For an account of the kind of evidence used against alleged witches, see a case cited in Ashton's _Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne_, Chap. x. =130=: 19. =Otway.= Thomas Otway (1651-1685), the best tragic dramatist of the Restoration period. The passage is from his tragedy, _The Orphan_, ii. 1. =131=: 8. =Carried her several hundreds of miles.= In accordance with the superstition that a witch rode through the air at night on a broomstick. Other superstitions are referred to in the following lines. =131=: 15. =Take a pin of her.= Because bewitched people were frequently said to be tormented with pins, or to be made to vomit pins. The pins that figured so conspicuously in the Salem witchcraft trials may still be seen in the Museum there. =132=: 5. =A tabby cat.= A black cat was traditionally supposed to be a favourite form in which Satan embodied himself, and hence a constant figure in all witchcraft stories. =132=: 15. =Advising her, as a justice of peace.= This sentence admirably indicates Sir Roger's half belief in the preternatural powers of the old woman, and his anxiety to avoid any trouble that would oblige him to come to a conclusion in the matter. =132=: 24. =Trying experiments with her.= Because, if she floated, she was accounted a witch; if she sank, she was probably innocent, and they might pull her out. XVII. SIR ROGER TALKS OF THE WIDOW =Motto.= "In [his] side is fixed the fatal arrow." --Virgil, _Æneid_, iv. 73. XVIII. MANNERS IN THE COUNTRY =Motto.= "The city they call Rome, I had been foolish enough, Melibæus, to suppose like this town of ours."--Virgil, _Eclogues_, i. 20. =140=: 11. =The fashionable world is grown free and easy.= This tendency in manners began to be more marked after the Restoration, 1660. Some reaction toward a more formal and elaborate courtesy in the world of fashion could be seen about the middle of the eighteenth century, under the influence of such men as Lord Chesterfield. For some account of manners in the Queen Anne time, see Ashton, _Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne_, Chaps. vii, viii; Trail's _Social England_, Chaps. xvi, xvii. For telling contemporary satire, see Swift's _Polite Conversation_. =143=: 2. =Red coats and laced hats= were fashionable twenty years before Addison was writing. In 1711 the coat was likely to be of some more quiet color, though in great variety of shades. At just this time the skirts were "wired" to make them stand out--as may be seen by a reference in _Spectator_, No. 145. The laced hat had been replaced by a low-crowned, black felt hat, with very wide brim, which was looped up or "cocked." For the variety of shapes into which the dandy would cock his hat, and other information on the hat, see _Spectator_, No. 319.