The writer does not discredit, but seems to have received, the then prevalent doctrines relating to the personality, power, and attributes of the Devil; and, from that standpoint, controverts and demolishes the principles on which the Court was proceeding, in reference to the “spectral evidence” and the credibility of the “afflicted children” generally.  The letter, and the formal argument appended to it, arrest notice in one or two general aspects.  There is an appearance of their having proceeded from an elderly person, not at all from any marks of infirmity of intellect, but rather from an air of wisdom and a tone of authority which can only result from long experience and observation.  The circumstance that an amanuensis was employed, and the author writes the initials of his signature only, strengthens this impression.  At the same time, there are indications of a free and progressive spirit, more likely to have had force at an earlier period of life.  In some aspects, the document indicates a theological education, and familiarity with matters that belong to the studies of a minister; in others, it manifests habits of mind and modes of expression and reasoning more natural to one accustomed to close legal statements and deductions.  If the production of a trained professional man of either class, it would justly be regarded as remarkable.  If its author belonged to neither class, but was merely a local magistrate, farmer, and militia officer, it becomes more than remarkable.  There must have been a high development among the founders of our villages, when the laity could present examples of such a capacity to grasp the most difficult subjects, and conduct such acute and abstruse disquisitions. [See Appendix.]

The question as to the authorship of this paper may well excite interest, involving, as it does, minute critical speculations.  The elements that enter into its solution illustrate the difficulties and perplexities encompassing the study of local antiquities, and attempts to determine the origin and bearings of old documents or to settle minute points of history.  The weight of evidence seems to indicate that the document is attributable to Major Robert Pike, of Salisbury.  Whoever was its author did his duty nobly, and stands alone, above all the scholars and educated men of the time, in bearing testimony openly, bravely, in the very ears of the Court, against the disgraceful and shocking course they were pursuing.[A]

[Footnote A:  The facts and considerations in reference to the authorship of the letter to Jonathan Corwin may be summarily stated as follows:—­

The letter is signed “R.P.”  Under these initials is written, “Robert Pain,” in a different hand, and, as the ink as well as the chirography shows, at a somewhat later date.  R.P. are blotted over, but with ink of such lighter hue that the original letters are clearly discernible under it.  A Robert Paine graduated at Harvard College, in 1656.  But he was probably the foreman