describing, at once, the locality to which it refers and the habits of those who frequent that remarkable region. It is a very neat little volume and is very fairly illustrated. 41.-Two years before the mast. A personal narrative, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. A new edition, with subsequent matter by the Author. Boston: Field, Osgood, & Co. 1869. Duodecimo, pp. viii, 470. The original edition of this work, issued twenty-eight years ago, is so well known, the world over, that we need not expend our space in describing it, beyond the reminder to our readers that it is one of the earliest modern locals concerning the coast of California, and, therefore, worthy of their attention. The edition before us is the author's, in which he has published some "subsequent matter," the result of a recent visit to the scenes to which his earlier volume had referred. We need hardly say, since our readers will have anticipated us, that the charms which the earlier edition of this work presented to the reading world, have not been in the least abated by the lapse of time since they were written; while the contrasts which are presented by "the subsequent "matter," add greatly to the interest of the original narrative. The volume is very neatly printed; and is undoubtedly booked for another extended run, among those who never knew it, in its original form. 42.-The Literature of the age of Elizabeth. By Edwin P. Whipple. Boston: Fields, Osgood, & Co. 1869. Duodecimo, pp. vili, 864. It is now very nearly thirty years since we were associated with the genial John O. Choules, in the New York Lyceum, and assisted, on his earnest recommendation, in bringing from Boston, as a lecturer, the scholarly author of this volume; and, from that time to the present. Mr. Whipple has been steadily advancing, until, to-day, few writers in New England are more widely known or more generally respected. The volume before us relates to that "litera"ture," so called, which commenced about the middle of the reign of the vixen Queen of Englaid; reached its maturity in that of the Scotch pedant who succeeded her; and perceptibly declined during that of the first Charles-numbering in its members, Marlow, Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Ford, Sidney, Raleigh, Bacon, and Hooker. It consists of a rapid review of the characteristics of that literature; followed by close descriptions of those who principally contributed to it, and as close an analysis of their varied writings and influences. It is well written; and to those whose taste leads them in that direction, the volume must be very acceptable. Like all the issues of the publishers of this volume, it is well printed. The Overland Monthly, devoted to the development of the country. San Francisco: A. Roman & Co. This is one of the best of the periodicals, for general reading, which come into our hands. It is modest without being dull and meritorious without being insolent; and, as it makes no undue pretensions, we are never dissatisfied with it after going over its contents. ANNOUNCEMENTS. Messsrs. CHARLES SCRIRNER & Co. announce, as in press, Bible Animals: being a description of every living creature mentioned in the Scriptures, from the Ape to the Coral. By Rev. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S., etc., with a hundred new designs. One volume, octavo. The Universe: the infinitely great, and the infinitely small. Translated from the French of F. A. Pouchet, with 343 engravings. One volume, octavo. History of the Church in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries. By E. B. Hagenbach, D.D., Professor of Theology in the University of Basle. Translated from the last German edition, with additions, by John F. Hurst, D.D. Two volumes, octavo. Ancient States and Empires; a work for Colleges and Schools. By John Lord, L.L.D. With maps and plans. One volume, crown octavo. Life of J. Addison Alexander, D.D., by Rev. H. C. Alexander. Two volumes, crown octavo. Lange's Commentary, on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Solomon's Songs. Illustrated Library of Wonders-Great Hunts, by Victor Mennier: The Sublime_in_Nature; Egypt 3,300 years ago, or, Ramases the Great, by F. De Lanoye; Pompeii and the Pompeians, by Marc Monnier; together with Wonders of the Heavens, Wonders of Architecture, Bottom of the Ocean, Acoustics, The Human Frame, and Lighthouses. The same Publishers announce, among other new and elegantly-illustrated holiday gift-books, for 1869-70, Lady Geraldine, by Mrs. Browning, with over thirty illustrations; Songs of Life, selected from many sources, with numerous illustrations; Pictures of Edgewood, being a series of photographic views of Edgewood, by Rockwood; together with new editions of Folk Songs, largely improved; Katrina, on large paper, with seventy illustrations; Bitter Sweet, elegantly illustrated; Floral Belles, by Mrs. Badger, etc. THE HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. Vol. VI. SECOND SERIES.] SEPTEMBER, 1869. SALEM WITCHCRAFT AND COTTON MATHER. BY CHARLES W. UPHAM, SALEM, Mass. INTRODUCTION. An article in The North American Review, for April, 1869, is mostly devoted to a notice of the work published by me, in 1867, entitled Salem Witchcraft, with an account of Salem Village, and a history of opinions on witchcraft and kindred subjects. If the article had contained criticisms, in the usual style, merely affecting the character of that work, in a literary point of view, no other duty would have devolved upon me, than carefully to consider and respectfully heed its suggestions. But it raises questions of an historical nature that seem to demand a response, either acknowledging the correctness of its statements or vindicating my own. The character of the Periodical in which it appears; the manner in which it was heralded by rumor, long before its publication; its circulation, since, in a separate pamphlet form; and the extent to which, in certain quarters, its assumptions have been endorsed, make a reply impera tive. The subject to which it relates is of acknowledged interest and importance. The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692 has justly arrested a wider notice, and probably always will, than any other occurrence in the early colonial history of this country. It presents phenomena in the realm of our spiritual nature, belonging to that higher department of physiology, known as Psychology, of the greatest moment; and illustrates the operations of the imagination upon the passions and faculties in immediate connection with it, and the perils to which the soul and society are thereby exposed, in a manner more striking, startling and instructive than is elsewhere to be found. For all reasons, truth and justice require of those who venture to explore and portray it, the utmost efforts to elucidate its passages and delineate correctly its actors. With these views I hail with satisfaction the criticisms that may be offered upon my book, HIST. MAG. VOL. VI. 9 [No. 8. without regard to their personal character or bearing, as continuing and heightening the interest felt in the subject; and avail myself of the opportunity, tendered to me without solicitation and in a most liberal spirit, by the proprietor of this Magazine, to meet the obligations which historical truth and justice impose. innumerable forms through the sixty odd pages The principal charge, and it is repeated in of the article in the North American, is that I have misrepresented the part borne by Cotton Mather in the proceedings connected with the Witchcraft Delusion and prosecutions, in 1692. Various other complaints are made of inaccuracy and unfairness, particularly in reference to the position of Increase Mather and the course of the Boston Ministers of that period, generally. Although the discussion, to which I now ask attention, may appear, at first view, to relate to questions merely personal, it will be found, I think, prevalent sentiments, relating to religious and to lead to an exploration of the literature and philosophical subjects, of that period; and, also, of an instructive passage in the public history of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. than was required, or would have been appropriI now propose to present the subject more fully ate, in my work on Witchcraft. I. THE CONNECTION OF THE MATHERS WITH THI SUPERSTITIONS OF THIER TIME. In the first place, I venture to say that it can admit of no doubt, that Increase Mather and his son, Cotton Mather, did more than any other persons to aggravate the tendency of that age to the result reached in the Witchcraft Delusion of 1692. The latter, in the beginning of the Sixth Book of the Magnalia Christi Americana, refers to an attempt made, about the year 1658, "among some "divines of no little figure throughout England "and Ireland, for the faithful registering of remarkable providences. But, alas," he says, "it came to nothing that was remarkable. The "like holy design," he continues, "was, by the "Reverend Increase Mather, proposed among "the divines of New England, in the year 1681, 66 "The things to be esteemed memorable are, "especially, all unusual accidents, in the heav "en, or earth, or water; all wonderful de"liverances of the distressed; mercies to the "godly; judgments to the wicked; and more "glorious fulfilments of either the promises or "the threatenings, in the Scriptures of truth; "with apparitions, possessions, inchantments, "tence and agency of the invisible world is more "sensibly demonstrated."-Magnalia Christi Americana. Edit. London, 1702. Book VI, p. 1. All communications, in answer to this missive were to be addressed to the " President and Fel"lows" of Harvard College. "at a general meeting of them; who thereupon | ing it, as the special duty of Ministers of the "desired him to begin and publish an Essay; Gospel, to obtain and preserve knowledge of no"which he did in a little while; but there-withal table occurrences, described under the general "declared that he did it only as a specimen of a head of " Remarkables," and classified as fol"larger volume, in hopes that this work being lows: "set on foot, posterity would go on with it." Cotton Mather did go on with it, immediately upon his entrance to the ministry; and by their preaching, publications, correspondence at home and abroad, and the influence of their learning, talents, industry, and zeal in the work, these two men promoted the prevalence of a passion for the marvelous and monstrous, and what was deemed preternatural, infernal, and diabolical, through-" and all extraordinary things wherein the exisout the whole mass of the people, in England as well as America. The public mind became infatuated and, drugged with credulity and superstition, was prepared to receive every impulse of blind fanaticism. The stories, thus collected and put everywhere in circulation, were of a nature to terrify the imagination, fill the mind with hor- The first article is as follows: "To observe rible apprehensions, degrade the general intelli-"and record the more illustrious discoveries of gence and taste, and dethrone the reason. They "the Divine Providence, in the government of darken and dishonor the literature of that period. "the world, is a design so holy, so useful, so A rehash of them can be found in the Sixth Book "justly approved, that the too general neglect of of the Magnalia. The effects of such publica-❝of it in the Churches of God, is as justly to be tions were naturally developed in wide-spread "lamented." It is important to consider this delusions and universal credulity. They pene- language in connection with that used by Cotton trated the whole body of society, and reached all Mather, in opening the Sixth Book of the Magnathe inhabitants and families of the land, in the lia: "To regard the illustrious displays of that towns and remotest settlements. In this way, the " "Providence, wherewith our Lord Christ govMathers, particularly the younger, made them- erns the world, is a work than which there is selves responsible for the diseased and bewildered “none more needful or useful for a Christian; state of the public mind, in reference to super-"to record them is a work than which none natural and diabolical agencies, which came to a head in the Witchcraft Delusion. I do not say that they were culpable. Undoubtedly they thought they were doing God service. But the influence they exercised, in this direction, remains none the less an historical fact. 66 "more proper for a Minister; and perhaps the great Governor of the world will ordinarily do "the most notable things for those who are most "ready to take a wise notice of what he does. "Unaccountable, therefore, and inexcusable, is "the sleepiness, even upon the most of good "men throughout the world, which indisposes "them to observe and, much more, to preserve, “the remarkable dispensations of Divine Provi"dence, towards themselves or others. Never"theless there have been raised up, now and then, "those persons, who have rendered themselves "worthy of everlasting remembrance, by their "wakeful zeal to have the memorable providences Increase Mather applied himself, without delay, to the prosecution of the design he had proposed, by writing to persons in all parts of the country, particularly clergymen, to procure, for publication, as many marvelous stories as could be raked up. In the eighth volume of the Fourth Series of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, consisting of The Mather Papers, the responses of several of his correspond-"of God remembered through all generations." ents may be seen. [Pp. 285, 360, 361, 367, 466, These passages from the Mathers, father and 475, 555, 612.] He pursued this business with an son, embrace, in their bearings, a period, eleven industrious and pertinacious zeal, which nothing years before and two years after the Delusion of could slacken. After the rest of the world had 1692. They show that the Clergy, generally, been shocked out of such mischievous nonsense, were indifferent to the subject, and required to by the horrid results at Salem, on the fifth of be aroused from "neglect" and "sleepiness," March, 1694, as President of Harvard College, he touching the duty of flooding the public mind issued a Circular to "The Reverend Ministers of with stories of "wonders" and "remarkables;" "the Gospel, in the several Churches in New Eng- and that the agency of the Mathers, in giving "land," signed by himself and seven others, mem- currency, by means of their ministry and influbers of the Corporation of that institution, urg-ence, to such ideas, was peculiar and preemin ent. However innocent and excusable their motives may have been, the laws of cause and effect remained unbroken; and the result of their actions are, with truth and justice, attributable to them-not necessarily, I repeat, to impeach their honesty and integrity, but their wisdom, taste, judgment, and common sense. Human responsibility is not to be set aside, nor avoided, merely and wholly by good intent. It involves a solemn and fearful obligation to the use of reason, caution, cool deliberation, circumspection, and a most careful calculation of consequences. Error, if innocent and honest, is not punishable by divine, and ought not to be by human, law. It is covered by the mercy of God, and must not be pursued by the animosity of men. But it is, nevertheless, a thing to be dreaded and to be guarded against, with the utmost vigilance. Throughout the melancholy annals of the Church and the world, it has been the fountain of innumerable woes, spreading baleful influences through society, paralysing the energies of reason and conscience, dimming, all but extinguishing, the light of religion, convulsing nations, and desolating the earth. It is the duty of historians to trace it to its source; and, by depicting faithfully the causes that have led to it, prevent its recurrence. With these views, I feel bound, distinctly, to state that the impression given to the popular sentiments of the period, to which I am referring, by certain leading minds, led to, was the efficient cause of, and, in this sense, may be said to have originated, the awful superstitions long prevalent in the old world and the new, and reaching a final catastrophe in 1692; and among these leading minds, aggravating and intensifying, by their writings, this most baleful form of the superstition of the age, Increase and Cotton Mather stand most conspicuous. ries about diabolical agency, possessions, apparitions, and the like, he says, "Mr. Increase Mather "hath already published many such histories of "things done in New England; and this great in"stance published by his son "—that is, the account of the Goodwin children-" cometh with “such full convincing evidence, that he must be a very obdurate Sadducee that will not believe it. 66 And his two Sermons, adjoined, are excellently "fitted to the subject and this blinded generation, "and to the use of us all, that are not past our "warfare with Devils." One of the Sermons, which Baxter commends, is on The Power and Malice of Devils, and opens with the declaration, that "there is a combination of Devils, which our air is filled withal: " the other is on Witchcraft. Both are replete with the most exciting and vehement enforcements of the superstitions of that age, relating to the Devil and his confederates. My first position, then, in contravention of that taken by the Reviewer in the North American, is that, by stimulating the Clergy over the whole country, to collect and circulate all sorts of marvellous and supposed preternatural occurrences, by giving this direction to the preaching and literature of the times, these two active, zealous, learned, and able Divines, Increase and Cotton Mather, considering the influence they naturally were able to exercise, are, particularly the latter, justly chargeable with, and may be said to have brought about, the extraordinary outbreaks of credulous fanaticism, exhibited in the cases of the Goodwin family and of "the afflicted children," at Salem Village. Robert Calef, writing to the Ministers of the country, March 18, 1694, says: "I having had, not only occasion, but renewed "provocation, to take a view of the mysterious "doctrines, which have of late been so much This opinion was entertained, at the time, by "contested among us, could not meet with any impartial observers. Francis Hutchinson, D. D. "that had spoken more, or more plainly, the Chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, and "sense of those doctrines" [relating to the Witch"Minister of St. James's Parish, in St. Ed-craft] "than the Reverend Mr. Cotton Mather, “mund's Bury," in the life-time of both the Mathers, published, in London, an Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, dedicated to the "Lord Chief-justice of England, the Lord Chief'justice of Common Pleas, and the Lord Chief "Baron of Exchequer.' In a Chapter on The Witchcraft in Salem, Boston, and Andover, in New England, he attributes it, as will be seen in the course of this article, to the influence of the writings of the Mathers. In the Preface to the London edition of Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences, written by Richard Baxter, in 1690, he ascribes this same prominence to the works of the Mathers. While expressing the great value he attached to writings about Witchcraft, and the importance, in his view, of that department of literature which relates sto "but how clearly and consistent, either with "himself or the truth, I meddle not now to say, "but cannot but suppose his strenuous and zeal ous asserting his opinions has been one cause "of the dismal convulsions, we have here lately "fallen into."-More Wonders of the Invisible World, by Robert Calef, Merchant of Boston, in New England. Edit. London, 1700, p. 33. The papers that remain, connected with the Witchcraft Examinations and Trials, at Salem, show the extent to which currency had been given, in the popular mind, to such marvellous and prodigious things as the Mathers had been so long endeavoring to collect and circulate; particularly in the interior, rural settlements. The solemn solitudes of the woods were filled with ghosts, hobgoblins, spectres, evil spirits, and the infernal Prince of them all. Every pathway was infested with their flitting shapes and footprints; and around every hearth-stone, shuddering circles, drawing closer together as the darkness of night thickened and their imaginations became more awed and frightened, listened to tales of diabolical operations: the same effects, in somewhat different forms, pervaded the seaboard settlements and larger towns. Besides such frightful fancies, other most unhappy influences flowed from the prevalence of the style of literature which the Mathers brought into Vogue. Suspicions and accusations of witchcraft were everywhere prevalent; any unusual calamity or misadventure; every instance of real or affected singularity of deportment or behavior—and, | in that condition of perverted and distempered public opinion, there would be many suchwas attributed to the Devil. Every sufferer who had yielded his mind to what was taught in pulpits or publications, lost sight of the Divine Hand, and could see nothing but devils in his afflictions. Poor John Goodwin, whose trials we are presently to consider, while his children were acting, as the phrase-originating in those days, and still lingering in the lower forms of vulgar speech-has it, "like all possessed," broke forth thus: "I thought of what David said, 2 Samuel, "xxiv. 14. If he feared so to fall into the hands "of men, oh! then to think of the horrors of our condition, to be in the hands of Devils and "Witches. Thus, our doleful condition moved us to call to our friends to have pity on us, for "God's hand hath touched us. I was ready to "say that no one's affliction was like mine. That my little house, that should be a little Bethel "for God to dwell in, should be made a den for "Devils; that those little Bodies, that should be "Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in, should "be thus harrassed and abused by the Devil and his cursed brood."-Late Memorable Providences, relating to Witchcraft and Possessions. By Cotton Mather. Edit. London, 1691. 66 No wonder that the country was full of the terrors and horrors of diabolical imaginations, when the Devil was kept before the minds of men, by what they constantly read and heard, from their religious teachers! In the Sermons of that day, he was the all-absorbing topic of learning and eloquence. In some of Cotton Mather's, the name, Devil, or its synonyms, is mentioned ten times as often as that of the benign and blessed God. No wonder that alleged witchcrafts were numerous! Drake, in his History of Boston, says there were many cases there, about the year 1688. Only one of them seems to have attracted the kind of notice requisite to preserve it from oblivion—that of the four children of John Goodwin, the eldest, thirteen years of age. The rela tion of this case, in my book [Salem Witchcraft, i. 454-460] was wholly drawn from the Memorable Providences and the Magnalia. II. THE GOODWIN CHILDREN. SOME GENERAL RBMARKS UPON THE CRITICISMS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. The Reviewer charges me with having wronged Cotton Mather, by representing that he "got "up" the whole affair of the Goodwin children. He places the expression within quotation marks, and repeats it, over and over again. In the passage to which he refers-p. 366 of the second volume of my book-I say of Cotton Mather, that he "repeatedly endeavored to get up cases "of the kind in Boston. There is some ground "for suspicion that he was instrumental in origin"ating the fanaticism in Salem." I am not aware that the expression was used, except in this passage. But, wherever used, it was designed to convey the meaning given to it, by both of our great lexicographers. Worcester defines to get up, to prepare, to make ready-to get up an "entertainment; 'to print and publish, as a 'book."" Webster defines it, "to prepare "for coming before the public; to bring for"ward." This is precisely what Mather did, in the case of the Goodwin children, and what Calef put a stop to his doing in the case of Margaret Rule. 664 66 66 16 In 1831, I published a volume entitled Lectures on Witchcraft, comprising a history of the Delusion, in Salem, in 1692. In 1867, I published Salem Witchcraft, and an account of Salem Village; and, in the Preface, stated that "the former was prepared under circumstances which pre"vented a thorough investigation of the subject. "Leisure and freedom from professional duties "have now enabled me to prosecute the researches necessary to do justice to it. The Lectures on Witchcraft have long been out of print. "Although frequently importuned to prepare a new edition, I was unwilling to issue, again, "what I had discovered to be an inadequate "presentation of the subject." In the face of this disclaimer of the authoriy of the original work, the Reviewer says: "In this discussion, we "shall treat Mr. Upham's Lectures and History "in the same connection, as the latter is an expansion and defence of the views presented in "the former." I ask every person of candor and fairness, to consider whether it is just to treat authors in this way? It is but poor encouragement to them to labor to improve their works, for the first critical journal in the country to bring discredit upon their efforts, by still laying to their charge what they have themselves remedied or withdrawn. Yet |