MATHER, mit'h'er, Cotton, American colonial clergyman, son of Increase Mather (q.v.) : b. Boston, 12 Feb. 1663; d. there, 13 Feb. 1728. He entered Harvard College at 11, and at his graduation in 1678 President Oakes ex pressed his expectation that he would resemble his venerable grandfathers, John Cotton and Richard Mather, who should be united and flourish again in him. He was early dis tinguished for piety, and in his 14th year began a system of rigid and regular fasting and vigils which he continued through life. He was oc cupied after leaving college with teaching, in 1680 became the assistant of his father in the pastorate of the North Church, Boston, and in 1684 was ordained as his colleague. When, at the report of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England, Governor Andros was seized and imprisoned in Boston, Cotton Mather prepared the public declaration justifying the measure. But it is in connection with proceed ings concerning witchcraft that he is most gen erally known. In 1685 he published his 'Memo rable Providences relating to Witchcraft and Possessions? narrating cases which had oc curred at intervals in different parts of the country; and during the witchcraft excitement in Salem in 1692 was a prejudiced investigator in the matter, publishing the next year his 'Wonders of the Invisible World,> in order to confirm believers in that kind of demoniac pos session. In 1702 appeared his greatest work, 'Magnalia Christi Americana,> an ecclesiastical history of New England concerning which he was admitted to know more particulars than any other man. Though strongly marked by
his partialities and prejudices, its somewhat quaint and grotesque character, its admixture of superstition, learning and ingenuity, make it still interesting. In 1713 his 'Curiosa Ameri cana) was read before the Royal Society of London, and he was elected a member of that body, being the first American to receive this distinction. In its in 1721 ap peared an account of the practice of inocu lation for the smallpox, introduced by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; and it was by the efforts of Mather in connection with Dr. Boyl ston, against both professional and popular prejudice,' that the operation was first per formed in Boston. His 'Essays to Do Good' (1710) was admitted by Dr. Franklin to have influenced some of the principal events of his life; and his 'Christian Philosopher' and 'Di rections for a Candidate of the Ministry) en joyed high repute. His 'Parentator> (1724) is a life of his father, Increase. Vain and pedan tic as he was and narrow and credulous as he showed himself to be in regard to witchcraft and other topics of his time, he was in many directions a useful, public-spirited citizen who deserves to be regarded more leniently by pos terity than has sometimes been the case. Con sult 'Life) by Samuel Mather (Boston 1729); Pond, Enoch, 'The Mather Family) (ib. 1844) ; Marvin, A. B., 'Life and Times of Cotton Mather> (ib. 1892) ; Wendell, Barrett, 'Cotton (1891) ; Tyler, 'History of American Literature) (Vol. II, New York 1881).