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<div class="titlep">
<h1>AN ESSAY<br />
<span class="tinyfont">ON</span><br />
<span class="smlfont">DEMONOLOGY, GHOSTS AND APPARITIONS,</span><br />
<span class="tinyfont">AND</span><br />
<span class="smlfont">POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS,</span><br />
<span class="tinyfont">ALSO,</span><br />
<span class="vsmlfont">AN ACCOUNT</span><br />
<span class="tinyfont">OF THE</span><br />
<span class="smlfont">WITCHCRAFT DELUSION AT SALEM,<br />
IN 1682.</span></h1>


<p class="author">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
By JAMES THACHER, M.&nbsp;D., A.&nbsp;A.&nbsp;S.<br />
&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</p>


<div class="poemcenter">
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="i0">&lsquo;With spells and charms I break the viper&rsquo;s jaw,</div>
<div class="i0">Cleave solid rocks, oaks from their fissures draw,</div>
<div class="i0">Whole woods remove, the airy mountains shake,</div>
<div class="i0">Earth forced to groan, and ghosts from graves awake.&rsquo;</div>
<div class="credit">Ovid&rsquo;s Metamor.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


<blockquote>
<p>There are mysteries even in nature, which we cannot
investigate, paradoxes which we can never resolve.</p>
</blockquote>


<p class="tpcenter"><span class="lrgfont">BOSTON:</span><br />
CARTER AND HENDEE.<br />
<span class="smlfont">M&nbsp;DCCC&nbsp;XXXI.</span></p>
</div>


<div class="fmatter">
<p class="fmcopy"><span class="smcap">Entered</span>, according to Act of Congress, in the year<br />
1831, by <span class="smcap">Carter &amp; Hendee</span>, in the Clerk&rsquo;s Office of<br />
the District Court of Massachusetts.</p>

<p class="fmcopy">BOSTON CLASSIC PRESS.<br />
I.&nbsp;R. BUTTS.</p>
</div>



<div class="chapter"></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>iii]</a></span></p>

<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following pages were in substance composed
to be read before the Plymouth Lyceum,
in 1829. When it was understood that Rev.
<span class="smcap">Charles W. Upham</span> was about to favor the
public with a work on the same subject, it was
determined that this little performance should be
suppressed. The Rev. Author observed in a letter,
&lsquo;that although we may traverse the same field,
it is highly probable that we pursue different tracks.
The subject is so various, ample and abundant in
instruction, that good rather than evil would result
from the application of more than one mind
to its discussion.&rsquo; Since therefore, in the deeply
interesting work referred to, the learned author
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>iv]</a></span>
has not particularly discussed the subjects of
Ghosts, Apparitions, Mental Illusions, &amp;c., there
may be no impropriety in submitting the following
imperfect production to the public, with the hope
that it will not be considered as altogether superfluous.</p>

<p class="sig">J.&nbsp;T.</p>

<p class="address"><span class="smcap">Plymouth, Nov. 1831.</span></p>



<div class="chapter"></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>v]</a></span></p>

<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>


<div class="centered">
<table border="0" summary="Table of contents">
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
    <td class="tdr"><small>Page.</small></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Ghosts and Apparitions,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap01">1</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Power of Imagination,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap02">21</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Illusions,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap03">26</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Imagination and Fear,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap04">47</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Superstition,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap05">63</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Witchcraft and Sorcery,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap06">74</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Salem Witchcraft,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap07">113</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Omens and Auguries,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap08">204</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tdl">Medical Quackery,</td>
    <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap09">225</a></td>
  </tr>
</table>
</div>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p>



<div class="chapter"></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>1]</a></span></p>

<p class="reptitle">ESSAY.</p>




<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="chap01" id="chap01"></a>GHOSTS AND APPARITIONS.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">Such</span> is the constitution of the human mind,
that it never attains to perfection; it is constantly
susceptible of erroneous impressions
and perverse propensities. The faculties of
the soul are bound in thraldom by superstition,
and the intellect, under its influence, is
scarcely capable of reflecting on its divine
origin, its nobleness and dignity. The mind
that is imbued with a superstitious temperament,
is liable to incessant torment, and is
prepared to inflict the most atrocious evils on
mankind; even murder, suicide, and merciless
persecution, have proceeded from, and been
sanctioned by a superstitious spirit. It is this,
in its most appalling aspect, which impels the
heathen to a life of mutilation and perpetual
pain and torment of body, which degrades the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>2]</a></span>
understanding below that of a brute. The
superstitions practised by the devotees to the
Roman Catholic Church, if less horrible, are
equally preposterous and pernicious. The
popular belief in supernatural visitations in
the form of apparitions and spectres, is fostered
and encouraged by the baneful influence of
superstition and prejudice. So universal has
been the prevalence of the belief that those
conversant with history can resort to the era
when every village had its ghost or witch, as,
in more ancient times, every family had its
household gods. Superstition, is a word of
very extensive signification, but for the purpose
of this work, the word applies to those who
believe in witchcraft, magic, and apparitions,
or that the divine will is decided by omens or
auguries; that the fortune of individuals can
be affected by things indifferent, by things
deemed lucky or unlucky, or that disease can
be cured by words, charms, and incantations.
It means, in short, the belief of what is false
and contrary to reason. Superstition arises
from, and is sustained by ignorance and credulity
in the understanding. The subject of
supernatural agency and the reality of witchcraft,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>3]</a></span>
has been the occasion of unbounded
speculation, and of much philosophical disquisition,
in almost all nations and ages.
While some of the wisest of men have assented
to their actual existence and visible appearance,
others equally eminent have maintained
the opinion that the supposed apparitions are
to be accounted for on the principle of feverish
dreams and disturbed imaginations. That
our Creator has power to employ celestial
spirits as instruments and messengers, and to
create supernatural visions on the human
mind, it would be impious to deny. But we
can conceive of no necessity, at the present
day, for the employment of disembodied spirits
in our world; we can hold no intercourse with
them, nor realize the slightest advantage by
their agency. To believe in apparitions is to
believe that God suspends the law of nature
for the most trivial purposes, and that he would
communicate the power of doing mischief, and
of controling his laws to beings, merely to
gratify their own passions, which is inconsistent
with the goodness of God. We are sufficiently
aware that the sacred spirits of our
fathers have ascended to regions prepared for
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>4]</a></span>
their reception, and there may they remain
undisturbed till the mighty secrets now concealed
shall be revealed for our good. The
soul or spirit of man is immaterial, of course
intangible and invisible. If it is not recognisable
by our senses, how can the dead appear
to the living? That disembodied spirits
should communicate with surviving objects on
earth, that the ghosts of the murdered should
appear to disclose the murderer, or that the
spirit of the wise and good should return to
proffer instructions to the vile and ignorant,
must be deemed unphilosophical.</p>

<p>It will now be attempted to demonstrate,
that the generality of the supposed apparitions,
in modern times, will admit of explanation
from causes purely natural. For this purpose,
it will be requisite first, to describe the system
of nerves, and their functions, which constitute
a part of our complicated frames. Nerves are
to be considered as a tissue of strings or cords,
which have their origin in the brain and spinal
marrow, and are distributed in branches to all
parts of the body. They are the immediate
organs of sensation and of muscular action.
Upon the integrity of the nerves, all the senses,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>5]</a></span>
both external and internal, entirely depend.
The nerves are the medium of illusions; their
influence pervades the whole body, and their
various impressions are transmitted to the
brain. When the entire brain is affected, delirium
is the consequence; if the optic nerve
only, visions disturb the imagination; if the
acoustic nerves receive the impression, unreal
sounds or voices are heard. If the optic
nerves are cut or rendered paralytic, the sense
of vision is irrecoverably destroyed. The
nervous system is liable to be diseased and deranged
from various causes, from which, it is
obvious, derangement of both body and mind
must ensue. The following is extracted from
a lecture on Moral Philosophy, by the learned
and Reverend Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.&nbsp;D.,
late President of the College of New Jersey.</p>

<p>&lsquo;The nerves are easily excited into movement
by an infinite variety of external impulses,
or internal agitations. By whatever
impulse any motion, vibration, or affection, in
the nervous system is produced, a correspondent
sensation, or train of sensations, or ideas
in the mind, will naturally follow. When the
body is in regular health, and the operations
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>6]</a></span>
of the mind are in a natural and healthful
train, the action of the nervous system, being
affected only by the regular and successive impressions
made upon it by the objects of nature,
as they successively occur, will present
to the mind just and true images of the scenes
that surround it. But by various species of
infirmity and disorder in the body, the nerves,
sometimes in their entire system, and sometimes
only in those divisions of them which
are attached to particular organs of sense, may
be subjected to very irregular motions or vibrations.
Hence unreal images may be raised
in the mind. The state of the nervous affections
may be vitiated by intemperate indulgence,
or by infirmity resulting from sedentary
and melancholy habits. Superstitions, fancies,
or enthusiastic emotions, do often greatly disturb
the regular action of the nervous system.
Such elastic and vibratory strings may be subject
to an infinite variety of irregular movements,
sometimes in consequence of a disordered
state of health, and sometimes arising
from peculiarity of constitutional structure,
which may present false and often fantastic
images to the mind. No cause, perhaps,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>7]</a></span>
produces a more anomalous oscitancy, or vibration
of the nervous system, or of some
particular portions of it, than habits of intemperate
indulgence. And I have not unfrequently
become acquainted with men who had
been addicted to such excesses, who were
troubled with apprehensions of supernatural
apparitions. A peculiar imbecility of constitution,
however, created by study, retirement,
or other causes, may be productive of similar
effects, and sometimes these nervous anomalies
are formed in men who are otherwise of active
and athletic constitutions. But where they
possess enlightened minds and vigorous understandings,
such visionary tendencies may
be counteracted by their intellectual energies.
Yet have we sometimes known the strongest
understandings overcome by the vivacity of
nervous impression, which frequently is scarcely
inferior to the most lively ideas of sense. This
may, especially, be the case in two opposite
conditions; either when the body has fallen
into a gloomy temperament, and the mind is
weakened by fears, in which case it is oppressed
by distressing apprehensions; or, on
the other hand, when the nerves, the primary
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>8]</a></span>
organs, of sensation, are strained into an unnatural
tension, and the whole system is exalted
by an enthusiastic fervor to the pitch of
delirious intoxication. When a man is exalted
to such a degree of nervous excitement
and mental feeling, his visions are commonly
pleasing, often rapturous, and sometimes fantastic;
but generally rise above the control or
correction of the judgment. Lord Lyttleton,
in the vision which he believed he saw of his
deceased mother&rsquo;s form, shortly before his own
death, may be an example of the former; and
the Baron Von Swedenborg, in his supposed
visions, sometimes of angels and sometimes of
reptiles, may be an instance of the latter.
Persons, whose fancies have been much disturbed
in early life, by the tales of nurses, and
other follies of an injudicious education, creating
a timid and superstitious mind, are more
especially liable to have their fears alarmed
and their imagination excited by every object
in the dark. Whence sounds will be augmented
to the ear, and images rendered more
glaring to the eyes.&rsquo;</p>

<p>In a note, the learned author presents the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>9]</a></span>
following examples, tending to illustrate the
principles just advanced.</p>

<p>&lsquo;I knew, some years ago, a worthy lady
who, anxiously watching by the cradle of a
sick infant, and momently expecting its death,
felt, as she believed, just before it expired, a
violent stroke across the back of both her
arms. From a tincture of superstitious apprehension
infused in her early education, and
unacquainted with any natural cause of such
a phenomenon, she construed it into a preternatural
signal of the death of her child. It
was, probably, a sudden and convulsive contraction
of the muscles in that part of the system,
occasioned by the solicitude of her mind
and the fatigue of watching, which, aided by
imagination in a very interesting moment, produced
a shock that had to her the feeling of a
severe concussion. That a convulsive contraction
should take place in those particular
muscles need not appear strange to those who
know how irregular and uncertain is the whole
train of nervous action, especially under the
operation of some disorders of the body; and
frequently, under the influence of strong affections
and emotions of the mind.&rsquo; &lsquo;A
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>10]</a></span>
young lady, who was peculiarly susceptible of
the impressions of fear in the dark, or at the
sight of any of the accompaniments of death,
attended the funeral of one of her intimate
companions, who had died of the small pox.
On the following night she lodged in company
with a female friend of great firmness of mind.
Waking in the night, some time after the moon
had risen, and faintly enlightened her chamber,
the first object that struck her view was a
white robe hanging on the tall back of a chair,
and a cap placed on the top. Her disturbed
imagination instantly took the alarm, and in
her agitation and terror rousing her companion,
she exclaimed violently that her deceased
friend was standing before her. The lady,
with great presence of mind, brought the articles
of clothing which had caused the alarm,
and thus composed her fears. After she had
become tranquil and was able distinctly to recall
her sensations, she declared that the perfect
image of the deceased, just as she was
dressed for her coffin seemed to be before her
sight. She contemplated it as long as her fears
would permit her, before she exclaimed. She
was sure that she recognised every feature of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>11]</a></span>
her friend, and even the pits of the small pox,
of which she died, in her face. And she affirmed
that before any tribunal she would have
been willing to make oath to this fact.&rsquo; &lsquo;I
have introduced this anecdote,&rsquo; says Dr Smith,
&lsquo;merely to illustrate the power of the imagination
by its reaction on the nervous system, to
complete the pictures that any sudden impulses
of the senses, occasioned by surprise or by
superstitious or enthusiastic feeling, have begun
to form. It is not a solitary anecdote of
the kind. But I have selected it, because I
am more perfectly possessed of the circumstances,
than of many others that are circulated
through certain classes of society. Nor
are these classes always to be found among the
most ignorant and credulous.&rsquo; Lord Lyttleton
was a man of splendid abilities, but degraded
himself by a continued course of profligacy and
the basest dissipation. He was arrested in his
career by a sudden and remarkable death, at
the age of thirtyfive in the year 1779. The
various narrations that have been published
relative to this singular event concur in most
of the following particulars. Three days previous
to his death, being in perfect health, he
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>12]</a></span>
was warned in a dream or vision of the event,
which, accordingly, took place without any
previous illness. According to his own account,
he awoke from sleep, and saw the image
of his deceased mother, who opened the
curtains of his bed and denounced to him,
that in three days he should die. On the sentence
being denounced, he started up in great
terror, incoherently saying, &lsquo;what! shall I not
live three days?&rsquo; The reply was, no, you will
not live more than three days, and the apparition
instantly vanished. This alarming vision
his lordship related, at breakfast the next
morning, to several women who were his companions.
They fell a crying; but he, although
secretly agitated, pretended to disregard the
affair, laughed at their credulous folly, and
professed to have no sort of belief, or apprehension
about it. On the third day of the prediction,
he invited Admiral Woolsey and
another friend to dine with him, at his country
seat. At dinner, his lordship, appeared more
than usually loquacious and desultory in his
conversation, reciting the probable remarks
that would of course be made whenever the
news of his death should be announced. In
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>13]</a></span>
the evening, perceiving his female companions
in a gloomy mood, he took one of them and
danced a minuet with her, then taking out his
watch, said, &lsquo;Look you here, it is now nine
o&rsquo;clock, according to the vision I have but three
hours to live, but don&rsquo;t you mind this, madam;
never fear, we&rsquo;ll jocky the ghost, I warrant
you.&rsquo; At eleven o&rsquo;clock he retired to bed earlier
than usual with him, but his pretence was,
that he had planned for the party to breakfast
early, and spend the day in riding into the
country. Admiral Woolsey and his friend resolved
to sit in the parlor till the predicted
hour was past, and the clock was privately put
a little forward, and as soon as it struck twelve,
his lordship said, &lsquo;you see I have cheated the
ghost;&rsquo; but soon after a voice was heard from
the staircase, uttering these words. &lsquo;He&rsquo;s
dead? Oh, my lord is dead!&rsquo; Instantly running
up stairs, they found him in bed, fallen
back, and struggling. Admiral Woolsey took
his hand, which was grasped with such violence
that it was painful to endure, but he
spake no more. His eyes were turned up and
fixed. They opened the jugular vein, but no
blood issued, and he was entirely dead at
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>14]</a></span>
midnight of the third day. Admiral Woolsey
gives the following remarkable particulars in
addition. At the distance of thirty miles from
the place where this melancholy scene happened
there lived a gentlemen, one of the intimate
companions of Lord Lyttleton, M.&nbsp;P. Andrews,
Esq.; and they had agreed that whichever
of them should die first, the survivor
should receive one thousand pounds from the
estate of the deceased. On this very night he
awoke about one o&rsquo;clock and rung his bell
with great violence. His servant ran to him
with all speed, and inquired, &lsquo;what is the matter?&rsquo;
The gentleman sitting up in bed, with a
countenance full of horror, cried out, &lsquo;Oh John!
Lord Lyttleton is dead!&rsquo; &lsquo;How can that be?&rsquo;
he replied, &lsquo;we have heard nothing, but that
he is alive and well.&rsquo; The master exclaimed
with the greatest perturbation, &lsquo;no, no, I
awoke just now on hearing the curtains undrawn,
and at the foot of the bed stood Lord
Lyttleton, as plain as ever I saw him in my
life. He looked ghastly, and said, &ldquo;all is over
with me, Andrews. You have won the thousand
pounds,&rdquo; and vanished.&rsquo; After attending
to the particulars above detailed, it would
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>15]</a></span>
seem to require a philosophical firmness to resist
the impression in favor of supernatural
visitations; but this latter instance will, I believe,
bear a different explanation. The gentleman
was apprised of Lyttleton&rsquo;s vision and
predicted death, which, with the thousand
pounds depending, must have excited in his
mind an exquisite degree of anxiety, and roused
a guilty conscience. He doubtless counted
every hour, and although he fell asleep,
could not be calm, and probably had a disturbed
dream. Awaking suddenly, it is quite natural
that he should have the impression, that
the prediction was fulfilled. Dr Smith, who
is quoted above, comments as follows on the
death of Lord Lyttleton. His lordship was a
man who had worn down to a very feeble state,
a lively and elastic constitution, and impaired
a brilliant wit, by voluptuous, and intemperate
excesses. A few days before his death, he
imagined that he saw before him the perfect
resemblance of his deceased mother, who denounced
to him that on such a day, and at a
prescribed hour, he should die. Under a constrained
vivacity, his mind, during the interval,
was evidently much agitated. And on
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>16]</a></span>
the predicted day, and at the prescribed time,
he actually expired.</p>

<p>This fact has been regarded by many persons,
and those by no means of inferior understandings,
as a decisive proof of the reality of
apparitions from the spiritual world; and by
others has been attempted to be resolved on a
variety of different grounds. The principles
already suggested, may, perhaps, serve to explain
it in conformity with the known laws of
human nature, if the theory of nervous vibration
be admitted to be true, without resorting
to the solution of supernatural agents. The
irregular and convulsive motions in the nervous
system which frequently arise from long
continued habits of intemperate indulgence,
might be especially expected in a constitution
so irritable and debilitated, as that of Lord
Lyttleton. If, either sleeping or waking, or,
in that indefinite interval between sleeping and
waking, their disordered movements could present
to the fancy or excite in the visual nerves,
the distinct image of a living person apparently
resuscitated from the dead, which has been
shown to be a possible case, the debilitated
frame of his lordship, agitated as it must have
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>17]</a></span>
often been, by the conscious apprehension of
his approaching end, may naturally be supposed
to have predisposed them to such a vision.
Conscience, notwithstanding his assumed gayety,
somewhat perturbed by the fears of death,
and with a recollection of a pious mother,
whose anxious admonitions had often endeavored
in vain to recall him from his vices, and
to fix his thoughts on his future existence,
might naturally retrace her features in this formidable
vision. It is not improbable, that the
whole scene may have been a kind of waking
dream, or if it was wholly transacted in sleep,
it might have been with such a forcible and
vivid vibration, or impulse of the nerves concerned
in the formation of such an image, as
would give it the distinctness and vivacity of
waking sensation. In the tumult of his spirits,
and the fear-excited vibrations of his whole
system, it is not strange, that the image of that
disappointed and reproaching parent should be
presented to him, with a solemn and foreboding
aspect. And it would be adding only one
trait of terror to the scene, already so well prepared
to admit it, and one that is perfectly
conformable to our experience of the desultory
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>18]</a></span>
images of dreaming, as well as what we
have learned of similar visionary impressions&mdash;that
a particular period should be denounced
to him for his death, the symptoms and presages
of which, in all probability, he frequently
felt in the tremors and palpitation of a
breaking constitution. The principal difficulty
in the minds of those who have only carelessly
attended to this history, is to account for
the exact correspondence of the event of his
death to the time fixed by the prediction, if it
had no other foundation than nervous impression.
The imagined prediction itself was sufficient,
in a debilitated and exhausted constitution,
like that of Lord Lyttleton, to produce
its own accomplishment. Seizing upon his
fears, in spite of his reason and philosophy, for
a life of dissipation and sensual excess generally
very much weakens the powers both of
the mind and of the body, it would naturally
throw his whole system into great commotion.
These perturbed and tumultuous agitations
would increase as the destined moment approached,
till the strength of nature failing,
may well be supposed to break at the point of
extreme convulsion; that is, at the expected
moment of death.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>19]</a></span>
To a case analogous, in many respects, to
that of his lordship, there are many witnesses
still living in the city of Philadelphia. The
contrast in the issue of the latter, serves to
confirm the solution which has just been given
of the former. Mr Edwards, a clergyman of
the Baptist persuasion in that city, of a tendency
somewhat addicted to melancholy in his
habit, but, otherwise of a vigorous constitution,
had, like Lord Lyttleton, a visual impression,
so clear and distinctly defined, that he mistook
it for a supernatural messenger from the spiritual
world to announce to him that at the end
of a certain period, he should die. He was
so persuaded of the reality of the vision, and
the verity of the prediction, that he took leave
of his particular friends, and of his congregation,
before the appointed day. On the evening
of this day, I saw his house filled with
spectators and inquirers, awaiting with solicitude
the catastrophe of this extraordinary affair.
The tumult of his whole system, his
difficult respiration, his quick and tremulous
pulse, and its frequent intermissions, led many
to announce, at various times during that evening,
to the surrounding spectators, that he
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>20]</a></span>
was just expiring. And without doubt, if his
frame had been as weak and delicate as his
nervous system, he could not have survived the
agitations, and, I may say, almost convulsions,
into which he was thrown. And here would
have been another prediction, and another supernatural
appearance, as extraordinary as
those of Lord Lyttleton. But his constitution
triumphed, and he remained a monument to
prove the force of nervous illusion, which, in
this case, as doubtless it has proved in many
others, appears to have given birth to an image
as clear and definite as could have been produced
by the actual presence of such an object
as was supposed to have created it. I
would hardly have ventured to relate such an
anecdote, if there were not ample testimony
to its verity still existing. The good man was
so ashamed of his delusion, and it so much
lessened his credit with his spiritual flock, that
he was obliged to leave the city, and the
church where he had formerly been highly
esteemed, and retire to a remote position in
the country. Many anecdotes to confirm the
reality of <em>nervous sensation</em>, if I may apply
that phrase to designate those <em>sensible perceptions</em>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>21]</a></span>
which are sometimes caused in the mind,
without the presence or aid of external objects,
must have occurred to those who have
had extensive opportunities of practically observing
human nature. With several persons
I have been acquainted, and those by no means
of inferior understanding, who have been
firmly persuaded of the existence of the spectres
indicated by such nervous affections, and
have, on such occasions, held conversations
with them, real on their part, imaginary on the
part of the supposed spectre. Such, perhaps,
in general, are the disciples of the Baron Von
Swedenborg. But illusions of this nature are
not confined to this class of men alone.</p>




<div class="chapter"></div>
<h2><a name="chap02" id="chap02"></a>POWER OF IMAGINATION.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">Dr Van Cleve</span>, of Princeton, was lately
applied to as a physician on behalf of a man
who had reduced himself by intemperance, to
a state of very distressing nervous irregularity.
He was continually disturbed by visions, sometimes
of the most fantastic kind. He often
heard strange voices, and would ask and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>22]</a></span>
answer questions, as if engaged in conversation
with some of his visionary personages. His
disorder, the doctor said, was evidently not
of that species which is usually denominated
mania, but appeared to be wholly the effect of
a habit of nervous irregularity, delirium tremens,
induced by previous intemperance. But
the Baron Von Swedenborg, in his most visionary
moments, was never surrounded by
more extraordinary assemblages of strange
sights. A very striking example of the power
of nervous impression, occurred a few years
ago in the Rev. James Wilson, formerly assistant
minister with Dr Rodgers, in the first
Presbyterian Church in New York. He was
a native of Scotland, and was a man highly
esteemed for his good sense, and the soundness
of his judgment; although not distinguished
for a warm and popular eloquence.
Being obliged for a time to relinquish the exercise
of his ministry from a hemorrhage in
his breast, he employed himself for several
years in different occupations in Scotland and
America, but chiefly in presiding over an
Academy in Alexandria, in the State of Virginia.
The expectoration of blood having
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>23]</a></span>
ceased for a considerable time, his conscience
began to reproach him for indolence and self-indulgence,
in not renewing his ministerial
functions. In this uneasy state of mind, a
vision, as he thought, of a man of very dignified
aspect, stood at the foot of his bed in the
morning, after he was perfectly awake, and
surveying him steadily for some moments,
commanded him to resume his duties in the
pulpit: but added, that as considerable error
had crept into the church, he should undertake
to reform it according to the model of the primitive
age. Mr Wilson, conscious of his want
of eloquent talents, and reforming zeal, reasoned
with the supposed apparition, alleging
his utter incompetency to the task imposed
upon him. The dialogue ended in a repetition
of the command, and assurance of ability
and success. The good man, wholly unable
to explain this clear and palpable vision, on
any principles of nature or philosophy with
which he was acquainted, was deeply distressed,
yet perfectly sensible of his insufficiency
for such an undertaking, he neglected attempting
to fulfil it. After an interval of two or
three years, the vision was repeated, with
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>24]</a></span>
nearly the same circumstances, except that
the aspect of the person who appeared to present
himself, was more severe, and expressive
of displeasure at his past delinquency. Mr
Wilson repeated his former reasonings on his
want of health, and want of talents, with other
topics. But the answer was still the same; a
repetition of the injunction, and assurance of
the necessary ability, and ultimate success.
His distress was raised to the highest degree
in the conflict of his mind between what he
thought a sensible demonstration of a supernatural
requisition, and an invincible consciousness
of his own incompetency, and his
fear of doing an injury to true religion by his
failure. After consulting several of his friends
upon the subject, he at length addressed a
letter to the author, stating all the circumstances
which have just been detailed. He was
answered with the general reasonings contained
in this lecture, to convince him that his vision
was merely a consequence of nervous affection,
resulting from bodily disorder. Three letters
passed between Mr Wilson and the author,
reasoned on the part of Mr Wilson with great
calmness and good sense, admitting all the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>25]</a></span>
objections to such an apostolic undertaking as
that to which he was urged, both from scripture
and from his own peculiar deficiency of
power and talents, but pleading the impulse of
a sensation as clear and strong, and, to his
mind, as real as he had ever felt. But it was
replied that there were other considerations
combined with the whole system and harmony
of nature, which ought to have greater authority
with a rational mind than any single and
individual impression of sense, which evidently
violates its general order. The correspondence
came to this issue at last, that, as he agreed
with the church as she now exists, in most of
her doctrines, and especially in the moral precepts
of religion, he should begin his course
by inculcating only those principles in which
all were agreed, and if he found the promise
of his vision verified in his returning strength
and successful eloquence, he would then have
sufficient encouragement to proceed further.
He actually came to New York with the intention
to put this experiment into execution,
but died in that city shortly after his landing.
He published one discourse introductory to
the design.</p>



<div class="chapter"></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>26]</a></span></p>

<h2><a name="chap03" id="chap03"></a>ILLUSIONS.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following observations are from Dr
Rush, found in his Treatise on Diseases of the
Mind. &lsquo;By this term, (Illusions) I mean that
disease, in which false perceptions take place
in the ears and eyes in the waking state, from
a morbid affection of the brain, or of the sense
which is the seat of the illusion. It may be
considered as a waking dream. Persons affected
with it fancy they hear voices, or see
objects that do not exist. These false perceptions
are said, by superstitious people, to be
premonitions of death. They sometimes indicate
either the forming state, or the actual existence
of disease, which being seated most
commonly in a highly vital part of the body,
that is, in the brain, now and then ends in
death, and thus administers support to superstition.
They depend, like false perception in
madness, upon motion being excited in a part
of the ear or the eye, which does not vibrate
with the impression made upon it, but communicates
it to a part upon which the impression
of the noise heard, or of the person seen,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>27]</a></span>
was formerly made, and hence the one becomes
audible, and the other visible.</p>

<p>&lsquo;The deception, when made upon the ears,
consists most commonly in hearing our own
names, and for this obvious reason; we are
accustomed to hear them pronounced more
frequently than any other words, and hence
the part of the ear, which vibrates with the
sound of our names, moves more promptly,
from habit, than any other part of it. For the
same reason the deception, when made upon
the eyes, consists in seeing our own persons,
or the persons of our intimate friends, whether
living or dead, oftener than any other people.
The part upon the retina, from which those
images are reflected, move more promptly,
from habit, than any other of that part of the
organ of vision.</p>

<p>&lsquo;The voice which is supposed to be heard,
and the objects which are supposed to be seen,
are never heard nor seen by two persons, even
when they are close to each other. This
proves them both to be the effect of disease in
the single person who hears, or sees, the supposed
voice or object.&rsquo;</p>

<p>Dr Rush has recorded numerous instances
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>28]</a></span>
of partial mental derangement from hypochondriasis,
chiefly from his own knowledge, such
as the following. A sea captain believed that
he had a wolf in his liver; others that they are
converted into an animal of another species,
such as a goose, a dog, a cat, a hare, a cow,
and the like. One imagined that he was once
a calf, and mentions the name of the butcher
that killed him, and the stall in the Philadelphia
market, on which his flesh was sold, previously
to his animating his present body.
One believed that he had no soul. Another
that he is transformed into a plant, and insisted
on being watered in common with all the
plants around him in the garden. Another
that his body was transformed into glass. The
celebrated Cowper suffered much anguish from
complaints of a similar nature, arising from
hypochondriac affection.</p>

<p>Among the causes of nervous affection and
diseased imagination, are those of sedentary
habits and a free use of strong tea. The following
instances were communicated by my
friend the Rev. Mr K.</p>

<p>The late Rev. Mr F. of Ipswich, who was
very sedentary; spent most of his time in his
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>29]</a></span>
study without exercise, and his health became
impaired. He imagined for some time before
his death, that he was actually dead. I saw
him in this state of mind, walking his chamber
in extreme agitation. To the question, how
he could suffer so much, if actually dead, he
answered, that his own spirit was departed,
and that another spirit had taken possession of
his body.</p>

<p>A gentleman in Boston once told the first
President Adams, that he had become strangely
timid, that he dared not keep the side walks,
but walked in the middle of the street, being
constantly apprehensive that the tile on the
houses would fall on his head. The president
asked him if he made a free use of tea, and
being answered in the affirmative, he recommended
to him to use it more sparingly and
he would probably be benefited by the change.
By pursuing this advice, he was relieved, and
was soon able to return to the side walks without
fear.</p>

<p>A gentleman of Salem, sailing from the
south to Massachusetts, while under the influence
of nervous affection, imagined that he
saw a man in the water near the ship, who
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>30]</a></span>
was drowning. Conceiving that he might
save his life, he was in the very act of leaping
into the sea for that purpose, but was happily
prevented by those on deck. He afterward
recovered his health, and had a perfect recollection
of his feelings on that occasion. He
had no idea of destroying himself, but would
have perished had he not been prevented.
Instances of a similar nature have probably
occurred, in which lives have been lost in consequence
of such delusion.</p>

<p>It is said that Mr Murdock, the member of
the Vermont Legislature, who recently committed
suicide, imagined himself to be Dr
Cleaveland, who was under sentence of death.
Mr Murdock attempted to speak when Cleaveland&rsquo;s
case was before the legislature, but was
so much agitated that he could not speak, and
was taken from the house by his friends. Under
this strong impression of his being Cleaveland,
he killed himself to avoid the doom of the
law. This event would make a thrilling chapter
in Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s history of Demonology
and Witchcraft.</p>

<p>It will aid our purpose to relate the following
instance of Mr Nicolai, an intelligent
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>31]</a></span>
bookseller and member of the Academy of
Sciences of Berlin, who happily possessed philosophy
enough to account for the phantasms
which, for some time agitated his own mind,
upon rational principles. &lsquo;In the year 1791, I
was much affected in my mind by several incidents
of a very disagreeable nature; and on
a certain day a circumstance occurred, which
irritated me extremely. At ten o&rsquo;clock in the
forenoon, my wife and another person came to
console me. I was in a violent perturbation
of mind, owing to a series of incidents which
had altogether wounded my moral feelings,
and from which I saw no possibility of relief;
when suddenly I observed at the distance of
ten paces from me, a figure; the figure of a
deceased person. I pointed at it, and asked
my wife if she did not see it. She saw nothing;
but being much alarmed, endeavored to
compose me, and sent for the physician. The
figure remained seven or eight minutes, and at
length I became a little more calm; and as I
was extremely exhausted, I soon afterwards
fell into a troubled kind of slumber, which
lasted for half an hour. The vision was ascribed
to the great agitation of mind in which
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>32]</a></span>
I had been, and it was supposed I should have
nothing more to apprehend from that cause;
but the violent affection had put my nerves
into some unnatural state; from this arose further
consequences which require a more detailed
description. In the afternoon a little
after four o&rsquo;clock, the figure which I had seen
in the morning again appeared. I was alone
when this happened, a circumstance, which,
as may easily be conceived, could not be very
agreeable. I went therefore to the apartment
of my wife, to whom I related it. But thither
also the figure pursued me. Sometimes it was
present, sometimes it vanished, but it was always
the same standing figure. A little after
six o&rsquo;clock, several stalking figures also appeared,
but they had no connexion with the
standing figure. The figure of the deceased
person never appeared to me after the first
dreadful day; but several other figures showed
themselves afterwards very distinctly; sometimes
such as I knew, mostly however, of persons
I did not know, and amongst those known
to me, were the semblance of both living and
deceased persons, but mostly the former; and
I made the observation, that acquaintance with
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>33]</a></span>
whom I daily conversed never appeared to me
as phantasms; it was always such as were at a
distance. These figures appeared to me at all
times, and under the most different circumstances,
equally distinct and clear. Whether
I was alone or in company, by broad day
light equally as in the night time, in my own
house as well as in my neighbor&rsquo;s; yet, when I
was at another person&rsquo;s house, they were less
frequent, and when I walked the public street,
they very seldom appeared. When I shut my
eyes, sometimes the figures disappeared, sometimes
they remained even after I closed them.
If they vanished in the former case, on opening
my eyes again, nearly the same figures appeared
which I had seen before. For the
most part I saw human figures of both sexes;
they commonly passed to and fro, as if they
had no connexion with each other, like people
at a fair, where all is bustle; sometimes they
appeared to have business with each other.
Once or twice I saw amongst them persons on
horseback, and dogs and birds; these figures
all appeared to me in their natural size, as
distinctly as if they had existed in real life,
with the several tints on the uncovered
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>34]</a></span>
parts of the body, and with all the different
kinds and colors of clothes. On the whole,
the longer I continued in this state, the more
did the phantasms increase, and the apparitions
became more frequent. About four
weeks afterwards, I began to hear them speak,
sometimes the phantasms spoke with one
another; but for the most part they addressed
themselves to me; these speeches were in general
short, and never contained anything disagreeable.
Intelligent and respected friends
often appeared to me, who endeavored to console
me in my grief, which still left deep traces
on my mind. This speaking I heard most
frequently when I was alone; though I sometimes
heard it in company, intermingled with
the conversation of real persons, frequently in
single phrases only, but sometimes even in connected
discourse. Though at this time I enjoyed
rather a good state of health both in body
and mind, and had become so familiar with
these phantasms, that at last they did not excite
the least disagreeable emotion, but on the
contrary afforded me frequent subjects for
amusement and mirth; yet as the disorder sensibly
increased, and the figures appeared to
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>35]</a></span>
me the whole day together, and even during
the night, if I happened to awake, I had recourse
to several medicines. Had I not been
able to distinguish phantasms from phenomena,
I must have been insane. Had I been fanatic
or superstitious, I should have been terrified at
my own phantasms, and probably might have
been seized with some alarming disorder.
Had I been attached to the marvellous, I
should have sought to magnify my own importance,
by asserting that I had seen spirits; and
who could have disputed the facts with me?
In this case, however, the advantage of sound
philosophy and deliberate observation may be
seen. Both prevented me from becoming
either a lunatic or an enthusiast; for with
nerves so strongly excited, and blood so quick
in circulation, either misfortune might have
easily befallen me. But I considered the phantasms
that hovered around me as what they
really were, namely, the effects of disease, and
made them subservient to my observations, because
I consider observation and reflection as
the basis of all rational philosophy.&rsquo; This gentleman
had been accustomed to lose blood
twice a year, but it was omitted at this time,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>36]</a></span>
and having suffered so much by the neglect,
he again had recourse to blood letting and
was soon relieved of all his phantasms.</p>

<p>The following article is contained in the
Edinburgh Journal of Science, conducted by
Dr Brewster, who says of the narrator of the
case, that, &lsquo;his station in society and as a man
of science, would authenticate the minutest
particulars in his narrative, and satisfy the
most scrupulous reader that the case has been
philosophically as well as faithfully described.&rsquo;
The narrator is in fact the husband of the lady
who was the subject of the disease.</p>

<p>&lsquo;On the twentysixth of December, 1829, about
half past four o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon, Mrs B.
was standing near the fire in the hall, and on
the point of going up stairs to dress, when she
heard, as she supposed, my voice calling her
by name,&mdash;Come here, come to me! She imagined
that I was calling at the door to have it
opened, went to it, and was surprised on opening
it to find no one. She returned toward
the fire, and again heard the same voice, calling
very distinctly and loud,&mdash;Come, come
here. She then opened two other doors of the
same room, but seeing no one, she returned to
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>37]</a></span>
the fire-place. After a few minutes, she heard
the same voice, still calling&mdash;&lsquo;Come to me,
come, come away;&rsquo; this time in a loud, plaintive,
and somewhat impatient tone. She answered
as loudly&mdash;&lsquo;Where are you? I don&rsquo;t
know where you are&rsquo;&mdash;still imagining that I
was somewhere in search of her; but receiving
no answer, she shortly went up stairs. On
my return to the house about half an hour afterwards,
she inquired why I had called to her
so often, and where I was; and was of course
surprised to hear I had not been near the
house at the time.</p>

<p>&lsquo;On the 30th of the same month, at about
four o&rsquo;clock, P.&nbsp;M., Mrs B. came down stairs
into the drawing room, which she had quitted
a few minutes before, and on entering the room,
saw me, as she supposed, standing with my
back to the fire. She addressed me, asking
how it was I had returned so soon. (I had
left the house for a walk half an hour before.)
She said I looked fixedly at her with a serious
and thoughtful expression of countenance, but
did not speak. She supposed I was busied in
thought, and sat down in an arm-chair near
the fire, and within a couple of feet at
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>38]</a></span>
most of the figure she still saw standing before
her. As, however, the eyes still continued to
be fixed upon her, after a few moments she
said&mdash;&lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t you speak&mdash;?&rsquo; The figure
upon this moved off towards the window at the
farther end of the room, the eyes still gazing
on her, and passed so very close to her in doing
so, that she was struck by the circumstance
of hearing no step nor sound, nor feeling
her clothes brushed against, nor even any
agitation of the air. The idea then arose for
the first time into her mind, that it was no
reality, but a spectral illusion, (being a person
of sense and habituated to account rationally
for most things, the notion of anything supernatural
was out of the question.) She recollected,
however, your having mentioned that
there was a sort of experimentum crucis, applicable
to these cases, by which a genuine ghost
may be distinguished from one conjured up by
merely natural causes; namely, the pressing
the eye in order to produce the effect of seeing
double, when, according to your assertion, a
true Tartarean ghost may be duplicated as
well as everything else; while the morbid
idea being, I suppose, an impression on the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>39]</a></span>
retina, would or ought to remain single. I
am sorry, however, to say, that the opportunity
for verifying your theory was unfavorable.
Before Mrs B. was able distinctly to double
her vision, my figure had retreated to the window
and disappeared there. The lady followed,
shook the curtains, and tried the windows,
being still loth to believe it was not a reality,
so distinct and forcible was the impression.
Finding, however, that there was no natural
means of egress, she became convinced of
having seen a spectral apparition, such as are
recorded in Dr Hibbert&rsquo;s work, and consequently
felt no alarm or agitation. The appearance
lasted four or five minutes. It was
bright daylight, and Mrs B. is confident that
the apparition was fully as vivid as the reality;
and when standing close to her, it concealed,
of course, the real objects behind it. Upon
being told of this my visible appearance in
the spirit, having been only <em>audible</em> a few days
before, I was, as you may imagine, more
alarmed for the health of the lady than for
my own approaching death, or any other fatality
the vision might be supposed to forebode.
Still both the stories were so very much <i>en
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>40]</a></span>
regle</i> as ghost stories, the three calls of the
plaintive voice, each one louder than the preceding,
the fixed eye and mournful expression
of the phantom, its noiseless step and spirit-like
vanishing, were all so characteristic of the
wraith, that I might have been unable to
shake off some disagreeable fancies, such as a
mind once deeply saturated with the poison of
nursery-tales cannot altogether banish, had it
not been for a third apparition, at whose visit
I myself assisted, a few days afterwards, and
which I think is the key-stone of the case,
rendering it as complete as could be wished.</p>

<p>&lsquo;On the 4th of this month, January, 1830,
five days after the last apparition, at about ten
o&rsquo;clock at night, I was sitting in the drawing-room
with Mrs B. and in the act of stirring
the fire, when she exclaimed, &lsquo;Why, there&rsquo;s
the cat in the room!&rsquo; I asked &lsquo;Where?&rsquo;
She replied, &lsquo;There, close to you.&rsquo; &lsquo;Where?&rsquo;
I repeated. &lsquo;Why, on the rug, to be sure, between
yourself and the coal-scuttle.&rsquo; I had
the poker in my hand, and I pushed in the
direction mentioned. &lsquo;Take care,&rsquo; she cried
out, &lsquo;take care, you are hitting her with the
poker.&rsquo; I again asked her to point out exactly
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>41]</a></span>
where she saw the cat. She replied, &lsquo;Why,
sitting up there close to your feet, on the rug:&mdash;she
is looking at me. It is Kitty, come
here Kitty.&rsquo; There are two cats in the house,
one of which went by this name. They are
rarely, if ever in the drawing-room. At this
time Mrs B. had certainly no idea that the
sight of the cat was an illusion. I asked her
to touch it. She got up for the purpose, and
seemed, too, as if she was pursuing something
which moved away. She followed a few steps,
and then said,&mdash;&lsquo;It has gone under that chair.&rsquo;
I told her it was an illusion. She would not
believe it. I lifted up the chair; there was nothing
there, nor did Mrs B. see anything more
of it. I searched the room all over, and found
nothing. There was a dog lying on the
hearth, who would have betrayed great uneasiness
had a cat been in the room. He was
perfectly quiet. In order to be quite certain,
I rung the bell and sent for the cats. They
were both found in the housekeeper&rsquo;s room.
The most superstitious person could now
doubt no longer as to the real character of all
these illusory appearances, and the case is so
complete, that I hope there will be no renewal
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>42]</a></span>
of them, symptomatic as they of course are of
a disordered state of the body. I am sorry to
say Mrs B. as well as myself, forgot to try in
time the experimentum crucis on the cat. Mrs
B. has naturally a morbidly sensitive imagination,
so strongly affecting her corporeal impressions,
that the story of any person having
severe pain by accident, or otherwise, will occasionally
produce acute twinges of pain in
the correspondent part in her own person. An
account, for instance, of the amputation of an
arm, will produce an instantaneous and severe
sense of pain in her own arm; and so of other
relations. She is subject to talk in her sleep,
with great fluency; to repeat poetry very much
at length, particularly when unwell, and even
<em>cap verses</em> for half an hour together, never
failing to quote lines beginning with the final
letter of the preceding till her memory is exhausted.</p>

<p>&lsquo;She has, during the last six weeks, been
considerably reduced and weakened, by a tiresome
cough, which has also added to her
weakness by preventing the taking a daily
tonic, to which she had been for some time
accustomed. She had also confined herself
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>43]</a></span>
from this cause to the house for some weeks,
which is not usual with her, being accustomed
to take a great deal of air and exercise. Her
general health for some time past has not been
strong, and a long experience has proved beyond
a doubt, that her ill health is attributable
to a disordered state of the digestive organs.
These details are necessary for a complete
understanding of this case, which strikes me
as one of remarkable interest, from combining
the character of an ordinary ghost story with
those of an indubitable illusion, as well as
from the circumstance occurring to a person
of strong mind, devoid of any superstitious
fancies, and to be implicitly relied on for the
truth of the minutest details of the appearances.
Indeed, I do not recollect any well authenticated
and recent instances of auricular
delusion like the first of those I have related,
though of course the warning voices and
sounds which have frightened too many weak
persons into their graves, must have been of
this nature. Mrs B. tells me that about ten
years ago a similar circumstance happened to
her when residing in Florence, and in perfect
health. While undressing after a ball, she
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>44]</a></span>
heard a voice call her repeatedly by name, and
was at that time unable to account for the
fact.</p>

<p>&lsquo;It was nearly a month after the last occurrence,
that Mrs B. was preparing for bed at
about eleven o&rsquo;clock at night, and after somewhat
a fatiguing day, and sitting before the
dressing glass occupied in arranging her hair.
She describes her state of mind at the time as
listless and drowsy, but fully awake; indeed
her fingers were in active motion among the
papillotes, when she was suddenly startled by
seeing in the mirror the figure of a near relative
(at the time in Scotland) over her left
shoulder; her eyes meeting his in the glass.
The figure was enveloped in grave clothes,
closely pinned as is usual with corpses round
the head and under the chin. Though the
eyes were open, the features were solemn and
rigid. The dress was decidedly a <em>shroud</em>, as
Mrs B. remarked even the punctured pattern
worked in a peculiar manner round the edges
of that garment. Mrs B. describes herself as
sensible of a feeling like fascination, compelling
her for a time to gaze on this melancholy
apparition, which was as distinct and vivid as
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>45]</a></span>
any reflected reality could be; the light of the
candles on the dressing table appearing to
shine fully upon it. After a few minutes she
turned round to look for the reality of the form
over her shoulder. It was not, however, visible;
and had also disappeared from the glass when
she looked in that direction again. Coupled
with the previous illusions I related to you,
this last apparition becomes more interesting
than it would be alone. In the first place, its
melancholy and indeed horrible character, distinguishes
it from the others, but brings it still
nearer the ordinary stories of supernatural visitation.
At the same time the possible continuance
of such spectral appearances is highly
disagreeable, however firm the lady&rsquo;s nerves,
and however sound her philosophy. 2d. The
mind in this case seems not to have had the
remotest influence in raising or dissipating the
illusion. Mrs B. is convinced there was no train
of thought previously passing through her mind,
likely to have the slightest association with the
idea of the relative, whose form she suddenly
saw with all the distinctness of reality. 3d.
The former illusions might be supposed ideas
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>46]</a></span>
of sensation, sounds, or pictures reproduced,
with extraordinary vividness in the same shape
and character, in which they had been perceived
by and stored up in the mind. But in
this last case there is a new combination of
ideas which never entered the mind in connexion.</p>

<p>&lsquo;The union of the well known features with
the shroud, must have been a pure effort of, or
creation of the mind. There seems, therefore,
no reason why, under the same disposition of
the nervous system, any monstrous creation of
the faculty we call imagination might not be
produced to the eyes and other senses; indeed,
with all the qualities that constitute reality, except
their endurance, though this should hardly
be excepted, since there can be no reason
why the appearances may not endure, by a
continuance of the conditions for days, or
months. I need hardly say that the relative,
whose ghost was seen after so dismal a fashion,
was at the time in perfect health. Had it
been otherwise, and the apparition coincided
with illness or death, as has no doubt frequently
happened in other instances, our philosophy
would have had to stand a severe trial.&rsquo;</p>



<div class="chapter"></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>47]</a></span></p>

<h2><a name="chap04" id="chap04"></a>IMAGINATION AND FEAR.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">The</span> influence of the imagination on the
nervous system has on some occasions produced
effects bordering on a state of insanity. It
deprives the mind of all correct reasonings,
perverts the understanding with which we are
endowed by our Creator to regulate our belief,
guide us in our pursuits, and enable us to trace
effects to their true causes. Instances are not
wanting, in which the imagination has been
so highly excited as to produce fatal effects.
We have on record, among others, the story
of a German student, who dreamed he was to
die at a certain hour the next day. He immediately
made his will, and prepared himself for
the awful event. Every argument was used
to convince him that no dependence is to be
put in dreams, but without shaking his belief,
and as the hour approached, he exhibited the
alarming signs of death. He watched the
clock with the greatest anxiety, till his attending
physician contrived to place the hands of
the clock beyond the specified hour, when his
mind was relieved from the impression, and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>48]</a></span>
he was rejoiced to find that he might still continue
to live in despite of his dream. In
another instance, a man whose nervous system
was impaired, and imagination excited, conceived
the extravagant idea, that his legs were
made of glass, and would use no exercise lest
he should break them. He was prevailed on,
however, to ride, and the carriage was designedly
overset, when he was soon convinced that
his legs were made of the substantial material
intended by nature. A few years since, Elijah
Barns of Pennsylvania, killed a rattlesnake
in his field without any injury to himself, and
immediately after put on his son&rsquo;s waistcoat,
mistaking it for his own, both being of one color.
He returned to his house, and on attempting
to button his waistcoat, he found to
his astonishment that it was much too small.
His imagination was now wrought to a high
pitch, and he instantly conceived the idea that
he had been bitten imperceptibly by the snake,
and was thus swollen from its poison. He
grew suddenly very ill, and took to his bed.
The family in great alarm and confusion summoned
three physicians, and the usual remedies
were prescribed and administered. The
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>49]</a></span>
patient, however, grew worse and worse every
minute, until at length his son came home
with his father&rsquo;s waistcoat dangling about him.
The mystery was instantly unfolded, and the
patient being relieved from his imaginary apprehensions,
dismissed his physicians, and was
restored to health.</p>

<p>The philosophy of mind is a study of peculiar
interest, and after all our powers of research
are exhausted, numerous phenomena
will remain inexplicable. Indeed our mental
faculties are continually overwhelmed with
things inexplicable. We too often embrace
for substantial truths mere phantoms, which
vanish into air, and leave the mind to deplore
its own imbecility. While superstition weakens
our moral virtues, and the influence of
imagination deludes our intellectual powers,
the passion of fear has a pernicious and even a
hazardous tendency. It is the passion, which
most of all others, exerts its effects directly on
the heart; on some occasions, it produces instant
death, and in numerous instances, it lays
a foundation for a chronic disease of that vital
organ, which, after a long duration of distressing
complaints, has a fatal termination. Not
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>50]</a></span>
long since, an instance was published, of a
child having died of a disease of the heart, in
consequence of a fright received by being
thrown upwards and caught in its fall for
amusement.</p>

<p>Few persons are aware of the extreme danger
of sudden fright on timid minds. The
most melancholy consequences have on some
occasions resulted from stratagems with effigies,
representing apparitions for innocent and
momentary amusement. Instances are not
wanting of a total loss of intellect during life,
from such inexcusable folly. Parents and
nurses should carefully avoid imbuing the
minds of children with idle stories of ghosts
and apparitions. The following facts, selected
from numerous others, will illustrate the effects
of terror on the mind. In a poor-house
in Haerlem, a girl was seized with a convulsive
disorder, which returned in regular paroxysms;
not long after, another was taken,
and others in succession, till all the boys and
girls in the house were affected in a similar
manner. The medical prescriptions failed to
perform a cure. At length the celebrated Dr
Boerhaave, ascribing the occurrences to the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>51]</a></span>
habit of imitation, ordered several furnaces to
be placed in the chamber. Over the burning
coals a number of crooked irons were laid,
and the doctor ordered his attendants to burn
the arm of the first child, who should be seized
in a fit, even to the bone. This alarming remedy
produced the desired effect; their imagination
was overpowered by the force of fear,
and not a case of the kind again occurred.
In a family of six children, one of them was
afflicted with convulsive affections; all the
others exhibited the symptoms of the same
disorder, by imitation. No remedy could remove
the extraordinary affection, till the father
placed a block and an axe in their view, and
declared that he would decapitate the first one
who should exhibit any more gestures, except
the first one taken. By this expedient, all
imitation and imaginary feelings were overcome,
and the five last were happily delivered
from the nervous agitations. With respect to
the appearance of ghosts and apparitions, it
cannot be doubted, but many of the reports
found on record, or repeated by tradition, were
mere illusions of imagination, or fictions, contrived
solely to amuse, or to answer some
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>52]</a></span>
particular purpose; and too many have been the
dupes of implicit faith, without examining the
affair with that jealous attention which it required.
It is not improbable, that in many instances,
hobgoblin stories may be explained by
the deceptive powers of ventriloquism. We
have had auricular demonstration of the extraordinary
powers of ventriloquists; they can
counterfeit the voices of animals and all imaginable
noises, at pleasure, and conjure up a
ghost or witch on any occasion. Although
ventriloquism was not practised, as an art, in
ancient times, it was not unknown, and individuals
possessing that faculty might have put
it in operation, on particular occasions, without
suspicion. In most cases of supposed apparitions
and spectres, the reports originated with
timorous and credulous persons, or those of
questionable character. The scene is always
exhibited in the night, when the eye is prepared
to see frightful spectres, and the imagination
is awaked to magnify every object,
whether real or unreal.</p>

<div class="poemcenter">
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="i0">&lsquo;All things are full of horror and affright,</div>
<div class="i0">And dreadful even the silence of the night.&rsquo;</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<p>The darkness of the night, the gloom and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>53]</a></span>
horror produced by the report of haunted
houses, or some disastrous occurrence, as
murder or robbery in a particular situation,
and a state of mind naturally depressed and
melancholy, have doubtless contributed to
give a currency to many of those legendary
stories which have been credulously received
and disseminated by the vulgar. Those, especially,
who are trembling with a guilty conscience,
are liable to deception; even the most
intrepid have been alarmed, when in the night,
posts, trees, and other objects, have been presented
in a distorted form. We are familiar
with the story of the frightened person, who,
on passing a church-yard in the night, conceited
that he saw a ghost clothed in white;
but on examination it proved to be no other
than a white horse. A few years ago, Dr
Stearns was travelling from Boston to Salem
in the evening, having a considerable sum of
money about him. He suffered himself to be
strongly impressed with the apprehension of
being robbed. While his mind was wrought
up to the highest pitch, he imagined that a
robber approached him with a club suspended
over his head, and demanded his money. He
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>54]</a></span>
instantly took out his pocket book and threw
it on the ground, and in great affright drove
off with all speed. Having procured assistance
and lights, they visited the spot in search
of the robber, when to their surprise they
found a pump standing near the road, having
its handle turned upwards, and the doctor&rsquo;s
pocket book instead of being in the hands of
a robber, was found lying beside the pump.</p>

<p>Were all the supposed apparitions and spectres
to be met with the intrepidity displayed in
the following instance, ghost stories would
seldom be repeated. About the latter part of
the last century, a Mr Blake, of Hingham,
Massachusetts, was passing the church-yard in
the night, when he saw an object in human
form, clothed in white, sitting near an open
tomb. Resolving to satisfy himself, he walked
toward it. The form moved as he approached,
and endeavored to elude his pursuit; when he
ran, the object ran before him, and after turning
in different directions, descended into the
tomb. Mr Blake followed, and there found a
woman, who was in a deranged state of mind,
who had covered herself with a sheet, and was
roaming among the silent tombs.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>55]</a></span>
The passion of fear is implanted in our nature
for wise purposes. It prompts us to self
defence and the avoidance of evil. It is excited
into action by various causes, depending
on the condition of the nerves in different constitutions,
or in the same at different times.
But when extended to imaginary objects of
terror, fear becomes superstition, as by a sort
of instinct, and has a direct tendency to cherish
ignorance and credulity. Dr Franklin
had no faith in apparitions and spectres, but
he proposed to a friend, that the one which
should die first, should return in spirit and visit
the survivor; his friend died first, but his spirit
never returned. The strong mind of Dr
Samuel Johnson was not altogether free from
agitation and embarrassment, when contemplating
the question of the appearance of incorporeal
spirits in our world. This great
man said to Mr Boswell, his biographer,
&lsquo;it is wonderful that 5000 years have now
elapsed since the creation of the world, and
still it is undecided whether or not there has
ever been an instance, in modern times, of the
spirit of any person appearing after death.
All argument is against it, but all belief is for
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>56]</a></span>
it.&rsquo; Boswell suggested, as an objection, that
if spirits are in a state of happiness, it would
be a punishment to them to return to this
world; and if they are in a state of misery, it
would be giving them a respite. Johnson replied,
that &lsquo;as the happiness or misery of
spirits depends not upon place, but is intellectual,
we cannot say, that they are less happy or
less miserable, by appearing upon earth.&rsquo;
Johnson observed, that he makes a distinction
between what a man may experience by the
mere strength of his imagination, and what
imagination cannot possibly produce. Thus,
said he, &lsquo;suppose I should think that I saw a
form, and heard a voice say, Johnson, you are
a very wicked fellow, and unless you repent,
you will certainly be punished; my own unworthiness
is so deeply impressed upon my
mind, that I might <em>imagine</em> I thus saw and
heard, and therefore I should not believe that
an external communication had been made to
me. But, if a form should appear, and a voice
should tell me, that a particular man had died
at a particular place, and a particular hour, a
fact which I had no apprehension of, nor any
means of knowing, and this fact, with all its
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>57]</a></span>
circumstances, should afterwards be unquestionably
proved, I should in that case be persuaded,
that I had supernatural intelligence
imparted to me.&rsquo; Johnson related a story of
a ghost, said to have appeared to a young
woman several times, advising her to apply to
an attorney for the recovery of an old house,
which was done, and at the same time saying
the attorney would do nothing, which proved
to be the fact.</p>

<p>About the middle of the last century, there
were reports of a ghost visiting a house in
Cocklane, in the city of London. The whole
city was, for many weeks, kept in a state of
agitation and alarm, and the magazines and
newspapers teemed with strange accounts of
the Cocklane ghost. The story, at length, became
so popular, and created such excitement,
as to require a thorough investigation. The
purport of the story was, that a spirit had frequently
appeared, and announced to a girl, that
a murder had been committed near that place,
by a certain person, which ought to be detected.
For a long time, unaccountable noises,
such as knocking, scratching on the walls of
the house, &amp;c., were heard every night. The
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>58]</a></span>
supposed spirit had publicly promised, by an
affirmative knock, that it would attend any
person into the vault under the church where
the body was deposited, and would give a
knock on the coffin; it was, therefore, determined
to make this trial of the visitation and
veracity of the supposed spirit. On this occasion,
Dr Johnson, with several clergymen and
other gentlemen and ladies, assembled about
ten o&rsquo;clock at night, in the house in which the
girl had, with proper caution, been put to bed
by several ladies. More than an hour passed,
without hearing any noise, when at length the
gentlemen were summoned into the girl&rsquo;s
chamber, by some ladies who were near her
bed, and had heard knocks and scratches.
When the gentlemen entered, the girl declared
that she felt the spirit like a mouse upon her
back. She was required to hold her hands
out of bed, and from that time, though the
spirit was very solemnly required to manifest
its existence by appearance, by impression on
the hand or body of any one present, by
knocks, or scratches, or any other agency, no
evidence of any preternatural power was exhibited.
The spirit was then very seriously
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>59]</a></span>
advertised, that the person to whom the promise
was made of striking on the coffin, was
then about to visit the vault, and that the performance
of the promise was then claimed.
The company at 1 o&rsquo;clock went into the
church, and the gentleman to whom the promise
was made, went with another into the
vault. The spirit was solemnly required to
perform its promise, but nothing more than
silence ensued. The person supposed to be
accused by the spirit then went down with
several others, but no effect whatever was
perceived. Upon their return they examined
the girl, but could draw no confession from
her, and the father of the girl, when interrogated,
denied in the strongest terms, any
knowledge or belief of fraud. It was therefore
published by the whole assembly, that the
girl had some art of making or counterfeiting
a particular noise, and that there was no
agency of any higher cause. Thus ended
this singular affair, which had so long been
permitted to disturb the peace of the city and
of the public. The greatest surprise is, that
an artful, mischievous girl, should be suffered
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>60]</a></span>
to set at defiance the closest scrutiny to detect
her imposition and deception.</p>

<p>The following anecdote may be found in
some historical publication, but is now related
from memory without recollecting the authority.
After the execution of Charles the First, the
Parliament resolved that every vestige of royalty
should be annihilated. For this purpose,
commissioners were appointed to carry into
effect the decree in the Palace of the late
King. While executing their prescribed
duties, the commissioners were from day to day
annoyed and disturbed by strange and frightful
noises, in various parts of the house. Logs of
wood rolling over the floor in the kitchen,
various utensils clattering together, dancing
and stamping were heard in rooms whose
doors were closed, and to such alarming heights
was the deception carried that the commissioners
were about to abandon the house, from
the belief that it was haunted by evil spirits.
At length, on close investigation, the fact was
disclosed that the whole deception was the
contrivance of a man of singular art, called
<em>funny Joe</em>, who was the acting secretary of the
commissioners.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>61]</a></span>
In Southey&rsquo;s life of Wesley, we have another
instance of supposed preternatural noises in
the parsonage house of Wesley&rsquo;s father, in the
year 1716. The mysterious noises were said
to be as various as unaccountable; such as
knocking at the door, lifting up the latch, and
a groaning, like a person in distress; a clatter
among a number of bottles, as if all at once
they had been dashed in pieces; footsteps as
of a man going up and down stairs, at all
hours of the night; sounds like that of dancing
in a room, the door of which was locked;
but most frequently, a knocking about the
beds at night, and in different parts of the
house. Mr Wesley was once awakened a little
after midnight, by nine loud and distinct
knocks which seemed to be in the next room,
with a pause at every third stroke. He and
his wife rose, and went below; a noise was
now heard, like that of a bag of money poured
on the floor at their feet. At one time, the
servant heard his hand-mill in rapid motion,
without any visible hand to move it. Mr
Wesley made every exertion to ascertain the
real cause of the noises, without success. He
at length became so impatient with the unusual
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>62]</a></span>
annoyances, that he prepared a pistol, which
he was about to discharge at the place where
the noise was heard, but was dissuaded from
it by a neighboring clergyman, who had been
called in to his assistance. But he upbraided
the goblin for disturbing the family, and challenged
it to appear to him while alone in his
study, after which, on entering his study, the
door was pressed against him, but no object
was seen. At length, the family became so
familiar with this invisible spirit, that one of
the daughters gave it the name of Old Jeffrey,
and they treated it as matter of curiosity and
amusement. This unaccountable affair excited
much speculation throughout the country.
The celebrated Dr Priestley, and many others,
undertook to investigate the circumstances,
but were unable to make any satisfactory discovery,
and it remains inexplicable.</p>

<p>A reviewer of Wesley&rsquo;s life observes, that
few will regard the circumstances as anything
more than creatures of imagination, the offspring
of credulity and superstition; but I
should strongly suspect that some one of the
family was the prime mover in the business,
as was funny Joe in the Royal Palace of King
Charles the First.</p>



<div class="chapter"></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>63]</a></span></p>

<h2><a name="chap05" id="chap05"></a>SUPERSTITION.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">Historical</span> records furnish innumerable instances
of superstition, fraught with circumstances
of inexpressible horror. It is an infirmity
inherent in our nature, and extremely
difficult to eradicate; no lesson on moral evil,
or lecture on physical destiny, can sever the
spell or dissolve the dark enchantment. So
peculiarly fascinating is the love of the marvellous,
that when ignorance and bigotry cooperate,
the pure fountain of truth is polluted,
and the most preposterous tales of antiquity are
held in veneration by every fiery zealot.
From this cause, millions of innocent lives
have been sacrificed. The intellects of thousands
have been shackled, and their energies
perverted by irrational fears, and by degrading
conceptions of the nature of Deity, and of
the purposes and modes of religious worship
and obedience. It was in the darkest days of
superstition, that the rack was in exercise to
chain down the understanding, to sink it into
the most abject and sordid condition, punishing
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>64]</a></span>
imaginary crimes, and repressing truth and
philosophical research.</p>

<p>The science of medicine had to encounter
the scourge of superstition at an early period;
the epithet of magician was applied to the
physician, who appeared to be endowed with
superior genius and knowledge. The inquisition
was constantly prepared to take holy cognizance
of those who distinguished themselves
by extraordinary cures, and hundreds of miserable
wretches were dragged to the stake for
this cause alone. Galileo, in the 17th century,
was condemned by the inquisition to a rigorous
punishment, for his noble and useful discoveries
in astronomy and geometry; and
about the same period, Dr Bartolo suffered a
similar fate at Rome, because he unexpectedly
cured a nobleman of the gout.</p>

<p>The University of Salamanca decreed that
no physician should dare to bleed his patient
in a pleurisy in the arm of the affected side;
declaring that such practice was of no less
pernicious consequences to medicine, than
Luther&rsquo;s heresy had been to religion. The
inquisition having adopted the irrational and
foolish doctrine that diseases should be ascribed
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>65]</a></span>
to fascination, a physician who opposed that
doctrine was compelled to accede to it, and to
declare that he had seen a beautiful woman
break a steel mirror to pieces, and blast trees
by a single glance of her fascinating eyes.
Superstitious opinions prevailed in regard to
the cure of diseases, also. Some were supposed
to be cured by a song. Josephus asserted
that he saw a certain Jew, named <em>Eleazer</em>,
draw the devil out of an old woman&rsquo;s nostrils,
by the application of Solomon&rsquo;s seal to her
nose, in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian.
Numerous remedies were employed for
expelling the devil, among which was flagellation,
purgatives, and antispasmodics. Several
bewitched persons being cured by a plaster
of assaf&oelig;tida, the question arose, in what
way this article excited so much efficacy.
Some supposed, that the devil considered so
vile an application an insult, and ran off in a
passion; but others very sagely observed, that
as devils are supposed to have eyes and ears, it
is possible that they have noses also, and that
it proved offensive to their olfactory nerves.
It may be observed that superstition is not
confined to those who are ignorant of the laws
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>66]</a></span>
of the physical world; but through the infirmity
of human nature, it has prevailed to the perversion
of the profoundest understanding, and
the purest intellect. It has arrested the progress
of literature and science, and shackled
the mind with vulgar fictions, errors, and prejudices.
Even the sublime genius of Lord
Bacon was subjected to its influence; he believed
in witchcraft, and asserted that he was
cured of warts by rubbing them with a piece
of lard with the skin on, and then exposing it
to the sun. Dr More, and the enlightened
Cudworth, applied the epithet <em>Atheist</em> to those
who opposed the belief of witchcraft. The
celebrated Dr Hoffman, the father of the modern
theory and practice of medicine, in the
large edition of his work in 1742, says, that
the devil can raise storms, produce insects,
and act upon the animal spirits and imagination;
and, in fine, that he is an excellent optician,
and natural philosopher, on account of
his long experience.</p>

<p>But, blessed be the Almighty Ruler, the
present is an era, preeminently distinguished
for improvement in physical and moral philosophy;
and forgetting the things that are
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>67]</a></span>
behind, we are pressing forward in the race with
rapid strides to the melioration of the condition
of the physical and moral world. Had the
stupendous works performed, and those contemplated
at the present day, been predicted to
our fathers in the 17th century, they would
have trembled with alarm, lest their posterity
were destined to form a league with the infernal
powers. The paralyzing idea that the
present state of knowledge is as perfect as our
nature will admit, should be utterly reprobated;
for knowledge is eternally progressive, and we
can have no claim to be estimated as the benefactors
of posterity, unless by our own efforts
and toils we add to the achievements of our
ancestors. We may take a retrospect of the
meritorious characters of our fathers with exultation,
and when disposed to animadvert on
the frailties and follies peculiar to their times,
let us reflect that it is our happy lot to live in
an age in many respects the most glorious the
world ever knew. We have a moral interest
in all that concerns the human race, and, as
philanthropists, we ought to sympathize in every
calamity with which our species may be afflicted.
Being apprised with what facility mankind
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>68]</a></span>
deceive themselves, and with what tenacity the
mind clings to its darling delusion, sober reflection
is awakened to a lively sense of the
evils resulting from our imperfections. As
the germs of plants may lie dormant in the
earth for ages, and be resuscitated, so may the
troubles created by unhallowed superstition, revive
and be reiterated by means of some depraved
spirits in our day.</p>

<p><em>Ventriloquism</em> is an art which may be made
subservient to knavery and deception. An
ingenious work on this subject was published
in 1772, by M. de la Chapelle, who was of
opinion that the responses of many of the
oracles were delivered by persons thus qualified
to serve the purposes of priestcraft and delusion.
That ventriloquism may be made thus
subservient to the purposes of knavery, will
clearly appear by the following anecdotes.</p>

<p>Louis Brabant, valet de chambre to Francis
the First, was a capital ventriloquist, and a
great cheat. He had fallen in love with a
young, handsome, and rich heiress; but was
rejected by the parents as an unsuitable match
for their daughter. The young lady&rsquo;s father
dying, Brabant made a visit to the widow, who
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>69]</a></span>
was totally ignorant of his singular talent.
Suddenly, on his first appearance, in open day,
and in presence of several persons who were
with her, she heard herself accosted, in a
voice perfectly resembling that of her dead
husband, and which seemed to proceed from
above, exclaiming, &lsquo;Give my daughter in marriage
to Louis Brabant. He is a man of great
fortune, and of an excellent character. I now
endure the inexpressible torments of purgatory
for having refused her to him. If you obey
this admonition, I shall soon be delivered from
this place of torment. You will at the same
time provide a worthy husband for your
daughter, and procure everlasting repose to
the soul of your poor husband.&rsquo; The widow
could not for a moment resist this dread summons,
which had not the most distant appearance
of proceeding from Louis Brabant, whose
countenance exhibited no visible change, and
whose lips were closed and motionless, during
the delivery of it. Accordingly, she consented
immediately to receive him for her son-in-law.
Louis&rsquo;s finances, however, were in a very low
situation, and the formalities attending the
marriage contract, rendered it necessary for
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>70]</a></span>
him to exhibit some show of riches, and not to
give the ghost the lie direct. He accordingly
went to work upon a fresh subject, one Cornu,
an old and rich banker at Lyons, who had
accumulated immense wealth by usury and
extortion, and was known to be haunted by
remorse of conscience on account of the manner
in which he had acquired it. Having
contracted an intimate acquaintance with this
man, he one day, while they were sitting together
in the usurer&rsquo;s little back parlor, artfully
turned the conversation on religious subjects,
on demons and spectres, the pains of purgatory
and the torments of hell. During an interval
of silence between them, a voice was heard,
which to the astonished banker seemed to be
that of his deceased father, complaining, as in
the former case, of his dreadful situation in
purgatory, and calling upon him to deliver
him instantly from thence, by putting into the
hands of Louis Brabant, a large sum for the
redemption of Christians then in slavery with
the Turks; threatening him at the same time
with eternal damnation if he did not take this
method to expiate likewise his own sins. The
reader will naturally suppose that Brabant
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>71]</a></span>
affected a due degree of astonishment on the
occasion, and further promoted the deception,
by acknowledging his having devoted himself
to the prosecution of the charitable design
imputed to him by the ghost. An old usurer
is naturally suspicious. Accordingly, the
wary banker made a second appointment with
the ghost delegate for the next day; and to
render any design of imposing upon him
utterly abortive, took him into the open fields,
where not a house, or a tree, or even a bush was
in sight, capable of screening any supposed
confederate. This extraordinary caution excited
the ventriloquist to exert all the powers
of his art. Wherever the banker conducted
him, at every step, his ears were saluted on all
sides with the complaints and groans not only
of his father, but of all his deceased relations,
imploring him, for the love of God, and in the
name of every saint in the calendar, to have
mercy on his soul and their&rsquo;s, by effectually
seconding with his purse the intentions of his
worthy companion. Cornu could no longer
resist the voice of heaven, and accordingly
carried his guest home with him, and paid
him down 10,000 crowns, with which the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>72]</a></span>
honest ventriloquist returned to Paris and
married his mistress. The catastrophe was
fatal. The secret was afterwards blown, and
reached the usurer&rsquo;s ears, who was so much
affected by the loss of his money, and the mortifying
railleries of his neighbors, that he took
to his bed and died.</p>

<p>Another French ventriloquist, named M. St
Gile, was not less adroit in his secret art.
Entering a convent, and finding the whole
community in mourning, he inquired the
cause, and was told that one of their body had
lately died, who was the delight and ornament
of the whole society, and they spoke feelingly
of the scanty honors they had bestowed on his
memory. Suddenly a voice was heard, apparently
proceeding from that part of the church
where the singing of the choir is performed,
lamenting the situation of the defunct in purgatory,
and reproaching the brotherhood with
their lukewarmness, and want of zeal on his
account. The friars, as soon as their astonishment
gave them power to speak, consulted
together, and agreed to acquaint the rest of
the community with this singular event, so interesting
to the whole society. M. St Gile,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>73]</a></span>
who wished to carry on the joke still farther,
dissuaded them from taking this step, telling
them that they would be treated by their absent
brethren, as a set of fools and visionaries. He
recommended to them, however, the immediately
calling of the whole community into the
church, where the ghost of their departed
brother might probably reiterate his complaints.
Accordingly, all the friars, novices, lay brothers,
and even the domestics of the convent,
were immediately summoned and collected together.
In a short time the voice from the
roof renewed its lamentation and reproaches,
and the whole convent fell on their faces, and
vowed a solemn reparation. As a first step,
they chanted a <i>De profundis</i> in a full choir;
during the intervals of which the ghost occasionally
expressed the comfort he received from
their pious exercises, and ejaculations on his
behalf. When all was over, the friar entered
into a serious conversation with M. St Gile;
and, on the strength of what had just passed,
sagaciously inveighed against the absurd incredulity
of our modern sceptics and pretended
philosophers, on the article of ghosts or apparitions.
M. St Gile thought it now high time to
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>74]</a></span>
disabuse the good fathers. This purpose,
however, he found it extremely difficult to effect,
till he had prevailed upon them to return
with him into the church, and there be witnesses
of the manner in which he had conducted
this ludicrous deception.</p>




<div class="chapter"></div>
<h2><a name="chap06" id="chap06"></a>WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">A belief</span> in the entity of witchcraft and sorcery
may boast of a high degree of antiquity.
In both the Old and New Testament, we observe
numerous tragical events, bearing the
semblance of diabolical agency. A prominent
instance is found in the witch of Endor, who
is said to have been deeply versed in the art of
deception, and notorious in her day for skill
in practical astrology. It is the opinion of
some divines, that to beguile Saul, she raised
a demon, counterfeiting Samuel; but it seems
difficult to decide in what precise manner she
effected her purpose of imposing upon her
credulous employer. The sorcery and witchcraft,
prohibited under the Jewish dispensation,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>75]</a></span>
is supposed by high authority to be a very different
species of crime from that which was
so abhorrent in the days of our ancestors; the
former might have come under the description
of idolatry, or of the heathen mythology.
&lsquo;The ancients believed that there were good
and evil demons, which had influence over the
minds of men, and that these beings carried on
an intercourse between men and gods, conveying
the addresses of men to the gods, and
divine benefits to men. Hence, demons became
the objects of worship. It was supposed,
also, that human spirits, after their departure
from the body, became demons, and that the
souls of virtuous men, if highly purified, were
exalted from demons into gods.&rsquo;</p>

<p>The various instances of demoniacs, lunatics,
and possessed, recorded in the sacred
scriptures of the New Testament, have received
different interpretations according to
the particular views among learned expositors.
By some of the enlightened German theologians,
those subjects are considered as mere
prototypes of the maniacs and epileptics of
our own times; but most of the English
divines have imbibed different opinions.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>76]</a></span>
&lsquo;Demoniacs,&rsquo; says Kenrick, &lsquo;were persons
disordered in their understandings, and supposed
to be possessed by an evil demon.&rsquo; That
real miracles were wrought by our Saviour
and his apostles, and that both good and evil
spirits were subservient to his will, no Christian
believer can ever deny. But by all impartial
inquirers after truth, it will perhaps be conceded,
that demoniacal possession is a subject the
least susceptible of a satisfactory solution, of
any in scripture. It has received the most
critical investigation of commentators and
divines, for centuries, and still remains involved
in mystery. The subject in its nature, is
too intricate and mysterious to justify even a
discussion on this occasion, nor is it requisite
for my purpose. It must, therefore, be referred
to philosophical commentators and learned
biblical critics.</p>

<p>In a work entitled, Historical Essay concerning
Witchcraft, by F. Hutchinson, D.&nbsp;D., published
in London in 1720, the author says,
&lsquo;The divine writings, as well as the soundest
philosophy and soberest reason, give confirmation
that there are both good and bad spirits.
There are superior beings intermediate betwixt
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>77]</a></span>
the divine nature and ours. But both philosophers
and Christians that have ventured to
define their natures or works, have been very
various in their notions respecting them, and
the holy scriptures, though they give us many
instances of the employment of both the evil
and the good spirits, teach us none such as
we commonly meet with in the modern relations
of witchcraft, and the conjoint powers of
Satan. The holy scriptures tell us of no such
tales as these which confound the laws of nature,
and absolutely destroy the testimony of
our senses.&rsquo; *** &lsquo;The human mind is sometimes
so clouded and oppressed, that persons think
themselves dead. At another time they are
elevated far above their natural pitch, full of
raptures, and high conceits, and think themselves
kings and queens; now if witch stories
are in their heads, or witchcraft in their imaginations,
why may they not think themselves
bewitched, or fancy themselves witches or
wizards, as well as kings and queens?&rsquo;</p>

<p>A witch, in her personal character, was
commonly an uncouth old woman, or hag.
Her countenance was repulsive, her air and
gait disgusting, and her general aspect and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>78]</a></span>
movements at variance with a proper demeanor.
She is supposed to have formed a compact
with the devil, giving herself up to him body
and soul. This compact, it is believed, cannot
be transacted mentally, but the devil must
appear in bodily shape to the witch. In this
interview, he delivers to her an imp, or familiar
spirit, by which she is enabled to transport
herself in the air, on a broomstick or a spit,
to distant places in the night to attend witch
meetings, at which the devil always presides.
She was supposed to be attended by an old
gray cat, as her confederate, or imp; the cat
and her mistress, it was believed, were often
overheard plotting their fairy tricks together.
She was supposed to possess the power of
transforming herself into a cat, a squirrel, or
other animal, which she would send abroad to
execute her commands. These animals could
not be killed but by a silver bullet, and should
the animal receive a wound the witch would
have a wound in the same place. It was
imagined that the witch, by the aid of Satan,
had power to inflict death, and various diseases
and evils, on families and individuals,
and also on cattle, by way of revenge for any
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>79]</a></span>
offence, and could even raise storms and tempests,
and sink ships at sea.</p>

<p>Numerous legendary tales were formerly
propagated of haunted houses, where witches
assembled and held their nightly orgies and
diabolical revels. These haunts were always
objects of great terror to the credulous vulgar,
being considered as a pandemonium of all
manner of evils, miseries, and calamities.
The idea was prevalent, also, that witches
could bridle men in the night, and ride them
about at pleasure. The woman who should
exhibit the characteristics above described,
was at once stigmatized as being in league
with the devil, and was treated not only with
ridicule and contempt, but subjected to unmerciful
persecution. Ranked among demons,
instruments of the devil, they were objects of
no pity, but were viewed with scorn and horror.
Instances were not wanting of these
wretched mortals, although entirely innocent,
becoming so hateful and terrible to all, and befriended
by none, that at length they abhorred
themselves, and were reconciled to be burnt or
hung, that they might escape the rage of cruel
persecution.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>80]</a></span>
The methods put in practice for the discovery
of witches were various and singular. One
was, to weigh the suspected woman against the
church bible, which, if she was guilty, would
preponderate. Another was to require her to
repeat the Lord&rsquo;s prayer; in attempting this, a
witch will always hesitate and blunder. If a
witch should weep, she could not shed more
than three tears, and that out of the left eye.
This deficiency of tears was considered as a
very substantial proof of guilt. Excrescences
on the body, from which the imps receive their
nourishment, were deemed infallible signs of a
witch. She was bound crosswise, the right
thumb tied to the left toe, and the left thumb
to the right toe; in this condition she was
cast into the water, if guilty she could not
sink, for having in her compact with the devil
renounced the water of baptism, the water in
return refuses to receive her. If she was
found able to swim in that condition, she was
taken out and burnt or hung; but it is probable
the bystanders were allowed to save them
from drowning or few could escape. The
trial by the stool was resorted to as another
expedient; the suspected woman was placed
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>81]</a></span>
in the middle of the room on a stool cross-legged;
if she refused, she was bound with
cords, and in this uneasy posture she was kept
without meat or sleep, for twentyfour hours,
during which it was supposed that her imps
would return to her for nourishment. A
small hole was left in the door for the imps to
enter, and persons were directed to be constantly
sweeping the floor, and to keep a strict
watch for spiders, flies, or other insects, and if
they could not kill them, they certainly were
the witch&rsquo;s imps. Suspected witches were
sometimes put to cruel torture to force confession,
and were afterwards executed. From
such kinds of proof, together with the most
absurd and foolish evidence of old women and
children, thousands of innocent persons were
condemned for witchcraft, and burnt at the
stake.</p>

<p>Bishop Jewel, in a sermon preached before
Queen Elizabeth, in 1558, tells her, &lsquo;It may
please your Grace to understand that witches
and sorcerers, within these last four years, are
marvellously increased within your Grace&rsquo;s
realm. Your subjects pine away even unto
death; their color fadeth, their speech is
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>82]</a></span>
benumbed, their senses are bereft; I pray God
they never practise farther than upon the subject.&rsquo;
John Bell, minister of the gospel at
Glaidsmuir, says, &lsquo;Providentially two tests
appeared to discover the crime. If the witch
cries out, &ldquo;Lord have mercy upon me!&rdquo; when
apprehended, and the inability of shedding
tears; because, as a witch could only shed
three tears, and those with her left eye, her
stock was quickly exhausted; and that was the
more striking, as King James I. shrewdly observes,
&ldquo;since other women in general are
like the crocodile, ready to weep upon every
slight occasion.&rdquo;&rsquo;</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>83]</a></span>
and desire, he ordered it to be burnt by the
common executioner.</p>

<p>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, &lsquo;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.&rsquo; 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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>84]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>85]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>86]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>87]</a></span>
with the names and colors of the spirits. A
perusal of that fantastic production must have
excited wonder and amazement in any age.</p>

<p>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&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>88]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>89]</a></span>
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, &lsquo;that the fits were natural,
but heightened by the power of the devil,
cooperating with the malice of witches.&rsquo; (Sir
Walter Scott, page 225.) 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>90]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>A notorious witch-finder, says Dr Increase
Mather, undertook by a pin to make an infallible
discovery of suspected persons. If, when
the pin was pushed an inch or two into the
flesh, no blood appeared, nor any sense of pain,
then he declared them to be witches. No
less than three hundred persons, says that respectable
author, were thus condemned in that
kingdom. This miscreant was Matthew
Hopkins, who styled himself witch-finder
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>91]</a></span>
general, and travelled from town to town with
a train of assistants, for the professed purpose
of detecting witches, charging twenty shillings
for each town. He affected to have uncommon
skill in his profession, but treated his subjects
with great cruelty, keeping them from sleep,
wearying them to distress by constant walking
to force confession. He also adopted the mode
of swimming them while cross-bound. But
the cruel wretch finally met his just deserts;
he was treated as he had treated hundreds of
others, being thrown into the water cross-bound;
but, although able to swim as a witch,
he was suffered to escape from the country.
It is greatly to be lamented, that a considerable
number of Calvinistic divines should take
zealous concern in the prosecution of reputed
witches. Among those pious divines, we find
the venerable names of Baxter and Calamy,
in England, and the two Mathers in America.
That they were conscientious, and influenced
by the purest motives, no one will doubt; but
that they were imbued with a large share of
the credulity of the times, will appear most
evident. The following are Mr Baxter&rsquo;s own
words as quoted by Sir Walter Scott. &lsquo;The
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>92]</a></span>
hanging of a great number of witches in 1645
and 1646, is famously known. Mr Calamy
went along with the judges on the circuit, to
hear their confessions, and see there was no
fraud or wrong done them. I spoke with
many understanding, pious, learned, and credible
persons, that lived in the counties, and
some that went to them in the prisons, and
heard their sad confessions. Among the rest
an old <em>reading parson</em>, named Lewis, was one
that was hanged, who confessed that he had
two imps, and that one of them was always
putting him upon doing mischief; and he being
near the sea, as he saw a ship under sail, it
moved him to send it to sink the ship; and he
consented, and saw the ship sink before them.&rsquo;
The Rev. Mr Lewis was condemned on his
own simple confession, that he sent his imp to
sink a ship, but it was not known that any
ship was lost, and it was supposed that the
man was deranged in his intellect. Mr Baxter
relates another story of a mother, who gave
her child an imp like a mole, and told her to
keep it in a can near the fire, and she would
never be in want.</p>

<p>The Catholic priests were remarkable for
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>93]</a></span>
their zealous pretensions to peculiar powers in
dispossessing demons, by fasting and prayer,
and they were detected in numerous frauds.
It was probably from their reports that the
story originated which Dr Mather cites in his
cases of conscience, that at the time when
Martin Luther died, all the possessed people
in the Netherlands became quiet and at ease.
The devils in them said the reason was, that
Luther had been a great friend of theirs, and
they owed him so much respect as to go as far
as Germany to attend his funeral, and on the
mention of some ministers of the reformed
religion, the devils in the possessed laughed
and said, that they and the Calvinists were
very good friends. There were among the
Protestants some clergymen base enough to
become rivals with papists in their pretended
exorcisms. The following is an instance of
unprecedented turpitude. In 1689, Richard
Dugdale, of Lancaster, was reported by a
clergyman as having been dispossessed of
devils, by fasting and prayer. He had for
several months exhibited, at intervals, apparent
sufferings, both surprising and unaccountable.
He would counterfeit the demoniac, epileptic,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>94]</a></span>
and a train of nervous fits, and unnatural afflictions,
which were attributed to demons.
His singular condition excited the curiosity
and wonder which he and his vile minister
desired, and his supposed sufferings called
forth the sympathy, and his indigent circumstances
the charity of his numerous deluded
visitors. By these means he was encouraged to
persevere in his deception, living at ease on
the delusion which he and his minister had
artfully created about a year. When at length
complaint was made to the Bishop of London,
who brought Dugdale to confess that he had
acted the part of an impostor, and that he
had, from time to time, received private lessons
of instruction from the clergyman, to carry on
the imposition, that he might have the credit
of dispossessing the devil, by his fastings and
prayers.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>95]</a></span>
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&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>96]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>97]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>98]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>99]</a></span>
estimated here, and knowing that he had condemned
some persons in England, his opinion
had great influence with both judges and
juries.</p>

<p>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,
(Vol. V. second series) it is recorded,
that &lsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>100]</a></span>
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.&rsquo;</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>101]</a></span>
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. &lsquo;These children,&rsquo; says
the celebrated Dr Cotton Mather, &lsquo;were arrested
by a stupendous witchcraft. The
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>102]</a></span>
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.&rsquo; 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>103]</a></span>
with goat&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>104]</a></span>
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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>105]</a></span>
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&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>106]</a></span>
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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>107]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>In the year 1720, there was at Littleton, in
the county of Middlesex, a family who were
supposed to be bewitched. One J.&nbsp;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>108]</a></span>
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&mdash;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&mdash;y&rsquo;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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>109]</a></span>
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&mdash;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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>110]</a></span>
The afflicted parents treated them with all
possible care and tenderness, believing that
they were objects of pity and compassion. At
length Mrs D&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>111]</a></span>
full communion. The next Sabbath, without
any reference to her, he happened to preach
from this text, &lsquo;He that telleth lies shall not
escape.&rsquo; 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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>112]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>113]</a></span>
particular spite against Mrs D&mdash;y, but it was
necessary to accuse some person, and the eldest
having pitched upon her, the others followed.
The woman&rsquo;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.</p>




<div class="chapter"></div>
<h2><a name="chap07" id="chap07"></a>SALEM WITCHCRAFT.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">I shall</span> 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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>114]</a></span>
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, &lsquo;The spark fell upon inflammable
matter, and behold, how great a
matter a little fire kindleth.&rsquo; 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>115]</a></span>
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&rsquo;s History of Massachusetts, Dr
Cotton Mather&rsquo;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.</p>

<p>In a letter of Thomas Brattle, F.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;S.,
dated October 8, 1692, published in the Collections
of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
we have the following account.</p>

<p>&lsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>116]</a></span>
of that look (I dare not say by that look, as
the Salem gentlemen do) 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 (as above) 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.&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;Such
was the excess of their stupidity, that
to the most dubious crime in the world, they
joined the most uncertain proofs.&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;A person
ought to have been a magician to be able to
clear himself from the imputation of magic.&rsquo;</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>117]</a></span>
similar complaints, and exhibited antic gestures
and tricks, similar to those of Goodwin&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>118]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>119]</a></span>
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. &lsquo;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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>120]</a></span>
and they had it twice that day.&rsquo; 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, &amp;c., were apprehended, examined,
and generally committed to prison. Goodwife<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>
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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>121]</a></span>
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. &lsquo;Are you
a witch?&rsquo; Answer. &lsquo;Candy no witch in her
country. Candy&rsquo;s mother no witch. Candy
no witch, Barbadoes. This country, mistress
give Candy witch.&rsquo; &lsquo;Did your mistress make
you a witch in this country?&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes, in this
country mistress give Candy witch.&rsquo; &lsquo;What
did your mistress do to make you a witch?&rsquo;
&lsquo;Mistress bring book, and pen, and ink, make
Candy write in it.&rsquo; From this testimony, Mrs
Haskins, the mistress, had no other way to
save her life but to make confession.</p>

<div class="footnote">
<p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_A_1">[A]</a></span>
Goodwife, Goody, and Goodman, were vulgar
terms applied to heads of families by the lower class. <a href="#FNanchor_A_1">Back</a></p>
</div>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>122]</a></span>
the experiment of the afflicted falling down at
the sight of the accused, they were required
to repeat the Lord&rsquo;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.</p>

<p>&lsquo;Having for some days heard that my wife
was accused of witchcraft, and being much
disturbed at it, we went to Salem by advice to
see if the afflicted knew her. The prisoners
were called in before the justices, singly, and
as they entered were cried out against by the
afflicted girls. The prisoners were placed
about seven or eight feet from the justices, and
the accusers between the justices and the
prisoners. The prisoners were ordered to
stand directly before the justices with an officer
appointed to hold each hand lest they
should therewith afflict the girls; and the
prisoners&rsquo; eyes must be constantly fixed on the
justices; for if they looked on the afflicted,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>123]</a></span>
they would either fall into these fits, or cry
out of being hurt by them; after examination
of the prisoners, who it was that afflicted these
girls, &amp;c., they put them upon saying the Lord&rsquo;s
Prayer as a trial of their guilt. When the
afflicted seemed to be out of their fits, they
would look stedfastly on some one person, and
not speak, and then the justices said they were
struck dumb, and after a little time they 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 venture, but before they made three
steps would fall on the floor as if in a fit. The
justices then ordered that they should be taken
up and carried to the prisoner, that she might
touch them, and as soon as this was done the
justices would say they are all well, before I
could discern any alteration, but the justices
seemed to understand the manner of the strange
juggle. Two of the accusers who pretended
to be bewitched, were Abigail Williams, niece
of Mr Parris, aged eleven or twelve years, and
Indian John, the husband of Tituba, who was
now in jail. This fellow had himself been accused
of witchcraft, but had now become an
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>124]</a></span>
accuser for his own safety. He showed several
old scars which he said were the effects of
witchcraft, but more likely of the lash. On
inquiry who they would accuse as the cause of
their sufferings, they cried out <em>Carey</em>, and immediately
a warrant was sent by the justices
to bring my wife before them. 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 obliged to
stand with her arms extended. I requested
that I might hold one of her hands, but it was
denied me. She then desired that I would
wipe the tears and the sweat from her face
and that she might lean herself on me as she
was faint; but justice Hathorn said she had
strength enough to torment those persons, and
she should have strength enough to stand. I
remonstrated against such cruel treatment,
but was commanded to be silent, or I should
be turned out of the room. Indian John was
now called in to be one of the accusers; he
fell down and tumbled about like a brute, but
said nothing. The justices asked the girls
who afflicted the Indian; they answered she,
(meaning my wife); the justices ordered her
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>125]</a></span>
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 looking
on him; her hand was guided to take
hold of his, but the Indian seized hold of her
hand, and pulled her down on the floor, in a
violent manner; then his hand was taken off,
and her hand put on his, and the cure was
quickly wrought. My wife, after being thus
cruelly treated, was put into prison, and the
jailor was ordered to put irons on her legs
which weighed about eight pounds. These
chains, with her other afflictions, soon produced
convulsion fits, so that I was apprehensive
she would have died that night. I intreated
that the irons might be removed, but in vain.
I now attended the trials at Salem, and finding
that spectre evidence, together with idle or
malicious stories, was received against the
lives of innocent people, I trembled for the
fate of my wife; as the same evidence that
would serve for one would serve for all. In
this awful situation, I thought myself justifiable
in devising some means of escape; and this,
through the goodness of God, was effected.
We were pursued as far as Rhode Island, but
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>126]</a></span>
we reached New York in safety, where we
were kindly received by Governor Fletcher.
To speak of the treatment of the prisoners
and the inhumanity shown them at their executions,
is more than any sober Christian can
endure. Those that suffered, being many of
them church members, and most of them of
blameless conversation.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Jonathan Carey.</span>&rsquo;</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>127]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>128]</a></span>
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.</p>

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

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>129]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>Mr Noyes, the minister, urged Sarah Good
to confess, saying he knew she was a witch,
and she knew she was a witch; to which she
replied, &lsquo;You are a liar. I am no more a
witch than you are a wizard.&rsquo; At the trial of
Rebecca Nurse it was remarkable that the
jury brought her in not guilty; immediately
all the accusers in the court, and soon after
all the afflicted out of court, made a hideous
outcry, to the amazement of the court and
spectators. The court having expressed some
dissatisfaction, the jury were induced to go
out again to consider better one expression of
hers when before the court. They now
brought her in guilty, and she was condemned.
After her condemnation, she was by Mr Noyes
of Salem, excommunicated and given to the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>130]</a></span>
devil. The governor, however, saw cause to
grant a reprieve, upon which, when known,
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
behaviour, both in the course of her life, and at
her death, are numerous and highly satisfactory.
Mary Easty, her sister, was also condemned.
She was of a serious and religious character,
and before her execution she presented
a petition to the court and the reverend ministers
at Salem, protesting her innocence before
God. She petitioned, not for her own
life, for she knew she must die; but most
earnestly prayed, that if possible, no more innocent
blood might be shed. By her own innocence
she said she knew the court was in
the wrong way, and humbly begged that their
honors would examine the confessing witches,
being confident that many of them had belied
themselves and others. They had accused
her and others, she said, of having made a
league with the devil, which she and they most
positively denied. &lsquo;The Lord alone, who is
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>131]</a></span>
the searcher of all hearts, knows that as I shall
answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know nothing
of witchcraft, therefore I cannot, I dare
not, belie my own soul by confessing.&rsquo; She
intreats their honors not to deny the humble
petition of a poor, dying, innocent person, and
prays that the Lord will give a blessing to
their endeavors that no more innocent blood
be shed. These two women were among the
eight who were executed together, when the
Rev. Mr Noyes, turning towards the bodies,
said, what a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands
of hell hanging there!!</p>

<p>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, &lsquo;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.&rsquo;</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>132]</a></span>
At a court held in Salem, April, 1692, by
the honorable Thomas Danforth, deputy governor,
Elizabeth Proctor was tried for witchcraft.
The witnesses were Indian John, husband
to Tituba, and three or four girls who
pretended to be afflicted by the said Proctor.
The questions by the court, and the answers
of the witnesses, were exceedingly futile and
whimsical; but they exhibited their antic gestures
and fits, which they pretended were
caused by the presence of the prisoner at the
bar. The court then put the question thus&mdash;&lsquo;Elizabeth
Proctor, you understand whereof
you are charged, viz. to be guilty of sundry
acts of witchcraft: what say you to it?&rsquo;
&lsquo;Speak the truth as you will answer it before
God another day. What do you say, Goody
Proctor, to these things?&rsquo; &lsquo;I take God in
heaven to be my witness, that I know nothing
of it, no more than a child.&rsquo; Proctor, the
husband, being present in court, the afflicted
girls cried out against him, saying he was a
wizard, and again exhibited their tricks and
fits. The question was put by the court,
&lsquo;Who hurts you?&rsquo; Answer. &lsquo;Goodman
Proctor, and his wife too.&rsquo; By the court.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>133]</a></span>
&lsquo;What do you say, Goodman Proctor, to these
things?&rsquo; &lsquo;I know not, I am entirely innocent.&rsquo;
It is no less painful than astonishing to add
that by such miserable evidence, Proctor and
his wife were both condemned and executed.
Proctor earnestly entreated that he might be
allowed a few days to prepare himself for
death, and at his execution he desired in the
most affecting manner that Mr Noyes would
pray with, and for him; but his request was
cruelly denied him, because he would not confess
himself to be a wizard.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>134]</a></span>
arm&rsquo;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. &lsquo;Was there not a man among
you at your meetings?&rsquo; &lsquo;None but the devil.&rsquo;
&lsquo;Your mother and grandmother say there was
a minister there; did you not see men there?&rsquo;
&lsquo;There was a minister there, and I think he is
now in prison.&rsquo; &lsquo;Was there not one Mr Burroughs
there?&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes.&rsquo;&mdash;Question to another
witness. &lsquo;Were there not two ministers there?&rsquo;
&lsquo;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.&rsquo; 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>135]</a></span>
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&rsquo;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.</p>

<p>&lsquo;Several of the bewitched,&rsquo; adds Dr Cotton
Mather, &lsquo;gave in their testimony that they
had been troubled with the apparitions of two
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>136]</a></span>
women, who said they were Burroughs&rsquo; 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,&rsquo;
adds Dr Mather, &lsquo;any part of his conviction.&rsquo;
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>137]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a>
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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>138]</a></span>
Ruck being startled at that, intimated that
the devil himself, did not know so far. Burroughs
answered, &lsquo;My God makes known
your thoughts unto me.&rsquo; The prisoner at the
bar had nothing to answer unto what was thus
witnessed against him, that was worth considering.
&lsquo;But the court began to think,&rsquo; says
Dr Mather, &lsquo;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.&rsquo; 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&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>139]</a></span>
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
&ldquo;Cases of Conscience,&rdquo; affirms, that he was
present at the trial of Burroughs, and had he
been one of his judges, he could not have acquitted
him. &lsquo;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.&rsquo;</p>

<div class="footnote">
<p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_B_2">[B]</a></span>
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. &lsquo;Hold, sir,&rsquo; said the
judge; &lsquo;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&rsquo;ll hear
him in person; but your communication is mere hearsay,
which my office compels me to reject.&rsquo; 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? <a href="#FNanchor_B_2">Back</a></p>
</div>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>140]</a></span>
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&rsquo;s wife suffered at the gallows, where
she made an eminent prayer.</p>

<p>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. &lsquo;There
are,&rsquo; says Hutchinson, &lsquo;many instances of
children accusing their parents, and some, of
parents accusing their children. This is the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>141]</a></span>
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.&rsquo; 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>142]</a></span>
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 &pound;1500,
he realized only about &pound;300.</p>

<p>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&rsquo;s shape told
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>143]</a></span>
her that Goody Foster had made her daughter
a witch about thirteen years ago. She replied
that she knew no more about her daughter&rsquo;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, &lsquo;Who rid
foremost on that stick to the village?&rsquo; &lsquo;I suppose
my mother.&rsquo; The mother replied, &lsquo;no,
Goody Carryer was foremost.&rsquo; It might be
supposed that it was time for the magistrates
to stop; but they proceed to question the
daughter. &lsquo;How many years since they were
baptized, who baptized them, and how?&rsquo;
&lsquo;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.&rsquo; &lsquo;How many were
baptized that day, and who were they?&rsquo; &lsquo;I
think there were six, some of the chiefs, they
were of the higher powers.&rsquo; The old woman&rsquo;s
grandaughter, M. Lacey, was now called in,
and instantly M. Warren fell into a violent fit,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>144]</a></span>
but was soon restored when Lacey laid her
hand on her arm. Question by the justices.
&lsquo;How dare you come in here and bring the
devil with you to afflict these poor creatures;
which way do you do it?&rsquo; &lsquo;I cannot tell. If
my mother made me a witch I did not know
it.&rsquo; 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>145]</a></span>
was not prepared to receive. Being fully satisfied
of his wife&rsquo;s innocence, the question
was now suggested and controverted, whether
the devil could afflict in a good person&rsquo;s shape,
taking it for granted, that the minister&rsquo;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, &lsquo;That presumptions,
whereupon persons may be committed,
and much more, convictions, as being guilty of
witchcraft, ought certainly to be more
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>146]</a></span>
considerable than barely the accused person&rsquo;s
being represented by a spectre unto the afflicted;
inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious
thing, that a demon may by God&rsquo;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&rsquo;s legerdemain.&rsquo;</p>

<p>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&rsquo;s confession. It was
asked by the magistrates. &lsquo;How long hast
thou been a witch?&rsquo; &lsquo;Ever since I was six
years old.&rsquo; &lsquo;How old are you now?&rsquo; &lsquo;Near
eight years old; brother Richard says I shall
be eight years old next November.&rsquo; &lsquo;Who
made you a witch?&rsquo; &lsquo;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.&rsquo; 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>147]</a></span>
to give her a black dog, but the dog never
came to her. &lsquo;But you said you saw a cat
once, what did that say to you?&rsquo; &lsquo;It said it
would tear me in pieces if I would not set my
hand to the book.&rsquo; 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. &lsquo;How did your
mother carry you when she was in prison?&rsquo;
&lsquo;She came like a black cat.&rsquo; &lsquo;How did you
know it was your mother?&rsquo; &lsquo;The cat told me
she was my mother.&rsquo; This poor child&rsquo;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.</p>

<p>The following is among the affecting instances
of confessors retracting their confessions.</p>

<p>The humble declaration of Margaret Jacobs
unto the honored court now sitting at Salem,
showeth, &lsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>148]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>149]</a></span>
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.&rsquo;</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>150]</a></span>
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, &amp;c.</p>

<p>The following is the grand jury&rsquo;s bill against
Mary Osgood.</p>

<p>&lsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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.&rsquo;</p>

<p>The foregoing bill was grounded principally
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>151]</a></span>
on her own confession, the purport of which
is as follows.&mdash;That about eleven years ago,
when she was in a melancholy state, upon a
certain time while walking in her orchard, she
saw the appearance of a cat at the end of her
house, which she supposed was a real cat,
about this time she made a covenant with the
devil, &amp;c. She said further, that about two
years agone, she was carried through the air
in company with three others, whom she named,
to five mile pond, where she was baptized
by the devil, and was transported back again
through the air in the same manner in which
she went, and believes they were carried on a
pole. She confesses that she had afflicted
three persons, and that she did it by pinching
her bed clothes, and giving consent the devil
should do it in her shape, and that the devil
could not do it without her consent. When
in court, she afflicted several persons, as they
pretended, and they were as usual restored by
her touching their hands. It was not long
after, that the said Mary Osgood, with five
other women, who had, when in danger, confessed
themselves guilty, retraced their confessions,
stating that &lsquo;they were blind-folded,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>152]</a></span>
and their hands were laid on the afflicted persons
who fell into fits; others when they felt
our hands, said they were well, and that we
were guilty of afflicting them, whereupon we
were committed to prison. By reason of that
sudden surprisal, knowing ourselves perfectly
innocent, we were exceedingly astonished and
amazed, consternated and afflicted out of our
reason. Our nearest and dearest friends and
relations, seeing our awful situation, entreated
us to make confession, as the only way to save
our lives. They, out of tender love and pity,
persuaded us to make such confession, telling
us we were witches, they knew it, and we
knew it, and they knew that we knew it, which
made us think it was really so. Our understanding
and reasoning faculties almost
gone, we were incapable of judging of our
condition. Some time after, when we had
been better composed, they telling us what we
had confessed, we did profess we were innocent,
of such things.&rsquo; The testimonials to these
persons&rsquo; characters, says Governor Hutchinson,
by the principal inhabitants of Andover, will
outweigh the credulity of the justices who
committed, or of the grand jury which found
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>153]</a></span>
bills against them. Fiftythree reputable inhabitants
of Andover, addressed the court,
held at Salem, stating that &lsquo;they are women
of whom we can truly give this character and
commendation, that they have not only lived
among us so inoffensively as not to give the
least occasion to suspect them of witchcraft,
but by their sober, godly, and exemplary lives
and conversation, have obtained a good report
in the place, where they have been well esteemed
and approved in the church, of which
they are members.&rsquo;</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>154]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>This tremendous storm continued sixteen
months in Salem, in which was displayed a
great want of sober wisdom in some, and of
moral honesty in others, while a spirit of superstitious
persecution, almost without a parallel,
generally prevailed. Nineteen innocent
persons were hanged, one pressed to death,
and eight more condemned; and about fifty
confessed themselves witches, of which not
one was executed. Above one hundred and
fifty were in prison, and above two hundred
more, being accused, it was thought proper to
put a stop to further prosecutions. The persons
in the prisons were set at liberty, and
those who had fled returned home in peace.
Experience showed that the more were apprehended,
the more were afflicted by Satan, and
the number of confessors increasing, increased
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>155]</a></span>
the number of the accused; and the executing
of some made way for the apprehension of
others, till the numbers became actually
alarming to the public, and it was feared that
Salem had involved <em>some innocent persons</em>, as
all the nineteen denied the crime to their
death.</p>

<p>The late Dr Bentley of Salem, in his History
of that town, published in the Historical
Society&rsquo;s Collections, observes, that &lsquo;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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>156]</a></span>
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.&rsquo; &lsquo;From March to August, 1692,&rsquo; says
Dr Bentley, &lsquo;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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>157]</a></span>
the injury done to religion, and the distress of
the aggrieved, were seen and felt with the
greatest sorrow.&rsquo;</p>

<p>I quote the following from Judge Story&rsquo;s
Centennial Discourse.</p>

<p>&lsquo;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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>158]</a></span>
In the wretched butcheries of these
times, (for so they in fact were,) 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.&rsquo;</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>159]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>In December, 1696, there was a proclamation
for a fast, in which there was this clause,
&lsquo;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.&rsquo; 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>160]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>161]</a></span>
and unwittingly, to bring upon themselves the
guilt of innocent blood, &amp;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.</p>

<p>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. &lsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>162]</a></span>
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.&rsquo;</p>

<p>They were so settled in their aversion, that
they continued their persecutions for three or
four years; and in July, 1697, they presented
a remonstrance to arbitration, in which they accuse
him of &lsquo;believing the devil&rsquo;s accusations,
and readily departing from all charity to persons,
though of blameless and godly lives, upon
such suggestions against them; his promoting
such accusations, as also his partiality in stifling
the accusations of some, and vigilantly
promoting others. His applying to those who
have a familiar spirit to know who afflicted
the people; which we consider as an implicit
denying the providence of God, which alone
we believe can send afflictions, or cause devils
to afflict the people. By these practices and
principles, Mr Parris hath been the beginner
and procurer of the sorest afflictions, not to
this village only, but this whole country, that
did ever befall them.&rsquo; Mr Parris did at length
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>163]</a></span>
acknowledge his errors, but the people would
not be satisfied till he was entirely dismissed.</p>

<p>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 &pound;300,000,
his own share being &pound;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>164]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>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&rsquo;s
lady, she escaped without chains or
halter.</p>

<p>It appears that Dr Cotton Mather was one
of the leading champions in the persecution of
witches. In October, 1692, at the desire of
the governor, he published an account of the
trials of seven of those who had been condemned
and executed, in which he states that
the court grounded their proceedings chiefly
on the laws of England, and precedents found
in books from thence. In his preface he has
this passage. &lsquo;If in the midst of the many dissatisfactions
among us, the publication of these
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>165]</a></span>
trials may promote a pious thankfulness unto
God for justice being so far executed among
us, I shall rejoice that God is glorified; and
pray that no wrong steps of ours may ever sully
any of his glorious works.&rsquo; But it should be
remembered that no condemnation can receive
the sanction of justice nor the countenance of
Christians, unless the party is fairly convicted
by full and substantial human evidence. It is
a most extraordinary circumstance that the rulers
and judges, and the eminent divines of
that day, should overlook the reasonable maxim
in the Jewish constitution, that <em>every word</em>
or thing admitted for evidence in the decision
<em>shall be established</em> by the concurrence of what
cometh from the mouth of two or three credible
witnesses. &lsquo;So you will not pollute with
blood the land in which you dwell.&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;And if
a false witness rise up against a man, and accuse
him of any crime, the two men before
whom is the controversy, shall stand before
the Lord, and before the priests, and before
the judges, who may be in those days. And
when the judges have made a strict examination,
if the false witness hath testified falsehoods,
and risen up against his brother; you
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>166]</a></span>
shall do to him as he wickedly thought to do
to his brother.&rsquo;<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> It is melancholy to reflect
that no instance can be found on record of a
false witness against the innocent victims at
Salem having been brought to merited punishment.</p>

<div class="footnote">
<p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_C_3">[C]</a></span>
Numbers, xxxv. 30. Deut. xvii. 6, and xix. 15. <a href="#FNanchor_C_3">Back</a></p>
</div>

<p>Dr Mather, in his work entitled &lsquo;Wonders
of the Invisible World,&rsquo; 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&rsquo;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>167]</a></span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>168]</a></span>
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.</p>

<p>The following is an abridged narrative of
the trials of B. Bishop, S. Martin, E. How,
and M. Carryer, from Dr Mather&rsquo;s &lsquo;Wonders
of the Invisible World.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&lsquo;The court appeared to rely for evidence
chiefly on the testimony of the accusers, and
the incidents exhibited by the experiment with
the parties in their presence on the trials. In
all instances the presence of the accused
would produce wonderful effects on the persons
of the accusers. At a look, or cast of the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>169]</a></span>
eye, the accusers would instantly fall down as
if in a fit or swoon, and would throw themselves
into unnatural and painful postures, and
by the application of the witches&rsquo; hand they
were immediately restored.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> Some complained
that the shape or spectre of B. Bishop, the
prisoner on trial, pinched, choked, and bit
them. One testified, that the shape of the
prisoner, one day, took her from her wheel
and carried her to the river side, threatening
to drown her if she would not sign the devil&rsquo;s
book, and said she had been the death of several
persons whom she named. Another testified,
that there were apparitions or ghosts
seen with the spectre of the prisoner, crying
out &ldquo;You murdered us.&rdquo; There was testimony,
likewise, that a man striking once at a
place where a bewitched person said the shape
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>170]</a></span>
of this Bishop stood, the bewitched cried out
that he had torn her gown, and the woman&rsquo;s
gown was found afterwards to be torn in the
very place mentioned.</p>

<div class="footnote">
<p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_D_4">[D]</a></span>
Why not bewitch the magistrates as well as others,
and save the victims from death? If the witches, assisted
by Satan, have power over the laws of nature
and the actions of men, how is it that their enemies escape
with impunity? If they possess the power of
raising storms and sinking ships at sea, why not overwhelm
both judge and jury in the ruins of falling houses
and make a mock of the chains and ropes employed for
their executions? <a href="#FNanchor_D_4">Back</a></p>
</div>

<p>&lsquo;One D. Hobbs having confessed herself to
be a witch was now tormented by the spectres
for her confession, and this Bishop tempted
her to sign the book again, and to deny what
she had confessed, and it was the shape of this
prisoner which whipped her with iron rods to
compel her thereto. To render it further unquestionable,
that the prisoner at the bar was
the person truly charged in this witchcraft,
there were produced many evidences of other
witchcrafts by her perpetrated. J. Cook testified
that, about five or six years ago, he was in
his chamber assaulted by the shape of this
prisoner, which looked on him, grinned at him,
and very much hurt him with a blow on the
side of his head; and on the same day about
noon, the same shape walked into his room,
and an apple strangely flew out of his hand
into the lap of his mother, six or eight feet
from him. S. Gray testified, that about fourteen
years ago, he waked on a night and saw
the room where he lay full of light, and saw
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>171]</a></span>
plainly a woman between the cradle and the
bed, which looked upon him. He rose, and
it vanished, though the doors were all fast.
He went to bed, and the same woman again
assaulted him. The child in the cradle gave
a great screech, and the woman disappeared.
It was long before the child could be quieted;
though it were a very likely, thriving child, yet
from this time it pined away, and after divers
months died in a sad condition. He was satisfied
that it was the apparition of this Bishop
which had thus troubled him. B. Coman testified,
that eight years ago, as he lay awake in
his bed with a light burning, he was annoyed
with the apparition of this Bishop, and of two
more, who came and oppressed him, that he
could neither stir himself nor wake any one
else; the said Bishop took him by the throat
and pulled him almost out of bed. The next
night his kinsman lodged with him, and as
they were discoursing together, they were visited
by the same guests, and the kinsman was
struck speechless and unable to move hand or
foot. He had laid his sword by him, which
the spectres did strive much to wrest from him,
but he held it too fast for them. S. Shattuck
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>172]</a></span>
testified, that in the year 1680, this Bishop
often came to his house on frivolous and foolish
errands. Presently, whereupon, his eldest
child began to droop exceedingly, and the oftener
she came to his house the worse grew
the child. He would be thrown and bruised
against the stones by an invisible hand, and
his face knocked against the sides of the house
in a miserable manner, and the child&rsquo;s money,
purse and all, would be unaccountably conveyed
out of a locked box, and never seen more.
The child was taken with terrible fits, and did
nothing but cry and sleep for several months
together, and at length his understanding was
utterly taken away. Among other symptoms
of enchantment upon him, one was, that there
was a board in the garden whereon he would
walk, and all the invitations in the world could
never fetch him off. About seventeen or
eighteen years after, there came a stranger to
Shattuck&rsquo;s house, who, seeing the child, said
this poor child is bewitched, and you have a
neighbor who is a witch. J. Louder testified,
that having some little controversy with Bishop
about her fowls, he awaked in the night by
moonlight, and clearly saw the likeness of this
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>173]</a></span>
woman grievously oppressing him; she held
him, unable to help himself, till near day. He
told her of this, but she utterly denied it, and
threatened him very much. Soon after this,
being at home on a Lord&rsquo;s day, with the doors
shut, he saw a black pig approach him, but it
soon vanished away. Soon after he saw a
black creature jump in at the window, and it
came and stood before him. The body was
like that of a monkey, the feet like a fowl&rsquo;s,
but the face much like a man&rsquo;s. He was so
extremely affrighted, that he could not speak;
he endeavored to clap his hand upon it, but
could feel no substance, and it jumped out of
the window again. He struck at it, but missed
his blow, and broke his stick; and the arm
with which he struck was soon disabled. This
same creature appeared again, and was going
to fly at him, whereat he cried out, and it sprang
back and flew over the apple tree, shaking
many apples off the tree in flying over. At
its leap it flung dirt with its feet against the
stomach of the man, whereon he was then
struck dumb, and so continued for three days.
William Stacy testified, that having received
some money of this Bishop for work done by
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>174]</a></span>
him, he had gone but about three rods from
her, when looking for his money it was unaccountably
gone from him; and being about six
rods from her, with a small load in his cart,
suddenly the off wheel sunk down into a hole
upon plain ground, so that he was forced to
get help for the recovery of the wheel; but in
searching for the hole in the ground, which
might give him this disaster, there was none
at all to be found. Soon after this, as he was
in a dark night going to his barn, he was very
suddenly lifted up from the ground and thrown
against a stone wall; and after that he was
again hoisted up and thrown down a bank.
At another time this deponent passing by the
said Bishop, his horse with a small load, striving
to draw, all his gears flew to pieces, and
the cart fell down, and the deponent going
then to lift a bag of corn of about two bushels,
could not lift it with all his might. Many other
pranks of the prisoner this deponent was ready
to testify. He verily believed that the said
Bishop was the instrument of his daughter
Priscilla&rsquo;s death. To crown all, says the Dr,
J. Bly, and W. Bly, testified, that being employed
by said Bishop to take down the cellar
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>175]</a></span>
wall of the old house, wherein she formerly
lived, they did, in holes of the said wall, find
several puppets made up of rags and hogs&rsquo;
bristles, with headless pins in them, the points
being outwards. Whereof she could now give
no account unto the court, that was reasonable
or tolerable. There might have been many
more strange things brought against this woman,
but there was no need of them. But
there was one very strange thing more with
which the court was entertained. As this
woman was under guard, passing by the great
and spacious meeting-house of Salem, 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.&rsquo;</p>

<p>It will doubtless be conceded, that if
Bridget Bishop was actually guilty of all the
disasters above detailed, she was a proper subject
for the gallows.</p>


<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>176]</a></span></p>

<h3>TRIAL OF SUSANNA MARTIN, JUNE 29, 1692.</h3>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Pray what ails these people?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;But what do you think ails
them?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;I do not desire to spend my
judgment upon it.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t you think they are bewitched?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;No, I do not think they are.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Tell me your thoughts about
them, then?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;No: my thoughts are my own,
when they are in, but when they are out, then
another&rsquo;s their master.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Their master! who do you
think is their master?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;If they be dealing in the black
art you may know as well as I.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Well, what have you done
towards this?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;Nothing at all.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Why, it is you or your appearance.&rsquo;</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>177]</a></span>
<i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t help it.&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Magistrate.</i> &lsquo;Is it not your master? How
comes your appearance to hurt these?&rsquo;</p>

<p><i>Martin.</i> &lsquo;How do I know? He that appeared
in the shape of Samuel, a glorified
saint, may appear in any one&rsquo;s shape.&rsquo;</p>

<p>It was then also noted, that if the afflicted
went to approach her, they were flung down
to the ground. The court counted themselves
alarmed by these things, to inquire farther into
the conversation of the prisoner, and see what
might occur to render these accusations further
credible. John Allen testified, that he refused,
because of the weakness of his oxen, to cart
some stones, at the request of this Martin.
She was displeased, and said it had been as
good that he had, for his oxen should never do
him any more service. Whereupon, as he was
going home, one of his oxen tired, so that he
was forced to unyoke him that he might get
him home. He put his oxen, with many others,
on Salisbury beach; they all ran into
Merrimack river, and the next day were found
on Plum Island. They next ran, with a violence
that seemed wholly diabolical, right into
the sea, swimming as far as they could be
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>178]</a></span>
seen; and out of fourteen good oxen all were
drowned, save one. John Atkinson testified,
that he exchanged a cow with the son of said
Martin, whereat she muttered and was unwilling
he should have it. Going to receive his
cow, though he hamstringed her, and haltered
her, she, of a tame creature, grew so mad
they could scarce get her along. She broke
all the ropes that were fastened unto her, and,
though she was tied fast to a tree, yet she
made her escape, and gave them such further
trouble, as they could ascribe it to no cause
but witchcraft. J. Kemball testified, that the
said Martin, upon a causeless disgust, threatened
him that a certain cow should never do
him any more service, and it came to pass accordingly,
for soon after the cow was found
stark dead on the ground, without any distemper
to be discerned upon her; and this
was followed with the death of several more
of his cattle. &lsquo;But,&rsquo; says the reverend author,
&lsquo;the said J. Kemball had a further testimony
against the prisoner, which was truly admirable.
He applied himself to buy a dog of this
Martin; but she, not letting him have his
choice, he said he would supply himself at one
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>179]</a></span>
Blazdel&rsquo;s, and marked a puppy there which he
liked. G. Martin, the husband of the prisoner,
asked him if he would not have one of his
wife&rsquo;s puppies, and he answered, no. Whereupon
the prisoner replied, &ldquo;As I live I will
give him puppies enough.&rdquo; Within a few
days after, Kemball coming out of the woods,
there arose a little black cloud in the N.&nbsp;W.
and Kemball immediately felt a force upon
him, which made him not able to avoid running
upon the stumps of trees, although he had a
broad, plain, cart way before him; but though
he had his axe on his shoulder to endanger
him in his falling, he could not forbear going
out of his way to tumble over them. When
he came below the meeting-house, there appeared
to him a little creature like a puppy, of
a darkish color, and it shot backwards and
forwards between his legs. He had the courage
to use all possible endeavors to cut it with
his axe, but he could not hit it, the puppy gave
a jump from him, and went, as to him it seemed,
into the ground. On going a little further,
there appeared unto him a black puppy, bigger
than the first, but as black as a Coal. Its motions
were quicker than those of his axe. It
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>180]</a></span>
flew at him and at his throat over his shoulders
one way, and then over his shoulders another
way; his heart now began to fail him,
and he thought the dog would have tore his
throat out. But he recovered himself and
called on God in his distress, and it vanished
away at once.&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;This S. Martin once walked
from Amesbury to Newbury in an extraordinary
season, when it was not fit for any one
to travel. She bragged and showed how dry
she was; it could not be perceived that so
much as the soles of her shoes were wet.
Being told that another person would have
been wet up to the knees, she replied, &ldquo;<em>she
scorned to be drabbed</em>.&rdquo; It was noted that this
testimony upon her trial, cast her into a very
singular confusion. John Pressy testified,
that being one evening bewildered near the
field of Martin, as under enchantment, he saw
a marvellous light, about the bigness of a half
bushel, near two rods out of the way. He
struck at it with a stick and laid it on with all
his might. He gave it near forty blows and
felt it a palpable substance. But going from
it, his heels were struck up, and he was laid
with his back on the ground, sliding, as he
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>181]</a></span>
thought, into a pit, from whence he recovered
by taking hold on the bush, although afterwards
he could find no pit in the place. Having
gone five or six rods he saw S. Martin standing
on his left hand, as the light had done before,
but they changed no words with one another.
At length he got home extremely affrighted.
The next day it was upon inquiry understood,
that Martin was in a miserable condition by
pains and hurts that were upon her.&rsquo; (Forty
stout blows would have killed any one but a
witch.) &lsquo;The deponent further testified, that
having affronted the prisoner, many years ago,
she said he should never prosper; more particularly,
that he should never have more than
two cows; that though he were ever so likely
to have more than two cows, yet he should
never have them. From that very day to this,
namely, for twenty years together, he could
never exceed that number, but some strange
thing or other still prevented his having more.&rsquo;</p>


<h3>TRIAL OF ELIZABETH HOW, JUNE 30, 1692.</h3>

<p>&lsquo;The most remarkable things ascribed to E.
How, were, that the sufferers complained of
her as the cause of their distresses, and they
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>182]</a></span>
would fall down when she looked on them and
were raised again on the touch of her hand.
There was testimony, also, that the shape of
her gave trouble to people nine or ten years
ago. There were apparitions or ghosts testified
by some of the present sufferers, which
ghosts affirmed that this How had murdered
them. J. How, brother to the husband of the
prisoner, testified, that having refused to accompany
her to her examination, as she desired,
immediately some of his cattle were bewitched
to death, leaping three or four feet
high, squeaking, falling, and dying at once;
and going to cut off an ear, the hand wherein
the knife was held, was taken very numb and
painful, and so remained for several days, and
he suspected the prisoner as the cause of it.
N. Abbot testified, that unusual and mischievous
accidents would befall his cattle whenever
he had any difference with her. Once in particular,
she wished his ox choked, and within
a little while that ox was choked with a turnip
in his throat. A woman, on some difference
with How, was bewitched, and she died
charging her of having a hand in her death.
Many people had their barrels of beer
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>183]</a></span>
unaccountably mischiefed, spoiled, and spilt, upon
displeasing her. One testified, that they once
and again lost great quantities of drink out of
their vessels, in such a manner as they could
ascribe it to nothing but witchcraft. And also
that How once gave her some apples, and
when she had eaten them, she was taken with
a very strange kind of maze, so that she knew
not what she said or did. There was likewise
a cluster of depositions that one J. Cummings
refused to lend his mare to the husband of the
said How; the mare was within a day or two
taken in a strange condition. She seemed
abused and bruised as if she had been running
over the rocks, and was marked where the
bridle went, as if burnt with a red hot bridle.
On using a pipe of tobacco for the cure of the
beast, a blue flame issued out of her which
took hold of her hair and not only spread and
burnt on her, but it also flew upwards towards
the roof of the barn and like to have set the
barn on fire, and the mare died very suddenly.
F. Lane being hired by the husband of How
to get him a parcel of posts and rails, Lane
hired J. Pearly to assist him. The prisoner
told Lane that the posts and rails would not do
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>184]</a></span>
because Pearly helped him, but if he had gotten
them alone they might have done well
enough. When How came to receive his
posts and rails, on taking them up by the ends,
they, though good and sound, yet unaccountably
broke off, so that Lane had to get twenty
or thirty more. And this prisoner being informed
of it, said she told him so before, because
Pearly helped about them.&rsquo;</p>


<h3>TRIAL OF MARTHA CARRYER, AUGUST 2, 1692.</h3>

<p>A considerable number of bewitched persons
deposed that it was Martha Carryer or her
shape, that grievously tormented them by biting,
pricking, pinching, and choking them; the
poor people were so tortured, that every one
expected their death upon the very spot, but
that on the binding of the prisoner they were
eased. Moreover, the looks of Carryer then
laid the afflicted people for dead; and her
touch, if her eyes at the same time were off
them, raised them again. It was testified,
that on the mention of some having their necks
twisted almost round by the shape of this Carryer,
she replied, it&rsquo;s no matter though their
necks had been twisted quite off. B. Abbot
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>185]</a></span>
testified, that the prisoner was very angry with
him upon laying out some land near her husband&rsquo;s.
She was heard to say she would hold
Abbot&rsquo;s nose as close to the grindstone as ever
it was held since his name was Abbot. Presently
after this, he was taken with a swelling
in his foot, and then with a pain in his side,
and exceedingly tormented. It bred a sore
which was lanced by Dr Prescott. For six
weeks it continued very bad, and then another
sore bred, and finally a third, all which put
him to very great misery. He was brought to
death&rsquo;s door, and so remained till Carryer was
taken and carried away by the constable.
From which very day he began to mend and
so grew better every day. Abbot was not only
afflicted in his body but suffered greatly in the
loss of his cattle in a strange and unaccountable
manner. One A. Toothaker testified,
that Richard, the son of M. Carryer, having
some difference with him, pulled him down by
the hair of his head; when he rose again he
was going to strike at Richard, but fell down
flat on his back to the ground, and had not
power to stir hand or foot until he told Carryer
he yielded, and then he saw the shape of his
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>186]</a></span>
mother, the prisoner, go off his breast. One
Foster, who had confessed herself a witch,
testified, that she had seen the prisoner at some
of their witch meetings, and that the devil
carried them on a pole, but the pole broke
and she hanging about Carryer&rsquo;s neck, they
both fell down and she received a hurt by the
fall. Many other evidences of her mischievous
conduct were produced, which I omit; the
last was this. In the time of the prisoner&rsquo;s
trial, one S. Sheldon, in open court, had her
hands unaccountably tied together with a wheel
band, so fast, that without cutting, it could not
be loosened. It was done, says Dr Mather,
by a spectre, and the sufferer affirmed it was
the prisoner&rsquo;s.</p>



<p class="break">There is something in the foregoing proceedings
during the memorable events at Salem,
that seems to surpass all our conceptions of
impartial justice, christian charity, or humanity.
It is humiliating to our nature to reflect, that
a class of the most profligate wretches were
brought together on the stage, and their base
intrigues tolerated and encouraged, fanciful
experiments witnessed, and little else than
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>187]</a></span>
fictitious evidence of accusation received to condemnation;
while all pleadings for mercy, on
the score of innocence, were of no avail. Not
a solitary instance is found on record of the
voice of pity and compassion being raised in
behalf of the friendless, ignorant victims of
suspicion. They were subjected to barbarous
tricks and senseless experiments, calculated to
encourage fraud and imposition, and then consigned
to the gallows for the consequences.
Better that ten guilty persons escape, than one
innocent should suffer. Unfortunately, no
lawyers were at that time employed in criminal
cases. Had our present court and our state
prison been then in existence, the good people
of Salem would not long have been molested
by witches and bewitched girls, with their invisible
ropes and chains.</p>

<p>But while we contemplate the melancholy
errors of judgment in our predecessors, we
ought in charity to cherish the belief that had
not their minds been clouded in superstitious
darkness, their posterity would not have been
called to mourn over imbecilities so lamentably
exemplified. But we would attribute to our
venerated fathers no moral corruption, no
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>188]</a></span>
perverseness of temper, no desire to swerve from
the dictates of stern justice. Their task was
most arduous, their path of duty obscured by
novel occurrences, and their decisions unavoidably
swayed by popular clamor and vulgar
prejudice. If, unhappily, their intellects were
tinctured with superstition, it was the effect of
early education, fostered and confirmed by
concurrent sentiment and opinion, propagated
in books of the heathen and papist.</p>

<p>Much importance was attached by the magistrates
to the effects of the witches&rsquo; eyes upon
the sufferers; but no explanation is given why
the same eyes could produce no mischievous
effects on any other person. Great stress was
laid on the circumstance, that in the trials the
sufferers were revived from their fits by the
touch of the hand of the reputed witch, but
not by the hand of any other person; but instances
of the contrary can be adduced; the
experiment was ordered to be made in a court
in England; the afflicted girl&rsquo;s eyes being
blindfolded, and she being touched by the
hand of another woman, recovered as speedily
as if touched by the accused witch.</p>

<p>The Rev. Dr Increase Mather, then President
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>189]</a></span>
of Harvard College, may be considered
as among the best authorities for the prevalent
doctrines on the subject of witchcraft. On
the 19th of October, 1692, he went to Salem
and conferred with eight of the confessing
witches, all of whom freely and relentingly
recanted their former confessions, declaring
that in making them they had violated the
truth, being compelled to it by pressing threats
and urgings, by which they were so affrighted
as to agree to anything that would rescue
them from their awful situation. But they
confessed with anguish of soul that they had
committed a great wickedness for which they
implored forgiveness. In his &lsquo;Cases of Conscience,&rsquo;
published in 1693, Dr Mather has
particular reference to the trials at Salem. In
this work he observes, that &lsquo;the gift of healing
the sick and possessed, was a special grace
and favor of God for the confirmation of the
truth of the gospel, but that such a gift should
be annexed to the touch of wicked witches, as
an infallible sign of their guilt is not easy to
be believed.&rsquo; If it be as supposed, by virtue of
some compact with the devil, that witches have
power to do such things, those who encourage
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>190]</a></span>
them in the practice, whether courts or individuals,
must be guilty of sacrilege. The accusers
pretended to suffer much by bites, and
the prints on the skin would compare precisely
with the set of teeth of the accused, but those
who had not such bewitched eyes, have seen
the accusers bite themselves and then complain
of the accused. It was true, also, that
some who complained of being pricked by
pins sticking in their flesh, were their own
tormentors, for the purpose of effecting their
wicked designs. The pins thus employed are
still preserved at Salem. Dr Mather, in the
work just quoted, judiciously affirms, that the
evidence in the crime of witchcraft ought to
be as clear as in any other crimes of a capital
nature. He is decidedly opposed to the employment
of spectral evidence as being alone
sufficient to justify conviction. But he considers
a free and voluntary confession as a
sufficient ground of conviction; yet the reverend
author himself cites one remarkable instance
of false confession for the avowed purpose
of effecting her own death in consequence
of the cruel persecution which she suffered
from suspicion only, and she was burnt at the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>191]</a></span>
stake. In most of the instances at Salem, the
confessions proved false and deceptive, those
who made them being totally ignorant of the
nature of witchcraft. Our learned author
further observes, that if two credible persons
shall affirm on oath that they have seen the
person accused, <em>doing things which none but
such as have familiarity with the devil ever did
or can do, that is a sufficient ground of conviction</em>.
It was on this ground that he justified
the condemnation and execution of George
Burroughs, the minister; it being testified before
the court, that he had been seen to lift a
barrel of molasses or cider, and to extend with
one hand a heavy musket at arms&rsquo; length.
Nothing could be more sophistical than evidence
of this description, for there are persons
who can lift a solid body of six or seven hundred
pounds, and can extend a king&rsquo;s arm at
arms&rsquo; length, when held at the smallest end
with one hand, and no jury in our day would
condemn such to the gallows as wizards.</p>

<p>It is among the most unaccountable facts,
that those who, to save their lives, belied their
consciences, and confessed themselves guilty
of having formed a league with the devil, and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>192]</a></span>
of committing horrid crimes, should be spared
and suffered to live in society, while others,
relying on their innocence, honestly despised
those tempting conditions, should be consigned
to the gallows. In fact, false confessions,
fraud, and counterfeit, were so palpable, that
the halter might with more justice have been
applied to the accusers than to those who actually
suffered.</p>

<p>But such, at that time, was the state of the
public mind, that the more extravagant the
tale, the more implicitly was it regarded. The
hostility to witchcraft was so prevalent as to
give a general bias unfriendly to the fair development
of truth, or to the impartial examination
of facts and circumstances. The unhappy
victims were without defence, and their
total ignorance subjected them to the most
cruel treatment and sufferings. In one instance
on record, there appears to us to be a
profanation of the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer. The woman
being required to repeat it before the court,
instead of &lsquo;deliver us from evil,&rsquo; expressed it
&lsquo;deliver us from <em>all</em> evil;&rsquo; this was considered
as referring to her own condition, and she was
ordered to repeat it again. On the second trial,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>193]</a></span>
instead of &lsquo;hallowed be thy name,&rsquo; she expressed
&lsquo;<em>hollowed</em> be thy name.&rsquo; Thus by her
using the <em>o</em>, in place of <em>a</em>, it was concluded
that she could not say the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer, and
she was committed to jail as a witch.</p>

<p>In Dr Mather&rsquo;s &lsquo;Magnalia,&rsquo; we have the
following instance of witchcraft.</p>

<p>In the year 1679, the house of William
Morse, at Newbury, was infested with demons.
&lsquo;Bricks, and sticks, and stones, were often by
some invisible hand, thrown at the house, and
so were many pieces of wood; a cat was
thrown at the woman of the house, and a long
staff was danced up and down in the chimney,
and afterwards the same long staff was hanged
by a line, and swung to and fro, and when two
persons laid it on the fire to burn, it was as
much as they were able to do with their joint
strength to hold it there. An iron crook was
violently, by an invisible hand, hurled about,
and a chair flew about the room until at last it
lit upon the table, where the food stood ready
to be eaten, and would have spoiled all, if the
people had not with much ado saved a little.
A chest, was by an invisible hand, carried
from one place to another, and the doors barricaded;
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>194]</a></span>
and the keys of the family taken some
of them from the bunch where they were tied,
and the rest flying about with a loud noise.
For a while the people of the house could not
sup quietly; ashes would be thrown into their
suppers and on their heads. The man&rsquo;s shoes
being left below, one of them would be filled
with ashes and coals and thrown up after him.
When in bed a stone, weighing about three
pounds, was divers times thrown upon them.
A box and a board were likewise thrown upon
them, and a bag of hops being taken out of a
chest, they were by the invisible hand, beaten
therewith, till some of the hops were scattered
on the floor, where the bag was then laid and
left. The man was often struck by that hand,
with several instruments, and the same hand
cast their good things into the fire; yea, while
the man was at prayer, a broom gave him a
blow on his head behind and fell down before
his face. While the man was writing, his ink-stand
was by the invisible hand snatched from
him, and being able nowhere to find it, he
saw it at length drop out of the air down by
the fire. A shoe was laid on his shoulder, and
when he would have catched it, it was snatched
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>195]</a></span>
from him and was then clapped on his head,
and there held so fast, that the unseen fury
pulled him with it backward on the floor. He
had his cap torn off his head, and in the night
he was pulled by the hair and pinched, and
scratched; and the invisible hand pricked him
with some of his awls, and with needles, and
bodkins, and blows that fetched blood were
sometimes given him. His wife going down
into the cellar, the trap door was immediately
by an invisible hand shut upon her, and a table
brought and laid upon the door. When he
was writing another time, a dish went and
leaped into a pail and cast water upon the
man and spoiled what he was about. His cap
jumped off his head and on again, and the pot
lid went off the pot into the kettle, then over
the fire together. A little boy belonging to the
family was a principal sufferer, for he was
flung about at such a rate, that it was feared
his brains would be beaten out. His bed-clothes
would be pulled from him, his bed
shaken, leaping forward and backward. The
man took him to hold in a chair, but the chair
fell a dancing, and both of them were very
near being thrown into the fire. These, and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>196]</a></span>
a thousand such vexations, befalling the boy
at home, they carried him to live at a doctor&rsquo;s.
There he was quiet, but returning home he
suddenly cried out he was pricked on the back,
where was found strangely sticking a three
tined fork belonging to the doctor, and had
been seen at his house after the boy&rsquo;s departure.
Afterwards his troublers found him out
at the doctor&rsquo;s also, when crying out again he
was pinched on the back, they found an iron
spindle stuck into him; and on the like outcry
again, they found pins in a paper stuck into
him, and a long iron, a bowl of a spoon stuck
upon him. He was taken out of his bed and
thrown under it, and all the knives in the house
were one after another stuck into his back;
which the spectators pulled out, only one of
them seemed to the spectators to come out of
his mouth. The spectre would make all his
meat, when he was going to eat, fly out of his
mouth, and instead thereof make him fall to
eating ashes, sticks, and yarn.&rsquo;</p>

<p>The foregoing has all the air of an exaggerated
narrative, and it is probable that Dr
Mather, in his love for the marvellous and
wonderful, recorded the circumstances without
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>197]</a></span>
due examination, but merely from the uncertain
rumor among the credulous neighbors. The
same story is found on the records of the court
at Salem, but with the following explanatory
circumstances as I have received them. It so
happened, that one Caleb Powell, an intelligent
seaman, suspected that a boy, the grandson
of Morse, who lived in the family, was the
cause of all the mischief, and watched for an
opportunity of detecting him. Going one
morning to Morse&rsquo;s house, he saw through the
window, the said boy throw a shoe slyly at the
old man&rsquo;s head. Upon this, Powell told Morse
that if he would let his boy come and live with
him a short time, he <em>guessed</em> that with a little
astrology and a little astronomy, he could unravel
the mystery. Morse reluctantly consented,
and his house was not molested during
the boy&rsquo;s absence. This, Morse acknowledged,
but yet, unwilling to suspect the boy, he and
his neighbors concluded that Powell had studied
the black art, and had by that means been
the cause of all the mischief about Morse&rsquo;s
house. Powell was accordingly apprehended
and tried at Salem. The testimony against
him was singular. One testified, that he had
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>198]</a></span>
heard him say that by a little astrology and a
little astronomy, he guessed he could find out
the cause of Morse&rsquo;s trouble. Another testified,
that he heard it said that Powell had
studied the black art with one Norwood, a
famous magician beyond sea. The result of
the trial was, that although they could find no
positive evidence of his guilt, yet he had given
so much ground for suspicion, that he deserved
to bear his own shame and the costs of court.
Morse&rsquo;s wife was at another time tried for
witchcraft, and condemned to be hung, but
was afterwards reprieved, and died a pious
woman.</p>

<p>The following is an amusing story, well told,
but it is from newspaper authority, the Galaxy.
About the year 1760, the fury of the inhabitants
of New England had declined towards
suspected old women, but their believing fear
was not altogether quelled. At this time, a
case of witchcraft occurred in Billerica, under
the ministry of the Rev. Dr Cummings, who
related the story with much satisfaction, as the
last which came within his precincts.</p>

<p>An old woman, of very peaceable character,
lived pretty much alone in a shell of a house
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>199]</a></span>
near the meeting-house and the clergyman&rsquo;s
dwelling. She was suspected of witchcraft by
a family who lived at two miles&rsquo; distance, in
the west part of the town, and they brought
accusation immediately to the parson; who in
those early times, exercised not only the spiritual,
but the temporal power of the parish; he
was often counsel for both parties, and was
judge and jury, without subjection to appeal.
He was, moreover, a peace-maker. Mr C.
accused Mrs D. of witchcraft. &lsquo;How do you
know she is a witch?&rsquo; &lsquo;Because she has bewitched
my mare.&rsquo; &lsquo;How do you know that
your mare is bewitched?&rsquo; &lsquo;Because she won&rsquo;t
stand still to be saddled, and the minute I get
on, she kicks up and throws me off.&rsquo; &lsquo;But
what makes you think that Mrs D. has bewitched
her?&rsquo; No answer. &lsquo;Have you had
a quarrel with her?&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh no! I have had no
quarrel.&rsquo; &lsquo;But what is the matter? surely
she would not bewitch her for nothing.&rsquo; &lsquo;Why
I carried her some corn on the mare about a
week ago, and I didn&rsquo;t know but I might have
made a mistake in the measure so that it fell
short, and so&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;And because your corn fell
short, you suspect that she found it out, and is
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>200]</a></span>
so angry as to bewitch your mare.&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes,
that&rsquo;s it, and I want you to go and lay the
devil.&rsquo; &lsquo;Why, if you have raised the devil by
cheating in the corn, you had better lay him
yourself.&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes, but I don&rsquo;t know how.&rsquo; &lsquo;Go
then, directly, and carry the balance of the
corn, and take good care never to commit such
an act again: the devil is always busy with
people who do not perform all their duties
honestly.&rsquo; The man slunk away home at this
unexpected rebuke, and failed not to carry corn
enough to make full measure; which, however,
he feared to carry into the house to the old
woman, but emptied it down upon the door-stone.
But the mare ceased to kick as usual;
whereupon Mr C. came to the minister, told
him what he had done, and begged for holy
assistance. &lsquo;Go home,&rsquo; said the parson, with
all that energy for which he was so remarkable,
&lsquo;go home,&mdash;you need not trouble yourself
about witches; I&rsquo;ll not allow them to do any
mischief, I assure you&mdash;do your duty, so as
to escape a guilty conscience, and if your mare
is refractory, whip her, as I do mine&mdash;go,
and let me hear no more about witches.&rsquo; Mr
C. obeyed, but he was far from convinced that
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>201]</a></span>
Mrs D. was not a witch, and he determined to
put it to the proof. For this purpose he boiled
a large potato, which he put directly from the
boiling water, under the bewitched mare&rsquo;s
saddle. The caperings and kickings of the
poor beast were excusable this time, at least,
for when after some hours the saddle was got
off, it was found that a severe mark was left
behind it. The proof of the matter was to be
this; if the old woman had bewitched the
mare, she would have the same mark of a burn
on her back. Two old women were prevailed
on to be of the examining committee. Dr
Cummings was requested to be of the party,
with his Bible at hand, to prevent any fatal
explosion from Satan&rsquo;s nostrils. This office
he prudently declined. His place was supplied
by another old woman, and Saturday night
was appointed for this examination. This time
was chosen, because the good people thought
that Satan would not visit in holy hours. In
the meantime, the good woman got an inkling
of what was going on; and as they entered
a long dark entry, they were saluted with
a stupendous flash of powder and tow, and a
glorious clatter of tin pans. The committee
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>202]</a></span>
was scattered of course&mdash;and before church
the next day, everybody in the town knew,
that the devil came, all covered with blue brimstone,
to save his disciple, the wicked Mrs D.
This would have made a new era in witchcraft
in the town, but for the pertinent remarks of
the parson touching the matter; for he was
enabled to dispense a word in season.</p>

<p>It is but a few years since, a farmer at Kennebunk,
observing his cattle to be affected with
some fatal disease, conceived the idea that
they were bewitched, and fixed his suspicion
on a poor widow who had become insane in
consequence of the death of her husband at
sea. He was so confident of her guilt, that
he went to her lonely cottage, and with his ox
goad, beat and abused her in a cruel manner.
It is not under our salutary laws that a crime
so atrocious can pass with impunity. The
culprit was prosecuted and received the merited
punishment.</p>

<p>The family of M&rsquo;Farlain, of Pembroke,
were remarkable for peculiarity of character
and manners. About the year 1789, Seth
M&rsquo;Farlain attracted the notice of the neighborhood
by being supposed to be under the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>203]</a></span>
influence of witchcraft. He became an object
of wonder and commiseration to some, and
of curiosity and ridicule to others. Hundreds
of people thronged round his house from time
to time, gazing with astonishment at his supposed
personal sufferings; inflicted, as he
pretended, by a certain old hag in the neighborhood.
He was desired to visit the woman
at her house, but before he could reach the
door, his limbs would fail him, and he would
fall to the ground. His body was occasionally
distorted and convulsed, he would utter the
bitterest complaints of pain and distress, which
he ascribed to the presence of the hag, although
she was invisible to all but himself. He consulted
Judge T&mdash;r, to know whether he would
be culpable in law if he should kill a witch.
The Judge observing Seth on the bed with a
club, swinging his arms to and fro, to keep off
the witch, was willing to humor the whim,
and procured a gun, and loading it with some
pieces of silver, enjoined on Seth to take a
sure aim when the witch again made her appearance.
Accordingly, Seth pointed the gun
to the door where she usually entered, and
hung up her bonnet, and at the proper time
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>204]</a></span>
he discharged his piece. The discharge shattered
the door in pieces, but the cunning
witch dodged her head at the moment he
pulled the trigger!</p>




<div class="chapter"></div>
<h2><a name="chap08" id="chap08"></a>OMENS AND AUGURIES.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">In</span> ancient times, especially among the
Greeks and Romans, omens and auguries
were considered as of great importance in the
common concerns of life; but having their
origin in ignorance and superstition, they vanished
before the light of philosophy and wisdom.
But so late as the first part of the last
century, the belief in fairies, hobgoblins,
witches, and omens, prevailed almost universally
among the superstitious part of the community;
and even some of superior rank and
condition in life, were under the influence of
these chimerical fancies.</p>

<p>The following were among the lucky and
unlucky omens.</p>

<p>The flight of singing birds, or the manner
of feeding of birds and chickens, portended
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>205]</a></span>
good or evil, according to particular circumstances.
The act of sneezing was ominous
of good or evil, according to the number at the
time, or the place. If, when a servant is
making a bed, she happens to sneeze, no person
can sleep in it undisturbed, unless a part
of the straw or feathers be taken out and burnt.
Nothing could insure success to a person going
on important business, more effectually than
to throw an old shoe after him on leaving the
house. If there be in company thirteen persons,
the devil&rsquo;s dozen, some misfortune will
befall one of them. To spill salt, at table, is
very ominous, and the ticking of the small insect
called a death-watch, foretels death, and
the screech-owl at midnight, some terrible
misfortune. These, and many other silly
fancies, have been keenly satirized by Addison,
in the Spectator. To find a horse-shoe was
deemed lucky, more especially, if it be preserved
and nailed on the door, as this prevents the
annoyance of witches. This, probably, was
the origin of the practice continued in our
times, of nailing horse shoes on the masts of
vessels, against the enchantment of witches.
The omens are extended to particular days in
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>206]</a></span>
the week. Friday, for instance, is considered
an inauspicious day for the commencement of
any undertaking. It is seldom that a seaman
can be prevailed on to commence a voyage on
that day. An account has been published of
some person, who, desirous of eradicating this
prejudice, ordered the timber of his vessel to
be cut on Friday; her foundation laid, her
launching, and the engaging her crew, on
Friday, and finally he ordered her to sail on
Friday. But it was remarkable and unfortunate,
that neither the vessel nor crew were ever
heard from afterwards. This, however, is no
proof that Friday is more likely to produce
disasters than any other day in the seven.
We know that all events are under the control
of Divine Providence, and it is inconsistent
with reason to imagine, that fatality will attend
undertakings because they were commenced
on any one particular day.</p>

<p>That singular genius, Lord Byron, was
among those who indulged the superstitious
notion, that Friday is an unlucky day. In
Moore&rsquo;s Life of Byron, may be found the following.</p>

<p>&lsquo;Among the superstitions in which he chose
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>207]</a></span>
to indulge, the supposed unluckiness of Friday,
as a day for the commencement of any work,
was one by which he almost always allowed
himself to be influenced. Soon after his arrival
at Pisa, a lady of his acquaintance happening
to meet him on the road from her
house, as she was herself returning thither,
and supposing that he had been to make her
a visit, requested that he would go back with
her. &ldquo;I have not been to your house,&rdquo; he
answered; &ldquo;for just before I got to the door I
remembered that it was Friday; and not liking
to make my first visit on a Friday, I turned
back.&rdquo; It is even related of him, that he once
sent away a Genoese tailor, who brought him
home a new coat on the same ominous day.
With all this, strange to say, he set sail for
Greece on a Friday; and, though by those
who have any leaning to this superstitious
fancy, the result may be thought but too sadly
confirmatory of the omen, it is plain, that
either the influence of superstition over his
own mind was slight, or, in the excitement of
self devotion under which he now acted, was
forgotten.&rsquo;</p>

<p>In Lord Byron, we have an example of the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>208]</a></span>
fatal consequences which sometimes ensue
from prejudices against any particular purpose
or object, being instilled into the youthful mind.
Of all his prejudices, he declared the strongest
was that against bleeding. His mother had on
her death bed obtained from him a promise
never to consent to being bled. When on his
own death bed, therefore, he pertinaciously
opposed the operation, contrary to the united
and earnest entreaties of his physicians, and
it was delayed till too late to afford him the
desired relief.</p>

<p>History furnishes one signal instance of a
successful enterprise commenced on Friday.
It was on that day that Christopher Columbus
sailed from the port of Palos on his first voyage
of discovery; and it was on Friday that he
landed on an island never before seen by
European eyes. Of all events recorded in
modern history, this is incomparably the most
important.</p>

<p>A curious and melancholy instance of aberration
of intellect, occurred on board the ship
President, on her outward bound passage to
Charleston. She encountered very heavy
weather, and one of the sailors stated to his
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>209]</a></span>
shipmates that he was convinced the storm
had arisen entirely in consequence of his
wicked course of life, and that the offended
majesty of heaven could only be appeased by
his immediately precipitating himself into the
sea. In vain was every argument urged, and
every endeavor made, on the part of the captain
and his officers, to induce him to relinquish
his purpose. One evening he ascended the
main rigging, and putting off a part of his
attire, threw himself headlong into the deep.
When the ship was returning to this city, a
storm of considerable violence arose, which
called forth all the superstition of the mariners,
and a cry became universal that she would go
down unless &lsquo;Sam&rsquo;s&rsquo; chest was thrown overboard.
A Scotchman was among the most
bigoted portion of the crew, and having more
dread of the elements than the captain, he,
by some means or other, procured the chest of
poor &lsquo;Sam,&rsquo; and entombed it in the grave of
its owner. The storm almost immediately
abated; calmness reigned upon the face of the
waters, and a fine breeze wafted them to the
mouth of the harbor. Here, however, the
wind became unpropitious, and a squall from
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>210]</a></span>
the land drove them off. Discontent again
manifested its influence, and a general search
took place to ascertain whether anything belonging
to the suicide remained. After the
forecastle had been duly searched, an old shoe
was discovered, and hastily yielded up as a
sacrifice to Eolus. The wind again subsided,
and a fair breeze brought them into port; the
whole scene without doubt, confirming their
minds in the superstition they had cherished.&mdash;<i>N.&nbsp;Y.&nbsp;J.
of Commerce.</i></p>

<p>On board of a ship, Capt V. master, it became
necessary in the night, to reef the topsails;
the sails were lowered, and the reef
tackle hauled out, when the sailors ascended
the mast; but to the surprise of the captain,
they soon came down in great terror, crying
out that the devil was in the top, they knew
him by his horns, flashing eyes, and grisly
beard. No commands or threats from the
captain could avail, to induce them to make
another attempt. All other orders they were
willing to obey, but to encounter the devil on
the topmast was too much. The affair began
to grow serious, for the topsail was quivering
and shivering in the wind. The captain and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>211]</a></span>
officers resolved with courage to ascend, but
they, too, were driven in terror to the deck.
It was now agreed, be their fate what it may,
to wait till the morning; when by daylight it
was discovered, that an old goat was seated on
the top, with its glaring eyes staring the seamen
in the face. It appeared that the goat
was sleeping on the halliards while coiled in a
tub, and was by that means hoisted up to the
top without the knowledge of any one.</p>

<p>The Roman Catholics have been educated
in the full persuasion that the devil appears in
bodily form, and often in the high style of some
great personage. I have more than once listened
to an honest Irish Catholic while gravely
relating the manner in which Satan appeared
on horseback with a splendid retinue, and
took possession of a gentleman&rsquo;s palace in Ireland,
after the massacre of the Romish priests.
His majesty having taken possession of the
palace, a Protestant minister was sent to drive
him to his own abode, but he was received
with a laugh and sneer, as possessing no power.
But at length a Catholic priest, who had
been secreted in a cavern during the massacre,
was sent, and he no sooner entered than the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>212]</a></span>
devil in a fright, flew up the chimney, carrying
an iron pot from over the fire, and in passing
out carrying off the top of the chimney. The
Irishman entertained not the least doubt of the
reality of the transaction; and added that the
chimney still remains in the same state, no one
daring to mend it.</p>

<p>Some old seamen admire to be considered
as being on familiar terms with the devil. The
following story has often been related by sailors
in the full belief of its truth.</p>

<p>A sailor sold himself to the devil, on condition
that he should enjoy all the good things
and pleasures of this life for fifty years, when
he would give himself up; but the devil was
to perform any one thing which the sailor
might desire before he surrendered. At the
expiration of fifty years, Satan came for his
man. The sailor acknowledged that the time
had expired, but one thing was to be done.
Satan was required to pump the sea dry, but
the cunning son of Neptune had so placed the
pump that the water from it flowed directly into
the sea again. The devil was so enraged
at this cunning artifice, that he gave him a
tremendous blow with his tail and vanished in
a cloud of smoke and brimstone.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>213]</a></span>
The Reformation of the 16th century, although
it in a great measure broke the shackles
which bound the human intellect, and
taught men to think, did not altogether eradicate
heathen and popish absurdities, even from
the reformers themselves. What, but a spirit
of bigotry, could influence the great mind of
Martin Luther gravely to declare that he experienced
several personal encounters with the
devil, in consequence of his being engaged in
reforming the abuses of the Catholic Church,
and particularly that his &lsquo;Satanic majesty entered
his bolted chamber one night, stole his
hazel nuts, and cracked them on his bed-post,
to his no small annoyance?&rsquo;</p>

<p>The Rev. Mr Whitman, in his ingenious
lecture on Popular Superstition, relates, that
&lsquo;Not many years ago, a man was suddenly
missing from a certain town in this commonwealth.
The church immediately sent one of
her members to consult the far-famed fortune-teller,
Molly Pitcher. After making the necessary
inquiries, she intimated that the absent
person had been murdered by a family of negroes,
and his body sunk in the deep waters
behind their dwelling. Upon this evidence,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>214]</a></span>
the accused were forthwith imprisoned, and
the pond raked in vain from shore to shore.
A few days previous to the trial, the murdered
man returned to his friends safe and sound.&rsquo;
The church would have done themselves more
credit, had they taken the legal means for the
punishment of the fortune-teller in the penitentiary
for defamation.</p>

<p>I cannot omit to communicate the following
excellent remarks in the language of my amiable
and learned friend and correspondent,
Thomas Miner, M.&nbsp;D. of Middletown, Conn.</p>

<p>&lsquo;That demons could ever work miracles,
seems to be incredible; but mind as well as
matter was evidently subject to different laws
anciently, from what they are at present.
This principle may perhaps help to a satisfactory
solution of many things otherwise involved
in inextricable perplexity in the Scriptures.
God never <em>violated</em>, and can never violate,
known laws, but he can change them at
pleasure. Every geologist knows he has
changed them since the creation, for by no
law now existing, can we account for the organic
remains of tropical animals, and plants
in arctic and temperate regions. There have,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>215]</a></span>
therefore, been miracles, or variations, or suspensions,
or additions, to the common laws of
nature, as respects the physical world. Science
teaches this, particularly geology, and this
cuts, or rather unties, the gordian knot in the
material world. The analogy is complete in
the world of mind; at least, revelation informs
us that the ordinary laws of mind, and of matter
too, have been occasionally varied, suspended,
or have had supplementary additions,
as is the fact in all the miracles recorded in
Scripture. If Hume had only been a modern
geologist, he would have seen the futility of his
reasoning against the possibility of miracles,
for he would have had facts staring him in the
face, demonstrating that matter had at times
been governed by laws very different in kind
or in degree, or in both, from any that are now
known to exist. Analogy shows that this may
have been the case with mind; Scripture says
it has been.</p>

<p>&lsquo;I must confess, I am very cautious in explaining
away a single miraculous event recorded
in the Scriptures, since if I begin I
know not where to stop; but if I only admit
this principle, that though the general laws of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>216]</a></span>
matter and mind have always been the same,
yet the Creator has frequently, for great and
wise purposes, deviated from them himself,
and permitted, or authorized, or empowered
others, sometimes, on important occasions, to
deviate from them, (as we know has been the
fact in the material world) nearly every difficulty
in the interpretation of the marvellous
part of revelation, at once becomes of easy
solution. Perhaps it may be objected that this
does not solve the difficulty concerning the
miraculous agency of bad men or other depraved
beings. But revelation does mention
cases of bad men prophesying, working miracles,
and performing other wonders, whom the
Saviour <em>never</em> knew. True science, wherever
it is properly applied, must destroy superstition
and fanaticism, but as is the case with
geology, showing that miracles or changes of
the laws of nature have existed, it serves to
support real religion, and demonstrates the immoveable
basis on which it is founded. Philosophy
shows that miracles have existed, revelation
records the time, place, and occasion.
After all, I would speak with great caution
concerning the ancient demoniacs, whatever
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>217]</a></span>
side of the question we take, much remains
that is mysterious and perhaps incomprehensible
by our present imperfect faculties.</p>

<p>&lsquo;In most points of view, we live in the best
age the world ever saw; but we live in an age
of excitement. Every, almost every project,
is begun and pursued with enthusiasm. The
difficulty is to keep from running into complete
fanaticism. Mere duty or expediency, however,
is a cold thing, and never alone does much,
unless it is attended with some zeal, some ardor,
some earnestness of feeling. These latter
emotions should resemble the steady, but gentle
breeze; but passion, especially, when protracted
into fanaticism, is like the hurricane
and tornado. I know of no way to insure the
golden mean with any prospect of success, except
by giving the rising generation a stable
education, founded upon the sure basis of the
morality and religion of the gospel. The
sermon on the mount contains the best rules
of duty, and the thirteenth chapter of the first
Corinthians, the best exposition of them, anywhere
to be found. The great law of love,
enforcing a disposition to do to others as we
would wish them to do to us, is practically
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>218]</a></span>
exemplified in the charity which is so much
insisted on by Paul.&rsquo;</p>

<p>It is incumbent upon us as patriots and philanthropists,
as far as in our power, to guard
the rising generation against every species of
superstition, by a strong bulwark laid deep
and early in the minds of our children. It is
our children that are to be entrusted with our
character, our acquirements, and our sentiments;
whether fraught with pure wisdom, or
tinctured with brain-sick infirmities, future
generations will know how to appreciate their
worth. If we wish posterity to enjoy true and
permanent happiness, let them be taught to
cultivate their intellectual powers, and fortify
their minds against deceptive illusions and imaginary
evils. Spectral illusions may be experienced
while the intellectual faculties remain
entire, as is exemplified in the cases of Nicolai
and the Scottish lady, related in a former
part of this work. The celebrated Dr
Samuel Johnson, was prone to superstition,
and occasionally afflicted with paroxysms of
hypochondriacal illusions. He relates, that as
he was one day at Oxford, turning the key of
his chamber, he heard his mother (who was at
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>219]</a></span>
Litchfield) distinctly calling &lsquo;Sam.&rsquo; From
which he had wrought up his mind to expect
the most woful tidings of his beloved parent,
but was entirely and happily disappointed.</p>

<p>Let our youth be taught that the whole
phalanx of ghosts, apparitions, witches and
wizards, charms and enchantments, second
sight, omens and auguries, astrology and fortune
telling, vulgar miracles, and vulgar prophecies,
should be classed with other vulgarisms,
the legitimate offspring of perverted imaginations,
and ought to be reprobated as degrading
to the human understanding. Those
who disdain to believe in their existence, will
never be molested by them. &lsquo;Resist the devil
and he will flee from you.&rsquo; Firmly resist a
belief in witchcraft, and you may bid defiance
to all the witches that ever traversed the air or
haunted a dwelling.</p>

<p>Strongly impress on the minds of our youth,
that superstition and bigotry are derogatory to
the cause of genuine religion, giving countenance
to inadequate conceptions of the deity,
illiberality, and uncharitableness, religious
frenzy, tumultuous excitements, fanatical disquietudes,
unreal or doubtful conversions,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>220]</a></span>
melancholy, gloom, and despair. These evil results
are diametrically opposed to that honorable
and happy character which the christian
religion is so admirably calculated to form and
sustain.</p>

<p>We may confer great benefit on our youth,
by directing them to a proper course of reading.
In a library, without advice, they are in the
condition of a stranger in a city without a
guide. The world is almost inundated with
books; a choice may be made to answer every
requirement and to suit every genius and taste.</p>

<p>Popular education has now become almost
universally a darling pursuit. Seminaries of
learning and improved school institutions, are
extending more and more, and will soon be
diffused throughout the land, and their benefits
equally enjoyed by all classes of our youth.
Numerous Lyceums have, within these last
few years, been established in New England,
and the public voice bespeaks an abundant increase
in their numbers; they abound in the
best means to excite emulation and diffuse
general knowledge. It is auspicious to the
public welfare when our citizens are wise, and
sober minded, patriotic, chaste, and virtuous,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>221]</a></span>
appreciating the free institutions of our fathers,
as rich boons from heaven, and the freedom of
mind as of inestimable value. The avenues
which lead to the fountains of honor and intelligence
are as wide and easy of access as
those which overwhelm in vice and misery,
and those who prefer the former need not pass
through life unacquainted with the mighty
wonders which the world contains.</p>

<p>It is with regret, that, in &lsquo;A Dictionary of
important names, objects, and terms found in
the holy Scriptures, intended principally for
youth,&rsquo; recently published by Howard Malcolm,
A.&nbsp;M., the following definition is found.</p>

<p>&lsquo;<em>Witch</em> is a woman and <em>Wizard</em> is a man
that is supposed to have dealings with Satan,
if not actually entered into formal compact
with him. That such persons are among men
is abundantly plain from Scripture; and that
they ought to be put to death.&rsquo;</p>

<p>It can scarcely be believed that this can be
intended as an item in the code of instruction
for the rising generation in the 19th century.
Our children, it is presumed, have, in these
enlightened times, been taught lessons better
calculated to instil into their tender minds the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>222]</a></span>
principles of moral wisdom and philanthropy.
The author has not favored the public with
the rules and signs by which witches and wizards
are to be designated, and the evidence by
which they are to be convicted. Had he lived
in witch-hanging times, he might have witnessed
with what sang-froid ghosts and spectres
could consign witches and wizards to the
gallows. Has the author been so fortunate as
to ascertain whether the sin of witchcraft, as
understood in modern times, is actually denounced
as punishable in the holy Scriptures?</p>

<p>In all countries, improvements in literature
and the arts and sciences, have been impeded,
not only by superstition and bigotry among
the ignorant, but by the absurd edicts of sovereigns
and legislators, as if to bid defiance to
all the energies of progressive knowledge. In
the 16th century, the Emperor Charles V. of
Spain, although himself addicted to crimes of
the blackest stain, ordered an assembly of
divines to deliberate, whether it were lawful in
point of conscience to dissect a dead body.
During the prevalence of a malignant fever in
Barcelona, the court of Madrid wrote the prescription
to be used, and by command of his
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>223]</a></span>
Catholic Majesty, the physicians were ordered
to adhere to it in all cases, and forbidden to
prescribe any other remedy.</p>

<p>In the days of bitter intolerance, Servetus,
a learned Spanish physician, discovered the
course of the blood through the lungs, called
the lesser circulation; and was afterwards
cruelly burnt at the stake, with his books, in
consequence of a religious controversy with
John Calvin.</p>

<p>The immortal Harvey, who, in 1628, was
the author of the most important discovery recorded
in medical history, the circulation of
the blood, was subjected to base calumny and
detraction, while bestowing blessings on the
world, by his noble efforts and pious example.
&lsquo;It was, I believe,&rsquo; says Lady Morgan, &lsquo;late
in the last century, that Baron de Luch was
executed at Turin, for having published that
the earth moves round the sun.&rsquo; The Chevalier
La Barre, a minor, was executed in France
for an imputed insult offered to the crucifix.</p>

<p>But, God be praised, the rack of torture
and the lighted fagot never have disgraced
our native country; nor are these horrid engines
any longer in requisition to punish
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>224]</a></span>
imaginary crimes and to repress truth and philosophical
research.</p>

<p>A pious friend and patron of the present
writer, dying in the year 1787, without heirs,
bequeathed by will his whole estate, except
some legacies, to thirteen Congregational Societies
in the county in which he lived; the
interest of which was to be appropriated, annually,
for one hundred years, to the purchase
of certain specified religious books, to be distributed
among the said Societies. After the
expiration of one hundred years, other religious
books might be selected by the existing
ministers, except, that one year in every four,
the books first mentioned only should be purchased.
In less than twenty years, the specified
books becoming obsolete, new editions
were required to be printed for that particular
purpose only, which occasioned great expense.
The Societies interested became dissatisfied
with their restriction to books which
were constantly superseded by more recent
publications, keeping pace with progressive
improvement. They all united in a petition
to the legislature that the will might be abolished,
which was granted, and the estate sold
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>225]</a></span>
and the proceeds divided among the several
Societies concerned.</p>

<p>Change and decay are stamped in indelible
characters upon the proudest productions of
man; all bequests on illiberal conditions and
human creeds to which men may cling as infallible,
can be considered as commensurate
only with all earthly objects based on no permanent
foundation.</p>




<div class="chapter"></div>
<h2><a name="chap09" id="chap09"></a>MEDICAL QUACKERY.</h2>


<p><span class="smcap">There</span> may be no impropriety in adding a
few pages on the subject of Medical Quackery
and empiricism, since, for more than half a
century, the writer has occasionally witnessed
melancholy scenes and disasters among his
fellow-men in consequence of their nefarious
practice. It is a matter of congratulation,
that from the liberal and excellent provisions
made by our legislatures, and the most ample
means of education which our institutions afford,
every candidate for medical fame may
become completely qualified for its attainment.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>226]</a></span>
And every town or parish may be supplied with
scientific physicians, meriting the confidence
of the people; and no other should ever be
employed or encouraged, as they have peculiar
claim to public patronage.</p>

<p>Notwithstanding that in all the medical institutions
in the United States, the most judicious
and energetic measures have been adopted
to prevent the evils of quackery, there are
ignorant and unprincipled impostors, who set
at defiance all learning and theoretical knowledge,
and practise the vilest acts and deceptions,
sporting with the health and lives of their
fellow-men without remorse. Such miscreants
are too frequently encouraged by the heedless
multitude, who, delighting in marvellous and
magical airs, readily yield themselves dupes to
the grossest absurdities. From one of this
character we have the following anecdote.</p>

<p>An old acquaintance who knew well the
character of a celebrated empiric, said to him,
while standing at the door, &lsquo;Prithee, doctor,
how is it that you, whose origin I so well know,
should have been able to obtain more practice
than almost all the regular bred physicians.&rsquo;
&lsquo;Pray,&rsquo; says the quack, &lsquo;how many persons
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>227]</a></span>
have passed us while you put the question?&rsquo;
&lsquo;About twenty.&rsquo; &lsquo;And pray how many of
them do you suppose possess a competent
share of common sense?&rsquo; &lsquo;Perhaps one out
of the twenty.&rsquo; &lsquo;Just so,&rsquo; says the doctor,
&lsquo;and that one applies to the regular physician,
while I and my brethren pick up the other
nineteen.&rsquo;</p>

<p>And how often have we seen the contemptible
ignoramus raised by the voice of popularity
above the level of the learned and accomplished
physician, and boasting of nineteen twentieths
of the practice? It is not unfrequent
that our attention is arrested by the pretensions
of prophets and mystical fanatics, who announce
their pretended heavenly mission, and
treat their credulous patients with bubbles and
magical spells. The stranger, called the rainwater
doctor, after gulling hundreds of people
of weak minds a few years since, disappeared,
leaving both his origin and his exit involved in
mystery. But the most audacious impostor
that was ever suffered to delude even the vulgar,
was one Austin, of Vermont, who, a few
years since, proclaimed himself a prophet, and
pretended to cure all diseases by prayer to
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>228]</a></span>
heaven, requiring no other information relative
to the patient, than a few lines requesting his
prayers. Such was the credulity and such the
faith of the multitude, that letters and messengers
were despatched to him from the sick, the
blind, and the crippled, from the distance of
several hundred miles, until thousands had accumulated
on his hands. A certain poor man
whom I knew, became so infatuated with the
prophet&rsquo;s proclamation, that, after collecting
letters from a number of invalids, of all descriptions,
among whom was one totally blind,
and having received contributions in money,
actually performed a journey of about two
hundred miles to receive the benefit of the
prophet&rsquo;s prayers. But he soon returned as he
went, and gained for his credulous employers
and himself no other benefit than a conviction
of their folly, and the vile imposition of modern
prophets. The two jugglers above mentioned,
it is presumed, jeoparded no lives by the use of
poisonous materials, as they depended on the
operation of the imagination; but there are
bolder champions of the craft who can pop
you off the stage in a moment. The country
is annoyed by a train of unprincipled ignoramuses,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>229]</a></span>
without reputation, who are prowling
about, brandishing the sure weapons of death,
reckless of consequences. But their punishment
is reserved to the day of retributive justice.
I well recollect the following moral lesson
of a pious physician. &lsquo;If a patient die
through your wilful ignorance, rashness, or
careless neglect, his blood will be required at
your hands.&rsquo; How much greater, then, must
be the accountability in those who administer
the most active and even poisonous materials,
without the smallest acquaintance with the
human constitution or the nature of the medicine.
It is characteristic of these people, to
undertake to cure incurables, magnifying a
wart to a rose cancer, a simple ulcer to a
spreading mortification, and to set bones where
there is neither joint nor fracture. Although
palpable instances of death from their practice
are frequent, should a single cure happen, it is
proclaimed as almost miraculous, and the lawless
miscreants are still suffered to seek their
prey with impunity, and no one tells of their
thousand victims concealed in the silent grave!</p>

<p>It is from a similar empirical source, that
the public is annoyed by a disgusting display
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>230]</a></span>
of quack and <em>patent medicines</em>; which, through
the medium of newspapers, are impudently
palmed upon public attention. It would seem
as though a host of ignorant impostors have
leagued in hostility against the profession of
medicine, wishing to despoil it of its dignity
and usefulness, and prostrate its character in
the dust. The world is inundated with nostrums,
usurping the power, not only to remedy
all the diseases of our nature, but actually to
fortify the human constitution, and render it
invulnerable. In their ostentatious display,
they extol a single nostrum as adequate to the
prevention and cure of a whole catalogue of
diseases, however opposite or discordant in
their nature. They are suited to all constitutions,
as the shoe-black&rsquo;s composition is applicable
to <em>every one&rsquo;s boots or shoes</em>. Thus are
we kindly invited, at the expense of a few
dollars, to purchase of those self &lsquo;dubbed
doctors,&rsquo; that health and longevity which even
the judicious hand of science is unable to bestow.
The inventors and venders of these
pretended specifics, in most instances, have no
knowledge of the diseases which they pretend
to cure; they depend, as it were, on a random
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>231]</a></span>
shot, and whatever may be the issue, they are
sure of their enormous gains, from two to four
hundred per cent; articles sold for a dollar
might be afforded for ten cents.</p>

<p>By such fraud and imposition, a noted
Charlatan in London accumulated such an
immense fortune as to parade the streets in a
splendid equipage, the effects of public credulity.
But the public may be assured, that
since the great improvements in chemical
science, a large proportion of patent medicines
have been analyzed, and are found to consist
of old articles which physicians have expunged
from their materia medica, to give place to
more valuable and efficacious remedies. Here,
then, is a boundless source of knavery and
fraud,&mdash;but I desire to have it understood,
that these observations are not to extend to all
patentees of medical compositions, without
exception, for all are not equally censurable.
Few, indeed, there are, which scientific physicians
are willing to concede may be of public
utility. But that indiscriminate application in
all cases and circumstances, should be most
pointedly reprobated. Were the annual amount
of money expended for useless nostrums made
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>232]</a></span>
public, it would excite astonishment, and were
the innumerable disappointments in their creative
powers promulgated, public indignation
and contempt would be the portion of the inventors
and venders of patented nostrums.</p>

<p>There is not a more provoking absurdity, as
applied to the economy of health, than the
idea of <em>spring medicines</em>, <em>family medicines</em>, <em>&amp;c</em>,
and it should be distinctly understood by every
individual, that such medicine administered to
persons in health, as preventive of disease, as
well as those administered without a skilful reference
to the present condition of the system,
are absolutely dangerous to health and life.
And the same observation will apply to the
practice of blood-letting in the spring season.</p>

<p>Those who maintain the ridiculous idea that
individuals are endowed with supernatural
gifts and knowledge, and become skilful physicians
without education or study, betray a pitiful
credulity, equalled only by the conceits of
those who believe in ghosts and spectres, haunting
the dwellings of the dead. We now witness
with the deepest interest, the rapid strides
in the march of intellect, keeping pace with
the advance of light and truth, looking for
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>233]</a></span>
that political and moral millenium, when knowledge
will be more sought for than wealth, and
the charms of virtue more prized than those
of vice; when prejudice, superstition, and licentiousness,
will be discountenanced among
all classes of mankind, and righteousness shall
exalt our nation.</p>

<p>Truly &lsquo;the lines have fallen to us in pleasant
places, and we have a goodly heritage.&rsquo;
But it were unjust to look back to antiquity
and compare the beauties of the present day
with the deformities of ancient times; to attribute
exclusive perfection to ourselves and
deprive our ancestors of their real worth and
merit; for we know not the period among
them when wisdom and virtue were lightly esteemed.
Let us reflect, with religious gratitude,
on the momentous privileges and benefits bequeathed
to us by our fathers. In all their
actions we trace a zealous solicitude to transmit
to posterity a glorious inheritance. Like
angels of light, they would illuminate the
minds of their children, with the high importance
of religious institutions, seminaries, and
free schools. If, in any form, they would enchain
our minds, it would be in the principles
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>234]</a></span>
of civil and religious freedom, of patriotism,
philanthropy, moral rectitude, and public virtue.
But &lsquo;our fathers, where are they?&rsquo; Let
us with laborious fidelity follow them in every
good word and work, that our children may, in
the spirit of gratitude and love, reiterate the
exclamation &lsquo;our fathers, where are they?&rsquo;
It is our glorious privilege to live in an age
when the elements of our terrestrial abode are
rendered subservient to the most stupendous
operations. The works of men&rsquo;s hands appear
as if endowed with intelligence; the heated
steam subverts the power of the fleetest steed,
and the facilities of traversing the earth and
seas, are like the airy flights of the feathered
tribe. But oh! humbling consideration, death
triumphs over the frail nature of man; our
life is but a continued miracle, capable of being
sustained only by the hand of that omnipotent
being whom we adore as the &lsquo;former of our
bodies, and the father of our spirits.&rsquo; All
must bow to the awful summons, and quit this
earthly tabernacle; the last remains of mortality
are consigned to the silent tomb to mingle
with the parent dust.</p>
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