Cotton Mather: Salem Witch Trials
Burroughs recited a perfect rendition of the Lord’s Prayer while on the gallows, something Mather himself thought impossible for anyone guilty of an alliance with the devil. The crowd was so moved that some wanted to prevent the execution. Mather, mounted on his horse, proclaimed that Burroughs was no ordained minister, and that the “Devil has often been transformed into an Angel of Light.” With those words, under the tearful gaze of an ambivalent crowd the George Burroughs was hanged.
.. Careful analysis of the document, as well as Mather’s own diaries, reveals that he may not have been quite as convinced of the righteousness of the trials as he describes in his book. A cautious foreword to the manuscript reads, “I live by Neighbours that force me to produce these undeserved lines”. Perry Miller describes the whole work as “utter confusion”.