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+Project Gutenberg's Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II, by Charles Upham
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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
+
+
+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]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALEM WITCHCRAFT, VOLUMES I AND II ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AMERICAN CLASSICS
+
+SALEM WITCHCRAFT
+
+_With an Account of Salem Village
+and
+A History of Opinions on
+Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects_
+
+
+CHARLES W. UPHAM
+
+
+[Illustration: [autograph] Charles W. Upham.]
+
+
+_Volume I_
+
+
+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
+
+[Illustration: 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.
+
+
+
+
+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  12 to 322
+
+PART SECOND.--WITCHCRAFT   325 to 469
+
+
+VOLUME II.
+
+                                                PAGE
+
+PART THIRD.--WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE  1 to 444
+
+SUPPLEMENT                              447 to 522
+
+APPENDIX                                525 to 553
+
+
+
+
+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, 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 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 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
+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 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+
+
+
+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 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. 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.
+
+[Illustration: [map]]
+
+
+
+
+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.)
+
+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.]
+
+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._
+
+[Symbol: box] Captain Jonathan Walcot. _t.r._
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+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.
+
+_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.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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
+children. 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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
+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.
+
+
+
+
+PART FIRST.
+
+
+
+
+SALEM VILLAGE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+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 nominal. 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 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 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
+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 performed 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
+     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 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 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 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 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 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
+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 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 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 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 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
+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 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 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 retainer
+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 eastern
+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, 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 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 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 afterwards 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."
+
+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 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 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 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
+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 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
+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 resume 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 principle 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 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 "acquired 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 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.
+
+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 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 Winthrop, 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 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 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 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 mentioned,
+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 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 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
+structure, 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 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 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 leading 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._ Considering 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 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 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-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 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 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. 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]
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+In the course of a mysterious providence, this venerable mansion was
+destined to be rendered memorable 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, 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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,
+Richard 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
+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 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 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 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; 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, 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, 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 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" described 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 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.
+
+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 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 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
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 unbroken 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, 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 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
+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
+eulogium 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,
+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 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. 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 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 waiting
+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.
+
+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 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,
+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 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 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, 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 departments 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 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 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 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 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 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
+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, 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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, 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
+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 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 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 satisfaction 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 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 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 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 "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 annually, 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.
+
+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
+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 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, 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
+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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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
+     [Transcriber's note: so in original] Bay, in New England,
+     being through God's mercy in good health of body and of
+     perfect memory, but not 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."
+
+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
+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 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
+enthusiast, 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 expedient. 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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--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 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
+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 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 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 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 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 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. 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.
+Portraits 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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
+schoolmaster 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 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 important 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 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,
+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 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 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 purpose, 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 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 letters.
+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 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 persons 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 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 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 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
+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 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 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 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, 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, 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,
+"Colonel 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 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
+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 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.
+
+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 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 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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 collisions 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 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 somewhat 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 conspicuous 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
+transactions. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
+     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."
+
+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.' 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." 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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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,--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 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 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 Andrew 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 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, 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 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 indefensible, 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 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 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. 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 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 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 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 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 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 interest 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 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 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.
+
+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. 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 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
+     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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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:--
+
+     '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
+     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. 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 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 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 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 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 (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 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. 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 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 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 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 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
+     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 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 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 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.
+
+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 superstitions 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 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 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 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 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 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 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."
+
+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 doctrine 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, 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 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 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 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 declares 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 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
+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 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-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:--
+
+    "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 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 cannot 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 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 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 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' Everlasting 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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, embracing 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 people; 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, 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 spirits, 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?"
+
+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 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
+neglected 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 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
+     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
+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 principles 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 translators, 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.
+
+[Footnote B: For a thorough discussion of the several Hebrew words
+that relate to Divination and Magic, see Wierus de Præstigiis, L. 2,
+c. 1.]
+
+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 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 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."
+
+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 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 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.
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+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 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 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."
+
+[Footnote 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."]
+
+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
+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 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.
+
+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 alchemy. 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 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]
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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, 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 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."
+
+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," 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 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 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 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 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 particularized 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 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 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 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-American 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, 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 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, 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 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,
+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 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. 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 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:--
+
+     "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 Commonwealth,
+     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 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 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.
+     Hibbins, 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 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
+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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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
+     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 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."
+
+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 abovesaid 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 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 Singletary'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 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
+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 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, 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 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 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, 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 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 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, 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
+     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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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, vanished, 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 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 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 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
+considerations. 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 superstitions, 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AMERICAN CLASSICS
+
+
+SALEM WITCHCRAFT
+
+_With an Account of Salem Village and A History of Opinions on
+Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects_
+
+
+CHARLES W. UPHAM
+
+
+_Volume II_
+
+
+FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO.
+
+_New York_
+
+_Fourth Printing, 1969_
+_Printed in the United States of America_
+Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-10887
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PHILIP ENGLISH HOUSE.--VOL. II., 142.]
+
+[Illustration: Witch Hill. 1866.]
+
+
+
+
+PART THIRD.
+
+WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE.
+
+
+We 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.
+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
+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 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 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 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 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 referring 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 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 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 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 Ingersoll'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, 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.
+
+     "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 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 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 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 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. 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 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.
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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 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.
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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 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
+statements 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 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.
+
+     [Illustration: [signatures]]
+
+     "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 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, 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.
+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 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 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
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
+     observe 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 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 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.)
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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.)
+
+     "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 present,
+     we committed Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey, of Salem
+     Farms, unto the gaol in Salem, as _per mittimus_ then given
+     out."
+
+     [Illustration: [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 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 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 bewitched,
+&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."
+
+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.
+
+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 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 kinsmen, 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
+disturbances 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, 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 supposed 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: "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." 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 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 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,
+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 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 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 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 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."
+
+     [Illustration: [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. 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 afterwards 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.
+
+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 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, drawing 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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 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
+     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 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
+     representing 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
+     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
+     completed 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."
+
+[Illustration: _Eng'd at J. Andrews's by R. Babson._
+
+WILLIAM STOUGHTON.]
+
+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 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 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 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 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,
+     [Greek: Diabolos], 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 [Greek: Diaboloi], _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 uncomfortable 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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
+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
+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 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; 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.
+
+     "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 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.
+
+     "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 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 protection 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.
+
+     "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 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. 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, particularly 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 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
+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, 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 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 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,
+     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 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.'
+
+     "'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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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."
+
+[Footnote A: The double negative, as often used, merely intensified
+the negation. See "Measure for Measure," act i. scene 1.]
+
+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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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."
+
+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 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 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 Rebecca 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
+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 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 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. 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
+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 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 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 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 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.
+
+     "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 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 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 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 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 insane 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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:--
+
+     "_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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 prosecutions; 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 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
+     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 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 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 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
+     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 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 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, 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, 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 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 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 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, 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
+     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 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."
+
+     "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 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
+     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, 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 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 connected 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 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 evidence 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.
+
+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 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 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, Benjamin 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, 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 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 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
+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 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 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 unfavorable 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. 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.
+
+     "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. 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 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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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:--
+
+     "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 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."
+
+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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "_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 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
+     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 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 insurgent 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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 is
+as in 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: 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."[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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."]
+
+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 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 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 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 witchcraft, 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 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.
+     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 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 convulsion 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 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 juggling
+     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; 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."
+
+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 mariner. 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 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, produced 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 therefore 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 ascendency 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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,
+
+     [Illustration: [signature]]
+
+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 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
+neighborhood, 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 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
+     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, 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,--
+
+     "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 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.
+     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."
+
+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; 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: [death warrant]]
+
+[Illustration: [return on warrant]]
+
+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,
+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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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 appears, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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."
+
+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.
+
+     "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 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 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 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.
+
+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. 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 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 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 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 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 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." Burroughs 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
+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 concerned 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 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
+     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.
+
+     "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 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, 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 perhaps 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 astonish 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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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]."
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: [signatures]]
+
+[Illustration: [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. 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 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 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.
+
+     "_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 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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, 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 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 following 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
+     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 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."
+
+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
+     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. 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 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
+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.
+
+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
+symptoms 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. 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 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 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 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 barbarous 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
+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 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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 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,--
+
+    "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.
+
+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, 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 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 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.
+
+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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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."]
+
+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 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, 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 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 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
+England, 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 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 their death);
+     further saith, that we did judge then that they both died of
+     a malignant fever, and had no suspicion of withcraft
+     [Transcriber's Note: so in original] 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 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 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, 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 expressed 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, 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 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 renew them during
+the next year in his own parish in Boston.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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 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 administrative 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 particularly 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 generous 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 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
+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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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  0 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.]
+
+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.
+
+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, 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, 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
+witchcraft 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 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 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 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 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 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
+Ingersoll, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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, 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."
+
+     "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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 one that
+     were dancing the hay.[A] 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."[B]
+
+[Footnote A: Love's Labour's Lost, act v., sc. 1.]
+
+[Footnote B: 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.]
+
+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 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 deliberate 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!
+
+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 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 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: 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 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 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 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
+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, 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 communications. 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 subject, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 principle: 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 particular 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 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, 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!"
+
+
+
+
+SUPPLEMENT.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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 manoeuvring, 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.]
+
+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 profession, 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 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 justices, 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 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 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." 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 sensibility
+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, 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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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.[A]
+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 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.
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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 dispersed 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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,
+     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 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 (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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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.
+
+     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 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 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 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 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 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 council 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 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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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_."]
+
+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 requires
+     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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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._'
+
+     "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 _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. 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 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._"
+
+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, 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
+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] [Illustration: [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 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 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!"
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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 spectral 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 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."
+
+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 piteous, 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+  I. LAWSON'S PREFATORY ADDRESS.
+ II. LAWSON'S BRIEF ACCOUNT.
+III. LETTER TO JONATHAN CORWIN.
+ IV. EXTRACTS FROM MR. PARRIS'S CHURCH RECORDS.
+
+
+
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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, 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 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
+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 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 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 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, 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.
+
+
+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 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 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?
+
+_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.
+
+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.
+
+_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, 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?
+
+
+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 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
+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 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 transgression, 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
+     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, 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II, by 
+Charles Upham
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+Project Gutenberg's Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II, by Charles Upham
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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
+
+
+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]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALEM WITCHCRAFT, VOLUMES I AND II ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AMERICAN CLASSICS
+
+SALEM WITCHCRAFT
+
+_With an Account of Salem Village
+and
+A History of Opinions on
+Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects_
+
+
+CHARLES W. UPHAM
+
+
+[Illustration: [autograph] Charles W. Upham.]
+
+
+_Volume I_
+
+
+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
+
+[Illustration: 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.
+
+
+
+
+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  12 to 322
+
+PART SECOND.--WITCHCRAFT   325 to 469
+
+
+VOLUME II.
+
+                                                PAGE
+
+PART THIRD.--WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE  1 to 444
+
+SUPPLEMENT                              447 to 522
+
+APPENDIX                                525 to 553
+
+
+
+
+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, 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 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 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
+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 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+
+
+
+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 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. 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.
+
+[Illustration: [map]]
+
+
+
+
+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.)
+
+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.]
+
+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._
+
+[Symbol: box] Captain Jonathan Walcot. _t.r._
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+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.
+
+_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.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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
+children. 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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
+L1,346. 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
+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.
+
+
+
+
+PART FIRST.
+
+
+
+
+SALEM VILLAGE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+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 nominal. 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 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 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
+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 performed 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
+     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 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 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 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 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 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
+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 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 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 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 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
+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 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 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 retainer
+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 eastern
+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, 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 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 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 afterwards 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."
+
+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 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 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 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
+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 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
+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 resume 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 principle 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 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 "acquired 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 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.
+
+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 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 Winthrop, 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 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 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 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 mentioned,
+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 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 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
+structure, 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 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 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 leading 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
+L244. 10_s._ 2_d._ Considering 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 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 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-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 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 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. 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]
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+In the course of a mysterious providence, this venerable mansion was
+destined to be rendered memorable 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, 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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,
+Richard 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
+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 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 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 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; 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, 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, 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 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" described 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 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.
+
+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 L5,964. 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 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 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
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 unbroken 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, 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 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
+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
+eulogium 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,
+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 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. 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 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 waiting
+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.
+
+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 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,
+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 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 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, 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 departments 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 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 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 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 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 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
+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, 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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, 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
+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 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 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 L10. 6_s._ 3_d._; that of Nathaniel, L9.
+10_s._; that of John, L8. 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 satisfaction 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 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 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 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 "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 annually, 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.
+
+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
+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 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, 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
+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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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
+     [Transcriber's note: so in original] Bay, in New England,
+     being through God's mercy in good health of body and of
+     perfect memory, but not 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."
+
+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
+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 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
+enthusiast, 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 expedient. 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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--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 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
+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 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 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 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 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 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. 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.
+Portraits 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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
+schoolmaster 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 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 important 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 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,
+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 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 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 purpose, 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 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 versa_. 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 letters.
+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 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 persons 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 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 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, Sec. 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 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
+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 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 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 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, 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, 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,
+"Colonel 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 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
+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 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.
+
+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 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 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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 collisions 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 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 somewhat 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 conspicuous 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
+transactions. 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 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 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 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 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 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 L93. 6_s._ 8_d._ per
+annum for three years, and L60 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 three years, amounting to L100, 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 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
+     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."
+
+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.' 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 L33. 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 L52. 1_s._ 1_d._ On the 22d of
+the ensuing February, the parish voted to raise "fifteen pounds for
+Mr. Burroughs." 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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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,--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 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 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 Andrew 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 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, 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 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 indefensible, 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 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 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. 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 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 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 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 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 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 interest 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 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 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.
+
+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. 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 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
+     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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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:--
+
+     '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
+     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. 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 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 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 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 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 (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 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. 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 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 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 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 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
+     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 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 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 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.
+
+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 superstitions 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 AEneid, 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."
+
+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 doctrine 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, 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 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 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 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 declares 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 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
+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 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 "Faerie 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-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:--
+
+    "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 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            L3   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 cannot 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 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 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 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' Everlasting 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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, embracing 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 people; 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, 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 spirits, 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?"
+
+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 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
+neglected 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 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
+     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
+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 principles 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 translators, 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.
+
+[Footnote B: For a thorough discussion of the several Hebrew words
+that relate to Divination and Magic, see Wierus de Praestigiis, L. 2,
+c. 1.]
+
+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 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 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."
+
+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 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 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.
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+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 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 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."
+
+[Footnote 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."]
+
+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
+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 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.
+
+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 alchemy. 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 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]
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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, 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 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."
+
+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," 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 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 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 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 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 particularized 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 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 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 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-American 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, 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 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, 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 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,
+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 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. 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 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:--
+
+     "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 Commonwealth,
+     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 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 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.
+     Hibbins, 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 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
+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 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 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 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 L344. 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, 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 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 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 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
+     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 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
+     L2-16-0."
+
+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 abovesaid 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 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 Singletary'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 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
+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 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, 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 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 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, 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 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 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, 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
+     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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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, vanished, 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 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 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 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
+considerations. 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 superstitions, 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AMERICAN CLASSICS
+
+
+SALEM WITCHCRAFT
+
+_With an Account of Salem Village and A History of Opinions on
+Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects_
+
+
+CHARLES W. UPHAM
+
+
+_Volume II_
+
+
+FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO.
+
+_New York_
+
+_Fourth Printing, 1969_
+_Printed in the United States of America_
+Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-10887
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PHILIP ENGLISH HOUSE.--VOL. II., 142.]
+
+[Illustration: Witch Hill. 1866.]
+
+
+
+
+PART THIRD.
+
+WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE.
+
+
+We 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.
+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
+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 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 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 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 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 referring 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 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 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 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 Ingersoll'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, 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.
+
+     "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 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 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 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 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. 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 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.
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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 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.
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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 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 aerial 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
+statements 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 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.
+
+     [Illustration: [signatures]]
+
+     "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 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, 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, L1. 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.
+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 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 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
+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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
+     observe 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 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 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.)
+
+     "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.
+
+     "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.)
+
+     "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 present,
+     we committed Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey, of Salem
+     Farms, unto the gaol in Salem, as _per mittimus_ then given
+     out."
+
+     [Illustration: [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 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 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 bewitched,
+&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."
+
+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.
+
+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 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 kinsmen, 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
+disturbances 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, 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 supposed 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: "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." 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 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 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,
+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 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 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 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 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."
+
+     [Illustration: [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. 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 afterwards 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.
+
+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 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, drawing 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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 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
+     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 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
+     representing 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
+     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
+     completed 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."
+
+[Illustration: _Eng'd at J. Andrews's by R. Babson._
+
+WILLIAM STOUGHTON.]
+
+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 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 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 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 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,
+     [Greek: Diabolos], 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 [Greek: Diaboloi], _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 uncomfortable 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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
+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
+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 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; 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.
+
+     "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 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.
+
+     "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 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 protection 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.
+
+     "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 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. 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, particularly 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 were agitated." In the margin is written,
+apparently some time afterwards, the interjection "_Vae!_" 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
+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, 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 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 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,
+     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 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.'
+
+     "'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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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."
+
+[Footnote A: The double negative, as often used, merely intensified
+the negation. See "Measure for Measure," act i. scene 1.]
+
+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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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."
+
+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 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 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 Rebecca 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
+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 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 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. 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
+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 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 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 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 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.
+
+     "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 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 personae_ 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 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 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 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 insane 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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:--
+
+     "_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."
+
+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 L58. 11_s._ 5_d._; that of Samuel to L21.
+The latter, being 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 prosecutions; 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 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
+     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 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 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 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
+     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 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 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, 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, 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 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 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 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, 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
+     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 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."
+
+     "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 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
+     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, 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 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 connected 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 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 evidence 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.
+
+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 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 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, Benjamin 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, 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 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 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
+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 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 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 unfavorable 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. 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.
+
+     "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. 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 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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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:--
+
+     "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 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."
+
+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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "_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 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
+     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 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 insurgent 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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 is
+as in 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: 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."[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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."]
+
+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 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 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 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 witchcraft, 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 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.
+     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 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 convulsion 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 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 juggling
+     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; 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."
+
+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 mariner. 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 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, produced 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 therefore 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 ascendency 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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,
+
+     [Illustration: [signature]]
+
+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 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
+neighborhood, 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 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
+     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, 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,--
+
+     "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 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.
+     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."
+
+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; 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: [death warrant]]
+
+[Illustration: [return on warrant]]
+
+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,
+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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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 appears, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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."
+
+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.
+
+     "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 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 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 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.
+
+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. 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 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 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 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 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 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." Burroughs 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
+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 concerned 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 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
+     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.
+
+     "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 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, 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 perhaps 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 astonish 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."
+
+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 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 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 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 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]."
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: [signatures]]
+
+[Illustration: [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. 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 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 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.
+
+     "_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 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: 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 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 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:--
+
+     "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, 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 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 following 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
+     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 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."
+
+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
+     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. 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 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
+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.
+
+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
+symptoms 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. 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 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 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 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 barbarous 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
+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 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 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:--
+
+     "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 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 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,--
+
+    "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.
+
+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, 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 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 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.
+
+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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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."]
+
+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 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, 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 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 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
+England, 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 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 their death);
+     further saith, that we did judge then that they both died of
+     a malignant fever, and had no suspicion of withcraft
+     [Transcriber's Note: so in original] 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 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 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, 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 expressed 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, 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 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 renew them during
+the next year in his own parish in Boston.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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 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 administrative 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 particularly 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 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 generous 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 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
+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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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, L3 per cow                           L15 00 0
+Eight loads of English hay taken out of the barn, 35_s._ per load   14  0 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 L1. 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 L2. 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.]
+
+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.
+
+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, 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, 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
+witchcraft 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 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 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 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 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 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
+Ingersoll, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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, 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."
+
+     "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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 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 one that
+     were dancing the hay.[A] 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."[B]
+
+[Footnote A: Love's Labour's Lost, act v., sc. 1.]
+
+[Footnote B: 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.]
+
+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 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 deliberate 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!
+
+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 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 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: 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 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 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 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
+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, 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 communications. 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 subject, 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 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 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 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 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 mediaeval 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 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 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 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 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 principle: 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 particular 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 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, 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!"
+
+
+
+
+SUPPLEMENT.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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 manoeuvring, 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.]
+
+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 profession, 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 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 justices, 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 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 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." 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 sensibility
+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, 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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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.]
+
+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.[A]
+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 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.
+
+[Footnote A: 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: aetat: 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.]
+
+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 dispersed 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 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 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.
+
+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 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 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 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 L67. 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,
+     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 L60. 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 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 (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 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 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 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 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 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 L578. 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      L150  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
+                           ----------
+                           L578 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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.
+
+     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 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 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 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 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 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 council 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 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 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.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: 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_."]
+
+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 requires
+     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."
+
+The arbitrators decided that the inhabitants should pay to Mr. Parris
+a certain amount for arrearages, and also the sum of L79. 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 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 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 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 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._'
+
+     "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 _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. 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 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._"
+
+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, 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
+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] [Illustration: [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 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 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!"
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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 spectral 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 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."
+
+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 piteous, 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 "Cyclopaedia,"
+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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+  I. LAWSON'S PREFATORY ADDRESS.
+ II. LAWSON'S BRIEF ACCOUNT.
+III. LETTER TO JONATHAN CORWIN.
+ IV. EXTRACTS FROM MR. PARRIS'S CHURCH RECORDS.
+
+
+
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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, 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 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
+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 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 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 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, 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.
+
+
+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 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 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?
+
+_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.
+
+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.
+
+_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, 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?
+
+
+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 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
+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 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 transgression, 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
+     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, 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 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II, by
+Charles Upham
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salem Witchcraft, Vol. II, by Charles W. Upham.
+    </title>
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+
+
+
+<h3>AMERICAN CLASSICS</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<h1>SALEM WITCHCRAFT</h1>
+
+<h3><i>With an Account of Salem Village<br />
+and<br />
+A History of Opinions on<br />
+Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects</i></h3>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<h2>CHARLES W. UPHAM</h2>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<h3><i>Volume II</i></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<h3><a href="salemcontents.html">CONTENTS</a></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p style="text-align: center">FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>New York</i></p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+[<b>Transcriber's Note:</b> Originally published 1867]</p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<i>Fourth Printing, 1969</i><br />
+<i>Printed in the United States of America</i><br />
+Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-10887</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="frontispiece">
+<img src="images2/image14.jpg" alt="The Philip English House" width="386" height="269" /></a></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>THE PHILIP ENGLISH HOUSE.&#8212;<span class="smcap">Vol.</span>
+II., <a href="#Page_ii.142">142</a>.</b></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.1" id="Page_ii.1">[ii.1]</a></span></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;<a name="witchhill"><img src="images2/image15.jpg" alt="Witch Hill. 1866." width="600" height="177" /></a></p>
+
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="PART_THIRD" id="PART_THIRD"></a>PART THIRD.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<h3>WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span><b> E</b> 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.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.2" id="Page_ii.2">[ii.2]</a></span>Deputy-governor Danforth had begun the work of arrests; and persons
+charged with witchcraft, belonging to neighboring towns, were already
+in prison.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;my negro lad,&quot; 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 &quot;John Indian;&quot; the latter was
+called &quot;Tituba.&quot; These two persons may have originated the &quot;Salem
+witchcraft.&quot; They are spoken of as having come from New Spain, as it
+was then called,&#8212;that is, the Spanish West Indies, and the adjacent
+mainlands of Central and South America,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.3" id="Page_ii.3">[ii.3]</a></span>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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 (<a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_225">vol. i. p.
+225</a>). 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.4" id="Page_ii.4">[ii.4]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.5" id="Page_ii.5">[ii.5]</a></span> 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 &quot;afflicted children,&quot; as they were called, some from contagious
+delusion, and some, as was quite well proved, from a false,
+mischievous, and malignant spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the above-mentioned persons, there were three married women,
+rather under middle life, who acted with the afflicted children,&#8212;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,&#8212;spoken of as &quot;ancient,&quot;&#8212;named Goodell, had also been
+in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.6" id="Page_ii.6">[ii.6]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted girls.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.7" id="Page_ii.7">[ii.7]</a></span> said
+to be &quot;under an evil hand.&quot; 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&#8212;Mr. Lawson&#8212;could come forward, Abigail Williams
+cried out, &quot;Now stand up, and name your text.&quot; When he had read it, in
+a loud and insolent voice she exclaimed, &quot;It's a long text.&quot; In the
+midst of the discourse, Mrs. Pope broke in, &quot;Now, there is enough of
+that.&quot; In the afternoon of the same day, while re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.8" id="Page_ii.8">[ii.8]</a></span>ferring to the
+doctrine he had been expounding in the preceding service, Abigail
+Williams rudely ejaculated, &quot;I know no doctrine you had. If you did
+name one, I have forgot it.&quot; 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, &quot;Look where she sits upon the beam, sucking her
+yellow-bird betwixt her fingers.&quot; Ann Putnam, joining in, exclaimed,
+&quot;There is a yellow-bird sitting on the minister's hat, as it hangs on
+the pin in the pulpit.&quot; Mr. Lawson remarks, with much simplicity, that
+these things, occurring &quot;in the time of public worship, did something
+interrupt me in my first prayer, being so unusual.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.9" id="Page_ii.9">[ii.9]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean while the excitement was worked up to the highest pitch.
+The families to which several of the &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.10" id="Page_ii.10">[ii.10]</a></span> on a broader scale than ever before in this or any other
+country.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;Who are the agents of the Devil in afflicting these
+girls? There must be some among us thus acting, and who are they?&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted
+children,&quot; the earnest and importunate inquiry, on all sides, &quot;Who is
+it that bewitches you?&quot; opened their lips in response, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.11" id="Page_ii.11">[ii.11]</a></span> they began
+to select and bring forward their victims. One after another, they
+cried out &quot;Good,&quot; &quot;Osburn,&quot; &quot;Tituba.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.12" id="Page_ii.12">[ii.12]</a></span>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 &quot;had made diligent search for images and
+such like, but could find none.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.13" id="Page_ii.13">[ii.13]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>The Examination of Sarah Good before the Worshipful Esqrs.
+John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sarah Good, what evil spirit have you familiarity
+with?&#8212;None.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you made no contracts with the Devil?&#8212;No.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you hurt these children?&#8212;I do not hurt them. I
+scorn it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who do you employ then to do it?&#8212;I employ nobody.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What creature do you employ then?&#8212;No creature: but I am
+falsely accused.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you go away muttering from Mr. Parris his house?&#8212;I
+did not mutter, but I thanked him for what he gave my child.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you made no contract with the Devil?&#8212;No.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.14" id="Page_ii.14">[ii.14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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?&#8212;I do not torment them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who do you employ then?&#8212;I employ nobody. I scorn it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How came they thus tormented?&#8212;What do I know? You bring
+others here, and now you charge me with it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, who was it?&#8212;I do not know but it was some you brought
+into the meeting-house with you.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We brought you into the meeting-house.&#8212;But you brought in
+two more.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who was it, then, that tormented the children?&#8212;It was
+Osburn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is it you say when you go muttering away from persons'
+houses?&#8212;If I must tell, I will tell.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do tell us then.&#8212;If I must tell, I will tell: it is the
+Commandments. I may say my Commandments, I hope.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What Commandment is it?&#8212;If I must tell you, I will tell:
+it is a psalm.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What psalm?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(After a long time she muttered over some part of a psalm.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who do you serve?&#8212;I serve God.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What God do you serve?&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.15" id="Page_ii.15">[ii.15]</a></span> 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.'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The foregoing is in the handwriting of Ezekiel Cheever. The following
+is in that of John Hathorne:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Salem Village, March the 1st, 1692.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.16" id="Page_ii.16">[ii.16]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the afflicted&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.17" id="Page_ii.17">[ii.17]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.18" id="Page_ii.18">[ii.18]</a></span> down to the present
+century. Emigrants who thus sold themselves for a period of years were
+called &quot;redemptioners.&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.19" id="Page_ii.19">[ii.19]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.20" id="Page_ii.20">[ii.20]</a></span> for the accusing girls to pitch
+upon. The following is an account of her examination by the
+magistrates, in the handwriting of John Hathorne:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The following is in the handwriting of Ezekiel Cheever:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>Sarah Osburn her Examination.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;What evil spirit have you familiarity with?&#8212;None.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you made no contract with the Devil?&#8212;No: I never saw
+the Devil in my life.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you hurt these children?&#8212;I do not hurt them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.21" id="Page_ii.21">[ii.21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who do you employ, then, to hurt them?&#8212;I employ nobody.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What familiarity have you with Sarah Good?&#8212;None: I have
+not seen her these two years.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where did you see her then?&#8212;One day, agoing to town.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What communications had you with her?&#8212;I had none, only
+'How do you do?' or so. I do not know her by name.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did you call her, then?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Osburn made a stand at that; at last, said she called her
+Sarah.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sarah Good saith that it was you that hurt the children.&#8212;I
+do not know that the Devil goes about in my likeness to do
+any hurt.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you never see any thing else?&#8212;No.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(It was said by some in the meeting-house, that she had
+said that she would never believe that lying spirit any
+more.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What lying spirit is this? Hath the Devil ever deceived
+you, and been false to you?&#8212;I do not know the Devil. I
+never did see him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.22" id="Page_ii.22">[ii.22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;What lying spirit was it, then?&#8212;It was a voice that I
+thought I heard.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did it propound to you?&#8212;That I should go no more to
+meeting; but I said I would, and did go the next
+sabbath-day.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Were you never tempted further?&#8212;No.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you yield thus far to the Devil as never to go to
+meeting since?&#8212;Alas! I have been sick, and not able to go.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Her husband and others said that she had not been at
+meeting three years and two months.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;then it must be
+Osburn,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.23" id="Page_ii.23">[ii.23]</a></span> 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,&#8212;not having a clear idea which,&#8212;her
+answers, as reported by the prosecutors, show that her broken and
+disordered mind was essentially truthful and innocent.</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Osburn was removed from the meeting-house, and Tituba brought in
+and examined, as follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Tituba, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?&#8212;None.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you hurt these children?&#8212;I do not hurt them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is it then?&#8212;The Devil, for aught I know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you never see the Devil?&#8212;The Devil came to me, and bid
+me serve him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who have you seen?&#8212;Four women sometimes hurt the children.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who were they?&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She further saith there was a tall man of Boston that she
+did see.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When did you see them?&#8212;Last night, at Boston.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did they say to you?&#8212;They said, 'Hurt the children.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And did you hurt them?&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.24" id="Page_ii.24">[ii.24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;But did you not hurt them?&#8212;Yes; but I will hurt them no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you not sorry that you did hurt them?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And why, then, do you hurt them?&#8212;They say, 'Hurt children,
+or we will do worse to you.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What have you seen?&#8212;A man come to me, and say, 'Serve me.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What service?&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is this appearance you see?&#8212;Sometimes it is like a
+hog, and sometimes like a great dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(This appearance she saith she did see four times.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did it say to you?&#8212;The black dog said, 'Serve me;'
+but I said, 'I am afraid.' He said, if I did not, he would
+do worse to me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did you say to it?&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What were these pretty things?&#8212;He did not show me them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What else have you seen?&#8212;Two cats; a red cat, and a black
+cat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did they say to you?&#8212;They said, 'Serve me.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When did you see them?&#8212;Last night; and they said, 'Serve
+me;' but I said I would not.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What service?&#8212;She said, hurt the children.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.25" id="Page_ii.25">[ii.25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not pinch Elizabeth Hubbard this morning?&#8212;The man
+brought her to me, and made pinch her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you go to Thomas Putnam's last night, and hurt his
+child?&#8212;They pull and haul me, and make go.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And what would they have you do?&#8212;Kill her with a knife.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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,&#8212;that they would have her cut her
+head off with a knife.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did you go?&#8212;We ride upon sticks, and are there
+presently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you go through the trees or over them?&#8212;We see nothing,
+but are there presently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you not tell your master?&#8212;I was afraid: they said
+they would cut off my head if I told.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Would you not have hurt others, if you could?&#8212;They said
+they would hurt others, but they could not.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What attendants hath Sarah Good?&#8212;A yellow-bird, and she
+would have given me one.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What meat did she give it?&#8212;It did suck her between her
+fingers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not hurt Mr. Curren's child?&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What hath Sarah Osburn?&#8212;Yesterday she had a thing with a
+head like a woman, with two legs and wings.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What else have you seen with Osburn?&#8212;Another thing, hairy:
+it goes upright like a man, it hath only two legs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.26" id="Page_ii.26">[ii.26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not see Sarah Good upon Elizabeth Hubbard, last
+Saturday?&#8212;I did see her set a wolf upon her to afflict her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What clothes doth the man go in?&#8212;He goes in black clothes;
+a tall man, with white hair, I think.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How doth the woman go?&#8212;In a white hood, and a black hood
+with a top-knot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you see who it is that torments these children
+now?&#8212;Yes: it is Goody Good; she hurts them in her own
+shape.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is it that hurts them now?&#8212;I am blind now: I cannot
+see.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;Written by <span class="smcap">Ezekiel Cheever</span>.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Salem Village</span>, March the 1st, 1692.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Witchcraft Delusion in New England.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.27" id="Page_ii.27">[ii.27]</a></span> serve to bring back
+the life of the past. Tituba describes the dresses of some of the
+witches: &quot;A black silk hood, with a white silk hood under it, with
+top-knots.&quot; One of them wore &quot;a serge coat, with a white cap.&quot; The
+Devil appeared &quot;in black clothes sometimes, sometimes serge coat of
+other color.&quot; She speaks of the &quot;lean-to chamber&quot; in the parsonage,
+and describes an a&#235;rial night ride &quot;up&quot; to Thomas Putnam's. &quot;How did
+you go? What did you ride upon?&quot; asked the wondering magistrate. &quot;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.&quot; 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. &quot;The thing with two
+legs and wings, and a face like a woman,&quot; &quot;turns&quot; into a full woman.
+The &quot;hairy thing&quot; becomes &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.28" id="Page_ii.28">[ii.28]</a></span>ments show the materials out of which their ridiculous and
+monstrous stories were constructed. She said that there were four who
+&quot;hurt the children.&quot; Upon being pressed by the magistrate to tell who
+they were, she named Osburn and Good, but did &quot;not know who the others
+were.&quot; 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 &quot;pinched&quot; that morning; and, as well as
+&quot;Lieutenant Fuller and others,&quot; had heard of the delirious exclamation
+of Thomas Putnam's sick child during the night. &quot;Abigail Williams,
+that lives with her uncle Parris,&quot; had communicated to the Indian
+slave the story of &quot;the woman with two legs and wings.&quot; 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, &quot;I am blind now: I cannot see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Proceedings connected with these examinations were continued several
+days. The result appears, in the handwriting of John Hathorne, as
+follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Salem Village, March 1, 1691/2.&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.29" id="Page_ii.29">[ii.29]</a></span> Putnam, &amp;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Salem Village, March the 1st, 1691/2.&#8212;Sarah Good, Sarah
+Osburn, and Tituba, an Indian woman, all of Salem Village,
+being this day brought before us, upon suspicion of
+witchcraft, &amp;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 <i>per mittimus</i> sent to the jails
+in the county of Essex.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Salem, March 2.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Salem, March 3.&#8212;Sarah Osburn, and Tituba, Indian, again
+examined. The examination now given in. Tituba again said
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Salem, March 5.&#8212;Sarah Good and Tituba again examined; and,
+in their examination, Tituba acknowledged the same she did
+formerly, and accused the other two above said.</p></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images2/image16.png" width="300" height="85" alt="signatures" /></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.30" id="Page_ii.30">[ii.30]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Salem, March the 7th, 1691/2.&#8212;Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn,
+and Tituba, an Indian woman, all sent to the jail in Boston,
+according to their <i>mittimuses</i>, then sent to their
+Majesties' jail-keeper.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;leaped off her horse three times;&quot; that she &quot;railed against the
+magistrates, and endeavored to kill herself.&quot; He further testified,
+that, at the very time she was performing these feats, Thomas Putnam's
+daughter, &quot;at her father's house, declared the same.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Osburn and Good steadily maintained their innocence. Tituba all along
+declared herself guilty, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.31" id="Page_ii.31">[ii.31]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Sam: Parris</span>, aged about thirty
+and nine years.&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.32" id="Page_ii.32">[ii.32]</a></span> subside as soon as
+she begins to confess. Immediately after commencing her confession,
+and as she proceeds in it, she herself becomes tormented &quot;in the face
+of authority,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>All we know of Sarah Osburn beyond this date are the following items
+in the Boston jailer's bill &quot;against the country,&quot; dated May 29, 1692:
+&quot;To chains for Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn, 14 shillings:&quot; &quot;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, &#163;1. 3<i>s.</i> 5<i>d.</i>&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The only further information we have of Tituba is from Calef, who
+says, &quot;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 &quot;sold for her
+fees.&quot; The jailer's charge for her &quot;diet in prison for a year and a
+month&quot; appears in a shape that corroborates Calef's statements, which
+were prepared for publication in 1697, and printed in London in 1700.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.33" id="Page_ii.33">[ii.33]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;evil hand.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.34" id="Page_ii.34">[ii.34]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.35" id="Page_ii.35">[ii.35]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.36" id="Page_ii.36">[ii.36]</a></span>
+evil-disposed persons,&#8212;who, like him, were permitted to interpose
+with charges or abusive expressions,&#8212;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 &quot;afflicted
+children&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.37" id="Page_ii.37">[ii.37]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.38" id="Page_ii.38">[ii.38]</a></span> has been given, in the
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First Part</a>, of the notoriety which
+circumstances had attached to Giles Corey. In 1691 he became a member
+of the church, being then (<a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_182">Vol. I. p. 182</a>) 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.</p>
+
+<p>When the proceedings relating to witchcraft began, she did not approve
+of them, and expressed her want of faith in the &quot;afflicted children.&quot;
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.39" id="Page_ii.39">[ii.39]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.40" id="Page_ii.40">[ii.40]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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; &quot;she being
+in church covenant with us.&quot; They mounted their horses about &quot;the
+middle of the afternoon,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.41" id="Page_ii.41">[ii.41]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>They found her alone in her house. As soon as they commenced
+conversation, &quot;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.'&quot; 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
+&quot;she did not think that there were any witches.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>The two brethren returned forthwith to Thomas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.42" id="Page_ii.42">[ii.42]</a></span> 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&#8212;her sagacity
+suggesting the risk she was running in the matter of Corey's
+dress&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.43" id="Page_ii.43">[ii.43]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>The Examination of Martha Corey.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. <span class="smcap">Hathorne</span>: You are now in the hands of
+authority. Tell me, now, why you hurt these persons.&#8212;I do
+not.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who doth?&#8212;Pray, give me leave to go to prayer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(This request was made sundry times.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We do not send for you to go to prayer; but tell me why you
+hurt these.&#8212;I am an innocent person. I never had to do with
+witchcraft since I was born. I am a gospel woman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not you see these complain of you?&#8212;The Lord open the
+eyes of the magistrates and ministers: the Lord show his
+power to discover the guilty.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us who hurts these children.&#8212;I do not know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you be guilty of this fact, do you think you can hide
+it?&#8212;The Lord knows.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, tell us what you know of this matter.&#8212;Why, I am a
+gospel woman; and do you think I can have to do with
+witchcraft too?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How could you tell, then, that the child was bid to
+ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.44" id="Page_ii.44">[ii.44]</a></span>serve what clothes you wore, when some came to speak with
+you?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Cheever interrupted her, and bid her not begin with a lie;
+and so Edward Putnam declared the matter.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. <span class="smcap">Hathorne</span>: Who told you that?&#8212;He said the
+child said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Cheever</span>: You speak falsely.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then Edward Putnam read again.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr. <span class="smcap">Hathorne</span>: Why did you ask if the child told
+what clothes you wore?&#8212;My husband told me the others told.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who told you about the clothes? Why did you ask that
+question?&#8212;Because I heard the children told what clothes
+the others wore.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Goodman Corey, did you tell her?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(The old man denied that he told her so.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not say your husband told you so?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(No answer.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who hurts these children? Now look upon them.&#8212;I cannot
+help it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not say you would tell the truth why you asked that
+question? how came you to the knowledge?&#8212;I did but ask.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&#8212;Nobody.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How came you to know that the children would be examined
+what clothes you wore?&#8212;Because I thought the child was
+wiser than anybody if she knew.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give an answer: you said your husband told you.&#8212;He told me
+the children said I afflicted them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How do you know what they came for? Answer me this truly:
+will you say how you came to know what they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.45" id="Page_ii.45">[ii.45]</a></span> came for?&#8212;I
+had heard speech that the children said I troubled them, and
+I thought that they might come to examine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But how did you know it?&#8212;I thought they did.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did not you say you would tell the truth? who told you what
+they came for?&#8212;Nobody.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did you know?&#8212;I did think so.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you said you knew so.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(<span class="smcap">Children</span>: There is a man whispering in her ear.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Hathorne</span> continued: What did he say to you?&#8212;We
+must not believe all that these distracted children say.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Cannot you tell what that man whispered?&#8212;I saw nobody.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But did not you hear?&#8212;No.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Here was extreme agony of all the afflicted.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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?&#8212;A true thing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Look for it, then, in God's way.&#8212;So I do.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give glory to God and confess, then.&#8212;But I cannot confess.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not you see how these afflicted do charge you?&#8212;We must
+not believe distracted persons.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who do you improve to hurt them?&#8212;I improved none.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did not you say our eyes were blinded, you would open
+them?&#8212;Yes, to accuse the innocent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then Crosby gave in evidence.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why cannot the girl stand before you?&#8212;I do not know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did you mean by that?&#8212;I saw them fall down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It seems to be an insulting speech, as if they could not
+stand before you.&#8212;They cannot stand before others.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you said they cannot stand before you. Tell me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.46" id="Page_ii.46">[ii.46]</a></span> what
+was that turning upon the spit by you?&#8212;You believe the
+children that are distracted. I saw no spit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here are more than two that accuse you for witchcraft. What
+do you say?&#8212;I am innocent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then Mr. Hathorne read further of Crosby's evidence.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did you mean by that,&#8212;the Devil could not stand
+before you?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She denied it. Three or four sober witnesses confirmed
+it.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What can I do? Many rise up against me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, confess.&#8212;So I would, if I were guilty.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here are sober persons. What do you say to them? You are a
+gospel woman; will you lie?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Abigail cried out, 'Next sabbath is sacrament-day; but she
+shall not come there.')</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do not care.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&#8212;When all
+are against me, what can I help it?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now tell me the truth, will you? Why did you say that the
+magistrates' and ministers' eyes were blinded, you would
+open them?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She laughed, and denied it.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now tell us how we shall know who doth hurt these, if you
+do not?&#8212;Can an innocent person be guilty?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you deny these words?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us who hurts these. We came to be a terror to
+evil-doers. You say you would open our eyes, we are
+blind.&#8212;If you say I am a witch.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You said you would show us.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She denied it.)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.47" id="Page_ii.47">[ii.47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you not now show us?&#8212;I cannot tell: I do not know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did you strike the maid at Mr. Tho. Putnam's with?&#8212;I
+never struck her in my life.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There are two that saw you strike her with an iron rod.&#8212;I
+had no hand in it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who had? Do you believe these children are bewitched?&#8212;They
+may, for aught I know: I have no hand in it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You say you are no witch. Maybe you mean you never
+covenanted with the Devil. Did you never deal with any
+familiar?&#8212;No, never.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What bird was that the children spoke of?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then witnesses spoke: What bird was it?)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know no bird.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It may be you have engaged you will not confess; but God
+knows.&#8212;So he doth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you believe you shall go unpunished?&#8212;I have nothing to
+do with witchcraft.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why was you not willing your husband should come to the
+former session here?&#8212;But he came, for all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did not you take the saddle off?&#8212;I did not know what it
+was for.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not know what it was for?&#8212;I did not know that it
+would be to any benefit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Somebody said that she would not have them help to find
+out witches.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you not say you would open our eyes? Why do you not?&#8212;I
+never thought of a witch.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it a laughing matter to see these afflicted persons?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She denied it. Several prove it.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye are all against me, and I cannot help it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.48" id="Page_ii.48">[ii.48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not you believe there are witches in the country?&#8212;I do
+not know that there is any.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not you know that Tituba confessed it?&#8212;I did not hear
+her speak.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I find you will own nothing without several witnesses, and
+yet you will deny for all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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?)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Mr. <span class="smcap">Noyes</span>: I believe it is apparent she
+practiseth witchcraft in the congregation: there is no need
+of images.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you say to all these things that are apparent?&#8212;If
+you will all go hang me, how can I help it?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Were you to serve the Devil ten years? Tell how many.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do not you tell how the Devil comes in your shape, and
+hurts these? You said you would.&#8212;How can I know how?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you say you would show us?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She laughed again.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What book is that you would have these children write
+in?&#8212;What book? Where should I have a book? I showed them
+none, nor have none, nor brought none.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(The afflicted cried out there was a man whispering in her
+ears.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What book did you carry to Mary Walcot?&#8212;I carried none. If
+the Devil appears in my shape&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then Needham said that Parker, some time ago, thought this
+woman was a witch.)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.49" id="Page_ii.49">[ii.49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is your God?&#8212;The God that made me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is his name?&#8212;Jehovah.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know any other name?&#8212;God Almighty.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Doth <i>he</i> tell you, that you pray to, that <i>he</i> is God
+Almighty?&#8212;Who do I worship but the God that made [me]?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How many gods are there?&#8212;One.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How many persons?&#8212;Three.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Cannot you say, So there is one God in three blessed
+persons?</p>
+
+<p>[The answer is destroyed, being written in the fold of the
+paper, and wholly worn off.]</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not you see these children and women are rational and
+sober as their neighbors, when your hands are fastened?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Quickly after, the marshal said, 'She hath bit her lip;'
+and immediately the afflicted were in an uproar.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;[Tell] why you hurt these, or who doth?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She denieth any hand in it.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why did you say, if you were a witch, you should have no
+pardon?&#8212;Because I am a &#8212;&#8212; woman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Salem Village, March the 21st, 1692.&#8212;The Reverend Mr.
+Samuel Parris, being desired to take, in writing, the
+examination of Martha Corey, hath returned it, as aforesaid.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Upon hearing the aforesaid, and seeing what we did then
+see, together with the charges of the persons then pres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.50" id="Page_ii.50">[ii.50]</a></span>ent,
+we committed Martha Corey, the wife of Giles Corey, of Salem
+Farms, unto the gaol in Salem, as <i>per mittimus</i> then given
+out.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images2/image17.png" alt="signatures" width="300" height="82" /></p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;that the magistrates' and
+ministers' eyes were blinded, and that she would open them.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.51" id="Page_ii.51">[ii.51]</a></span> 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. &quot;If you will all go hang me, how can I help it?&quot; &quot;Ye are
+all against me.&quot; &quot;What can I do, when many rise up against me?&quot; &quot;When
+all are against me, what can I [say to] help it?&quot; 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 &quot;sundry times,&quot; to &quot;go to
+prayer,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.52" id="Page_ii.52">[ii.52]</a></span> 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, &quot;I am a
+gospel woman.&quot; The writing, at this point, is very clear and distinct;
+and a vacant space is left, just as it is given above.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.53" id="Page_ii.53">[ii.53]</a></span>witched,
+&amp;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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My wife did perceive it, and came towards me, and said she
+was coming to me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;After this, in a little space, I did, according to my
+measure, attend the duty.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>At the examination of Sarah</i> Good and others, my wife was
+willing</p>
+
+<p>&quot;March 24, 1692.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.54" id="Page_ii.54">[ii.54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;uttering his desires,&quot; and experienced
+occasionally some difficulty in arranging and expressing his
+devotional sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.55" id="Page_ii.55">[ii.55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered, that, when Tituba was put through her
+examination, she said &quot;four women sometimes hurt the children.&quot; She
+named Good and Osburn, but pretended to have been blinded as to the
+others. Martha Corey was, in due time, as we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.56" id="Page_ii.56">[ii.56]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Topsfield men,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.57" id="Page_ii.57">[ii.57]</a></span>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 &quot;cried out&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted
+children&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.58" id="Page_ii.58">[ii.58]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.59" id="Page_ii.59">[ii.59]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Israel Porter</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Porter</span>.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To the substance of what is above, we, if called thereto,
+are ready to testify on oath.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Daniel Andrew</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Peter Cloyse</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.60" id="Page_ii.60">[ii.60]</a></span>posed that the sufferings of the
+children were real, and that they were afflicted by an &quot;evil hand.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Joseph and Sarah, children of Sister Towne.&quot;
+Sarah was at that time seven years of age. She became the wife of
+Edmund Bridges, and afterwards of Peter Cloyse.</p>
+
+<p>On the 23d of March, a warrant was issued, on complaint of Edward
+Putnam, and Jonathan, son of John Putnam, for the arrest of &quot;Rebecca,
+wife of Francis Nurse;&quot; 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 &quot;certain detestable
+arts called witchcraft&quot; 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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.61" id="Page_ii.61">[ii.61]</a></span> &quot;What do you say? Have you seen this
+woman hurt you?&quot; The answer was, &quot;Yes, she beat me this morning.&quot;
+Hathorne, addressing another of the afflicted, said, &quot;Abigail, have
+you been hurt by this woman?&quot; Abigail answered, &quot;Yes.&quot; 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, &quot;Goody Nurse,
+here are two, Ann Putnam the child, and Abigail Williams, complain of
+your hurting them. What do you say to it?&quot; The prisoner replied, &quot;I
+can say, before my eternal Father, I am innocent, and God will clear
+my innocency.&quot; Hathorne, apparently touched for the moment by her
+language and bearing, said, &quot;Here is never a one in the assembly but
+desires it; but, if you be guilty, pray God discover you.&quot; Henry
+Kenney rose up from the body of the assembly to speak. Hathorne
+permitted the interruption, and said, &quot;Goodman Kenney, what do you
+say?&quot; Then Kenney complained of the prisoner, &quot;and further said, since
+this Nurse came into the house, he was seized twice with an amazed
+condition.&quot; Hathorne, addressing the prisoner, said, &quot;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.&quot; The prisoner again affirmed her innocence, and said, in
+answer to the charge of having hurt these persons, that &quot;she had not
+been able to get out of doors these eight or nine days.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.62" id="Page_ii.62">[ii.62]</a></span> Hathorne
+then called upon Edward Putnam, who, as the record says, &quot;gave in his
+relate,&quot; 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, &quot;Is this true, Goody Nurse?&quot; She
+denied that she had ever hurt them or any one else in her life.
+Hathorne repeated, &quot;You see these accuse you: is it true?&quot; She
+answered, &quot;No.&quot; He again put the question, &quot;Are you an innocent person
+relating to this witchcraft?&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Here Thomas Putnam's wife cried out, &quot;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?&quot; 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, &quot;O Lord, help me!&quot; Instantly,
+the whole company of the afflicted children &quot;were grievously vexed.&quot;
+After a while, the tumult subsided, and Hathorne again addressed her,
+&quot;Do you not see what a solemn condition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.63" id="Page_ii.63">[ii.63]</a></span> these are in? When your hands
+are loosed, the persons are afflicted.&quot; Then Mary Walcot and Elizabeth
+Hubbard came forward, and accused her. Hathorne again addressed her,
+&quot;Here are these two grown persons now accuse. What say you? Do not you
+see these afflicted persons, and hear them accuse you?&quot; She answered,
+&quot;The Lord knows I have not hurt them. I am an innocent person.&quot;
+Hathorne continued, &quot;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.&quot; She answered, &quot;You do not know my heart.&quot; Hathorne,
+&quot;You would do well, if you are guilty, to confess, and give glory to
+God.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I am as clear as the child unborn.&quot; Hathorne continued, &quot;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,&#8212;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?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I have none, sir.&quot;&#8212;&quot;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?&quot;&#8212;&quot;No:
+I have none but with God alone.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.64" id="Page_ii.64">[ii.64]</a></span> 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, &quot;How came you sick? for there is an odd
+discourse of that in the mouths of many.&quot; She replied that she
+suffered from weakness of stomach. He inquired, more specifically,
+&quot;Have you no wounds?&quot; 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. &quot;I have none but old
+age.&quot;&#8212;&quot;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,&#8212;a black man whispering in your ear, and birds about
+you,&#8212;what do you say to it?&quot;&#8212;&quot;It is all false: I am
+clear.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Possibly, you may apprehend you are no witch; but have you
+not been led aside by temptations that way?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I have not.&quot; 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, &quot;What a sad
+thing is it, that a church-member here, and now another of Salem,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.65" id="Page_ii.65">[ii.65]</a></span>
+should thus be accused and charged!&quot; Upon hearing this rather
+ambiguous expression of the magistrate, Mrs. Pope fell into a grievous
+fit.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Pope was the wife of Joseph Pope, living with his mother, the
+widow Gertrude Pope, on the farm shown on the <a href="salem1-htm.html#map">map</a>. She had followed up
+the meetings of the circle, been a constant witness of the sufferings
+of the &quot;afflicted children,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.66" id="Page_ii.66">[ii.66]</a></span> the scene can hardly be imagined, certainly it cannot be described
+in words.</p>
+
+<p>Quiet being restored, Hathorne proceeded: &quot;Tell us, have you not had
+visible appearances, more than what is common in nature?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I have
+none, nor never had in my life.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Do you think these suffer voluntary
+or involuntary?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I cannot tell.&quot;&#8212;&quot;That is strange: every one can
+judge.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I must be silent.&quot;&#8212;&quot;They accuse you of hurting them; and,
+if you think it is not unwillingly, but by design, you must look upon
+them as murderers.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I cannot tell what to think of it.&quot; 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, &quot;Do you think these suffer against their
+wills or not?&quot; She answered, &quot;I do not think these suffer against
+their wills.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Then another line of criminating questions was started by the
+magistrate: &quot;Why did you never visit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.67" id="Page_ii.67">[ii.67]</a></span> these afflicted
+persons?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Because I was afraid I should have fits too.&quot; On every
+motion of her body, &quot;fits followed upon the complainants, abundantly
+and very frequently.&quot; As soon as order was again restored, Hathorne,
+being, as he always was, wholly convinced of the reality of the
+sufferings of the &quot;afflicted children,&quot; addressed her thus, &quot;Is it not
+an unaccountable case, that, when you are examined, these persons are
+afflicted?&quot; Seeing that he and the whole assembly put faith in the
+accusers, her only reply was, &quot;I have got nobody to look to but God.&quot;
+As she uttered these words, she naturally attempted to raise her
+hands, whereupon &quot;the afflicted persons were seized with violent fits
+of torture.&quot; After silence was again restored, the magistrate pressed
+his questions still closer. &quot;Do you believe these afflicted persons
+are bewitched?&quot; She answered, &quot;I do think they are.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; as the ravings of &quot;distracted persons.&quot; 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, &quot;When this
+witchcraft came upon the stage, there was no suspicion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.68" id="Page_ii.68">[ii.68]</a></span> of Tituba, Mr.
+Parris's Indian woman. She professed much love to that child,&#8212;Betty
+Parris; but it was her apparition did the mischief: and why should not
+you also be guilty, for your apparition doth hurt also?&quot; Her answer
+was, &quot;Would you have me belie myself?&quot; 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,
+&quot;Set up Goody Nurse's head, the maid's neck will be broke.&quot; Whereupon,
+some persons held the prisoner's head up, and &quot;Aaron Way observed that
+Betty Hubbard's was immediately righted.&quot; To consummate the effect of
+the whole proceeding, Mr. Parris, by direction of the magistrates,
+&quot;read what he had in characters taken from Mr. Thomas Putnam's wife in
+her fits.&quot; 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, &quot;What do you think of this?&quot; Her reply was, &quot;I
+cannot help it: the Devil may appear in my shape.&quot; It may be
+mentioned, that Mrs. Ann Putnam was present during this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.69" id="Page_ii.69">[ii.69]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Salem Village, March 24th, 1691/2.&#8212;The Reverend Mr. Samuel
+Parris, being desired to take in writing the examination of
+Rebecca Nurse, hath returned it as aforesaid.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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 <i>per
+mittimus</i> then given out, in order to further examination.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images2/image18.png" alt="signatures" width="300" height="88" /></p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.70" id="Page_ii.70">[ii.70]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>In concluding his report of this examination, Mr. Parris says, &quot;By
+reason of great noises by the afflicted and many speakers, many things
+are pretermitted.&quot; 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 &quot;pleaded her innocency with earnestness;&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.71" id="Page_ii.71">[ii.71]</a></span> it upon Rebecca Nurse. The marks
+of teeth were produced on her wrist. Lawson says, &quot;It was so disposed
+that I had not leisure to attend the whole time of examination.&quot; 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.
+&quot;There was once,&quot; he says, &quot;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.&quot; The whole
+congregation was in an uproar, every one afflicted by and affrighting
+every other, amid a universal outcry of terror and horror.</p>
+
+<p>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,
+&quot;The child looked hale and well as other children.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.72" id="Page_ii.72">[ii.72]</a></span> 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 &quot;he had taken the body of Dorcas Good,&quot; 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, <i>per mittimus</i>, 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, &quot;the country&quot; was charged with ten shillings
+for &quot;two blankets for Sarah Good's child.&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.73" id="Page_ii.73">[ii.73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.74" id="Page_ii.74">[ii.74]</a></span> 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, &quot;on purpose to see his wife.&quot; He &quot;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.&quot; 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, &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.75" id="Page_ii.75">[ii.75]</a></span>wards sat down.&quot; 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 &quot;near half an hour.&quot; 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. &quot;It is,&quot; she said, &quot;the third
+chapter of the Revelation.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I did,&quot; says Lawson, &quot;something scruple
+the reading it.&quot; 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. &quot;Before I had near read through the first
+verse, she opened her eyes, and was well.&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.76" id="Page_ii.76">[ii.76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.77" id="Page_ii.77">[ii.77]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The text is Zechariah, iii. 2: &quot;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?&quot; After an allusion
+to the rebellion of Satan, and his fall from heaven with his &quot;accursed
+legions,&quot; and after representing them as filled &quot;with envy and malice
+against all mankind,&quot; seeking &quot;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,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.78" id="Page_ii.78">[ii.78]</a></span>ing aptly and abundantly from the Scriptures, and,
+at the right points, rising to high strains of eloquence in diction
+and imagery.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.79" id="Page_ii.79">[ii.79]</a></span> 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, &amp;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The following is a specimen of the style in which he stirred up the
+people:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.80" id="Page_ii.80">[ii.80]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.81" id="Page_ii.81">[ii.81]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.82" id="Page_ii.82">[ii.82]</a></span> 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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.83" id="Page_ii.83">[ii.83]</a></span>
+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, &quot;Audax omnia perpeti. Gens
+humana ruit per vetitum nefas:&quot; 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,&#8212;are engaged against you. Therefore <span class="smcap">know
+ye</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.84" id="Page_ii.84">[ii.84]</a></span> 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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.85" id="Page_ii.85">[ii.85]</a></span>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: <span class="smcap">Arm, arm, arm</span>!
+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).</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What therefore I say unto one I say unto all, in this
+important case, <span class="smcap">Pray, pray, pray</span>.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To our honored magistrates, here present this day, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.86" id="Page_ii.86">[ii.86]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.87" id="Page_ii.87">[ii.87]</a></span>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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="stoughton">
+<img src="images2/image19.jpg" alt="William Stoughton" width="294" height="400" /></a>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>WILLIAM STOUGHTON.<br />
+</b><i>Eng.<sup>d</sup> at J. Andrews's by R. Babson</i></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.88" id="Page_ii.88">[ii.88]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.89" id="Page_ii.89">[ii.89]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;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,&quot; with a preface, addressed
+to all his &quot;Christian friends and acquaintance, the inhabitants of
+Salem Village.&quot; It was republished in London in 1704, under the
+immediate direction of its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.90" id="Page_ii.90">[ii.90]</a></span> author. The subject is described as
+&quot;Christ's Fidelity, the only Shield against Satan's Malignity;&quot; 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 <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.91" id="Page_ii.91">[ii.91]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,
+<span lang="el" title="Greek: Diabolos">&#916;&#953;&#945;&#946;&#959;&#955;&#959;&#962;</span>, 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 <span lang="el" title="Greek: Diaboloi">&#916;&#953;&#945;&#946;&#959;&#955;&#959;&#953;</span>, <i>calumniatores</i> (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,&#8212;viz., the relations of the afflicted
+and relations of the accused,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.92" id="Page_ii.92">[ii.92]</a></span>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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>This artifice of statement, speciously covered,&#8212;while it outrages
+every sentiment of natural justice, and breaks every bond of social
+responsibility,&#8212;is found, upon close inspection, to be a shocking
+imputation against the divine administration. It represents the Deity,
+under the phrases &quot;sovereign efficient&quot; and &quot;supremely permitting&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>The next Sunday&#8212;March 27&#8212;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&#8212;a part not in the programme&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.93" id="Page_ii.93">[ii.93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>The character and spirit of Mr. Parris's sermon are indicated in a
+prefatory note in the manuscript, &quot;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.&quot; The running<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.94" id="Page_ii.94">[ii.94]</a></span> title is, &quot;Christ
+knows how many devils there are in his church, and who they are;&quot; and
+the text is John vi. 70, 71, &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.95" id="Page_ii.95">[ii.95]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.96" id="Page_ii.96">[ii.96]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&#8212;The brethren voted
+generally, or universally: none made any exceptions.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sister Sibley, if you are convinced that you herein did
+sinfully, and are sorry for it, let us hear it from your own
+mouth.&#8212;She did manifest to satisfaction her error and grief
+for it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brethren, if herein you have received satisfaction, testify
+it by lifting up your hands.&#8212;A general vote passed; no
+exception made.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Note.</span>&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.97" id="Page_ii.97">[ii.97]</a></span>
+church; and said Sister Sibley assented to the same with
+tears and sorrowful confession.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.98" id="Page_ii.98">[ii.98]</a></span> 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 &quot;rashly,&quot; without
+&quot;advisedness&quot; from the right quarter, under the lead of &quot;ignorant
+persons;&quot; 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
+&quot;advisedness,&quot; 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 &quot;John Indian,&quot; it is not
+likely that any one else ever ventured to intermeddle with the
+&quot;afflicted,&quot; or have any connection, except as outside spectators,
+with the marvellous phenomena of &quot;diabolical operations.&quot; It will be
+noticed, that, while Mr. Parris thus waved the sword of disciplinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.99" id="Page_ii.99">[ii.99]</a></span>
+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 &quot;amazing feats&quot; practised
+by diabolical power in their midst, and enforces in the strongest
+language the then prevalent views and pending proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.100" id="Page_ii.100">[ii.100]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;for themselves and several of their
+neighbors,&quot; exhibited to the assistants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.101" id="Page_ii.101">[ii.101]</a></span> residing there, John Hathorne
+and Jonathan Corwin, complaints against &quot;Sarah Cloyse, the wife of
+Peter Cloyse of Salem Village, and Elizabeth Procter of Salem Farms,
+for high suspicion of sundry acts of witchcraft.&quot; 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 &quot;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.&quot; 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 &quot;a council&quot;! The record says,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Salem, April 11, 1692.&#8212;At a Council held at Salem, and
+present Thomas Danforth, Esq., deputy-governor;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.102" id="Page_ii.102">[ii.102]</a></span> James
+Russell, John Hathorne, Isaac Addington, Major Samuel
+Appleton, Captain Samuel Sewall, Jonathan Corwin, Esquires.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Russell was of Charlestown, Addington and Sewall of Boston, and
+Appleton of Ipswich. Mr. Parris, &quot;being desired and appointed to write
+the examination, did take the same, and also read it before the
+council in public.&quot; This document has not come down to us; but
+Hutchinson had access to it, and the substance of it is preserved in
+his &quot;History of Massachusetts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The marshal (Herrick) brought in Sarah Cloyse and Elizabeth Procter,
+and delivered them &quot;before the honorable council:&quot; and the examination
+was begun.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;John, who hurt you?&#8212;Goody Procter first, and then Goody
+Cloyse.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did she do to you?&#8212;She brought the book to me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John, tell the truth: who hurts you? Have you been
+hurt?&#8212;The first was a gentlewoman I saw.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who next?&#8212;Goody Cloyse.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But who hurt you next?&#8212;Goody Procter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did she do to you?&#8212;She choked me, and brought the
+book.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How oft did she come to torment you?&#8212;A good many times,
+she and Goody Cloyse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.103" id="Page_ii.103">[ii.103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do they come to you in the night, as well as the day?&#8212;They
+come most in the day.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who?&#8212;Goody Cloyse and Goody Procter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where did she take hold of you?&#8212;Upon my throat, to stop my
+breath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know Goody Cloyse and Goody Procter?&#8212;Yes: here is
+Goody Cloyse.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;When did I hurt thee?&quot; He answered, &quot;A great many
+times.&quot; She exclaimed, &quot;Oh, you are a grievous liar!&quot; The Court
+proceeded with their questions:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;What did this Goody Cloyse do to you?&#8212;She pinched and bit
+me till the blood came.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long since this woman came and hurt you?&#8212;Yesterday, at
+meeting.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At any time before?&#8212;Yes: a great many times.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Having drawn out John Indian, the Court turned to the other afflicted
+ones:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Mary Walcot, who hurts you?&#8212;Goody Cloyse.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did she do to you?&#8212;She hurt me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did she bring the book?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What was you to do with it?&#8212;To touch it, and be well.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then she fell into a fit.)&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>This put a stop to the examination for a time; but it was generally
+quite easy to bring witnesses out of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.104" id="Page_ii.104">[ii.104]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Doth she come alone?&#8212;Sometimes alone, and sometimes in
+company with Goody Nurse and Goody Corey, and a great many I
+do not know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then she fell into a fit again.)&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Abigail Williams, did you see a company at Mr. Parris's
+house eat and drink?&#8212;Yes, sir: that was in the sacrament.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>I would call attention to the form of the foregoing questions.
+Hutchinson says that &quot;Mr. Parris was over-officious: most of the
+examinations, although in the presence of one or more magistrates,
+were taken by him.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;How many were there?&#8212;About forty, and Goody Cloyse and
+Goody Good were their deacons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.105" id="Page_ii.105">[ii.105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;What was it?&#8212;They said it was our blood, and they had it
+twice that day.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The interrogator again turned to Mary Walcot, and inquired,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Have you seen a white man?&#8212;Yes, sir: a great many times.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What sort of a man was he?&#8212;A fine grave man; and, when he
+came, he made all the witches to tremble.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Abigail Williams confirmed the same, and that they had
+such a sight at Deacon Ingersoll's.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who was at Deacon Ingersoll's then?&#8212;Goody Cloyse, Goody
+Nurse, Goody Corey, and Goody Good.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.')&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.106" id="Page_ii.106">[ii.106]</a></span> 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, &quot;There is the black man
+whispering in Cloyse's ear,&quot; &quot;There is a yellow-bird flying round her
+head.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>In the account given, in the <a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First Part</a>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.107" id="Page_ii.107">[ii.107]</a></span>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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?&#8212;I never
+saw her so as to be hurt by her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mercy Lewis, does she hurt you?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Her mouth was stopped.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Putnam, does she hurt you?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(She could not speak.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Abigail Williams, does she hurt you?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Her hand was thrust in her own mouth.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;John, does she hurt you?&#8212;This is the woman that came in
+her shift, and choked me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did she ever bring the book?&#8212;Yes, sir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What to do?&#8212;To write.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What? this woman?&#8212;Yes, sir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you sure of it?&#8212;Yes, sir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you say, Goody Procter, to these things?&#8212;I take
+God in heaven to be my witness, that I know nothing of it,
+no more than the child unborn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.108" id="Page_ii.108">[ii.108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Putnam, doth this woman hurt you?&#8212;Yes, sir: a great
+many times.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Then the accused looked upon them, and they fell into
+fits.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She does not bring the book to you, does she?&#8212;Yes, sir,
+often; and saith she hath made her maid set her hand to it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Abigail Williams, does this woman hurt you?&#8212;Yes, sir,
+often.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does she bring the book to you?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What would she have you do with it?&#8212;To write in it, and I
+shall be well.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Turning to the accused, Abigail said, &quot;Did not you tell me that your
+maid had written?&quot; 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: &quot;Dear child, it is not so. There is another judgment,
+dear child.&quot; But kindness was thrown away upon them; for Parris says
+that immediately &quot;Abigail and Ann had fits.&quot; After coming out of them,
+&quot;they cried out, 'Look you! there is Goody Procter upon the beam.'&quot;
+Instantly, as we may well suppose, the whole audience looked where
+they pointed. Their manner gave assurance that they saw her &quot;on the
+beam,&quot; among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.109" id="Page_ii.109">[ii.109]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;(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.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ann Putnam, who hurt you?&#8212;Goodman Procter, and his wife
+too.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Afterwards, some of the afflicted cried, 'There is Procter
+going to take up Mrs. Pope's feet!' and her feet were
+immediately taken up.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things?&#8212;I know
+not. I am innocent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Abigail Williams cried out, 'There is Goodman Procter
+going to Mrs. Pope!' and immediately said Pope fell into a
+fit.)&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;You see, the Devil will deceive you: the children could see
+what you was going to do before the woman was hurt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.110" id="Page_ii.110">[ii.110]</a></span> I would
+advise you to repentance, for the Devil is bringing you out.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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,&#8212;whereas it was made up into a
+fist before,&#8212;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.)&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Hutchinson, after giving Parris's account of this examination,
+expresses himself thus: &quot;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.&quot;
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.111" id="Page_ii.111">[ii.111]</a></span>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!</p>
+
+<p>Benjamin Gould gave his volunteer testimony without &quot;advisedness,&quot; 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 &quot;gave further
+information against said John Procter,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.112" id="Page_ii.112">[ii.112]</a></span> were agitated.&quot; In the margin is written,
+apparently some time afterwards, the interjection &quot;<i>V&#230;!</i>&quot; thrice
+repeated,&#8212;&quot;Alas, alas, alas!&quot; What perfectly deluded him and
+Danforth, and everybody else, were the exhibitions made by the
+&quot;afflicted children.&quot; 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 &quot;the circle,&quot; 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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.113" id="Page_ii.113">[ii.113]</a></span>
+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 &quot;the most straitest sect&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.114" id="Page_ii.114">[ii.114]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;circle&quot; 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 &quot;her maid to set her
+hand to the book.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;to be brought in the next forenoon, at about eight o'clock, at
+the house of Lieutenant Nathaniel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.115" id="Page_ii.115">[ii.115]</a></span> 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 &quot;afflicted children,&quot; and went so far as to say, that
+they &quot;did but dissemble.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.116" id="Page_ii.116">[ii.116]</a></span> to this effect:
+&quot;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.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>Examination of Mary Warren, at a Court held at Salem
+Village, by John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, Esqrs.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;(As soon as she was coming towards the bar, the afflicted
+fell into fits.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mary Warren, you stand here charged with sundry acts of
+witchcraft. What do you say for yourself? Are you guilty or
+not?&#8212;I am innocent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hath she hurt you? (Speaking to the sufferers.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Some were dumb. Betty Hubbard testified against her, and
+then said Hubbard fell into a violent fit.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You were, a little while ago, an afflicted person; now you
+are an afflicter. How comes this to pass?&#8212;I look up to God,
+and take it to be a great mercy of God.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! do you take it to be a great mercy to afflict others?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Now they were all but John Indian grievously afflicted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.117" id="Page_ii.117">[ii.117]</a></span>
+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.)&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, here&quot; (Mr. Parris, the reporter, goes on to say) &quot;was one that
+just now was a tormenter in her apparition, and she owns that she had
+made a league with the Devil.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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, <i>in their apparition</i>,
+and struck her down, and said she should tell nothing.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>What is given here in <i>Italics</i>, as an &quot;<i>apparition</i>,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.118" id="Page_ii.118">[ii.118]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Mary Warren continued a good space in a fit, that she did
+neither see nor hear nor speak.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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!'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And then afterwards cried again, 'I will tell, I will
+tell!' and then fell into a dead fit again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And afterwards cried, 'I will tell, they did, they did,
+they did;' and then fell into a violent fit again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Some time afterwards, she was called in again, but
+immediately taken with fits for a while.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Have you signed the Devil's book?&#8212;No.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.119" id="Page_ii.119">[ii.119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Have you not touched it?&#8212;No.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then she fell into fits again, and was sent forth for air.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mary Warren called in afterwards in private, before
+magistrates and ministers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The magistrate inquired earnestly:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;'Tell us how far have you yielded?'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A fit interrupts her again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'What did they say you should do, and you should be well?'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then her lips were bit, so that she could not speak: so she
+was sent away.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Parris, the reporter of the case, adds:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Note that not one of the sufferers was afflicted during her
+examination, after once she began to confess, though they
+were tormented before.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.120" id="Page_ii.120">[ii.120]</a></span> 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 &quot;threw him down, and tare him.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.121" id="Page_ii.121">[ii.121]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>Giles Corey incurred hostility, perhaps, because his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.122" id="Page_ii.122">[ii.122]</a></span> 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, &quot;All the afflicted were seized now with fits, and troubled with
+pinches. Then the Court ordered his hands to be tied.&quot; The magistrates
+lost all control of themselves, and flew into a passion, exclaiming,
+&quot;What! is it not enough to act witchcraft at other times, but must you
+do it now, in face of authority?&quot; 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, &quot;I am a poor creature, and cannot help
+it.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Upon the motion of his head again, they had their heads and
+necks afflicted.&quot; The magistrates, not having recovered their
+composure, continued to pour their wrath upon him, &quot;Why do you tell
+such wicked lies against witnesses?&quot;&#8212;&quot;One of his hands was let go,
+and several were afflicted. He held his head on one side,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.123" id="Page_ii.123">[ii.123]</a></span> 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.&quot; Goody Bibber was on hand, and played her accompaniment. She also
+uttered malignant charges against him, and &quot;was suddenly seized with a
+violent fit.&quot; One of Bibber's statements was that he had called her
+husband &quot;damned devilish rogue.&quot; 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, &quot;living to God and dying to sin.&quot; She &quot;found
+fault&quot; 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, &quot;What did you see in the cow-house? Why do
+you deny it?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I saw nothing but my cattle.&quot;&#8212;&quot;(Divers witnessed that
+he told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.124" id="Page_ii.124">[ii.124]</a></span> them he was frighted.)&quot;&#8212;&quot;Well, what do you say to these
+witnesses? What was it frighted you?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I do not know that ever I
+spoke the word in my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;he would make away with himself, and charge his
+death upon his son.&quot; 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 &quot;make away with himself,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.125" id="Page_ii.125">[ii.125]</a></span> hanged her a dozen
+times. If she had stood to her confession, we should have heard of her
+no more.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;conversant in.&quot; She replied, &quot;I take all this people to witness that
+I am clear.&quot; He then asked the children, &quot;Hath this woman hurt you?&quot;
+They all cried out that she had. The magistrate continued, &quot;You are
+here accused by four or five: what do you say to it?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I never saw
+these persons before, nor I never<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> was in this place before. I never
+did hurt them in my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At a meeting of the afflicted children and others, some one declared
+that Bridget Bishop was present &quot;in her shape&quot; or apparition, and,
+pointing to a particular spot, said, &quot;There, there she is!&quot; Young
+Jonathan Walcot, exasperated by his sister's sufferings, struck at the
+spot with his sword; whereupon Mary cried out, &quot;You have hit her, you
+have torn her coat, and I heard it tear.&quot; This story had been brought
+to Hathorne's ears; and abruptly, as if to take her off her guard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.126" id="Page_ii.126">[ii.126]</a></span> he
+said, &quot;Is not your coat cut?&quot; She answered, &quot;No.&quot; They then examined
+the coat, and found what they regarded as having been &quot;cut or torn two
+ways.&quot; 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 &quot;the sword
+that he struck at Goody Bishop was not naked, but was within the
+scabbard.&quot; This explained the whole matter, so that Cheever says, in
+his report, that &quot;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&quot;! Parris says, with more caution, more indeed than
+was usual with him, &quot;Upon some search in the Court, a rent, that seems
+to answer what was alleged, was found.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hathorne, having heard the scandals they had circulated against her,
+proceeded: &quot;They say you bewitched your first husband to death.&quot;&#8212;&quot;If
+it please Your Worship, I know nothing of it.&quot;&#8212;&quot;What do you say of
+these murders you are charged with?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I hope I am not guilty of
+murder.&quot; 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, &quot;I have got nobody to look to but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.127" id="Page_ii.127">[ii.127]</a></span> God,&quot; 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, &quot;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?&quot; She calmly replied, &quot;I am innocent. I know nothing of it. I am
+no witch. I know not what a witch is.&quot; The &quot;afflicted children&quot;
+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, &quot;shook her head&quot; 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: &quot;I do not know whether there be any witches or no.&quot; 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, &quot;No.&quot; In
+answer to further questions, she indicated that she could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.128" id="Page_ii.128">[ii.128]</a></span> tell
+what to think of them, and did not concern herself about them at all.</p>
+
+<p>Giles Corey, Bridget Bishop, Abigail Hobbs, together with Mary Warren,
+were duly committed to prison.</p>
+
+<p>Two days after, April 21, warrants were issued &quot;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,&#8212;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.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.129" id="Page_ii.129">[ii.129]</a></span> she was not afraid of any thing, &quot;for she had sold herself body
+and soul to the Old Boy;&quot; one witness testified, that, &quot;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;&quot; another, Margaret
+Knight, testified, that, about a year before, &quot;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.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She was arrested, and brought to the Village, on the 19th of April.
+The next day, she began her operations by declaring that &quot;Judah White,
+a Jersey maid&quot; that lived with Joseph Ingersoll at Casco, &quot;but now
+lives at Boston,&quot; appeared to her &quot;in apparition&quot; the day before, and
+advised her to &quot;fly, and not to go to be examined,&quot; but, if she did
+go, &quot;not to confess any thing:&quot; she described the dress of this
+&quot;apparition,&quot;&#8212;she &quot;came to her in fine clothes, in a sad-colored silk
+mantle, with a top-knot and a hood.&quot;&#8212;&quot;She confesseth further, that
+the Devil in the shape of a man came to her,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.130" id="Page_ii.130">[ii.130]</a></span> did: whereupon the
+girls cried out that they were hurt by her. She further confessed,
+that, &quot;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.&quot; 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 &quot;the Evil Spirit, the
+Devil,&quot; at Casco Bay, in 1688; the other with having exercised the
+arts of witchcraft upon the afflicted girls, at Salem Village, in
+1692.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.131" id="Page_ii.131">[ii.131]</a></span> to the terrors and
+powers arrayed against it. The magistrate commenced proceedings by
+inquiring of the girls, pointing to the prisoner, &quot;Hath this man hurt
+you?&quot; Several of them answered &quot;Yes.&quot; Goody Bibber, who seems
+generally to have been a very zealous volunteer backer of the girls,
+on this occasion, for a wonder, answered &quot;No.&quot; The magistrate,
+addressing the prisoner, &quot;What say you? Are you guilty or
+not?&quot;&#8212;Answer: &quot;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.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Clear of what?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Of witchcraft.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Have you never hurt
+these?&quot;&#8212;&quot;No.&quot; Abigail Williams cried out that he &quot;was going to Mercy
+Lewis!&quot; Whereupon Mercy was seized with a fit. Then Abigail cried out
+again, &quot;He is coming to Mary Walcot!&quot; and Mary went into her fit. The
+magistrate, in consternation, appealed to him: &quot;How can you be clear,&quot;
+when your appearance is thus seen producing such effects before our
+eyes? Then the children went into fits all together, and &quot;hallooed&quot; at
+the top of their voices, and &quot;shouted greatly.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>The circle of accusing girls seems to have been a receptacle, into
+which all the scandal, gossip, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.132" id="Page_ii.132">[ii.132]</a></span> 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: &quot;When were you at any public
+religious meeting?&quot; He replied, &quot;Not a pretty while.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Why
+so?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Because I was not well: I had a distemper that none knows.&quot; The
+magistrate said, &quot;Can you act witchcraft here, and, by casting your
+eyes, turn folks into fits?&quot;&#8212;&quot;You may judge your pleasure. My soul is
+clear.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Do you not see you hurt these by your look?&quot;&#8212;&quot;No: I do not
+know it.&quot; 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, &quot;Can you now deny it?&quot; He
+answered, &quot;I can deny it to my dying day.&quot; 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. &quot;Who do you worship?&quot; said the
+magistrate. &quot;I hope I worship God only.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Where?&quot;&#8212;&quot;In my heart.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.133" id="Page_ii.133">[ii.133]</a></span> 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
+&quot;great God in heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;near an hundred&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.134" id="Page_ii.134">[ii.134]</a></span> 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 &quot;upon the beam.&quot; The magistrates told him that his guilt was
+certainly proved, and that, if he would find mercy of God, he must
+confess. &quot;I speak before God,&quot; he answered, &quot;that I am clear from this
+accusation.&quot;&#8212;&quot;What, in all respects?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Yes, in all respects.&quot; The
+girls were struck with dumbness; and Ann Putnam, re-affirming that he
+was the man that hurt her, &quot;was taken with a fit.&quot; Mary Walcot began
+to waver in her confidence, and Mercy Lewis said, &quot;It is not the man.&quot;
+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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.135" id="Page_ii.135">[ii.135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;Did you put a mist
+before my eyes?&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;Sawyer.&quot; His wife Sarah was a daughter of William Wildes of Ipswich,
+and, it would seem, a sister of John<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.136" id="Page_ii.136">[ii.136]</a></span> 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 &quot;the Topsfield men,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;I do not know,&quot; &quot;I cannot
+tell.&quot; The only fact brought out against her besides the actings of
+the girls was this: &quot;Her master saith a man sat down upon the form
+with her about a twelvemonth ago.&quot; Parris, in his minutes, gives this
+piece of evidence, but does not enlighten us as to its import. The
+magistrate asked her, &quot;What did the man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.137" id="Page_ii.137">[ii.137]</a></span> say to you?&quot; Her answer was:
+&quot;He said nothing.&quot; 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, &quot;Doth this negro hurt
+you?&quot; They said &quot;Yes.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Why do you hurt them?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I did not hurt
+them.&quot; This question was put to her, &quot;Do you prick sticks?&quot; 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, &quot;No: I pin my neckcloth.&quot; The examiner asked her, &quot;Will you
+take out the pin, and pin it again?&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Easty, wife of Isaac Easty, and sister of Re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.138" id="Page_ii.138">[ii.138]</a></span>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. &quot;Would you have me accuse myself?&quot;&#8212;&quot;How
+far,&quot; he continued, &quot;have you complied with Satan?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Sir, I never
+complied, but prayed against him all my days. What would you have me
+do?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Confess, if you be guilty.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I will say it, if it was my last
+time, I am clear of this sin.&quot; The magistrate, apparently affected by
+her manner and bearing, inquired of the girls, &quot;Are you certain this
+is the woman?&quot; They all went into fits; and presently Ann Putnam,
+coming to herself, said &quot;that was the woman, it was like her, and she
+told me her name.&quot; 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, &quot;Put up
+her head; for, while her head is bowed, the necks of these are
+broken.&quot; The magistrate again asked, &quot;Is this the woman?&quot; They made
+signs that they could not speak; but afterwards Ann Putnam and others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.139" id="Page_ii.139">[ii.139]</a></span>
+cried out: &quot;O Goody Easty, Goody Easty, you are the woman, you are the
+woman!&quot;&#8212;&quot;What do you say to this?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Why, God will know.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Nay, God
+knows now.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I know he does.&quot;&#8212;&quot;What did you think of the actions of
+others before your sisters came out? did you think it was
+witchcraft?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I cannot tell.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Why do you not think it is
+witchcraft?&quot;&#8212;&quot;It is an evil spirit; but whether it be witchcraft I do
+not know.&quot; She was committed to prison.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>These to the Honored John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin,
+Esqrs., living at Salem, present.</i></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Salem Village</span>, this 21st of April, 1692.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Much Honored</span>,&#8212;After most humble and hearty thanks
+presented to Your Honors for the great care and pains you
+have already taken for us,&#8212;for which you know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.140" id="Page_ii.140">[ii.140]</a></span> 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&#8212;beholding continually
+the tremendous works of Divine Providence, not only every
+day, but every hour&#8212;thought it our duty to inform Your
+Honors of what we conceive you have not heard, which are
+high and dreadful,&#8212;of a wheel within a wheel, at which our
+ears do tingle. Humbly craving continually your prayers and
+help in this distressed case,&#8212;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,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Thomas Putnam.</span>&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>What was meant by the &quot;wheel within a wheel,&quot; the &quot;high and dreadful&quot;
+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, <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, May 2, at
+the house of Lieutenant Nathaniel Ingersoll, in Salem Village. The
+warrant has an indorsement in these words: &quot;Mr. Philip English not
+being to be found. G.H.&quot; As the records of the examinations of Philip
+English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.141" id="Page_ii.141">[ii.141]</a></span> 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, &quot;that, as I lay in my bed,
+in the morning, presently after it was fair light abroad in the room,&quot;
+&quot;I saw a dark shade,&quot; &amp;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,
+&quot;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.&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.142" id="Page_ii.142">[ii.142]</a></span> English and his wife
+may be despatched at this point. On the 6th of May, a warrant was
+procured at Boston, &quot;To the marshal-general, or his lawful deputy,&quot; to
+apprehend Philip English wherever found within the jurisdiction, and
+convey him to the &quot;custody of the marshal of Essex.&quot; 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 <a href="#frontispiece">frontispiece</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.143" id="Page_ii.143">[ii.143]</a></span>
+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 &quot;Description of Salem,&quot; 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. &quot;In the morning,&quot; says Bentley, &quot;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.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted girls&quot; led them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.144" id="Page_ii.144">[ii.144]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>I find no further mention of Sarah Morrel. She doubtless shared the
+fate of those escaping death,&#8212;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, &quot;and showing the marks to the standers by. The marshal said she
+pinched her fingers at the time.&quot; The magistrate, indignantly
+believing the whole, said, &quot;Dorcas Hoar, why do you hurt these?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I
+never hurt any child in my life.&quot; 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, &quot;Oh, you are liars, and God will stop the mouth of liars!&quot; The
+anger of the magistrates was roused by this bold outbreak. &quot;You are
+not to speak after this manner in the Court.&quot;&#8212;&quot;I will speak the truth
+as long as I live,&quot; she fearlessly replied. Parris says, at the close
+of his account, &quot;The afflicted were much distressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.145" id="Page_ii.145">[ii.145]</a></span> during her
+examination.&quot; Of course, she was sent to prison.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;in an extraordinary
+dirty season, when it was not fit for any person to travel, she came
+on foot&quot; to a house at Newbury. The woman of the house, the substance
+of whose testimony I am giving, having asked, &quot;whether she came from
+Amesbury afoot,&quot; 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 &quot;she was as dry as I was,&quot; and
+turned her coats aside; &quot;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.&quot; She replied that &quot;she scorned to have a
+drabbled tail.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.146" id="Page_ii.146">[ii.146]</a></span> way; and did not wear skirts of the
+dimensions of our times.</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;She scorned to be drabbled.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>On the appearance of the accused, many of the witnesses against her
+instantly fell into fits. The magistrate inquired of them,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Hath this woman hurt you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(Abigail Williams declared that she had hurt her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.147" id="Page_ii.147">[ii.147]</a></span> often.
+'Ann Putnam threw her glove at her in a fit,' and the rest
+were struck dumb at her presence.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What! do you laugh at it? said the magistrate.&#8212;Well I may
+at such folly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is this folly to see these so hurt?&#8212;I never hurt man,
+woman, or child.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;(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.)</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you say to this?&#8212;I have no hand in witchcraft.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did you do? did you consent these should be hurt?&#8212;No,
+never in my life.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What ails these people?&#8212;I do not know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But what do you think ails them?&#8212;I do not desire to spend
+my judgment upon it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you think they are bewitched?&#8212;No: I do not think they
+are.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, tell us your thoughts about them.&#8212;My thoughts are
+mine own when they are in; but, when they are out, they are
+another's.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who do you think is their master?&#8212;If they be dealing in
+the black art, you may know as well as I.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What have you done towards the hurt of these?&#8212;I have done
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, it is you, or your appearance.&#8212;I cannot help it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How comes your appearance just now to hurt these?&#8212;How do I
+know?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you not willing to tell the truth?&#8212;I cannot tell. He
+that appeared in Samuel's shape can appear in any one's
+shape.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.148" id="Page_ii.148">[ii.148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you believe these afflicted persons do not say
+true?&#8212;They may lie, for aught I know.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;May not you lie?&#8212;I dare not tell a lie, if it would save
+my life.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>At this point, the marshal declared that &quot;she pinched her hands, and
+Elizabeth Hubbard was immediately afflicted. Several of the afflicted
+cried out that they saw her upon the beam&quot; 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, &quot;Pray God discover you, if you be guilty.&quot;
+Nothing daunted, she replied, &quot;Amen, amen. A false tongue will never
+make a guilty person.&quot; A great uproar then arose. The accusers fell
+into dreadful convulsions, among the rest John Indian, who cried out,
+&quot;She bites, she bites!&quot; The magistrate, overcome by the sight of these
+sufferings, again appealed to her, &quot;Have not you compassion for these
+afflicted?&quot; She calmly and firmly answered, &quot;No: I have none.&quot; The
+uproar rose higher. The accusers all declared that they saw the &quot;black
+man,&quot; 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: &quot;What is the reason these
+cannot come near you?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I cannot tell. It may be the Devil bears me
+more malice than another.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.149" id="Page_ii.149">[ii.149]</a></span> you not see God evidently discovering
+you?&quot;&#8212;&quot;No, not a bit for that.&quot;&#8212;&quot;All the congregation besides think
+so.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Let them think what they will.&quot;&#8212;&quot;What is the reason these
+cannot come to you?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I do not know but they can, if they will; or
+else, if you please, I will come to them.&quot;&#8212;&quot;What was that the black
+man whispered to you?&quot;&#8212;&quot;There was none whispered to me.&quot; She was
+committed to prison.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted
+children,&quot; or those acting behind them, wanted a minister to complete
+the <i>dramatis person&#230;</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.150" id="Page_ii.150">[ii.150]</a></span> 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
+&quot;wheel within a wheel,&quot; and &quot;the high and dreadful&quot; things not then
+disclosed that were to make &quot;ears tingle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;preacher at Wells;&quot; he being
+&quot;suspected of a confederacy with the Devil.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.151" id="Page_ii.151">[ii.151]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;a little black
+minister that lived at Casco Bay.&quot; 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 &quot;had killed three
+wives, two for himself and one for Mr. Lawson.&quot; 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 &quot;There,&quot; 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, &quot;'You have torn his coat, for I
+heard it tear.'&#8212;'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.&quot; Then Abigail said, he
+has gone, but &quot;'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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.152" id="Page_ii.152">[ii.152]</a></span> was over, she said, 'You killed her.'&quot; 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, &quot;about twelve o'clock.&quot;
+The same day, &quot;after lecture, in said Ingersoll's chamber,&quot; Abigail
+Williams and Mary Walcot were present. They said that &quot;Goody Hobbs, of
+Topsfield, had bit Mary Walcot by the foot.&quot; Then both fell into a
+fit; and on coming out, &quot;they saw William Hobbs and his wife go both
+of them along the table.&quot; Hutchinson instantly stabbed, with his
+rapier, &quot;Goody Hobbs on her side,&quot; as the two girls declared. They
+further said that the room was &quot;full of them,&quot; that is of witches, in
+their apparitions; then Hutchinson and Eleazer Putnam &quot;stabbed with
+their rapiers at a venture.&quot; The girls cried out, that they &quot;had
+killed a great black woman of Stonington, and an Indian who had come
+with her:&quot; the girls said further, &quot;The floor is all covered with
+blood;&quot; and, rushing to the window, declared that they saw a great
+company of witches on a hill, and that three of them &quot;lay dead&quot;
+there,&#8212;&quot;the black woman, the Indian, and one more that they knew
+not.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.153" id="Page_ii.153">[ii.153]</a></span>sane infatuation; and illustrates a
+condition of things, at that time and place, that is truly
+astonishing.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Ann Putnam</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.154" id="Page_ii.154">[ii.154]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Her father and the other persons present made oath that they saw and
+heard all this at the time; that &quot;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.'&quot; It
+will be observed that this was the evening before Thomas Putnam wrote
+his letter to the magistrates, preparing them for something &quot;high and
+dreadful&quot; that was soon to be brought to light.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Ann Putnam</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.155" id="Page_ii.155">[ii.155]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.156" id="Page_ii.156">[ii.156]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.157" id="Page_ii.157">[ii.157]</a></span> 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 &quot;field-day&quot; was to be had. On the
+9th of May, a special session of the Magistracy was held,&#8212;<a href="#stoughton">William
+Stoughton</a> 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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.158" id="Page_ii.158">[ii.158]</a></span> 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, &quot;many, if not all, the bewitched were
+grievously tortured.&quot; After the confusion had subsided, Susanna
+Sheldon testified that Burroughs' two wives had appeared to her &quot;in
+their winding-sheets,&quot; and said, &quot;That man killed them.&quot; He was
+ordered to look on the witness; and, as he turned to do so, he
+&quot;knocked down,&quot; as the reporter affirms, &quot;all (or most) of the
+afflicted that stood behind him.&quot; Ann Putnam, and the several other
+&quot;afflicted children,&quot; bore their testimony in a similar strain against
+him, interspersing at intervals, all their various convulsions,
+outcries, and tumblings. Mercy Lewis had &quot;a dreadful and tedious fit.&quot;
+Walcot, Hubbard, and Sheldon were cast into torments simultaneously.
+At length, they were &quot;so tortured&quot; that &quot;authority ordered them&quot; to be
+removed. Their sufferings were greater than the magistrates and people
+could longer endure to look upon. The question was put to Burroughs,
+&quot;what he thought of these things.&quot; He answered, &quot;it was an amazing and
+humbling providence, but he understood nothing of it.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.159" id="Page_ii.159">[ii.159]</a></span> 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 &quot;amazed.&quot; 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. &quot;Surely,&quot; she said, &quot;what sin hath
+God found out in me unrepented of that he should lay such an
+affliction upon me in my old age?&quot; His words are, &quot;It is an humbling
+providence of God.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>After the &quot;afflicted&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.160" id="Page_ii.160">[ii.160]</a></span> 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 &quot;witch meeting, in the field near Mr. Parris's house,&quot; in
+which Mr. Burroughs acted a conspicuous part. Mary Warren swore that
+&quot;Mr. Burroughs had a trumpet which he blew to summon the witches to
+their feasts&quot; and other meetings &quot;near Mr. Parris's house.&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.161" id="Page_ii.161">[ii.161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The examination of Mr. Burroughs presented a spectacle, all things
+considered, of rare interest and curiosity,&#8212;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
+&quot;their blood did cry for vengeance&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.162" id="Page_ii.162">[ii.162]</a></span> 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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.163" id="Page_ii.163">[ii.163]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>The First Examination of Deliverance Hobbs in
+Prison.</i>&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.164" id="Page_ii.164">[ii.164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;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.&quot; 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,&#8212;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 &quot;against the
+country,&quot; 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 &#163;58. 11<i>s.</i> 5<i>d.</i>; that of Samuel to &#163;21.
+The latter, being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.165" id="Page_ii.165">[ii.165]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>George Jacobs, Sr., was an aged man. He is represented in the evidence
+as &quot;very gray-headed;&quot; and he must have been quite infirm, for he
+walked with two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.166" id="Page_ii.166">[ii.166]</a></span> 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 &quot;man in a long-crowned white hat,&quot; 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: &quot;Here are them that accuse you of acts of
+witchcraft.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Well, let us hear who are they and what are they.&quot; 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, &quot;Because I am
+falsely accused&#8212;your worships all of you, do you think this is true?&quot;
+They answered, &quot;Nay: what do you think?&quot; &quot;I never did it.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Who did
+it?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Don't ask me.&quot; 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:
+&quot;Why should we not ask you? Sarah Churchill accuseth you. There she
+is.&quot; 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. &quot;If you can prove that I am guilty, I will lie under it.&quot; Then
+Sarah Churchill, who was a servant in his family, said, &quot;Last night, I
+was afflicted at Deacon Ingersoll's; and Mary Walcot said it was a man
+with two staves: it was my master.&quot; It seems, that, after the
+proceedings against Burroughs were over, a meeting of &quot;the circle&quot;
+took place in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.167" id="Page_ii.167">[ii.167]</a></span> 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. &quot;Pray, do not accuse me: I am as
+clear as your worships. You must do right judgment.&quot; Sarah Churchill
+charged him with having hurt her; and the magistrates, pushing her on
+to make further charges, said to her, &quot;Did he not appear on the other
+side of the river, and hurt you? Did not you see him?&quot; She answered,
+&quot;Yes, he did.&quot; Then, turning to him, the magistrates said, &quot;There, she
+accuseth you to your face: she chargeth you that you hurt her
+twice.&quot;&#8212;&quot;It is not true. What would you have me say? I never wronged
+no man in word nor deed.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Is it no harm to afflict these?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I never
+did it.&quot;&#8212;&quot;But how comes it to be in your appearance?&quot;&#8212;&quot;The Devil can
+take any likeness.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Not without their consent.&quot; Jacobs rejected the
+imputation. &quot;You tax me for a wizard: you may as well tax me for a
+buzzard. I have done no harm.&quot; Churchill said, &quot;I know you lived a
+wicked life.&quot; Jacobs, turning to the magistrates, said, &quot;Let her make
+it out.&quot; The magistrates asked her, &quot;Doth he ever pray in his family?&quot;
+She replied, &quot;Not unless by himself.&quot; The magistrates, addressing him:
+&quot;Why do you not pray in your family?&quot;&#8212;&quot;I cannot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.168" id="Page_ii.168">[ii.168]</a></span> read.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Well, but
+you may pray for all that. Can you say the Lord's Prayer? Let us hear
+you.&quot; The reporter, Mr. Parris, says, &quot;He missed in several parts of
+it, and could not repeat it right after many trials.&quot; The magistrates,
+addressing her, said, &quot;Were you not frighted, Sarah Churchill, when
+the representation of your master came to you?&quot;&#8212;&quot;Yes.&quot; Jacobs
+exclaimed, &quot;Well, burn me or hang me, I will stand in the truth of
+Christ: I know nothing of it.&quot; In answer to an inquiry from the
+magistrates, he denied having done any thing to get his son George or
+grand-daughter Margaret to &quot;sign the book.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;fell into the most
+grievous fits and screechings.&quot; When they sufficiently came to, the
+magistrates turned to the girls: &quot;Is this the man that hurts you?&quot;
+They severally answered,&#8212;Abigail Williams: &quot;This is the man,&quot; and
+fell into a violent fit. Ann Putnam: &quot;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.&quot; Mercy Lewis, after much interruptions by fits: &quot;This
+is the man: he almost kills me.&quot; Elizabeth Hubbard: &quot;He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.169" id="Page_ii.169">[ii.169]</a></span> never hurt me
+till to-day, when he came upon the table.&quot; Mary Walcot, after much
+interruption by fits: &quot;This is the man: he used to come with two
+staves, and beat me with one of them.&quot; After all this, the
+magistrates, thinking he could deny it no longer, turn to him, &quot;What
+do you say? Are you not a witch?&quot; &quot;No: I know it not, if I were to die
+presently.&quot; Mercy Lewis advanced towards him, but, as soon as she got
+near, &quot;fell into great fits.&quot;&#8212;&quot;What do you say to this?&quot; cried the
+magistrates. &quot;Why, it is false. I know not of it any more than the
+child that was born to-night.&quot; The reporter says, &quot;Ann Putnam and
+Abigail Williams had each of them a pin stuck in their hands, and they
+said it was this old Jacobs.&quot; He was committed to prison.</p>
+
+<p>The following piece of evidence is among the loose papers on file in
+the clerk's office:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Sarah Ingersoll</span>, aged about
+thirty years.&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.170" id="Page_ii.170">[ii.170]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Sarah Ingersoll</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>This paper has also the signature of &quot;Ann Andrews.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.171" id="Page_ii.171">[ii.171]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The representatives of the family of John Ingersoll,&#8212;a brother of
+Deacon Nathaniel Ingersoll,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>This brief deposition of Sarah Ingersoll is, in many particulars, an
+important and instructive paper. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.172" id="Page_ii.172">[ii.172]</a></span> 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&#8212;as all along there is too much evidence compelling us to
+admit&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>On the same day&#8212;May 10&#8212;that George and Margaret Jacobs were
+apprehended and examined, a warrant was issued against John Willard,
+&quot;husbandman,&quot; to be brought to Thomas Beadle's house in Salem. On the
+12th, John Putnam, Jr., constable, made return that he had been to
+&quot;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;&quot;
+and that &quot;his relations and friends&quot; said, &quot;that, to their best
+knowledge, he was fled.&quot; On the 15th, a warrant was issued to the
+marshal of Essex, and the constables of Salem, &quot;or any other marshal,
+or marshal's constable or constables within this their majesty's
+colony or territory of the Massachusetts, in New England,&quot; requiring
+them to apprehend said Willard, &quot;if he may be found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.173" id="Page_ii.173">[ii.173]</a></span> 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,&quot; and others, upon complaint made &quot;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.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;accusers, accused,
+magistrates, and people&#8212;as alike bewitched. One of the witnesses
+against him deposed, that he said, in a &quot;discourse&quot; at the house of a
+relative, &quot;Hang them: they are all witches.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.174" id="Page_ii.174">[ii.174]</a></span>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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, &quot;It were well
+if the said Willard were hanged.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Old Bray Wilkins must go to election too; and so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.175" id="Page_ii.175">[ii.175]</a></span> started off on
+horseback,&#8212;the only mode of travel then practicable from Will's Hill
+to Winnesimit Ferry,&#8212;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 &quot;brother, Lieutenant Richard
+Way.&quot; 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. &quot;To my apprehension,
+he looked after such a sort upon me as I never before discerned in
+any.&quot; 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, &quot;was like a man on a rack.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.176" id="Page_ii.176">[ii.176]</a></span>
+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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;upon his throat and upon his breast, and pressed him and
+choked him;&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.177" id="Page_ii.177">[ii.177]</a></span> she saw any thing. She said, &quot;Yes: they are looking
+for John Willard.&quot; Presently she pretended to have caught sight of his
+apparition, and exclaimed, &quot;There he is upon his grandfather's belly.&quot;
+This was thought wonderful indeed; for, as the old man says in a
+deposition he drew up afterwards, &quot;At that time I was in grievous pain
+in the small of my belly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,&#8212;that is, Samuel Fuller and Lydia
+Wilkins,&#8212;perhaps they would appear to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.178" id="Page_ii.178">[ii.178]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Ann Putnam.</span>&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;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.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.179" id="Page_ii.179">[ii.179]</a></span> 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: &quot;Dan: Wilkins.
+Bewitched to death.&quot; 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, &quot;Daughter to Ann Douglas. By
+witchcraft, I doubt not.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;forthwith&quot; before the magistrates
+sitting at Beadle's, &quot;Alice Parker, the wife of John Parker of Salem;
+and Ann Pudeator of Salem, widow.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.180" id="Page_ii.180">[ii.180]</a></span>
+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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Shattuck, who has been mentioned (<a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_193">vol. i. p. 193</a>) 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 &quot;under an evil hand.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.181" id="Page_ii.181">[ii.181]</a></span> raked up, and allowed to be adduced, however utterly remote from
+the questions belonging to the trial.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;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.&quot; He goes on to
+state, that, returning home one night some time afterwards, he
+experienced an awful fright. &quot;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.&quot; 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. &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.182" id="Page_ii.182">[ii.182]</a></span> to
+pieces.&quot; 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 &quot;stout dog,&quot; which
+ordinarily was much inclined to attack and &quot;worry hogs,&quot; but, on this
+occasion, &quot;ran away from him, leaping over the fence and crying much.&quot;
+In view of all these things, Westgate concludes his testimony thus:
+&quot;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.&quot; 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.183" id="Page_ii.183">[ii.183]</a></span> 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 &quot;black hog with the open mouth,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;one parcel on the
+west,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.184" id="Page_ii.184">[ii.184]</a></span> 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,&#8212;occurred &quot;over against John
+Robinson's house,&quot; which was on the eastern corner of Pleasant and
+Essex Streets. Christopher Babbage's house, from which he thought the
+&quot;great noise&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.185" id="Page_ii.185">[ii.185]</a></span> 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.'&quot; The manner of expression in this passage shows
+that it was thought that there was something very shocking in her
+answer. Mr. Noyes &quot;affirmed to her face.&quot; No doubt it was thought that
+she denied the doctrine of original and transmitted, or imputed sin.</p>
+
+<p>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.
+&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.186" id="Page_ii.186">[ii.186]</a></span> one another; and both times
+was helped by said Pudeator's taking her by the wrist.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.187" id="Page_ii.187">[ii.187]</a></span> 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, &quot;I am amazed! I am amazed!&quot; and assented
+afterwards to every charge brought against her, and said whatever she
+was told, or supposed they wished her to say.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.188" id="Page_ii.188">[ii.188]</a></span> Jr., effected his escape, and found refuge
+in a foreign country.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;His Excellency Sir William Phips,
+Knight, Governor, and the Honorable Council sitting at Boston,&quot; in the
+following terms:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>The Humble Petition of Rebecca Fox, of Cambridge,
+showeth</i>, that, whereas Rebecca Jacobs (daughter of your
+humble petitioner) has, a long time,&#8212;even many months,&#8212;now
+lain in prison for witchcraft, and is well known to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.189" id="Page_ii.189">[ii.189]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your petitioner,&#8212;who knows well the condition of her poor
+daughter,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;However, for (I think) above this half-year, the said
+Jacobs has lain in prison, and yet remains there, attended
+with many sore difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.190" id="Page_ii.190">[ii.190]</a></span> 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,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Rebecca Fox.</span>&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>No heed was paid to this petition; and the unfortunate woman remained
+in jail until&#8212;after the delusion had passed from the minds of the
+people&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>No papers are found relating to the examination of Thomas Farrar; but
+the following deposition shows the manner in which prosecutions were
+got up:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Ann Putnam</span>, 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.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.191" id="Page_ii.191">[ii.191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;We, whose names are underwritten, having been conversant
+with Ann Putnam, have heard her declare what is above
+written,&#8212;what she said she saw and heard from the
+apparition of old Pharaoh,&#8212;and also have seen her tortures,
+and perceived her hellish temptations, by her loud outcries,
+'I will not write, old Pharaoh,&#8212;I will not write in your
+book.'</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Thomas Putnam</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Robert Morrell</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>She had heard this person spoken of as &quot;old Father Pharaoh,&quot; with his
+&quot;great nose;&quot; and, from a mere spirit of mischief,&#8212;for the fun of the
+thing,&#8212;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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Clement Coldum</span>, aged sixty
+years, or thereabout.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Clement Coldum</span>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of Daniel Elliot</span>, aged twenty-seven
+years or thereabouts, who testifieth and saith, that I,
+being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.192" id="Page_ii.192">[ii.192]</a></span> 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,&#8212;they must
+have some sport.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;There is the black man whispering in
+her ear!&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.193" id="Page_ii.193">[ii.193]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">William Hubbard</span>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">John Higginson</span>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Marblehead, Jan. 2, 1692/3.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Samuel Cheever</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>William Hubbard was the venerable minister of Ipswich, described by
+Hutchinson as &quot;a man of learning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.194" id="Page_ii.194">[ii.194]</a></span> and of a candid and benevolent
+mind, accompanied with a good degree of catholicism.&quot; He is described
+by another writer as &quot;a man of singular modesty, learned without
+ostentation.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>John Higginson was worthy of the title of the &quot;Nestor of the
+New-England clergy.&quot; 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: &quot;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.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; cried
+out against his daughter Anna, the wife of Captain William Dolliver,
+of Gloucester; got a warrant to apprehend her; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.195" id="Page_ii.195">[ii.195]</a></span> 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: &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Cheever was a clergyman of the highest standing, and held in
+universal esteem through a long life.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;evil hand.&quot; It was not confined to this
+locality. When, however, the public mind had become excited to so
+extraordinary a degree by circumstances con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.196" id="Page_ii.196">[ii.196]</a></span>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, &quot;There she is!&quot;
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.197" id="Page_ii.197">[ii.197]</a></span> witch from going
+abroad, &quot;in her apparition,&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Benjamin Hutchinson</span>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Benjamin Hutchinson owned the above-written evi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.198" id="Page_ii.198">[ii.198]</a></span>dence to be
+the truth, upon oath, before the grand inquest, 15-7, 1692.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;many of
+them delicate and infirm, several venerable for their virtues as well
+as years,&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.199" id="Page_ii.199">[ii.199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;Jan.
+2, 1702.&#8212;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.&quot; The ejaculation, &quot;Lord forgive!&quot; expresses the deep sense Mr.
+Green had, of which his whole ministry gave evidence, of the
+inexpressible sufferings and wrongs brought upon families<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.200" id="Page_ii.200">[ii.200]</a></span> 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 &quot;they had not their
+portion in this life.&quot; Those who went firmly, patiently, and calmly
+through that great trial without losing love or faith, are crowned
+with glory and honor.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.201" id="Page_ii.201">[ii.201]</a></span> a terrible condition, crying out with piteous tones of
+anguish, &quot;Dear Lord, receive my soul.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Lord, let them not kill me
+quite.&quot;&#8212;&quot;Pray for the salvation of my soul, for they will kill me
+outright.&quot; He was desired to go to Thomas Putnam's house to bring his
+daughter Ann, &quot;to see if she could see who it was that hurt Mercy
+Lewis.&quot; 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, &quot;There is Goody Easty and John
+Willard and Mary Whittredge afflicting the body of Mercy Lewis;&quot; Mercy
+at the time laboring for breath, and appearing as choked and
+strangled, convulsed, and apparently at the last gasp. &quot;Thus,&quot; says
+Abbey, &quot;she continued the greatest part of the day, in such tortures
+as no tongue can express.&quot; Mary Walcot was sent for. Upon coming in,
+she cried out, &quot;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.&quot; A message was then despatched for Elizabeth
+Hubbard. She, too, saw the shape of Goody Easty, &quot;the very same woman
+that was sent home the other day,&quot; aided in her diabolical operations
+by Willard and Whittredge, &quot;torturing Mercy in a most dreadful
+manner.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.202" id="Page_ii.202">[ii.202]</a></span>min Hutchinson, and
+Samuel Braybrook reached the house during the evening, and found Mercy
+&quot;in a case as if death would have quickly followed.&quot; Occasionally,
+Mercy would have a respite; and, at such intervals, Elizabeth Hubbard
+would fill the gap. &quot;These two fell into fits by turns; the one being
+well while the other was ill.&quot; 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 &quot;if they would not sign to her book.&quot; 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 &quot;winding-sheet, coffin,&quot; and &quot;the book.&quot; In the general
+consternation, Marshal Herrick was sent for. What he saw, heard,
+thought, and did, appears from the following:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;May 20, 1692.&#8212;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of George Herrick</span>,
+aged thirty-four or thereabouts, and <span class="smcap">John Putnam,
+Jr.</span>, of Salem Village, aged thirty-five years or
+thereabouts.&#8212;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.203" id="Page_ii.203">[ii.203]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>An examination of distances, with the <a href="salem1-htm.html#map">map</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.204" id="Page_ii.204">[ii.204]</a></span> o'clock,
+&quot;about an hour by sun.&quot; Then Elizabeth Hubbard, who lived at the house
+of Dr. Griggs, &quot;was carried up to Constable John Putnam's house:&quot;
+Jonathan Putnam, James Darling, Benjamin Hutchinson, and Samuel
+Braybrook got there in the evening, as they say, &quot;between eight and
+eleven o'clock.&quot; 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 &quot;about midnight;&quot; staid to witness the apparently
+mortal sufferings of Mercy until &quot;about break of day;&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.205" id="Page_ii.205">[ii.205]</a></span> 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 &quot;hurrying
+distractions of amazing afflictions&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;a hellish molestation.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>One of the most malignant witnesses against Mary Easty was &quot;Goodwife
+Bibber.&quot; She obtruded herself in many of the cases, acting as a sort
+of outside member of the &quot;accusing circle,&quot; volunteering her aid in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.206" id="Page_ii.206">[ii.206]</a></span>
+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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of Joseph Fowler</span>, 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.207" id="Page_ii.207">[ii.207]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;all of
+Wenham, and for a long time neighbors of this Bibber,&#8212;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 &quot;she would often fall into strange fits
+when she was crossed of her humor;&quot; and another, &quot;that she could fall
+into fits as often as she pleased.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.208" id="Page_ii.208">[ii.208]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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; &#8212;&#8212; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.209" id="Page_ii.209">[ii.209]</a></span>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;It was asked Sarah Carrier by the magistrates,&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long hast thou been a witch?&#8212;Ever since I was six
+years old.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How old are you now?&#8212;Near eight years old: brother Richard
+says I shall be eight years old in November next.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who made you a witch?&#8212;My mother: she made me set my hand
+to a book.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did you set your hand to it?&#8212;I touched it with my
+fingers, and the book was red: the paper of it was white.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.210" id="Page_ii.210">[ii.210]</a></span> Being
+asked when it was, she said, when she was baptized.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did they promise to give you?&#8212;A black dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did the dog ever come to you?&#8212;No.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you said you saw a cat once: what did that say to
+you?&#8212;It said it would tear me in pieces, if I would not set
+my hand to the book.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did you afflict folks?&#8212;I pinched them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did your mother carry you when she was in prison?&#8212;She
+came like a black cat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did you know it was your mother?&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Simon Willard</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The confession of another of her children is among the papers. It runs
+thus:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Have you been in the Devil's snare?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is your brother Andrew ensnared by the Devil's
+snare?&#8212;Yes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.211" id="Page_ii.211">[ii.211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long has your brother been a witch?&#8212;Near a month.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long have you been a witch?&#8212;Not long.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you joined in afflicting the afflicted persons?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You helped to hurt Timothy Swan, did you?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How long have you been a witch?&#8212;About five weeks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who was in company when you covenanted with the
+Devil?&#8212;Mrs. Bradbury.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did she help you afflict?&#8212;Yes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who was at the village meeting when you were
+there?&#8212;Goodwife How, Goodwife Nurse, Goodwife Wildes,
+Procter and his wife, Mrs. Bradbury, and Corey's wife.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did they do there?&#8212;Eat, and drank wine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Was there a minister there?&#8212;No, not as I know of.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;From whence had you your wine?&#8212;From Salem, I think, it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Goodwife Oliver there?&#8212;Yes: I knew her.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>It is quite evident that this &quot;rampant hag&quot; had no better opinion of
+the dignitaries and divines who managed matters at the time than they
+had of her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.212" id="Page_ii.212">[ii.212]</a></span> 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: &quot;What do you say to this you are charged
+with?&quot; She answered, &quot;I have not done it.&quot; One of the accusers cried
+out that she was, at that moment, sticking pins into her. Another
+declared that she was then looking upon &quot;the black man,&quot;&#8212;the shape in
+which they pretended the Devil appeared. The magistrate asked the
+accused, &quot;What black man is that?&quot; Her answer was, &quot;I know none.&quot; The
+accusers cried out that the black man was present, and visible to
+them. The magistrate asked her, &quot;What black man did you see?&quot; Her
+answer was, &quot;I saw no black man but your own presence.&quot; Whenever she
+looked upon the accusers, they were knocked down. The magistrate,
+entirely deluded by their practised acting, said to her, &quot;Can you look
+upon these, and not knock them down?&quot; Her answer was, &quot;They will
+dissemble, if I look upon them.&quot; He continued: &quot;You see, you look upon
+them, and they fall down.&quot; She broke out, &quot;It is false: the Devil is a
+liar. I looked upon none since I came into the room but you.&quot; Susanna
+Sheldon cried out, in a trance, &quot;I wonder what could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.213" id="Page_ii.213">[ii.213]</a></span> you murder
+thirteen persons for.&quot; 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. &quot;It is a shameful thing, that you should mind these
+folks that are out of their wits;&quot; and, turning to those who were
+bringing these false and ridiculous charges against her, she said,
+&quot;You lie: I am wronged.&quot; 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:
+&quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Parris closes his report of this examination as follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Note</span>.&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.214" id="Page_ii.214">[ii.214]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;&quot;It is
+a shameful thing that you should mind these folks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.215" id="Page_ii.215">[ii.215]</a></span> that are out of
+their wits;&quot;&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Candy, are you a witch?&#8212;Candy no witch in her country.
+Candy's mother no witch. Candy no witch, Barbados. This
+country, mistress give Candy witch.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did your mistress make you a witch in this country?&#8212;Yes:
+in this country, mistress give Candy witch.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did your mistress do to make you witch?&#8212;Mistress
+bring book and pen and ink; make Candy write in it.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;one with
+two knots, the other with one tied in it. Immediately on seeing these
+articles, the &quot;afflicted children&quot; were &quot;greatly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.216" id="Page_ii.216">[ii.216]</a></span> affrighted,&quot; and
+fell into violent fits. When they came to, they declared that the
+&quot;black man,&quot; Mrs. Hawkes, and the negro, stood by the puppets of rags,
+and pinched them. Whereupon they fell into fits again. &quot;A bit of one
+of the rags being set on fire,&quot; they all shrieked that they were
+burned, and &quot;cried out dreadfully.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.217" id="Page_ii.217">[ii.217]</a></span> after the
+manner of the &quot;afflicted girls&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted
+children&quot; 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, &quot;What say you to this charge?&quot; her answer was, &quot;If it was
+the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent of any thing in
+this nature.&quot; 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, &quot;that she had found her a neighborly woman, conscientious
+in her dealing, faithful to her promises, and Christianlike in her
+conversation.&quot; Several others join in a deposition to this effect:
+&quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.218" id="Page_ii.218">[ii.218]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of Samuel Phillips</span>, 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,&#8212;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.'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Payson, in reference to the same occasion, deposed as follows:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.219" id="Page_ii.219">[ii.219]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;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.&quot; Others
+testified to the same effect. Simon Chapman, and Mary, his wife, say
+that &quot;they had been acquainted with the wife of James How, Jr., as a
+neighbor, for this nine or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.220" id="Page_ii.220">[ii.220]</a></span> ten years;&quot; that they had resided in the
+same house with her &quot;by the fortnight together;&quot; that they never knew
+any thing but what was good in her. They &quot;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.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.221" id="Page_ii.221">[ii.221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The father of her husband,&#8212;James How, Sr., aged about ninety-four
+years,&#8212;in a communication addressed to the Court, declared that&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,&#8212;considering his want
+of eyesight, tenderly leading him about by the hand.
+Desiring God may guide your honors, ... I rest yours to
+serve.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The only evidence against this good woman&#8212;beyond the outcries and
+fits of the &quot;afflicted children,&quot; enacted in their usual skilful and
+artful style&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.222" id="Page_ii.222">[ii.222]</a></span> details the testimony given at the trial, and
+records the conviction and execution, of Elizabeth How.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;honored mother,&#8212;as innocent,&quot; as they declared her
+to be, &quot;of the crime charged, as any person in the world,&quot;&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>The name of Elizabeth How, before marriage, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.223" id="Page_ii.223">[ii.223]</a></span> Jackson. Among the
+accounts rendered against the country for expenses incurred in the
+witchcraft prosecutions are these two items: &quot;For John Jackson, Sr.,
+one pair of fetters, five shillings; for John Jackson, Jr., one pair
+of fetters, five shillings.&quot; There is also an item for carrying &quot;the
+two Jacksons&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>The examination of Job Tookey, of Beverly, presents some points worthy
+of notice. He is described as a &quot;laborer,&quot; 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 &quot;would take Mr. Burroughs's
+part;&quot; &quot;that he was not the Devil's servant, but the Devil was his.&quot;
+When the girls testified that they saw his shape afflicting persons,
+he answered, like a sensible man, if they really saw any such thing,
+&quot;it was not he, but the Devil in his shape, that hurts the people.&quot;
+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 &quot;rose from the dead, and cried, 'Vengeance!
+vengeance!'&quot; Nobody else saw or heard any thing: but the girls
+suddenly became dumb; their eyes were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.224" id="Page_ii.224">[ii.224]</a></span> 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, &quot;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,&#8212;red as blood.&quot; Again,
+she exclaimed, in a startled and affrighted manner, &quot;There is a young
+child under the table, crying out for vengeance.&quot; 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,&#8212;Bartholomew Gedney, Jonathan
+Corwin, and John Hathorne.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;wife of Captain Thomas Bradbury, of Salisbury, in
+the county of Essex, gentleman.&quot; A few of the documents that are
+preserved, belonging to her case, will give some idea what sort of a
+person she was:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.225" id="Page_ii.225">[ii.225]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>The Answer of Mary Bradbury to the Charge of Witchcraft,
+or Familiarity with the Devil.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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).</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Mary Bradbury</span>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;July 28, 1692.&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.226" id="Page_ii.226">[ii.226]</a></span> neighbors
+as gives a better and more real testimony of her than can be
+expressed by words.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Owned by me,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Tho. Bradbury</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The Rev. James Allin made oath before Robert Pike, an assistant and
+magistrate, as follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Robert Pike also affirmed to the truth of Mr. Allin's statement, from
+&quot;upwards of fifty years' experience,&quot; as did John Pike also: they both
+declared themselves ready and desirous to give their testimony before
+the Court.</p>
+
+<p>One hundred and seventeen of her neighbors&#8212;the larger part of them
+heads of families, and embracing the most respectable people of that
+vicinity&#8212;signed their names to a paper, of which the following is a
+copy:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.227" id="Page_ii.227">[ii.227]</a></span>
+above fifty years) ever hear or ever know that she ever had
+any difference or falling-out with any of her
+neighbors,&#8212;man, woman, or child,&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;Mrs.,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.228" id="Page_ii.228">[ii.228]</a></span> 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 &quot;Captain Bradbury.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.229" id="Page_ii.229">[ii.229]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The wife of Sergeant Thomas Putnam, as has been stated (<a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_253">vol. i. p.
+253</a>), 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,&#8212;employing, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.230" id="Page_ii.230">[ii.230]</a></span> having
+in his family, young men; among them a son of Zerubabel Endicott,
+bearing the same name.</p>
+
+<p>Among the papers in the case is the following:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Richard Carr</span>, 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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Zerubabel Endicott</span> 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.' <i>Jurat in Curia</i>, Sept. 9, '92.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.231" id="Page_ii.231">[ii.231]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>At the date of this occurrence, Richard Carr was twenty years of age,
+and Zerubabel Endicott a lad of of fifteen.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be wondered at that there was &quot;some difference between&quot;
+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 &quot;boys&quot; 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 &quot;blue boar.&quot; 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 &quot;Barbadoes and
+Saltitudos,&quot; in which severe storms and various disasters were
+experienced, attributed them all to Mrs. Bradbury; and, &quot;in a bright
+moonshining night, sitting upon the windlass, to which he had been
+sent forward to look out for land,&quot; the wild fancies of his excited
+imagination took effect. He heard &quot;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.232" id="Page_ii.232">[ii.232]</a></span> rumbling noise,&quot; and thought he
+saw the legs of some person. &quot;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.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">[<b>Transcriber's Note:</b> Spelling and
+punctuation in the passage below are as in the original.]</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposistion of James Carr</span>.
+  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 y<sup>r</sup> 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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.233" id="Page_ii.233">[ii.233]</a></span> 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 &amp; 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 m<sup>is</sup> Bradbery was a grat deal worss then goody martin:
+then presently affter this one night I being a bed &amp; 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 m<sup>is</sup> Bradbery
+the prisoner att the barr has often afflected me by acts of
+wicthcraft.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Jurat in Curia</i> Sep.<sup>mr.</sup> 9. 92.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.234" id="Page_ii.234">[ii.234]</a></span></p>
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of William Carr</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.235" id="Page_ii.235">[ii.235]</a></span>
+John March), and my father being persuaded by [&#8212;&#8212;] 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The usual form, <i>jurat in curia</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The member of the family who&#8212;as stated in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.236" id="Page_ii.236">[ii.236]</a></span> foregoing
+deposition&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.237" id="Page_ii.237">[ii.237]</a></span> Ann Putnam may have often heard her unpleasantly
+spoken of by her mother, and it was natural that she should have
+&quot;cried out against her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;for about three-quarters of a year.&quot;
+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.</p>
+
+<p>I have introduced these singular private details to illustrate what
+the documents all along show,&#8212;that the proceedings against persons
+charged with witch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.238" id="Page_ii.238">[ii.238]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;May 24.&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.239" id="Page_ii.239">[ii.239]</a></span> to be a day
+appointed for examination; accordingly, soon after our
+arrival, Mr. Hathorne and Mr. Corwin, &amp;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The prisoners were called in one by one, and, as they came
+in, were cried out at, &amp;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, &amp;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,&#8212;by which
+I observed that the justices understood the manner of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.240" id="Page_ii.240">[ii.240]</a></span>
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.241" id="Page_ii.241">[ii.241]</a></span> 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 <i>mittimus</i> 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 <i>habeas corpus</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.242" id="Page_ii.242">[ii.242]</a></span>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.243" id="Page_ii.243">[ii.243]</a></span> them church members, and most of them unspotted in
+their conversation, till their adversary the Devil took up
+this method for accusing them.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Jonathan Cary</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the tall man in Boston.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>An Account how John Alden, Sr., was dealt with at Salem
+Village.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Those wenches being present who played their jug<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.244" id="Page_ii.244">[ii.244]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.245" id="Page_ii.245">[ii.245]</a></span> 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 <i>him</i> did not strike <i>him</i> 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 <i>mittimus</i>
+written.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;Per <span class="smcap">John Alden</span>.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.246" id="Page_ii.246">[ii.246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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. &quot;Mr.
+Nicholas Noyes,&quot; &quot;Mr. Bartholomew Gedney,&quot; and the &quot;wenches&quot; of Salem
+Village.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.247" id="Page_ii.247">[ii.247]</a></span>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 &quot;in the street,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.248" id="Page_ii.248">[ii.248]</a></span> became prevalent that she was suffering under an
+&quot;evil hand.&quot; 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 &quot;way to prevent an accusation was to
+become an accuser.&quot;&#8212;&quot;The number of the afflicted increased every day,
+and the number of the accused in proportion.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.249" id="Page_ii.249">[ii.249]</a></span>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.250" id="Page_ii.250">[ii.250]</a></span>fore absolutely
+impossible to appreciate the awful condition of the community at the
+point of time to which our narrative has led us.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.251" id="Page_ii.251">[ii.251]</a></span>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the most important court to the life
+of the subject which was ever held in the province.&quot; The time required
+to convene the popular branch of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.252" id="Page_ii.252">[ii.252]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.253" id="Page_ii.253">[ii.253]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Town-house Lane.&quot; 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 &quot;Town-house Lane&quot; 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 &quot;old Oliver house&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.254" id="Page_ii.254">[ii.254]</a></span> 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,&#8212;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 &quot;Ship Tavern&quot;
+was on ground the front of which is occupied, at present, by &quot;West's
+Block,&quot; 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 &quot;Widow Gedney's.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.255" id="Page_ii.255">[ii.255]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Salem</span>, 31st May, 1692.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Worthy Sir</span>,&#8212;I have herewith sent you the names of
+the prisoners that are desired to be transmitted by <i>habeas
+corpus</i>; 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
+<i>mittimus</i>. 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,</p></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images2/image20.png" alt="signature" width="200" height="62" /></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.256" id="Page_ii.256">[ii.256]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the pains and penalties of
+death as felons.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Bridget Bishop was the only person tried at the first session of the
+Court. She was brought through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.257" id="Page_ii.257">[ii.257]</a></span> Prison Lane, up Essex Street, by the
+First Church, into Town-house Lane, to the Court-house. Cotton Mather
+says,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;&quot;the court was
+entertained,&quot;&#8212;to have been brought in evidence at the trial, and
+regarded as weighty and conclusive proof of Bridget's guilt.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.258" id="Page_ii.258">[ii.258]</a></span>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 &quot;Sister
+Bishop&quot; was innocent, and in no way deserved to be ill thought of. He
+hoped &quot;better of said Goody Bishop at that time.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Sister
+Bishop&quot; on the occasion. On the contrary, Mr. Hale seems to have
+acquiesced in the opinion, that the derangement of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.259" id="Page_ii.259">[ii.259]</a></span> 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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;in a smooth and flattering
+manner.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.260" id="Page_ii.260">[ii.260]</a></span>
+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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.261" id="Page_ii.261">[ii.261]</a></span> 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&#8212;now called
+Bishop&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First Part</a> of this work.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;sundry pieces of lace,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.262" id="Page_ii.262">[ii.262]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;About five or six years ago, one morning about sun-rising,
+as I was in bed, before I rose, I saw Goodwife Bishop,
+<i>alias</i> 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,&#8212;which was the sabbath-day,&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.263" id="Page_ii.263">[ii.263]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>William Stacey testified, that, as he was &quot;agoing to mill,&quot; meeting
+Bishop in the street, some conversation passed between them, and
+that,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Stacey further deposed, that, on another occasion, he&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Stacey concluded his testimony as follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;This deponent hath met with several other of her pranks at
+several times, which would take up a great time to tell of.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This deponent doth verily believe that the said Bridget
+Bishop was instrumental to his daughter Priscilla's death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.264" id="Page_ii.264">[ii.264]</a></span>
+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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Many of the extraordinary &quot;pranks,&quot; 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, &quot;that used to come into our orchard or garden.&quot; He swore as
+follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,&#8212;which was next adjoining to ours,&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.265" id="Page_ii.265">[ii.265]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;upon the bar.&quot; 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, &quot;not
+being able to speak or help myself by reason of fear, I suppose;&quot; and
+that his mysterious visitor made quite a speech to him, representing
+that it was a messenger sent to say, that, if he would &quot;be ruled by
+him, he should want for nothing in this world.&quot; The virtuous and
+indignant Louder says that he answered, &quot;You devil, I will kill you!&quot;
+and gave it a blow with his fist, but &quot;could feel no substance; and it
+jumped out of the window again.&quot; It immediately came in by the porch,
+although the doors were shut, and said, &quot;You had better take my
+counsel.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.266" id="Page_ii.266">[ii.266]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the ould house;&quot; and
+testified, that they found in holes and crevices of said cellar wall
+&quot;several puppets made up of rags and hogs' bristles, with headless
+pins in them with the points outward.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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 <a href="#warrant">death-warrant</a> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The sheriff seems to have proceeded, immediately after the execution,
+to the clerk's office, and indorsed his <a href="#return">return</a> on the warrant. When he
+wrote it, he added, after the word &quot;dead,&quot;&#8212;&quot;and buried her on the
+spot.&quot; On its occurring to him that the burying of the body was not
+mentioned in the warrant, he drew <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.267" id="Page_ii.267">[ii.267]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="warrant">
+<img src="images2/image21.jpg" alt="death warrant" width="303" height="400" /></a></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">[<a href="images2/image21a.jpg">View larger image</a>
+(383K)]</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="return">
+<img src="images2/image22.jpg" alt="return on warrant" width="400" height="153" /></a></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">[<a href="images2/image22a.jpg">View larger image</a>
+(327K)]</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.268" id="Page_ii.268">[ii.268]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>Hutchinson says, that, &quot;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.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Calef says, that, at the trial of Sarah Good,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.269" id="Page_ii.269">[ii.269]</a></span>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,&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Hutchinson, in relating this circumstance, refers to a case tried
+before Sir Matthew Hale, when a similar kind of falsehood was proved
+against an &quot;afflicted&quot; witness; notwithstanding which he says the
+person on trial was found guilty, &quot;and the judge and all the court
+were fully satisfied with the verdict.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;she was a witch, and that she knew she was a witch.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.270" id="Page_ii.270">[ii.270]</a></span> the head of him who uttered the false
+accusation. &quot;You are a liar,&quot; said she. &quot;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.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.271" id="Page_ii.271">[ii.271]</a></span> 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 &quot;Landlord Putnam.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Nathaniel Putnam</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.272" id="Page_ii.272">[ii.272]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;We whose names are hereunto subscribed, being desired by
+Goodman Nurse to declare what we know concerning his wife's
+conversation for time past,&#8212;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.</p></div>
+
+  <table border="0" summary="signatures" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+    <tbody>
+    <tr>
+      <td>&quot;<span class="smcap">Israel Porter</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Abbey</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td>
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Porter</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Hepzibah Rea.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Edward Bishop</span>, Sr.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Daniel Andrew</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Hannah Bishop</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Sarah Andrew</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joshua Rea</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Daniel Rea</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Sarah Rea</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Sarah Putnam</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Sarah Leach</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Jonathan Putnam</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">John Putnam</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Lydia Putnam</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Rebecca Putnam</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Walter Phillips</span>, Sr.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Hutchinson</span>, Sr.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Nathaniel Felton</span>, Sr.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Lydia Hutchinson</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Margaret Phillips</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">William Osburn</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Tabitha Phillips.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Hannah Osburn</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Houlton</span>, Jr.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Holton</span>, Sr.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Endicott.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Sarah Holton</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Elizabeth Buxton</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Benjamin Putnam</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Aborn</span>, Sr.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Sarah Putnam</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Isaac Cook</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Job Swinnerton</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Elizabeth Cook</span>.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Esther Swinnerton</span>.</td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Putnam</span>.&quot;</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Herrick</span>, Sr.</td>
+      <td>&#160;</td>
+    </tr>
+  </tbody>
+  </table>
+
+<p>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.273" id="Page_ii.273">[ii.273]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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,&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.274" id="Page_ii.274">[ii.274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;by order of Their Majesties' justices,&quot; 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: &quot;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.&quot; As proof positive that
+this was &quot;the Devil's mark,&quot; Herrick and the turnkey testify that &quot;the
+said Jacobs was not in the least sensible of what had been done&quot;!</p>
+
+<p>The mind loathes the thought of handling in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.275" id="Page_ii.275">[ii.275]</a></span> 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.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p>
+
+<p>The evidence in the case of Rebecca Nurse was made up of the usual
+representations and actings of the &quot;afflicted children.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.276" id="Page_ii.276">[ii.276]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.277" id="Page_ii.277">[ii.277]</a></span> 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,&#8212;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.&#8212;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,&#8212;for Lawson, who knew her well, calls her &quot;a very
+sober and pious woman,&quot; so far as he could judge,&#8212;the stamp of
+profound earnestness marked on all her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.278" id="Page_ii.278">[ii.278]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Ann Putnam</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.279" id="Page_ii.279">[ii.279]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.280" id="Page_ii.280">[ii.280]</a></span> oath, I was again re-assaulted and
+tortured by my before-mentioned tormentor, Rebecca Nurse.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of Ann Putnam</span>, 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;she had killed Benjamin Houlton, John Fuller,
+and Rebecca Shepard;&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;testifieth and saith, that, on the first day of June, 1692,
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.281" id="Page_ii.281">[ii.281]</a></span> 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.&quot; 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, &quot;all that day long&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Sarah Houlton</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.282" id="Page_ii.282">[ii.282]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Jurat in Curia.</i>&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.283" id="Page_ii.283">[ii.283]</a></span> 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 &quot;railing
+and scolding&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Not guilty.&quot;
+Calef, and Hutchinson after him, describe the effect, and what
+followed:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.284" id="Page_ii.284">[ii.284]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The foreman of the jury, Thomas Fisk, made this statement on the 4th
+of July, a few days after the trial:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.285" id="Page_ii.285">[ii.285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Upon being informed of the use made of her words, the prisoner put in
+the following declaration:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>It was perfectly natural for her to have spoken of them as &quot;of our
+company,&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.286" id="Page_ii.286">[ii.286]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>The extraordinary conduct of &quot;the Salem gentlemen,&quot; 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 &quot;History of New England,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.287" id="Page_ii.287">[ii.287]</a></span> 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 &quot;law and justice in mercy,&quot;
+which ought always to be written on their hearts. &quot;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.'&quot; 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
+&quot;Not guilty,&quot; made it the duty of the Court and the executive to give
+to her the benefit of that verdict.</p>
+
+<p>At the trial of her mother, Sarah Nurse&#8212;aged twenty-eight years or
+thereabouts&#8212;offered this piece of testimony: that, &quot;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.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.288" id="Page_ii.288">[ii.288]</a></span> 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: &quot;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.'&quot; Samuel Nurse
+testified to the same.</p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;Ann Putnam, Jr., was bitten by Rebecca Nurse, as she said, about two
+of the clock of the day&quot; after Rebecca<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.289" id="Page_ii.289">[ii.289]</a></span> 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, &quot;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.&quot; Edward
+Putnam swears, &quot;I saw the mark, both of bite and chains.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>In the trials at this session, one of the &quot;afflicted children&quot; cried
+out against the Rev. Samuel Willard, of the Old South Church, in
+Boston. &quot;She was sent out of Court, and it was told about that she was
+mistaken in the person.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.290" id="Page_ii.290">[ii.290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;1692, July 3.&#8212;After sacrament, the elders propounded to
+the church,&#8212;and it was, by an unanimous vote, consented
+to,&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;great and spacious meeting-house&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.291" id="Page_ii.291">[ii.291]</a></span> Higginson and Mr. Noyes&#8212;the
+elders, as the clergy were then called&#8212;were in the pulpit. The two
+ruling elders&#8212;who were lay officers&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>From the dismal cell, which, for but a few days longer, was to hold
+her body, he proclaimed the transferrence of her soul to&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;A dungeon horrible on all sides round,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No light, but rather darkness visible;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And rest can never dwell; hope never comes<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That comes to all; but torture without end,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As far removed from God, and light of heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.292" id="Page_ii.292">[ii.292]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.293" id="Page_ii.293">[ii.293]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.294" id="Page_ii.294">[ii.294]</a></span> 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!</p>
+
+<p>The subsequent history of the house presents a circumstance of
+singular interest in connection with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.295" id="Page_ii.295">[ii.295]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.296" id="Page_ii.296">[ii.296]</a></span> 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 <a href="salem1-htm.html#townsend">Townsend-Bishop House</a>.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Hutchinson describes the trial of Burroughs. After speaking of the
+evidence of the &quot;afflicted persons&quot; and the confessing witches, he
+mentions other circumstances which were thought to corroborate it:
+&quot;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.&quot; Bur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.297" id="Page_ii.297">[ii.297]</a></span>roughs said that an Indian present at the time did the
+same. Instantly, the accusers said it was &quot;the black man, or the
+Devil, who,&quot; they swore, &quot;looks like an Indian.&quot; 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,
+&quot;Upon the whole, he was confounded, and used many twistings and
+turnings, which, I think, we cannot wonder at.&quot; 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 &quot;twisting and turning&quot; he exhibited.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.298" id="Page_ii.298">[ii.298]</a></span>
+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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Thomas Greenslitt</span>, 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>When it was found that there was beginning to grow up a want of
+confidence in &quot;spectre evidence&quot; and the testimony of the afflicted
+children, those con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.299" id="Page_ii.299">[ii.299]</a></span>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 &quot;had the Devil to be his familiar,&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.300" id="Page_ii.300">[ii.300]</a></span> 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,&#8212;a gun which the deponents thought
+strong men could not with both hands lift up, and hold at
+the butt end, as is usual.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;was overpersuaded by others to be out of the way
+upon George Burroughs's trial,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Calef gives the following account of his execution:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.301" id="Page_ii.301">[ii.301]</a></span>
+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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.302" id="Page_ii.302">[ii.302]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted children.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.303" id="Page_ii.303">[ii.303]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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,&#8212;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&#8212;in most cases
+eminently, and in all substantially&#8212;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.304" id="Page_ii.304">[ii.304]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>From the account given of John Procter, in the
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First Part</a>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.305" id="Page_ii.305">[ii.305]</a></span>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>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.</i></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&quot;TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF ASSISTANTS NOW SITTING IN BOSTON.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Honored and Right Worshipful</i>,&#8212;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,&#8212;may be arguments.
+Besides the unsearchable footsteps of God's judgments, that
+are brought to light every morning, that as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.306" id="Page_ii.306">[ii.306]</a></span>tonish our
+weaker reasons; to teach us adoration, trembling,
+dependence, &amp;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.</p></div>
+
+<table border="0" summary="signatures" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Jn<sup>o.</sup> Wise.</span></td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Nathanill Perkins.</span></td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Benjamin Marshall.</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">William Story.</span> Sen<sup>r.</sup></td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Thomas Lovkine.</span></td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">John Andrews</span> Ju<sup>r.</sup></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Reinalld Foster.</span></td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">William Cogswell.</span></td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">William Butler.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Thos. Chote.</span></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Thomas Varny.</span></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">William Andrews.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">John Burnum</span> S<sup>r.</sup></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">John Fellows.</span></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">John Andrews.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">William Thomsonn.</span></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Wm. Cogswell</span> Ju<sup>r.</sup></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">John Chote</span> Se<sup>r.</sup></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Tho. Low</span> Sen<sup>r.</sup></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Jonathan Cogswell.</span></td>
+      <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Procter.</span></td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td><span class="smcap">Isaac Foster.</span></td>
+        <td><span class="smcap">John Cogswell</span> Ju.</td>
+        <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Gidding.</span></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td><span class="smcap">John Burnum</span> jun<sup>r.</sup></td>
+          <td><span class="smcap">John Cogswell.</span></td>
+          <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Evleth.</span></td>
+          </tr>
+          <tr>
+            <td><span class="smcap">William Goodhew.</span></td>
+            <td><span class="smcap">Thomas Andrews.</span></td>
+            <td><span class="smcap">James White.</span></td>
+            </tr>
+            <tr>
+              <td><span class="smcap">Isaac Perkins.</span></td>
+              <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Andrews.&quot;</span></td>
+              <td>&#160;</td>
+              </tr>
+          </tbody>
+          </table>
+
+<p>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.307" id="Page_ii.307">[ii.307]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Nathaniel Felton</span>, Sr., and <span class="smcap">Mary</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Marsh</span>, and <span class="smcap">Priscilla</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">James Houlton</span>, and <span class="smcap">Ruth</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">John Felton</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Nathaniel Felton</span>, Jr.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Frayll</span>, and <span class="smcap">An</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Zachariah Marsh</span>, and <span class="smcap">Mary</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Endecott</span>, and <span class="smcap">Hanah</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Stone</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Locker</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Gaskil</span>, and <span class="smcap">Provided</span> his wife.<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Smith</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Edward Gaskil</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In addition to this testimony in their favor, evidence was offered, at
+their trial, that one of the accusing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.308" id="Page_ii.308">[ii.308]</a></span> witnesses had denied, out of
+Court, what she had sworn to in Court; and declared that she must, at
+the time, have been &quot;out of her head,&quot; 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 &quot;for sport. They must have some sport.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;meaning, of course, Increase Mather&#8212;is the first named,
+corroborates other evidence that he was beginning to entertain doubts
+about the propriety<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.309" id="Page_ii.309">[ii.309]</a></span> 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 &quot;Body of Divinity&quot; is an
+elaborate and systematic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.310" id="Page_ii.310">[ii.310]</a></span> 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 &quot;afflicted girls&quot; 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
+&quot;Magnalia.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Salem Prison</span>, July 23, 1692.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>Mr. Mather, Mr. Allen, Mr. Moody, Mr. Willard, and Mr.
+Bailey.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Reverend Gentlemen</span>,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.311" id="Page_ii.311">[ii.311]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">John Procter</span> [and others].&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.312" id="Page_ii.312">[ii.312]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.313" id="Page_ii.313">[ii.313]</a></span></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images2/image23.png" alt="signatures" width="202" height="400" /></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.314" id="Page_ii.314">[ii.314]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images2/image24.png" alt="signatures" width="283" height="400" /></p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.315" id="Page_ii.315">[ii.315]</a></span> 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,&#8212;leaving his family, in the hurry of his flight,
+unprovided for&#8212;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,&#8212;whose peculiar function
+in these proceedings seems to have been to drive persons accused to
+make confession&#8212;had been betrayed into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.316" id="Page_ii.316">[ii.316]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>The Humble Declaration of Margaret Jacobs unto the Honored
+Court now sitting at Salem showeth</i>, that, whereas your poor
+and humble declarant, being closely confined here in Salem
+jail for the crime of witchcraft,&#8212;which crime, thanks be to
+the Lord! I am altogether ignorant of, as will appear at the
+great day of judgment,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.317" id="Page_ii.317">[ii.317]</a></span> 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,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Margaret Jacobs.</span>&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.318" id="Page_ii.318">[ii.318]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>From the Dungeon in Salem Prison.</i></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">August</span> 20, 1692.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Honored Father</span>,&#8212;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,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Margaret Jacobs</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>A temporary illness led to the postponement of her trial; and, before
+the next sitting of the Court, the delusion had passed away.</p>
+
+<p>The &quot;uncle D.A.,&quot; referred to, was Daniel Andrew, their nearest
+neighbor, who had escaped at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.319" id="Page_ii.319">[ii.319]</a></span> same time with her father. She calls
+him &quot;uncle.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;ten
+pounds to be paid in silver&quot; to his grand-daughter, Margaret Jacobs.
+There is the usual declaration, that it &quot;was inserted before sealing
+and signing.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.320" id="Page_ii.320">[ii.320]</a></span> provide to have the same sum paid
+to Margaret, out of the Province treasury.</p>
+
+<p>She was not tried at the time appointed, in consequence, it is stated,
+of &quot;an imposthume in the head,&quot; 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 &quot;young and tender years,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>George Jacobs, Sr., is the only one, among the victims of the
+witchcraft prosecutions, the precise spot of whose burial is
+absolutely ascertained.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="jacobs">
+<img src="images2/image25.jpg" alt="The Jacobs House" width="400" height="348" /></a></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>THE JACOBS HOUSE.</b></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.321" id="Page_ii.321">[ii.321]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.322" id="Page_ii.322">[ii.322]</a></span> 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 &quot;accusing
+girls&quot; 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. &quot;The shining man,&quot; or the white man, was meant, in the
+following deposition, to be a spirit of this description:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Testimony of Susanna Sheldon</span>, aged eighteen
+years or thereabouts.&#8212;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,&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.323" id="Page_ii.323">[ii.323]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In the same deposition, this girl testifies that &quot;she saw this Willard
+suckle the apparitions of two black pigs on his breasts;&quot; that Willard
+told her he had been a witch twenty years; that she saw Willard and
+other wizards kneel in prayer &quot;to the black man with a long-crowned
+hat, and then they vanished away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Such was the kind of testimony which the Court received with
+awe-struck and bewildered credulity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.324" id="Page_ii.324">[ii.324]</a></span> 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 &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th of September, the Court met again; and <i>Martha Corey</i>,
+<i>Mary Easty</i>, <i>Alice Parker</i>, <i>Ann Pudeator</i>, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary
+Bradbury were tried and condemned; and, on the 17th, <i>Margaret Scott</i>,
+<i>Wilmot Reed</i>, <i>Samuel Wardwell</i>, <i>Mary Parker</i>, 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;11 September, Lord's Day.&#8212;Sister Martha Corey&#8212;taken into
+the church 27 April, 1690&#8212;was, after examination upon
+suspicion of witchcraft, 27 March, 1692, committed to prison
+for that fact, and was condemned to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.325" id="Page_ii.325">[ii.325]</a></span> 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,&#8212;which she was willing to decline,&#8212;the dreadful
+sentence of excommunication was pronounced against her.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>Calef informs us, that &quot;Martha Corey, protesting her innocency,
+concluded her life with an eminent prayer upon the ladder.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;I know nothing about it.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.326" id="Page_ii.326">[ii.326]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>The Humble Request of Mary Easty and Sarah Cloyse to the
+Honored Court humbly showeth</i>, 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&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.327" id="Page_ii.327">[ii.327]</a></span>
+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, &amp;c.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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&#8212;and there can be no
+higher eulogium&#8212;that she felt for others more than for herself.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>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</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.328" id="Page_ii.328">[ii.328]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.329" id="Page_ii.329">[ii.329]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;as serious, religious, distinct, and affectionate as could well be
+expressed, drawing tears from the eyes of almost all present.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>The Humble Petition of Ann Pudeator unto the Honored Judge
+and Bench now sitting in Judicature in Salem, humbly
+showeth</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.330" id="Page_ii.330">[ii.330]</a></span>
+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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;I know nothing of it.&quot; 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, &quot;Yes; but it is the Devil does it in my shape.&quot; Ann
+Putnam said that her spectre had afflicted her a few days before,
+pulling her off her horse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.331" id="Page_ii.331">[ii.331]</a></span> 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, &quot;There are the
+shapes of Daniel Eames and Captain Floyd [two persons then in prison
+on the charge of witchcraft] sitting on her handkerchief.&quot; 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 &quot;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.&quot; This was the only concession she would make; and they
+were puzzled to determine whether it was a confession, or not,&#8212;it
+having rather the appearance of clearing herself from all implication
+with the Devil, and leaving him on their hands&#8212;at any rate, they
+concluded to regard it in the latter sense; and she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.332" id="Page_ii.332">[ii.332]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;coming in his face, interrupted his
+discourse: those accusers said that the Devil did hinder him with
+smoke.&quot; 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, &quot;was for some time at a set: the afflicted and
+others said that the Devil hindered it,&quot; &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.333" id="Page_ii.333">[ii.333]</a></span>
+operation; and it is not strange that the cart got &quot;set.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;turning him to the bodies, Mr. Noyes said,
+'What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging
+there!'&quot; It was the last time his eyes were regaled by such a sight.
+There were no more executions on Witch Hill.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.334" id="Page_ii.334">[ii.334]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;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.&quot; 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 &quot;caused her master (John
+Procter) to ask more for a piece of meadow than he (Corey) was willing
+to give.&quot; She also charged him with &quot;afflicting of her&quot; by his spectre
+while he was in prison, and &quot;described him in all his garments, both
+of hat, coat, and the color of them,&#8212;with a cord about his waist and
+a white cap on his head, and in chains.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.335" id="Page_ii.335">[ii.335]</a></span>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,&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.336" id="Page_ii.336">[ii.336]</a></span> 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: &quot;Know ye,
+&amp;c., that I, Giles Corey, lying under great trouble and affliction,
+through which I am very weak in body, but in perfect memory,&#8212;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;&quot; and proceeds to convey and confirm all his property&#8212;&quot;lands,
+meadow, housing, cattle, stock, movables and immovables, money,
+apparel, ... and all other the aforesaid premises, with their
+appurtenances&quot;&#8212;to the said Cleeves and Moulton &quot;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;&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.337" id="Page_ii.337">[ii.337]</a></span> before &quot;Thomas Wade, Justice of the
+Peace in Essex,&quot; and recorded forthwith. This transaction took place
+in the jail at Ipswich.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Guilty,&quot; or &quot;Not guilty,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that he could have no trial that would deserve the name. To
+have pleaded &quot;Not guilty&quot; 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 &quot;the country&quot; represented by a jury that embodied the passions of
+the deluded and infatuated multitude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.338" id="Page_ii.338">[ii.338]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>peine
+forte et dure</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.339" id="Page_ii.339">[ii.339]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.340" id="Page_ii.340">[ii.340]</a></span>ous deed was done; and that boys, as they
+sported in the vicinity, were in the habit of singing a ditty
+beginning thus:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;'More weight! more weight!'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Giles Corey he cried.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;it can only be conjectured
+who&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.341" id="Page_ii.341">[ii.341]</a></span>
+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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.342" id="Page_ii.342">[ii.342]</a></span> 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 &quot;bruised to
+death, having clodders of blood about the heart.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.343" id="Page_ii.343">[ii.343]</a></span> before been brought out was because he
+had not been on trial. The man who died with &quot;clodders of blood about
+his heart,&quot; 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&#8212;as has been mentioned in the
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First Part</a>,
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_185">vol.
+i. p. 185</a>&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.344" id="Page_ii.344">[ii.344]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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 <i>pain fort dure</i>; being undoubtedly
+either guilty of the sin of witchcraft, or of throwing
+himself upon sudden and certain death, if he were otherwise
+innocent.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.345" id="Page_ii.345">[ii.345]</a></span> 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
+&quot;cried out upon,&quot; it may be taken as proof that he had spoken against
+them. Increase Mather, the president of Harvard College, called by
+Eliot &quot;the father of the New-England clergy,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.346" id="Page_ii.346">[ii.346]</a></span> 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.347" id="Page_ii.347">[ii.347]</a></span>&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Into the air; and what seemed corporal, melted<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As breath into the wind.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.348" id="Page_ii.348">[ii.348]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.349" id="Page_ii.349">[ii.349]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;spectral
+evidence&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.350" id="Page_ii.350">[ii.350]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.351" id="Page_ii.351">[ii.351]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;Such a
+jail-delivery has never been known in New England.&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.352" id="Page_ii.352">[ii.352]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.353" id="Page_ii.353">[ii.353]</a></span></p>
+<p>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 &quot;beyond
+the seas;&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.354" id="Page_ii.354">[ii.354]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.355" id="Page_ii.355">[ii.355]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.356" id="Page_ii.356">[ii.356]</a></span> 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 &quot;Guilty&quot; became inevitable. But few at that time
+doubted the veracity of the &quot;afflicted persons,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.357" id="Page_ii.357">[ii.357]</a></span> afflicting various persons; and that the said
+spectre acknowledged to her, that &quot;she had killed Benjamin Houlton,
+and John Fuller, and Rebecca Shepard,&quot;&#8212;the answer of the prisoner
+was, &quot;I cannot help it: the Devil may appear in my shape.&quot; When the
+examining magistrate put the question to Susanna Martin, &quot;How comes
+your appearance to hurt these?&quot; Martin replied, &quot;I cannot tell. He
+that appeared in Samuel's shape, a glorified saint, can appear in any
+one's shape.&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted&quot; 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 &quot;Guilty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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. &quot;The king cannot die&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.358" id="Page_ii.358">[ii.358]</a></span>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 &quot;a
+State cannot die.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.359" id="Page_ii.359">[ii.359]</a></span> 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, &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Testimony of John Putnam, Sr., and Rebecca his
+Wife</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.360" id="Page_ii.360">[ii.360]</a></span> their death); further saith, that we did judge then that
+they both died of a malignant fever, and had no suspicion of
+<span lang="el" title="Transcriber's Note: so in original">withcraft</span> of any,
+neither can we accuse the prisoner at the bar of any such
+thing.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The Special Court that condemned the persons charged with witchcraft
+in 1692 is justly open to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.361" id="Page_ii.361">[ii.361]</a></span> 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
+&quot;Magnalia,&quot; vindicates them on this ground:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;an evil hand&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.362" id="Page_ii.362">[ii.362]</a></span> died of witchcraft. It is much
+to be regretted that none of their verdicts have been preserved. Drawn
+up by an attending &quot;chirurgeon,&quot; 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 &quot;an evil
+hand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;more dogged by the Devil than any other men,&quot;
+just as, according to his philosophy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.363" id="Page_ii.363">[ii.363]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.364" id="Page_ii.364">[ii.364]</a></span>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 &quot;afflicted
+children&quot; 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: &quot;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.&quot; 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.365" id="Page_ii.365">[ii.365]</a></span> 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 &quot;Description and History of Salem&quot; (Mass. Hist.
+Coll., 1st series, vol. vi.) says, &quot;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.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.366" id="Page_ii.366">[ii.366]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.367" id="Page_ii.367">[ii.367]</a></span> renew them during
+the next year in his own parish in Boston.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.368" id="Page_ii.368">[ii.368]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.369" id="Page_ii.369">[ii.369]</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.370" id="Page_ii.370">[ii.370]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The whole force of popular superstition, all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.371" id="Page_ii.371">[ii.371]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The treatment of the prisoners, by the administra<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.372" id="Page_ii.372">[ii.372]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.373" id="Page_ii.373">[ii.373]</a></span>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 &quot;elect&quot; would be seduced into his
+service,&#8212;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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.374" id="Page_ii.374">[ii.374]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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 &quot;man's
+inhumanity to man,&quot; to be compared with what the victims of this
+tragedy endured. Their bearing through the whole, from the arrest to
+the scaffold, reflects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.375" id="Page_ii.375">[ii.375]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;for a lie would have saved them&#8212;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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.376" id="Page_ii.376">[ii.376]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the Prince of the Power of
+the Air,&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.377" id="Page_ii.377">[ii.377]</a></span> 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: &quot;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.&quot; 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: &quot;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.&quot; It is inferrible from this
+that Symonds was born in the house from which he was buried. Gallows
+Hill, now &quot;Witch Hill&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.378" id="Page_ii.378">[ii.378]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Witch Hill&quot; 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 &quot;Norman's Rocks.&quot; 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 <a href="#witchhill">headpiece</a> of the <a href="#PART_THIRD">Third Part</a>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.379" id="Page_ii.379">[ii.379]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;a fitting memorial of their constancy.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.380" id="Page_ii.380">[ii.380]</a></span>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&#8212;the
+brow of Witch Hill. On no other spot could such a tribute be more
+worthily bestowed, or more conspicuously displayed.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.381" id="Page_ii.381">[ii.381]</a></span> all others in its agricultural
+development and thrift,&#8212;every acre elsewhere showing the touch of
+modern improvement and culture,&#8212;the &quot;old meeting-house road,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the afflicted&quot; as
+manifested at the examinations; and flocked to the surrounding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.382" id="Page_ii.382">[ii.382]</a></span>
+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,&#8212;must have occasioned an extensive and
+protracted interruption of the necessary industrial pursuits of
+society, and heavily increased the public burdens.</p>
+
+<p>The destruction dealt upon particular families extended to so many as
+to constitute in the aggregate a vast, wide-spread calamity.<a name="FNanchor_F_6" id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.383" id="Page_ii.383">[ii.383]</a></span></p>
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.384" id="Page_ii.384">[ii.384]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What are we to think of those persons who commenced and continued the
+accusations,&#8212;the &quot;afflicted children&quot; and their associates?</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.385" id="Page_ii.385">[ii.385]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.386" id="Page_ii.386">[ii.386]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.387" id="Page_ii.387">[ii.387]</a></span>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 &quot;an evil hand,&quot; were dreadful to behold,
+and soon drew wondering and horror-struck crowds around them.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.388" id="Page_ii.388">[ii.388]</a></span> the tortures and contortions of the
+&quot;afflicted children;&quot; who became objects of wonder, so far as their
+feats were regarded, and of pity in view of their agonies and
+convulsions.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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,&#8212;all which they had never seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.389" id="Page_ii.389">[ii.389]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.390" id="Page_ii.390">[ii.390]</a></span> 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
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">Part I., vol. i</a>. They were &quot;Topsfield men,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.391" id="Page_ii.391">[ii.391]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;as much at least as the exclusive contemplation of any one
+idea or class of ideas,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.392" id="Page_ii.392">[ii.392]</a></span> 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;&#8212;a
+melancholy, sickly mania running through them. Something of the kind
+is, perhaps, more or less discernible in the depositions of others.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.393" id="Page_ii.393">[ii.393]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>The quick wit and ready expedients of the &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.394" id="Page_ii.394">[ii.394]</a></span> 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Joseph Hutchinson</span>, aged
+fifty-nine years, do testify as followeth: &quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever opinion may be formed of the moral or mental condition of the
+&quot;afflicted children,&quot; as to their sanity and responsibility, there can
+be no doubt that they were great actors. In mere jugglery and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.395" id="Page_ii.395">[ii.395]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.396" id="Page_ii.396">[ii.396]</a></span> 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,&#8212;as in the
+case of Ann Putnam's arm, and the indentations of teeth on the flesh
+in many instances,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.397" id="Page_ii.397">[ii.397]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.398" id="Page_ii.398">[ii.398]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,
+&quot;after a while,&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The Devil appeared to her in the shape of a bird at several
+times,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.399" id="Page_ii.399">[ii.399]</a></span> 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,&#8212;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,&#8212;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.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.400" id="Page_ii.400">[ii.400]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;We have forsaken
+Jesus Christ, and the Devil hath got hold of us. How shall we get
+clear of this Evil One?&quot; 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: &quot;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.&quot; It being asked her &quot;after what
+manner she went to Newbury Falls,&quot; she answered, &quot;the Devil carried
+her in his arms.&quot; She said, that, &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.401" id="Page_ii.401">[ii.401]</a></span> in like manner afflicted.&quot; Her daughter,
+also named Mary Lacy, followed the example of her mother and
+grandmother, and made confession.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>In some cases, the confessing witches showed great adroitness, and
+knowledge of human nature. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.402" id="Page_ii.402">[ii.402]</a></span> a leading minister was visiting them
+in the prison, one of them cried out as he passed her cell, calling
+him by name, &quot;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.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Justice requires that their own explanation of the influences which
+led them to confess should not be withheld.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;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:&quot;&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.403" id="Page_ii.403">[ii.403]</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.404" id="Page_ii.404">[ii.404]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">Mary Osgood</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Mary Tyler</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Deliverance Dane</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Abigail Barker</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Sarah Wilson</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Hannah Tyler</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.405" id="Page_ii.405">[ii.405]</a></span> 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.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.406" id="Page_ii.406">[ii.406]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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, &amp;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;though
+she had no other grounds so to believe.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Being asked why she prefixed a time, and spake of her being
+baptized, &amp;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.407" id="Page_ii.407">[ii.407]</a></span> the cat, in the
+shape of which she had confessed that the Devil had appeared
+to her, &amp;c., she replied, that, being told that the Devil
+had appeared to her, and must needs appear to her, &amp;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, &amp;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;bewailed and lamented their accusing of
+others, about whom they never knew any evil&quot; 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.408" id="Page_ii.408">[ii.408]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In one of Calef's tracts, he sums up his views, on the subject of the
+confessions, as follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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, &amp;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?' &amp;c. Upon their replying
+'Yes,' the whole was drawn into form, as their confession.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>This accounts for the similarity of construction and substance of the
+confessions generally.</p>
+
+<p>Calef remarks:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.409" id="Page_ii.409">[ii.409]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.410" id="Page_ii.410">[ii.410]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Spectator,&quot; speaks of
+it in connection with our present subject: &quot;When an old woman,&quot; says
+he, &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.411" id="Page_ii.411">[ii.411]</a></span> in whom human nature is defaced by
+infirmity and dotage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;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.&quot; These fancies still linger
+in the minds of some in the Old World and in the New.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.412" id="Page_ii.412">[ii.412]</a></span> 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, &quot;If I live, I will give him puppies enough.&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.413" id="Page_ii.413">[ii.413]</a></span> one that
+were dancing the hay.<a name="FNanchor_G_7" id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_H_8" id="FNanchor_H_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_8" class="fnanchor">[H]</a></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.414" id="Page_ii.414">[ii.414]</a></span></p><p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.415" id="Page_ii.415">[ii.415]</a></span> repetition of the same story, or of
+hearing it repeated by others. Instances are given in books,&#8212;perhaps
+can be recalled by our own individual experience or observation,&#8212;in
+which what was originally a delibe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.416" id="Page_ii.416">[ii.416]</a></span>rate fabrication of falsehood or of
+fancy has come, at last, to be regarded as a veritable truth and a
+real occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>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!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.417" id="Page_ii.417">[ii.417]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<span class="smcap">The Deposition of Joseph Bayley</span>, aged forty-four
+years.&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.418" id="Page_ii.418">[ii.418]</a></span> 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.&#8212;<i>Jurat in curia</i> by both persons.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.419" id="Page_ii.419">[ii.419]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.420" id="Page_ii.420">[ii.420]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>There may be an interest in some minds to know who the &quot;little maid at
+the door&quot; 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 &quot;the little maid.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.421" id="Page_ii.421">[ii.421]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;image
+of God,&quot; 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, &quot;a ray from the fountain of light.&quot; But where, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.422" id="Page_ii.422">[ii.422]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.423" id="Page_ii.423">[ii.423]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;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&#8212;was in
+imagining that their knowledge had extended, in this direction, beyond
+the boundary fixed unalterably to our researches, while in this
+corporeal life.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.424" id="Page_ii.424">[ii.424]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;wonders of the invisible world;&quot; but they
+remain &quot;wonders&quot; 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.425" id="Page_ii.425">[ii.425]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.426" id="Page_ii.426">[ii.426]</a></span>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.427" id="Page_ii.427">[ii.427]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The phenomena of the real world, so far as science discloses them to
+our contemplation; the records of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.428" id="Page_ii.428">[ii.428]</a></span> 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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted
+children&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.429" id="Page_ii.429">[ii.429]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.430" id="Page_ii.430">[ii.430]</a></span> 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,&#8212;are wide enough for our
+exploration, and may well occupy the longest lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.431" id="Page_ii.431">[ii.431]</a></span> 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 medi&#230;val 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.432" id="Page_ii.432">[ii.432]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.433" id="Page_ii.433">[ii.433]</a></span> by which it is environed, while in this transitory
+stage of its history.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.434" id="Page_ii.434">[ii.434]</a></span> 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!</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.435" id="Page_ii.435">[ii.435]</a></span> 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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.436" id="Page_ii.436">[ii.436]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.437" id="Page_ii.437">[ii.437]</a></span> is rushing
+headlong, it is the duty of patriotism and of friendship to check the
+motion.</p>
+
+<p>In this connection it may be remarked&#8212;and I should be sorry to bring
+the subject to a close without urging the thought upon your
+attention&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.438" id="Page_ii.438">[ii.438]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The &quot;New-York Negro Plot,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The leading features and most striking aspects of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.439" id="Page_ii.439">[ii.439]</a></span> 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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.440" id="Page_ii.440">[ii.440]</a></span> 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. <span class="smcap">The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692</span>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We may lament, then,&quot; says he, &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.441" id="Page_ii.441">[ii.441]</a></span> 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,&#8212;that which is linked to the throne of God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>The conduct of Judge Sewall claims our particu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.442" id="Page_ii.442">[ii.442]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;History of New England:&quot;&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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!&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.443" id="Page_ii.443">[ii.443]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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,&#8212;a victory over itself; a spirit so noble and so
+pure, that it felt no shame in acknowledging an error, and publicly
+imploring,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.444" id="Page_ii.444">[ii.444]</a></span> for a great wrong done to his fellow-creatures, the
+forgiveness of God and man.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Touching and sad, a tale is told,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of the fast which the good man life-long kept<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With a haunting sorrow that never slept,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As the circling year brought round the time<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of an error that left the sting of crime,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When he sat on the bench of the witchcraft courts,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With the laws of Moses and 'Hale's Reports,'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And spake, in the name of both, the word<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That gave the witch's neck to the cord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And piled the oaken planks that pressed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The feeble life from the warlock's breast!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All the day long, from dawn to dawn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His door was bolted, his curtain drawn;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No foot on his silent threshold trod,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No eye looked on him save that of God,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charms<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And, with precious proofs from the sacred Word<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of the boundless pity and love of the Lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His faith confirmed and his trust renewed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Might be washed away in the mingled flood<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.445" id="Page_ii.445">[ii.445]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><img src="images2/image26.png" width="150" height="43" alt="decoration" /></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="SUPPLEMENT" id="SUPPLEMENT"></a>SUPPLEMENT.</h2>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><img src="images2/image27.png" width="75" height="62" alt="decoration" /></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.447" id="Page_ii.447">[ii.447]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>SUPPLEMENT.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[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.]</p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&#160;I</span><b>T</b> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Salisbury, Aug. 9, 1692,&quot; addressed &quot;To
+the worshipful Jonathan Corwin, Esq., these present at his house in
+Salem.&quot; It is indorsed, &quot;A letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.448" id="Page_ii.448">[ii.448]</a></span> to my grandfather, on account of
+the condemnation of the witches.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+&quot;spectral evidence&quot; and the credibility of the &quot;afflicted children&quot;
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.449" id="Page_ii.449">[ii.449]</a></span> 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 <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.]</p>
+
+<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_I_9" id="FNanchor_I_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_9" class="fnanchor">[I]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.450" id="Page_ii.450">[ii.450]</a></span></p>
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.451" id="Page_ii.451">[ii.451]</a></span>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.452" id="Page_ii.452">[ii.452]</a></span> until many years
+afterwards. He says that &quot;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.&quot; 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: &quot;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?&quot; He says that he knows several persons
+&quot;about the Bay,&quot;&#8212;men, for understanding, judgment, and piety,
+inferior to few, if any, in New England,&#8212;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 &quot;other
+justices in the country, besides the Salem jus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.453" id="Page_ii.453">[ii.453]</a></span>tices, have issued out
+their warrants;&quot; and states, that, of the eight &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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. &quot;She was much complained of
+by the afflicted persons, and yet the justices would not issue out
+their warrants to apprehend&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.454" id="Page_ii.454">[ii.454]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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 <i>Tom</i> and <i>John</i>,&#8212;I
+mean the rude and more ignorant sort,&#8212;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,&#8212;for,
+as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.455" id="Page_ii.455">[ii.455]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>If Mr. Brattle and the &quot;several worthy gentlemen&quot; to whom he alludes,
+instead of sitting in &quot;trembling&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>He mentions, in the course of his letter, among those persons known by
+him to disapprove of the proceedings,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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&#8212;viz., Thomas Graves, Esq.; N. Byfield, Esq.;
+Francis Foxcroft, Esq.&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Wonders of the Invisible World,&quot; in which he labors
+to defend the witchcraft prosecutions, and to make it out that those
+who suffered were &quot;malefactors.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.456" id="Page_ii.456">[ii.456]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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. &quot;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.&quot; The &quot;afflicted,&quot; 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 &quot;whether there was not a God in Boston, that he should go to
+the Devil, in Salem, for advice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.457" id="Page_ii.457">[ii.457]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.458" id="Page_ii.458">[ii.458]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;upon the ladder,&quot; and which produced such an
+impression on those who heard it, was undoubtedly expressive of
+enlightened piety, worthy of being characterized as &quot;eminent&quot; in its
+sentiments, and in its demonstration of an innocent heart and life.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,&#8212;and more to the like
+purpose, crying, 'Hang them! hang them!'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>In another document, it is stated that Nathaniel Ingersoll and others
+heard John Procter tell Joseph Pope, &quot;that, if he had John Indian in
+his custody, he would soon beat the Devil out of him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;John
+Indian,&quot; if dealt out to the &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>When the witchcraft tornado burst upon Andover, it prostrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.459" id="Page_ii.459">[ii.459]</a></span> 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, &quot;to remain as prisoners in their own houses, where
+they may be more tenderly cared for.&quot; They speak of their &quot;distressed
+condition in prison,&#8212;a company of poor distressed creatures as full
+of inward grief and trouble as they are able to bear up in life
+withal.&quot; They refer to the want of &quot;food convenient&quot; for them, and to
+&quot;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,&quot; 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 &quot;distempered persons.&quot; 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 &quot;walking as becometh women professing godliness.&quot;
+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:
+&quot;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.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.460" id="Page_ii.460">[ii.460]</a></span> such things as witchcraft, charms, or
+sorceries of any kind. He expresses himself in strong language: &quot;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.&quot; He denounces &quot;the conceit of spectre evidence,&quot; and warns
+against continuing in a course of proceeding that will procure &quot;the
+divine displeasure.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;man-servant,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Dane made the following statement, also designed to reach the
+authorities, which cannot be read by any person of sen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.461" id="Page_ii.461">[ii.461]</a></span>sibility
+without feeling its force, although it made no impression upon the
+Court at the time:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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!&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.462" id="Page_ii.462">[ii.462]</a></span> 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 &quot;More Wonders of
+the Invisible World.&quot; 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: &quot;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,&#8212;these are published.&quot; Calef's writings
+gave a shock to Mather's influence, from which it never recovered.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.463" id="Page_ii.463">[ii.463]</a></span> 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.<a name="FNanchor_J_10" id="FNanchor_J_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_10" class="fnanchor">[J]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.464" id="Page_ii.464">[ii.464]</a></span></p>
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted child,&quot; who acted so extraordinary a
+part in the proceedings and of whom further mention will be made, died
+in 1699,&#8212;the former on the 24th of May, the latter on the 8th of
+June,&#8212;at the respective ages of forty-seven and thirty-eight.<a name="FNanchor_K_11" id="FNanchor_K_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_11" class="fnanchor">[K]</a>
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.465" id="Page_ii.465">[ii.465]</a></span> 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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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: &quot;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;&quot; and Calef speaks of them as &quot;vile varlets,&quot; and
+asserts that their reputations were not without spot before, and that
+subsequently they became abandoned to open and shameless vice.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.466" id="Page_ii.466">[ii.466]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.467" id="Page_ii.467">[ii.467]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;great chair and cushion;&quot; 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 &quot;decent burial.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.468" id="Page_ii.468">[ii.468]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.469" id="Page_ii.469">[ii.469]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.470" id="Page_ii.470">[ii.470]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.471" id="Page_ii.471">[ii.471]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;very tall, handsome man,
+very regular and devout in his attendance at church, religious without
+bigotry, and having every man's good word.&quot; His impatient activity
+against the victims of the witchcraft delusion wrought a great change
+in the condition of this popular and &quot;handsome&quot; man, as is seen in a
+petition presented by him, Dec. 8, 1692; to &quot;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.&quot; It begins
+thus: &quot;The petition of your poor servant, George Herrick, most humbly
+showeth.&quot; After recounting his great and various services &quot;for the
+term of nine months,&quot; as marshal or deputy-sheriff in apprehending many
+prisoners, and conveying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.472" id="Page_ii.472">[ii.472]</a></span> them &quot;unto prison and from prison to
+prison,&quot; he complains that his whole time had been taken up so that he
+was incapable of getting any thing for the maintenance of his &quot;poor
+family:&quot; 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. &quot;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.&quot; He concludes
+by declaring, that he is not &quot;weary of serving his king and country,&quot;
+nor very scrupulous as to the kind of service; for he promises that
+&quot;if his habitation&quot; could thereby be &quot;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.&quot; Marshal Herrick died in 1695.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center">&quot;<i>At a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and
+General Jail Delivery, held at Ipswich, the fifteenth day of
+May, anno Domini 1694.</i>&#8212;Present, William Stoughton, Esq.,
+<i>Chief-justice</i>; Thomas Danforth, Esq.; Samuel Sewall, Esq.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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 &#163;67. 6<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>, which is
+also allowed unto him; and, pursuant to law, this Court doth
+fully, clearly, and absolutely acquit and discharge him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.473" id="Page_ii.473">[ii.473]</a></span>
+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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &#163;60. 3<i>s</i>.</p>
+
+<p>At length, the government had to meet the public feeling. A
+proclamation was issued, &quot;By the Honorable the Lieutenant-Governor,
+Council, and Assembly of His Majesty's province of the Massachusetts
+Bay, in General Court assembled.&quot; It begins thus: &quot;Whereas the anger
+of God is not yet turned away, but his hand is still stretched out
+against his people in manifold judgments;&quot; and, after several
+specifications of the calamities under which they were suffering, and
+referring to the &quot;many days of public and solemn&quot; addresses made to
+God, it proceeds: &quot;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.&quot; Thursday, the fourteenth
+of the next January, was accordingly appointed to be observed as a day
+of prayer and fasting,&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.474" id="Page_ii.474">[ii.474]</a></span> righteous;
+that he would bring in the American heathen, and cause them
+to hear and obey his voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Given at Boston, Dec. 17, 1696, in the eighth year of His
+Majesty's reign.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Isaac Addington</span>, <i>Secretary</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.475" id="Page_ii.475">[ii.475]</a></span> (2 Kings xxiv. 4),&#8212;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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;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.</p></div>
+
+<table border="0" summary="signatures" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td>&quot;<span class="smcap">Thomas Fisk</span>, <i>Foreman</i>.</td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Thomas Pearly</span>, Sr.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">William Fisk</span>.</td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">John Peabody</span>.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">John Bacheler</span>.</td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Thomas Perkins</span>.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Thomas Fisk</span>, Jr.</td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Sayer</span>.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">John Dane</span>.</td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Andrew Eliot</span>.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Joseph Evelith</span>.</td>
+    <td><span class="smcap">Henry Herrick</span>, Sr.&quot;</td>
+    </tr>
+  </tbody>
+  </table>
+
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;It may be queried then, How doth it appear that there was a
+going too far in this affair?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Answer</span> I.&#8212;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,&#8212;at once.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Ans</span>. II.&#8212;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 <i>their children in the nurture and
+admonition of the Lord</i>, such as we had charity for as for
+our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.476" id="Page_ii.476">[ii.476]</a></span> own souls,&#8212;and charity is a Christian duty, commended
+to us in 1 Cor. xiii., Col. iii. 14, and many other places.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Ans</span>. III.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Ans</span>. IV.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">Ans</span>. V.&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>On the 13th of June, 1700, Abigail Faulkner presented a well-expressed
+memorial to the General Court, in which she says that her pardon &quot;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;&quot; and prays for &quot;the defacing
+of the record&quot; 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 &quot;afflicted, who pretended to see me by their spectral sight,
+and not with their bodily eyes.&quot; That &quot;the jury (upon only their
+testimony) brought me in 'Guilty,' and the sentence of death was
+passed upon me;&quot; 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 &quot;the prayer of the petitioner be granted.&quot; The
+council declined to concur, but addressed &quot;His Excellency to grant the
+petitioner His Majesty's gracious pardon; and His Excellency expressed
+His readiness to grant the same.&quot; Some adverse influence, it seemed,
+prevailed to prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>On the 18th of March, 1702, another petition was presented to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.477" id="Page_ii.477">[ii.477]</a></span> 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 &quot;possessed persons,&quot; to this effect:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>[Signed by Francis Faulkner, Isaac Easty, Thorndike Procter,
+and eighteen others.]</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;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.&quot; The council concurred with an additional
+clause, to acquit all condemned persons &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This petition was re-enforced by an &quot;address&quot; 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 &quot;young persons under
+diabolical molestations,&quot; and express this sentiment: &quot;There is great
+reason to fear that innocent persons then suffered, and that God may
+have a controversy with the land upon that account.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.478" id="Page_ii.478">[ii.478]</a></span> 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,&#8212;eighty-seven years,&#8212;probably prevented the
+papers being handed to him. It is observable, that Nicholas Noyes, his
+colleague, is not among the signers.</p>
+
+<p>What prevented action, we do not know; but nothing was done. Six years
+afterwards, on the 25th of May, 1709, an &quot;humble address&quot; was
+presented to the General Court by certain inhabitants of the province,
+some of whom &quot;had their near relations, either parents or others, who
+suffered death in the dark and doleful times that passed over this
+province in 1692;&quot; and others &quot;who themselves, or some of their
+relations, were imprisoned, impaired and blasted in their reputations
+and estates by reason of the same.&quot; They pray for the passage of a
+&quot;suitable act&quot; to restore the reputations of the sufferers, and to
+make some remuneration &quot;as to what they have been damnified in their
+estates thereby.&quot; 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 &quot;beloved wife,&quot; he says &quot;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.&quot; 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,&#8212;all in earnest and forcible language. Charles, one of the
+sons of George Burroughs, presented the case of his &quot;dear and honored
+father;&quot; declaring that his innocence of the crime of which he was
+accused, and his excellence of character, were shown in &quot;his careful
+catechising his children, and upholding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.479" id="Page_ii.479">[ii.479]</a></span> religion in his family, and
+by his solemn and savory written instructions from prison.&quot; 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: &quot;Every discourse on this melancholy subject doth but give a
+fresh wound to my bleeding heart. I desire to sit down in silence.&quot;
+John Moulton, in behalf of the family of Giles Corey, says that they
+&quot;cannot sufficiently express their grief&quot; for the death, in such a
+manner, of &quot;their honored father and mother.&quot; Samuel Nurse, in behalf
+of his brothers and sisters, says that their &quot;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.&quot; He distinctly intimates, that they do not
+wish any money to be paid them, unless &quot;the attainder is taken off.&quot;
+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 &quot;taking off the attainder.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The General Court, on the 17th of October, 1710, passed an act, that
+&quot;the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby
+are, reversed, and declared to be null and void.&quot; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.480" id="Page_ii.480">[ii.480]</a></span> 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
+&quot;care and circumspection therein,&quot; expressed reluctance to allow any
+&quot;impediment to the ordinary course of justice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the 17th of December, 1711, Governor Dudley issued his warrant for
+the purpose of carrying out a vote of the &quot;General Assembly,&quot; &quot;by and
+with the advice and consent of Her Majesty's Council,&quot; to pay &quot;the sum
+of &#163;578. 12<i>s.</i>&quot; to &quot;such persons as are living, and to those that
+legally represent them that are dead;&quot; which sum was divided as
+follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<table border="0" summary="restitution" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td>John Procter and wife</td>
+    <td align="right">£</td>
+    <td align="right">150</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>George Jacobs</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">79</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>George Burroughs</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">50</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Sarah Good</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td align="right">30</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Giles Corey and wife</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">21</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Dorcas Hoar</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">21</td>
+    <td align="right">17</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Abigail Hobbs</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">10</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Rebecca Eames</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">10</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mary Post</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">8</td>
+    <td align="right">14</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mary Lacy</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">8</td>
+    <td align="right">10</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Ann Foster</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">6</td>
+    <td align="right">10</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Samuel Wardwell and wife</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">36</td>
+    <td align="right">15</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Rebecca Nurse</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">25</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mary Easty</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">20</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mary Bradbury</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">20</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Abigail Faulkner</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">20</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>John Willard</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">20</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Sarah Wildes</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">14</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Elizabeth How</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">12</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mary Parker</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">8</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Martha Carrier</td>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">7</td>
+    <td align="right">6</td>
+    <td align="right">0</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;<br />£<br />==</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;&#8212;<br />578<br />====</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;<br />12<br />==</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;<br />0<br />==</td>
+    </tr>
+    </tbody>
+    </table>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.481" id="Page_ii.481">[ii.481]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;the
+circumstances of the persons and families who suffered in the calamity
+of the times in and about the year 1692.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.482" id="Page_ii.482">[ii.482]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>On the 31st of May, 1749, the heirs of George Burroughs addressed a
+petition to Governor Shirley and the General Court, setting forth &quot;the
+unparalleled persecutions and sufferings&quot; of their ancestor, and
+praying for &quot;some recompense from this Court for the losses thereby
+sustained by his family.&quot; 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 &quot;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.&quot; The House
+immediately passed this order: &quot;That the committee within referred to
+be directed to sit forthwith, consider the petition to them committed,
+and report as soon as may be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.483" id="Page_ii.483">[ii.483]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>What was done by the First Church in Salem is shown in the following
+extract from its records:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;March 2, 1712.&#8212;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.:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.484" id="Page_ii.484">[ii.484]</a></span> of his life, do consent that the sentence
+of his excommunication be erased and blotted out.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;repented of his
+obstinate refusal to plead,&quot; 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 &quot;answering&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;The spirit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.485" id="Page_ii.485">[ii.485]</a></span> 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.&quot; The
+records of the First Church, in noticing his death, thus speak of him:
+&quot;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.&quot; Those bearing the name of Curwen among us are his descendants.
+He died Nov. 23, 1717.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;the facts, related as follows by Mr. Parris
+in his record-book, occurred:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;Sabbath-day, 14th August, 1692.&#8212;The church was stayed
+after the congregation was dismissed, and the pastor spake
+to the church after this manner:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Brethren, you may all have taken notice, that, several
+sacrament days past, our brother Peter Cloyse, and Samuel
+Nurse and his wife,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.486" id="Page_ii.486">[ii.486]</a></span> 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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;31st August.&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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 &quot;afflicted&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb
+shall overcome them: for he is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.487" id="Page_ii.487">[ii.487]</a></span> Lord of lords, and King of kings; and
+they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful.&quot; They are
+entitled, &quot;The Devil and his instruments will be warring against
+Christ and his followers.&quot; This note is added, &quot;After the condemnation
+of six witches at a court at Salem, one of the witches, viz., Martha
+Corey, in full communion with our church.&quot; The following is a portion
+of &quot;the improvement&quot; in the application of these discourses:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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, &amp;c.; but
+now we have known those of both sexes who professed much
+knowledge, holiness, and devotion, drawn into this damnable
+practice.'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &quot;altogether denying it.&quot; 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
+&quot;cried out&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, Sept. 20, 1692.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My dear and my very obliging Stephen</span>,&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.488" id="Page_ii.488">[ii.488]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Salem</i>.
+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&#8212;I know not where
+at last.</p>
+
+<p>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,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">C. Mather</span>.</p>
+
+<p>P.S.&#8212;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,&#8212;<i>kindness</i>, I say, for such it will be esteemed
+as well by him as by your servant,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">C. Mather</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.489" id="Page_ii.489">[ii.489]</a></span> 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 &quot;good hap&quot; it had been to &quot;do some little
+service&quot; in promoting them. The object of the writer is declared to
+be, that he might be &quot;more capable to assist in lifting up a standard
+against the infernal enemy.&quot; 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? &quot;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&#8212;I know not where at last.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Upon obtaining the document requisite to the fulfilment of his design,
+he did &quot;box it about&quot; 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 &quot;infernal enemy.&quot; &quot;She was
+thrown,&quot; says he, &quot;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.&quot; So far was he successful in spreading the delusion,
+that he prevailed upon six men to testify<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.490" id="Page_ii.490">[ii.490]</a></span> that they had seen Margaret
+Rule lifted bodily from her bed, and raised by an invisible power &quot;so
+as to touch the garret floor;&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Parris does not appear to have produced much effect by his
+sermons. The people had suffered enough from the &quot;war between the
+Devil and the Lamb,&quot; as he and Mather had conducted it; and it could
+not be renewed.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;inhabitants,&quot;
+vigilantly resisted all attempts in his favor. The church was still
+completely under his influence; and, as has been stated in the
+<a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First
+Part</a>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.491" id="Page_ii.491">[ii.491]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.492" id="Page_ii.492">[ii.492]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.493" id="Page_ii.493">[ii.493]</a></span> 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, &quot;that he had not seen
+sufficient grounds to vary his opinion.&quot; 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
+&quot;two or <i>three</i> witnesses.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.494" id="Page_ii.494">[ii.494]</a></span>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&#8212;and, to make it really
+mutual, must&#8212;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 <i>ex parte</i> 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,&#8212;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, &quot;for we have had three ministers removed already, and by
+every removal our differences have been rather aggravated.&quot; Another
+removal, they thought, would utterly ruin them. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.495" id="Page_ii.495">[ii.495]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;As to the contest between Mr. Parris and his hearers, &amp;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,&#8212;even against the word of the Lord, which he kept
+not,&#8212;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,'&quot; &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;1694, Oct. 27.&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.496" id="Page_ii.496">[ii.496]</a></span> 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.<a name="FNanchor_L_12" id="FNanchor_L_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_L_12" class="fnanchor">[L]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.497" id="Page_ii.497">[ii.497]</a></span></p>
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center"><i>&quot;To the Honorable Wait Winthrop, Elisha Cook, and Samuel
+Sewall, Esquires, Arbitrators, indifferently chosen, between
+Mr. Samuel Parris and the Inhabitants of Salem Village.</i></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>&quot;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.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.498" id="Page_ii.498">[ii.498]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;as we conceive, are just causes for our
+refusal, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">John Tarbell</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Nurse</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Joseph Putnam</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Daniel Andrew</span>,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><i>Attorneys for the people of the Village</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Boston, July 21, 1697.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.499" id="Page_ii.499">[ii.499]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The arbitrators decided that the inhabitants should pay to Mr. Parris
+a certain amount for arrearages, and also the sum of &#163;79. 9<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;Farewell, best wife, choice
+mother, neighbor, friend.&quot; Her ashes rest in what is called the
+Wadsworth burial ground.</p>
+
+<p>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, &amp;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 &quot;afflicted children&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>In the &quot;Boston News Letter,&quot; No. 1433, July 15, 1731, is a notice, as
+follows:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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, &amp;c., deceased to
+be a son of Thomas Parris of the island aforesaid, Esq. who
+deceased 1673, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.500" id="Page_ii.500">[ii.500]</a></span> 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.501" id="Page_ii.501">[ii.501]</a></span> 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 &quot;Meditations for Peace,&quot;
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.502" id="Page_ii.502">[ii.502]</a></span> 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 &quot;Meditations for Peace,&quot; 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 &quot;temptation,&quot; being under &quot;the clouds of human
+weakness,&quot; and &quot;a bewraying of remaining corruption.&quot; 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 &quot;infirmities discovered by them in such
+an heart-breaking day,&quot; 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 &quot;more critical and vigorous proceedings&quot; in consequence of
+their exhibiting these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.503" id="Page_ii.503">[ii.503]</a></span> natural sensibilities on the occasion, but &quot;to
+treat them with bowels of much compassion.&quot; These views had taken full
+effect upon Mr. Parris, and obliterated from his breast all such
+&quot;infirmities.&quot; This is the only explanation or apology that can be
+made for him.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;1. What has a gracious Lord helped me to do for the
+<i>seafaring tribe</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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 <i>Me</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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
+<i>basely</i> of me.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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 <i>monstrous</i> relatives? Job said, '<i>I am
+a brother to dragons.</i>'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.504" id="Page_ii.504">[ii.504]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;8. What has a gracious Lord given me to do, that the
+<span class="smcap">College</span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;9. What has a gracious Lord given me to do for the study of
+<i>a profitable conversation</i>? 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;10. What has a gracious Lord given me to do in <i>good
+offices</i>, 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, <i>but how
+few</i>! 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!</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;12. What has a gracious Lord given me to do in a variety
+of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.505" id="Page_ii.505">[ii.505]</a></span> <i>services</i>? 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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Diary, May 7, 1724.</i>&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>June 5.</i>&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>July 1, 1724.</i>&#8212;This day being our <i>insipid, ill-contrived
+anniversary</i>, which we call the <i>Commencement</i>, 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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.506" id="Page_ii.506">[ii.506]</a></span> This is strikingly
+illustrated in the &quot;seating of the meeting-house,&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving
+one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven&quot; 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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.507" id="Page_ii.507">[ii.507]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Feb. 5, 1699.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;1702.&#8212;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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Feb. 14, 1702/3.&#8212;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.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There was a major part voted, and six or seven dissented.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">J. Gr.</span>, <i>Pr.</i>&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.508" id="Page_ii.508">[ii.508]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.509" id="Page_ii.509">[ii.509]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.510" id="Page_ii.510">[ii.510]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center"><i>&quot;The Confession of Anne Putnam, when she was received to
+Communion, 1706.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+  <table border="0" summary="signature" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+    <tbody>
+    <tr>
+      <td>[Signed]</td>
+      <td><img src="images2/image30.png" alt="signature" width="200" height="40" /></td>
+    </tr>
+  </tbody>
+  </table>
+
+<p>&quot;This confession was read before the congregation, together
+with her relation, Aug. 25, 1706; and she acknowledged it.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">J. Green</span>, <i>Pastor</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p>This paper shows the baleful influence of the doctrine of Satan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.511" id="Page_ii.511">[ii.511]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>She divided her land to her four brothers, and her personal estate to
+her four sisters.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that she was frequently the subject of sickness, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.512" id="Page_ii.512">[ii.512]</a></span> 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,&#8212;&quot;oftentimes
+sick and weak in body.&quot; 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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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!&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.513" id="Page_ii.513">[ii.513]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p style="text-align: center"><i>&quot;Salem Village Church Records.</i></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sept. 5, 1746.&#8212;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, &amp;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sept. 7.&#8212;This testimony, exhortation, and warning, voted
+by the church, was publicly given by the pastor, before the
+dismission of the congregation.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.514" id="Page_ii.514">[ii.514]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The contrast between the fortunes and fates of the ministers of these
+two periods is worthy of being stated in detail.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;so far as we can see, most causeless
+and unreasonable,&#8212;he relinquished the ministry altogether, and spent
+the residue of his life in another profession elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.515" id="Page_ii.515">[ii.515]</a></span> 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,&#8212;for a crime of which
+he was as innocent as the unborn child.</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;unhappy&quot;
+one.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.516" id="Page_ii.516">[ii.516]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Surely, the annals of no church present a more dismal, shocking, or
+shameful history than this.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.517" id="Page_ii.517">[ii.517]</a></span>tral evidence for condemnation, says, in reference to the
+Salem witchcraft, &quot;I am much persuaded that there was much immediate
+agency of the Devil in these affairs, and perhaps there were some real
+witches too.&quot; 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: &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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: &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It is related, in White's &quot;Natural History of Selborne,&quot; that, in the
+year 1751, the people of Tring, a market town of Hertfordshire, and
+scarcely more than thirty miles from London, &quot;seized on two
+superannuated wretches, crazed with age and overwhelmed with
+infirmities, on a suspicion of witchcraft.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.518" id="Page_ii.518">[ii.518]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Hibbert, in his excellent book on the &quot;Philosophy of Apparitions,&quot;
+illustrates some remarks similar to those just made, by the following
+quotation from Mr. Wesley:&#8212;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.519" id="Page_ii.519">[ii.519]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The legend of the &quot;Screeching Woman&quot; 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, &quot;O mercy, mercy! Lord Jesus Christ,
+save me! Lord Jesus Christ, save me!&quot; 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 &quot;Marblehead Register&quot;
+of April 3, 1830, declares, that &quot;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.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When &quot;the silver moon unclouded holds her way,&quot; 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,&#8212;how often is the watcher startled from the reveries of an
+excited imagination by the pite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.520" id="Page_ii.520">[ii.520]</a></span>ous, dismal, and terrific screams of
+the unlaid ghost of the murdered lady!</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;Alice Brown, Fanny Amey, and Mary
+Fox,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>The writer of the article &quot;Witchcraft,&quot; in Rees's &quot;Cyclop&#230;dia,&quot;
+gravely maintains the doctrine of &quot;ocular fascination.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;palmistry&quot; is still
+practised by many a muttering vagrant; and perhaps some in this
+neighborhood remember when, in the days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.521" id="Page_ii.521">[ii.521]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The most celebrated fortune-teller, perhaps, that ever lived, resided
+in an adjoining town. The character of &quot;Moll Pitcher&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.522" id="Page_ii.522">[ii.522]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.523" id="Page_ii.523">[ii.523]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><img src="images2/image28.png" width="190" height="62" alt="decoration" /></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+I. <span class="smcap">Lawson's Prefatory Address.</span><br />
+II. <span class="smcap">Lawson's Brief Account.</span><br />
+III. <span class="smcap">Letter to Jonathan Corwin.</span><br />
+IV. <span class="smcap">Extracts from Mr. Parris's Church Records.</span></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><img src="images2/image29.png" width="32" height="42" alt="decoration" /></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.525" id="Page_ii.525">[ii.525]</a></span></p>
+<h2>APPENDIX.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+
+<h3>I.</h3>
+
+<h3>PREFATORY ADDRESS.</h3>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">[From the edition of Deodat Lawson's Sermon printed in London, 1704.]</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>To all my Christian Friends and Acquaintance, the Inhabitants of
+Salem Village.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Christian Friends</span>,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.526" id="Page_ii.526">[ii.526]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&#8212;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">Less than the least, of all those that serve,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">In the Gospel of our Lord Jesus,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">DEODAT LAWSON.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.527" id="Page_ii.527">[ii.527]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>II.</h3>
+
+<h3>DEODAT LAWSON'S NARRATIVE.</h3>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">[Appended to his Sermon, London edition, 1704.]</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">At</span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.528" id="Page_ii.528">[ii.528]</a></span> 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.:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Relating to the afflicted.<br />
+2. Relating to the accused. And,<br />
+3. Relating to the confessing witches.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>To begin with the afflicted.&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.529" id="Page_ii.529">[ii.529]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;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;&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;Go your ways, and the Devil go with
+you; for we will be no more pestered and plagued about you.&quot; And, ever
+after that, she was well, and no more afflicted, that ever I heard
+of.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.530" id="Page_ii.530">[ii.530]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &amp;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.531" id="Page_ii.531">[ii.531]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>with</i>, and railed
+<i>at</i>, a spectre: &quot;Goodw&#8212;-, 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,&#8212;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&quot; (we judged she meant her soul): &quot;but it is
+out of your reach; it is clothed with the white robes of Christ's
+righteousness.&quot; 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, &quot;I
+am sure you will be gone, for you cannot stand before that text.&quot; Then
+was she sorely afflicted,&#8212;her mouth drawn on one side, and her body
+strained violently for about a minute; and then said, &quot;It is, it is,
+it is,&quot; three or four times, and then was afflicted to hinder her from
+telling; at last, she broke forth, and said, &quot;It is the third chapter
+of the Revelations.&quot; 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,&#8212;as Isa. 40, 1, ch. 49, 1, ch. 50, 1, and several others. These
+things I saw and heard from her.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;Did not I say he should go to prayer?&quot; I went also to
+visit a person afflicted in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.532" id="Page_ii.532">[ii.532]</a></span> 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, &quot;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.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>16. Some of them were asked how it came to pass that they were not
+affrighted when they saw the <i>black-man</i>: they said they were at
+first, but not so much afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>17. Some of them affirmed they saw the <i>black-man</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>18. They declared several things to be done by witchcraft, which
+happened before some of them were born,&#8212;as strange deaths of persons,
+casting away of ships, &amp;c.; and they said the spectres told them of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>19. Some of them have sundry times seen a <i>white-man</i> appearing
+amongst the spectres, and, as soon as he appeared, the <i>black-witches</i>
+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,
+&quot;<i>How long shall I stay here? Let me be along with you.</i>&quot; She was
+grieved she could stay no longer in that place and company.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;a real cloth, <i>visible</i> to the spectators,
+which (as it is said) remains still to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>REMARKABLE THINGS RELATING TO THE ACCUSED.</b></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>2. It was observed, both in times of examination and trial, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.533" id="Page_ii.533">[ii.533]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>3. They were sometimes their <i>own image</i>, and not always practising
+upon poppets made of clouts, wax, or other materials, (according to
+the old methods of witchcraft); for <i>natural</i> 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 <i>pinched</i>; those again <i>stamping</i> with their feet,
+<i>these</i> were tormented in their legs and feet, so as they <i>stamped
+fearfully</i>. 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.</p>
+
+<p>4. Several were accused of having familiarity with the <i>black-man</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;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.&quot; Thus horribly doth Satan endeavor to
+have his kingdom and administrations to resemble those of our Lord
+Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>8. Some of the most <i>sober</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>9. Several of the accused would neither in time of examination nor
+trial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.534" id="Page_ii.534">[ii.534]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.535" id="Page_ii.535">[ii.535]</a></span> discourse had passed betwixt her and her
+brother: they wondering how he should know it, he said, &quot;I know your
+thoughts;&quot; at which expression, they, being amazed, asked him how he
+could do that; he said, &quot;My God, whom I serve, makes known your
+thoughts to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>14. The magistrates privately examined a child of four or five years
+of age, mentioned in the remarks of the afflicted, sect. 11: [<a href="#Page_ii.530">p. 530</a>]
+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 <i>there</i> but <i>here</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>REMARKABLE THINGS CONFESSED BY SOME SUSPECTED OF BEING GUILTY OF
+WITCHCRAFT.</b></p>
+
+<p>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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.536" id="Page_ii.536">[ii.536]</a></span> them at witch-meetings, where was feasting, dancing,
+and jollity, as also at Devil-sacraments; and particularly that they
+saw such a man &#8212;&#8212; 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 &#8212;&#8212; was a deacon, and served in
+distributing the diabolical elements: they affirmed that there were
+great numbers of the witches.</p>
+
+<p>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,
+&quot;Thou art mine, I have full power over thee:&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>8. Some of those that confessed were immediately afflicted at a
+dreadful rate, after the same manner with the other sufferers.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &#8212;&#8212; was to be head conjurer, and
+for his activity in that affair was to be crowned king of hell, and
+that such a woman &#8212;&#8212; was to be queen of hell.</p>
+
+<p>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, <i>sure I am</i> none that observed those
+things above mentioned could refer them to any other head than the
+sovereign permission of the holy God,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.537" id="Page_ii.537">[ii.537]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.538" id="Page_ii.538">[ii.538]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>III.</h3>
+
+<h3>LETTER FROM R.P. TO JONATHAN CORWIN.</h3>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Salisbury</span>, Aug. 9, 1692.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Honored Sir</span>,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.539" id="Page_ii.539">[ii.539]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.540" id="Page_ii.540">[ii.540]</a></span> the proverb), and the reason is clear,&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p><i>Position.</i>&#8212;That to put a witch to death is the command of God, and
+therefore the indispensable duty of man,&#8212;namely, the magistrate (Ex.
+xxii. 18); which, granted, resolves two questions that I have heard
+made by some:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p><i>Position Second.</i>&#8212;That it must be witches that are put to death, and
+not innocent persons: &quot;Thou shalt not condemn the innocent nor the
+righteous&quot; (Ex. xxiii. 7).</p>
+
+<p><i>Query.</i>&#8212;Which premised, it brings to this query,&#8212;namely, how a
+witch may be known to be a witch.</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer.</i>&#8212;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 <i>compos mentis</i>, and not under horrid
+temptation to self-murther (2 Sam. xvi.; Josh. vii. 16).</p>
+
+<p><i>Query Second.</i>&#8212;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?</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer.</i>&#8212;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,&#8212;which is the proper work of the judges, and not of witnesses.</p>
+
+<p><i>Query Third.</i>&#8212;What is it that the witnesses must testify in the
+case, to prove one to be a witch?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.541" id="Page_ii.541">[ii.541]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Answer.</i>&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p><i>Query Fourth.</i>&#8212;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?</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer.</i>&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.542" id="Page_ii.542">[ii.542]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>3. To tell events contingent, or to bring any thing to pass by
+supernatural means, or by no means.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &quot;Now Smith is gone,&quot; <i>or</i> &quot;is
+cast away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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, &amp;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.</p>
+
+<p>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,&#8212;</p>
+
+<p><i>Query Fifth.</i>&#8212;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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.543" id="Page_ii.543">[ii.543]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Answer</i>.&#8212;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,&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>First, That whatsoever is done by them that is supernatural, is either
+divine or diabolical.</p>
+
+<p>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): &quot;If
+they speak not according to these, there is no light in them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Thirdly, And by that rule none of these actions of theirs have any
+warrant in God's word, but condemned wholly.</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p><i>Query Sixth</i>.&#8212;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.544" id="Page_ii.544">[ii.544]</a></span> consent, or instigation, and when he doth it by the
+suggestion or consent of any person? This question, well resolved,
+would do our business.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p>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)?</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p><i>Objection.</i>&#8212;God do sometimes bring things to light by his providence
+in a way extraordinary.</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer.</i>&#8212;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?</p>
+
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.545" id="Page_ii.545">[ii.545]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>IV.</h3>
+
+<h3>EXTRACTS FROM MR. PARRIS'S CHURCH RECORDS.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[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:&#8212;]</p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sab</span>: 4 Nov. [1694].&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>Sab: 11 Nov.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<p>Sab: 18 Nov.&#8212;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, &quot;The pastor,&quot; 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, &quot;No.&quot; So at length we suffered a
+non-member, Mr. Jos: Hutchinson, to read it. After<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.546" id="Page_ii.546">[ii.546]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>26 Nov.&#8212;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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;2. The reasons why we hold not communion with them at the Lord's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.547" id="Page_ii.547">[ii.547]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">
+&quot;<span class="smcap">John Tarbell</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Tho: Wilkins</span>.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Sam: Nurse.</span>&quot;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>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 &quot;Meditations for Peace,&quot;
+mentioned 18 instant; viz.:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;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,&#8212;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.548" id="Page_ii.548">[ii.548]</a></span> 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 (<i>a</i>). (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.549" id="Page_ii.549">[ii.549]</a></span>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,&#8212;however through weakness, ignorance, &amp;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 <i>ad
+finem</i>; 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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Sam: Parris.</span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;26 Nov., 1694.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[In the record, off against (a) as above, the following is
+in Mr. Parris's writing:]</p></div>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) 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.&#8212;Apr. 3, 1695. Idem. S.P.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[The above passage (<i>a</i>) 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.550" id="Page_ii.550">[ii.550]</a></span>
+purports to be added &quot;by the desire of the council,&quot; 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 &quot;Meditations for Peace,&quot; the record goes
+on:&#8212;]</p></div>
+
+<p>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, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Nov. 30, 1694.&#8212;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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[An account has been given, <a href="#Page_ii.493">p. 493</a>, of the attempts of the
+&quot;dissatisfied brethren&quot; 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,
+&quot;with this proviso, that he be not chosen one of the
+council.&quot; 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:&#8212;]</p></div>
+
+<p>Feb. 12 [1695].&#8212;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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.551" id="Page_ii.551">[ii.551]</a></span> 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, &quot;Ay, if we could find a way to remove our
+livings too.&quot; 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.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[Mr. Parris's plan of finding refuge in an <i>ex-parte</i>
+council was utterly frustrated. On the 1st of March, the
+&quot;reverend elders in the Bay accounted it advisable,&quot; 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:&#8212;]</p></div>
+
+<p>The elders and messengers of the churches&#8212;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,&#8212;after solemn invocation of God in Christ for his direction, do
+unanimously declare and advise as followeth:&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.552" id="Page_ii.552">[ii.552]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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).</p>
+
+<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii.553" id="Page_ii.553">[ii.553]</a></span> 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).</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Increase Mather</span>, <i>Moderator</i>.</p>
+
+<table border="0" summary="signatures" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td>*<span class="smcap">Joseph Bridgham.</span></td>
+    <td>*<span class="smcap">Ephraim Hunt.</span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td>*<span class="smcap">Samuel Checkley.</span></td>
+      <td>*<span class="smcap">Nathll. Williams.</span></td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>*<span class="smcap">William Torrey.</span></td>
+        <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Phillips.</span></td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>*<span class="smcap">Joseph Boynton.</span></td>
+          <td>    <span class="smcap">James Allen.</span></td>
+          </tr>
+          <tr>
+            <td>*<span class="smcap">Richard Middlecot.</span></td>
+            <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Torrey.</span></td>
+            </tr>
+            <tr>
+              <td>*<span class="smcap">John Walley.</span></td>
+              <td><span class="smcap">Samuel Willard.</span></td>
+              </tr>
+              <tr>
+                <td>*<span class="smcap">Jer: Dummer.</span></td>
+                <td><span class="smcap">Edward Payson.</span></td>
+                </tr>
+                <tr>
+                  <td>*<span class="smcap">Nehemiah Jewet.</span></td>
+                  <td><span class="smcap">Cotton Mather.</span></td>
+                  </tr>
+              </tbody>
+              </table>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[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 [<a href="#SUPPLEMENT">Supplement</a>, <a href="#Page_ii.494">p. 494</a>],
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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 (<i>a</i>), (<a href="#Page_ii.549">p. 549</a>), &quot;added by the
+desire of the Council&quot; to his &quot;Meditations for Peace.&quot;
+Article III. discountenances the proceedings of his church
+in its censure of &quot;the dissatisfied brethren,&quot; 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 &quot;incurable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>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.]</p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><a href="salem1-htm.html">Go to Volume I</a></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The double negative, as often used, merely intensified
+the negation. See &quot;Measure for Measure,&quot; act i. scene 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> 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. &quot;Corsely,&quot; no
+doubt, shows how the word was then spoken. &quot;Angury&quot; was, with a large
+class of words now dissyllables, then a trisyllable. &quot;Tould,&quot;
+&quot;spaking,&quot; and many other words above, are spelled just as they were
+then pronounced. &quot;Wicthcraft&quot; is always, I believe, spelled this way
+by Thomas Putnam. He had not got rid of the old Anglo-Saxon sound of
+the word &quot;witch,&quot; brought by his father from Buckinghamshire, sixty
+years before,&#8212;&quot;wicca.&quot;
+</p><p>
+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
+&quot;doctor Crosbe&quot; is not wholly to blame because his &quot;visek&quot; did not
+&quot;work.&quot; 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. &quot;A posset of sack&quot; was Falstaff's refuge,
+from the plight into which he had been led by &quot;building upon a foolish
+woman's promise,&quot; when he emerged from the Thames and the
+&quot;buck-basket.&quot; Many others, no doubt, in drowning sorrow and
+mortification, have found it &quot;the sovereignest thing on earth.&quot; But,
+as administered by physicians of the Dr. Crosby school, with tobacco
+steeped in it, it must have been a &quot;villanous compound.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> 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:&#8212;
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>To the Honored Court of Oyer and Terminer, now sitting in
+Salem, this 28th of June, Anno 1692.</i>
+</p><p>
+&quot;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,&#8212;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,&#8212;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.
+</p><p>
+&quot;And your poor petitioner shall evermore pray, as in duty
+bound, &amp;c.&quot;</p></div>
+<p>
+Her daughters&#8212;Rebecca, wife of Thomas Preston; and Mary, wife of John
+Tarbell&#8212;presented the following statement:&#8212;
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;We whose names are underwritten&#8212;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.&quot;</p></div>
+<p>
+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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> 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:
+&quot;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.&quot; He says, that his father is &quot;ancient and decrepit, and
+wholly unable&quot; to take any steps in her behalf; that he feels &quot;obliged
+by all Christian duty, as becomes a child to parents,&quot; to lay her case
+before the General Court. &quot;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.&quot; He
+humbly prays &quot;for the speedy enlargement of this person so much
+abused.&quot; I present two more petitions. They help to fill up the
+picture of the sufferings and hardships borne by individuals and
+families.
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>To the Honored General Court now sitting in Boston, the
+Humble Petition of Nicholas Rist, of Reading, showeth</i>, 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.
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.&quot;
+</p><p>
+&quot;<i>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</i>, 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.
+</p><p>
+&quot;And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
+</p><p>
+&quot;Nov. 1, 1692.&quot;</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> 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:&#8212;
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.&quot;
+</p><p>
+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 &quot;the gracious words&quot; it contained. In his Life of Phips, he
+thus modestly takes the credit of its authorship to himself: it was
+&quot;drawn up, at their (the ministers') desire, by Mr. Mather the
+younger, as I have been informed.&quot; 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 &quot;speedily and
+vigorously.&quot;
+</p><p>
+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 &quot;Magnalia,&quot; 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 &quot;Mr. Mather the
+younger,&quot; 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.
+</p><p>
+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:&#8212;
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.&quot;
+</p><p>
+In other passages, he thus continues to stimulate and encourage the
+advocates of the prosecutions:&#8212;
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.&quot;
+</p><p>
+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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> The following is a statement of the loss inflicted upon
+the estate of George Jacobs, Sr. The property of the son was utterly
+destroyed.
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;<i>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.</i>
+</p><p>
+&quot;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,&#8212;viz., my wife
+eleven months, and my daughter seven months in prison,&#8212;it
+cost them twelve pounds money to the officers, besides other
+charges.</p>
+  <table border="0" summary="expenses" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse">
+    <tbody>
+    <tr>
+      <td>Five cows, fair large cattle, &#163;3 per cow</td>
+      <td align="right">£&#160;</td>
+      <td align="right">15</td>
+      <td align="right">00</td>
+      <td align="right">0</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>Eight loads of English hay taken out of the<br />
+        barn, 35<i>s</i>. per
+        load</td>
+        <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+        <td align="right"><br />
+        14</td>
+        <td align="right"><br />
+        00</td>
+        <td align="right"><br />
+        0</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>A parcel of apples that made 24 barrels cider<br />
+          to halves; viz., 12 barrels cider, 8<i>s</i>. per barrel</td>
+          <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+          <td align="right">
+<span><br />
+4</span></td>
+          <td align="right"><br />
+          16</td>
+          <td align="right"><br />
+          0&#160;</td>
+          </tr>
+          <tr>
+            <td>Sixty bushels of Indian corn, 2<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. per bushel</td>
+            <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+            <td align="right">7</td>
+            <td align="right">10</td>
+            <td align="right">0</td>
+            </tr>
+            <tr>
+              <td>A mare</td>
+              <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+              <td align="right">2</td>
+              <td align="right">0</td>
+              <td align="right">0</td>
+              </tr>
+              <tr>
+                <td>Two good feather beds, and furniture, rugs,<br />
+                blankets, sheets,
+bolsters and pillows</td>
+                <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+                <td align="right"><br />
+                10</td>
+                <td align="right"><br />
+                0</td>
+                <td align="right"><br />
+                0</td>
+                </tr>
+                <tr>
+                  <td>Two brass kettles, cost</td>
+                  <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+                  <td align="right">6</td>
+                  <td align="right">0</td>
+                  <td align="right">0</td>
+                  </tr>
+                  <tr>
+                    <td>Money, 12<i>s</i>.; a large gold thumb ring, 20<i>s</i>.</td>
+                    <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+                    <td align="right">1</td>
+                    <td align="right">12</td>
+                    <td align="right">0</td>
+                    </tr>
+                    <tr>
+                      <td>Five swine</td>
+                      <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+                      <td align="right">3</td>
+                      <td align="right">15</td>
+                      <td align="right">0</td>
+                      </tr>
+                      <tr>
+                        <td>A quantity of pewter which I cannot exactly<br />
+                        know the worth, perhaps</td>
+                        <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+                        <td align="right"><br />
+                        3</td>
+                        <td align="right"><br />
+                        0</td>
+                        <td align="right"><br />
+                        0&#160;</td>
+                        </tr>
+                        <tr>
+                          <td>
+&#160;</td>
+                          <td align="right">&#160;</td>
+                   <td align="right">&#8212;<br />67</td>
+                          <td align="right">&#8212;<br />13</td>
+                          <td align="right">&#8212;<br />0</td>
+                          </tr>
+                          <tr>
+                            <td>Besides abundance of small things, meat in the house,<br />
+                            fowls, chairs, and other things took clear away</td>
+                            <td align="right"><i><br />
+                            above</i></td>
+                            <td align="right"><br />
+                            12</td>
+                            <td align="right"><br />
+                            0</td>
+                            <td align="right"><br />
+                            0</td>
+                            </tr>
+                            <tr>
+                              <td>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td align="right">&#160;</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;<br />79<br />==</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;<br />13<br />==</td>
+<td align="right">&#8212;<br />0<br />==</td>
+                              </tr>
+                              </tbody>
+                              </table>
+
+<p style="text-align: right">&quot;<span class="smcap">George Jacobs</span>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<p>
+When Edward Bishop and his wife Sarah were arrested, household goods
+which were valued by the sheriff himself at ten pounds,&#8212;he refusing
+that sum for their restitution,&#8212;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.
+</p><p>
+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.
+</p><p>
+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 &#163;1. 17<i>s.</i> 5<i>d.</i>, 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 &#163;2. 10<i>s.</i>
+</p><p>
+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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> Love's Labour's Lost, act v., sc. 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_8" id="Footnote_H_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_8"><span class="label">[H]</span></a> 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,&#8212;
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+<p>
+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:&#8212;
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+<p>
+Barnard Peach made oath substantially as follows:&#8212;
+</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p></div>
+<p>
+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,&#8212;are wholly sufficient to account for all the phenomena
+to which they testified.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_9" id="Footnote_I_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_9"><span class="label">[I]</span></a> The facts and considerations in reference to the
+authorship of the letter to Jonathan Corwin may be summarily stated as
+follows:&#8212;
+</p><p>
+The letter is signed &quot;R.P.&quot; Under these initials is written, &quot;Robert
+Pain,&quot; 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. &quot;Elder Pain,&quot; 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.
+</p><p>
+The document is dated from &quot;Salisbury.&quot; 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 &quot;R.P.&quot; 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
+&quot;Robert Pain&quot; were, probably, not on the paper when the indorsement
+was made, &quot;A letter to my grandfather,&quot; &amp;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,&#8212;an intellectual phenomenon not easily to be paralleled.
+</p><p>
+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
+&quot;Salisbury.&quot; 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 (&quot;R.P.&quot;) 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.
+</p><p>
+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
+&quot;litigiousness:&quot; 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, &quot;finding it not justifiable upon divers grounds.&quot;
+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.
+</p><p>
+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,&#8212;the &quot;spectre evidence,&quot;&#8212;and the statements
+and actings of &quot;the afflicted children.&quot; 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
+&quot;seemed to be about the bigness of a half-bushel.&quot; After much dodging
+and manoeuvring, and being lost and bewildered, wandering to and fro,
+tumbling into holes,&#8212;where, as the deposition states, no &quot;such pitts&quot;
+were known to exist,&#8212;and other misadventures, he came to blows with
+the light, and had several brushes with it, striking it with his
+stick. At one time, &quot;he thinks he gave her at least forty blows.&quot; He
+finally succeeded in finding &quot;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.&quot; He
+concludes his deposition by saying, that Major Pike &quot;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.&quot; The affair had
+happened &quot;about twenty-four years ago.&quot; 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.
+</p><p>
+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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_10" id="Footnote_J_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_10"><span class="label">[J]</span></a> 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.
+</p><p>
+The reader may judge of my surprise in now discovering, that, while
+writing the &quot;Lectures on Witchcraft,&quot; 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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_11" id="Footnote_K_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_11"><span class="label">[K]</span></a> 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 &quot;about&quot; so many years, or as of so many
+years &quot;or thereabouts.&quot; 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 &quot;Ann: &#230;tat: 27.&quot; But an
+&quot;Account of the Early Settlers of Salisbury,&quot; in the &quot;New-England
+Historical and Genealogical Register,&quot; vol. vii. p. 314, gives the
+date of her birth &quot;15, 4, 1661.&quot; 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 (<a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_253">vol. i. p. 253</a>), 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 &quot;Account of the
+Early Settlers of Salisbury,&quot; just referred to, gives the date of his
+birth &quot;15, 1, 1648.&quot; 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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_L_12" id="Footnote_L_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_L_12"><span class="label">[L]</span></a> The following passage is from the parish records:&#8212;
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.'&quot;
+</p><p>
+At this meeting, it was voted, that &quot;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.&quot;
+</p><p>
+By referring to the account, in the <a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">First Part</a>, of the controversy
+between the inhabitants of the village and Mr. Bayley, &quot;the power&quot;
+above alluded to, &quot;given us by the General Court,&quot; will be seen fully
+described. In its earnestness to fasten Mr. Bayley upon &quot;the
+inhabitants,&quot; 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 &quot;householders.&quot; 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:&#8212;
+</p><p>
+&quot;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.
+</p><p style="text-align: right">
+&quot;Attest, <span class="smcap">Stephen Sewall</span>, <i>Clerk</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salem Witchcraft, by Charles W. Upham.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
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+<body>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>AMERICAN CLASSICS</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<h1>SALEM WITCHCRAFT</h1>
+
+<h3>
+<i>With an Account of Salem Village<br />
+and<br />
+A History of Opinions on<br />
+Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects</i></h3>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<h2>CHARLES W. UPHAM</h2>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<h3><i>Volumes I and II</i></h3>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>New York</i></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">[<b>Transcriber's Note:</b> Originally published 1867]</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>Fourth Printing, 1969</i><br />
+<i>Printed in the United States of America</i><br />
+Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-10887</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+
+<h3><a href="salem1-htm.html">VOLUME I.</a></h3>
+
+<table border="0" summary="contents i" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="75%">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td>&#160;</td>
+    <td align="right">
+<span class="smcap">Page</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#PREFACE">Preface</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_vii">vii</a> to xiv</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#MAP_AND_ILLUSTRATIONS">Map and Illustrations</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_xv">xv</a> to xvii</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#INDEX_TO_THE_MAP">Index to the Map</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_xix">xix</a> to xxvii</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#GENERAL_INDEX">General Index</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_xxix">xxix</a> to xl</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#INTRODUCTION">Introduction</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_1">1</a> to 12</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_FIRST">Part First.&#8212;Salem Village</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><span lang="el" title="Transcriber's Note: 12 in original incorrect">
+    <a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_13">13</a></span> to 322</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem1-htm.html#PART_SECOND">Part Second.&#8212;Witchcraft</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem1-htm.html#Page_325">325</a> to 469</td>
+  </tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+
+<h3><a href="salem2-htm.html">VOLUME II.</a></h3>
+
+<table border="0" summary="contents ii" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="75%">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem2-htm.html#PART_THIRD">Part Third.&#8212;Witchcraft at Salem Village</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem2-htm.html#Page_ii.1">1</a> to 444</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem2-htm.html#SUPPLEMENT">Supplement</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem2-htm.html#Page_ii.447">447</a> to 522</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>
+<span class="smcap"><a href="salem2-htm.html#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="salem2-htm.html#Page_ii.525">525</a> to 553</td>
+  </tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+</body>
+</html>