w to frame a document that would suit both sides, but, in effect,
answer the purposes of one of them, as in the _Advice of the Ministers_.
He could assert a proposition and connect with it what appeared to be
only a judicious modification or amplification, but which, in reality,
was susceptible of being interpreted as either more or less
corroborating or contradicting it, as occasion might require. This was a
sort of sleight of hand, in the use of words; and was noticed, at the
time, as "legerdemain." He practised it so long that it became a feature
of his style; and he actually, in this way, deceived himself as well as
others. It is a danger to which ingenious and hair-splitting writers are
liable. I am inclined to think that what we cannot but regard as patent
misstatements, were felt by him to be all right, in consequence, as just
intimated, of this acquired habit.

His style is sprightly, and often entertaining. Neal, the author of the
_History of the Puritans_, in a letter to the Rev. Benjamin Colman,
after speaking with commendation of one of Cotton Mather's productions,
says: "It were only to be wished that it had been freed from those puns
and jingles that attend all his writings, before it had been made
public."--_Massachusetts Historical Collections, I., v., 199._--Mr.
Peirce, it has been observed, speaks of his "puns," in conversation. It
is not certain, but that, to a reader now, these very things constitute
a redeeming attraction of his writings and relieve the mind of the
unpleasant effects of his credulity and vanity, pedantic and often
far-fetched references, palpable absurdities, and, sometimes, the
repulsiveness of his topics and matter.

The Reviewer represents me as prejudiced against Cotton Mather. Far from
it. Forty-three years ago, before my attention had been particularly
called to his connection with alleged witchcrafts or with the political
affairs of his times, I eulogized his "learning and liberality," in warm
terms.--_Sermon at the Dedication of the House of Worship of the First
Church, in Salem, Massachusetts, 48._

I do not retract what I then said. Cotton Mather was in advance of his
times, in liberality of feeling, in reference to sectarian and
denominational matters. He was, undoubtedly, a great student, and had
read all that an American scholar could then lay his hands on.
Marvellous stories were told of the rapidity of his reading. He was a
devourer of books. At the same time, I vin