laid, by the government, I will extract the following passages from the report of the trial. 'Robert Sherringham testified that the axletree of his cart happening, in passing to break some part of Rose Cullender's house, in her anger at it, she vehemently threatened him, his horses should suffer for it; and within a short time all his four horses died; after which he sustained many other losses in the sudden dying of his cattle. He was also taken with a lameness in his limbs; and so far vexed with lice of an extraordinary number and bigness, that no art could hinder the swarming of them, till he burnt up two suits of apparel.' 'Margaret Arnold testified that Amy Dunny afflicted her children; they (the children) she said, would see mice running round the house, and when they caught them and threw them into the fire, they would screech out like rats.'A thing like a bee flew at the face of the younger child, the child fell into a fit and at last vomited up a twopenny nail, with a bread head, affirming that the bee brought this nail and forced it into her

mouth.' 'She one day caught an invisible mouse and throwing it into the fire, it flashed like to gunpowder. None besides the child saw the mouse, but every one saw the flash!'

In this instance we perceive the influence of prejudice in perverting evidence. The circumstance that the mouse was invisible to all eyes but those of the child, ought to have satisfied the court and jury, that she was either under the power of a delusion, or practising an imposture. But as they were predisposed to find something supernatural in the transaction, their minds seized upon the pretended invisibility of the mouse as conclusive proof of diabolical agency.

Many persons who were present expressed the opinion that the issue of the trial would have been favorable to the prisoners, had it not been for the following circumstance. Sir Thomas Browne, a physician, philosopher and scholar of unrivalled celebrity at that time, happened to be upon the spot, and it was the universal wish that he should be called upon the stand, and his

opinion be obtained on the general subject of witchcraft. An enthusiastic contemporary admirer of Sir Thomas Browne, thus describes him. 'The horizon of his understanding was much larger than the hemisphere of the world; all that was visible in the heavens he comprehended so well, that few that are under them knew so much, and of the earth he had such a minute and exact geographical knowledge, as if he had been by Divine Providence ordained surveyor general of the whole terrestrial globe and its products, minerals, plants and animals.' His memory is stated to have been inferior only to that of Seneca or Scaliger, and he was reputed master of seven languages. Dr Johnson who has written his biography, sums up his character in the following terms. But it is not on the praises of others, but on his own writings, that he is to depend for the esteem of posterity; of which he will not easily be deprived, while learning shall have any reverence among men; for there is no science in which he does not discover some skill, and scarce any

kind of knowledge, profane or sacred, abstruse or elegant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with success.'

Sir Thomas Browne was considered by those of his own generation to have made great advances beyond the wisdom of his age. He claimed the character of a reformer, and gave to his principal publication the title of an Enquiry into Vulgar Errors.' So bold and free were his speculations that he was looked upon invidiously by many as a daring innovator, and did not escape the denunciatory imputation of heresy. Nothing could be more unjust, however, than this latter charge. He was a most ardent and zealous believer in the doctrines of the established church. He declares that he assumes the honorable style of a Christian,' not because, it is the religion of his country,' but because, having in his riper years and confirmed judgment, seen and examined all, he finds himself obliged, by the principles of grace, and the law of his own reason, to embrace no other, name but this.' He exults and blesses himself, that he liv

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ed not in the days of miracles, when faith had been thrust upon him; but enjoys that greater blessing pronounced to all that believed and saw not; nay, he goes so far as to say, that they only had the advantage of a bold and noble faith, who lived before the coming of the Saviour, and upon obscure prophecies and mystical types, could raise a belief.' The fact that such a man was accused of infidelity is an affecting proof of the injustice that is sometimes done by the judgment of contemporaries.

This prodigy of learning and philosophy went into court, took the stand, and declared his opinion in favor of the reality of witchcraft, entered into a particular discussion of the subject before the jury, threw the whole weight of his great name into the wavering scales of justice, and the poor women were convicted. The authority of Sir Thomas Browne, added to the other evidence, perplexed Sir Matthew Hale. A reporter of the trial says, that it made this great and good man doubtful, but he was in such fears and proceeded with such caution, that he

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