" _The House of the Seven Gables_
(20: 225), HAWTHORNE.
"Then, too, the belief in witchcraft was general. Striking coincidences,
personal eccentricities, unusual events and mysterious diseases seemed
to find an easy explanation in an unholy compact with the devil. A
witticism attributed to Judge Sewall, one of the judges in these trials,
may help us to understand the common panic: 'We know who's who but not
which is witch.' That was the difficulty. At a time when every one
believed in witchcraft it was easy to suspect one's neighbor. It was a
characteristic superstition of the century and should be classed with
the barbarous punishments and religious intolerance of the age." _N.E.
Hist. Towns_.--LATIMER'S--_Salem_ (150).
Multiplication of these witchcraft testimonies, quaint and curious,
vulgar and commonplace, evil and pathetic, voices all of a strange
superstition, understandable only as through them alone can one gain a
clear perspective of the spirit of the time and place, would prove
wearisome. They may well remain in the ancient records until they find
publicity in detail in some accurate and complete history of the
beginnings of the commonwealth--including this strange chapter in its
unique history.
It will, however, serve a present necessary purpose, and lead to a more
exact conception of the reign of unreason, if glimpses be taken here and
there of a few of the statements made on oath in some of the other
cases.
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