Read Ebook: An Essay on Demonology Ghosts and Apparitions and Popular Superstitions Also an Account of the Witchcraft Delusion at Salem in 1692 by Thacher James

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King James the First, indulged a ferocious antipathy against sorcery and witchcraft, and in the first year of his reign, a new statute was passed, embracing every possible mode and form in which imagination could paint the mystical crime. James fully considered his own personal safety greatly endangered, as attempts had been made to poison him by some who practised the magic art. He composed a book on demonology, in which he advised the water ordeal, by swimming, and when a work was published in opposition to his opinion and desire, he ordered it to be burnt by the common executioner.

That illustrious English lawyer, Sir William Blackstone, having, in his commentaries on the laws of England, stated the evidence on both sides of the question, concerning the reality of witchcraft, says, 'It seems to be the most eligible way to conclude that, in general, there has been such a thing as witchcraft, though one cannot give credit to any particular modern instance of it.' According to our conceptions of human actions, they are in general prompted and governed by reason, and perhaps most frequently the dominant motives are those which pertain to our own individual interest. Now it may be inquired in what imaginable circumstances the interest of human beings can be linked with the affairs of Satan, or their welfare promoted by his influence? No one will pretend, that there can be honor attached to a seat in his privy council, for it is well known that a witch is considered one of the most odious and despicable wretches in existence. Nor will it be contended that pecuniary advantages are derivable from that source; wizards and witches are always poor, miserable, forlorn beings. They are supposed to give themselves up to serve under the banners of a cruel, tyrannical master, the implacable enemy and tempter of mankind, whose very name excites horror and detestation in every virtuous mind. It must, however, be confessed that a strong bias to scepticism relative to things we cannot understand, is no less a mark of weakness of intellect, than indiscriminate credulity. But I am aware, that the real existence of the fraternity has received the credence of some of the wisest and best of men. Divine providence has permitted the delusion respecting this great scourge to prevail in the minds of some, as he did the sin of idolatry among his chosen people while in their pilgrimage to the land of promise.

Numerous instances of imposition and counterfeit have been detected in times of alarm from supposed witchcraft. There are in all countries those who cannot exist but in times of confusion and civil commotion. They delight to be noticed as objects of great wonder and curiosity, and when they cannot be distinguished for virtuous actions, resort to deeds of the most infernal character, according to their own interest, passion, or capricious humor. They learn to counterfeit various kinds of fits; bark and snarl like a dog, goggle their eyes, foam at the mouth, distort their bodies, and disjoint their limbs. Such impostors have their confederates or partners who join with them, and share in the profit, or in the humor.

Dr Francis Hutchinson, published a chronological detail of trials and executions for supposed witchcraft, sorcerers, and conjurors, in various countries in Europe. From this it will be seen, he observes, that, in all ages of the world, superstitious credulity has produced greater cruelties than are practised among Hottentots, or other nations whose belief in a Deity is called in question. The number of witches and their supposed dealings with Satan, he observes, will increase or decrease according as such doings are accounted probable, or impossible. Under the former supposition, charges and convictions will be found augmented in a terrific degree. When the accusations are disbelieved and dismissed as not worthy of attention, the crime becomes unfrequent, ceases to occupy the public mind, and affords little trouble to the judges. That where the times have not been so violent and superstitious but that sensible men might venture to speak freely, and the accused could have a fair trial, they have usually discovered cheat and imposture. Fifteen famous detections of fraud were made, many of them after judges and juries, and a multitude of eye witnesses had been deceived. Had the rest undergone as strict inquiry, most of them would probably have proved innocent.

In the year 1427, the famous heroine Joan of Arc, after her glorious military exploit at the siege of Orleans, being taken prisoner by the Earl of Bedford, was cruelly burnt as a witch. In 1488, a violent tempest of thunder and lightning in Spain, having destroyed the corn for some leagues around, the people accused two old women of being the cause. They confessed and were burnt. Other instances, no less preposterous, are recorded about that period. In 1515, five hundred persons were executed at Geneva, in three months, as witches and wizards, and at another place, fortyeight were burnt in five years. Eighteen were condemned in England in 1596; an account of their trials was published, with the names and colors of the spirits. A perusal of that fantastic production must have excited wonder and amazement in any age.

In France, in 1594, the crime of witchcraft had become so common, that the jails were not sufficient to contain the prisoners, nor had they judges enough to try them. In 1595, a woman was hanged in England, for sending an evil spirit into Thomas Darling; and E. Hartley was executed for bewitching seven persons. In the trial, spectral evidence was made use of against him, and the experiment of saying the Lord's prayer, which it was believed a witch is unable to repeat. But that which touched his life, was a deposition that he had made the magic circle for conjuration. In 1612, twelve women were executed at Lancaster. Mary Smith believed herself to be a witch, and died very pious. A learned and eminent clergyman in France, named Grandier, was, in 1634, put to cruel torment on suspicion of an evil spirit, and was adjured to clear himself by shedding tears if innocent. He was tortured till he swooned on the rack, and then inhumanly burnt. From 1634 to 1661, history records accounts of several hundreds executed in England, of both sexes, husband and wife, mother and daughter together, some confessing, others declaring themselves innocent. In Germany, whole counties were depopulated, that no witch might escape. But it was in Scotland that Satan was set at liberty to execute his vengeance. There the floodgates of malice, revenge, and bloodshed, were thrown open, and multitudes were swept away by the dreadful torrent. No less, it is said in history, than 4000 victims were cruelly sacrificed within a short period, for the dubious crime which never has and never can be proved. In 1664, two women were tried before the celebrated Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale, and were convicted. The evidence against the accused was so trivial, that his Lordship was greatly embarrassed on the occasion, and his scruples were such, that he declined the duty of summing up the evidence. Being willing, however, that the law should have its course, he pronounced sentence, and they were executed. The evidence against them was, partly spells and partly spectral, and one evidence was that a cart run against the cottage of one of the women, by which she was offended, and shortly after the same cart stuck fast in a gate where its wheels touched neither of the posts, and yet was moved easily forward on one of the posts being cut down. A girl, supposed to be bewitched, went into a fit on being touched by one of the accused. But much weight was given to the evidence of Sir Thomas Browne, 'that the fits were natural, but heightened by the power of the devil, cooperating with the malice of witches.' About this period, seventy persons were condemned in Sweden, and most of them executed. Fifteen children were also executed, thirtysix ran the gauntlet, and twenty were whipped for the same reputed crime. In 1678, six were executed in Scotland for bewitching Sir George Maxwell. The principal evidence in these cases was a deaf and dumb girl, who made signs that there was a picture of wax in one of their houses as an instrument of enchantment, but it was proved afterwards that it was placed there by herself, and she was whipped through the streets of the city and banished. In 1682, three women were hung at Exeter, confessing themselves witches, but died with pious prayers in their mouths. These were the last executed in England for the crime of witchcraft. Some of the accused persons were in their indictments charged with keeping imps, one was said to be like a pole-cat. On one trial several witnesses deposed that the grandmother and aunt of the prisoner were hanged for witches, and that her grandmother had said that she had eight or nine imps, and that she had given two or three to each of her children. In 1697, about twentyeight were accused in Scotland, by a girl eleven years old. Two boys and a girl, and two other persons, saved themselves by confessing, and upon their testimony seven were executed, all denying their guilt.

In the trials for witchcraft, says Dr Hutchinson, an unpardonable partiality was manifested, owing to the vulgar prejudices among the people. The English statute against witchcraft and sorcery interdicts all acts of sorcery whatever, and all charms for employing spirits; yet, for discovering a reputed witch, the accusers were allowed to use charms which must have their force, if any at all, from the same diabolical power. This is unprecedented partiality, and directly contrary to the statute. Whether such compacts are real or imaginary, they ought to be punished equally on both sides. The number of witches, and the supposed dealings of spirits, have been found to increase and decrease according to the laws and principles subsisting at the time and place. Since philosophy and learning have prevailed, we have had but little trouble about witches and sorcerers, except that created by the superstitious imagination of men. We may have as many devils in our day as they had in other ages, for we have as many murders, robberies, false accusations, and lies, and other crimes which are the devil's works. Some are of opinion that the devil cannot really control the laws of nature, while others aver, that the laws of nature are a mere jest with him. It has been denied that he possesses power to transform a man or woman into a cat, but Dr Henry More believed he could, and describes the manner in which he transforms them. It is difficult to conceive how Dr More acquired such knowledge; but we shall never believe that Satan is the ruler of our world. We have no reason to imagine that God has endowed him with miraculous powers; he cannot, therefore, impart such powers to others; consequently, there can be no such creature as a witch. All illusive fancies of witchcraft may be clearly explained on the principles of mental philosophy and sound and enlightened reason. The confessions of witches have so often been extorted, so often the effects of distraction, and so often been found contrary to plain truth and sober reason, that no dependence should be placed on them. Dr Hutchinson asserts, that it may be plainly proved, from scripture and reason, that there never was a witch, such as we mean, who can send devils, diseases, and destruction, among the people. The spectral evidence made use of in courts, is far from being legal proof, it is of no sort of weight, nor should it be regarded as anything more than dreams. The confessions of ignorant old women, ought to have been entirely rejected; some were extorted, many were impossible, and all ridiculous and incredible.

The Rev. Dr Holmes, in his American Annals, observes, that our fathers, before the world was enlightened by learning and philosophy, loved to astonish themselves with the apprehensions of witches and prodigies, charms and enchantment. There was not a village in England, he observes, that had not a ghost in it; the church-yards 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.

The dreadful contagion was at length permitted to afflict the puritans of New England, and our revered ancestors were involved in a series of tragical events, and overwhelmed with the most appalling apprehensions. A retrospect to that sorrowful period creates painful impressions; but however revolting the transactions in those days of melancholy delusion, we are not without the consoling hope, that our pious fathers were guided by a conscientious spirit in their proceedings and condemnations. The people of New England were naturally of a grave and serious cast, and remarkably prone to the most rigid and sacred construction on all the events of Providence, and too often their sentiments were biassed by enthusiasm and superstition. The books containing narratives of trials of witches and sorcerers in England, had been received here, and could not fail of making a deep impression on the public mind. Hence it is not strange that there should be a close coincidence between the English witches and those reputed such in New England, and that they should suffer a similar fate. So violent was the popular prejudice against every appearance of witchcraft, that it was deemed meritorious to denounce all that gave the least reason for suspicion. Every child and gossip were prepared to recognise a witch, and no one could be certain of personal safety. As the infatuation increased, many of the most reputable females, and several males also, were apprehended and committed to prison. There is good reason to believe, that, in some instances, the vicious and abandoned, availed themselves of opportunities of gratifying their corrupt passions of envy, malice, and revenge. The English judge, Sir Matthew Hale, so eminently distinguished for his knowledge in the law, and his exemplary piety, was most highly estimated here, and knowing that he had condemned some persons in England, his opinion had great influence with both judges and juries.

In a publication in 1767, by the Rev. John Hale, of Beverly, it appears that the first person who suffered in New England for witchcraft was a woman in Charlestown; and in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society, it is recorded, that 'in June 1648, one Margaret Jones of Charlestown, was executed for a witch. She was proved to have such a malignant touch, that whomsoever she touched with any affection of displeasure, were taken presently after with deafness, vomiting, or other violent sickness. Soon after she was executed, a ship riding over against Charlestown, of three hundred tons, having in her hold an hundred and twenty tons of ballast, and eighty horses aboard her for the Barbadoes, was on a sudden observed to roll as if she would have turned over. The husband of that witch lately executed had desired passage in that ship to Barbadoes, which not obtaining, that accident was observed to follow. Notice being given of this to the magistrates, then sitting in court at Boston, a warrant was sent to apprehend him, and as the officer was passing therewith over the ferry, one asked if he could not tame the vessel, seeing he could sometimes tame men; he answered, I have that here, which, it may be, will tame her and make her quiet, showing his warrant, and at the same instant, the ship began to stop her motion, and swim upright, which had continued rolling, after a strange manner about twelve hours, and after Jones was in prison she never moved in that kind any more.'

Another, executed not long after, was a Dorchester woman; she also positively denied being guilty. The next was a woman of Cambridge, against whom a principal evidence was a nurse, who testified that the accused did bewitch a child to death; for the woman made much of the child, being perfectly well, but quickly changed its color, and it died in a few hours after. The woman denied her guilt to the last moment. In 1655, Mrs Hibbens, widow of an assistant, or counsellor, was executed at Boston. This gave great dissatisfaction to several principal persons, and it was believed that her death saved the lives of many other inferior persons. About the same time, two or three at Springfield, and one at Hartford, were executed, two of whom confessed themselves guilty. The next that suffered was in 1662, a woman named Greensmith, and her husband with her; who confessed, but he denied guilt. Two other were put to the water ordeal, but being found to float on the water like cork, were permitted to fly from New England. This ridiculous experiment appears to have been soon after abandoned. In 1663, Mary Johnson was tried and hanged. She said the devil appeared to her, and cleaned her hearth of ashes, and hunted the hogs out of the corn. In 1688, a female named Glover, an Irish papist, was hung for bewitching four children of one John Goodwin, of Boston. This affair was attended by such extraordinary circumstances as to arrest a general interest and sympathy. Goodwin was a man of unexceptionable moral character, and his children were religiously educated, and discovered mild and amiable tempers. 'These children,' says the celebrated Dr Cotton Mather, 'were arrested by a stupendous witchcraft. The eldest, a daughter thirteen years old, was first seized with odd fits, in appearance diabolical; it was not long before one of her sisters, and two brothers, were similarly affected.' They were at times deaf, dumb, and blind. Their tongues would be drawn down their throats, and then pulled out upon their chins. Their mouths were thrown open with great violence, and then the jaws clapped together again with a force like that of a spring lock, and all their limbs and joints were strangely distorted. They made piteous outcries that they were cut with knives, and struck with blows. The ministers of Boston and Charlestown, had recourse to fasting and prayer, and during the devotions, the children it is said were deprived of hearing; but the youngest child was entirely relieved. The poor ignorant woman, above mentioned, was suspected of employing demons to afflict these children; she was arrested, and committed to jail in chains. On her trial she rather bragged than denied her guilt, but she would converse only in Irish, though she understood the English language very well. Her house being searched, several images and puppets, or babies made of rags and stuffed with goat's hair, were found, and she confessed that her way to torment the objects of her malice, was by wetting her finger with spittle and stroking those little images. The afflicted children were present in court, and the woman appeared to be greatly agitated. One of the images being presented to her, she oddly and quickly snatched it into her hand, and instantly one of the children fell into a fit. The judges ordered a repetition of the experiment, with the same result. Being asked if she had any one to stand by her as a friend, she replied that she had, and looking round in the air, she added, no, he is gone. The night after, she was heard expostulating with the devil for his deserting her, telling him that because he had served her so basely and falsely, she had confessed all. The court appointed several physicians to examine whether she was in any degree crazed in her intellect; but they pronounced her sane, and the court passed sentence of death upon her, and she was executed. After the condemnation of the woman, Dr Mather made her many visits; she declined answering his questions, or attending to his prayers, pretending that her spirits would not consent to it. At her execution she said the afflicted children should not be relieved by her death, as others were concerned in it; accordingly the three children continued to be tormented. They frequently discerned spectres around them, and when a blow was aimed at the place where they saw the spectre, the boy always felt the blow in the part of his body answering to that stricken at, and it was very credibly affirmed that a dangerous woman or two in the town, received blows thus given to their spectres. At length, the children would bark at each other like dogs, and pur like so many cats. They would complain that they were in a hot oven, or roasting on an invisible spit, and that knives were cutting them. They would complain of blows from a great cudgel, and though we could see no cudgels, we could see the marks of the blows in red streaks upon their skin. They would complain that their heads were nailed to the floor, and it required more than ordinary strength to pull them from thence. They would be so limber sometimes, that it was judged every bone might be bent, and anon so stiff, that a joint could not be moved. Sometimes they would fly like geese, with incredible swiftness, through the air, their arms waving, like the wings of birds, and the feet scarcely touching the ground once in twenty feet. The sight of the Bible, and all religious discourse, would throw them into distressing fits. Dr Mather took the eldest of these children into his own family, that he might have opportunity to observe the doings of Satan more critically; but unhappily his own imagination was so continually haunted by ideas of wicked demons and witches, that he was unconscious of the imposition he was suffering. When he prayed, her hands with a strong force would be clapped upon her ears, and if pulled away by force she would cry out. She complained that she had Glover's chain round her leg, and would imitate her in her gait. An invisible chain would be clapped about her, and she would, in much pain and fear, cry out when they put it on. Sometimes we could with our hands knock it off as it began to be fastened. But when it was on she would be pulled out of her seat, with such violence that it was difficult to keep her out of the fire. I may add, says the learned, but credulous doctor, that the demons put an unseen rope with a cruel noose about her neck, by which she was choked till she was black in the face, and though it was got off before it killed her, yet there were the red marks of it, and of a finger and thumb, remaining for some time. She once said, if she could steal or get drunk, she would be well. At one time an invisible horse was brought to her, and she would put herself in the posture of a riding woman. She would in her chair throw herself into a riding posture, sometimes ambling, sometimes trotting, and sometimes galloping very furiously, and attempting to ride up stairs. Dr Mather observes, that the girl having learned that he was about to prepare a sermon on the occasion of the witchcraft, became very turbulent and insolent, constantly endeavoring to interrupt his studying the sermon. In prayer time, the demons would throw her on the floor, where she would whistle and sing to drown the voice, and attempt to kick and strike the speaker. But to conclude this tedious story. At Christmas, says the doctor, this girl and her sister in another house, were by the demons made very drunk, though the people in the house were well satisfied that it was without strong drink. They imitated, with wonderful exactness, the actions of one drunk in speaking, and reeling, and vomiting, and anon sleeping, till they recovered. These children were all restored to their natural health, and lived to adult age. Governor Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, says he was acquainted with the eldest daughter; she sustained an unblemished character; but he believes she never made any confession of fraud or imposition in this transaction.

Hutchinson was truly an excellent historical writer, whatever may have been his political principles and conduct as chief magistrate. From the history and from the collections of the Historical Society, I copy the following narrative, with the view of evincing to what extent artful children may impose on credulous persons.

In the year 1720, there was at Littleton, in the county of Middlesex, a family who were supposed to be bewitched. One J. B. had three daughters, eleven, nine, and five years old. The eldest was a forward and capable girl, and having read and heard many strange stories, would surprise the company by her manner of relating them. Pleased with the applause, she went from some she had heard to some of her own framing, and so on to dreams and visions, and attained the art of swooning, and of being, to all appearance, breathless. Upon her revival she would relate strange things she had met with in this and other worlds. When she met with the word God, and other solemn words in the Bible, she would drop down as if dead. Strange and unaccountable noises were often heard in, and upon the house, stones came down the chimney and did considerable mischief. She complained of the spectre of Mrs D--y, a woman in the town, and once she desired her mother to strike at a place where she said there was a yellow bird, and she said to her mother, you have hit the side of its head, and it appeared that Mrs D--y's head was hurt about the same time. Another time the mother struck at the place where the spectre was, and the girl said, you have struck her on the bowels, and on inquiry it was found, that Mrs D--y complained of a hurt on her bowels about the same time. It was common to find her in ponds of water, crying out she should be drowned; sometimes upon the top of the house, and again upon the tops of trees, pretending she had flown there, and some fancied they had seen her in the air. There were often the marks of blows and pinches upon her, which were supposed to come from an invisible hand. The second daughter, after her sister had practised the art for some months, and had succeeded so well, imitated her in complaints of Mrs D--y, and outdid her in feats of climbing the barn and trees, ascending where she could not descend without assistance with a ladder. What was most surprising, the youngest, of five years old only, attempted the same feats and in some instances went beyond her sisters. The neighbors agreed they were under an evil hand, and it was pronounced witchcraft, as certain as there ever had been at Salem. Physicians had been at first employed, but to no purpose, and afterwards ministers and elders were called to pray over them, but without success. The children had numerous visitors, and the more they were pitied, the more loud and constant were their moans and distractions; few spectators suspected that they were acting the part of perverse and wicked impostors. The afflicted parents treated them with all possible care and tenderness, believing that they were objects of pity and compassion. At length Mrs D--y, not long after the supposed blows from the mother, sickened and died, and the two oldest girls ceased complaining; the youngest held out longer, but all persisted in it that there had been no fraud. But their consciences, that inward monitor, finally severely lashed and tortured them. The eldest, for some years, wore a gloominess upon her mind, and when questioned by her parents and others on the subject, she would artfully turn the discourse. Not having been baptised, she applied to a minister for baptism, who examined her closely relative to the affair, telling her she was suspected of falsehood and fraud; but this she denied and asserted her innocence. In 1728, having removed to Medford, she applied to Rev. Mr Turell, to be admitted into his church. She gave him a very good account of the state of her soul, and discoursed sensibly and religiously respecting her past temper and conversation in life. Mr Turell knew nothing of her having been an actor in the fraud above detailed, and propounded her for full communion. The next Sabbath, without any reference to her, he happened to preach from this text, 'He that telleth lies shall not escape.' The day before she was to be admitted into the church she visited Mr Turell in great distress and anguish of mind, inquiring of him what dreadful things he had heard about her, that made him preach so awfully against the practice of lying and liars. Mr Turell being much surprised, replied that no one had made any complaint against her and that he had no particular reference to her. With great grief she frankly confessed that she had been a great sinner, but was now awakened and convinced by the word preached, and that she was resolved no longer to conceal the truth, but confess it before God and man. She then proceeded to acknowledge herself guilty of the wicked deception which she had practised, bewailing and weeping bitterly for her egregious folly and wicked conduct. She then desired Mr Turell to draw up a suitable confession to be read before the congregation, and she would publicly own and acknowledge the same; which was accordingly done, and she was admitted to full communion, and ever after conducted in a manner becoming the Christian profession. She acknowledged to Mr Turell as follows: that the motives which excited her and her sisters to act the part of impostors, were from folly and pride. Finding that she pleased others or caused admiration, she was over pleased with, and admired herself, grew conceited and high minded. She thought to be able to deceive her parents and neighbors, was a fine accomplishment. She never dreamed of witchcraft in her case. The wounds, pinches, and bruises on their bodies, were from their own hands, and the noises and stones falling down the chimney, were the effects of their contrivance. She was often sorry she ever began the deception, but could not humble herself to desist, and was obliged to tell one lie to hide another. Her two sisters, she said, seeing her pitied had become actors also, with her, without being moved to it by her; but when she saw them follow her, they all joined in the secret and acted in concert, and thus during eight months their parents were kept in constant painful anxiety, and they were considered as objects of pity and compassion. They had no particular spite against Mrs D--y, but it was necessary to accuse some person, and the eldest having pitched upon her, the others followed. The woman's complaints about the same time the girl pretended she was struck, proceeded from other causes which were not then properly inquired into. Once, at least, they were in great danger of being detected in their tricks; but the grounds of suspicion were overlooked through the indulgence and credulity of their parents.

SALEM WITCHCRAFT.

I shall now detail an impartial history of the memorable trials and executions for supposed witchcraft at Salem, in 1692. A controversy respecting the settlement of a minister had subsisted in Salem for some time prior to this melancholy catastrophe. They had also recently been deprived by death of several of their most distinguished and influential characters, who had been considered as the fathers and governors of the town for half a century. Unfortunately, two or three ministers in the town, and several in the vicinity, were, with a large proportion of the inhabitants, bigoted and superstitious believers in the doctrine of witchcraft, and they aggravated the general prejudice and fanaticism. From preconceived opinions and strong prejudices, it was scarcely possible that the trials should be impartially conducted. It seemed not to be recollected, that in the trials of witches no other evidence should be received than in the trials of murderers and other criminals; and that no convictions should be made, but through the most substantial human testimony, rejecting all diabolical or witch evidence, which can, on no principle, be deemed legal in any case. In the language of the late Dr Bentley, in his History of Salem, 'The spark fell upon inflammable matter, and behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth.' But it would be unjust not to make due allowance for the times in which they lived, and the melancholy delusions which prevailed from the war of prejudice, and the slavish effects of the most imbecile apprehensions. These errors, like those of a thousand years ago, are equally opposed to the progress of knowledge, and to a pious confidence in the wisdom and goodness of an Almighty Providence. The authorities from which the following history is derived, are, Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, Dr Cotton Mather's Magnalia, Wonders of the Invisible World, by the same author, Historical Collections, and More Wonders of the Invisible World, by R. Calef, of Boston, published in 1700.

In a letter of Thomas Brattle, F. R. S., dated October 8, 1692, published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, we have the following account.

'As to the method which the Salem justices do take in their examinations, it is truly this; a warrant being issued out to apprehend the persons that are charged and complained of by the afflicted children as they are called, said persons are brought before the justices, the afflicted being present. The justices ask the apprehended why they afflict those poor children, to which the apprehended answer, they do not afflict them. The justices order the apprehended to look upon the said children, which, accordingly, they do; and at the time of that look the afflicted are cast into a fit. The apprehended are then blinded and ordered to touch the afflicted; and at that touch, though not by that touch the afflicted do ordinarily come out of their fits. The afflicted persons then declare and affirm, that the apprehended have afflicted them; upon which the apprehended persons, though of never so good repute, are forthwith committed to prison on suspicion for witchcraft.'--'Such was the excess of their stupidity, that to the most dubious crime in the world, they joined the most uncertain proofs.'--'A person ought to have been a magician to be able to clear himself from the imputation of magic.'

The first instance of reputed witchcraft in the town of Salem, took place in the family of Mr Parris, minister of Salem, and very soon after, one or two in the neighborhood were afflicted in a similar manner, and a day of prayer was kept on the occasion. The persons who complained of being afflicted, were a daughter and a niece of Mr Parris, girls of ten or eleven years of age; and these were soon followed by two other girls. They made similar complaints, and exhibited antic gestures and tricks, similar to those of Goodwin's children, two or three years before. The physician, unable to account for the complaint, pronounced them bewitched. They named several women whose spectres they saw in their fits, tormenting them, and in particular Tituba, an Indian woman belonging to Mr Parris's family. She had been trying some experiments, which she pretended to be used in her own country, in order to find out the witch; upon this, the children cried out against the poor Indian as appearing to them, pinching, pricking, and tormenting them, and they fell into fits. Tituba acknowledged that she had learned how to find out a witch, but denied that she was one herself. Several private fasts were kept at the minister's house, and several more public by the whole village, and then a general fast through the colony. This probably had a tendency to bring the afflicted into notice; which, with the pity and compassion of those who visited them, encouraged and confirmed them in their designs, and increased their numbers. Tituba, as she said, being beat and threatened by her master to make her confess, and to accuse her sister witches, as he termed them, did confess that the devil urged her to sign a book, which he presented, and also to work mischief with the children, and she was sent to jail. The children complained, likewise, of Sarah Good, who had long been counted a melancholy or distracted woman, and also Sarah Osborn, an old bedridden woman, both of whom being examined by two Salem magistrates, were committed to jail for trial. About three weeks after, two other women of good character, and church members, Corey and Nurse, were complained of and brought to their examination, when these children fell into fits, and the mother of one of them joined with the children and complained of Nurse as tormenting her, and made most terrible shrieks, to the amazement of all the neighborhood. The old women denied everything charged against them, but were sent to prison; and such was the infatuation, that a child of Sarah Good, about four or five years old, was committed also, charged with being a witch and of biting some of the afflicted, who showed the print of small teeth on their arms; and all that the child looked upon, it is said, fell down in fits, complaining that they were in torment. Elizabeth Proctor, being accused and brought to examination, her husband, as every kind husband would have done, accompanied her to her examination; but it cost the poor man his life. Some of the afflicted cried out against him, also, and they both were committed to prison. Instead, says Governor Hutchinson, of suspecting and sifting the witnesses, and suffering them to be cross-examined, the authorities, to say no more, were imprudent in making use of leading questions, and thereby putting words into their mouths, or suffering others to do it. Mr Parris was over-officious; most of the examinations, although in the presence of one or more of the magistrates, were taken by him. They allowed of such as the following trivial replies to their examining questions. John the Indian. 'She hurt me, she choked me, and brought the book a great many times. She took hold of my throat, to stop my breath. She pinched and bit me till the blood came. I saw the witches eat and drink at such a place, and they said it was their sacrament; they said it was our blood, and they had it twice that day.' Upon such kind of evidence, persons of blameless character were committed to prison; and, such was the dreadful infatuation, that the life of no person was secure. The most effectual way to prevent an accusation was to become the accuser; and accordingly the number of the afflicted increased every day, and the number of the accused in proportion; who, in general perished in their innocence. More than a hundred women, many of them of fair characters and of the most reputable families, in the towns of Salem, Beverly, Andover, Billerica, &c, were apprehended, examined, and generally committed to prison. Goodwife Corey, as she was called, was examined before the magistrates, in the meeting-house in the village; the novelty of the case produced a throng of spectators. Mr Noyes, one of the ministers of Salem, began by prayer. Several children and women were present, that pretended to be bewitched by her, and the most of them accused her of biting, pinching, and strangling, and said that they did, in their fits, see her likeness coming to them, and bringing a book for them to sign. She was accused by them, that the black man, meaning the devil, whispered to her now while she was on her examination. The unfortunate woman could only deny all that was laid to her charge, and she was committed to jail. A miserable negro slave was accused by some of the girls, but on examination she extricated herself by her native cunning. Question to Candy. 'Are you a witch?' Answer. 'Candy no witch in her country. Candy's mother no witch. Candy no witch, Barbadoes. 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 a witch?' 'Mistress bring book, and pen, and ink, make Candy write in it.' From this testimony, Mrs Haskins, the mistress, had no other way to save her life but to make confession.

Goodwife, Goody, and Goodman, were vulgar terms applied to heads of families by the lower class.

In April, 1692, there was a public hearing and examination before six magistrates and several ministers. The afflicted complained against many with hideous clamors and screechings. On their examinations, besides the experiment of the afflicted falling down at the sight of the accused, they were required to repeat the Lord's Prayer, which it was supposed a real witch could not do. When Sir William Phipps entered upon the office of Governor, in May, 1692, he ordered the witches to be put in chains; upon that it was said the afflicted persons were free from their torments. In May, Mrs Carey, of Charlestown, was examined and committed. Her husband published the following facts.

Captain John Alden, of Boston, mariner, was sent for by the magistrates of Salem, upon the accusation of several poor, distracted, or possessed creatures, or witches. On his examination, these wretches began their juggling tricks, falling down, crying out, and staring in the faces of people; the magistrates demanded of them several times who it was of all the people in the room, that hurt them; one of the accusers pointed several times to one Captain Hill, but said nothing, till a man standing behind her to hold her up, stooped down to her ear, when she immediately cried out, Alden, Alden afflicted her. Being asked if she had ever seen Alden, she answered no, but she said the man told her so. Alden was then committed to custody, and his sword taken from him, for they said he afflicted them with his sword. He was next sent for to the meeting-house, by the magistrates, and was ordered to stand on a chair to the open view of all the assembly. The accusers cried out that Alden pinched them when he stood on the chair; and one of the magistrates bid the marshal hold open his hands, that he might not pinch those creatures. Mr Gidney, one of the justices, bid Captain Alden confess, and give glory to God. He replied, he hoped he should always give glory to God, but never would gratify the devil. He asked them why they should think that he should come to that village to afflict persons that he had never seen before; and appealed to all present and challenged any one to produce a charge against his character. Mr Gidney said he had known him many years, and had been to sea with him, and always believed him to be an honest man; but now he saw cause to alter his opinion. Alden asked Gidney what reason could be given why his looking upon him did not strike him down as well as the miserable accusers; but no reason could be given. He assured Gidney that a lying spirit was in his accusers, and that there was not a word of truth in all they said of him. Alden, however, was committed to jail where he continued fifteen weeks, when he made his escape. At the examinations, and at other times, it was usual for the accusers to tell of the black man, or of a spectre, as being then on the table; the people present would strike with swords or sticks at those places. One justice broke his cane at this exercise; and sometimes the accusers would say they struck the spectre; and it was even reported that several of the accused women were hurt and wounded thereby, though at home at the same time.

In June and July, the court of Oyer and Terminer proceeded on trials and condemnations, and six miserable creatures were executed, protesting their innocence.

At the trial of Sarah Good, one of the afflicted girls fell into a fit, and after coming out of it, she cried out against the prisoner for stabbing her in the breast while in court, and actually produced a piece of the blade of the knife which she said was used and broken in doing it. Upon this, a young man was called to prove the imposition. He produced a haft and part of the blade, which the court, having viewed and compared, found to be the same; and the young man affirmed, that yesterday he happened to break that knife, and that he cast away the upper part in the presence of the person who now produced it. The girl was cautioned by the court not to tell any more lies, but was still employed to give evidence against the prisoners whose lives were in her hands.

John Proctor, while confined in prison, complained that two young men were compelled to a confession by being tied neck and heels till the blood was ready to burst out of their noses. They then confessed that one had been a wizard a month, and the other five weeks, and that their mother had made them so when she had been confined in jail without seeing them for nine weeks. He adds, 'My son, William Proctor, when he was examined, because he would not confess that he was guilty, they tied him up neck and heels till the blood gushed out of his nose.'

August 19th, 1692, five persons were executed, all protesting their innocence in the firmest manner. One of this number was Mr George Burroughs, who had been a preacher several years before at Salem village, where there had been some misunderstanding between him and the people; afterwards he became a preacher at Wells. It was alleged against Mr Burroughs, that he had been seen to perform feats of strength exceeding the natural powers of man. He had lifted a barrel of molasses or cider from a canoe, and carried it to the shore. He would, with one hand, extend a heavy musket of six or seven feet barrel, at arm's length. In addition to these charges, it was urged by the writers of that day, as a principal part of the evidence, that seven or eight of the confessing witches witnessed against him. But it will appear from the examinations by the court, that their evidence was drawn from them. For example. Question to Mary Lacey. 'Was there not a man among you at your meetings?' 'None but the devil.' 'Your mother and grandmother say there was a minister there; did you not see men there?' 'There was a minister there, and I think he is now in prison.' 'Was there not one Mr Burroughs there?' 'Yes.'--Question to another witness. 'Were there not two ministers there?' 'I heard Sarah Good talk of a minister or two, one of them is he that has been to the eastward; his name is Burroughs.' Margaret Jacobs had been brought to accuse herself of being a witch, and then to charge Burroughs the minister, and her own grandfather, but afterwards being struck with horror, she chose to lose her own life rather than persist in her confession. She begged forgiveness of Burroughs before his execution, who is said to have freely forgiven her; and to have prayed with, and for her. She also recanted all she had said against her grandfather, but all in vain as to his life. Some of the accusers asserted that Burroughs often attended the witch or devil's sacrament. Some testified, that, in their torments, Burroughs tempted them to go to a sacrament; and he would, with the sound of a trumpet, summon other witches; who, quickly after the sound, would come from all quarters unto the rendezvous. Numerous other charges, equally frivolous, were brought against this unfortunate minister, as stated by Dr Cotton Mather; among others, his venomous bites, leaving the prints of his teeth upon the flesh, which would compare precisely with his set of teeth. It is seldom that a man, 80 years of age, can boast a good set of teeth, and some said that he had not one in his head, and could be no other than imaginary teeth, but these could answer their purpose. Burroughs had been twice married, and it was reported of him, perhaps truly, that he had treated his wives unkindly.

'Several of the bewitched,' adds Dr Cotton Mather, 'gave in their testimony that they had been troubled with the apparitions of two women, who said they were Burroughs' two wives, and that he had been the death of them, and that the magistrates must be told of it, before whom, if Burroughs upon his trial denied it, they did not know but they should appear against him in court. Burroughs being now on trial, one of the bewitched persons was cast into horror at the ghosts of the two deceased wives, then appearing before him, and crying for vengeance against him. But he, though much appalled, utterly denied that he discerned anything of it: nor was this,' adds Dr Mather, 'any part of his conviction.' It was testified by some of the witnesses, that the prisoner had been at witch meetings with them; and that he was the person who had seduced them into the snares of witchcraft; that he promised them fine clothes for doing it; that he brought puppets to them, and thorns to stick into those puppets, for the afflicting of other people; and that he exhorted them with the rest of the crew to bewitch all Salem village, but be sure to do it gradually, if they would prevail in what they did. It was testified of one Ruck, brother-in-law to the prisoner, that himself and sister, with Burroughs, going out two or three miles to gather strawberries, Ruck, with his sister, rode home very moderately with Burroughs on foot in company. Burroughs stepped aside into the bushes, whereupon they halted and holloed for him. He not answering, they proceeded homewards with a quickened pace, and yet, when they were got near home, to their astonishment they found him on foot with them, having a basket of strawberries. Burroughs then fell to chiding his wife for speaking to her brother of him on the road; which, when they wondered at, he said he knew their thoughts. Ruck being startled at that, intimated that the devil himself, did not know so far. Burroughs answered, 'My God makes known your thoughts unto me.' The prisoner at the bar had nothing to answer unto what was thus witnessed against him, that was worth considering. 'But the court began to think,' says Dr Mather, 'that he then stepped aside only that by the assistance of the black man he might put on his invisibility, and in that fascinating mist, gratify his own jealous humor to hear what they said of him.' This is paying no great compliment to the philosophical character of the court. Burroughs was, however, condemned, and was carried in rags in a cart through the streets of Salem, to his execution; and his body was dragged by the rope over the ground, and buried among some rocks, one hand and part of the face left uncovered. When on the ladder, he repeated the Lord's Prayer; probably because it was the popular opinion, that a wizard is deprived of the power of doing it, and he also protested against the injustice of his sufferings with such awful solemnity, as to affect the spectators to tears, and it was by some apprehended that the populace would have prevented the execution. He suffered this ignominious death at the age of about 80 years, with fervent prayers that the dreadful delusion might cease. As soon as he was turned off, Dr Cotton Mather, being mounted, addressed himself to the people, declaring that Burroughs was not an ordained minister, and that there was the fullest proof of his guilt. Dr Increase Mather, equally credulous in these things with his son, in his "Cases of Conscience," affirms, that he was present at the trial of Burroughs, and had he been one of his judges, he could not have acquitted him. 'For several persons did on oath testify, that they saw him do such things as no man that has not a devil to be his familiar, could perform.'

In an English court, a witness was about to relate an account of a murder as he received it from the ghost of the murdered person. 'Hold, sir,' said the judge; 'The ghost is an excellent witness, and his evidence the best possible, but he cannot be heard by proxy in this court; summon him hither, and I'll hear him in person; but your communication is mere hearsay, which my office compels me to reject.' If a court or magistrate will listen to ghost evidence to convict a reputed criminal, why not admit the same evidence on the contrary, in proof of innocence. And if a judge or magistrate countenance or abet such kind of juggling with diabolical influence, do they not come under the penalty of the statute of King James, which interdicts all acts of sorcery whatever, and all charms for employing spirits?

John Willard was another who suffered about the same time. He had been employed in looking up witches, but at last refusing to fetch in more, as he deemed it unjust, he was accused. He at first made his escape to a distance of forty miles, but was overtaken and condemned. Giles Corey, aged about 80 years, was brought to trial, but refused to plead, being unwilling to be tried by a jury that cleared no one; he was therefore pressed to death. When in the agonies of death, the victim thrust out his tongue, and the officer pushed it into his mouth with his cane. This was the first, and I believe the only one, who was pressed to death in New England, though there had been examples of it in Old England. Corey's wife suffered at the gallows, where she made an eminent prayer.

September 22d, eight were executed, the horse carrying them together in a cart to the gallows, failed for a short time, and the accusers said the devil hindered it; but it may be asked, if he had power to arrest the cart for a moment, why not stop it altogether, and prevent the executions? But they shew no signs of confidence or hope in his power to save them. One Wardwell, having formerly confessed himself guilty and afterwards denied it, was brought upon his trial. His former confession and spectre evidence were adduced against him; but his own wife and daughter accused him and saved themselves. 'There are,' says Hutchinson, 'many instances of children accusing their parents, and some, of parents accusing their children. This is the only instance of a wife or husband accusing one the other, and surely this instance ought not to have been suffered. I shudder while I relate it.' Besides these irregularities, there were others in the course of these trials. At the execution of Wardwell, while he was speaking to the people, protesting his innocence, the executioner being at the same time smoking his pipe, the smoke coming in his face interrupted his discourse, the accusers said the devil hindered him with smoke.

Mrs English was a woman of superior mind, and an excellent education; but was thought not to be very condescending or charitable to the poor; and by some of them she was accused of witchcraft. The officer read to her the warrant in the evening, and guards were placed round her house. In the morning, after attending the devotions of the family, she kissed her children with great composure, proposed her plan of education, and took leave of them, and told the officer she was ready to die, being confident that would be her fate. After being examined, she was by indulgence committed to custody in a public house, where her husband frequently visited her, and this occasioned an accusation against him. Being a man of large property, a merchant in Salem, and having considerable influence, he fortunately obtained permission to be confined with his wife in a prison in Boston, till the time of trial. Here their friends found means to effect their escape, and they fled to New York, where they were received with friendly attention by Governor Fletcher. In the winter following, Mr English sent generous supplies to the suffering poor at Salem; but on his return after the storm had subsided, he found his house plundered, and his property so reduced, that from an estate valued at ?1500, he realized only about ?300.

In July, one Goody Foster was examined before four justices. She had confessed many things of herself, but her daughter now confessed others in which she was concerned. She was told that her daughter was with her when she rode on the stick, and was with her at the witch meetings, and was asked how long her daughter had been engaged with her. She replied that she had no knowledge of it at all. She was then told that one of the afflicted persons said, that Goody Carryer's shape told her that Goody Foster had made her daughter a witch about thirteen years ago. She replied that she knew no more about her daughter's being a witch, than what day she should die. If I knew anything more I would speak it to the utmost. The daughter being called in, and asked whether she had any discourse with her mother while riding on the stick, replied, I think not a word. Next comes the important question by the magistrate, 'Who rid foremost on that stick to the village?' 'I suppose my mother.' The mother replied, 'no, Goody Carryer was foremost.' It might be supposed that it was time for the magistrates to stop; but they proceed to question the daughter. 'How many years since they were baptized, who baptized them, and how?' 'Three or four years I suppose; the old serpent dipped their heads in the water, saying they were his, and that he had power over them forever and ever.' 'How many were baptized that day, and who were they?' 'I think there were six, some of the chiefs, they were of the higher powers.' The old woman's grandaughter, M. Lacey, was now called in, and instantly M. Warren fell into a violent fit, but was soon restored when Lacey laid her hand on her arm. Question by the justices. 'How dare you come in here and bring the devil with you to afflict these poor creatures; which way do you do it?' 'I cannot tell. If my mother made me a witch I did not know it.' She was now directed to look on M. Warren in a friendly way, without injuring her; but in doing so she struck her down with her eyes. Being asked if she would now acknowledge herself to be a witch, she said yes. Being asked how long, she said she had not been a witch above a week. The devil appeared to her in the shape of a horse, bidding her worship him, and fear nothing, and he would not bring her out, but he has proved a liar from the beginning. The questions being still put to her, she again said, she had been a witch but a little more than a week; but at another time she replied, that the devil appeared to her a little more than a year ago for the first time.

Among other persons accused of witchcraft, was Mrs Hale, whose husband, the minister of Beverly, had been very active in these prosecutions; this was a stroke which the good man was not prepared to receive. Being fully satisfied of his wife's innocence, the question was now suggested and controverted, whether the devil could afflict in a good person's shape, taking it for granted, that the minister's wife was a good person. The accusation of Mrs Hale, and some others of respectable character, brought them to believe that the devil could so manage matters as that the afflicted person should think he did. This affair effected a considerable alteration in the sentiments and conduct of Mr Hale. He became much more moderate and rational in his views of witchcraft. In the midst of their distress and confusion, the clergymen of the town and vicinity held a consultation by request of the governor and council, upon the state of things as they stood; particularly, to consider the question, whether Satan may not appear in the shape of an innocent and pious, as well as of a nocent and wicked person, to afflict such as suffer by diabolical molestation? They reported, among other things, as their opinion, 'That presumptions, whereupon persons may be committed, and much more, convictions, as being guilty of witchcraft, ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused person's being represented by a spectre unto the afflicted; inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious thing, that a demon may by God's permission appear even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, of a virtuous man. Nor can we esteem alterations made in the sufferers by a look or touch of the accused, to be an infallible evidence of guilt, but frequently liable to be abused by the devil's legerdemain.'

Among the confessing witches were D. Falkner, a child of ten years, A. Falkner, of eight, and S. Carryer, between seven and eight. Sarah Carryer's confession. It was asked 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 next November.' 'Who made you a witch?' 'My mother. She made me set my hand to a book. I touched it with my fingers, and the book was red, the paper was white.' Being questioned she said she never had seen the black man, the place where she did it was in a pasture, and her aunt T. and her cousins were there. They promised to give her a black dog, but the dog never came to her. '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. She said she afflicted people by pinching them, she had no puppets, her mother carried her 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 she was my mother.' This poor child's mother was then under sentence of death, and the mother of the other two children was in prison also, and was soon after tried and condemned.

The following is among the affecting instances of confessors retracting their confessions.

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 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 degree who afflicted them; they told me without doubt I did, or they would not fall down at seeing 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 spared; the which did so affright me, that to save my life, I did make the confession, which confession, may it please the honored court, is altogether false and untrue. The very first night after, I was in such horror of conscience that I could not sleep, for fear the devil would 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 at that time I 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; choosing rather death with a quiet conscience, than to live in such horror. And now, may it please your honors, I leave it to your pious and judicious discretion, to take pity and compassion on my young and tender years, to act and to do with me as the Lord and your honors shall see good; having no friend but the Lord to plead my cause, not being guilty in the least measure of the crime of witchcraft, nor any other sin that deserves death from the hands of man.'

The horrid scourge of witchcraft was, by means of the imprudence, or rather the folly, of an individual, extended to the town of Andover. One Joseph Ballard, of that town, sent to Salem for some of the accusers who pretended to have the spectral sight to tell him who afflicted his wife, who was then sick of a fever. Soon after this, fifty persons at Andover were accused of witchcraft, many of whom were among the most reputable families. Here the nonsensical stories of riding on poles through the air, were circulated. Many parents believed their children to be witches, and many husbands their wives, &c.

The following is the grand jury's bill against Mary Osgood.

'The jurors for our sovereign Lord and Lady the King and Queen present, that Mary Osgood, wife of Captain Joseph Osgood, of Andover, in the county of Essex, about eleven years ago, wickedly, maliciously, and feloniously, a covenant with the devil did make, and signed the devil's book, and took the devil to be her God, and consented to serve and worship him, and was baptized by the devil, and renounced her former christian baptism, and promised to be the devil's, both body and soul, forever, and to serve him; by which diabolical covenant by her made with the devil, she, the said Mary Osgood, is become a detestable witch, against the peace of our sovereign Lord and Lady the King and Queen, their crown and dignity, and the laws in that case made and provided.'

One Dudley Bradstreet, a justice of peace in Andover, having himself committed thirty or forty persons to prison for supposed witchcraft, himself and wife were both accused, and they were obliged to flee for their lives. The accusers reported, that Mr Bradstreet had killed nine persons, for they saw the ghosts of murdered persons hover over those that had killed them. A dog being afflicted at Salem, those that had the spectral sight said, that J. Bradstreet, brother of the justice, afflicted the dog and then rode upon him. He also was glad to make his escape, and the dog was killed. Another dog was said to afflict others, and they fell into fits when the dog looked on them, and he was killed. At length a worthy gentleman of Boston, being accused by some of those at Andover, sent a writ to arrest the accusers in a thousand pound action, for defamation. From that time the accusations at Andover generally ceased, to the unspeakable joy of the inhabitants.

The late Dr Bentley of Salem, in his History of that town, published in the Historical Society's Collections, observes, that 'the scene was like a torrent, sudden, irresistible, and momentary. They who thought they saw the delusion, did not expose it, and they who were deluded were terrified into distraction. For a time no life was safe. On the trials, children below twelve years of age obtained a hearing before magistrates. Indians came and related their own knowledge of invisible beings. Tender females told every fright, but not one man of reputation ventured to offer a single report, or to oppose openly the overwhelming torrent. Nothing could be more ridiculous than a mere narrative of the evidence. It would be an affront to the sober world. The terror was so great, that at the hazard of life, they who were charged with guilt confessed it, and the confessions blinded the judges. The public clamors urged them on, and the novelty of the calamity deprived them of all ability to investigate its true causes, till nineteen innocent persons were made victims to the public credulity.' 'From March to August, 1692,' says Dr Bentley, 'was the most distressing time Salem ever knew; business was interrupted, the town deserted, terror was in every countenance, and distress in every heart. Every place was the subject of some direful tale, fear haunted every street, melancholy dwelt in silence in every place after the sun retired. The population was diminished, business could not, for some time, recover its former channels, and the innocent suffered with the guilty. But as soon as the judges ceased to condemn, the people ceased to accuse. Terror at the violence and the guilt of the proceedings, succeeded instantly to the conviction of blind zeal, and what every man had encouraged, all now professed to abhor. Every expression of sorrow was found in Salem. The church erased all the ignominy they had attached to the dead, by recording a most humble acknowledgment of their error. But a diminished population, the injury done to religion, and the distress of the aggrieved, were seen and felt with the greatest sorrow.'

I quote the following from Judge Story's Centennial Discourse.

'The whole of these proceedings exhibit melancholy proofs of the effects of superstition in darkening the mind, and steeling the heart against the dictates of humanity. Indeed nothing has ever been found more vindictive and cruel than fanaticism, acting under the influence of preternatural terror, and assuming to punish offences created by its own gloomy reveries. Under such circumstances it becomes itself the very demon whose agency it seeks to destroy. It loses sight of all the common principles of reason and evidence. It sees nothing around it but victims for sacrifice. It hears nothing but the voice of its own vengeance. It believes nothing but what is monstrous and incredible. It conjures up every phantom of superstition, and shapes it to the living form of its own passions and frenzies. In short, insanity could hardly devise more refinements in barbarity, or profligacy execute them with more malignant coolness. In the wretched butcheries of these times, in which law and reason were equally set at defiance, we have shocking instances of unnatural conduct. We find parents accusing their children, children their parents, and wives their husbands, of a crime, which must bring them to the scaffold. We find innocent persons, misled by the hope of pardon, or wrought up to frenzy by the pretended sufferings of others, freely accusing themselves of the same crime. We find gross perjury practised to procure condemnations, sometimes for self protection, and sometimes from utter recklessness of consequences. We find even religion itself made an instrument of vengeance. We find ministers of the gospel and judges of the land, stimulating the work of persecution, until at last in its progress its desolations reached their own firesides.'

There are not wanting, Hutchinson observes, those who are willing to suppose the accusers to have been under bodily disorders, which affected their imaginations. This is kind and charitable, but seems to be winking the truth out of sight. A little attention must force conviction, that the whole was a scene of fraud and imposture, commenced by young girls, who at first, perhaps, thought of nothing more than exciting an interest in their sufferings, and continued by adult persons, who were afraid of being accused themselves. Rather than confess their fraud, they permitted the lives of so many innocent persons to be sacrificed. None of the pretended afflicted were ever brought upon trial for their fraud; some of them proved profligate persons, abandoned to all vice, others passed their days in obscurity and contempt.

In December, 1696, there was a proclamation for a fast, in which there was this clause, 'That God would shew us what we know not, and help us wherein we have done amiss, referring to the late tragedy raised among them by Satan and his instruments, through the awful judgment of God.' On the day of the fast, at the South meeting-house in Boston, Judge Sewall, who had sat on the bench at the trials, delivered in a paper to be read publicly, and he stood up while it was reading. It expressed in a very humble manner, that he was apprehensive he might have fallen into some error in the trials at Salem, and praying that the guilt of such miscarriages may not be imputed either to the country in general, or to him or his family in particular, and asking forgiveness of God and man. The Chief Justice, Mr Stoughton, being informed of this action of one of his brethren, observed for himself, that when he sat in judgment, he had the fear of God before his eyes, and gave his opinion according to the best of his understanding; and although it might appear afterwards that he had been in an error, yet he saw no necessity of a public acknowledgment of it.

Twelve men who had served as jurors in court at Salem, in 1692, published a recantation of their sentiments, and an apology for their doings on the trials; stating that they were incapable of understanding, nor able to withstand the mysterious delusions of the powers of darkness, and the prince of the air, but for want of knowledge and information from others, took up such evidence against the accused as, on further consideration and better information, they justly fear they have been instrumental with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon themselves the guilt of innocent blood, &c. They express a deep sense of sorrow for their errors in acting on such evidence to the condemnation of persons, declaring with deep humility that they were deluded and mistaken, for which they are much distressed and disquieted in mind. They humbly beg forgiveness of God, and praying that they may be considered candidly and aright by the surviving sufferers, acknowledging themselves under the power of strong and general delusion. They again ask forgiveness of all whom they may have offended, declaring they would not do such things again for the whole world.

As this great calamity began in the house of Mr Parris, and he had been a witness and very zealous prosecutor of the supposed offenders, many of his church withdrew from his communion, and in April, 1693, they drew up articles against him. 'They charge the said Parris of teaching such dangerous errors, and preaching such scandalous immoralities as ought to discharge any man, though ever so gifted otherwise, 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 who swears to more than he is certain of, is equally guilty of perjury with him that swears to what is false.'

At the period when the prosecutions for witchcraft were conducted at Salem, Sir William Phipps was governor of the Colony. He was a native of New England, of obscure origin, and very illiterate. His title and his affluence were acquired by fortuitous circumstances, not from any meritorious or honorable achievements. Mr Phipps had, by some means, obtained information that a Spanish ship loaded with gold and silver, had been wrecked on the coast of La Plata, many years before, and he resolved on a bold effort to possess himself of the booty. For the purpose of procuring assistance in the enterprise, he performed a voyage to England, where he obtained partners and associates, and from thence he proceeded to La Plata, in 1687. He was so fortunate as to discover the hulk, from which he recovered gold and silver to the amount of ?300,000, his own share being ?16,000. Having returned to England, and being introduced to men of rank and influence, he received from King James the Second, the honor of knighthood, and was commissioned as Governor of his native Colony. But, though a man of piety and integrity, he was not qualified to support the dignity of the office to which he had the honor of being promoted.

Sir William was a firm believer in witchcraft, and among the first acts of his authority, was an order for chaining the witches; stupidly believing that if the body was chained, the wicked spirit within could exert no power. But before the close of the tragedies, in which his excellency was so zealous an actor, his own wife, was by some of the complainants, accused of being a witch; but through favor to the governor's lady, she escaped without chains or halter.

Numbers, xxxv. 30. Deut. xvii. 6, and xix. 15.

Dr Mather, in his work entitled 'Wonders of the Invisible World,' produced an abridgment of the trials of the two women condemned by Lord Hale, 1664, and also an abridgment of the rules and signs by which witches are to be discovered, of which he says there are above thirty. His production received the approbation of two of the judges of the court, one of whom was the chief justice and lieutenant governor. The author's father, Dr Increase Mather, also expressed his coincidence in the same sentiments. The work is, nevertheless, a singular and curious production; it evinces, most clearly, that the reverend author, in the fervency of zeal, suffered his mind to be deeply imbued with bigotry and depressing superstition. Dr Mather was eminent for extensive knowledge and Christian piety; but foibles and infirmities were his lot, and while his mind was enriched with knowledge, his heart must have sickened for lack of wisdom. He published 382 books and tracts on various subjects. In these he displays wit and fancy, and advocates with zeal the cause of religion; and although his style is singular and verbose, his works contain rich and important matter for the historian and antiquary. It would be unjust not to acknowledge the debt of gratitude due to Dr Mather for the immeasurable benefits which our country and the world have enjoyed from his efforts to introduce smallpox inoculation, in 1721. But the work now in question affords a striking example of the imbecility of mind in the absence of its glorious attributes. Sobriety of judgment is seduced by folly, and moral dignity is degraded by the intrusion of fictions of imagination, and the man becomes a dupe to his own credulity. He adopted, in the fullest extent, the doctrine of demons, and of supernatural compacts between Satan and witches, and was fatally blinded against the most palpable impositions practised on himself. But this distinguished divine was not singular in his proneness to bigoted and dogmatical principles and doctrines; they were in perfect coincidence with the habits of thinking in the times in which he lived. His cotemporaries, who administered the affairs of government, and those who were called to decide in their judicial proceedings, had evidently imbibed the same gross absurdities; and there is in our nature an unaccountable reluctance to discard errors, however preposterous. His publication teems with romantic and ludicrous stories, which he unwisely adduces for substantial facts. A shrewd reply was made to it by R. Calef, a merchant of Boston, which led to a controversy between the two authors, on the subject of their inquiry.

The following is an abridged narrative of the trials of B. Bishop, S. Martin, E. How, and M. Carryer, from Dr Mather's 'Wonders of the Invisible World.'

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