I'll control myself Another time, and keep my temper down! I do not like such dreams .-- Remember, Martha, I'm going to mow the Ipswich River meadows; If Gardner comes, you'll tell him where to find me.
[Exit.
MARTHA.
So this delusion grows from bad to worse First, a forsaken and forlorn old woman, Ragged and wretched, and without a friend; Then something higher.

Now it's Bridget Bishop; God only knows whose turn it will be next! The Magistrates are blind, the people mad! If they would only seize the Afflicted Children, And put them in the Workhouse, where they should be, There'd be an end of all this wickedness.
[Exit.
SCENE II.

-- A street in Salem Village.

Enter MATHER and HATHORNE.
MATHER.
Yet one thing troubles me.
HATHORNE.
And what is that?
MATHER.
May not the Devil take the outward shape Of innocent persons?
Are we not in danger, Perhaps, of punishing some who are not guilty?
HATHORNE.
As I have said, we do not trust alone To spectral evidence.
MATHER.
And then again, If any shall be put to death for Witchcraft, We do but kill the body, not the soul.
The Unclean Spirits that possessed them once Live still, to enter into other bodies.
What have we gained?
Surely, there's nothing gained.
HATHORNE.
Doth not the Scripture say, "Thou shalt not suffer A Witch to live"?
MATHER.
The Scripture sayeth it, But speaketh to the Jews; and we are Christians.
What say the laws of England?
HATHORNE.
They make Witchcraft Felony without the benefit of Clergy.
Witches are burned in England.

You have read-- For you read all things, not a book escapes you-- The famous Demonology of King James?
MATHER.
A curious volume.