Mr. Upham's minute
details, which give us something like a photographic picture of the
in-door and out-door scenery that surrounded the events he narrates, help
us materially to understand their origin and the course they inevitably
took. In this respect his book is original and full of new interest. To
know the kind of life these people led, the kind of place they dwelt in,
and the tenor of their thought, makes much real to us that was
conjectural before. The influences of outward nature, of remoteness from
the main highways of the world's thought, of seclusion, as the
foster-mother of traditionary beliefs, of a hard life and unwholesome
diet in exciting or obscuring the brain through the nerves and stomach,
have been hitherto commonly overlooked in accounting for the phenomena of
witchcraft. The great persecutions for this imaginary crime have always
taken place in lonely places, among the poor, the ignorant, and, above
all, the ill-fed.
One of the best things in Mr. Upham's book is the portrait of Parris, the
minister of Salem Village, in whose household the children who, under the
assumed possession of evil spirits, became accusers and witnesses, began
their tricks. He is shown to us pedantic and something of a martinet in
church discipline and ceremony, somewhat inclined to magnify his office,
fond of controversy as he was skilful and rather unscrupulous in the
conduct of it, and glad of any occasion to make himself prominent.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206