Note 121 — PART V. (continued 2)

No Testimony appears to have been omitted that could be tortured by any Construction against "this rampant Hag," by the Author, while all that went to clear her was rejected. Fortunately the Case is changed, and the whole is spread before disinterested Inquirers, or enough upon which to form a correct Judgment. Mr. Francis Dane, the second Minister of Andover, dared to give his Thoughts upon the Witchcraft Cases. These he communicated to the Court, and the Scribe recorded them among the Evidence. He said he had lived above forty Years in Andover, and in his "healthfull Yeares had been frequent among ye Inhabitants in their Habitations," and never heard of anything of the Nature of Witchcraft until the Arrests the last Summer (1692). If there were any Suspicions that Martha Carrier was a Witch, before she was apprehended, he said he had never heard of it; and "as for any other Persons, I had no Suspicion of them, and had Charity been put on, the Diuel would not have had such an Advantage against us, and I beleeve many innocent Persons have been accused." This Testimony of an aged and worthy Gentleman (then 77), well acquainted with all the Circumstances, and with the Accused, should accompany that against "the rampant Hag."