e an account of those transactions, which was too plain and just to
be published in those unhappy times, but has been printed since; and
which cannot be read without feeling sentiments of esteem for a man, who
indulged a freedom of thought becoming a Christian and philosopher. He,
from the beginning, opposed the prejudices of the people, the
proceedings of the Court, and the perverse zeal of those Ministers of
the Gospel, who, by their preaching and conduct, caused such real
distress to the community. They, who called him an infidel, were obliged
to acknowledge that his wisdom shone with uncommon lustre."

His brother, William Brattle, with whom he seems to have been in entire
harmony of opinion, on all subjects, was long an honored instructor and
Fellow of Harvard College, and Minister of the First Church, at
Cambridge. He was celebrated here and in England, for his learning, and
endeared to all men by his virtues. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society
of London. Jeremiah Dummer, as well qualified to pronounce such an
opinion as any man of his time, places him as a preacher above all his
contemporaries, in either Old or New England.

The Brattles were both politically opposed to the Mathers. But, as
matters then stood, in view of the prevailing infatuation--particularly
as the course upon which Phips had determined was not then
known--caution and prudence were deemed necessary; and the letter was
_confidential_. Indeed, all expressions of criticism, on the conduct of
the Government, were required to be so. It is a valuable document,
justifying the reputation the writer had established in life and has
borne ever since. Condemning the methods pursued in the Salem Trials, he
says: after stating that "several men, for understanding, judgment, and
piety, inferior to few, if any, utterly condemn the proceedings" at
Salem, "I shall nominate some of these to you, viz.: the Hon. Simon
Bradstreet, Esq., our late Governor; the Hon. Thomas Danforth, our late
Deputy-governor; the Rev. Mr. Increase Mather; and the Rev. Mr. Samuel
Willard."

Bradstreet was ninety years of age, but in the full possession of his
mental faculties. In this sense, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural
force abated." Thirteen years before, when Governor of the Colony, he
had refused to order to execution a woman who had been convicted of
witchcraft, in a series of trials that had gone through all the Courts,
with concurring verdicts, confirmed at an adjud