Robert Calef (baptized 2 November 1648 – 13 April 1719) was a cloth merchant in colonial Boston. He was the author of More Wonders of the Invisible World, a book composed throughout the mid-1690s denouncing the recent Salem witch trials of 1692–1693 and particularly examining the influential role played by Cotton Mather.
Life and education Robert Calef, son of Joseph Calef, was baptized in Stanstead, Suffolk, England on 2 November 1648. The Calef family of Stanstead was "one of substantial yeoman and clothiers."Moriarty. "The Calfe or Calef Family". New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston, 1959) 113: 184–8. The majority of what is known about the character of Robert Calef is what can be gleaned from his single book, and it contains almost no details about his own life.Notice, for instance, Stanstead is only 11 miles from Bury St Edmunds where infamous trials took place, including one in 1662 when Calef was thirteen. Cotton Mather reprints records from the 1662 trial in the pages immediately preceding the trial records from Salem (SG Drake ed. "Delusion" vol. I, p. 141-151). Yet Calef makes no specific remarks on the trials at Bury St Edmunds, and generally seems to hold his cards close. Perhaps Calef feared recriminations over his book and wished to protect extended family, including those remaining in Stanstead. His writing displays broad education and it is possible that following grammar school he attended one of England's clandestine dissenting academiesSee thorough study by Irene Parker in 1914. These private academies were created in opposition to the Conformity legislation of 1662 (Parker, p 44). Daniel Defoe attended one at Newington Green taught by Charles Morton, who emigrated to New England around the same time period as Calef. Also see S. Wesley's contemporary account. as evidenced by Cotton Mather's use of the title "Mr." ("Mr. R.C")SG Drake ed. Vol. II, p. 62. GL Burr also notes Calef's use of the title "Mr." in using handwriting analysis to determine that it was more likely Robert Calef the elder who authored the book, rather than a son who shared his name. and Calef's pride in having no proficiency in Latin.citation from Calef to come (In contrast to Oxford and Cambridge, the English language was generally preferred for instruction in dissenting academies, as Latin was viewed as having ties to Rome.)This issue of a proper education is a part of the background of the debate between Calef and the Mathers, as seen in the first line of Calef's preface (1697) containing a call to those who are free from "a corrupt education" and instead "hearken to dictates of scripture and reason." And further: "the Fables of Homer, Virgil, Horace and Ovid, &c. being for the Elegancy of their Language retained then (and so are to this day) in the schools; have not only introduced, but established such Doctrines to the poisoning the Christian World." SG Drake ed. Vol. II, p 3 and p.11. According to the tradition of Calef's descendants, he matriculated from "one of the English colleges" and showed sympathy for Quakers and sought asylum in New England.
Calef emigrated to New England sometime before 1688. His children born in Boston were baptized in Boston's South Church, pastored by Samuel Willard. Calef's name does not come up in the records of the witchcraft trials of 1692-3 and, according to his book, his interactions with the Mathers began in Boston in September 1693, with most of the writing of the book and compilation of trial records complete by 1697. From 1702-04, Calef was an overseer of the poor. In 1707 he was chosen an assessor, and in 1710 a tithingman, which he declined.SG Drake "Witchcraft Delusion" Vol. II, p. xii He retired to Roxbury, where he was a selectman. He died there on 13 April 1719.
More Wonders of the Invisible World In an effort to promote the ongoing Salem witchcraft trials, Cotton Mather (CM) wrote, Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches, Lately Executed in New-England, in the summer and early fall of 1692,In the September 2, 1692 Letter from Cotton Mather to William Stoughton, CM sends along what already seems to be very lengthy portion of his book, telling Stoughton to feel free to skip the first 35 pages. and his father Increase Mather published his own Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits around the same time.
Robert Calef, after exchanging letters with Cotton Mather and many other area ministers, published his book More Wonders of the Invisible World, with his title being a riff on Cotton Mather's own introduction to his account of M.Rule "yet more Wonders ..."Drake ed. Vol. II p. 21. Calef objected to proceedings that lead to "a Biggotted Zeal, stirring up a Blind and most Bloody rage, not against Enemies, or Irreligious Proffligate Persons, But (in Judgment of Charity, and to view) against as Vertuous and Religious as any they have left behind them in this Country, which have suffered as Evil doers with the utmost extent of rigour."Drake ed. Vol. II. p. 13-14 (Calef's Preface). Aside from the preface and postscript, Calef begins and ends with Mather's accounts in his own words. He finished his compilation in 1697, but added a postscript before final publication.
Contents Preface: Calef's argument that Christians should rely on scripture, not superstition or mythology. Part I: Cotton Mather's own account of his visit to Margaret Rule in the autumn of 1693, which CM circulated in manuscript. Part II: This is the most confusing and controversial portion of Calef's book. It begins with an alternate and skeptical view of CM's ministry to Margaret Rule, referred to as a "Narrative of a Visit". Confusingly, it is presented in the first person though Calef says he copied it from eyewitness/es (both CM and Calef seem to agree that Calef was not present) on September 13, 1693, as well as an "Appendix to the Narrative" from September 19, 1693. Calef's description of a lawsuit by CM and his father, against Calef, for libel, and a copy of a letter from Calef to CM November 24, 1693, (prior to their court date) requesting CM clarify his "doctrinal" beliefs on witchcraft. According to Calef, the case was dropped when neither Mather showed up in court. Calef states that the Mathers no-show led him to believe "all should have been forgotten" (p. 60) but Calef is soon given a copy of CM's account of M. Rule (i.e. Part I, above) which CM began circulating soon after their court date and containing lines Calef finds offensive. Calef now sends CM what he claims as "the first copy ever taken" of the above "Narrative" and "Appendix" from September 13 and 19. This exchange seems to take place about a month or more after their court date had passed. CM responds a few days later, on January 15, rejecting the portrayal of the September 13 "Narrative", and quibbling with particular details: who spoke first (he or his father), the duration of a prayer delivered by his father (30 minutes or merely 15), the location of the supposed "Imp" (on M. Rule's belly or on her pillow), and whether M. Rule's upper-body was covered by "bed-clothes" i.e. sheet and blankets,See Johnson's Dictionary (1755) available online for this word and also "breast." or merely by her own "cloaths." CM writes "For you cannot but know how much this representation hath contributed, to make people believe a smutty thing of me ..." Calef in responding, considers any discrepancies minor, and shows great impatience with CM for not addressing the more important theological "doctrinals" underpinning his belief in witchcraft. CM sends a messenger to Calef to read a letter aloud and on another occasion CM sends Calef a letter but says it must be returned in a fortnight and "which he forbad to be Copyed." NOTE, this letter was later found, including marginalia in Calef's hand, and a typescript can be viewed beginning page 240 hereWC Ford introduces the paper into the MHS Proceedings and calls it the "Mather-Calef" paper. The MS can be viewed on microfilm at MHS under the title "'Cotton Mather's Belief and Practise in the Thorny Difficulties.' marginalia in another hand" Part III: A compilation of letters between Samuel Parris and his congregation, especially the relatives and survivors of those who were tried and executed.Parris apologizes but is dismissed from his position. Part IV: Correspondence with an anonymous gentleman "endevouring to prove the received opinions about Witchcraft"Drake "Witchcraft Delusion" ii, 160-212. Note: despite their disagreement, Calef is careful to honor this man's stated wish for anonymity (see last part of preface, Drake "Witchcraft Delusion" ii. 15) but in the Mather's rebuttal of 1701 they reveal his identity as "a Scotch-man (one Stuart) of no very great circumstances aboard one of our frigates, then in the harbor ..." Some Few Remarks Upon a Scandalous book, p 36. Part V: A compilation of numerous testimonies and legal documents from the trials, including: 1696 apology from one of the judges saying "he was apprehensive that he might have fallen into some Errors in the Matters at Salem" and A letter signed by 12 members of the jury at Salem, "We do heartily ask forgiveness of you all ... and do declare according to our present minds, we would none of us do such things again on such grounds for the whole World ..." CM's own preface to Wonders of the Invisible World and some portions of it. Postscript: Calef adds to his book a sharp response to a posthumous biography of Sir William Phips anonymously written by Cotton Mather which arrived in Boston in December 1697.CM DI p 245 Clive Holmes writes, "[Cotton Mather's] studied attempt to displace responsibility onto civil authorities was brilliantly diagnosed and savaged by Calef in his comments on the 1697 Life of Phips."Clive Holmes, "Reconsiderations: The Opinion of the Cambridge Association, 1 August 1692: A Neglected Text of the Salem Witchcraft Trials" NEQ Vol LXXXIX, # 4, Dec. 2016, p. 663, n82.
Printing in London and reception in New England For his own book, Calef used the same printer employed by Cotton Mather for his anonymous 1697 Life of Phips, perhaps in an effort to reach the same audience. Cotton Mather records a date when Calef's manuscript shipped to London, June 10, 1698, as well as when bound copies returned in print, November 15, 1700.CM DI see entries on those dates. With William Stoughton, the former chief justice of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and one of the staunchest supporters of the witch trials and executions, maintaining the most powerful office in the province, including control over the printing press, it is unlikely Calef attempted to have his book printed in Boston.Also see difficulty B. Colman had printing his works around this same time.
In early 1701, the Mathers responded with Some Few Remarks upon a Scandalous Book, written in the plural with co-signers, but occasionally lapsing into first person. The opening lines suggest that Calef's book had been well received by the masses in New England: "...that Scandalous Book ... has made our worthy Pastors Obnoxious ... among an unguided multitude". "It was highly rejoicing to us when we heard that our Booksellers were so well acquainted with the Integrity of our Pastors, as that not one of them could admit of any of those Libels to be vended in their shops."Some Few Remarks, pg. 9.
Mather, unsurprisingly, refuses to directly address many particulars of Calef's book but, rather, accused Calef of being a follower of Satan, and uses select quotes from the Bible intended to put the merchant Calef in his place, including Exodus 22:28: "Thou Shalt Not Speak Evil of the Ruler of Thy People".Quoted in