Note 342 — Chapter X
Reading edition
Neale, vol. ii., p. 164-170. Mather, vol. ii., p. 62-64.
Arfwedson says, "Close to the town of Salem is Beverley, a small, insignificant place, remarkable only in the annals of history as having formerly contained a superstitious population. Many lives have here been cruelly sacrificed, and the barren hill is still in existence where persons accused of witchcraft were hung upon tall trees. Tradition points out the place where the witches of old resided. Cotton Mather records in a work, truly original for that age, that the good people who lived near Massachusetts Bay were every night roused from their slumbers by the sound of a trumpet, summoning all the witches and demons."—Cotton Mather's Magnalia; Arfwedson, vol. i., p. 186.
"And thrice that night the trumpet rang, And rock and hill replied; And down the glen strange shadows sprang— Mortal and fiend—a wizard gang, Seen dimly, side by side.
"They gathered there from every land That sleepeth in the sun; They came with spell and charm in hand, Waiting their master's high command— Slaves to the Evil One."—Legends of New England.