FOOTNOTES:
[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."
