said, "Were you not frighted, Sarah +Churchill, when the representation of your master came to you?"—"Yes." +Jacobs exclaimed, "Well, burn me or hang me, I will stand in the truth +of Christ: I know nothing of it." In answer to an inquiry from the +magistrates, he denied having done any thing to get his son George or +grand-daughter Margaret to "sign the book." + +The appearance of the old man, his intrepid bearing, and the stamp of +conscious innocence on all he said, probably produced some impression +on the magistrates, as they did not come to any decision, but adjourned +the examination to the next day. The girls then came down from the +village in full force, determined to put him through. When he was +brought in, they accordingly, all at once, "fell into the most grievous +fits and screechings." When they sufficiently came to, the magistrates +turned to the girls: "Is this the man that hurts you?" They severally +answered,—Abigail Williams: "This is the man," and fell into a violent +fit. Ann Putnam: "This is the man. He hurts me, and brings the book to +me, and would have me write in the book, and said, if I would write in +it, I should be as well as his grand-daughter." Mercy Lewis, after much +interruptions by fits: "This is the man: he almost kills me." Elizabeth +Hubbard: "He[ii.169] never hurt me till to-day, when he came upon the +table." Mary Walcot, after much interruption by fits: "This is the man: +he used to come with two staves, and beat me with one of them." After +all this, the magistrates, thinking he could deny it no longer, turn to +him, "What do you say? Are you not a witch?" "No: I know it not, if I +were to die presently." Mercy Lewis advanced towards him, but, as soon +as she got near, "fell into great fits."—"What do you say to this?" +cried the magistrates. "Why, it is false. I know not of it any more +than the child that was born to-night." The reporter says, "Ann Putnam +and Abigail Williams had each of them a pin stuck in their hands, and +they said it was this old Jacobs." He was committed to prison. + +The following piece of evidence is among the loose papers on file in +the clerk's office:— + +"The Deposition of Sarah Ingersoll, aged about thirty years.—Saith, +that, seeing Sarah Churchill after her examination, she came to me +crying and wringing her hands, seemingly to be much troubled in spirit. +I asked her what she ailed. She answered, she had undone herself. I +asked her in what. She said, in belying herself and others in saying +she had set her hand to the Devil's book, whereas, she said, she never +did. I told her I believed she had set her hand to the book. She +answered, crying, and said, 'No, no, no: I never, I never did.' I asked +her then what made her say she did. She answered, because they +threatened her, and told her they would put her into the dungeon, and +put her along with Mr. Burroughs; and thus[ii.170] several times she +followed me up and down, telling me that she had undone herself, in +belying herself and others. I asked her why she did not deny she wrote +it. She told me, because she had stood out so long in it, that now she +durst not. She said also, that, if she told Mr. Noyes but once she had +set her hand to the book, he would believe her; but, if she told the +truth, and said she had not set her hand to the book a hundred times, +he would not believe her. + +"Sarah Ingersoll." + +This paper has also the signature of "Ann Andrews." + +This incident probably occurred during the examination of George +Jacobs; and the bitter compunction of Churchill was in consequence of +the false and malignant course she had been pursuing against her old +master. It is a relief to our feelings, so far as she is regarded, to +suppose so. Bad as her conduct was as one of the accusers, on other +occasions after I am sorry to say as well as before, it shows that she +was not entirely dead to humanity, but realized the iniquity of which +she had been guilty towards him. It is the only instance of which we +find notice of any such a remnant of conscience showing itself, at the +time, among those perverted and depraved young persons. The reason, why +it is probable that this exhibition of Churchill's penitential tears +and agonies of remorse occurred immediately after the first day of +Jacobs's examination, is this. It was one of the first, if not the +first, held at the house of Thomas Beadle. Sarah Ingersoll would not +have been likely to have fallen in[ii.171] with her elsewhere. It is +evident, from the tenor and purport of the document, that the deponent +was not entirely carried away by the prevalent delusion, and probably +did not follow up the proceedings generally. But it was quite natural +that her attention should have been called to proceedings of interest +at Beadle's house, particularly on that first occasion. She lived in +the immediate vicinity. The indorsement by Ann Andrews, the daughter of +Jacobs, increases the probability that the occurrence was at his +examination. + +The representatives of the family of John Ingersoll,—a brother of +Deacon Nathaniel Ingersoll,—in 1692, occupied a series of houses on the +west side of Daniels Street, leading from Essex Street to the harbor. +The widow of John's son Nathaniel lived at the corner of Essex and +Daniels Streets; the next in order was the widow of his son John; the +next, his daughter Ruth, wife of Richard Rose; the next, the widow of +his son Richard; the last, his son Samuel, whose house lot extended to +the water. Sarah, the witness in this case, was the wife of Samuel, and +afterwards became the second wife of Philip English. One of her +children appears to have married a son of Beadle. Their immediate +proximity to the Beadle house, and consequent intimacy with his family, +led them to become conversant with what occurred there; and Sarah +Ingersoll was, in that way, likely to meet Churchill, and to have the +conversation with her to which she deposes. + +This brief deposition of Sarah Ingersoll is, in many particulars, an +important and instructive paper. It[ii.172] exhibits incidentally the +means employed to keep the accusing girls and confessing witnesses from +falling back, and, by overawing them, to prevent their acknowledging +the falseness of their testimony. It shows how difficult it was to +obtain a hearing, if they were disposed to recant. It presents Mr. +Noyes—as all along there is too much evidence compelling us to +admit—acting a part as bad as that of Parris; and it discloses the +fact, that Mr. Burroughs, although not yet brought to trial, was +immured in a dungeon. + +No papers are on file, or have been obtained, in reference to the +examination of Margaret Jacobs, which was at the same time and place +with that of her grandfather. We shall hear of her in subsequent stages +of the transaction. + +On the same day—May 10—that George and Margaret Jacobs were apprehended +and examined, a warrant was issued against John Willard, "husbandman," +to be brought to Thomas Beadle's house in Salem. On the 12th, John +Putnam, Jr., constable, made return that he had been to "the house of +the usual abode of John Willard, and made search for him, and in +several other houses and places, but could not find him;" and that "his +relations and friends" said, "that, to their best knowledge, he was +fled." On the 15th, a warrant was issued to the marshal of Essex, and +the constables of Salem, "or any other marshal, or marshal's constable +or constables within this their majesty's colony or territory of the +Massachusetts, in New England," requiring them to apprehend said +Willard, "if he may be found[ii.173] in your precincts, who stands +charged with sundry acts of witchcraft, by him done or committed on the +bodies of Bray Wilkins, and Samuel Wilkins, the son of Henry Wilkins," +and others, upon complaint made "by Thomas Fuller, Jr., and Benjamin +Wilkins, Sr., yeomen; who, being found, you are to convey from town to +town, from constable to constable, ... to be prosecuted according to +the direction of Constable John Putnam, of Salem Village, who goes with +the same." On the 18th of May, Constable Putnam brought in Willard, and +delivered him to the magistrates. He was seized in Groton. There is no +record of his examination; but we gather, from the papers on file, the +following facts relating to this interesting case:— + +It is said that Willard had been called upon to aid in the arrest, +custody, and bringing-in of persons accused, acting as a +deputy-constable; and, from his observation of the deportment of the +prisoners, and from all he heard and saw, his sympathies became excited +in their behalf: and he expressed, in more or less unguarded terms, his +disapprobation of the proceedings. He seems to have considered all +hands concerned in the business—accusers, accused, magistrates, and +people—as alike bewitched. One of the witnesses against him deposed, +that he said, in a "discourse" at the house of a relative, "Hang them: +they are all witches." In consequence of this kind of talk, in which he +indulged as early as April, he incurred the ill-will of the parties +engaged in the prose[ii.174]cutions; and it was whispered about that he +was himself in the diabolical confederacy. He was a grandson of Bray +Wilkins; and the mind of the old man became prejudiced against him, and +most of his family connections and neighbors partook of the feeling. +When Willard discovered that such rumors were in circulation against +him, he went to his grandfather for counsel and the aid of his prayers. +He met with a cold reception, as appears by the deposition of the old +man as follows:— + +"When John Willard was first complained of by the afflicted persons for +afflicting of them, he came to my house, greatly troubled, desiring me, +with some other neighbors, to pray for him. I told him I was then going +from home, and could not stay; but, if I could come home before night, +I should not be unwilling. But it was near night before I came home, +and so I did not answer his desire; but I heard no more of him upon +that account. Whether my not answering his desire did not offend him, I +cannot tell; but I was jealous, afterwards, that it did." + +Willard soon after made an engagement to go to Boston, on +election-week, with Henry Wilkins, Jr. A son of said Henry Wilkins, +named Daniel,—a youth of seventeen years of age, who had heard the +stories against Willard, and believed them all, remonstrated with his +father against going to Boston with Willard, and seemed much distressed +at the thought, saying, among other things, "It were well if the said +Willard were hanged." + +Old Bray Wilkins must go to election too; and so[ii.175] started off on +horseback,—the only mode of travel then practicable from Will's Hill to +Winnesimit Ferry,—with his wife on a pillion behind him. He was +eighty-two years of age, and she probably not much less; for she had +been the wife of his youth. The old couple undoubtedly had an active +time that week in Boston. It was a great occasion, and the whole +country flocked in to partake in the ceremonies and services of the +anniversary. On Election-day, with his wife, he rode out to Dorchester, +to dine at the house of his "brother, Lieutenant Richard Way." Deodat +Lawson and his new wife, and several more, joined them at table. Before +sitting down, Henry Wilkins and John Willard also came in. Willard, +perhaps, did not feel very agreeably towards his grandfather, at the +time, for having shown an unwillingness to pray with him. The old man +either saw, or imagined he saw, a very unpleasant expression in +Willard's countenance. "To my apprehension, he looked after such a sort +upon me as I never before discerned in any." The long and hard travel, +the fatigues and excitements of election-week, were too much for the +old man, tough and rugged as he was; and a severe attack of a +complaint, to which persons of his age are often subject, came on. He +experienced great sufferings, and, as he expressed it, "was like a man +on a rack." + +"I told my wife immediately that I was afraid that Willard had done me +wrong; my pain continuing, and finding no relief, my jealousy +continued. Mr. Lawson and others there were all amazed, and knew not +what to do for me. There was[ii.176] a woman accounted skilful came +hoping to help me, and after she had used means, she asked me whether +none of those evil persons had done me damage. I said, I could not say +they had, but I was sore afraid they had. She answered, she did fear so +too.... As near as I remember. I lay in this case three or four days at +Boston, and afterward, with the jeopardy of my life (as I thought), I +came home." + +On his return, he found his grandson, the same Daniel who had warned +Henry Wilkins against going to Boston with John Willard, on his +death-bed, in great suffering. Another attack of his own malady came +on. There was great consternation in the neighborhood, and throughout +the village. The Devil and his confederates, it was thought, were +making an awful onslaught upon the people at Will's Hill. Parris and +others rushed to the scene. Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcot were carried up +to tell who it was that was bewitching old Bray, and young Daniel, and +others of the Wilkinses who had caught the contagion, and were +experiencing or imagining all sorts of bodily ails. They were taken to +the room where Daniel was approaching his death-agonies; and they both +affirmed, that they saw the spectres of old Mrs. Buckley and John +Willard "upon his throat and upon his breast, and pressed him and +choked him;" and the cruel operation, they insisted upon it, continued +until the boy died. The girls were carried to the bedroom of the old +man, who was in great suffering; and, when they entered, the question +was put by the anxious and excited friends in the chamber to Mercy +Lewis, whether[ii.177] she saw any thing. She said, "Yes: they are +looking for John Willard." Presently she pretended to have caught sight +of his apparition, and exclaimed, "There he is upon his grandfather's +belly." This was thought wonderful indeed; for, as the old man says in +a deposition he drew up afterwards, "At that time I was in grievous +pain in the small of my belly." + +Mrs. Ann Putnam had her story to tell about John Willard. Its substance +is seen in a deposition drawn up about the time, and is in the same +vein as her testimony in other cases; presenting a problem to be solved +by those who can draw the line between semi-insane hallucination and +downright fabrication. Her deposition is as follows:— + +"That the shape of Samuel Fuller and Lydia Wilkins this day told me at +my own house by the bedside, who appeared in winding-sheets, that, if I +did not go and tell Mr. Hathorne that John Willard had murdered them, +they would tear me to pieces. I knew them when they were living, and it +was exactly their resemblance and shape. And, at the same time, the +apparition of John Willard told me that he had killed Samuel Fuller, +Lydia Wilkins, Goody Shaw, and Fuller's second wife, and Aaron Way's +child, and Ben Fuller's child; and this deponent's child Sarah, six +weeks old; and Philip Knight's child, with the help of William Hobbs; +and Jonathan Knight's child and two of Ezekiel Cheever's children with +the help of William Hobbs; Anne Eliot and Isaac Nichols with the help +of William Hobbs; and that if Mr. Hathorne would not believe them,—that +is, Samuel Fuller and Lydia Wilkins,—perhaps they would appear +to[ii.178] the magistrates. Joseph Fuller's apparition the same day +also came to me, and told me that Goody Corey had killed him. The +spectre aforesaid told me, that vengeance, vengeance, was cried by said +Fuller. This relation is true. + +"Ann Putnam." + +It appears by such papers as are to be found relating to Willard's +case, that a coroner's jury was held over the body of Daniel Wilkins, +of which Nathaniel Putnam was foreman. It is much to be regretted that +the finding of that jury is lost. It would be a real curiosity. That it +was very decisive to the point, affirmed by Mercy Lewis and Mary +Walcot, that Daniel was choked and strangled by the spectres of John +Willard and Goody Buckley, is apparent from the manner in which Bray +Wilkins speaks of it. In an argument between him and some persons who +were expressing their confidence that John Willard was an innocent man, +he sought to relieve himself from responsibility for Willard's +conviction by saying, "It was not I, nor my son Benjamin Wilkins, but +the testimony of the afflicted persons, and the jury concerning the +murder of my grandson, Daniel Wilkins, that would take away his life, +if any thing did." Mr. Parris, of course, was in the midst of these +proceedings at Will's Hill; attended the visits of the afflicted girls +when they went to ascertain who were the witches murdering young Daniel +and torturing the old man; was present, no doubt, at the solemn +examinations and investigations of the sages who sat as a jury of +inquest[ii.179] over the former, and, in all likelihood, made, as +usual, a written report of the same. As soon as he got back to his +house, he discharged his mind, and indorsed the verdict of the +coroner's jury by this characteristic insertion in his church-records: +"Dan: Wilkins. Bewitched to death." The very next entry relates to a +case of which this obituary line, in Mr. Parris's church-book, is the +only intimation that has come down to us, "Daughter to Ann Douglas. By +witchcraft, I doubt not." Willard's examination was at Beadle's, on the +18th. With this deluge of accusations and tempest of indignation +beating upon him, he had but little chance, and was committed. + +While the marshals and constables were in pursuit of Willard, the time +was well improved by the prosecutors. On the 12th of May, warrants were +issued to apprehend, and bring "forthwith" before the magistrates +sitting at Beadle's, "Alice Parker, the wife of John Parker of Salem; +and Ann Pudeator of Salem, widow." Alice, commonly called Elsie, Parker +was the wife of a mariner. We know but little of her. We have a +deposition of one woman, Martha Dutch, as follows:— + +"This deponent testified and saith, that, about two years last past, +John Jarman, of Salem, coming in from sea, I (this deponent and Alice +Parker, of Salem, both of us standing together) said unto her, 'What a +great mercy it was, for to see them come home well; and through mercy,' +I said, 'my husband had gone, and come home well, many times.' And I, +this deponent, did say unto the said Parker, that 'I[ii.180] did hope +he would come home this voyage well also.' And the said Parker made +answer unto me, and said, 'No: never more in this world.' The which +came to pass as she then told me; for he died abroad, as I certainly +hear." + +Perhaps Parker had information which had not reached the ears of Dutch, +or she may have been prone to take melancholy views of the dangers to +which seafaring people are exposed. It was a strange kind of evidence +to be admitted against a person in a trial for witchcraft. + +Samuel Shattuck, who has been mentioned (vol. i. p. 193) in connection +with Bridget Bishop, had a long story to tell about Alice Parker. He +seems to have been very active in getting up charges of witchcraft +against persons in his neighborhood, and on the most absurd and +frivolous grounds. Parker had made a friendly call upon his wife; and, +not long after, one of his children fell sick, and he undertook to +suspect that it was "under an evil hand." In similar circumstances, he +took the same grudge against Bridget Bishop. Alice Parker, hearing that +he had been circulating suspicions to that effect against her, went to +his house to remonstrate; an angry altercation took place between them; +and he gave his version of the affair in evidence. There was no one to +present the other side. But the whole thing has, not only a one-sided, +but an irrelevant character, in no wise bearing upon the point of +witchcraft. All the gossip, scandal, and tittle-tattle of the +neighborhood for twenty years back, in this case as in others, +was[ii.181] raked up, and allowed to be adduced, however utterly remote +from the questions belonging to the trial. + +The following singular piece of testimony against Alice Parker may be +mentioned. John Westgate was at Samuel Beadle's tavern one night with +boon companions; among them John Parker, the husband of Alice. She +disapproved of her husband's spending his evenings in such company, and +in a bar-room; and felt it necessary to put a stop to it, if she could. +Westgate says that she "came into the company, and scolded at and +called her husband all to nought; whereupon I, the said deponent, took +her husband's part, telling her it was an unbeseeming thing for her to +come after him to the tavern, and rail after that rate. With that she +came up to me, and called me rogue, and bid me mind my own business, +and told me I had better have said nothing." He goes on to state, that, +returning home one night some time afterwards, he experienced an awful +fright. "Going from the house of Mr. Daniel King, when I came over +against John Robinson's house, I heard a great noise; ... and there +appeared a black hog running towards me with open mouth, as though he +would have devoured me at that instant time." In the extremity of his +terror, he tried to run away from the awful monster; but, as might have +been expected under the circumstances, he tumbled to the ground. "I +fell down upon my hip, and my knife run into my hip up to the haft. +When I came home, my knife was in my sheath. When I drew it out of the +sheath, then immediately the sheath fell all[ii.182] to pieces." And +further this deponent testifieth, that, after he got up from his fall, +his stocking and shoe was full of blood, and that he was forced to +crawl along by the fence all the way home; and the hog followed him, +and never left him till he came home. He further stated that he was +accompanied all the way by his "stout dog," which ordinarily was much +inclined to attack and "worry hogs," but, on this occasion, "ran away +from him, leaping over the fence and crying much." In view of all these +things, Westgate concludes his testimony thus: "Which hog I then +apprehended was either the Devil or some evil thing, not a real hog; +and did then really judge, or determine in my mind, that it was either +Goody Parker or by her means and procuring, fearing that she is a +witch." The facts were probably these: The sheath was broken by his +fall, his skin bruised, and some blood got into his stocking and shoe. +The knife was never out of the sheath until he drew it; there was no +mystery or witchcraft in it. Nothing was ever more natural than the +conduct of the dog. When he saw Westgate frightened out of his wits at +nothing, trying to run as for dear life when there was no pursuer, +staggering and pitching along in a zigzag direction with very eccentric +motions, falling heels over head, and then crawling along, holding +himself up by the fence, and all the time looking back with terror, and +perhaps attempting to express his consternation, the dog could not tell +what to make of it; and ran off, as a dog would be likely to have done, +jumping over the fences, barking,[ii.183] and uttering the usual canine +ejaculations. Dogs sympathize with their masters, and, if there is a +frolic or other acting going on, are fond of joining in it. The whole +thing was in consequence of Westgate's not having profited by Alice +Parker's rebuke, and discontinued his visits by night to Beadle's +bar-room. The only reason why he saw the "black hog with the open +mouth," and the dog did not see it, and therefore failed to come to his +protection, was because he had been drinking and the dog had not. + +We find among the papers relating to these transactions many other +instances of this kind of testimony; sounds heard and sights seen by +persons going home at night through woods, after having spent the +evening under the bewildering influences of talk about witches, Satan, +ghosts, and spectres; sometimes, as in this case, stimulated by other +causes of excitement. + +Perhaps some persons may be curious to know the route by which Westgate +made out to reach his home, while pursued by the horrors of that +midnight experience. He seems to have frequented Samuel Beadle's +bar-room. That old Narragansett soldier owned a lot on the west side of +St. Peter's Street, occupying the southern corner of what is now Church +Street, which was opened ten years afterwards, that is, in 1702, by the +name of Epps's Lane. On that lot his tavern stood. He also owned +one-third of an acre at the present corner of Brown and St. Peter's +Streets, on which he had a stable and barn; so that his grounds were on +both sides of St. Peter's Street,—one parcel on the west,[ii.184] +nearly opposite the present front of the church; the other on the east +side of St. Peter's Street, opposite the south side of the church. From +this locality Westgate started. He probably did not go down Brown +Street, for that was then a dark, unfrequented lane, but thought it +safest to get into Essex Street. He made his way along that street, +passing the Common, the southern side of which, at that time, with the +exception of some house-lots on and contiguous to the site of the +Franklin Building, bordered on Essex Street. The casualty of his fall; +the catastrophe to his hip, stocking, and shoe; and the witchery +practised upon his knife and its sheath,—occurred "over against John +Robinson's house," which was on the eastern corner of Pleasant and +Essex Streets. Christopher Babbage's house, from which he thought the +"great noise" came, was next beyond Robinson's. He crawled along the +fences and the sides of the houses until he reached the passage-way on +the western side of Thomas Beadle's house, and through that managed to +get to his own house, which was directly south of said Beadle's lot, +between it and the harbor. + +There is one item in reference to Alice Parker, which indicates that +the zeal of the prosecutors in her case, as in that of Mr. Burroughs, +and perhaps others, was aggravated by a suspicion that she was +heretical on some points of the prevalent creed of the day. Parris says +that "Mr. Noyes, at the time of her examination, affirmed to her face, +that, he being with her at a time of sickness, discoursing with her +about[ii.185] witchcraft, whether she were not guilty, she answered, +'if she was as free from other sins as from witchcraft, she would not +ask of the Lord mercy.'" The manner of expression in this passage shows +that it was thought that there was something very shocking in her +answer. Mr. Noyes "affirmed to her face." No doubt it was thought that +she denied the doctrine of original and transmitted, or imputed sin. + +Ann Pudeator (pronounced Pud-e-tor) was the widow of Jacob Pudeator, +and probably about seventy years of age. The name is spelt variously, +and was originally, as it is sometimes found, Poindexter. She was a +woman of property, owning two estates on the north line of the Common; +that on which she lived comprised what is between Oliver and Winter +Streets. She was arrested and brought to examination on the 12th of +May. There is ground to conclude, from the tenor of the documents, that +she was then discharged. Some people in the town were determined to +gratify their spleen against her, and procured her re-arrest. The +examination took place on the 2d of July, and she was then committed. +The evidence was, if possible, more frivolous and absurd than in other +cases. The girls acted their usual parts, giving, on this occasion, a +particularly striking exhibition of the transmission of the diabolical +virus out of themselves back into the witch by a touch of her body. +"Ann Putnam fell into a fit, and said Pudeator was commanded to take +her by the wrist, and did; and said Putnam was well presently. Mary +Warren fell into two fits quickly, after[ii.186] one another; and both +times was helped by said Pudeator's taking her by the wrist." + +When well acted, this must have been one of the most impressive and +effective of all the methods employed in these performances. To see a +young woman or girl suddenly struck down, speechless, pallid as in +death; with muscles rigid, eyeballs fixed or rolled back in their +sockets; the stiffened frame either wholly prostrate or drawn up into +contorted attitudes and shapes, or vehemently convulsed with racking +pains, or dropping with relaxed muscles into a lifeless lump; and to +hear dread shrieks of delirious ravings,—must have produced a truly +frightful effect upon an excited and deluded assembly. The constables +and their assistants would go to the rescue, lift the body of the +sufferer, and bear it in their arms towards the prisoner. The +magistrates and the crowd, hushed in the deepest silence, would watch +with breathless awe the result of the experiment, while the officers +slowly approached the accused, who, when they came near, would, in +obedience to the order of the magistrates, hold out a hand, and touch +the flesh of the afflicted one. Instantly the spasms cease, the eyes +open, color returns to the countenance, the limbs resume their position +and functions, and life and intelligence are wholly restored. The +sufferer comes to herself, walks back, and takes her seat as well as +ever. The effect upon the accused person must have been confounding. It +is a wonder that it did not oftener break them down. It sometimes did. +Poor Deliverance Hobbs, when the[ii.187] process was tried upon her, +was wholly overcome, and passed from conscious and calmly asserted +innocence to a helpless abandonment of reason, conscience, and herself, +exclaiming, "I am amazed! I am amazed!" and assented afterwards to +every charge brought against her, and said whatever she was told, or +supposed they wished her to say. + +On the 14th of May, warrants were issued against Daniel Andrew; George +Jacobs, Jr.; his wife, Rebecca Jacobs; Sarah Buckley, wife of William +Buckley; and Mary Whittredge, daughter of said Buckley,—all of Salem +Village; Elizabeth Hart, wife of Isaac Hart, of Lynn; Thomas Farrar, +Sr., also of Lynn; Elizabeth Colson, of Reading; and Bethiah Carter, of +Woburn. There is nothing of special interest among the few papers that +are on file relating to Hart, Colson, or Carter. The constable made +return that he had searched the houses of Daniel Andrew and George +Jacobs, Jr., but could not find them. He brought in forthwith the +bodies of Sarah Buckley, Mary Whittredge, and Rebecca Jacobs. Farrar +and the rest were brought in shortly afterwards. + +Daniel Andrew was one of the leading men of the village, and the +warrant against him was proof that soon none would be too high to be +reached by the prosecutors. He felt that it was in vain to attempt to +resist their destructive power; and, getting notice in some way of the +approach of the constable, with his near neighbor, friend, and +connection, George Jacobs,[ii.188] Jr., effected his escape, and found +refuge in a foreign country. + +Rebecca, the wife of George Jacobs, Jr., was the victim of a partial +derangement. Her daughter Margaret was already in jail. Her husband had +escaped by a hurried flight, and his father was in prison awaiting his +trial. She was left in a lonely and unprotected condition, in a country +but thinly settled, in the midst of woods. The constable came with his +warrant for her. She was driven to desperation, and was inclined to +resist; but he persuaded her to go with him by holding out the +inducement that she would soon be permitted to return. Four young +children, one of them an infant, were left in the house; but those who +were old enough to walk followed after, crying, endeavoring to overtake +her. Some of the neighbors took them into their houses. The +imprisonment of a woman in her situation and mental condition was an +outrage; but she was kept in irons, as they all were, for eight months. +Her mother addressed an humble but earnest and touching petition to the +chief-justice of the court at Salem, setting forth her daughter's +condition; but it was of no avail. Afterwards, she addressed a similar +memorial to "His Excellency Sir William Phips, Knight, Governor, and +the Honorable Council sitting at Boston," in the following terms:— + +"_The Humble Petition of Rebecca Fox, of Cambridge, showeth_, that, +whereas Rebecca Jacobs (daughter of your humble petitioner) has, a long +time,—even many months,—now lain in prison for witchcraft, and is well +known to be a[ii.189] person crazed, distracted, and broken in mind, +your humble petitioner does most humbly and earnestly seek unto Your +Excellency and to Your Honors for relief in this case. + +"Your petitioner,—who knows well the condition of her poor +daughter,—together with several others of good repute and credit, are +ready to offer their oaths, that the said Jacobs is a woman crazed, +distracted, and broken in her mind; and that she has been so these +twelve years and upwards. + +"However, for (I think) above this half-year, the said Jacobs has lain +in prison, and yet remains there, attended with many sore difficulties. + +"Christianity and nature do each of them oblige your petitioner to be +very solicitous in this matter; and, although many weighty cases do +exercise your thoughts, yet your petitioner can have no rest in her +mind till such time as she has offered this her address on behalf of +her daughter. + +"Some have died already in prison, and others have been dangerously +sick; and how soon others, and, among them, my poor child, by the +difficulties of this confinement may be sick and die, God only knows. + +"She is uncapable of making that shift for herself that others can do; +and such are her circumstances, on other accounts, that your +petitioner, who is her tender mother, has many great sorrows, and +almost overcoming burdens, on her mind upon her account; but, in the +midst of all her perplexities and troubles (next to supplicating to a +good and merciful God), your petitioner has no way for help but to make +this her afflicted condition known unto you. So, not doubting but Your +Excellency and Your Honors will readily hear the cries and groans of a +poor distressed woman, and grant what[ii.190] help and enlargement you +may, your petitioner heartily begs God's gracious presence with you; +and subscribes herself, in all humble manner, your sorrowful and +distressed petitioner, + +Rebecca Fox." + +No heed was paid to this petition; and the unfortunate woman remained +in jail until—after the delusion had passed from the minds of the +people—a grand jury found a bill against her, on which she was brought +to trial, Jan. 3, 1693, and acquitted. There is no more disgraceful +feature in all the proceedings than the long imprisonment of this +woman, her being brought to trial, and the obdurate deafness to +humanity and reason of the chief-justice, the governor, and the +council. + +No papers are found relating to the examination of Thomas Farrar; but +the following deposition shows the manner in which prosecutions were +got up:— + +"The Deposition of Ann Putnam, who testifieth and saith, that, on the +8th of May, 1692, there appeared to me the apparition of an old, +gray-headed man, with a great nose, which tortured me, and almost +choked me, and urged me to write in his book; and I asked him what was +his name, and from whence he came, for I would complain of him; and he +told me he came from Lynn, and people do call him 'old Father Pharaoh;' +and he said he was my grandfather, for my father used to call him +father: but I told him I would not call him grandfather; for he was a +wizard, and I would complain of him. And, ever since, he hath afflicted +me by times, beating me and pinching me and almost choking me, and +urging me continually to write in his book."[ii.191] + +"We, whose names are underwritten, having been conversant with Ann +Putnam, have heard her declare what is above written,—what she said she +saw and heard from the apparition of old Pharaoh,—and also have seen +her tortures, and perceived her hellish temptations, by her loud +outcries, 'I will not write, old Pharaoh,—I will not write in your +book.' + +Thomas Putnam, +Robert Morrell." + +She had heard this person spoken of as "old Father Pharaoh," with his +"great nose;" and, from a mere spirit of mischief,—for the fun of the +thing,—cried out upon him. Many of the documents exhibit a levity of +spirit among these girls, which show how hardened and reckless they had +become. The following depositions are illustrative of this state of +mind among them:— + +"The Deposition of Clement Coldum, aged sixty years, or +thereabout.—Saith that, on the 29th of May, 1692, being at Salem +Village, carrying home Elizabeth Hubbard from the meeting behind me, +she desired me to ride faster. I asked her why. She said the woods were +full of devils, and said, 'There!' and 'There they be!' but I could see +none. Then I put on my horse; and, after I had ridden a while, she told +me I might ride softer, for we had outridden them. I asked her if she +was not afraid of the Devil. She answered me, 'No: she could discourse +with the Devil as well as with me,' and further saith not. This I am +ready to testify on oath, if called thereto, as witness my hand. + +"Clement Coldum." + +"The Testimony of Daniel Elliot, aged twenty-seven years or +thereabouts, who testifieth and saith, that I, being[ii.192] at the +house of Lieutenant Ingersoll, on the 28th of March, in the year 1692, +there being present one of the afflicted persons, who cried out and +said, 'There's Goody Procter.' William Raymond, Jr., being there +present, told the girl he believed she lied, for he saw nothing. Then +Goody Ingersoll told the girl she told a lie, for there was nothing. +Then the girl said she did it for sport,—they must have some sport." + +Sarah Buckley was examined May 18, and her daughter Mary Whittredge +probably on the same day. We have Parris's report of the proceedings in +reference to the former. The only witnesses against her were the +afflicted children. They performed their grand operation of going into +fits, and being carried to the accused and subjected to her touch; Ann +Putnam, Susanna Sheldon, and Mary Warren enacting the part in +succession. Sheldon cried out, "There is the black man whispering in +her ear!" The magistrates and all beholders were convinced. She was +committed to prison, and remained in irons for eight months before a +trial, which resulted in her acquittal. So eminently excellent was the +character of Goodwife Buckley, that her arrest and imprisonment led to +expressions in her favor as honorable to those who had the courage to +utter them as to her. The following certificates were given, previous +to her trial, by ministers in the neighborhood:— + +"These are to certify whom it may or shall concern, that I have known +Sarah, the wife of William Buckley, of Salem Village, more or less, +ever since she was brought out of[ii.193] England, which is above fifty +years ago; and, during all that time, I never knew nor heard of any +evil in her carriage, or conversation unbecoming a Christian: likewise, +she was bred up by Christian parents all the time she lived here at +Ipswich. I further testify, that the said Sarah was admitted as a +member into the church of Ipswich above forty years since; and that I +never heard from others, or observed by myself, any thing of her that +was inconsistent with her profession or unsuitable to Christianity, +either in word, deed, or conversation, and am strangely surprised that +any person should speak or think of her as one worthy to be suspected +of any such crime that she is now charged with. In testimony hereof I +have here set my hand this 20th of June, 1692. + +William Hubbard." + +"Being desired by Goodman Buckley to give my testimony to his wife's +conversation before this great calamity befell her, I cannot refuse to +bear witness to the truth; viz., that, during the time of her living in +Salem for many years in communion with this church, having occasionally +frequent converse and discourse with her, I have never observed myself, +nor heard from any other, any thing that was unsuitable to a +conversation becoming the gospel, and have always looked upon her as a +serious, Godly woman. + +"John Higginson." + +"Marblehead, Jan. 2, 1692/3.—Upon the same request, having had the like +opportunity by her residence many years at Marblehead, I can do no less +than give the alike testimony for her pious conversation during her +abode in this place and communion with us. + +Samuel Cheever." + +William Hubbard was the venerable minister of Ipswich, described by +Hutchinson as "a man of learning,[ii.194] and of a candid and +benevolent mind, accompanied with a good degree of catholicism." He is +described by another writer as "a man of singular modesty, learned +without ostentation." He will be remembered with honor for his long and +devoted service in the Christian ministry, and as the historian of New +England and of the Indian wars. + +John Higginson was worthy of the title of the "Nestor of the +New-England clergy." He was at this time seventy-six years old, and had +been a preacher of the gospel fifty-five years. For thirty-three years +he had been pastor of the First Church in Salem, of which his father +was the first preacher. No character, in all our annals, shines with a +purer lustre. John Dunton visited him in 1686, and thus speaks of him: +"All men look to him as a common father; and old age, for his sake, is +a reverend thing. He is eminent for all the graces that adorn a +minister. His very presence puts vice out of countenance; his +conversation is a glimpse of heaven." The fact, that, while his +colleague, Nicholas Noyes, took so active and disastrous a part in the +prosecutions, he, at an early stage, discountenanced them, shows that +he was a person of discrimination and integrity. That he did not +conceal his disapprobation of the proceedings is demonstrated, not only +by the tenor of his attestation in behalf of Goodwife Buckley, but by +the decisive circumstance that the "afflicted children" cried out +against his daughter Anna, the wife of Captain William Dolliver, of +Gloucester; got a warrant to apprehend her; and[ii.195] had her brought +to the Salem jail, and committed as a witch. They never struck at +friends, but were sure to punish all who were suspected to disapprove +of the proceedings. How long Mrs. Dolliver remained in prison we are +not informed. But it was impossible to break down the influence or +independence of Mr. Higginson. It is not improbable that he believed in +witchcraft, with all the other divines of his day; but he feared not to +bear testimony to personal worth, and could not be brought to +co-operate in violence, or fall in with the spirit of persecution. The +weight of his character compelled the deference of the most heated +zealots, and even Cotton Mather himself was eager to pay him homage. +Four years afterwards, he thus writes of him: "This good old man is yet +alive; and he that, from a child, knew the Holy Scriptures, does, at +those years wherein men use to be twice children, continue preaching +them with such a manly, pertinent, and judicious vigor, and with so +little decay of his intellectual abilities, as is indeed a matter of +just admiration." + +Samuel Cheever was a clergyman of the highest standing, and held in +universal esteem through a long life. + +From passages incidentally given, it has appeared that it was quite +common, in those times, to attribute accidents, injuries, pains, and +diseases of all kinds, to an "evil hand." It was not confined to this +locality. When, however, the public mind had become excited to so +extraordinary a degree by circumstances con[ii.196]nected with the +prosecutions in 1692, this tendency of the popular credulity was very +much strengthened. Believing that the sufferer or patient was the +victim of the malignity of Satan, and it also being a doctrine of the +established belief that he could not act upon human beings or affairs +except through the instrumental agency of some other human beings in +confederacy with him, the question naturally arose, in every specific +instance, Who is the person in this diabolical league, and doing the +will of the Devil in this case? Who is the witch? It may well be +supposed, that the suffering person, and all surrounding friends, would +be most earnest and anxious in pressing this question and seeking its +solution. The accusing girls at the village were thought to possess the +power to answer it. This gave them great importance, gratified their +vanity and pride, and exalted them to the character of prophetesses. +They were ready to meet the calls made upon them in this capacity; +would be carried to the room of a sick person; and, on entering it, +would exclaim, on the first return of pain, or difficulty of +respiration, or restless motion of the patient, "There she is!" There +is such a one's appearance, choking or otherwise tormenting him or her. +If the minds of the accusing girls had been led towards a new victim, +his or her name would be used, and a warrant issued for his +apprehension. If not, then the name of some one already in confinement +would be used on the occasion. It was also a received opinion, that, +while ordinary fastenings would not prevent a[ii.197] witch from going +abroad, "in her apparition," to any distance to afflict persons, a +redoubling of them might. Whenever one of the accusing girls pretended +to see the spectres of persons already in jail afflicting any one, +orders would forthwith be given to have them more heavily chained. +Every once in a while, a wretched prisoner, already suffering from +bonds and handcuffs, would be subjected to additional manacles and +chains. This was one of the most cruel features in these proceedings. +It is illustrated by the following document:— + +"The Deposition of Benjamin Hutchinson, who testifieth and saith, that +my wife was much afflicted, presently after the last execution, with +violent pains in her head and teeth, and all parts of her body; but, on +sabbath day was fortnight in the morning, she being in such excessive +misery that she said she believed that she had an evil hand upon her: +whereupon I went to Mary Walcot, one of our next neighbors, to come and +look to see if she could see anybody upon her; and, as soon as she came +into the house, she said that our two next neighbors, Sarah Buckley and +Mary Whittredge, were upon my wife. And immediately my wife had ease, +and Mary Walcot was tormented. Whereupon I went down to the sheriff, +and desired him to take some course with those women, that they might +not have such power to torment: and presently he ordered them to be +fettered, and, ever since that, my wife has been tolerable well; and I +believe, in my heart, that Sarah Buckley and Mary Whittredge have hurt +my wife and several others by acts of witchcraft. + +"Benjamin Hutchinson owned the above-written evi[ii.198]dence to be the +truth, upon oath, before the grand inquest, 15-7, 1692." + +The evidence is quite conclusive, from considerations suggested by the +foregoing document, and indications scattered through the papers +generally, that all persons committed on the charge of witchcraft were +kept heavily ironed, and otherwise strongly fastened. Only a few of the +bills of expenses incurred are preserved. Among them we find the +following: For mending and putting on Rachel Clenton's fetters; one +pair of fetters for John Howard; a pair of fetters each for John +Jackson, Sr., and John Jackson, Jr.; eighteen pounds of iron for +fetters; for making four pair of iron fetters and two pair of +handcuffs, and putting them on the legs and hands of Goodwife Cloyse, +Easty, Bromidg, and Green; chains for Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn; +shackles for ten prisoners; and one pair of irons for Mary Cox. When we +reflect upon the character of the prisoners generally,—many of them +delicate and infirm, several venerable for their virtues as well as +years,—and that they were kept in this cruelly painful condition from +early spring to the middle of the next January, and the larger part to +the May of 1693, in the extremes of heat and cold, exposed to the most +distressing severities of both, crowded in narrow, dark, and noisome +jails under an accumulation of all their discomforts, restraints, +privations, exposures, and abominations, our wonder is, not that many +of them died, but that all did not break down in body and mind.[ii.199] + +Sarah Buckley and her daughter were not brought to trial until after +the power of the prosecution to pursue to the death had ceased. They +were acquitted in January, 1692. Their goods and chattels had all been +seized by the officers, as was the usual practice, at the time of their +arrest. In humble circumstances before, it took their last shilling to +meet the charges of their imprisonment. They, as all others, were +required to provide their own maintenance while in prison; and, after +trial and acquittal, were not discharged until all costs were paid. +Five pounds had to be raised, to satisfy the claims of the officers of +the court and of the jails, for each of them. The result was, the +family was utterly impoverished. The poor old woman, with her aged +husband, suffered much, there is reason to fear, from absolute want +during all the rest of their days. Their truly Christian virtues +dignified their poverty, and secured the respect and esteem of all good +men. The Rev. Joseph Green has this entry in his diary: "Jan. 2, +1702.—Old William Buckley died this evening. He was at meeting the last +sabbath, and died with the cold, I fear, for want of comforts and good +tending. Lord forgive! He was about eighty years old. I visited him and +prayed with him on Monday, and also the evening before he died. He was +very poor; but, I hope, had not his portion in this life." The +ejaculation, "Lord forgive!" expresses the deep sense Mr. Green had, of +which his whole ministry gave evidence, of the inexpressible sufferings +and wrongs brought upon families[ii.200] by the witchcraft +prosecutions. The case of Sarah Buckley, her husband and family, was +but one of many. The humble, harmless, innocent people who experienced +that fearful and pitiless persecution had to drink of as bitter a cup +as ever was permitted by an inscrutable Providence to be presented to +human lips. In reference to them, we feel as an assurance, what good +Mr. Green humbly hoped, that "they had not their portion in this life." +Those who went firmly, patiently, and calmly through that great trial +without losing love or faith, are crowned with glory and honor. + +The examination and commitment of Mary Easty, on the 21st of April, +have already been described. For some reason, and in a way of which we +have no information, she was discharged from prison on the 18th of May, +and wholly released. This seems to have been very distasteful to the +accusing girls. They were determined not to let it rest so; and put +into operation their utmost energies to get her back to imprisonment. +On the 20th of May, Mercy Lewis, being then at the house of John +Putnam, Jr., was taken with fits, and experienced tortures of +unprecedented severity. The particular circumstances on this occasion, +as gathered from various depositions, illustrate very strikingly the +skilful manner in which the girls managed to produce the desired effect +upon the public mind. + +Samuel Abbey, a neighbor, whether sent for or not we are not informed, +went to John Putnam's house that morning, about nine o'clock. He found +Mercy in[ii.201] a terrible condition, crying out with piteous tones of +anguish, "Dear Lord, receive my soul."—"Lord, let them not kill me +quite."—"Pray for the salvation of my soul, for they will kill me +outright." He was desired to go to Thomas Putnam's house to bring his +daughter Ann, "to see if she could see who it was that hurt Mercy +Lewis." He found Abigail Williams with Ann, and they accompanied him +back to John Putnam's. On the way, they both cried out that they saw +the apparition of Goody Easty afflicting Mercy Lewis. When they reached +the scene, they exclaimed, "There is Goody Easty and John Willard and +Mary Whittredge afflicting the body of Mercy Lewis;" Mercy at the time +laboring for breath, and appearing as choked and strangled, convulsed, +and apparently at the last gasp. "Thus," says Abbey, "she continued the +greatest part of the day, in such tortures as no tongue can express." +Mary Walcot was sent for. Upon coming in, she cried out, "There is the +apparition of Goody Easty choking Mercy Lewis, pressing upon her +breasts with both her hands, and putting a chain about her neck." A +message was then despatched for Elizabeth Hubbard. She, too, saw the +shape of Goody Easty, "the very same woman that was sent home the other +day," aided in her diabolical operations by Willard and Whittredge, +"torturing Mercy in a most dreadful manner." Intelligence of the +shocking sufferings of Mercy was circulated far and wide, and people +hurried to the spot from all directions. Jonathan Putnam, James +Darling, Benja[ii.202]min Hutchinson, and Samuel Braybrook reached the +house during the evening, and found Mercy "in a case as if death would +have quickly followed." Occasionally, Mercy would have a respite; and, +at such intervals, Elizabeth Hubbard would fill the gap. "These two +fell into fits by turns; the one being well while the other was ill." +Each of them continued, all the while, crying out against Goody Easty, +uttering in their trances vehement remonstrances against her cruel +operations, representing her as bringing their winding-sheets and +coffins, and threatening to kill them "if they would not sign to her +book." Their acting was so complete that the bystanders seem to have +thought that they heard the words of Easty, as well as the responses of +the girls; and that they saw the "winding-sheet, coffin," and "the +book." In the general consternation, Marshal Herrick was sent for. What +he saw, heard, thought, and did, appears from the following:— + +"May 20, 1692.—The Testimony of George Herrick, aged thirty-four or +thereabouts, and John Putnam, Jr., of Salem Village, aged thirty-five +years or thereabouts.—Testifieth and saith, that, being at the house of +the above-said John Putnam, both saw Mercy Lewis in a very dreadful and +solemn condition, so that to our apprehension she could not continue +long in this world without a mitigation of those torments we saw her +in, which caused us to expedite a hasty despatch to apprehend Mary +Easty, in hopes, if possible, it might save her life; and, returning +the same night to said John Putnam's house about midnight,[ii.203] we +found the said Mercy Lewis in a dreadful fit, but her reason was then +returned. Again she said, 'What! have you brought me the winding-sheet, +Goodwife Easty? Well, I had rather go into the winding-sheet than set +my hand to the book;' but, after that, her fits were weaker and weaker, +but still complaining that she was very sick of her stomach. About +break of day, she fell asleep, but still continues extremely sick, and +was taken with a dreadful fit just as we left her; so that we perceived +life in her, and that was all." + +Edward Putnam, after stating that the grievous afflictions and tortures +of Mercy Lewis were charged, by her and the other four girls, upon Mary +Easty, deposes as follows:— + +"I myself, being there present with several others, looked for nothing +else but present death for almost the space of two days and a night. +She was choked almost to death, insomuch we thought sometimes she had +been dead; her mouth and teeth shut; and all this very often until such +time as we understood Mary Easty was laid in irons." + +Mercy's fits did not cease immediately upon Easty's being apprehended, +but on her being committed to prison and chains by the magistrate in +Salem. + +An examination of distances, with the map before us, will show the +rapidity with which business was despatched on this occasion. Abbey +went to John Putnam, Jr.'s house at nine o'clock in the morning of May +20. He was sent to Thomas Putnam's house for Ann, and brought her and +Abigail Williams back with him. Mary Walcot was sent for to the house +of her father, Captain Jonathan Walcot, and went up at one[ii.204] +o'clock, "about an hour by sun." Then Elizabeth Hubbard, who lived at +the house of Dr. Griggs, "was carried up to Constable John Putnam's +house:" Jonathan Putnam, James Darling, Benjamin Hutchinson, and Samuel +Braybrook got there in the evening, as they say, "between eight and +eleven o'clock." In the mean time, Marshal Herrick had arrived. Steps +were taken to get out a warrant. John Putnam and Benjamin Hutchinson +went to Salem to Hathorne for the purpose. They must have started soon +after eight. Hathorne issued the warrant forthwith. It is dated May 20. +Herrick went with it to the house of Isaac Easty, made the arrest, sent +his prisoner to the jail in Salem, and returned himself to John +Putnam's house "about midnight;" staid to witness the apparently mortal +sufferings of Mercy until "about break of day;" returned to Salem; had +the examination before Hathorne, at Thomas Beadle's: the whole thing +was finished, Mary Easty in irons, information of the result carried to +John Putnam's, and Mercy's agonies ceased that afternoon, as Edward +Putnam testifies. + +I have given this particular account of the circumstances that led to +and attended Mary Easty's second arrest, because the papers belonging +to the case afford, in some respects, a better insight of the state of +things than others, and because they enable us to realize the power +which the accusing girls exercised. The continuance of their +convulsions and spasms for such a length of time, the large number of +persons who witnessed and watched them in the broad daylight, +and[ii.205] the perfect success of their operations, show how +thoroughly they had become trained in their arts. I have presented the +occurrences in the order of time, so that, by estimating the distances +traversed and the period within which they took place, an idea can be +formed of the vehement earnestness with which men acted in the +"hurrying distractions of amazing afflictions" and overwhelming +terrors. This instance also gives us a view of the horrible state of +things, when any one, however respectable and worthy, was liable, at +any moment, to be seized, maligned, and destroyed. + +Mary Easty had previously experienced the malice of the persecutors. +For two months she had suffered the miseries of imprisonment, had just +been released, and for two days enjoyed the restoration of liberty, the +comforts of her home, and a re-union with her family. She and they, no +doubt, considered themselves safe from any further outrage. After +midnight, she was roused from sleep by the unfeeling marshal, torn from +her husband and children, carried back to prison, loaded with chains, +and finally consigned to a dreadful and most cruel death. She was an +excellent and pious matron. Her husband, referring to the transaction +nearly twenty years afterwards, justly expressed what all must feel, +that it was "a hellish molestation." + +One of the most malignant witnesses against Mary Easty was "Goodwife +Bibber." She obtruded herself in many of the cases, acting as a sort of +outside member of the "accusing circle," volunteering her aid +in[ii.206] carrying on the persecutions. It was an outrage for the +magistrates or judges to have countenanced such a false defamer. There +are, among the papers, documents which show that she ought to have been +punished as a calumniator, rather than be called to utter, under oath, +lies against respectable people. The following deposition was sworn to +in Court:— + +"The Testimony of Joseph Fowler, who testifieth that Goodman Bibber and +his wife lived at my house; and I did observe and take notice that +Goodwife Bibber was a woman who was very idle in her calling, and very +much given to tattling and tale-bearing, making mischief amongst her +neighbors, and very much given to speak bad words, and would call her +husband bad names, and was a woman of a very turbulent, unruly spirit." + +Joseph Fowler lived in Wenham, and was a person of respectability and +influence. His brother Philip was also a leading man; was employed as +attorney by the Village Parish in its lawsuit with Mr. Parris; and +married a sister of Joseph Herrick. They were the grandsons of the +first Philip, who was an early emigrant from Wales, settling in +Ipswich, where he had large landed estates. Henry Fowler and his two +brothers, now of Danvers, are the descendants of this family: one of +them, Augustus, distinguished as a naturalist, especially in the +department of ornithology; the other, Samuel Page Fowler, as an +explorer of our early annals and local antiquities. In 1692, one of the +Fowlers conducted the proceedings in Court[ii.207] against the head and +front of the witchcraft prosecution; and the other had the courage, in +the most fearful hour of the delusion, to give open testimony in the +defence of its victims. It is an interesting circumstance, that one of +the same name and descent, in his reprint of the papers of Calef and in +other publications, has done as much as any other person of our day to +bring that whole transaction under the light of truth and justice. + +John Porter, who was a grandson of the original John Porter and the +original William Dodge and a man of property and family, with his wife +Lydia; Thomas Jacobs and Mary his wife; and Richard Walker,—all of +Wenham, and for a long time neighbors of this Bibber,—testify, in +corroboration of the statement of Fowler, that she was a woman of an +unruly, turbulent spirit, double-tongued, much given to tattling and +tale-bearing, making mischief amongst her neighbors, very much given to +speak bad words, often speaking against one and another, telling lies +and uttering malicious wishes against people. It was abundantly proved +that she had long been known to be able to fall into fits at any time. +One witness said "she would often fall into strange fits when she was +crossed of her humor;" and another, "that she could fall into fits as +often as she pleased." + +On the 21st of May, warrants were issued against the wife of William +Basset, of Lynn; Susanna Roots, of Beverly; and Sarah, daughter of John +Procter of Salem Farms; a few days after, against Benjamin, a son +of[ii.208] said John Procter; Mary Derich, wife of Michael Derich, and +daughter of William Basset of Lynn; and the wife of Robert Pease of +Salem. Such papers as relate to these persons vary in no particular +worthy of notice from those already presented. + +On the 28th of May, warrants were issued against Martha Carrier, of +Andover; Elizabeth Fosdick, of Malden; Wilmot Read, of Marblehead; +Sarah Rice, of Reading; Elizabeth How, of Topsfield; Captain John +Alden, of Boston; William Procter, of Salem Farms; Captain John Flood, +of Rumney Marsh; —— Toothaker and her daughter, of Billerica; and ---- +Abbot, between Topsfield and Wenham line. On the 30th, a warrant was +issued against Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Paine, of Charlestown; on the +4th of June, against Mary, wife of Benjamin Ireson, of Lynn. Besides +these, there are notices of complaints made and warrants issued against +a great number of people in all parts of the country: Mary Bradbury, of +Salisbury; Lydia and Sarah Dustin, of Reading; Ann Sears, of Woburn; +Job Tookey, of Beverly; Abigail Somes, of Gloucester; Elizabeth Carey, +of Charlestown; Candy, a negro woman; and many others. Some of them +have points of interest, demanding particular notice. + +The case of Martha Carrier has some remarkable features. It has been +shown, by passages already adduced, that every idle rumor; every thing +that the gossip of the credulous or the fertile imaginations of the +malignant could produce; every thing, gleaned from the memory or the +fancy, that could have an unfavora[ii.209]ble bearing upon an accused +person, however foreign or irrelevant it might be to the charge, was +allowed to be brought in evidence before the magistrates, and received +at the trials. We have seen that a child under five years of age was +arrested, and put into prison. Children were not only permitted, but +induced, to become witnesses against their parents, and parents against +their children. Husbands and wives were made to criminate each other as +witnesses in court. When Martha Carrier was arrested, four of her +children were also taken into custody. An indictment against one of +them is among the papers. Under the terrors brought to bear upon them, +they were prevailed on to be confessors. The following shows how these +children were trained to tell their story:— + +"It was asked Sarah Carrier by the magistrates,— + +"How long hast thou been a witch?—Ever since I was six years old. + +"How old are you now?—Near eight years old: brother Richard says I +shall be eight years old in November next. + +"Who made you a witch?—My mother: she made me set my hand to a book. + +"How did you set your hand to it?—I touched it with my fingers, and the +book was red: the paper of it was white. + +"She said she never had seen the black man: the place where she did it +was in Andrew Foster's pasture, and Elizabeth Johnson, Jr., was there. +Being asked who was there besides, she answered, her aunt Toothaker and +her cousin.[ii.210] Being asked when it was, she said, when she was +baptized. + +"What did they promise to give you?—A black dog. + +"Did the dog ever come to you?—No. + +"But you said you saw a cat once: what did that say to you?—It said it +would tear me in pieces, if I would not set my hand to the book. + +"She said her mother baptized her, and the Devil, or black man, was not +there, as she saw; and her mother said, when she baptized her, 'Thou +art mine for ever and ever. Amen.' + +"How did you afflict folks?—I pinched them. + +"And she said she had no puppets, but she went to them that she +afflicted. Being asked whether she went in her body or her spirit, she +said in her spirit. She said her mother carried her thither to afflict. + +"How did your mother carry you when she was in prison?—She came like a +black cat. + +"How did you know it was your mother?—The cat told me so, that she was +my mother. She said she afflicted Phelps's child last Saturday, and +Elizabeth Johnson joined with her to do it. She had a wooden spear, +about as long as her finger, of Elizabeth Johnson; and she had it of +the Devil. She would not own that she had ever been at the +witch-meeting at the village. This is the substance. + +"Simon Willard." + +The confession of another of her children is among the papers. It runs +thus:— + +"Have you been in the Devil's snare?—Yes. + +"Is your brother Andrew ensnared by the Devil's snare?—Yes.[ii.211] + +"How long has your brother been a witch?—Near a month. + +"How long have you been a witch?—Not long. + +"Have you joined in afflicting the afflicted persons?—Yes. + +"You helped to hurt Timothy Swan, did you?—Yes. + +"How long have you been a witch?—About five weeks. + +"Who was in company when you covenanted with the Devil?—Mrs. Bradbury. + +"Did she help you afflict?—Yes. + +"Who was at the village meeting when you were there?—Goodwife How, +Goodwife Nurse, Goodwife Wildes, Procter and his wife, Mrs. Bradbury, +and Corey's wife. + +"What did they do there?—Eat, and drank wine. + +"Was there a minister there?—No, not as I know of. + +"From whence had you your wine?—From Salem, I think, it was. + +"Goodwife Oliver there?—Yes: I knew her." + +In concluding his report of the trial of this wretched woman, whose +children were thus made to become the instruments for procuring her +death, Dr. Cotton Mather expresses himself in the following language:— + +"This rampant hag (Martha Carrier) was the person of whom the +confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, +agreed that the Devil had promised her that she should be queen of +Hell." + +It is quite evident that this "rampant hag" had no better opinion of +the dignitaries and divines who managed matters at the time than they +had of her.[ii.212] The record of her examination shows that she was +not afraid to speak her mind, and in plain terms too. When brought +before the magistrates, the following were their questions and her +answers. The accusing witnesses having severally made their charges +against her, declaring that she had tormented them in various ways, and +threatened to cut their throats if they would not sign the Devil's +book, which, they said, she had presented to them, the magistrates +addressed her in these words: "What do you say to this you are charged +with?" She answered, "I have not done it." One of the accusers cried +out that she was, at that moment, sticking pins into her. Another +declared that she was then looking upon "the black man,"—the shape in +which they pretended the Devil appeared. The magistrate asked the +accused, "What black man is that?" Her answer was, "I know none." The +accusers cried out that the black man was present, and visible to them. +The magistrate asked her, "What black man did you see?" Her answer was, +"I saw no black man but your own presence." Whenever she looked upon +the accusers, they were knocked down. The magistrate, entirely deluded +by their practised acting, said to her, "Can you look upon these, and +not knock them down?" Her answer was, "They will dissemble, if I look +upon them." He continued: "You see, you look upon them, and they fall +down." She broke out, "It is false: the Devil is a liar. I looked upon +none since I came into the room but you." Susanna Sheldon cried out, in +a trance, "I wonder what could[ii.213] you murder thirteen persons +for." At this, her spirit became aroused: the accusers fell into the +most intolerable outcries and agonies. The accused rebuked the +magistrate, charging him with unfairness in not paying any regard to +what she said, and receiving every thing that the accusers said. "It is +a shameful thing, that you should mind these folks that are out of +their wits;" and, turning to those who were bringing these false and +ridiculous charges against her, she said, "You lie: I am wronged." The +energy and courage of the prisoner threw the accusers, magistrates, and +the whole crowd into confusion and uproar. The record closes the +description of the scene in these words: "The tortures of the afflicted +were so great that there was no enduring of it, so that she was ordered +away, and to be bound hand and foot with all expedition; the afflicted, +in the mean while, almost killed, to the great trouble of all +spectators, magistrates, and others." + +Parris closes his report of this examination as follows:— + +"Note.—As soon as she was well bound, they all had strange and sudden +ease. Mary Walcot told the magistrates that this woman told her she had +been a witch this forty years." + +This shows the sort of communications the girls were allowed to hold +with the magistrates, exciting their prejudices against accused +persons, and filling their ears with all sorts of exaggerated and false +stories. However much she may have been maligned[ii.214] by her +neighbors, some of whom had long been in the habit of circulating +slanders against her, the whole tenor of the papers relating to her +shows that she always indignantly repelled the charge of being a witch, +and was the last person in the world to have volunteered such a +statement as Mary Walcot reported. + +The examination of Martha Carrier must have been one of the most +striking scenes of the whole drama of the witchcraft proceedings. The +village meeting-house presented a truly wild and exciting spectacle. +The fearful and horrible superstition which darkened the minds of the +people was displayed in their aspect and movements. Their belief, that, +then and there, they were witnessing the great struggle between the +kingdoms of God and of the Evil One, and that every thing was at stake +on the issue, gave an awe-struck intensity to their expression. The +blind, unquestioning confidence of the magistrates, clergy, and all +concerned in the prosecutions, in the evidence of the accusers; the +loud outcries of their pretended sufferings; their contortions, +swoonings, and tumblings, excited the usual consternation in the +assembly. In addition to this, there was the more than ordinary bold +and defiant bearing of the prisoner, stung to desperation by the +outrage upon human nature in the abuse practised upon her poor +children; her firm and unshrinking courage, facing the tempest that was +raised to overwhelm her, sternly rebuking the magistrates,—"It is a +shameful thing that you should mind these folks[ii.215] that are out of +their wits;"—her whole demeanor, proclaiming her conscious innocence, +and proving that she chose chains, the dungeon, and the scaffold, +rather than to belie herself. Seldom has a scene in real life, or a +picture wrought by the inspiration of genius and the hand of art, in +its individual characters or its general grouping, surpassed that +presented on this occasion. + +Hutchinson has preserved the record of another examination of a +different character. An ignorant negro slave-woman was brought before +the magistrates. She was cunning enough, not only to confess, but to +cover herself with the cloak of having been led into the difficulty by +her mistress. + +"Candy, are you a witch?—Candy no witch in her country. Candy's mother +no witch. Candy no witch, Barbados. This country, mistress give Candy +witch. + +"Did your mistress make you a witch in this country?—Yes: in this +country, mistress give Candy witch. + +"What did your mistress do to make you witch?—Mistress bring book and +pen and ink; make Candy write in it." + +Upon being asked what she wrote, she took a pen and ink, and made a +mark. Upon being asked how she afflicted people, and where were the +puppets she did it with, she said, that, if they would let her go out +for a moment, she would show them how. They allowed her to go out, and +she presently returned with two pieces of cloth or linen,—one with two +knots, the other with one tied in it. Immediately on seeing these +articles, the "afflicted children" were "greatly[ii.216] affrighted," +and fell into violent fits. When they came to, they declared that the +"black man," Mrs. Hawkes, and the negro, stood by the puppets of rags, +and pinched them. Whereupon they fell into fits again. "A bit of one of +the rags being set on fire," they all shrieked that they were burned, +and "cried out dreadfully." Some pieces being dipped in water, they +went into the convulsions and struggles of drowning persons; and one of +them rushed out of the room, and raced down towards the river. + +Candy and the girls having played their parts so well, there was no +escape for poor Mrs. Hawkes but in confession, which she forthwith +made. They were both committed to prison. Fortunately, it was not +convenient to bring them to trial until the next January, when, the +delusion having blown over, they were acquitted. + +Besides those already mentioned, there were others, among the victims +of this delusion, whose cases excite our tenderest sensibility, and +deepen our horror in the contemplation of the scene. It seems, that, +some time before the transactions took place in Salem Village, a +difficulty arose between two families on the borders of Topsfield and +Ipswich, such as often occur among neighbors, about some small matter +of property, fences, or boundaries. Their names were Perley and How. A +daughter of Perley, about ten years of age, hearing, probably, strong +expressions by her parents, became excited against the Hows, and +charged the wife of How with bewitching her. She acted much[ii.217] +after the manner of the "afflicted girls" in Salem Village, which was +near the place of her residence. Very soon the idea became current that +Mrs. How was a witch; and every thing that happened amiss to any one +was laid at her door. She was cried out against by the "afflicted +children" in Salem Village, and carried before the magistrates for +examination on the 31st of May, 1692. Upon being brought into her +presence, the accusers fell into their usual fits and convulsions, and +charged her with tormenting them. To the question, put by the +magistrates, "What say you to this charge?" her answer was, "If it was +the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent of any thing in +this nature." The papers connected with her trial bear abundant +testimony to the excellent character of this pious and amiable woman. A +person, who had lived near her twenty-four years, states, in her +deposition, "that she had found her a neighborly woman, conscientious +in her dealing, faithful to her promises, and Christianlike in her +conversation." Several others join in a deposition to this effect: "For +our own parts, we have been well acquainted with her for above twenty +years. We never saw but that she carried it very well, and that both +her words and actions were always such as well became a good +Christian." + +The following passages illustrate the wicked arts sometimes used to +bring accusations upon innocent persons, and give affecting proof of +the excellence of the character and heart of Elizabeth How:[ii.218]— + +"The Testimony of Samuel Phillips, aged about sixty-seven, minister of +the word of God in Rowley, who saith that Mr. Payson (minister of God's +word also in Rowley) and myself went, being desired, to Samuel Perly, +of Ipswich, to see their young daughter, who was visited with strange +fits; and, in her fits (as her father and mother affirmed), did mention +Goodwife How, the wife of James How, Jr., of Ipswich, as if she was in +the house, and did afflict her. When we were in the house, the child +had one of her fits, but made no mention of Goodwife How; and, when the +fit was over, and she came to herself, Goodwife How went to the child, +and took her by the hand, and asked her whether she had ever done her +any hurt; and she answered, 'No, never; and, if I did complain of you +in my fits, I knew not that I did so.' I further can affirm, upon oath, +that young Samuel Perley, brother to the afflicted girl, looked out of +a chamber window (I and the afflicted child being without doors +together), and said to his sister, 'Say Goodwife How is a witch,—say +she is a witch;' and the child spake not a word that way. But I looked +up to the window where the youth stood, and rebuked him for his +boldness to stir up his sister to accuse the said Goodwife How; whereas +she had cleared her from doing any hurt to his sister in both our +hearing; and I added, 'No wonder that the child, in her fits, did +mention Goodwife How, when her nearest relations were so frequent in +expressing their suspicions, in the child's hearing, when she was out +of her fits, that the said Goodwife How was an instrument of mischief +to the child.'" + +Mr. Payson, in reference to the same occasion, deposed as +follows:[ii.219]— + +"Being in Perley's house some considerable time before the said +Goodwife How came in, their afflicted daughter, upon something that her +mother spake to her with tartness, presently fell into one of her usual +strange fits, during which she made no mention (as I observed) of the +abovesaid How her name, or any thing relating to her. Some time after, +the said How came in, when said girl had recovered her capacity, her +fit being over. Said How took said girl by the hand, and asked her +whether she had ever done her any hurt. The child answered, 'No; +never,' with several expressions to that purpose." + +The bearing of Elizabeth How, under accusations so cruelly and +shamefully fabricated and circulated against her, exhibits one of the +most beautiful pictures of a truly forgiving spirit and of Christlike +love anywhere to be found. Several witnesses say, "We often spoke to +her of some things that were reported of her, that gave some suspicion +of that she is now charged with; and she, always professing her +innocency, often desired our prayers to God for her, that God would +keep her in his fear, and support her under her burden. We have often +heard her speaking of those persons that raised those reports of her, +and we never heard her speak badly of them for the same; but, in our +hearing, hath often said that she desired God that he would sanctify +that affliction, as well as others, for her spiritual good." Others +testified to the same effect. Simon Chapman, and Mary, his wife, say +that "they had been acquainted with the wife of James How, Jr., as a +neighbor, for this nine or[ii.220] ten years;" that they had resided in +the same house with her "by the fortnight together;" that they never +knew any thing but what was good in her. They "found, at all times, by +her discourse, she was a woman of affliction, and mourning for sin in +herself and others; and, when she met with any affliction, she seemed +to justify God and say that it was all better than she deserved, though +it was by false accusations from men. She used to bless God that she +got good by affliction; for it made her examine her own heart. We never +heard her revile any person that hath accused her with witchcraft, but +pitied them, and said, 'I pray God forgive them; for they harm +themselves more than me. Though I am a great sinner, I am clear of +that; and such kind of affliction doth but set me to examining my own +heart, and I find God wonderfully supporting me and comforting me by +his word and promises.'" + +Joseph Knowlton and his wife Mary, who had lived near her, and +sometimes in the same family with her, testified, that, having heard +the stories told about her, they were led to— + +"take special notice of her life and conversation ever since. And I +have asked her if she could freely forgive them that raised such +reports of her. She told me yes, with all her heart, desiring that God +would give her a heart to be more humble under such a providence; and, +further, she said she was willing to do any good she could to those who +had done unneighborly by her. Also this I have taken notice, that she +would deny herself to do a neighbor a good turn." [ii.221] + +The father of her husband,—James How, Sr., aged about ninety-four +years,—in a communication addressed to the Court, declared that— + +"he, living by her for about thirty years, hath taken notice that she +hath carried it well becoming her place, as a daughter, as a wife, in +all relations, setting aside human infirmities, as becometh a +Christian; with respect to myself as a father, very dutifully; and as a +wife to my son, very careful, loving, obedient, and kind,—considering +his want of eyesight, tenderly leading him about by the hand. Desiring +God may guide your honors, ... I rest yours to serve." + +The only evidence against this good woman—beyond the outcries and fits +of the "afflicted children," enacted in their usual skilful and artful +style—consisted of the most wretched gossip ever circulated in an +ignorant and benighted community. It came from people in the back +settlements of Ipswich and Topsfield, and disclosed a depth of absurd +and brutal superstition, which it is difficult to believe ever existed +in New England. So far as those living in secluded and remote +localities are regarded, this was the most benighted period of our +history. Except where, as in Salem Village, special circumstances had +kept up the general intelligence, there was much darkness on the +popular mind. The education that came over with the first emigrants +from the mother-country had gone with them to their graves. The system +of common schools had not begun to produce its fruit in the thinly +peopled outer settlements. There is no more disgraceful page in our +annals than that which[ii.222] details the testimony given at the +trial, and records the conviction and execution, of Elizabeth How. + +But the dark shadows of that day of folly, cruelty, and crime, served +to bring into a brighter and purer light virtues exhibited by many +persons. We meet affecting instances, all along, of family fidelity and +true Christian benevolence. James How, as has been stated, was stricken +with blindness. He had two daughters, Mary and Abigail. Although their +farm was out of the line of the public-roads, travel very difficult, +and they must have encountered many hardships, annoyances, and, it is +to be feared, sometimes unfeeling treatment by the way, one of them +accompanied their father, twice every week, to visit their mother in +her prison-walls. They came on horseback; she managing the bridle, and +guiding him by the hand after alighting. Their humble means were +exhausted in these offices of reverence and affection. One of the noble +girls made her way to Boston, sought out the Governor, and implored a +reprieve for her mother; but in vain. The sight of these young women, +leading their blind father to comfort and provide for their "honored +mother,—as innocent," as they declared her to be, "of the crime +charged, as any person in the world,"—so faithful and constant in their +filial love and duty, relieved the horrors of the scene; and it ought +to be held in perpetual remembrance. The shame of that day is not, and +will not be, forgotten; neither should its beauty and glory. + +The name of Elizabeth How, before marriage, was[ii.223] Jackson. Among +the accounts rendered against the country for expenses incurred in the +witchcraft prosecutions are these two items: "For John Jackson, Sr., +one pair of fetters, five shillings; for John Jackson, Jr., one pair of +fetters, five shillings." There is also an item for carrying "the two +Jacksons" from one jail to another, and back again. No other reference +to them is found among the papers. They were, perhaps, a brother and +nephew of Elizabeth How. There is reason to suppose that her husband, +James How, Jr., was a nephew of the Rev. Francis Dane, of Andover. + +The examination of Job Tookey, of Beverly, presents some points worthy +of notice. He is described as a "laborer," but was evidently a person, +although perhaps inconsiderate of speech, of more than common +discrimination, and not wholly deluded by the fanaticism of the times. +He is charged with having said that he "would take Mr. Burroughs's +part;" "that he was not the Devil's servant, but the Devil was his." +When the girls testified that they saw his shape afflicting persons, he +answered, like a sensible man, if they really saw any such thing, "it +was not he, but the Devil in his shape, that hurts the people." Susanna +Sheldon, Mary Warren, and Ann Putnam, all declared, that, at that very +moment while the examination was going on, two men and two women and +one child "rose from the dead, and cried, 'Vengeance! vengeance!'" +Nobody else saw or heard any thing: but the girls suddenly became dumb; +their eyes were[ii.224] fixed on vacancy, all looking towards the same +spot; and their whole appearance gave assurance of the truth of what +they said. In a short time, Mary Warren recovered the use of her vocal +organs, and exclaimed, "There are three men, and three women, and two +children. They are all in their winding-sheets: they look pale upon us, +but red upon Tookey,—red as blood." Again, she exclaimed, in a startled +and affrighted manner, "There is a young child under the table, crying +out for vengeance." Elizabeth Booth, pointing to the same place, was +struck speechless. In this way, the murder of about every one who had +died at Royal Side, for a year or two past, was put upon Tookey. Some +of them were called by name; the others, the girls pretended not to +recognize. The wrath and horror of the whole community were excited +against him, and he was committed to jail, by the order of the +magistrates,—Bartholomew Gedney, Jonathan Corwin, and John Hathorne. + +No character, indeed, however blameless lovely or venerable, was safe. +The malignant accusers struck at the highest marks, and the consuming +fire of popular frenzy was kindled and attracted towards the most +commanding objects. Mary Bradbury is described, in the indictment +against her, as the "wife of Captain Thomas Bradbury, of Salisbury, in +the county of Essex, gentleman." A few of the documents that are +preserved, belonging to her case, will give some idea what sort of a +person she was:[ii.225]— + +"_The Answer of Mary Bradbury to the Charge of Witchcraft, or +Familiarity with the Devil._ + +"I do plead 'Not guilty.' I am wholly innocent of any such wickedness, +through the goodness of God that have kept me hitherto. I am the +servant of Jesus Christ, and have given myself up to him as my only +Lord and Saviour, and to the diligent attendance upon him in all his +holy ordinances, in utter contempt and defiance of the Devil and all +his works, as horrid and detestable, and, accordingly, have endeavored +to frame my life and conversation according to the rules of his holy +word; and, in that faith and practice, resolve, by the help and +assistance of God, to continue to my life's end. + +"For the truth of what I say, as to matter of practice, I humbly refer +myself to my brethren and neighbors that know me, and unto the Searcher +of all hearts, for the truth and uprightness of my heart therein (human +frailties and unavoidable infirmities excepted, of which I bitterly +complain every day). + +Mary Bradbury." + +"July 28, 1692.—Concerning my beloved wife, Mary Bradbury, this is what +I have to say: We have been married fifty-five years, and she hath been +a loving and faithful wife to me. Unto this day, she hath been +wonderful laborious, diligent, and industrious, in her place and +employment, about the bringing-up of our family (which have been eleven +children of our own, and four grandchildren). She was both prudent and +provident, of a cheerful spirit, liberal and charitable. She being now +very aged and weak, and grieved under her affliction, may not be able +to speak much for herself, not being so free of speech as some others +may be. I hope her life and conversation have been such amongst +her[ii.226] neighbors as gives a better and more real testimony of her +than can be expressed by words. + +"Owned by me, + +Tho. Bradbury." + +The Rev. James Allin made oath before Robert Pike, an assistant and +magistrate, as follows:— + +"I, having lived nine years at Salisbury in the work of the ministry, +and now four years in the office of a pastor, to my best notice and +observation of Mrs. Bradbury, she hath lived according to the rules of +the gospel amongst us; was a constant attender upon the ministry of the +word, and all the ordinances of the gospel; full of works of charity +and mercy to the sick and poor: neither have I seen or heard any thing +of her unbecoming the profession of the gospel." + +Robert Pike also affirmed to the truth of Mr. Allin's statement, from +"upwards of fifty years' experience," as did John Pike also: they both +declared themselves ready and desirous to give their testimony before +the Court. + +One hundred and seventeen of her neighbors—the larger part of them +heads of families, and embracing the most respectable people of that +vicinity—signed their names to a paper, of which the following is a +copy:— + +"Concerning Mrs. Bradbury's life and conversation, we, the subscribers, +do testify, that it was such as became the gospel: she was a lover of +the ministry, in all appearance, and a diligent attender upon God's +holy ordinances, being of a courteous and peaceable disposition and +carriage. Neither did any of us (some of whom have lived in the town +with her[ii.227] above fifty years) ever hear or ever know that she +ever had any difference or falling-out with any of her neighbors,—man, +woman, or child,—but was always ready and willing to do for them what +lay in her power night and day, though with hazard of her health, or +other danger. More might be spoken in her commendation, but this for +the present." + +Although this aged matron and excellent Christian lady was convicted +and sentenced to death, it is most satisfactory to find that she +escaped from prison, and her life was saved. + +The following facts show the weight which ought to have been attached +to these statements. The position, as well as character and age, of +Mary [Perkins] Bradbury entitled her to the highest consideration, in +the structure of society at that time. This is recognized in the title +"Mrs.," uniformly given her. She had been noted, through life, for +business capacity, energy, and influence; and, in 1692, was probably +seventy-five years of age, and somewhat infirm in health. Her husband, +Thomas Bradbury, had been a prominent character in the colony for more +than fifty years. In 1641, he was appointed, by the General Court, +Clerk of the Writs for Salisbury, with the functions of a magistrate, +to execute all sorts of legal processes in that place. He was a deputy +in 1651 and many subsequent years; a commissioner for Salisbury in +1657, empowered to act in all criminal cases, and bind over offenders, +where it was proper, to higher courts, to take testimonies upon oath, +and to join persons in marriage. He was required to keep a record of +all his[ii.228] doings. If the parties agreed to that effect, he was +authorized to hear and determine cases of every kind and degree, +without the intervention of a jury. The towns north of the Merrimac, +and all beyond now within the limits of New Hampshire, constituted the +County of Norfolk; and Thomas Bradbury, for a long series of years, was +one of its commissioners and associate judges. From the first, he was +conspicuous in military matters; having been commissioned by the +General Court, in 1648, Ensign of the trainband in Salisbury. He rose +to its command; and, in the latter portion of his life, was universally +spoken of as "Captain Bradbury." All along, the records of the General +Court, for half a century, demonstrate the estimation in which he was +held; various important trusts and special services requiring integrity +and ability being from time to time committed to him. His family was +influentially connected. His son William married the widow of Samuel +Maverick, Jr., who was the son of one of the King's Commissioners in +1664: she was the daughter of the Rev. John Wheelwright, a man of great +note, intimately related to the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, and united +with her by sympathy in sentiment and participation in exile. + +Robert Pike, born in 1616, was a magistrate in 1644. He was deputy from +Salisbury in 1648, and many times after; Associate Justice for Norfolk +in 1650; and Assistant in 1682, holding that high station, by annual +elections, to the close of the first charter, and during the whole +period of the intervening and insur[ii.229]gent government. He was +named as one of the council that succeeded to the House of Assistants, +when, under the new charter, Massachusetts became a royal province. He +was always at the head of military affairs, having been commissioned, +by the General Court, Lieutenant of the Salisbury trainband in 1648; +and, in the later years of his life, he held the rank and title of +major. John Pike, probably his son, resided in Hampton in 1691, and was +minister of Dover at his death in 1710. + +Surely, the attestations of such men as the Pikes, father and son, and +the Rev. James Allin, to the Christian excellence of Mary Bradbury, +must be allowed to corroborate fully the declarations of her neighbors, +her husband, and herself. + +The motives and influences that led to her arrest and condemnation in +1692 demand an explanation. The question arises, Why should the +attention of the accusing girls have been led to this aged and most +respectable woman, living at such a distance, beyond the Merrimac? A +critical scrutiny of the papers in the case affords a clew leading to +the true answer. + +The wife of Sergeant Thomas Putnam, as has been stated (vol. i. p. +253), was Ann Carr of Salisbury. Her father, George Carr, was an early +settler in that place, and appears to have been an enterprising and +prosperous person. The ferry for the main travel of the country across +the Merrimac was from points of land owned by him, and always under his +charge. He was engaged in ship-building,—employing, and[ii.230] having +in his family, young men; among them a son of Zerubabel Endicott, +bearing the same name. + +Among the papers in the case is the following:— + +"The Deposition of Richard Carr, who testifieth and saith, that, about +thirteen years ago, presently after some difference that happened to be +between my honored father, Mr. George Carr, and Mrs. Bradbury, the +prisoner at the bar, upon a sabbath at noon, as we were riding home, by +the house of Captain Tho: Bradbury, I saw Mrs. Bradbury go into her +gate, turn the corner of, and immediately there darted out of her gate +a blue boar, and darted at my father's horse's legs, which made him +stumble; but I saw it no more. And my father said, 'Boys, what do you +see?' We both answered, 'A blue boar.' + +"Zerubabel Endicott testifieth and saith, that I lived at Mr. George +Carr, now deceased, at the time above mentioned, and was present with +Mr. George Carr and Mr. Richard Carr. And I also saw a blue boar dart +out of Mr. Bradbury's gate to Mr. George Carr's horse's legs, which +made him stumble after a strange manner. And I also saw the blue boar +dart from Mr. Carr's horse's legs in at Mrs. Bradbury's window. And Mr. +Carr immediately said, 'Boys, what did you see?' And we both said, 'A +blue boar.' Then said he, 'From whence came it?' And we said, 'Out of +Mr. Bradbury's gate.' Then said he, 'I am glad you see it as well as +I.' _Jurat in Curia_, Sept. 9, '92." + +Stephen Sewall, the clerk of the courts, with his usual eagerness to +make the most of the testimony against persons accused, adds to the +deposition the following:[ii.231]— + +"And they both further say, on their oaths, that Mr. Carr discoursed +with them, as they went home, about what had happened, and they all +concluded that it was Mrs. Bradbury that so appeared as a blue boar." + +At the date of this occurrence, Richard Carr was twenty years of age, +and Zerubabel Endicott a lad of of fifteen. + +It is not to be wondered at that there was "some difference between" +George Carr and Mrs. Bradbury, if he was in the habit of indulging in +such talk about her as he took the leading part in on this occasion. He +evidently encouraged in his "boys" the absurd imaginations with which +their credulity had been stimulated. They were prepared by preconceived +notions to witness something preternatural about the premises of Mrs. +Bradbury; and, in their jaundiced vision, any animal, moving in and out +of the gate, might naturally assume the likeness of a "blue boar." Such +ideas circulating in the family, and among the apprentices of Carr, +would soon be widely spread. No doubt, Zerubabel, on his visits to his +home, told wondrous stories about Mrs. Bradbury. His brother Samuel, +then a youth of eighteen, had his imagination filled with them; and +some time after, on a voyage to "Barbadoes and Saltitudos," in which +severe storms and various disasters were experienced, attributed them +all to Mrs. Bradbury; and, "in a bright moonshining night, sitting upon +the windlass, to which he had been sent forward to look out for land," +the wild fancies of his excited imagination took effect. He heard +"a[ii.232] rumbling noise," and thought he saw the legs of some person. +"Presently he was shook, and looked over his shoulder, and saw the +appearance of a woman, from her middle upwards, having a white cap and +white neckcloth on her, which then affrighted him very much; and, as he +was turning of the windlass, he saw the aforesaid two legs." Such +superstitious phantasms seem to be natural to the experiences of +sailor-life, and perhaps still linger in the forecastle and at the +night-watch. + +The habit of maligning Mrs. Bradbury as a witch dated back in the Carr +family more than thirteen years, as the following deposition proves. I +give it precisely as it is in the original. As in a few other instances +in this work, the spelling and punctuation are preserved as +curiosities. Like all the papers in the case, with one exception, +presented in court against Mrs. Bradbury, it is in the handwriting of +Sergeant Thomas Putnam:— + +[Transcriber's Note: Spelling and punctuation in the passage below are +as in the original.] + +"The Deposistion of James Carr. who testifieth and saith that about 20 +years agoe one day as I was accidently att the house of mr wheleright +and his daughter the widdow maverick then liued there: and she then did +most curtuously invite me to com oftener to the house and wondered I +was grown such a stranger. and with in a few days affter one evening I +went thether againe: and when I came thether againe: william Bradbery +was yr who was then a suter to the said widdow but I did not know it +tell affterwards: affter I came in the widdow did so corsely treat the +sd william Bradbery that he went away semeing to be angury:[ii.233] +presently affter this I was taken affter a strange maner as if liueing +creaturs did run about euery part of my body redy to tare me to peaces +and so I continewed for about 3 qurters of a year by times & I applyed +myself to doctor Crosbe who gave me a grate deal of visek but could +make non work tho he steept tobacco in bosit drink he could make non to +work where upon he tould me that he beleved I was behaged: and I tould +him I had thought so a good while: and he asked me by hom I tould him I +did not care for spaking for one was counted an honest woman: but he +uging I tould him and he said he did beleve that mis Bradbery was a +grat deal worss then goody martin: then presently affter this one night +I being a bed & brod awake there came sumthing to me which I thought +was a catt and went to strick it ofe the bed and was sezed fast that I +could not stir hedd nor foot. but by and coming to my strenth I herd +sumthing a coming to me againe and I prepared my self to strick it: and +it coming upon the bed I did strick at it and I beleve I hit it: and +after that visek would work on me and I beleve in my hart that mis +Bradbery the prisoner att the barr has often afflected me by acts of +wicthcraft. + +"_Jurat in Curia_ Sep.mr. 9. 92."[B] +[ii.234] +But the whole of George Carr's family did not sympathize in this morbid +state of prejudice, or cherish such foolish and malignant fancies, +against Mrs. Bradbury. One of the sons, William, had married, Aug. 20, +1672, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Pike. It appears, by the following +deposition, which is in the handwriting of Major Pike, that there had +been another love affair between the families, leading to a melancholy +result, inflaming still more the morbid and malign prejudice against +Mrs. Bradbury; but William repudiated it utterly:— + +"The Testimony of William Carr, aged forty-one, or thereabouts, is that +my brother John Carr, when he was young, was a man of as good capacity +as most men of his age; but falling in love with Jane True (now wife of +Captain[ii.235] John March), and my father being persuaded by [——] of +the family (which I shall not name) not to let him marry so young, my +father would not give him a portion, whereupon the match broke off, +which my brother laid so much to heart that he grew melancholy, and by +degrees much crazed, not being the man, that he was before, to his +dying day. + +"I do further testify that my said brother was sick about a fortnight +or three weeks, and then died; and I was present with him when he died. +And I do affirm that he died peaceably and quietly, never manifesting +the least trouble in the world about anybody, nor did not say any thing +of Mrs. Bradbury nor anybody else doing him hurt; and yet I was with +him till the breath and life were out of his body." + +The usual form, _jurat in curia_, is written at the foot of this +deposition, but evidently by a much later hand; and this leads me to +mention the improbability that any testimony in favor of the accused +ever reached the Court at the trials. They had no counsel: the +attorney-general had prejudged all the cases; and his mind and those of +the judges repudiated utterly any thing like an investigation. Every +friendly voice was silenced. The doors were closed against the defence. +Robert Pike, an assistant under the old and a councillor under the new +government, endeavored in vain to enter them. + +William Carr was a person of great respectability, and bore the +appointment, by the General Court, of land-surveyor for the towns in +the northern part of the present county of Essex. + +The member of the family who—as stated in the[ii.236] foregoing +deposition—prevented the match, all the circumstances seem to indicate, +was Mrs. Ann Putnam. She perhaps had experienced the effects of a too +early marriage, bringing the burden of life upon the constitution and +the character before they are mature enough to bear it. She may have +attributed to this cause the troubles and trials with which her cup had +been so bitterly filled, and the blasting of the happiness of her +youth. Half deranged, as perpetual excitement from the parish quarrels +in reference to Mr. Bayley had made her, she may have become morbidly +opposed to the equally early marriage of a brother. Added to this was +the fact that Henry True had married one of Mrs. Bradbury's daughters, +and that Jane True was his sister. It cannot be doubted that she +entertained the same ideas about Mrs. Bradbury as her father and +brothers, James and Richard; and, for this reason, also opposed the +match of her brother John. Wishing to be relieved from the +self-reproach of having caused his derangement and death, when the +witchcraft delusion broke out at Salem Village and she became wholly +absorbed by it, as all other deaths and misfortunes were ascribed to +it, she avowed and maintained the belief, as some had suspected at the +time, that the happiness, health, reason, and life of her brother had +been destroyed by diabolical agency, practised by Mrs. Bradbury. + +In the state of things long subsisting between the Bradbury and Carr +families, we find an explanation of the movement made against Mrs. +Bradbury. Young[ii.237] Ann Putnam may have often heard her +unpleasantly spoken of by her mother, and it was natural that she +should have "cried out against her." + +The family of Mrs. Ann Putnam seem to have had constitutional traits +that illustrate and explain her own character and conduct. They were +excitable and sensitive to an extraordinary degree. Their judgment, +reason, and physical systems, were subject to the power of their +fancies and affections. One of her brothers, in consequence of being +badly coquetted with and jilted by a young widow, was thrown into an +awful condition of body and mind "for about three-quarters of a year." +The reason, health, and heart of another were broken; and he sunk into +an early grave, in consequence of having been crossed in love. The +death of her sister Bayley may have been caused by the unhappy +controversies in the village parish. We have seen, and shall see, the +all but maniac condition to which excitement brought her own mind. At +last, the heaviest blow that can fall upon a fond wife suddenly snapped +the brittle cord of her life. These considerations must be borne in +mind, while we attempt to explain her conduct, and should throw the +weight of pity and charity into the scales, if mortal judgment ventures +to estimate her guilt. They are known to the Infinite Mind, and never +overlooked by divine mercy. + +I have introduced these singular private details to illustrate what the +documents all along show,—that the proceedings against persons charged +with witch[ii.238]craft, in 1692, were instigated by all sorts of +personal grudges and private piques, many of them of long standing, +fomented and kept alive by an unhappy indulgence of unworthy feelings, +always ready to mix themselves with popular excitements, and leading +all concerned headlong to the utmost extent of mischief and wrong. + +The case of Mary Bradbury has been allowed to occupy so large a space, +because I desire to disabuse the public mind of a great error on this +subject. It has been too much supposed, that the sufferers in the +witchcraft delusion were generally of the inferior classes of society, +and particularly ignorant and benighted. They were the very reverse. +They mostly belonged to families in the better conditions of life, and, +many of them, to the highest social level. They were all persons of +great moral firmness and rectitude, as was demonstrated by their +bearing under persecutions and outrage, and when confronting the +terrors of death. Their names do not deserve reproach, and their +memories ought to be held in honor. + +The following account of the examination of Elizabeth Cary of +Charlestown, given by her husband, Captain Cary, a shipmaster, has the +highest interest, as written at the time by one who was an eye-witness, +and participated in the sufferings of the occasion:— + +"May 24.—I having heard, some days, that my wife was accused of +witchcraft; being much disturbed at it, by advice went to Salem +Village, to see if the afflicted knew her: we arrived there on the 24th +of May. It happened[ii.239] to be a day appointed for examination; +accordingly, soon after our arrival, Mr. Hathorne and Mr. Corwin, &c., +went to the meeting-house, which was the place appointed for that work. +The minister began with prayer; and, having taken care to get a +convenient place, I observed that the afflicted were two girls of about +ten years old, and about two or three others of about eighteen: one of +the girls talked most, and could discern more than the rest. + +"The prisoners were called in one by one, and, as they came in, were +cried out at, &c. The prisoners were placed about seven or eight feet +from the justices, and the accusers between the justices and them. The +prisoners were ordered to stand right before the justices, with an +officer appointed to hold each hand, lest they should therewith afflict +them: and the prisoners' eyes must be constantly on the justices; for, +if they looked on the afflicted, they would either fall into fits, or +cry out of being hurt by them. After an examination of the prisoners, +who it was afflicted these girls, &c., they were put upon saying the +Lord's Prayer, as a trial of their guilt. After the afflicted seemed to +be out of their fits, they would look steadfastly on some one person, +and frequently not speak; and then the justices said they were struck +dumb, and after a little time would speak again: then the justices said +to the accusers, 'Which of you will go and touch the prisoner at the +bar?' Then the most courageous would adventure, but, before they had +made three steps, would ordinarily fall down as in a fit: the justices +ordered that they should be taken up and carried to the prisoner, that +she might touch them; and as soon as they were touched by the accused, +the justices would say, 'They are well,' before I could discern any +alteration,—by which I observed that the justices understood the manner +of it.[ii.240] Thus far I was only as a spectator: my wife also was +there part of the time, but no notice was taken of her by the +afflicted, except once or twice they came to her, and asked her name. +But I, having an opportunity to discourse Mr. Hale (with whom I had +formerly acquaintance), I took his advice what I had best do, and +desired of him that I might have an opportunity to speak with her that +accused my wife; which he promised should be, I acquainting him that I +reposed my trust in him. Accordingly, he came to me after the +examination was over, and told me I had now an opportunity to speak +with the said accuser, Abigail Williams, a girl eleven or twelve years +old; but that we could not be in private at Mr. Parris's house, as he +had promised me: we went therefore into the alehouse, where an Indian +man attended us, who, it seems, was one of the afflicted; to him we +gave some cider: he showed several scars, that seemed as if they had +been long there, and showed them as done by witchcraft, and acquainted +us that his wife, who also was a slave, was imprisoned for witchcraft. +And now, instead of one accuser, they all came in, and began to tumble +down like swine; and then three women were called in to attend them. We +in the room were all at a stand to see who they would cry out of; but +in a short time they cried out 'Cary;' and, immediately after, a +warrant was sent from the justices to bring my wife before them, who +were sitting in a chamber near by, waiting for this. Being brought +before the justices, her chief accusers were two girls. My wife +declared to the justices, that she never had any knowledge of them +before that day. She was forced to stand with her arms stretched out. I +requested that I might hold one of her hands, but it was denied me: +then she desired me to wipe the tears from her eyes, and the sweat from +her[ii.241] face, which I did; then she desired she might lean herself +on me, saying she should faint. Justice Hathorne replied she had +strength enough to torment these persons, and she should have strength +enough to stand. I speaking something against their cruel proceedings, +they commanded me to be silent, or else I should be turned out of the +room. The Indian before mentioned was also brought in, to be one of her +accusers; being come in, he now (when before the justices) fell down, +and tumbled about like a hog, but said nothing. The justices asked the +girls who afflicted the Indian: they answered she (meaning my wife), +and that she now lay upon him. The justices ordered her to touch him, +in order to his cure, but her head must be turned another way, lest, +instead of curing, she should make him worse by her looking on him, her +hand being guided to take hold of his; but the Indian took hold of her +hand, and pulled her down on the floor in a barbarous manner: then his +hand was taken off, and her hand put on his, and the cure was quickly +wrought. I being extremely troubled at their inhuman dealings, uttered +a hasty speech, 'That God would take vengeance on them, and desired +that God would deliver us out of the hands of unmerciful men.' Then her +_mittimus_ was writ. I did with difficulty and charge obtain the +liberty of a room, but no beds in it; if there had been, could have +taken but little rest that night. She was committed to Boston prison; +but I obtained a _habeas corpus_ to remove her to Cambridge prison, +which is in our county of Middlesex. Having been there one night, next +morning the jailer put irons on her legs (having received such a +command); the weight of them was about eight pounds: these irons and +her other afflictions soon brought her into con[ii.242]vulsion fits, so +that I thought she would have died that night. I sent to entreat that +the irons might be taken off; but all entreaties were in vain, if it +would have saved her life, so that in this condition she must continue. +The trials at Salem coming on, I went thither to see how things were +managed: and finding that the spectre evidence was there received, +together with idle, if not malicious stories, against people's lives, I +did easily perceive which way the rest would go; for the same evidence +that served for one would serve for all the rest. I acquainted her with +her danger; and that, if she were carried to Salem to be tried, I +feared she would never return. I did my utmost that she might have her +trial in our own county; I with several others petitioning the judge +for it, and were put in hopes of it: but I soon saw so much, that I +understood thereby it was not intended; which put me upon consulting +the means of her escape, which, through the goodness of God, was +effected, and she got to Rhode Island, but soon found herself not safe +when there, by reason of the pursuit after her; from thence she went to +New York, along with some others that had escaped their cruel hands, +where we found his Excellency Benjamin Fletcher, Esq., Governor, who +was very courteous to us. After this, some of my goods were seized in a +friend's hands, with whom I had left them, and myself imprisoned by the +sheriff, and kept in custody half a day, and then dismissed; but to +speak of their usage of the prisoners, and the inhumanity shown to them +at the time of their execution, no sober Christian could bear. They had +also trials of cruel mockings, which is the more, considering what a +people for religion, I mean the profession of it, we have been; those +that suffered being many of[ii.243] them church members, and most of +them unspotted in their conversation, till their adversary the Devil +took up this method for accusing them. + +Jonathan Cary." + +The only account we have, written by one who had actually experienced, +in his own person, what it was to fall into the hands of those who got +up and carried on the prosecutions, is the following. Captain Alden had +probably been from an early stage in their operations in the eye of the +accusing girls. He was meant, perhaps, by what often fell from them +about "the tall man in Boston." We are left entirely to conjecture as +to the reason why they singled him out, as not one of them, we may be +quite sure, had ever seen him. It may be that some person who had +experienced discipline under his orders as a naval commander bore him a +grudge, and took pains to suggest his name to the girls, and provided +them with the coarse, vulgar, and ridiculous scandal they so recklessly +poured out upon him:— + +"_An Account how John Alden, Sr., was dealt with at Salem Village._ + +"John Alden, Sr., of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, mariner, on the +twenty-eighth day of May, 1692, was sent for by the magistrates of +Salem, in the county of Essex, upon the accusation of a company of poor +distracted or possessed creatures or witches; and, being sent by Mr. +Stoughton, arrived there on the 31st of May, and appeared at Salem +Village before Mr. Gedney, Mr. Hathorne, and Mr. Corwin. + +"Those wenches being present who played their jug[ii.244]gling tricks, +falling down, crying out, and staring in people's faces, the +magistrates demanded of them several times, who it was, of all the +people in the room, that hurt them. One of these accusers pointed +several times at one Captain Hill, there present, but spake nothing. +The same accuser had a man standing at her back to hold her up. He +stooped down to her ear: then she cried out, 'Alden, Alden afflicted +her.' One of the magistrates asked her if she had ever seen Alden. She +answered, 'No.' He asked her how she knew it was Alden. She said the +man told her so. + +"Then all were ordered to go down into the street, where a ring was +made; and the same accuser cried out, 'There stands Alden, a bold +fellow, with his hat on before the judges: he sells powder and shot to +the Indians and French, and lies with the Indian squaws, and has Indian +papooses.' Then was Alden committed to the marshal's custody, and his +sword taken from him; for they said he afflicted them with his sword. +After some hours, Alden was sent for to the meeting-house in the +Village, before the magistrates, who required Alden to stand upon a +chair, to the open view of all the people. + +"The accusers cried out that Alden pinched them then, when he stood +upon the chair, in the sight of all the people, a good way distant from +them. One of the magistrates bid the marshal to hold open Alden's +hands, that he might not pinch those creatures. Alden asked them why +they should think that he should come to that village to afflict those +persons that he never knew or saw before. Mr. Gedney bid Alden to +confess, and give glory to God. Alden said he hoped he should give +glory to God, and hoped he should never gratify the Devil: but appealed +to all that ever knew him, if they ever suspected him to be such a +person;[ii.245] and challenged any one that could bring in any thing on +their own knowledge, that might give suspicion of his being such an +one. Mr. Gedney said he had known Alden many years, and had been at sea +with him, and always looked upon him to be an honest man; but now he +saw cause to alter his judgment. Alden answered, he was sorry for that, +but he hoped God would clear up his innocency, that he would recall +that judgment again; and added, that he hoped that he should, with Job, +maintain his integrity till he died. They bid Alden look upon the +accusers, which he did, and then they fell down. Alden asked Mr. Gedney +what reason there could be given why Alden's looking upon _him_ did not +strike _him_ down as well; but no reason was given that I heard. But +the accusers were brought to Alden to touch them; and this touch, they +said, made them well. Alden began to speak of the providence of God in +suffering these creatures to accuse innocent persons. Mr. Noyes asked +Alden why he should offer to speak of the providence of God: God, by +his providence (said Mr. Noyes), governs the world, and keeps it in +peace; and so went on with discourse, and stopped Alden's mouth as to +that. Alden told Mr. Gedney that he could assure him that there was a +lying spirit in them; for I can assure you that there is not a word of +truth in all these say of me. But Alden was again committed to the +marshal, and his _mittimus_ written. + +"To Boston Alden was carried by a constable: no bail would be taken for +him, but was delivered to the prison-keeper, where he remained fifteen +weeks; and then, observing the manner of trials, and evidence then +taken, was at length prevailed with to make his escape. + +"Per John Alden." [ii.246] + +Alden made his escape about the middle of September, at the bloodiest +crisis of the tragedy, and just before the execution of nine of the +victims, including that of Giles Corey. He is understood to have fled +to Duxbury, where his relatives secreted him. He made his appearance +among them late at night; and, on their asking an explanation of his +unexpected visit at that hour, replied that he was flying from the +Devil, and the Devil was after him. After a while, when the delusion +had abated, and people were coming to their senses, he delivered +himself up, and was bound over to the Superior Court at Boston, the +last Tuesday in April, 1693, when, no one appearing to prosecute, he, +with some hundred and fifty others, was discharged by proclamation, and +all judicial proceedings brought to a close. It is to be feared, that +ever after, to his dying day, when the subject of his experience on the +31st of May, 1692, was referred to, the old sailor indulged in rather +strong expressions in relating his reminiscences of Rev. "Mr. Nicholas +Noyes," "Mr. Bartholomew Gedney," and the "wenches" of Salem Village. + +Captain John Alden was a son of John Alden, ever memorable as one of +the first founders of Plymouth Colony. He had been for more than thirty +years a resident of Boston, a member of the church, and in all respects +a leading and distinguished man. For some time, he had been commander +of the armed vessel belonging to the colony, and was a brave and +efficient officer and an able and experienced mari[ii.247]ner. He had +seen service in French and Indian wars, had acted two years before, +that is in 1690, as commissioner in conducting negotiations with the +native tribes, and, at a later period, was charged with important +trusts as a naval commander. He was a man of large property, and +seventy years of age. He was, as well he might be, utterly confounded +and amazed in finding himself charged as a principal culprit in the +Salem witchcraft. The accusing girls were evidently delighted to get +hold of such a notable and doughty character; and their tongues were +released, on the occasion, from all restraints of decorum and decency. +When the ring was formed around him "in the street," in front of Deacon +Ingersoll's door, his sword unbuckled from his side, and such foul and +vulgar aspersions cast upon his good name, he felt, no doubt, that it +would have been better to have fallen into the hands of savages of the +wilderness or pirates on the sea, than of the crowd of audacious girls +that hustled him about in Salem Village. It was a relief to his wounded +honor, and gave leisure for the workings of his indignant resentment, +to escape from them into Boston jail. Not only his old shipmate, +Bartholomew Gedney, but, as will be seen, the learned attorney-general, +who was present, and witnessed the whole affair, was fully convinced of +his guilt. + +The wife of an honest and worthy man in Andover was sick of a fever. +After all the usual means had failed to check the symptoms of her +disease, the idea[ii.248] became prevalent that she was suffering under +an "evil hand." The husband, pursuant of the advice of friends, posted +down to Salem Village to ascertain from the afflicted girls who was +bewitching his wife. Two of them returned with him to Andover. Never +did a place receive such fatal visitors. The Grecian horse did not +bring greater consternation to ancient Ilium. Immediately after their +arrival, they succeeded in getting more than fifty of the inhabitants +into prison, several of whom were hanged. A perfect panic swept like a +hurricane over the place. The idea seized all minds, as Hutchinson +expresses it, that the only "way to prevent an accusation was to become +an accuser."—"The number of the afflicted increased every day, and the +number of the accused in proportion." In this state of things, such a +great accession being made to the ranks of the confessing witches, the +power of the delusion became irresistibly strengthened. Mr. Dudley +Bradstreet, the magistrate of the place, after having committed about +forty persons to jail, concluded he had done enough, and declined to +arrest any more. The consequence was that he and his wife were cried +out upon, and they had to fly for their lives. They accused his +brother, John Bradstreet, with having "afflicted" a dog. Bradstreet +escaped by flight. The dog was executed. The number of persons who had +publicly confessed that they had entered into a league with Satan, and +exercised the diabolical power thus acquired, to the injury, torment, +and death of innocent parties, pro[ii.249]duced a profound effect upon +the public mind. At the same time, the accusers had everywhere +increased in number, owing to the inflamed state of imagination +universally prevalent which ascribed all ailments or diseases to the +agency of witches, to a mere love of notoriety and a passion for +general sympathy, to a desire to be secure against the charge of +bewitching others, or to a malicious disposition to wreak vengeance +upon enemies. The prisons in Salem, Ipswich, Boston, and Cambridge, +were crowded. All the securities of society were dissolved. Every man's +life was at the mercy of every other man. Fear sat on every +countenance, terror and distress were in all hearts, silence pervaded +the streets; all who could, quit the country; business was at a stand; +a conviction sunk into the minds of men, that a dark and infernal +confederacy had got foot-hold in the land, threatening to overthrow and +extirpate religion and morality, and establish the kingdom of the +Prince of darkness in a country which had been dedicated, by the +prayers and tears and sufferings of its pious fathers, to the Church of +Christ and the service and worship of the true God. The feeling, dismal +and horrible indeed, became general, that the providence of God was +removed from them; that Satan was let loose, and he and his +confederates had free and unrestrained power to go to and fro, +torturing and destroying whomever he willed. We cannot, by any extent +of research or power of imagination, enter fully into the ideas of the +people of that day; and it is there[ii.250]fore absolutely impossible +to appreciate the awful condition of the community at the point of time +to which our narrative has led us. + +In the midst of this state of things, the old colony of Massachusetts +was transformed into a royal province, and a new government organized. +Sir William Phips, the governor, arrived at Boston, with the new +charter, on the evening of the 14th of May. William Stoughton, of +Dorchester, superseded Thomas Danforth as deputy-governor. In the +Council, which took the place of the Assistants, most of the former +body were retained. Bartholomew Gedney had a few years before been +dropped from the board of Assistants. He was now placed in the Council +with John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, Samuel Appleton, and Robert Pike, +of this county. The new government did not interfere with the +proceedings in progress relating to the witchcraft prosecutions, at the +moment. Examinations and commitments went on as before; only the +magistrates, acting on those occasions, were re-enforced by Mr. Gedney, +who presided at their sessions. The affair had become so formidable, +and the public infatuation had reached such a point, that it was +difficult to determine what ought to be done. Sir William Phips, no +doubt, felt that it was beyond his depth, and yielded himself to the +views of the leading men of his council. Stoughton was in full sympathy +with Cotton Mather, whose interest had been used in procuring his +appointment over Danforth. Through him, Mather acquired, and held for +some time, great as[ii.251]cendency with the governor. It was concluded +best to appoint a special court of Oyer and Terminer for the witchcraft +trials. Stoughton, the deputy-governor, was commissioned as +chief-justice. Nathaniel Saltonstall of Haverhill; Major John Richards +of Boston; Major Bartholomew Gedney of Salem; Mr. Wait Winthrop, +Captain Samuel Sewall, and Mr. Peter Sargent, all three of Boston,—were +made associate judges. Saltonstall early withdrew from the service; and +Jonathan Corwin, of Salem, succeeded to his place on the bench of the +special court. A majority of the judges were citizens of Boston. + +Jonathan Corwin had been associated with Hathorne in conducting the +examinations that have been described. He was a son of George Corwin, +who has been noticed in the account of Salem Village. + +A shade of illegality rests upon the very existence of this special +court. There has always been a question whether the new charter gave to +the governor and council power to create it without the concurrence of +the House of Representatives. It has been held that such a court could +have no other lawful foundation than an act of the General Court. +Hutchinson was evidently of this opinion. This question was a very +serious one; for, as that considerate and able historian and eminent +judicial officer says, the tribunal that passed sentence in the +witchcraft prosecutions was "the most important court to the life of +the subject which was ever held in the province." The time required to +convene the popular branch of the[ii.252] government is itself, in all +cases, an element of safety. In this case, it would have carried the +country beyond the period of the delusion, and saved its annals from +their darkest and bloodiest page. The condition of things when he +arrived, had his counsellors been wise, would have led Sir William +Phips forthwith to issue writs of election of deputies, before taking +any action whatever. In a free republican government, the executive +department ought never to attempt to dispose of difficult matters of +vital importance without the joint deliberations and responsibility of +the representatives of the people. + +So far as the composition of the court is considered, no objection can +be made. The justices were all members of the council, and belonged to +the highest order, not only of the magistracy, but of society +generally. They constituted as respectable a body of gentlemen as could +have been collected. Thomas Newton, of Boston, was commissioned to act +as attorney-general. The official title of marshal ceasing with the new +government, George Corwin was appointed sheriff of the county of Essex. +Herrick appears to have continued in the service as deputy. Sheriff +Corwin was twenty-six years of age. He was the grandson of the original +George Corwin, and the son of John. His mother was grand-daughter of +Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, and daughter of Governor Winthrop +of Connecticut. His wife was a daughter of Bartholomew Gedney; so that +it appears that two of the judges were his uncles, and one his[ii.253] +father-in-law. These personal connections may be borne in mind, as +affording ground to believe, that, in the discharge of his painful +duties, he did not act without advice and suggestions from the highest +quarter. + +The court-house in which the trials were held stood in the middle of +what is now Washington Street, near where Lynde and Church Streets, +which did not then exist, now enter it, fronting towards Essex Street. +The building was also used as a town-house; Washington Street being, +for this reason, then called "Town-house Lane." Off against the +court-house, on the west side of the lane, was the house of the Rev. +Nicholas Noyes, on the site of the residence of the late Robert +Brookhouse. Opposite to it was the estate of Edward Bishop, which +fronted westerly on "Town-house Lane" a little over a hundred feet, +including the present Jeffrey Court, and extending a few feet beyond +the corner of the house of Dr. S.M. Cate, over a portion of Church +Street. Its depth, towards St. Peter Street, was about three hundred +and forty-five feet. Edward Bishop held this estate in the right of his +wife Bridget, the widow of Thomas Oliver who had died about 1679. Not +long after this marriage, Bishop removed to his farm at Royal Side. In +1685, the "old Oliver house" was either removed or rebuilt, and a new +one erected on the same premises, which was occupied by tenants in +1692. These items are given because they will help to illustrate the +narrative, and enable us to understand points of evidence in the +approaching trial. It is a curious[ii.254] circumstance, that the first +public victim of the prosecutions, Bridget Bishop, had been the nearest +neighbor and lived directly opposite, to the person who, more than any +other inhabitant of the town, was responsible for the blood that was +shed,—Nicholas Noyes. The jail, at that time, was on the western side +of Prison Lane, now St. Peter Street, north of the point where Federal +Street now enters it. The meeting-house stood on what has always been +the site of the First Church. The "Ship Tavern" was on ground the front +of which is occupied, at present, by "West's Block," nearly opposite +the head of Central Street. It had long been owned and kept by John +Gedney, Sr. Two of his sons, John and Bartholomew, had married Susanna +and Hannah Clarke. John died in 1685. His widow moved into the family +of her father-in-law; and, after his death in 1688, continued to keep +the house. In 1698 she was married to Deliverance Parkman, and died in +1728. The tavern, in 1692, was known as the "Widow Gedney's." The +estate had an extensive orchard in the rear, contiguous, along its +northern boundary, to the orchard of Bridget Bishop, which occupied +ground now covered by the Lyceum building, and one or two others to the +east of it. + +The Court was opened at Salem in the first week of June, 1692. In the +mean time, the attorney-general, to prepare for the management of the +cases, came to Salem. He addressed the following letter to Isaac +Addington, Secretary of the province:[ii.255]— + +"Salem, 31st May, 1692. + +"Worthy Sir,—I have herewith sent you the names of the prisoners that +are desired to be transmitted by _habeas corpus_; and have presumed to +send you a copy thereof, being more, as I presume, accustomed to that +practice than yourself, and beg pardon if I have infringed upon you +therein. I fear we shall not this week try all that we have sent for; +by reason the trials will be tedious, and the afflicted persons cannot +readily give their testimonies, being struck dumb and senseless, for a +season, at the name of the accused. I have been all this day at the +Village, with the gentlemen of the council, at the examination of the +persons, where I have beheld strange things, scarce credible but to the +spectators, and too tedious here to relate; and, amongst the rest, +Captain Alden and Mr. English have their _mittimus_. I must say, +according to the present appearances of things, they are as deeply +concerned as the rest; for the afflicted spare no person of what +quality soever, neither conceal their crimes, though never so heinous. +We pray that Tituba the Indian, and Mrs. Thacher's maid, may be +transferred as evidence, but desire they may not come amongst the +prisoners but rather by themselves; with the records in the Court of +Assistants, 1679, against Bridget Oliver, and the records relating to +the first persons committed, left in Mr. Webb's hands by the order of +the council. I pray pardon that I cannot now further enlarge; and, with +my cordial service, only add that I am, sir, your most humble servant, + +signature + +[ii.256] + +Hutchinson says that there was no colony or province law against +witchcraft in force when the trials began; and that the proceedings +were under an act of James the First, passed in 1603. By that act, +persons convicted were to be sentenced to "the pains and penalties of +death as felons." By the colonial law, conviction of capital crimes did +not incapacitate the party affected from disposing of property. In this +and other respects, there were points of difference, which caused some +inconvenience in carrying out the practice of the mother-country; and +the attorney-general had to supply the want of experience in the local +officers. + +It may here be mentioned, that no record of the doings of this special +court are now to be found, and our only information respecting them is +obtained in brief and imperfect statements of writers of the time. +Perhaps Hutchinson had the use of the records. He gives the dates of +the several sessions of the courts, and of the conviction and execution +of the prisoners. Some of the depositions sworn to in court are on +file, but without giving in many instances the date when thus offered +in the trials. In some cases, they state when they were laid before the +grand jury. Only a small part of them are preserved. The matter they +contain was, to a considerable extent, brought forward at the +preliminary examinations, and has been already adduced. In the +following account of the trials, some further use will be made of these +depositions. + +Bridget Bishop was the only person tried at the first session of the +Court. She was brought through[ii.257] Prison Lane, up Essex Street, by +the First Church, into Town-house Lane, to the Court-house. Cotton +Mather says,— + +"There was one strange thing with which the court was newly +entertained. As this woman was under a guard, passing by the great and +spacious meeting-house, she gave a look towards the house; and +immediately a demon, invisibly entering the meeting-house, tore down a +part of it: so that, though there was no person to be seen there, yet +the people, at the noise, running in, found a board, which was strongly +fastened with several nails, transported into another quarter of the +house." + +It is probable that the streets were thronged by crowds eager to get a +sight of the prisoner; and that the doors, fences, and house-tops were +occupied. Some, perhaps, got into the meeting-house; and, in clambering +up to the windows, a board may have been put in requisition, and left +misplaced. Incredible almost as it is, this circumstance seems, from +Mather's language,—"the court was entertained,"—to have been brought in +evidence at the trial, and regarded as weighty and conclusive proof of +Bridget's guilt. + +One or two points in the evidence adduced against her, in addition to +those mentioned heretofore, deserve consideration. The position taken, +at her trial, by the Rev. John Hale of Beverly demands criticism. The +charge of witchcraft had been made against her on more than one +occasion before; particularly about the year 1687, when she resided +near the bounds of Beverly, at Royal Side. A woman in the +neighbor[ii.258]hood, subject to fits of insanity, had, while passing +into one of them, brought the accusation against her; but, on the +return of her reason, solemnly recanted, and deeply lamented the +aspersion. In a violent recurrence of her malady, this woman committed +suicide. Mr. Hale had examined the case at the time, and exonerated +Bridget Bishop, who was a communicant in his church, from the charge +made against her by the unhappy lunatic. He was satisfied, as he +states, that "Sister Bishop" was innocent, and in no way deserved to be +ill thought of. He hoped "better of said Goody Bishop at that time." +Without any pretence of new evidence touching the facts of the case, he +came into court in 1692, and related them, to the effect and with the +intent to make them bear against her. He described the appearance of +the throat of the woman, after death, as follows:— + +"As to the wounds she died of, I observed three deadly ones; a piece of +her windpipe cut out, and another wound above that through the windpipe +and gullet, and the vein they call jugular. So that I then judged and +still do apprehend it impossible for her, with so short a pair of +scissors, to mangle herself so without some extraordinary work of the +Devil or witchcraft." + +If this was his impression at the time, it is strange that he did not +then say so. But there is no appearance of any criminal proceedings +having been had, by the grand jury or otherwise, against "Sister +Bishop" on the occasion. On the contrary, Mr. Hale seems to have +acquiesced in the opinion, that the derangement of[ii.259] the woman +was aggravated, if not caused, by her being overmuch given to searching +and pondering upon the dark passages and mysterious imagery of +prophecy. The truth, in all probability, is, that Mr. Hale's suspicion +was an after-thought. The effect produced upon his mental condition by +the statements and actings of the "afflicted children" in 1692 was +unconsciously transferred to 1687. The delusion, in which he was then +fully participating, led him to put a different interpretation upon the +suicidal wounds and horrible end of the wretched maniac, five or six +years before. + +A piece of evidence, which illustrates the state of opinion at that +time, relating to our subject, given in this case, is worthy of notice. +Samuel Shattuck was a hatter and dyer. His house was on the south side +of Essex Street, opposite the western entrance to the grounds of the +North Church. Before her removal to the village, Bridget Bishop was in +the habit of calling at Shattuck's to have articles of dress dyed. He +states that she treated him and his family politely and kindly; or, as +he characterized her deportment after his mind had become jaundiced +against her, "in a smooth and flattering manner." He tells his story in +a deposition written by him, and signed and sworn to in Court by +himself and wife, June 2, 1692. It is as follows:— + +"Our eldest child, who promised as much health and understanding, both +by countenance and actions, as any other children of his years, was +taken in a very drooping[ii.260] condition; and, as she came oftener to +the house, he grew worse and worse. As he would be standing at the +door, would fall out, and bruise his face upon a great step-stone, as +if he had been thrust out by an invisible hand; oftentimes falling, and +hitting his face against the sides of the house, bruising his face in a +very miserable manner.... This child taken in a terrible fit, his mouth +and eyes drawn aside, and gasped in such a manner as if he was upon the +point of death. After this, he grew worse in his fits, and, out of +them, would be almost always crying. That, for many months, he would be +crying till nature's strength was spent, and then would fall asleep, +and then awake, and fall to crying and moaning; and that his very +countenance did bespeak compassion. And at length, we perceived his +understanding decayed: so that we feared (as it has since proved) that +he would be quite bereft of his wits; for, ever since, he has been +stupefied and void of reason, his fits still following of him. After he +had been in this kind of sickness some time, he has gone into the +garden, and has got upon a board of an inch thick, which lay flat upon +the ground, and we have called him; he would come to the edge of the +board, and hold out his hand, and make as if he would come, but could +not till he was helped off the board.... My wife has offered him a cake +and money to come to her; and he has held out his hand, and reached +after it, but could not come till he had been helped off the board, by +which I judge some enchantment kept him on.... Ever since, this child +hath been followed with grievous fits, as if he would never recover +more; his head and eyes drawn aside so as if they would never come to +rights more; lying as if he were, in a manner, dead; falling anywhere, +either into fire or water, if he be not constantly looked to; and, +generally, in such an uneasy,[ii.261] restless frame, almost always +running to and fro, acting so strange that I cannot judge otherwise but +that he is bewitched: and, by these circumstances, do believe that the +aforesaid Bridget Oliver—now called Bishop—is the cause of it: and it +has been the judgment of doctors, such as lived here and foreigners, +that he is under an evil hand of witchcraft." + +The means used to give this direction to the suspicions of Shattuck and +his wife are described in the notice of Bridget Bishop, in the First +Part of this work. + +Shattuck was a son of the sturdy Quaker of that name who, thirty years +before, had given the government of the colony so much trouble, and +seems to have inherited some of his notions. In his deposition, he +mentions, as corroborative proof of Bridget Bishop's being a witch, +that she used to bring to his dye-house "sundry pieces of lace," of +shapes and dimensions entirely outside of his conceptions of what could +be needed in the wardrobe, or for the toilet, of a plain and honest +woman. He evidently regarded fashionable and vain apparel as a snare +and sign of the Devil. + +The imaginations of several persons in Shattuck's immediate +neighborhood seem to have been wrought up to a high point against +Bridget Bishop. John Cook lived on the south side of the street, +directly opposite the eastern entrance to the grounds of the North +Church, on its present site. John Bly's house was on a lot contiguous +to the rear of Cook's, fronting on Summer Street. One of Cook's sons +(John), aged eighteen, testified, that,[ii.262]— + +"About five or six years ago, one morning about sun-rising, as I was in +bed, before I rose, I saw Goodwife Bishop, _alias_ Oliver, stand in the +chamber by the window: and she looked on me and grinned on me, and +presently struck me on the side of the head, which did very much hurt +me; and then I saw her go out under the end window at a little crevice, +about so big as I could thrust my hand into. I saw her again the same +day,—which was the sabbath-day,—about noon, walk across the room; and +having, at the time, an apple in my hand, it flew out of my hand into +my mother's lap, who sat six or eight foot distance from me, and then +she disappeared: and, though my mother and several others were in the +same room, yet they affirmed they saw her not." + +Bly and his wife Rebecca had a difficulty with Bishop in reference to +payment for a hog they had bought of her. The following is from their +testimony at her trial. After stating that she came to their house and +quarrelled with them about it, they go on to say that the animal— + +"was taken with strange fits, jumping up, and knocking her head against +the fence, and seemed blind and deaf, and would not eat, neither let +her pigs suck, but foamed at the mouth; which Goody Henderson, hearing +of, said she believed she was overlooked, and that they had their +cattle ill in such a manner at the Eastward, when they lived there, and +used to cure them by giving of them red ochre and milk, which we also +gave the sow. Quickly after eating of which, she grew better; and then, +for the space of near two hours together, she, getting into the street, +did set off, jumping and running between the house of said deponents +and said Bishop's, as if[ii.263] she were stark mad, and, after that, +was well again: and we did then apprehend or judge, and do still, that +said Bishop had bewitched said sow." + +William Stacey testified, that, as he was "agoing to mill," meeting +Bishop in the street, some conversation passed between them, and that,— + +"being gone about six rods from her, the said Bishop, with a small load +in his cart, suddenly the off-wheel slumped or sunk down into a hole +upon plain ground; that this deponent was forced to get one to help him +get the wheel out. Afterwards, this deponent went back to look for said +hole where his wheel sunk in, but could not find any hole." + +Stacey further deposed, that, on another occasion, he— + +"met the said Bishop by Isaac Stearns's brick-kiln. After he had passed +by her, this deponent's horse stood still with a small load going up +the hill; so that, the horse striving to draw, all his gears and +tackling flew in pieces, and the cart fell down." + +These mishaps and marvels occurred in Summer Street, near the foot of +Chestnut Street, where the ground was then much lower than it is now. +Stacey was ascending the street, on his way through High Street to his +father's mill, at the South River. + +Stacey concluded his testimony as follows:— + +"This deponent hath met with several other of her pranks at several +times, which would take up a great time to tell of. + +"This deponent doth verily believe that the said Bridget Bishop was +instrumental to his daughter Priscilla's death.[ii.264] About two years +ago, the child was a likely, thriving child; and suddenly screeched +out, and so continued, in an unusual manner, for about a fortnight, and +so died in that lamentable manner." + +Many of the extraordinary "pranks," charged upon Bridget Bishop, had +their scene near to her dwelling-house. John Louder, a servant of John +Gedney, Sr., some years before, had a controversy with her about her +fowls, "that used to come into our orchard or garden." He swore as +follows:— + +"Some little time after which, I, going well to bed, about the dead of +the night, felt a great weight upon my breast, and, awakening, looked; +and, it being bright moonlight, did clearly see said Bridget Bishop, or +her likeness, sitting upon my stomach; and, putting my arms off of the +bed to free myself from the great oppression, she presently laid hold +of my throat, and almost choked me, and I had no strength or power in +my hands to resist, or help myself; and, in this condition, she held me +to almost day. Some time after this, my mistress (Susannah Gedney) was +in our orchard, and I was then with her; and said Bridget Bishop, being +then in her orchard,—which was next adjoining to ours,—my mistress told +said Bridget that I said or affirmed that she came, one night, and sat +upon my breast, as aforesaid, which she denied, and I affirmed to her +face to be true, and that I did plainly see her; upon which discourse +with her, she threatened me. And, some time after that, I, being not +very well, stayed at home on a Lord's Day; and, on the afternoon of +said day, the doors being shut, I did see a black pig in the room +coming towards me; so I went towards it to kick it, and it vanished +away." [ii.265] + +Louder goes on to say, that, immediately after this, on the same +occasion while he was staying at home from meeting, he saw a black +thing jump into the window, and it came and stood just before his face +"upon the bar." The body of it looked like a monkey, only the feet were +like a cock's feet with claws, and the face somewhat more like a man's +than a monkey's. He says that he was greatly affrighted, "not being +able to speak or help myself by reason of fear, I suppose;" and that +his mysterious visitor made quite a speech to him, representing that it +was a messenger sent to say, that, if he would "be ruled by him, he +should want for nothing in this world." The virtuous and indignant +Louder says that he answered, "You devil, I will kill you!" and gave it +a blow with his fist, but "could feel no substance; and it jumped out +of the window again." It immediately came in by the porch, although the +doors were shut, and said, "You had better take my counsel." Hereupon +Louder struck at it with a stick, hitting the ground-sill and breaking +the stick, but felt no substance. Louder concludes his testimony as +follows:— + +"The arm with which I struck was presently disenabled. Then it vanished +away, and I opened the back-door and went out; and, going towards the +house-end, I espied said Bridget Bishop in her orchard going towards +her house, and, seeing her, had no power to set one foot forward, but +returned in again: and, going to shut the door, I again did see that or +the like creature, that I before did see within doors, in such a +posture as it seemed to be agoing to fly at me;[ii.266] upon which I +cried out, 'The whole armor of God be between me and you.' So it sprang +back and flew over the apple-tree, flinging the dirt with its feet +against my stomach, upon which I was struck dumb, and so continued for +about three days' time; and also shook many of the apples off from the +tree which it flew over." + +Before removing to his farm, Edward and Bridget Bishop made the +alterations, before mentioned, on their town estate. John Bly, Sr., +aged fifty-seven years, and William Bly, aged fifteen, were employed in +the operation of removing the cellar wall of "the ould house;" and +testified, that they found in holes and crevices of said cellar wall +"several puppets made up of rags and hogs' bristles, with headless pins +in them with the points outward." + +Upon such evidence, Bridget Bishop was condemned, and executed the next +week. The death-warrants, in these trials, were collected together in +one envelope, marked as such. The envelope remains, but its contents +have all been abstracted. The death-warrant of Bridget Bishop was +probably overlooked when the others were gathered together. The +consequence is that it has been preserved, and is the only one known to +be in existence. + +The sheriff seems to have proceeded, immediately after the execution, +to the clerk's office, and indorsed his return on the warrant. When he +wrote it, he added, after the word "dead,"—"and buried her on the +spot." On its occurring to him that the burying of the body was not +mentioned in the warrant, he drew [ii.267] his pen through the words; +as is seen in the photograph. This superfluous clause, thus partially +obliterated, is the only positive evidence we have of the disposal of +the bodies at the time. They were undoubtedly all thrown into pits dug +among the rocks, on the spot, and hastily covered by the officers +having in charge the details of the executions. There were no prayers +over their graves, except those uttered by themselves in their last +moments. + + + +death warrant + +[View larger image (383K)] + + + +return on warrant + +[View larger image (327K)] + + +The descendants of Bridget Bishop are very numerous in Salem; embracing +some of our oldest and most respectable families, and branching widely +from them. There is no evidence of issue by her first marriage. Thomas +Oliver, her second husband, had daughters by a former wife, who were +represented in the next generation under the names of Hilliard, Hooper, +and Jones. By his wife Bridget, he had but one child,—a daughter, +Christian, born May 8, 1667. She married Thomas Mason, and died in +1693; leaving an only child, Susannah, born August 23, 1687. Edward +Bishop was her guardian. She married John Becket in 1711, and by him +had a son, John, and six daughters, as follows: Susannah, married to +David Felt, Elizabeth to William Peele, Sarah to Nathaniel Silsbee, +Rebecca to William Fairfield, Eunice to Thorndike Deland, and Hannah to +William Cloutman. + +After the condemnation of Bridget Bishop, the Court took a recess, and +consulted the ministers of Boston and the neighborhood respecting the +prosecutions. The response of the reverend gentlemen, while +urging,[ii.268] in general terms, the importance of caution and +circumspection in the methods of examination, decidedly and earnestly +recommended that the proceedings should be vigorously carried on; and +they were, indeed, vigorously carried on. + +Hutchinson says, that, "at the first trial, there was no colony or +provincial law against witchcraft in force. The statute of James the +First must therefore have been considered as in force in the province, +witchcraft not being an offence at common law. Before the adjournment, +the old colony law, which makes witchcraft a capital offence, was +revived with the other local laws, as they were called, and made a law +of the province." The General Court, which thus revived the law making +witchcraft a capital offence, met, June 8, two days before the +execution of Bridget Bishop. The proceedings that took place at Salem +were thus assumed as a provincial matter, for which the immediate +locality was not responsible, but the legislature, clergy, and people +of the country at large. + +The Court met again on Wednesday, the 29th of June; and, after trial, +sentenced to death Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth How, Susanna +Martin, and Rebecca Nurse, who were all executed on the 19th of July. + +Calef says, that, at the trial of Sarah Good,— + +"One of the afflicted fell in a fit; and, after coming out of it, cried +out of the prisoner for stabbing her in the breast with a knife, and +that she had broken the knife in stabbing of her. Accordingly, a piece +of the blade of a knife was [ii.269]found about her. Immediately, +information being given to the Court, a young man was called, who +produced a haft and part of the blade, which the Court, having viewed +and compared, saw it to be the same; and, upon inquiry, the young man +affirmed that yesterday he happened to break that knife, and that he +cast away the upper part,—this afflicted person being then present. The +young man was dismissed and she was bidden by the Court not to tell +lies; and was improved after (as she had been before) to give evidence +against the prisoners." + +Hutchinson, in relating this circumstance, refers to a case tried +before Sir Matthew Hale, when a similar kind of falsehood was proved +against an "afflicted" witness; notwithstanding which he says the +person on trial was found guilty, "and the judge and all the court were +fully satisfied with the verdict." + +Sarah Good appears to have been an unfortunate woman, having been +subject to poverty, and consequent sadness and melancholy. But she was +not wholly broken in spirit. Mr. Noyes, at the time of her execution, +urged her very strenuously to confess. Among other things, he told her +"she was a witch, and that she knew she was a witch." She was conscious +of her innocence, and felt that she was oppressed, outraged, trampled +upon, and about to be murdered, under the forms of law; and her +indignation was roused against her persecutors. She could not bear in +silence the cruel aspersion; and, although she was just about to be +launched into eternity, the torrent of her feelings could not be +restrained, but burst upon[ii.270] the head of him who uttered the +false accusation. "You are a liar," said she. "I am no more a witch +than you are a wizard; and, if you take away my life, God will give you +blood to drink." Hutchinson says that, in his day, there was a +tradition among the people of Salem, and it has descended to the +present time, that the manner of Mr. Noyes's death strangely verified +the prediction thus wrung from the incensed spirit of the dying woman. +He was exceedingly corpulent, of a plethoric habit, and died of an +internal hemorrhage, bleeding profusely at the mouth. + +We have no information relating to the execution of Elizabeth How. Her +gentle, patient, humble, benignant, devout, and tender heart bore her, +no doubt, with a spirit of saint-like love and faith, through the +dreadful scenes. We cannot doubt, that, in death as in life, she +forgave, prayed for, and invoked blessing upon her persecutors. Neither +has any thing come down in reference to the deportment of Sarah Wildes +or Susanna Martin. We may take it for granted, that the former was a +patient and humble, but firm and faithful sufferer; and that the latter +displayed the great energy of spirit, and probably the strength of +language, for which she was remarkable. Of the case of Rebecca Nurse we +have more information. + +The character, age, and position of this venerable matron created an +impression, which called, to the utmost, all the arts and efforts of +the prosecution to counteract. Many who had gone fully and earnestly in +support of the proceedings against others paused[ii.271] and hesitated +in reference to her; and large numbers who had been overawed into +silence before, bravely came forward in her defence. The character of +Nathaniel Putnam has been described. He was a man of extraordinary +strength and acuteness of mind, and in all his previous life had been +proof against popular excitement. The death of his brother Thomas, +seven years before, had left him the head and patriarch of his great +family: as such, he was known as "Landlord Putnam." Entire confidence +was felt by all in his judgment, and deservedly. But he was a strong +religionist, a life-long member of the Church, and extremely strenuous +and zealous in his ecclesiastical relations. He was getting to be an +old man; and Mr. Parris had wholly succeeded in obtaining, for the +time, possession of his feelings, sympathy, and zeal in the management +of the Church, and secured his full co-operation in the witchcraft +prosecutions. He had been led by Parris to take the very front in the +proceedings. But even Nathaniel Putnam could not stand by in silence, +and see Rebecca Nurse sacrificed. A curious paper, written by him, is +among those which have been preserved:— + +"Nathaniel Putnam, Sr., being desired by Francis Nurse, Sr., to give +information of what I could say concerning his wife's life and +conversation, I, the abovesaid, have known this said aforesaid woman +forty years, and what I have observed of her, human frailties excepted, +her life and conversation have been according to her profession; and +she hath brought up a great family of children and educated[ii.272] +them well, so that there is in some of them apparent savor of +godliness. I have known her differ with her neighbors; but I never knew +or heard of any that did accuse her of what she is now charged with." + +A similar paper was signed by thirty-nine other persons of the village +and the immediate vicinity, all of the highest respectability. The men +and women who dared to do this act of justice must not be forgotten:— + +"We whose names are hereunto subscribed, being desired by Goodman Nurse +to declare what we know concerning his wife's conversation for time +past,—we can testify, to all whom it may concern, that we have known +her for many years; and, according to our observation, her life and +conversation were according to her profession, and we never had any +cause or grounds to suspect her of any such thing as she is now accused +of. + +"Israel Porter. Samuel Abbey. +Elizabeth Porter. Hepzibah Rea. Edward Bishop, Sr. Daniel Andrew. +Hannah Bishop. Sarah Andrew. Joshua Rea. Daniel Rea. Sarah +Rea. Sarah Putnam. Sarah Leach. Jonathan Putnam. John +Putnam. Lydia Putnam. Rebecca Putnam. Walter Phillips, Sr. Joseph +Hutchinson, Sr. Nathaniel Felton, Sr. Lydia Hutchinson. Margaret +Phillips. William Osburn. Tabitha Phillips. Hannah Osburn. Joseph +Houlton, Jr. Joseph Holton, Sr. Samuel Endicott. Sarah +Holton. Elizabeth Buxton. Benjamin Putnam. Samuel Aborn, Sr. +Sarah Putnam. Isaac Cook. Job Swinnerton. Elizabeth Cook. Esther +Swinnerton. Joseph Putnam." Joseph Herrick, Sr. + +[ii.273] + +An examination of the foregoing names in connection with the history of +the Village will show conclusive proof, that, if the matter had been +left to the people there, it would never have reached the point to +which it was carried. It was the influence of the magistracy and the +government of the colony, and the public sentiment prevalent elsewhere, +overruling that of the immediate locality, that drove on the storm. + +Israel Porter was the head of a great and powerful family. His wife +Elizabeth was, as has been stated, a sister of Hathorne, the examining +magistrate. Edward and Hannah Bishop were the venerable heads and +founders of a large family. They lived in Beverly, and must each have +been about ninety years of age. The list contains the names of the +heads of the principal families in the village,—such as John and +Rebecca Putnam, the Hutchinsons, Reas, Leaches, Houltons, and Herricks; +and, in the neighborhood, such as the Feltons, Osbornes, and Samuel +Endicott. The most remarkable fact it discloses is that it contains the +name of one of the two complainants who procured the warrant against +Rebecca Nurse,—Jonathan Putnam, the eldest son of John; and also of his +wife Lydia. Subsequent reflection, and the return of his better +judgment, satisfied him that he had done a great wrong to an innocent +and worthy person; and he had the manliness to come out in her favor. +This document ought to have been effectual in saving the life of +Rebecca Nurse. It will for ever vindicate her character, and reflect +honor upon each and every name subscribed to it.[ii.274] + +One of the most cruel features in the prosecution of the witchcraft +trials, and which was practised in all countries where they took place, +was the examination of the bodies of the prisoners by a jury of the +same sex, under the direction and in the presence of a surgeon or +physician. The person was wholly exposed, and every part subjected to +the most searching scrutiny. The process was always an outrage upon +human nature; and in the cases of the victims on this occasion, many of +them of venerable years and delicate feelings, it was shocking to every +natural and instinctive sentiment. There is reason to fear that it was +often conducted in a rough, coarse, and brutal manner. Marshal Herrick +testifies, that, "by order of Their Majesties' justices," he, +accompanied by the jail-keeper Dounton, and Constable Joseph Neal, made +an examination of the body of George Jacobs. In persons of his great +age, there would, in all likelihood, be shrivelled, desiccated, and +callous places. They found one on the old man, under his right +shoulder. Herrick made oath that it was a veritable witch teat, and his +deposition describes it as follows: "About a quarter of an inch long or +better, with a sharp point drooping downwards, so that I took a pin, +and run it through the said teat; but there was neither water, blood, +or corruption, nor any other matter." As proof positive that this was +"the Devil's mark," Herrick and the turnkey testify that "the said +Jacobs was not in the least sensible of what had been done"! + +The mind loathes the thought of handling in this[ii.275] way refined +and sensitive females of matronly character, or persons of either sex, +with infirmities of body rendered sacred by years. The results of the +examination were reduced to written reports, going into details, and, +among other evidences in the trials, spread before the Court and +jury.[C] + +The evidence in the case of Rebecca Nurse was made up of the usual +representations and actings of the "afflicted children." Mary Walcot +and Abigail Williams charged her with having committed several murders; +mentioning particularly Benjamin Houlton, John Harwood, and Rebecca +Shepard, and averring that she was aided therein by her sister Cloyse. +Mr. Parris, too, gave in a deposition against her; from which it +ap[ii.276]pears, that, a certain person being sick, Mercy Lewis was +sent for. She was struck dumb on entering the chamber. She was asked to +hold up her hand, if she saw any of the witches afflicting the patient. +Presently she held up her hand, then fell into a trance; and after a +while, coming to herself, said that she saw the spectres of Goody Nurse +and Goody Carrier having hold of the head of the sick man. Mr. Parris +swore to this statement with the utmost confidence in Mercy's +declarations. + +The testimony of three persons particularly is required to be given, as +illustrating the extraordinary extent to which the minds of those +involved in the affair were under infatuation or hallucination. + +Mrs. Ann Putnam was about thirty years of age. For six months she had +been constantly absorbed in what was then, as now, regarded as +spiritualism. Her[ii.277] house had been the scene of a perpetual +series of wonders supposed to be disclosures and manifestations of a +supernatural character. Apparitions, spectral shapes of living witches, +ghosts of their murdered victims, and demons generally, were of daily +and hourly occurrence. The dread secrets of the world unknown had been +revealed to her in waking fancies and dreams by night. An originally +sensitive and imaginative nature had been wrought into a condition in +which her mental faculties were at once enfeebled and exalted. Besides +all this, there were the trials to which her constitution had been +subjected by the experiences of maternity so early begun, and the +pressure upon her mind and heart of the anxieties and cares incident to +a large family of young children. An accumulation of disappointments, +vexations, and consuming griefs, spread like a dark cloud over her +life,—the deaths of her own children, and of her sister Bayley and her +children, and of her sister Baker's children; and, finally, the +long-continued, and constantly recurring sufferings, tortures, +convulsions, fits, and trances of her daughter Ann, and her +servant-woman Mercy Lewis, under, as she fully believed, a diabolical +hand.—These things must have given to her countenance and tones of +voice a wonderful impressiveness to all who looked upon or listened to +them. Her eminent social position, her general reputation,—for Lawson, +who knew her well, calls her "a very sober and pious woman," so far as +he could judge,—the stamp of profound earnestness marked on all +her[ii.278] language, the glow which morbid excitement long experienced +gave to her expression, must have arrested, to a high degree, the +attention of the assembled multitude. An air of sadness, in the wild +ravings of imagination, pervades her testimony. I present her +deposition in full, as one of the phenomena of this strange +transaction:— + +"The Deposition of Ann Putnam, the wife of Thomas Putnam, aged about +thirty years, who testifieth and saith, that, on the 18th March, 1692, +I being wearied out in helping to tend my poor afflicted child and +maid, about the middle of the afternoon I lay me down on the bed to +take a little rest; and immediately I was almost pressed and choked to +death, that, had it not been for the mercy of a gracious God and the +help of those that were with me, I could not have lived many moments: +and presently I saw the apparition of Martha Corey, who did torture me +so as I cannot express, ready to tear me all to pieces, and then +departed from me a little while; but, before I could recover strength +or well take breath, the apparition of Martha Corey fell upon me again +with dreadful tortures, and hellish temptation to go along with her. +And she also brought to me a little red book in her hand and a black +pen, urging me vehemently to write in her book; and several times that +day she did most grievously torture me, almost ready to kill me. And, +on the 19th March, Martha Corey again appeared to me; and also Rebecca +Nurse, the wife of Francis Nurse, Sr.: and they both did torture me a +great many times this day with such tortures as no tongue can express, +because I would not yield to their hellish temptations, that, had I not +been upheld by an Almighty arm, I could not have lived[ii.279] while +night. The 20th March, being sabbath-day, I had a great deal of respite +between my fits. 21st March, being the day of the examination of Martha +Corey, I had not many fits, though I was very weak; my strength being, +as I thought, almost gone: but, on the 22d March, 1692, the apparition +of Rebecca Nurse did again set upon me in a most dreadful manner, very +early in the morning, as soon as it was well light. And now she +appeared to me only in her shift, and brought a little red book in her +hand, urging me vehemently to write in her book; and, because I would +not yield to her hellish temptations, she threatened to tear my soul +out of my body, blasphemously denying the blessed God, and the power of +the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul; and denying several places of +Scripture which I told her of, to repel her hellish temptations. And +for near two hours together, at this time, the apparition of Rebecca +Nurse did tempt and torture me, and also the greater part of this day, +with but very little respite. 23d March, am again afflicted by the +apparitions of Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey, but chiefly by Rebecca +Nurse. 24th March, being the day of the examination of Rebecca Nurse, I +was several times afflicted in the morning by the apparition of Rebecca +Nurse, but most dreadfully tortured by her in the time of her +examination, insomuch that the honored magistrates gave my husband +leave to carry me out of the meeting-house; and, as soon as I was +carried out of the meeting-house doors, it pleased Almighty God, for +his free grace and mercy's sake, to deliver me out of the paws of those +roaring lions, and jaws of those tearing bears, that, ever since that +time, they have not had power so to afflict me until this 31st May, +1692. At the same moment that I was hearing my evidence read by the +honored magistrates, to take my[ii.280] oath, I was again re-assaulted +and tortured by my before-mentioned tormentor, Rebecca Nurse." + +"The Testimony of Ann Putnam, Jr., witnesseth and saith, that, being in +the room when her mother was afflicted, she saw Martha Corey, Sarah +Cloyse, and Rebecca Nurse, or their apparition, upon her mother." + +Mrs. Ann Putnam made another deposition under oath, at the same trial, +which shows that she was determined to overwhelm the prisoner by the +multitude of her charges. She says that Rebecca Nurse's apparition +declared to her that "she had killed Benjamin Houlton, John Fuller, and +Rebecca Shepard;" and that she and her sister Cloyse, and Edward +Bishop's wife, had killed young John Putnam's child; and she further +deposed as followeth:— + +"Immediately there did appear to me six children in winding-sheets, +which called me aunt, which did most grievously affright me; and they +told me that they were my sister Baker's children of Boston; and that +Goody Nurse, and Mistress Carey of Charlestown, and an old deaf woman +at Boston, had murdered them, and charged me to go and tell these +things to the magistrates, or else they would tear me to pieces, for +their blood did cry for vengeance. Also there appeared to me my own +sister Bayley and three of her children in winding-sheets, and told me +that Goody Nurse had murdered them." + +There is in this deposition a passage which illustrates one of the +doctrines held at the time on the subject of witchcraft. Mrs. Ann +Putnam "testifieth and saith, that, on the first day of June, 1692, +the[ii.281] apparition of Rebecca Nurse did again fall upon me, and +almost choke me; and she told me, that, now she was come out of prison, +she had power to afflict me, and that now she would afflict me all this +day long." The reference here is probably to the fact, that, on the 1st +of June, she with many other prisoners was transferred from the jail in +Boston to that in Salem; and that, "all that day long" being outside of +prison walls, she had greater power to afflict than when chained in a +cell. This was undoubtedly the received opinion, and it is curiously +illustrated in the foregoing passage. + +The only breath of disparagement against the character of Goodwife +Nurse that can be found in any of the papers is in the following +deposition:— + +"The Deposition of Sarah Houlton, relict of Benjamin Houlton, deceased, +who testifieth and saith, that, about this time three years, my dear +and loving husband, Benjamin Houlton, deceased, was as well as ever I +knew him in my life till one Saturday morning, that Rebecca Nurse, who +now stands charged for witchcraft, came to our house, and fell a +railing at him because our pigs got into her field. Though our pigs +were sufficiently yoked, and their fence was down in several places, +yet all we could say to her could no ways pacify her; but she continued +railing and scolding a great while together, calling to her son Benj. +Nurse to go and get a gun and kill our pigs, and let none of them go +out of the field, though my poor husband gave her never a misbeholding +word. And, within a short time after this, my poor husband going out +very early in the morning, as he[ii.282] was coming in again, he was +taken with a strange fit in the entry; being struck blind and stricken +down two or three times, so that, when he came to himself, he told me +he thought he should never have come into the house any more. And, all +summer after, he continued in a languishing condition, being much +pained at his stomach, and often struck blind: but, about a fortnight +before he died, he was taken with strange and violent fits, acting much +like to our poor bewitched persons when we thought they would have +died; and the doctor that was with him could not find what his +distemper was. And, the day before he died, he was very cheerly; but, +about midnight, he was again most violently seized upon with violent +fits, till the next night, about midnight, he departed this life by a +cruel death. + +"_Jurat in Curia._" + +In explanation of the import of this testimony, it is to be observed, +that the estate of Benjamin Houlton was contiguous to that of Francis +Nurse. They were separated by a fence, which, as in such cases, was +required for half its length to be kept in order by one party, the +remaining half by the other. What the exact facts were cannot be +ascertained, as we have the story of one side only. The widow Houlton +appears to have been a tender-hearted, and, for aught we know, good +woman. Some years afterwards, she was married, as his second wife, to +Benjamin Putnam,—a very respectable person, and, on the death of his +father Nathaniel, the head of that branch of the family. He was, for +many years, deacon of the church. But she was, it must be conceded, a +prejudiced witness; and[ii.283] her judgment for the time was wholly +beclouded by the prevalent superstitions. The garden had been, from the +days of Townsend Bishop, a choice portion of the Nurse estate. In all +farms, it was a most important and valuable item; and was generally +under the special care and management of the wife, daughters, and +younger lads of the husbandman. Rebecca Nurse was an efficient +helpmeet; contributing her whole share to the success of the great +enterprise of clearing the estate, as well as in bringing up and +educating a large family. It was, no doubt, very provoking to her, as +it would be to any one, to have vegetable and flower beds devastated by +the ravages of a neighbor's stray pigs. To what extent her "railing and +scolding" went, she was not allowed to contribute her statement, to +enable us to judge. The affair probably produced considerable gossip, +and seems to be alluded to in Nathaniel Putnam's certificate in behalf +of Rebecca Nurse. There is reason to believe that the widow Houlton was +one of the first to realize what great injustice had been done by her +and others to the good name of Rebecca Nurse. + +Notwithstanding this evidence, so deeply were the jury impressed with +the eminent virtue and true Christian excellence of this venerable +woman, that, in spite of the clamors of the outside crowd, the +monstrous statements of accusing witnesses, and the strong leaning of +the Court against her, the jury brought in a verdict of "Not guilty." +Calef, and Hutchinson after him, describe the effect, and what +followed:[ii.284]— + +"Immediately, all the accusers in the Court, and, suddenly after, all +the afflicted out of Court, made an hideous outcry; to the amazement, +not only of the spectators, but the Court also seemed strangely +surprised. One of the judges expressed himself not satisfied: another +of them, as he was going off the bench, said they would have her +indicted anew. The chief-justice said he would not impose on the jury, +but intimated as if they had not well considered one expression of the +prisoner when she was upon trial; viz., that when one Hobbs, who had +confessed herself to be a witch, was brought into Court to witness +against her, the prisoner, turning her head to her, said, 'What! do you +bring her? She is one of us;' or words to that effect. This, together +with the clamors of the accusers, induced the jury to go out again, +after their verdict, 'Not guilty.'" + +The foreman of the jury, Thomas Fisk, made this statement on the 4th of +July, a few days after the trial:— + +"After the honored Court had manifested their dissatisfaction of the +verdict, several of the jury declared themselves desirous to go out +again, and thereupon the Court gave leave; but, when we came to +consider the case, I could not tell how to take her words as an +evidence against her, till she had a further opportunity to put her +sense upon them, if she would take it. And then, going into Court, I +mentioned the words aforesaid, which by one of the Court were affirmed +to have been spoken by her, she being then at the bar, but made no +reply nor interpretation of them; whereupon these words were to me a +principal evidence against her." [ii.285] + +Upon being informed of the use made of her words, the prisoner put in +the following declaration:— + +"These presents do humbly show to the honored Court and jury, that I +being informed that the jury brought me in guilty upon my saying that +Goodwife Hobbs and her daughter were of our company; but I intended no +otherwise than as they were prisoners with us, and therefore did then, +and yet do, judge them not legal evidence against their +fellow-prisoners. And I being something hard of hearing and full of +grief, none informing me how the Court took up my words, and therefore +had no opportunity to declare what I intended when I said they were of +our company." + +It was perfectly natural for her to have spoken of them as "of our +company," not only from the fact that they had long been crowded +together in the same jails, but as they had accompanied each other in +the transferrence from one jail to another, from time to time. A few +days before, a large party, of which she was one, had been brought from +Boston, spending the whole day together on the route. Sarah Good, John +Procter and wife, Susanna Martin, Bridget Bishop, and Alice Parker +happen to be mentioned as belonging to it. Calef further states:— + +"After her condemnation, the governor saw cause to grant a reprieve, +which, when known (and some say immediately upon granting), the +accusers renewed their dismal outcries against her; insomuch that the +governor was by some Salem gentlemen prevailed with to recall the +reprieve, and she was executed with the rest.[ii.286] + +"The testimonials of her Christian behavior, both in the course of her +life and at her death, and her extraordinary care in educating her +children, and setting them a good example, under the hands of so many, +are so numerous, that for brevity they are here omitted." + +The extraordinary conduct of "the Salem gentlemen," in preventing the +intended exercise of executive discretion and clemency on this +occasion, is explained, it is probable, by the fact, stated by Neal in +his "History of New England," that there was an organized association +of private individuals, a committee of vigilance, in Salem, during the +continuance of the delusion, who had undertaken to ferret out and +prosecute all suspected persons. He says that many were arrested and +thrown into prison by their influence and interference. It is hardly to +be doubted, that the persons who busied themselves to prevent the +reprieve of Rebecca Nurse acted under the authority and by the +direction of this self-constituted body of inquisitors. The agency of +such unauthorized and irresponsible combinations is always of +questionable expediency. When acting in the same line with an excited +populace, they are extremely dangerous. + +There is no more disgraceful record in the judicial annals of the +country, than that which relates the trial of this excellent woman. The +wave of popular fury made a clear breach over the judgment-seat. The +loud and malignant outcry of an infatuated mob, inside and outside of +the Court-house, instead of being yielded to, ought to have been, not +only sternly rebuked, but[ii.287] visited with prompt and exemplary +punishment. The judges were not only overcome and intimidated from the +faithful discharge of their sacred duty by a clamoring crowd, but they +played into their hands. Hutchinson justly remarks, that their conduct +was in violation of that rule to execute "law and justice in mercy," +which ought always to be written on their hearts. "In a capital case, +the Court often refuses a verdict of 'Guilty;' but rarely, if ever, +sends a jury out again upon one of 'Not guilty.'" The statement made by +the foreman of the jury, with the subsequent explanation of the +prisoner, taken in connection with the ground on which the +chief-justice sent the jury out again after rendering their verdict of +"Not guilty," made it the duty of the Court and the executive to give +to her the benefit of that verdict. + +At the trial of her mother, Sarah Nurse—aged twenty-eight years or +thereabouts—offered this piece of testimony: that, "being in the Court, +this 29th of June, 1692, I saw Goodwife Bibber pull pins out of her +clothes, and held them between her fingers, and clasped her hands round +her knee; and then she cried out, and said, Goody Nurse pinched her." +In all these trials, Mercy Lewis was a principal witness and actor; yet +we find, among the papers, testimony from the most respectable and +reliable persons, that she was not to be trusted. There was also +testimony which ought to have broken the force of the depositions of +Ann Putnam and her mother. Four days after the examination and +commitment of Rebecca Nurse, John[ii.288] Tarbell and Samuel Nurse went +to the house of Thomas Putnam to find out in what way their mother had +been made the object of such shocking accusations. They were men whose +credibility was never brought in question. Their declarations, on this +occasion, were not disputed, and, if not true, might have been +overthrown; for there were many witnesses of the facts they stated. +Tarbell swore as follows: "Upon discourse of many things, I asked +whether the girl that was afflicted did first speak of Goody Nurse, +before others mentioned her to her. They said she told them she saw the +apparition of a pale-faced woman that sat in her grandmother's seat, +but did not know her name. Then I replied and said, 'But who was it +that told her that it was Goody Nurse?' Mercy Lewis said it was Goody +Putnam that said it was Goody Nurse. Goody Putnam said that it was +Mercy Lewis that told her. Thus they turned it upon one another, +saying, 'It was you,' and 'It was you that told her.'" Samuel Nurse +testified to the same. + +There was another piece of evidence, which, though brought against +Rebecca Nurse, bears harder, as we read it now, upon Ann Putnam than +any one else, and makes it more difficult to palliate her conduct on +the supposition of partial insanity. It is, all along, one of the +obscure problems of our subject to determine how far delusion may have +been accompanied by fraud and imposture. Edward Putnam testified, that +"Ann Putnam, Jr., was bitten by Rebecca Nurse, as she said, about two +of the clock of the day" after Rebecca[ii.289] Nurse had been committed +to jail, and while she was several miles distant, in Salem; and the +said Nurse also struck said Ann Putnam with her spectral chain, leaving +a mark, "being in a kind of a round ring, and three streaks across the +ring: she had six blows with a chain in the space of half an hour; and +she had one remarkable one, with six streaks across her arm." Edward +Putnam swears, "I saw the mark, both of bite and chains." The Court, no +doubt, were solemnly impressed by this amazing evidence; but it is hard +to avoid the conclusion that Ann Putnam was guilty of elaborate +falsehood and a studied trick. + +In the trials at this session, one of the "afflicted children" cried +out against the Rev. Samuel Willard, of the Old South Church, in +Boston. "She was sent out of Court, and it was told about that she was +mistaken in the person." There was surely evidence enough against the +honesty and credibility of the accusers to leave the judges without +excuse, and justly meriting perpetual condemnation for not paying heed +to it. + +The case of Rebecca Nurse proves that a verdict could not have been +obtained against a person of her character charged with witchcraft in +this county, had not the most extraordinary efforts been made by the +prosecuting officer, aided by the whole influence of the Court and +provincial authorities. The odium of the proceedings at the trials and +at the executions cannot fairly be laid upon Salem, or the people of +this vicinity.[ii.290] + +But nothing can extenuate the infamy that must for ever rest upon the +names of certain parties to the proceedings. Not to attempt here to +measure the guilt of the accusing witnesses, it may be mentioned that +it was the deliberate conviction of the family of Rebecca Nurse, that +Mr. Parris, more than all other persons, was responsible for her +execution; whether by his officious activity in driving on the +prosecution, or in preventing her reprieve, cannot be known. Of the +prominent part taken by Mr. Noyes in the cruel treatment of this woman, +there is no room for doubt. The records of the First Church in Salem +are darkened by the following entry:— + +"1692, July 3.—After sacrament, the elders propounded to the +church,—and it was, by an unanimous vote, consented to,—that our sister +Nurse, being a convicted witch by the Court, and condemned to die, +should be excommunicated; which was accordingly done in the afternoon, +she being present." + +The scene presented on this occasion must have been truly impressive at +the time, as it is shocking to us in the retrospect. The action of the +church, at the close of the morning service, of course became +universally known; and the "great and spacious meeting-house" was +thronged by a crowd that filled every nook and corner of its floor, +galleries, and windows. The sheriff and his subordinates brought in the +prisoner, manacled, and the chains clanking from her aged form. She was +placed in the broad aisle. Mr.[ii.291] Higginson and Mr. Noyes—the +elders, as the clergy were then called—were in the pulpit. The two +ruling elders—who were lay officers—and the two deacons were in their +proper seats, directly below and in front of the pulpit. Mr. Noyes +pronounced the dread sentence, which, for such a crime, was then +believed to be not merely an expulsion from the church on earth, but an +exclusion from the church in heaven. It was meant to be understood as +an eternal doom. As it had been proved, in his estimation, beyond a +question, that she had given her soul to the Devil, he delivered her +over to the great adversary of God and man. + +From the dismal cell, which, for but a few days longer, was to hold her +body, he proclaimed the transferrence of her soul to— + +"A dungeon horrible on all sides round, +As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames +No light, but rather darkness visible; +Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace +And rest can never dwell; hope never comes +That comes to all; but torture without end, +As far removed from God, and light of heaven, +As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole." + +Language and imagery, exhausting the resources of the divine genius of +the greatest of poets, fail to give expression to what was felt to be +the import of this fearful sentence. It sunk the recipient of it below +the reach of human sympathy. She was regarded, by that blinded +multitude, with a horror that cast out pity, and was full of hate. But +in our view now, and, as we believe, in the view of God and angels +then, she[ii.292] occupied an infinite height above her persecutors. +Her mind was serenely fixed upon higher scenes, and filled with a peace +which the world could not take away, or its cruel wrongs disturb. She +went back to her prison walls, and then to the scaffold, with a pious +and humble faith which has not failed to be recorded among men, as it +has been rewarded where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary +are at rest. + +Calef, as already quoted, gives the impression produced by her demeanor +at her death. Hutchinson expresses in the following words the judgment +of history and the sense of all coming times:— + +"Mr. Noyes, the minister of Salem, a zealous prosecutor, excommunicated +the poor old woman, and delivered her to Satan, to whom he supposed she +had formally given herself up many years before; but her life and +conversation had been such, that the remembrance thereof, in a short +time after, wiped off all the reproach occasioned by the civil or +ecclesiastical sentence against her." + +It is impossible to close the story of the lot assigned to this good +woman by an inscrutable Providence, without again contemplating it in a +condensed recapitulation. In her old age, experiencing a full share of +all the delicate infirmities which the instincts of humanity require to +be treated with careful and reverent tenderness, she was ruthlessly +snatched from the bosom of a loving family reared by her pious fidelity +in all Christian graces, from the side of the devoted companion of her +long life, from a home that was endeared[ii.293] by every grateful +association and comfort; immured in the most wretched and crowded +jails; kept loaded with irons and bound with cords for months; insulted +and maligned at the preliminary examinations; outraged in her person by +rough and unfeeling handling and scrutiny; and in her rights, by the +most flagrant and detestable judicial oppression, by which the benefit +of a verdict, given in her favor, had been torn away; carried to the +meeting-house to receive the sentence of excommunication in a manner +devised to harrow her most sacred sentiments; and finally carted +through the streets by a route every foot of which must have been +distressing to her infirm and enfeebled frame; made to ascend a rough +and rocky path to the place of execution, and there consigned to the +hangman. Surely, there has seldom been a harder fate. + +Her body was probably thrown with the rest into a hole in the crevices +of the rock, and covered hastily and thinly over by the executioners. +It has been the constant tradition of the family, that, in some way, it +was recovered; and the spot is pointed out in the burial-place +belonging to the estate, where her ashes rest by the side of her +husband, and in the midst of her children. It is certain, that, at +least, one other body was thus exhumed, and taken to its own proper +place of burial. From the known character of Francis Nurse and his sons +and sons-in-law, we may be sure that what others could do they did not +suffer to remain undone. It is left to the imagination to present the +details of the sad and secret enterprise. In the[ii.294] darkness of +midnight, they found and identified the body, and bore it tenderly in +their arms along the silent roads and by-ways, across fields and over +fences, to the old home, where it was received by the assembled family, +mourned over, and cared for; and, during that or the ensuing night, +deposited, with tears and prayers, in their own consecrated grounds. +Her descendants of successive generations owned and reverently guarded +the spot. They own and guard it to-day. The interesting reminiscences +connected with the early history of the Nurse house have been alluded +to. It has witnessed an extraordinary variety of the conditions of +domestic vicissitude. Scenes rising before the mind in contemplative +retrospection, while gazing upon it, present the extremest contrasts of +human experience. On the evening of the 25th of October, 1678, Mary and +Elizabeth Nurse were married. Such an occurrence was undoubtedly the +occasion of the highest joy and gladness in a happy household. The old +mansion shone in light, and echoed voices of cheer. How altered its +aspect! What darkness and silence brooded over and within it, while +those same daughters waited, watched, and listened, through the solemn +hours of that night of woe and horror, for the coming of their father, +husbands, and brothers, bearing to the home, from which she had been so +cruelly torn, the remains of their slaughtered mother! + +The subsequent history of the house presents a circumstance of singular +interest in connection with[ii.295] our story. All the members of the +three branches of the Putnam family, with the exception of Joseph, seem +to have been carried away by the witchcraft delusion, in its early +stages, and were more or less active in pushing on the prosecutions. We +have seen how fierce was the maniac testimony of Mrs. Ann Putnam and +her daughter against Rebecca Nurse. The lapse of time, by a Providence +that wonderfully works its ends, has repaired the breaches made by +folly and wrong. The descendants of the numerous family of Mrs. Ann +Putnam have disappeared from the scene: none of them bearing the name +are in the village. The descendants of Deacon Edward Putnam have also +scattered in emigration to other places. Nathaniel and John, the heads +of the other two branches of the family, although involved in the +witchcraft delusion, each signed papers in favor of Rebecca Nurse; +their descendants, as well as those of Joseph, are still numerous in +the village, hold their old position of respectability and influence, +and many of them occupy the lands of their ancestors. Stephen, the +grandson of Nathaniel, married Miriam, the grand-daughter of John. +Their son Phinehas, in 1784, bought the Nurse homestead from Benjamin +Nurse, the great-grandson of Rebecca. Orin Putnam, the great-grandson +of Phinehas, to whom the estate descends, married in 1836 the daughter +of Allen Nurse, a direct descendant of Rebecca, and placed her at the +head of her old ancestral homestead. The children of that marriage, +with their father and grandfather, constitute the family[ii.296] that +dwell in and own the venerable mansion. This singular restoration, +suggesting such pleasing sentiments, adds another to the remarkable +elements of interest belonging to the history of the Townsend-Bishop +House. + +The descendants of Francis and Rebecca Nurse are numerous, and have +honorably perpetuated the name. Among them may be mentioned the Rev. +Peter Nurse, a graduate of Harvard College in 1802, for some years +librarian of that institution, an excellent scholar, and long +universally respected as a clergyman; and Amos Nurse, a graduate of the +same college in 1812,—an eminent physician connected with the medical +faculty of Bowdoin College, a man of distinguished talent and influence +in public affairs, and senator in Congress from the State of Maine. + +The Court met again on the 5th of August, and tried George Burroughs; +John Procter and Elizabeth, his wife; George Jacobs, Sr.; John Willard; +and Martha Carrier. They were all condemned, and, with the exception of +Elizabeth Procter, executed on the 19th of the same month. + +Hutchinson describes the trial of Burroughs. After speaking of the +evidence of the "afflicted persons" and the confessing witches, he +mentions other circumstances which were thought to corroborate it: "One +was, that, being a little man, he had performed feats beyond the +strength of a giant; viz., had held out a gun of seven feet barrel with +one hand, and had carried a barrel full of cider from a canoe to the +shore." Bur[ii.297]roughs said that an Indian present at the time did +the same. Instantly, the accusers said it was "the black man, or the +Devil, who," they swore, "looks like an Indian." Another piece of +evidence was, that he went from one place to another, on a certain +occasion, in a shorter time than was possible had not the Devil helped +him. He said, in answer, that another man accompanied him. Their reply +to this was, that it was the Devil, using the appearance of another +man. So whatever he said was turned against him. Hutchinson says, "Upon +the whole, he was confounded, and used many twistings and turnings, +which, I think, we cannot wonder at." This fair and judicious writer, +like Brattle, appears in the foregoing remark to have adopted the +common scandal, put in circulation by parties interested to disparage +Mr. Burroughs. The papers in this case, that have come down to us, are +more numerous than in reference to many others among the sufferers; and +they do not bear such an impression. Mr. Burroughs was astounded at the +monstrous folly and falsehood with which he was surrounded. He was a +man without guile, and incapable of appreciating such wickedness. He +tried, in simplicity and ingenuousness, to explain what was brought +against him; and this, probably, was all the "twisting and turning" he +exhibited. + +Hutchinson had the benefit of consulting all the papers belonging to +this and other trials; but neither he nor Calef seems to have noticed +one remarkable fact: many of the depositions, how many we +cannot[ii.298] tell, were procured after the trials were over, and +surreptitiously foisted in among the papers to bolster up the +proceedings. We find, for instance, the following deposition:— + +"Thomas Greenslitt, aged about forty years, being deposed, testifieth +that, about the first breaking-out of this last Indian war, being at +the house of Captain Joshua Scotto at Black Point, he saw Mr. George +Burrows, who was lately executed at Salem, lift a gun of six-foot +barrel or thereabouts, putting the forefinger of his right hand into +the muzzle of said gun, and that he held it out at arms' end, only with +that finger: and further this deponent testifieth, that, at the same +time, he saw the said Burrows take up a full barrel of molasses with +but two of the fingers of one of his hands in the bung, and carry it +from the stage head to the door at the end of the stage, without +letting it down; and that Lieutenant Richard Hunniwell and John +Greenslitt were then present, and some others that are dead. Sept. 15, +'92." + +Not only the date to this deposition, but its express language, proves +that it could not have been used at the trial. There is another, to the +same effect and of the same date, that is, nearly a month after +Burroughs was thrown into his grave. There are others of the same kind. +This stamps the management of the prosecutions, and of those concerned +in the charge of the papers, with an irregularity of the grossest kind, +which partakes strongly of the character of fraud and falsehood. + +When it was found that there was beginning to grow up a want of +confidence in "spectre evidence" and the testimony of the afflicted +children, those con[ii.299]cerned in the prosecutions became alarmed +lest a re-action of public sentiment might take place. The persons who +had brought Mr. Burroughs to his death concluded that their best escape +from public indignation was to accumulate evidence against him after he +was in his grave, particularly on the point of his superhuman strength; +and they got up these depositions, and caused them to be put among the +papers on file. Great stress was laid, by those who were interested in +damaging his character and suppressing sympathy in his fate, upon this +particular proof of his having been in confederacy with the Devil. +Increase Mather said, that, in his judgment, it was conclusive evidence +that he "had the Devil to be his familiar," and that, had he been on +the jury, he could not, on this account, have concurred in a verdict of +acquittal; and Cotton Mather, feeling the importance of making the most +of Mr. Burroughs's extraordinary strength, gives way to his tendency to +indulge in the marvellous, as follows:— + +"God had been pleased so to leave this George Burroughs, that he had +ensnared himself by several instances which he had formerly given of +preternatural strength, and which were now produced against him. He was +a very puny man, yet he had often done things beyond the strength of a +giant. A gun of about seven-foot barrel, and so heavy that strong men +could not steadily hold it out with both hands,—there were several +testimonies given in by persons of credit and honor, that he made +nothing of taking up such a gun behind the lock with but one hand, and +holding it out, like a pistol, at arms' end. Yea, there were +two[ii.300] testimonies, that George Burroughs, with only putting the +forefinger of his right hand into the muzzle of a heavy gun, a +fowling-piece of about six or seven foot barrel, did lift up the gun, +and hold it out at arms' end,—a gun which the deponents thought strong +men could not with both hands lift up, and hold at the butt end, as is +usual." + +It is further observable, in reference to the foregoing deposition from +Greenslitt, that it was given six days after the condemnation of his +mother, Ann Pudeator, and a week before her execution. Cotton Mather +says that he "was overpersuaded by others to be out of the way upon +George Burroughs's trial," six weeks before. He did not fail, however, +to come to Salem to be with his mother at her trial and until her +death, and being here was compelled to give his deposition. His +mother's life was at the mercy of the prosecutors; and he was tempted, +in the vain hope of conciliating that mercy, to gratify them by making +the statement about Burroughs a month after his execution, and whom it +could not then harm. What he said was probably no more than the truth. +It has been found that the power of the human muscles can be cultivated +to a surprising extent; and the feats ascribed to Burroughs, without +making much allowance for a natural degree of exaggeration, have been +fully equalled in our day. + +Calef gives the following account of his execution:— + +"Mr. Burroughs was carried in a cart with the others, through the +streets of Salem, to execution. When he was upon the ladder, he made a +speech for the clearing of his[ii.301] innocency, with such solemn and +serious expressions as were to the admiration of all present. His +prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord's Prayer) was so well +worded, and uttered with such composedness and such (at least seeming) +fervency of spirit, as was very affecting, and drew tears from many, so +that it seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. +The accusers said the black man stood and dictated to him. As soon as +he was turned off, Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted upon a horse, +addressed himself to the people, partly to declare that he (Mr. +Burroughs) was no ordained minister, and partly to possess the people +of his guilt, saying that the Devil often had been transformed into an +angel of light; and this somewhat appeased the people, and the +executions went on. When he was cut down, he was dragged by a halter to +a hole, or grave, between the rocks, about two feet deep; his shirt and +breeches being pulled off, and an old pair of trousers of one executed +put on his lower parts: he was so put in, together with Willard and +Carrier, that one of his hands, and his chin, and a foot of one of +them, was left uncovered." + +Cotton Mather, not satisfied with this display of animosity, at a +moment when every human heart, however imbittered by prejudice, is +hushed for the time in solemn silence, attempts, in an account +afterwards given of Mr. Burroughs's trial, to blacken his character by +an elaborate dressing-up of the absurd stories told by the accusers, +and a perverse misrepresentation of the demeanor of the accused. He +relates with apparent glee what was regarded as a wonderful achievement +of adroitness on the part of Chief-justice Stoughton in trapping Mr. +Burroughs, and putting the laugh upon him in Court.[ii.302] + +"It cost the Court a wonderful deal of trouble to hear the testimonies +of the sufferers; for, when they were going to give in their +depositions, they would for a long while be taken with fits, that made +them quite uncapable of saying any thing. The chief judge asked the +prisoner, who he thought hindered these witnesses from giving their +testimonies; and he answered, he supposed it was the Devil. The +honorable person then replied, 'How comes the Devil so loath to have +any testimony borne against you?' Which cast him into very great +confusion." + +From what fell from him, at the preliminary examination, it is evident +that it did not occur to him as a possibility that human nature could +be capable of the guilt of such a wilful fabrication and imposture on +the part of the "afflicted children." He beheld their sufferings, and +he knew his own innocence. He felt, whatever his theological creed +might have been, that a Devil was required to explain the mystery. The +apparent sufferings of the accusing witnesses convinced Court, jury, +and all, of the guilt of the accused. The logic of the chief-justice +was perfectly absurd. For, if the Devil caused the sufferings, he was +an adverse party to the prisoner. This, however, overthrows the whole +theory of the prosecution, which was that the prisoner and the Devil +were in league with each other. But the judge, jury, and people, all +equally blinded and stupefied by the delusion, did not see it; and they +chuckled over the alleged confusion of the prisoner. All thoughtful +persons will concur in Mr. Burroughs's opinion, that, if ever a +diabolical power had possession[ii.303] of human beings, it was in the +case of the wretched creatures who enacted the part of the accusing +girls in the witchcraft proceedings. In his account of the trial, +Mather makes statements which show that he was privy to the fact, that +testimony, subsequently taken, was lodged with the evidence belonging +to the case. The documents prove that it was done to an extent beyond +what he acknowledges. + +Considering that none dared to show the least sympathy with the persons +on trial, that they had none to counsel or stand by them, that the +public passions were incensed against them as against no other persons +ever charged with crime,—it being vastly more flagrant than any other +crime, a rebellion against heaven and earth, God and man; a deliberate +selling of the soul to the Arch-enemy of souls for the ruin of all +other souls,—in view of all these things, it is truly astonishing, +that, by the documents themselves, proceeding, as in almost all cases +they do, from hostile and imbittered sources, we are compelled to the +conviction, that, in their imprisonments, trials, and deaths, the +victims of this savage delusion manifested—in most cases eminently, and +in all substantially—the marks, not only of innocent, but of elevated +and heroic minds. A review of what can be gleaned in reference to Mr. +Burroughs at Casco Bay and Salem Village, and a considerate survey and +scrutiny of all that has reached us from the day of his arrest to the +moment of his death, have left a decided impression, that he was an +able, intelligent, true-minded man; ingenuous,[ii.304] sincere, humble +in his spirit; faithful and devoted as a minister; and active, +generous, and disinterested as a citizen. His descendants, under his +own name and the names of Newman, Fowle, Holbrook, Fox, Thomas, and +others, have been numerous and respectable. The late Isaiah Thomas, +LL.D., was one of them. + +From the account given of John Procter, in the First Part, it is +apparent that he was a person of decided character, and, although +impulsive and liable to be imprudent, of a manly spirit, honest, +earnest, and bold in word and deed. He saw through the whole thing, and +was convinced that it was the result of a conspiracy, deliberate and +criminal, on the part of the accusers. He gave free utterance to his +indignation at their conduct, and it cost him his life. + +A few days before his trial, he made his will. There is no reference in +it to his particular situation. His signature to the document is +accurately represented among the autographs given in this work. It was +written while the manacles were on him. Notwithstanding the danger to +which any one was exposed who expressed sympathy for convicted or +accused persons, or doubt of their guilt, a large number had the +manliness to try to save this worthy and honest citizen. John Wise, one +of the ministers of Ipswich, heads the list of petitioners from that +place. The document is in his handwriting. Thirty-one others joined in +the act, many of them among the most respectable citizens of that town. +Mr. Wise was a learned, able, and enlightened man. He had a free +spirit, and was per[ii.305]haps the only minister in the neighborhood +or country, who was discerning enough to see the erroneousness of the +proceedings from the beginning. The petition is as follows:— + +"_The Humble and Sincere Declaration of us, Subscribers, Inhabitants in +Ipswich, on the Behalf of our Neighbors, John Procter and his Wife, now +in Trouble and under Suspicion of Witchcraft._ + +"TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF ASSISTANTS NOW SITTING IN BOSTON. + +"_Honored and Right Worshipful_,—The aforesaid John Procter may have +great reason to justify the Divine Sovereignty of God under these +severe remarks of Providence upon his peace and honor, under a due +reflection upon his life past; and so the best of us have reason to +adore the great pity and indulgence of God's providence, that we are +not exposed to the utmost shame that the Devil can invent, under the +permissions of sovereignty, though not for that sin forenamed, yet for +our many transgressions. For we do at present suppose, that it may be a +method within the severer but just transactions of the infinite majesty +of God, that he sometimes may permit Sathan to personate, dissemble, +and thereby abuse innocents and such as do, in the fear of God, defy +the Devil and all his works. The great rage he is permitted to attempt +holy Job with; the abuse he does the famous Samuel in disquieting his +silent dust, by shadowing his venerable person in answer to the charms +of witchcraft; and other instances from good hands,—may be arguments. +Besides the unsearchable footsteps of God's judgments, that are brought +to light every morning, that as[ii.306]tonish our weaker reasons; to +teach us adoration, trembling, dependence, &c. But we must not trouble +Your Honors by being tedious. Therefore, being smitten with the notice +of what hath happened, we reckon it within the duties of our charity, +that teacheth us to do as we would be done by, to offer thus much for +the clearing of our neighbors' innocency; viz., that we never had the +least knowledge of such a nefandous wickedness in our said neighbors, +since they have been within our acquaintance. Neither do we remember +any such thoughts in us concerning them, or any action by them or +either of them, directly tending that way, no more than might be in the +lives of any other persons of the clearest reputation as to any such +evils. What God may have left them to, we cannot go into God's pavilion +clothed with clouds of darkness round about; but, as to what we have +ever seen or heard of them, upon our consciences we judge them innocent +of the crime objected. His breeding hath been amongst us, and was of +religious parents in our place, and, by reason of relations and +properties within our town, hath had constant intercourse with us. We +speak upon our personal acquaintance and observation; and so leave our +neighbors, and this our testimony on their behalf, to the wise thoughts +of Your Honors. + +Jno. Wise. Nathanill Perkins. Benjamin Marshall. William Story. +Senr. Thomas Lovkine. John Andrews Jur. Reinalld +Foster. William Cogswell. William Butler. Thos. Chote. Thomas +Varny. William Andrews. John Burnum Sr. John Fellows. John +Andrews. William Thomsonn. Wm. Cogswell Jur. John Chote Ser. Tho. +Low Senr. Jonathan Cogswell. Joseph Procter. Isaac +Foster. John Cogswell Ju. Samuel Gidding. John Burnum +junr. John Cogswell. Joseph Evleth. William Goodhew. Thomas +Andrews. James White. Isaac Perkins. Joseph Andrews." + +[ii.307] + +I have given the names of the men who signed this paper, as copied from +the original. It is due to their memory; and their descendants may well +be gratified by the testimony thus borne to their courage and justice. + +Their neighbors living near the bounds of the village presented the +following paper, in the handwriting of Felton, the first signer. From +the appearance of the document, it seems that a portion of it, probably +containing an equal number of names, has been cut out by scissors. + +"We whose names are underwritten, having several years known John +Procter and his wife, do testify that we never heard or understood that +they were ever suspected to be guilty of the crime now charged upon +them; and several of us, being their near neighbors, do testify, that, +to our apprehension, they lived Christian-like in their family, and +were ever ready to help such as stood in need of their help. + +"Nathaniel Felton, Sr., and Mary his wife. +Samuel Marsh, and Priscilla his wife. +James Houlton, and Ruth his wife. +John Felton. +Nathaniel Felton, Jr. +Samuel Frayll, and An his wife. +Zachariah Marsh, and Mary his wife. +Samuel Endecott, and Hanah his wife. +Samuel Stone. +George Locker. +Samuel Gaskil, and Provided his wife. +George Smith. +Edward Gaskil." + +In addition to this testimony in their favor, evidence was offered, at +their trial, that one of the accusing[ii.308] witnesses had denied, out +of Court, what she had sworn to in Court; and declared that she must, +at the time, have been "out of her head," and that she had never +intended to accuse them. It was further proved, that another of the +accusing witnesses acknowledged that she had sworn falsely, and tried +to explain away her testimony in Court, acknowledging that what the +girls said was "for sport. They must have some sport." But neither the +testimony in their favor from those who had known them through life, +nor the palpable and decisive manner in which the evidence against them +had been impeached and exposed, could open the eyes of the infatuated +Court and jury. + +After his conviction, he requested, in vain, time enough to prepare +himself for death, and make the necessary arrangements of his business +and for the welfare of his family; and the statement has come down to +us, that Mr. Noyes refused to pray with him, unless he would confess +himself guilty. The following letter, addressed by him to the ministers +named, in behalf of himself and fellow-prisoners, gives a truly +shocking account of the outrages connected with the prosecutions. It +illustrates the courage of the writer in exposing them, and is a +sensible and manly appeal and remonstrance. There is ground for +supposing that the ministers addressed were known not to be entirely +carried away by the delusion. The fact that Mr. Mather—meaning, of +course, Increase Mather—is the first named, corroborates other evidence +that he was beginning to entertain doubts about the propriety[ii.309] +of the proceedings. Of the Rev. James Allen, much has been said in +connection with the Townsend-Bishop farm. He had been a clergyman in +England, and was silenced by the Act of Uniformity, in 1662. He came to +New England; and, after officiating as an assistant to the Rev. Mr. +Davenport, in the First Church at Boston, for six years, was ordained +as its preacher in 1668. He was of independent fortune, and +subsequently took a leading part with those opposed to the party that +had favored the witchcraft prosecutions. He must have known Rebecca +Nurse quite intimately, and much of the influence used in her favor, +and which almost saved her, may be attributed to him; there was a +particular intimacy between him and Increase Mather, and together they +held Cotton Mather somewhat in check, occasionally at least. The Rev. +Joshua Moody had been settled in the ministry at Portsmouth, New +Hampshire. In the maintenance of the principles of religious liberty he +suffered a long imprisonment, and was afterwards exiled by arbitrary +power. He was then invited to the First Church in Boston, where he +preached from 1684 to 1693, when he returned to Portsmouth. He died in +1697. By his active exertions, Mr. and Mrs. English were enabled to +escape from the jail at Boston. The Rev. Samuel Willard, pastor of the +Old South Church in Boston, was one of the most revered and beloved +ministers in the country. His publications were numerous, learned, and +valuable; consisting of discourses, tracts, and volumes. His "Body of +Divinity" is an elaborate and systematic[ii.310] work, comprising two +hundred and fifty lectures on the Assembly's Catechism. That Procter +was not in error in supposing Mr. Willard open to reason on the subject +is demonstrated by the fact, that the "afflicted girls" were beginning +to cry out against this eminent divine. The Rev. John Bailey was one of +the ejected ministers who had here sought refuge from oppression in the +mother-country. He was a distinguished person, associated with Mr. +Allen and Mr. Moody in the ministry of the First Church at Boston. +Cotton Mather made him the subject of the strongest eulogium in his +"Magnalia." Procter addressed his letter to these persons because he +believed them to be superior in wisdom and candid in spirit. It cannot +be doubted that the good men did what they could in his behalf, but in +vain. + +"Salem Prison, July 23, 1692. + +"_Mr. Mather, Mr. Allen, Mr. Moody, Mr. Willard, and Mr. Bailey._ + +"Reverend Gentlemen,—The innocency of our case, with the enmity of our +accusers and our judges and jury, whom nothing but our innocent blood +will serve, having condemned us already before our trials, being so +much incensed and enraged against us by the Devil, makes us bold to beg +and implore your favorable assistance of this our humble petition to +His Excellency, that if it be possible our innocent blood may be +spared, which undoubtedly otherwise will be shed, if the Lord doth not +mercifully step in; the magistrates, ministers, juries, and all the +people in general, being[ii.311] so much enraged and incensed against +us by the delusion of the Devil, which we can term no other, by reason +we know, in our own consciences, we are all innocent persons. Here are +five persons who have lately confessed themselves to be witches, and do +accuse some of us of being along with them at a sacrament, since we +were committed into close prison, which we know to be lies. Two of the +five are (Carrier's sons) young men, who would not confess any thing +till they tied them neck and heels, till the blood was ready to come +out of their noses; and it is credibly believed and reported this was +the occasion of making them confess what they never did, by reason they +said one had been a witch a month, and another five weeks, and that +their mother made them so, who has been confined here this nine weeks. +My son, William Procter, when he was examined, because he would not +confess that he was guilty, when he was innocent, they tied him neck +and heels till the blood gushed out at his nose, and would have kept +him so twenty-four hours, if one, more merciful than the rest, had not +taken pity on him, and caused him to be unbound. + +"These actions are very like the Popish cruelties. They have already +undone us in our estates, and that will not serve their turns without +our innocent blood. If it cannot be granted that we can have our trials +at Boston, we humbly beg that you would endeavor to have these +magistrates changed, and others in their room; begging also and +beseeching you, that you would be pleased to be here, if not all, some +of you, at our trials, hoping thereby you may be the means of saving +the shedding of our innocent blood. Desiring your prayers to the Lord +in our behalf, we rest, your poor afflicted servants, + +"John Procter [and others]." [ii.312] + +The bitterness of the prosecutors against Procter was so vehement, that +they not only arrested, and tried to destroy, his wife and all his +family above the age of infancy, in Salem, but all her relatives in +Lynn, many of whom were thrown into prison. The helpless children were +left destitute, and the house swept of its provisions by the sheriff. +Procter's wife gave birth to a child, about a fortnight after his +execution. This indicates to what alone she owed her life. + +John Procter had spoken so boldly against the proceedings, and all who +had part in them, that it was felt to be necessary to put him out of +the way. He had denounced the entire company of the accusers, and their +revenge demanded his sacrifice. They brought the whole power of their +cunning and audacious arts to bear against him, and pursued him to the +death with violence and rage. The manly and noble deportment exhibited +in his dying hour seems to have made a deep impression on the minds of +some, and gave an effectual blow to the delusion. The descendants of +John Procter have always understood that his remains were recovered +from the spot where the hangman deposited them, and placed in his own +grounds, where they rest to-day. + +[ii.313] + +signatures + +[ii.314] + +signatures + +No account has come to us of the deportment of George Jacobs, Sr., at +his execution. As he was remarkable in life for the firmness of his +mind, so he probably was in death. He had made his will before the +delusion arose. It is dated Jan. 29, 1692; and shows that he, like +Procter, had a considerable estate.[ii.315] Bartholomew Gedney is one +of the attesting witnesses, and probably wrote the document. After his +conviction, on the 12th of August, he caused another to be written, +which, in its provisions, reflects light upon the state of mind +produced by the condition in which he found himself. In his infirm old +age, he had been condemned to die for a crime of which he knew himself +innocent, and which there is some reason to believe he did not think +any one capable of committing. He regarded the whole thing as a wicked +conspiracy and absurd fabrication. He had to end his long life upon a +scaffold in a week from that day. His house was desolated, and his +property sequestered. His only son, charged with the same crime, had +eluded the sheriff,—leaving his family, in the hurry of his flight, +unprovided for—and was an exile in foreign lands. The crazy wife of +that son was in prison and in chains, waiting trial on the same charge; +her little children, including an unweaned infant, left in a deserted +and destitute condition in the woods. The older children were +scattered, he knew not where, while one of them had completed the +bitterness of his lot by becoming a confessor, upon being arrested with +her mother as a witch. This grand-daughter, Margaret, overwhelmed with +fright and horror, bewildered by the statements of the accusers, and +controlled probably by the arguments and arbitrary methods of address +employed by her minister, Mr. Noyes,—whose peculiar function in these +proceedings seems to have been to drive persons accused to make +confession—had been betrayed into[ii.316] that position, and became a +confessor, and accuser of others. Under these circumstances, the old +man made a will, giving to his son George his estates, and securing the +succession of them to his male descendants. But, in the mean while, +without his then knowing it, Margaret had recalled her confession, as +appears from the following documents, which tell their own story:— + +"_The Humble Declaration of Margaret Jacobs unto the Honored Court now +sitting at Salem showeth_, that, whereas your poor and humble +declarant, being closely confined here in Salem jail for the crime of +witchcraft,—which crime, thanks be to the Lord! I am altogether +ignorant of, as will appear at the great day of judgment,—may it please +the honored Court, I was cried out upon by some of the possessed +persons as afflicting them; whereupon I was brought to my examination; +which persons at the sight of me fell down, which did very much startle +and affright me. The Lord above knows I knew nothing in the least +measure how or who afflicted them. They told me, without doubt I did, +or else they would not fall down at me; they told me, if I would not +confess, I should be put down into the dungeon, and would be hanged, +but, if I would confess, I should have my life: the which did so +affright me, with my own vile, wicked heart, to save my life, made me +make the like confession I did, which confession, may it please the +honored Court, is altogether false and untrue. The very first night +after I had made confession, I was in such horror of conscience that I +could not sleep, for fear the Devil should carry me away for telling +such horrid lies. I was, may it please the honored Court, sworn to my +confession, as I understand[ii.317] since; but then, at that time, was +ignorant of it, not knowing what an oath did mean. The Lord, I hope, in +whom I trust, out of the abundance of his mercy, will forgive me my +false forswearing myself. What I said was altogether false against my +grandfather and Mr. Burroughs, which I did to save my life, and to have +my liberty: but the Lord, charging it to my conscience, made me in so +much horror, that I could not contain myself before I had denied my +confession, which I did, though I saw nothing but death before me; +choosing rather death with a quiet conscience, than to live in such +horror, which I could not suffer. Where, upon my denying my confession, +I was committed to close prison, where I have enjoyed more felicity in +spirit, a thousand times, than I did before in my enlargement. And now, +may it please Your Honors, your declarant having in part given Your +Honors a description of my condition, do leave it to Your Honors' pious +and judicious discretions to take pity and compassion on my young and +tender years, to act and do with me as the Lord above and Your Honors +shall see good, having no friend but the Lord to plead my cause for me; +not being guilty, in the least measure, of the crime of witchcraft, nor +any other sin that deserves death from man. And your poor and humble +declarant shall for ever pray, as she is bound in duty, for Your +Honors' happiness in this life, and eternal felicity in the world to +come. So prays Your Honors' declarant, + +Margaret Jacobs." + +The following letter was written by this same young person to her +father. Let it be observed that her grandfather had been executed the +day before, partly upon her false testimony.[ii.318] + +"_From the Dungeon in Salem Prison._ + +"August 20, 1692. + +"Honored Father,—After my humble duty remembered to you, hoping in the +Lord of your good health, as, blessed be God! I enjoy, though in +abundance of affliction, being close confined here in a loathsome +dungeon: the Lord look down in mercy upon me, not knowing how soon I +shall be put to death, by means of the afflicted persons; my +grandfather having suffered already, and all his estate seized for the +king. The reason of my confinement is this: I having, through the +magistrates' threatenings, and my own vile and wretched heart, +confessed several things contrary to my conscience and knowledge, +though to the wounding of my own soul; (the Lord pardon me for it!) +but, oh! the terrors of a wounded conscience who can bear? But, blessed +be the Lord! he would not let me go on in my sins, but in mercy, I +hope, to my soul, would not suffer me to keep it any longer: but I was +forced to confess the truth of all before the magistrates, who would +not believe me; but it is their pleasure to put me in here, and God +knows how soon I shall be put to death. Dear father, let me beg your +prayers to the Lord on my behalf, and send us a joyful and happy +meeting in heaven. My mother, poor woman, is very crazy, and remembers +her kind love to you, and to uncle; viz., D.A. So, leaving you to the +protection of the Lord, I rest, your dutiful daughter, + +Margaret Jacobs." + +A temporary illness led to the postponement of her trial; and, before +the next sitting of the Court, the delusion had passed away. + +The "uncle D.A.," referred to, was Daniel Andrew, their nearest +neighbor, who had escaped at the[ii.319] same time with her father. She +calls him "uncle." He was, it is probable, a brother of John Andrew who +had married Ann Jacobs, sister of her father. Words of relationship +were then used with a wide sense. + +Margaret read the recantation of her confession before the Court, and +was, as she says, forthwith ordered by them into a dungeon. She +obtained permission to visit Mr. Burroughs the day before his +execution, acknowledged that she had belied him, and implored his +forgiveness. He freely forgave, and prayed with her and for her. It is +probable, that, at the same time, she obtained an interview with her +grandfather for the same purpose. At any rate, the old man heard of her +heroic conduct, and forthwith crowded into the space between two +paragraphs in his will, in small letters closely written (the jailer +probably being the amanuensis), a clause giving a legacy of "ten pounds +to be paid in silver" to his grand-daughter, Margaret Jacobs. There is +the usual declaration, that it "was inserted before sealing and +signing." This will having been made after conviction and sentence to +death, and having but two witnesses, one besides the jailer, was not +allowed in Probate, but remains among the files of that Court. As a +link in the foregoing story, it is an interesting relic. The legacy +clause, although not operative, was no doubt of inexpressible value to +the feelings of Margaret: and the circumstance seems to have touched +the heart even of the General Court, nearly twenty years afterwards; +for they took pains specifically to[ii.320] provide to have the same +sum paid to Margaret, out of the Province treasury. + +She was not tried at the time appointed, in consequence, it is stated, +of "an imposthume in the head," and finally escaped the fate to which +she chose to consign herself, rather than remain under a violated +conscience. In judging of her, we cannot fail to make allowance for her +"young and tender years," and to sympathize in the sufferings through +which she passed. In making confession, and in accusing others, she had +done that which filled her heart with horror, in the retrospect, so +long as she lived. In recanting it, and giving her body to the dungeon, +and offering her life at the scaffold, she had secured the forgiveness +of Mr. Burroughs and her aged grandfather, and deserves our forgiveness +and admiration. Every human heart must rejoice that this young girl was +saved. She lived to be a worthy matron and the founder of a numerous +and respectable family. + +George Jacobs, Sr., is the only one, among the victims of the +witchcraft prosecutions, the precise spot of whose burial is absolutely +ascertained. + + + +The Jacobs House + + +THE JACOBS HOUSE. + + +The tradition has descended through the family, that the body, after +having been obtained at the place of execution, was strapped by a young +grandson on the back of a horse, brought home to the farm, and buried +beneath the shade of his own trees. Two sunken and weather-worn stones +marked the spot. There the remains rested until 1864, when they were +exhumed. They were enclosed again, and reverently redeposited[ii.321] +in the same place. The skull was in a state of considerable +preservation. An examination of the jawbones showed that he was a very +old man at the time of his death, and had previously lost all his +teeth. The length of some parts of the skeleton showed that he was a +very tall man. These circumstances corresponded with the evidence, +which was that he was tall of stature; so infirm as to walk with two +staffs; with long, flowing white hair. The only article found, except +the bones, was a metallic pin, which might have been used as a +breastpin, or to hold together his aged locks. It is an observable +fact, that he rests in his own ground still. He had lived for a great +length of time on that spot; and it remains in his family and in his +name to this day, having come down by direct descent. It is a beautiful +locality: the land descends with a gradual and smooth declivity to the +bank of the river. It is not much more than a mile from the city of +Salem, and in full view from the main road. + +John Willard appears to have been an honest and amiable person, an +industrious farmer, having a comfortable estate, with a wife and three +young children. He was a grandson of Old Bray Wilkins; whether by blood +or marriage, I have not been able to ascertain. The indications are +that he married a daughter of Thomas or Henry Wilkins, most probably +the former, with both of whom he was a joint possessor of lands. He +came from Groton; and it is for local antiquaries to discover whether +he was a relative of the Rev. Samuel Willard of Boston. If so, the fact +would[ii.322] shed much light upon our story. There is but one piece of +evidence among the papers relating to his trial that deserves +particular notice. It shows the horrid character of the charges made by +the girls against prisoners at the bar, from their nature incapable of +being refuted and which the prisoners knew to be false, but the Court, +jury, and crowd implicitly believed. It also illustrates the +completeness of the machinery got up by the "accusing girls" to give +effect to their evidence. In addition to the evil gossip that could be +scoured from all the country round, and to spectres of witches and +ghosts of the dead, they brought into the scene angels and divine +beings, and testified to what they were told by them. "The shining +man," or the white man, was meant, in the following deposition, to be a +spirit of this description:— + +"The Testimony of Susanna Sheldon, aged eighteen years or +thereabouts.—Testifieth and saith, that, the day of the date hereof +(9th of May, 1692), I saw at Nathaniel Ingersoll's house the +apparitions of these four persons,—William Shaw's first wife, the Widow +Cook, Goodman Jones and his child; and among these came the apparition +of John Willard, to whom these four said, 'You have murdered us.' These +four having said thus to Willard, they turned as red as blood. And, +turning about to look at me, they turned as pale as death. These four +desired me to tell Mr. Hathorne. Willard, hearing them, pulled out a +knife, saying, if I did, he would cut my throat." + +The deponent goes on to say, that these several apparitions came before +her on another occasion, and the same language and actions took place, +and adds:[ii.323]— + +"There did appear to me a shining man, who said I should go and tell +what I had heard and seen to Mr. Hathorne. This Willard, being there +present, told me, if I did, he would cut my throat. At this time and +place, this shining man told me, that if I did go to tell this to Mr. +Hathorne, that I should be well, going and coming, but I should be +afflicted there. Then said I to the shining man, 'Hunt Willard away, +and I would believe what he said, that he might not choke me.' With +that the shining man held up his hand, and Willard vanished away. About +two hours after, the same appeared to me again, and the said Willard +with them; and I asked them where their wounds were, and they said +there would come an angel from heaven, and would show them. And +forthwith the angel came. I asked what the man's name was that appeared +to me last, and the angel told his name was Southwick. And the angel +lifted up his winding-sheet, and out of his left side he pulled a +pitchfork tine, and put it in again, and likewise he opened all the +winding-sheets, and showed all their wounds. And the white man told me +to tell Mr. Hathorne of it, and I told him to hunt Willard away, and I +would; and he held up his hand, and he vanished away." + +In the same deposition, this girl testifies that "she saw this Willard +suckle the apparitions of two black pigs on his breasts;" that Willard +told her he had been a witch twenty years; that she saw Willard and +other wizards kneel in prayer "to the black man with a long-crowned +hat, and then they vanished away." + +Such was the kind of testimony which the Court received with awe-struck +and bewildered credulity,[ii.324] and which took away the lives of +valuable and blameless men. All we know of the manner of Willard's +death is a passage from Brattle, who states that a deep impression was +produced by the admirable deportment of the sufferers during the awful +scenes before and at their executions; giving every evidence of +conscious innocence and a Christian character and faith, on the part +especially of "Procter and Willard, whose whole management of +themselves from the jail to the gallows, and whilst at the gallows, was +very affecting, and melting to the hearts of some considerable +spectators whom I could mention to you: but they are executed, and so I +leave them." + +On the 9th of September, the Court met again; and _Martha Corey_, _Mary +Easty_, _Alice Parker_, _Ann Pudeator_, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury +were tried and condemned; and, on the 17th, _Margaret Scott_, _Wilmot +Reed_, _Samuel Wardwell_, _Mary Parker_, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca +Eames, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster, and Abigail Hobbs received the same +sentence. Those in Italics were executed Sept. 22, 1692. Of the +circumstances in relation to them, in reference to their death and at +the time of their execution, but little information has reached us. The +following extract from Mr. Parris's church-records presents a striking +picture:— + +"11 September, Lord's Day.—Sister Martha Corey—taken into the church 27 +April, 1690—was, after examination upon suspicion of witchcraft, 27 +March, 1692, committed to prison for that fact, and was condemned to +the[ii.325] gallows for the same yesterday; and was this day in public, +by a general consent, voted to be excommunicated out of the church, and +Lieutenant Nathaniel Putnam and the two deacons chosen to signify to +her, with the pastor, the mind of the church herein. Accordingly, this +14 September, 1692, the three aforesaid brethren went with the pastor +to her in Salem Prison; whom we found very obdurate, justifying +herself, and condemning all that had done any thing to her just +discovery or condemnation. Whereupon, after a little discourse (for her +imperiousness would not suffer much), and after prayer,—which she was +willing to decline,—the dreadful sentence of excommunication was +pronounced against her." + +Calef informs us, that "Martha Corey, protesting her innocency, +concluded her life with an eminent prayer upon the ladder." + +Nothing has reached us particularly relating to the manner of death of +Alice or Mary Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, or Wilmot Reed. +They all asserted their innocence; and their deportment gave no ground +for any unfavorable comment by their persecutors, who were on the watch +to turn every act, word, or look of the sufferers to their +disparagement. Wilmot Reed probably adhered to the unresisting demeanor +which marked her examination. It was all a mystery to her; and to every +question she answered, "I know nothing about it." Of Mary Easty it is +grateful to have some account. Her own declarations in vindication of +her innocence are fortunately preserved; and her noble record is +complete in the fol[ii.326]lowing documents. The first appears to have +been addressed to the Special Court, and was presented immediately +before the trial of Mary Easty. No explanation has come down to us why +Sarah Cloyse was not then also brought to trial. Circumstances to which +we have no clew rescued her from the fate of her sisters. + +"_The Humble Request of Mary Easty and Sarah Cloyse to the Honored +Court humbly showeth_, that, whereas we two sisters, Mary Easty and +Sarah Cloyse, stand now before the honored Court charged with the +suspicion of witchcraft, our humble request is—First, that, seeing we +are neither able to plead our own cause, nor is counsel allowed to +those in our condition, that you who are our judges would please to be +of counsel to us, to direct us wherein we may stand in need. Secondly, +that, whereas we are not conscious to ourselves of any guilt in the +least degree of that crime whereof we are now accused (in the presence +of the living God we speak it, before whose awful tribunal we know we +shall ere long appear), nor of any other scandalous evil or miscarriage +inconsistent with Christianity, those who have had the longest and best +knowledge of us, being persons of good report, may be suffered to +testify upon oath what they know concerning each of us; viz., Mr. +Capen, the pastor, and those of the town and church of Topsfield, who +are ready to say something which we hope may be looked upon as very +considerable in this matter, with the seven children of one of us; +viz., Mary Easty: and it may be produced of like nature in reference to +the wife of Peter Cloyse, her sister. Thirdly, that the testimony of +witches, or such as are afflicted as is supposed by witches, may not be +improved to[ii.327] condemn us without other legal evidence concurring. +We hope the honored Court and jury will be so tender of the lives of +such as we are, who have for many years lived under the unblemished +reputation of Christianity, as not to condemn them without a fair and +equal hearing of what may be said for us as well as against us. And +your poor suppliants shall be bound always to pray, &c." + +The following was presented by Mary Easty to the judges after she had +received sentence of death. It would be hard to find, in all the +records of human suffering and of Christian deportment under them, a +more affecting production. It is a most beautiful specimen of strong +good-sense, pious fortitude and faith, genuine dignity of soul, noble +benevolence, and the true eloquence of a pure heart; and was evidently +composed by her own hand. It may be said of her—and there can be no +higher eulogium—that she felt for others more than for herself. + +"_The Humble Petition of Mary Easty unto his Excellency Sir William +Phips, and to the Honored Judge and Bench now sitting in Judicature in +Salem, and the Reverend Ministers, humbly showeth_, that, whereas your +poor and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, do humbly beg of +you to take it in your judicious and pious consideration, that your +poor and humble petitioner, knowing my own innocency, blessed be the +Lord for it! and seeing plainly the wiles and subtilty of my accusers +by myself, cannot but judge charitably of others that are going the +same way of myself, if the Lord steps not mightily in. I was confined a +whole month upon the same account that I am condemned[ii.328] now for, +and then cleared by the afflicted persons, as some of Your Honors know. +And in two days' time I was cried out upon them, and have been +confined, and now am condemned to die. The Lord above knows my +innocency then, and likewise does now, as at the great day will be +known to men and angels. I petition to Your Honors not for my own life, +for I know I must die, and my appointed time is set; but the Lord he +knows it is that, if it be possible, no more innocent blood may be +shed, which undoubtedly cannot be avoided in the way and course you go +in. I question not but Your Honors do to the utmost of your powers in +the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not be +guilty of innocent blood for the world. But, by my own innocency, I +know you are in the wrong way. The Lord in his infinite mercy direct +you in this great work, if it be his blessed will that no more innocent +blood be shed! I would humbly beg of you, that Your Honors would be +pleased to examine these afflicted persons strictly, and keep them +apart some time, and likewise to try some of these confessing witches; +I being confident there is several of them, has belied themselves and +others, as will appear, if not in this world, I am sure in the world to +come, whither I am now agoing. I question not but you will see an +alteration of these things. They say myself and others having made a +league with the Devil, we cannot confess. I know, and the Lord knows, +as will ... appear, they belie me, and so I question not but they do +others. The Lord above, who is the Searcher of all hearts, knows, as I +shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know not the least thing +of witchcraft; therefore I cannot, I dare not, belie my own soul. I beg +Your Honors not to deny this my humble petition from a poor, dying, +innocent person. And I question not but the Lord will give a blessing +to your endeavors." [ii.329] + +The parting interview of this admirable woman with her husband, +children, and friends, as she was about proceeding to the place of +execution, is said to have been a most solemn, affecting, and truly +sublime scene. Calef says that her farewell communications, on this +occasion, were reported, by persons who listened to them, to have been +"as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as could well be +expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present." + +Ann Pudeator had been formerly the wife of a person named Greenslitt, +who left her with five children. Her subsequent husband, Jacob +Pudeator, died in 1682, and by will gave her his whole estate, after +the payment of legacies, of five pounds each, to her Greenslitt +children, who appear to have been living in 1692 at Casco Bay. These +provisions, as well as the expressions used by Pudeator, indicate that +he regarded her with affection and esteem. The following document is +all that we know else of her character particularly, except that she +was a kind neighbor, and ever prompt in offices of charity and +sympathy. + +"_The Humble Petition of Ann Pudeator unto the Honored Judge and Bench +now sitting in Judicature in Salem, humbly showeth_, that, whereas your +poor and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, and knowing in my +own conscience, as I shall shortly answer it before the great God of +heaven, who is the Searcher and Knower of all hearts, that the evidence +of Jno. Best, Sr., and Jno. Best, Jr., and Samuel Pickworth, which was +given in against me in Court, were all of them altogether false and +untrue, and, besides the[ii.330] abovesaid Jno. Best hath been formerly +whipped and likewise is recorded for a liar. I would humbly beg of Your +Honors to take it into your judicious and pious consideration, that my +life may not be taken away by such false evidences and witnesses as +these be; likewise, the evidence given in against me by Sarah Churchill +and Mary Warren I am altogether ignorant of, and know nothing in the +least measure about it, nor nothing else concerning the crime of +witchcraft, for which I am condemned to die, as will be known to men +and angels at the great day of judgment. Begging and imploring your +prayers at the Throne of Grace in my behalf, and your poor and humble +petitioner shall for ever pray, as she is bound in duty, for Your +Honors' health and happiness in this life, and eternal felicity in the +world to come." + +Abigail, the wife of Francis Faulkner, and daughter of the Rev. Francis +Dane, of Andover, who was among those sentenced on the 17th of +September, had been examined, on the 11th of August, by Hathorne, +Corwin, and Captain John Higginson, sitting as magistrates. Upon the +prisoner's being brought in, the afflicted fell down, and went into +fits, as usual. The magistrates asked the prisoner what she had to say. +She replied, "I know nothing of it." The girls then renewed their +performances, declaring that her shape was at that moment torturing +them. The magistrates asked her if she did not see their sufferings. +She answered, "Yes; but it is the Devil does it in my shape." Ann +Putnam said that her spectre had afflicted her a few days before, +pulling her off her horse.[ii.331] Upon the touch of her person, the +sufferings of the afflicted would cease for a time. The prisoner held a +handkerchief in her hand. The girls would screech out, declaring that, +as she pressed the handkerchief, they were dreadfully squeezed. She +threw the handkerchief on the table; and they said, "There are the +shapes of Daniel Eames and Captain Floyd [two persons then in prison on +the charge of witchcraft] sitting on her handkerchief." Mary Warren +enacted the part of being dragged against her will under the table by +an invisible hand, from whose grasp she was at once released, upon the +prisoner's being made to touch her. Notwithstanding all this, she +protested her innocence, and was remanded to jail. On the 30th, she was +brought out again. In the mean while, six had been executed. The usual +means were employed to break her down; but all that was gained was, +that she owned she had expressed her indignation at the conduct of the +afflicted, and was much excited against them "for bringing her kindred +out, and she did wish them ill: and, her spirit being raised, she did +pinch her hands together, and she knew not but that the Devil might +take that advantage; but it was the Devil, and not she, that afflicted +them." This was the only concession she would make; and they were +puzzled to determine whether it was a confession, or not,—it having +rather the appearance of clearing herself from all implication with the +Devil, and leaving him on their hands—at any rate, they concluded to +regard it in the latter sense; and she was[ii.332] duly convicted, and +sentenced to death. Sir William Phips ordered a reprieve; and, after +she had been thirteen weeks in prison, he directed her to be discharged +on the ground of insufficient evidence. This, I think, is the only +instance of a special pardon granted during the proceedings. + +Samuel Wardwell, like most of the accused belonging to Andover, had +originally joined the crowd of the confessors; but he was too much of a +man to remain in that company. He took back his confession, and met his +death. While he was speaking to the people, at the gallows, declaring +his innocency, a puff of tobacco-smoke from the pipe of the +executioner, as Calef informs us, "coming in his face, interrupted his +discourse: those accusers said that the Devil did hinder him with +smoke." The wicked creatures followed their victims to the last with +their malignant outrages. The cart that carried the prisoners, on this +occasion, to the hill, "was for some time at a set: the afflicted and +others said that the Devil hindered it," &c. + +The route by which they were conveyed from the jail, which was at the +north corner of Federal and St. Peter's Streets, to the gallows, must +have been a cruelly painful and fatiguing one, particularly to infirm +and delicate persons, as many of them were. It was through St. Peter's, +up the whole length of Essex, and thence probably along Boston Street, +far towards Aborn Street; for the hill could only be ascended from that +direction. It must have been a rough and jolting[ii.333] operation; and +it is not strange that the cart got "set." It seems that the prisoners +were carried in a single cart. It was a large one, provided probably +for the occasion; and it is not unlikely that the reason why some who +had been condemned were not executed, was that the cart could not hold +them all at once. They were executed, one in June, five in July, five +in August, and eight in September, with the intention, no doubt, by +taking them in instalments, to extend the acts of the tragedy, from +month to month, indefinitely. + +It was necessary for the safety of the accusers and prosecutors to +prevent a revulsion of the public mind, or even the least diminution of +the popular violence against the supposed witches. As they all +protested their innocence to the moment of death, and exhibited a +remarkably Christian deportment throughout the dreadful scenes they +were called to encounter from their arrest to their execution, there +was reason to apprehend that the people would gradually be led to feel +a sympathy for them, if not to entertain doubts of their guilt. To +prevent this, and remove any impressions favorable to them that might +be made by the conduct and declarations of the convicts, the +prosecutors were on the alert. After the prisoners had been swung off, +on the 22d of September, "turning him to the bodies, Mr. Noyes said, +'What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging +there!'" It was the last time his eyes were regaled by such a sight. +There were no more executions on Witch Hill.[ii.334] + +Three days before, a life had been taken by the officers of the law in +a manner so extraordinary, and marked by features so shocking, that +they find no parallel in the annals of America, and will continue to +arrest for ever the notice of mankind. The history and character of old +Giles Corey have been given in preceding parts of this work. The only +papers relating to him, on file as having been sworn to before the +Grand Jury, are a few brief depositions. If he had been put on trial, +we might have had more. Elizabeth Woodwell testifies, that "she saw +Giles Corey at meeting at Salem on a lecture-day, since he has been in +prison. He or his apparition came in, and sat in the middlemost seat of +the men's seats, by the post. This was the lecture-day before Bridget +Bishop was hanged. And I saw him come out with the rest of the people." +Mary Walcot, of course, swore to the same. And Mary Warren swore that +Corey was hostile to her and afflicted her, because he thought she +"caused her master (John Procter) to ask more for a piece of meadow +than he (Corey) was willing to give." She also charged him with +"afflicting of her" by his spectre while he was in prison, and +"described him in all his garments, both of hat, coat, and the color of +them,—with a cord about his waist and a white cap on his head, and in +chains." There is reason to believe, that, while in prison, he +experienced great distress of mind. Although he had been a rough +character in earlier life, and given occasion to much scandal by his +disregard of public opinion, he always exhibited symp[ii.335]toms of a +generous and sensitive nature. His foolish conduct in becoming so +passionately engaged in the witchcraft proceedings, at their earliest +stage, as to be incensed against his wife because she did not approve +of or believe in them, and which led him to utter sentiments and +expressions that had been used against her; and so far yielding to the +accusers as to allow them to get from him the deposition, which, while +it failed to satisfy their demands, it was shameful for him to have +been persuaded to give,—all these things, which after his own +apprehension and imprisonment he had leisure to ponder upon, preyed on +his mind. He saw the awful character of the delusion to which he had +lent himself; that it had brought his prayerful and excellent wife to +the sentence of death, which had already been executed upon many other +devout and worthy persons. He knew that he was innocent of the crime of +witchcraft, and was now satisfied that all others were. Besides his own +unfriendly course towards his wife, two of his four sons-in-law had +turned against her. One (Crosby) had testified, and another (Parker) +had allowed his name to be used, as an adverse witness. In view of all +this, Corey made up his mind, determined on his course, and stood to +that determination. He resolved to expiate his own folly by a fate that +would satisfy the demands of the sternest criticism upon his conduct; +proclaim his abhorrence of the prosecutions; and attest the strength of +his feelings towards those of his children who had been false, and +those who had been true, to his wife.[ii.336] He caused to be drawn up +what has been called a will, although it is in reality a deed, and was +duly recorded as such. Its phraseology is very strongly guarded, and +made to give it clear, full, and certain effect. It begins thus: "Know +ye, &c., that I, Giles Corey, lying under great trouble and affliction, +through which I am very weak in body, but in perfect memory,—knowing +not how soon I may depart this life; in consideration of which, and for +the fatherly love and affection which I have and do bear unto my +beloved son-in-law, William Cleeves, of the town of Beverly, and to my +son-in-law, John Moulton, of the town of Salem, as also for divers +other good causes and considerations me at the present especially +moving;" and proceeds to convey and confirm all his property—"lands, +meadow, housing, cattle, stock, movables and immovables, money, +apparel, ... and all other the aforesaid premises, with their +appurtenances"—to the said Cleeves and Moulton "for ever, freely and +quietly, without any manner of challenge, claim, or demand of me the +said Giles Corey, or of any other person or persons whatsoever for me +in my name, or by my cause, means, or procurement;" and, in the use of +all the language applicable to that end, he warrants and binds himself +to defend the aforesaid conveyance and grant to Cleeves and Moulton, +their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns for ever. The +document was properly signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of +competent witnesses, whose several signatures are indorsed to that +effect. It was duly acknowledged[ii.337] before "Thomas Wade, Justice +of the Peace in Essex," and recorded forthwith. This transaction took +place in the jail at Ipswich. + +His whole property being thus securely conveyed to his faithful +sons-in-law, and placed beyond the reach of his own weakness or change +of purpose, Corey resolved on a course that would surely try to the +utmost the power of human endurance and firmness. He knew, that, if +brought to trial, his death was certain. He did not know but that +conviction and execution, through the attainder connected with it, +might invalidate all attempts of his to convey his property. But it was +certain, that, if he should not be brought to trial and conviction, his +deed would stand, and nothing could break it, or defeat its effect. He +accordingly made up his mind not to be tried. When called into court to +answer to the indictment found by the Grand Jury, he did not plead +"Guilty," or "Not guilty," but stood mute. How often he was called +forth, we are not informed; but nothing could shake him. No power on +earth could unseal his lips. + +He knew that he could have no trial that would deserve the name. To +have pleaded "Not guilty" would have made him, by his own act, a party +to the proceeding, and have been, by implication, an assent to putting +his case to the decision of a blind, maddened, and utterly perverted +tribunal. He would not, by any act or utterance of his, leave his case +with "the country" represented by a jury that embodied the passions of +the deluded and infatuated multitude[ii.338] around him. He knew that +the gates of justice were closed, and that truth had fled from the +scene. He would have no part nor lot in the matter; refused to +recognize the court, made no response to its questions, and was dumb in +its presence. He stands alone in the resolute defiance of his attitude. +He knew the penalty of suffering and agony he would have to pay; but he +freely and fearlessly encountered it. All that was needed to carry his +point was an unconquerable firmness, and he had it. He rendered it +impossible to bring him to trial; and thereby, in spite of the power +and wrath of the whole country and its authorities, retained his right +to dispose of his property; and bore his testimony against the +wickedness and folly of the hour in tones that reached the whole world, +and will resound through all the ages. + +When Corey took this ground, the Court found itself in a position of no +little difficulty, and was probably at a loss what to do. No +information has come to us of the details of the proceedings. If the +usages in England on such occasions were adopted, the prisoner was +three times brought before the Court, and called to plead; the +consequences of persisting in standing mute being solemnly announced to +him at each time. If he remained obdurate, the sentence of _peine forte +et dure_ was passed upon him; and, remanded to prison, he was put into +a low and dark apartment. He would there be laid on his back on the +bare floor, naked for the most part. A weight of iron would be placed +upon him, not quite enough to crush him. He[ii.339] would have no +sustenance, save only, on the first day, three morsels of the worst +bread; and, on the second day, three draughts of standing water that +should be nearest to the prison door: and, in this situation, such +would be alternately his daily diet till he died, or till he answered. +The object of this terrible punishment was to induce the prisoner to +plead to the indictment; upon doing which, he would be brought to trial +in the ordinary way. The motive that led prisoners to stand mute in +England is stated to have been, most generally, to save their property +from confiscation. The practice of putting weights upon them, and +gradually increasing them, was to force them, by the slowly increasing +torture, to yield. + +How far the English practice was imitated in the case of Corey will +remain for ever among the dread secrets of his prison-house. The +tradition is, that the last act in the tragedy was in an open field +near the jail, somewhere between Howard-street Burial Ground and Brown +Street. It is said that Corey urged the executioners to increase the +weight which was crushing him, that he told them it was of no use to +expect him to yield, that there could be but one way of ending the +matter, and that they might as well pile on the rocks. Calef says, +that, as his body yielded to the pressure, his tongue protruded from +his mouth, and an official forced it back with his cane. Some persons +now living remember a popular superstition, lingering in the minds of +some of the more ignorant class, that Corey's ghost haunted the grounds +where this barbar[ii.340]ous deed was done; and that boys, as they +sported in the vicinity, were in the habit of singing a ditty beginning +thus:— + +"'More weight! more weight!' +Giles Corey he cried." + +For a person of more than eighty-one years of age, this must be allowed +to have been a marvellous exhibition of prowess; illustrating, as +strongly as any thing in human history, the power of a resolute will +over the utmost pain and agony of body, and demonstrating that Giles +Corey was a man of heroic nerve, and of a spirit that could not be +subdued. + +It produced a deep effect, as it was feared that it would. The bearing +of all the sufferers at all the stages of the proceedings, and at their +execution, had told in their favor; but the course of Giles Corey +profoundly affected the public mind. This must have been noticed by the +managers of the prosecutions; and they felt that some extraordinary +expedient was necessary to renew, and render more intense than ever, +the general infatuation. From the very beginning, there had been great +skill and adroitness in arranging the order of incidents, and supplying +the requisite excitements at the right moments and the right points. +Some persons—it can only be conjectured who—had, all along, been behind +the scenes, giving direction and materials to the open actors. This +unseen power was in the village; and the movements it devised generally +proceeded from Thomas Putnam's house, or the parsonage. It was on hand +to meet the contingency[ii.341] created by Corey's having actually +carried out to the last his resolution to meet a form of death that +would, if any thing could, cause a re-action in the public mind; and +the following stratagem was contrived to turn the manner of his death +into the means of more than ever blinding and infatuating the people. +It was the last and one of the most artful strokes of policy by the +prosecutors. On the day after the death of Corey, and two days before +the execution of his wife, Mary Easty, and the six others, Judge +Sewall, then in Salem, received a letter from Thomas Putnam to this +effect:— + +"Last night, my daughter Ann was grievously tormented by witches, +threatening that she should be pressed to death before Giles Corey; +but, through the goodness of a gracious God, she had at last a little +respite. Whereupon there appeared unto her (she said) a man in a +winding-sheet, who told her that Giles Corey had murdered him by +pressing him to death with his feet; but that the Devil there appeared +unto him, and covenanted with him, and promised him that he should not +be hanged. The apparition said God hardened his heart, that he should +not hearken to the advice of the Court, and so die an easy death; +because, as it said, it must be done to him as he has done to me. The +apparition also said that Giles Corey was carried to the Court for +this, and that the jury had found the murder; and that her father knew +the man, and the thing was done before she was born." + +Cotton Mather represented this vision, made to Ann Putnam, as proof +positive of a divine communication to her, because, as he says, she +could not have received[ii.342] her information from a human source, as +everybody had forgotten the affair long ago; and that she never could +have heard of it, happening, as it did, before she was born. Bringing +up this old matter to meet the effect produced by Corey's death was +indeed a skilful move; and it answered its purpose probably to a +considerable extent. The man whom Corey was thus charged with having +murdered seventeen years before died in a manner causing some gossip at +the time; and a coroner's jury found that he had been "bruised to +death, having clodders of blood about the heart." Bringing the affair +back to the public mind, with the story of Ann Putnam's vision, was +well calculated to meet and check any sympathy that might threaten to +arise in favor of Corey. But the trick, however ingenious, will not +stand the test of scrutiny. Mather's statement that everybody had +forgotten the transaction, and that Ann could only have known of it +supernaturally, is wholly untenable; for it was precisely one of those +things that are never forgotten in a country village: it had always +been kept alive as a part of the gossip of the neighborhood in +connection with Corey; and her own father, as is unwittingly +acknowledged, knew the man, and all about it. Of course, the girl had +heard of it from him and others. The industry that had ransacked the +traditions and collected the scandal of the whole country, far and +near, for stories that were brought in evidence against all the +prisoners, had not failed to pick up this choice bit against Corey. The +only reason why it had not[ii.343] before been brought out was because +he had not been on trial. The man who died with "clodders of blood +about his heart," seventeen years before, was an unfortunate and +worthless person, who had incurred punishment for his misconduct while +a servant on Corey's farm, and afterwards at the hands of his own +family: and he does not appear to have mended his morals upon passing +into the spiritual world; for the statement of his ghost to Ann Putnam, +that the jury had found Corey guilty of murder, and that the Court was +hindered by some enchantment from proceeding against him, is disproved +by the record which is—as has been mentioned in the First Part, vol. i. +p. 185—that the man was carried back to his house by Corey's wife, and +died there some time after; and the Court did no more than fine Corey +for the punishment he had inflicted upon him while in his service, and +which the evidence showed was repeated by his parents after his return +to his own family. + +Thomas Putnam's letter and Ann's vision were the last things of the +kind that occurred. The delusion was approaching its close, and the +people were beginning to be restored to their senses. + +When it became known that Corey's resolution was likely to hold out, +and that no torments or cruelties of any kind could subdue his firm and +invincible spirit, Mr. Noyes hurried a special meeting of his church on +a week-day, and had the satisfaction of dealing the same awful doom +upon him as upon Rebecca Nurse. The entry in the record of the First +Church is as follows:[ii.344]— + +"Sept. 18, G. Corey was excommunicated: the cause of it was, that he +being accused and indicted for the sin of witchcraft, he refused to +plead, and so incurred the sentence and penalty of _pain fort dure_; +being undoubtedly either guilty of the sin of witchcraft, or of +throwing himself upon sudden and certain death, if he were otherwise +innocent." + +This attempt to introduce a form of argument into a church act of +excommunication is a slight but significant symptom of its having +become felt that the breath of reason had begun to raise a ripple upon +the surface of the public mind. It increased slowly, but steadily to a +gale that beat with severity upon Mr. Noyes and all his +fellow-persecutors to their dying day. + +After the executions, on the 22d of September, the Court adjourned to +meet some weeks subsequently; and it was, no doubt, their expectation +to continue from month to month to hold sessions, and supply, each +time, new cart-loads of victims to the hangman. But a sudden collapse +took place in the machinery, and they met no more. The executive +authority intervened, and their functions ceased. The curtain fell +unexpectedly, and the tragedy ended. It is not known precisely what +caused this sudden change. It is probable, that a revolution had been +going on some time in the public mind, which was kept for a while from +notice, but at last became too apparent and too serious to be +disregarded. It has generally been attributed to the fact, that the +girls became over-confident, and struck too high. They had ventured, as +we have seen, to cry[ii.345] out against the Rev. Samuel Willard, but +were rebuked and silenced by the Court. Whoever began to waver in his +confidence of the correctness of the proceedings was in danger of being +attacked by them; and, as a general thing, when a person was "cried out +upon," it may be taken as proof that he had spoken against them. +Increase Mather, the president of Harvard College, called by Eliot "the +father of the New-England clergy," was understood not to go so far as +his son Cotton in sustaining the proceedings; and a member of his +family was accused. The wife of Sir William Phips sympathized with +those who suffered prosecution, and is said to have written an order +for the release of a prisoner from jail. She was cried out upon. It may +have been noticed, that, though Jonathan Corwin sat with Hathorne as an +examining magistrate and assistant, and signed the commitments of the +prisoners, he never took an active part, but was a silent and passive +agent in the scene. He was subsequently raised to the bench; but there +is reason to believe that his mind was not clear as to the correctness +of the proceedings. This probably became known to the accusing girls; +for they cried out repeatedly against his wife's mother, a respectable +and venerable lady in Boston. The accusers, in aiming at such +characters, overestimated their power; and the tide began to turn +against them. But what finally broke the spell by which they had held +the minds of the whole colony in bondage was their accusation, in +October, of Mrs. Hale, the wife of the[ii.346] minister of the First +Church in Beverly. Her genuine and distinguished virtues had won for +her a reputation, and secured in the hearts of the people a confidence, +which superstition itself could not sully nor shake. Mr. Hale had been +active in all the previous proceedings; but he knew the innocence and +piety of his wife, and he stood forth between her and the storm he had +helped to raise: although he had driven it on while others were its +victims, he turned and resisted it when it burst in upon his own +dwelling. The whole community became convinced that the accusers in +crying out upon Mrs. Hale, had perjured themselves, and from that +moment their power was destroyed; the awful delusion was dispelled, and +a close put to one of the most tremendous tragedies in the history of +real life. The wildest storm, perhaps, that ever raged in the moral +world, became a calm; the tide that had threatened to overwhelm every +thing in its fury, sunk back to its peaceful bed. There are few, if +any, other instances in history, of a revolution of opinion and feeling +so sudden, so rapid, and so complete. The images and visions that had +possessed the bewildered imaginations of the people flitted away, and +left them standing in the sunshine of reason and their senses; and they +could have exclaimed, as they witnessed them passing off, in the +language of the great master of the drama and of human nature, but that +their rigid Puritan principles would not, it is presumed, have +permitted them, even in that moment of rescue and deliverance, to quote +Shakspeare,[ii.347]— + +"The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, +And these are of them. Whither are they vanished? +Into the air; and what seemed corporal, melted +As breath into the wind." + +Sir William Phips well knew that the public sentiment demanded a stop +to be put to the prosecutions. Besides that many of the people had lost +all faith in the grounds on which they had been conducted, an influence +from the higher orders of society began to make itself felt. Hutchinson +says, "Although many such had suffered, yet there remained in prison a +number of women of as reputable families as any in the towns where they +lived, and several persons, of still superior rank, were hinted at by +the pretended bewitched, or by the confessing witches. Some had been +publicly named. Dudley Bradstreet, a justice of peace, who had been +appointed one of President Dudley's council, and who was son to the +worthy old governor, then living, found it necessary to abscond. Having +been remiss in prosecuting, he had been charged by some of the +afflicted as a confederate. His brother, John Bradstreet, was forced to +fly also." + +The termination of the proceedings was probably effectually secured by +the spirited course of certain parties in Andover, who, at the first +moment of its appearing that the public sentiment was changing, +commenced actions for slander against the accusers. + +The result of the whole matter was, that, while some of the judges, +magistrates, and ministers persisted in their fanatical zeal, the great +body of the people, high and low, were rescued from the +delusion.[ii.348] + +While, in the course of our story, we have witnessed some shocking +instances of the violation of the most sacred affections and +obligations of life, in husbands and wives, parents and children, +testifying against each other, and exerting themselves for mutual +destruction, we must not overlook the many instances in which filial, +parental, and fraternal fidelity and love have shone conspicuously. It +was dangerous to befriend an accused person. Procter stood by his wife +to protect her, and it cost him his life. Children protested against +the treatment of their parents, and they were all thrown into prison. +Daniel Andrew, a citizen of high standing, who had been deputy to the +General Court, asserted, in the boldest language, his belief of Rebecca +Nurse's innocence; and he had to fly the country to save his life. Many +devoted sons and daughters clung to their parents, visited them in +prison in defiance of a bloodthirsty mob; kept by their side on the way +to execution; expressed their love, sympathy, and reverence to the +last; and, by brave and perilous enterprise, got possession of their +remains, and bore them back under the cover of midnight to their own +thresholds, and to graves kept consecrated by their prayers and tears. +One noble young man is said to have effected his mother's escape from +the jail, and secreted her in the woods until after the delusion had +passed away, provided food and clothing for her, erected a wigwam for +her shelter, and surrounded her with every comfort her situation would +admit of. The poor creature must,[ii.349] however, have endured a great +amount of suffering; for one of her larger limbs was fractured in the +all but desperate attempt to rescue her from the prison-walls. + +The Special Court being no longer suffered to meet, a permanent and +regular tribunal, called the Superior Court of Judicature, was +established, consisting of the Deputy-governor, William Stoughton, +Chief-justice; and Thomas Danforth, John Richards, Wait Winthrop, and +Samuel Sewall, associate justices. They held a Court at Salem, in +January, 1693. Hutchinson says that, on this occasion, the Grand Jury +found about fifty indictments. The following persons were brought to +trial: Rebecca Jacobs, Margaret Jacobs, Sarah Buckley, Job Tookey, +Hannah Tyler, Candy, Mary Marston, Elizabeth Johnson, Abigail Barker, +Mary Tyler, Sarah Hawkes, Mary Wardwell, Mary Bridges, Hannah Post, +Sarah Bridges, Mary Osgood, Mary Lacy, Jr., Sarah Wardwell, Elizabeth +Johnson, Jr., and Mary Post. The three last were condemned, but not +executed: all the rest were acquitted. Considering that the "spectral +evidence" was wholly thrown out at these trials, the facts that the +grand jury, under the advice of the Court, brought in so many +indictments, and that three were actually convicted, are as +discreditable to the regular Court as the convictions at the Special +Court are to that body. It has been said that the Special Court had not +an adequate representation of lawyers in its composition; and the +results of its proceedings have been ascribed to that circumstance. It +has been[ii.350] held up disparagingly in comparison with the regular +Court that succeeded it. But, in fact, the regular Court consisted of +persons all of whom sat in the Special Court, with the exception of +Danforth. But his proceedings in originating the arrests for witchcraft +in the fall of 1691, and his action when presiding at the preliminary +examination of John Procter, Elizabeth Procter, and Sarah Cloyse, at +Salem, April 11, 1692, show that, so far as the permission of gross +irregularities and the admission of absurd kinds of testimony are +concerned, the regular Court gained nothing by his sitting with it, +unless his views had been thoroughly changed in the mean time. The +truth is, that the judges, magistrates, and legislature were as much to +blame, in this whole business, as the ministers, and much more slow to +come to their senses, and make amends for their wrong-doing. + +All the facts known to us, and all the statements that have come down +to us, require us to believe, that none who confessed, and stood to +their confession, were brought to trial. All who were condemned either +maintained their innocence from the first, or, if persuaded or overcome +into a confession, voluntarily took it back and disowned it before +trial. If this be so, then the name of every person condemned ought to +be held in lasting honor, as preferring to die rather than lie, or +stand to a lie. It required great strength of mind to take back a +confession; relinquish life and liberty; go down into a dungeon, loaded +with irons; and from thence to ascend the gallows. It relieves[ii.351] +the mind to think, that Abigail Hobbs, wicked and shocking as her +conduct had been towards Mr. Burroughs and others, came to herself, and +offered her life in atonement for her sin. + +The Court continued the trials at successive sessions during the +spring, all resulting in acquittals, until in May, 1693, Sir William +Phips, by proclamation, discharged all. Hutchinson says, "Such a +jail-delivery has never been known in New England." The number then +released is stated to have been one hundred and fifty. How many had +been apprehended, during the whole affair, we have no means of knowing. +Twenty, counting Giles Corey, had been executed. Two at least, Ann +Foster and Sarah Osburn, had died in jail: it is not improbable that +others perished under the bodily and mental sufferings there. We find +frequent expressions indicating that many died in prison. A +considerable number of children, and some adults whose friends were +able to give the heavy bonds required and had influence enough to +secure the favor, had some time before been removed to private custody. +Quite a considerable number had succeeded in breaking jail and eluding +recapture. Upon the whole, there must have been several hundreds +committed. Even after acquittal by a jury, and the Governor's +proclamation, none were set at liberty until they had paid all charges; +including board for the whole time of their imprisonment, jailer's +fees, and fees of Court of all kinds. The families of many had become +utterly impoverished.[ii.352] + +The sufferings of the prisoners and of their relatives and connections +are perhaps best illustrated by presenting the substance of a few of +the petitions for their release, found among the files. The friends of +the parties, in these cases, were not in a condition to give the bonds, +and they probably remained in jail until the general discharge; and how +long after, before the means could be raised to pay all dues, we cannot +know.[D] +[ii.353] +Margaret Jacobs had to remain in jail after the Governor's proclamation +had directed the release of all prisoners, because she could not pay +the fees and charges. Her grandfather had been executed, and all his +furniture, stock, and moveable property seized by the marshal or +sheriff. Her father escaped the warrant by a sudden flight from his +home under the cover of midnight, and was in exile "beyond the seas;" +her mother and herself taken at the time by the officers serving the +warrants against them; the younger children of the family, left without +protection, had dispersed, and been thrown upon the charity of +neighbors; the house had been stripped of its contents, left open, and +deserted. She had not a shilling in the world, and knew not where to +look for aid. She[ii.354] was taken back to prison, and remained there +for some time, until a person named Gammon, apparently a stranger, +happened to hear of her case, and, touched with compassion, raised the +money required, and released her. It was long before the affairs of the +Jacobs' family were so far retrieved as to enable them to refund the +money to the noble-hearted fisherman. How many others lingered in +prison, or how long, we have no means of ascertaining. + +In reviewing the proceedings at the examinations and trials, it is +impossible to avoid being struck with the infatuation of the +magistrates and judges. They acted throughout in the character and +spirit of prosecuting officers, put leading and ensnaring questions to +the prisoners, adopted a browbeating deportment towards them, and +pursued them with undisguised hostility. They assumed their guilt from +the first,[ii.355] and endeavored to force them to confess; treating +them as obstinate culprits because they would not. Every kind of +irregularity was permitted. The marshal was encouraged in perpetual +interference to prejudice the persons on trial, watching and reporting +aloud to the Court every movement of their hands or heads or feet. +Other persons were allowed to speak out, from the body of the crowd, +whatever they chose to say adverse to the prisoner. Accusers were +suffered to make private communications to the magistrates and judges +before or during the hearings. The presiding officers showed off their +smartness in attempts to make the persons on trial before them appear +at a disadvantage. In some instances, as in the case of Sarah Good, the +magistrate endeavored to deceive the accused by representing falsely +the testimony given by another. The people in and around the court-room +were allowed to act the part of a noisy mob, by clamors and threatening +outcries; and juries were overawed to bring in verdicts of conviction, +and rebuked from the bench if they exercised their rightful prerogative +without regard to the public passions. The chief-justice, in +particular, appears to have been actuated by violent prejudice against +the prisoners, and to have conducted the trials, all along, with a +spirit that bears the aspect of animosity. + +There is one point of view in which he must be held responsible for the +blood that was shed, and the infamy that, in consequence, attaches to +the proceedings. It may well be contended, that not a conviction +would[ii.356] have taken place, but for a notion of his which he +arbitrarily enforced as a rule of law. It was a part of the theory +relating to witchcraft, that the Devil made use of the spectres, or +apparitions, of some persons to afflict others. From this conceded +postulate, a division of opinion arose. Some maintained that the Devil +could employ only the spectres of persons in league with him; others +affirmed, that he could send upon his evil errands the spectres of +innocent persons, without their consent or knowledge. The chief-justice +held the former opinion, against the judgment of many others, +arbitrarily established it as a rule of Court, and peremptorily +instructed juries to regard it as binding upon them in making their +verdicts. The consequence was that a verdict of "Guilty" became +inevitable. But few at that time doubted the veracity of the "afflicted +persons," which was thought to be demonstrated to the very senses by +their fits and sufferings, in the presence of the Court, jury, and all +beholders. When they swore that they saw the shapes of Bridget Bishop, +or Rebecca Nurse, or George Burroughs, choking or otherwise torturing a +person, the fact was regarded as beyond question. + +The prisoners took the ground, that the statements made by the +witnesses, even if admitted, were not proof against them; for the Devil +might employ the spectres of innocent persons, or of whomsoever he +chose, without the knowledge of the persons whose shapes were thus used +by him. When Mrs. Ann Putnam swore that she had seen the spectre of +Rebecca Nurse[ii.357] afflicting various persons; and that the said +spectre acknowledged to her, that "she had killed Benjamin Houlton, and +John Fuller, and Rebecca Shepard,"—the answer of the prisoner was, "I +cannot help it: the Devil may appear in my shape." When the examining +magistrate put the question to Susanna Martin, "How comes your +appearance to hurt these?" Martin replied, "I cannot tell. He that +appeared in Samuel's shape, a glorified saint, can appear in any one's +shape." The Rev. John Wise, in his noble appeal in favor of John +Procter, argued to the same point. But the chief-justice was inexorably +deaf to all reason; compelled the jury to receive, as absolute law, +that the Devil could not use the shape of an innocent person; and, as +the "afflicted" swore that they saw the shapes of the prisoners +actually engaged in the diabolical work, there was no room left for +question, and they must return a verdict of "Guilty." + +In this way, innocent persons were slaughtered by a dogma in the mind +of an obstinate judge. Dogmas have perverted courts and governments in +all ages. A fabrication of fancy, an arbitrary verbal proposition, has +been exalted above reason, and made to extinguish common sense. The +world is full of such dogmas. They mislead the actions of men, and +confound the page of history. "The king cannot die" is one of them. It +is held as an axiom of political and constitutional truth. So an entire +dynasty, crowded with a more glorious life than any other, is struck +from the annals of an empire. In the public records of Eng[ii.358]land, +the existence of the Commonwealth is ignored; and the traces of its +great events are erased from the archives of the government, which, in +all its formulas and official papers, proclaims a lie. A hunted +fugitive, wandering in disguise through foreign lands, without a foot +of ground on the globe that he could call his own, is declared in all +public acts, parliamentary and judicial, and even by those assuming to +utter the voice of history, to have actually reigned all the time. In +our country and in our day, we are perplexed, and our public men +bewildered, by a similar dogma. The merest fabric of human contrivance, +a particular form of political society, is impiously clothed with an +essential attribute of God alone; and ephemeral politicians are +announcing, as an eternal law of Providence, that "a State cannot die." +The mischiefs that result, in the management of human affairs, from +enthroning dogmas over reason, truth, and fact, are, as they ever have +been, incalculable. + +Chief-justice Stoughton appears to have kept his mind chained to his +dogma to the last. It rendered him wholly incapable of opening his eyes +to the light of truth. He held on to spectral evidence, and his +corollary from it, when everybody else had abandoned both. He would not +admit that he, or any one concerned, had been in error. He never could +bear to hear any persons express penitence or regret for the part they +had taken in the proceedings. When the public delusion had so far +subsided that it became difficult to procure the execution of a witch, +he was[ii.359] disturbed and incensed to such a degree that he +abandoned his seat on the bench. During a session of the Court at +Charlestown, in January, 1692-3, "word was brought in, that a reprieve +was sent to Salem, and had prevented the execution of seven of those +that were there condemned, which so moved the chief judge that he said +to this effect: 'We were in a way to have cleared the land of them; who +it is that obstructs the cause of justice, I know not: the Lord be +merciful to the country!' and so went off the bench, and came no more +into that Court." + +I have spoken of the judges as appearing to be infatuated, not on +account of the opinions they held on the subject of witchcraft, for +these were the opinions of their age; nor from the peculiar doctrine +their chief enforced upon them, for that was entertained by many, and, +as a mere theory, was perhaps as logically deducible from the prevalent +doctrines as any other. Their infatuation consisted in not having eyes +to see, or ears to hear, evidences continually occurring of the +untruthful arts and tricks of the afflicted children, of their cunning +evasions, and, in some instances, palpable falsehoods. Then, further, +there was solid and substantial evidence before them that ought to have +made them pause and consider, if not doubt and disbelieve. We find the +following paper among the files:— + +The Testimony of John Putnam, Sr., and Rebecca his Wife, saith that our +son-in-law John Fuller, and our daughter Rebecca Shepard, did both of +them die a most violent death (and died acting very strangely at the +time of[ii.360] their death); further saith, that we did judge then +that they both died of a malignant fever, and had no suspicion of +withcraft of any, neither can we accuse the prisoner at the bar of any +such thing." + +When we recall the testimony of Ann Putnam the mother, and find that +the afflicted generally charged the death of the above-named persons +upon the shape of Rebecca Nurse, we perceive how absolutely Captain +John Putnam and his wife discredit their testimony. The opinion of the +father and mother of Fuller and Shepard ought to have had weight with +the Court. They were persons of the highest standing, and of recognized +intelligence and judgment. They were old church-members, and eminently +orthodox in all their sentiments. They were the heads of a great +family. He had represented the town in the General Court the year +before. No man in this part of the country was more noted for strong +good sense than Captain John Putnam. This deposition is honorable to +their memory, and clears them from all responsibility for the extent to +which the afflicted persons were allowed to sway the judgment of the +Court. Taken in connection with the paper signed by so large a portion +of the best people of the village, in behalf of Rebecca Nurse, it +proves that the blame for the shocking proceedings in the witchcraft +prosecutions cannot be laid upon the local population, but rests wholly +upon the Court and the public authorities. + +The Special Court that condemned the persons charged with witchcraft in +1692 is justly open to[ii.361] censure for the absence of all +discrimination of evidence, and for a prejudgment of the cases +submitted to them. In view of the then existing law and the practice in +the mother-country under it, they ought to have the benefit of the +admission that they did, in other respects than those mentioned, no +more and no worse than was to be expected. And Cotton Mather, in the +"Magnalia," vindicates them on this ground:— + +"They consulted the precedents of former times, and precepts laid down +by learned writers about witchcraft; as, Keeble on the Common Law, +chap. 'Conjuration' (an author approved by the twelve judges of our +nation): also, Sir Matthew Hale's Trials of Witches, printed anno 1682; +Glanvill's Collection of Sundry Trials in England and Ireland in the +years 1658, '61, '63, '64, and '81; Bernard's Guide to Jury-men; +Baxter's and R.B., their histories about Witches, and their +Discoveries; Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences relating to +Witchcraft, printed 1685." + +So far as the medical profession at the time is concerned, it must be +admitted that they bear a full share of responsibility for the +proceedings. They gave countenance and currency to the idea of +witchcraft in the public mind, and were very generally in the habit, +when a patient did not do well under their prescriptions, of getting +rid of all difficulty by saying that "an evil hand" was upon him. Their +opinion to this effect is cited throughout, and appears in a large +number of the documents. There were coroners' juries in cases where it +was suspected that a person[ii.362] died of witchcraft. It is much to +be regretted that none of their verdicts have been preserved. Drawn up +by an attending "chirurgeon," they would illustrate the state of +professional science at that day, by informing us of the marks, +indications, and conditions of the bodily organization by which the +traces of the Devil's hand were believed to be discoverable. All we +know is that, in particular cases, as that of Bray Wilkins's grandson +Daniel, the jury found decisive proof that he had died by "an evil +hand." + +It is not to be denied or concealed, that the clergy were instrumental +in bringing on the witchcraft delusion in 1692. As the supposed agents +of the mischief belonged to the supernatural and spiritual world, which +has ever been considered their peculiar province, it was thought that +the advice and co-operation of ministers were particularly appropriate +and necessary. Opposition to prevailing vices and attempts to reform +society were considered at that time in the light of a conflict with +Satan himself; and he was thought to be the ablest minister who had the +greatest power over the invisible enemy, and could most easily and +effectively avert his blows, and counteract his baleful influence. This +gave the clergy the front in the battle against the hosts of Belial. +They were proud of the position, and were stimulated to distinguish +themselves in the conflict. Cotton Mather represents that ministers +were honored by the special hostility of the great enemy of souls, +"more dogged by the Devil than any other men," just as, according to +his philosophy,[ii.363] the lightning struck the steeples of churches +more frequently than other buildings because the Prince of the Power of +the Air particularly hated the places where the sound of the gospel was +heard. There were, moreover, it is to be feared, ministers whose +ambition to acquire influence and power had been allowed to become a +ruling principle, and who favored the delusion because thereby their +object could be most surely achieved by carrying the people to the +greatest extremes of credulity, superstition, and fanatical blindness. + +But justice requires it to be said that the ministers, as a general +thing, did not take the lead after the proceedings had assumed their +most violent aspect, and the disastrous effects been fully brought to +view. It may be said, on the contrary, that they took the lead, as a +class, in checking the delusion, and rescuing the public mind from its +control. Prior to the time when they were called upon to give their +advice to the government, they probably followed Cotton Mather: after +that, they seemed to have freed themselves generally from his +influence. The names of Dane and Barnard of Andover, Higginson of +Salem, Cheever of Marblehead, Hubbard and Wise of Ipswich, Payson and +Phillips of Rowley, Allin of Salisbury, and Capen of Topsfield, appear +in behalf of persons accused. To come forward in their defence shows +courage, and proves that their influence was in the right direction, +even while the proceedings were at their height. Mr. Hale, of Beverly, +abandoned the prosecutions, and ex[ii.364]pressed his disapprobation of +them, before the government or the Court relaxed the vigor of their +operations, as is sufficiently proved by the fact that the "afflicted +children" cried out against his wife. Willard, and James Allen, and +Moody, and John Bailey, and even Increase Mather, of Boston, openly +discountenanced the course things were taking. The latter circulated a +letter from his London correspondent, a person whose opinion was +entitled to weight, condemning in the strongest terms the doctrine of +the chief-justice, as follows: "All that I speak with much wonder that +any man, much less a man of such abilities, learning, and experience as +Mr. Stoughton, should take up a persuasion that the Devil cannot assume +the likeness of an innocent, to afflict another person. In my opinion, +it is a persuasion utterly destitute of any solid reason to render it +so much as probable." The ministers may have been among the first to +bring on the delusion; but the foregoing facts prove, that, as a +profession, they were the first to attempt to check and discountenance +the prosecutions. While we are required, in all fairness, to give this +credit to the clergy in general, it would be false to the obligations +of historical truth and justice to attempt to palliate the conduct of +some of them. Whoever considers all that Mr. Parris, according to his +own account, said and did, cannot but shrink from the necessity of +passing judgment upon him, and find relief in leaving him to that +tribunal which alone can measure the extent of human +responsibility,[ii.365] and sound the depths of the heart. Lawson threw +into the conflagration all the combustible materials his eloquence and +talents, heated, it is to be feared, by resentment, could contribute. +Dr. Bentley, in his "Description and History of Salem" (Mass. Hist. +Coll., 1st series, vol. vi.) says, "Mr. Noyes came out and publicly +confessed his error, never concealed a circumstance, never excused +himself; visited, loved, blessed, the survivors whom he had injured; +asked forgiveness always, and consecrated the residue of his life to +bless mankind." It is to be hoped that the statement is correct. There +were several points of agreement between Noyes and Bentley. Both were +men of ability and learning. Like Bentley, Noyes lived and died a +bachelor; and, like him, was a man of lively and active temperament, +and, in the general tenor of his life, benevolent and disinterested. +Perhaps congeniality in these points led Bentley to make the statement, +just quoted, a little too strong. He wrote more than a century after +the witchcraft proceedings; just at that point when tradition had +become inflated by all manner of current talk, of fable mixed with +fact, before the correcting and expunging hand of a severe scrutiny of +records and documents had commenced its work. The drag-net of time had +drawn along with it every thing that anybody had said; but the process +of sifting and discrimination had not begun. His kindly and ingenuous +nature led him to believe, and prompted him to write down, all that was +amiable, and pleasing to a mind like his. So far as the[ii.366] records +and documents give us information, there is reason to apprehend, that +Mr. Noyes, like Stoughton, another old bachelor, never recovered his +mind from the frame of feeling or conviction in which it was during the +proceedings. His name is not found, as are those of other ministers, to +any petitions, memorials or certificates, in favor of the sufferers +during the trials, or of reparation to their memories or to the +feelings of their friends. He does not appear to have taken any part in +arresting the delusion or rectifying the public mind. + +Of Cotton Mather, more is required to be said. He aspired to be +considered the leading champion of the Church, and the most successful +combatant against the Satanic powers. He seems to have longed for an +opportunity to signalize himself in this particular kind of warfare; +seized upon every occurrence that would admit of such a coloring to +represent it as the result of diabolical agency; circulated in his +numerous publications as many tales of witchcraft as he could collect +throughout New and Old England, and repeatedly endeavored to get up +cases of the kind in Boston. There is some ground for suspicion that he +was instrumental in originating the fanaticism in Salem; at any rate, +he took a leading part in fomenting it. And while there is evidence +that he endeavored, after the delusion subsided, to escape the disgrace +of having approved of the proceedings, and pretended to have been in +some measure opposed to them, it can be too clearly shown that he was +secretly and cunningly endeavoring to[ii.367] renew them during the +next year in his own parish in Boston.[E] + +How blind is man to the future! The state of things which Cotton Mather +labored to bring about, in order that he might increase his own +influence over an infatuated people, by being regarded by them as +mighty[ii.368] to cast out and vanquish evil spirits, and as able to +hold Satan himself in chains by his prayers and his piety, brought him +at length into such disgrace that his power was broken down, and he +became the object of public ridicule and open insult. And the +excitement that had been produced for the purpose of[ii.369] restoring +and strengthening the influence of the clerical and spiritual leaders +resulted in effects which reduced that influence to a still lower +point. The intimate connection of Dr. Mather and other prominent +ministers with the witchcraft delusion brought a reproach upon the +clergy from which they have not yet recovered.[ii.370] + +In addition to the designing exertions of ambitious ecclesiastics, and +the benevolent and praiseworthy efforts of those whose only aim was to +promote a real and thorough reformation of religion, all the passions +of our nature stood ready to throw their concentrated energy into the +excitement (as they are sure to do, whatever may be its character), so +soon as it became sufficiently strong to encourage their action. + +The whole force of popular superstition, all the[ii.371] fanatical +propensities of the ignorant and deluded multitude, united with the +best feelings of our nature to heighten the fury of the storm. Piety +was indignant at the supposed rebellion against the sovereignty of God, +and was roused to an extreme of agitation and apprehension in +witnessing such a daring and fierce assault by the Devil and his +adherents upon the churches and the cause of the gospel. Virtue was +shocked at the tremendous guilt of those who were believed to have +entered the diabolical confederacy; while public order and security +stood aghast, amidst the invisible, the supernatural, the infernal, and +apparently the irresistible attacks that were making upon the +foundations of society. In baleful combination with principles, good in +themselves, thus urging the passions into wild operation, there were +all the wicked and violent affections to which humanity is liable. +Theological bitterness, personal animosities, local controversies, +private feuds, long-cherished grudges, and professional jealousies, +rushed forward, and raised their discordant voices, to swell the +horrible din; credulity rose with its monstrous and ever-expanding +form, on the ruins of truth, reason, and the senses; malignity and +cruelty rode triumphant through the storm, by whose fury every mild and +gentle sentiment had been shipwrecked; and revenge, smiling in the +midst of the tempest, welcomed its desolating wrath as it dashed the +mangled objects of its hate along the shore. + +The treatment of the prisoners, by the administra[ii.372]tive and +subordinate officers in charge of them, there is reason to apprehend, +was more than ordinarily harsh and unfeeling. The fate of Willard +prevented expressions of kindness towards them. The crime of which they +were accused put them outside of the pale of human charities. All who +believed them guilty looked upon them, not only with horror, but hate. +To have deliberately abandoned God and heaven, the salvation of Christ +and the brotherhood of man, was regarded as detestable, execrable, and +utterly and for ever damnable. This was the universal feeling at the +time when the fanaticism was at its height; or, if there were any +dissenters, they dared not show themselves. What the poor innocent +sufferers experienced of cruelty, wrong, and outrage from this cause, +it is impossible for words to tell. It left them in prison to neglect, +ignominious ill-treatment, and abusive language from the menials having +charge of them; it made their trials a brutal mockery; it made the +pathway to the gallows a series of insults from an exasperated mob. If +dear relatives or faithful friends kept near them, they did it at the +peril of their lives, and were forbidden to utter the sentiments with +which their hearts were breaking. There was no sympathy for those who +died, or for those who mourned. + +It may seem strange to us, at this distance of time, and with the +intelligence prevalent in this age, that persons of such known, +established, and eminent reputation as many of those whose cases have +been par[ii.373]ticularly noticed, could possibly have been imagined +guilty of the crime imputed to them. The question arises in every mind, +Why did not their characters save them from conviction, and even from +suspicion? The answer is to be found in the peculiar views then +entertained of the power and agency of Satan. It was believed that it +would be one of the signs of his coming to destroy the Church of +Christ, that some of the "elect" would be seduced into his +service,—that he would drag captive in his chains, and pervert into +instruments to further his wicked cause, many who stood among the +highest in the confidence of Christians. This belief made them more +vehement in their proceedings against ministers, church-members, and +persons of good repute, who were proved, by the overwhelming evidence +of the "afflicted children" and the confessing witches, to have made a +compact with the Devil. There is reason to fear that Mr. Burroughs, and +all accused persons of the highest reputation before for piety and +worth, especially all who had been professors of religion and +accredited church-members, suffered more than others from the severity +of the judges and executive officers of the law, and from the rage and +hatred of the people. It was indeed necessary, in order to keep up the +delusion and maintain the authority of the prosecutions, to break down +the influence of those among the accused and the sufferers who had +stood the highest, and bore themselves the best through the fiery +ordeal of the examinations, trials, and executions.[ii.374] + +It is indeed a very remarkable fact, which has justly been enlarged +upon by several who have had their attention turned to this subject, +that, of the whole number that suffered, none, in the final scene, lost +their fortitude for a moment. Many were quite aged; a majority, women, +of whom some, brought up in delicacy, were wholly unused to rough +treatment or physical suffering. They must have undergone the most +dreadful hardships, suddenly snatched from their families and homes; +exposed to a torrent of false accusations imputing to them the most +odious, shameful, and devilish crimes; made objects of the abhorrence +of their neighbors, and, through the notoriety of the affair, of the +world; carried to and fro, over rugged roads, from jail to jail, too +often by unfeeling sub-officials; immured in crowded, filthy, and +noisome prisons; heavily loaded with chains, in dungeons; left to +endure insufficient attention to necessary personal wants, often with +inadequate food and clothing; all expressions of sympathy for them +withheld and forbidden,—those who ought to have been their comforters +denouncing them in the most awful language, and consigning them to the +doom of excommunication from the church on earth and from the hope of +heaven. Surely, there have been few cases in the dark and mournful +annals of human suffering and wrong, few instances of "man's inhumanity +to man," to be compared with what the victims of this tragedy endured. +Their bearing through the whole, from the arrest to the scaffold, +reflects[ii.375] credit upon our common nature. The fact that Wardwell +lost his firmness, for a time, ought not to exclude his name from the +honored list. Its claim to be enrolled on it was nobly retrieved by his +recantation, and his manly death. + +There is one consideration that imparts a higher character to the +deportment of these persons than almost any of the tests to which the +firmness of the mind of man has ever been exposed. There was nothing +outside of the mind to hold it up, but every thing to bear it down. All +that they had in this world, all on which they could rest a hope for +the next, was the consciousness of their innocence. Their fidelity to +this sense of innocence—for a lie would have saved them—their +unfaltering allegiance to this consciousness; the preservation of a +calm, steadfast, serene mind; their faith and their prayers, rising +above the maledictions of a maniac mob, in devotion to God and +forgiveness to men, and, as in the case of Martha Corey and George +Burroughs, in clear and collected expressions,—this was truly sublime. +It was appreciated, at the time, by many a heart melted back to its +humanity; and paved the way for the deliverance of the world, we trust +for ever, from all such delusions, horrors, and spectacles. The +sufferers in 1692 deserve to be held in grateful remembrance for having +illustrated the dignity of which our nature is capable; for having +shown that integrity of conscience is an armor which protects the peace +of the soul against all the powers that can assail it; and for having +given an[ii.376] example, that will be seen of all and in all times, of +a courage, constancy, and faithfulness of which all are capable, and +which can give the victory over infirmities of age, weaknesses and +pains of body, and the most appalling combination of outrages to the +mind and heart that can be accumulated by the violence and the wrath of +man. Superstition and ignorance consigned their names to obloquy, and +shrouded them in darkness. But the day has dawned; the shadows are +passing away; truth has risen; the reign of superstition is over; and +justice will be done to all who have been true to themselves, and stood +fast to the integrity of their souls, even to the death. + +The place selected for the executions is worthy of notice. It was at a +considerable distance from the jail, and could be reached only by a +circuitous and difficult route. It is a fatiguing enterprise to get at +it now, although many passages that approach it from some directions +have since been opened. But it was a point where the spectacle would be +witnessed by the whole surrounding country far and near, being on the +brow of the highest eminence in the vicinity of the town. As it was +believed by the people generally that they were engaged in a great +battle with Satan, one of whose titles was "the Prince of the Power of +the Air," perhaps they chose that spot to execute his confederates, +because, in going to that high point, they were flaunting him in his +face, celebrating their triumph over him in his own realm. There is no +contemporaneous nor immediately subsequent record, that[ii.377] the +executions took place on the spot assigned by tradition; but that +tradition has been uniform and continuous, and appears to be verified +by a singular item of evidence that has recently come to light. A +letter written by the late venerable Dr. Holyoke to a friend at a +distance, dated Salem, Nov. 25, 1791, has found its way back to the +possession of one of his grand-daughters, which contains the following +passage: "In the last month, there died a man in this town, by the name +of John Symonds, aged a hundred years lacking about six months, having +been born in the famous '92. He has told me that his nurse had often +told him, that, while she was attending his mother at the time she lay +in with him, she saw, from the chamber windows, those unhappy people +hanging on Gallows' Hill, who were executed for witches by the delusion +of the times." John Symonds lived and died near the southern end of +Beverly Bridge, on the south side of what is now Bridge Street. He was +buried from his house, and Dr. Bentley made the funeral prayer, in +which he is said to have used this language: "O God! the man who with +his own hands felled the trees, and hewed the timbers, and erected the +house in which we are now assembled, was the ancestor of him whose +remains we are about to inter." It is inferrible from this that Symonds +was born in the house from which he was buried. Gallows Hill, now +"Witch Hill" is in full view from that spot, and would be from the +chamber windows of a house there, at any time, even in the season when +intervening trees were in their[ii.378] fullest foliage, while no other +point in that direction would be discernible. From the only other +locality of persons of the name of Symonds, at that time, in North +Fields near the North Bridge, Witch Hill is also visible, and the only +point in that direction that then would have been. + +"Witch Hill" is a part of an elevated ledge of rock on the western side +of the city of Salem, broken at intervals; beginning at Legg's Hill, +and trending northerly. The turnpike from Boston enters Salem through +one of the gaps in this ridge, which has been widened, deepened, and +graded. North of the turnpike, it rises abruptly to a considerable +elevation, called "Norman's Rocks." At a distance of between three and +four hundred feet, it sinks again, making a wide and deep gulley; and +then, about a third of a mile from the turnpike, it re-appears, in a +precipitous and, at its extremity, inaccessible cliff, of the height of +fifty or sixty feet. Its southern and western aspect, as seen from the +rough land north of the turnpike, is given in the headpiece of the +Third Part, at the beginning of this volume. Its sombre and desolate +appearance admits of little variety of delineation. It is mostly a bare +and naked ledge. At the top of this cliff, on the southern brow of the +eminence, the executions are supposed to have taken place. The outline +rises a little towards the north, but soon begins to fall off to the +general level of the country. From that direction only can the spot be +easily reached. It is hard to climb the western side, impossible to +clamber[ii.379] up the southern face. Settlement creeps down from the +north, and has partially ascended the eastern acclivity, but can never +reach the brink. Scattered patches of soil are too thin to tempt +cultivation, and the rock is too craggy and steep to allow occupation. +An active and flourishing manufacturing industry crowds up to its base; +but a considerable surface at the top will for ever remain an open +space. It is, as it were, a platform raised high in air. + +A magnificent panorama of ocean, island, headland, bay, river, town, +field, and forest spreads out and around to view. On a clear summer +day, the picture can scarcely be surpassed. Facing the sun and the sea, +and the evidences of the love and bounty of Providence shining over the +landscape, the last look of earth must have suggested to the sufferers +a wide contrast between the mercy of the Creator and the wrath of his +creatures. They beheld the face of the blessed God shining upon them in +his works, and they passed with renewed and assured faith into his more +immediate presence. The elevated rock, uplifted by the divine hand, +will stand while the world stands, in bold relief, and can never be +obscured by the encroachments of society or the structures of art,—a +fitting memorial of their constancy. + +When, in some coming day, a sense of justice, appreciation of moral +firmness, sympathy for suffering innocence, the diffusion of refined +sensibility, a discriminating discernment of what is really worthy of +commemoration among men, a rectified taste, a gen[ii.380]erous public +spirit, and gratitude for the light that surrounds and protects us +against error, folly, and fanaticism, shall demand the rearing of a +suitable monument to the memory of those who in 1692 preferred death to +a falsehood, the pedestal for the lofty column will be found ready, +reared by the Creator on a foundation that can never be shaken while +the globe endures, or worn away by the elements, man, or time—the brow +of Witch Hill. On no other spot could such a tribute be more worthily +bestowed, or more conspicuously displayed. + +The effects of the delusion upon the country at large were very +disastrous. It cast its shadows over a broad surface, and they darkened +the condition of generations. The material interests of the people long +felt its blight. Breaking out at the opening of the season, it +interrupted the planting and cultivating of the grounds. It struck an +entire summer out of one year, and broke in upon another. The fields +were neglected; fences, roads, barns, and even the meeting-house, went +into disrepair. Burdens were accumulated upon the already over-taxed +resources of the people. An actual scarcity of provisions, amounting +almost to a famine, continued for some time to press upon families. +Farms were brought under mortgage or sacrificed, and large numbers of +the people were dispersed. One locality in the village, which was the +scene of this wild and tragic fanaticism, bears to this day the marks +of the blight then brought upon it. Although in the centre of a town +exceeding almost[ii.381] all others in its agricultural development and +thrift,—every acre elsewhere showing the touch of modern improvement +and culture,—the "old meeting-house road," from the crossing of the +Essex Railroad to the point where it meets the road leading north from +Tapleyville, has to-day a singular appearance of abandonment. The +Surveyor of Highways ignores it. The old, gray, moss-covered stone +walls are dilapidated, and thrown out of line. Not a house is on either +of its borders, and no gate opens or path leads to any. Neglect and +desertion brood over the contiguous grounds. Indeed, there is but one +house standing directly on the roadside until you reach the vicinity of +the site of the old meeting-house; and that is owned and occupied by a +family that bear the name and are the direct descendants of Rebecca +Nurse. On both sides there are the remains of cellars, which declare +that once it was lined by a considerable population. Along this road +crowds thronged in 1692, for weeks and months, to witness the +examinations. + +The ruinous results were not confined to the village, but extended more +or less over the country generally. Excitement, wrought up to +consternation, spread everywhere. People left their business and +families, and came from distant points, to gratify their curiosity, and +enable themselves to form a judgment of the character of the phenomena +here exhibited. Strangers from all parts swelled the concourse, +gathered to behold the sufferings of "the afflicted" as manifested at +the examinations; and flocked to the surrounding[ii.382] eminences and +the grounds immediately in front of Witch Hill, to catch a view of the +convicts as they approached the place selected for their execution, +offered their dying prayers, and hung suspended high in air. Such +scenes always draw together great multitudes. None have possessed a +deeper, stronger, or stranger attraction; and never has the dread +spectacle been held out to view over a wider area, or from so +conspicuous a spot. The assembling of such multitudes so often, for +such a length of time, and from such remote quarters, must have been +accompanied and followed by wasteful, and in all respects deleterious, +effects. The continuous or frequently repeated sessions of the +magistrates, grand jury, and jury of trials; and the attendance of +witnesses summoned from other towns, or brought from beyond the +jurisdiction of the Province, and of families and parties interested +specially in the proceedings,—must have occasioned an extensive and +protracted interruption of the necessary industrial pursuits of +society, and heavily increased the public burdens. + +The destruction dealt upon particular families extended to so many as +to constitute in the aggregate a vast, wide-spread calamity.[F] +[ii.383] +The facts that belong to the story of the witchcraft delusion of 1692, +or that may in any way explain or illustrate it, so far as they can be +gathered from the imperfect and scattered records and papers that have +come down to us, have now been laid before you. But there are one or +two inquiries that force themselves upon thoughtful minds, which demand +consideration before we close the subject.[ii.384] + +What are we to think of those persons who commenced and continued the +accusations,—the "afflicted children" and their associates? + +In some instances and to some extent, the steps they took and the +testimony they bore may be explained by referring to the mysterious +energies of the imagination, the power of enthusiasm, the influence of +sympathy, and the general prevalence of credulity,[ii.385] ignorance, +superstition, and fanaticism at the time; and it is not probable, that, +when they began, they had any idea of the tremendous length to which +they were finally led on. + +It was perhaps their original design to gratify a love of notoriety or +of mischief by creating a sensation and excitement in their +neighborhood, or, at the worst, to wreak their vengeance upon one or +two individuals who had offended them. They soon, however, became +intoxicated by the terrible success of their imposture, and were swept +along by the frenzy they had occasioned. It would be much more +congenial with our feelings to believe, that these misguided and +wretched young persons early in the proceedings became themselves +victims of the delusion into which they plunged every one else. But we +are forbidden to form this charitable judgment by the manifestations of +art and contrivance, of deliberate cunning and cool malice, they +exhibited to the end. Once or twice they were caught in their own +snare; and nothing but the blindness of the bewildered community saved +them from disgraceful exposure and well-deserved punishment. They +appeared as the prosecutors of every poor creature that was tried, and +seemed ready to bear testimony against any one upon whom suspicion +might happen to fall. It is dreadful to reflect upon the enormity of +their wickedness, if they were conscious of imposture throughout. It +seems to transcend the capabilities of human crime. There is, perhaps, +a slumbering element in the heart of man,[ii.386] that sleeps for ever +in the bosom of the innocent and good, and requires the perpetration of +a great sin to wake it into action, but which, when once aroused, +impels the transgressor onward with increasing momentum, as the +descending ball is accelerated in its course. It may be that crime +begets an appetite for crime, which, like all other appetites, is not +quieted but inflamed by gratification. + +Their precise moral condition, the degree of guilt to be ascribed, and +the sentence to be passed upon them, can only be determined by a +considerate review of all the circumstances and influences around them. + +For a period embracing about two months, they had been in the habit of +meeting together, and spending the long winter evenings, at Mr. +Parris's house, practising the arts of fortune-telling, jugglery, and +magic. What they had heard in the traditions and fables of a credulous +and superstitious age,—stories handed down in the interior settlements, +circulated in companies gathered around the hearths of farmhouses, +indulging the excitements of terrified imaginations; filling each +other's minds with wondrous tales of second-sight, ghosts and spirits +from the unseen world, together with what the West-Indian or +South-American slaves could add,—was for a long time the food of their +fancies. They experimented continually upon what was the spiritualism +of their day, and grew familiar with the imagery and the exhibitions of +the marvellous. The prevalent notions concerning witch[ii.387]craft +operations and spectral manifestations came into full effect among +them. Living in the constant contemplation of such things, their minds +became inflamed and bewildered; and, at the same time, they grew expert +in practising and exhibiting the forms of pretended supernaturalism, +the conditions of diabolical distraction, and the terrors of +demonology. Apparitions rose before them, revealing the secrets of the +past and of the future. They beheld the present spectres of persons +then bodily far distant. They declared in language, fits, dreams, or +trance, the immediate operations upon themselves of the Devil, by the +agency of his confederates. Their sufferings, while thus under "an evil +hand," were dreadful to behold, and soon drew wondering and +horror-struck crowds around them. + +At this point, if Mr. Parris, the ministers, and magistrates had done +their duty, the mischief might have been stopped. The girls ought to +have been rebuked for their dangerous and forbidden sorceries and +divinations, their meetings broken up, and all such tamperings with +alleged supernaturalism and spiritualism frowned down. Instead of this, +the neighboring ministers were summoned to meet at Mr. Parris's house +to witness the extraordinary doings of the girls, and all they did was +to indorse, and pray over, them. Countenance was thus given to their +pretensions, and the public confidence in the reality of their +statements established. Magistrates from the town, church-members, +leading people, and people of all sorts, flocked to witness the awful +power of Satan, as displayed in[ii.388] the tortures and contortions of +the "afflicted children;" who became objects of wonder, so far as their +feats were regarded, and of pity in view of their agonies and +convulsions. + +The aspect of the evidence rather favors the supposition, that the +girls originally had no design of accusing, or bringing injury upon, +any one. But the ministers at Parris's house, physicians and others, +began the work of destruction by pronouncing the opinion that they were +bewitched. This carried with it, according to the received doctrine, a +conviction that there were witches about; for the Devil could not act +except through the instrumentality of beings in confederacy with him. +Immediately, the girls were beset by everybody to say who it was that +bewitched them. Yielding to this pressure, they first cried out upon +such persons as might have been most naturally suggested to them,—Sarah +Good, apparently without a regular home, and wandering with her +children from house to house for shelter and relief; Sarah Osburn, a +melancholy, broken-minded, bed-ridden person; and Tituba, a slave, +probably of mixed African and Indian blood. At the examination of these +persons, the girls were first brought before the public, and the awful +power in their hands revealed to them. The success with which they +acted their parts; the novelty of the scene; the ceremonials of the +occasion, the magistrates in their imposing dignity and authority, the +trappings of the marshal and his officers, the forms of proceeding,—all +which they had never seen[ii.389] before; the notice taken of them; the +importance attached to them; invested the affair with a strange +fascination in their eyes, and awakened a new class of sentiments and +ideas in their minds. A love of distinction and notoriety, and the +several passions that are gratified by the expression by others of +sympathy, wonder, and admiration, were brought into play. The fact that +all eyes were upon them, with the special notice of the magistrates, +and the entire confidence with which their statements were received, +flattered and beguiled them. A fearful responsibility had been assumed, +and they were irretrievably committed to their position. While they +adhered to that position, their power was irresistible, and they were +sure of the public sympathy and of being cherished by the public favor. +If they faltered, they would be the objects of universal execration and +of the severest penalties of law for the wrongs already done and the +falsehoods already sworn to. There was no retracing their steps; and +their only safety was in continuing the excitement they had raised. New +victims were constantly required to prolong the delusion, fresh fuel to +keep up the conflagration; and they went on to cry out upon others. +With the exception of two of their number, who appear to have indulged +spite against the families in which they were servants, there is no +evidence that they were actuated by private grievances or by +animosities personal to themselves. They were ready and sure to wreak +vengeance upon any who expressed doubts about the truth of +their[ii.390] testimony, or the propriety of the proceedings; but, +beyond this, they were very indifferent as to whom they should accuse. +They were willing, as to that matter, to follow the suggestions of +others, and availed themselves of all the gossip and slander and +unfriendly talk in their families that reached their ears. It was +found, that a hint, with a little information as to persons, places, +and circumstances, conveyed to them by those who had resentments and +grudges to gratify, would be sufficient for the purpose. There is +reason to fear, that there were some behind them, giving direction to +the accusations, and managing the frightful machinery, all the way +through. The persons who were apprehended had, to a considerable +extent, been obnoxious, and subject to prejudice, in connection with +quarrels and controversies related in Part I., vol. i. They were +"Topsfield men," or the opponents of Bayley or of Parris, or more or +less connected with some other feuds. As further proof that the girls +were under the guidance of older heads, it is obvious, that there was, +in the order of the proceedings, a skilful arrangement of times, +sequences, and concurrents, that cannot be ascribed to them. No +novelist or dramatist ever laid his plot deeper, distributed his +characters more artistically, or conducted more methodically the +progress of his story. + +In the mean while, they were becoming every day more perfect in the +performance of their parts; and their imaginative powers, nervous +excitability, and flexibility and rapidity of muscular action, were +kept[ii.391] under constant stimulus, and attaining a higher +development. The effect of these things, so long continued in +connection with the perpetual pretence, becoming more or less imbued +with the character of belief, of their alliance and communion with +spiritual beings and manifestations, may have unsettled, to some +extent, their minds. Added to this, a sense of the horrid consequences +of their actions, accumulating with every pang they inflicted, the +innocent blood they were shedding, and the depths of ruin into which +they were sinking themselves and others, not only demoralized, but to +some extent, perhaps, crazed them. It is truly a marvel that their +physical constitutions did not break down under the exhausting +excitements, the contortions of frame, the force to which the bodily +functions were subjected in trances and fits, and the strain upon all +the vital energies, protracted through many months. The wonder, +however, would have been greater, if the mental and moral balance had +not thereby been disturbed. + +Perpetual conversance with ideas of supernaturalism; daily and nightly +communications, whether in the form of conscious imposture or honest +delusion, with the spiritual world, continued through a great length of +time,—as much at least as the exclusive contemplation of any one idea +or class of ideas,—must be allowed to be unsalutary. Whatever keeps the +thoughts wholly apart from the objects of real and natural life, and +absorbs them in abstractions, cannot be favorable to the soundness of +the faculties or the tone of the[ii.392] mind. This must especially be +the effect, if the subjects thus monopolizing the attention partake of +the marvellous and mysterious. When these things are considered, and +the external circumstances of the occasion, the wild social excitement, +the consternation, confusion, and horror, that were all crowded and +heaped up and kept pressing upon the soul without intermission for +months, the wonder is, indeed, that not only the accusers, prosecutors, +and sufferers, but the whole people, did not lose their senses. Never +was the great boon of life, a sound mind in a sound body, more liable +to be snatched away from all parties. The depositions of Ann Putnam, +Sr., have a tinge of sadness;—a melancholy, sickly mania running +through them. Something of the kind is, perhaps, more or less +discernible in the depositions of others. + +Let us, then, relieve our common nature from the load of the +imputation, that, in its normal state, it is capable of such +inconceivable wickedness, by giving to these wretched persons the +benefit of the supposition that they were more or less deranged. This +view renders the lesson they present more impressive and alarming. Sin +in all cases, when considered by a mind that surveys the whole field, +is itself insanity. In the case of these accusers, it was so great as +to prove, by its very monstrousness, that it had actually subverted +their nature and overthrown their reason. They followed their victims +to the gallows, and jeered, scoffed, insulted them in their dying +hours. Sarah Churchill, according to the testimony of Sarah +Inger[ii.393]soll, on one occasion came to herself, and manifested the +symptoms of a restored moral consciousness: but it was a temporary +gleam, a lucid interval; and she passed back into darkness, continuing, +as before, to revel in falsehood, and scatter destruction around her. +With this single exception, there is not the slightest appearance of +compunction or reflection among them. On the contrary, they seem to +have been in a frivolous, sportive, gay frame of thought and spirits. +There is, perhaps, in this view of their conduct and demeanor, +something to justify the belief that they were really demented. The +fact that a large amount of skilful art and adroit cunning was +displayed by them is not inconsistent with the supposition that they +had become partially insane; for such cunning and art are often +associated with insanity. + +The quick wit and ready expedients of the "afflicted children" are very +remarkable. They were prompt with answers, if any attempted to +cross-examine them, extricated themselves most ingeniously if ever +brought into embarrassment, and eluded all efforts to entrap or expose +them. Among the papers is a deposition, the use of which at the trials +is not apparent. It does not purport to bear upon any particular case. +Joseph Hutchinson was a firm-minded man, of strong common sense. He +could not easily be deceived; and, although he took part in the +proceedings at the beginning, soon became opposed to them. It looks as +if, by close questions put to the child, Abigail Williams, on some +occasion of his casually meeting her, he had tried[ii.394] to expose +the falseness of her accusations, and that he was made to put the +conversation into the shape of a deposition. It is as follows:— + +"The Deposition of Joseph Hutchinson, aged fifty-nine years, do testify +as followeth: "Abigail Williams, I have heard you speak often of a book +that has been offered to you. She said that there were two books: one +was a short, thick book; and the other was a long book. I asked her +what color the book was of. She said the books were as red as blood. I +asked her if she had seen the books opened. She said she had seen it +many times. I asked her if she did see any writing in the book. She +said there were many lines written; and, at the end of every line, +there was a seal. I asked her, who brought the book to her. She told me +that it was the black man. I asked her who the black man was. She told +me it was the Devil. I asked her if she was not afraid to see the +Devil. She said, at the first she was, and did go from him; but now she +was not afraid, but could talk with him as well as she could with me." + +There is an air of ease and confidence in the answers of Abigail, which +illustrates the promptness of invention and assurance of their grounds +which the girls manifested on all occasions. They were never at a loss, +and challenged scrutiny. Hutchinson gained no advantage, and no one +else ever did, in an encounter with them. + +Whatever opinion may be formed of the moral or mental condition of the +"afflicted children," as to their sanity and responsibility, there can +be no doubt that they were great actors. In mere jugglery and[ii.395] +sleight of hand, they bear no mean comparison with the workers of +wonders, in that line, of our own day. Long practice had given them +complete control over their countenances, intonations of voice, and the +entire muscular and nervous organization of their bodies; so that they +could at will, and on the instant, go into fits and convulsions, swoon +and fall to the floor, put their frames into strange contortions, bring +the blood to the face, and send it back again. They could be deadly +pale at one moment, at the next flushed; their hands would be clenched +and held together as with a vice; their limbs stiff and rigid or wholly +relaxed; their teeth would be set; they would go through the paroxysms +of choking and strangulation, and gasp for breath, bringing froth and +blood from the mouth; they would utter all sorts of screams in +unearthly tones; their eyes remain fixed, sometimes bereft of all light +and expression, cold and stony, and sometimes kindled into flames of +passion; they would pass into the state of somnambulism, without aim or +conscious direction in their movements, looking at some point, where +was no apparent object of vision, with a wild, unmeaning glare. There +are some indications that they had acquired the art of ventriloquism; +or they so wrought upon the imaginations of the beholders, that the +sounds of the motions and voices of invisible beings were believed to +be heard. They would start, tremble, and be pallid before apparitions, +seen, of course, only by themselves; but their acting was so perfect +that all present thought they saw them too. They would[ii.396] address +and hold colloquy with spectres and ghosts; and the responses of the +unseen beings would be audible to the fancy of the bewildered crowd. +They would follow with their eyes the airy visions, so that others +imagined they also beheld them. This was surely a high dramatic +achievement. Their representations of pain, and every form and all the +signs and marks of bodily suffering,—as in the case of Ann Putnam's +arm, and the indentations of teeth on the flesh in many +instances,—utterly deceived everybody; and there were men present who +could not easily have been imposed upon. The Attorney-general was a +barrister fresh from Inns of Court in London. Deodat Lawson had seen +something of the world; so had Joseph Herrick. Joseph Hutchinson was a +sharp, stern, and sceptical observer. John Putnam was a man of great +practical force and discrimination; so was his brother Nathaniel, and +others of the village. Besides, there were many from Boston and +elsewhere competent to detect a trick; but none could discover any +imposture in the girls. Sarah Nurse swore that she saw Goody Bibber +cheat in the matter of the pins; but Bibber did not belong to the +village, and was a bungling interloper. The accusing girls showed +extraordinary skill, ingenuity, and fancy in inventing the stories to +which they testified, and seemed to have been familiar with the imagery +which belonged to the literature of demonology. This has led some to +suppose that they must have had access to books treating the subject. +Our fathers abhorred, with a perfect hatred, all theatrical +exhibitions. It would[ii.397] have filled them with horror to propose +going to a play. But unwittingly, week after week, month in and month +out, ministers, deacons, brethren, and sisters of the church rushed to +Nathaniel Ingersoll's, to the village and town meeting-houses, and to +Thomas Beadle's Globe Tavern, and gazed with wonder, awe, and +admiration upon acting such as has seldom been surpassed on the boards +of any theatre, high or low, ancient or modern. + +There is another aspect that perplexes and confounds the judgments of +all who read the story. It is this: As it is at present the universal +opinion that the whole of this witchcraft transaction was a delusion, +having no foundation whatever but in the imaginations and passions; and +as it is now certain, that all the accused, both the condemned and the +pardoned, were entirely innocent,—how can it be explained that so many +were led to confess themselves guilty? The answer to this question is +to be found in those general principles which have led the wisest +legislators and jurists to the conclusion, that, although on their face +and at first thought, they appear to be the very best kind of evidence, +yet, maturely considered, confessions made under the hope of a benefit, +and sometime even without the impulses of such a hope, are to be +received with great caution and wariness. Here were fifty-five persons, +who declared themselves guilty of a capital, nay, a diabolical crime, +of which we know they were innocent. It is probable that the motive of +self-preservation influenced most of them. An[ii.398] awful death was +in immediate prospect. There was no escape from the wiles of the +accusers. The delusion had obtained full possession of the people, the +jury, and the Court. By acknowledging a compact with Satan, they could +in a moment secure their lives and liberty. It was a position which +only the firmest minds could safely occupy. The principles and the +prowess of ordinary characters could not withstand the temptation and +the pressure. They yielded, and were saved from an impending and +terrible death. + +As these confessions had a decisive effect in precipitating the public +mind into the depths of its delusion, gave a fatal power to the +accusers, and carried the proceedings to the horrible extremities which +have concentrated upon them the attention of the world, they assume an +importance in the history of the affair that demands a full and +thorough exposition. At the examination of Ann Foster, at Salem +Village, on the 15th of July, 1692, the following confession was, +"after a while," extorted from her. It was undoubtedly the result of +the overwhelming effect of the horrors of her condition upon a +distressed and half-crazed mind. It shows the staple materials of which +confessions were made, and the forms of absurd superstition with which +the imaginations of people were then filled:— + +The Devil appeared to her in the shape of a bird at several times,—such +a bird as she never saw the like before; and she had had this gift +(viz., of striking the afflicted down with her eye) ever since. Being +asked why she thought that bird was the Devil, she answered, because he +came[ii.399] white and vanished away black; and that the Devil told her +she should have this gift, and that she must believe him, and told her +she should have prosperity: and she said that he had appeared to her +three times, and always as a bird, and the last time about half a year +since, and sat upon a table,—had two legs and great eyes, and that it +was the second time of his appearance that he promised her prosperity. +She further stated, that it was Goody Carrier that made her a witch. +She told her, that, if she would not be a witch, the Devil would tear +her to pieces, and carry her away,—at which time she promised to serve +the Devil; that she was at the meeting of the witches at Salem Village; +that Goody Carrier came, and told her of the meeting, and would have +her go: so they got upon sticks, and went said journey, and, being +there, did see Mr. Burroughs, the minister, who spake to them all; that +there were then twenty-five persons met together; that she tied a knot +in a rag, and threw it into the fire to hurt Timothy Swan, and that she +did hurt the rest that complained of her by squeezing puppets like +them, and so almost choked them; that she and Martha Carrier did both +ride on a stick or pole when they went to the witch-meeting at Salem +Village, and that the stick broke as they were carried in the air above +the tops of the trees, and they fell: but she did hang fast about the +neck of Goody Carrier, and they were presently at the village; that she +had heard some of the witches say that there were three hundred and +five in the whole country, and that they would ruin that place, the +village; that there were also present at that meeting two men besides +Mr. Burroughs, the minister, and one of them had gray hair; and that +the discourse among the witches at the meeting in Salem Village was, +that they would afflict there to set up the Devil's kingdom. [ii.400] + +The confession of which the foregoing is the substance appears to have +been drawn out at four several examinations on different days, during +which she was induced by the influences around her to make her +testimony more and more extravagant at each successive examination. Her +daughter, Mary Lacy, called Goody Lacy, was brought up on the charge of +witchcraft at the same time; and, upon finding the mother confessing, +she saw that her only safety was in confessing also. When confronted, +the daughter cried out to the mother, "We have forsaken Jesus Christ, +and the Devil hath got hold of us. How shall we get clear of this Evil +One?" She proceeded to say that she had accompanied her mother and +Goody Carrier, all three riding together on the pole, to Salem Village. +She then made the following statement: "About three or four years ago, +she saw Mistress Bradbury, Goody Howe, and Goody Nurse baptized by the +old Serpent at Newbury Falls; that he dipped their heads in the water, +and then said they were his, and he had power over them; that there +were six baptized at that time, who were some of the chief or higher +powers, and that there might be near about a hundred in company at that +time." It being asked her "after what manner she went to Newbury +Falls," she answered, "the Devil carried her in his arms." She said, +that, "if she did take a rag, and roll it up together, and imagine it +to represent such and such a person, then that, whatsoever she did to +that rag so rolled up, the person represented thereby would be[ii.401] +in like manner afflicted." Her daughter, also named Mary Lacy, followed +the example of her mother and grandmother, and made confession. + +An examination of the confessions shows, that, when accused persons +made up their minds to confess, they saw, that, to make their safety +secure, it was necessary to go the whole length of the popular +superstition and fanaticism. In many instances, they appear to have +fabricated their stories with much ingenuity and tact, making them +tally with the statements of the accusers, adding points and items that +gave an air of truthfulness, and falling in with current notions and +fancies. They were undoubtedly under training by the girls, and were +provided with the materials of their testimony. Their depositions are +valuable, inasmuch as they enable us to collect about the whole of the +notions then prevalent on the subject. If, in delivering their +evidences, any prompting was needed, the accusers were at their elbows, +and helped them along in their stories. If, in any particular, they +were in danger of contradicting themselves or others, they were checked +or diverted. In one case, a confessing witch was damaging her own +testimony, whereupon one of the afflicted cried out that she saw the +shapes or apparitions of other witches interfering with her utterance. +The witness took the hint, pretended to have lost the power of +expressing herself, and was removed from the stand. + +In some cases, the confessing witches showed great adroitness, and +knowledge of human nature. When[ii.402] a leading minister was visiting +them in the prison, one of them cried out as he passed her cell, +calling him by name, "Oh! I remember a text you preached on in England, +twenty years since, from these words: 'Your sin will find you out;' for +I find it to be true in my own case." This skilful compliment, showing +the power of his preaching making an impression which time could not +efface, was no doubt flattering to the good man, and secured for her +his favorable influence. + +Justice requires that their own explanation of the influences which led +them to confess should not be withheld. + +The following declaration of six women belonging to Andover is +accompanied by a paper signed by more than fifty of the most +respectable inhabitants of that town, testifying to their good +character, in which it is said that "by their sober, godly, and +exemplary conversation, they have obtained a good report in the place, +where they have been well esteemed and approved in the church of which +they are members:"— + +"We whose names are underwritten, inhabitants of Andover, when as that +horrible and tremendous judgment, beginning at Salem Village, in the +year 1692, by some called witchcraft, first breaking forth at Mr. +Parris's house, several young persons, being seemingly afflicted, did +accuse several persons for afflicting them; and many there believing it +so to be, we being informed, that, if a person was sick, the afflicted +person could tell what or who was the cause of that sickness: John +Ballard of Andover, his wife being[ii.403] sick at the same time, he, +either from himself, or by the advice of others, fetched two of the +persons called the afflicted persons from Salem Village to Andover, +which was the beginning of that dreadful calamity that befell us in +Andover, believing the said accusations to be true, sent for the said +persons to come together to the meeting-house in Andover, the afflicted +persons being there. After Mr. Barnard had been at prayer, we were +blindfolded, and our hands were laid upon the afflicted persons, they +being in their fits, and falling into their fits at our coming into +their presence, as they said: and some led us, and laid our hands upon +them; and then they said they were well, and that we were guilty of +afflicting them. Whereupon we were all seized as prisoners, by a +warrant from the justice of the peace, and forthwith carried to Salem; +and by reason of that sudden surprisal, we knowing ourselves altogether +innocent of that crime, we were all exceedingly astonished and amazed, +and consternated and affrighted, even out of our reason; and our +nearest and dearest relations, seeing us in that dreadful condition, +and knowing our great danger, apprehended there was no other way to +save our lives, as the case was then circumstanced, but by our +confessing ourselves to be such and such persons as the afflicted +represented us to be, they, out of tenderness and pity, persuaded us to +confess what we did confess. And, indeed, that confession that it is +said we made was no other than what was suggested to us by some +gentlemen, they telling us that we were witches, and they knew it, and +we knew it, which made us think that it was so; and, our +understandings, our reason, our faculties almost gone, we were not +capable of judging of our condition; as also the hard measures they +used with us rendered us incapable of making our defence, but said any +thing, and[ii.404] every thing which they desired, and most of what we +said was but in effect a consenting to what they said. Some time after, +when we were better composed, they telling us what we had confessed, we +did profess that we were innocent and ignorant of such things; and we +hearing that Samuel Wardwell had renounced his confession, and was +quickly after condemned and executed, some of us were told we were +going after Wardwell. + +"Mary Osgood. +Mary Tyler. +Deliverance Dane. +Abigail Barker. +Sarah Wilson. +Hannah Tyler." + +The means employed, and the influences brought to bear upon persons +accused, were, in many cases, such as wholly to overpower them, and to +relieve their confessions, to a great extent, of a criminal character. +They were scarcely responsible moral agents. In the month of October, +Increase Mather came to Salem, to confer with the confessing witches in +prison. The result of his examinations is preserved in a document of +which he is supposed to have been the author. The following extracts +afford some explanation of the whole subject:— + +"Goodwife Tyler did say, that, when she was first apprehended, she had +no fears upon her, and did think that nothing could have made her +confess against herself. But since, she had found, to her great grief, +that she had wronged the truth, and falsely accused herself. She said +that, when she was brought to Salem, her brother Bridges rode with her; +and that, all along the way from Andover to Salem,[ii.405] her brother +kept telling her that she must needs be a witch, since the afflicted +accused her, and at her touch were raised out of their fits, and urging +her to confess herself a witch. She as constantly told him that she was +no witch, that she knew nothing of witchcraft, and begged him not to +urge her to confess. However, when she came to Salem, she was carried +to a room, where her brother on one side, and Mr. John Emerson on the +other side, did tell her that she was certainly a witch, and that she +saw the Devil before her eyes at that time (and, accordingly, the said +Emerson would attempt with his hand to beat him away from her eyes); +and they so urged her to confess, that she wished herself in any +dungeon, rather than be so treated. Mr. Emerson told her, once and +again, 'Well, I see you will not confess! Well, I will now leave you; +and then you are undone, body and soul, for ever.' Her brother urged +her to confess, and told her that, in so doing, she could not lie: to +which she answered, 'Good brother, do not say so; for I shall lie if I +confess, and then who shall answer unto God for my lie?' He still +asserted it, and said that God would not suffer so many good men to be +in such an error about it, and that she would be hanged if she did not +confess; and continued so long and so violently to urge and press her +to confess, that she thought, verily, that her life would have gone +from her, and became so terrified in her mind that she owned, at +length, almost any thing that they propounded to her; that she had +wronged her conscience in so doing; she was guilty of a great sin in +belying of herself, and desired to mourn for it so long as she lived. +This she said, and a great deal more of the like nature; and all with +such affection, sorrow, relenting, grief, and mourning, as that it +exceeds any pen to describe and express the same."[ii.406] + +"Goodwife Wilson said that she was in the dark as to some things in her +confession. Yet she asserted that, knowingly, she never had familiarity +with the Devil; that, knowingly, she never consented to the afflicting +of any person, &c. However, she said that truly she was in the dark as +to the matter of her being a witch. And being asked how she was in the +dark, she replied, that the afflicted persons crying out of her as +afflicting them made her fearful of herself; and that was all that made +her say that she was in the dark." + +"Goodwife Bridges said that she had confessed against herself things +which were all utterly false; and that she was brought to her +confession by being told that she certainly was a witch, and so made to +believe it,—though she had no other grounds so to believe." + +Some explanation of the details which those, prevailed upon to confess, +put into their testimony, and which seemed, at the time, to establish +and demonstrate the truth of their statements, is afforded by what Mary +Osgood is reported, by Increase Mather, to have said to him on this +occasion:— + +"Being asked why she prefixed a time, and spake of her being baptized, +&c., about twelve years since, she replied and said, that, when she had +owned the thing, they asked the time, to which she answered that she +knew not the time. But, being told that she did know the time, and must +tell the time, and the like, she considered that about twelve years +before (when she had her last child) she had a fit of sickness, and was +melancholy; and so thought that that time might be as proper a time to +mention as any, and accordingly did prefix the said time. Being asked +about[ii.407] the cat, in the shape of which she had confessed that the +Devil had appeared to her, &c., she replied, that, being told that the +Devil had appeared to her, and must needs appear to her, &c. (she being +a witch), she at length did own that the Devil had appeared to her; +and, being pressed to say in what creature's shape he appeared, she at +length did say that it was in the shape of a cat. Remembering that, +some time before her being apprehended, as she went out at her door, +she saw a cat, &c.; not as though she any whit suspected the said cat +to be the Devil, in the day of it, but because some creature she must +mention, and this came into her mind at that time." + +This poor woman, as well as several others, besides Goodwife Tyler, who +denied and renounced their confessions, manifested, as Dr. Mather +affirms, the utmost horror and anguish at the thought that they could +have been so wicked as to have belied themselves, and brought injury +upon others by so doing. They "bewailed and lamented their accusing of +others, about whom they never knew any evil" in their lives. They +proved the sincerity of their repentance by abandoning and denouncing +their confessions, and thus offering their lives as a sacrifice to +atone for their falsehood. They were then awaiting their trial; and +there seemed no escape from the awful fate which had befallen all +persons brought to trial before, and who had not confessed or had +withdrawn their confession. Fortunately for them, the Court did not +meet again in 1692; and they were acquitted at the regular session, in +the January following.[ii.408] + +In one of Calef's tracts, he sums up his views, on the subject of the +confessions, as follows:— + +"Besides the powerful argument of life (and freedom from hardships, not +only promised, but also performed to all that owned their guilt), there +are numerous instances of the tedious examinations before private +persons, many hours together; they all that time urging them to confess +(and taking turns to persuade them), till the accused were wearied out +by being forced to stand so long, or for want of sleep, &c., and so +brought to give assent to what they said; they asking them, 'Were you +at such a witch meeting?' or, 'Have you signed the Devil's book?' &c. +Upon their replying 'Yes,' the whole was drawn into form, as their +confession." + +This accounts for the similarity of construction and substance of the +confessions generally. + +Calef remarks:— + +"But that which did mightily further such confessions was their nearest +relations urging them to it. These, seeing no other way of escape for +them, thought it the best advice that could be given; hence it was, +that the husbands of some, by counsel, often urging, and utmost +earnestness, and children upon their knees intreating, have at length +prevailed with them to say they were guilty." + +One of the most painful things in the whole affair was, that the +absolute conviction of the guilt of the persons accused, pervading the +community, took full effect upon the minds of many relatives and +friends. They did not consider it as a matter of the least possible +doubt. They therefore looked upon it as wicked[ii.409] obstinacy not to +confess, and, in this sense, an additional and most conclusive evidence +of a mind alienated from truth and wholly given over to Satan. This +turned natural love and previous friendships into resentment, +indignation, and abhorrence, which left the unhappy prisoners in a +condition where only the most wonderful clearness of conviction and +strength of character could hold them up. And, in many cases where they +yielded, it was not from unworthy fear, or for self-preservation, but +because their judgment was overthrown, and their minds in complete +subjection and prostration. + +There can, indeed, hardly be a doubt, that, in some instances, the +confessing persons really believed themselves guilty. To explain this, +we must look into the secret chambers of the human soul; we must read +the history of the imagination, and consider its power over the +understanding. We must transport ourselves to the dungeon, and think of +its dark and awful walls, its dreary hours, its tedious loneliness, its +heavy and benumbing fetters and chains, its scanty fare, and all its +dismal and painful circumstances. We must reflect upon their influence +over a terrified and agitated, an injured and broken spirit. We must +think of the situation of the poor prisoner, cut off from hope; hearing +from all quarters, and at all times, morning, noon, and night, that +there is no doubt of his guilt; surrounded and overwhelmed by +accusations and evidence, gradually but insensibly mingling and +confounding the visions and vagaries of his troubled[ii.410] dreams +with the reveries of his waking hours, until his reason becomes +obscured, his recollections are thrown into derangement, his mind loses +the power of distinguishing between what is perpetually told him by +others and what belongs to the suggestions of his own memory: his +imagination at last gains complete ascendency over his other faculties, +and he believes and declares himself guilty of crimes of which he is as +innocent as the child unborn. The history of the transaction we have +been considering, affords a clear illustration of the truth and +reasonableness of this explanation. + +The facility with which persons can be persuaded, by perpetually +assailing them with accusations of the truth of a charge, in reality +not true, even when it is made against themselves, has been frequently +noticed. Addison, in one of the numbers of his "Spectator," speaks of +it in connection with our present subject: "When an old woman," says +he, "begins to dote, and grow chargeable to a parish, she is generally +turned into a witch, and fills the whole country with extravagant +fancies, imaginary distempers, and terrifying dreams. In the mean time, +the poor wretch that is the innocent occasion of so many evils begins +to be frighted at herself, and sometimes confesses secret commerces and +familiarities that her imagination forms in a delirious old age. This +frequently cuts off charity from the greatest objects of compassion, +and inspires people with a malevolence towards those poor, decrepit +parts of our species[ii.411] in whom human nature is defaced by +infirmity and dotage." + +This passage is important, in addition to the bearing it has upon the +point we have been considering, as describing the state of opinion and +feeling in England twenty years after the folly had been exploded here. +In another number of the same series of essays, he bears evidence, that +the superstitions which here came to a head in 1692 had long been +prevalent in the mother-country: "Our forefathers looked upon nature +with more reverence and horror before the world was enlightened by +learning and philosophy, and loved to astonish themselves with the +apprehensions of witchcraft, prodigies, charms, and enchantments. There +was not a village in England that had not a ghost in it; the +churchyards were all haunted; every large common had a circle of +fairies belonging to it; and there was scarce a shepherd to be met with +who had not seen a spirit." These fancies still linger in the minds of +some in the Old World and in the New. + +After allowing for the utmost extent of prevalent superstitions, the +exaggerations incident to a state of general excitement, and the +fertile inventive faculties of the accusing girls, there is much in the +evidence that cannot easily be accounted for. In other cases than that +of Westgate, we find the symptoms of that bewildered condition of the +senses and imagination not at all surprising or unusual in the +experience of men staggering home in midnight hours from tavern haunts. +Disturbed dreams were, it is[ii.412] not improbable, a fruitful source +of delusion. A large part of the evidence is susceptible of explanation +by the supposition, that the witnesses had confounded the visions of +their sleeping, with the actual observations and occurrences of their +waking hours. At the trial of Susanna Martin, it was in evidence, that +one John Kembal had agreed to purchase a puppy from the prisoner, but +had afterwards fallen back from his bargain, and procured a puppy from +some other person, and that Martin was heard to say, "If I live, I will +give him puppies enough." The circumstances seem to me to render it +probable, that the following piece of evidence given by Kembal, and to +which the Court attached great weight, was the result of a nightmare +occasioned by his apprehension and dread of the fulfilment of the +reported threat:— + +"I, this deponent, coming from his intended house in the woods to +Edmund Elliot's house where I dwelt, about the sunset or presently +after; and there did arise a little black cloud in the north-west, and +a few drops of rain, and the wind blew pretty hard. In going between +the house of John Weed and the meeting-house, this deponent came by +several stumps of trees by the wayside; and he by impulse he can give +no reason of, that made him tumble over the stumps one after another, +though he had his axe upon his shoulder which put him in much danger, +and made him resolved to avoid the next, but could not. + +"And, when he came a little below the meeting-house, there did appear a +little thing like a puppy, of a darkish color. It shot between my legs +forward and backward, as[ii.413] one that were dancing the hay.[G] And +this deponent, being free from all fear, used all possible endeavors to +cut it with his axe, but could not hurt it; and, as he was thus +laboring with his axe, the puppy gave a little jump from him, and +seemed to go into the ground. + +"In a little further going, there did appear a black puppy, somewhat +bigger than the first, but as black as a coal to his apprehension, +which came against him with such violence as its quick motions did +exceed his motions of his axe, do what he could. And it flew at his +belly, and away, and then at his throat and over his shoulder one way, +and go off, and up at it again another way; and with such quickness, +speed, and violence did it assault him, as if it would tear out his +throat or his belly. A good while, he was without fear; but, at last, I +felt my heart to fail and sink under it, that I thought my life was +going out. And I recovered myself, and gave a start up, and ran to the +fence, and calling upon God and naming the name Jesus Christ, and then +it invisibly away. My meaning is, it ceased at once; but this deponent +made it not known to anybody, for fretting his wife."[H] + +[ii.414] We are all exposed to the danger of confounding the +impressions left by the imagination, when, set free from all +confinement, it runs wild in dreams, with the actual experiences of +wakeful faculties in real life. It is a topic worthy the consideration +of writers on evidence, and of legal tribunals. So also is the effect, +upon the personal consciousness, of the continued[ii.415] repetition of +the same story, or of hearing it repeated by others. Instances are +given in books,—perhaps can be recalled by our own individual +experience or observation,—in which what was originally a +delibe[ii.416]rate fabrication of falsehood or of fancy has come, at +last, to be regarded as a veritable truth and a real occurrence. + +A thorough and philosophical treatise on the subject of evidence is, in +view of these considerations, much needed. The liability all men are +under to confound the fictions of their imaginations with the realities +of actual observation is not understood with sufficient clearness by +the community; and, so long as it is not understood and regarded, +serious mistakes and inconveniences will be apt to occur in seasons of +general excitement. We are still disposed to attribute more importance +than we ought to strong convictions, without stopping to inquire +whether they may not be in reality delusions of the understanding. The +cause of truth demands a more thorough examination of this whole +subject. The visions that appeared before the mind of the celebrated +Colonel Gardiner are still regarded by the generality of pious people +as evidence of miraculous interposition, while, just so far as they are +evidence to that point, so far is the authority of Christianity +overthrown; for it is a fact, that Lord Herbert of Cherbury believed +with equal sincerity and confidence that he had been vouchsafed a +similar vision sanctioning his labors, when about to publish what has +been pronounced one of the most powerful attacks ever made upon our +religion. It is dangerous to advance arguments in favor of any cause +which may be founded upon nothing better than the reveries of an ardent +imagination![ii.417] + +The phenomena of dreams, of the exercises and convictions which occupy +the mind, while the avenues of the senses are closed, and the soul is +more or less extricated from its connection with the body, particularly +in the peculiar conditions of partial slumber, are among the deep +mysteries of human experience. The writers on mental philosophy have +not given them the attention they deserve. + +The testimony in these trials is particularly valuable as showing the +power of the imagination to completely deceive and utterly falsify the +senses of sober persons, when wide awake and in broad daylight. The +following deposition was given in Court under oath. The parties +testifying were of unquestionable respectability. The man was probably +a brother of James Bayley, the first minister of the Salem Village +parish. + +"The Deposition of Joseph Bayley, aged forty-four years.—Testifieth and +saith, that, on the twenty-fifth day of May last, myself and my wife +being bound to Boston, on the road, when I came in sight of the house +where John Procter did live, there was a very hard blow struck on my +breast, which caused great pain in my stomach and amazement in my head, +but did see no person near me, only my wife behind me on the same +horse; and, when I came against said Procter's house, according to my +understanding, I did see John Procter and his wife at said house. +Procter himself looked out of the window, and his wife did stand just +without the door. I told my wife of it; and she did look that way, and +could see nothing but a little maid at[ii.418] the door. Afterwards, +about half a mile from the aforesaid house, I was taken speechless for +some short time. My wife did ask me several questions, and desired me, +that, if I could not speak, I should hold up my hand; which I did, and +immediately I could speak as well as ever. And, when we came to the way +where Salem road cometh into Ipswich road, there I received another +blow on my breast, which caused so much pain that I could not sit on my +horse. And, when I did alight off my horse, to my understanding, I saw +a woman coming towards us about sixteen or twenty pole from us, but did +not know who it was: my wife could not see her. When I did get up on my +horse again, to my understanding, there stood a cow where I saw the +woman. After that, we went to Boston without any further molestation; +but, after I came home again to Newbury, I was pinched and nipped by +something invisible for some time: but now, through God's goodness to +me, I am well again.—_Jurat in curia_ by both persons." + +Bayley and his wife were going to Boston on election week. It was a +good two days' journey from Newbury, as the roads then were, and riding +as they did. According to the custom of the times, she was mounted on a +pillion behind him. They had probably passed the night at the house of +Sergeant Thomas Putnam, with whom he was connected by marriage. It was +at the height of the witchcraft delirium. Thomas Putnam's house was the +very focus of it. There they had listened to highly wrought accounts of +its wonders and terrors, had witnessed the amazing phenomena exhibited +by Ann Putnam and Mercy Lewis, and their minds been filled with images +of[ii.419] spectres of living witches, and ghosts of the dead. They had +seen with their own eyes the tortures of the girls under cruel +diabolical influence, of which they had heard so much, and realized the +dread outbreak of Satan and his agents upon the lives and souls of men. + +They started the next morning on their way through the gloomy woods and +over the solitary road. It was known that they were to pass the house +of John Procter, believed to be a chief resort of devilish spirits. +Oppressed with terror and awe, Bayley was on the watch, his heart in +his mouth. The moment he came in sight, his nervous agitation reached +its climax; and he experienced the shock he describes. When he came +opposite to the house, to his horror there was Procter looking at him +from the window, and Procter's wife standing outside of the door. He +knew, that, in their proper persons and natural bodies, they were, at +that moment, both of them, and had been, for six weeks, in irons, in +one of the cells of the jail at Boston. Bayley's wife, from her +position on the pillion behind him, had her face directed to the other +side of the road. He told her what he saw. She looked round to the +house, and could see nothing but a little maid at the door. After one +or two more fits of fright, he reached the Lynn road, had escaped from +the infernal terrors of the infected region, and his senses resumed +their natural functions. It was several days before his nervous +agitations ceased. Altogether, this is a remarkable case of +hallucination:[ii.420] showing that the wildest fancies brought before +the mind in dreams may be paralleled in waking hours; and that mental +excitement may, even then, close the avenues of the senses, exclude the +perception of reality, and substitute unsubstantial visions in the +place of actual and natural objects. + +There may be an interest in some minds to know who the "little maid at +the door" was. The elder children of John Procter were either married +off, or lived on his farm at Ipswich, with the exception of Benjamin, +his oldest son, who remained with his father on the Salem farm. +Benjamin had been imprisoned two days before Bayley passed the house. +Four days before, Sarah, sixteen years of age, had also been arrested, +and committed to jail. This left only William, eighteen years of age, +who, three days after, was himself put into prison; Samuel, seven; +Abigail, between three and four years of age; and one still younger. No +female of the family was then at the house older than Abigail. This +poor deserted child was "the little maid." Curiosity to see the passing +strangers, or possibly the hope that they might be her father and +mother, or her brother and sister, brought her to the door. + +In the terrible consequences that resulted from the mischievous, and +perhaps at the outset merely sportive, proceedings of the children in +Mr. Parris's family, we have a striking illustration of the principle, +that no one can foretell, with respect either to himself or others, the +extent of the suffering and injury that may[ii.421] be occasioned by +the least departure from truth, or from the practice of deception. In +the horrible succession of crimes through which those young persons +were led to pass, in the depth of depravity to which they were thrown, +we discern the fate that endangers all who enter upon a career of +wickedness. + +No one can have an adequate knowledge of the human mind, who has not +contemplated its developments in scenes like those that have now been +related. It may be said of the frame of our spiritual, even with more +emphasis than of our corporeal nature, that we are fearfully and +wonderfully made. In the maturity of his bodily and mental +organization, health gliding through his veins, strength and symmetry +clothing his form, intelligence beaming from his countenance, and +immortality stamped on his brow, man is indeed the noblest work of God. +In the degradation and corruption to which he can descend, he is the +most odious and loathsome object in the creation. The human mind, when +all its faculties are fully developed and in proper proportions, reason +seated on its rightful throne and shedding abroad its light, memory +embracing the past, hope smiling upon the future, faith leaning on +Heaven, and the affections diffusing through all their gentle warmth, +is worthy of its source, deserves its original title of "image of God," +and is greater and better than the whole material universe. It is +nobler than all the works of God; for it is an emanation, a part of God +himself, "a ray from the fountain of light." But where, I[ii.422] ask, +can you find a more deplorable and miserable object than the mind in +ruins, tossed by its own rebellious principles, and distorted by the +monstrously unequal development of its faculties? You will look in vain +upon the earthquake, the volcano, or the hurricane, for those elements +of the awful and terrible which are manifested in a community of men +whose passions have trampled upon their principles, whose imaginations +have overthrown the government of reason, and who are swept along by +the torrent until all order and security are swallowed up and lost. +Such a spectacle we have now been witnessing. We have seen the whole +population of this place and vicinity yielding to the sway of their +credulous fancies, allowing their passions to be worked up to a +tremendous pitch of excitement, and rushing into excesses of folly and +violence that have left a stain on their memory, and will awaken a +sense of shame, pity, and amazement in the minds of their latest +posterity. + +There is nothing more mysterious than the self-deluding power of the +mind, and there never were scenes in which it was more clearly +displayed than the witchcraft prosecutions. Honest men testified, with +perfect confidence and sincerity, to the most absurd impossibilities; +while those who thought themselves victims of diabolical influence +would actually exhibit, in their corporeal frames, all the appropriate +symptoms of the sufferings their imaginations had brought upon them. +Great ignorance prevailed in reference to the influences of the body +and the mind[ii.423] upon each other. While the imagination was called +into a more extensive and energetic action than at any succeeding or +previous period, its properties and laws were but little understood: +the extent of the connection of the will and the muscular system, the +reciprocal influence of the nerves and the fancy, and the strong and +universally pervading sympathy between our physical and moral +constitutions, were almost wholly unknown. These important subjects, +indeed, are but imperfectly understood at the present day. + +It may perhaps be affirmed, that the relations of the human mind with +the spiritual world will never be understood while we continue in the +present stage of existence and mode of being. The error of our +ancestors—and it is an error into which men have always been prone to +fall, and from which our own times are by no means exempt—was in +imagining that their knowledge had extended, in this direction, beyond +the boundary fixed unalterably to our researches, while in this +corporeal life. + +It admits of much question, whether human science can ever find a solid +foundation in what relates to the world of spirits. The only instrument +of knowledge we can here employ is language. Careful thinkers long ago +came to the conclusion, that it is impossible to frame a language +precisely and exclusively adapted to convey abstract and spiritual +ideas, even if it is possible, as some philosophers have denied, for +the mind, in its present state, to have such ideas. All[ii.424] +attempts to construct such a language, though made by the most +ingenious men, have failed. Language is based upon imagery, and +associations drawn from so much of the world as the senses disclose to +us; that is, from material objects and their relations. We are here +confined, as it were, within narrow walls. We can catch only glimpses +of what is above and around us, outside of those walls. Such glimpses +may be vouchsafed, from time to time, to rescue us from sinking into +materialism, and to keep alive our faith in scenes of existence +remaining to be revealed when the barriers of our imprisonment shall be +taken down, and what we call death lift us to a clearer and broader +vision of universal being. + +Of the reality of the spiritual world, we are assured by consciousness +and by faith; but our knowledge of that world, so far as it can go into +particulars, or become the subject of definition or expression, extends +no further than revelation opens the way. In all ages, men have been +awakened to the "wonders of the invisible world;" but they remain +"wonders" still. Nothing like a permanent, stable, or distinct science +has ever been achieved in this department. Man and God are all that are +placed within our ken. Metaphysics and Theology are the names given to +the sciences that relate to them. The greater the number of books +written by human learning and ingenuity to expound them, the more +advanced the intelligence and piety of mankind, the less, it is +confessed, do we know of them in detail, the more they rise above our +comprehension,[ii.425] the more unfathomable become their depths. +Experience, history, the progress of light, all increase our sense of +the impossibility of estimating the capacities of the human soul. So +also we find that the higher we rise towards the Deity, in the +contemplation of his works and word, the more does he continue to +transcend our power to describe or imagine his greatness and glory. The +revelation which the Saviour brought to mankind is all that the heart +of man need desire, or the mind of man can comprehend. We are God's +children, and he is our Father. That is all; and, the wiser and better +we become, the more we are convinced and satisfied that it is enough. + +There are, undoubtedly, innumerable beings in the world of spirits, +besides departed souls, the Redeemer, and the Father. But of such +beings we have, while here, no absolute and specific knowledge. In +every age, as well as in our own, there have been persons who have +believed themselves to hold communication with unseen spirits. The +methods of entering into such communication have been infinitely +diversified, from the incantations of ancient sorcery to the mediums +and rappings of the present day. In former periods, particularly where +the belief of witchcraft prevailed, it was thought that such +communications could be had only with evil spirits, and, mostly, with +the Chief of evil spirits. They were accordingly treated as criminal, +and made the subject of the severest penalties known to the law. In our +day, no such penalties are attached to the practice of seeking +spiritual com[ii.426]munications. Those who have a fancy for such +experiments are allowed to amuse themselves in this way without +reproach or molestation. It is not charged upon them that they are +dealing with the Evil One or any of his subordinates. They do not +imagine such a thing themselves. I have no disposition, at any time, in +any given case, to dispute the reality of the wonderful stories told in +reference to such matters. All that I am prompted ever to remark is, +that, if spirits do come, as is believed, at the call of those who seek +to put themselves into communication with them, there is no evidence, I +venture to suggest, that they are good spirits. I have never heard of +their doing much good, substantially, to any one. No important truth +has been revealed by them, no discovery been made, no science had its +field enlarged; no department of knowledge has been brought into a +clearer light; no great interest has been promoted; no movement of +human affairs, whether in the action of nations or the transactions of +men, has been advanced or in any way facilitated; no impulse has been +given to society, and no elevation to life and character. It may be +that the air is full of spiritual beings, hovering about us; but all +experience shows that no benefit can be derived from seeking their +intervention to share with us the duties or the burdens of our present +probation. The mischiefs which have flowed from the belief that they +can operate upon human affairs, and from attempting to have dealings +with them, have been illustrated in the course of our narrative. In +this view of the sub[ii.427]ject, no law is needed to prevent real or +pretended communication with invisible beings. Enlightened reflection, +common sense, natural prudence, would seem to be sufficient to keep men +from meddling at all with practices, or countenancing notions, from +which all history proclaims that no good has ever come, but +incalculable evil flowed. + +For the conduct of life, while here in these bodies, we must confine +our curiosity to fields of knowledge open to our natural and ordinary +faculties, and embraced within the limits of the established condition +of things. Our fathers filled their fancies with the visionary images +of ghosts, demons, apparitions, and all other supposed forms and +shadows of the invisible world; lent their ears to marvellous stories +of communications with spirits; gave to supernatural tales of +witchcraft and demonology a wondering credence, and allowed them to +occupy their conversation, speculations, and reveries. They carried a +belief of such things, and a proneness to indulge it, into their daily +life, their literature, and the proceedings of tribunals, +ecclesiastical and civil. The fearful results shrouded their annals in +darkness and shame. Let those results for ever stand conspicuous, +beacon-monuments warning us, and coming generations, against +superstition in every form, and all credulous and vain attempts to +penetrate beyond the legitimate boundaries of human knowledge. + +The phenomena of the real world, so far as science discloses them to +our contemplation; the records of[ii.428] actual history; the lessons +of our own experience; the utterances of the voice within, audible only +to ourselves; and the teachings of the Divine Word,—are sufficient for +the exercise of our faculties and the education of our souls during +this brief period of our being, while in these bodies. In God's +appointed time, we shall be transferred to a higher level of vision. +Then, but not before, we may hope for re-union with disembodied +spirits, for intercourse with angels, and for a nearer and more open +communion with all divine beings. + +The principal difference in the methods by which communications were +believed to be made between mortals and spiritual beings, at the time +of the witchcraft delusion and now, is this. Then it was chiefly by the +medium of the eye, but at present by the ear. The "afflicted children" +professed to have seen and conversed with the ghosts of George +Burroughs's former wives and of others. They also professed to have +seen the shapes or appearances of living persons in a disembodied form, +or in the likeness of some animal or creature. Now it is affirmed by +those calling themselves Spiritualists, that, by certain rappings or +other incantations, they can summon into immediate but invisible +presence the spirits of the departed, hold conferences with them, and +draw from them information not derivable from any sources of human +knowledge. There is no essential distinction between the old and the +new belief and practice. The consequences that resulted from the former +would be[ii.429] likely to result from the latter, if it should obtain +universal or general credence, be allowed to mix with judicial +proceedings, or to any extent affect the rights of person, property, or +character. + +The "afflicted children" at Salem Village had, by long practice, become +wonderful adepts in the art of jugglery, and probably of ventriloquism. +They did many extraordinary things, and were believed to have constant +communications with ghosts and spectres; but they did not attain to +spiritual rapping. If they had possessed that power, the credulity of +judges, ministers, magistrates, and people, would have been utterly +overwhelmed, and no limit could have been put to the destruction they +might have wrought. + +If there was any thing supernatural in the witchcraft of 1692, if any +other than human spirits were concerned at all, one thing is beyond a +doubt: they were shockingly wicked spirits, and led those who dealt +with them to the utmost delusion, crime, and perdition; and this +example teaches all who seek to consult with spirits, through a medium +or in any other way, to be very strict to require beforehand the most +satisfactory and conclusive evidence of good character before they put +themselves into communication with them. Spirits who are said to +converse with people, in these modern ages, cannot be considered as +having much claim to a good repute. No valuable discovery of truth, no +important guidance in human conduct, no useful instruction, has ever +been conveyed to mankind through them; and much[ii.430] mischief +perhaps may have resulted from confiding in them. It is not wise to +place our minds under the influence of any of our fellow-creatures, in +the ordinary guise of humanity, unless we know something about them +entitling them to our acquaintance; much less so, to take them into our +intimacy or confidence. Spirits cannot be put under oath, or their +credibility be subjected to tests. Whether they are spirits of truth or +falsehood cannot be known; and common caution would seem to dictate an +avoidance of their company. The fields of knowledge opened to us in the +works of mortal men; the stores of human learning and science; the +pages of history, sacred or profane; the records of revelation; and the +instructions and conversation of the wise and good of our +fellow-creatures, while in the body,—are wide enough for our +exploration, and may well occupy the longest lifetime. + +In its general outlines and minuter details, Salem Witchcraft is an +illustration of the fatal effects of allowing the imagination inflamed +by passion to take the place of common sense, and of pushing the +curiosity and credence of the human mind, in this stage of our being, +while in these corporeal embodiments, beyond the boundaries that ought +to limit their exercise. If we disregard those boundaries, and try to +overleap them, we shall be liable to the same results. The lesson needs +to be impressed equally upon all generations and ages of the world's +future history. Essays have been written and books published to prove +that the sense of the miraculous is destined[ii.431] to decline as +mankind becomes more enlightened, and ascribing a greater or less +tendency to the indulgence of this sense to particular periods of the +church, or systems of belief, or schools of what is called philosophy. +It is maintained that it was more prevalent in the mediæval ages than +in modern times. Some assert that it has had a greater development in +Catholic than Protestant countries; and some, perhaps, insist upon the +reverse. Some attempt to show that it has manifested itself more +remarkably among Puritans than in other classes of Protestant +Christians. The last and most pretentious form of this dogma is, that +the sense of the miraculous fades away in the progress of what +arrogates to itself the name of Rationalism. This is one of the +delusive results of introducing generalization into historical +disquisitions. History deals with man. Man is always the same. The race +consists, not of an aggregation, but of individuals, in all ages, never +moulded or melted into classes. Each individual has ever retained his +distinctness from every other. There has been the same infinite variety +in every period, in every race, in every nation. Society, philosophy, +custom, can no more obliterate these varieties than they can bring the +countenances and features of men into uniformity. Diversity everywhere +alike prevails. The particular forms and shapes in which the sense of +the miraculous may express itself have passed and will pass away in the +progress of civilization. But the sense itself remains; just as +particular costumes and fashions of garment pass away, while +the[ii.432] human form, its front erect and its vision towards the +heavens, remains. The sense of the miraculous remains with Protestants +as much as with Catholics, with Churchmen as much as with Puritans, +with those who reject all creeds, equally with those whose creeds are +the longest and the oldest. In our day, it must have been generally +noticed, that the wonders of what imagines itself to be Spiritualism +are rather more accredited by persons who aspire to the character of +rationalists than by those who hold on tenaciously to the old landmarks +of Orthodoxy. + +The truth is, that the sense of the miraculous has not declined, and +never can. It will grow deeper and stronger with the progress of true +intelligence. As long as man thinks, he will feel that he is himself a +perpetual miracle. The more he thinks, the more will he feel it. The +mind which can wander into the deepest depths of the starry heavens, +and feel itself to be there; which, pondering over the printed page, +lives in the most distant past, communes with sages of hoar antiquity, +with prophets and apostles, joins the disciples as they walk with the +risen Lord to Emmaus, or mingles in the throng that listen to Paul at +Mars' Hill,—knows itself to be beyond the power of space or time, and +greater than material things. It knows not what it shall be; but it +feels that it is something above the present and visible. It realizes +the spiritual world, and will do so more and more, the higher its +culture, the greater its freedom, and the wider its view of the +material nature[ii.433] by which it is environed, while in this +transitory stage of its history. + +The lesson of our story will be found not to discard spiritual things, +but to teach us, while in the flesh, not to attempt to break through +present limitations, not to seek to know more than has been made known +of the unseen and invisible, but to keep the inquiries of our minds and +the action of society within the bounds of knowledge now attainable, +and extend our curious researches and speculations only as far as we +can here have solid ground to stand upon. + +To explain the superstitious opinions that took effect in the +witchcraft delusion, it is necessary to consider the state of biblical +criticism at that period. That department of theological learning was +then in a very immature condition. + +The authority of Scripture, as it appeared on the face of the standard +version, seemed to require them to pursue the course they adopted; and +those enlarged and just principles of interpretation which we are +taught by the learned of all denominations at the present day to apply +to the Sacred Writings had not then been brought to the view of the +people or received by the clergy. + +It was gravely argued, for instance, that there was nothing improbable +in the idea that witches had the power, in virtue of their compact with +the Devil, of riding aloft through the air, because it is recorded, in +the history of our Lord's temptation, that Satan transported him in a +similar manner to the pinnacle of the[ii.434] temple, and to the summit +of an exceedingly high mountain. And Cotton Mather declares, that, to +his apprehension, the disclosures of the wonderful operations of the +Devil, upon and through his subjects, that were made in the course of +the witchcraft prosecutions, had shed a marvellous light upon the +Scriptures! What a perversion of the Sacred Writings to employ them for +the purpose of sanctioning the extravagant and delirious reveries of +the human imagination! What a miserable delusion, to suppose that the +Word of God could receive illumination from the most absurd and +horrible superstition that ever brooded in darkness over the mind of +man! + +One of the sources of the delusion of 1692 was ignorance of many +natural laws that have been revealed by modern science. A vast amount +of knowledge on these subjects has been attained since that time. In +our halls of education, in associations for the diffusion of knowledge, +and in a diversified and all-pervading popular literature, what was +dark and impenetrable mystery then has been explained, accounted for, +and brought within the grasp of all minds. The contemplation of the +evils brought upon our predecessors by their ignorance of the laws of +nature cannot but lead us to appreciate more highly our opportunities +to get knowledge in this department. As we advance into the interior of +the physical system to which we belong; are led in succession from one +revelation of beauty and grandeur to another, and the field of light +and truth displaces that of darkness and[ii.435] mystery; while the +fearful images that disturbed the faith and bewildered the thoughts of +our fathers are dissolving and vanishing, the whole host of spirits, +ghosts, and demons disappearing, and the presence and providence of God +alone found to fill all scenes and cause all effects,—our hearts ought +to rise to him in loftier adoration and holier devotion. If, while we +enjoy a fuller revelation of his infinite and all-glorious operations +and designs than our fathers did, the sentiment of piety which glowed +in their hearts like a coal from the altar of God has been permitted to +grow dim in ours, no reproach their errors and faults can possibly +authorize will equal that which will justly fall upon us. + +Another cause of their delusion was too great a dependence upon the +imagination. We shall find no lesson more clearly taught by history, by +experience, or by observation, than this, that man is never safe while +either his fancy or his feeling is the guiding principle of his nature. +There is a strong and constant attraction between his imagination and +his passions; and, if either is permitted to exercise unlimited sway, +the other will most certainly be drawn into co-operation with it, and, +when they are allowed to act without restraint upon each other and with +each other, they lead to the derangement and convulsion of his whole +system. They constitute the combustible elements of our being: one +serves as the spark to explode the other. Reason, enlightened by +revelation and guided by conscience, is the great conservative +prin[ii.436]ciple: while that exercises the sovereign power over the +fancy and the passions, we are safe; if it is dethroned, no limit can +be assigned to the ruin that may follow. In the scenes we have now been +called to witness, we have perceived to what lengths of folly, cruelty, +and crime even good men have been carried, who relinquished the aid, +rejected the counsels, and abandoned the guidance of their reason. + +Another influence that operated to produce the catastrophe in 1692 was +the power of contagious sympathy. Every wise man and good citizen ought +to be aware of the existence and operation of this power. There seems +indeed to be a constitutional, original, sympathy in our nature. When +men act in a crowd, their heartstrings are prone to vibrate in unison. +Whatever chord of passion is struck in one breast, the same will ring +forth its wild note through the whole mass. This principle shows itself +particularly in seasons of excitement, and its power rises in +proportion to the ardor and zeal of those upon whom it acts. It is for +every one who desires to be preserved from the excesses of popular +feeling, and to prevent the community to which he belongs from plunging +into riotous and blind commotions, to keep his own judgment and +emotions as free as possible from a power that seizes all it can reach, +draws them into its current, and sweeps them round and round like the +Maelstrom, until they are overwhelmed and buried in its devouring +vortex. When others are heated, the only wisdom is to determine to keep +cool; whenever a people or an individual[ii.437] is rushing headlong, +it is the duty of patriotism and of friendship to check the motion. + +In this connection it may be remarked—and I should be sorry to bring +the subject to a close without urging the thought upon your +attention—that the mere power of sympathy, the momentum with which men +act in a crowd, is itself capable of convulsing society and +overthrowing all its safeguards, without the aid or supposed agency of +supernatural beings. The early history of the colony of New York +presents a case in point. + +In 1741, just half a century after the witchcraft prosecutions in +Massachusetts, the city of New York, then containing about nine +thousand inhabitants, witnessed a scene quite rivalling, in horror and +folly, that presented here. Some one started the idea, that a +conspiracy was on foot, among the colored portion of the inhabitants, +to murder the whites. The story was passed from one to another. +Although subsequently ascertained to have been utterly without +foundation, no one stopped to inquire into its truth, or had the wisdom +or courage to discountenance its circulation. Soon a universal panic, +like a conflagration, spread through the whole community; and the +results were most frightful. More than one hundred persons were cast +into prison. Four white persons and eighteen negroes were hanged. +Eleven negroes were burned at the stake, and fifty were transported +into slavery. As in the witchcraft prosecutions, a clergyman was among +the victims, and perished on the gallows.[ii.438] + +The "New-York Negro Plot," as it was called, was indeed marked by all +the features of absurdity in the delusion, ferocity in the popular +excitement, and destruction along the path of its progress, which +belonged to the witchcraft proceedings here, and shows that any people, +given over to the power of contagious passion, may be swept by +desolation, and plunged into ruin. + +One of the practical lessons inculcated by the history that has now +been related is, that no duty is more certain, none more important, +than a free and fearless expression of opinion, by all persons, on all +occasions. No wise or philosophic person would think of complaining of +the diversities of sentiment it is likely to develop. Such diversities +are the vital principle of free communities, and the only elements of +popular intelligence. If the right to utter them is asserted by all and +for all, tolerance is secured, and no inconvenience results. It is +probable that there were many persons here in 1692 who doubted the +propriety of the proceedings at their commencement, but who were +afterwards prevailed upon to fall into the current and swell the tide. +If they had all discharged their duty to their country and their +consciences by freely and boldly uttering their disapprobation and +declaring their dissent, who can tell but that the whole tragedy might +have been prevented? and, if it might, the blood of the innocent may be +said, in one sense, to be upon their heads. + +The leading features and most striking aspects of[ii.439] the +witchcraft delusion have been repeated in places where witches and the +interference of supernatural beings are never thought of: whenever a +community gives way to its passions, and spurns the admonitions and +casts off the restraints of reason, there is a delusion that can hardly +be described in any other phrase. We cannot glance our eye over the +face of our country without beholding such scenes: and, so long as they +are exhibited; so long as we permit ourselves to invest objects of +little or no real importance with such an inordinate imaginary interest +that we are ready to go to every extremity rather than relinquish them; +so long as we yield to the impulse of passion, and plunge into +excitement, and take counsel of our feelings rather than our +judgment,—we are following in the footsteps of our fanatical ancestors. +It would be wiser to direct our ridicule and reproaches to the +delusions of our own times than to those of a previous age; and it +becomes us to treat with charity and mercy the failings of our +predecessors, at least until we have ceased to imitate and repeat them. + +It has been my object to collect and arrange all the materials within +reach necessary to give a correct and adequate view of the passage of +history related and discussed in this work, and to suggest the +considerations and conclusions required by truth and justice. It is +worthy of the most thoughtful contemplation. The moralist, +metaphysician, and political philosopher will find few chapters of +human experience more fraught with instruction, and may well ponder +upon[ii.440] the lessons it teaches, scrutinize thoroughly all its +periods, phases, and branches, analyze its causes, eliminate its +elements, and mark its developments. The laws, energies, capabilities, +and liabilities of our nature, as exhibited in the character of +individuals and in the action of society, are remarkably illustrated. +The essential facts belonging to the transaction, gathered from +authentic records and reliable testimonies and traditions, have been +faithfully presented. The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692, so far as I have +been able to recover it from misunderstanding and oblivion, has been +brought to view; and I indulge the belief, that the subject will +commend itself to, and reward, the study of every meditative mind. + +I know not in what better terms the discussion of this subject can be +brought to a termination, than in those which express the conclusions +to which one of our own most distinguished citizens was brought, after +having examined the whole transaction with the eye of a lawyer and the +spirit of a judge. The following is from the Centennial Discourse +pronounced in Salem on the 18th of September, 1828, by the late Hon. +Joseph Story, of the Supreme Court of the United States:— + +"We may lament, then," says he, "the errors of the times, which led to +these prosecutions. But surely our ancestors had no special reasons for +shame in a belief which had the universal sanction of their own and all +former ages; which counted in its train philosophers, as well as +enthusiasts; which was graced[ii.441] by the learning of prelates, as +well as by the countenance of kings; which the law supported by its +mandates, and the purest judges felt no compunctions in enforcing. Let +Witch Hill remain for ever memorable by this sad catastrophe, not to +perpetuate our dishonor, but as an affecting, enduring proof of human +infirmity; a proof that perfect justice belongs to one judgment-seat +only,—that which is linked to the throne of God." + +In the work which has now reached its close, many strange phases of +humanity have been exposed. We have beheld, with astonishment and +horror, the extent to which it is liable to be the agent and victim of +delusion and ruin. Folly that cannot be exceeded; wrong, outrage, and +woe, melting the heart that contemplates them; and crime, not within +our power or province to measure,—have passed before us. But not the +dark side only of our nature has been displayed. Manifestations of +innocence, heroism, invincible devotion to truth, integrity of soul +triumphing over all the terrors and horrors that can be accumulated in +life and in death, Christian piety in its most heavenly radiance, have +mingled in the drama, whose curtain is now to fall. Noble specimens of +virtue in man and woman, old and young, have shed a light, as from +above, upon its dark and melancholy scenes. Not only the sufferers, but +some of those who shared the dread responsibility of the crisis, demand +our commiseration, and did what they could to atone for their error. + +The conduct of Judge Sewall claims our particu[ii.442]lar admiration. +He observed annually in private a day of humiliation and prayer, during +the remainder of his life, to keep fresh in his mind a sense of +repentance and sorrow for the part he bore in the trials. On the day of +the general fast, he rose in the place where he was accustomed to +worship, the Old South, in Boston, and, in the presence of the great +assembly, handed up to the pulpit a written confession, acknowledging +the error into which he had been led, praying for the forgiveness of +God and his people, and concluding with a request to all the +congregation to unite with him in devout supplication, that it might +not bring down the displeasure of the Most High upon his country, his +family, or himself. He remained standing during the public reading of +the paper. This was an act of true manliness and dignity of soul. + +The following passage is found in his diary, under the date of April +23, 1720, nearly thirty years afterwards. It was suggested by the +perusal of Neal's "History of New England:"— + +"In Dr. Neal's 'History of New England,' its nakedness is laid open in +the businesses of the Quakers, Anabaptists, witchcraft. The judges' +names are mentioned p. 502; my confession, p. 536, vol. ii. The good +and gracious God be pleased to save New England and me, and my family!" + +There never was a more striking and complete fulfilment of the +apostolic assurance, that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, +than in this instance. God has been pleased, in a remarkable manner, +to[ii.443] save and bless New England. The favor of Heaven was bestowed +upon Judge Sewall during the remainder of his life. He presided for +many years on the bench where he committed the error so sincerely +deplored by him, and was regarded by all as a benefactor, an ornament, +and a blessing to the community: while his family have enjoyed to a +high degree the protection of Providence from that day to this; have +adorned every profession, and every department of society; have filled +with honor the most elevated stations; have graced, in successive +generations, the same lofty seat their ancestor occupied; and been the +objects of the confidence, respect, and love of their fellow-citizens. + +Your thoughts have been led through scenes of the most distressing and +revolting character. I leave before your imaginations one bright with +all the beauty of Christian virtue,—that which exhibits Judge Sewall +standing forth in the house of his God and in the presence of his +fellow-worshippers, making a public declaration of his sorrow and +regret for the mistaken judgment he had co-operated with others in +pronouncing. Here you have a representation of a truly great and +magnanimous spirit; a spirit to which the divine influence of our +religion had given an expansion and a lustre that Roman or Grecian +virtue never knew; a spirit that had achieved a greater victory than +warrior ever won,—a victory over itself; a spirit so noble and so pure, +that it felt no shame in acknowledging an error, and publicly +imploring,[ii.444] for a great wrong done to his fellow-creatures, the +forgiveness of God and man. + +Our Essex poet, whose beautiful genius has made classical the banks of +his own Merrimac, shed a romantic light over the early homes and +characters of New England, and brought back to life the spirit, forms, +scenes, and men of the past, has not failed to immortalize, in his +verse, the profound penitence of the misguided but upright judge:— + +"Touching and sad, a tale is told, +Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old, +Of the fast which the good man life-long kept +With a haunting sorrow that never slept, +As the circling year brought round the time +Of an error that left the sting of crime, +When he sat on the bench of the witchcraft courts, +With the laws of Moses and 'Hale's Reports,' +And spake, in the name of both, the word +That gave the witch's neck to the cord, +And piled the oaken planks that pressed +The feeble life from the warlock's breast! +All the day long, from dawn to dawn, +His door was bolted, his curtain drawn; +No foot on his silent threshold trod, +No eye looked on him save that of God, +As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charms +Of penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms, +And, with precious proofs from the sacred Word +Of the boundless pity and love of the Lord, +His faith confirmed and his trust renewed, +That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued, +Might be washed away in the mingled flood +Of his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood!" + + +[ii.445] + +decoration + + + +SUPPLEMENT. + +decoration + + +[ii.447] + +SUPPLEMENT. + + +[The subject of Salem Witchcraft has been traced to its conclusion, and +discussed within its proper limits, in the foregoing work. But whoever +is interested in it as a chapter of history or an exhibition of +humanity may feel a curiosity, on some points, that reasonably demands +gratification. The questions will naturally arise, Who were the +earliest to extricate themselves and the public from the delusion? what +is known, beyond the facts mentioned in the progress of the foregoing +discussion, of the later fortunes of its prominent actors? what the +view taken in the retrospect by individuals and public bodies +implicated in the transaction? and what opinions on the general subject +have subsequently prevailed? To answer these questions is the design of +this Supplement.] + + + + IT can hardly be said that there was any open and avowed opposition in + the community to the proceedings during their early progress. There is + some uncertainty and obscurity to what extent there was an unexpressed + dissent in the minds of particular private persons. On the general + subject of the existence and power of the Devil and his agency, more + or less, in influencing human and earthly affairs, it would be + difficult to prove that there was any considerable difference of + opinion. + +The first undisguised and unequivocal opposition to the proceedings was +a remarkable document that has recently come to light. Among some +papers which have found their way to the custody of the Essex +Institute, is a letter, dated "Salisbury, Aug. 9, 1692," addressed "To +the worshipful Jonathan Corwin, Esq., these present at his house in +Salem." It is indorsed, "A letter[ii.448] to my grandfather, on account +of the condemnation of the witches." Its date shows that it was written +while the public infatuation and fury were at their height, and the +Court was sentencing to death and sending to the gallows its successive +cartloads. There is no injunction of secresy, and no shrinking from +responsibility. Although the name of the writer is not given in full, +he was evidently well known to Corwin, and had written to him before on +the subject. The messenger, in accordance with the superscription, +undoubtedly delivered it into the hands of the judge at his residence +on the corner of Essex and North Streets. The fact that Jonathan Corwin +preserved this document, and placed it in the permanent files of his +family papers, is pretty good proof that he appreciated the weight of +its arguments. It is not improbable that he expressed himself to that +effect to his brethren on the bench, and perhaps to others. What he +said, and the fact that he was holding such a correspondence, may have +reached the ears of the accusers, and led them to commence a movement +against him by crying out upon his mother-in-law. + +The letter is a most able argument against the manner in which the +trials were conducted, and, by conclusive logic, overthrows the whole +fabric of the evidence on the strength of which the Court was +convicting and taking the lives of innocent persons. No such piece of +reasoning has come to us from that age. Its author must be acknowledged +to have been an expert in dialectic subtleties, and a pure reasoner of +unsurpassed acumen and force. It requires, but it will reward, the +closest attention and concentration of thought in following the threads +of the argument. It reaches its conclusions on a most difficult subject +with clearness and certainty. It achieves and realizes, in mere mental +processes, quantities, and forces, on the points at which it aims, what +is called demonstration in mathematics and geometry. + +The writer does not discredit, but seems to have received, the then +prevalent doctrines relating to the personality, power, and attributes +of the Devil; and, from that standpoint, controverts and demolishes the +principles on which the Court was proceeding, in reference to the +"spectral evidence" and the credibility of the "afflicted children" +generally. The letter, and the formal argument appended to it, arrest +notice in one or two general aspects. There is an appearance of their +having proceeded from an elderly[ii.449] person, not at all from any +marks of infirmity of intellect, but rather from an air of wisdom and a +tone of authority which can only result from long experience and +observation. The circumstance that an amanuensis was employed, and the +author writes the initials of his signature only, strengthens this +impression. At the same time, there are indications of a free and +progressive spirit, more likely to have had force at an earlier period +of life. In some aspects, the document indicates a theological +education, and familiarity with matters that belong to the studies of a +minister; in others, it manifests habits of mind and modes of +expression and reasoning more natural to one accustomed to close legal +statements and deductions. If the production of a trained professional +man of either class, it would justly be regarded as remarkable. If its +author belonged to neither class, but was merely a local magistrate, +farmer, and militia officer, it becomes more than remarkable. There +must have been a high development among the founders of our villages, +when the laity could present examples of such a capacity to grasp the +most difficult subjects, and conduct such acute and abstruse +disquisitions. [See Appendix.] + +The question as to the authorship of this paper may well excite +interest, involving, as it does, minute critical speculations. The +elements that enter into its solution illustrate the difficulties and +perplexities encompassing the study of local antiquities, and attempts +to determine the origin and bearings of old documents or to settle +minute points of history. The weight of evidence seems to indicate that +the document is attributable to Major Robert Pike, of Salisbury. +Whoever was its author did his duty nobly, and stands alone, above all +the scholars and educated men of the time, in bearing testimony openly, +bravely, in the very ears of the Court, against the disgraceful and +shocking course they were pursuing.[I] +[ii.450] +William Brattle, an eminent citizen and opulent merchant of Boston, and +a gentleman of education and uncommon abilities, wrote a letter to an +unknown correspondent of the clerical profes[ii.451]sion, in October, +1692. It is an able criticism upon the methods of procedure at the +trials, condemning them in the strongest language; but it was a +confidential communication, and not published[ii.452] until many years +afterwards. He says that "the witches' meetings, the Devil's baptisms +and mock sacraments, which the accusing and confessing witches oft +speak of, are nothing else but the effect of their fancy, depraved and +deluded by the Devil, and not a reality to be regarded or minded by any +wise man." He charges the judges with having taken testimony from the +Devil himself, through witnesses who swore to what they said the Devil +communicated to them, thus indirectly introducing the Devil as a +witness; and he clinches the accusation by quoting the judges +themselves, who, when the accusing and confessing witnesses +contradicted each other, got over the difficulty by saying that the +Devil, in such instances, took away the memory of some of them, for the +moment, obscuring their brains, and misleading them. He sums up this +part of his reasoning in these words: "If it be thus granted that the +Devil is able to represent false ideas to the imaginations of the +confessors, what man of sense will regard the confessions, or any of +the words of these confessors?" He says that he knows several persons +"about the Bay,"—men, for understanding, judgment, and piety, inferior +to few, if any, in New England,—that do utterly condemn the said +proceedings. He repudiates the idea that Salem was, in any sense, +exclusively responsible for the transaction; and affirms that "other +justices in the country, besides the Salem jus[ii.453]tices, have +issued out their warrants;" and states, that, of the eight "judges, +commissioned for this Court at Salem, five do belong to Suffolk County, +four of which five do belong to Boston, and therefore I see no reason +why Boston should talk of Salem as though their own judges had had no +hand in these proceedings in Salem." + +There is one view of the subject, upon which Brattle presses with much +force and severity. There is ground to suspect, that the proceedings +were suffered to go on, after some of those appearing to countenance +them had ceased to have faith in the accusations. He charges, directly, +complicity in the escape of Mrs. Carey, Mrs. English, Captain Alden, +Hezekiah Usher, and others, upon the high officials; and says that +while the evidence, upon which so many had been imprisoned, sentenced, +and executed, bore against Mrs. Thacher, of Boston, she was never +proceeded against. "She was much complained of by the afflicted +persons, and yet the justices would not issue out their warrants to +apprehend" her and certain others; while at the very same time they +were issuing, upon no better or other grounds, warrants against so many +others. He charges the judges with this most criminal favoritism. The +facts hardly justify such an imputation upon the judges. They did not, +after the trials had begun, it is probable, ever issue warrants: that +was the function of magistrates. With the exception, perhaps, of +Corwin, I think there is no evidence of there having been any doubts or +misgivings on the bench. It is altogether too heavy a charge to bring, +without the strongest evidence, upon any one. To intimate that +officials, or any persons, who did not believe in the accusations, +connived at the escape of their friends and relatives, and at the same +time countenanced, pretended to believe, and gave deadly effect to them +when directed against others, is supposing a criminality and baseness +too great to be readily admitted. In that wild reign of the worst of +passions, this would have transcended them all in its iniquity. The +only excusable people at that time were those who honestly, and without +a doubt, believed in the guilt of the convicted. Those who had doubts, +and did not frankly and fearlessly express them, were the guilty ones. +On their hands is the stain of the innocent blood that was shed. It is +not probable, and is scarcely possible, that any considerable number +could be at once doubters and prosecutors. On this[ii.454] point, +Brattle must be understood to mean, not that judges, or others actively +engaged in the prosecutions, warded off proceedings against particular +friends or relatives from a principle of deliberate favoritism, but +that third parties, actuated by a sycophantic spirit, endeavored to +hush up or intercept complaints, when directed too near to the high +officials, or thought to gain their favor by aiding the escape of +persons in whom they were interested. + +Brattle uses the same weapon which afterwards the opponents of Mr. +Parris, in his church at Salem Village, wielded with such decisive +effect against him and all who abetted him. It is much to be lamented, +that, instead of hiding it under a confidential letter, he did not at +the time openly bring it to bear in the most public and defiant manner. +One brave, strong voice, uttered in the face of the court and in the +congregations of the people, echoed from the corners of the streets, +and reaching the ears of the governor and magistrates, denouncing the +entire proceedings as the damnable crime of familiarity with evil +spirits, and sorcery of the blackest dye, might perhaps have recalled +the judges, the people, and the rulers to their senses. If the spirit +of the ancient prophets of God, of the Quakers of the preceding age, or +of true reformers of any age, had existed in any breast, the experiment +would have been tried. Brattle says,— + +"I cannot but admire that any should go with their distempered friends +and relations to the afflicted children, to know what their distempered +friends ail, whether they are not bewitched, who it is that afflicts +them, and the like. It is true, I know no reason why these afflicted +may not be consulted as well as any other, if so be that it was only +their natural and ordinary knowledge that was had recourse to: but it +is not on this notion that these afflicted children are sought unto, +but as they have a supernatural knowledge; a knowledge which they +obtain by their holding correspondence with spectres or evil spirits, +as they themselves grant. This consulting of these afflicted children, +as abovesaid, seems to me to be a very gross evil, a real abomination, +not fit to be known in New England; and yet is a thing practised, not +only by _Tom_ and _John_,—I mean the rude and more ignorant sort,—but +by many who profess high, and pass among us for some of the better +sort. This is that which aggravates the evil, and makes it heinous and +tremendous; and yet this is not the worst of it,—for, as[ii.455] sure +as I now write to you, even some of our civil leaders and spiritual +teachers, who, I think, should punish and preach down such sorcery and +wickedness, do yet allow of, encourage, yea, and practise, this very +abomination. I know there are several worthy gentlemen in Salem who +account this practice as an abomination, have trembled to see the +methods of this nature which others have used, and have declared +themselves to think the practice to be very evil and corrupt. But all +avails little with the abettors of the said practice." + +If Mr. Brattle and the "several worthy gentlemen" to whom he alludes, +instead of sitting in "trembling" silence, or whispering in private +their disapprobation, or writing letters under the injunction of +secrecy, had come boldly out, and denounced the whole thing, in a +spirit of true courage, meeting and defying the risk, and carrying the +war home, and promptly, upon the ministers, magistrates, and judges, +they might have succeeded, and exploded the delusion before it had +reached its fatal results. + +He mentions, in the course of his letter, among those persons known by +him to disapprove of the proceedings,— + +"The Hon. Simon Bradstreet, Esq. (our late governor), the Hon. Thomas +Danforth, Esq. (our late deputy-governor), the Rev. Mr. Increase +Mather, and the Rev. Mr. Samuel Willard. Major N. Saltonstall, Esq., +who was one of the judges, has left the court, and is very much +dissatisfied with the proceedings of it. Excepting Mr. Hale, Mr. Noyes, +and Mr. Parris, the reverend elders, almost throughout the whole +country, are very much dissatisfied. Several of the late justices—viz., +Thomas Graves, Esq.; N. Byfield, Esq.; Francis Foxcroft, Esq.—are much +dissatisfied; also several of the present justices, and, in particular, +some of the Boston justices, were resolved rather to throw up their +commissions than be active in disturbing the liberty of Their +Majesties' subjects merely on the accusations of these afflicted, +possessed children." + +It is to be observed, that the dissatisfaction was with some of the +methods adopted in the proceedings, and not with the prosecutions +themselves. Increase Mather and Samuel Willard signed the paper +indorsing Deodat Lawson's famous sermon, which surely drove on the +prosecutions; and the former expressed, in print, his approbation of +his son Cotton's "Wonders of the Invisible World," in which he labors +to defend the witchcraft prosecutions, and to make it out that those +who suffered were "malefactors."[ii.456] Dr. Increase Mather is +understood to have countenanced the burning of Calef's book, some few +years afterwards, in the square of the public grounds of Harvard +College, of which institution he was then president. It cannot be +doubted, however, that both the elder Mather and Mr. Willard had +expressed, more or less distinctly, their disapprobation of some of the +details of the proceedings. It is honorable to their memories, and +shows that the former was not wholly blinded by parental weakness, but +willing to express his dissent, in some particulars, from the course of +his distinguished son, and that the latter had an independence of +character which enabled him to criticise and censure a court in which +three of his parishioners sat as judges. + +Brattle relates a story which seems to indicate that Increase Mather +sometimes was unguarded enough to express himself with severity against +those who gave countenance to the proceedings. "A person from Boston, +of no small note, carried up his child to Salem, near twenty miles, on +purpose that he might consult the afflicted about his child, which +accordingly he did; and the afflicted told him that his child was +afflicted by Mrs. Carey and Mrs. Obinson." The "afflicted," in this and +some other instances, had struck too high. The magistrates in Boston +were unwilling to issue a warrant against Mrs. Obinson, and Mrs. Carey +had fled. All that the man got for his pains, in carrying his child to +Salem, was a hearty scolding from Increase Mather, who asked him +"whether there was not a God in Boston, that he should go to the Devil, +in Salem, for advice." + +Bradstreet's great age prevented, it is to be supposed, his public +appearance in the affair; but his course in a case which occurred +twelve years before fully justifies confidence in the statement of +Brattle. The tradition has always prevailed, that he looked with +disapprobation upon the proceedings, from beginning to end. The course +of his sons, and the action taken against them, is quite decisive to +the point. + +Facts have been stated, which show that Thomas Danforth, if he +disapproved of the proceedings at Salem, in October, must have +undergone a rapid change of sentiments. No irregularities, +improprieties, extravagances, or absurdities ever occurred in the +examinations or trials greater than he was fully responsible for in +April. Having, in the mean while, been superseded in office, he[ii.457] +had leisure, in his retirement, to think over the whole matter; and it +is satisfactory to find that he saw the error of the ways in which he +had gone himself, and led others. + +The result of the inquiry on this point is, that, while some, outside +of the village, began early to doubt the propriety of the proceedings +in certain particulars, they failed, with the single exception of +Robert Pike, to make manly and seasonable resistance. He remonstrated +in a writing signed with his own initials, and while the executions +were going on. He sent it to one of the judges, and did not shrink from +having his action known. No other voice was raised, no one else +breasted the storm, while it lasted. The errors which led to the +delusion were not attacked from any quarter at any time during that +generation, and have remained lurking in many minds, in a greater or +less degree, to our day. + +There were, however, three persons in Salem Village and its immediate +vicinity, who deserve to be for ever remembered in this connection. +They resisted the fanaticism at the beginning, and defied its wrath. +Joseph Putnam was a little more than twenty-two years of age. He +probably did not enter into the question of the doctrines then +maintained on such subjects, but was led by his natural sagacity and +independent spirit to the course he took. In opposition to both his +brothers and both his uncles, and all the rest of his powerful and +extensive family, he denounced the proceedings through and through. At +the very moment when the excitement was at its most terrible stage, and +Mr. Parris held the life of every one in his hands, Joseph Putnam +expressed his disapprobation of his conduct by carrying his infant +child to the church in Salem to be baptized. This was a public and most +significant act. For six months, he kept some one of his horses under +saddle night and day, without a moment's intermission of the +precaution; and he and his family were constantly armed. It was +understood, that, if any one attempted to arrest him, it would be at +the peril of life. If the marshal should approach with overwhelming +force, he would spring to his saddle, and bid defiance to pursuit. Such +a course as this, taken by one standing alone against the whole +community to which he belonged, shows a degree of courage, spirit, and +resolution, which cannot but be held in honor.[ii.458] + +Martha Corey was an aged Christian professor, of eminently devout +habits and principles. It is, indeed, a strange fact, that, in her +humble home, surrounded, as it then was, by a wilderness, this +husbandman's wife should have reached a height so above and beyond her +age. But it is proved conclusively by the depositions adduced against +her, that her mind was wholly disenthralled from the errors of that +period. She utterly repudiated the doctrines of witchcraft, and +expressed herself freely and fearlessly against them. The prayer which +this woman made "upon the ladder," and which produced such an +impression on those who heard it, was undoubtedly expressive of +enlightened piety, worthy of being characterized as "eminent" in its +sentiments, and in its demonstration of an innocent heart and life. + +The following paper, in the handwriting of Mr. Parris, is among the +court-files. It has not the ordinary form of a deposition, but somehow +was sworn to in Court:— + +"The morning after the examination of Goody Nurse, Sam. Sibley met John +Procter about Mr. Phillips's, who called to said Sibley as he was going +to said Phillips's, and asked how the folks did at the village. He +answered, he heard they were very bad last night, but he had heard +nothing this morning. Procter replied, he was going to fetch home his +jade; he left her there last night, and had rather given forty +shillings than let her come up. Said Sibley asked why he talked so. +Procter replied, if they were let alone so, we should all be devils and +witches quickly; they should rather be had to the whipping-post; but he +would fetch his jade home, and thrash the Devil out of her,—and more to +the like purpose, crying, 'Hang them! hang them!'" + +In another document, it is stated that Nathaniel Ingersoll and others +heard John Procter tell Joseph Pope, "that, if he had John Indian in +his custody, he would soon beat the Devil out of him." + +The declarations thus ascribed to John Procter show that his views of +the subject were about right; and it will probably be generally +conceded, that the treatment he proposed for Mary Warren and "John +Indian," if dealt out to the "afflicted children" generally at the +outset, would have prevented all the mischief. A sound thrashing all +round, seasonably administered, would have reached the root of the +matter; and the story which has now been concluded of Salem witchcraft +would never have been told. + +When the witchcraft tornado burst upon Andover, it prostrated[ii.459] +every thing before it. Accusers and accused were counted by scores, and +under the panic of the hour the accused generally confessed. But +Andover was the first to recover its senses. On the 12th of October, +1692, seven of its citizens addressed a memorial to the General Court +in behalf of their wives and children, praying that they might be +released on bond, "to remain as prisoners in their own houses, where +they may be more tenderly cared for." They speak of their "distressed +condition in prison,—a company of poor distressed creatures as full of +inward grief and trouble as they are able to bear up in life withal." +They refer to the want of "food convenient" for them, and to "the +coldness of the winter season that is coming which may despatch such +out of the way that have not been used to such hardships," and +represent the ruinous effects of their absence from their families, who +were at the same time required to maintain them in jail. On the 18th of +October, the two ministers of Andover, Francis Dane and Thomas Barnard, +with twenty-four other citizens of Andover, addressed a similar +memorial to the Governor and General Court, in which we find the first +public expression of condemnation of the proceedings. They call the +accusers "distempered persons." They express the opinion that their +friends and neighbors have been misrepresented. They bear the strongest +testimony in favor of the persons accused, that several of them are +members of the church in full communion, of blameless conversation, and +"walking as becometh women professing godliness." They relate the +methods by which they had been deluded and terrified into confession, +and show the worthlessness of those confessions as evidences against +them. They use this bold and significant language: "Our troubles we +foresee are likely to continue and increase, if other methods be not +taken than as yet have been; and we know not who can think himself +safe, if the accusations of children and others who are under a +diabolical influence shall be received against persons of good fame." +On the 2d of January, 1693, the Rev. Francis Dane addressed a letter to +a brother clergyman, which is among the files, and was probably +designed to reach the eyes of the Court, in which he vindicates Andover +against the scandalous reports got up by the accusers, and says that a +residence there of forty-four years, and intimacy with the people, +enable him to declare that they are not justly chargeable with +any[ii.460] such things as witchcraft, charms, or sorceries of any +kind. He expresses himself in strong language: "Had charity been put +on, the Devil would not have had such an advantage against us, and I +believe many innocent persons have been accused and imprisoned." He +denounces "the conceit of spectre evidence," and warns against +continuing in a course of proceeding that will procure "the divine +displeasure." A paper signed by Dudley Bradstreet, Francis Dane, Thomas +Barnard, and thirty-eight other men and twelve women of Andover, was +presented to the Court at Salem to the same effect. + +None of the persons named by Brattle can present so strong a claim to +the credit of having opposed the witchcraft fanaticism before the close +of the year 1692, as Francis Dane, his colleague Barnard, and the +citizens of Andover, who signed memorials to the Legislature on the +18th of October, and to the Court of Trials about the same time. There +is, indeed, one conclusive proof that the venerable senior pastor of +the Andover Church made his disapprobation of the witchcraft +proceedings known at an earlier period, at least in his immediate +neighborhood. The wrath of the accusers was concentrated upon him to an +unparalleled extent from their entrance into Andover. They did not +venture to attack him directly. His venerable age and commanding +position made it inexpedient; but they struck as near him, and at as +many points, as they dared. They accused, imprisoned, and caused to be +convicted and sentenced to death, one of his daughters, Abigail +Faulkner. They accused, imprisoned, and brought to trial another, +Elizabeth Johnson. They imprisoned, and brought to the sentence of +death, his grand-daughter, Elizabeth Johnson, Jr. They cried out +against, and caused to be imprisoned, several others of his +grandchildren. They accused and imprisoned Deliverance the wife, and +also the "man-servant," of his son Nathaniel. There is reason for +supposing, as has been stated, that Elizabeth How was the wife of his +nephew. Surely, no one was more signalized by their malice and +resentment than Francis Dane; and he deserves to be recognized as +standing pre-eminent, and, for a time, almost alone, in bold +denunciation and courageous resistance of the execrable proceedings of +that dark day. + +Francis Dane made the following statement, also designed to reach the +authorities, which cannot be read by any person of sen[ii.461]sibility +without feeling its force, although it made no impression upon the +Court at the time:— + +"Concerning my daughter Elizabeth Johnson, I never had ground to +suspect her, neither have I heard any other to accuse her, till by +spectre evidence she was brought forth; but this I must say, she was +weak, and incapacious, fearful, and in that respect I fear she hath +falsely accused herself and others. Not long before she was sent for, +she spake as to her own particular, that she was sure she was no witch. +And for her daughter Elizabeth, she is but simplish at the best; and I +fear the common speech, that was frequently spread among us, of their +liberty if they would confess, and the like expression used by some, +have brought many into a snare. The Lord direct and guide those that +are in place, and give us all submissive wills; and let the Lord do +with me and mine what seems good in his own eyes!" + +There is nothing in the proceedings of the Special Court of Oyer and +Terminer more disgraceful than the fact, that the regular Court of +Superior Judicature, the next year, after the public mind had been +rescued from the delusion, and the spectral evidence repudiated, +proceeded to try these and other persons, and, in the face of such +statements as the foregoing, actually condemned to death Elizabeth +Johnson, Jr. + +It is remarkable that Brattle does not mention Calef. The understanding +has been that they acted in concert, and that Brattle had a hand in +getting up some of Calef's arguments. The silence of Brattle is not, +upon the whole, at all inconsistent with their mutual action and +alliance. As Calef was more perfectly unembarrassed, without personal +relations to the clergy and others in high station, and not afraid to +stand in the gap, it was thought best to let him take the fire of +Cotton Mather. His name had not been connected with the matter in the +public apprehension. He was a merchant of Boston, and a son of Robert +Calef of Roxbury. His attention was called to the proceedings which +originated in Salem Village; and his strong faculties and moral courage +enabled him to become the most efficient opponent, in his day, of the +system of false reasoning upon which the prosecutions rested. He +prepared several able papers in different forms, in which he discussed +the subject with great ability, and treated Cotton Mather and all +others whom he regarded as instrumental in precipitating the community +into the fatal tragedy,[ii.462] with the greatest severity of language +and force of logic, holding up the whole procedure to merited +condemnation. They were first printed, at London, in 1700, in a small +quarto volume, under the title of "More Wonders of the Invisible +World." This publication burst like a bomb-shell upon all who had been +concerned in promoting the witchcraft prosecutions. Cotton Mather was +exasperated to the highest pitch. He says in his diary: "He sent this +vile volume to London to be published, and the book is printed; and the +impression is, this day week, arrived here. The books that I have sent +over into England, with a design to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, are +not published, but strangely delayed; and the books that are sent over +to vilify me, and render me incapable to glorify the Lord Jesus +Christ,—these are published." Calef's writings gave a shock to Mather's +influence, from which it never recovered. + +Great difficulty has been experienced in drawing the story out in its +true chronological sequence. The effect produced upon the public mind, +when it became convinced that the proceedings had been wrong, and +innocent blood shed, was a universal disposition to bury the +recollection of the whole transaction in silence, and, if possible, +oblivion. This led to a suppression and destruction of the ordinary +materials of history. Papers were abstracted from the files, documents +in private hands were committed to the flames, and a chasm left in the +records of churches and public bodies. The journal of the Special Court +of Oyer and Terminer is nowhere to be found. Hutchinson appears to have +had access to it. It cannot well be supposed to have been lost by fire +or other accident, because the records of the regular Court, up to the +very time when the Special Court came into operation, and from the time +when it expired, are preserved in order. A portion of the papers +connected with the trials have come down in a miscellaneous, scattered, +and dilapidated state, in the offices of the Clerk of the Courts in the +County of Essex, and of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. By far the +larger part have been abstracted, of which a few have been deposited, +by parties into whose hands they had happened to come, with the +Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston and the Essex Institute at +Salem. The records of the parish of Salem Village, although exceedingly +well kept before and after 1692 by Thomas Putnam, are in another hand +for that[ii.463] year, very brief, and make no reference whatever to +the witchcraft transactions. This general desire to obliterate the +memory of the calamity has nearly extinguished tradition. It is more +scanty and less reliable than on any other event at an equal distance +in the past. A subject on which men avoided to speak soon died out of +knowledge. The localities of many very interesting incidents cannot be +identified. This is very observable, and peculiarly remarkable as to +places in the now City of Salem. The reminiscences floating about are +vague, contradictory, and few in number. In a community of uncommon +intelligence, composed, to a greater degree perhaps than almost any +other, of families that have been here from the first, very inquisitive +for knowledge, and always imbued with the historical spirit, it is +truly surprising how little has been borne down, by speech and memory, +in the form of anecdote, personal traits, or local incidents, of this +most extraordinary and wonderful occurrence of such world-wide +celebrity. Almost all that we know is gleaned from the offices of the +Registry of Deeds and Wills.[J] +[ii.464] +It is remarkable, that the marshal and sheriff, both quite young men, +so soon followed their victims to the other world. Jonathan Walcot, the +father of Mary, and next neighbor to Parris, removed from the village, +and died at Salem in 1699. Thomas Putnam and Ann his wife, the parents +of the "afflicted child," who acted so extraordinary a part in the +proceedings and of whom further mention will be made, died in 1699,—the +former on the 24th of May, the latter on the 8th of June,—at the +respective ages of forty-seven and thirty-eight.[K] There are +indications that they saw the errors into which they had been led. If +their eyes were at all opened to this view, how terrible must have been +the thought of the cruel wrongs and wide-spread ruin of which they had +been the cause! Of the circumstances of their deaths, or their last +words and sentiments, we have no knowledge. It is not strange, that, in +addition to all her woes, the death of her husband was more than Mrs. +Ann Putnam could bear, and that[ii.465] she followed him so soon to the +grave. Of the other accusers, we have but little information. Elizabeth +Booth was married to Israel Shaw about the year 1700. Mary Walcot was +married, somewhere between 1692 and 1697, to a person belonging to +Woburn, whose name is torn or worn off from Mr. Parris's records. Of +the other "afflicted children" nothing is known, beyond the fact, that +the Act of the Legislature of the Province, reversing the judgments, +and taking off the attainder from those who were sentenced to death in +1692, has this paragraph: "Some of the principal accusers and witnesses +in those dark and severe prosecutions have since discovered themselves +to be persons of profligate and vicious conversation;" and Calef speaks +of them as "vile varlets," and asserts that their reputations were not +without spot before, and that subsequently they became abandoned to +open and shameless vice. + +A very considerable number of the people left the place. John Shepard +and Samuel Sibley sold their lands, and went elsewhere; as did Peter +Cloyse, who never brought his family to the village after his wife's +release from prison. Edward and Sarah Bishop sold their estates, and +took up their abode at Rehoboth. Some of the Raymond family removed to +Middleborough. The Haynes family emigrated to New Jersey. No mention is +afterwards found of other families in the record-books. The descendants +of Thomas and Edward Putnam, in the next generation, were mostly +dis[ii.466]persed to other places; but those of Joseph remained on his +lands, and have occupied his homestead to this day. It is a singular +circumstance, that some of the spots where, particularly, the great +mischief was brewed, are, and long have been, deserted. Where the +parsonage stood, with its barn and garden and well and pathways, is now +a bare and rugged field, without a vestige of its former occupancy, +except a few broken bricks that mark the site of the house. The same is +the case of the homestead of Jonathan Walcot. It was in these two +families that the affair began and was matured. The spots where several +others, who figured in the proceedings, lived, have ceased to be +occupied; and the only signs of former habitation are hollows in the +ground, fragments of pottery, and heaps of stones denoting the location +of cellars and walls. Here and there, where houses and other structures +once stood, the blight still rests. + +Some circumstances relating to the personal history of those who +experienced the greatest misery during the prevalence of the dreadful +fanaticism, and were left to mourn over its victims, have happened to +be preserved in records and documents on file. On the 30th of November, +1699, Margaret Jacobs was married to John Foster. She belonged to Mr. +Noyes's parish; but the recollection of his agency in pushing on +proceedings which carried in their train the execution of her aged +grandfather, the exile of her father, the long imprisonment of her +mother and herself, with the prospect of a violent and shameful death +hanging over them every hour, and, above all, her own wretched +abandonment of truth and conscience for a while, probably under his +persuasion, made it impossible for her to think of being married by +him. Mr. Greene was known to sympathize with those who had suffered, +and the couple went to the village to be united. Some years afterwards, +when the church of the Middle Precinct, now South Danvers, was +organized, John and Margaret Foster, among the first, took their +children there for baptism; and their descendants are numerous, in this +neighborhood and elsewhere. Margaret, the widow of John Willard, +married William Towne. Elizabeth, the widow of John Procter, married, +subsequently to 1696, a person named Richards. Edward Bishop, the +husband of Bridget, a few years afterwards was appointed guardian of +Susannah Mason, the only child of Christian, who was the only child of +Bridget by her[ii.467] former husband Thomas Oliver. Bishop seems to +have invested the money of his ward in the lot at the extreme end of +Forrester Street, where it connects with Essex Street, bounded by +Forrester Street on the north and east, and Essex Street on the south. +This was the property of Susannah when she married John Becket, Jr. +Bishop appears to have continued his business of a sawyer to a very +advanced age, and died in Salem, in 1705. + +Sarah Nurse, about two years after her mother's death, married Michael +Bowden, of Marblehead; and they occupied her father's house, in the +town of Salem, of which he had retained the possession. His family +having thus all been married off, Francis Nurse gave up his homestead +to his son Samuel, and divided his remaining property among his four +sons and four daughters. He made no formal deed or will, but drew up a +paper, dated Dec. 4, 1694, describing the distribution of the estate, +and what he expected of his children. He gave them immediate occupancy +and possession of their respective portions. The provision made by the +old man for his comfort, and the conditions required of his children, +are curious. They give an interesting insight of the life of a rural +patriarch. He reserved his "great chair and cushion;" a great chest; +his bed and bedding; wardrobe, linen and woollen; a pewter pot; one +mare, bridle, saddle, and sufficient fodder; the whole of the crop of +corn, both Indian and English, he had made that year. The children were +to discharge all the debts of his estate, pay him fourteen pounds a +year, and contribute equally, as much more as might be necessary for +his comfortable maintenance, and also to his "decent burial." The +labors of his life had closed. He had borne the heaviest burden that +can be laid on the heart of a good man. He found rest, and sought +solace and support, in the society and love of his children and their +families, as he rode from house to house on the road he had opened, by +which they all communicated with each other. The parish records show +that he continued his interest in its affairs. He lived just long +enough to behold sure evidence that justice would be done to the memory +of those who suffered, and the authors of the mischief be consigned to +the condemnation of mankind. The tide, upon which Mr. Parris had ridden +to the destruction of so many, had turned; and it was becoming apparent +to all, that[ii.468] he would soon be compelled to disappear from his +ministry in the village, before the awakening resentment of the people +and the ministers. Francis Nurse died on the 22d of November, 1695, +seventy-seven years of age. His sons with their wives, and his +daughters with their husbands, went into the Probate Court with the +paper before described, and unanimously requested the judge to have the +estate divided according to its terms. This is conclusive proof that +the father had been just and wise in his arrangements, and that true +fraternal love and harmony pervaded the whole family. The descendants, +under the names of Bowden, Tarbell, and Russell, are dispersed in +various parts of the country: those under the name of Preston, while +some have gone elsewhere, have been ever since, and still are, among +the most respectable and honored citizens of the village. Some of the +name of Nurse have also remained, and worthily represent and perpetuate +it. + +I have spoken of the tide's beginning to turn in 1695. Sure indications +to that effect were then quite visible. It had begun far down in the +public mind before the prosecutions ceased; but it was long before the +change became apparent on the surface. It was long before men found +utterance for their feelings. + +Persons living at a distance have been accustomed, and are to this day, +to treat the Salem-witchcraft transaction in the spirit of lightsome +ridicule, and to make it the subject of jeers and jokes. Not so those +who have lived on, or near, the fatal scene. They have ever regarded it +with solemn awe and profound sorrow, and shunned the mention, and even +the remembrance, of its details. This prevented an immediate expression +of feeling, and delayed movements in the way of attempting a reparation +of the wrongs that had been committed. The heart sickened, the lips +were dumb, at the very thought of those wrongs. Reparation was +impossible. The dead were beyond its reach. The sorrows and anguish of +survivors were also beyond its reach. The voice of sympathy was felt to +be unworthy to obtrude upon sensibilities that had been so outraged. +The only refuge left for the individuals who had been bereaved, and for +the body of the people who realized that innocent blood was on all +their hands, was in humble and soul-subdued silence, and in prayers for +forgiveness from God and from each other.[ii.469] + +It was long before the public mind recovered from its paralysis. No one +knew what ought to be said or done, the tragedy had been so awful. The +parties who had acted in it were so numerous, and of such standing, +including almost all the most eminent and honored leaders of the +community from the bench, the bar, the magistracy, the pulpit, the +medical faculty, and in fact all classes and descriptions of persons; +the mysteries connected with the accusers and confessors; the universal +prevalence of the legal, theological, and philosophical theories that +had led to the proceedings; the utter impossibility of realizing or +measuring the extent of the calamity; and the general shame and horror +associated with the subject in all minds; prevented any open movement. +Then there was the dread of rekindling animosities which time was +silently subduing, and nothing but time could fully extinguish. Slowly, +however, the remembrance of wrongs was becoming obscured. Neighborhood +and business relations were gradually reconciling the estranged. +Offices of civility, courtesy, and good-will were reviving; social and +family intimacies and connections were taking effect and restoring the +community to a natural and satisfactory condition. Every day, the +sentiment was sinking deeper in the public mind, that something was +required to be done to avert the displeasure of Heaven from a guilty +land. But while some were ready to forgive, and some had the grace to +ask to be forgiven, any general movement in this direction was +obstructed by difficulties hard to be surmounted. + +The wrongs committed were so remediless, the outrages upon right, +character, and life, had been so shocking, that it was expecting too +much from the ordinary standard of humanity to demand a general +oblivion. On the other hand, so many had been responsible for them, and +their promoters embraced such a great majority of all the leading +classes of society, that it was impossible to call them to account. Dr. +Bentley describes the condition of the community, in some brief and +pregnant sentences, characteristic of his peculiar style: "As soon as +the judges ceased to condemn, the people ceased to accuse.... Terror at +the violence and guilt of the proceedings succeeded instantly to the +conviction of blind zeal; and what every man had encouraged all +professed to abhor. Few dared to blame other men, because[ii.470] few +were innocent. The guilt and the shame became the portion of the +country, while Salem had the infamy of being the place of the +transactions.... After the public mind became quiet, few things were +done to disturb it. But a diminished population, the injury done to +religion, and the distress of the aggrieved, were seen and felt with +the greatest sorrow.... Every place was the subject of some direful +tale. Fear haunted every street. Melancholy dwelt in silence in every +place, after the sun retired. Business could not, for some time, +recover its former channels; and the innocent suffered with the +guilty." + +While the subject was felt to be too dark and awful to be spoken of, +and most men desired to bury it in silence, occasionally the slumbering +fires would rekindle, and the flames of animosity burst forth. The +recollection of the part he had acted, and the feelings of many towards +him in consequence, rendered the situation of the sheriff often quite +unpleasant; and the resentment of some broke out in a shameful +demonstration at his death, which occurred early in 1697. Mr. English, +representing that class who had suffered under his official hands in +1692, having a business demand upon him, in the shape of a suit for +debt, stood ready to seize his body after it was prepared for +interment, and prevented the funeral at the time. The body was +temporarily deposited on the sheriff's own premises. There were, it is +probable, from time to time, other less noticeable occurrences +manifesting the long continued existence of the unhappy state of +feeling engendered in 1692. There were really two parties in the +community, generally both quiescent, but sometimes coming into open +collision; the one exasperated by the wrongs they and their friends had +suffered, the other determined not to allow those who had acted in +conducting the prosecutions to be called to account for what they had +done. After the lapse of thirty years, and long subsequent to the death +of Mr. Noyes, Mr. English was prosecuted for having said that Mr. Noyes +had murdered Rebecca Nurse and John Procter. + +It has been suggested, that the bearing of the executive officers of +the law towards the prisoners was often quite harsh. This resulted from +the general feeling, in which these officials would have been likely to +sympathize, of the peculiarly execrable nature of the crime charged +upon the accused, and from the danger that[ii.471] might attend the +manifestation of any appearance of kindly regard for them. So far as +the seizure of goods is considered, or the exaction of fees, the +conduct of the officials was in conformity with usage and instructions. +The system of the administration of the law, compared with our times, +was stern, severe, and barbarous. The whole tone of society was more +unfeeling. Philanthropy had not then extended its operations, or +directed its notice, to the prison. Sheriff Corwin was quite a young +man, being but twenty-six years of age at the time of his appointment. +He probably acted under the advice of his relatives and connections on +the bench. I think there is no evidence of any particular cruelty +evinced by him. The arrests, examinations, and imprisonments had taken +place under his predecessor, Marshal Herrick, who continued in the +service as his deputy. + +That individual, indeed, had justly incurred the resentment of the +sufferers and their friends, by eager zeal in urging on the +prosecutions, perpetual officiousness, and unwarrantable interference +against the prisoners at the preliminary examinations. The odium +originally attached to the marshal seems to have been transferred to +his successor, and the whole was laid at the door of the sheriff. +Marshal Herrick does not appear to have been connected with Joseph +Herrick, who lived on what is now called Cherry Hill, but was a man of +an entirely different stamp. He was thirty-four years of age, and had +not been very long in the country. John Dunton speaks of meeting him in +Salem, in 1686, and describes him as a "very tall, handsome man, very +regular and devout in his attendance at church, religious without +bigotry, and having every man's good word." His impatient activity +against the victims of the witchcraft delusion wrought a great change +in the condition of this popular and "handsome" man, as is seen in a +petition presented by him, Dec. 8, 1692; to "His Excellency Sir William +Phips, Knight, Captain-general and Governor of Their Majesties' +Territories and Dominions of Massachusetts Bay in New England; and to +the Honorable William Stoughton, Esq., Deputy-Governor; and to the rest +of the Honored Council." It begins thus: "The petition of your poor +servant, George Herrick, most humbly showeth." After recounting his +great and various services "for the term of nine months," as marshal or +deputy-sheriff in apprehending many prisoners, and conveying[ii.472] +them "unto prison and from prison to prison," he complains that his +whole time had been taken up so that he was incapable of getting any +thing for the maintenance of his "poor family:" he further states that +he had become so impoverished that necessity had forced him to lay down +his place; and that he must certainly come to want, if not in some +measure supplied. "Therefore I humbly beseech Your Honors to take my +case and condition so far into consideration, that I may have some +supply this hard winter, that I and my poor children may not be +destitute of sustenance, and so inevitably perish; for I have been bred +a gentleman, and not much used to work, and am become despicable in +these hard times." He concludes by declaring, that he is not "weary of +serving his king and country," nor very scrupulous as to the kind of +service; for he promises that "if his habitation" could thereby be +"graced with plenty in the room of penury, there shall be no services +too dangerous and difficult, but your poor petitioner will gladly +accept, and to the best of my power accomplish. I shall wholly lay +myself at Your Honorable feet for relief." Marshal Herrick died in +1695. + +But, while this feeling was spreading among the people, the government +were doing their best to check it. There was great apprehension, that, +if allowed to gather force, it would burst over all barriers, that no +limit would be put to its demands for the restoration of property +seized by the officers of the law, and that it would wreak vengeance +upon all who had been engaged in the prosecutions. Under the influence +of this fear, the following attempt was made to shield the sheriff of +the county from prosecutions for damages by those whose relatives had +suffered:— + +"_At a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Jail +Delivery, held at Ipswich, the fifteenth day of May, anno Domini +1694._—Present, William Stoughton, Esq., _Chief-justice_; Thomas +Danforth, Esq.; Samuel Sewall, Esq. + +"This Court, having adjusted the accounts of George Corwin, Esq., +high-sheriff for the county of Essex, do allow the same to be just and +true; and that there remains a balance due to him, the said Corwin, of +£67. 6_s._ 4_d._, which is also allowed unto him; and, pursuant to law, +this Court doth fully, clearly, and absolutely acquit and discharge +him,[ii.473] the said George Corwin, his heirs, executors, and +administrators, lands and tenements, goods and chattels, of and from +all manner of sum or sums of money, goods or chattels levied, received, +or seized, and of all debts, duties, and demands which are or may be +charged in his, the said Corwin's, accounts, or which may be imposed by +reason of the sheriff's office, or any thing by him done by virtue +thereof, or in the execution of the same, from the time he entered into +the said office, to this Court." + +This extraordinary attempt of the Court to close the doors of justice +beforehand against suits for damages did not seem to have any effect; +for Mr. English compelled the executors of the sheriff to pay over to +him £60. 3_s_. + +At length, the government had to meet the public feeling. A +proclamation was issued, "By the Honorable the Lieutenant-Governor, +Council, and Assembly of His Majesty's province of the Massachusetts +Bay, in General Court assembled." It begins thus: "Whereas the anger of +God is not yet turned away, but his hand is still stretched out against +his people in manifold judgments;" and, after several specifications of +the calamities under which they were suffering, and referring to the +"many days of public and solemn" addresses made to God, it proceeds: +"Yet we cannot but also fear that there is something still wanting to +accompany our supplications; and doubtless there are some particular +sins which God is angry with our Israel for, that have not been duly +seen and resented by us, about which God expects to be sought, if ever +he again turn our captivity." Thursday, the fourteenth of the next +January, was accordingly appointed to be observed as a day of prayer +and fasting,— + +"That so all God's people may offer up fervent supplications unto him, +that all iniquity may be put away, which hath stirred God's holy +jealousy against this land; that he would show us what we know not, and +help us, wherein we have done amiss, to do so no more; and especially, +that, whatever mistakes on either hand have been fallen into, either by +the body of this people or any orders of men, referring to the late +tragedy, raised among us by Satan and his instruments, through the +awful judgment of God, he would humble us therefor, and pardon all the +errors of his servants and people that desire to love his name; that he +would remove the rod of the wicked from off the lot of the[ii.474] +righteous; that he would bring in the American heathen, and cause them +to hear and obey his voice. + +"Given at Boston, Dec. 17, 1696, in the eighth year of His Majesty's +reign. + +Isaac Addington, _Secretary_." + +The jury had acted in conformity with their obligations and honest +convictions of duty in bringing in their verdicts. They had sworn to +decide according to the law and the evidence. The law under which they +were required to act was laid down with absolute positiveness by the +Court. They were bound to receive it, and to take and weigh the +evidence that was admitted; and to their minds it was clear, decisive, +and overwhelming, offered by persons of good character, and confirmed +by a great number of confessions. If it had been within their province, +as it always is declared not to be, to discuss the general principles, +and sit in judgment on the particular penalties of law, it would not +have altered the case; for, at that time, not only the common people, +but the wisest philosophers, supported the interpretation of the law +that acknowledged the existence of witchcraft, and its sanction that +visited it with death. + +Notwithstanding all this, however, so tender and sensitive were the +consciences of the jurors, that they signed and circulated the +following humble and solemn declaration of regret for the part they had +borne in the trials. As the publication of this paper was highly +honorable to those who signed it, and cannot but be contemplated with +satisfaction by all their descendants, I will repeat their names:— + +"We whose names are underwritten, being in the year 1692 called to +serve as jurors in court at Salem, on trial of many who were by some +suspected guilty of doing acts of witchcraft upon the bodies of sundry +persons,—we confess that we ourselves were not capable to understand, +nor able to withstand, the mysterious delusions of the powers of +darkness and Prince of the air, but were, for want of knowledge in +ourselves and better information from others, prevailed with to take up +with such evidence against the accused as, on further consideration and +better information, we justly fear was insufficient for the touching +the lives of any (Deut. xvii. 6), whereby we fear we have been +instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring +upon ourselves and this people of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood; +which sin the Lord saith in Scripture he would not pardon[ii.475] (2 +Kings xxiv. 4),—that is, we suppose, in regard of his temporal +judgments. We do therefore hereby signify to all in general, and to the +surviving sufferers in special, our deep sense of, and sorrow for, our +errors in acting on such evidence to the condemning of any person; and +do hereby declare, that we justly fear that we were sadly deluded and +mistaken,—for which we are much disquieted and distressed in our minds, +and do therefore humbly beg forgiveness, first, of God, for Christ's +sake, for this our error, and pray that God would not impute the guilt +of it to ourselves nor others: and we also pray that we may be +considered candidly and aright by the living sufferers, as being then +under the power of a strong and general delusion, utterly unacquainted +with, and not experienced in, matters of that nature. + +"We do heartily ask forgiveness of you all, whom we have justly +offended; and do declare, according to our present minds, we would none +of us do such things again, on such grounds, for the whole +world,—praying you to accept of this in way of satisfaction for our +offence, and that you would bless the inheritance of the Lord, that he +may be entreated for the land. + +"Thomas Fisk, _Foreman_. Thomas Pearly, Sr. William Fisk. John +Peabody. John Bacheler. Thomas Perkins. Thomas Fisk, Jr. Samuel +Sayer. John Dane. Andrew Eliot. Joseph Evelith. Henry Herrick, +Sr." + +In 1697, Rev. John Hale, of Beverly, published a work on the subject of +the witchcraft persecutions, in which he gives the reasons which led +him to the conclusion that there was error at the foundation of the +proceedings. The following extract shows that he took a rational view +of the subject:— + +"It may be queried then, How doth it appear that there was a going too +far in this affair? + +"Answer I.—By the number of persons accused. It cannot be imagined, +that, in a place of so much knowledge, so many, in so small a compass +of land, should so abominably leap into the Devil's lap,—at once. + +"Ans. II.—The quality of several of the accused was such as did bespeak +better things, and things that accompany salvation. Persons whose +blameless and holy lives before did testify for them; persons that had +taken great pains to bring up _their children in the nurture and +admonition of the Lord_, such as we had charity for as for our[ii.476] +own souls,—and charity is a Christian duty, commended to us in 1 Cor. +xiii., Col. iii. 14, and many other places. + +"Ans. III.—The number of the afflicted by Satan daily increased, till +about fifty persons were thus vexed by the Devil. This gave just ground +to suspect some mistake. + +"Ans. IV.—It was considerable, that nineteen were executed, and all +denied the crime to the death; and some of them were knowing persons, +and had before this been accounted blameless livers. And it is not to +be imagined but that, if all had been guilty, some would have had so +much tenderness as to seek mercy for their souls in the way of +confession, and sorrow for such a sin. + +"Ans. V.—When this prosecution ceased, the Lord so chained up Satan, +that the afflicted grew presently well: the accused are generally +quiet, and for five years since we have no such molestation by them." + +Such reasonings as these found their way into the minds of the whole +community; and it became the melancholy conviction of all candid and +considerate persons that innocent blood had been shed. Standing where +we do, with the lights that surround us, we look back upon the whole +scene as an awful perversion of justice, reason, and truth. + +On the 13th of June, 1700, Abigail Faulkner presented a well-expressed +memorial to the General Court, in which she says that her pardon "so +far had its effect, as that I am yet suffered to live, but this only as +a malefactor convict upon record of the most heinous crimes that +mankind can be supposed to be guilty of;" and prays for "the defacing +of the record" against her. She claims it as no more than a simple act +of justice; stating that the evidence against her was wholly confined +to the "afflicted, who pretended to see me by their spectral sight, and +not with their bodily eyes." That "the jury (upon only their testimony) +brought me in 'Guilty,' and the sentence of death was passed upon me;" +and that it had been decided that such testimony was of no value. The +House of Representatives felt the force of her appeal, and voted that +"the prayer of the petitioner be granted." The council declined to +concur, but addressed "His Excellency to grant the petitioner His +Majesty's gracious pardon; and His Excellency expressed His readiness +to grant the same." Some adverse influence, it seemed, prevailed to +prevent it. + +On the 18th of March, 1702, another petition was presented to[ii.477] +the General Court, by persons of Andover, Salem Village, and Topsfield, +who had suffered imprisonment and condemnation, and by the relations of +others who had been condemned and executed on the testimony, as they +say, of "possessed persons," to this effect:— + +"Your petitioners being dissatisfied and grieved that (besides what the +condemned persons have suffered in their persons and estates) their +names are exposed to infamy and reproach, while their trial and +condemnation stands upon public record, we therefore humbly pray this +honored Court that something may be publicly done to take off infamy +from the names and memory of those who have suffered as aforesaid, that +none of their surviving relations nor their posterity may suffer +reproach on that account." + +[Signed by Francis Faulkner, Isaac Easty, Thorndike Procter, and +eighteen others.] + +On the 20th of July, in answer to the foregoing petitions, a bill was +ordered by the House of Representatives to be drawn up, forbidding in +future such procedures, as in the witchcraft trials of 1692; declaring +that "no spectre evidence may hereafter be accounted valid or +sufficient to take away the life or good name of any person or persons +within this province, and that the infamy and reproach cast on the +names and posterity of said accused and condemned persons may in some +measure be rolled away." The council concurred with an additional +clause, to acquit all condemned persons "of the penalties to which they +are liable upon the convictions and judgments in the courts, and estate +them in their just credit and reputation, as if no such judgment had +been had." + +This petition was re-enforced by an "address" to the General Court, +dated July 8, 1703, by several ministers of the county of Essex. They +speak of the accusers in the witchcraft trials as "young persons under +diabolical molestations," and express this sentiment: "There is great +reason to fear that innocent persons then suffered, and that God may +have a controversy with the land upon that account." They earnestly beg +that the prayer of the petitioners, lately presented, may be granted. +This petition was signed by Thomas Barnard, of Andover; Joseph Green, +of Salem Village; William Hubbard, John Wise, John Rogers, and +Jabez[ii.478] Fitch, of Ipswich; Benjamin Rolfe, of Haverhill; Samuel +Cheever, of Marblehead; Joseph Gerrish, of Wenham; Joseph Capen, of +Topsfield; Zechariah Symmes, of Bradford; and Thomas Symmes, of +Boxford. Francis Dane, of Andover, had died six years before. John +Hale, of Beverly, had died three years before. The great age of John +Higginson, of Salem,—eighty-seven years,—probably prevented the papers +being handed to him. It is observable, that Nicholas Noyes, his +colleague, is not among the signers. + +What prevented action, we do not know; but nothing was done. Six years +afterwards, on the 25th of May, 1709, an "humble address" was presented +to the General Court by certain inhabitants of the province, some of +whom "had their near relations, either parents or others, who suffered +death in the dark and doleful times that passed over this province in +1692;" and others "who themselves, or some of their relations, were +imprisoned, impaired and blasted in their reputations and estates by +reason of the same." They pray for the passage of a "suitable act" to +restore the reputations of the sufferers, and to make some remuneration +"as to what they have been damnified in their estates thereby." This +paper was signed by Philip English and twenty-one others. Philip +English gave in an account in detail of what articles were seized and +carried away, at the time of his arrest, from four of his warehouses, +his wharf, and shop-house, besides the expenses incurred in prison, and +in escaping from it. It appears by this statement, that he and his wife +were nine weeks in jail at Salem and Boston. Nothing was done at this +session. The next year, Sept. 12, 1710, Isaac Easty presented a strong +memorial to the General Court in reference to his case. He calls for +some remuneration. In speaking of the arrest and execution of his +"beloved wife," he says "my sorrow and trouble of heart in being +deprived of her in such a manner, which this world can never make me +any compensation for." At the same time, the daughters of Elizabeth +How, the son of Sarah Wildes, the heirs of Mary Bradbury, Edward Bishop +and his wife Sarah, sent in severally similar petitions,—all in earnest +and forcible language. Charles, one of the sons of George Burroughs, +presented the case of his "dear and honored father;" declaring that his +innocence of the crime of which he was accused, and his excellence of +character, were shown in "his careful catechising his children, and +upholding[ii.479] religion in his family, and by his solemn and savory +written instructions from prison." He describes in affecting details +the condition in which his father's family of little children was left +at his death. One of Mr. Burroughs's daughters, upon being required to +sign a paper in reference to compensation, expresses her distress of +mind in these words: "Every discourse on this melancholy subject doth +but give a fresh wound to my bleeding heart. I desire to sit down in +silence." John Moulton, in behalf of the family of Giles Corey, says +that they "cannot sufficiently express their grief" for the death, in +such a manner, of "their honored father and mother." Samuel Nurse, in +behalf of his brothers and sisters, says that their "honored and dear +mother had led a blameless life from her youth up.... Her name and the +name of her posterity lies under reproach, the removing of which +reproach is the principal thing wherein we desire restitution. And, as +we know not how to express our loss of such a mother in such a way, so +we know not how to compute our charge, but leave it to the judgment of +others, and shall not be critical." He distinctly intimates, that they +do not wish any money to be paid them, unless "the attainder is taken +off." Many other petitions were presented by the families of those who +suffered, all in the same spirit; and several besides the Nurses +insisted mainly upon the "taking off the attainder." + +The General Court, on the 17th of October, 1710, passed an act, that +"the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, +reversed, and declared to be null and void." In simple justice, they +ought to have extended the act to all who had suffered; but they +confined its effect to those in reference to whom petitions had been +presented. The families of some of them had disappeared, or may not +have had notice of what was going on; so that the sentence which the +Government acknowledged to have been unjust remains to this day +unreversed against the names and memory of Bridget Bishop, Susanna +Martin, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Read, and Margaret Scott. +The stain on the records of the Commonwealth has never been fully +effaced. What caused this dilatory and halting course on the part of +the Government, and who was responsible for it, cannot be ascertained. +Since the presentation of Abigail Faulkner's petition in 1700, the +Legislature, in the popular branch at least, and the[ii.480] Governor, +appear to have been inclined to act favorably in the premises; but some +power blocked the way. There is some reason to conjecture that it was +the influence of the home government. Its consent to have the +prosecutions suspended, in 1692, was not very cordial, but, while it +approved of "care and circumspection therein," expressed reluctance to +allow any "impediment to the ordinary course of justice." + +On the 17th of December, 1711, Governor Dudley issued his warrant for +the purpose of carrying out a vote of the "General Assembly," "by and +with the advice and consent of Her Majesty's Council," to pay "the sum +of £578. 12_s._" to "such persons as are living, and to those that +legally represent them that are dead;" which sum was divided as +follows:— + +John Procter and wife £ 150 0 0 George Jacobs + 79 0 0 George Burroughs 50 0 0 Sarah +Good 30 0 0 Giles Corey and wife 21 0 0 +Dorcas Hoar 21 17 0 Abigail Hobbs 10 0 0 +Rebecca Eames 10 0 0 Mary Post 8 14 0 Mary +Lacy 8 10 0 Ann Foster 6 10 0 Samuel +Wardwell and wife 36 15 0 Rebecca Nurse + 25 0 0 Mary Easty 20 0 0 Mary Bradbury + 20 0 0 Abigail Faulkner 20 0 0 John Willard + 20 0 0 Sarah Wildes 14 0 0 Elizabeth How + 12 0 0 Mary Parker 8 0 0 Martha Carrier + 7 6 0 — £ == —— 578 ==== — 12 == — 0 == + +The distribution, as above, according to the evidence as it has come +down to us, is as unjust and absurd as the smallness of the[ii.481] +amount, and the long delay before it was ordered, are discreditable to +the province. One of the larger sums was allowed to William Good, while +he clearly deserved nothing, as he was an adverse witness in the +examination of his wife, and did what he could to promote the +prosecution against her. He did not, it is true, swear that he believed +her to be a witch; but what he said tended to prejudice the magistrates +and the public against her. Benjamin Putnam acted as his attorney, and +received the money for him. Good was a retainer and dependant of that +branch of the Putnam family; and its influence gave him so large a +proportionate amount, and not the reason or equity of the case. More +was allowed to Abigail Hobbs, a very malignant witness against the +prisoners, than to the families of several who were executed. Nearly +twice as much was allowed for Abigail Faulkner, who was pardoned, as +for Elizabeth How, who was executed. The sums allowed in the cases of +Parker, Carrier, and Foster, were shamefully small. The public mind +evidently was not satisfied; and the Legislature were pressed for a +half-century to make more adequate compensation, and thereby vindicate +the sentiment of justice, and redeem the honor of the province. + +On the 8th of December, 1738, Major Samuel Sewall, a son of the Judge, +introduced an order in the House of Representatives for the appointment +of a committee to get information relating to "the circumstances of the +persons and families who suffered in the calamity of the times in and +about the year 1692." Major Sewall entered into the matter with great +zeal. The House unanimously passed the order. He was chairman of the +committee; and, on the 9th of December, wrote to his cousin Mitchel +Sewall in Salem, son of Stephen, earnestly requesting him and John +Higginson, Esq., to aid in accomplishing the object. The following is +an extract from a speech delivered by Governor Belcher to both Houses +of the Legislature, Nov. 22, 1740. It is honorable to his memory. + +"The Legislature have often honored themselves in a kind and generous +remembrance of such families and of the posterity of such as have been +sufferers, either in their persons or estates, for or by the +Government, of which the public records will give you many instances. I +should therefore be glad there might be a committee appointed by this +Court to inquire into the sufferings of the people called Quakers, in +the early days of this country, as also into the descendants of +such[ii.482] families as were in a manner ruined in the mistaken +management of the terrible affair called witchcraft. I really think +there is something incumbent on this Government to be done for +relieving the estates and reputations of the posterities of the unhappy +families that so suffered; and the doing it, though so long afterwards, +would doubtless be acceptable to Almighty God, and would reflect honor +upon the present Legislature." + +On the 31st of May, 1749, the heirs of George Burroughs addressed a +petition to Governor Shirley and the General Court, setting forth "the +unparalleled persecutions and sufferings" of their ancestor, and +praying for "some recompense from this Court for the losses thereby +sustained by his family." It was referred to a committee of both +Houses. The next year, the petitioners sent a memorial to Governor +Spencer Phips and the General Court, stating, that "it hath fell out, +that the Hon. Mr. Danforth, chairman of the said committee, had not, as +yet, called them together so much as once to act thereon, even to this +day, as some of the honorable committee themselves were pleased, with +real concern, to signify to your said petitioners." The House +immediately passed this order: "That the committee within referred to +be directed to sit forthwith, consider the petition to them committed, +and report as soon as may be." + +All that I have been able to find, as the result of these long-delayed +and long-protracted movements, is a statement of Dr. Bentley, that the +heirs of Philip English received two hundred pounds. He does not say +when the act to this effect was passed. Perhaps some general measure of +the kind was adopted, the record of which I have failed to meet. The +engrossing interest of the then pending French war, and of the vehement +dissensions that led to the Revolution, probably prevented any further +attention to this subject, after the middle of the last century. + +It is apparent from the foregoing statements and records, that while +many individuals, the people generally, and finally Governor Belcher +and the House of Representatives emphatically, did what they could, +there was an influence that prevailed to prevent for a long time, if +not for ever, any action of the province to satisfy the demands made by +justice and the honor of the country in repairing the great wrongs +committed by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the +Government in 1692. The only bodies[ii.483] of men who fully came up to +their duty on the occasion were the clergy of the county, and, as will +appear, the church at Salem Village. + +What was done by the First Church in Salem is shown in the following +extract from its records:— + +"March 2, 1712.—After the sacrament, a church-meeting was appointed to +be at the teacher's house, at two of the clock in the afternoon, on the +sixth of the month, being Thursday: on which day they accordingly met +to consider of the several following particulars propounded to them by +the teacher; viz.:— + +"1. Whether the record of the excommunication of our Sister Nurse (all +things considered) may not be erased and blotted out. The result of +which consideration was, That whereas, on July 3d, 1692, it was +proposed by the Elders, and consented to by an unanimous vote of the +church, that our Sister Nurse should be excommunicated, she being +convicted of witchcraft by the Court, and she was accordingly +excommunicated, since which the General Court having taken off the +attainder, and the testimony on which she was convicted being not now +so satisfactory to ourselves and others as it was generally in that +hour of darkness and temptation; and we being solicited by her son, Mr. +Samuel Nurse, to erase and blot out of the church records the sentence +of her excommunication,—this church, having the matter proposed to them +by the teacher, and having seriously considered it, doth consent that +the record of our Sister Nurse's excommunication be accordingly erased +and blotted out, that it may no longer be a reproach to her memory, and +an occasion of grief to her children. Humbly requesting that the +merciful God would pardon whatsoever sin, error, or mistake was in the +application of that censure and of that whole affair, through our +merciful High-priest, who knoweth how to have compassion on the +ignorant, and those that are out of the way. + +"2. It was proposed whether the sentence of excommunication against our +Brother Giles Corey (all things considered) may not be erased and +blotted out. The result was, That whereas, on Sept. 18, 1692, it was +considered by the church, that our Brother Giles Corey stood accused of +and indicted for the sin of witchcraft, and that he had obstinately +refused to plead, and so threw himself on certain death. It was agreed +by the vote of the church, that he should be excommunicated for it; and +accordingly he was excommunicated. Yet the church, having now testimony +in his behalf, that, before his death, he did bitterly repent of his +obstinate refusal to plead in defence[ii.484] of his life, do consent +that the sentence of his excommunication be erased and blotted out." + +It will be noticed that these proceedings were not had at a regular +public meeting, but at a private meeting of the church, on a week-day +afternoon, at the teacher's house. The motives that led to them were a +disposition to comply with the act of the General Court, and the +solicitations of Mr. Samuel Nurse, rather than a profound sense of +wrong done to a venerable member of their own body, who had claims upon +their protection as such. The language of the record does not frankly +admit absolutely that there was sin, error, or mistake, but requests +forgiveness for whatsoever there may have been. The character of +Rebecca Nurse, and the outrageous treatment she had received from that +church, in the method arranged for her excommunication, demanded +something more than these hypothetical expressions, with such a +preamble. + +The statement made in the vote about Corey is, on its face, a +misrepresentation. From the nature of the proceeding by which he was +destroyed, it was in his power, at any moment, if he "repented of his +obstinate refusal to plead," by saying so, to be instantly released +from the pressure that was crushing him. The only design of the torture +was to make him bring it to an end by "answering" guilty, or not +guilty. Somebody fabricated the slander that Corey's resolution broke +down under his agonies, and that he bitterly repented; and Mr. Noyes +put the foolish scandal upon the records of the church. + +The date of this transaction is disreputable to the people of Salem. +Twenty years had been suffered to elapse, and a great outrage allowed +to remain unacknowledged and unrepented. The credit of doing what was +done at last probably belongs to the Rev. George Corwin. His call to +the ministry, as colleague with Mr. Noyes, had just been consummated. +The introduction of a new minister heralded a new policy, and the +proceedings have the appearance of growing out of the kindly and +auspicious feelings which generally attend and welcome such an era. + +The Rev. George, son of Jonathan Corwin, was born May 21, 1683, and +graduated at Harvard College in 1701. Mr. Barnard, of Marblehead, +describes his character: "The spirit of[ii.485] early devotion, +accompanied with a natural freedom of thought and easy elocution, a +quick invention, a solid judgment, and a tenacious memory, laid the +foundation of a good preacher; to which his acquired literature, his +great reading, hard studies, deep meditation, and close walk with God, +rendered him an able and faithful minister of the New Testament." The +records of the First Church, in noticing his death, thus speak of him: +"He was highly esteemed in his life, and very deservedly lamented at +his death; having been very eminent for his early improvement in +learning and piety, his singular abilities and great labors, his +remarkable zeal and faithfulness. He was a great benefactor to our +poor." Those bearing the name of Curwen among us are his descendants. +He died Nov. 23, 1717. + +The Rev. Nicholas Noyes died Dec. 13, 1717. He was a person of superior +talents and learning. He published, with the sermon preached by Cotton +Mather on the occasion, a poem on the death of his venerable colleague, +Mr. Higginson, in 1708; and also a poem on the death of Rev. Joseph +Green, in 1715. Although an amiable and benevolent man in other +respects, it cannot be denied that he was misled by his errors and his +temperament into the most violent course in the witchcraft +prosecutions; and it is to be feared that his feelings were never +wholly rectified in reference to that transaction. + +Jonathan, the father of the Rev. George Corwin, and whose part as a +magistrate and judge in the examinations and trials of 1692 has been +seen, died on the 9th of July, 1718, seventy-eight years of age. + +It only remains to record the course of the village church and people +in reference to the events of 1692. After six persons, including +Rebecca Nurse, had suffered death; and while five others, George +Burroughs, John Procter, John Willard, George Jacobs, and Martha +Carrier, were awaiting their execution, which was to take place on the +coming Friday, Aug. 19,—the facts, related as follows by Mr. Parris in +his record-book, occurred:— + +"Sabbath-day, 14th August, 1692.—The church was stayed after the +congregation was dismissed, and the pastor spake to the church after +this manner:— + +"'Brethren, you may all have taken notice, that, several sacrament days +past, our brother Peter Cloyse, and Samuel Nurse and his wife,[ii.486] +and John Tarbell and his wife, have absented from communion with us at +the Lord's Table, yea, have very rarely, except our brother Samuel +Nurse, been with us in common public worship: now, it is needful that +the church send some persons to them to know the reason of their +absence. Therefore, if you be so minded, express yourselves.' + +"None objected. But a general or universal vote, after some discourse, +passed, that Brother Nathaniel Putnam and the two deacons should join +with the pastor to discourse with the said absenters about it. + +"31st August.—Brother Tarbell proves sick, unmeet for discourse; +Brother Cloyse hard to be found at home, being often with his wife in +prison at Ipswich for witchcraft; and Brother Nurse, and sometimes his +wife, attends our public meeting, and he the sacrament, 11th September, +1692: upon all which we choose to wait further." + +When it is remembered that the individuals aimed at all belonged to the +family of Rebecca Nurse, whose execution had taken place three weeks +before under circumstances with which Mr. Parris had been so +prominently and responsibly connected, this proceeding must be felt by +every person of ordinary human sensibilities to have been cruel, +barbarous, and unnatural. Parris made the entry in his book, as he +often did, some time after the transaction, as the inserted date of +Sept. 11, shows. What his object was in commencing disciplinary +treatment of this distressed family is not certain. It may be that he +was preparing to get up such a feeling against them as would make it +safe to have the "afflicted" cry out upon some of them. Or it may be +that he wished to get them out of his church, to avoid the possibility +of their proceeding against him, by ecclesiastical methods, at some +future day. He could not, however, bring his church to continue the +process. This is the first indication that the brethren were no longer +to be relied on by him to go all lengths, and that some remnants of +good feeling and good sense were to be found among them. + +But Mr. Parris was determined not to allow the public feeling against +persons charged with witchcraft to subside, if he could help it; and he +made one more effort to renew the vehemence of the prosecutions. He +prepared and preached two sermons, on the 11th of September, from the +text, Rev. xvii. 14: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb +shall overcome them: for he is[ii.487] Lord of lords, and King of +kings; and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful." +They are entitled, "The Devil and his instruments will be warring +against Christ and his followers." This note is added, "After the +condemnation of six witches at a court at Salem, one of the witches, +viz., Martha Corey, in full communion with our church." The following +is a portion of "the improvement" in the application of these +discourses:— + +"It may serve to reprove such as seem to be so amazed at the war the +Devil has raised amongst us by wizards and witches, against the Lamb +and his followers, that they altogether deny it. If ever there were +witches, men and women in covenant with the Devil, here are multitudes +in New England. Nor is it so strange a thing that there should be such; +no, nor that some church-members should be such. Pious Bishop Hall +saith, 'The Devil's prevalency in this age is most clear in the +marvellous number of witches abounding in all places. Now hundreds +(says he) are discovered in one shire; and, if fame deceive us not, in +a village of fourteen houses in the north are found so many of this +damned brood. Heretofore, only barbarous deserts had them; but now the +civilized and religious parts are frequently pestered with them. +Heretofore, some silly, ignorant old woman, &c.; but now we have known +those of both sexes who professed much knowledge, holiness, and +devotion, drawn into this damnable practice.'" + +The foregoing extract is important as showing that some persons at the +village had begun to express their disbelief of the witchcraft doctrine +of Mr. Parris, "altogether denying it." The title and drift of the +sermons in connection with the date, and his proceedings, the month +before, against Samuel Nurse, Tarbell, and Cloyse, members of his +church, give color to the idea that he was designing to have them +"cried out" against, and thus disposed of. It is a noticeable fact, +that, about this time, Cotton Mather was also laying his plans for a +renewal, or rather continuance, of witchcraft prosecutions. Nine days +after these sermons were preached by Parris, Mather wrote the following +letter to Stephen Sewall of Salem:— + +Boston, Sept. 20, 1692. + +My dear and my very obliging Stephen,—It is my hap to be continually +... with all sorts of objections, and objectors against the ... work +now doing at Salem; and it is my further good hap to do some little +service for God and you in my encounters.[ii.488] + +But that I may be the more capable to assist in lifting up a standard +against the infernal enemy, I must renew my most importunate request, +that you would please quickly to perform what you kindly promised, of +giving me a narrative of the evidences given in at the trials of half a +dozen, or if you please a dozen, of the principal witches that have +been condemned. I know 'twill cost you some time; but, when you are +sensible of the benefit that will follow, I know you will not think +much of that cost; and my own willingness to expose myself unto the +utmost for the defence of my friends with you makes me presume to plead +something of merit to be considered. + +I shall be content, if you draw up the desired narrative by way of +letter to me; or, at least, let it not come without a letter, wherein +you shall, if you can, intimate over again what you have sometimes told +me of the awe which is upon the hearts of your juries, with ... unto +the validity of the spectral evidences. + +Please also to ... some of your observations about the confessors and +the credibility of what they assert, or about things evidently +preternatural in the witchcrafts, and whatever else you may account an +entertainment, for an inquisitive person, that entirely loves you and +_Salem_. Nay, though I will never lay aside the character which I +mentioned in my last words, yet I am willing, that, when you write, you +should imagine me as obstinate a Sadducee and witch-advocate as any +among us: address me as one that believed nothing reasonable; and when +you have so knocked me down, in a spectre so unlike me, you will enable +me to box it about among my neighbors, till it come—I know not where at +last. + +But assure yourself, as I shall not wittingly make what you write +prejudicial to any worthy design which those two excellent persons, Mr. +Hale and Mr. Noyse, may have in hand; so you shall find that I shall +be, sir, your grateful friend, + +C. Mather. + +P.S.—That which very much strengthens the charms of the request which +this letter makes you is, that His Excellency the Governor laid his +positive commands upon me to desire this favor of you; and the truth +is, there are some of his circumstances with reference to this affair, +which I need not mention, that call for the expediting of your +kindness,—_kindness_, I say, for such it will be esteemed as well by +him as by your servant, + +C. Mather. + +In order to understand the character and aim of this letter, it will be +necessary to consider its date. It was written Sept. 20, 1692. On the +19th of August, but one month before, Dr. Mather[ii.489] was acting a +conspicuous part under the gallows at Witch-hill, at the execution of +Mr. Burroughs and four others, increasing the power of the awful +delusion, and inflaming the passions of the people. On the 9th of +September, six more miserable creatures received sentence of death. On +the 17th of September, nine more received sentence of death. On the +19th of September, Giles Corey was crushed to death. And, on the 22d of +September, eight were executed. These were the last that suffered +death. The letter, therefore, was written while the horrors of the +transaction were at their height, and by a person who had himself been +a witness of them, and whose "good hap" it had been to "do some little +service" in promoting them. The object of the writer is declared to be, +that he might be "more capable to assist in lifting up a standard +against the infernal enemy." The literal meaning of this expression is, +that he might be enabled to get up another witchcraft delusion under +his own special management and control. Can any thing be imagined more +artful and dishonest than the plan he had contrived to keep himself out +of sight in all the operations necessary to accomplish his purpose? +"Nay, though I will never lay aside the character which I mentioned in +my last words, yet I am willing, that, when you write, you should +imagine me as obstinate a Sadducee and witch-advocate as any among us: +address me as one that believed nothing reasonable; and when you have +so knocked me down, in a spectre so unlike me, you will enable me to +box it about among my neighbors, till it come—I know not where at +last." + +Upon obtaining the document requisite to the fulfilment of his design, +he did "box it about" so effectually among his neighbors, that he +succeeded that next summer in getting up a wonderful case of +witchcraft, in the person of one Margaret Rule, a member of his +congregation in Boston. Dr. Mather published an account of her +long-continued fastings, even unto the ninth day, and of the incredible +sufferings she endured from the "infernal enemy." "She was thrown," +says he, "into such exorbitant convulsions as were astonishing to the +spectators in general. They that could behold the doleful condition of +the poor family without sensible compassions might have entrails, +indeed, but I am sure they could have no true bowels in them." So far +was he successful in spreading the delusion, that he prevailed upon six +men to testify[ii.490] that they had seen Margaret Rule lifted bodily +from her bed, and raised by an invisible power "so as to touch the +garret floor;" that she was entirely removed from the bed or any other +material support; that she continued suspended for several minutes; and +that a strong man, assisted by several other persons, could not +effectually resist the mysterious force that lifted her up, and poised +her aloft in the air! The people of Boston were saved from the horrors +intended to be brought upon them by this dark and deep-laid plot, by +the activity, courage, and discernment of Calef and others, who +distrusted Dr. Mather, and, by watching his movements, exposed the +imposture, and overthrew the whole design. + +Mr. Parris does not appear to have produced much effect by his sermons. +The people had suffered enough from the "war between the Devil and the +Lamb," as he and Mather had conducted it; and it could not be renewed. + +Immediately upon the termination of the witchcraft proceedings, the +controversy between Mr. Parris and the congregation, or the +inhabitants, as they were called, of the village, was renewed, with +earnest resolution on their part to get rid of him. The parish +neglected and refused to raise the means for paying his salary; and a +majority of the voters, in the meetings of the "inhabitants," +vigilantly resisted all attempts in his favor. The church was still +completely under his influence; and, as has been stated in the First +Part, he made use of that body to institute a suit against the people. +The court and magistrates were wholly in his favor, and peremptorily +ordered the appointment, by the people, of a new committee. The +inhabitants complied with the order by the election of a new committee, +but took care to have it composed exclusively of men opposed to Mr. +Parris; and he found himself no better off than before. He concluded +not to employ his church any longer as a principal agent in his lawsuit +against the parish; but used it for another purpose. + +After the explosion of the witchcraft delusion, the relations of +parties became entirely changed. The prosecutors at the trials were put +on the defensive, and felt themselves in peril. Parris saw his danger, +and, with characteristic courage and fertility of resources, prepared +to defend himself, and carry the war upon any quarter from which an +attack might be apprehended. He[ii.491] continued, on his own +responsibility, to prosecute, in court, his suit against the parish, +and in his usual trenchant style. As the law then was, a minister, in a +controversy with his parish, had a secure advantage, and absolutely +commanded the situation, if his church were with him. From the time of +his settlement, Parris had shaped his policy on this basis. He had +sought to make his church an impregnable fortress against his +opponents. But, to be impregnable, it was necessary that there should +be no enemies within it. A few disaffected brethren could at any time +demand, and have a claim to, a mutual council; and Mr. Parris knew, +that, before the investigations of such a council, his actions in the +witchcraft prosecutions could not stand. This perhaps suggested his +movements, in August, 1692, against Samuel Nurse, John Tarbell, and +Peter Cloyse. He did not at that time succeed in getting rid of them; +and they remained in the church, and, with the exception of Cloyse, in +the village. They might at any time take the steps that would lead to a +mutual council; and Mr. Parris was determined, at all events, to +prevent that. It was evident that the members of that family would +insist upon satisfaction being given them, in and through the church, +for the wrongs he had done them. Although, in the absence of Cloyse, +but two in number, there was danger that sympathy for them might reach +others of the brethren. Thomas Wilkins, a member in good standing, son +of old Bray Wilkins, and a connection of John Willard, an intelligent +and resolute man, had already joined them. Parris felt that others +might follow, and that whatever could be done to counteract them must +be done quickly. He accordingly initiated proceedings in his church to +rid himself of them, if not by excommunication, at least by getting +them under discipline, so as to prevent the possibility of their +dealing with him. + +This led to one of the most remarkable passages of the kind in the +annals of the New-England churches. It is narrated in detail by Mr. +Parris, in his church record-book. It would not be easy to find +anywhere an example of greater skill, wariness, or ability in a +conflict of this sort. On the one side is Mr. Parris, backed by his +church and the magistrates, and aided, it is probable, by Mr. Noyes; on +the other, three husbandmen. They had no known backers or advisers; +and, at frequent stages of the fencing match, had to parry or strike, +without time to consult any[ii.492] one. Mr. Parris was ingenious, +quick, a great strategist, and not over-scrupulous as to the use of his +weapons. Nurse, Tarbell, and Wilkins were cautious, cool, steady, and +persistent. Of course, they were wholly inexperienced in such things, +and liable to make wrong moves, or to be driven or drawn to untenable +ground. But they will not be found, I think, to have taken a false step +from beginning to end. Their line of action was extremely narrow. It +was necessary to avoid all personalities, and every appearance of +passion or excitement; to make no charge against Mr. Parris that could +touch the church, as such, or reflect upon the courts, magistrates, or +any others that had taken part in the prosecutions. It was necessary to +avoid putting any thing into writing, with their names attached, which +could in any way be tortured into a libel. Parris lets fall expressions +which show that he was on the watch for something of the kind to seize +upon, to transfer the movement from the church to the courts. Entirely +unaccustomed to public speaking, these three farmers had to meet +assemblages composed of their opponents, and much wrought up against +them; to make statements, and respond to interrogatories and +propositions, the full and ultimate bearing of which was not always +apparent: any unguarded expression might be fatal to their cause. Their +safety depended upon using the right word at the right time and in the +right manner, and in withholding the statement of their grievances, in +adequate force of language, until they were under the shelter of a +council. If, during the long-protracted conferences and communications, +they had tripped at any point, allowed a phrase or syllable to escape +which might be made the ground of discipline or censure, all would be +lost; for Parris could not be reached but through a council, and a +council could not even be asked for except by brethren in full and +clear standing. It was often attempted to ensnare them into making +charges against the church; but they kept their eye on Parris, and, as +they told him more than once in the presence of the whole body of the +people, on him alone. Limited as the ground was on which they could +stand, they held it steadfastly, and finally drove him from his +stronghold. + +On the first movement of Mr. Parris offensively upon them, they +commenced their movement upon him. The method by which alone they could +proceed, according to ecclesiastical law[ii.493] and the platform of +the churches, was precisely as it was understood to be laid down in +Matt. xviii. 15-17. Following these directions, Samuel Nurse first +called alone upon Mr. Parris, and privately made known his grievances. +Parris gave him no satisfaction. Then, after a due interval, Nurse, +Tarbell, and Wilkins called upon him together. He refused to see them +together, but one at a time was allowed to go up into his study. +Tarbell and Nurse each spent an hour or more with him, leaving no time +for Wilkins. In these interviews, he not only failed to give +satisfaction, but, according to his own account, treated them in the +coolest and most unfeeling manner, not allowing himself to utter a +soothing word, but actually reiterating his belief of the guilt of +their mother; telling them, as he says, "that he had not seen +sufficient grounds to vary his opinion." Cloyse came soon after to the +village, and had an interview with him for the same purpose. Parris saw +them one only at a time, in order to preclude their taking the second +step required by the gospel rule; that is, to have a brother of the +church with them as a witness. He also took the ground that they could +not be witnesses for each other, but that he should treat them all as +only one person in the transaction. A sense of the injustice of his +conduct, or some other consideration, led William Way, another of the +brethren, to go with them as a witness. Nurse, Tarbell, Wilkins, +Cloyse, and Way went to his house together. He said that the four first +were but one person in the case; but admitted that Way was a distinct +person, a brother of accredited standing, and a witness. He escaped, +however, under the subterfuge that the gospel rule required "two or +_three_ witnesses." In this way, the matter stood for some time; Parris +saying that they had not complied with the conditions in Matt. xviii., +and they maintaining that they had. + +The course of Parris was fast diminishing his hold upon the public +confidence. It was plain that the disaffected brethren had done what +they could, in an orderly way, to procure a council. At length, the +leading clergymen here and in Boston, whose minds were open to reason, +thought it their duty to interpose their advice. They wrote to Parris, +that he and his church ought to consent to a council. They wrote a +second time in stronger terms. Not daring to quarrel with so large a +portion of the clergy, Parris pretended to comply with their advice, +but demanded a majority of the coun[ii.494]cil to be chosen by him and +his church. The disaffected brethren insisted upon a fair, mutual +council; each party to have three ministers, with their delegates, in +it. To this, Parris had finally to agree. The dissatisfied brethren +named, as one of their three, a church at Ipswich. Parris objected to +the Ipswich church. The dissenting brethren insisted that each side +should be free to select its respective three churches. Parris was not +willing to have Ipswich in the council. The other party insisted, and +here the matter hung suspended. The truth is, that the disaffected +brethren were resolved to have the Rev. John Wise in the council. They +knew Cotton Mather would be there, on the side of Parris; and they knew +that John Wise was the man to meet him. The public opinion settled down +in favor of the dissatisfied brethren, on the ground that each party to +a mutual council ought to—and, to make it really mutual, must—have free +and full power to nominate the churches to be called by it. Parris, +being afraid to have a mutual council, and particularly if Mr. Wise was +in it, suddenly took a new position. He and his church called an _ex +parte_ council, at which the following ministers, with their delegates, +were present: Samuel Checkley of the New South Church, James Allen of +the First Church, Samuel Willard of the Old South, Increase and Cotton +Mather of the North Church,—all of Boston; Samuel Torrey of Weymouth; +Samuel Phillips of Rowley, and Edward Payson, also of Rowley. Among the +delegates were many of the leading public men of the province. The +result was essentially damaging to Mr. Parris. The tide was now +strongly set against him. The Boston ministers advised him to withdraw +from the contest. They provided a settlement for him in Connecticut, +and urged him to quit the village, and go there. But he refused, and +prolonged the struggle. In the course of it, papers were drawn up and +signed, one by his friends, another by his opponents, together +embracing nearly all the men and women of the village. Those who did +not sign either paper were understood to sympathize with the +disaffected brethren. Many who signed the paper favorable to him acted +undoubtedly from the motive stated in the heading; viz., that the +removal of Mr. Parris could do no good, "for we have had three +ministers removed already, and by every removal our differences have +been rather aggravated." Another removal, they thought, would utterly +ruin them. They[ii.495] do not express any particular interest in Mr. +Parris, but merely dread another change. They preferred to bear the +ills they had, rather than fly to others that they knew not of. It is a +very significant fact, that neither Mrs. Ann Putnam nor the widow Sarah +Houlton signed either paper (the Sarah Houlton whose name appears was +the wife of Joseph Houlton, Sr.). There is reason to believe that they +regretted the part they had taken, particularly against Rebecca Nurse, +and probably did not feel over favorably to the person who had led them +into their dreadful responsibility. + +In the mean time, the controversy continued to wax warm among the +people. Mr. Parris was determined to hold his place, and, with it, the +parsonage and ministry lands. The opposition was active, unappeasable, +and effective. The following paper, handed about, illustrates the +methods by which they assailed him:— + +"As to the contest between Mr. Parris and his hearers, &c., it may be +composed by a satisfactory answer to Lev. xx. 6: 'And the soul that +turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go +a-whoring after them, I will set my face against that soul, and will +cut him off from among his people.' 1 Chron. x. 13, 14: 'So Saul died +for his transgression which he committed against the Lord,—even against +the word of the Lord, which he kept not,—and also for asking counsel of +one who had a familiar to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord: +therefore he slew him,'" &c. + +Mr. Parris mirrored, or rather daguerrotyped, his inmost thoughts upon +the page of his church record-book. Whatever feeling happened to +exercise his spirit, found expression there. This gives it a truly rare +and singular interest. Among a variety of scraps variegating the +record, and thrown in with other notices of deaths, he has the +following:— + +"1694, Oct. 27.—Ruth, daughter to Job Swinnerton (died), and buried the +28th instant, being the Lord's Day; and the corpse carried by the +meeting-house door in time of singing before meeting afternoon, and +more at the funeral than at the sermon." + +This illustrates the state of things. The Swinnerton family were all +along opposed to Mr. Parris, and kept remarkably clear from the +witchcraft delusion. Originally, it was not customary to have prayers +at funerals. At any rate, all that Mr. Parris had to do on the occasion +was to witness and record the fact, which he[ii.496] indites in the +pithy manner in which he often relieves his mind, that more people went +to the distant burial-ground than came to hear him preach. The +procession was made up of his opponents; the congregation, of his +friends. At last, Captain John Putnam proposed that each party should +choose an equal number from themselves to decide the controversy; and +that Major Bartholomew Gedney, from the town, should be invited to act +as moderator of the joint meeting. Both sides agreed, and appointed +their representatives. Major Gedney consented to preside. But this +movement came to nothing, probably owing to the refractoriness of Mr. +Parris; for, from that moment, he had no supporters. The church ceased +to act: its members were merged in the meeting of the inhabitants. +There was no longer any division among them. The party that had acted +as friends of Mr. Parris united thenceforward with his opponents to +defend the parish in the suit he had brought against it in the courts. +The controversy was quite protracted. The Court was determined to +uphold him, and expressed its prejudice against the parish, sometimes +with considerable severity of manner and action.[L] +[ii.497] +The parish heeded not the frowns of the Court, but persisted inexorably +in its purpose to get rid of Mr. Parris. After an obstinate contest, it +prevailed. In the last stage of the controversy, it appointed four men, +as its agents or attorneys, whose names indicate the spirit in which it +acted,—John Tarbell, Samuel Nurse, Daniel Andrew, and Joseph Putnam. +His dauntless son did not follow the wolf through the deep and dark +recesses of his den with a more determined resolution than that with +which Joseph Putnam pursued Samuel Parris through the windings of the +law, until he ferreted him out, and rid the village of him for ever. + +Finally, the inferior court of Common Pleas, before which Mr. Parris +had carried the case, ordered that the matters in controversy between +him and the inhabitants of Salem Village should be referred to +arbitrators for decision. The following statement was laid before them +by the persons representing the inhabitants:— + +_"To the Honorable Wait Winthrop, Elisha Cook, and Samuel Sewall, +Esquires, Arbitrators, indifferently chosen, between Mr. Samuel Parris +and the Inhabitants of Salem Village._ + +_"The Remonstrances of several Aggrieved Persons in the said Village, +with further Reasons why they conceive they ought not to hear Mr. +Parris, nor to own him as a Minister of the Gospel, nor to contribute +any Support to him as such for several years past, humbly offered as +fit for consideration._ + +"We humbly conceive that, having, in April, 1693, given our reasons why +we could not join with Mr. Parris in prayer, preaching, or sacrament, +if these reasons are found sufficient for our withdrawing (and we +cannot yet find but they are), then we conceive ourselves virtually +discharged, not only in conscience, but also in law, which +re[ii.498]quires maintenance to be given to such as are orthodox and +blameless; the said Mr. Parris having been teaching such dangerous +errors, and preached such scandalous immoralities, as ought to +discharge any (though ever so gifted otherways) from the work of the +ministry, particularly in his oath against the lives of several, +wherein he swears that the prisoners with their looks knock down those +pretended sufferers. We humbly conceive that he that swears to more +than he is certain of, is equally guilty of perjury with him that +swears to what is false. And though they did fall at such a time, yet +it could not be known that they did it, much less could they be certain +of it; yet did swear positively against the lives of such as he could +not have any knowledge but they might be innocent. + +"His believing the Devil's accusations, and readily departing from all +charity to persons, though of blameless and godly lives, upon such +suggestions; his promoting such accusations; as also his partiality +therein in stifling the accusations of some, and, at the same time, +vigilantly promoting others,—as we conceive, are just causes for our +refusal, &c. + +"That Mr. Parris's going to Mary Walcot or Abigail Williams, and +directing others to them, to know who afflicted the people in their +illnesses,—we understand this to be a dealing with them that have a +familiar spirit, and an implicit denying the providence of God, who +alone, as we believe, can send afflictions, or cause devils to afflict +any: this we also conceive sufficient to justify such refusal. + +"That Mr. Parris, by these practices and principles, has been the +beginner and procurer of the sorest afflictions, not to this village +only, but to this whole country, that did ever befall them. + +"We, the subscribers, in behalf of ourselves, and of several others of +the same mind with us (touching these things), having some of us had +our relations by these practices taken off by an untimely death; others +have been imprisoned and suffered in our persons, reputations, and +estates,—submit the whole to your honors' decision, to determine +whether we are or ought to be any ways obliged to honor, respect, and +support such an instrument of our miseries; praying God to guide your +honors to act herein as may be for his glory, and the future settlement +of our village in amity and unity. + +"John Tarbell, +Samuel Nurse, +Joseph Putnam, +Daniel Andrew, + +_Attorneys for the people of the Village_. + +Boston, July 21, 1697." [ii.499] + +The arbitrators decided that the inhabitants should pay to Mr. Parris a +certain amount for arrearages, and also the sum of £79. 9_s._ 6_d._ for +all his right and interest in the ministry house and land, and that he +be forthwith dismissed; and his ministerial relation to the church and +society in Salem Village dissolved. The parish raised the money with +great alacrity. Nathaniel Ingersoll, who had, as has been stated, made +him a present at his settlement of a valuable piece of land adjoining +the parsonage grounds, bought it back, paying him a liberal price for +it, fully equal to its value; and he left the place, so far as appears, +for ever. + +On the 14th of July, 1696, in the midst of his controversy with his +people, his wife died. She was an excellent woman; and was respected +and lamented by all. He caused a stone slab to be placed at the head of +her grave, with a suitable inscription, still plainly legible, +concluding with four lines, to which his initials are appended, +composed by him, of which this is one: "Farewell, best wife, choice +mother, neighbor, friend." Her ashes rest in what is called the +Wadsworth burial ground. + +Mr. Parris removed to Newton, then to Concord; and in November, 1697, +began to preach at Stow, on a salary of forty pounds, half in money and +half in provisions, &c. A grant from the general court was relied upon +from year to year to help to make up the twenty pounds to be paid in +money. Afterwards he preached at Dunstable, partly supported by a grant +from the general court, and finally in Sudbury, where he died, Feb. 27, +1720. His daughter Elizabeth, who belonged, it will be remembered, to +the circle of "afflicted children" in 1692, then nine years of age, in +1710 married Benjamin Barnes of Concord. Two other daughters married in +Sudbury. His son Noyes, who graduated at Harvard College in 1721, +became deranged, and was supported by the town. His other son Samuel +was long deacon of the church at Sudbury, and died Nov. 22, 1792, aged +ninety-one years. + +In the "Boston News Letter," No. 1433, July 15, 1731, is a notice, as +follows:— + +"Any person or persons who knew Mr. Samuel Parris, formerly of +Barbadoes, afterwards of Boston in New England, merchant, and after +that minister of Salem Village, &c., deceased to be a son of Thomas +Parris of the island aforesaid, Esq. who deceased 1673, or[ii.500] sole +heir by will to all his estate in said island, are desired to give or +send notice thereof to the printer of this paper; and it shall be for +their advantage." + +Whether the identity of Mr. Parris, of Salem Village, with the son of +Thomas Parris, of Barbadoes, was established, we have no information. +If it was, some relief may have come to his descendants. There is every +reason to believe, that, after leaving the village, he and his family +suffered from extremely limited means, if not from absolute poverty. +The general ill-repute brought upon him by his conduct in the +witchcraft prosecutions followed him to the last. He had forfeited the +sympathy of his clerical brethren by his obstinate refusal to take +their advice. They earnestly, over and over again, expostulated against +his prolonging the controversy with the people of Salem Village, +besought him to relinquish it, and promised him, if he would, to +provide an eligible settlement elsewhere. They actually did provide +one. But he rejected their counsels and persuasions, in expressions of +ill-concealed bitterness. So that, when he was finally driven away, +they felt under no obligations to befriend him; and with his eminent +abilities he eked out a precarious and inadequate maintenance for +himself and family, in feeble settlements in outskirt towns, during the +rest of his days. + +It is difficult to describe the character of this unfortunate man. Just +as is the condemnation which facts compel history to pronounce, I have +a feeling of relief in the thought, that, before the tribunal to which +he so long ago passed, the mercy we all shall need, which comprehends +all motives and allows for all infirmities, has been extended to him, +in its infinite wisdom and benignity. + +He was a man of uncommon abilities, of extraordinary vivacity and +activity of intellect. He does not appear to have been wilfully +malevolent; although somewhat reckless in a contest, he was not +deliberately untruthful; on the contrary, there is in his statements a +singular ingenuousness and fairness, seldom to be found in a partisan, +much more seldom in a principal. Although we get almost all we know of +the examinations of accused parties in the witchcraft proceedings, and +of his long contentions with his parish, from him, there is hardly any +ground to regret that the parties on the other side had no friends to +tell their story. A transparency[ii.501] of character, a sort of +instinctive incontinency of mind, which made him let out every thing, +or a sort of blindness which prevented his seeing the bearings of what +was said and done, make his reports the vehicles of the materials for +the defence of the very persons he was prosecuting. I know of no +instance like it. His style is lucid, graphic, lively, natural to the +highest degree; and whatever he describes, we see the whole, and, as it +were, from all points of view. Language flowed from his pen with a +facility, simplicity, expressiveness, and accuracy, not surpassed or +often equalled. He wrote as men talk, using colloquial expressions +without reserve, but always to the point. When we read, we hear him; +abbreviating names, and clipping words, as in the most familiar and +unguarded conversation. He was not hampered by fear of offending the +rules which some think necessary to dignify composition. In his +off-hand, free and easy, gossiping entries in the church-book, or in +his carefully prepared productions, like the "Meditations for Peace," +read before his church and the dissatisfied brethren, we have specimens +of plain good English, in its most translucent and effective forms. +Considering that his academic education was early broken off, and many +intermediate years were spent in commercial pursuits, his learning and +attainments are quite remarkable. The various troubles and tragic +mischiefs of his life, the terrible wrongs he inflicted on others, and +the retributions he brought upon himself, are traceable to two or three +peculiarities in his mental and moral organization. + +He had a passion for a scene, a ceremony, an excitement. He delighted +in the exercise of power, and rejoiced in conflicts or commotions, from +the exhilaration they occasioned, and the opportunity they gave for the +gratification of the activity of his nature. He pursued the object of +getting possession of the ministry house and land with such desperate +pertinacity, not, I think, from avaricious motives, but for the sake of +the power it would give him as a considerable landholder. His love of +form and public excitement led him to operate as he did with his +church. He kept it in continual action during the few years of his +ministry. He had at least seventy-five special meetings of that body, +without counting those which probably occurred without number, but of +which there is no record, during the six months of the witchcraft +period. Twice, the brethren gave out, wholly exhausted; and the +powers[ii.502] of the church were, by vote, transferred to a special +committee, to act in its behalf, composed of persons who had time and +strength to spare. But Mr. Parris, never weary of excitement, would +have been delighted to preside over church-meetings, and to be a +participator in vehement proceedings, every day of his life. The more +noisy and heated the contention, the more he enjoyed it. During all the +transactions connected with the witchcraft prosecutions, he was +everywhere present, always wide awake, full of animation, if not +cheerfulness, and ready to take any part to carry them on. These +propensities and dispositions were fraught with danger, and prolific of +evil in his case, in consequence of what looks very much like a total +want in himself of many of the natural human sensibilities, and an +inability to apprehend them in others. Through all the horrors of the +witchcraft prosecutions, he never evinced the slightest sensibility, +and never seemed to be aware that anybody else had any. It was not +absolute cruelty, but the absence of what may be regarded as a natural +sense. It was not a positive wickedness, but a negative defect. He +seemed to be surprised that other people had sentiments, and could not +understand why Tarbell and Nurse felt so badly about the execution of +their mother. He told them to their faces, without dreaming of giving +them offence, that, while they thought she was innocent, and he thought +she was guilty and had been justly put to death, it was a mere +difference of opinion, as about an indifferent matter. In his +"Meditations for Peace," presented to these dissatisfied brethren, for +the purpose and with an earnest desire of appeasing them, he tells them +that the indulgence of such feelings at all is a yielding to +"temptation," being under "the clouds of human weakness," and "a +bewraying of remaining corruption." Indeed, the theology of that day, +it must be allowed, bore very hard upon even the best and most sacred +affections of our nature. The council, in their Result, allude to the +feelings of those whose parents, and other most loved and honored +relatives and connections, had been so cruelly torn from them and put +to death, as "infirmities discovered by them in such an heart-breaking +day," and bespeak for their grief and lamentations a charitable +construction. They ask the church, whose hands were red with the blood +of their innocent and dearest friends, not to pursue them with "more +critical and vigorous proceedings" in consequence of their exhibiting +these[ii.503] natural sensibilities on the occasion, but "to treat them +with bowels of much compassion." These views had taken full effect upon +Mr. Parris, and obliterated from his breast all such "infirmities." +This is the only explanation or apology that can be made for him. + +Of the history of Cotton Mather, subsequently to the witchcraft +prosecutions, and more or less in consequence of his agency in them, it +may be said that the residue of his life was doomed to disappointment, +and imbittered by reproach and defeat. The storm of fanatical delusion, +which he doubted not would carry him to the heights of clerical and +spiritual power, in America and everywhere, had left him a wreck. His +political aspirations, always one of his strongest passions, were +wholly blasted; and the great aim and crown of his ambition, the +Presidency of Harvard College, once and again and for ever had eluded +his grasp. I leave him to tell his story, and reveal the state of his +mind and heart in his own most free and full expressions from his +private diary for the year 1724. + +"1. What has a gracious Lord helped me to do for the _seafaring tribe_, +in prayers for them, in sermons to them, in books bestowed upon them, +and in various projections and endeavors to render the sailors a happy +generation? And yet there is not a man in the world so reviled, so +slandered, so cursed among sailors. + +"2. What has a gracious Lord helped me to do for the instruction and +salvation and comfort of the poor negroes? And yet some, on purpose to +affront me, call their negroes by the name of COTTON MATHER, that so +they may, with some shadow of truth, assert crimes as committed by one +of that name, which the hearers take to be _Me_. + +"3. What has a gracious Lord given me to do for the profit and honor of +the female sex, especially in publishing the virtuous and laudable +characters of holy women? And yet where is the man whom the female sex +have spit more of their venom at? I have cause to question whether +there are twice ten in the town but what have, at some time or other, +spoken _basely_ of me. + +"4. What has a gracious Lord given me to do, that I may be a blessing +to my relatives? I keep a catalogue of them, and not a week passes me +without some good devised for some or other of them, till I have taken +all of them under my cognizance. And yet where is the man who has been +so tormented with such _monstrous_ relatives? Job said, '_I am a +brother to dragons._'[ii.504] + +"5. What has a gracious Lord given me to do for the vindication and +reputation of the Scottish nation? And yet no Englishman has been so +vilified by the tongues and pens of Scots as I have been. + +"6. What has a gracious Lord given me to do for the good of the +country, in applications without number for it in all its interests, +besides publications of things useful to it and for it? And yet there +is no man whom the country so loads with disrespect and calumnies and +manifold expressions of aversion. + +"7. What has a gracious Lord given me to do for the upholding of the +government, and the strengthening of it, and the bespeaking of regards +unto it? And yet the discountenance I have almost perpetually received +from the government! Yea, the indecencies and indignities which it has +multiplied upon me are such as no other man has been treated with. + +"8. What has a gracious Lord given me to do, that the College may be +owned for the bringing forth such as are somewhat known in the world, +and have read and wrote as much as many have done in other places? And +yet the College for ever puts all possible marks of disesteem upon me. +If I were the greatest blockhead that ever came from it, or the +greatest blemish that ever came to it, they could not easily show me +more contempt than they do. + +"9. What has a gracious Lord given me to do for the study of _a +profitable conversation_? For nearly fifty years together, I have +hardly ever gone into any company, or had any coming to me, without +some explicit contrivance to speak something or other that they might +be the wiser or the better for. And yet my company is as little sought +for, and there is as little resort unto it, as any minister that I am +acquainted with. + +"10. What has a gracious Lord given me to do in _good offices_, +wherever I could find opportunities for the doing of them? I for ever +entertain them with alacrity. I have offered pecuniary recompenses to +such as would advise me of them. And yet I see no man for whom all are +so loth to do good offices. Indeed I find some cordial friends, _but +how few_! Often have I said, What would I give if there were any one +man in the world to do for me what I am willing to do for every man in +the world! + +"11. What has a gracious Lord given me to do in the writing of many +books for the advancing of piety and the promoting of his kingdom? +There are, I suppose, more than three hundred of them. And yet I have +had more books written against me, more pamphlets to traduce and +reproach me and belie me, than any man I know in the world. + +"12. What has a gracious Lord given me to do in a variety of[ii.505] +_services_? For many lustres of years, not a day has passed me, without +some devices, even written devices, to be serviceable. And yet my +sufferings! They seem to be (as in reason they should be) more than my +services. Everybody points at me, and speaks of me as by far the most +afflicted minister in all New England. And many look on me as the +greatest sinner, because the greatest sufferer; and are pretty +arbitrary in their conjectures upon my punished miscarriages." + +"_Diary, May 7, 1724._—The sudden death of the unhappy man who +sustained the place of President in our College will open a door for my +doing singular services in the best of interests. I do not know that +the care of the College will now be cast upon me, though I am told that +it is what is most generally wished for. If it should be, I shall be in +abundance of distress about it; but, if it should not, yet I may do +many things for the good of the College more quietly and more hopefully +than formerly. + +"_June 5._—The College is in great hazard of dissipation and grievous +destruction and confusion. My advice to some that have some influence +on the public may be seasonable. + +"_July 1, 1724._—This day being our _insipid, ill-contrived +anniversary_, which we call the _Commencement_, I chose to spend it at +home in supplications, partly on the behalf of the College that it may +not be foolishly thrown away, but that God may bestow such a President +upon it as may prove a rich blessing unto it and unto all our +churches." + +On the 18th of November, 1724, the corporation of Harvard College +elected the Rev. Benjamin Colman, pastor of the Brattle-street Church +in Boston, to the vacant presidential chair. He declined the +appointment. The question hung in suspense another six months. In June, +1725, the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, pastor of the First Church in +Boston, was elected, accepted the office, and held it to his death, on +the 16th of March, 1737. It may easily be imagined how keenly these +repeated slights were felt by Cotton Mather. He died on the 13th of +February, 1728. + +From the early part of the spring of 1695, when the abortive attempt to +settle the difficulty between Mr. Parris and the people of the village, +by the umpirage of Major Gedney, was made, it evidently became the +settled purpose of the leading men, on both sides, to restore harmony +to the place. On all committees, persons who had been prominent in +opposition to each other were joined together, that, thus co-operating, +they might become reconciled.[ii.506] This is strikingly illustrated in +the "seating of the meeting-house," as it was called. In 1699, in a +seat accommodating three persons, John Putnam the son of Nathaniel, and +John Tarbell, were two of the three. Another seat for three was +occupied by James and John Putnam, sons of John, and by Thomas Wilkins. +Thomas Putnam and Samuel Nurse were placed in the same seat; and so +were the wives of Thomas Putnam and Samuel Nurse, and the widow Sarah +Houlton. The widow Preston, daughter of Rebecca Nurse, was seated with +the widow Walcot, mother of Mary, one of the accusing girls. + +We see in this the effect of the wise and decisive course adopted by +Mr. Parris's successor, the Rev. Joseph Green. Immediately upon his +ordination, Nov. 10, 1698, he addressed himself in earnest to the work +of reconciliation in that distracted parish. From the date of its +existence, nearly thirty years before, it had been torn by constant +strife. It had just passed through scenes which had brought all hearts +into the most terrible alienation. A man of less faith would not have +believed it possible, that the horrors and outrages of those scenes +could ever be forgotten, forgiven, or atoned for, by those who had +suffered or committed the wrongs. But he knew the infinite power of the +divine love, which, as a minister of Christ, it was his office to +inspire and diffuse. He knew that, with the blessing of God, that +people, who had from the first been devouring each other, and upon +whose garments the stain of the blood of brethren and sisters was +fresh, might be made "kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving +one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven" them. In this +heroic and Christ-like faith, he entered upon and steadfastly adhered +to his divine work. He pursued it with patience, wisdom, and courageous +energy. No ministry in the whole history of the New-England churches +has had a more difficult task put upon it, and none has more perfectly +succeeded in its labors. I shall describe the administration of this +good man, as a minister of reconciliation, in his own words, +transcribed from his church records:— + +"Nov. 25, 1698, being spent in holy exercises (in order to our +preparation for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper), at John Putnam, +Jr.'s, after the exercise, I desired the church to manifest, by the +usual sign, that they were so cordially satisfied with their brethren, +Thomas Wilkins, John Tarbell, and Samuel Nurse, that they were +heartily[ii.507] desirous that they would join with us in all +ordinances, that so we might all live lovingly together. This they +consented unto, and none made any objection, but voted it by lifting up +their hands. And further, that whatever articles they had drawn up +against these brethren formerly, they now looked upon them as nothing, +but let them fall to the ground, being willing that they should be +buried for ever. + +"Feb. 5, 1699.—This day, also our brother John Tarbell, and his wife, +and Thomas Wilkins and his wife, and Samuel Nurse's wife, joined with +us in the Lord's Supper; which is a matter of thankfulness, seeing they +have for a long time been so offended as that they could not +comfortably join with us. + +"1702.—In December, the pastor spake to the church, on the sabbath, as +followeth: 'Brethren, I find in your church-book a record of Martha +Corey's being excommunicated for witchcraft; and, the generality of the +land being sensible of the errors that prevailed in that day, some of +her friends have moved me several times to propose to the church +whether it be not our duty to recall that sentence, that so it may not +stand against her to all generations; and I myself being a stranger to +her, and being ignorant of what was alleged against her, I shall now +only leave it to your consideration, and shall determine the matter by +a vote the next convenient opportunity.' + +"Feb. 14, 1702/3.—The major part of the brethren consented to the +following: 'Whereas this church passed a vote, Sept. 11, 1692, for the +excommunication of Martha Corey, and that sentence was pronounced +against her Sept. 14, by Mr. Samuel Parris, formerly the pastor of this +church; she being, before her excommunication, condemned, and +afterwards executed, for supposed witchcraft; and there being a record +of this in our church-book, page 12, we being moved hereunto, do freely +consent and heartily desire that the same sentence may be revoked, and +that it may stand no longer against her; for we are, through God's +mercy to us, convinced that we were at that dark day under the power of +those errors which then prevailed in the land; and we are sensible that +we had not sufficient grounds to think her guilty of that crime for +which she was condemned and executed; and that her excommunication was +not according to the mind of God, and therefore we desire that this may +be entered in our church-book, to take off that odium that is cast on +her name, and that so God may forgive our sin, and may be atoned for +the land; and we humbly pray that God will not leave us any more to +such errors and sins, but will teach and enable us always to do that +which is right in his sight.' + +"There was a major part voted, and six or seven dissented. + +"J. Gr., _Pr._" [ii.508] + +The First Church in Salem rescinded its votes of excommunication of +Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey, in March, 1712. The church at the +village was nearly ten years before it, in this act of justice to +itself and to the memory of the injured dead. Mr. Green did not wait +until the public sentiment drove him to it. He regarded it as his duty +to lead, and keep in front of that sentiment, in the right direction. +He did not wait until everybody demanded it to be done, but instantly +began to prepare his people for it. At the proper time, he gave notice +that he was about to bring the question before them; and he accordingly +did so. He had no idea of allowing a few narrow-minded, obstinate +individuals to keep the blot any longer upon the records of his church. +His conduct is honorable to his name, and to the name of the village. +By wise, prudent, but persistent efforts, he gradually repaired every +breach, brought his parish out from under reproach, and set them right +with each other, with the obligations of justice, and with the spirit +of Christianity. It is affecting to read his ejaculations of praise and +gratitude to God for every symptom of the prevalence of harmony and +love among the people of his charge. + +The man who extinguished the fires of passion in a community that had +ever before been consumed by them deserves to be held in lasting honor. +The history of the witchcraft delusion in Salem Village would, indeed, +be imperfectly written, if it failed to present the character of him +who healed its wounds, obliterated the traces of its malign influence +on the hearts and lives of those who acted, and repaired the wrongs +done to the memory of those who suffered, in it. Joseph Green had a +manly and amiable nature. He was a studious scholar and an able +preacher. He was devoted to his ministry and faithful to its +obligations. He was a leader of his people, and shared in their +occupations and experiences. He was active in the ordinary employments +of life and daily concerns of society. Possessed of independent +property, he was frugal and simple in his habits, and liberal in the +use of his means. The parsonage, while he lived in it, was the abode of +hospitality, and frequented by the best society in the neighborhood. By +mingled firmness and kindliness, he met and removed difficulties. He +had a cheerful temperament, was not irritated by the course of events, +even when of an unpleasant character. While Mr. Noyes was disturbed, +even to resentment, by encroachments upon his parish,[ii.509] in the +formation of new societies in the middle precinct of Salem, now South +Danvers, and in the second precinct of Beverly, now Upper Beverly, Mr. +Green, although they drew away from him as many as from Mr. Noyes, went +to participate in the raising of their meeting-houses. Of a genial +disposition, he countenanced innocent amusements. He was fond of the +sports of the field. The catamount was among the trophies of his sure +aim, and he came home with his huntsman's bag filled with wild pigeons. +He would take his little sons before and behind him on his horse, and +spend a day with them fishing and fowling on Wilkins's Pond; and, when +Indians threatened the settlements, he would shoulder his musket, join +the brave young men of his parish, and be the first in the encounter, +and the last to relinquish the pursuit of the savage foe. + +He was always, everywhere, a peacemaker; by his genial manner, and his +genuine dignity and decision of character, he removed dissensions from +his church and neighborhood, and secured the respect while he won the +love of all. That such a person was raised up and placed where he was +at that time, was truly a providence of God. + +The part performed in the witchcraft tragedy by the extraordinary child +of twelve years of age, Ann Putnam, has been fully set forth. As has +been stated, both her parents (and no one can measure their share of +responsibility, nor that of others behind them, for her conduct) died +within a fortnight of each other, in 1699. She was then nineteen years +of age; a large family of children, all younger than herself, was left +with her in the most melancholy orphanage. How many there were, we do +not exactly know: eight survived her. Although their uncles, Edward and +Joseph, were near, and kind, and able to care for them, the burden +thrown upon her must have been great. With the terrible remembrance of +the scenes of 1692, it was greater than she could bear. Her health +began to decline, and she was long an invalid. Under the tender and +faithful guidance of Mr. Green, she did all that she could to seek the +forgiveness of God and man. After consultations with him, in visits to +his study, a confession was drawn up, which she desired publicly to +make. Upon conferring with Samuel Nurse, it was found to be +satisfactory to him, as the representative of those who had suffered +from her testimony. It was her desire to offer this[ii.510] confession +and a profession of religion at the same time. The day was fixed, and +made known to the public. On the 25th of August, 1706, a great +concourse assembled in the meeting-house. Large numbers came from other +places, particularly from the town of Salem. The following document, +having been judged sufficient and suitable, was written out in the +church-book the evening before, and signed by her. It was read by the +pastor before the congregation, who were seated; she standing in her +place while it was read, and owning it as hers by a declaration to that +effect at its close, and also acknowledging the signature. + +_"The Confession of Anne Putnam, when she was received to Communion, +1706._ + +"I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence +that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that I, then +being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an +instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, +whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just +grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that +it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, +whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though +ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the +guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any +person I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not +out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such +thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded +by Satan. And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing of +Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to +be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a +calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in +the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto +whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offence, whose relations +were taken away or accused. + +[Signed] signature + +"This confession was read before the congregation, together with her +relation, Aug. 25, 1706; and she acknowledged it. + +"J. Green, _Pastor_. + +This paper shows the baleful influence of the doctrine of Satan[ii.511] +then received. It afforded a refuge and escape from the compunctions of +conscience. The load of sin was easily thrown upon the back of Satan. +This young woman was undoubtedly sincere in her penitence, and was +forgiven, we trust and believe; but she failed to see the depth of her +iniquity, and of those who instigated and aided her, in her false +accusations. The blame, and the deed, were wholly hers and theirs. +Satan had no share in it. Human responsibility cannot thus be avoided. + +While, in a certain sense, she imputes the blame to Satan, this +declaration of Ann Putnam is conclusive evidence that she and her +confederate accusers did not believe in any communications having been +made to them by invisible spirits of any kind. Those persons, in our +day, who imagine that they hold intercourse, by rapping or otherwise, +with spiritual beings, have sometimes found arguments in favor of their +belief in the phenomena of the witchcraft trials. But Ann Putnam's +confession is decisive against this. If she had really received from +invisible beings, subordinate spirits, or the spirits of deceased +persons, the matters to which she testified, or ever believed that she +had, she would have said so. On the contrary, she declares that she had +no foundation whatever, from any source, for what she said, but was +under the subtle and mysterious influence of the Devil himself. + +She died at about the age of thirty-six years. Her will is dated May +20, 1715, and was presented in probate June 29, 1716. Its preamble is +as follows:— + +"In the name of God, amen. I, Anne Putnam, of the town of Salem, single +woman, being oftentimes sick and weak in body, but of a disposing mind +and memory, blessed be God! and calling to mind the mortality of my +body, and that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make this my +last will and testament. First of all, I recommend my spirit into the +hands of God, through Jesus Christ my Redeemer, with whom I hope to +live for ever; and, as for my body, I commit it to the earth, to be +buried in a Christian and decent manner, at the discretion of my +executor, hereafter named, nothing doubting but, by the mighty power of +God, to receive the same again at the resurrection." + +She divided her land to her four brothers, and her personal estate to +her four sisters. + +It seems that she was frequently the subject of sickness, and[ii.512] +her bodily powers much weakened. The probability is, that the +long-continued strain kept upon her muscular and nervous organization, +during the witchcraft scenes, had destroyed her constitution. Such +uninterrupted and vehement exercise, to their utmost tension, of the +imaginative, intellectual, and physical powers, in crowded and heated +rooms, before the public gaze, and under the feverish and consuming +influence of bewildering and all but delirious excitement, could hardly +fail to sap the foundations of health in so young a child. The +tradition is, that she had a slow and fluctuating decline. The language +of her will intimates, that, at intervals, there were apparent checks +to her disease, and rallies of strength,—"oftentimes sick and weak in +body." She inherited from her mother a sensitive and fragile +constitution; but her father, although brought to the grave, probably +by the terrible responsibilities and trials in which he had been +involved, at a comparatively early age, belonged to a long-lived race +and neighborhood. The opposite elements of her composition struggled in +a protracted contest,—on the one side, a nature morbidly subject to +nervous excitability sinking under the exhaustion of an overworked, +overburdened, and shattered system; on the other, tenacity of life. The +conflict continued with alternating success for years; but the latter +gave way at last. Her story, in all its aspects, is worthy of the study +of the psychologist. Her confession, profession, and death point the +moral. + +The Rev. Joseph Green died Nov. 26, 1715. The following tribute to his +memory is inscribed on the records of the church. It is in the +handwriting, and style of thought and language, of Deacon Edward +Putnam. + +"Then was the choicest flower and greenest olive-tree in the garden of +our God here cut down in its prime and flourishing estate at the age of +forty years and two days, who had been a faithful ambassador from God +to us eighteen years. Then did that bright star set, and never more to +appear here among us; then did our sun go down; and now what darkness +is come upon us! Put away and pardon our iniquities, O Lord! which have +been the cause of thy sore displeasure, and return to us again in +mercy, and provide yet again for this thy flock a pastor after thy own +heart, as thou hath promised to thy people in thy word; on which +promise we have hope, for we are called by thy name; and, oh, leave us +not!" [ii.513] + +The Rev. Peter Clark was ordained June 5, 1717. The termination of the +connection between the Salem Village church and the witchcraft +delusion, and all similar kinds of absurdity and wickedness, is marked +by the following record, which fully and for ever redeems its +character. If Samuel Parris had been as wise and brave as Peter Clark, +he would, in the same decisive manner, have nipped the thing in the +bud. + +_"Salem Village Church Records._ + +"Sept. 5, 1746.—At a church meeting appointed on the lecture, the day +before, on the occasion of several persons in this parish being +reported to have resorted to a woman of a very ill reputation, +pretending to the art of divination and fortune-telling, &c., to make +inquiry into that matter, and to take such resolutions as may be +thought proper on the occasion, the brethren of the church then present +came into the following votes; viz., That for Christians, especially +church-members, to seek to and consult reputed witches or +fortune-tellers, this church is clearly of opinion, and firmly believes +on the testimony of the Word of God, is highly impious and scandalous, +being a violation of the Christian covenant sealed in baptism, +rendering the persons guilty of it subject to the just censure of the +church. + +"No proof appearing against any of the members of this church (some of +whom had been strongly suspected of this crime), so as to convict them +of their being guilty, it was further voted, That the pastor, in the +name of the church, should publicly testify their disapprobation and +abhorrence of this infamous and ungodly practice of consulting witches +or fortune-tellers, or any that are reputed such; exhorting all under +their watch, who may have been guilty of it, to an hearty repentance +and returning to God, earnestly seeking forgiveness in the blood of +Christ, and warning all against the like practice for the time to come. + +"Sept. 7.—This testimony, exhortation, and warning, voted by the +church, was publicly given by the pastor, before the dismission of the +congregation." + +The Salem Village Parish, when its present pastor, the Rev. Charles B. +Rice, was settled, Sept. 2, 1863, had been in existence a hundred and +ninety-one years. During its first twenty-five years, it had four +ministers, whose aggregate period of service was eighteen years. During +the succeeding hundred and sixty-six years, it had four ministers, +whose aggregate period of service[ii.514] was one hundred and +fifty-eight years. They had all been well educated, several were men of +uncommon endowments, and without exception they possessed qualities +suitable for success and usefulness in their calling. + +The first period was filled with an uninterrupted series of troubles, +quarrels, and animosities, culminating in the most terrific and +horrible disaster that ever fell upon a people. The second period was +an uninterrupted reign of peace, harmony, and unity; no religious +society ever enjoying more comfort in its privileges, or exhibiting a +better example of all that ought to characterize a Christian +congregation. + +The contrast between the lives of its ministers, in the two periods +respectively, is as great as between their pastorates. The first four +suffered from inadequate means of support, and, owing to the feuds in +the congregation, rates not being collected, were hardly supplied with +the necessaries of life. There is no symptom in the records of the +second period of there having ever been any difficulty on this score. +The prompt fulfilment of their contracts by the people, and the favor +of Providence, placed the ministers above the reach or approach of +inconvenience or annoyance from that quarter. + +The history of the New-England churches presents no epoch more +melancholy, distressful, and stormy than the first, and none more +united, prosperous, or commendable than the second period in the annals +of the Salem Village church. + +The contrast between the fortunes and fates of the ministers of these +two periods is worthy of being stated in detail. + +James Bayley began to preach at the Village at the formation of the +society, when he was quite a young man, within three years from +receiving his degree at Harvard College. After about seven years, +during which he buried his wife and three children, and encountered a +bitter and turbulent opposition,—so far as we can see, most causeless +and unreasonable,—he relinquished the ministry altogether, and spent +the residue of his life in another profession elsewhere. + +The ministry of George Burroughs, at the Village, lasted about two +years. The violence of both parties to the controversy by which the +parish had been rent was concentrated upon his innocent and unsheltered +head. He was, at a public assembly of his[ii.515] people, in his own +meeting-house, arrested, and taken out in the custody of the marshal of +the county, a prisoner for a debt incurred to meet the expenses of his +wife's recent funeral, of an amount less than the salary then due him, +and which, in point of fact, he had paid at the time by an order upon +the parish treasurer. From such outrageous ill-treatment, he escaped by +resigning his ministry. He was followed to his retreat in a remote +settlement, and while engaged there, a laborious, self-sacrificing, and +devoted minister, was, by the malignity of his enemies at the Village, +suddenly seized, all unconscious of having wronged a human creature, +snatched from the table where he was taking his frugal meal in his +humble home, torn from his helpless family, hurried up to the Village; +overwhelmed in a storm of falsehood, rage, and folly; loaded with +irons, immured in a dungeon, carried to the place of execution, +consigned to the death of a felon; and his uncoffined remains thrown +among the clefts of the rocks of Witch Hill, and left but half +buried,—for a crime of which he was as innocent as the unborn child. + +Deodat Lawson, a great scholar and great preacher, after a two years' +trial, and having buried his wife and daughter at the Village, +abandoned the attempt to quell the storm of passion there. He found +another settlement on the other side of Massachusetts Bay, which he +left without taking leave, and was never heard of more by his people. +Eight years afterwards, he re-appeared in the reprint, at London, of +his famous Salem Village sermon, and then vanished for ever from sight. +A cloud of impenetrable darkness envelopes his name at that point. Of +his fate nothing is known, except that it was an "unhappy" one. + +Samuel Parris, after a ministry of seven years, crowded from the very +beginning with contention and animosity, and closed in desolation, +ruin, and woes unutterable, havoc scattered among his people and the +whole country round, was driven from the parish, the blood of the +innocent charged upon his head, and, for the rest of his days, +consigned to obscurity and penury. The place of his abode has upon it +no habitation or structure of man; and the only vestiges left of him +are his records of the long quarrel with his congregation, and his +inscription on the headstone, erected by him, as he left the Village +for ever, over the fresh grave of his wife.[ii.516] + +Surely, the annals of no church present a more dismal, shocking, or +shameful history than this. + +Joseph Green, on the 26th of November, 1715, terminated with his life a +ministry of eighteen years, as useful, beneficent, and honorable as it +had been throughout harmonious and happy. Peter Clark died in office, +June 10, 1768, after a service of fifty-one years. He was recognized +throughout the country as an able minister and a learned divine. Peace +and prosperity reigned, without a moment's intermission, among the +people of his charge. Benjamin Wadsworth, D.D., also died in office, +Jan. 18, 1826, after a service of fifty-four years. Through life he was +universally esteemed and loved in all the churches. Milton P. Braman, +D.D., on the 1st of April, 1861, terminated by resignation a ministry +of thirty-five years. He always enjoyed universal respect and +affection, and the parish under his care, uninterrupted union and +prosperity. He did not leave his people, but remains among them, +participating in the enjoyment of their privileges, and upholding the +hands of his successor. His eminent talents are occasionally exercised +in neighboring pulpits, and in other services of public usefulness. He +lives in honored retirement on land originally belonging to Nathaniel +Putnam, distant only a few rods, a little to the north of east, from +the spot owned and occupied by his first predecessor, James Bayley. + +It can be said with assurance, of this epoch in the history of the +Salem Village church and society, that it can hardly be paralleled in +all that indicates the well-being of man or the blessings of Heaven. No +such contrast, as these two periods in the annals of this parish +present, can elsewhere be found. + +Prosecutions for witchcraft continued in the older countries after they +had been abandoned here; although it soon began to be difficult, +everywhere, to procure the conviction of a person accused of +witchcraft. In 1716, a Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, the latter aged +nine years, were hanged in Huntingdon, in England, for witchcraft. In +the year 1720, an attempt, already alluded to, was made to renew the +Salem excitement in Littleton, Mass., but it failed: the people had +learned wisdom at a price too dear to allow them so soon to forget it. +In a letter to Cotton Mather, written Feb. 19, 1720, the excellent Dr. +Watts, after having expressed his doubts respecting the sufficiency of +the spec[ii.517]tral evidence for condemnation, says, in reference to +the Salem witchcraft, "I am much persuaded that there was much +immediate agency of the Devil in these affairs, and perhaps there were +some real witches too." Not far from this time, we find what was +probably the opinion of the most liberal-minded and cultivated people +in England expressed in the following language of Addison: "To speak my +thoughts freely, I believe, in general, that there is and has been such +a thing as witchcraft, but, at the same time, can give no credit to any +particular instance of it." + +There was an execution for witchcraft in Scotland in 1722. As late as +the middle of the last century, an annual discourse, commemorative of +executions that took place in Huntingdon during the reign of Queen +Elizabeth, continued to be delivered in that place. An act of a +Presbyterian synod in Scotland, published in 1743, and reprinted at +Glasgow in 1766, denounced as a national sin the repeal of the penal +laws against witchcraft. + +Blackstone, the great oracle of British law, and who flourished in the +latter half of the last century, declared his belief in witchcraft in +the following strong terms: "To deny the possibility, nay, the actual +existence, of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict +the revealed Word of God, in various passages both of the Old and New +Testament; and the thing itself is a truth to which every nation in the +world hath in its turn borne testimony, either by examples seemingly +well attested, or by prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the +possibility of commerce with evil spirits." + +It is related, in White's "Natural History of Selborne," that, in the +year 1751, the people of Tring, a market town of Hertfordshire, and +scarcely more than thirty miles from London, "seized on two +superannuated wretches, crazed with age and overwhelmed with +infirmities, on a suspicion of witchcraft." They were carried to the +edge of a horse-pond, and there subjected to the water ordeal. The +trial resulted in the acquittal of the prisoners; but they were both +drowned in the process. + +A systematic effort seems to have been made during the eighteenth +century to strengthen and renew the power of superstition. Alarmed by +the progress of infidelity, many eminent and excellent men availed +themselves of the facilities which their position at the head of the +prevailing literature afforded them, to push the[ii.518] faith of the +people as far as possible towards the opposite extreme of credulity. It +was a most unwise, and, in its effects, deplorable policy. It was a +betrayal of the cause of true religion. It was an acknowledgment that +it could not be vindicated before the tribunal of severe reason. +Besides all the misery produced by filling the imagination with unreal +objects of terror, the restoration to influence, during the last +century, of the fables and delusions of an ignorant age, has done +incalculable injury, by preventing the progress of Christian truth and +sound philosophy; thus promoting the cause of the very infidelity it +was intended to check. The idea of putting down one error by setting up +another cannot have suggested itself to any mind that had ever been led +to appreciate the value or the force of truth. But this was the policy +of Christian writers from the time of Addison to that of Johnson. The +latter expressly confesses, that it was necessary to maintain the +credit of the belief of the existence and agency of ghosts, and other +supernatural beings, in order to help on the argument for a future +state as founded upon the Bible. + +Dr. Hibbert, in his excellent book on the "Philosophy of Apparitions," +illustrates some remarks similar to those just made, by the following +quotation from Mr. Wesley:— + +"It is true, that the English in general, and indeed most of the men in +Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere +old wives' fables. I am sorry for it; and I willingly take this +opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent +compliment, which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do +not believe it. I owe them no such service. I take knowledge, these are +at the bottom of the outcry which has been raised, and with such +insolence spread throughout the nation, in direct opposition, not only +to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the wisest and best men in all +ages and nations. They well know (whether Christians know it or not), +that the giving up witchcraft is, in effect, giving up the Bible. And +they know, on the other hand, that, if but one account of the +intercourse of men with separate spirits be admitted, their whole +castle in the air (Deism, Atheism, Materialism) falls to the ground. I +know no reason, therefore, why we should suffer even this weapon to be +wrested out of our hands. Indeed, there are numerous arguments besides, +which abundantly confute their vain imaginations. But we need not be +hooted out of one: neither reason nor religion requires this." [ii.519] + +The belief in witchcraft continued to hold a conspicuous place among +popular superstitions during the whole of the last century. Many now +living can remember the time when it prevailed very generally. Each +town or village had its peculiar traditionary tales, which were gravely +related by the old, and deeply impressed upon the young. + +The legend of the "Screeching Woman" of Marblehead is worthy of being +generally known. The story runs thus: A piratical cruiser, having +captured a Spanish vessel during the seventeenth century, brought her +into Marblehead harbor, which was then the site of a few humble +dwellings. The male inhabitants were all absent on their fishing +voyages. The pirates brought their prisoners ashore, carried them at +the dead of the night into a retired glen, and there murdered them. +Among the captives was an English female passenger. The women who +belonged to the place heard her dying outcries, as they rose through +the midnight air, and reverberated far and wide along the silent +shores. She was heard to exclaim, "O mercy, mercy! Lord Jesus Christ, +save me! Lord Jesus Christ, save me!" Her body was buried by the +pirates on the spot. The same piercing voice is believed to be heard at +intervals, more or less often, almost every year, in the stillness of a +calm starlight or clear moonlight night. There is something, it is +said, so wild, mysterious, and evidently superhuman in the sound, as to +strike a chill of dread into the hearts of all who listen to it. The +writer of an article on this subject, in the "Marblehead Register" of +April 3, 1830, declares, that "there are not wanting, at the present +day, persons of unimpeachable veracity and known respectability, who +still continue firmly to believe the tradition, and to assert that they +themselves have been auditors of the sounds described, which they +declare were of such an unearthly nature as to preclude the idea of +imposition or deception." + +When "the silver moon unclouded holds her way," or when the stars are +glistening in the clear, cold sky, and the dark forms of the moored +vessels are at rest upon the sleeping bosom of the harbor; when no +natural sound comes forth from the animate or inanimate creation but +the dull and melancholy rote of the sea along the rocky and winding +coast,—how often is the watcher startled from the reveries of an +excited imagination by the pite[ii.520]ous, dismal, and terrific +screams of the unlaid ghost of the murdered lady! + +A negro died, fifty years ago, in that part of Danvers called +originally Salem Village, at a very advanced age. He was supposed to +have reached his hundredth year. He never could be prevailed upon to +admit that there was any delusion or mistake in the proceedings of +1692. To him, the whole affair was easy of explanation. He believed +that the witchcraft was occasioned by the circumstance of the Devil's +having purloined the church-book, and that it subsided so soon as the +book was recovered from his grasp. Perhaps the particular hypothesis of +the venerable African was peculiar to himself; but those persons must +have a slight acquaintance with the history of opinions in this and +every other country, who are not aware that the superstition on which +it was founded has been extensively entertained by men of every color, +almost, if not quite, up to the present day. If the doctrines of +demonology have been completely overthrown and exterminated in our +villages and cities, it is a very recent achievement; nay, I fear that +in many places the auspicious event remains to take place. + +In the year 1808, the inhabitants of Great Paxton, a village of +Huntingdonshire, in England, within sixty miles of London, rose in a +body, attacked the house of an humble, and, so far as appears, +inoffensive and estimable woman, named Ann Izard, suspected of +bewitching three young females,—Alice Brown, Fanny Amey, and Mary +Fox,—dragged her out of her bed into the fields, pierced her arms and +body with pins, and tore her flesh with their nails, until she was +covered with blood. They committed the same barbarous outrage upon her +again, a short time afterwards; and would have subjected her to the +water ordeal, had she not found means to fly from that part of the +country. + +The writer of the article "Witchcraft," in Rees's "Cyclopædia," gravely +maintains the doctrine of "ocular fascination." + +Prosecutions for witchcraft are stated to have occurred, in the first +half of the present century, in some of the interior districts of our +Southern States. The civilized world is even yet full of necromancers +and thaumaturgists of every kind. The science of "palmistry" is still +practised by many a muttering vagrant; and perhaps some in this +neighborhood remember when, in the days[ii.521] of their youthful +fancy, they held out their hands, that their future fortunes might be +read in the lines of their palms, and their wild and giddy curiosity +and anxious affections be gratified by information respecting +wedding-day or absent lover. + +The most celebrated fortune-teller, perhaps, that ever lived, resided +in an adjoining town. The character of "Moll Pitcher" is familiarly +known in all parts of the commercial world. She died in 1813. Her place +of abode was beneath the projecting and elevated summit of High Rock, +in Lynn, and commanded a view of the wild and indented coast of +Marblehead, of the extended and resounding beaches of Lynn and Chelsea, +of Nahant Rocks, of the vessels and islands of Boston's beautiful bay, +and of its remote southern shore. She derived her mysterious gifts by +inheritance, her grandfather having practised them before in +Marblehead. Sailors, merchants, and adventurers of every kind, visited +her residence, and placed confidence in her predictions. People came +from great distances to learn the fate of missing friends, or recover +the possession of lost goods; while the young of both sexes, impatient +of the tardy pace of time, and burning with curiosity to discern the +secrets of futurity, availed themselves of every opportunity to visit +her lowly dwelling, and hear from her prophetic lips the revelation of +the most tender incidents and important events of their coming lives. +She read the future, and traced what to mere mortal eyes were the +mysteries of the present or the past, in the arrangement and aspect of +the grounds or settlings of a cup of tea or coffee. Her name has +everywhere become the generic title of fortune-tellers, and occupies a +conspicuous place in the legends and ballads of popular superstition. +Her renown has gone abroad to the farthest regions, and her memory will +be perpetuated in the annals of credulity and imposture. An air of +romance is breathed around the scenes where she practised her mystic +art, the interest and charm of which will increase as the lapse of time +removes her history back towards the dimness of the distant past. + +The elements of the witchcraft delusion of 1692 are slumbering still in +the bosom of society. We hear occasionally of haunted houses, cases of +second-sight, and communications from the spiritual world. It always +will be so. The human mind feels instinctively its connection with a +higher sphere. Some will ever be[ii.522] impatient of the restraints of +our present mode of being, and prone to break away from them; eager to +pry into the secrets of the invisible world, willing to venture beyond +the bounds of ascertainable knowledge, and, in the pursuit of truth, to +aspire where the laws of evidence cannot follow them. A love of the +marvellous is inherent to the sense of limitation while in these +terrestrial bodies; and many will always be found not content to wait +until this tabernacle is dissolved and we shall be clothed upon with a +body which is from Heaven. + + +[ii.523] + +decoration + + + +APPENDIX. + + +I. Lawson's Prefatory Address. +II. Lawson's Brief Account. +III. Letter to Jonathan Corwin. +IV. Extracts from Mr. Parris's Church Records. + +decoration + + +[ii.525] +APPENDIX. + + +I. + +PREFATORY ADDRESS. + +[From the edition of Deodat Lawson's Sermon printed in London, 1704.] + + +_To all my Christian Friends and Acquaintance, the Inhabitants of Salem +Village._ + +Christian Friends,—The sermon here presented unto you was delivered in +your audience by that unworthy instrument who did formerly spend some +years among you in the work of the ministry, though attended with +manifold sinful failings and infirmities, for which I do implore the +pardoning mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and entreat from you the +covering of love. As this was prepared for that particular occasion +when it was delivered amongst you, so the publication of it is to be +particularly recommended to your service. + +My heart's desire and continual prayer to God for you all is, that you +may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ; and, accordingly, +that all means he is using with you, by mercies and afflictions, +ordinances and providences, may be sanctified to the building you up in +grace and holiness, and preparing you for the kingdom of glory. We are +told by the apostle (Acts xiv. 22), that through many tribulations we +must enter into the kingdom of God. Now, since (besides your share in +the common calamities, under the burden whereof this poor people are +groaning at this time) the righteous and holy God hath been pleased to +permit a sore and grievous affliction to befall you, such as can hardly +be said to be common to men; viz., by giving liberty to Satan to range +and rage amongst you, to the torturing the bodies and distracting the +minds of some of the visible sheep and lambs of the Lord Jesus Christ. +And (which is yet more astonishing) he who is the accuser of the +brethren endeavors to introduce as criminal some of the visible +subjects of Christ's kingdom, by whose sober and godly conversation in +times[ii.526] past we could draw no other conclusions than that they +were real members of his mystical body, representing them as the +instruments of his malice against their friends and neighbors. + +I thought meet thus to give you the best assistance I could, to help +you out of your distresses. And since the ways of the Lord, in his +permissive as well as effective providence, are unsearchable, and his +doings past finding out, and pious souls are at a loss what will be the +issue of these things, I therefore bow my knees unto the God and Father +of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would cause all grace to abound to +you and in you, that your poor place may be delivered from those +breaking and ruining calamities which are threatened as the pernicious +consequences of Satan's malicious operations; and that you may not be +left to bite and devour one another in your sacred or civil society, in +your relations or families, to the destroying much good and promoting +much evil among you, so as in any kind to weaken the hands or +discourage the heart of your reverend and pious pastor, whose family +also being so much under the influence of these troubles, spiritual +sympathy cannot but stir you up to assist him as at all times, so +especially at such a time as this; he, as well as his neighbors, being +under such awful circumstances. As to this discourse, my humble desire +and endeavor is, that it may appear to be according to the form of +sound words, and in expressions every way intelligible to the meanest +capacities. It pleased God, of his free grace, to give it some +acceptation with those that heard it, and some that heard of it desired +me to transcribe it, and afterwards to give way to the printing of it. +I present it therefore to your acceptance, and commend it to the divine +benediction; and that it may please the Almighty God to manifest his +power in putting an end to your sorrows of this nature, by bruising +Satan under your feet shortly, causing these and all other your and our +troubles to work together for our good now, and salvation in the day of +the Lord, is the unfeigned desire, and shall be the uncessant prayer, +of— + +Less than the least, of all those that serve, + +In the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, + +DEODAT LAWSON. + + +[ii.527] + +II. + +DEODAT LAWSON'S NARRATIVE. + +[Appended to his Sermon, London edition, 1704.] + + +At the request of several worthy ministers and Christian friends, I do +here annex, by way of appendix to the preceding sermon, some brief +account of those amazing things which occasioned that discourse to be +delivered. Let the reader please therefore to take it in the brief +remarks following, and judge as God shall incline him. + +It pleased God, in the year of our Lord 1692, to visit the people at a +place called Salem Village, in New England, with a very sore and +grievous affliction, in which they had reason to believe that the +sovereign and holy God was pleased to permit Satan and his instruments +to affright and afflict those poor mortals in such an astonishing and +unusual manner. + +Now, I having for some time before attended the work of the ministry in +that village, the report of those great afflictions came quickly to my +notice, and the more readily because the first person afflicted was in +the minister's family who succeeded me after I was removed from them. +In pity, therefore, to my Christian friends and former acquaintance +there, I was much concerned about them, frequently consulted with them, +and fervently, by divine assistance, prayed for them; but especially my +concern was augmented when it was reported, at an examination of a +person suspected for witchcraft, that my wife and daughter, who died +three years before, were sent out of the world under the malicious +operations of the infernal powers, as is more fully represented in the +following remarks. I did then desire, and was also desired by some +concerned in the Court, to be there present, that I might hear what was +alleged in that respect; observing, therefore, when I was amongst them, +that the case of the afflicted was very amazing and deplorable, and the +charges brought against the accused such as were ground of suspicions, +yet very intricate, and difficult to draw up right conclusions about +them; I thought good, for the satisfaction of myself and such of my +friends as might be curious to inquire into those mysteries of God's +providence and Satan's malice, to draw up and keep by me a brief +account of the most remarkable things that came to my knowledge in +those affairs, which remarks were afterwards (at my request) revised +and corrected by some who sat judges on the bench in those matters, and +were now transcribed from the same paper on which they were then +written. After this, I being by the providence of God[ii.528] called +over into England in the year 1696, I then brought that paper of +remarks on the witchcraft with me; upon the sight thereof some worthy +ministers and Christian friends here desired me to reprint the sermon, +and subjoin the remarks thereunto in way of appendix; but for some +particular reasons I did then decline it. But now, forasmuch as I +myself had been an eye and ear witness of most of those amazing things, +so far as they came within the notice of human senses, and the requests +of my friends were renewed since I came to dwell in London, I have +given way to the publishing of them, that I may satisfy such as are not +resolved to the contrary, that there may be (and are) such operations +of the powers of darkness on the bodies and minds of mankind by divine +permission, and that those who sat judges on those cases may, by the +serious consideration of the formidable aspect and perplexed +circumstances of that afflictive providence, be in some measure +excused, or at least be less censured, for passing sentence on several +persons as being the instruments of Satan in those diabolical +operations, when they were involved in such a dark and dismal scene of +providence, in which Satan did seem to spin a finer thread of spiritual +wickedness than in the ordinary methods of witchcraft: hence the +judges, desiring to bear due testimony against such diabolical +practices, were inclined to admit the validity of such a sort of +evidence as was not so clearly and directly demonstrable to human +senses as in other cases is required, or else they could not discover +the mysteries of witchcraft. I presume not to impose upon my Christian +or learned reader any opinion of mine how far Satan was an instrument +in God's hand in these amazing afflictions which were on many persons +there about that time; but I am certainly convinced, that the great God +was pleased to lengthen his chain to a very great degree for the +hurting of some and reproaching of others, as far as he was permitted +so to do. Now, that I may not grieve any whose relations were either +accused or afflicted in those times of trouble and distress, I choose +to lay down every particular at large, without mentioning any names or +persons concerned (they being wholly unknown here); resolving to +confine myself to such a proportion of paper as is assigned to these +remarks in this impression of the book, yet, that I may be distinct, +shall speak briefly to the matter under three heads; viz.:— + +1. Relating to the afflicted. +2. Relating to the accused. And, +3. Relating to the confessing witches. + +To begin with the afflicted.— + +1. One or two of the first that were afflicted complaining of unusual +illness, their relations used physic for their cure; but it was +altogether in vain. + +2. They were oftentimes very stupid in their fits, and could neither +hear nor understand, in the apprehension of the standers-by; so that, +when prayer hath been made with some of them in such a manner as might +be audible in a great congregation, yet, when their fit was off, they +declared they did not hear so much as one word thereof.[ii.529] + +3. It was several times observed, that, when they were discoursed with +about God or Christ, or the things of salvation, they were presently +afflicted at a dreadful rate; and hence were oftentimes outrageous, if +they were permitted to be in the congregation in the time of the public +worship. + +4. They sometimes told at a considerable distance, yea, several miles +off, that such and such persons were afflicted, which hath been found +to be done according to the time and manner they related it; and they +said the spectres of the suspected persons told them of it. + +5. They affirmed that they saw the ghosts of several departed persons, +who, at their appearing, did instigate them to discover such as (they +said) were instruments to hasten their deaths, threatening sorely to +afflict them if they did not make it known to the magistrates. They did +affirm at the examination, and again at the trial of an accused person, +that they saw the ghosts of his two wives (to whom he had carried very +ill in their lives, as was proved by several testimonies), and also +that they saw the ghosts of my wife and daughter (who died above three +years before); and they did affirm, that, when the very ghosts looked +on the prisoner at the bar, they looked red, as if the blood would fly +out of their faces with indignation at him. The manner of it was thus: +several afflicted being before the prisoner at the bar, on a sudden +they fixed all their eyes together on a certain place of the floor +before the prisoner, neither moving their eyes nor bodies for some few +minutes, nor answering to any question which was asked them: so soon as +that trance was over, some being removed out of sight and hearing, they +were all, one after another, asked what they saw; and they did all +agree that they saw those ghosts above mentioned. I was present, and +heard and saw the whole of what passed upon that account, during the +trial of that person who was accused to be the instrument of Satan's +malice therein. + +6. In this (worse than Gallick) persecution by the dragoons of hell, +the persons afflicted were harassed at such a dreadful rate to write +their names in a Devil-book presented by a spectre unto them: and one, +in my hearing, said, "I will not, I will not write! It is none of God's +book, it is none of God's book: it is the Devil's book, for aught I +know;" and, when they steadfastly refused to sign, they were told, if +they would but touch, or take hold of, the book, it should do; and, +lastly, the diabolical propositions were so low and easy, that, if they +would but let their clothes, or any thing about them, touch the book, +they should be at ease from their torments, it being their consent that +is aimed at by the Devil in those representations and operations. + +7. One who had been long afflicted at a stupendous rate by two or three +spectres, when they were (to speak after the manner of men) tired out +with tormenting of her to force or fright her to sign a covenant with +the Prince of Darkness, they said to her, as in a diabolical and +accursed passion, "Go your ways, and the Devil go with you; for we will +be no more pestered and plagued about you." And, ever after that, she +was well, and no more afflicted, that ever I heard of.[ii.530] + +8. Sundry pins have been taken out of the wrists and arms of the +afflicted; and one, in time of examination of a suspected person, had a +pin run through both her upper and her lower lip when she was called to +speak, yet no apparent festering followed thereupon, after it was taken +out. + +9. Some of the afflicted, as they were striving in their fits in open +court, have (by invisible means) had their wrists bound fast together +with a real cord, so as it could hardly be taken off without cutting. +Some afflicted have been found with their arms tied, and hanged upon an +hook, from whence others have been forced to take them down, that they +might not expire in that posture. + +10. Some afflicted have been drawn under tables and beds by undiscerned +force, so as they could hardly be pulled out; and one was drawn +half-way over the side of a well, and was, with much difficulty, +recovered back again. + +11. When they were most grievously afflicted, if they were brought to +the accused, and the suspected person's hand but laid upon them, they +were immediately relieved out of their tortures; but, if the accused +did but look on them, they were instantly struck down again. Wherefore +they used to cover the face of the accused, while they laid their hands +on the afflicted, and then it obtained the desired issue: for it hath +been experienced (both in examinations and trials), that, so soon as +the afflicted came in sight of the accused, they were immediately cast +into their fits; yea, though the accused were among the crowd of people +unknown to the sufferers, yet, on the first view, were they struck +down, which was observed in a child of four or five years of age, when +it was apprehended, that so many as she could look upon, either +directly or by turning her head, were immediately struck into their +fits. + +12. An iron spindle of a woollen wheel, being taken very strangely out +of an house at Salem Village, was used by a spectre as an instrument of +torture to a sufferer, not being discernible to the standers-by, until +it was, by the said sufferer, snatched out of the spectre's hand, and +then it did immediately appear to the persons present to be really the +same iron spindle. + +13. Sometimes, in their fits, they have had their tongues drawn out of +their mouths to a fearful length, their heads turned very much over +their shoulders; and while they have been so strained in their fits, +and had their arms and legs, &c., wrested as if they were quite +dislocated, the blood hath gushed plentifully out of their mouths for a +considerable time together, which some, that they might be satisfied +that it was real blood, took upon their finger, and rubbed on their +other hand. I saw several together thus violently strained and bleeding +in their fits, to my very great astonishment that my fellow-mortals +should be so grievously distressed by the invisible powers of darkness. +For certainly all considerate persons who beheld these things must +needs be convinced, that their motions in their fits were preternatural +and involuntary, both as to the manner, which was so strange as a well +person could not (at least without great pain) screw their bodies +into,[ii.531] and as to the violence also, they were preternatural +motions, being much beyond the ordinary force of the same persons when +they were in their right minds; so that, being such grievous sufferers, +it would seem very hard and unjust to censure them of consenting to, or +holding any voluntary converse or familiarity with, the Devil. + +14. Their eyes were, for the most part, fast closed in their +trance-fits, and when they were asked a question they could give no +answer; and I do verily believe, they did not hear at that time; yet +did they discourse with the spectres as with real persons, asserting +things and receiving answers affirmative or negative, as the matter +was. For instance, one, in my hearing, thus argued _with_, and railed +_at_, a spectre: "Goodw—-, begone, begone, begone! Are you not ashamed, +a woman of your profession, to afflict a poor creature so? What hurt +did I ever do you in my life? You have but two years to live, and then +the Devil will torment your soul for this. Your name is blotted out of +God's book, and it shall never be put into God's book again. Begone! +For shame! Are you not afraid of what is coming upon you? I know, I +know what will make you afraid,—the wrath of an angry God: I am sure +that will make you afraid. Begone! Do not torment me. I know what you +would have" (we judged she meant her soul): "but it is out of your +reach; it is clothed with the white robes of Christ's righteousness." +This sufferer I was well acquainted with, and knew her to be a very +sober and pious woman, so far as I could judge; and it appears that she +had not, in that fit, voluntary converse with the Devil, for then she +might have been helped to a better guess about that woman abovesaid, as +to her living but two years, for she lived not many months after that +time. Further, this woman, in the same fit, seemed to dispute with a +spectre about a text of Scripture: the apparition seemed to deny it; +she said she was sure there was such a text, and she would tell it; and +then said she to the apparition, "I am sure you will be gone, for you +cannot stand before that text." Then was she sorely afflicted,—her +mouth drawn on one side, and her body strained violently for about a +minute; and then said, "It is, it is, it is," three or four times, and +then was afflicted to hinder her from telling; at last, she broke +forth, and said, "It is the third chapter of the Revelations." I did +manifest some scruple about reading it, lest Satan should draw any +thereby superstitiously to improve the word of the eternal God; yet +judging I might do it once, for an experiment, I began to read; and, +before I had read through the first verse, she opened her eyes, and was +well. Her husband and the spectators told me she had often been +relieved by reading texts pertinent to her case,—as Isa. 40, 1, ch. 49, +1, ch. 50, 1, and several others. These things I saw and heard from +her. + +15. They were vehemently afflicted, to hinder any persons praying with +them, or holding them in any religious discourse. The woman mentioned +in the former section was told by the spectre I should not go to +prayer; but she said I should, and, after I had done, reasoned with the +apparition, "Did not I say he should go to prayer?" I went also to +visit a person afflicted in[ii.532] Boston; and, after I was gone into +the house to which she belonged, she being abroad, and pretty well, +when she was told I was there, she said, "I am loath to go in; for I +know he will fall into some good discourse, and then I am sure I shall +go into a fit." Accordingly, when she came in, I advised her to improve +all the respite she had to make her peace with God, and sue out her +pardon through Jesus Christ, and beg supplies of faith and every grace +to deliver her from the powers of darkness; and, before I had uttered +all this, she fell into a fearful fit of diabolical torture. + +16. Some of them were asked how it came to pass that they were not +affrighted when they saw the _black-man_: they said they were at first, +but not so much afterwards. + +17. Some of them affirmed they saw the _black-man_ sit on the gallows, +and that he whispered in the ears of some of the condemned persons when +they were just ready to be turned off, even while they were making +their last speech. + +18. They declared several things to be done by witchcraft, which +happened before some of them were born,—as strange deaths of persons, +casting away of ships, &c.; and they said the spectres told them of it. + +19. Some of them have sundry times seen a _white-man_ appearing amongst +the spectres, and, as soon as he appeared, the _black-witches_ +vanished: they said this white-man had often foretold them what respite +they should have from their fits, as sometimes a day or two or more, +which fell out accordingly. One of the afflicted said she saw him, in +her fit, and was with him in a glorious place which had no candle nor +sun, yet was full of light and brightness, where there was a multitude +in white, glittering robes, and they sang the song in Rev. 5, 9; Psal. +110, 149. She was loath to leave that place, and said, "_How long shall +I stay here? Let me be along with you._" She was grieved she could stay +no longer in that place and company. + +20. A young woman that was afflicted at a fearful rate had a spectre +appeared to her with a white sheet wrapped about it, not visible to the +standers-by until this sufferer (violently striving in her fit) +snatched at, took hold, and tore off a corner of that sheet. Her +father, being by her, endeavored to lay hold upon it with her, that she +might retain what she had gotten; but, at the passing-away of the +spectre, he had such a violent twitch of his hand as if it would have +been torn off: immediately thereupon appeared in the sufferer's hand +the corner of a sheet,—a real cloth, _visible_ to the spectators, which +(as it is said) remains still to be seen. + + +REMARKABLE THINGS RELATING TO THE ACCUSED. + +1. A woman, being brought upon public examination, desired to go to +prayer. The magistrates told her they came not there to hear her pray, +but to examine her in what was alleged against her relating to +suspicions of witchcraft. + +2. It was observed, both in times of examination and trial, that +the[ii.533] accused seemed little affected with what the sufferers +underwent, or what was charged against them as being the instruments of +Satan therein, so that the spectators were grieved at their +unconcernedness. + +3. They were sometimes their _own image_, and not always practising +upon poppets made of clouts, wax, or other materials, (according to the +old methods of witchcraft); for _natural_ actions in them seemed to +produce preternatural impressions on the afflicted, as biting their +lips in time of examination and trial caused the sufferers to be bitten +so as they produced the marks before the magistrates and spectators: +the accused pinching their hands together seemed to cause the sufferers +to be _pinched_; those again _stamping_ with their feet, _these_ were +tormented in their legs and feet, so as they _stamped fearfully_. After +all this, if the accused did but lean against the bar at which they +stood, some very sober women of the afflicted complained of their +breasts, as if their bowels were torn out; thus, some have since +confessed, they were wont to afflict such as were the objects of their +malice. + +4. Several were accused of having familiarity with the _black-man_ in +time of examination and trial, and that he whispered in their ears, and +therefore they could not hear the magistrates; and that one woman +accused rid (in her shape and spectre) by the place of judicature, +behind the black man, in the very time when she was upon examination. + +5. When the suspected were standing at the bar, the afflicted have +affirmed that they saw their shapes in other places suckling a yellow +bird; sometimes in one place and posture, and sometimes in another. +They also foretold that the spectre of the prisoner was going to +afflict such or such a sufferer, which presently fell out accordingly. + +6. They were accused by the sufferers to keep days of hellish fasts and +thanksgivings; and, upon one of their fast-days, they told a sufferer +she must not eat, it was fast-day. She said she would: they told her +they would choke her then, which, when she did eat, was endeavored. + +7. They were also accused to hold and administer diabolical sacraments; +viz., a mock-baptism and a Devil-supper, at which cursed imitations of +the sacred institutions of our blessed Lord they used forms of words to +be trembled at in the very rehearsing: concerning baptism I shall speak +elsewhere. At their cursed supper, they were said to have red bread and +red drink; and, when they pressed an afflicted person to eat and drink +thereof, she turned away her head, and spit at it, and said, "I will +not eat, I will not drink: it is blood. That is not the bread of life, +that is not the water of life; and I will have none of yours." Thus +horribly doth Satan endeavor to have his kingdom and administrations to +resemble those of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +8. Some of the most _sober_ afflicted persons, when they were well, did +affirm the spectres of such and such as they did complain of in their +fits did appear to them, and could relate what passed betwixt them and +the apparitions, after their fits were over, and give account after +what manner they were hurt by them. + +9. Several of the accused would neither in time of examination nor +trial[ii.534] confess any thing of what was laid to their charge: some +would not admit of any minister to pray with them, others refused to +pray for themselves. It was said by some of the confessing witches, +that such as have received the Devil-sacrament can never confess: only +one woman condemned, after the death-warrant was signed, freely +confessed, which occasioned her reprieval for some time; and it was +observable this woman had one lock of hair of a very great length, +viz., four foot and seven inches long by measure. This lock was of a +different color from all the rest, which was short and gray. It grew on +the hinder part of her head, and was matted together like an elf-lock. +The Court ordered it to be cut off, to which she was very unwilling, +and said she was told if it were cut off she should die or be sick; yet +the Court ordered it so to be. + +10. A person who had been frequently transported to and fro by the +devils for the space of near two years, was struck dumb for about nine +months of that time; yet he, after that, had his speech restored to +him, and did depose upon oath, that, in the time while he was dumb, he +was many times bodily transported to places where the witches were +gathered together, and that he there saw feasting and dancing; and, +being struck on the back or shoulder, was thereby made fast to the +place, and could only see and hear at a distance. He did take his oath +that he did, with his bodily eyes, see some of the accused at those +witch-meetings several times. I was present in court when he gave his +testimony. He also proved by sundry persons, that, at those times of +transport, he was bodily absent from his abode, and could nowhere be +found, but being met with by some on the road, at a distance from his +home, was suddenly conveyed away from them. + +11. The afflicted persons related that the spectres of several eminent +persons had been brought in amongst the rest; but, as the sufferers +said the Devil could not hurt them in their shapes, but two witches +seemed to take them by each hand, and lead them or force them to come +in. + +12. Whiles a godly man was at prayer with a woman afflicted, the +daughter of that woman (being a sufferer in the like kind) affirmed +that she saw two of the persons accused at prayer to the Devil. + +13. It was proved by substantial evidences against one person accused, +that he had such an unusual strength (though a very little man), that +he could hold out a gun with one hand behind the lock, which was near +seven foot in the barrel, being as much as a lusty man could command +with both hands after the usual manner of shooting. It was also proved, +that he lifted barrels of meat and barrels of molasses out of a canoe +alone, and that putting his fingers into a barrel of molasses (full +within a finger's length according to custom) he carried it several +paces; and that he put his finger into the muzzle of a gun which was +more than five foot in the barrel, and lifted up the butt-end thereof, +lock, stock, and all, without any visible help to raise it. It was also +testified, that, being abroad with his wife and his wife's brother, he +occasionally staid behind, letting his wife and her brother walk +forward; but, suddenly coming up with them, he was angry with his wife +for what[ii.535] discourse had passed betwixt her and her brother: they +wondering how he should know it, he said, "I know your thoughts;" at +which expression, they, being amazed, asked him how he could do that; +he said, "My God, whom I serve, makes known your thoughts to me." + +I was present when these things were testified against him, and +observed that he could not make any plea for himself (in these things) +that had any weight: he had the liberty of challenging his jurors +before empanelling, according to the statute in that case, and used his +liberty in challenging many; yet the jury that were sworn brought him +in guilty. + +14. The magistrates privately examined a child of four or five years of +age, mentioned in the remarks of the afflicted, sect. 11: [p. 530] and +the child told them it had a little snake which used to suck on the +lowest joint of its forefinger; and, when they (inquiring where) +pointed to other places, it told them not _there_ but _here_, pointing +on the lowest joint of the forefinger, where they observed a deep red +spot about the bigness of a flea-bite. They asked it who gave it that +snake, whether the black man gave it: the child said no, its mother +gave it. I heard this child examined by the magistrates. + +15. It was proved by sundry testimonies against some of the accused, +that, upon their malicious imprecations, wishes, or threatenings, many +observable deaths and diseases, with many other odd inconveniences, +have happened to cattle and other estate of such as were so threatened +by them, and some to the persons of men and women. + + +REMARKABLE THINGS CONFESSED BY SOME SUSPECTED OF BEING GUILTY OF +WITCHCRAFT. + +1. It pleased God, for the clearer discovery of those mysteries of the +kingdom of darkness, so to dispose, that several persons, men, women, +and children, did confess their hellish deeds, as followeth:— + +2. They confessed against themselves that they were witches, told how +long they had been so, and how it came about that the Devil appeared to +them; viz., sometimes upon discontent at their mean condition in the +world, sometimes about fine clothes, sometimes for the gratifying other +carnal and sensual lusts. Satan then, upon his appearing to them, made +them fair (though false) promises, that, if they would yield to him, +and sign his book, their desires should be answered to the uttermost, +whereupon they signed it; and thus the accursed confederacy was +confirmed betwixt them and the Prince of Darkness. + +3. Some did affirm that there were some hundreds of the society of +witches, considerable companies of whom were affirmed to muster in arms +by beat of drum. In time of examinations and trials, they declared that +such a man was wont to call them together from all quarters to +witch-meetings with the sound of a diabolical trumpet. + +4. Being brought to see the prisoners at the bar upon their trials, +they did affirm in open court (I was then present), that they had +oftentimes seen[ii.536] them at witch-meetings, where was feasting, +dancing, and jollity, as also at Devil-sacraments; and particularly +that they saw such a man —— amongst the rest of the cursed crew, and +affirmed that he did administer the sacrament of Satan to them, +encouraging them to go on in their way, and they should certainly +prevail. They said also that such a woman —— was a deacon, and served +in distributing the diabolical elements: they affirmed that there were +great numbers of the witches. + +5. They affirmed that many of those wretched souls had been baptized at +Newbury Falls, and at several other rivers and ponds; and, as to the +manner of administration, the great Officer of Hell took them up by the +body, and, putting their heads into the water, said over them, "Thou +art mine, I have full power over thee:" and thereupon they engaged and +covenanted to renounce God, Christ, their sacred baptism, and the whole +way of Gospel salvation, and to use their utmost endeavors to oppose +the kingdom of Christ, and to set up and advance the kingdom of Satan. + +6. Some, after they had confessed, were very penitent, and did wring +their hands, and manifest a distressing sense of what they had done, +and were by the mercies of God recovered out of those snares of the +kingdom of darkness. + +7. Several have confessed against their own mothers, that they were +instruments to bring them into the Devil's covenant, to the undoing of +them, body and soul; and some girls of eight or nine years of age did +declare, that, after they were so betrayed by their mothers to the +power of Satan, they saw the Devil go in their own shapes to afflict +others. + +8. Some of those that confessed were immediately afflicted at a +dreadful rate, after the same manner with the other sufferers. + +9. Some of them confessed, that they did afflict the sufferers +according to the time and manner they were accused thereof; and, being +asked what they did to afflict them, some said that they pricked pins +into poppets made with rags, wax, and other materials: one that +confessed after the signing the death-warrant said she used to afflict +them by clutching and pinching her hands together, and wishing in what +part and after what manner she would have them afflicted, and it was +done. + +10. They confessed the design was laid by this witchcraft to root out +the interest of Christ in New England, and that they began at the +Village in order to settling the kingdom of darkness and the powers +thereof; declaring that such a man —— was to be head conjurer, and for +his activity in that affair was to be crowned king of hell, and that +such a woman —— was to be queen of hell. + +Thus I have given my reader a brief and true account of those fearful +and amazing operations and intrigues of the Prince of Darkness: and I +must call them so; for, let some persons be as incredulous as they +please about the powerful and malicious influence of evil angels upon +the minds and bodies of mankind, _sure I am_ none that observed those +things above mentioned could refer them to any other head than the +sovereign permission of the holy God,[ii.537] and the malicious +operations of his and our implacable enemy. I have here related nothing +more than what was acknowledged to be true by the judges that sat on +the bench, and other credible persons there, which I have without +prejudice or partiality represented. + +I therefore close all with my uncessant prayers, that the great and +everlasting Jehovah would, for the sake of his blessed Son, our most +glorious intercessor, rebuke Satan, and so vanquish him, from time to +time, that his power may be more and more every day suppressed, his +kingdom destroyed; and that all his malicious and accursed instruments +in those spiritual wickednesses may gnash their teeth, melt away, and +be ashamed in their secret places, till they come to be judged and +condemned unto the place of everlasting burnings prepared for the Devil +and his angels, that they may there be tormented with him for ever and +ever. + + +[ii.538] + +III. + +LETTER FROM R.P. TO JONATHAN CORWIN. + +Salisbury, Aug. 9, 1692. + +Honored Sir,—According as in my former to you I hinted that I held +myself obliged to give you some farther account of my rude though +solemn thoughts of that great case now before you, the happy management +whereof do so much conduce to the glory of God, the safety and +tranquillity of the country, besides what I have said in my former and +the enclosed, I further humbly present to consideration the +doubtfulness and unsafety of admitting spectre testimony against the +life of any that are of blameless conversation, and plead innocent, +from the uncertainty of them and the incredulity of them; for as for +diabolical visions, apparitions, or representations, they are more +commonly false and delusive than real, and cannot be known when they +are real and when feigned, but by the Devil's report; and then not to +be believed, because he is the father of lies. + +1. Either the organ of the eye is abused and the senses deluded, so as +to think they do see or hear some thing or person, when indeed they do +not, and this is frequent with common jugglers. + +2. The Devil himself appears in the shape and likeness of a person or +thing, when it is not the person or thing itself; so he did in the +shape of Samuel. + +3. And sometimes persons or things themselves do really appear, but how +it is possible for any one to give a true testimony, which possibly did +see neither shape nor person, but were deluded; and if they did see any +thing, they know not whether it was the person or but his shape. All +that can be rationally or truly said in such a case is this,—that I did +see the shape or likeness of such a person, if my senses or eyesight +were not deluded: and they can honestly say no more, because they know +no more (except the Devil tells them more); and if he do, they can but +say he told them so. But the matter is still incredible: first, because +it is but their saying the Devil told them so; if he did so tell them, +yet the verity of the thing remains still unproved, because the Devil +was a liar and a murtherer (John viii. 44), and may tell these lies to +murder an innocent person. + +But this case seems to be solved by an assertion of some, that affirm +that the Devil do not or cannot appear in the shape of a godly person, +to do hurt: others affirm the contrary, and say that he can and often +have so done, of[ii.539] which they give many instances for proof of +what they say; which if granted, the case remains yet unsolved, and yet +the very hinge upon which that weighty case depends. To which I humbly +say: First, That I do lament that such a point should be so needful to +be determined, which seems not probable, if possible, to be determined +to infallible satisfaction for want of clear Scripture to decide it by, +though very rational to be believed according to rules; as, for +instance, if divers examples are alleged of the shape of persons that +have been seen, of whom there is ample testimony that they lived and +died in the faith, yet, saith the objecter, 'tis possible they may be +hypocrites, therefore the proof not infallible: and as it may admit of +such an objection against the reasons given on the affirmative, much +more may the same objection be made against the negative, for which +they can or do give no reason at all, nor can a negative be proved +(therefore difficult to be determined to satisfy infallibly); but, +seeing it must be discussed, I humbly offer these few words: First, I +humbly conceive that the saints on earth are not more privileged in +that case than the saints in heaven; but the Devil may appear in the +shape of a saint in heaven, namely, in the shape of Samuel (1 Sam. +xxviii. 13, 14); therefore he can or may represent the shape of a saint +that is upon the earth. Besides, there may be innocent persons that are +not saints, and their innocency ought to be their security, as well as +godly men's; and I hear nobody question but the Devil may take their +shape. + +Secondly, It doth not hurt any man or woman to present the shape or +likeness of an innocent person, more than for a limner or carver to +draw his picture, and show it, if he do not in that form do some evil +(nor then neither), if the laws of man do not oblige him to suffer for +what the Devil doth in his shape, the laws of God do not. + +Thirdly, The Devil had power, by God's permission, to take the very +person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the day or time of his humiliation, +and carry him from place to place, and tempted him with temptations of +horrid blasphemy, and yet left him innocent. Why may we not suppose the +like may be done to a good man? And why not much more appear in his +shape (or make folk think it is his shape, when indeed it is not), and +yet the person be innocent, being far enough off, and not knowing of +it, nor would consent if he had known it, his profession and +conversation being otherwise? + +Fourthly, I suppose 'tis granted by all, that the person of one that is +dead cannot appear, because the soul and body are separated, and so the +person is dissolved, and so ceaseth to be: and it is as certain that +the person of the living cannot be in two places at one time, but he +that is at Boston cannot be at Salem or Cambridge at the same time; but +as the malice and envy in the Devil makes it his business to seek whom +he may devour, so no question but he doth infuse the same quality into +those that leave Jesus Christ to embrace him, that they do envy those +that are innocent, and upon that account be as ready to say and swear +that they did see them as the Devil is to present their shape to them. +Add but this also, that, when they are once under his power, he puts +them on headlong (they must needs go whom the Devil drives, +saith[ii.540] the proverb), and the reason is clear,—because they are +taken captive by him, to do his will. And we see, by woful and +undeniable experience, both in the afflicted persons and the +confessors, some of them, that he torments them at his pleasure, to +force them to accuse others. Some are apt to doubt they do but +counterfeit; but, poor souls! I am utterly of another mind, and I +lament them with all my heart; but, take which you please, the case is +the same as to the main issue. For, if they counterfeit, the wickedness +is the greater in them, and the less in the Devil: but if they be +compelled to it by the Devil, against their wills, then the sin is the +Devil's, and the sufferings theirs; but if their testimonies be allowed +of, to make persons guilty by, the lives of innocent persons are alike +in danger by them, which is the solemn consideration that do disquiet +the country. + +Now, that the only wise God may so direct you in all, that he may have +glory, the country peace and safety, and your hands strengthened in +that great work, is the desire and constant prayer of your humble +servant, R.P., who shall no further trouble you at present. + +_Position._—That to put a witch to death is the command of God, and +therefore the indispensable duty of man,—namely, the magistrate (Ex. +xxii. 18); which, granted, resolves two questions that I have heard +made by some:— + +First, Whether there are any such creatures as witches in the world. +Secondly, If there be, whether they can be known to be such by men: +both which must be determined on the affirmative, or else that +commandment were in vain. + +_Position Second._—That it must be witches that are put to death, and +not innocent persons: "Thou shalt not condemn the innocent nor the +righteous" (Ex. xxiii. 7). + +_Query._—Which premised, it brings to this query,—namely, how a witch +may be known to be a witch. + +_Answer._—First, By the mouth of two or three witnesses (Deut xix. 15; +Matt. xviii. 16; Deut. xvii. 6). Secondly, They may be known by their +own confession, being _compos mentis_, and not under horrid temptation +to self-murther (2 Sam. xvi.; Josh. vii. 16). + +_Query Second._—What is it that those two or three witnesses must +swear? Must they swear that such a person is a witch? Will that do the +thing, as is vulgarly supposed? + +_Answer._—I think that is too unsafe to go by, as well as hard to be +done by the advised: First, because it would expose the lives of all +alike to the pleasure or passion of those that are minded to take them +away; secondly, because that, in such a testimony, the witnesses are +not only informers in matter of fact, but sole judges of the +crime,—which is the proper work of the judges, and not of witnesses. + +_Query Third._—What is it that the witnesses must testify in the case, +to prove one to be a witch?[ii.541] + +_Answer._—They must witness the person did put forth some act which, if +true, was an act of witchcraft, or familiarity with the Devil, the +witness attest the fact to be upon his certain knowledge, and the +judges to judge that fact to be such a crime. + +_Query Fourth._—What acts are they which must be proved to be committed +by a person, that shall be counted legal proof of witchcraft, or +familiarity with the Devil? + +_Answer._—This I do profess to be so hard a question, for want of light +from the Word of God and laws of men, that I do not know what to say to +it; and therefore humbly conceive, that, in such a difficulty, it may +be more safe, for the present, to let a guilty person live till further +discovery, than to put an innocent person to death. + +First, Because a guilty person may afterward be discovered, and so put +to death; but an innocent person to be put to death cannot be brought +again to life when once dead. + +Secondly, Because secret things belong to God only, but revealed things +to us and to our children. And though it be so difficult sometimes, yet +witches there are, and may be known by some acts or other put forth by +them, that may render them such; for Scripture examples, I can remember +but few in the Old Testament, besides Balaam (Num. xxii. 6, xxxi. 16). + +First, The sorcerers of Egypt could not tell the interpretation of +Pharaoh's dream, though he told them his dream (Gen. xli. 8): his +successors afterwards had sorcerers, that by enchantments did, first, +turn their rods into serpents (Exod. vii. 11, 12); second, turned water +into blood; thirdly, brought frogs upon the land of Egypt (Exod. viii. +7). + +Thirdly, Nebuchadnezzar's magicians said that they would tell him the +interpretation, if he would tell them his dream (Dan. iv. 7); but the +king did not believe them (ver. 8, 9). + +Fourthly, The Witch of Endor raised the Devil, in the likeness of +Samuel, to tell Saul his fortune; and Saul made use of him accordingly +(1 Sam. xxviii. 8, 11-15); and, as for New Testament, I see very little +of that nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ did cast out many devils, and so +did his disciples, both while he was upon earth and afterward, of which +some were dreadfully circumstanced (Mark ix. 18; Mark v. 2-5); but of +witches, we only read of four mentioned in the apostles' time: first, +Simon Magus (Acts viii. 9, 11); secondly, Elymas the sorcerer (Acts +xiii. 6, 8); thirdly, the seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, that were +vagabond Jews,—exorcists (Acts xix. 13-16); fourthly, the girl which, +by a spirit of divination, brought her master much gain (Acts xvi. 16), +whether it were by telling fortunes or finding out lost things, as our +cunning men do, is not said; but something it was that was done by that +spirit which was in her, which, being cast out, she could not do. Now, +whatever was done by any of these, by the help of the Devil, or by +virtue of familiarity with him, or that the Devil did do by their +consent or instigation, it is that which, the like being now proved to +be done by others, is legal conviction of witchcraft, or familiarity +with the Devil.[ii.542] + +As I remember, Mr. Perkins apprehends witchcraft may be sometimes +committed by virtue of an implicit covenant with the Devil, though +there be not explicit covenant visibly between them; namely, by using +such words and gestures whereby they do intimate to the Devil what they +would have him do, and he doth it. + +3. To tell events contingent, or to bring any thing to pass by +supernatural means, or by no means. + +I have heard of some that make a circle, and mumble over some uncouth +words; and some that have been spiteful and suspicious persons, that +have sent for a handful of thatch from the house or barn of him that +they have owed a spite to, and the house have been burnt as they had +burnt the thatch that they fetched. + +When Captain Smith was cast away in the ship built by Mr. Stevens at +Gloucester, many years ago, it was said that the woman that was accused +for doing it did put a dish in a pail of water, and sent her girl +several times to see the motion of the dish, till at last it was turned +over, and then the woman said, "Now Smith is gone," _or_ "is cast +away." + +A neighbor of mine, who was a Hampshire man, told me that a suspected +woman desired something of some of the family, which being denied, she +either muttered or threatened, and some evil suddenly followed, and +they put her into a cart to carry her to Winchester; and, when they had +gone a little way, the team could not move the cart, though in plain +ground. The master commanded to carry a knitch of straw, and burn her +in the cart; which to avoid, she said they should go along, and they +did. This they did several times before they came to Winchester, of +which passages the men that went with her gave their oaths, and she was +executed. + +Some have been transformed into dogs, cats, hares, hogs, and other +creatures; and in those shapes have sometimes received wounds which +have made them undeniably guilty, and so confessed. Sometimes having +their imps sucking them, or infallible tokens that they are sucked, in +the search of which great caution to be given, because of some +superfluities of nature, and diseases that people are incident unto, as +the piles, &c., of which the judges are, upon the testimony of the +witnesses, to determine what of crime is proved by any of these +circumstances, with many other, in which God is pleased many times, by +some overt acts, to bring to light that secret wickedness to apparent +conviction, sometimes by their own necessitated confession, whereby +those that he hath commanded to be put to death may be known to be +such, which, when known, then it is a duty to put them to death, and +not before, though they were as guilty before as then. + +There are two queries more with respect to what is proper to us in this +juncture of time, of which we have no account of the like being common +at other times, or in other places; namely, these,— + +_Query Fifth._—The fifth query is, what we are to think of those +persons at Salem, or the Village, before whom people are brought for +detection, or otherwise to be concerned with them, in order to their +being apprehended or acquitted.[ii.543] + +_Answer_.—That I am, of all men, the least able to give any conjecture +about it, because I do not know it, having myself never seen it, nor +know nothing of it but by report, in which there must be supposed a +possibility of some mistake, in part or in whole; but that which I have +here heard is this: First, That they do tell who are witches, of which +some they know, and some they do not. Secondly, They tell who did +torment such and such a person, though they know not the person. +Thirdly, They are tormented themselves by the looks of persons that are +present, and recovered again by the touching of them. Fourthly, That, +if they look to them, they fall down tormented; but, if the persons +accused look from them, they recover, or do not fall into that torment. +Fifthly, They can tell when a person is coming before they see them, +and what clothes they have, and some what they have done for several +years past, which nobody else ever accused them with, nor do not yet +think them guilty of. Sixthly, That the dead out of their graves do +appear unto them, and tell them that they have been murdered, and +require them to see them to be revenged on the murtherers, which they +name to them; some of which persons are well known to die their natural +deaths, and publicly buried in the sight of all men. Now, if these +things be so, I thus affirm,— + +First, That whatsoever is done by them that is supernatural, is either +divine or diabolical. + +Secondly, That nothing is, or can be, divine, but what have God's stamp +upon it, to which he refers for trial (Isa. viii. 19, 20): "If they +speak not according to these, there is no light in them." + +Thirdly, And by that rule none of these actions of theirs have any +warrant in God's word, but condemned wholly. + +First, It is utterly unlawful to inquire of the dead, or to be informed +by them (Isa. viii. 19). It was an act of the Witch of Endor to raise +the dead, and of a reprobate Saul to inquire of him (1 Sam. xxviii. 8, +11-14; Deut. xviii. 11). + +Secondly, It is a like evil to seek to them that have familiar spirits +(Lev. xix. 31). It was the sin of Saul in the forementioned place (1 +Sam. xxviii. 8); and of wicked Manasses (2 Kings, xxi. 6). + +Thirdly, No more is it likely that their racking and tormenting should +be done by God or good angels, but by the Devil, whose manner have ever +been to be so employed. Witness his dealing with the poor child (Mark +ix. 17, 19, 20-22); and with the man that was possessed by him (Mark v. +2-5); besides what he did to Job (Job ii. 7); and all the lies that he +told against him to the very face of God. + +Fourthly, The same may be rationally said of all the rest. Who should +tell them things that they do not see, but the Devil; especially when +some things that they tell are false and mistaken? + +_Query Sixth_.—These things premised, it now comes to the last and +greatest question or query; namely, How shall it be known when the +Devil do any of these acts of his own proper motion, without human +concurrence,[ii.544] consent, or instigation, and when he doth it by +the suggestion or consent of any person? This question, well resolved, +would do our business. + +First, That the Devil can do acts supernatural without the furtherance +of him by human consent or concurrence; but men or women cannot do them +without the help of the Devil (must be granted). That granted, it +follows, that the Devil is always the doer, but whether abetted in it +by anybody is uncertain. + +Secondly, Will it be sufficient for the Devil himself to say such a man +or woman set him a work to torment such a person by looking upon him? +Is the Devil a competent witness in such a case? + +Thirdly, Or are those that are tormented by him legal witnesses to say +that the Devil doth it by the procurement of such a person, whenas they +know nothing about it but what comes to them from the Devil (that +torments them)? + +Fourthly, May we believe the witches that do accuse any one because +they say so (can the fruit be better than the tree)? If the root of all +their knowledge be the Devil, what must their testimony be? + +Fifthly, Their testimony may be legal against themselves, because they +know what themselves do, but cannot know what another doth but by +information from the Devil: I mean in such cases when the person +accused do deny it, and his conversation is blameless (Prov. xviii. 5; +Prov. xix. 5). + +First, It is directly contrary to the use of reason, the law of nature, +and principles of humanity, to deny it, and plead innocent, when +accused of witchcraft, and yet, at the same time, to be acting +witchcraft in the sight of all men, when they know their lives lie at +stake by doing it. Self-interest teaches every one better. + +Secondly, It is contrary to the Devil's nature, or common practice, to +accuse witches. They are a considerable part of his kingdom, which +would fall, if divided against itself (Matt. xii. 26); except we think +he that spake the words understood not what he said (which were +blasphemy to think); or that those common principles or maxims are now +changed; or that the Devil have changed his nature, and is now become a +reformer to purge out witches out of the world, out of the country, and +out of the churches; and is to be believed, though a liar and a +murtherer from the beginning, and also though his business is going +about continually, seeking whom he may destroy (1 Pet. v. 8); and his +peculiar subject of his accusation are the brethren: called the accuser +of the brethren. + +_Objection._—God do sometimes bring things to light by his providence +in a way extraordinary. + +_Answer._—It is granted God have so done, and brought hidden things to +light, which, upon examination, have been proved or confessed, and so +the way is clear for their execution; but what is that to this case, +where the Devil is accuser and witness? + + +[ii.545] + +IV. + +EXTRACTS FROM MR. PARRIS'S CHURCH RECORDS. + +[The following passages are taken from the records of the Salem Village +Church, as specimens of Mr. Parris's style of narrative in that +interesting document, and as shedding some light upon the subject of +these volumes:—] + + +Sab: 4 Nov. [1694].—After sermon in the afternoon, it was propounded to +the brethren, whether the church ought not to inquire again of our +dissenting brethren after the reason of their dissent. Nothing +appearing from any against it, it was put to vote, and carried in the +affirmative (by all, as far as I know, except one brother, Josh: Rea), +that Brother Jno. Tarbell should, the next Lord's Day, appear and give +in his reasons in public; the contrary being propounded, if any had +aught to object against it. But no dissent was manifested; and so +Brother Nathaniel Putnam and Deacon Ingersoll were desired to give this +message from the church to the said Brother Tarbell. + +Sab: 11 Nov.—Before the evening blessing was pronounced, Brother +Tarbell was openly called again and again; but, he not appearing, +application was made to the abovesaid church's messengers for his +answer: whereupon said Brother Putnam reported that the said Brother +Tarbell told him he did not know how to come to us on a Lord's Day, but +desired rather that he might make his appearance some week-day. +Whereupon the congregation was dismissed with the blessing: and the +church stayed, and, by a full vote, renewed their call of said Brother +Tarbell to appear the next Lord's Day for the ends abovesaid; and +Deacon Putnam and Brother Jonathan Putnam were desired to be its +messengers to the said dissenting brother. + +Sab: 18 Nov.—The said brother came in the afternoon; and, after sermon, +he was asked the reasons for his withdrawing: whereupon he produced a +paper, which he was urged to deliver to the pastor to communicate to +the church; but he refused it, asking who was the church's mouth. To +which, when he was answered, "The pastor," he replied, Not in this +case, because his offence was with him. The pastor demanded whether he +had offence against any of the church besides the pastor. He answered, +"No." So at length we suffered a non-member, Mr. Jos: Hutchinson, to +read it. After[ii.546] which the pastor read openly before the whole +congregation his overtures for peace and reconciliation. After which +said Tarbell, seemingly (at least) much affected, said, that, if half +so much had been said formerly, it had never come to this. But he added +that others also were dissatisfied besides himself: and therefore he +desired opportunity that they might come also, which was immediately +granted; viz., the 26 instant, at two o'clock. + +26 Nov.—At the public meeting above appointed at the meeting-house, +after the pastor had first sought the grace of God with us in prayer, +he then summed up to the church and congregation (among which were +several strangers) the occasion of our present assembling, as is hinted +the last meeting. Then seeing, together with Brother Tarbell, two more +of our dissenting brethren, viz., Sam: Nurse, and Thomas Wilkins (who +had, to suit their designs, placed themselves in a seat conveniently +together), the church immediately, to save further sending for them, +voted that said Brother Wilkins and Brother Nurse should now, together +with Brother Tarbell, give in their reasons of withdrawing from the +church. Then the pastor applied himself to all these three dissenters, +pressing the church's desire upon them. So they produced a paper, which +they much opposed the coming into the pastor's hands, and his reading +of it; but at length they yielded to it. Whilst the paper was reading, +Brother Nurse looked upon another (which he said was the original): +and, after it was read throughout, he said it was the same with what he +had. Their paper was as followeth:— + +"The reasons why we withdraw from communion with the church of Salem +Village, both as to hearing the word preached, and from partaking with +them at the Lord's Table, are as followeth:— + +"1. Why we attend not on public prayer and preaching the word, these +are, (1.) The distracting and disturbing tumults and noises made by the +persons under diabolical power and delusions, preventing sometimes our +hearing and understanding and profiting of the word preached; we +having, after many trials and experiences, found no redress in this +case, accounted ourselves under a necessity to go where we might hear +the word in quiet. (2.) The apprehensions of danger of ourselves being +accused as the Devil's instruments to molest and afflict the persons +complaining, we seeing those whom we had reason to esteem better than +ourselves thus accused, blemished, and of their lives bereaved, +foreseeing this evil, thought it our prudence to withdraw. (3.) We +found so frequent and positive preaching up some principles and +practices by Mr. Parris, referring to the dark and dismal mysteries of +iniquity working amongst us, as was not profitable, but offensive. (4.) +Neither could we, in conscience, join with Mr. Parris in many of the +requests which he made in prayer, referring to the trouble then among +us and upon us; therefore thought it our most safe and peaceable way to +withdraw. + +"2. The reasons why we hold not communion with them at the +Lord's[ii.547] Table are, first, we esteem ourselves justly aggrieved +and offended with the officer who doth administer, for the reasons +following: (1.) From his declared and published principles, referring +to our molestation from the invisible world, differing from the opinion +of the generality of the Orthodox ministers of the whole country. (2.) +His easy and strong faith and belief of the affirmations and +accusations made by those they call the afflicted. (3.) His laying +aside that grace which, above all, we are required to put on; namely, +charity toward his neighbors, and especially towards those of his +church, when there is no apparent reason for the contrary. (4.) His +approving and practising unwarrantable and ungrounded methods for +discovering what he was desirous to know referring to the bewitched or +possessed persons, as in bringing some to others, and by and from them +pretending to inform himself and others who were the Devil's +instruments to afflict the sick and pained. (5.) His unsafe and +unaccountable oath, given by him against sundry of the accused. (6.) +His not rendering to the world so fair, if true, an account of what he +wrote on examination of the afflicted. (7.) Sundry unsafe, if sound, +points of doctrine delivered in his preaching, which we esteem not +warrantable, if Christian. (8.) His persisting in these principles, and +justifying his practices, not rendering any satisfaction to us when +regularly desired, but rather further offending and dissatisfying +ourselves. + +"John Tarbell. +Tho: Wilkins. +Sam: Nurse." + +When the pastor had read these charges, he asked the dissenters above +mentioned whether they were offended with none in the church besides +himself. They replied, that they articled against none else. Then the +officer asked them if they withdrew from communion upon account of none +in the church besides himself. They answered, that they withdrew only +upon my account. Then I read them my "Meditations for Peace," mentioned +18 instant; viz.:— + +"Forasmuch as it is the undoubted duty of all Christians to pursue +peace (Ps. xxxiv. 14), even unto a reaching of it, if it be possible +(Rom. xii. 18, 19); and whereas, through the righteous, sovereign, and +awful Providence of God, the Grand Enemy to all Christian peace has, of +late, been most tremendously let loose in divers places hereabouts, and +more especially amongst our sinful selves, not only to interrupt that +partial peace which we did sometimes enjoy, but also, through his wiles +and temptations and our weaknesses and corruptions, to make wider +breaches, and raise more bitter animosities between too many of us, in +which dark and difficult dispensation we have been all, or most of us, +of one mind for a time, and afterwards of differing apprehensions, and, +at last, are but in the dark,—upon serious thoughts of all, and after +many prayers, I have been moved to present to you (my beloved flock) +the following particulars, in way of contribution[ii.548] towards a +regaining of Christian concord (if so be we are not altogether +unappeasable, irreconcilable, and so destitute of the good spirit which +is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, James +iii. 17); viz., (1.) In that the Lord ordered the late horrid calamity +(which afterwards, plague-like, spread in many other places) to break +out first in my family, I cannot but look upon as a very sore rebuke, +and humbling providence, both to myself and mine, and desire so we may +improve it. (2.) In that also in my family were some of both parties, +viz., accusers and accused, I look also upon as an aggravation of the +rebuke, as an addition of wormwood to the gall. (3.) In that means were +used in my family (though totally unknown to me or mine, except +servants, till afterwards) to raise spirits and create apparitions in +no better than a diabolical way, I do look upon as a further rebuke of +Divine Providence. And by all, I do humbly own this day, before the +Lord and his people, that God has been righteously spitting in my face +(Num. xii. 14). And I desire to lie low under all this reproach, and to +lay my hand upon my mouth. (4.) As to the management of those +mysteries, as far as concerns myself, I am very desirous (upon farther +light) to own any errors I have therein fallen into, and can come to a +discerning of. In the mean while, I do acknowledge, upon +after-considerations, that, were the same troubles again, (which the +Lord, of his rich mercy, for ever prevent), I should not agree with my +former apprehensions in all points; as, for instance, (1.) I question +not but God sometimes suffers the Devil (as of late) to afflict in the +shape of not only innocent but pious persons, or so delude the senses +of the afflicted that they strongly conceit their hurt is from such +persons, when, indeed, it is not. (2.) The improving of one afflicted +to inquire by, who afflicts the others, I fear may be, and has been, +unlawfully used, to Satan's great advantage. (3.) As to my writing, it +was put upon me by authority; and therein I have been very careful to +avoid the wronging of any (_a_). (4). As to my oath, I never meant it, +nor do I know how it can be otherwise construed, than as vulgarly and +every one understood; yea, and upon inquiry, it may be found so worded +also. (5.) As to any passage in preaching or prayer, in that sore hour +of distress and darkness, I always intended but due justice on each +hand, and that not according to man, but God (who knows all things most +perfectly), however, through weakness or sore exercise, I might +sometimes, yea, and possibly sundry times, unadvisedly expressed +myself. (6.) As to several that have confessed against themselves, they +being wholly strangers to me, but yet of good account with better men +than myself, to whom also they are well known, I do not pass so much as +a secret condemnation upon them; but rather, seeing God has so +amazingly lengthened out Satan's chain in this most formidable outrage, +I much more incline to side with the opinion of those that have grounds +to hope better of them. (7.) As to all that have unduly suffered in +these matters (either in their persons or relations), through the +clouds of human weakness, and Satan's wiles and sophistry, I do truly +sympathize with them; taking it for granted that such as drew +themselves clear of this great trans[ii.549]gression, or that have +sufficient grounds so to look upon their dear friends, have hereby been +under those sore trials and temptations, that not an ordinary measure +of true grace would be sufficient to prevent a bewraying of remaining +corruption. (8.) I am very much in the mind, and abundantly persuaded, +that God (for holy ends, though for what in particular is best known to +himself) has suffered the evil angels to delude us on both hands, but +how far on the one side or the other is much above me to say. And, if +we cannot reconcile till we come to a full discerning of these things, +I fear we shall never come to agreement, or, at soonest, not in this +world. Therefore (9), in fine, The matter being so dark and perplexed +as that there is no present appearance that all God's servants should +be altogether of one mind, in all circumstances touching the same, I do +most heartily, fervently, and humbly beseech pardon of the merciful +God, through the blood of Christ, of all my mistakes and trespasses in +so weighty a matter; and also all your forgiveness of every offence in +this and other affairs, wherein you see or conceive I have erred and +offended; professing, in the presence of the Almighty God, that what I +have done has been, as for substance, as I apprehended was +duty,—however through weakness, ignorance, &c., I may have been +mistaken; I also, through grace, promising each of you the like of me. +And so again, I beg, entreat, and beseech you, that Satan, the devil, +the roaring lion, the old dragon, the enemy of all righteousness, may +no longer be served by us, by our envy and strifes, where every evil +work prevails whilst these bear sway (Isa. iii. 14-16); but that all, +from this day forward, may be covered with the mantle of love, and we +may on all hands forgive each other heartily, sincerely, and +thoroughly, as we do hope and pray that God, for Christ's sake, would +forgive each of ourselves (Matt. xviii. 21 _ad finem_; Col. iii. 12, +13). Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels +of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, +forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a +quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye (Eph. +iv. 31, 32). Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and +evil-speaking be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one +to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for +Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Amen, amen. + +Sam: Parris. + +"26 Nov., 1694." + +[In the record, off against (a) as above, the following is in Mr. +Parris's writing:] + +(_a_) Added, by the desire of the council, this following paragraph; +viz., Nevertheless, I fear, that, in and through the throng of the many +things written by me, in the late confusions, there has not been a due +exactness always used; and, as I now see the inconveniency of my +writing so much on those difficult occasions, so I would lament every +error of such writings.—Apr. 3, 1695. Idem. S.P. + +[The above passage (_a_) is inserted in a marginal space left for it on +a page containing the record of a meeting, Nov. 26, 1694, while it is +dated April 3, 1695, and[ii.550] purports to be added "by the desire of +the council," which met at the last-named date. There are other +indications, that the record of Mr. Parris's controversy with the +dissatisfied brethren, consequent upon the proceedings in 1692, was +made originally on separate sheets of paper, and then compiled, and +inscribed in the church-book, as it there appears. There are several +other entries, which refer to dates ahead. He probably made out his +record near the close of the struggle which resulted in his dismission, +and left it, on the pages of the book, as his history of the case. +After giving his "Meditations for Peace," the record goes on:—] + +After I had read these overtures abovesaid, I desired the brethren to +declare themselves whether they remained still dissatisfied. Brother +Tarbell answered, that they desired to consider of it, and to have a +copy of what I had read. I replied, that then they must subscribe their +reasons (above mentioned), for as yet they were anonymous: so at +length, with no little difficulty, I purchased the subscription of +their charges by my abovesaid overtures, which I gave, subscribed with +my name, to them, to consider of; and so this meeting broke up. Note +that, during this agitation with our dissenting brethren, they +entertained frequent whisperings with comers and goers to them and from +them; particularly Dan: Andrews, and Tho: Preston from Mr. Israel +Porter, and Jos: Hutchinson, &c. + +Nov. 30, 1694.—Brother Nurse and Brother Tarbell (bringing with them +Joseph Putnam and Tho: Preston) towards night came to my house, where +they found the two deacons and several other brethren; viz., Tho: +Putnam, Jno. Putnam, Jr., Benj. Wilkins, and Ezek: Cheever, besides +Lieutenant Jno. Walcot. And Brother Tarbell said they came to answer my +paper, which they had now considered of, and their answer was this; +viz., that they remained dissatisfied, and desired that the church +would call a council, according to the advice we had lately from +ministers. + +[An account has been given, p. 493, of the attempts of the +"dissatisfied brethren" to procure a mutual council to decide the +controversy between them and Mr. Parris. On the 14th of June, 1694, a +letter was addressed to him, advising him to agree to the call of such +a council, signed by John Higginson, of the First Church in Salem; +James Allen, of the First Church in Boston; John Hale, of the church in +Beverly; Samuel Willard, of the Old South Church in Boston; Samuel +Cheever, of the church in Marblehead; and Joseph Gerrish, of the church +in Wenham. Nicholas Noyes joined in the advice, "with this proviso, +that he be not chosen one of the council." Mr. Parris contrived to +avoid following the advice. On the 10th of September, Messrs. +Higginson, Allen, Willard, Cheever, and Gerrish again, in earnest and +quite peremptory terms, renewed their advice in another letter to Mr. +Parris. No longer venturing to resist their authority, he yielded, and +consented to a mutual council, upon certain terms, one of which was, +that neither of the churches whose ministers had thus forced him to the +measure should be of the council. The following passages give the +conclusion of the matter, as related by Mr. Parris in his +record-book:—] + +Feb. 12 [1695].—The church met again, as last agreed upon; and, after a +while, our dissenting brethren, Tho: Wilkins, Sam: Nurse, and Jno. +Tarbell, came also. After our constant way of begging the presence of +God with us,[ii.551] we desired our dissenting brethren to acquaint us +whether they would accept of our last proposals, which they desired to +this day to consider of. They answered, that they were willing to drop +the six churches from whose elders we had had the advice abovesaid, +dated 14 June last; but they were not free to exclude Ipswich. This +they stuck unto long, and then desired that they might withdraw a +little to confer among themselves about it, which was granted. But they +quickly returned, as resolved for Ipswich as before. We desired them to +nominate the three churches they would have sent to: and, after much +debate, they did; viz., Rowley, Salisbury, and Ipswich. Whereupon we +voted, by a full consent, Rowley and Salisbury churches for a part of +the council, and desired them to nominate a third church. But still +they insisted on Ipswich, which we told them they were openly informed, +the last meeting, that we had excepted against. Then they were told +that we would immediately choose three other churches to join with the +two before nominated and voted, if they saw not good to nominate any +more; or else we would choose two other churches to join with the +aforesaid two, if they pleased. They answered, they would be willing to +that, if Ipswich might be one of them. Then it was asked them, if a +dismission to some other Orthodox church, where they might better +please themselves, would content them. Brother Tarbell answered, "Ay, +if we could find a way to remove our livings too." Then it was +propounded, whether we could not unite amongst ourselves. The +particular answer hereunto I remember not; but (I think) such hints +were given by them as if it were impossible. Thus much time being gone, +it being well towards sunset, and we concluding that it was necessary +that we should do something ourselves, if they would not (as the elders +had heretofore desired) accept of our joining with them, we dismissed +them; and, by a general agreement amongst ourselves, read and voted +letters to the churches at North Boston, Weymouth, Maiden, and Rowley, +for their help in a council. + +[Mr. Parris's plan of finding refuge in an _ex-parte_ council was +utterly frustrated. On the 1st of March, the "reverend elders in the +Bay accounted it advisable," as he expresses it in his records, that +the First Church and the Old South Church in Boston should be added to +the council. They wrote to him to that effect, and he had to comply. +This brought James Allen and Samuel Willard into the council, and +determined the character of the result, which, coming from a tribunal +called by him to adjudicate the case, and hearing only such evidence as +he laid before it, so far as it bore against him, was decisive and +fatal. It was as follows:—] + +The elders and messengers of the churches—met in council at Salem +Village, April 3, 1695, to consider and determine what is to be done +for the composure of the present unhappy differences in that +place,—after solemn invocation of God in Christ for his direction, do +unanimously declare and advise as followeth:— + +I. We judge that, albeit in the late and the dark time of the +confusions, wherein Satan had obtained a more than ordinary liberty to +be sifting of this plantation, there were sundry unwarrantable and +uncomfortable steps taken[ii.552] by Mr. Samuel Parris, the pastor of +the church in Salem Village, then under the hurrying distractions of +amazing afflictions; yet the said Mr. Parris, by the good hand of God +brought unto a better sense of things, hath so fully expressed it, that +a Christian charity may and should receive satisfaction therewith. + +II. Inasmuch as divers Christian brethren in the church of Salem +Village have been offended at Mr. Parris for his conduct in the time of +the difficulties and calamities which have distressed them, we now +advise them charitably to accept the satisfaction which he hath +tendered in his Christian acknowledgments of the errors therein +committed; yea, to endeavor, as far as 'tis possible, the fullest +reconciliation of their minds unto communion with him, in the whole +exercise of his ministry, and with the rest of the church (Matt. vi. +12-14; Luke xvii. 3; James v. 16). + +III. Considering the extreme trials and troubles which the dissatisfied +brethren in the church of Salem Village have undergone in the day of +sore temptation which hath been upon them, we cannot but advise the +church to treat them with bowels of much compassion, instead of all +more critical or rigorous proceedings against them, for the infirmities +discovered by them in such an heart-breaking day. And if, after a +patient waiting for it, the said brethren cannot so far overcome the +uneasiness of their spirits, in the remembrance of the disasters that +have happened, as to sit under his ministry, we advise the church, with +all tenderness, to grant them a dismission unto any other society of +the faithful whereunto they may desire to be dismissed (Gal. vi. 1, 2; +Ps. ciii. 13, 14; Job xix. 21). + +IV. Mr. Parris having, as we understand, with much fidelity and +integrity acquitted himself in the main course of his ministry since he +hath been pastor to the church in Salem Village, about his first call +whereunto, we look upon all contestations now to be both unreasonable +and unseasonable; and our Lord having made him a blessing unto the +souls of not a few, both old and young, in this place, we advise that +he be accordingly respected, honored, and supported, with all the +regards that are due to a painful minister of the gospel (1 Thess. v. +12, 13; 1 Tim. v. 17). + +V. Having observed that there is in Salem Village a spirit full of +contentions and animosities, too sadly verifying the blemish which hath +heretofore lain upon them, and that some complaints brought against Mr. +Parris have been either causeless and groundless, or unduly aggravated, +we do, in the name and fear of the Lord, solemnly warn them to +consider, whether, if they continue to devour one another, it will not +be bitterness in the latter end; and beware lest the Lord be provoked +thereby utterly to deprive them of those which they should account +their precious and pleasant things, and abandon them to all the +desolations of a people that sin away the mercies of the gospel (James +iii. 16; Gal. v. 15; 2 Sam. ii. 26; Isa. v. 4, 5, 6; Matt. xxi. 43). + +VI. If the distempers in Salem Village should be (which God forbid!) so +incurable, that Mr. Parris, after all, find that he cannot, with any +comfort[ii.553] and service, continue in his present station, his +removal from thence will not expose him unto any hard character with +us, nor, we hope, with the rest of the people of God among whom we live +(Matt. x. 14; Acts xxii. 18). + +All which advice we follow with our prayers that the God of peace would +bruise Satan under our feet. Now, the Lord of peace himself give you +peace always by all means. + +Increase Mather, _Moderator_. + +*Joseph Bridgham. *Ephraim Hunt. *Samuel Checkley. *Nathll. +Williams. *William Torrey. Samuel Phillips. *Joseph Boynton. +James Allen. *Richard Middlecot. Samuel Torrey. *John +Walley. Samuel Willard. *Jer: Dummer. Edward Payson. *Nehemiah +Jewet. Cotton Mather. + +[The names of the lay members of the Council are marked thus, *. They +were persons of high standing in civil life. Samuel Checkley was not +(as stated [Supplement, p. 494], through an inadvertence, of which, I +trust, not many such instances can be found in these volumes) the Rev. +Mr. Checkley, but his father, Col. Samuel Checkley, a citizen of +Boston, of much prominence at the time. + +The foregoing document is skilfully drawn. While kindly in its tone +towards Mr. Parris, it is, in reality, a strong condemnation of his +course, especially in Article I., as also in the paragraph marked +(_a_), (p. 549), "added by the desire of the Council" to his +"Meditations for Peace." Article III. discountenances the proceedings +of his church in its censure of "the dissatisfied brethren," and +requires that they should be recognized and treated as members in good +standing. The fifth article administers rebuke with an equal hand to +both sides, while the sixth and last recommends the removal of Mr. +Parris, if the alienation of his opponents should prove "incurable." + +As an authoritative condemnation of the proceedings related in this +work, pronounced at the time, it is a fitting final close of the +presentation of this subject.] + + +THE END. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[A] The double negative, as often used, merely intensified the +negation. See "Measure for Measure," act i. scene 1. + +[B] In the innumerable depositions written by Thomas Putnam, he is not +so careful to be correct, in his chirography and construction, as in +his parish-records. But, if the reader is inclined to make the +experiment, he will find, that, if the above document should be +properly pointed and spelled, according to our fashion at the present +day, it would read well, and is clearly and forcibly put together. +Spelling, at that time, was phonetic, and it enables us to ascertain +the then prevalent pronunciation of words. "Corsely," no doubt, shows +how the word was then spoken. "Angury" was, with a large class of words +now dissyllables, then a trisyllable. "Tould," "spaking," and many +other words above, are spelled just as they were then pronounced. +"Wicthcraft" is always, I believe, spelled this way by Thomas Putnam. +He had not got rid of the old Anglo-Saxon sound of the word "witch," +brought by his father from Buckinghamshire, sixty years +before,—"wicca." +The condition of medical science and practice, at that period, is +curiously illustrated in this paper. It is plain that the distemper of +James Carr was purely in the realm of the sensibilities and fancy; and +"doctor Crosbe" is not wholly to blame because his "visek" did not +"work." A good smart nightmare, with a feeling that he had given a +thorough basting to the spectre, in the form of a cat, of the supposed +author of his woful and aggravated disappointment in love, was what he +needed; and it cured him. "A posset of sack" was Falstaff's refuge, +from the plight into which he had been led by "building upon a foolish +woman's promise," when he emerged from the Thames and the +"buck-basket." Many others, no doubt, in drowning sorrow and +mortification, have found it "the sovereignest thing on earth." But, as +administered by physicians of the Dr. Crosby school, with tobacco +steeped in it, it must have been a "villanous compound." + +[C] A few days before her trial, Rebecca Nurse was subjected to this +inspection and exploration; and the jury of women found the witch-mark +upon her. On the 28th of June, two days before the meeting of the +Court, she addressed to that body the following communication:— +"_To the Honored Court of Oyer and Terminer, now sitting in Salem, this +28th of June, Anno 1692._ +"The humble petition of Rebecca Nurse, of Salem Village, humbly +showeth: That whereas some women did search your petitioner at Salem, +as I did then conceive for some supernatural mark; and then one of the +said women, which is known to be the most ancient, skilful, prudent +person of them all as to any such concern, did express herself to be of +a contrary opinion from the rest, and did then declare that she saw +nothing in or about Your Honor's poor petitioner but what might arise +from a natural cause,—I there rendered the said persons a sufficient +known reason as to myself of the moving cause thereof, which was by +exceeding weaknesses, descending partly from an overture of nature, and +difficult exigencies that hath befallen me in the times of my travails. +And therefore your petitioner humbly prays that Your Honors would be +pleased to admit of some other women to inquire into this great +concern, those that are most grave, wise, and skilful; namely, Mrs. +Higginson, Sr., Mrs. Buxton, Mrs. Woodbury,—two of them being midwives, +Mrs. Porter, together with such others as may be chosen on that +account, before I am brought to my trial. All which I hope your honors +will take into your prudent consideration, and find it requisite so to +do; for my life lies now in your hands, under God. And, being conscious +of my own innocency, I humbly beg that I may have liberty to manifest +it to the world partly by the means abovesaid. +"And your poor petitioner shall evermore pray, as in duty bound, &c." + +Her daughters—Rebecca, wife of Thomas Preston; and Mary, wife of John +Tarbell—presented the following statement:— +"We whose names are underwritten—can testify, if called to it, that +Goody Nurse hath been troubled with an infirmity of body for many +years, which the jury of women seem to be afraid it should be something +else." + +There is no intimation, in any of the papers, that the petition of the +mother or the deposition of her daughters received the least attention +from the Court. + +[D] On the 19th of October, 1692, Thomas Hart, of Lynn, presented a +memorial to the General Court, stating that his mother, Elizabeth Hart, +had then been in Boston jail for nearly six months: "Though, in all +this time, nothing has appeared against her whereby to render her +deserving of imprisonment or death, ... being ancient, and not able to +undergo the hardship that is inflicted from lying in misery, and death +rather to be chosen than a life in her circumstances." He says, that +his father is "ancient and decrepit, and wholly unable" to take any +steps in her behalf; that he feels "obliged by all Christian duty, as +becomes a child to parents," to lay her case before the General Court. +"The petitioner having lived from his childhood under the same roof +with his mother, he dare presume to affirm that he never saw nor knew +any evil or sinful practice wherein there was any show of impiety nor +witchcraft by her; and, were it otherwise, he would not, for the world +and all the enjoyments thereof, nourish or support any creature that he +knew engaged in the drudgery of Satan. It is well known to all the +neighborhood, that the petitioner's mother has lived a sober and godly +life, always ready to discharge the part of a good Christian, and never +deserving of afflictions from the hands of men for any thing of this +nature." He humbly prays "for the speedy enlargement of this person so +much abused." I present two more petitions. They help to fill up the +picture of the sufferings and hardships borne by individuals and +families. +"_To the Honored General Court now sitting in Boston, the Humble +Petition of Nicholas Rist, of Reading, showeth_, that whereas Sara +Rist, wife of the petitioner, was taken into custody the first day of +June last, and, ever since lain in Boston jail for witchcraft; though, +in all this time, nothing has been made appear for which she deserved +imprisonment or death: the petitioner has been a husband to the said +woman above twenty years, in all which time he never had reason to +accuse her for any impiety or witchcraft, but the contrary. She lived +with him as a good, faithful, dutiful wife, and always had respect to +the ordinances of God while her strength remained; and the petitioner, +on that consideration, is obliged in conscience and justice to use all +lawful means for the support and preservation of her life; and it is +deplorable, that, in old age, the poor decrepit woman should lie under +confinement so long in a stinking jail, when her circumstances rather +require a nurse to attend her. +"May it, therefore, please Your Honors to take this matter into your +prudent consideration, and direct some speedy methods whereby this +ancient decrepit person may not for ever lie in such misery, wherein +her life is made more afflictive to her than death." +"_The Humble Petition of Thomas Barrett, of Chelmsford, in New England, +in behalf of his daughter Martha Sparkes, wife of Henry Sparkes, who is +now a soldier in Their Majesties' Service at the Eastern Parts, and so +hath been for a considerable time, humbly showeth_, That your +petitioner's daughter hath lain in prison in Boston for the space of +twelve months and five days, being committed by Thomas Danforth, Esq., +the late deputy-governor, upon suspicion of witchcraft; since which no +evidence hath appeared against her in any such matter, neither hath any +given bond to prosecute her, nor doth any one at this day accuse her of +any such thing, as your petitioner knows of. That your petitioner hath +ever since kept two of her children; the one of five years, the other +of two years old, which hath been a considerable trouble and charge to +him in his poor and mean condition: besides, your petitioner hath a +lame, ancient, and sick wife, who, for these five years and upwards +past, hath been so afflicted as that she is altogether rendered +uncapable of affording herself any help, which much augments his +trouble. Your poor petitioner earnestly and humbly entreats Your +Excellency and Honors to take his distressed condition into your +consideration; and that you will please to order the releasement of his +daughter from her confinement, whereby she may return home to her poor +children to look after them, having nothing to pay the charge of her +confinement. +"And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. +"Nov. 1, 1692." + +[E] I know nothing more artful and jesuitical than his attempts to +avoid the reproach of having been active in carrying on the delusion in +Salem and elsewhere, and, at the same time, to keep up such a degree of +credulity and superstition in the minds of the people as to render it +easy to plunge them into it again at the first favorable moment. In the +following passages, he endeavors to escape the odium that had been +connected with the prosecutions:— +"The world knows how many pages I have composed and published, and +particular gentlemen in the government know how many letters I have +written, to prevent the excessive credit of spectral accusations. +"In short, I do humbly but freely affirm it, that there is not a man +living in this world, who has been more desirous than the poor man I to +shelter my neighbors from the inconveniences of spectral outcries: yea, +I am very jealous I have done so much that way as to sin in what I have +done; such have been the cowardice and fearfulness whereunto my regard +unto the dissatisfaction of other people has precipitated me. I know a +man in the world, who has thought he has been able to convict some such +witches as ought to die; but his respect unto the public peace has +caused him rather to try whether he could not renew them by +repentance." +In his Life of Sir William Phips, he endeavors to take the credit to +himself of having doubted the propriety of the proceedings while they +were in progress. This work was published without his name, in order +that he might commend himself with more freedom. The advice given by +the ministers of Boston and the vicinity to the government has been +spoken of. Cotton Mather frequently took occasion to applaud and +magnify the merit of this production. In one of his writings, he speaks +of "the gracious words" it contained. In his Life of Phips, he thus +modestly takes the credit of its authorship to himself: it was "drawn +up, at their (the ministers') desire, by Mr. Mather the younger, as I +have been informed." And, in order the more effectually to give the +impression that he was rather opposed to the proceedings, he quotes +those portions of the paper which recommended caution and +circumspection, leaving out those other passages in which it was +vehemently urged to carry the proceedings on "speedily and vigorously." +This single circumstance is decisive of the disingenuity of Dr. Mather. +As it was the purpose of the government, in requesting the advice of +the ministers, to ascertain their opinion of the expediency of +continuing the prosecutions, it was a complete and deliberate +perversion and falsification of their answer to omit the passages which +encouraged the proceedings, and to record those only which recommended +caution and circumspection. The object of Mather in suppressing the +important parts of the document has, however, in some measure been +answered. As the "Magnalia," within which his Life of Phips is +embraced, is the usual and popular source of information and reference +respecting the topics of which it treats, the opinion has prevailed, +that the Boston ministers, especially "Mr. Mather the younger," +endeavored to prevent the transactions connected with the trial and +execution of the supposed witches. Unfortunately, however, for the +reputation of Cotton Mather, Hutchinson has preserved the address of +the ministers entire: and it appears that they approved, applauded, and +stimulated the prosecutions; and that the people of Salem and the +surrounding country were the victims of a delusion, the principal +promoters of which have, to a great degree, been sheltered from +reproach by the dishonest artifice, which has now been exposed. +But, like other ambitious and grasping politicians, he was anxious to +have the support of all parties at the same time. After making court to +those who were dissatisfied with the prosecutions, he thus commends +himself to all who approved of them:— +"And why, after all my unwearied cares and pains to rescue the +miserable from the lions and bears of hell which had seized them, and +after all my studies to disappoint the devils in their designs to +confound my neighborhood, must I be driven to the necessity of an +apology? Truly, the hard representations wherewith some ill men have +reviled my conduct, and the countenance which other men have given to +these representations, oblige me to give mankind some account of my +behavior. No Christian can (I say none but evil-workers can) criminate +my visiting such of my poor flock as have at any time fallen under the +terrible and sensible molestations of evil angels. Let their +afflictions have been what they will, I could not have answered it unto +my glorious Lord, if I had withheld my just comforts and counsels from +them; and, if I have also, with some exactness, observed the methods of +the invisible world, when they have thus become observable, I have been +but a servant of mankind in doing so: yea, no less a person than the +venerable Baxter has more than once or twice, in the most public +manner, invited mankind to thank me for that service." +In other passages, he thus continues to stimulate and encourage the +advocates of the prosecutions:— +"Wherefore, instead of all apish shouts and jeers at histories which +have such undoubted confirmation as that no man that has breeding +enough to regard the common laws of human society will offer to doubt +of them, it becomes us rather to adore the goodness of God, who does +not permit such things every day to befall us all, as he sometimes did +permit to befall some few of our miserable neighbors. +"And it is a very glorious thing that I have now to mention: The devils +have, with most horrid operations, broke in upon our neighborhood; and +God has at such a rate overruled all the fury and malice of those +devils, that all the afflicted have not only been delivered, but, I +hope, also savingly brought home unto God; and the reputation of no one +good person in the world has been damaged, but, instead thereof, the +souls of many, especially of the rising generation, have been thereby +awakened unto some acquaintance with religion. Our young people, who +belonged unto the praying-meetings, of both sexes, apart, would +ordinarily spend whole nights, by whole weeks together, in prayers and +psalms upon these occasions, in which devotions the devils could get +nothing but, like fools, a scourge for their own backs: and some scores +of other young people, who were strangers to real piety, were now +struck with the lively demonstrations of hell evidently set forth +before their eyes, when they saw persons cruelly frighted, wounded and +starved by devils, and scalded with burning brimstone, and yet so +preserved in this tortured state, as that, at the end of one month's +wretchedness, they were as able still to undergo another; so that, of +these also, it might now be said, 'Behold, they pray.' In the whole, +the Devil got just nothing, but God got praises, Christ got subjects, +the Holy Spirit got temples, the church got additions, and the souls of +men got everlasting benefits. I am not so vain as to say that any +wisdom or virtue of mine did contribute unto this good order of things; +but I am so just as to say, I did not hinder this good." +I cannot, indeed, resist the conviction, that, notwithstanding all his +attempts to appear dissatisfied, after they had become unpopular, with +the occurrences in the Salem trials, he looked upon them with secret +pleasure, and would have been glad to have had them repeated in Boston. + +[F] The following is a statement of the loss inflicted upon the estate +of George Jacobs, Sr. The property of the son was utterly destroyed. +"_An Account of what was seized and taken away from my Father's Estate, +George Jacobs, Sr., late of Salem, deceased, by Sheriff Corwin and his +Assistants in the year 1692._ +"When my said father was executed, and I was forced to fly out of the +country, to my great damage and distress of my family, my wife and +daughter imprisoned,—viz., my wife eleven months, and my daughter seven +months in prison,—it cost them twelve pounds money to the officers, +besides other charges. + +Five cows, fair large cattle, £3 per cow £ 15 00 0 Eight +loads of English hay taken out of the + barn, 35_s_. per load + 14 + 00 + 0 A parcel of apples that made 24 barrels cider + to halves; viz., 12 barrels cider, 8_s_. per barrel + +4 + 16 + 0 Sixty bushels of Indian corn, 2_s_. 6_d_. per bushel + 7 10 0 A mare 2 0 0 Two good feather + beds, and furniture, rugs, + blankets, sheets, bolsters and pillows + 10 + 0 + 0 Two brass kettles, cost 6 0 0 Money, + 12_s_.; a large gold thumb ring, 20_s_. + 1 12 0 Five swine 3 15 0 A + quantity of pewter which I cannot exactly + know the worth, perhaps + 3 + 0 + 0 + — 67 — 13 — 0 Besides abundance of small things, meat + in the house, + fowls, chairs, and other things took clear + away _ + above_ + 12 + 0 + 0 + + — 79 == — 13 == — 0 == + +"George Jacobs." + +When Edward Bishop and his wife Sarah were arrested, household goods +which were valued by the sheriff himself at ten pounds,—he refusing +that sum for their restitution,—six cows, twenty-four swine, forty-six +sheep, were taken from his farm. The imprisonment of himself and wife +(prior to their escape) aggregated thirty-seven weeks. Ten shillings a +week for board, and other charges and prison fees amounting to five +pounds, were assessed upon his estate, and taken by distraint. A family +of twelve children was left without any to direct or care for them, and +the product of the farm for that year wholly cut off. +There were taken from the estate of Samuel Wardwell, who was executed, +five cows, a heifer and yearling, a horse, nine hogs, eight loads of +hay, six acres of standing corn, and a set of carpenters' tools. From +the estate of Dorcas Hoar, a widow, there were taken two cows, an ox +and mare, four pigs, bed, bed-curtains and bedding, and other household +stuff. +Persons apprehended were made to pay all charges of every kind for +their maintenance, fuel, clothes, expenses of transportation from jail +to jail, and inexorable court and prison fees. The usual fee to the +clerk of the courts was £1. 17_s._ 5_d._, sometimes more; sometimes, +although very rarely, a little less. He must have received a large +amount of money in the aggregate that year. The prisoners were charged +for every paper that was drawn up. If a reprieve was obtained, there +was a fee. When discharged, there was a fee. The expenses of the +executions, even hangmen's fees, were levied on the families of the +sufferers. Abraham Foster, whose mother died in prison, to get her body +for burial, had to pay £2. 10_s._ +When the value of money at that time is considered, and we bear in mind +that most of the persons apprehended were farmers, who have but little +cash on hand, and that these charges were levied on their stock, crops, +and furniture in their absence, and in the unrestrained exercise of +arbitrary will, by the sheriff or constables, we can judge how utterly +ruinous the operation must have been. + +[G] Love's Labour's Lost, act v., sc. 1. + +[H] There are several other depositions in these cases, that may +perhaps be explained under the head of nightmare. The following are +specimens; that, for instance, of Robert Downer, of Salisbury, who +testifies and says,— +"That, several years ago, Susanna Martin, the then wife of George +Martin, being brought to court for a witch, the said Downer, having +some words with her, this deponent, among other things, told her he +believed that she was a witch, by what was said or witnessed against +her; at which she, seeming not well affected, said that a, or some, +she-devil would fetch him away shortly, at which this deponent was not +much moved; but at night, as he lay in his bed in his own house, alone, +there came at his window the likeness of a cat, and by and by came up +to his bed, took fast hold of his throat, and lay hard upon him a +considerable while, and was like to throttle him. At length, he minded +what Susanna Martin threatened him with the day before. He strove what +he could, and said, 'Avoid, thou she-devil, in the name of the Father, +and the Son, and the Holy Ghost!' and then it let him go, and jumped +down upon the floor, and went out at the window again." + +Susanna Martin, by the boldness and severity of her language, in +defending herself against the charge of witchcraft, had evidently, for +a long time, rendered herself an object of dread, and seems to have +disturbed the dreams of the superstitious throughout the neighborhood. +For instance, Jarvis Ring, of Salisbury, made oath as follows:— +"That, about seven or eight years ago, he had been several times +afflicted, in the night-time, by some body or some thing coming up upon +him when he was in bed, and did sorely afflict him by lying upon him; +and he could neither move nor speak while it was upon him, but +sometimes made a kind of noise that folks did hear him and come up to +him; and, as soon as anybody came, it would be gone. This it did for a +long time, both then and since, but he did never see anybody clearly; +but one time, in the night, it came upon me as at other times, and I +did then see the person of Susanna Martin, of Amesbury. I, this +deponent, did perfectly see her; and she came to this deponent, and +took him by the hand, and bit him by the finger by force, and then came +and lay upon him awhile, as formerly, and after a while went away. The +print of the bite is yet to be seen on the little finger of his right +hand; for it was hard to heal. He further saith, that several times he +was asleep when it came; but, at that time, he was as fairly awaked as +ever he was, and plainly saw her shape, and felt her teeth, as +aforesaid." + +Barnard Peach made oath substantially as follows:— +"That about six or seven years past, being in bed on a Lord's-day +night, he heard a scrambling at the window, and saw Susanna Martin come +in at the window, and jump down upon the floor. She was in her hood and +scarf, and the same dress that she was in before, at meeting the same +day. Being come in, she was coming up towards this deponent's face, but +turned back to his feet, and took hold of them, and drew up his body +into a heap, and lay upon him about an hour and a half or two hours, in +all which time this deponent could not stir nor speak; but, feeling +himself beginning to be loosened or lightened, and he beginning to +strive, he put out his hand among the clothes, and took hold of her +hand, and brought it up to his mouth, and bit three of the fingers (as +he judges) to the breaking of the bones; which done, the said Martin +went out of the chamber, down the stairs, and out of the door. The +deponent further declared, that, on another Lord's-day night, while +sleeping on the hay in a barn, about midnight the said Susanna Martin +and another came out of the shop into the barn, and one of them said, +'Here he is,' and then came towards this deponent. He, having a +quarter-staff, made a blow at them; but the roof of the barn prevented +it, and they went away: but this deponent followed them, and, as they +were going towards the window, made another blow at them, and struck +them both down; but away they went out at the shop-window, and this +deponent saw no more of them. And the rumor went, that the said Martin +had a broken head at that time; but the deponent cannot speak to that +upon his own knowledge." + +Any one who has had the misfortune to be subject to nightmare will find +the elements of his own experience very much resembling the +descriptions given by Kembal, Downer, Ring, and Peach. The terrors to +which superstition, credulity, and ignorance subjected their minds; the +frightful tales of witchcraft and apparitions to which they were +accustomed to listen; and the contagious fears of the neighborhood in +reference to Susanna Martin, taken in connection with a disordered +digestion, an overloaded stomach, and a hard bed, or a strange +lodging-place,—are wholly sufficient to account for all the phenomena +to which they testified. + +[I] The facts and considerations in reference to the authorship of the +letter to Jonathan Corwin may be summarily stated as follows:— +The letter is signed "R.P." Under these initials is written, "Robert +Pain," in a different hand, and, as the ink as well as the chirography +shows, at a somewhat later date. R.P. are blotted over, but with ink of +such lighter hue that the original letters are clearly discernible +under it. A Robert Paine graduated at Harvard College, in 1656. But he +was probably the foreman of the grand jury that brought in all the +indictments in the witchcraft trials; and therefore could not, from the +declarations in the letter itself, have been its author. The only other +person of that name at the time, of whom we have knowledge, was his +father, who seems, by the evidence we have, to have died in 1693. (That +date is given in the Harvard Triennial for the death of Robert Paine, +the graduate; but erroneously, I think, as signatures to documents, and +conveyances of property subsequently, can hardly be ascribed to any +other person.) Robert Paine, the father, from the earliest settlement +of Ipswich, had been one of the leading men of the town, apparently of +larger property than any other, often its deputy in the General Court, +and, for a great length of time, ruling elder of the church. "Elder +Pain," or Penn, as the name was often spelled, enjoyed the friendship +of John Norton, and all the ministers far and near; and religious +meetings were often held at his house. We know nothing to justify us in +saying that he could not have been the author of this paper; but we +also know nothing, except the appearance of his name upon it, to impute +it to him. +The document is dated from "Salisbury." So far as we know, Elder Paine +always lived in Ipswich; although, having property in the upper county, +he may have often been, and possibly in his last years resided, there. +It is, it is true, a strong circumstance, that his name is written, +although by a late hand, under the initials. It shows that the person +who wrote it thought that "R.P." meant Robert Paine; but any one +conversant especially with the antiquities of Ipswich, or this part of +the county, might naturally fall into such a mistake. The authorship of +documents was often erroneously ascribed. The words "Robert Pain" were, +probably, not on the paper when the indorsement was made, "A letter to +my grandfather," &c. Elder Robert Paine, if living in 1692, was +ninety-one years of age. The document under consideration, if composed +by him, is truly a marvellous production,—an intellectual phenomenon +not easily to be paralleled. +The facts in reference to Robert Pike, of Salisbury, as they bear upon +the question of the authorship of the document, are these: He was +seventy-six years of age in 1692, and had always resided in +"Salisbury." The letter and argument are both in the handwriting of +Captain Thomas Bradbury, Recorder of old Norfolk County. On this point, +there can be no question. Bradbury and Pike had been fellow-townsmen +for more than half a century, connected by all the ties of neighborhood +and family intermarriage, and jointly or alternately had borne all the +civic and military honors the people could bestow. The document was +prepared and delivered to the judge while Mrs. Bradbury was in prison, +and just one month before her trial. Pike, as has been shown (p. 226), +was deeply interested in her behalf. The original signature ("R.P.") +has the marked characteristics of the same initial letters as found in +innumerable autographs of his, on file or record. There are +interlineations, beyond question in Pike's handwriting. These facts +demonstrate that both Pike and Bradbury were concerned in producing the +document. +The history of Robert Pike proves that he was a man of great ability, +had a turn of mind towards logical exercises, and was, from early life, +conversant with disputations. Nearly fifty years before, he argued in +town-meeting against the propriety, in view of civil and ecclesiastical +law, of certain acts of the General Court. They arraigned, +disfranchised, and otherwise punished him for his "litigiousness:" but +the weight of his character soon compelled them to restore his +political rights; and the people of Salisbury, the very next year, sent +him among them as their deputy, and continued him from time to time in +that capacity. At a subsequent period, he was the leader and spokesman +of a party in a controversy about some ecclesiastical affairs, +involving apparently certain nice questions of theology, which created +a great stir through the country. The contest reached so high a point, +that the church at Salisbury excommunicated him; but the public voice +demanded a council of churches, which assembled in September, 1676, and +re-instated Major Pike condemning his excommunication, "finding it not +justifiable upon divers grounds." On this occasion, as before, the +General Court frowned upon and denounced him; but the people came again +to his rescue, sending him at the next election into the House of +Deputies, and kept him there until raised to the Upper House as an +Assistant. He was in the practice of conducting causes in the courts, +and was long a local magistrate and one of the county judges. +He does not appear to have been present at any of the trials or +examinations of 1692; but his official position as Assistant caused +many depositions taken in his neighborhood to be acknowledged and sworn +before him. While entertaining the prevalent views about diabolical +agency, he always disapproved of the proceedings of the Court in the +particulars to which the arguments of the communication to Jonathan +Corwin apply,—the "spectre evidence,"—and the statements and actings of +"the afflicted children." There are indications that sometimes he saw +through the folly of the stories told by persons whose depositions he +was called to attest. One John Pressy was circulating a wonderful tale +about an encounter he had with the spectre of Susanna Martin. Pike sent +for him, and took his deposition. Pressy averred, that, one evening, +coming from Amesbury Ferry, he fell in with the shape of Martin in the +form of a body of light, which "seemed to be about the bigness of a +half-bushel." After much dodging and manœuvring, and being lost and +bewildered, wandering to and fro, tumbling into holes,—where, as the +deposition states, no "such pitts" were known to exist,—and other +misadventures, he came to blows with the light, and had several brushes +with it, striking it with his stick. At one time, "he thinks he gave +her at least forty blows." He finally succeeded in finding "his own +house: but, being then seized with fear, could not speak till his wife +spoke to him at the door, and was in such a condition that the family +was afraid of him; which story being carried to the town the next day, +it was, upon inquiry, understood, that said Goodwife Martin was in such +a miserable case and in such pain that they swabbed her body, as was +reported." He concludes his deposition by saying, that Major Pike +"seemed to be troubled that this deponent had not told him of it in +season that she might have been viewed to have seen what her ail was." +The affair had happened "about twenty-four years ago." Probably neither +Pressy nor the Court appreciated the keenness of the major's expression +of regret. It broke the bubble of the deposition. The whole story was +the product of a benighted imagination, disordered by fear, filled with +inebriate vagaries, exaggerated in nightmare, and resting upon wild and +empty rumors. Robert Pike's course, in the case of Mrs. Bradbury, +harmonizes with the supposition that he was Corwin's correspondent. +Materials may be brought to light that will change the evidence on the +point. It may be found that Elder Paine died before 1692: that would +dispose of the question. It may appear that he was living in Salisbury +at the time, and acted with Pike and Bradbury, they giving to the paper +the authority of his venerable name and years. But all that is now +known, constrains me to the conclusion stated in the text. + +[J] As an illustration of the oblivion that had settled over the +details of the transactions and characters connected with the +witchcraft prosecutions, it may be mentioned, that when, thirty-five +years ago, I prepared the work entitled 'Lectures on Witchcraft; +comprising a History of the Delusion in 1692,' although professional +engagements prevented my making the elaborate exploration that has now +been given to the subject, I extended the investigation over the +ordinary fields of research, and took particular pains to obtain +information brought down by tradition, gleaned all that could be +gathered from the memories of old persons then living of what they had +heard from their predecessors, and sought for every thing that local +antiquaries and genealogists could contribute. I find, by the methods +of inquiry adopted in the preparation of the present work, how +inadequate and meagre was the knowledge then possessed. Most of the +persons accused and executed, like Giles Corey, his wife Martha, and +Bridget Bishop, were supposed to have been of humble, if not mean +condition, of vagrant habits, and more or less despicable repute. By +following the threads placed in my hands, in the files of the +county-offices of Registry of Deeds and Wills, and documents connected +with trials at law, and by a collation of conveyances and the +administration of estates, I find that Corey, however eccentric or open +to criticism in some features of character and passages of his life, +was a large landholder, and a man of singular force and acuteness of +intellect; while his wife had an intelligence in advance of her times, +and was a woman of eminent piety. The same is found to have been the +case with most of those who suffered. +The reader may judge of my surprise in now discovering, that, while +writing the "Lectures on Witchcraft," I was owning and occupying a part +of the estate of Bridget Bishop, if not actually living in her house. +The hard, impenetrable, all but petrified oak frame seems to argue that +it dates back as far as when she rebuilt and renewed the original +structure. Little, however, did I suspect, while delivering those +lectures in the Lyceum Hall, that we were assembled on the site of her +orchard, the scene of the preternatural and diabolical feats charged +upon her by the testimony of Louder and others. Her estate was one of +the most eligible and valuable in the old town, with a front, as has +been mentioned, of a hundred feet on Washington Street, and extending +along Church Street more than half the distance to St. Peter's Street. +At the same time, her husband seems to have had a house in the village, +near the head of Bass River. It is truly remarkable, that the locality +of the property and residence of a person of her position, and who led +the way among the victims of such an awful tragedy, should have become +wholly obliterated from memory and tradition, in a community of such +intelligence, consisting, in so large a degree, of old families, +tracing themselves back to the earliest generations, and among whom the +innumerable descendants of her seven great-grandchildren have continued +to this day. It can only be accounted for by the considerations +mentioned in the text. Tradition was stifled by horror and shame. What +all desired to forget was forgotten. The only recourse was in oblivion; +and all, sufferers and actors alike, found shelter under it. + +[K] The looseness and inaccuracy of persons in reference to their own +ages, in early times, is quite observable. In depositions, they speak +of themselves as "about" so many years, or as of so many years "or +thereabouts." A variance on this point is often found in the statements +of the same person at different times. Neither are records always to be +relied upon as to precision. In the record-book of the village church, +Mr. Parris enters the age of Mrs. Ann Putnam, at the date of her +admission, June 4, 1691, as "Ann: ætat: 27." But an "Account of the +Early Settlers of Salisbury," in the "New-England Historical and +Genealogical Register," vol. vii. p. 314, gives the date of her birth +"15, 4, 1661." Her age is stated above according to this last +authority; and, if correct, she was not so young, at the time of her +marriage, as intimated (vol. i. p. 253), but seventeen years five +months and ten days. It is difficult, however, to conceive how Parris, +who was careful about such matters, and undoubtedly had his information +from her own lips, could have been so far out of the way. Her brother, +William Carr, in 1692, deposed that he was then forty-one years of age +or thereabouts; whereas, the "Account of the Early Settlers of +Salisbury," just referred to, gives the date of his birth "15, 1, +1648." It is indeed singular, that two members of a family of their +standing should have been under an error as to their own age; one to an +extent of almost, the other of some months more than, three years. + +[L] The following passage is from the parish records:— +"On the 3d of February, 1693, a warrant was issued for a meeting of the +inhabitants of the village, signed by Thomas Preston, Joseph Pope, +Joseph Houlton, and John Tarbell, of the standing annual committee, to +be held Feb. 14, 'to consider and agree and determine who are capable +of voting in our public transactions, by the power given us by the +General-court order at our first settlement; and to consider of and +make void a vote in our book of records, on the 18th of June, 1689, +where there is a salary of sixty-six pounds stated to Mr. Parris, he +not complying with it; also to consider of and make void several votes +in the book of records on the 10th of October, 1692, where our ministry +house and barn and two acres of land seem to be conveyed from us after +a fraudulent manner.'" +At this meeting, it was voted, that "all men that are ratable, or +hereafter shall be living within that tract of land mentioned in our +General-court order, shall have liberty in nominating and appointing a +committee, and voting in any of our public concerns." +By referring to the account, in the First Part, of the controversy +between the inhabitants of the village and Mr. Bayley, "the power" +above alluded to, "given us by the General Court," will be seen fully +described. In its earnestness to fasten Mr. Bayley upon "the +inhabitants," the Court elaborately ordained the system by which they +should be constrained to provide for him, and compelled to raise the +means of paying his salary. As no church had then been organized, the +General Court fastened the duty upon "householders." The fact had not +been forgotten, and the above vote showed that the parish intended to +hold on to the power then given them. This highly incensed the Court of +Sessions. It ordered the parish book of records to be produced before +it, and caused a condemnation of such a claim of right to be written +out, in open Court, on the face of the record, where it is now to be +seen. It is as follows:— +"At the General Sessions of the Peace holden at Ipswich, March the +28th, 1693. This Court having viewed and considered the above agreement +or vote contained in the last five lines, finding the same to be +repugnant to the laws of this province, do declare the same to be null +and void, and that this order be recorded with the records of this +Court. +"Attest, Stephen Sewall, _Clerk_." + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALEM WITCHCRAFT *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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