The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol 1 of 3)

"The Witch on the other Side expecting hir Neighbors Mischances, and seeing Things sometimes come to passe according to hir Wishes, Curses, and Incantations (for Bodin himself confesseth, that not above two in a hundred of their Witchings or Wishings take effect) being called before a Justice, by due Examination of the Circumstances is driven to see hir Imprecations and Desires, and hir Neighbors Harmes and Losses to concurre, and as it were to take effect: and so confesseth that she (as a Goddes) hath brought such Things to passe. Wherein, not onelie she, but the Accuser, and also the Justice are fowlie deceived and abused; as being thorough hir Confession and other Circumstances persuaded (to the Injury of Gods Glorie) that she hath doone, or can doo that which is proper onelie to God himselfe.

"Another Sort of Witches there are, which be absolutelie Cooseners: These take upon them, either for Glorie, Fame, or Gaine, to doo any Thing, which God or the Divell can doo: either for fortelling Things to come, bewraieng of Secrets, curing of Maladies, or working of Miracles."15

To this Chapter from Scot, which we have given entire, may be added the admirable Description of the Abode of a Witch from the Pen of Spenser, who as Warton hath observed, copied from living Objects, and had probably been struck with seeing such a Cottage, in which a Witch was supposed to live:

"There is a gloomy hollow Glen she foundA little Cottage built of Sticks and ReedsIn homely wise, and walled with Sods around;In which a Witch did dwell, in loathly Weedes.And wilful Want, all carelesse of her NeedesSo choosing solitarie to abideFar from all Neighbours, that her divilish DeedsAnd hellish Arts from People she might hide,And hurt far off unknowne whomever she enviede."16

This very striking Picture forever fixed the Character of the Habitation allotted to a Witch; thus in a singularly curious Tract, entitled, "Round about our Coal-Fire," published about the Close of the seventeenth Century, and which details, in a pleasing Manner, the Tradition of the olden Time, as a Source of Christmas Amusement, it is said that "a Witch must be a hagged old Woman, living in a little rotten Cottage, under a Hill, by a Wood-side, and must be frequently spinning at the Door: she must have a black Cat, two or three Broom-sticks, an Imp or two, and two or three diabolical Teats to suckle her Imps."

Of the wonderful Feats which the various Kinds of Witches were supposed capable of performing, Scott has favored us with the following succinct Enumeration. There are three Sorts of Witches he tells us, "one Sort can hurt and not helpe, the second can helpe and not hurt, the third can both helpe and hurt. Among the hurtfull Witches there is one Sort more beastlie than any Kind of Beasts, saving Wolves: for these usually devour and eate young Children and Infants of their owne Kind. These be they that raise Haile, Tempests, and hurtfull Weather; as Lightning, Thunder, &c. These be they that procure Barrennesse in Man, Woman and Beast. These can throwe Children in Waters, as they walk with their Mothers, and not be seene. These can make Horses kicke, till they cast their Riders. These can pass from Place to Place in the Aire invisible. These can so alter the Mind of Judges, that they can have no Power to hurt them. These can procure to themselves and to others, Taciturnitie and Insensibilitie in their Torments. These can bring trembling to the Hands, and strike Terror into the Minds of them that apprehend them. These can manifest unto others, Things hidden and lost, and foreshow Things to come; and see them as though they were present. These can alter Men's Minds to inordinate Love or Hate. These can kill whom they list with Lightning and Thunder. These can take away Man's Courage. These can make a Woman miscarrie in Childbirth, and destroie the Child in the Mother's Wombe, without any sensible Means either inwardlie or outwardlie applied. These can with their Looks kill either Man or Beast.

"Others doo write, that they can pull downe the Moone and the Starres. Some write that with wishing they can send Needles into the Livers of their Enemies. Some that they can transferre Corne in the Blade from one Place to another. Some, that they can cure Diseases supernaturallie, flie in the Aire, and danse with Divels. Some write, that they can play the Part of Succubus, and contract themselves to Incubus. Some saie they can transubstantiate themselves and others, and take the Forms and Shapes of Asses, Woolves, Ferrets, Cowes, Asses, Horses, Hogs, &c. Some say they can keepe Divels and Spirits in the Likenesse of Todes and Cats.

They can raise Spirits (as others affirme), drie up Springs, turn the Course of running Waters, inhibit the same, and staie both Day and Night, changing the one into the other. They can go in and out at Awger Holes, and saile in an Egge Shell, a Cockle or Muscle Shell, through and under the tempestuous Seas. They can bring Soules out of the Graves. They can teare Snakes in Pieces. They can also bring to pass, that Churne as long as you list, your Butter will not come; especially, if either the Maids have eaten up the Cream; or the Good-wife have sold the Butter before in the Market."17

The only material Accession which the royal James has made to this curious Catalogue of the Deeds of Witchcraft, consists in informing us, that these aged and decrepid Slaves of Satan, "make Picture of Waxe and Clay, that by the roasting thereof, the Persons that they bear the Name of, may be continually melted or dried away by continuall Sicknesse;"18 and his Mode of explaining how the Devil performs this Marvel, is a notable Instance both of his Ingenuity and his Eloquence. This Deed, he says, "is verie possible to their Master to performe; for although that Instrument of Waxe have no Vertue in that Turne doing, yet may he not very well, even by the same Measure, that his conjured Slaves melt that Waxe at the Fire, may be not, I say, at these same Times, subtily, as a Spirit, so weaken and scatter the Spirits of Life of the Patient, as may make him on the one Part, for Faintnesse, to sweat out the Humour of his Bodie, and on the other Part, for the not Concurrence of these Spirits, which causes his Digestion, so debilitate his stomache that this Humour radicall continually, sweating out on the one Part, and no newe good sucke being put in the Place thereof, for Lacke of Digestion on the other, he at last shall vanish away, even as his Picture will doe at the Fire? And that knavish and cunning Workman, by troubling him onely at sometimes, makes a Proportion, so neere betwixt the working of the one and the other, that both shall end as it were at one Time."19

It remains to notice the Nature of the Compact or Bargain, which Witches were believed to enter into with their Seducer, and the Species of Homage which they were compelled to pay him; and here again we must have Recourse to Scot, not only as the most compressed, but as the most authentic Detailer of this strange Credulity of his Times. "The Order of their Bargaine or profession," says he, "is double; the one solemne and publike; the other secret and private. That which is called solemne or publike, is where Witches come together at certaine Assemblies, at the Times prefixed, and doo not onelie see the Divell in visible Forme; but confer and talke familiarlie with him. In which Conference the Divell exhorteth them to observe their Fidelitie unto him, promising them long Life and Prosperitie. Then the Witches assembled, commanded a new Disciple (whom they call a Novice) unto him: and if the Divell find that young Witch apt and forward in the Renunciation of christian Faith, in despising anie of the seven Sacraments, in treading upon Crosses, in spetting at the Time of the Elevation, in breaking their Fast on fasting Daies, and fasting on Sundaies: then the Devill giveth foorth his Hand, and the Novice joining Hand in Hand with him, promiseth to observe and keepe all the Divels Commandments.

"This doone, the Divell beginneth to be more bold with hir, telling her plainlie, that all this will not serve his Turne: and therefore requireth Homage at hir Hands: yea he also telleth hir, that she must grant him both hir Bodie and Soule to be tormented in everlasting Fire; which she yeeldeth unto. Then he chargeth hir to procure as manie Men, Women and Children also, as she can, to enter into this Societie. Then he teacheth them to make Ointments of the Bowels and Members of Children, whereby they ride in the Aire, and accomplish all their Desires. So as if there be anie Children unbaptized, or not garded by the Signe of the Crosse, or Orisons; then the Witches may and do catche them from their Mother's Sides in the Night, or out of their Cradles, or otherwise kill them with their Ceremonies; and after Buriall steale them out of their Graves, and seeth them in a Caldron, until their Flesh be made potable. Of the thickest whereof they make Ointments, whereby they ride in the Aire; but the thinner Potion they put into Flaggons, whereof whosoever drinketh, observing certain Ceremonies, immediatelie becometh a Maister or rather a Mistresse in that Practice and Facultie.

"Their Homage with their Oth and Bargaine is received for a certeine Terme of Yeares; sometimes forever. Sometimes it consisteth in the Deniall of the whole Faith, sometimes in Part. And this is doone either by Oth, Protestation of Words, or by Obligation in writing, sometimes sealed with Wax, sometimes signed with Blood, sometimes by kissing the Divel's bare Buttocks.

"You must also understand, that after they have delicatelie banketted with the Divell and the Ladie of the Fairies; and have eaten up a fat Oxe, and emptied a Butt of Malmesie, and a Binne of Bread at some noble Man's House, in the Dead of the Night, nothing is missed of all this in the Morning. For the Ladie Sibylla, Minerva, or Diana, with a golden Rod striketh the Vessel and the Binne, and they are fully replenished againe." After mentioning that the Bullock is restored in the same magical Manner, he states it as an "infallible Rule, that everie Fortnight, or at least everie Month, each Witch must kill one Child at the least for hir Part." He also relates from Bodin, that "at these magicall Assemblies, the Witches never faile to dance, and whiles they sing and danse, everie one hath a broome in hir Hand, and holdeth it up aloft."20

To these Circumstances attending the Meetings of this unhallowed Sisterhood, King James adds, that Satan, in Order that "hee may the more vively counterfeit and scorne God, oft Times makes his Slaves to conveene in those very Places, which are destinate and ordained for the conveening of the Servants of God (I meane by Churches): – further, Witches oft times confesse, not only his conveening in the Church with them, but his occupying of the Pulpit."21 For this Piece of Information James seems to have been indebted to the Confessions of Agnis Tompson; but he also relates, that the Devil, as soon as he has induced his Votaries to renounce their God and Baptism, "gives them his Marke upon some secret Place of their Bodie, which remaines soare unhealed, whilest his next Meeting with them, and thereafter ever insensible, however it be nipped or pricked by any;" a Seal of Destinction which, he tells us at the Close of his Treatise, is of great Use in detecting them on their Trial, as "the finding of their Marke, and the trying the Insensiblenes thereof," was considered as a positive Proof of their Craft. His Majesty, however, proceeds to mention another Mode of ascertaining their Guilt, terminating the Paragraph in a Manner not very flattering to his female Subjects, or very expressive of his own Gallantry. "The other is," he tells us, "their fleeting on the Water: for as in a secret Murther, if the dead Carkase bee at any Time thereafter handled by the Murtherer, it will gush out of Blood, as if the Blood were crying to the Heaven for Revenge of the Murtherer, God having appointed that secret supernaturall Signe, for Triall of that secret unnaturall Crime, so it appears that God hath appointed (for a supernaturall Signe of the monstrous Impietie of Witches) that the Water shall refuse to receive them in her Bosome, that have shaken off them the sacred Water of Baptisme, and wilfully refused the Benefite thereof: No, not so much as their Eyes are able to shed Teares (threaten and torture them as you please) while first they repent (God not permitting them to dissemble their Obstinacie in so horrible a Crime) albeit the Women-kind especially, be able otherwayes to shed Teares at every light Occasion when they will, yea, although it were dissembling like the Crocodiles."22

Such are the chief Features of this gross Superstition, as detailed by the Writers of the Period in which it most prevailed in this Country. Scot has taken infinite Pains in collecting, from every Writer on the Subject, the minutiæ of Witchcraft, and his Book is expanded to a thick Quarto, in Consequence of his commenting at large on the Particulars which he had given in his initiatory Chapters, for the Purpose of their complete Refutation and Exposure; a Work of great Labor, and which shows, at every Step, how deeply this Credulity had been impressed on the Subjects of Elizabeth. James, on the other Hand, though a Man of considerable Erudition, and, in some respects, of shrewd, good Sense, wrote in Defence of this Folly, and, unfortunately for Truth and Humanity, the Doctrine of the Monarch was preferred to that of the Sage.

Fortunately the Time has arrived when the Belief of a King, or that of any other titled Personage, has very little Effect in fastening upon the World at large any peculiar Opinions he may have formed upon any Subject not within the Province of Reason.

Spiritualists and the Disciples of Mesmer have made the Discovery that Witchcraft is fully explained by one or the other of the Mysteries taught by them. How much Truth there may be in the Assertion I cannot undertake to determine. But from a very limited Acquaintance with Mysteries in general, my Opinion is that the Application of Mesmerism for the Explanation of Witchcraft, would partake very much of the Nature of applying one Absurdity to the Explanation of another.

For the "thousand and one" Examples of Witchcraft practiced by accused Persons in New England, an almost exact Parallel may be found in Cases which had previously occurred in Old England. And, in Proportion to the Number of Inhabitants in the respective Countries, there were as many in New as in Old England who raised their Voices against Prosecutions for the supposed Crime. Hence it is very obvious that mental Darkness was as dense in Old as in New England, at the Time of the Delusions of which we are speaking.

Superstition was then bounded only by the Limits of what was termed Civilization. The Light of Science for the last two hundred Years has considerably relieved Mankind from that deadly Incubus, and it is gratifying to believe that the March of Mind is onward and that a future of pure Light is before the World of Humanity. Like dark Spots on a Planet, some Superstitions seem almost as unaccountable, and their Removal appears about as difficult, so long have we been accustomed to tolerate them.

As late as 1668 it was asserted by an eminent English Writer, a Member of the Royal Society,23 that "Atheism is begun in Saducism. And those that dare not bluntly say, There is NO GOD, content themselves, (for a fair Step, and Introduction) to deny there are SPIRITS, or WITCHES. Which Sort of Infidels, though they are not ordinary among the meer vulgar, yet are they numerous in a little higher Rank of Understandings. And those that know anything of the World, know, that most of the looser Gentry, and the small Pretenders to Philosophy and Wit, are generally Deriders of the Belief of Witches, and Apparitions."

Hence there were but two Horns to the Dilemma in which every one found himself – he must believe in Witchcraft and all the other degrading Attendants on that Belief, or he must be viewed and scorned as an Atheist, and as an Unbeliever in everything that was good!

It was difficult for People to distinguish between Miracles and Witchcraft, especially when the most learned Men,24 in Order to make the Miracle of the Ascent of the Saviour appear reasonable, argued that "He went as far towards Heaven as he could on Foot, even to the Top of Mount Olivet." And when Elijah was to fast forty Days, "that there might be no Waste of miraculous Power, God would have him eat a double Meal before entering upon the Term of fasting!" With such wretched Absurdities were the Minds of People of that Time enslaved. The Superstitions of the Greeks and Romans were not greater. And although there is a steady Progress in intellectual Improvement, and a Time is believed to be approaching when the World will be as free from the Cheats and Impostures of the present Day, as some of the present Day are of those of previous Ages; yet it is in a Measure discouraging, when we see the Thousands ensnared by such transparent Jugglery as that which has peopled the Salt Lake Regions, and drawn other Thousands in our Midst to witness Feats that never did nor never will happen, except in the deluded Brains of those who desire to be thus deluded.

MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR

COTTON Mather was born in Boston, February 12th, 1662-3. In his Youth he was remarkable for his Progress in Knowledge, and soon became extensively known for his varied Acquirements. At the Age of Twelve he entered Harvard College, and graduated in due Course. He was thrice married: 1st, when in his twenty-fourth Year, to Abigail, Daughter of Col. John Phillips, of Charlestown; 2d, to Widow Elizabeth Hubbard, Daughter of Dr. John Clark; and 3d, to Lydia, Widow of Mr. John George, Daughter of the Rev. Samuel Lee, sometime of Bristol in Rhode Island. By the last Wife he had no Children, but by the others he had fifteen, nine of which were by the first.

The Father of Mr. Mather was Dr. Increase Mather, Pastor of the North Church, of Boston, of whom the Biographer of the former remarks, that, "as President of Harvard College, by whose printed composures both Latin and English, and by whose Agency in the Courts of three Monarchs for his afflicted Country, have rendered him universally known."

His Mother was Maria, Daughter of Mr. John Cotton of Boston, a Name as intimately associated with the History of New England as any other. And judging from the Portraits of the Grandsire and Grandson, there was a very strong Resemblance of the one to the other.

Mr. Mather began to preach in 1680, and his first Sermon was delivered in Dorchester, on the 22d of August of that Year. In the following February he was invited to become an Assistant to his Father in the North Church in Boston, which Invitation he accepted. About two Years later he was unanimously chosen Pastor by the same Church, but was not ordained until May, 1684; his Ordination probably being deferred on Account of his Youth; being at the Time of his Ordination but twenty-one Years and three Months old. On that Occasion he received the Right Hand of Fellowship from the venerable Mr. John Eliot, of Roxbury.

At an early Age he began to keep a Diary, and from the Passages we have from it we are convinced that its Entries were dictated by an honest Mind, and that Duplicity and evil Intentions could never find an abiding Place therein; that his sole Aim was Goodness, and a strong Desire to lead a life of Purity, is manifest throughout.

Mr. Mather commenced Author at the Age of 23, and continued his Publications to the Year of his Decease; extending over a Period of about forty-two Years. In that Time he is said by his Biographer to have issued 383 Books; thus averaging about nine each Year. But many of his Books would in these Days be called Pamphlets, as they consisted of only a few Pages – a very few indeed containing Pages sufficient to give them the Character of a Book. A List of these 383 Works is given in his Life by his Son, but it is known to be incomplete. The List is very deficient in Respect to the Titles of the Works, also, insomuch that their Contents cannot be determined from them.

There are several Biographies of Dr. Cotton Mather, all drawn mainly from that by his Son, Dr. Samuel Mather. An Abridgment of this was published in England in 1744, in a small 12mo, by David Jennings. Mr. Jennings was instigated to undertake the Abridgment by Dr. Isaac Watts; the latter having consulted with Mr. Mather previously, and obtained his Consent to let his Work appear in an Abridgment. In giving his Consent for the abridged Edition, he thus apologizes for the original Undertaking: "The Life of my Father, as you have it in your Hands, was a youthful Attempt;25 though I now plainly discern my Defects in it, and am sorry to see such a Number of them, yet I can look on it with some Comfort; partly from a Consciousness of my honest Meaning in it, and partly because I find several worthy Persons approve of many Things in it, and have done me the Honour of expressing themselves favourable about it."

The Mode of writing Biography has very much changed since the Life of Dr. Mather was first written. Those written previous to, and at that Period, at least many of them, might be reduced in Bulk from five to seven-eighths, without omitting anything of Value. This Remark is applicable to other Performances of that Time, and to some in these as well.

It may be justly said of Cotton Mather, that he was one of the most remarkable Men of the Age in which he lived; not only remarkable on one, but on many Accounts; and for none, perhaps, more than for his wonderful Precociousness, or the early Intuitiveness of his Mind. His Memory was likewise very extraordinary. The Acquirement of Knowledge seems to have been with him accomplished almost without Effort; and his Writings show that they were generally drawn from the Storehouse of his Mind, where, from Reading and Observation, they had been from Time to Time deposited. Authors who write from this Source alone are generally diffuse, and wanting in those very essential and minute Particulars, which in these Days constitute so important a Part of every Man's Writings. His Style is very peculiar; and no One who is acquainted with the Writings of "famous Thomas Fuller," can hardly doubt that Cotton Mather attempted to make that Writer's Composition a Model for his own. Still he falls considerably short of Fuller in his Attempts at witty Conceits; in them the latter is always happy, while the former often fails.

His Ability for acquiring Languages has probably been surpassed by but very few, and he is said to have been Master of more Languages than any other Person in New England in his Time. Those, especially the Latin, it must be confessed, he made a most unreasonable Use of, bringing in Passages from them at all Times, as though every Body understood them, as well as himself.

So far as we now remember, Dr. Douglass seems to have been the Author of the Fashion or Practice, so much of late Years in Vogue, of reviling Cotton Mather. It has been carried to such an Extent in some Quarters, that any One who presumes to mention his Name, does it at the Peril of coming in for a Share of Obloquy and Abuse himself. Some not only charge him with committing all Sorts of Errors and Blunders, but they bring against him the more serious Charge of misrepresenting Matters of Fact. Now it would be well for those who bring those Charges to scrutinize their own Works. It may be, if they cannot see anything pedantic, puerile or false in them themselves, others may come in Contact with Errors even worse than those of Stupidity.

It is not to be denied that the Mind of Dr. Mather was singularly constituted; and whoever shall undertake an Analysis of it will find a more difficult Task, we apprehend, than those have found who content themselves with nothing further than vituperative Denunciations upon its Productions. We owe a vast Deal to Cotton Mather; especially for his historical and biographical Works. Were these alone to be struck out of Existence it would make a Void in these Departments of our Literature, that would probably confound any who affect to look upon them with Contempt. Even Dr. Douglass, although he has somewhere asserted, that, to point out all the Errors in the Magnalia, would be to copy the whole Book, is nevertheless, much indebted to him for Facts in many Parts of the very Work in which he has made that Statement; hence it would be very bad Logic that would not charge Dr. Douglass with copying Errors into his Work, knowing them to be Errors. It would be very easy for us to point to some Writers of our own Time equally obnoxious to the same plain Kind of Argument. And a late Writer of very good Standing has, with great apparent Deliberation said, that, "it is impossible to deny, that the Reputation of Cotton Mather has declined of late Years." This, of course, was his Belief; but it strikes us as very singular, that that same Author, should, at the same Time, make the largest Book on the Life of a Man, in such a State of Decline, that had hitherto appeared! But we are under no Concern for the Reputation of Cotton Mather, even in the Hands of his Enemies, and we have no Intention of setting up a special Defence of him or his Writings. We are willing the latter should pass for exactly what they are worth. All we design to do is to caution those a little who need Caution, and save them, if we may, from having the Windows in their own Houses broken, by the very Missiles they themselves have thrown.