them that are examined," in the _fifth_; and the entire _seventh_
Section, expressly authorize the suppression, disregard, and
_disbelief_, of _some_ of the Devil's accusations, on the grounds of
expediency and public policy.

Mather's necessary absence from the Court, at its first Session,
prevented his "skill and care" being availed of, or any attempt being
made to bring forward his plan. The proceedings, having thus commenced
in an ordinary way, were continued at the several adjournments of the
Court; and his experiment was never made.

The fallacy of his ideas and the impracticability of his scheme must,
indeed, have become evident, at the first moment it was brought under
consideration. Inexperienced and blinded, as they were, by the delusions
of the time and the excitements of the scene, and disposed, as they must
have been, by all considerations, to comply with his wishes, the Judges
had sense enough left to see that it would never do to take the course
he desired. The trials could not, in that event, have gone on at all.
The very first step would have been to abrogate their own functions as a
Court; pass the accusers and accused over to his hands; and adjourn to
wait his call. If the spectre evidence had been excluded from the
"noise, confusion and openness" of the public Court-room, there would
have been nothing left to go upon. If it had been admitted, under any
conditions or limitations, merely to disclose matter of "presumption," a
fatal difficulty would meet the first step of the enquiry. To the
question, "Who hurts you?" no answer could be allowed to be given; and
the "_Minister_," to whom the witness had confidentially given the names
of persons whose spectres had tormented her, sitting, perhaps, in the
Court-room at the time, would have to countenance the suppression of the
evidence, and not be liable to be called to the stand to divulge his
knowledge.

The attempt to leave the accusers and the accused to be treated by the
Minister selected for the purpose, in secure privacy, would have
dissolved the Court before it had begun; and if this was what Mather
meant when, afterwards, at any time, he endeavored to throw off the
responsibility of the proceedings, by intimating that his proffered
suggestions and services were disregarded, his complaint was most
unreasonable. The truth is, the proposal was wholly inadmissible, and
could not have been carried into effect.

Besides, it would have overthrown the