been few cases in the dark and mournful annals of human suffering and wrong, few instances of “man’s inhumanity to man,” to be compared with what the victims of this tragedy endured.  Their bearing through the whole, from the arrest to the scaffold, reflects credit upon our common nature.  The fact that Wardwell lost his firmness, for a time, ought not to exclude his name from the honored list.  Its claim to be enrolled on it was nobly retrieved by his recantation, and his manly death.

There is one consideration that imparts a higher character to the deportment of these persons than almost any of the tests to which the firmness of the mind of man has ever been exposed.  There was nothing outside of the mind to hold it up, but every thing to bear it down.  All that they had in this world, all on which they could rest a hope for the next, was the consciousness of their innocence.  Their fidelity to this sense of innocence—­for a lie would have saved them—­their unfaltering allegiance to this consciousness; the preservation of a calm, steadfast, serene mind; their faith and their prayers, rising above the maledictions of a maniac mob, in devotion to God and forgiveness to men, and, as in the case of Martha Corey and George Burroughs, in clear and collected expressions,—­this was truly sublime.  It was appreciated, at the time, by many a heart melted back to its humanity; and paved the way for the deliverance of the world, we trust for ever, from all such delusions, horrors, and spectacles.  The sufferers in 1692 deserve to be held in grateful remembrance for having illustrated the dignity of which our nature is capable; for having shown that integrity of conscience is an armor which protects the peace of the soul against all the powers that can assail it; and for having given an example, that will be seen of all and in all times, of a courage, constancy, and faithfulness of which all are capable, and which can give the victory over infirmities of age, weaknesses and pains of body, and the most appalling combination of outrages to the mind and heart that can be accumulated by the violence and the wrath of man.  Superstition and ignorance consigned their names to obloquy, and shrouded them in darkness.  But the day has dawned; the shadows are passing away; truth has risen; the reign of superstition is over; and justice will be done to all who have been true to themselves, and stood fast to the integrity of their souls, even to the death.

The place selected for the executions is worthy of notice.  It was at a considerable distance from the jail, and could be reached only by a circuitous and difficult route.  It is a fatiguing enterprise to get at it now, although many passages that approach it from some directions have since been opened.  But it was a point where the spectacle would be witnessed by the whole surrounding country far and near, being on the brow of the highest eminence in the vicinity of the town.  As it was believed by the people