tongue was pressed out of his mouth,
the sheriff with his walking-stick thrust it back again.

Everything was made to contribute to the orthodox view of possession. On
one occasion, when a cart conveying eight condemned persons to the place
of execution stuck fast in the mire, some of the possessed declared that
they saw the devil trying to prevent the punishment of his associates.
Confessions of witchcraft abounded; but the way in which these
confessions were obtained is touchingly exhibited in a statement
afterward made by several women. In explaining the reasons why, when
charged with afflicting sick persons, they made a false confession, they
said:

"... By reason of that suddain surprizal, we knowing ourselves altogether
Innocent of that Crime, we were all exceedingly astonished and amazed,
and consternated and affrighted even out of our Reason; and our nearest
and dearest Relations, seeing us in that dreadful condition, and knowing
our great danger, apprehending that there was no other way to save our
lives,... out of tender... pitty persuaded us to confess what we did
confess. And indeed that Confession, that it is said we made, was no
other than what was suggested to us by some Gentlemen; they telling us,
that we were Witches, and they knew it, and we knew it, and they
knew that we knew it, which made us think that it was so; and our
understanding, our reason, and our faculties almost gone, we were not
capable of judging our condition; as also the hard measures they used
with us, rendered us uncapable of making our Defence, but said anything
and everything which they desired, and most of what we said, was in
effect a consenting to what they said...."(400)

(400) See Calef, in Drake, vol ii; also Upham.

Case after case, in which hysteria, fanaticism, cruelty, injustice, and
trickery played their part, was followed up to the scaffold. In a short
time twenty persons had been put to a cruel death, and the number of
the accused grew larger and larger. The highest position and the noblest
character formed no barrier. Daily the possessed became more bold, more
tricky, and more wild. No plea availed anything. In behalf of several
women, whose lives had been of the purest and gentlest, petitions were
presented, but to no effect. A scriptural text was always ready to aid
in the repression of mercy: it was remembered that "Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light," and above all resounded the Old
T