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.