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the interior of the colony the delusion did not spread
at all.
The house of representatives, which assembled in
June, was busy with its griefs at the abridgment of the old colonial liberties.
Increase
Mather, the agent,
was heard in his own defence; and, at last,
Bond, the speaker, in the name of the house, tardily and languidly thanked him for his faithful and unwearied exertions.
No recompense was voted.
‘I seek not yours, but you,’ said Increase
Mather; ‘I am willing
Some Few Remarks, 1702, p. 20. |
to wait for recompense in another world;’ and the general court, after prolonging the validity of the old laws, adjourned to October.
But Phipps and his council had not looked to the general court for directions; they turned to the ministers of Boston and Charlestown; and from them, by the hand of Cotton Mather, they receive gratitude for their sedulous endeavors to defeat the abominable witchcrafts; prayer that the discovery may be perfected; a caution against haste and spectral evidence; a hint to affront the devil, and give him the lie, by condemning none on his testimony alone; while the direful advice is added—‘We recommend the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious.’
The obedient court, at its next session,
condemned five women, all of blameless lives, all declaring their innocence.
Four were convicted easily enough; Rebecca Nurse was, at first, acquitted.
‘The honored court was pleased to object against the verdict;’ and, as she had said )f the confessing witnesses, ‘they used to come among us,’ meaning that they had been prisoners together,
Stoughton interpreted the words as of a witch festival.
The jury withdrew, and could as yet not agree; but, as the
