nt language, in which he says: "It is a great pity that the matters
of fact, and indeed the whole, had not been done by some abler hand,
better accomplished, and with the advantages of both natural and
acquired judgment; but, others not appearing, I have enforced myself to
do what is done. My other occasions will not admit any further scrutiny
therein." A Postscript contains some strictures on the _Life of Sir Wm.
Phips_, then recently printed, "which book," Calef says, "though it bear
not the author's name, yet the style, manner, and matter are such, that,
were there no other demonstration or token to know him by, it were no
witchcraft to determine that Mr. Cotton Mather is the author of it."
The real agency of Sir William Phips, in demolishing, with one stern
blow, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and treading out the witchcraft
prosecutions, has never, until recently, been known. The Records of the
Council, of that time, were obtained from England, not long since. They,
with the General Court Records, Phips's letter to the Home
Government--copied in this article--and the Diary of Judge Sewall,
reveal to us the action of the brave Governor, and show how much that
generation and subsequent times are indebted to him, for stopping, what,
if he had allowed it to go on, would have come, no man can tell "where
at last."

Calef speaks of Sir William, kindly: "It is not doubted but that he
aimed at the good of the people; and great pity it is that his
Government was so sullied (for want of better information and advice
from those whose duty it was to have given it) by the hobgoblin Monster,
Witchcraft, whereby this country was nightmared and harassed, at such a
rate as is not easily imagined."

Such were the contents, and such the tone, of Calef's book. The course
he pursued, his carefulness to do right and to keep his position
fortified as he advanced, and the deliberate courage with which he
encountered the responsibilities, connected with his movement to rid the
country of a baleful superstition, are worthy of grateful remembrance.

Mather received intelligence that Calef had sent his book to England, to
be printed; and his mind was vehemently exercised in reference to it. He
set apart the tenth of June, 1698, for a private Fast on the occasion;
and he commenced the exercise of the day, by, "first of all, declaring
unto the Lord" that he freely forgave Calef, and praying "the Lord also
to forgive him." He "pleaded with th