nd is otherwise known, in the same Warrant,
which could not, therefore, have been made out before the nineteenth.
The next day, Mather wrote the letter to Sewall; and the language, in
its Postscript, may have referred to Stoughton; particularly this
clause: "There are some of his circumstances, with reference to this
affair." As Phips had, from the first, left all the proceedings with the
Chief-justice, who had presided at all the trials, and was, by universal
acknowledgment, especially responsible for all the proceedings and
results, the words of Mather are much more applicable to Stoughton than
to Phips.

Upon receiving these "importunate requests" from Mather, proposing such
a form of reply, to be used in such a way, Sewall thought it best to
adopt the course indicated in the following entry, in the Diary of his
brother, the Judge: "THURSDAY, SEPT. 22, 1692. William Stoughton, Esq.,
John Hathorne, Esq., Mr. Cotton Mather, and Capt. John Higginson, with
my brother St. were at our house, speaking about publishing some trials
of the witches."

It appears that Stephen Sewall, instead of answering Mather's letter in
writing, went directly to Boston, accompanied by Hathorne and Higginson,
and met Mather and Stoughton at the house of the Judge. No other
Minister was present; and Judge Sewall was not Mather's parishioner.
The whole matter was there talked over. The project Mather had been
contemplating was matured; and arrangements made with Stephen Sewall,
who had them in his custody, to send to Mather the Records of the
trials; and, thus provided, he proceeded, without further delay, in
obedience to the commands laid upon him by "his Excellency," to prepare
for the press, _The Wonders of the Invisible World_, which was designed
to send to the shades, "Sadduceeism," to extirpate "witch-advocates,"
and to leave the course clear for the indefinite continuance of the
prosecutions, until, as Stoughton expressed it, "the land was cleared"
of all witches.

The presence of the Deputy-governor, at this private conference, shows
the prominent part he bore in the movement, and corroborates, what is
inferrible from the dates, that he was "His Excellency, the Governor,"
referred to in the documents connected with this transaction. It is
observable, by the way, that the references are always to the official
character and title, and not to the name of the person, whether Phips or
Stoughton.

I now proceed to examine the book, writte