years later the English Parliament passed a law against witchcraft, under which many were executed. In 1689, Cotton Mather, "the literary behemoth" of the period, then twenty-six years of age, published a volume entitled Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft, in which he collected the particulars of the cases which had occurred in the colonies, and the book was a means of fixing in the minds of the people a belief in witchcraft, and of preparing for the terrible scenes that were to follow. The first symp tom of the coming storm was evident in Boston, when Mistress Margaret Jones, a practitioner of medicine, was suspected of diabolical visitations, was tried and executed June 15th, 1648. Mather was one of the ministers who united in holding a day of fasting and prayer, and he afterwards made careful investigations into the matter, by taking one of the daughters of the woman into his family. In his Magnalia he gives the results of this investigation. The girl was lively, and apparently esteemed the opportunity a good one to play upon the remarkable peculiarities of her pompous examiner. Mather relates that he found the devils familiar with the Latin, Greek and Hebrew tongues, but not with those of America; that the Irish girl could read a jest book, but could not bear even to hear the "Assembly's Catechism." He entertained his congregation with a sermon on this subject, which was approved by Richard Baxter, who reprinted in London, the narrative of the experiments referred to, which appeared there in 1691. The town of Salem was destined to be the scene of tragedy. The first case of witchcraft there occurred in 1692, and the rage against witches continued until twenty victims had GILES COREY'S EXECUTION. 157 been sacrificed, among them being a clergyman, and one Giles Corey who was pressed to death. Oh, sight most horrible! In a land like this, In mouldering statute-books of English courts So Mather is made to speak in Longfellow's dramatic account of the execution of Corey, but he does not appear in history as having regretted that innocent blood had been shed, and even when the reaction came, he did not try very hard to further it.* The people of Andover remonstrated in October, 1692, and in the following February an old woman *In volume ii. of the "Memorial History of Boston," there is an article on the witchcraft delusion, in which the writer, Mr. W. F. Poole, defends Mather from the imputations upon him in connection with the matter, and in a note, the editor, Mr. Justin Winsor, presents some of the arguments on which the defence rests. who was apparently more likely to have been a witch. than many who had suffered as such, was acquitted of the charge, the reaction being complete. When, a little later, accusations were made against some of the relatives of the Mathers, and the wife of the Governor, Mather confessed that Satan had become confused. As in the case of the Quakers, there was a general jail delivery. In 1692, Mather published in London and Boston, his Wonders of the Invisible World, being an account of the trial of several witches lately executed in New England, and in 1700, one Robert Calef of Boston, published in London, his More Wonders of the Invisible World, in which he disputed the truth of some of the statements in Mather's book. It was burned in college yard at Cambridge, and the author was called. "A coal from hell;" but he dissipated the delusion. In looking at society in this period we must remember that the people were placed in circumstances entirely new in the history of the world. To a considerable extent, but not entirely, they adapted the customs of England to these circumstances. They had sumptuary laws to which they had been accustomed at home. The clothing,* wages, and prices of various articles, were regulated by law. They used the stocks, the whipping-post, the block, the gag, and the ducking-chair, in punishments for offenders against The law forbade "new and immodest fashions," "short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arm may be discovered in the wearing thereof," "immoderate great breeches," and "immoderate great sleeves," embroidered caps, gold or silver girdles or hatbands, or clothes having more than one slash in each sleeve and one in the back, though, if they happened to have such clothes on hand at the time of the passage of the law (1634), they were permitted to wear them out, with some exceptions. USE OF TOBACCO PROHIBITED. 159 society. Their dwellings, at first built of logs, gradually assumed more elegance. Their roads were few, and often fit only for foot-travellers or bridle-paths. Every home was also a manufactory, from force of circumstances, but this was not very different from the state of affairs in the Mother Country among the middle classes. Matron and maid at whirring distaff spin, Twisting long threads of flax; and all the day The colonists could indulge in no tea nor coffee, and their bread was usually coarse rye and Indian. In some portions, as Virginia, New York, the Carolinas, and Maryland, the same class distinctions were retained which divided society at home. Commerce was not large, and manufactures were frowned upon by England. In New England, and in Pennsylvania, tobacco was not to be used publicly in the streets, nor by minors* at any time, except on a physician's prescription; but in Virginia and Maryland, it was one of the chief products, and it was freely used in New Amsterdam. Amusements were few. Christmas was not celebrated in New England, but Thanks *In the laws of Connecticut of 1650, we read, "No person under the age of twenty years, nor any other that hath not already accustomed himself to the use thereof, shall take any tobacco until he hath brought a certificate, under the hands of some who are approved for knowledge and skill in physic, that it is useful for him, and also that he hath received a license from the court for the same." "No man shall take any tobacco publicly in the street, highways, or any barnyards, or upon training days in open places." We find also records of fines imposed for "drinking tobacco" in the highway, and it is but a few years since such fines were laid in Boston upon street smokers. giving was a feast day, and great was the excitement at the ordination balls and on other occasions when dancing and drinking might properly be indulged in. Bachelors were everywhere frowned upon. In most of the colonies the clergy were the only learned class, but their rank was higher in the North. than in the South. Lawyers and physicians were not rated high in the South, but were better esteemed in the North. It is interesting to remember that the Quakers of Philadelphia set the best example of caring kindly for the sick and insane, and that in their prisons and asylums they were in advance of all European countries. The example has proved happily contagious, though the management of these institutions is humane to an extent that sometimes gives rise to a fear that in the prisons the dangerous classes are so tenderly cared for as to actually put a premium on vice. In regard to the observance of Sunday, and attendance upon the services of the Church, the colonists usually made stringent laws, though there was less of this in Pennsylvania than elsewhere. Even there, however, we hear of a barber who was indicted for exercising his vocation on "First day." In New Jersey the laws forbade travelling, recreation or work, upon pain of whipping, imprisonment or confinement in the stocks. In Virginia there were fines for absence from Church service, but in these respects Massachusetts took the lead in the strictness of her laws. It is almost needless to say that the so-called "Blue-laws of Connecticut," which have been made the butt of jokes and the object of violent objurgation, |