Chapter V: Part 5

It was then also noted, that if the afflicted went to approach her, they were flung down to the ground. The court counted themselves alarmed by these things, to inquire farther into the conversation of the prisoner, and see what might occur to render these accusations further credible. John Allen testified, that he refused, because of the weakness of his oxen, to cart some stones, at the request of this Martin. She was displeased, and said it had been as good that he had, for his oxen should never do him any more service. Whereupon, as he was going home, one of his oxen tired, so that he was forced to unyoke him that he might get him home. He put his oxen, with many others, on Salisbury beach; they all ran into Merrimack river, and the next day were found on Plum Island. They next ran, with a violence that seemed wholly diabolical, right into the sea, swimming as far as they could be seen; and out of fourteen good oxen all were drowned, save one. John Atkinson testified, that he exchanged a cow with the son of said Martin, whereat she muttered and was unwilling he should have it. Going to receive his cow, though he hamstringed her, and haltered her, she, of a tame creature, grew so mad they could scarce get her along. She broke all the ropes that were fastened unto her, and, though she was tied fast to a tree, yet she made her escape, and gave them such further trouble, as they could ascribe it to no cause but witchcraft. J. Kemball testified, that the said Martin, upon a causeless disgust, threatened him that a certain cow should never do him any more service, and it came to pass accordingly, for soon after the cow was found stark dead on the ground, without any distemper to be discerned upon her; and this was followed with the death of several more of his cattle. 'But,' says the reverend author, 'the said J. Kemball had a further testimony against the prisoner, which was truly admirable. He applied himself to buy a dog of this Martin; but she, not letting him have his choice, he said he would supply himself at one Blazdel's, and marked a puppy there which he liked. G. Martin, the husband of the prisoner, asked him if he would not have one of his wife's puppies, and he answered, no. Whereupon the prisoner replied, "As I live I will give him puppies enough." Within a few days after, Kemball coming out of the woods, there arose a little black cloud in the N. W. and Kemball immediately felt a force upon him, which made him not able to avoid running upon the stumps of trees, although he had a broad, plain, cart way before him; but though he had his axe on his shoulder to endanger him in his falling, he could not forbear going out of his way to tumble over them. When he came below the meeting-house, there appeared to him a little creature like a puppy, of a darkish color, and it shot backwards and forwards between his legs. He had the courage to use all possible endeavors to cut it with his axe, but he could not hit it, the puppy gave a jump from him, and went, as to him it seemed, into the ground. On going a little further, there appeared unto him a black puppy, bigger than the first, but as black as a Coal. Its motions were quicker than those of his axe. It flew at him and at his throat over his shoulders one way, and then over his shoulders another way; his heart now began to fail him, and he thought the dog would have tore his throat out. But he recovered himself and called on God in his distress, and it vanished away at once.'--'This S. Martin once walked from Amesbury to Newbury in an extraordinary season, when it was not fit for any one to travel. She bragged and showed how dry she was; it could not be perceived that so much as the soles of her shoes were wet. Being told that another person would have been wet up to the knees, she replied, "_she scorned to be drabbed_." It was noted that this testimony upon her trial, cast her into a very singular confusion. John Pressy testified, that being one evening bewildered near the field of Martin, as under enchantment, he saw a marvellous light, about the bigness of a half bushel, near two rods out of the way. He struck at it with a stick and laid it on with all his might. He gave it near forty blows and felt it a palpable substance. But going from it, his heels were struck up, and he was laid with his back on the ground, sliding, as he thought, into a pit, from whence he recovered by taking hold on the bush, although afterwards he could find no pit in the place. Having gone five or six rods he saw S. Martin standing on his left hand, as the light had done before, but they changed no words with one another. At length he got home extremely affrighted. The next day it was upon inquiry understood, that Martin was in a miserable condition by pains and hurts that were upon her.' (Forty stout blows would have killed any one but a witch.) 'The deponent further testified, that having affronted the prisoner, many years ago, she said he should never prosper; more particularly, that he should never have more than two cows; that though he were ever so likely to have more than two cows, yet he should never have them. From that very day to this, namely, for twenty years together, he could never exceed that number, but some strange thing or other still prevented his having more.'

TRIAL OF ELIZABETH HOW, JUNE 30, 1692.

'The most remarkable things ascribed to E. How, were, that the sufferers complained of her as the cause of their distresses, and they would fall down when she looked on them and were raised again on the touch of her hand. There was testimony, also, that the shape of her gave trouble to people nine or ten years ago. There were apparitions or ghosts testified by some of the present sufferers, which ghosts affirmed that this How had murdered them. J. How, brother to the husband of the prisoner, testified, that having refused to accompany her to her examination, as she desired, immediately some of his cattle were bewitched to death, leaping three or four feet high, squeaking, falling, and dying at once; and going to cut off an ear, the hand wherein the knife was held, was taken very numb and painful, and so remained for several days, and he suspected the prisoner as the cause of it. N. Abbot testified, that unusual and mischievous accidents would befall his cattle whenever he had any difference with her. Once in particular, she wished his ox choked, and within a little while that ox was choked with a turnip in his throat. A woman, on some difference with How, was bewitched, and she died charging her of having a hand in her death. Many people had their barrels of beer unaccountably mischiefed, spoiled, and spilt, upon displeasing her. One testified, that they once and again lost great quantities of drink out of their vessels, in such a manner as they could ascribe it to nothing but witchcraft. And also that How once gave her some apples, and when she had eaten them, she was taken with a very strange kind of maze, so that she knew not what she said or did. There was likewise a cluster of depositions that one J. Cummings refused to lend his mare to the husband of the said How; the mare was within a day or two taken in a strange condition. She seemed abused and bruised as if she had been running over the rocks, and was marked where the bridle went, as if burnt with a red hot bridle. On using a pipe of tobacco for the cure of the beast, a blue flame issued out of her which took hold of her hair and not only spread and burnt on her, but it also flew upwards towards the roof of the barn and like to have set the barn on fire, and the mare died very suddenly. F. Lane being hired by the husband of How to get him a parcel of posts and rails, Lane hired J. Pearly to assist him. The prisoner told Lane that the posts and rails would not do because Pearly helped him, but if he had gotten them alone they might have done well enough. When How came to receive his posts and rails, on taking them up by the ends, they, though good and sound, yet unaccountably broke off, so that Lane had to get twenty or thirty more. And this prisoner being informed of it, said she told him so before, because Pearly helped about them.'

TRIAL OF MARTHA CARRYER, AUGUST 2, 1692.

A considerable number of bewitched persons deposed that it was Martha Carryer or her shape, that grievously tormented them by biting, pricking, pinching, and choking them; the poor people were so tortured, that every one expected their death upon the very spot, but that on the binding of the prisoner they were eased. Moreover, the looks of Carryer then laid the afflicted people for dead; and her touch, if her eyes at the same time were off them, raised them again. It was testified, that on the mention of some having their necks twisted almost round by the shape of this Carryer, she replied, it's no matter though their necks had been twisted quite off. B. Abbot testified, that the prisoner was very angry with him upon laying out some land near her husband's. She was heard to say she would hold Abbot's nose as close to the grindstone as ever it was held since his name was Abbot. Presently after this, he was taken with a swelling in his foot, and then with a pain in his side, and exceedingly tormented. It bred a sore which was lanced by Dr Prescott. For six weeks it continued very bad, and then another sore bred, and finally a third, all which put him to very great misery. He was brought to death's door, and so remained till Carryer was taken and carried away by the constable. From which very day he began to mend and so grew better every day. Abbot was not only afflicted in his body but suffered greatly in the loss of his cattle in a strange and unaccountable manner. One A. Toothaker testified, that Richard, the son of M. Carryer, having some difference with him, pulled him down by the hair of his head; when he rose again he was going to strike at Richard, but fell down flat on his back to the ground, and had not power to stir hand or foot until he told Carryer he yielded, and then he saw the shape of his mother, the prisoner, go off his breast. One Foster, who had confessed herself a witch, testified, that she had seen the prisoner at some of their witch meetings, and that the devil carried them on a pole, but the pole broke and she hanging about Carryer's neck, they both fell down and she received a hurt by the fall. Many other evidences of her mischievous conduct were produced, which I omit; the last was this. In the time of the prisoner's trial, one S. Sheldon, in open court, had her hands unaccountably tied together with a wheel band, so fast, that without cutting, it could not be loosened. It was done, says Dr Mather, by a spectre, and the sufferer affirmed it was the prisoner's.

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There is something in the foregoing proceedings during the memorable events at Salem, that seems to surpass all our conceptions of impartial justice, christian charity, or humanity. It is humiliating to our nature to reflect, that a class of the most profligate wretches were brought together on the stage, and their base intrigues tolerated and encouraged, fanciful experiments witnessed, and little else than fictitious evidence of accusation received to condemnation; while all pleadings for mercy, on the score of innocence, were of no avail. Not a solitary instance is found on record of the voice of pity and compassion being raised in behalf of the friendless, ignorant victims of suspicion. They were subjected to barbarous tricks and senseless experiments, calculated to encourage fraud and imposition, and then consigned to the gallows for the consequences. Better that ten guilty persons escape, than one innocent should suffer. Unfortunately, no lawyers were at that time employed in criminal cases. Had our present court and our state prison been then in existence, the good people of Salem would not long have been molested by witches and bewitched girls, with their invisible ropes and chains.

But while we contemplate the melancholy errors of judgment in our predecessors, we ought in charity to cherish the belief that had not their minds been clouded in superstitious darkness, their posterity would not have been called to mourn over imbecilities so lamentably exemplified. But we would attribute to our venerated fathers no moral corruption, no perverseness of temper, no desire to swerve from the dictates of stern justice. Their task was most arduous, their path of duty obscured by novel occurrences, and their decisions unavoidably swayed by popular clamor and vulgar prejudice. If, unhappily, their intellects were tinctured with superstition, it was the effect of early education, fostered and confirmed by concurrent sentiment and opinion, propagated in books of the heathen and papist.

Much importance was attached by the magistrates to the effects of the witches' eyes upon the sufferers; but no explanation is given why the same eyes could produce no mischievous effects on any other person. Great stress was laid on the circumstance, that in the trials the sufferers were revived from their fits by the touch of the hand of the reputed witch, but not by the hand of any other person; but instances of the contrary can be adduced; the experiment was ordered to be made in a court in England; the afflicted girl's eyes being blindfolded, and she being touched by the hand of another woman, recovered as speedily as if touched by the accused witch.

The Rev. Dr Increase Mather, then President of Harvard College, may be considered as among the best authorities for the prevalent doctrines on the subject of witchcraft. On the 19th of October, 1692, he went to Salem and conferred with eight of the confessing witches, all of whom freely and relentingly recanted their former confessions, declaring that in making them they had violated the truth, being compelled to it by pressing threats and urgings, by which they were so affrighted as to agree to anything that would rescue them from their awful situation. But they confessed with anguish of soul that they had committed a great wickedness for which they implored forgiveness. In his 'Cases of Conscience,' published in 1693, Dr Mather has particular reference to the trials at Salem. In this work he observes, that 'the gift of healing the sick and possessed, was a special grace and favor of God for the confirmation of the truth of the gospel, but that such a gift should be annexed to the touch of wicked witches, as an infallible sign of their guilt is not easy to be believed.' If it be as supposed, by virtue of some compact with the devil, that witches have power to do such things, those who encourage them in the practice, whether courts or individuals, must be guilty of sacrilege. The accusers pretended to suffer much by bites, and the prints on the skin would compare precisely with the set of teeth of the accused, but those who had not such bewitched eyes, have seen the accusers bite themselves and then complain of the accused. It was true, also, that some who complained of being pricked by pins sticking in their flesh, were their own tormentors, for the purpose of effecting their wicked designs. The pins thus employed are still preserved at Salem. Dr Mather, in the work just quoted, judiciously affirms, that the evidence in the crime of witchcraft ought to be as clear as in any other crimes of a capital nature. He is decidedly opposed to the employment of spectral evidence as being alone sufficient to justify conviction. But he considers a free and voluntary confession as a sufficient ground of conviction; yet the reverend author himself cites one remarkable instance of false confession for the avowed purpose of effecting her own death in consequence of the cruel persecution which she suffered from suspicion only, and she was burnt at the stake. In most of the instances at Salem, the confessions proved false and deceptive, those who made them being totally ignorant of the nature of witchcraft. Our learned author further observes, that if two credible persons shall affirm on oath that they have seen the person accused, _doing things which none but such as have familiarity with the devil ever did or can do, that is a sufficient ground of conviction_. It was on this ground that he justified the condemnation and execution of George Burroughs, the minister; it being testified before the court, that he had been seen to lift a barrel of molasses or cider, and to extend with one hand a heavy musket at arms' length. Nothing could be more sophistical than evidence of this description, for there are persons who can lift a solid body of six or seven hundred pounds, and can extend a king's arm at arms' length, when held at the smallest end with one hand, and no jury in our day would condemn such to the gallows as wizards.

It is among the most unaccountable facts, that those who, to save their lives, belied their consciences, and confessed themselves guilty of having formed a league with the devil, and of committing horrid crimes, should be spared and suffered to live in society, while others, relying on their innocence, honestly despised those tempting conditions, should be consigned to the gallows. In fact, false confessions, fraud, and counterfeit, were so palpable, that the halter might with more justice have been applied to the accusers than to those who actually suffered.

But such, at that time, was the state of the public mind, that the more extravagant the tale, the more implicitly was it regarded. The hostility to witchcraft was so prevalent as to give a general bias unfriendly to the fair development of truth, or to the impartial examination of facts and circumstances. The unhappy victims were without defence, and their total ignorance subjected them to the most cruel treatment and sufferings. In one instance on record, there appears to us to be a profanation of the Lord's Prayer. The woman being required to repeat it before the court, instead of 'deliver us from evil,' expressed it 'deliver us from _all_ evil;' this was considered as referring to her own condition, and she was ordered to repeat it again. On the second trial, instead of 'hallowed be thy name,' she expressed '_hollowed_ be thy name.' Thus by her using the _o_, in place of _a_, it was concluded that she could not say the Lord's Prayer, and she was committed to jail as a witch.

In Dr Mather's 'Magnalia,' we have the following instance of witchcraft.

In the year 1679, the house of William Morse, at Newbury, was infested with demons. 'Bricks, and sticks, and stones, were often by some invisible hand, thrown at the house, and so were many pieces of wood; a cat was thrown at the woman of the house, and a long staff was danced up and down in the chimney, and afterwards the same long staff was hanged by a line, and swung to and fro, and when two persons laid it on the fire to burn, it was as much as they were able to do with their joint strength to hold it there. An iron crook was violently, by an invisible hand, hurled about, and a chair flew about the room until at last it lit upon the table, where the food stood ready to be eaten, and would have spoiled all, if the people had not with much ado saved a little. A chest, was by an invisible hand, carried from one place to another, and the doors barricaded; and the keys of the family taken some of them from the bunch where they were tied, and the rest flying about with a loud noise. For a while the people of the house could not sup quietly; ashes would be thrown into their suppers and on their heads. The man's shoes being left below, one of them would be filled with ashes and coals and thrown up after him. When in bed a stone, weighing about three pounds, was divers times thrown upon them. A box and a board were likewise thrown upon them, and a bag of hops being taken out of a chest, they were by the invisible hand, beaten therewith, till some of the hops were scattered on the floor, where the bag was then laid and left. The man was often struck by that hand, with several instruments, and the same hand cast their good things into the fire; yea, while the man was at prayer, a broom gave him a blow on his head behind and fell down before his face. While the man was writing, his ink-stand was by the invisible hand snatched from him, and being able nowhere to find it, he saw it at length drop out of the air down by the fire. A shoe was laid on his shoulder, and when he would have catched it, it was snatched from him and was then clapped on his head, and there held so fast, that the unseen fury pulled him with it backward on the floor. He had his cap torn off his head, and in the night he was pulled by the hair and pinched, and scratched; and the invisible hand pricked him with some of his awls, and with needles, and bodkins, and blows that fetched blood were sometimes given him. His wife going down into the cellar, the trap door was immediately by an invisible hand shut upon her, and a table brought and laid upon the door. When he was writing another time, a dish went and leaped into a pail and cast water upon the man and spoiled what he was about. His cap jumped off his head and on again, and the pot lid went off the pot into the kettle, then over the fire together. A little boy belonging to the family was a principal sufferer, for he was flung about at such a rate, that it was feared his brains would be beaten out. His bed-clothes would be pulled from him, his bed shaken, leaping forward and backward. The man took him to hold in a chair, but the chair fell a dancing, and both of them were very near being thrown into the fire. These, and a thousand such vexations, befalling the boy at home, they carried him to live at a doctor's. There he was quiet, but returning home he suddenly cried out he was pricked on the back, where was found strangely sticking a three tined fork belonging to the doctor, and had been seen at his house after the boy's departure. Afterwards his troublers found him out at the doctor's also, when crying out again he was pinched on the back, they found an iron spindle stuck into him; and on the like outcry again, they found pins in a paper stuck into him, and a long iron, a bowl of a spoon stuck upon him. He was taken out of his bed and thrown under it, and all the knives in the house were one after another stuck into his back; which the spectators pulled out, only one of them seemed to the spectators to come out of his mouth. The spectre would make all his meat, when he was going to eat, fly out of his mouth, and instead thereof make him fall to eating ashes, sticks, and yarn.'

The foregoing has all the air of an exaggerated narrative, and it is probable that Dr Mather, in his love for the marvellous and wonderful, recorded the circumstances without due examination, but merely from the uncertain rumor among the credulous neighbors. The same story is found on the records of the court at Salem, but with the following explanatory circumstances as I have received them. It so happened, that one Caleb Powell, an intelligent seaman, suspected that a boy, the grandson of Morse, who lived in the family, was the cause of all the mischief, and watched for an opportunity of detecting him. Going one morning to Morse's house, he saw through the window, the said boy throw a shoe slyly at the old man's head. Upon this, Powell told Morse that if he would let his boy come and live with him a short time, he _guessed_ that with a little astrology and a little astronomy, he could unravel the mystery. Morse reluctantly consented, and his house was not molested during the boy's absence. This, Morse acknowledged, but yet, unwilling to suspect the boy, he and his neighbors concluded that Powell had studied the black art, and had by that means been the cause of all the mischief about Morse's house. Powell was accordingly apprehended and tried at Salem. The testimony against him was singular. One testified, that he had heard him say that by a little astrology and a little astronomy, he guessed he could find out the cause of Morse's trouble. Another testified, that he heard it said that Powell had studied the black art with one Norwood, a famous magician beyond sea. The result of the trial was, that although they could find no positive evidence of his guilt, yet he had given so much ground for suspicion, that he deserved to bear his own shame and the costs of court. Morse's wife was at another time tried for witchcraft, and condemned to be hung, but was afterwards reprieved, and died a pious woman.

The following is an amusing story, well told, but it is from newspaper authority, the Galaxy. About the year 1760, the fury of the inhabitants of New England had declined towards suspected old women, but their believing fear was not altogether quelled. At this time, a case of witchcraft occurred in Billerica, under the ministry of the Rev. Dr Cummings, who related the story with much satisfaction, as the last which came within his precincts.

An old woman, of very peaceable character, lived pretty much alone in a shell of a house near the meeting-house and the clergyman's dwelling. She was suspected of witchcraft by a family who lived at two miles' distance, in the west part of the town, and they brought accusation immediately to the parson; who in those early times, exercised not only the spiritual, but the temporal power of the parish; he was often counsel for both parties, and was judge and jury, without subjection to appeal. He was, moreover, a peace-maker. Mr C. accused Mrs D. of witchcraft. 'How do you know she is a witch?' 'Because she has bewitched my mare.' 'How do you know that your mare is bewitched?' 'Because she won't stand still to be saddled, and the minute I get on, she kicks up and throws me off.' 'But what makes you think that Mrs D. has bewitched her?' No answer. 'Have you had a quarrel with her?' 'Oh no! I have had no quarrel.' 'But what is the matter? surely she would not bewitch her for nothing.' 'Why I carried her some corn on the mare about a week ago, and I didn't know but I might have made a mistake in the measure so that it fell short, and so'--'And because your corn fell short, you suspect that she found it out, and is so angry as to bewitch your mare.' 'Yes, that's it, and I want you to go and lay the devil.' 'Why, if you have raised the devil by cheating in the corn, you had better lay him yourself.' 'Yes, but I don't know how.' 'Go then, directly, and carry the balance of the corn, and take good care never to commit such an act again: the devil is always busy with people who do not perform all their duties honestly.' The man slunk away home at this unexpected rebuke, and failed not to carry corn enough to make full measure; which, however, he feared to carry into the house to the old woman, but emptied it down upon the door-stone. But the mare ceased to kick as usual; whereupon Mr C. came to the minister, told him what he had done, and begged for holy assistance. 'Go home,' said the parson, with all that energy for which he was so remarkable, 'go home,--you need not trouble yourself about witches; I'll not allow them to do any mischief, I assure you--do your duty, so as to escape a guilty conscience, and if your mare is refractory, whip her, as I do mine--go, and let me hear no more about witches.' Mr C. obeyed, but he was far from convinced that Mrs D. was not a witch, and he determined to put it to the proof. For this purpose he boiled a large potato, which he put directly from the boiling water, under the bewitched mare's saddle. The caperings and kickings of the poor beast were excusable this time, at least, for when after some hours the saddle was got off, it was found that a severe mark was left behind it. The proof of the matter was to be this; if the old woman had bewitched the mare, she would have the same mark of a burn on her back. Two old women were prevailed on to be of the examining committee. Dr Cummings was requested to be of the party, with his Bible at hand, to prevent any fatal explosion from Satan's nostrils. This office he prudently declined. His place was supplied by another old woman, and Saturday night was appointed for this examination. This time was chosen, because the good people thought that Satan would not visit in holy hours. In the meantime, the good woman got an inkling of what was going on; and as they entered a long dark entry, they were saluted with a stupendous flash of powder and tow, and a glorious clatter of tin pans. The committee was scattered of course--and before church the next day, everybody in the town knew, that the devil came, all covered with blue brimstone, to save his disciple, the wicked Mrs D. This would have made a new era in witchcraft in the town, but for the pertinent remarks of the parson touching the matter; for he was enabled to dispense a word in season.

It is but a few years since, a farmer at Kennebunk, observing his cattle to be affected with some fatal disease, conceived the idea that they were bewitched, and fixed his suspicion on a poor widow who had become insane in consequence of the death of her husband at sea. He was so confident of her guilt, that he went to her lonely cottage, and with his ox goad, beat and abused her in a cruel manner. It is not under our salutary laws that a crime so atrocious can pass with impunity. The culprit was prosecuted and received the merited punishment.

The family of M'Farlain, of Pembroke, were remarkable for peculiarity of character and manners. About the year 1789, Seth M'Farlain attracted the notice of the neighborhood by being supposed to be under the influence of witchcraft. He became an object of wonder and commiseration to some, and of curiosity and ridicule to others. Hundreds of people thronged round his house from time to time, gazing with astonishment at his supposed personal sufferings; inflicted, as he pretended, by a certain old hag in the neighborhood. He was desired to visit the woman at her house, but before he could reach the door, his limbs would fail him, and he would fall to the ground. His body was occasionally distorted and convulsed, he would utter the bitterest complaints of pain and distress, which he ascribed to the presence of the hag, although she was invisible to all but himself. He consulted Judge T--r, to know whether he would be culpable in law if he should kill a witch. The Judge observing Seth on the bed with a club, swinging his arms to and fro, to keep off the witch, was willing to humor the whim, and procured a gun, and loading it with some pieces of silver, enjoined on Seth to take a sure aim when the witch again made her appearance. Accordingly, Seth pointed the gun to the door where she usually entered, and hung up her bonnet, and at the proper time he discharged his piece. The discharge shattered the door in pieces, but the cunning witch dodged her head at the moment he pulled the trigger!

OMENS AND AUGURIES.

In ancient times, especially among the Greeks and Romans, omens and auguries were considered as of great importance in the common concerns of life; but having their origin in ignorance and superstition, they vanished before the light of philosophy and wisdom. But so late as the first part of the last century, the belief in fairies, hobgoblins, witches, and omens, prevailed almost universally among the superstitious part of the community; and even some of superior rank and condition in life, were under the influence of these chimerical fancies.

The following were among the lucky and unlucky omens.

The flight of singing birds, or the manner of feeding of birds and chickens, portended good or evil, according to particular circumstances. The act of sneezing was ominous of good or evil, according to the number at the time, or the place. If, when a servant is making a bed, she happens to sneeze, no person can sleep in it undisturbed, unless a part of the straw or feathers be taken out and burnt. Nothing could insure success to a person going on important business, more effectually than to throw an old shoe after him on leaving the house. If there be in company thirteen persons, the devil's dozen, some misfortune will befall one of them. To spill salt, at table, is very ominous, and the ticking of the small insect called a death-watch, foretels death, and the screech-owl at midnight, some terrible misfortune. These, and many other silly fancies, have been keenly satirized by Addison, in the Spectator. To find a horse-shoe was deemed lucky, more especially, if it be preserved and nailed on the door, as this prevents the annoyance of witches. This, probably, was the origin of the practice continued in our times, of nailing horse shoes on the masts of vessels, against the enchantment of witches. The omens are extended to particular days in the week. Friday, for instance, is considered an inauspicious day for the commencement of any undertaking. It is seldom that a seaman can be prevailed on to commence a voyage on that day. An account has been published of some person, who, desirous of eradicating this prejudice, ordered the timber of his vessel to be cut on Friday; her foundation laid, her launching, and the engaging her crew, on Friday, and finally he ordered her to sail on Friday. But it was remarkable and unfortunate, that neither the vessel nor crew were ever heard from afterwards. This, however, is no proof that Friday is more likely to produce disasters than any other day in the seven. We know that all events are under the control of Divine Providence, and it is inconsistent with reason to imagine, that fatality will attend undertakings because they were commenced on any one particular day.

That singular genius, Lord Byron, was among those who indulged the superstitious notion, that Friday is an unlucky day. In Moore's Life of Byron, may be found the following.

'Among the superstitions in which he chose to indulge, the supposed unluckiness of Friday, as a day for the commencement of any work, was one by which he almost always allowed himself to be influenced. Soon after his arrival at Pisa, a lady of his acquaintance happening to meet him on the road from her house, as she was herself returning thither, and supposing that he had been to make her a visit, requested that he would go back with her. "I have not been to your house," he answered; "for just before I got to the door I remembered that it was Friday; and not liking to make my first visit on a Friday, I turned back." It is even related of him, that he once sent away a Genoese tailor, who brought him home a new coat on the same ominous day. With all this, strange to say, he set sail for Greece on a Friday; and, though by those who have any leaning to this superstitious fancy, the result may be thought but too sadly confirmatory of the omen, it is plain, that either the influence of superstition over his own mind was slight, or, in the excitement of self devotion under which he now acted, was forgotten.'

In Lord Byron, we have an example of the fatal consequences which sometimes ensue from prejudices against any particular purpose or object, being instilled into the youthful mind. Of all his prejudices, he declared the strongest was that against bleeding. His mother had on her death bed obtained from him a promise never to consent to being bled. When on his own death bed, therefore, he pertinaciously opposed the operation, contrary to the united and earnest entreaties of his physicians, and it was delayed till too late to afford him the desired relief.

History furnishes one signal instance of a successful enterprise commenced on Friday. It was on that day that Christopher Columbus sailed from the port of Palos on his first voyage of discovery; and it was on Friday that he landed on an island never before seen by European eyes. Of all events recorded in modern history, this is incomparably the most important.

A curious and melancholy instance of aberration of intellect, occurred on board the ship President, on her outward bound passage to Charleston. She encountered very heavy weather, and one of the sailors stated to his shipmates that he was convinced the storm had arisen entirely in consequence of his wicked course of life, and that the offended majesty of heaven could only be appeased by his immediately precipitating himself into the sea. In vain was every argument urged, and every endeavor made, on the part of the captain and his officers, to induce him to relinquish his purpose. One evening he ascended the main rigging, and putting off a part of his attire, threw himself headlong into the deep. When the ship was returning to this city, a storm of considerable violence arose, which called forth all the superstition of the mariners, and a cry became universal that she would go down unless 'Sam's' chest was thrown overboard. A Scotchman was among the most bigoted portion of the crew, and having more dread of the elements than the captain, he, by some means or other, procured the chest of poor 'Sam,' and entombed it in the grave of its owner. The storm almost immediately abated; calmness reigned upon the face of the waters, and a fine breeze wafted them to the mouth of the harbor. Here, however, the wind became unpropitious, and a squall from the land drove them off. Discontent again manifested its influence, and a general search took place to ascertain whether anything belonging to the suicide remained. After the forecastle had been duly searched, an old shoe was discovered, and hastily yielded up as a sacrifice to Eolus. The wind again subsided, and a fair breeze brought them into port; the whole scene without doubt, confirming their minds in the superstition they had cherished.--_N. Y. J. of Commerce._

On board of a ship, Capt V. master, it became necessary in the night, to reef the topsails; the sails were lowered, and the reef tackle hauled out, when the sailors ascended the mast; but to the surprise of the captain, they soon came down in great terror, crying out that the devil was in the top, they knew him by his horns, flashing eyes, and grisly beard. No commands or threats from the captain could avail, to induce them to make another attempt. All other orders they were willing to obey, but to encounter the devil on the topmast was too much. The affair began to grow serious, for the topsail was quivering and shivering in the wind. The captain and officers resolved with courage to ascend, but they, too, were driven in terror to the deck. It was now agreed, be their fate what it may, to wait till the morning; when by daylight it was discovered, that an old goat was seated on the top, with its glaring eyes staring the seamen in the face. It appeared that the goat was sleeping on the halliards while coiled in a tub, and was by that means hoisted up to the top without the knowledge of any one.

The Roman Catholics have been educated in the full persuasion that the devil appears in bodily form, and often in the high style of some great personage. I have more than once listened to an honest Irish Catholic while gravely relating the manner in which Satan appeared on horseback with a splendid retinue, and took possession of a gentleman's palace in Ireland, after the massacre of the Romish priests. His majesty having taken possession of the palace, a Protestant minister was sent to drive him to his own abode, but he was received with a laugh and sneer, as possessing no power. But at length a Catholic priest, who had been secreted in a cavern during the massacre, was sent, and he no sooner entered than the devil in a fright, flew up the chimney, carrying an iron pot from over the fire, and in passing out carrying off the top of the chimney. The Irishman entertained not the least doubt of the reality of the transaction; and added that the chimney still remains in the same state, no one daring to mend it.

Some old seamen admire to be considered as being on familiar terms with the devil. The following story has often been related by sailors in the full belief of its truth.

A sailor sold himself to the devil, on condition that he should enjoy all the good things and pleasures of this life for fifty years, when he would give himself up; but the devil was to perform any one thing which the sailor might desire before he surrendered. At the expiration of fifty years, Satan came for his man. The sailor acknowledged that the time had expired, but one thing was to be done. Satan was required to pump the sea dry, but the cunning son of Neptune had so placed the pump that the water from it flowed directly into the sea again. The devil was so enraged at this cunning artifice, that he gave him a tremendous blow with his tail and vanished in a cloud of smoke and brimstone.

The Reformation of the 16th century, although it in a great measure broke the shackles which bound the human intellect, and taught men to think, did not altogether eradicate heathen and popish absurdities, even from the reformers themselves. What, but a spirit of bigotry, could influence the great mind of Martin Luther gravely to declare that he experienced several personal encounters with the devil, in consequence of his being engaged in reforming the abuses of the Catholic Church, and particularly that his 'Satanic majesty entered his bolted chamber one night, stole his hazel nuts, and cracked them on his bed-post, to his no small annoyance?'

The Rev. Mr Whitman, in his ingenious lecture on Popular Superstition, relates, that 'Not many years ago, a man was suddenly missing from a certain town in this commonwealth. The church immediately sent one of her members to consult the far-famed fortune-teller, Molly Pitcher. After making the necessary inquiries, she intimated that the absent person had been murdered by a family of negroes, and his body sunk in the deep waters behind their dwelling. Upon this evidence, the accused were forthwith imprisoned, and the pond raked in vain from shore to shore. A few days previous to the trial, the murdered man returned to his friends safe and sound.' The church would have done themselves more credit, had they taken the legal means for the punishment of the fortune-teller in the penitentiary for defamation.

I cannot omit to communicate the following excellent remarks in the language of my amiable and learned friend and correspondent, Thomas Miner, M. D. of Middletown, Conn.

'That demons could ever work miracles, seems to be incredible; but mind as well as matter was evidently subject to different laws anciently, from what they are at present. This principle may perhaps help to a satisfactory solution of many things otherwise involved in inextricable perplexity in the Scriptures. God never _violated_, and can never violate, known laws, but he can change them at pleasure. Every geologist knows he has changed them since the creation, for by no law now existing, can we account for the organic remains of tropical animals, and plants in arctic and temperate regions. There have, therefore, been miracles, or variations, or suspensions, or additions, to the common laws of nature, as respects the physical world. Science teaches this, particularly geology, and this cuts, or rather unties, the gordian knot in the material world. The analogy is complete in the world of mind; at least, revelation informs us that the ordinary laws of mind, and of matter too, have been occasionally varied, suspended, or have had supplementary additions, as is the fact in all the miracles recorded in Scripture. If Hume had only been a modern geologist, he would have seen the futility of his reasoning against the possibility of miracles, for he would have had facts staring him in the face, demonstrating that matter had at times been governed by laws very different in kind or in degree, or in both, from any that are now known to exist. Analogy shows that this may have been the case with mind; Scripture says it has been.

'I must confess, I am very cautious in explaining away a single miraculous event recorded in the Scriptures, since if I begin I know not where to stop; but if I only admit this principle, that though the general laws of matter and mind have always been the same, yet the Creator has frequently, for great and wise purposes, deviated from them himself, and permitted, or authorized, or empowered others, sometimes, on important occasions, to deviate from them, (as we know has been the fact in the material world) nearly every difficulty in the interpretation of the marvellous part of revelation, at once becomes of easy solution. Perhaps it may be objected that this does not solve the difficulty concerning the miraculous agency of bad men or other depraved beings. But revelation does mention cases of bad men prophesying, working miracles, and performing other wonders, whom the Saviour _never_ knew. True science, wherever it is properly applied, must destroy superstition and fanaticism, but as is the case with geology, showing that miracles or changes of the laws of nature have existed, it serves to support real religion, and demonstrates the immoveable basis on which it is founded. Philosophy shows that miracles have existed, revelation records the time, place, and occasion. After all, I would speak with great caution concerning the ancient demoniacs, whatever side of the question we take, much remains that is mysterious and perhaps incomprehensible by our present imperfect faculties.

'In most points of view, we live in the best age the world ever saw; but we live in an age of excitement. Every, almost every project, is begun and pursued with enthusiasm. The difficulty is to keep from running into complete fanaticism. Mere duty or expediency, however, is a cold thing, and never alone does much, unless it is attended with some zeal, some ardor, some earnestness of feeling. These latter emotions should resemble the steady, but gentle breeze; but passion, especially, when protracted into fanaticism, is like the hurricane and tornado. I know of no way to insure the golden mean with any prospect of success, except by giving the rising generation a stable education, founded upon the sure basis of the morality and religion of the gospel. The sermon on the mount contains the best rules of duty, and the thirteenth chapter of the first Corinthians, the best exposition of them, anywhere to be found. The great law of love, enforcing a disposition to do to others as we would wish them to do to us, is practically exemplified in the charity which is so much insisted on by Paul.'

It is incumbent upon us as patriots and philanthropists, as far as in our power, to guard the rising generation against every species of superstition, by a strong bulwark laid deep and early in the minds of our children. It is our children that are to be entrusted with our character, our acquirements, and our sentiments; whether fraught with pure wisdom, or tinctured with brain-sick infirmities, future generations will know how to appreciate their worth. If we wish posterity to enjoy true and permanent happiness, let them be taught to cultivate their intellectual powers, and fortify their minds against deceptive illusions and imaginary evils. Spectral illusions may be experienced while the intellectual faculties remain entire, as is exemplified in the cases of Nicolai and the Scottish lady, related in a former part of this work. The celebrated Dr Samuel Johnson, was prone to superstition, and occasionally afflicted with paroxysms of hypochondriacal illusions. He relates, that as he was one day at Oxford, turning the key of his chamber, he heard his mother (who was at Litchfield) distinctly calling 'Sam.' From which he had wrought up his mind to expect the most woful tidings of his beloved parent, but was entirely and happily disappointed.

Let our youth be taught that the whole phalanx of ghosts, apparitions, witches and wizards, charms and enchantments, second sight, omens and auguries, astrology and fortune telling, vulgar miracles, and vulgar prophecies, should be classed with other vulgarisms, the legitimate offspring of perverted imaginations, and ought to be reprobated as degrading to the human understanding. Those who disdain to believe in their existence, will never be molested by them. 'Resist the devil and he will flee from you.' Firmly resist a belief in witchcraft, and you may bid defiance to all the witches that ever traversed the air or haunted a dwelling.

Strongly impress on the minds of our youth, that superstition and bigotry are derogatory to the cause of genuine religion, giving countenance to inadequate conceptions of the deity, illiberality, and uncharitableness, religious frenzy, tumultuous excitements, fanatical disquietudes, unreal or doubtful conversions, melancholy, gloom, and despair. These evil results are diametrically opposed to that honorable and happy character which the christian religion is so admirably calculated to form and sustain.

We may confer great benefit on our youth, by directing them to a proper course of reading. In a library, without advice, they are in the condition of a stranger in a city without a guide. The world is almost inundated with books; a choice may be made to answer every requirement and to suit every genius and taste.

Popular education has now become almost universally a darling pursuit. Seminaries of learning and improved school institutions, are extending more and more, and will soon be diffused throughout the land, and their benefits equally enjoyed by all classes of our youth. Numerous Lyceums have, within these last few years, been established in New England, and the public voice bespeaks an abundant increase in their numbers; they abound in the best means to excite emulation and diffuse general knowledge. It is auspicious to the public welfare when our citizens are wise, and sober minded, patriotic, chaste, and virtuous, appreciating the free institutions of our fathers, as rich boons from heaven, and the freedom of mind as of inestimable value. The avenues which lead to the fountains of honor and intelligence are as wide and easy of access as those which overwhelm in vice and misery, and those who prefer the former need not pass through life unacquainted with the mighty wonders which the world contains.

It is with regret, that, in 'A Dictionary of important names, objects, and terms found in the holy Scriptures, intended principally for youth,' recently published by Howard Malcolm, A. M., the following definition is found.

'_Witch_ is a woman and _Wizard_ is a man that is supposed to have dealings with Satan, if not actually entered into formal compact with him. That such persons are among men is abundantly plain from Scripture; and that they ought to be put to death.'