[137] 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.
[138] See Vol. I, Page 25-6.
[139] 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.
[140] 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.
[141] "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.
[142] It must be allowed that the Doctor was a little unfortunate in
his Choice of a Hero by which to measure his own.
[143] 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.
[144] 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.
[145] 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_.
[146] 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.
[147] "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.
[148] "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._
[149] 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.
[150] 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.
[151] Actions brought without Foundation.
[152] "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.
[153] 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.
[154] I do not find this animadverted upon in the _Some Few Remarks_.
[155] 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.
[156] 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.
[157] Elisha Cooke and Thomas Oakes, both of them Assistants. See
Hutchinson, _Hist. Mass._, i, 393.
[158] Sir Henry Ashurst.
[159] 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.
[160] 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.
[161] 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.
[162] Whether this Paper, containing the _variety of Heathen Learning_,
was ever printed, the Editor is unable to say.
[163] 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.
[164] 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.
[165] 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.
[166] 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_.
[167] 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.
[168] 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.
[169] See Volume I, Page 34.
[170] Dr. Douglass goes further in this Matter. He says that "some of
the Confessing Witches, by overacting their Parts in accusing some
of Gov. Phips's, and the Rev. Mr. Mather's Relations; as also some
of the Accused good Christians, and of good Estates, those arrested
the Accusers in high Actions for Defamation; this put a stop to
Accusations."--_Summary_, i, 450.
[171] Referring to certain Answers in writing put into Mr. Calef's
Hands, with an Injunction against his printing them. See _ante_, Vol.
II, Page 86.
[172] This Statement is fully borne out, as will be seen on referring
to the Life of Phips, as directed above, or to the same in the
_Magnalia_, B. ii, 60, _et seq._; one Extract here must suffice: "But
of all the _Preternatural_ things which befel these People, there
were none more unaccountable than those, wherein the prestigious
_Dæmons_ would ever now and then cover the most _Corporeal_ Things in
the World with a _Fascinating Mist_ of Invisibility. As now; a Person
was cruelly assaulted by a _Spectre_, that, she said, run at her with
a _Spindle_, though no Body else in the Room could see either the
_Spectre_ or the _Spindle_: At last, in her Agonies, giving a Snatch
at the _Spectre_, she pulled the _Spindle_ away; and it was no sooner
got into her Hand, but the other Folks then present beheld that it was
indeed a Real, Proper, Iron _Spindle_; which, when they locked up very
safe, it was nevertheless by the _Dæmons_ taken away to do farther
Mischief." In the _Wonders of the Invisible World_ (Vol. I, 205), this
Story of the Spindle will be seen among the _Curiosities_ and is given,
as the Author there tells the Reader, as "a Bone to pick" for the
_Dogmatical_. _See also_ Lawson, 102.
[173] It is highly interesting to hear the Doctor's Account of this:
"It was also found, that the Flesh of the Afflicted was often _Bitten_
at such a Rate, that not only the _Print of Teeth_ would be left on
their _Flesh_, but the very _Slaver_ of _Spittle_ too: As there would
appear just such a _set of Teeth_ as was in the _Accused_, even such
as might be clearly distinguished from other People's. And usually
the _Afflicted_ went through a terrible Deal of seeming Difficulties
from the tormenting _Spectres_, and must be long waited on before they
could get a Breathing Space from their Tormentors to give in their
Testimonies."--_Life of Phips, in Magnalia_, B. ii, 61-2.
[174] The Doctor must once again be heard, otherwise the Reader can
have but a faint Idea of what our Author is exposing: "The Miserable
exclaimed extreamly of _Branding Irons_ heating at the Fire on the
Hearth to mark them; now, though the Standers by could see no _Irons_,
yet they could see distinctly the Print of them in the Ashes, and
_smell_ them too as they were carried by the _not-seen Furies_,
unto the poor Creatures for whom they were intended; and those poor
Creatures were thereupon _Stigmatized_ with them, that they will
bear the Marks of them to their Dying Day. Nor are these the _Tenth
Part_ of the _Prodigies_ that fell out among the Inhabitants of New
England."--_Ibid._, Page 61. If any one, after reading these strongly
expressed Opinions of the learned Doctor, will entertain Doubts, as to
his extreme Credulity and Faith in Witchcraft, it is not likely to be
in human Power to remove them.
[175] The Cry of "Blasphemer, Sadducee, Infidel, Liar, Slanderer,"
&c., &c., could not then, nor at any other Time, alter the Facts so
truly and so succinctly stated here. Against the above is found: "He
insinuates, that our Reverend Ministers make the Devil an _Independent
Being_, and (as he says) _consequently a God_. An abominable
Charge!"--_Some Few Remarks_, 8, 9. See, also, Vol. I, Page 72-3.
[176] And yet, as inconsistent with Reason as this absurd Stuff is,
it was the generally prevailing Belief, and is thus _defended_ in the
_Some Few Remarks_, P. 8: "The whole Body of the Ministers in the
Country are charged, as Guilty of Sacriledge in the highest Degree,
if not direct Blasphemy, and Diabolical Wickedness." It will at once
be seen that this is as unjust a Charge as Malignity in its Blindness
could invent. Well did our Quaker Poet write, some 17 Years ago:
"When the Thought of Man is free,
Error fears its lightest Tones;
So the Priest cried 'Sadducee!'
And the People took up Stones."
[177] These Notes may fittingly be closed by another Extract from
our amiable Quaker Poet, who seems attentively to have examined the
Characters of both the _Wonders_ and the _More Wonders_:
"In the solemn Days of Old,
Two Men met in Boston Town--
One a Merchant Frank and bold,
One a Preacher of renown.
Cried the last, in bitter Tone--
'Prisoner of the Wells of Truth,
Satan's Hireling thou hast sown
With his Tares the Heart of Youth!'
Spake the honest Merchant then--
God be Judge 'twixt Thee and I;
All thou knowst of Truth hath been
Unto Men like thee a lie."
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