he Treasurer of Harvard College,
(not William Brattle, a merchant of Boston, as Mr. Upham states) wrote,
at the time, an account of Salem Witchcraft." This was not an error of
the press, but wholly my own, as it is in the "copy," sent to the
printers. In finding the interesting relations held by the Rev. William
Brattle with the Salem Village Parish, after the death of Mr. Green, he
being called to act as their patron and guide, and eventually marrying
Green's widow, his name became familiar to my thoughts, and slipped
through my pen. Every one who has gone through the drudgery of
proof-reading knows what ridiculous and, sometimes, frightful, errors
are detected, even in the "last revise." Upon opening the volume, when
it came to me from the binder, I saw this error and immediately informed
my publishers. It is pleasing to think that it cost the Reviewer no
pains to discover it, as the right name stands out in the caption of the
article, which is in capital letters--_Massachusetts Historical
Collections, I., v., 61_--where alone he or I could have seen it.

Mistakes in names and dates--always provoking, often inexplicable--are a
fate to which all are liable. In a friendly, elaborate, and able notice
of my book, in a newspaper of high character, it is stated that Salem
Village, was the home of the family which gave General Rufus Putnam to
"the War of 1812;" and George Burroughs is called "_John_" Burroughs.

It is sometimes as hard to correct an error, as it is easy to fall into
one. In pointing out my inadvertent mistake, the Reviewer unwittingly
reproduces it. His sentence, just quoted, is liable to convey the idea
that William Brattle was "a merchant of Boston." As he has been kind
enough, all through his article, to tell what I ought to have read, and
seen, and done, I venture to suggest that his sentence ought to have
been constructed thus: "Thomas Brattle, a merchant of Boston, (not
William, as Mr. Upham says.)"

A queer fatality seems to have attended this attempt to correct my
error.

A reader of the _North American Review_ cannot fail to have noticed the
manner in which the late Rev. Dr. Peabody, as well as myself, is held up
to ridicule, for having called Cotton Mather, "Dr." when referring to
any thing previous to his having received his Doctorate. Perhaps we were
excusable. By usage, such honorary titles, and indeed all titles, are
applied retrospectively, running back over the life, indefinitely. The
_En