. The library of American history, literature and biography .. . aCliristi Americana, which is a history of the colony in all its interests andaffairs, from the year 1620 to 1689. COTTON MATHER AND THE WITCHES. Cotton Mathers name is perhaps most widely known as the great instigatorof persecution in the time of the witchcraft terror. A man of great and variedlearning, he was singularly devoid of common sense, and allowed himself tobe swayed by opinions that bear a close resemblance to those of , through his great influence, and perhaps by virtue of that qualitywhich we ha
. The library of American history, literature and biography .. . aCliristi Americana, which is a history of the colony in all its interests andaffairs, from the year 1620 to 1689. COTTON MATHER AND THE WITCHES. Cotton Mathers name is perhaps most widely known as the great instigatorof persecution in the time of the witchcraft terror. A man of great and variedlearning, he was singularly devoid of common sense, and allowed himself tobe swayed by opinions that bear a close resemblance to those of , through his great influence, and perhaps by virtue of that qualitywhich we have learned to call personal magnetism, he succeeded in inoculat- 70 THE STORY OF AMERICA. ing a majority of the most influential people of Massachusetts with his singularcraze. There had been executions for witchcraft in New England before DoctorMathers time, but in the revival of persecution he was most prominent. Especially severe have New York writers of later years been, in com-menting upon this reign ofterror in New England, yetNew Yorks history has. had a darker chapter ofcruelty. Twenty hangingsfor witchcraft occurred inSalem; nearly double that number of persons were burned at the stake in NewYork City, upon the ground until recently known as the Five Points. Bothof these occurrences were in the same generation, but the one was the result ofdelusion, while the other resulted from abject terror, caused by one Mary A PROTEST AGAINST PERSECUTION. ji Burton, a criminal cliaracter, who pretended to have information of a negroinsurrection, and then for a few pounds swore away forty hves. Virginia, too,had her witch trials, though not carried to the lengths that those of Salem were,and even tolerant Maryland has her record of witch hanging. And surely nonecan fail to honor Samuel Sewell, of Massachusetts, whose public expression ofsorrow for the part he had taken in the witch executions was one of the firstsigns of recovery from the popular delusion. In like manner the p
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