I've seen him lead the field, On a hot day, in mowing, and against Us younger men; and I have wrestled with him. He threw me like a feather. I have seen him Lift up a barrel with his single hands, Which two strong men could hardly lift together, And, holding it above his head, drink from it. HATHORNE That is enough; we need not question further. What answer do you make to this, Giles Corey? MARY See there! See there! HATHORNE What is it? I see nothing. MARY Look! Look! It is the ghost of Robert Goodell, Whom fifteen years ago this man did murder By stamping on his body! In his shroud He comes here to bear witness to the crime! _The crowd shrinks back from_ COREY _in horror_. HATHORNE Ghosts of the dead and voices of the living Bear witness to your guilt, and you must die! It might have been an easier death. Your doom Will be on your own head, and not on ours. Twice more will you be questioned of these things; Twice more have room to plead or to confess. If you are contumacious to the Court, And if, when questioned, you refuse to answer, Then by the Statute you will be condemned To the _peine forte et dure_! To have your body Pressed by great weights until you shall be dead! And may the Lord have mercy on your soul! HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. GILES COREY [September 19, 1692] Giles Corey was a Wizzard strong, A stubborn wretch was he; And fitt was he to hang on high Upon the Locust-tree. So when before the magistrates For triall he did come, He would no true confession make, But was compleatlie dumbe. "Giles Corey," said the Magistrate, "What hast thou heare to pleade To these that now accuse thy soule Of crimes and horrid deed?" Giles Corey, he said not a worde, No single worde spoke he. "Giles Corey," saith the Magistrate, "We'll press it out of thee." They got them then a heavy beam, They laid it on his breast; They loaded it with heavy stones, And hard upon him prest. "More weight!" now said this wretched man; "More weight!" again he cried; And he did no confession make, But wickedly he dyed. One of the most assiduous of the prosecutors had been John Hale, minister of the First Church at Beverly. In October the accusers "cried out" against his wife, who was widely known for generous and disinterested virtues. Hale knew the "innocence and piety of his wife, and stood between her and the storm he had helped to raise. The whole community became convinced that the accusers in crying out upon Mrs. Hale had perjured themselves, and from that moment their power was destroyed." MISTRESS HALE OF BEVERLY [October, 1692]