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CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST EXAMINATIONS.
"Oh! what were we,
If the All Merciful should mete to us
With the same rigorous measure wherewithal
Sinner to sinner metes? But God beholds
The secrets of the heart—therefore His name
Is—Merciful."
As this does not purport to be definitely
a work upon Witchcraft,
it is not our intention to weary
the patience or harrow up the
feelings of the reader unnecessarily by portraying
the painful details of the several trials,
except in so far as they have a connection
with or a bearing upon the several personages
of our story.
The terrible episode of poor Giles Corey we have therefore intentionally omitted—his brave "contumacy" as it was then called—the constancy with which he maintained his pertinacious silence, steadfastly refusing to
