and tells them that all has been religiously and justly done, and that
Satan's power shall this day receive its death-blow in New England.

Heaven grant it be so!--the great scholar must be right; so lead the poor
creatures to their death! Do you see that group of children and half-
grown girls, and, among them, an old, hag-like Indian woman, Tituba by
me? Those are the Afflicted Ones. Behold, at this very instant, a proof
of Satan's power and malice! Mercy Parris, the minister's daughter, has
been smitten by a flash of Martha Carrier's eye, and falls down in the
street, writhing with horrible spasms and foaming at the mouth, like the
possessed one spoken of in Scripture. Hurry on the accursed witches to
the gallows, ere they do more mischief!--ere they fling out their
withered aims, and scatter pestilence by handfuls among the crowd!
--ere,as their parting legacy, they cast a blight over the land, so that
henceforth it may bear no fruit nor blade of grass, and be fit for
nothing but a sepulchre for their unhallowed carcasses! So, on they go;
and old George Jacobs has stumbled, by reason of his infirmity; but
Goodman Proctor and his wife lean on one another, and walk at a
reasonably steady pace, considering their age. Mr. Burroughs seems to
administer counsel to Martha Carrier, whose face and mien, methinks, are
milder and humbler than they were. Among the multitude, meanwhile, there
is horror, fear, and distrust; and friend looks askance at friend, and
the husband at his wife, and the wife at him, and even the mother at her
little child; as if, in every creature that God has made, they suspected
a witch, or dreaded an accuser. Never, never again, whether in this or
any other shape, may Universal Madness riot in the Main Street!

I perceive in your eyes, my indulgent spectators, the criticism which you
are too kind to utter. These scenes, you think, are all too sombre. So,
indeed, they are; but the blame must rest on the sombre spirit of our