"Witchcraft," he shouted from the pulpit, "is the most nefandous high treason against the Majesty on high" "a capital crime.' "A witch is not to be endured in heaven or on earth." And because men were growing inquisitive and merciful, his discourse was printed with a copious narrative of the recent case of witchcraft. The story was confirmed by Goodwin, and recommended by all the ministers of Boston and Charlestown; and Cotton Mather, announcing himself as an eye-witness, resolved henceforward to regard "the denial of devils, or of witches," as a personal affront, the evidence" of ignorance, incivility, and dishonest impudence."

This book, thus prepared and recommended, and destined to have a wide circulation, was printed in 1689, and distributed through New England. Unhappily, it gained fresh power from England, where it was "published by Richard Baxter," who declared the evidence strong enough to convince all but "

rate Sadducee."

a very obdu

The revolution seemed to open once more a саreer of ambition to ecclesiastical influence. "Ministers," said Mather, "ought to concern themselves in politics." But their political mission was accomplished. It could be prolonged only by aid of a superstitious veneration. To check free inquiry, the cry of witchcraft was raised; and "rebellion," it was said, "is as the sin of witchcraft: rebellion was the Achan, the trouble of all."

In February, 1692, at Salem village, now Danvers, where there had been a long strife between the minister and the people, the daughter of Samuel Parris, the minister, a child of nine years, and his niece, a girl of less than twelve, began to have strange caprices. "He that will read Cotton Mather's Book of Memorable Providences, may read part of what these children suffered;" and Tituba, an Indian female servant, who had practised some wild incantations, being betrayed by her husband, was scourged by Parris, her master, into confessing her

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self a witch. The ministers of the neighborhood held, at the afflicted house, a day of fasting and prayer; and the little children became the most conspicuous personages in Salem. Of a sudden, the opportunity of fame, of which the love is not the exclusive infirmity of noble minds, was placed within the reach of persons of the coarsest mould; and the ambition of notoriety recruited the little company of the possessed. There existed no

motive to hang Tituba: she was saved as a living witness to the reality of witchcraft; and Sarah Good, a poor woman of a melancholic temperament, was the first person selected for accusation. Parris became at once informer and witness; questioning his Indian servants and others, prompting their answers, and acting as recorder to the magistrates. The recollection of the old controversy in the parish could not be forgotten; and Parris "stifled the accusations of some," 66 vigilantly promoted the accusation" of others, and was "the beginner and procurer of the sore afflictions to Salem village and the country." Martha Cory, who, on her examination in the meeting-house before a throng, with a firm spirit, alone, against them all, denied the presence of witchcraft, was committed to prison. Rebecca Nurse, likewise, a woman of purest life, an object of the special hatred of Parris, resisted the company of accusers, and was committed. And Parris, filling his prayers with the theme, made the pulpit ring with it. "Have not I chosen you twelve," - such was his text, -" and one of you is a devil?" At this, Sarah Cloyce, sister to Rebecca Nurse, rose up and left the meetinghouse; and she, too, was cried out upon, and sent to prison.

In April, to examine Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Procter, the deputy-governor, and five other magistrates, went to Salem. It was a great day; several ministers were present. Parris officiated; and, by his own record, it is plain that he elicited every accusation. Struck with horror at the charge against her, Sarah Cloyce asked for water, and fainted. "Her spirit," shouted

the band of the afflicted, "is gone to prison to her sister Nurse." Against Elizabeth Procter, the niece of Parris told stories yet more foolish than false: "Dear child," exclaimed the accused, in her agony, "it is not So. There is another judgment, dear child." And her accusers, turning towards her husband, declared that he, too, was a wizard. All three were committed. Giles Cory, a stubborn old man of more than fourscore years, could not escape the malice of his minister. Mary Easty, of Topsfield, another sister to Rebecca Nurse, - a woman of singular gentleness and force of character, deeply religious, yet uninfected by superstition, was torn from her children, and sent to jail. Parris had had a rival in George Burroughs, who, having formerly preached in Salem village, had had friends there desirous of his settlement. He, too, a skeptic in witchcraft, was accused and committed. Thus far, there had been no success in obtaining confessions, though earnestly solicited. It had been hinted, also, that confessing was the avenue to safety. At last, in May, Deliverance Hobbs owned every thing that was asked of her, and was left unharmed. The gallows was to be set up, not for those who professed themselves witches, but for those who rebuked the delusion.

On

Simon Bradstreet, the governor of the people's choice, deemed the evidence insufficient for conviction. Saturday, the fourteenth of May, the new charter and the royal governor arrived in Boston. On the next Monday, the charter was published, and the parishioner of Cotton Mather, with the royal council, was installed in office. The triumph of Cotton Mather was perfect. Immediately a court of oyer and terminer was instituted by ordinance, and Stoughton appointed by the governor and council its chief judge. By the second of June, the court was in session at Salem, making its first experiment on Bridget Bishop, a poor and friendless old woman. The fact of the witchcraft was assumed as "notorious:" to fix it on the prisoner, Samuel Parris testified to her power of inflicting torture; he had

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seen it exercised. Deliverance Hobbs had been whipped with iron rods by her spectre; neighbors, who had quarrelled with her, were willing to lay their little ills to her charge; the poor creature had a preternatural excrescence in her flesh; "she gave a look towards the great and spacious meeting-house of Salem," it is Cotton Mather who records this, " and immediately a demon, invisibly entering the house, tore down a part of it." She was a witch by the rules and precedents of Keeble and Sir Matthew Hale, of Perkins and Bernard, of Baxter and Cotton Mather; and, on the tenth of June, protesting her innocence, she was hanged.

Phipps and his council now turned for directions to the ministers of Boston and Charlestown; and from them, by the hand of Cotton Mather, they receive this direful advice "We recommend the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious." The obedient court, at its next session, condemned five women, all of blameless lives, all declaring their innocence. Four were convicted easily enough; Rebecca Nurse was, at first, acquitted. "The honored court was pleased to object against the verdict;" and, as she had said of the confessing witnesses, "they used to come among us," meaning that they had been prisoners together, Stoughton interpreted the words as of a witch festival. The jury withdrew, and could as yet not agree; but, as the prisoner, who was hard of hearing, and full of grief, made no explanation, they no longer refused to find her guilty. Hardly was the verdict rendered, before the foreman made a statement of the ground of her condemnation, and she sent her declaration to the court in reply. The governor, who himself was not unmerciful, saw cause to grant a reprieve; but. Parris had preached against Rebecca Nurse, and prayed against her; had induced "the afflicted" to witness against her; had caused her sisters to be imprisoned for their honorable sympathy. She must perish, or the delusion was unveiled; and the governor recalled the reprieve. On the next communion day, she

was taken in chains to the meeting-house, to be formally excommunicated by Noyes, her minister, and, on the nineteenth of July, was hanged with the rest.

Be

Confessions rose in importance. "Some, by their accusations of others," hoped to gain time, and get favor from the rulers." And who now would dare to be skeptical? who would disbelieve confessors? sides, there were other evidences. A callous spot was the mark of the devil: did age or amazement refuse to shed tears; were threats, after a quarrel, followed by the death of cattle, or other harm; did an error occur in repeating the Lord's prayer; were deeds of great physical strength performed; these all were signs of witch

craft.

On a new session, in August, six are arraigned and convicted. John Willard had, as an officer, been employed to arrest the suspected witches. Perceiving the hypocrisy, he declined the service. The afflicted immediately denounced him, and he was seized, convicted, and hanged.

At the trial of George Burroughs, the bewitched persons pretended to be dumb. "Who hinders these witnesses," said Stoughton, "from giving their testimonies ?" "I suppose the devil," answered Burroughs. "How comes the devil," asked Stoughton, "so loath to have any testimony borne against you?" and the question was effective. Besides, Burroughs had given proofs of great, if not preternatural, muscular strength. Cotton Mather calls the evidence" 'enough:" the jury gave a verdict of guilty.

John Procter, who foresaw his doom, and knew from whom the danger came, sent an earnest petition, not to the governor and council, but to Cotton Mather and the ministers. He begs for a trial in Boston, or, at least, for a change of magistrates. His entreaties were vain, as also his prayers, after condemnation, for a respite.

Among the witnesses against Martha Carrier, the mother saw her own children. Her two sons refused to perjure themselves till they had been tied neck and