s, to
Relax many Judgments of Death, o^r General Court can soon provide a
law.

"S^r,

"You see y^e Incoherency of my Thoughts but I hope, you will also
some Reasonableness in those Thoughts.

"In the year 1645, a Vast Number of persons in y^e county of
_Suffolk_ were apprehended, as Guilty of Witchcraft; whereof, some
confessed. The parlament granted a special commission of _Oyer &
Terminer_ for y^e Trial of those Witches; in w^ch com'ission, there
were a famous Divine or two, M^r _Fariclough_ particularly inserted.
That Eccellent man did preach two sermons to y^e Court, before his
first sitting on y^e Bench: Wherein having first proved the
Existence of Witches, hee afterwards showed y^e Evil of Endeavouring
y^e Conviction of any upon Defective Evidence. The Sermon had the
Effect that none were Condemned, who could bee saved w^thout an
Express Breach of y^e Law; & then tho' 'twas possible some Guilty
did Escape, yett the troubles of those places, were, I think
Extinguished.

"O^r case is Extraordinary. And so, you and others will pardon y^e
Extraordinary Liberty I take to address You on this occasion. But
after all, I Entreat you, that whatever you do, you Strengthen y^e
Hands of o^r Honourable Judges in y^e Great work before y^m. They
are persons, for whom no man living has a greater veneration, than

"S^r,
Your Servant
C. MATHER.

"For the Honourable JOHN FOSTER, ESQ."

This letter must be considered, I think, as settling the question. It
was written two days before the execution of Burroughs, Proctor, and
others. It entirely disposes of the assertions of the Reviewer, that
Mather "denounced" the "admission" of spectral testimony, and
demonstrates the truth of the positions, taken in this article, that he
authorized fully its admission, as affording occasion of enquiry and
matter of presumption, sufficient, if reinforced by other evidence, to
justify conviction. The sentences I have italicised leave no further
room for discussion. The language in which the Judges and their conduct
of the Trials are spoken of, could not have been stronger. The reference
to the course taken in England, in 1645, sheds light upon the
suggestions I have made, as to Mather's notion, that