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

111

Martha Carrier underwent the usual Examination, which occupies two Pages, and the Original is in the Hand of Mr. Samuel Parris. The above is but a very unsatisfactory Abridgement of it.

112

It appears from Lawson's Account that such Accusations were much heeded. He says – "Several have confessed against their own Mothers, that they were Instruments to bring them into the Devil's Covenant, to the undoing of their Body and Soul. And some Girls of Eight or Nine Years of Age did declare that after they were so betrayed by their Mothers, to the Power of Satan, they saw the Devil go in their own shapes to afflict others." – Page 118-19.

113

Benjamin Abbot was of Andover, and his Age was about 31.

114

Sarah Abbot gave her Age as about 32 Years.

115

Allen Toothaker was a young Man, aged about 22 Years. He may have received his Wound when the Indians attacked Andover, as mentioned in an earlier Note.

116

John Rogers was of Billerica. He gave his Age as about 50. His Testimony takes up a quarto Page in the Records. Three Years later, viz., August 5th, 1695, he, with several others, was killed at Billerica by the Indians.

117

Samuel Preston gave his Age as about 41 Years. He swore he "lost a Cow in a strange Manner." That strange Manner, it is evident from his Story, referred to the Way in which she was cast, and not being able to free herself, died. The preternatural and unusual being thrown in by the Doctor.

118

It is only necessary to state that Phebe Chandler was but about 12 Years old, as a Reason that no Notice should be taken of her Evidence; and notwithstanding near two solid Pages of her Testimony are in the Records. However, Bridget Chandler, her Mother, aged 40 Years, corroborated the Daughter's Story.

119

This has reference to Ann Foster, of Salem Village. See Records S. W., ii, 136-7.

120

Mary Lacy was Wife of Lawrence Lacy, of Andover, and Daughter of Ann Foster. See Ibid., ii, 139-40. This "other Lacy" was also named "Mary." Ibid., 142.

121

Susanna Sheldon was a ready Witness in a large Number of Cases, as has already been noticed.

122

No Testimony appears to have been omitted that could be tortured by any Construction against "this rampant Hag," by the Author, while all that went to clear her was rejected. Fortunately the Case is changed, and the whole is spread before disinterested Inquirers, or enough upon which to form a correct Judgment. Mr. Francis Dane, the second Minister of Andover, dared to give his Thoughts upon the Witchcraft Cases. These he communicated to the Court, and the Scribe recorded them among the Evidence. He said he had lived above forty Years in Andover, and in his "healthfull Yeares had been frequent among ye Inhabitants in their Habitations," and never heard of anything of the Nature of Witchcraft until the Arrests the last Summer (1692). If there were any Suspicions that Martha Carrier was a Witch, before she was apprehended, he said he had never heard of it; and "as for any other Persons, I had no Suspicion of them, and had Charity been put on, the Diuel would not have had such an Advantage against us, and I beleeve many innocent Persons have been accused." This Testimony of an aged and worthy Gentleman (then 77), well acquainted with all the Circumstances, and with the Accused, should accompany that against "the rampant Hag."

123

This Passage caused Dr. Mather to utter some very wrathful Expressions against the Author. He says, or rather, his Defenders for him: "What was done in the dark Time of our Troubles from the Invisible World, all honest Men believe, they did in Conscience of the Oath of God upon them, and they followed unto the best of their Understanding, as we are informed, the Precedents of England and Scotland, and other Nations on such a dark and doleful Occasion. When they found the Matter carried beyond the Reach of Mortals, they stopt." —Some Few Remarks, 6; Magnalia, B. ii, 64.

124

See Volume I, Pages 35, 86.

125

What the Laws of England were on the Subject of Witchcraft has been exhibited in the Introduction to the first Volume. Their Abrogation by Parliament, through the exertions of Lord Talbot, took place in 1736. See Douglass' Summary, i, 451.

126

I do not find the Court Proceedings at this Period.

127

The Indictments and Examination of Samuel Wardwell may be seen in the Records, in the usual Form. He was of Andover, and is styled Carpenter. His first Indictment was for afflicting one Martha Sprague of Boxford, in August last (1692). The second charges, that "about 20 Yeares agoe, in the Towne of Andivor, he the said Samuel Wardell, with the Evill Speritt the Devill [did felloniously make] a Couenant wherein he promised to honor, worship and belieue the Devill Contrary to the Stattute." His Examination was before John Higginson, Esq. on Sept. 1st, 1692. He was then about 46 Years old. His strange Answers clearly indicate a state of Insanity. Martha Sprague, aged 16, swore to being bewitched by him. Ephraim Foster of Andover, aged about 34, swore that he foretold Events by looking in people's Hands; "would cast his Eyes down upon ye ground allways before he told enything." Thomas Chandler, aged about 65, often heard said Wardwell tell young Persons their Fortunes. Joseph Ballard, aged about 41, swore that his Brother John Ballard told him that Samuel Wardwell told him, that he (Wardwell) had bewitched his (Joseph Ballard's) Wife. Abigail Martin of Andover, aged 16, said that some time last Winter S. Wardwell and John Farnam were at her Fathers. W. told F.'s Fortune. He also told Jeams Bridge's Fortune. See Records S. W. ii, 146-153.

128

Q. D. of no Account whatever. I do not find that the Expounders of Proverbs have fallen upon this.

129

One of the Original Billa veras is now before me, and runs thus: "The Deposition of Mercy Lewis Aged [19.] This Deponent testifieth and saith that last Night Philip English and his Wife came to mee, also Goodwife Dasten, Eliza Johnson, and Old Pharoh of Linn: sd. Mrs. English vrged mee to set my Hand to a Booke, and told mee she would afflict me dreadfully and kill me if I did not: Said also if I would but touch the Booke I should bee well, or else I should never. Mrs. English said she might bring the Book now she thought everie one of them would bee cleared, and now at this present Time before the Grandiury sd Philip English, his Wife, and old Pharoh, come into the Roome, or their Shape and stroke mee on the Brest, and almost choaked mee, and said they would strangle me if they could. Owned before the Grandiury upon the Oath she had taken, Janr 12th, 169⅔. Attests Robert Payne, Foreman." All in the Autograph of Mr. Saml. Parris, except the Signature of Payne. See Appendix, Number III.

130

The "Chief Judge," it will be remembered, was Lieut. Gov. Stoughton.

131

The Complainants were "Mr. Thomas Putnam, and Mr. John Putnam, Jr., of Salem Village." She is styled single Woman, "of Redding," and her Name is spelt Dusting, Dastin, and Dasting, in the Records. It would be interesting to know if she was a Relative of the noted Heroine, Hannah Dustin, of Haverhill, who slew her Indian Captors, and escaped out of Captivity in 1697. Mr. Chase, the able Historian of Haverhill, does not seem to have consulted the Records at Salem, as we find nothing of this Case in his History.

132

If this was supposed to be dealing justly by the Accused, the Government Officers of that Day must have had a very angular Idea of Justice, as understood by upright Men of the present Day. Such a Course reminds one of "Lidford Law," and of those sentenced "to be hanged and to pay 40 shillings."

133

"One that many Years since was Executed at Hartford, in Connecticut Colony, on the Account of Witchcraft, confessed, that she had employed Evil Spirits to be revenged on several; but that when she would have had them do the Like to Mr. Stone (the Eminent Teacher of the Church there) they told her, they had not leave to do it: Nor is this to be Evaded by saying some Persons (as of late in New England) have falsely accused themselves, for this Person was upon Rational Grounds, thought to be a true Penitent, before her Death. We cannot argue, that because some have failed in their cursed Attempts, that therefore never any Succeeded. But the known Success of many was that which emboldened others to Endeavour the Like.". – I. Mather, in Angelographia, To the Reader. See, also, Remarkable Providences (by the same), Chap. V.

134

William III, Mary being dead. She died on the 28th Dec, 1694. Was Dau. of James II, by A. Hyde.

135

The "perplexing war" of this Period is sketched with a Master's Hand by Macaulay in his History of England.

136

The Honorable Samuel Sewall. He worshipped at the Old South Church. His Name will be found inscribed upon the Plan of the House in Mr. Wisner's History, Page 102, denoting the Pew which he occupied. Its internal Arrangement is much the same now.

137

Both Mather and Calef have avoided giving Lists of the Trial Jurors, doubtless to avoid increasing the number of their Pages. The Records (that remain) are very imperfect in this, as well as in many other Respects, already noticed. On this Period much remains to be done.

138

This Insinuation is quite well sustained, as will appear by an Extract from Mr. Mather's Diary, printed in Quincy's Hist. H. C. i, 60. The Life of Phips is substantially included in the Magnalia. As originally published, it is of considerable rarity.

139

See Vol. I, Page 25-6.

140

This Judgment has been sustained by Posterity. Phips's Hands were tied. He could not have done differently, had he had the Knowledge and Disposition, without giving offence to President Mather, who had secured his Advancement.

141

To this rather mild and inoffensive remark of the Author, Mr. Mather replies: "The last Effort of his [Calef's] Malice is a Postscript against the Life of Sir William Phips, against whose Memory, why any whose Throats are an open Sepulchre, should be so monstrously envious, that like Jackalls, they can't let him rest quietly in his Sepulchre, good Men can't imagine any Reason but the third Chapter of Genesis." —Some Few Remarks, &c. 47.

142

"I have endured more than a little from some sort of Men, for my writing the Life of Sir William Phips, and speaking well of him, without either doing or speaking ill against any one good Man under the whole Heavens, in the whole Composure. It seems that I must now write an Apology, for that Book: for which I have no Confession to make, but, That I don't wish one Line of it unwritten." —Ibid, 47-8.

143

It must be allowed that the Doctor was a little unfortunate in his Choice of a Hero by which to measure his own.

144

The "three venerable Persons" were "Nath. Mather, John Howe and Matthew Mead." The first was the Uncle to Dr. Cotton Mather, then a Minister in Dublin, where he died a few Months later. Howe and Mead are too well known to require a notice here.

145

To this Dr. Mather answers: "When mine Adversaries had, with a concocted Malice, done all they could, they thought at least they had found one Passage wherein they might impeach my Veracity. I had said, that before Quebeck, Sir William lay within Pistol Shot of the Enemies Cannon, and that his Ship was shot through, in an hundred Places, and that it was shot through with Four and Twenty Pounders. (Tis a gross Hardship for any to make my Meaning as if all the shot had been so.) And now they fall to Tragical Exclamattons; they think Four and Twenty Pounders to be too small Dimensions for the Clamors they must batter me withal… I wrote no more than the very Words which I find in a Journal of the Expedition to Qcebec… Calef himself has lately owned, that he verily believes I did so." —Some Few Remarks, &c. 51-2.

146

After the Doctor had spoken of being "battered with Clamors," he triumphantly Exclaims – "But hold Robin, [Mr. Calef's Christian Name being Robert] I am not so soon shot through; and the Statue, as I told thee, has knock'd out thy Brains!" —Ibid, Page 52. His Life of Phips he calls a Statue.

147

The harsh and ungovernable Temper of the Governor was a Matter of Notoriety in his Time. See Life of Phips in the Magnalia, B. ii, Page 72, &c.

148

"It is not worth our while to take Notice of every thing this Calf sayes, 'tis often so impertinent; however, we will lay open one thing more. He says that Mr. Mather procured a Charter for Sir William to be Governor, and himself established President of the Colledge. Can there be greater Nonsense mixed with Malice! How could that be, when Mr. Mather had been President of the Colledge ten Years before Sir William came to be Governor?" This is a very shallow Attempt to impeach, by Hypercriticism, the Truth of Mr. Calef's Statement. Everybody knew the fact that Dr. I. Mather was President of the College. Mr. Calef's Meaning is plain enough, namely, that Mr. Mather's Solicitude was about keeping his Office of President.

149

"It is to be confessed and bewailed, that many Inhabitants of New England, and young People especially, had been led away with little Sorceries, wherein they did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God; they would often cure Hurts with Spells, and practice detestable Conjurations with Sieves, and Keyes, and Pease, and Nails, and Horse-shoes, and other Implements to learn the Things for which they had a forbidden and impious Curiosity. Wretched Books had stolen into the Land, wherein Fools were instructed how to become able Fortune-tellers." —Life of Sir W. Phips. See Magnalia, B. ii, 60. Some twenty Years later the Author's Ideas had undergone a slight Change. See Remarkables, 161, et seq.

150

Complete Lists of all the Freemen in Massachusetts, and the Qualifications necessary to become such, will be found in the New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Register, Vols. III, IV and VII.

151

Palmer's Book is thus entitled: "An Impartial Account of the State of New England: or, the Late Government there, Vindicated. In Answer to the Declaration which the Faction set forth, when they Overturned that Government. With a Relation of the Horrible Usage they treated the Governour with, and his Council; and all that had His Majesty's Commission. In a Letter to the Clergy there. By John Palmer. London: Printed for Edward Poole, at the Ship over against the Royal Exchange, in Cornhill, 1690." 4to, 40 Pages. This Work is about to be republished by the Prince Society.

152

Actions brought without Foundation.

153

"The Superior Gentlemen in the Oppressed Country, thought, that a Well-qualified Person going over with the Addresses of the Churches to the King, might, by the Help of such Protestant Dissenters as the King began upon Political Views to cast a fair Aspect upon, obtain some Relief to the growing Distresses of the Country; and Mr. Mather was the Person that was pitch'd upon… To his Wonderment, they that at another Time would have almost assoon parted with their Eyes as have parted with him now were willing to it." —Remarkables of Dr. I. Mather, 103.

154

Mr. Bradstreet was then about 86 Years of Age. A pretty full Account of the Transactions of this Period may be read in Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., i, sub. An. 1689: "The Representatives of 54 Towns met at Boston, on the 22d of May. They soon discovered a Desire to reassume the Charter. The major Part of the Council were against it." Ibid., i, 386, first Edition.

155

I do not find this animadverted upon in the Some Few Remarks.

156

See Neal's Hist. N. England, where will be found the "Declaration" in full, in which it is said: "Having fully and deliberately examined the Minds and Instructions of the several Towns, do find it to be the general Consent and Concurrence of our several Towns to reassume the Government according to Charter-Rights," &c. Vol. II, 55.

157

The underwritten Recantation does not appertain to the printed Declaration. Neal says: "'Tis certain the Massachuset-Provinces had hard Measure in the Loss of their Charter, and harder yet, in not having it restored at the Revolution," &c. Vol. II, 59.

158

Elisha Cooke and Thomas Oakes, both of them Assistants. See Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., i, 393.

159

Sir Henry Ashurst.

160

Dr. I. Mather's Narrative of this Affair runs thus: "When the King was pleased to give a positive Command that the Charter of New England should be dispatched, it was not for the Agents to say, It shall not be so. True it is, that all the Agents, when they saw what Minutes would be inserted in the Charter, were desirous of a Delay, until the Kings happy Return to England. And I may without Vanity say, no Man laboured to have it so, more than myself. I prayed Arch-Bishop Tillotson to intercede with the Queen for this Favour to us, who at my Request did so. Moreover, I drew up several Reasons against that which in the Minutes of the New Charter is most grievous to us; which were by Sir Henry Ashurst, and my self, delivered to His Majesties Attourney General, on July 24. 1691, and which I did also send to my Lord Sidney, one of His Majesties principal Secretaries of State, then with the King in Flanders." —Some Few Remarks, 22-3. Lord Henry Sydney was afterwards Earl of Romney.

161

Thinking there would be no further Proceedings about the Charter before the Return of the King, Mr. Mather says he went into the Country for the Recovery of his impaired Health, where, before he had been three Weeks, he was surprised by being sent for to London, "with Information that the King had signified His Royal Pleasure to the Earl of Nottingham, that there should be a Procedure with a Charter for the Massachusetts Colony, according to the Minutes that the Lords of the Committee for Plantations had agreed to, notwithstanding the Objections of the Agents." —Some Few Remarks, 23.

162

This Document is printed in the Work just cited, Pages 14 to 18; and also by the Son in his Remarkables of his Father, Pages 157-60. The rebutting of the "Bull" has been noticed in an earlier Page.

163

Whether this Paper, containing the variety of Heathen Learning, was ever printed, the Editor is unable to say.

164

The Defenders of Dr. Mather say, that, by what they have heard about that Story of Dr. Sharp, attempting "to get himself made Bishop, did what he could to undermine the Presbyterian Government: " and continue, – "Certainly, Satan himself could not but blush to say, that ever Mr. Mather went to destroy the Government of New England, either as to their Civil or Ecclesiastical Constitution." —Some Few Remarks, 29, 30. Mr. Calef is very far from bringing any such Charge. Some later Authors are far more severe on Dr. Mather than he. See Baylies, N. Plymouth, iv, 134.

165

After extracting this Acknowledgement of our Author, his Reviewers say: "With what Face then can he insinuate that no Thanks are due to the Instruments of obtaining such a valuable Charter, and so many peculiar Priviledges? Surely he was beside himself, when he wrote such Things as these." —Ibid., Page 30.

166

The Authors of the Some Few Remarks, print a Letter from Mr. John Goodwin, as a triumphant Vindication of what Dr. Cotton Mather published respecting the bewitchment of Goodwin's Children. The Letter is too long and too unimportant to occupy Space here. It may be seen on Pages 62 and 63 of that Work. It is, of course, an attempt to sustain Dr. Mather's Account, the substance of which Account is in the Magnalia. They then go on: "Now behold how active and forward Mr. Mather was, in transacting the Affairs relating to this Woman; and be astonished, that ever any One should go to insinuate things to the World, as are known by most that ever heard of those afflicted Children, to be so far different from Truth, as to do what in you lies to lessen the Esteem of those Servants of Christ, (which you make your chiefest Butts) among the Lord's People… We pray God Pardon your Sin, and give you the Grace to Repent." —Ibid, 65. See also Magnalia, B. ii, 61; where it appears that Mr. Joseph Dudley was Chief Judge when the poor old crazy Woman was tried and Executed.

167

Dr. Mather answers: "After the Storm was raised at Salem, I did myself offer to provide Meat, Drink, and Lodging, for no less than Six of the Afflicted, that so an Experiment might be made, whether Prayer with Fasting, upon the Removal of those Miserables, one from another, might not put a Period unto the Trouble then arising, without giving the Civil Authority the Trouble of Prosecuting the Methods of the Law on that Occasion. You'll say, How came it then to pass that many People took up another Notion of me? Truly, Satan knows. Perhaps 'twas because I thought it my Duty alwayes to speak of the Honourable Judges with as much Honour as I could; (a Crime which I am generally taxed for, and for which I have been finely requited!) This made People, who judge of Things at a Distance, to dream that I approved of all that was done." —Ibid, 39-40. Certainly, if Words mean any thing, what he published fully justifies that Conclusion, notwithstanding his rare Ambidexterity. See Vol. I, Ubique loci.

168

Salem Street was in those Times, called Green-Lane; at the Corner made by that Lane and Charter Street, the Governor actually resided. See History and Antiquities of Reason, 816.

169

Dr. Mather says in Reply: "Moreover, when the Ministers presented unto the Governour and Council, their Advice against making the Spectral Exhibitions to be so much as a Presumption of Witchcraft, it was my poor Hand which drew up that Advice, and my Heart was always in it." —Some Few Remarks, 38-9. But the Doctor does not explain how, in speaking of this Address in the Life of Phips, he came to make use of the Words —as I have been informed– while in the Some Few Remarks he owns that it was drawn by his poor Hand. See Life of Phips in Magnalia, Book II, 63.