on her judges, who forced her to stand till she nearly fell from
exhaustion. Food was denied her; no counsel was allowed, or the
presence of any friend who could have helped by presence, if in no
other way.

Feeble in body, depressed and anxious in mind, one reacted on
another, and the marvel is not that she here and there contradicted
herself, or lost patience, but that any coherence or power of
argument remained.

The records of the trial show both. Winthrop opened it by making a
general charge of heresy, and Anne demanded a specific one, and
when the charge of holding unlawful meetings was brought, denied
it so energetically and effectually, that Winthrop had no more
words and turned the case over to the less considerate Dudley,
whose wrath at her presumption knew no bounds. Both he and the
ministers who swore against her, used against her statements which
she had made in private interviews with them, which she had
supposed to be confidential, but which were now reported in
detail. Naturally she reproached the witnesses with being
informers, and they justified their course hotly. Mr. Cotton's
testimony, given most reluctantly, confirmed their statements. The
chief grievance was not her meetings, so much as the fact that she
had publicly criticized the teaching and religious character of
the ministers, insisting that Mr. Cotton alone had the full
"thorough-furnishing" for such work. Deep but smothered feeling
was apparent in every word the initiated witnesses spoke, and the
magistrate, Mr. Coddington, in vain assured them, that even if she
had said all this and more, no real harm had been done. Cotton
sided with him, and spoke so powerfully that there was a slight