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THE AUTOBIOGEAPHY ELIZABETH SCffilREEiil^ OF SIIOTTISHAM, AND SELECTIONS FROM HER WRITINGS: TOOETUEtt •WITH AN EXAMINATION AND DEFENCE OF REU. STATEMENTS nET,ATl\'^ TO HER SUFFERINGS, BLINDNESS, DEAFNESS, ENTIRE ABSTINENCE FROSI FOOD AND DRINK DURING TWENTY-FIVE WEEKS, AND OTKER EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENA : PACTS AND OPINIONS ILLUSTRATITE AND SUGGESTIVE; Of ' He tliat is fii-st in liis own cnuso spemcth just, but his neighbor cometh and eearclieth him.'—SOLOMON. LONDON: SIMPKIN, JIARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT. M.D.CCC.I.ill . He tKat answereth a matter before he hearcth it, it is folly and shame unto him' ....... SOLOMON. XTNLISIITED scepticism is equally the child of imbecility, as Implicit credulity' BRAID. GOD woika by natural laws, of which we yet know very little, and, in some departments of his kingdom, nothing; and what appears to m Bupematural, only appears so Iroih our ignorance' . Mua. CnowB. 'THEns are deep recesses in the temple of nature, which the feeble flarao kindled by man upon her altars ser\'es i-athcr to indicate than to illumine' . ...... FULLOK. *THB living body is such a laboratory of miracles, that one hardly dare siiy he understands its healthy and normal actions; stUl less that the rationale of diseased action is traly made out' , . G. KErroaD, ' IT is not to be wondered at that man has always been regarded as an anomalous being; the only enigma of nature, with regard to whom more theories have been written than of all the rest of creation beside, but without the addition of scarcely a ray of light in a century' E. C. BOOEEB. * NEW truths ore first denied with scorn, and denounced as imposture; then, when it is no longer possible to deny them, it is discovered that they are not new* . " . • • Da.'GiiEQonT. 'NiTrnE will answer if we interrogate, but only if we interrogate HEH ; not if we Interrogate ODESELVES* ..... LEADsa. 'TVe are satisfied that. If applied with discrimination, the process CMcsmerism] will take rank as one of the most potent methods of [etu*ative] treatment*. QDAHTEELT REVIEW, Octoficr, 1853. 'IT would leallyeeem as if we required some new apostle of charity, for, practicaUy, it has disappeared among us. "SVhy is it that, almost invariably, we put the worst construction upon the conduct of our neigh­ bours? Why should we seek, with such amazing avidity, to infer guile from equivocal circumstances, and reject, with a certain fiendishness of purpose, all extenuating matter i That is a very common, but a verj- bad feature if the oge we live in' . BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, June, 1853. 405000 IPSWICH: PEISrKD nt 1. M. BUBIOM AND 00. The AUTHOR'S JPOLOGT. ' Thus I set pen to paper with delight. And quickly had my thoughts in black and white i For, having now my method by the end. Still as I pulled it came, and so I penned It down, until at last it came to be. For length and breadth, the bigness that you see. Well, when I thus had put mine ends together, I showed them others, that I might see whether They would condemn them, or them justify s v And some said. Let them live; some. Let them die, Some said, John, print it ; others said. Not so s Some said it might do good s others said no. Now I was in a strait, and did not see Which was the best thing to be done by me. At last I thought. Since ye are thus divided, I print it will: and so the case decided.' JOHN BUNTAN CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTKODUOTOBT CHAPTER II. AUTOBIOQBAPHT ..... CHAPTER III. THE CASE IMPARTIALLY MSCITSSED CHAPTER IV. TESTIMONIES—COKKESPONDENCE OBSERVATIONS . CHAPTER V. MISCELLANEOUS PIECES BY ELIZ.\.BETH SUUlaaELL CHAPTER VI. FACTS AND OPINIONS, ILLUSTUATIVE AND SUQGESirVE MAET ELIZABETH SQFIEEELL. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTOKT. IN sending forth these pages, I design to furnish, more fully than has been hitherto done, the facts of a case -which has excited great interest, not only in its immediate neighborhood but through­ out the country—^more, probably, than those facts have warranted; as it is by no means certain that all its peculiarities are of such rare occurrence as some have imagined. It is, however, sufficiently marvellous to overtax the faith of those whose observation or reading has not famished them with cases at all similar. I was, myself, unprepared to believe it until, by examination, I found it was- more difficult to reject than to give credit to its claims. My confidence was afterwards shaken by the statements of some members of the ' second watch'; but by a scrutiny of their report, the explanation given by the SquirreUs, the report of the 'third watch', and by a more close and extended inquiry into the whole affair, I became 2 MAB.T ELIZABETH SaiHSEELL. entirely re-assured. I am not surprised, therefore, that it should be disbelieved by the public at large j but I regret that it has had to encounter such determined opposition; that an honest and religious -family have been subjected to scorn and persecution, and that the sufferings of one, already sufficiently afflicted,, have been thereby indefinitely multiplied. In the language of a distinguished author, 'I pro­ test against this conduct, on the part of men of science, who ought to know better, while I make every allowance for those not trained to scientific pursuits, many of whom, unwittingly confounding belief and understanding, really have a difficulty in admitting anything for which a plausible explanation cannot be found.' It is my desire to place the character of Elizabeth SquirreU and her parents in their true light; and to supply, as far as possible, the evidence necessary for those who feel an iaterest in the case, to form a just estimate of its more remarkable features. There is, doubtless, that which is obscure about it, but the obscurity has been greatly increased by the imperfect manner in which its investigation has been conducted. My object, avowedly, is to present its bright side to view, its 'night side' having been sufficiently exhibited by others. In forming a judgment, I rely, mainly, on my own observation, being one of the 'watchers', and having subsequently paid much attention to the case during a period of many months. I rely, also, on testimony; but while I attach importance to the opinion of some in­ telligent and candid persons who have occasionally seen the case, I admit as competent witnesses INTEODTJCTOET. 3 those only who have been long and intimately acquainted with it—some who have known it from the beginning, and through all its stages; nor can I withhold my respect due to the testimony} of the parents and child, so solemnly, unre-^ servedly, and perseveringly given. The parents have long been known as persons of integrity and truthfulness, and members of a christian, church; and the child has been distinguished by a pious disposition, and a remarkable love of truth. And ought not these considerations to operate ia coming to a decision in this matter ? or is it so, that the christian profession is so frequently belied, that we may place no reliance whatever upon it, even where it has been long and consistently sustained? I hope not. In the course of my investigation, I have found that many of the current reports are false; many of the objections trivial and worthless; and others admit of a satisfactory solution. Assuming that some of the features of .this case were doubtful, and even were it admitted that truth has not been strictly adhered to by the SquirreUs, it appears to me that Christianity— yea, ^ven humanity—dictates a different treatment to that which it has received. The conduct of those with whom they have been connected religiously, as well as that of the world at large, has been undis- criminating and harsh; and one can enter into the views and feehngs of David, expressed in the petitioni I ' Let me fall into the hands of God, for His mercies ! are great, but let me not fall into the hands of man.' I I know not how to admit, with my knowledge of the I case, even the possibility of its being an imposture; i and, imtil evidence is brought before me more 4 HAET ELIZABETH SftUIEBEIi. definite and decisive than that -which its opposers have hitherto produced, I must contend for its truthfdness, and lend my aid for its defence. My object has also been to sho-w that the case is not necessarily false; that many facts of a similar Mnd—and others, though different, yet really more -wonderful— have taken place, -which we are bound, according to the usual laws of evidence, to receive. I have, further, been actuated by the hope that, through the sale of a publication of this kind, I may be able to render pecuniary help to the family; for it is a fact which the public should know, that, so far from this case having been a source of profit to the SquirreUs, it has been the occasion of their entirely losing that Kttle trade which was their only source of income, in addition to the loss of a good name for truth and uprightness. If it should hereafter appear that I have been deceived, there -wiU be some aUeviation ia the thought that I have not been practised upon by a bungling hand; for few of the daughters of Eve, not even a Siddons or a Kemble, could, in that case, vie with Mary Elizabeth SquirreU in the perfection of her acting, throughout such a varied and long-continued performance. But, chiefly, I shaU be solaced by the reflection, that I have been influenced by a good motive, and have erred on the side of charity, whose divine mission it is to ' co-fer a multitude of sins.' It would be useless for me to attempt to disarm criticism -with regard to this pubHcation; indeed, it has been intimated to me already, that I shaU be ' finely cut up'.

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