USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Sketches about Salem people > Part 13
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It should be borne in mind that a good part of Mather's work, "Wonders of the Invisible World," is taken up by a sermon that he preached in August, 1692, when the delu- sion was raging, and was reproduced with additions in 1693, and published with his trials of the witches in Salem, and this by the special command of the Governor.
A somewhat careful perusal of his work induces us to believe that our Salem tragedy was especially based upon a religious belief then influential, and we may suppose prevalent in the Colony, and relieves Salem from the main burden of the tragedy. The public mind, the body politic, was prepared for this contagion; which, like the visible plague, might indeed break out in one spot, but which found the whole community predisposed to the attack.
If the remainder of the Colony had been sane, and only Salem bereft of her reason, our old town might bear the burden; but the share taken in the matter by the Govern- ment, the clergy, the courts, and the remainder of the Colony, proves that our burden is their burden, our mis- takes their mistakes, our penitence their penitence, our sorrow and shame theirs also.
The story of the arrest and examination of Mary Eng- lish and her husband Philip, if we had all the documents in the case, would no doubt be exceedingly interesting. The papers, however, have not come down to us, except in the most meagre form. Philip English was wealthy. He
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had, for that day, large possessions. He lived well. He occupied one of the finest mansions in town. Dr. Bentley intimates that his controversies and law suits with the town may have had something to do with leading the accus- ing children of witchcraft to "name" the Englishes. Be- sides that, he was an Episcopalian. He desired toleration for that creed, and felt that he could not obtain it. He adhered to his religious creed with great pertinacity, and even as late as 1725 was imprisoned in our Salem Jail for refusing to pay church taxes to the East Parish Con- gregational Church.
The Episcopalians were thrust out from civil govern- ment in the Colony in 1631 by the law of freemanship, and were not restored to their rights even after the Resto- ration. To tolerate them was to tolerate the tyranny of that church which had driven the Puritans and Pilgrims over the sea and was only biding its time for spiritual dominion over them. It was probably no recommendation of Philip English in those days of witchcraft that he was an adherent of the Church of England, and it may be that this fact contributed in a large measure to the prejudice which prompted these children to mention him as inclined to witchcraft.
We are indebted to Dr. Bentley for the information con- nected with the arrest of Mrs. English. She was in bed when the sheriff came for her. The servants admitted him to her chamber, where he read the warrant. She re- fused to rise. Guards were placed about the house, and in the morning she attended the devotions of the family, kissed her children with great composure, proposed her plan for their education, took leave of them, and then told the officer "she was ready to die." She was evidently so persuaded from the first that accusation of witchcraft was equivalent to condemnation, that she expected only death, and prepared herself for it.
Mrs. English was examined and committed, by indul- gence, to custody in a public house, at which her husband visited her. Some say it was the Salem Jail," probably at the corner of St. Peter's and Federal Streets.
* The jail at Salem, where many of the victims were lodged, was located on Prison Lane (now St. Peter's Street), and the Court House, where the trials took place, was on Town House
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BY RALPH BERTRAM HARRIS
There is a tradition in the family that before her examination she was placed in a room directly over the examining judges, and heard through the thin partition the examination of some of the accused; that she took some notes of these examinations-particularly of the questions asked by the magistrates-and when her own turn came, she asked them if such things were right and lawful. She told them she would know of the higher courts whether such things were law and justice, and that their decisions should be reviewed by the superior judges.
There is another tradition that she was confined in the second story of a tavern, which stood just above Market Square on the northern side of Essex Street, and which Felt, in his "Annals of Salem," calls the "Cat and Wheel."
The visits of her husband brought suspicion on him and got him into trouble, for a warrant was issued for him on the 30th of April, although he was not arrested until later (May 30). The tradition in the family is that he kept himself out of the way for a while, being in Boston en- deavoring to obtain the removal of his wife to that town and to obtain the interest of the authorities in her behalf; that he then voluntarily surrendered himself, more par- ticularly as he found his own absence was being used to. the prejudice of his wife. He appears to have been ex- amined in Salem and then committed to prison with Mrs. English.
Dr. Bentley gives as one of the causes of the accusation against Mrs. English, that she had been considered haughty in her bearing toward the poor; that some prejudices were at the bottom of it. The family tradition says nothing as to the causes of her arrest, but her servants were over- whelmed with grief when she was arrested, and wished to resist the officers, which she would not permit.
Apparently she was a woman of religious sensibilities, for as early as 1681 she was admitted a Congregational
Lane (now Washington Street). The Meeting House, where examinations had been held, was at what is now the southeast corner of Essex and Washington Streets, the present site of Daniel Low's store. The old Witch House, the residence of Judge Corwin, was used for conferences and sessions of the Grand Jurors.
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Church member, and has left behind her the following religious acrostic, put into Dr. Bentley's hands by a lady of Boston, one of her descendants :
May I with Mary chues ye better part And serve ye Lord with all my heart, Reseive his word most joyfully Y live to him eternally.
Everliving God I pray
Never leave me for to stray ;
Give me grace the to obay. Lord grant that I may hapy be In Jesus Christ eternille. Save me deer Lord by thy rich grace, Heaven then shall be my dwelling-place.
This acrostic is not dated, but was evidently written after marriage and perhaps after she had been admitted to the church in 1681. At that time certainly she seems to have been humble in mind and heart.
Mr. and Mrs. English were finally removed to Boston from our Salem jail, and on the same day with Giles Cory, George Jacobs, Sr., Alice Parker, Ann Pudeater, and Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver. Of these all perished ex- cept themselves. Bridget Bishop was the first victim of the witchcraft madness of 1692. Giles Cory was pressed to death for refusing to plead to his indictment, and Alice Parker and George Jacobs were hung. It is the trial of Jacobs, as painted by Matheson and presented by the Messrs. Ropes, which decorates the hallway of the Essex Institute. Philip English and his wife escaped death by flight from jail to New York.
It is said that several of the Boston clergy took a great deal of interest in the cause of Mr. and Mrs. English when confined in jail; that Cotton Mather, who was a great friend of Mrs. English, said that, though she was accused, "he did not believe her to be guilty: that her accusers evidently believed her to be so, but that Satan was evidently deceiving them into that belief"; a very ingenious defence, in fact, against all accusations of the kind. It is also reported that the Governor interested himself in their behalf. It is said that their friends re-
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peatedly urged Mr. and Mrs. English to escape to New York, and that some New York merchants who knew Mr. English sent on a carriage to help them in their flight. This, Mr. English was at first unwilling to do, saying that "he did not believe that they [the courts] would shed innocent blood." He soon, however, had reason to believe the opposite, and they both disappeared. It was rumored that the State authorities were cognizant of the plot for the escape and aided in it. Dr. Bentley, in his letter to Alden, thus details the circumstances in regard to the escape of Mr. and Mrs. English from Boston.
Joshua Moodey, mentioned as being concerned therein, was indeed a rare man for that age. About the year 1658 he began to preach in Portsmouth, N. H. His indepen- dent and faithful manner of preaching and the strictness of his church discipline brought down on his head in 1684 the wrath of Lieutenant-Governor Cranfield of that prov- ince, who indicted and imprisoned him under the Uni- formity Act, and dismissed him, after thirteen weeks imprisonment, with a charge to preach no more on penalty of further imprisonment. This drove him to Boston, where he preached until 1692. At that time he boldly espoused the cause of Mr. and Mrs. English-openly jus- tified Mr. English, and in defiance of the popular preju- dice, denounced the prevailing witchcraft persecution. This brought down upon him the wrath of not a few influ- ential persons in his own society, and he was obliged to leave Boston in consequence. He was gladly welcomed back to Portsmouth, by a parish by whom he was greatly beloved, and thence remained with them. In 1680 he was offered the Presidency of Harvard College, which he mod- estly declined. Cotton Mather preached his funeral ser- mon and called him "that man of God." It was evident that he was a bold and fearless, able man, seeing clearly through the delusion of his age, while his treatment of his personal enemies proves him to have been as magnani- mous and noble as he was brave and able.
Dr. Bentley says in his letter to Alden: "In Boston. upon giving bail, Mr. and Mrs. English had the liberty of the town, only lodging in prison. Upon their arrival. Messrs. Willard and Moodey discovered every disposition
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to console them in their distress. On the day before they were to return to Salem to stand trial, Mr. Moodey waited upon them in the prison and invited them to public wor- ship. On this occasion he chose for his text, 'If they persecute you in one city, flee to another.' In the sermon, with a manly freedom, he justified every attempt to escape from the forces of justice, when justice was violated in them. After service Mr. Moodey visited them in jail, and asked Mr. English whether he took notice of his discourse. Mr. English said that he did not know whether he had applied it as he ought, and wished some conversation on the subject. Mr. Moodey then frankly told him that his life was in danger and he ought by all means to provide for an escape. Mr. English then replied, 'God will not suffer them to hurt me.' Upon this reply, Mrs. English said to her husband, 'Do you not think that they who have suffered already are innocent ?' His reply was, 'Yes.' 'Why then may we not suffer also? Take Mr. Moodey's advice.' Mr. Moodey then told Mr. English that if he would not carry his wife away, he would.
"He then told him he had persuaded several worthy persons in Boston to make provision for their conveyance out of the Colony, and that a conveyance had been ob- tained, encouraged by the Governor and the gaoler, that would come at midnight, and that proper recommendations had been obtained to Governor Fletcher of New York, so that he might give himself no concern about any circum- stance of the journey. The Governor also gave letters to Governor Fletcher, and at the time appointed, Mr. Eng- lish, his wife and daughter were taken and conveyed to New York. He found before his arrival that Mr. Moodey had despatched letters, and the Governor with many pri- vate gentlemen, came out to meet him. Governor Fletcher entertained him at his own home and paid him every attention while he remained in the city. This is the sub- stance of the communication," writes Dr. Bentley, "made to me at different times from Madam Susannah Har- thorne, his great-granddaughter, who received the account from the descendants of Mr. English, and who dwelt upon his obligation to Mr. Moodey with great pleasure. Mr. Moodey had to leave Boston in consequence of his share in
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this transaction, but only to return to the arms of a con- gregation who had never willingly given him up."
The winter of 1692-93 and the succeeding spring were days of terrible suffering for the people of Salem. Mr. English, anticipating something of this misery, sent on from New York during the winter, 100 barrels of flour for the poor, who, he was afraid, "would suffer in his absence." The witchcraft madness and terror, the executions, the numerous arrests, the accusations on all sides, the flight of the inhabitants-over a quarter part of whom fled -- the general gloom and the utter prostration of business, had all depressed Salem beyond imagination. In 1693, the storm was over and the people were themselves again.
Mr. English and his wife then returned to Salem and were welcomed home by Reverend Mr. Noyes, who was very attentive to him ever after. The town expressed its joy at his return by bonfires and by general rejoicing. Mrs. English, however, returned home an invalid, only to die a little later.
During the time that Philip English had been away from home, his house had been sacked, his private papers tampered with, his goods attached and taken from his stores, his pictures taken from the walls, to the amount of £1,183. He sued Curwen, the Sheriff, for £1,500, but never recovered. His wife's health was ruined, his goods gone, his business for the time broken up, and he, after all, an innocent man. The only financial satisfaction that he ever got was £60 paid him by the administrator of the estate of George Curwen.
The whole affair was a great trial for Mr. English. Perhaps this was one cause of the disease (clouding of the mind) under which he labored the last two years of his life. The loss of his wife was a severe blow,-a wife whom he tenderly loved,-and in addition to this came the loss of his property to no small amount, and most unjustly brought about. He petitioned the General Court for pecu- niary satisfaction, but refused the amount tendered to him, as it was entirely inadequate.
Mr. English set about repairing his fortune, having children to bring up, and seems to have entered business again with fresh spirit and energy, though not with the
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good fortune, perhaps, that he had met with prior to 1692. He sent his ketches, sloops, and brigantines to Barbadoes and other British West Indies, Dutch Guiana, Maryland, Virginia, and Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecti- cut, Ireland, Isle of Jersey and England. It is quite pos- sible that English was engaged in trade with some of these places prior to 1692, but many of his earlier commercial papers were most probably scattered, if not destroyed, when his house and warehouse were sacked that year. A few papers were found of commercial interest running from 1694 to 1720.
A higher power than the winds and the waves and the fallible efforts of man is indeed recognized in all the old Salem letters of advice now extant, not of Philip English alone, but of other Salem merchants. Nor were such men, indeed, the less manly or generous for such a belief or acknowledgment, as the noble legacies to Salem abun- dantly prove; and English's letter of 1694-95 may have some interest; Major John Pilgrim, to whom it was addressed, was a merchant of Barbadoes, most probably a commission merchant.
Jan. 28 1684-5
MAJOR JOHN PILGRIM, Sir :-
Yours received, by Mr. Benj. Pittman with one envoice & bill of Loading enclosed of 4 bbls of rum & 4 bbls of molasses. The rum was in good condition but the molasses was about 1/4 part leaked or taken out. Mr. Pittman gives me to understand it was so before it came on board-there- fore I had not any satisfaction of him.
If it should please God that the said ketch arrives safe in Barbadoes, I intreat you to receive the said fish and dispose of the same for me & Return the produce by the same ketch in Barbadoes goods if to be had, if not, in dry goods :- ,viz, nails, blue lining, Holland duck, cordage if it is to be found cheap there. Knowing not what is best, I leave it to your dircretion to make returns in what you think best to my advantage, but in case the said ketch should not return hither, I directly pray, send the effects by the first that is bound for Salem, if Barbadoes goods, if English goods by any bound for Salem or Boston; fish is very scarce here, is none to be expected till spring.
WITCHCRAFT.
BY FRED GIBSON ROBBINS, M. D., D. M. D.
Sir Walter Scott, in his "Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft," says: "It appears then, that the ideas of superstition which the more ignorant converts to the Chris- tian faith borrowed from the wreck of the classical myth- ology, were so rooted in the minds of their successors that these found corroboration of their faith in demon- ology in the practice of every pagan nation whose des- tiny it was to encounter them as enemies, and that as well within the limits of Europe, as in every other part of the globe to which their arms were carried. In a word, it may be safely laid down that the commonly received doc- trine of demonology, presenting the same general outlines, though varied according to the fancy of particular nations, existed through all Europe. It seems to have been founded originally on feelings incident to the human heart, or diseases to which the human frame is liable to have been largely augmented by what classic superstitions survived the ruins of paganism-and to have received new contributions from the opinions collected among the barbarous nations, whether of the east or of the west."
(Now, in order that we may get some idea as to the origins of witchcraft, let us go back to the period when Christianity was emerging from paganism, and there ob- serve, if possible, how, with the teaching of a new religion, there arose such confusion of the understanding that in- stead of wisdom a devouring superstition and the most maniacal fanaticism came to develop.
Amongst the Greeks and Romans magic had a totally different character from that which it assumed in the Judaic-Christian faith, for in this the devil was held to play the chief part. The magical arts were not, in old times, attributed to the influence of the powers of dark- ness but to people who were in familiar intercourse with the gods and demons. The ancient German and northern elves approximated nearer to those of the Christian world ; in fact, it may be said they constitute, to a certain degree, the foundation and underwork of the following witch
(1)
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period. For here men understood by sorcery, rather the operation of secret powers, which were ascribed to wicked men and fallen beings and not to the gods who performed the higher miracles and who merely worked for good; the original idea of magic being that of enquiring into the secret powers of nature in order to use them to advantage.
Soothsaying women at the period of the diffusion of Christianity were very numerous in parts of Europe, and as they were equally frequent amongst the ancient votaries of the gods and as those gods came to be regarded as demons and evil spirits, consequently the strange doings of these women came to be regarded as produced by the help of demons and the women themselves as witches and the accomplices of devils.`In the early days of the church the Fathers did not altogether regard divination in this evil point of view, for Clemens of Alexandria says, "There are among the Germans so-called prophetic women who according to the running of the river and the form of the waves, etc., divine and foretell future events." Later, when the superstitious belief in the devil and evil spirits had increased; when natural phenomena were attributed to the influence of the devil; when the people through a rabid fanaticism came to confess impossibilities and judges and the clergy accepted the confessions of imagina- tive or, shall we say, deranged persons as true, then the Black Art was in full sway; the devil had reached the summit of his power and the name of witch was a terror to everyone; for then the witch was no longer the pro- phetic or so-called "wise woman"-the original meaning- but a person who had made an actual, deliberate, formal compact with Satan. By this agreement she was to be- come his faithful subject and do all in her power to aid him in his rebellion against God and the church, and in return Satan was to grant to her supernatural powers. Thus a witch was considered as a person who had trans- ferred allegiance and worship from God to the devil. This 1
compact was supposed to confer great additional power on the devil as well as on the person, for it was thought that for him to act on men the intervention and co-operation of human beings was necessary. And once the agreement
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had been made, the combined powers of the two working together was supposed to be unlimited. A witch was con- sidered as able to afflict any person she would. She could cause them to pine away or to go into convulsions. She could injure persons in various ways, by choking and by causing them to lose their minds, by bringing about dis- ease, pain, torture, and even to cause death. An indefi- nite amount of supernatural knowledge was attributed to witches as well as knowledge such as no other had. It was believed that those who had made a compact with the devil had been marked by him somewhere on the body, and that this point was callous and without sensation so that if, on examination, any spot was found which was in- sensible or if there was any excrescence, induration or - fixed discoloration, it was looked upon as evidence of guilt.
Witches were believed to assume the shape of any animal they wished, as dog, cat, mouse, toad. Yellow birds in particular were supposed to represent witches. Imps were thought to be under the control of witches and these in the form of insects, particularly spiders, and to obtain nourishment from the witchmark on the body of the suspect. It was believed that a witch could be any- where at any time and exert her powers through her spirit or apparition. She could also operate by means of an image which was supposed to represent the person she wished to afflict. This image might be of wax or it might be a doll or a simple bundle of rags, and whatever the witch did to this puppet would be suffered by the one rep- resented. When anyone was arrested on the charge of witchcraft, a search was made for these, and if anything could be found that might possibly possess that character -it need be but a simple piece of cloth wrapped up, or a cushion ; and particularly if there were any pins in it- it was considered as important and decisive evidence against the accused.
In the fifth century St. Jerome himself was obliged to fight with devils-once he was flogged by them.
The ideas of St. Augustine had a direct tendency to countenance the belief in the intercourse of witches and devils.
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John of Damascus speaks of the devils as flying dragons, as burning, long serpents, thick as pine trees, who speed through the air and enter through windows and have com- munication with those in alliance with them. He also speaks of sorcery by which men and beasts are tormented and by which children are bewitched even during the period of gestation and are destroyed at birth.
The animal metamorphoses are mentioned by the first Bishop of Cremona (Luitprand) at that time imperial ambassador at Constantinople and in the year 963 inter- preter at Rome. Pope Sylvester II (999) was declared to have obtained his office by means of the Black Art. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries the moral and intellectual horizon grew brighter through increase of knowledge and religious enlightenment. At this period the devil was represented in fables and ballads as a wag who carried on much sport and was easily expelled by the help of a saint or making the sign of the cross.
From the thirteenth century on the belief began to rage again and towards its end many books existed on the subject. By means of these, the fear of the devil, superstitution and the belief in the apparition of spirits became universal. It was during this cen- tury that a nun named Marcella was persecuted by the devil but the Angel Gabriel brought her a piece of wood out of Paradise, with the smoke of which she drove away the devil. The Archbishop Edmund of Canterbury was greatly persecuted by the devil. How widely diffused witchcraft was then may be judged by the statement "that in Germany and Italy especially such numbers of men were seduced to sorcery that the whole earth was over- flowed by it and would have been laid waste by the devil had they not in both countries burnt some thirty thousand heretics." During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the belief rose to its complete height and growth and from this time on heresy and witchcraft were placed in the same category, for seeing or having a vision of the devil was the same as having intercourse with him and was a falling from grace. The black mastery now rested on authority and law, on the spiritual and secular powers.
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