There is nothing in the annals of the histrionic art more illustrative of the infinite versatility of the human faculties, both physical and mental, and of the amazing extent to which cunning, ingenuity, contrivance, quickness of invention, and presence of mind can be cultivated, even in very young persons, than such cases as this just related.  It seems, at first, incredible that a mere child could carry on such a complex piece of fraud and imposture as that enacted by the little girl whose achievements have been immortalized by the famous author of the “Magnalia.”  Many other instances, however, are found recorded in the history of the delusion we are discussing.

That of the grandchild of William and Elizabeth Morse, in Newbury, was nearly as marvellous, and perfectly successful in deceiving the whole country except Caleb Powell; and he got into much trouble in consequence of seeing through it.  A similar instance of juvenile imposture is related as having occurred at Amsterdam in 1560.  Twenty or thirty boys pretended to be suddenly seized with a kind of rage and fury, were cast upon the ground, and tormented with great agony.  These fits were intermittent; and, when they had passed off, their subjects did not seem to be conscious of what had taken place.  While they lasted, the boys threw up, apparently from their stomachs, large quantities of needles, pins, thimbles, pieces of cloth, fragments of pots and kettles, bits of glass, locks of hair, and a variety of other articles.  There was no doubt, at the time, that they were suffering under the influence of the Devil; and multitudes crowded round them, and gazed upon them with wonder and horror.

The details of the cases in Newbury and Charlestown were dressed up by Cotton Mather and other writers in the strongest colors that credulous superstition and the peculiar views of that age on the subject of demonology could employ.  They were almost universally received as proof that Satan had commenced an onslaught, such as had never before been known, upon the Church and the world!  They appear to us as simply absurd, and the result of precocious knavery; not so to the people of that generation.  They were looked upon as fearful demonstrations of diabolical power, and preludes to the coming of Satan, with his infernal confederates, to overwhelm the land.  The imaginations of all were excited, and their apprehensions morbidly aroused.  The very air was filled with rumors, fancies, and fears.  The ministers sounded the alarm from their pulpits.  The magistrates sharpened the sword of justice.  The deputy-governor of the colony, Danforth, began to arrest suspected persons months before proceedings commenced, or were thought of, in Salem Village.  It was believed that evil spirits had been seen, by men’s bodily eyes, in a neighboring town.  They glided over the fields, hovered around the houses, appeared, vanished, and re-appeared on the outskirts of the woods, in the vicinity