ment;" and that he had always had a "dread of what the generality
of sober men" thought he desired--"dismal apprehension of the distresses
which a call at Cambridge would bring" upon him.--He was sincere in
those declarations, no doubt; but they show how completely he could
blind himself to the past and even to the actual present. Mr. Peirce
explains why the Corporation were so resolute in withholding their
suffrages from Mather: "His contemporaries appear to have formed a very
correct estimate of his character." "They saw, what posterity sees, that
he was a man of wonderful parts, of immense learning, and of eminent
piety and virtue." "They saw his weakness and eccentricities." "It is
evident that his judgment was not equal to his other faculties; that his
passions, which were naturally strong and violent, were not always under
proper regulation; that he was weak, credulous, enthusiastic, and
superstitious. His conversation is said to have been instructive and
entertaining, in a high degree, though often marred by levity, vanity,
imprudence and puns." For these reasons, he was deemed an unsuitable
person for the Presidency of the College.

XVIII.

COTTON MATHER'S WRITINGS AND CHARACTER.

While compelled--by the attempt of the writer in the _North American
Review_ to reverse the just verdict of history in reference to Cotton
Mather's connection with Salem Witchcraft--to show the unhappy part he
acted and the terrible responsibility he incurred, in bringing forward,
and carrying through its stages, that awful tragedy, and the unworthy
means he used to throw that responsibility, afterwards, on others, I am
not to be misled into a false position, in reference to this
extraordinary man. I endorse the language of Mr. Peirce: "He possessed
great vigor and activity of mind, quickness of apprehension, a lively
imagination, a prodigious memory, uncommon facility in acquiring and
communicating knowledge, with the most indefatigable application and
industry; that he amassed an immense store of information on all
subjects, human and divine." I follow Mr. Peirce still further, in
believing that his natural temperament was pleasant and his sentiments
of a benevolent cast: "that he was an habitual promoter and doer of
good, is evident, as well from his writings as from the various accounts
that have been transmitted respecting him."

If the question is asked, as it naturally will be, how these admissions
can be reconciled