New-England legends . ibility,there can be no doubt that they were greatactors. In mere jugglery and sleight-of-hand,they bear no mean comparison with tlie workersof wonders, in that line, of our own day. Longpractice had given them complete control overtheir countenances, intonations of voice, andthe entire muscular and nervous org nizationof their bodies ; so that they could at will, andon the instant, go into fits and convulsions ;swoon and fall to the floor; put their framesinto strange contortions ; bring the blood tothe face and send it back again. They couldbe deadly pale at one moment,
New-England legends . ibility,there can be no doubt that they were greatactors. In mere jugglery and sleight-of-hand,they bear no mean comparison with tlie workersof wonders, in that line, of our own day. Longpractice had given them complete control overtheir countenances, intonations of voice, andthe entire muscular and nervous org nizationof their bodies ; so that they could at will, andon the instant, go into fits and convulsions ;swoon and fall to the floor; put their framesinto strange contortions ; bring the blood tothe face and send it back again. They couldbe deadly pale at one moment, at the nextflushed ; their hands would be clinched andheld together as with a vice ; their limbs stiffand rigid or wholly relaxed ; their teeth wouldbe set, they would go through the paroxysmsof choking and strangulation, and gasp forbreath, bringing froth and blood from themouth ; they would utter all sorts of screamsin unearthly tones ; their eyes remain fixed,sometimes bereft of all light and expression, gALEM. 17. THE EEV, GEOBGE BUKEOUGHS WAS ACCUSED OP ?WITCHCRAFT ON THE EVIDENCE OF FEATS OF STKENGT:!,TRIED, HUNG, AND BURIED BENEATH THE GALLOWS. cold and stony, and sometimes kindled intoflames of passion ; they would pass into thestate of somnambulism, without aim or con-scious direction in their movements, lookingat some point where was no apparent object ofvision, with a wild, unmeaning glare. Thereare some indications that they had acquiredthe art of ventriloquism ; or they so wroughtupon the imaginations of the beholders thatthe sounds of the motions and voices of invisi-ble beings were believed to be heard. Theywould start, tremble, and be pallid before ap-paritions seen, of course, only by themselves ;but their acting was so perfect that all pre-sent thought they saw them, too. They wouldaddress and hold colloquy with spectres and ghosts, and the responses of the unseen beingswould be aufible to the fancy of the bewilderedcrowd. They would follow with their eyes th
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