[23] That such scenes should have taken place here is not so strange, when we take into consideration the fact that all England was witch-mad, and the epidemic raged there subsequent to those atrocities which disgraced our colonial history. Even now the blush of shame reflects its hue on those pages devoted to witchcraft in New England, from the cheeks of those who cannot read our country’s history without referring to them. During the seventeenth century 40,000 persons are said to have been put to death for witchcraft in England alone. In Scotland the number was probably, in proportion to the population, much greater; for it is certain that even in the last forty years of the sixteenth century the executions were not fewer than 17,000. In 1643 the madness may be said to have reached its highest pitch; for in that year occurred the celebrated case of the Lancashire witches, in which eight innocent persons were deprived of their lives by the inherent falsehoods of a mischievous urchin. The civil war, far from suspending the prosecution, seemed to have redoubled it. In 1644-45 the infamous Matthew Hopkins was able to earn a livelihood by the profession of witch-finder, which he exercised, not indeed without occasional suspicion, but still with general success. And even twenty years later the delusion was still sanctioned by the most venerable name of the English law! [24] It was enlarged in 1737, burned down in 1776, rebuilt in 1778. The present building has a steeple 198 feet high. [25] The building occupied by the post-office originally belonged to the corporation of the Middle Dutch Church, and was their place of worship from the close of the seventeenth century until 1844. Up to that period it was the oldest church-edifice remaining in the city. A great part of the wood-work of the steeple, completely wrought, was brought from Holland. The building itself was of stone. During the Revolution it was near the upper verge of the city, its location being upon Nassau, Cedar, and Liberty Streets. When the British took possession of the city in 1776, they used it as a barracks for the soldiers. It was afterwards converted into a hospital, and finally the pews were removed and it was made a riding-school. In 1790 it was repaired, and again devoted to the worship of God. It was purchased by the General Government in 1861, for the purpose of a post-office, for $250,000. [26] “Ten Years among the Mail-Bags.” By J. Holbrook. 1856. [27] Thomas Makin appears to have been one of the most early settlers in the province of Pennsylvania. In 1689 he was second master of the Friends’ grammar-school in Philadelphia, which was the first of the kind in the province, and instituted about that time. In 1699 he was clerk for the Assembly, at four shillings per day. He was called “a good Latinist.”