any other inference be drawn from the passage already quoted, from his
Diary, that he felt called, "as a herald of the Lord's Kingdom, now
approaching," to give personal attendance, in "the horrible enchantments
and possessions broke forth at Salem Village?" There was a large
concourse of Magistrates and Ministers, particularly, on the
twenty-fourth of March, when Deodat Lawson preached his famous Sermon,
after the Examination of Rebecca Nurse; on the eleventh of April, when
the Governor and Council themselves conducted the Examination of John
Proctor and others; and, on the ninth of May, when Stoughton, from
Dorchester, and Sewall, from Boston, sat with the local Magistrates, and
the Rev. George Burroughs was brought before them. It is strange,
indeed, if Mather was not present, especially on the last occasion; and
it may appear, as we advance, that it is almost due to his reputation to
suppose that he was there, and thus became qualified and authorized to
pass the judgment he afterwards did.

Local tradition, of less value, in some respects, for reasons given in
my book, in reference to this affair than most others, but still of much
weight, has identified Cotton Mather with these scenes. The family, of
which John Proctor was the head, has continued to this day in the
occupancy of his lands. Always respectable in their social position,
they have perpetuated his marked traits of intellect and character. They
have been strong men, as the phrase is, in their day, of each
generation; and have constantly cherished in honor the memory of their
noble progenitor, who bravely breasted, in defence of his wife, the
fierce fanaticism of his age, and fell a victim to its fury and his own
manly fidelity and integrity. They have preserved, as much as any
family, a knowledge of the great tragedy; and it has been a tradition
among them that Cotton Mather took an active part in the prosecution of
Proctor. The representative of the family, in our day, a man of vigorous
faculties, of liberal education, academical and legal, and much
interested in antiquarian and genealogical enquiries, John W. Proctor,
presided at the Centennial Celebration, in Danvers, on the fifteenth of
June, 1852; and in his Address, expressed, no doubt, a transmitted
sentiment--although, as has generally been done, confounding the
Examinations with the Trials--in stating that Cotton Mather rendered
himself conspicuous in the proceedings against his ancestor.

Cotto