9002 07635 9299 r*^i 'li dW*-' -J*i^ *;rF t^^ "3*-.-^ j""^ S'-" '-' n ^i^jasM?^ -,*' ; "Srf^-tf *- YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY From the Library of ANNIE BURR JENNINGS the gift of ANNIE BURR LEWIS THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. " Three millions of people, the genuine descendants of a valiant and pious ancestry, driven to those deserts by the narrow maxims of superstitious tyranny, cannot be conquered. And is the spirit of tyrannous persecution never to be repealed i Are the brave sons of those brave forefathers to inherit their sufferings as they have inherited their virtues ? " Earl Chatham : Ifouse of Lords, Jan. SO, 1775. "For my own part, I care little for the natural imperfections of such m£n. It is superfluous to defend the founders of New England. A vain and thankless task is his who attempts to underestimate their virtues, or to detract from the majestic pro portions of the gray fathers of the people. Their personal faults passed with them into the grave ; their just principles and noble actions survived, and blossomed into a living harvest of sacred and immortal memory." George Lunt : Three Eras of New England. fSBWua t^^taa THE Pilgrim Republic 3m ^iiitoncal ffietiieto OF THE COLONY OF NEW PLYMOUTH SKETCHES OF THE RISE OF OTHER NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS, THE HISTORY OF CONGREGATIONALISM, AND THE CREEDS OF THE PERIOD BY JOHN A. GOODWIN "A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants" Macaulay : History of England BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY Copyright, 1879, By John A. Goodwin} and 1888, BY William B. Goodwin. All rights reserved. The Rwersidt Prtis, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. ^ Co t!)e iHemorp OF BRADFORD, STANDISH, AND WINSLOW, THE WISE, THE BRAVE, THE ABLE, TRIUMVIRS OF THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC, THIS RECORD OF THEIR SUCCESSFUL WORK Is ISettcaUD. ^ EDITOR'S PREFACE. SHORTLY after the completion of the manuscript of this book, its Author laid down his pen forever. Though not fuU of years, yet honored and esteemed by all who knew him, on the twenty- first day of September, 1884, he found that which he had ever sought, — " More Light," — in the presence of the immortal Forefathers and their eternal Leader. Mr. Groodwin, though long an enthusiastic student and an acknowl edged authority on the subject of Pilgrim History, was better known to the generality of persons as a pubUc speaker and official, a parlia mentarian, a journalist, and to some few also as the teacher, mariner, and traveller that he was in early life ; all of which varied experiences proved of rare value in later historical researches. Himself a descend ant firom many of the Pilgrim band, he came by birthright to the desire that a broader justice should be awarded those sufferers for conscience' sake, " without whose lives his had not been ; " and bringing to the task no mere scholastic zeal or, as is so common, an enthusiasm warp)ed by partiality and egotism, he quiedy wrought-out together this his magnum opus and the declining years of a goodly and gracious life. Few historians have given a more loving zeal to a more worthy subject than this " beloved disciple " of the Fathers ; for after de cades of careful, conscientious study and recording, the final strength of his very life was expended in a last visit to that green Plymouth mount where sleep so many of his ancestors, and where associations dearest to his heart ever most thickly clustered. While he modestly terms this work " merely an historical review" it is in fact a very complete and inclusive outline- history in popular form of the Pilgrims in their English birthplace and early home, how they fared at their Dutch refuge, and their subsequent development X EDITOR'S PREFACE. on our Massachusetts shores into a permanent, and, for those times, far-advanced community. The subsequent affairs of that PDgrim Repubhc and Mother-Colony of New England are given with consid erable fulness down to its enforced merging with the Bay Colony in 1692. There is also a great amount of miscellaneous and concurrent information concerning other New England colonies and settlements, the Witchcraft excitement, Philip's War, and the ideas, manners, and theological divisions of those and later times, much of which is diffi cult or well-nigh impossible for the general student and reader to search out for himself, digest, and put into a coherent or lucid condensation even for private use. Mr. Goodwin was himself con versant with everything extant (valuable and otherwise) concerning this subject, and was thoroughly competent to sift and collate the varied mass. His necessity of contraction, to cover so large a field in a small space, may at times obhge the extra-critical student to " read between the hnes" for delicate distinctions and non- obvious points. In its present form many notes, current facts, and presumptions appear in this work (notably in Chapters X. and XI.) which have been added in the course of preparation for printing ; but the clear and well-pondered deductions and explicit statements of the Author have not been interfered with : hence the time of the History's com pilation and completion, as well as that of the assemblage of those premises upon which its decisions are based, must be considered as briefly prior to the time of the Author's death. Our desire of fidelity to the original manuscript will account for the non-mention of a few excellent and worthy works of the last ten years, and a lack of quotations from the same ; as well as an apparent neglect to correct, or at least to challenge, the erroneous statements of a far greater number whose historical unreUability is their most remarkable characteristic. xu^u|jL(^;i^^ Lowell, Mass., January, 1895. PREFACE. This book is not expected to meet the wants of the ex haustive historical student, who must labor long and patiently upon that fragmentary and widely dispersed literature which bears the stamp of original authority, and should rest content with no second-hand statements and conclusions. The vol ume is for the mere reader, — for him who lacks opportunity or disposition to collect and collate the disconnected facts and make therefrom his own deductions. For such a person, there is not in print any one volume which tells the story of the Pilgrim Fathers with a near approach to completeness and accuracy. Steele's " Life of Brewster " begins the work admirably; but its special subject soon restricts it, and brings it to an early close. Indeed, it is only within thirty years that any one since those who enjoyed personal intercourse with the Pilgrims or their children, could have written with much fulness or exact ness of the Pilgrims' life in England or Holland, or upon the troubles that beset the fitting-out of the " Mayflower." Gov ernor Bradford laid down his pen in 1650. For nearly two hundred years, little or nothing material was added to the annals of his times ; his history was lost for almost a century, and his papers mostly destroyed. Such facts as continued extant were soon so interwoven with errors and absurd tra ditions that the Pilgrim Fathers of popular fame differed xn PREFACE widely from the men of the " Mayflower." The chief sources of information on this subject are now as follows : ¦ — ORIGINAL AUTHORrriES. Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606 to 1646 (published 1856). Mourt's Relation, Winslow's Relation, Winslow's Brief Narration, with other papers, and notes, in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, 1606 to 1624 (published 1841). Mourt's Relation, verbatim, edited by Rev. H. M. Dexter, D.D., with notes (published 1865). Bradford's Letter-Book (Mass. Hist. Coll., first series, vol. iii.). Plymouth Records, and Plymouth Colony Laws. Founders of New Plymouth, by Rev. Joseph Hunter, London (pub lished 1849). Many papers in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections, and in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. King Philip's War, by Colonel Church, edited by Dr. Dexter. SECONDARY AUTHORTITES. New England's Memorial, by Nathaniel Morton (1669). Hubbard's History of New England (1684). Prince's Annals, by Rev. Thomas Prince, D.D. (1736). History of Massachusetts, by Govemor Hutchinson, vol. ii. (1767). Historical Memoir of New Plymouth, by Hon. F. Baylies (1831). Life of William Brewster, by Rev. A. Steele (185 1). Track of the Hidden Church. Rev. Dr. Waddington, of London (Bost. ed., 1863). The English Colonization of America in the Seventeenth Century. Rev. E. D. Neill (London, 1871). History of New England, vol. i., by Hon. John G. Palfi-ey (i860). History of Massachusetts, by Rev. J. S. Barry (1855). History of Plymouth by Thacher (2d ed., 1835), Bridgewater by Mitchell, Duxbury by Winsor, Scituate by Deane, Hanover by Barry, and many other town-histories, especially those in Freeman's History of Cape Cod and in Baylies' Memoir. Lecture by Benjamin Scott, Chamberlain of the City of London, delivered at London, 1866. Xlll Russell's Guide to Plymouth (1846), and his Pilgrim Memorials, (I8S0. The Pilgrim Fathers ; or, Founders of New England, by W. H. Bartlett, London, 1866. History of Congregationalism, by Rev. H. M. Dexter, D.D., Boston, 1881. Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, Hon. Wm. T. Davis, Boston, 1883. Several works might be named in a list of tertiary authori ties, if such were desirable. It is a singular fact that we have no educational work on the subject, even for academies and colleges, that could claim mention in such a list. Neither is Mather's "Magnalia" worthy to rank as an authority,^ nor in Pilgrim history is Drake's " Book of the Indians," with its prejudices. Bancroft's United States has much valuable matter bearing on our subject, but it was written before the discoveries of the last thirty years, and therefore cannot have the admirable fulness and the great accuracy of Palfrey. Roger Williams, Major Gookin, Colonel Church, and others, have contributed some few items to Plymouth history; but 1 The historical medley of Cotton Mather ... is beneath criticism. . . . Hubbard deserves little credit. — Palfrey, T^d Mass. Hist. Coll., ix. 173. Mather never cultivated precision . . . and his word must seldom be taken as exact truth. — Saxagis Bio. Die., i. 463. Savage terms the "Magnalia" poor authority, showing Mather's " voracious appetite and ill-digestion of learn ing." Appleton's Encyclopaedia calls the " Magnalia " " a chaotic coUection of materials." Until it was printed, it was held in high estimation. — Young, Chron. Mass., on Hubbard's Hist. It is too certain that his (Hubbard's) unsupported statements are not always to be taken without allowance. — Palfrey's N. E., iii. 153. Hubbard's " History of New England," till 1649, when Winthrop's narrative closes, is little else than a copy of that work, and for later years is good for nothing. — Ibid. Pastor Cotton of Plymouth, in 1677, said of Hubbard's then new " Narrative of the Indian Wars," " it might have been filled with marginal notes of erratas. . . . Our govemor and magistrates had some cursory perusal of the book ; the mis takes are judged to be many more than the truths in it. Hubbard complained of this criticism, but Cotton re-affirmed it." Pastor Shove of Taunton, the same year, said of the book, " things are strangely falsified." — 4//5 Mass. Hist. Coll., viii. 232-9. I Hubbard, after 1650, has tew facts. — Gem. Hutchinson. XIV PREFACE. there is nothing of appreciable value from them that is not embodied in some of the authorities above cited. This latter remark might be made of Thacher's " History of Plymouth," and of most others mentioned as secondary authorities. Governor Bradford is the supreme authority. His History extends from 1606 to 1646, and under the date of 1650 it has a notice of each of the hundred and two passengers in the " Mayflower." His manuscript was used by Morton, Hubbard, Mather, Prince, and Hutchinson. It was finally deposited in the New England Library, which was kept in the tower of the Old South Meeting-house at Boston. About the time of the occupation of this edifice by the British troops on the opening of the Revolution this document disappeared, and with it were lost Bradford's Letter-Book and several small volumes written by him, together with a Pencil-Book kept by his son, the deputy-governor. The loss of these manuscripts was long deplored by historical writers, and intense regret felt that no better use had been made of them by the compilers above named. Near the close of the last century, however, James Clark, of Boston, found the remains of the Letter-Book in a baker's shop at Halifax, N. S., where three hundred and thirty-eight of its leaves had been used as wrapping-paper. The rescued portion is printed in the first series, vol. iii. of the Massachu setts Historical Society's Collections (1794). The smaller books have never been found. In 185s J. W., Thornton lent to Mr. Barry a small his torical volume by the Lord Bishop of Oxford (Wilberforce), which contained various extracts known to be from Bradford, but credited to a " MS. History of the Plantation of Plymouth ... in the Fulham Library." Various other quotations from the same source were made, but they were not recognized as any portion of the Governor's known works. Dr. Drake and other antiquaries inferring that this manuscript must be xv Bradford's long-lost History, Charles Deane, the enthusiastic secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, at once communicated with Rev. Joseph Hunter, of London, and soon obtained and caused to be printed a verbatim copy of this invaluable work. One Anderson, of England, in his " History of the Church of England in the Colonies," had, seven years before, mentioned and abused Bradford's manuscript ; it is a fact not very complimentary to Mr. Anderson that his work, in the main candid and learned, attracted so little attention that this portion of it caught the eye of no historical student. While Bradford's History is invaluable, it covers much less than half the lifetime of the Colony, and makes many serious omissions of details, and even of topics. It is quite necessary that in connection with it should be read : — ( I ) Mourt's Relation, and Winslow's writings. The former is a daily Journal by Governor Bradford, extending from the discovery of land by the " Mayflower," Nov. 20, 1620, to the re-election of Carver, April 2, 1621 ; also of four narratives by Governor Winslow, detailing the chief subsequent opera tions down to the return of the "Fortune," Dec. 21, 1621. That ship carried home this Relation, which was printed in London in 1622. Its preface is signed " G. Mourt," supposed to be a printer's error for G. Mourton (Morton). As it did not bear its authors' names, not having been intended for pub lication, it took the name of " Mourt's Relation." In 1624 John Smith quoted largely from it, and in 1625 Purchas inserted about half of it, with many errors, in his " Pilgrims." In 1802 the Massachusetts Historical Society reprinted this half in vol. viii. (first series) of their Collections, and in 1822 in vol. xix. they reprinted an inaccurate copy of the remaining parts. In 1841, in "Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers," Dr. Young gave the first complete reprint of the work that ever appeared. In 1849 Dr. G. B. Cheever published an edition of it, but lessened the value of his book by not xvi PREFACE. properly separating his own concurrent matter from the original. In 1865 Dr. Dexter edited the first verbatim reprint, which was as nearly fac-simile as might be, and added many very valuable notes. (2) " Chronicles of the Pilgrims " also contains Winslow's Relation, or " Good News from New England," which brings the narrative from the end of Mourt down to the return of the "Anne" on Sept. 20, 1623. This latter work, printed at London in 1624, was mutilated by Purchas like its prede cessor, and was reprinted in imperfect halves in the Historical Collections at the same time with the fragments of Mourt. Dr. Young has given as above the only full reprint of this book. He also adds Winslow's "Brief Narration," never before republished. This was printed in London in 1646, and was full of reminiscences of Leyden, including Robinson's farewell address to the Pilgrims. Dr. Young adds Cushman's Discourse, Bradford's Dialogue, and various lesser matters, all of which are elucidated by rich and copious notes by himself and Dr. Freeman. Recent discoveries have left these notes in much need of a general revision ; but Dr. Young's loving labors are entitled to grateful recollection, and his Chronicles to rank as a vade-mecum with every student of New Englzmd history. The Plymouth Records and the Plymouth Laws have been reprinted in admirable form by the State of Massachusetts, and are widely distributed in first-class libraries. " The Founders of New Plymouth," by Rev. Joseph Hunter, Deputy-Keeper of the Rolls in the Tower of London, was the first book to make known the fact that Scrooby was the original seat of the Pilgrim Church, and that Elder Brewster resided at that place as a Government ofiicer. Morton's Memorial was written under the auspices of the Colonial authorities. Morton came to Plymouth in 1623 at about the age of eleven, and grew to manhood in the family xyu of his uncle. Governor Bradford; in 1645 he became the secretary of the Colony, and so served for forty years. Besides his own resources, he had in 1669 the full use of his uncle's papers and the most free communication with John Howland and wife, John Alden and wife, Mrs. Susanna Winslow, George Soule, Mrs. Mary (Allerton) Cushman, Mrs. Mary (Chilton) Winslow, and others of the " Mayflower's " company. A history of the greatest value was therefore to be expected from his industrious and faithful pen. It is truly astonishing that the meagre result should have satisfied either his patrons or himself. His book is made up of a short series of unskilful abridgments from Bradford, with some trifling additions, interspersed with fearful accounts of comets foretelling great disasters, of lightning-strokes as punishment for particular sins, and of the blasting of the wheat crop to punish the owners for wearing too good clothes and drinking too freely. In the absence of Bradford's History, the Memo rial enjoyed a high reputation, on account of what Morton honestly professed to borrow from the former; but now it has little value except to show the very worthy secretary's inadequacy to his undertaking. Hubbard's History was also highly considered by the last generation, but it was shown by the printing of Winthrop's Journal that the author had pilfered from that work nearly all the reliable portion of his book, save some little from Bradford.^ Dr. Prince's Annals are made up of admirable but brief selections, duly credited ; but they substantially leave Plymouth matters at 1629. Hutchinson treats the subject candidly and clearly, so far as he may, in the appendix to his second volume. Dr. Palfrey, whose work is one of the best historical pro ductions extant, in the narrow space which such a treatise can give to a single subject, contains as good an account of 1 See note, page xiii. XVm PREFACE. Plymouth Colony as could well be put in the same number of lines. Barry, with equal advantages, might have done as well ; but his account of the Pilgrims, with many excellencies, is inexcusably careless and inaccurate. Judge Baylies' Historical Memoir, in two volumes, exhibits much research, and it was of great repute until the recent developments of the subject. The want of Mourt and Wins low in a perfect condition, and of Bradford and Hunter, made it impracticable for him to write with great accuracy, and the desire to appear impartial seems to have led him to make some harsh criticisms without sufficient grounds. But while the earlier part of his work is marked by omissions and mis conceptions, his summary of Plymouth legislation and the acts of the Confederacy, his various town histories and his account of Philip's War, with other events of the last years of the Colony, render his work of much value for reference. It is a pity that he could not have lived to rewrite his " Memoir " in the light of recent discoveries, and to construct it accord ing to the present ideas of book-making ; his volumes contain nearly one thousand octavo pages, arranged in four parts, each paged independently of the others, and accompanied by no explanatory titles and no index. Dr. Drake has recently added a supplementary book and an index ; but the difficul ties of reference are still great. Freeman's " History of Cape Cod," in its early Pilgrim mat ters is deficient, erroneous, and prejudiced; but his biogra phies and town-histories are worthy of much praise. The other works named are of widely different degrees of merit ; the student can neither spare them, nor unquestionably rely upon them. But to all adverse criticism is an exception to be taken in behalf of the too scanty and all too modest contribu tions of Dr. Dexter. It is most earnestly hoped that he may yet be able to cover this entire ground in the formal History which he is so pre-eminently fitted to give to the world. XIX It is evident that there is no one of these many books that will give the general reader even a moderately full and accu rate account of the origin, development, and close of the Pilgrim Republic. The present author has felt that this want should be supplied, and for years has waited for some abler pen than his to perform the work. He has made a careful study and comparison of all accessible authorities, endeavor ing to verify or refute every statement made at second hand, and has diffidently combined the results. He claims to be only a compiler, not a discoverer ; for though he has for many years traversed the Old Colony, by land and by sea, he has found nothing hitherto unknown. Doubtless, in neglected places are still resting Pilgrim letters, records, legal papers, and account-books, which would connect into a chain various detached links of history ; but none of them have rewarded the author's search. How well he has brought together his scattered materials, and how wisely he has culled from them, students alone can judge. Having so freely expressed his opinion on many authors still quite popular, he must expect some ungentleness of criticism upon himself, and will cheer fully submit to the reproof of those who have studied the subject as carefully as he himself has. The original writers of high and equal authority have sometimes made contradictory statements, which the author has endeavored to settle by the circumstantial evidence in the case ; in each instance he has satisfied himself, at least, before adopting either version. Those familiar with only one of the authorities may be at first prompt to dififer with him, but by comparison of the originals will be led to take the same view. The dates given have been raised to New Style, — which fact may lead some readers to think them wrong. There seems no good reason for continuing the old misreckoning, but many strong ones for correcting it. For instance, the hard ships of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod are better appreciated if XX PREFACE. the date of their arrival is given as November 2ist instead of the nth. So, too. Carver's reputed sunstroke seems less improbable if assigned to April i6th than to the 6th. Robin son and the others who remained at Leyden used the new style in their correspondence, thus adopting the custom of Holland ; and the same system was of course followed by the Dutch traders at New York in their intercourse with Plymouth. Most writers have been led into a mixture of the two styles ; it has therefore been thought desirable that the correct dating should be adopted throughout. Many good writers, while perplexing their readers with an obsolete and erroneous reckoning, have themselves become so confused as to put the English dates of the seventeenth century eleven days behind the new style, whereas ten days is the proper allowance. Every one, until within the present generation, set the landing of the Pilgrims on December 22d, N. S., in stead of December 2ist; nor is the error yet understood by all those who annually commemorate the event.^ 1 Old Style and New Style. — As to the error of dating " Forefathers' Day " December 22d, N. s., instead of the 21st, the explanation is simple. In A. D. 325 the calendar was set right (?). The world then went on aUowing 365J days to each year, which was an over-allowance of 1 1 minutes loj seconds. This small, error became so large by constant growth that in 725 the calendar was between three and four days behind the true reckoning as shown by the sun. At the Norman invasion the difference had increased to six days ; at the dis covery of America by Columbus it was nine days. In 1582 the Pope, finding all fixed ecclesiastical observances falling ten days behind their seasons, called upon his philosophers for a remedy. By their advice ten days were added to the calendar, and future errors guarded against by this rule : " Years ending with two ciphers are not to be leap years, except when the number is an exact mul tiple of 400." The new system was soon adopted by the nations of Continental Europe, save Russia and Turkey. It has, however, been found that even by this method the calendar would be a day behind at about the year 5500; and that imminent disaster has been relegated to an exceedingly remote future by this addition to the above rule : " When a year is an exact multiple of 4000, it is not to be a leap-year." The English are reputed formerly to have been a people strongly inclined to their own ways, — a trait which may account for their retaining their erroneous calendar in preference to countenancing an innovation. Hence, when the Pil grim explorers first landed on Plymouth Rock, their English reckoning made the day Dec. 11, 1620; but the sun then reaching his winter solstice, showed it XXI It has not been thought desirable to make such frequent reference to authorities as would be expected in a work which should claim to be a formal history. It may be here stated that every portion of Bradford's and of Winslow's writings has been laid under contribution, as also have the Plymouth Records. In fact, Mourt's Relation and Winslow's Relation have been transferred to these pages almost bodily, though the constant addition of matter from other sources prevents extensive quotations. Through the first half of the volume an effort has been made to keep all matters in their chronological order ; in the latter portion it has been thought better to proceed accord ing to detached subjects rather than succession of dates. The first half may be thought by some to be too much filled with occurrences that in ordinary lives would be considered trivial ; but nothing can be trivial which relates to the to really be the 21st. By making a leap-year of 1700, this national miscount was increased to eleven days. At length, in 1752, by order of Parliament, the new calendar was adopted for Great Britain and her Colonies, by calling the day next after September 2d the 14th. At the same time the beginning of the year was changed from March 25th to January ist, — a change which had been partially anticipated for a long time, by giving dates from January ist to March 24th inclusive, as follows : Jan. 8, 1704-S, or Jan. 8, 170^. Matters of that sort were then rarely studied, even by educated men. It is altogether probable that in 1769 not a person in the Old Colony knew much more of the case than that the old style had been turned into the European new style by the addition of eleven days. So they most easily fell into the error of supposing this allowance of eleven days to be what mathematicians call a " con stant quantity," which would bring all old dates to the new reckoning prescribed by law. Is it impertinent to ask if the educated men of to-day have a much clearer idea of the subject? The day which according to the old calendars would appear as December nth is by correct reckoning as follows for the successive centuries : — A. D. 32s Dec. Ilth 420 ** i2th 52a .... . " 13th 620 " 14th 720 " ISth 820 " ijth 920 " i6th I02O " 17th 1130 ** 18th . D. 1220 Dec i8th 1320 *' 19th 1420 " 20th 1520 ** 2ISt 1620 " aist 1720 ** 22d 1820 "23d 1920 " 24th 202a " 24th xxii PREFACE. voyage of the " Mayflower " or the first four years' experi ence of the Colony. There is importance in every event which in any degree affected the question whether the set tlement should be maintained or abandoned; for reading between the lines of that question there is seen within it another, as to whether posterity should behold an Anglo- Saxon state on the American continent. Had Plymouth been deserted by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621-22, Massachu setts Bay would have remained desolate, and even Virginia would doubtless have been abandoned. Then, before new colonization could be organized, France would have made good her claim by pushing down our Atlantic coast until she met Spain ascending from the south, — unless, indeed, Holland had retained her hold at the centre. Without her neglected children in New England, Britain would not have become mistress of Canada, nor would that Protestantism which she encouraged, nor that which she persecuted, have found a home in the New World ; neither would she have felt the reflex influence which has had no small share in imbuing her government with the spirit of liberty, humanity, and con tinued progress, — an influence widely felt on both continents. Such were some of the momentous issues that were largely decided by the apparently little things which make up the Pilgrim history. More than a century ago (1767) Sir Thomas Hutchinson, our Tory Governor, whose tastes would not have led him to an undue estimation of the uncourtly and unchartered settlers at Plymouth, thus spoke of them in his History : — " These were the founders of the Colony of New Plymouth. The settlement of this Colony occasioned the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, which was the source of all the other Colonies in New England. Virginia was in a dying state, and seemed to revive and flourish firom the example of New England. ' " 1 am not preserving from oblivion the names of heroes whose xxm chief merit is the overthrow of cities, provinces, and empires, but the names of the founders of a flourishing town and colony, if not of the whole British Empire in America," Surely the minutiae of such lives are like the grains of sand which form continents and the drops of water which make the sea along their shores. The author regrets not that he has given so much space to little things, but that he had not a larger fund of them to draw upon. fi^Jh^o ^tttrelottM.. CONTENTS. Page Editor's Preface ix Author's Preface. — Pilgrim History. Books. Original and Secondary Authorities. Tertiary and Unreliable Writers. Brad ford the Supreme Authority. Misadventures of his Mms. " Mourt's Relation " and Winslow's Writings. " Young's Chroni cles.'' Winslow's Relation. Plymouth Records and Laws. Hunter's " Founders of New Plymouth." Morton's " Memo rial." Hubbard's History. Winthrop's Journal. Prince's An nals. Palfrey's New England. Baylies' Memoir. Freeman's " History of Cape Cod." Dr. Dexter. Bases of this Work. New Style and Old Style. Sources of Information of and Chronological Arrangement of this Work. Importance of Ply mouth's Settlement. Autograph of Author xi-xxiii CHAPTER I. General Ignorance concerning the Pilgrims. Pilgrims not Puritans. Facts concerning Pilgrims and their Ways frequently misstated. Capital Crimes. Pilgrims' Creed. Liberality. Ignorance of the Period. Torturing. Beheading. Burning, etc. Narrow ness and Religious Bigotry 1-6 CHAPTER II. (1564-1606.) English Conformists, Nonconformists, and Separatists. Puritans, Religious and Political. The Puritans were Episcopalians. Divine Right. Puritans' Characteristics. General Fanaticism. Prevalent Error in Misuse of term " Puritan." The Separatists. Their Church and its Customs. Martyrs. Persecution. Puri tan Advantages. Differences between Puritans and Separatists. Robert Brown, his Operations and Persecution. Brownists. Copping and Thacker. Persecution of " Brownists " or Separa tists. The "Separatists Dispersed. Gainsborough. Scrooby . 7-16 XXVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IIL (1566-1608.) Roman Roads in England. The Northem Road. Posting Service. Duties of the "Post." Charges. ' Mode of Travel. Basset Lawe. Scrooby. Wm. Brewster and his Family. Brewster in Holland. Davison's Persecution. Brewster as " Post." Trav elling Expenses. The old Bishop's Palace at Scrooby. Scrooby Post-oiHce. Bawtry. Brewster's religious work at Scrooby. Austerfield. William Bradford. His Life and Training. The Carpenters. Ecclesiastical Persecution, — its Fruits. Gainsbo rough and Scrooby Congregations. John Robinson. Flight to Holland. Boston. Fines and Exactions. Grimsby Common. Bradford in Holland. Amsterdam. Clifton, Robinson, Brews ter. The Pilgrims all in Holland 17-29 CHAPTER IV. (1609-20.) Getting acclimated to Dutch Ways and Occupations. Amsterdam Congregations. Separatist Churches and their Officials. Pastor John Smith. Removal to Leyden. Occupations of the Pilgrims. Brewster's Calling. His English Grammar. Books printed by him. His Anglo-Dutch Persecution. Robinson's Church. Dea cons, etc. Dutch Toleration. The Pilgrim's Church-estate and Building. Robinson's Ability and its General Recognition. Pil grim Honesty. The " Walloons." Edward Winslow. Robinson's Toleration. Independency. Marriages. Poverty. Discontent. Discussing Sites for Emigration. Guiana. Dread of Spain. Leyden's Danger. Jamestown. The Virginia Companies. A "Charter." The Seven Articles. Reasons for Emigration. Sandys' Doubts. Efforts to procure a Charter. The Virginia (Wincob) Patent. Zealand. Manhattan. Weston. « The Ad venturers." The Emigrating Body. Weston and Cushman making trouble. The Ships "Mayflower" and "Speedwell." The Farewell Fast, Feasting, and Services. Robinson's Lib eral Council. Delfthaven. Parting Salutations, etc. . . . 30-49 CHAPTER V. (1620.) The Departure from Delfthaven. The "Speedwell" joins the "Mayflower" at Southampton. Financial Troubles. Weston and Cushman's Disobedience. Articles of Agreement. Disagree ment with Weston 50-54 CHAPTER VI. (1620.) The First Start. Delays. Return of the "Speedwell." Cush man's Weakness. The "Speedwell's" Condition. Reynolds's and Jones's Trickery. The " Mayflower " at Plymouth. Third, and Final Departure. Mid-ocean Storms. John Howland. First Death (William Button). " Servant " defined. First Birth (Ocea nus Hopkins). Cape Cod. Jones, his Villiany and Bribery by the Dutch. Abandoning the Virginia Company's Territory. Cape Cod Shoals. The Compact and its Signers. John Carver confirmed Governor. Adams on the Compact. Provincetown. Length of Voyage 55-66 CHAPTER VII. (1620.) Landing on the Cape. Trees and Soil. Sandiness of the Cape. First Sunday. The Shallop. Difficulty of Landing. Washing. Cod-fish. First Cape Cod Exploration. Myles Standish. Ste phen Hopkins. Map of First Two Explorations. Indians. The Indian Grave and Corn (Maize). Pamet River Region. Return to the Ship. The Second Exploration. Hard Weather. East Harbor. The Pamet. The European's Grave and its Con tents. The French Wreck on the Cape. Indian Wigwams and their Contents. Return. Birth of Peregrine White. Peregrine White. The Pamet Region. New England Harbors. Mano- met. John Billington and his Sons. The Third Exploration. Deaths. The Exploring Company. Edward Tilley. Map of Third Exploration (Cape Cod Section). Indian Attack. Fire arms. Fight with the Nausets. Indian Arrows. Coming into Plymouth Harbor. Clark's Island. Pulpit Rock. Plymouth's Name. First Sunday. Landing of the Pilgrims. Plymouth Rock and its Identity. The Blaskowitz Map 67-94 CHAPTER VIII. (1620.) Return to the " Mayflower." Death of Mrs. Bradford and James Chilton. The " Mayflower" enters Plymouth Harbor. Map of the Harbor. The Gurnet. Saquish. "Brown's Island." Ply mouth Beach. The " Mayflower's " Arrival. Champlain's Map. Examining Local Fauna and Flora. Storms and Discomfort. End of the Year. Difference between Old and New Reckoning 95-102 XXVIII CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. (1621.) Building Operations. Christmas Observances. Indian Alarm. Division into Families. Village Streets and Lots assigned. Map of first Laying-Out of Plymouth. Death of Martin. Bill ington Sea. The First Building. Thatched Roofs. Bradford's Illness. Religious Belief in " Means." Browne and Goodman lost. Snows. Common House on Fire. The Pilgrim Church Building. Cole's Hill Burials. Sickness and Death. Indian Appearances and Alarms. Cannon mounted. Nursing the Sick. Cole's Hill sown with Grain. Spring Vegetables sown. Samo- set, his Origin, Name, and History. The Indian "a." Return of Samoset with other Indians. Their Costumes (?) and Habits. Tobacco. " Nocake." " Mayflower's " Passengers all landed. Samoset and Tisquantum. Tisquantum and Dermer. Massa- soit's Coming. Quadequina. The Pilgrim's Treaty with the In dians. Its Importance and Strength. Massasoit's Personale. Indian Matters. Laws and Ordinances. Amelioration of the Colony's Circumstances 103-28 CHAPTER X. (1600-21.) The Aborigines of New England. Indian Characteristics. Indian Women. Their Treatment, Character, etc. Indian Knowledge and Religion. Disappearance of the Natives. The Abenakis, Tarrantines, Nipmucks, Connecticut Indians, Mohawks. The Five Confederacies. The Grand Sachem. The Pequod Nation and their Character. The Mohegans. Uncas. The Narragan- set Nation. Canonicus. Roger Williams' Land. The Paw- tucket Confederacy. Passaconaway. The Wamesits, Naum- keags, Agawams, Penacooks, Piscataways and Accomintas (Sacos?). Wamesit. The Tarrantine Foray. John Eliot. The Great Plague. The Great Plague and its Effects. The Massa chusetts Confederacy. Massasoit's Authority. The Massa chusetts, Nashuas, Nashobas, Nonantums, Punkapoags, and Neponsets. The Pokanoket Confederacy. Sowams. The Wampanoags, Pocassets, Saconets, Namaskets, Agawaywams, Manomets, Sakatuckets, Mattakees, Nobsquassets, Monamoys, and Nausets. The Patuxets. Freaks of the Plague. Indian Population 129-37 CHAPTER XI. (986-1621.) Early Explorers of New England. The Norsemen — Bjorne, Leif, Eric. Vineland, — Thorwald, his Explorations and Death. " Krossaness," the Gurnet. Thorfin Karlsefne, Gudrid, and Snorre. Freydis. Bishop Eric. Prince Madoc. Adam of Bremen. The Sagas. Dighton Rock and its Inscription. "Great Ireland." The Maine Rock. Newport Tower. The Skeleton in Armor. Norse suffixes. Columbus. The Cabots. " Norumbega.'' The Newfoundland Fisheries. Gosnold and Gilbert's Exploration. Gosnold's Fort. His Status and Rights. Cobham. Gosnold's Return. Pring and Browne. Pring's Explorations and Notes. Pring at Plymouth. DeMonts and Champlain. Port Royal. Champlain's Map of Plymouth Harbor. The Archangel. Weymouth. His captured Indians. Gorges and Popham. Their Colony. Gilbert. Gorges's Attempts. Hudson. Blok. New Netherlands. Smith and his Expeditions. Smith's Map of New England. Smith's local Names. His Departure. Hunt and his Seizure of Natives. Brawnde. Gorges. Dermer and Rocroft. Dermer's Expedi tion with Tisquantum. Dermer's Remarks on Plymouth. His Attacks, Capture, and Death. Gorges. The Plymouth Com pany. The Council for New England, and its Grant. Ply mouth's Vigor 138-54 CHAPTER XIL (1621.) The "Mayflower" goes home. Roughness of her Crew. The " Mayflower's " Subsequent History. Her Name. The Slaver. Isolation of Plymouth. Spring. Planting and Cultivation. Fish. Carver's Efforts and Death. Bones Exposed on Cole's Hill. William Bradford, Governor. Isaac Allerton, Assistant. The Council and Court. Laws. Town-meeting. Billington punished. Dotey and Lister's Duel. Corn, Planting and Ferti lizing. Tisquantum's Character and Value 155-62 CHAPTER XIIL (1621.) Winslow's Four Narratives. A Visit to Massasoit by Winslow, Hopkins, and Tisquantum. Namasket (Middleborough). Mon- taup and Sowams. Food. Winslow and Hopkins' Reception. xxx CONTENTS. Massasoit's Speech. Scarcity of Food. Indian Beds. Gam bling. Indian Lullabies. Tockamahamon. Expedition to Nau- set (Eastham). John Billington, Jr., lost. Canacum and Aspinet. lyanough. The Voyage to Nauset. Indian Alarms. Expedition to Middleborough (Namasket), — Corbitant's Threats. Tisquantum and Hobomok captured. Standish moves on Namas ket. Indians Overawed. A Trip to Boston Harbor, — Names Given to Points. Obbatinewat. The Squaw-sachem. Nane- pashmet. The Indian Women. Trading. Beaver and its value 163-78 CHAPTER XIV. (162 1.) New England Thanksgiving established. Sociability of the Pil grims. Winter Climate. Edward Winslow marries Mrs. White (The First Plymouth Marriage). Civil Marriage the Rule . 179-81 CHAPTER XV. (162 1.) Errors as to the " Ma3fflower's " Passenger List. The Pilgrims' given Names. Descriptive List of " Mayflower's " Passengers. Their Age and date of Death. England and Leyden Pilgrims. List by Families. Changes made by the " First Sickness.'' Biographical notes on the First-comers 182-88 CHAPTER XVL (1621.) Arrival of the " Fortune." List of her Passengers. The New comers and what became of them. " Cushman's Sermon." The Debatable "Articles." Justice towards the Indians. The " Fortune's " Lading, Departure, and Disaster. Weston's With drawal and Wrong-doing. Bradford's Letter to Weston. The " Adventurer's " Neglect, The " Peirce " Patent and its Mis adventures 189-97 CHAPTER XVII. (1622.) The Narragansetts uneasy. An Indian Challenge from Canonicus. Fortifying. Military Organization. Standish as Commander. Starting for Boston Harbor for Corn. False Indian Alarm. Un reliability of the Indian Nature. Tisquantum's Plans. The Boston Trip. Massasoit's Wrath against Tisquantum. The Culprit's Escape 198-203 CHAPTER XVIII. (1622). The " Sparrow's " Shallop. Weston's Impudence and Lies. Priva tion. Food. Clams. Weston's Men. Huddleston's Letter. The Virginia Massacre. Starvation. The Hill-fort. The " Charity " and the " Swan." Weston's Colonists. Weymouth. The " Discovery." Weymouth Disorder. A Mutual expedition in the " Swan " for Corn. Tisquantum's Death. Complaints of Weymouth. Loss of " Swan.'' Carrying Corn overland. Can acum. Indian Justice 204-1 1 CHAPTER XIX. (1623.) Hard Times. Standish's Trip to Nauset. Standish's Corn-trip to Barnstable. Indian Plots and their Frustration. The Sandwich Trip. Wituwamat. Standish's Danger 212-15 CHAPTER XX. (1623.) The Wonderful Cure of Massasoit. Winslow and " Hamden " sent as Messengers. John Hampden. In the Pocasset Country. Re ception by Corbitant's Wife. Hobomok's Tribute to Massasoit. Indian Medical Treatment. Winslow is greeted by, and treats Massasoit. Winslow's Kindness. Indian Theology . . 216-22 CHAPTER XXI. (1623.) The Great Indian Conspiracy. Privation and Demoralization at Weymouth. Troubles with the Indians. Massasoit's Disclosure of the Indian Plot. Wituwamat Unmasked. Decision to crush the Conspirators. Standish's Force. Pratt. Standish's Expedi tion to Weymouth. Indian Insolence. Pecksuot and Wituwa mat with five others killed. The Plot confessed. Abandoning the Weymouth Settlement. Displaying Heads. The New Fort, etc. Obtakiest Cautioned. Participants in the Conspiracy. Terror of the Plotters. Robinson's Letter. His Impractical Humanity 223-34 CHAPTER XXII. (1623.) Weston comes to Plymouth. His Misadventures, Illicit Assistance, and Ingratitude. Peirce's "Patent," and his Schemes. The c XXXll CONTENTS. " Paragon." The Adventurers. The " Plantation," with Admiral West. Fighting the Fishermen. David Thompson and his Set tlements. Governor-General Gorges and his Council. Weston's Arrests, Rescues, and Death. Gorges's Return. Rev. William Morrell, his Powers, Visit, and Poem 235-39 CHAPTER XXIII. (1623.) coming Famine. Labor in common. A new Allotment of Ground. The Spring Drought. Prayer and Fasting for Rain. The Famine. Privation. Living on Shell-fish. Coming of the " Anne " and " Little James." List of Comers in the "Anne" and " Little James." Condition and Disappointment of the New comers. Biographical Notes. " Particulars " and " Generals." Lading the " Anne." Marriages : Bradford, Alden, Eaton, Stan dish, Howland, and Brown. Bradford and the Carpenters. Bradford and Dorothy May. The Widow Southworth. The " Paragon " and " Swan." Houses burned. Laws and Orders. Trial by Jury established 240-51 CHAPTER XXIV. (1623.) The Pinnace " Little James." An " Unlucky Ship." Wrecked in Maine. The "James " raised, sails for London, seized for debt, returns, sails again. Captured by a Pirate. Standish's Escape. Fletcher's Ruin. Elections. Re-election of Govemor Bradford. His Council. Ship " Charity.'' Land at Cape Ann. Baker. Sherley. Letter from Robinson. Puritan Intriguing. The Shipwright and the Salter. Robinson's Farewell. The First Cattle. Land Allotment of 1624. Statistics 252-58 CHAPTER XXV. (1624.) / / The Puritan Conspiracy (Oldham and Lyford's). Oldham. " Par ticulars " vs. " Generals." Intriguing. The " Charity " comes. Complaints of the Colony. Bradford's Rejoinder. Oldham's Confession. John Lyford. Plotting Adventurers. Lyford's False Servility. His " Congregational " Tricks. He joins Old ham. Lyford's Mischievous Letters intercepted. Oldham's Insubordination. Lyford's Demonstration. Lyford and Old- ham tried. Lyford overwhelmed. The Liberality of the Pilgrim Church proven. Lyford's Plans. The Pair banished. Lyford's Duplicity. Mrs. Lyford's Revelations. Conant. Oldham's In solent Return. Arrival of the "Jacob." Lyford unmasked. The Gloucester Settlement. Oldham's After-life and Death. John Gallop. Salem founded. Lyford's End. The Church of England's Wasted Opportunity 259-76 CHAPTER XXVI. (1624.) Bradford "Williams." Alden's Daughter. Marriage of Thomas Prence. Marriages. George Morton and FamUy. Winslow in the "Jacob." Adventurers' Disaffection. Coming of Goods and Cattle. The Cushmans. Sherley. Peirce's Intriguing. Hewes seizes the Gloucester Fishing Stage. A Compromise 277-80 CHAPTER XXVIL (1625.) Standish goes to England to buy out the Adventurers. The Plagues at London. Deaths of James I., Prince Maurice, Robert Cush man, and Pastor John Robinson. Robinson's Burial in the " Peterschurch." His Wife and Children. Churches at Ley den Mistaken for the Pilgrim's Church Edifice. Tribute to Robinson's Character. Death of Mrs. Brewster. Her Son 281-86 CHAPTER XXVIII. (1626-7.) Business. Buying out the Monhegan Post with Thompson. Aller ton goes to England and buys out the "Adventurers." List of "Adventurers." Remodelling the Colony to "Purchasers." The Manomet Trading-post. The Cape Cod Ship-canal and its History 287-91 CHAPTER XXIX. (1627.) The Cattle-Division. List of Households and their Members. Special Trades. Land Distribution. Cattle Notes. Complete List of Colonists in 1627, and the Ships they came on. The Dead and Absent. Christian Names classified. Their Simpli city. Middle Names 292-301 XXXIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX. (1627.) The Public Debt to the "Adventurers." The "Undertakers." Allerton goes to England. The Kennebec Trade. London " Undertakers." The Dutch on the Hudson. De Rasiferes' Let ter. Dutch Amenities. Bradford's Letter. Wampum and its Manufacture. De Rasi^res' Description of Plymouth, etc. Moral Superiority of the Pilgrims 302-10 CHAPTER XXXI. (1626-1865.) The Wreck of the "Sparrowhawk." Assistance from Plymouth. The Passengers come to Plymouth. Fells' Misdemeanor. De parture for Virginia. Uncovering the Ship. Structure of the "Sparrowhawk." The " Somerset " 311-15 CHAPTER XXXII. (1628.) Morton of Merry Mount. WoUaston and his Colonists. Morton's Unruly Commune. He arms the Indians. New England Settle ments of 1628. The Plymouth Forces take Morton Prisoner, and send him to England. Expenses of the Merry Mount Ex pedition. Allerton brings back Morton. "The New English Canaan.'' Morton at Plymouth. His Death 316-21 CHAPTER XXXIIL (1628.) The Kennebec Trading-house. AUerton's dishonest Double-deal ing. Richard Warren and his Descendants. The " Massachu setts Bay Company " established. Coinage. New England an " Island." Endicott's Rule. Sickness at Salem. Dr. FuUer. Theology. The Bay Puritans' Change from Episcopacy. Dis like of Separatism. The Massachusetts Synod. Spread of Con gregationalism. Virginia Settlers. Rev. Ralph Smith rejected by the Bay, accepted by Plymouth. Plymouth's Liberality. Two Ralph Smiths 322-30 CHAPTER XXXIV. (1629-30.) The "Mayflower" and "Lion" Immigrants. Their Expenses. AUerton complained of. Robinson's Widow and Family . 331, 32 CHAPTER XXXV. (1630.) AUerton's Duplicity. He estabUshes the Penobscot (Castine) Trading-post. Ashley. WiUet. Ashley arrested. The French Raid the Castine-post. Sickness at the Bay. Dr. Fuller. Lack of Good Food. A Fast-Day. Massachusetts Surgeons. Wages '333-36 CHAPTER XXXVI. (1630.) New Patent. The Old "Peirce Patent." Boundaries of Ply mouth. The " Warwick Patent." Formalities of its Reception. The Bay Charter. Plymouth's Efforts for a Royal Charter. The "Handmaid" Immigrants. Eddys. Indian Raids. Jus tice and Kindness of the Settlers to the Indians. Garrett's Disaster 337-41 CHAPTER XXXVIL (1630.) BiUington's Bad Reputation. He murders Newcomen. Doubts as to his Execution. Plymouth's First Execution. BiUington's Widow. "Natural Children" defined. Francis Billington. The Billington Family. The Commemorative Nomenclature of Plymouth 342-45 CHAPTER XXXVIIL (1631.) AUerton's False-dealing. His Dismissal. His Maine Trading. His Commercial Disasters. His Home and Death in New Haven. Roger Williams and his History. Coming to Salem, thence to Plymouth. John Eliot. Bay Reception of Mrs. Winthrop. Autograph of Isaac Allerton 346-49 CHAPTER XXXIX. (i 630-1.) Sir Christopher Gardiner. His Wives' Complaints of him. He flees. His Capture by Plymouth. Thomas Purchase and his Wife. Gardiner's Enmity to Boston. His Obscurity . . 350-52 XXXVl CONTENTS. CHAPTER XL. (1631-2.) Boston's Social Character. The Bay censures Plymouth. Brad ford's Caustic Reply. John PhiUips. John Pickworth. Richard Church. Indian Incursions and Strife 3S3-57 CHAPTER XLI. (1632-40.) Governor Winthrop and Pastor Wilson visit Plymouth. Ply mouth's form of Church-service. Early Music and Modes of Singing. Winthrop's Return. His Bigotry. "Hue's Cross." Wreck of the " Lion." Plymouth People found New Settlements. Duxbury. Scituate. Greene's River. Rexham-Marshfield. Barnstable, Sandwich, Yarmouth, and Taunton 358-63 CHAPTER XLII. (1633.) Roger Williams's Return to Salem. His Character, Intolerance, and Assurance. Reason for his Banishment. His Good Points. Very little of a Baptist. His Views on Baptism. He goes to Seekonk; crosses to Providence. Williams friendly with Liberal Plymouth. Winthrop of Connecticut. In England. His bitter Books. Chosen Governor. The Williams Apple- tree. Plymouth's Connecticut River Trading-post. Defying the Dutch. At Windsor. Attacked by the Dutch. A great In dian Pestilence. Indian Mortality. Stone's Piracy. Mean ness of the Bay. Norton's Men killed by Pequods. Sherley's Losses. Autograph of Roger Williams 364-75 CHAPTER XLIII. (1633.) Winslow Governor. Repairing the Fort. Statistics. Seventeen- year Locusts. Superstition. An Infectious Disease. Deaths : Mrs. AUerton, Eaton, Browne, Adams, Wright, Cuthbertsons, Blossom, Masterson, Thorp, Hending, Henckford, Ring, and Fuller. Samuel Fuller. His Friendship for WiUiams, and Goodly Life. Plymouth Physicians . 376-80 CHAPTER XLIV. (1634.) Hocking's Interference on the Kennebec. He shoots Talbot and is killed in Return. Meddlesome Interference of the Bay. Plymouth's Indignation. Standish as Envoy. Insolent High handedness. Plymouth vindicated. Bay Meanness. Winslow as Massachusetts Envoy to England. Losses to Plymouth through Massachusetts 381-86 CHAPTER XLV. (1635.) WiUet at Castine robbed by D'Aulney and expeUed. His getting Home. The Great Storm. Wreck of the "Angel Gabriel." Mathers. Thatcher's Wreck. The Thatchers. The Girling Attack on Castine. Indifference of Massachusetts . . . 387-90 CHAPTER XLVI. (1635.) Emigration of Bay Churches to Connecticut. Elder Goodwin. They seize Plymouth's Land. A high-handed Outrage. Ply mouth's just and Christian Return. Emigrants' Sufferings. The Cambridge Migration. Massachusetts' Dishonesty . . 391-96 CHAPTER XLVIL (1635.) Sherley's Dishonest Accounts. His Associates, Andrews and Beauchamp. Their Demands. Sherley's Dismissal. Pastors : Smith, Glover, Norton, and Reynor. Revised Laws. Laws. Measures. No criminal Laws. Punishments 397-400 CHAPTER XLVIII. (1636.) A New System of Laws and its Preparation. Inability to write. Town Representation. The General Court. Elections. Deputies, Proxies, etc. Voters. Freeman. The Oath of FideUty . 401-405 CHAPTER XLIX. (1638.) Peach. His Associates. Their Murder of an Indian. Arrest of the Fugitive Murderers. Their Trial and Sentence. Dorothy Temple. Hopkins disciplined. Dorothy's Troubles . . . 406-408 CHAPTER L. (1639-40.) Establishing Boundaries between Massachusetts and Pl5Tnouth. SettUng vrith the London Partners, — Sherley, Andrews, and Beauchamp. The Nauset Re-movement. Settling Eastham. Cromwell's and Voyse's Difficulties and Deaths .... 409-13 XXXVIII CONTENTS. CHAPTER LI. (1643.) The New England Confederation. Statistics. Immigration. Church-membership. Voting. Rhode Island. Massachusetts in the Confederacy. Characteristics of the Confederacy. De cadence of Plymouth History in Interest 414-18 CHAPTER LIL (1636-76.) Samuel Gorton ; his Character and Theology 419, 20 CHAPTER LIIL (1644.) Charles Chauncey and his Persecution in England. Chauncey at Plymouth. His " Baptist " and other Novelties. At Scituate. WethereU at Scituate. Chauncey's Adversities. Harvard Col lege's Beginning. President Dunster and the Introduction of Printing. First Printing-office and first Books printed. Dun ster against Infant-Baptism. He goes to Scituate. Chauncey comes to Harvard. Dunster's burial in " President's Comer." Chauncey's Trials at Harvard. His Freaks. Caleb Cheeshateau- muck. Chauncey's Death 421-29 CHAPTER LIV. {Circ. 1600-1700.) WiUiam Brewster. His Age and Death. SettUng the Estate. His Family. His Property, Character, and Gifts. Stephen Hopkins. His Trip to Bermuda and early Insubordination. His Prominence. His Various Appearances before the Court. Liquor-dealing. His Family, Character, Standing, Property, and House. John Atwood. His Family and Property. John Jenney, Miller. Grist-mills in the Old Colony. Jenney's Offices. Mill Matters. Lumber. Ship-building. William Paddy. William Thomas. His Character and Family. John Lothrop. His Independency and Persecution in London. His Wife's Death. Settlers at Scituate. Barnstable and its " First " Con gregational Church. The Lothrop Family 430-41 CHAPTER LV. (jCirc. 1 600-1 700.) The Pilgrim Triumvirs : Edward Winslow. His Last Trip to England, Book Writing, and Growth of lUiberality. Winslow's Labors in England. Appointed Govemor of Hispaniola. His Death at Sea. His Ancestors, Family, Descendants, and Gover norships. Myles Standish. His Early Incidents. His House in Duxbury. Captain's Hill, His Expedition against the Dutch. His Death and Burial. His Grave. His Family. His Officers and Avocations. Alexander Standish marries Sarah Alden. Standish's Library and other Effects. The Standish Family and Myles' descent. His Character. William Bradford. His Death, Offices, History and Writings, Decline in LiberaUty, etc 442-59 CHAPTER LVI. (1624-61.) Governor Bradford's Widow. Her Death. The Carpenters, — Alexander, Mary, Agnes (or Anna), Juliana, and PrisciUa. Constant Southworth. Captain Thomas Southworth. The Southworth Family. Faunces. The Bradford Children, — John, William, Mercy, and Joseph. Major William Bradford. His Head-stone. Thomas and Mary Cushman and their Family. Elder Faunce. Ephraim Spooner. Secretary Morton. His " Memorial." Captain WiUiam Peirce and his Career. Massa soit. His Names and Children. Alexander and Philip. Death of the last " Mayflower " Passengers, — Cooke, Soule, Dotey, et als. Litigation 460-76 CHAPTER LVII. (1661-64.) Thomas Prence. His Family. The Kennebec. " Plymouth Com pany." Endeavors to suppress Quaker Intrusions and Dis turbances. Henry and Arthur Howland 477-9° CHAPTER LVIII. {Circ. 1600-1700.) Witchcraft. A General Belief in it. Comparative Moderation in New England. The Two Plymouth Cases, — Mrs. Holmes and Mary Woodworth. Public Education, — Schools, etc. The King's Commissioners and Letters 491-500 CHAPTER LIX. {Circ. 1623-1723.) Timothy Hath erly. Christopher Winter. James Cudworth, — his MiUtary Services. Isaac Robinson. John Howland, and the Howland Family 5°^-5°9 xl CONTENTS. CHAPTER LX. {Circ. 1635-85.) WiUiam Blackstone. His Migration and Family. Samuel New man. John Brown and his Troubles. James Brown. Thomas WiUet. Hezekiah WiUet. John Myles. Richard Williams. Elizabeth Pool. The Leonards, arid Old Colony Iron Work ing 510-29 CHAPTER LXL (1628-62.) Clergymen of Plymouth Colony: John Cotton, Jr.; Ralph Part ridge; John Holmes ; Ichabod WiswaU; Thomas Walley; Jon athan Russell: William Leveredge; Captain Tupper; Richard Bourne ; John Smith ; George Shove ; Samuel Danforth ; Mar maduke Matthews; John Miller; Thomas Thornton; Richard Blinman ; Edward Bulkley ; Samuel Arnold ; James Keith ; Theodore Edson ; Samuel Treat; John Mayo; Thomas Crosby; John Sassamon (" Martyr "). The Mayhews : Thomas, Thomas, Jr., John, Experience, and Zachariah. Hiacomes .... S30-39 CHAPTER LXIL (1670-76.) Josiah Winslow. His Governorship and Refinement. The Char ter. Winslow's Death. Sachem Alexander and his Sudden Death 540-43 CHAPTER LXIII. (1632-1732.) Sachem PhUip's War. Peaceable Policy of the Whites, and their just Treatment of the Indians. Philip's Pettiness and Igno rance; his Character is generally Misconceived. His Poverty of Resources. General Carelessness of the Whites (Swansea ; Deerfield; Springfield; Medfield; Groton; Lancaster; Clarke's Garrison, etc.). Swansea. Pocasset Swamp. Newman and the Mohegans' Attack. The Nipmucks join PhiUp's Wampa noags. Church's Counsel disregarded. Losses of the Whites. Church recaUed, and his Successes. Philip kiUed. Anawan taken. Great Expense of the War. English Indifference. Aid from Ireland. Stmggle for Philip's Lands. Selling the Cap tives. The "Praying Indians." Statistics of Population . 544-63 CHAPTER LXrV. {Circ. 1620-92.) Benjamin Church. His Parents. His Military Services and Dis honest Treatment by Massachusetts. His Death. John Alden and His Family. Captain John Alden. Thomas Hinckley. His Governorship and Position in Andros' Council. Andros' Tyranny and Deposition. Debility of Plymouth Colony. Merg ing with the Bay into " Massachusetts " 564-74 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. {Circ. 1620-1692-!-.) Earthquakes. Comets. Lightning. Aurora Borealis. Climate. Buildings, Houses, etc. Food. Cotton, Wool, and Crops. Ship-building. Clothing. Pewter vs. Earthen. Funeral Mat ters. Verdict of a Coroner's Jury. Indian Warrant. Win throp's Supematuralism. Wolves and other Wild Animals. Small-Pox. Marriage Celebrations. Divorces. Matrimonial Impediments. Delayed Marriages. Capital Cases. Treason. Various Court-Cases. Card-Playing. Church Items. Church Troubles. Formation of Counties. Variations of Spelling. The Pilgrim Society ; its Hall and Monuments 577-6iS INDEX 617 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Seal of Plymouth Colony Front Covet The " Mayflower " at Plymouth (from Halsall's painting) . Frontispieci Forefathers' Rock and Cole's Hill Opposite page i Map, — Routes of First and Second Explorations on Cape Cod . . 71 Map, — Route of Third Exploration (Cape Cod portion) .... 84 Map, — Plymouth Harbor 96 Map, — Mouth of Plymouth Harbor (from Champlain's) . . . 98, 147 View of Model of the " Mayflower " 102 Bradford's Plan of First Settlement of Plymouth 106 Map of First Settlement of Plymouth (ampUfied from Bradford) . 106 Map of New England, Southem portion (from Capt. John Smith's) 150 Map of New England in 1634 (Wood's) Opposite page 362 Gravestone of Major WiUiam Bradford 467 Pilgrim HaU, Plymouth 613 Autographs . . . . x, xxiii, 349, 375, 430, 442, 446, 454, 47°, 477, 54° forefather's rock, and cole's hill. THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The ignorance still existing on this subject is almost incredible. We find men of education who seem to have no exact information respecting the Pilgrim Fathers. . . . Quarteriy-reviewers, members of Pariia- ment, Christian divines, and ecclesiastical historians speak of them with the same complacent disregard of facts. . . . The only remedy is more light! — Hidden Church {Rev. Dr. Waddington, London, i86o). THE above criticism, written for Old England, is not inapplicable to New England, even to that region which counts Plymouth Rock among its choicest treasures; for those celebrations of "Forefathers' Day" are altogether exceptional in which no enthusiastic orator exhibits a mis understanding of some of the following elementary facts : The Pilgrim Fathers, the founders of our Plymouth, the pioneer Colony of New England, were not Puritans. They never were called by that name, either by themselves or their contemporaries. They were Separatists, slightingly called Brownists, and in time became known as Independents or Congregationalists. As Separatists they were oppressed and maligned by the Puritans. They did not restrict voting or office-holding to their church-members. They heartily wel comed to their little State all men of other sects, or of no sects, who adhered to the essentials of Christianity and were ready to conform to the local laws and customs.^ 1 They were in advance of their brethren in England ; much in advance of . . . their sister Colony of Massachusetts, with whom, in this respect, they have been unjustly classed. — SteeUs Life of Brewster, p. 395. We must take the point of view afforded by the civilization of their time. I 2 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. The territory of New Plymouth was absolutely their private domain ; they had obtained the title from the King's grantees, and also by purchase from the natives at prices deemed fair by each contracting party. " With a great price " obtained they " freedom to worship God " as their consciences dictated, and they did not invite their former persecutors to come in and revive hostilities in this new home. Their church was very dear to them, and zealots who intruded for the purpose of warring against it were ordered to seek other fields. An other great motive for their removal to the wilderness had been the rearing of their children apart from the evil com munications of the Old World; and of all who desired to share their domicile they consistently required a conformity to their standard of the proprieties of life. In short, they sought to found an asylum for persecuted Congregationalism ; and they never professed to establish an arena for the enemies of that order. No person had any claim to share their private estate without the consent of its owners. They treated the Indians of their Colony with scrupulous j'ustice, protecting them from their enemies, relieving them from distress, and requiring their rights to be respected by others. Though their laws would now be harsh, they were generally mild for that age, and were usually administered with a degree of reason and mercy not before known to governments.^ . . . We must extend to them the same justice we shall have occasion to ask from posterity. — IV. H. Prescott. The Plymouth Colony was more tolerant than the later Colony of Massa chusetts Bay. — T. W. Higginson, Harper's Magazine, July, 1880. Church-of-England people and Baptists dwelt continuously in Plymouth in peace, except such as openly sought to overturn the Independent churches. Visitors of all beliefe and no belief were entertained, to their host's subsequent privation, for months together, so hospitable were they. — Steele's Brewster. [But this excellent author is led by Thacher into the misstatement that Plymouth restricted voting and ofiSce-holding to church-members.] 1 At the accession of James I. England made 31 crimes capital. This num ber gradually increased to 223 1 Massachusetts Bay made 13 crimes capital ; and the Virginia Colony had 17, including Unitarianism, sacrilege, adultery, defrauding the public treasury, false-witness, and the third offence of refusing to attend public worship! Connecticut surpassed Massachusetts; but her so- called " Blue Laws " are fictitious, being the work of one Peters, who had been INTRODUCTORY. 3 They never punished, or even committed any person as a (vitch. Roger Williams always had the free range of their Colony, and freedom of speech in it. Though their faith was positive and strong, they laid down no formal creed. John Robinson taught them that "the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy word,"^ and their covenant was "to walk in all his ways made known, or to be made known, unto them." ^ At the Lord's table they communed with pious Episcopalians, with Calvinists of the French and Dutch Churches, and with Presbyterians, and recognized the spiritual fraternity of all who hold the faith. The following review, sometimes minute and sometimes very general, will aim to present the Pilgrim Fathers in the light of recent discoveries and developments. Impartiality will require that some things be recorded which the pane gyrist would rather ignore and the sectarian distort. Yet the plain facts will doubtless lead the candid reader to the con clusion that the Pilgrim Fathers were great in their goodness, and wise beyond their generation ; that in an era of super stition they groped, not unsuccessfully, for something better ; and however small their own advance, they bequeathed to their successors the spirit of inquiry and progress. Men must be judged by the age in which they lived and by the special influences which surrounded them ; thus before form ing an estimate of the Pilgrims it becomes necessary to consider the condition of their mother-country, the leader of intelligence in that generation. In 1620, when the " Mayflower " sailed from England, the world was practically, if not entirely, ignorant of steam-power, electricity, photography, chemistry, geology, the barometer, thermometer, and pendulum, and of a vast number of prin ciples, inventions, and appliances essential to modern life and expelled from that Colony. Plymouth had only five classes of capital crime; and of these she actually punished but two. 1 Chron, PU., 397. ' Bradford's Hist., 9. 4 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. comfort, even in the lowest social sphere. The philosophy of gravitation was awaiting its far-off Newton; the learned world was divided between the Ptolemaic and the Copernican theories of the solar system. Of the functions of the stomach, brain, and nerves, the skin and kidneys, nothing was known. Harvey, following Servetus, was preparing to demonstrate the circulation of the blood ; but the best medical men of the day had not mastered it. Charms, amulets, incantations, mag ical preparations, and the touch of the king's hand,^ were common in the medical treatment of even the most learned divines and statesmen ; ^ astrology and alchemy were common pursuits of the erudite, while divination and necromancy had no lack of believers in all circles of life. The mental re sources of the less-educated classes must have been few indeed, when even the scanty science known was not gener ally diffused among the learned, when there were no secular lectures, no newspapers, no public mails, and no public vehicles. Cruelty to man and beast was common ; judicial sentences were often barbarous in the extreme, and their most cruel infliction, on men and women alike, drew dense crowds of eager spectators from the refined and select as well as from the coarse and low.^ The King set at naught even the laws 1 Particularly, scrofula, or " King's-evil," was supposed to be curable by the royal touch. Edward the Confessor began the practice in 1058. Charles II. touched 92,107 persons, and according to Dr. Wiseman, court physician, they were nearly all cured. Good Queen Anne announced officially in the " London Gazette" of March 12, 1712, that she would "touch" publicly. This "faith cure" was dropped as a royal custom by George I., 1714. ^ In EUzabeth's time the sick in high life swallowed " salts of gold " and powdered diamonds,-coral, pearls, and many such things, for medicines. Pov erty was fortunate in having to limit itself to herbs, and these were gathered with incantations and under certain planets or phases of the moon (New Eng landers have not yet entirely lost a reverence for the latter). Bleeding was resorted to under almost all circumstances, but the operation was performed by barbers, not surgeons. The Queen herself gave great attention and obe dience to her astrologer. Dr. Dee. Palmistry ranked as a science, and learned professors triumphantly answered sceptics by quoting scripturally : " He hath placed signs in the hands of all men, that every man may know his work." For long afterward, anatomical researches were thought sacrilegious, and the elemen tary facts of geology blasphemous. 8 The law for burning heretics was not repealed in England until 1677, and INTRODUCTORY. 5 to which he had given his specific approval, and the pulpit declared that no earthly restraint could be placed upon him, with or without his consent. With no authority of law, the government was in the habit of torturing suspected people, to wring from them evidence against themselves and their friends; prisoners charged with felony were not allowed to have counsel, nor had they the privilege of calling sworn or reluctant witnesses ; juries were often driven by the menaces of judges to convict those whom they had already declared " not guilty; " the treatment of common prisoners was horri ble, and the ravages of jail-fever were frequent and terrible. Under Elizabeth, learned and pious men had been hanged for advocating Congregationalism ; and under James, exem plary and able scholars were burned alive for holding to then not because it was thought wrong, but for fear that in the coming reign James II. might apply it to Protestants. The penalty of pressing to death (in legal phraseology " the Peine Forte et Dure") a prisoner who would not plead, existed in England in 1770. The form of execution in Elizabeth's time, and which continued to be the penalty for treason until 1814, was as follows : The victim was placed in a cart with a rope around his neck ; as the cart started, the executioner caught the swinging man, and, cutting him down, removed the noose. The prisoner then, while in full possession of his senses, was disembowelled and made to see his intestines burning in a fire by his side ; next his still beating heart was pulled out and burned, his body quartered, and his head set up on London Bridge or some other public place. Elizabeth at one time had three hundred heads exposed over the entrance to the bridge, while the Tower and Temple Bar had each a like horrible display (see p. 230, Chapter XXI.). The Queen was not satisfied with this savage process, but, in the case of Babington and thirteen other young Roman Catholic gentlemen, desired some punishment more severe. Her judges deciding that this would be illegal, the Virgin Queen in sisted that the established form be protracted " to the extremity of pain." Her ferocity was gratified as to the first seven ; but the spectators, filled with pity, compelled the executioner to let the others hang until dead, before mutilation. By a law of Nature, cruelty grows with indulgence. In Elizabeth's era bar barity soon extended from Roman Catholics to such Protestants as offended the government. Amputation of ears and hands, boring the tongue with a red-hot iron, branding cheeks and foreheads, fearful scourgings, and exposure in the pillory to every abuse short of murder, were the lot of hundreds not o£ sufiicient impor tance for the rack and the quartering-block. Nor was the stake yet obsolete. In 1575 two Dutch Baptists of London were burned alive. The Dutch Church there pleaded for them, and Fox, the martyrologist, begged the Queen at least to substitute some milder death ; but Elizabeth refused, and so incurred the full responsibility for the cruelty. Afterward at least three persons were burned as Unitarians. She who delighted her early maidenhood with bear and dog fights showed little mercy in her later years. D THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. Unitarianism. The idea of private judgment was almost everywhere denied, and the toleration ^ of religious differ ences was as widely denounced by persons of every shade of opinion. Christianity had made but slight progress; the religion which bore its name and used its terms being much nearer to Judaism, and drawing its inspiration from the Pentateuch rather than from the Gospels. All sorts and conditions of men were swayed by superstition, especially a dread of witchcraft, of ghosts, of comets, and of a personal, material devil and his visitations. This summary might be much extended; but enough has been said to indicate the standard by which the Pilgrim Fathers are to be measured. If in sotne respects they merely made their portion of New England conform to Old England, they are not therefrom open to special credit or censure, for such was to be expected of good, common men; but so far as they rose above the influences under which they had been reared, and gave the world something better, they are entitled to no common meed of praise. It is eulogy enough to say that while in many respects they were like the world which had reared them, in others they were self-advanced from it. 1 In 1634 Lord Baltimore, the Roman Catholic patron, offered full toleration in Maryland for Protestants, except that Unitarians were punishable with death. CHAPTER II. English Conformists. — Nonconformists, or Puritans. — Separatists. — Brownists. — Arrogance of the English Church. — Sufferings of the Separatists. — Robert Brown. — Persecutions. ¦\T 7"HEN, in 1603, James I. became king of England, he ^ " found his Protestant subjects divided into three classes, — Conformists, or High Ritualists ;. Nonconformists, or Broad-Church Puritans ; and Separatists, popularly called Brownists. The Conformists and the Puritans both adhered to the Church of England, and were struggling for its control. The leading Conformists had recently begun to claim more than human authority for their Church polity and ceremonies ; the King, its earthly head, they pronounced Christ's vice gerent, supreme in State as well as Church, so that neither people nor parliament had any rights or privileges which he might not take away at his pleasure, even such as he had solemnly confirmed by seal or oath.-^ To this party belonged the King, with most of his courtiers and placemen, the higher clergy, most of the nobility, and nearly all the lowest grades of society. The Puritans objected to some of the ceremonies of the Church, such as the ring in marriage, the sign of the cross in baptism, the promises of godparents, the showy vestments, 1 So late as 1683, on the day of Lord Russell's execution, Oxford University declared " submission and obedience, clear, absolute, and without exception," to be the badge and character of the Church of England. She also went through the puerile ceremony of burning sundry books of Knox, Milton, and Baxter which advocated the rights of the people. Yet in 1688, when her Church was threatened by the lawful King, this grand old University was in the front rank of rebellion, and tendered her college plate toward the invader's expenses as he marched against " the Lord's anointed," as she had recently expressed it. 8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1603. bowing in the creed, receiving evil-livers to the communion, repetitions, and to kneeling at communion as if still adoring the Host, instead of assuming an ordinary attitude as did the apostles at the Last Supper. The majority of the lower clergy and middle classes are said to have favored Puritanism. But the sharp, despotic measures against these clerics soon called together a great political party, which cared less for the theological points involved than for the defence of liberty and law. Thus there were religious Puri tans and political Puritans, two great sections, of which each considered the other's purpose secondary to its own, but to nothing else. The Puritan clergy were gradually hunted out, and were ruined by illegal fines and exactions ; ^ but the political Puritans formed the majority of the House of Com mons throughout the entire reign of James I. As these members must all have been of the Church of England, this is an illustration of the fact that the Puritans were Episcopalians. Under Elizabeth, several leading members of her court had been numbered with the Puritans, such as Leicester, Burleigh, Walsingham, Davison, Essex, Raleigh, Hatton, Sir Nicholas Bacon, and the poet Spenser. Archbishop Grindal and the Bishops of Winchester, Durham, and Norwich had favored a partial adoption of their views ; ^ but Elizabeth and James were proof against every influence adverse to the extreme ritualism which was linked with such slavish doctrines as to the rights of the Crown. James was a despot, — fickle, lying, and craven, but also cruel and treacherous. The High Ritu alists supported him to the full, and from their pulpits de nounced eternal damnation on those who should question, even in Parliament, the propriety of anything he might choose to do. Of the Puritans, Hume, the Tory historian, feels obliged to record : " So absolute was the authority of the Crown that 1 In 1604 three hundred were " silenced." 2 Whitgift despairingly said that the Queen was the only one at court who stood squarely by him. 1600-1644.] PURITANS. g the precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was pre served dj/ the Puritans alone; and it is to this sect that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution." ^ Dr. Palfrey says of them: "The rank, the wealth, the chivalry, the genius, the social refinement and elegancies of the time were largely represented in [their] ranks." And of their adherence to the Church of England and their policy of reforming it from within, he adds that they opposed sepa ration from the Church as a deadly sin; for in their plan " The seamless garment was to be cleansed, but by no means to be rent." Dr. Neal says that the Puritan body took form in 1564, and dissolved in 1644. During that term of eighty years the Puritans were ever " in and of the Church of England ; " as Dr. Prince says in his Annals (1736), those who left the Episcopal Church " lost the name of Puritans and received that of the Separatists." ^ For several years before their dis- bandment the Puritans practised some passable conformity ; for Laud was able to report in the latter part of his domination that there was substantially no nonconformity in the kingdom. After 1644 some of the Puritans were found fighting for the king ; some were in the armies of Cromwell ; but many were arrayed in the Presbyterian ranks against him.^ Since that time no body or class of men has been properly called by the name of " Puritans," and the title has become as com pletely bygone as " Lollards," " Hussites," or " Crusaders." The demoralized writers of the Restoration were as igno rant of English history as they were contemptuous of con- 1 Lord Bacon says : " The wrongs of the Puritans may hardly be dissembled or excused." 2 Vol. i. p. 235 (ed. of 1736). 5 Among the Parliamentary commanders and naval men at the outset were scarce any but Nonconformists ; there were also Nonconformists in the King's army. See Magnalia, Book iii., " Remarks." It mentions, also, " That part of the Church of England which took up arms in the old cause of the Long Parliament." In 1695 Archbishop Tillotson expressed to Increase Mather his "resentments of the great injury which had been done to the first planters of New England, and his great dislike of Archbishop Laud's spirit toward them." (See as above.) 10 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1600-1644. Stitutional rights and of religion in daily life. They knew that the defence of religion and law had formerly been led by the Puritans, and with equal malice and ignorance applied that name to all who were above the servile and immoral senti ments then in vogue at court. Especially did the wits and dramatists revel in caricatures of zealots and canting knaves whom they called Puritans, though in truth there was plenty of fanaticism worthy of caricature had it been confined to their own classes. The times were fruitful in fanatics of every degree, but of few more dangerous than the mad Cavaliers, who were eager to sacrifice liberty, law, and religion to and even beyond the caprice of their licentious king. The name " Puritan " being thus misapplied for many years in these productions of the favored few which a tyrannical censorship allowed to be published, the reconstructed literature of a better era carelessly continued its use as synonymous- with Dissenter, and more especially with advanced religious stern ness and sourness. This misuse has extended to the present day, and into it have fallen even such historians as Mahon and Macaulay. Both these writers, however, late in life, had their attention called to the matter, and seeing their error, began to distinguish between the Puritans and the New Eng land Pilgrims.^ Until recently, the modern historical writers of our own country have made the same confusion of terms, and not many of them have even yet taken pains to inform themselves on the subject. Excepting two grammar-school books, the author is not aware (1883) of any so-called His tory of the United States which is correct in this respect. It is surprising that Bancroft and Palfrey are not also exceptions. The admirable text of the latter clearly sets forth the facts ; but the learned writer was so influenced by the force of ex ample as to overlook the logical conclusion which he had 1 In the vestibule of the House of Lords is a fine painting, by Cope, of the sailing of the " Mayflower." It was formerly inscribed, " Departure of a Puritan Family for New England." Lords Macaulay and Stanhope (Mahon) gave a hearing to the artist and others interested ; and seeing their own habitual error in confounding Puritan with Separatist and Dissenter, they, as Commissioners on Decorations, changed " A Puritan Family " to " The Pilgrim Fathers." IS67-] SEPARATISTS. ^ II made plain, and curiously remarks, " I have been struck by the fact that the word ' Puritan ' scarcely occurs in our old writings." He did not see the reason to be that the Pilgrims of Plymouth were not called Puritans by anybody of their generation, and that the men of Massachusetts Bay " lost the name," as Dr. Prince says, when they finally separated from the Church of England.^ The Separatists, unlike the Puritans, had no connection with the National Church, and the more rigid of them even denied that Church to be scriptural, or its ministrations to be valid. They held that any convenient number of believers might form themselves into a church, and make or unmake their officers as they saw fit. Over the spiritual affairs of such a church there could be no legitimate authority short of its Heavenly Head, — no bishop, director, superintendent, council, synod, court, or sovereign. Other churches of the same faith might not, unasked, even offer it advice, and they were not to be asked as churches, but as detached brethren. Even the pastors had no official standing outside of their own parishes ; but when they spoke to other churches, they were invited to do so like any visiting lay brethren. In funda mental doctrines Ritualists, Puritans, and Separatists agreed ; their differences were over matters of discipline. Among the Marian martyrs were Separatists. Under Elizabeth a London congregation of them was cruelly per secuted in 1567-69; but while men and women died of the horrors of their prisons, none recanted. Such prisoners were given no clothing, bedding, fuel, or food. Outside charity was their only support, and the donations from that source came through the hands of jailers, who often stole the better part of what was given. Group after group, the Separatists 1 The settlers at Massachusetts Bay "were Puritans, — Nonconformists, but not Separatists ; differing in this respect from the colonists of New Plymouth." — Dr. Young, Chron. of Mass. p. 299. The first settlers of Massachusetts Bay had apparently no intention at the outset of separating from the Church of England. . . . The same thing is true of the settlers of the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies, who sought to be free, not from the Anglican Church, but from its errors and abuses. — Appleton's Ency., Congregationalism. 12 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [iS90- were swept into prisons, where not only did they meet with terrible privations, but from the entire disregard of all sanitary precautions the horrors of pestilence were more than frequent. Governor Bradford refers to a printed list of some eighteen Separatists dying of jail-fever in London between 1586 and 1592, and quotes from a petition of sixty ofthe survivors that they may not be "murdered" by "hunger and cold, and stifled in loathsome dungeons ; " he adds that many died from the hardships of their prisons.^ While Separatist men and women were freely thrown into such murderous imprisonment, but few of the Puritans were confined for their nonconformity ; these few were mostly or entirely clergymen, whose prison life was made mild through the interest and wealth of their partisans, and was generally brief. The released Puritans were helped to congenial places as teachers, wardens, librarians, guardians, trustees, and pri vate chaplains, or to other positions controlled by their friends. Bradford says that the Puritans had another great advantage over the Separatists: the latter had not only "harder measure" from the same persecuting prelatists, but encountered the hostility and " sharp invectives " of the Puri tan preachers themselves (" the forward ministers"), who not only stirred up against them the people at home, but so prejudiced the Reformed clergy of other countries that while Puritan refugees found a cordial reception there, the Separa tists met with no favor. Thus the ejected Puritan clergy were mostly well cared for at home ; but the unfriended Separatists, deprived of a livelihood, were compelled to fly to other and uncongenial lands, or " else might have perished in prisons." ^ 1 George Johnson, a Cambridge "M.A.," and son of the Mayor of Rich mond (Yorkshire), was confined in London as a Separatist for six months in the most dark and unwholesome part of " The Clink." Sometimes for two days and nights he had no sustenance of any kind ; while for twenty days he had no bed ding but a straw mat, and no change of linen. His brother, the eminent preacher and scholar, was imprisoned at the same time. From 1660 to 1688 there were recorded sixty thousand Nonconformists and Dissenters who were thrown into English prisons ; and of these more than five thousand died of privation and disease. '^ Bradford's Dialogue ; Chron. Pil., pp. 436-440. In the preface to the Dialogue Secretary Morton speaks of " some estrangedness " remaining among the sue- 1580.] PILGRIMS AND SEPARATISTS NOT PURITANS. 13 This high testimony is of itself quite proof enough that the Puritans were markedly distinct from the Separatists, and were indeed hostile to them.^ In 1580 Robert Brown ^ made a furious Separatist crusade cessors of those formerly " forced to sustain the name of Puritans and Brown ists." He also mentions that Manton, preaching before the Commons in the time of the Commonwealth, referred to the name " Puritans " as one used formerly, but no longer ; the preacher then specifying the various bodies of anti-prelatists existing, — as Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, and Independents. In that presence he could not have spoken ofthe " late Puritans " if the name was still extant ; for had there then been any so-called Puritans, their leaders would have been before him. 1 Many persons use ..." Pilgrims " and " Puritans " as meaning the same thing ; but this is only a confused use of language. — Eev. I. N. Tarbox, D.D,, No. I, Trans. O. C. Soc, Taunton, Mass. The Puritan was a nationalist, believing that a Christian nation is a Christian church ; . . . while the Pilgrim was a Separatist from all national churches. — Dr. Leonard Bacon. The Pilgrims were Separatists, having openly withdrawn from the National Church. . . . The Massachusetts Colonists were Puritans, connected with the National Church. — Barry's Hist. Mass. i. 149. As to the Pilgrim Fathers, the Puritans they could not conform to. — Hutch inson's Hist. Mass. (a.d. 1767). Arnold's History of Rhode Island says that the Pilgrims were distinct from the Puritans in England, and preserved a distinction in America, and that they " were more liberal in feeling and more tolerant in practice than the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay." Benjamin Scott, F.R.S., Chamberlain of the City of London, in a lecture to the Quakers there, says of the Pilgrims : " They did not persecute for conscience' sake either Roger Williams, the Friends, or any other person ; " for " they were neither Puritans nor persecutors." The Puritans disowned and disclaimed the form of discipline of the Separ atists. — Hubbard's Hist., p. 118. The Puritans " walked in a distinct path. . . . Their offence was rather at the ceremonies than at the discipline and government" of the Church of England. The Brownists put the rule of the Church into the hands of the people, "being contented the elders should sit in the saddle, provided they might hold the bridle," as is said. — Ibid., p. 181 (a.d. 1684). We (i.e. the Puritans) suffer for separating in the Church; you (i. e. the Separatists), out of the Church. — Sprint, 1608. (See Prince, i. 236.) Archbishop Abbott (1610-1627) "shows no mercy to those of the Separa tion," but grows indulgent to the Puritans. — Prince, i. 238. Coleman, Burton, and others imprisoned as Puritans, in a petition to the Privy Council disclaim all sympathy with Separatists, saying, " We abhor these, and we punish them." In 1753 the famous John Wesley published a Dictionary, in which he defines " Puritan " - " An old, strict Church of England man." 2 Brown was born about 1549, being a son of Anthony Brown, Esq., of Fol- thorp, Rutlandshire. He was educated at Cambridge, and became a school master at Southwark and lecturer at Islington before he "came out" in 1580. 14 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1580-1630. through Northern England, and issued several books. Slow communication and the friendship of his kinsman, the great Burieigh, tided him over his first indictment by Bishop Freake, and secured him some temporary immunity ; but the next year persecution became so hot that, with a flock some time gathered at Norwich, he fled to Middleberg in Holland. After some years he returned (1589) and renewed work; but soon re-entering the Established Church, obtained in 1591 the rural rectorate of Achurch, Northamptonshire, which he held till his death in 1630. The Churchmen believed and spread gross slanders against the fiery schismatic. Lacking the means of information now common (but often disregarded), they supposed him to have originated the movement, which in fact antedated him by a generation, and so termed the new sect Brownists, — a misnomic term which pedants like Hubbard and courtiers like Hutchinson have repeated in New England historical literature. The Separatists, after Brown's desertion, also in their turn gave credit to calumnies against him, and regarded the title of " Brownist " as an es pecial insult. Yet, more than two centuries after the recant ing pastor's death the historian of Congregationahsm finds him to have been a bold, able man, apparently sincere, and of a fair character.^ Brown's raid greatly embittered the controversy, already marked by vituperation and coarseness on both sides. But the hierarchy held the power, and finding the pestiferous dungeon and unlimited abuse ineffective, it tried the gallows. For circulating Brown's books two worthy Separatist preach ers, John Copping and Elias Thacker (Thacher?), were hanged, after a trial in which they were cruelly abused by 1 Brown said that he had been in thirty-two different dungeons, in some of which he could not see his hand at noon-day. This must be overstated; for with thirty-two separate commitments and releases he could hardly have had any of his year of active persecution left for preaching. One tradition says that the violence of his temper was such that at the age of eighty he was sent to Northampton jail (where he died) for assault on a con stable. (See next paragraph.) I doubt if any other man was ever more lied about or misunderstood. — Rev. Dr. Dexter to the Author. IS93-] SEPARATISTS. 1 5 the notorious Judge Popham.^ Bradford says they replied to Popham's menaces with this conciliatory triplet : — " My Lord, your face we fear not, And for your threats we care not, And to come to your read-service we dare not ! " This was their answer to an offer of life if they would con form. Before each was " turned off," a bonfire of his " Brownist " books was made before the scaffold. The same year another preacher, William Dennis, of Thetford, " a godly man," was hanged for a similar cause. In 1593-4 three Cambridge scholars, Johji Penry^ and John Greenwood, together with Henry Barrow, a lawyer, one of Elizabeth's former courtiers, were hanged for teaching Separatist doc trines.^ To strengthen the case against Greenwood and Barrow, some unworthy Puritan ministers visited them in prison for the purpose of betraying their conversation to the prelatic prosecutors.* Burleigh and other high nobles in terceded in vain for these prisoners; indeed, some official recorded in the " State-Paper Office " ^ that the execution was through " the malice of the bishops." The warrant is also there, and, sad to say, the first signature is Archbishop Whitgift's; less strangely appears among the others Judge Popham's. This ecclesiastico-judicial slaughter was so re pugnant to the public and to Parliament that the persecutors then substituted banishment, under penalty of death in case of a return, as the punishment for Separatism.^ The sect was never large. In 1593 Raleigh estimated it at " near twenty thousand ; " but this was probably a phi- ' Dexter says Wray was Judge (Lansdowne MSS.). 2 A Welshman, whose correct name was Ap Henry. 8 In 1594 John Clerk (Clark), mayor of St. Albans, on a charge that before Penry's arrest he " did there promise to pray for him." 4 The Hidden Church; also Punchard's History of Congregationalism, iii. 116. 6 Founded in 1578. 6 Of this law Hon. W. T. Davis, of Plymouth, says : " The new law, passed by a Puritan Commons, contributed in no small degree ... to sweep Separatism out of England. The Puritans could not tolerate any opposition to the old idea of ecclesiastical unity, and were willing to go as far as the farthest in suppressing it." — Harper's Magazine, January, 1882. 1 6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1605. lanthropic exaggeration, as he was then trying to demonstrate the impracticability of the bill for their banishment. It may be doubted that they exceeded a quarter of that number. Through the united pressure of prelates, Puritans, and placemen, the Separatists were dispersed. Many sought the protection of obscurity, but most contrived to conform far enough to escape special notice. The sect rapidly dimin ished, and at the accession of James I. there is supposed to have been in the whole kingdom but one of their churches in operation. That was some hundred and fifty miles from the capital, at Gainsborough, and was in charge of a pastor of " right eminent parts," who bore the neither marked nor un- English name of John Smith. Some twelve miles to the west, around the hamlet of Scrooby, this body had a few scattered friends who remained there when in 1605-1606 the Gains borough flock fled to Amsterdam. That deserted and then unnoticed fragment gives rise to this volume ; for it became the Church of the Pilgrim Fathers, and sowed rare seed, whence sprang modern Congregationalism. CHAPTER III. The Great Northern Road. — Post-OiEces. — Conveyances. — Basset Lawe. — Scrooby. — Brewster's Rise and Career. — Austerfield. — William Bradford. — Clifton. — Robinson. — Trying to emigrate to Holland. — Betrayed. — Boston. — Second Attempt to start for Hol land. — Its Failure. — Arrival in the New Country. THE direct land-route between London and the " North Country " was formerly by the Great Northern Road, — a very ancient way, which ran from the capital to Berwick, some three hundred miles. Its southern half was mostly an old Roman road, which in its turn followed the general route of the still more ancient British highways, known later as Ermyn Street and West Ermyn Street, to which the Great Northern Railway now closely conforms for more than a hundred miles. Under Elizabeth there were upon this route twenty-five " post-offices " or stations, each in charge of a postmaster, usually termed " the post." ^ This officer was not greatly busied with postal matters, as the mails were then only accessible to those connected with the court; but as there were no side-routes, he kept a post-rider to deliver packets to a great distance on his east or west. This court- service, dating from the thirteenth century, continued until 1644, when Prideaux, postmaster-general of the Common wealth, threw the mails open to the public, with a weekly delivery to all parts of the country .^ Until then, common people sent their letters by travelling friends and by drovers, pedlers, freighters, coasters, and even by routine beggars. 1 From Newcastle was a branch to Carlisle, with three more post-offices on it ; Hunter errs by counting this branch into the main line. 2 The population of all England was then about that of the present London — something over four millions. 2 1 8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [iS30-iS7O. The chief duty of the "post" was to furnish horses to travellers, and for centuries the government kept this profit able monopoly to itself. A traveller could only hire a pri vate horse when the " post " was unable in half an hour to supply him. The rates in the seventeenth century were 4^. for a guide to the next station, and 31^. a mile for each horse, — a large charge for the horse. Wheeled vehicles in Eliza beth's time were not employed for travel or traffic. As the latter was done by the aid of pack-animals, some bulky and ponderous articles were used only at places accessible by water ; as, for instance, Newcastle coal, which was long known in London and southern England as " sea-coal." The con veyance of passengers was by horseback, except that in some extreme cases a horse-litter might be had (yet the famous Wolsey, in his last sickness, rode along the Great Northern Road on the back of a mule) . The guide was in charge of the horses, and on reaching the end of his stage took them back with the return passengers, if any there were ; his ser vices as guide were also necessary, for the " great " road was so little like a modern thoroughfare that in the open country strangers often lost their way, to say nothing of the dangers of molestation to a lone traveller.^ At about midway of this Great Northern Road the " Hun dred " 2 of Basset Lawe filled the northeast corner of Notting hamshire, which there meets both Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. In Basset Lawe, near this junction, was the hamlet of Scrooby, — a post-station. Under Elizabeth, the " post " was William 1 This court posting-service was originated by Edward IV. (temp. 1461-1483) to obtain war news from Scotland. He had horsemen in waiting at every twenty miles ; but so bad were the roads that the best speed of the message was only two hundred miles in two days. In 1484 Richard III., who tried to make his reign beneficent, increased his brother's posting-system, but seems not to have extended it to the West ; for with prompt notice of Richmond's movements he would probably have repelled him, and by a long, intelligent reign have earned a far higher place among England's rulers than is due to his rival usurper, Henry VII. 2 The " Hundred " (North of England " Wappentake ") is a Danish institu tion. It is supposed the " Hundreds," or subdivisions of the Shire, were so called from the number of families in each at the time the counties were origi nally divided by Alfred, — about 897. 1566-1587.] WILLIAM BREWSTER. 19 Brewster, — probably the one who in the subsidy of 15 71 was rated as of Scrooby-cum-Ranskill.i The vicar of Sutton and rector of Scrooby was then Henry Brewster, who after thirty- eight years service was in 1598 succeeded by his son James (died 1614). These may have been the brother and nephew of the " post." The latter had a son, William, Jr., whose sig nature is, so far as may be, a general fac-simile of James's, — 'a circumstance which suggests co-education. This William Brewster the younger became the famous Elder Brewster of Plymouth. Hewas born in 1566-7, and must have been young when he went to Cambridge Uni versity; there, Bradford says, he "spent some small time," his stay being perhaps the shorter on account of previous training. While still in his nonage he left college and entered the service of Secretary of State Davison, — a religious gentle man, who soon found him given to serious thoughts, and who, by a kindred feeling, was led to " esteem him rather as a son than a servant "(?), and to employ him in preference to his fellow-clerks in matters of trust and confidence. In 1585 Davison, as ambassador to Holland, took young Brewster with him, giving him the sight of a brave people in arms for national and religious freedom. As security for a loan to the Dutch, the English ambassador received the keys of three of their strong places; and these highly valued tokens he in trusted to Brewster, who so strongly felt the responsibility as to sleep with the big keys under his pillow.^ On leaving Holland, Davison was presented by the States-General with a gold chain or regalia, and this he directed Brewster to wear as they returned to Elizabeth's court. This brilliant life was of short duration. Not two years after this embassy Elizabeth signed the death-warrant of Mary Queen of Scots. When execution had been done (Feb. 18, 1587), the English Queen sought to ^ For goods of annual value of £1. " This loan was ;^75o,ooo. In i6i6 James I., trying to raise money without leave of Parliament, remitted the debt for one third its face. This justly enraged his Puritan subjects. 20 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1590. avert its odium ^ by pretending that some official had abused his authority; and to convince doubters, made a victim of Davison, throwing him into the Tower and putting his prop erty into her own capacious pocket by a fine of ten thousand marks. Burleigh, Essex, and others vainly pleaded for the secretary as a most faithful and valuable servant, who, they nobly said, had only acted in concurrence with themselves. But it was two years before he was released, and all the pecuniary justice he ever obtained was a pension of ;£^ioo a year. In adversity Brewster faithfully adhered to his patron, devoting himself to his service in all possible ways ; but the time coming when no further aid was practicable, the attache, then hardly twenty-one years old, turned away from the treacherous attractions of that court where Davison's power ful friends could have greatly advanced his favorite prot^g^, and returning to little Scrooby, acted as an assistant to his father in the duties ofthe " post." It is strange that Bradford should have said no more of his great friend's occupation or place of retirement than " he wente and lived in ye country." In 1590, the senior Brewster dying, his son sought the vacant office ; but it was given to Samuel Bevercotes.2 Davison, however, had sufficient influence with Postmaster-General Stan hope^ to secure a reconsideration and the final appointment of Brewster. The pay was 20d. a day, until in 1603 it became 2.f.* If Brewster had the profits from entertaining travellers, his income may have ranged from £^o to ;^50 a year, — a larger sum than probably was paid to most of the estabhshed clergy in his vicinity.^ Hunter has exhumed an interesting voucher 1 A great deal of sentimental sympathy is wasted over the unhappy fates of Mary and Charles Stuart, — generally increasing in amount in ratio with the sympathizer's lack of acquaintance with their character. * That is, to his protege. 8 The first regular Postmaster-General of England was Sir Thomas Randolph, appointed 1581 ; died 1590. In 1533, Sir Brian Tuke had some such title. * Master (.>) mechanics then were paid \s. a day, ordinary clerks about i,d., and State secretaries 5j. bd. But money was worth at least five times as much as now for most purposes. * E. D. Neill's English Civilization, etc. 1590.] THE OLD BISHOPS' PALACE AT SCROOBY. 21 of Brewster's business. In 1603 Sir Timothy Hatton, the archbishop's son, journeyed to London, and in his account- book made this entry while going south : " Paid the post at Scrooby, conveyance to Tuxford, io.y. ; for a candle, supper, and breakfast, Ts. lod." He probably lodged with Brewster, and included the charge under the head of " candle." On his return he entered : " Paid at Scrooby, conveyance to Doncaster, 8s. ; for burnt sack, bread, beer, and sugar to wine, 2s. ; to hostler, 3^." This time he merely had a lunch. Tuxford is nine or ten miles south of Scrooby, and Doncaster nine miles north. It is not evident from this account what the distance was then reckoned to be, nor what rate was charged. Of Brewster's dwelling, Bradford casually calls it " a manor of ye bishops," but does not suggest in what part of the king dom it was. From this slight clew Hunter discovered it to be the ancient palace at Scrooby, that hunting-seat of the archbishops of York, situated at Hatfield Chase, a branch of Sherwood Forest, so charming to the readers of " Ivanhoe." The palace mentioned in Domesday Book was mainly built of timber ; but its front was of brick, approached by a broad flight of stone steps ; it contained two court-yards, and was defended by a moat. For centuries the Northern primates had there gathered the gay and noble in the hunting season, and their halls had witnessed through many generations such, not painfully subdued, wassail as even a prelate's table might then permit after the chase. Queen Margaret had stopped there in 1503 while journeying towards the Scottish crown- matrimonial, and in 1541 her brother, Henry VIIL, had lodged there. In 1530 the great Wolsey in his disgrace, but still primate of York, spent here a portion of the last year of his life ; on Sundays he officiated in some of the little churches near by, and on week days, proud and imperious no longer, visited and relieved the poor cottagers ; in the garden of the palace he planted a mulberry-tree, which Brewster must have enjoyed, and which in its decay stood until blown down in 1879. Under the graver manners of Protestantism the good 22 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1607. primates Grindal and Sandys hardly needed a hunting-seat, and they were probably glad to put this property in charge of the senior Brewster as a man of official character; their successors, Piers and Hutton, did so intrust it to the younger Brewster. Hunter supposed that Sandys alienated this estate to his son, who leased it to Brewster ; but Dexter finds the latter to have been merely agent for the archbishop of the time, and the premises still belonging to the See of York. Brewster left office Sept. 30, 1607 (o. S.), and his place was filled successively by Francis Hall, John Nelson, William Nelson, and Edward Wright;- in the latter's time, during the Commonwealth, the post-station was removed to the little market-town of Bawtry, about a mile to the northward ; and (1658) a public wagon was provided to carry passengers from London to Bawtry, in three days, for 30^.^ No private person thereabouts could afford to maintain the " manor of the bishops," and as decay could only be stayed by costly repairs, the edifice was taken down, and its materials sold to make many smaller structures. By 1673 it had so thoroughly ceased to be, that the historian Thoroton then mentioned Scrooby as where " within memory stood a very fair palace." When in 1849 Hunter discovered the connection of Scrooby with religious events now to be mentioned, the loyal descend ants of the Pilgrim Fathers became intensely interested. In 185 1 Rev. Dr. Henry M. Dexter, of Boston, Mass., made a pilgrimage to the place; this he repeated in 1865, 1871 (when he spent a month there), 1877, and 1880. Nothing remained of the famous edifice, but the line of the moat was visible in the meadow close by the railway-station on the bank of the little Byton, a branch of the near-by and well-named River ' Idle. A large brick house which was in some way connected 1 In 1763 there was but one stage-coach between London and Edinburgh. It made a trip monthly, taking a fortnight each way (fare £4). In 1880 market-fairs were held at Bawtry (Yorkshire) June nth, November i6th, and November 23d. A branch of the Yorkshire Banking Company was there then, and the population was 930. Bawtry is nearly midway between Scrooby and Austerfield, but a little to one side. All three were on the Great Northern Road, though only Scrooby and Bawtry are on the Great Northern Railway. i6oo.] BREWSTER'S CHURCH-WORK. — BRADFORD. 23 with the manor, is still inhabited, and in the roof of its more modern cow-house the enthusiastic visitor discovered fifty- four carved oak beams of various sizes, which were evidently relics of the departed palace. In 1855 Hon. J. G. Palfrey made a loving visit there, as have the Editor of this work and many other New Englanders in later years. Brewster, as "post" at Scrooby, might have lived in ease as well as dignity ; but he became very industrious in building up the Episcopal congregations in a wide region, persuading the people to secure learned and pious clergy, of whom many rural parishes had been made destitute by the removal of Puritan incumbents. He also induced them to put their neglected church edifices in good condition and to become active in filling them; he often aided poor parishes with money, giving beyond his means. Basset Lawe thus had a religious awakening through Brewster's zeal, which was ably seconded by some of the young Puritan-Episcopal clergy, chief among whom were Richard Bernard, of Worksop, Thomas Toller, and Robert Gifford; these zealous Puritans remained clergymen of the Church of England till their deaths in old age. Vicar Brewster of Sutton probably left the fine little church at Scrooby to a curate unequal to the re quirements of postmaster William Brewster ; for on Sundays the latter was wont to walk four miles through the fields to Babworth, where preached Richard Clifton.^ On his way Brewster was joined by several friends ; and while returning, spent the time in social discussion with them of the day's exercises. In time there was a most interesting addition to this group. Two miles and a half north of Scrooby, by a path along the meadows of the Idle, and also on the Great Northern Road, lies the Yorkshire village of Austerfield. There, at the subsidy of 1575, the only laymen of sufficient property to be rated were William Bradford^ (" Bradfourth") and John Hanson, — two of those small landholders known as yeomen, once so important a section of the English commons, coming 1 Settled there 1586, aet. 33. » The " Bradford House " is still occupied. 24 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1602. next to the gentry, but now hardly known as a class. In 1584 their children, William Bradford, Jr., and Alice Hanson, were married; and on March 29, 1590 (n. S.), there was born and baptized a third William of the name, — the future gov ernor of the " Pilgrim Republic." ^ The child's father died the next year, and his guardianship fell to two uncles, worthy but plodding men. As the lad had some inherited land, they intended him for agriculture ; but his health being poor, he seems to have been allowed to indulge his natural desire for study. We often hear of Bradford's lack of educational advantages from writers who, misinformed or uninformed, think that his early life was spent in the tillage of those pat rimonial acres, and to a vain effort at marriage into a neigh boring family of " Carpenters," supposed to rank as his social superiors. But, in fact, the records show that there was no such Carpenter family in that region.^ Bradford represented the two leading families of Austerfield ; he had barely reached the age of eighteen when he became an exile from England, and his scholarly character very strongly implies close study and good training in youth. At about his twelfth year, from a study of the Geneva Bible Bradford became a religious inquirer. His soul wanted something more than he could get from the stolid incumbent of his ancestral parish ; but from his uncles he had little sym pathy, and from his young friends he received coarse ridicule. Mather says the inhabitants of Austerfield were "a most ignorant and licentious people, and like unto their priest." Soon the eager lad found his way to Brewster. Sunday mornings he followed the meadow-paths to Scrooby, and thence accompanied his friend to Babworth and Clifton. As the grave, middle-aged courtier and the earnest, confiding 1 The Austerfield church having a modern font. Dr. Dexter made a search for the discarded one, at which Bradford must have been christened. He traced it to the poultry-yard of an old lady, who used it for watering her fowls. It was a good-sized stone, rudely excavated. It was reclaimed and placed as a relic in the church nave. The thrifty Philistine in charge of a similar font at Scrooby offered it for sale, and it found its way to the Congregational Church of Rev. Dr. Little at Chicago. (See Gen. Reg., xx. 90.) Scrooby " Stocks," with greater propriety, were also taken to Chicago. 2 See Chap. XXIV. i6o6.] ECCLESIASTICAL PERSECUTION. — SEPARATION. 25 youth paced along their fragrant pathway, little did they look like the Moses and Aaron who were to establish the ark of the covenant in a Canaan yet to be conquered from the Trans atlantic wilderness. Bradford found in Brewster not only religious sympathy, but also secular instruction; his friend was a born teacher, and was rarely qualified to pass beyond the meagre range of text-books and make his pupil familiar with the affairs of camps, courts, and countries. The youth, who had a fond ness for history and antiquities, must have found no little enjoyment and profit in studying the Scrooby palace in its decaying grandeur, especially with the expositions of its learned master. When the boy had reached sixteen years there came a rude change. Prelatical persecution had become active in Basset Lawe. Some of the clergymen whom Brewster had with such sacrifice procured for neglected parishes were driven from their pulpits, while many others were harassed and threatened. At first Brewster merely claimed that the upper church-officials were exceeding their lawful powers; but under a continuance of persecution soon came to ques tion the rightfulness of such powers, even though legal. If the Church of England had then changed into the Church she is to-day, doubtless Brewster and Bradford would have lived and died in her communion amid the scenes of their youth ; probably, too. New England and Canada would have been to-day a colony of France. But the prelatic persecution was madly continued, and it finally repelled many talented and pious laborers from the Church. As Puritans, the Scrooby reformers had been obnoxious to the ruling powers ; now they made themselves vastly more so by becoming Separatists. The outlying members of the former Gainsborough flock were still around Scrooby. A Separatist congregation was gathered, and Clifton, who seems to have been ejected from Babworth for nonconformity, became the pastor. Brewster was early in this movement, and with him came his youthful 26 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1607. friend Bradford. Soon, as junior pastor, was secured John Robinson, a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Divinity from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who had been a clergy man in the Established Church near Norwich, being deprived for non-ritualism. He was then thirty years old (1606). His great ability and worth are attested even by Baillie, who in a severe attack upon this Church says : " Mr. Robinson, their pastor, was a man of excellent parts, and the most learned, polished, and modest spirit that ever that sect enjoyed. He ruined the rigid Separation, allowing the lawfulness of com municating with the Church of England in the Word and prayer, though not in the sacraments and discipline." Bradford says that Brewster was " a special stay and help " to this flock, which ordinarily met for worship in the halls of his old manor-house, where " with great love he entertained them . . . making provision for them to his great charge." (Probably many came with horses from a distance.) Even the seclusion and quasi-official protection of the " post " and his manor-house could not long hide this congregation from the informers, and meetings were at times held elsewhere. At length, in the autumn of 1607, the pursuit was so persistent that the Church determined on flight to Holland. Brewster left his office at the end of the third quarter of that year, and his comrades, turning their leases and little holdings into cash, packed their movable goods for a start; but the King, to prevent such emigrations, had closed the ports against all who had not his license to depart. As Bradford says, " Though they could not stay, yet were they not suffered to go." He adds that they were forced to bribe mariners and give exorbitant prices for secret conveyance ; yet were they betrayed, to their great suffering and loss, as he illustrates by two cases. A large company of them hired an entire ship, which was to meet them at Boston, forty miles from Scrooby. The captain having kept them waiting beyond the stipulated time, at great expense, finally took them and their goods on board during the night ; but having bargained with the catchpoles i6o8.] ATTEMPTS TO FLEE TO HOLLAND. 27 to prove false, the passengers and their effects were at once seized and hurried ashore. While in the boats the officers robbed the people of their money, the men being examined to their very shirts, and the women searched " further than became modesty," while their keepsakes, books, and other little effects were stolen or scattered. The Boston magis trates, however, were very courteous, and would have dis charged the victims if possible ; but that could only be done by a higher power.^ After a month's imprisonment most of these people were dismissed ; but Brewster, Bradford, and five others of " y" principal] " were kept in prison for the assizes, with a result not stated. This robbery by unworthy minions of an unworthy law fell severely upon the company, and it left the largest loser, the great-hearted Brewster, so nearly destitute that for some years in Holland he lived in sad pov erty and toil, — he who had once kept the keys of Dutch cities, and feasted with princes and ambassadors. The next spring (1608) ^ some of this company and others agreed with a Dutch vessel, then at Hull, to call for them at Grimsby Common, — a tract of unoccupied land near the mouth of the Humber. All were there at the time ; but the women and children having been sent with the goods in a shallop, and reaching the place first, had on account of severe sea sickness persuaded the boatmen to run over night into a still creek, where next morning, on the arrival of the others, the shallop lay aground at ebb tide. The only means of embark ing was the ship's one small boat; so Bradford and a few helpers went on board by this to be ready to receive the 1 Boston (England) was inclined to liberality, and a few years later was noted for Nonconformity, though not for Dissent. Hutchinson credits it with perhaps contributing more among the leading families at Massachusetts Bay than any other place, except London. Some of its emigrants were the vicar John Cotton, and Governors Dudley, Bellingham, and Leverett, and Magistrate Coddington, afterwards Governor of Rhode Island. In 1607 Boston petitioned Parliament to be classed "among the decayed towns." In 1621 the crosses were secretly cut out from her ofiicial maces. The mayor himself was suspected of the act, but a sharp investigation failed to find proof. In 1624 John Cotton, the vicar, was held to answer for letting some of his people receive in the communion standing. 2 After an unusually severe winter. — Prince, i. 23. 28 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1608. Others. Before a second load could be brought, there ap peared in the distance a great crowd of horse and foot with bills and guns, for the tipstaves had raised a posse to seize the fugitives. The Dutch skipper, fearing for himself, put to sea with his few passengers, some of whom had no money with them, and none had sufficient clothing, while their effects lay in the stranded barque, exposed to the rabble which was bearing down on their families and friends. They appealed with tears to the captain to return them to the shore; but that frightened mariner, as Bradford says, " swore his countries oath ' sacremente,' . . . waiged his Ancor, hoysed sayles, & away." Quickly arose a great storm, and for seven days the unhappy voyagers saw neither sun, moon, nor stars. The sailors gave themselves up as lost; once, as the ship plunged beneath the wave-crests, they went into a panic with shrieks and cries. Yet that little knot of English yeomen, all unused to the sea, preserved their calmness even when the water " ran into their mouths and ears ; " and as the terrified sailors cried, " We sink ! We sink ! " Bradford and his friends were heard repeating, " Yet, Lord, thou canst save ! Yet, Lord, thou canst save ! " When the storm ended, the iron-bound coast of Norway was close under their lee ; the ship having been blown some four hundred miles northward of her course, and a trip of two hundred miles lengthened to nearly one thousand. When, in two weeks from Grimsby, she reached Flushing, the hardy mariners of that port wondered at her survival. On landing, through some malicious hint to the magistrates that Bradford was escaping from English justice, he was arrested, though at once discharged when it appeared that he was only a religious refugee. The exiles then went to Amsterdam. The people left on Grimsby Common had short time for action. The men would incur fines, costs, and official rob bery, which would end all present hope of emigration. It was therefore decided that they must escape along the shore, leaving the youths and servants to aid the women and chil- i6o8.] THE PILGRIMS REUNITED IN HOLLAND. 29 dren. Those who remained were soon captured and dragged from one justice (?) to another, the women distracted between concern for their fugitive husbands and brothers, and their "poor little ones hanging about them, crying for fear and quaking with cold ; " but as no one could censure the women for following their husbands, children their parents, or ser vants their employers, these poor people, after undergoing much misery, were dismissed. It was fortunate that the men had escaped, for there would have been small hesitation in punishing them ruinously. Of the fate of the goods in the shallop, nothing is said. There were many other " notable passages and troubles " which winnowed out the less courageous and steadfast of the fugitives, but drew in others. In various ways the constant ones were sent over to Amsterdam, the rear of the column being guarded by the brave patriarchs of the flock, — Clifton, Robinson, and Brewster, A stay in England was especially dangerous for this Horatian three ; but they held their ground until there were no more to be helped across, and then they followed.^ In August, 1608, like the Children of Israel on the Arabian shore, this reunited band of pilgrims stood by the banks of the Zuyder Zee and poured out songs of praise for their deliverance. But sadness mingled in their joy. For England they had an abiding love; her language and usages, her traditions and history, her hills and meadows, the homes of their youth and the graves of their dead, were interwoven with their thoughts and affections. The religious freedom of Holland they could only enjoy as foreigners; and though their mother-land had been to them merciless beyond endu rance, their hearts would continue untravelled until they could beat in a new England more truly English than England herself. 1 In i6d8 Archbishop Matthew of York ordered a fine for non-appearance before his court against William Brewster, Richard Jackson, and Robert Rochester. They probably were then all at Amsterdam, — a very good place to be in, under the circumstances. CHAPTER IV. In a Strange Land. — Separatists at Amsterdam. — Separatist Churches and their Officials. — Removal to Leyden. — The Pilgrims' Vocations. — Their Church under Robinson. — Robinson's Distinction. — His Liberality. — Marriages. — Reasonable Desires for Further Emigration. — Projects. — The Seven Articles. — Invoking English Patronage. — Failure to secure Help from the Virginia Company. — Manhattan Offers. —The "Adventurers'" Offers. — " Mayflower " and "Speed well " engaged. — The Farewell Tryst. — Departure from Leyden. THE rural fugitives from Basset Lawe found much matter of marvel in their new abiding-place. The memorable war between Holland and Spain was then in progress, and the sight of fleets and armies in motion and walled towns fully garrisoned, mingled strangely with evidences of a world wide commerce pursued through novel methods of business ,and labor by a dense and thrifty population, whose manners and language could not but prove uncongenial to most of our immigrants, who, like true Britons, took but unkindly to a foreign tongue, regarding it as an impracticable jargon. Yet their heavy losses by robbery and excessive charges required them promptly to find such work as they could do. Even the gentle Brewster had nothing left of his former com petence ; and he who had helped so many in his prosperity had now to resort to such drudgery as could be found by one unused to any handicraft, and practically ignorant of his employer's language. But in due time the Anglo-Saxon " pluck," which had made the emigration possible, secured to all a well-earned comfort. At Amsterdam were two Separatist congregations. The chief was that banished from London in 1593, after the exe- 1609J REMOVAL TO LEYDEN. 31 cution of Greenwood, its sub-pastor or teacher. It still had its former learned pastor, Johnson, while the martyr's place was filled by Ainsworth, one of the first Hebrew scholars of his day; it also had four ruhng elders (with no pastoral authority), three deacons, and a deaconess. Bradford says the latter was " an ancient widow " who was specially mindful of the sick, assigning the young women as watchers and nurses, and was also in charge of relief for the sick poor ; he adds : " She usually sat in a convenient place in the congre gation with a little birchen rod in her hand, and kept little children in great awe from disturbing the congregation."^ The communicants numbered three hundred, and their church at first impressed the new comers by its " order and beauty." ^ The other body was that already noticed as escaping from Gainsborough, and leaving behind those ex-members around Scrooby. Its dauntless and eminent pastor, John Smith, whom persecution could not move, was becoming so wild and changeable in a state of freedom that his society was breaking to pieces, and its divisions affecting the elder Church.^ The new comers determined to leave this scene of strife before it should involve their own serene circle; so about May, 1609, some nine months after their arrival, they removed to Leyden,* a city of " sweete situation " on the Old Rhine, about twenty-two miles southwest of Amsterdam. Brave Clifton, who then ranked as " a reverend old man," though but fifty-six years old, had worn out before his time, and now retired from service, himself and family remaining with John- 1 In 1753, on Cape Cod, the town of Truro appointed a man " to take care of and chastise the boys who play in meeting." 2 Chron. Pil., pp. 445-456. * ' Smith subsequently denounced the liberality of Robinson's Church, which he elegantly termed " as very a harlot as either her mother, the Church of Eng land, or her grandmother, Rome." — Bishop Hall's Works, vii. 385; ix. 409. * The Lugdunum Batavorum of the Romans, from dialectic Luijkduin (Keltic luijk, an end ; dun, a hill) ; in the period of which we write, the second city of Holland, and fast becoming the " Manchester " of the times. Its population was increasing through refugees from France and the Spanish States. In 1640 it had one hundred thousand inhabitants; in 1750, seventy thousand; in 1800, thirty thousand ; since when it has happily increased. 32 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1609. son's people at Amsterdam.^ The Scrooby band at this second hegira numbered about one hundred persons. Their canal journey to Leyden must have brought them new won ders, especially as they floated through Harlem, oyer the site of its most horrible tragedy, — not unlikely to be repeated, — and again as they sailed in among the thirty islands, on which was built " the Venice of the North." ^ In this manufacturing city unskilled labor was far less remunerative than in the world's great seaport which they had just left. As most had expected, they injured themselves in a business point of view ; but this was the price they readily paid for harmony.^ Yet such people would not be long in learning new things. Brewster's son Jonathan became a ribbon-weaver; John Tilley a silk-worker; William White a "wool-carder," and Robert Cushman a "wool-comber; " Degory Priest a hatter; John Jenney a brewer ; William Jepson and Francis Eaton, carpenters ; * while Bradford apprenticed himself to a French fustian, bombazine, or baize-maker, and finally carried on the manufacture for himself with some success. Dexter thinks many became weavers of baize and serge, — a large local business, — while others were twine-spinners, masons, cabinet makers, bakers, and tailors, and some were known as " mer chants." All were busy; but business was so hard that constant labor enabled few to earn more than a bare living. Brewster for a time was subjected to especial hardship, which he bore with his old-time cheerfulness and dignity. After several years he was employed by some German and Danish students at the University to teach them English. ' He died there 1616. 2 A title now more frequently applied to AmSerdam (three hundred bridges), and sometimes to Stockholm. Leyden had over one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of stone. 3 George Sumner rather zealously contends that the Pilgrims must have found Leyden much better for their industries; but Bradford twice says the contrary. * It is not certain that all these persons were among the Pilgrims at their arrival in Leyden, though there is little doubt of it. Among the " merchants," or traders, are not unlikely to have been John Carver, Edward Southworth, and George Morton. 1619.] BREWSTER'S PRINTING AND ITS DANGERS. 33 They were of high families, and made liberal employers. Neither the teacher nor the class could talk in the other's language; but this apparent obstacle to school exercises yielded before the then ubiquitous Latin. No English gram mar was available, but Brewster constructed one upon the Latin model. One of these original text-books would now be an educational curiosity, cheaply purchased by the anni hilation of some scores of its successors in that field. Sub sequently he was set up as a printer, his work consisting largely of such theological books as might not be safely published in England. His Cartwright's Commentary (1617), of 795 pages, in Latin, is in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, and also in the pastor's library of the original church there. In Pil grim Hall is also his " Cartwright's Confutation of the Rhe- mists' Translation" (1618), 837 pages folio.^ In 1619 the English Government complained that Brews ter's books were " vented underhand " in their country, and asked that he be delivered up for trial in England. Strange it is that the Dutch should have descended to such a viola tion of the rights of asylum. Brewster for eleven years had been an industrious and peaceful resident of Holland, and was still pursuing a calling useful and entirely lawful there. But the Dutch, anxious to strengthen their English alliance against Spain, promptly sacrificed principle and relf-respect. The English ambassador. Sir Dudley Carleton,^ wrote home that Brewster had been seized ; but soon after had to ex plain that the drunken " Schout" ^ employed had by mistake arrested one Thomas Brewer, and that the longed-for Brew ster had disappeared with all his effects. In fact, William Brewster was in London, which, in the state of detective skill then, was a very safe place for an obscure fugitive. There he remained until the sailing of the " Mayflower " 1 Dr. Dexter has both these works, and seven other smaller books from Brewster's press. ^ He became Lord Dorchester, and was zealous in helping along the charter for the Puritan Colony at Massachusetts Bay. This again indicates the hostility of Puritans vs. Separatists. Lord Dorchester died 1632. « Anglice, " deputy sheriff." 3 34 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1611. (which he helped fit-out), except that during the time he visited Scrooby. The Pilgrim Church continued to grow under Robinson as sole clergyman. On reaching Leyden, Brewster had been made ruling elder, and three deacons had been ordained; probably John Carver and Samuel Fuller were two of the latter.^ The ruling elder, in the pastor's absence, was to preach, but he could not baptize or administer the Lord's Supper ; he drew no salary, and was only an upper deacon.^ The pastor administered the Lord's Supper every Sunday, and preached three times a week. Holland in her long war for freedom had learned the pecuniary value of able-bodied inhabitants, — a lesson which England and France did not comprehend. Hence, loyal Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Baptists, English Ritualists, and Puritans were not only provided with places of worship, but received a partial stipend for their clergy. But as the Separatists were especially obnoxious to the King of England, the obsequious Dutch completely ignored them ; they were let alone and left alone. Hence the Pilgrim flock had to provide its own temple. A large house on Klok Street ^ was bought by four of the people, the deed showing that on May 5, 1611, it was sold for 8,000 florins ($3,200) to " Jan Rabnits," preacher of the English communion, William Jepson, Henry Wood, and Reynulph Tschickens (Dickens or Tickens*). As values now are, this price would be nearly $16,000. The next estate on one side was held by William Symonds, — probably one of the flock. In 1 865 Dexter found 1 Deacons continued to be ordained as in the parent Church, including the laying on of hands, until, in 1716, Pastor Little of Plymouth disused the cere mony, at the election of Thomas Foster and John Atwood. This much troubled the older people, as also did his baptizing a sick child in private at its home, in stead of in church. This excellent pastor served at Plymouth 1699-1723, and was the first minister interred on Burial Hill (aged 47), where his gravestone is still seen. After his death the ordination of deacons was for a time resumed. 2 At Plymouth Brewster wore a gown and bands. These articles appear in his inventory, together with his violet coat, green waistcoat, and sword. 8 " Klok-steeg" (literal translation, " Bell Lane ") ; an expressive Angliciza- tion, " Belfry Street." * The same year Dickens (i") married Jane White, a sister of Mrs. Robinson. i6i5.] THE CHURCH-HOUSE AT LEYDEN. 35 this lot to measure but twenty-five feet on the street, while it was one hundred and twenty-five feet deep ; a little back from the street it spread over what would have been the gardens of both the adjoining houses. On the rear it was bounded by the " Falide Bagye " cloister, where now is the University library. If one visiting the latter steps into the second alcove to the left of the entrance, he will see under the window Robinson's garden, now in fine condition and full of flowers. The house has long since given way to the French Walloon asylum ; but with the cordial consent of the custodians of this edifice. Dr. Dexter (aided by Prof. G. E. Day, of Yale) placed on its front a marble slab with this inscription : — On this spot lived, taught, and died, John Robinson. 1611-1625. Every American, of whatever creed or name, who visits Leyden may well pause before that marble tablet as before the shrine of a saint. It is supposed that this house (which Winslow calls " large ") was not only the dwelling of the pastor and a general place of resort for the congregation, but was also their house of worship. Certainly for the latter purpose they occupied no public edifice, nor is the existence of their society mentioned in the Leyden Records beyond the reference to Robinson's clerical function. It seems, from Dexter's discoveries, that in the great garden of this house William Jepson built twenty- one cabins, in which it is presumed the poorer members of the flock lived, possibly in a co-operative way. Near this hive was the great St. Peter's Church, and yet closer was the University. Soon new members came, and the congrega tion cannot have been smaller than five hundred, — a number for which even the large house was hardly sufficient, though no allusion is made to any other.^ 1 Bradford says (Chron. Pil., pp.455, 456), in his " Dialogue," that "they were sometimes not much fewer" than three hundred communicants. The whole congregation must have been much larger. 36 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1615. To this community Robinson was a faithful father. He seems to have had much secular ability, and to have taken general charge of the little business affairs of his less promi nent parishioners, besides seeing that all differences were promptly composed. He was a great leader, — untiring, sagacious, and good. In a few years the University began to appreciate him, and extended to him its freedom, which brought privileges and perquisites ; ^ and it was thought that but for fear of King James he would have had some great preferment. In the contest between the divinity professors, Episcopius^ the Arminian, and Polyander the Calvinist, the latter, when getting worsted, insisted that Robinson should meet the Arminian in debate. Robinson reluctantly con sented, and held several public discussions in Latin before the men of the University and others. Bradford describes Robinson as " terrible to the Arminians," and Winslow as cribes wonderful success to him; but they were hardly im partial witnesses. When one recalls the tragic end of this controversy, he can but regret that Robinson, however innocently, was connected with any part of it.^ For several years the Pilgrim community moved quietly along. The Dutch found that these people, however poor, always promptly paid their debts and did their work honor ably; hence their custom was sought, their work preferred, and the traders were ever ready to loan them money. Law suits were unknown. Shortly before the emigration of 1620 the magistrates of Leyden said to some French Protestants (Walloons ') : " These English have lived amongst us now this twelve years, and yet we never had any suit or accusation come against any of them ; but your strifes and quarrels are' continual." So attractive was this Pilgrim community that 1 Exemption from municipal control, half a tun of beer every month, and ten gallons of wine every three months. 2 Simon Bisschop, born 1593, died 1643. ' Episcopius was stoned nearly to death, and later, at the famous, or infamous. Synod of Dort, was insulted by the narrow Calvinists, expelled from the Church, and banished. * French immigrants to the southern Belgic provinces, calling themselves " Gaulois." They settled on the River Waal ; hence were called by the Dutch " Waalsche," — English corruption, " Walloons." i6i6.] WINSLOW. — ECCLESIASTICAL LIBERALITY. 37 in 161 7 Edward Winslow, a young Englishman of talent and education, chancing to visit Leyden in his travels, was so charmed with the manner of life in Robinson's flock that he became a member ; the next year he made the tie stronger by marrying Elizabeth Barker, and he is supposed to have also joined Brewster in his printing business. In time Robinson's views softened, and instead of regarding his parent, the English Church, as unchristian, and its ordi nances as nullities, he invited to communion all its members who professed piety, as well as Presbyterians, Lutherans, and all sects of French, Swiss, and Dutch Protestants.^ His Church, which at one time was called " Semi-Separatist," and not infrequently was given the offensive name of" Brownist," began to be known as the " Independent." In America, " Congregational " is the term in universal popular use, but in England " Independent " is still common. In the two Amsterdam Churches rigid Separatism had resulted in vio lent quarrels; their congregations dwindled, and in time those members who did not return to England merged into the Dutch population so thoroughly that their very names disappeared. But when Robinson began to advocate liberal ized views, he was rudely assailed by his former Amsterdam friends as a backslider, tainted with " the harlotry of Episco pacy ; " while his still earlier associates, Bernard and Toller, with other strong Puritans like Ames and Hildersham, de nounced his Independency as based on separation from the Church of England. There ensued a strong tractarian con troversy, which on neither side abounded in courtesy or charity. It is safe to say that Robinson was inferior to none of his opponents in vigor and acumen. As years passed, many changes came to this people. In 1 611 Isaac Allerton married Mary Norris from Newbury; in 161 2 Samuel Fuller and Agnes Carpenter,^ George Morton 1 Mosheim's Ecclesiastical Hist., v. 389. See also Prince's Annals. 2 His second marriage. His first wife was Elsie Glascock. In 1617 he was married a third time, his wife then being Bridget, daughter of Mrs. " Joos Lee," — as the Dutch clerk rendered it. 38 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1617 and Juliana Carpenter, William White and Anna Fuller, were married; in 161 3 Edward Southworth became the husband of Alice Carpenter ; and in the same year William Bradford, then twenty-three, sailed up to Amsterdam and brought back as his wife Dorothy May, who was only sixteen. At least nineteen other marriages took place before 1617. Some of the oldest died ; and those who had come to Leyden as chil dren, succeeded them as heads of families. Yet the Colony's condition was unsatisfactory. By 161 7 it was found that few with their constant and hard labor could earn more than a fairly comfortable living ; pro vision for old age and reverses was impossible, and the chil dren were deprived of proper education, many of the young being obliged to work prematurely, to the hindrance of their physical growth, — a lot which most of them cheerfully met for their parents' sake, but which to their elders was a source of much grief. So hard was this life that many later comers returned to England, choosing the risk of imprisonment there to the constant toil which in Holland would only earn a bare support during a man's best years. Hence the congregation fell away one half from its largest size. The young, too, were naturally acquiring a home-feeling for Holland ; some entered her army or went to sea in her ships, and others had found the daughters of the land fair to look upon. Soon they would become Dutch in tastes and habits, and the third generation would be likely not only to lose the English language and character, but to allow the precious fire to die out on the Pilgrim altar. In the Nether lands, as in the other Continental countries, Sunday was made a day of recreation and jollity; and the Pilgrim lads (the younger portion of whom had never known any other public practice) were naturally growing into the ways of the country. There was, too, much license among the Dutch youth, which was contagious, and had already made some moral wrecks. The welfare of the children especially demanded a removal ; and did not the Lord's service require them to go where they might do something towards extending the light of the gospel l6l7.] DISCUSSING SITES FOR EMIGRATION. 39 in " remote parts of the world," says Bradford, — " yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones to others, for the performing of so great a work." But whither? Raleigh and Harcourt had printed glowing accounts of Guiana, and some of the Leyden flock regarded that as the land of promise: its fertile soil required little labor; its spontaneous fruits matured every month in the year; slightly built dwellings and the cheapest of clothing sufficed; and while raising surplus crops for exportation, there would be leisure for hunting up the gold of which Raleigh saw such plain traces. The cooler heads replied that English constitutions must yield to such a climate, or at least lose their vigor ; neither air nor water would suit them, and they could not hope for health. But surely fatal to the plan was the fact that the Spaniards claimed that region, and would exterminate a friendless and Protestant English plan tation quite as cruelly as they had the French Colony in Florida, which was countenanced by its National Government. At length the Guiana^ project was sensibly dismissed, though very reluctantly by some. The dread of the Spaniards was among the reasons for leaving Leyden and the Netherlands. For more than thirty years had the sturdy Dutchmen warred most nobly against the Spanish tyrants, and had so far sustained themselves that a twelve-years' truce had been declared in 1609, at about the time our Pilgrims came to Leyden, where the memories of its terrible siege were still fresh, and of which its University was and is a grand memorial. The truce was about to close, and vast preparations were being made for a renewal of the most tragic conflict of European history, worthy to be known as the " Eighty Years' War," — a contest between one ofthe least of Continental powers on the one hand, and on the other of the most powerful dominion of the age; a contest which has eternally written in blood the shame and barbarity of the 1 The "Dictionary of National Biography" (L. Stephen, Ed.) has, under arti cle " Williara Bradford," among others, the extraordinary and stupid error of substituting "Guinea" for Guiana. 40 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1618. Spanish bigot, and the glory of those heroic dwellers midst the dykes and fens of the resultant Dutch republic. Leyden was not unlikely to feel the enemy's renewed rage, and even, this time, to be overwhelmed by it. The desired home must be one far away from this demoniac foe. Still, some were so angered at the rejection of the tempting Guiana suggestion that they doggedly held aloof from all further plans. A project for joining the Colony at Jamestown, Vir ginia, was overruled ; for Separatists must expect less immu nity there than in England. Finally, the majority voted to settle in that region, but on a distinct grant. The North Virginia Company was then in a collapsed con dition, and the sister corporation alone was known as " The Virginia Company." Its territory extended from 34° to 41° north latitude, or from Cape Fear to Long Island Sound, and reaching a hundred miles inland ; upon this, with great ex pense and many years' labor, the Company had succeeded in planting but one colony, and that a precarious one. Its members were therefore very willing to make any concessions which would establish a self-supporting plantation. Through one of their officers. Sir Edwin Sandys, they promised a tract of land, with all the rights of local government possessed by the Virginia Company itself. Sir Robert Naunton, the leading Secretary of State, undertook to get from the King a charter confirming these privileges, as well as religious liberty. James heard the case with interest, and spoke favorably; he also asked from what source profits could arise there, and being told " fishing," he replied : " So God have my soul, 'tis an honest trade ; 'twas the apostles' own calling ! " But by the next interview the fickle monarch had changed,^ and referred the applicants to his prelates. Archbishop Abbott, a moderate and excellent man, was an open favorer of the Puritans ; but from him Separatists had little to hope. To clear up some misrepresented points, the following remarkably liberal and somewhat surprising document was then sent from Leyden : — 1 " Rex erat Elizabeth, sed erat regina Jacobus I " i6i8.] THE SEVEN ARTICLES. 41 THE SEVEN ARTICLES. Seven Articles which the Church at Leyden sent to the Council of England to be considered of, in respect of their judgments, occasioned about their going to Virginia ; anno 1618 : — 1. To the confession of faith published in the name ofthe Church of England, and to every article thereof, we do, with the Reformed Churches where we live, and also elsewhere, assent wholly. 2. As we do acknowledge the doctrine of faith there taught, so do we the fruits and effects of the same doctrine, to the begetting of saving faith in thousands in the land. Conformists and Reformists as they are called, with whom also as with our brethren we do desire to keep spiritual communion in peace, and wiU practise on our parts all lawful things. 3. The King's Majesty we acknowledge for supreme governor in his dominion, in all causes and over all persons ; and that none may declare or appeal from his authority or judgment in any cause what ever, but that in all things obedience is due unto him, either active if the thing commanded be not against God's Word, or passive if it be, except pardon can be obtained. 4. We judge it lawful for His Majesty to appoint bishops, civil over seers, or ofiicers in authority under him in the several provinces, dioceses, congregations, or parishes, to oversee the parishes and gov ern them civilly according to the laws of the land, unto whom in all things they are to give an account, and by them to be ordered accord ing to godliness. 5. The authority ofthe present bishops in the land we do acknowl edge, so far as the same is indeed derived from His Majesty unto them, and as they proceed in his name, whom we wiU also therein honor in all things, and him in them. 6. We believe that no synod, classis, convocation, or assembly of ecclesiastical ofiicers hath any power at all, but as the same by the magistrate given unto them. 7. Lastly, we desire to give unto all superiors due honor to preserve the unity of the spirit with all that fear God ; to have peace with all men what in us Ueth, and wherein we err to be instructed by any. John Robinson, William Brewster. 42 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1618. Sandys wrote back that the Seven Articles had given the Virginia Company such " good degree of satisfaction " that they would " set forward your desire in the best sort that may be ; " and he received from the pastor and the elder a very courteous reply, which concluded with these five reasons for the proposed emigration : — I. We verily believe and trust the Lord is with us, unto whom and whose service we have given ourselves in many trials ; and that he will graciously prosper our endeavors according to the simplicity of ovu: hearts therein. 2. We are well weaned from the delicate milk of our mother coun try, and inured to the difficulties of a strange and hard land, which yet in a great part we have by patience overcome. 3. The people are, for the body of them, industrious and frugal, we think we may safely say, as any company of people in the world. 4. We are knit together in a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we do hold ourselves straightly tied to all care of each other's good, and of the whole by every one, and so mutually. 5. Lastly, it is not with us as with other men whom small things can discourage, or small discontentments cause to wish themselves home again. We know our entertainment in England and Holland ; we shall much prejudice both our arts and means by removal ; if we should be driven to return, we should not hope to recover our present helps and comforts, neither indeed look ever for ourselves to attain unto the like in any other place during our lives, which are now drawing towards their periods. Early in 161 8 Sir John Wolstenholme,^ a wealthy merchant in the Virginia Company, undertook to procure the Arch bishop's consent to the desired charter. The prelate seems, naturally enough, to have objected to the creation and dis missal of the clergy by a vote of the congregation, and Sir John wrote privately to Leyden for some concession; but Robinson and Brewster could but adhere to the Congrega- 1 Bradford writes it phonetically " Worssenham." i6i9.] GRANT OF THE PATENT. 43 tional way of church government, referring to the French Protestants as an example. Sir John suppressed this letter, as calculated to injure their cause, though he felt justified in reporting that both the King and the Primate had consented to the desired privileges; but the only result was bitter disappointment. Some of the Leyden congregation were discouraged at this failure, and thought themselves worse off than if nothing had been done; for now the King in some fit of ill-will could charge them with positive defiance. But answer was made that James was not unfriendly to their enterprise, though he had reasons of state for not openly indorsing it. He had said he would " connive at them and not molest them, provided they carried themselves peaceably ; '' and if this promise was no protection from his caprice, neither would be " a seal as broad as the house-floor." Through 1618-1619 Carver, Cushman, and Brewster, or two of them, were active at London; but the King's tyrannical interference had so confused the affairs of the Virginia Com pany that it was difficult to conclude anything. At length, on June 19, 1619 (n. S.), on motion of the Earl of Lincoln, there was granted a patent of land near the northern limits of the Virginia territory. By advice, the patent was not issued directly to the Separatists who were then non-resident in England, but it ran in the name of John Wincob (or Win- kop), a member of the Lincoln household who intended to join the emigration ; he is no more heard of in that connec tion, however, but without doubt he is the Puritan minister of his name who preached in London at Easter, 1632, two of his brothers preaching the same day at the same place. Probably he could not reconcile himself to the Congregational form of government, for the Puritan clergy were not at all disinclined to magnify their office and guard its tenure. For some reason this patent was given up in a few months. While matters were in doubt, some Dutch capitalists would, if they had consented, have colonized the Leyden exiles on Zealand, near Flushing, giving them an ample outfit; but 44 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [162a this would have left them to be Dutch citizens, which their British instincts forbade. Early in 1620 the traders to Man hattan (New York) , where was as yet no settlement, were also ready to transport the entire congregation to that trading- post, providing cattle and furnishing protection as long as needed, but leaving the Colony to self-management in its internal affairs. This proposition was not to be lightly rejected ; but while it was under consideration, one Thomas Weston, of London, came to Leyden, offering, if the Manhat tan idea might be dismissed, to furnish all the funds required. He finally connected with him some seventy English mer chants and others, who as a matter of speculation took stock at ;^io a share for promoting this emigration, on the basis of a division of the Colony's possessions and earnings at the end of seven years between the stockholders and the inhabitants. These merchants are mentioned in Pilgrim history as " The Adventurers." Shortly, articles were signed by both parties, Weston acting for the Adventurers. A fast day was then held at Leyden, Robinson preaching from the text: "And David's men said unto him. See, we be afraid here in Judah : how much more if we come to Keilah against the hosts of the Philistines? Then David asked counsel ofthe Lord again" (i Sam. xxiii. 3-4).^ As only some eighty or ninety of the flock could go at first, they were selected from volunteers, with due regard to age and fitness; they were to take the "elder" with them, while the pastor would remain with the majority at Leyden ; each body to be a distinct Church, with Robinson as the official pastor of both, and membership to be interchangeable for those passing from one country to the other. Those who were to go, had turned their property into money, and were awaiting the word. The Wincob patent had been superseded on Feb. 12, 1620, by one running to John Peirce (one of the Adventurers), which conveyed, with self-governing powers, a tract of land to be selected by the planters near the mouth of the Hudson. So little did the body of the Adventurers 1 The Pilgrims used the " Geneva Bible " after " King James's " appeared. i620.] DISPUTE WITH CUSHMAN. 45 know of the Pilgrims, that they long termed them " Mr. Peirce's Company." i The crisis drawing near, Weston began to be captious, urging inaction until a projected New England Company should be chartered, so that the settlement might be made under that body ; but it was too late for a change. Several friends in England were to join the emigration, and one of their number, Christopher Martin, of Billerica^ (Essex), was made co-agent with Carver and Cushman. The new member was violently opposed by Cushman ; but being fully sustained by Carver, it is probable that he was quite right. There was much dissatisfaction at Leyden with Cushman's course, and some pithy correspondence ensued, especially when, in vio lation of his instructions, he consented to Weston's making serious changes in the articles of their contract. A few weeks before the parting members left Leyden, Robinson wrote to Carver that but two mistakes had been made, one of which was "that we employed Robert Cushman, who is known (though a good man, & of special abilities in his kind), yet most unfit to deal for other men, by reason of his singularity and too great indifferency for any conditions; and for (to speak truly) that we have had nothing from him but terms [/. e., phrases, talk] and presumptions." Cushman says that there came over to him " many quirimonies " and charges of " lording it over my brethren, and making conditions fitter for thieves and bond-slaves than honest men; " and he actually defends his policy of making it impracticable to build any good houses in the new colony, because he would prevent luxury there ! Sundry sharp passages occurred between him and Fuller, Winslow, Bradford, and Allerton, acting together. Still, the correspondence manifested Cush man's devotedness to the common cause, and the probably 1 The events of 1623-1624 indicate that, judging the emigrants from Pierce and Weston, the Adventurers supposed them to be of the Puritan wing of the Episcopal Church, and became disafiected on finding them to be Separatists. See Chap. XXVI. 2 Now by execrable taste spelled " Billericay." Bradford quaintly wrote it "Billirike." 46 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. I1620. accidental results showed that his acts which were most con demned might well have been approved. As spring waned, Thomas Nash went from Leyden to confer with the agents. He soon returned with a pilot (doubtless Robert Coppin), who was to conduct the Conti nental party to England. In June John Turner was sent, and he soon returned with a petulant letter from Cushman, which, however, announced that the ship " Mayflower " had been selected, and in two weeks would probably leave London for Southampton. This vessel (Thomas Jones, master) was rated at a hundred and eighty tons, — equal to about a hun dred and twenty tons of the present rating, which is much less than the tonnage of our medium coasting-schooners, and not a tenth of that sometimes seen among them. Yet she was called " a fine ship," and was larger than most of the vessels then crossing the Atlantic.^ In the " Mayflower " from London were to come the Eng lish comrades, including a Rev. Mr. Crabbe. Cushman said that ;^I200 could be raised for the voyage, but that this would not be enough by ;^400, though no more could be had. A sixty-ton pinnace, the " Speedwell," had been bought for the Adventurers and fitted out in Holland. She was to take the Leyden people to Southampton, and with a proper number of the whole body was to accompany the " Mayflower " across the Atlantic, and then remain with the Colony, Reynolds, her master, and his crew being engaged for a year. It was on or near the last day of July (n. S.) that the Leyden people kept a farewell fast. Robinson's text was happy indeed for that Rhine valley : " And there at the river by Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble our selves before our God, and seek of him a right way for us, and for all our children, and all our substance " (Ezra viii. 21). Bradford says that on this text the pastor " spent a 1 In 1577 Drake's famous circumnavigation was made in the "Pelican" (120 tons), accompanied by four lesser craft. In 1587 there were not in all England's fleet more than five merchant-vessels exceeding two hundred tons. i620.] ROBINSON'S FAREWELL COUNSEL. 47 good part of the day very profitably." Communion was of course a part of the exercises. Nevertheless, it was probably in the latter part of that same day that those who were to stay provided at the pastor's house a feast for the departing. Bradford does not allude to this festival, but says that after the fast " the rest of the time was spent in pouring out prayers to the Lord with great fervency, mixed with abund ance of tears ; " but Winslow not only mentions the feast, but says : — " We refreshed ourselves, after tears, with singing of psalms, making joyful melody in our hearts as well as with the voice, there being many of our congregation very expert in music ; and indeed it was the sweetest melody that ever mine ears heard." Winslow also gives the substance of certain farewell counsel from their pastor. Robinson charged them most solemnly to follow him no farther than they found him to follow Christ, and to hold themselves as ready to receive new truth from any other messenger as they had hitherto been to accept it from himself. He assured them that much further light was to come from the gospel ; " for," said he, " it is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that the full perfection of knowl edge should break forth at once." He advised them to shake off the name of " Brownist," then usually applied to them, but wjiich does not seem to have been so generally intended as a term of contempt as the sensitive pastor supposed. He further urged that they study union with the moderate and pious portion of the Church of England, for the latter when in freedom would come to have no difference with them ; he also recommended them to take another pastor when some fit one should offer.^ This " counsel " was of wonderful 1 He bewailed the condition of the Reformed Churches as having come to a period in their religion, and would go no farther than their former leaders. Luther and Calvin were precious lights in their times ; yet God had not revealed his whole will to them, and were they now living, they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light as that they had received. (See Chron. Pil., pp. 396-399-) 48 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. liberality for that age of bigotry, and was well worthy of a place in the farewell discourse; but Winslow, the only' authority on it, does not mention it as a part of that, or indeed of any other sermon, — perhaps it was merely a portion of the goodly conversation following the solemnities. It seems to have been late on the evening of the same day that both sections of the congregation set out for Delfthaven, some fourteen miles distant. The canal route between Ley den and Delfthaven was much in 1620 as we find it now. The channel was full to the brim, elevating the boats so that the travellers had a view of an immense plain, along which grazed a constant succession of neat-cattle, standing deep in verdure. Almost countless hamlets and farmsteads were to be seen, near and far; and occasionally along the banks of the canal {kanaat) were ranged rich, elaborate, and fantastic country-houses {buiten plasten) , with their geometrical flower- gardens, marked off by white walks of pounded shells, with gaudily-painted barriers, often supported by gilded posts, while around was a profusion of the rarest tulips, flaunting above the plebeian flowers. The view was like a brilliant diorama, leagues in length. About the middle of the route the canal ran between the two ancient fortalices known as the Gates of Delft, and then it passed through the centre of that city, already important, but destined in a few years to become far more so through its adoption of the keramic art, of which at the time of this emigration it scarcely knew the fudest forms. Our company probably hired one or more large canal- boats for conveying the passengers with their goods, and thus had an opportunity for farewell conversations or for repose. They also brought extra provisions ; for on reaching Delfthaven those who were to remain, once more gave a feast to the departing Pilgrims and friends from Amsterdam who had come to join in the parting salutations. Winslow says that this festival also was followed by abundant tears, and was closed in the morning with a prayer by the pastor. Bradford merely says of the whole trip and the exercises following it : — i620.] DEPARTURE FROM LEYDEN. 49 "That night was spent with little sleep by the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expres sions of true Christian love." The emigrants, however, absorbed by the things which were before, cannot have left Leyden without emotion. That still was the home of the greater part of the congregation ; within her walls many of them had passed from youth to adult life ; there not a few had married ; there had most of the children been born, and many of the worn-out exiles been buried. In their memories Leyden must always be cherished, and her peace be remembered in their prayers. Bradford never wrote a finer sentence than this, which ends his story of the departure : — " So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting-place near twelve years ; but they knew they were Pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." ' 1 The hypercritics who query why these people should be called " Pilgrims " will see that they applied the term to themselves. CHAPTER V. Departure from Delfthaven. — Joining the " Mayflower." — Disputes. — "Articles of Agreement." — Embarrassments. THAT midsummer night at Delfthaven quickly passed, and the morning brought a memorable sight. The goods had been stowed in the " Speedwell," which with sails hoisted to a favorable wind was tugging at her warps, im patient to be gone. On the pier beside her were gathered some two hundred men, women, and children who had not until now felt the full pain of parting. Husbands were leav ing wives, parents children, and dear friends one another. Those who stayed were to find almost half the seats vacant in the sanctuary, and more than half the life and light gone from daily life. Those who were to go must in any event face a host of unfamiliar dangers, fearful at best with terrible possi bilities of shipwreck, starvation, pestilence, massacre, and savage torture. Not all could meet again; how many chances that for all this was the last interview on earth! Sobs, broten prayers, and utterances of affection were heard on every side, none being too strong to join in them. Even Dutch strangers, drawn near by curiosity and not compre hending the English words, understood the language of humanity and were moved to manly tears. A quarter of a century later the people of Delfthaven preserved the memory of this scene. Time and tide called, but no one could say the last word. At length the pastor fell on his knees, as did all the others, and with streaming eyes entreated God's special protection for the dear departing. The company arose ; but unable to I620.J DEPARTURE FROM HOLLAND. 51 Speak " for the abundance of sorrow," they silently em braced each other, and the weeping voyagers passed on board their ship,^ which at once swung away from her pier. As she passed down the channel, those on board fired a parting volley with their small arms, followed by three cannon. The hull was wrapped in smoke, through which was seen at the stern the white flag of England, doubly bisected by the great red cross of St. George, — a token that the emigrants had at last resumed their dearly-loved nationality ; far above at the main was seen the Union Jack, of new device, surmounted by the long pennant which like a radiant finger pointed pro phetically to the mysterious West. When the smoke had lifted, those on ship and those on shore extended their hands toward one another, and then with one accord lifted them to heaven. With this mute but most affecting salutation the embarkation ofthe Pilgrims passed into history. A pleasant trip brought the " Speedwell " to Southampton, where for a week the " Mayflower " had been receiving her stores and outfit. Greetings were exchanged with the Eng lish comrades who had come in the larger ship, and the passengers were assigned, — ninety to the " Mayflower," and thirty to the " Speedwell." To prevent suspicion of favor itism, some of the leaders went in the narrow cabin of the " Speedwell," Martin being " governor " of her passengers, and Cushman his assistant. In the " Mayflower " the " gov ernor " was the third of the agents. Carver. The financial troubles were not over. Some who had promised, refused to contribute because the destination was not Guiana ; several, because it was not Jamestown ; others, because it was not at all under the Virginia Company ; and 1 Bradford says, in a general way, that the parting prayer was on board the vessel, and Weir's celebrated painting in the United States Capitol so gives it ; but Winslow differs. As the vessel was not much bigger than one of our little forty-ton coasters, and was lumbered up with the household belongings, etc., of more than eighty emigrants, it seems much more probable that the larger number joining in these exercises, as Winslow says, were on the pier, — certainly more than a majority. This review therefore here follows Winslow, though in most matters Bradford is the supreme authority. 52 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. yet some, because the expedition would not wait until it could go out under the anticipated " Council for New Eng land." It was only by the efforts of his friend Cushman that Weston had been led even measurably to fulfil his promises. Weston, presumably for his own profit, had insisted that the " Mayflower " should be victualled at London, and Cushman had consented ; but Carver and Martin, directed from Leyden, had selected Southampton. This enraged Weston, as he saw his quiet little commissions vanish into thin air. He now demanded the assent of the emigrants to two very serious changes in the articles. Cushman, contrary to express orders from his employers, had agreed to these alterations ; but the Leyden exiles had charged their departing friends not to confirm his unwarranted action. The articles as doctored by Weston and Cushman, were as follows : — ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT. I. The Adventurers and Planters do agree that every person that goeth, being aged sixteen years and upward, be rated at ;£io, and ;^io to be accounted a single share. 2. That he that goeth in person and furnishes himself out with ^£10, either in money or other provisions, be accounted as having ;£^20 in stock, and in the division shall receive a double share. 3. The persons transported and the Adventurers shall continue their joint stock and partnership together the space of seven years (except some unexpected impediment do cause the whole Company to agree otherwise), during which time all profits and benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, fishing, or any other means of any per son or persons, remain still in the common stock until the division. • 4. That at their coming there, they choose out such a number of fit persons as may furnish their ships and boats for fishing upon the sea ; employing the rest in their several faculties upon the land, as building houses, tilling and planting the ground, and making such commodities as shall be most useful for the Colony. 5. That at the end of the seven years the capital and profits, viz. ; the houses, lands, goods, and chattels, be equally divided betwixt the Adventurers and Planters ; which done, every man shall be free i620.] ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT. 53 from other of them of any debt or detriment concerning the adventure. 6. Whosoever cometh to the Colony hereafter, or putteth any into the stock, shall at the end of the seven years be allowed proportionably to the time of his so doing. 7. He that shall carry his wife and children, or servants, shall be allowed for every person now aged sixteen years and upward, a single share in the division ; or if they be between ten years old and sixteen, then two of them to be reckoned for a person, both in transportation and division. 8. That such children as now go and are under the age of ten years, have no other share in the division but fifty acres of unmanured land. 9. That such persons as die before the seven years be expired, their executors to have their part or share at the division, proportion ably to their life in the colony. 10. That all such persons as are of this Colony are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock and goods of said company. An°: 1620, July i. By the changes two provisions had been stricken out, — ist, that at the end of the seven years each planter should own the house and garden land occupied by him ; and 2d, that he should during the seven years work four days in each week for the Colony, and have two for himself and family. To the first provision, originally proposed by Weston himself, the Pilgrims attached much importance. Robinson urged that the house and lot could prove but a trifling benefit to the Adventurers, while the prospective ownership would be a great encouragement to the planter, who, he said, " would with singular care make it comfortable with borrowed hours from his sleep." He also claimed it to be unfit for such men as Deacon Carver to " serve a new apprenticeship of seven years, and not a day's freedom." Others protested that some time in each week for domestic affairs was a privilege not denied to "WaUachian serfs." Cushman declared that but for agreement to these changes he could not have drawn a 54 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. penny from the Adventurers, and that the necessities were so pressing that he could not wait to hear from Leyden. On the other side it was alleged that not one quarter of the Adventurers desired the alterations. Weston was told that the original agreement, fairly and deliberately made, must stand, as those at Leyden had so decided. Upon this he left the Pilgrims in anger, telling them to " look to stand on their own legs." He refused to disburse ;f 100 required for port charges and some deficien cies of equipment, and never gave any further aid. Still, the Pilgrims long remembered him with kindness for the assist ance rendered at first. The poor emigrants were forced to sell some eighty firkins of butter to raise ;^6o to " clear the port," and to dispense with things still lacking. They had little butter left, no oil, not a piece of leather to mend a shoe-sole, nor a sword for each man, nor nearly enough muskets and other means of defence. But for these lackings they cared far less than that an old though mercenary friend should have left them in wrath, charging them, however falsely, with injustice. In their troubles they could expect no further help from man, but set sail in perfect confidence of receiving it from a higher source. CHAPTER VI. Leaving England. — The "Speedwell's" alleged Defects. —The Cap tain's Knavery. — The Voyage. — Jones, and his Duplicity. — Land. — The " Compact." AUGUST 15 (n. S.), 1620, the two transports dropping down Southampton Water, passed by the rocky Isle of Wight into the English Channel. A long-continued favora ble wind had been lost by the delay, and now their way was slow. When four days out. Captain Reynolds reported the " Speedwell " as leaking very dangerously. After a consul tation between him and Captain Jones it was decided to bear up for Dartmouth. That port was reached about August 23d. Ten days were spent in discharging and re-stowing the " Speedwell " and repairing her from stem to stern, although no serious defects were found. Then, with assurance of her seaworthiness, the voyage was resumed. When three hun dred miles beyond Land's End, Reynolds again reported his craft leaking, and alleged that he could scarcely keep her afloat with constant pumping. After another consultation they put back as far as Plymouth. There another survey was had, but no special leak found, though Reynolds and his crew continued positive that the vessel was not seaworthy. Time being of vital importance, it was decided to return the " Speedwell " to the Adventurers at London. Eighteen of her passengers went back in her, the other twelve crowding into the " Mayflower." Most of the eighteen who were left behind consented through fear or discontent. To these a few were added who were in failing health or had large families of small children. 56 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. The returning ones were probably of those who joined in England, and had not yet acquired the Pilgrim spirit. As the emigrants from Leyden were selected from volunteers, we can hardly suppose any of them to have been among the faint-hearted. The reader will learn with pain that among those who withdrew through fear and discouragement was Cushman with his family. While at Dartmouth he had writ ten to his friend Edward Southworth, of London, speaking most despairingly of his own health, expressing discontent and even ill-feeling about the voyage, and indulging in dismal forebodings. He even declared that its success would be a miracle, and that Mr. Southworth must be prepared for dis astrous tidings any day, although Cushman counted upon his own early death in any event. Bradford deals tenderly with Cushman's weaknesses, and says of this letter : " Though it discover some infirmities in him (as who under temptation is free?), yet after this he continued to be a special instrument for their good, and to do the offices of a loving friend and faithful brother unto them, and partaker of much comfort with them." ^ It should here be noticed that when the " Speedwell " reached London no serious trouble was found. Her masts were too long and heavy; but these changed, she was thor oughly seaworthy, and afterwards made several Atlantic voy ages.^ The fact was that Reynolds, like his men, repented of his bargain to stay a year in the Colony, and by collusion and knavery made it appear impossible to make the voyage. His lesson was probably taught him by those Dutch mer chants who were anxious that no emigrants should go to the Hudson except under their control, and enforced by them with a bribe. Bradford charges him with dealing " falsely," and Jones ofthe "Mayflower" will also be seen to be guilty of fraudulent dealings with those merchants for the same purpose. Perhaps the two captains acted together, their 1 Deacon Thomas Blossom was sent back in the " Speedwell " with a son who died before his father finaUy came to Plymouth, — some ten years later. 2 A vessel of this name was sailing between England and Boston in 1656. I620.] FINAL DEPARTURE. 57 consultations as to the " Speedwell's " condition being a part of their joint knavery. It is not known when the flotilla reached Plymouth. The tarry there was certainly short. There was time enough, however, for some of the residents to entertain the harassed Pilgrims, who gratefully referred to the hospitality long after ward. It was fortunate for the overloaded " Mayflower " that she had fine weather while lying at anchor there and while beginning her new voyage; for the port of Plymouth was then only a shallow, open bay, with no protection.-^ In southwesterly gales its waters rose into enormous waves, with such depressions between that ships while anchored some times struck the bottom of the harbor and were dashed in pieces. Ordinarily the beach was strewn with the timbers and the dead mariners of at least ten vessels a year. More than two centuries after the visit of the Pilgrims a fine break water, a mile long, was built across the mouth of the harbor, making it safe in all weathers ; while off its entrance Smeaton's wonderful tower beaconed the once terrible Eddystone. The completion of the breakwater was celebrated as a matter of national importance, and in connection with the event this visit of the Pilgrim Fathers was noticed by the people of that ancient port as among their pleasant and honorable associations.^ September i6th, after another parting, the "Mayflower" made her third and final departure. A fine wind from E. N. E. bore them rapidly out of sight of the land they so loved, and continued until they were near the middle of the Atlantic. The crowded passengers were in excellent health, excepting temporary but severe sea-sickness, though from this many were exempt. Jones seems to have been an un- sympathizing man, and his sailors exceptionally coarse and brutal. As the poor passengers lay prostrated, a stout young seaman was in the habit of adding to their sufferings by 1 This estuary was called " The Catwater." * May 18, 1882, the Eddystone lighthouse was opened; and at the dedication tributes were again paid to the Pilgrims and their Rock. 58 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. abusive language ; and when gently reproved, would violently curse and blaspheme, expressing the hope that he should soon throw the bodies of half the passengers into the sea. Yet in a few days this man sickened and died, so that he was the first to go to an ocean grave. It is not strange that his asso ciates saw in his fate both retribution and warning. When nearly half way across, the " Mayflower " encoun tered a succession of terrible storms. She was " shrewdly shaken," and the seams of her upper works were so badly opened that the unfortunate emigrants, whom the storms confined below the deck, had to endure wet garments and bedding for many days. This, combined with bad air, lack of exercise, and an unusual, unwholesome diet, rapidly under mined their health. Had the Adventurers and Reynolds treated them fairly, their voyage would have been two months earlier, when the weather would have been favorable. Cruel indeed were the results of the cupidity which had hindered them. In one of these storms a main beam of the ship was sprung, which greatly alarmed the crew and led to thoughts of return ing. The Pilgrim leaders had a conference with the officers, in which Jones vouched for the strength of the vessel below her bearings, and the carpenter agreed to make her strong above if the main beam could be replaced. As it was no farther to America than to Europe, and as the matter of wages was pending, the timid mariners consented to go on. The forethought of the Colonists was now apparent, for one of them produced so unusual an implement as a great iron jack-screw, which he had brought from Leyden; this soon crowded the beam home. The decks were re-caulked, and care taken not to carry a press of sail. Still the storms continued, sometimes forcing the battered " Mayflower " to " lie to " for days. On one of these occa sions, John Howland, " a lusty young man," came on deck, when in a " seel " of the ship he was Hcked up by a wave and carried overboard. The coil of the topsail-halyards had also been washed over, and trailed in the sea. Howland being 1620.] LAND SIGHTED. jq fortunate enough to catch this, though the waves rolled over him fathoms deep, kept his grip until hauled alongside, where he was safely fished up with a boat-hook. A short illness was the result; but John was reserved for many a year of noble service to the Colony. Although the seeds of death had been planted in many bosoms, only one passenger died during the voyage. This was William Button, servant of Dr. Fuller, the Pilgrim surgeon. The extended meaning then given to the word " servant," and the fact that Fuller brought none of his family, lead to the supposition that Button was rather a student or professional apprentice than a domestic. For instance, Howland is men tioned as "servant" to Carver; but a man of Howland's character and standing would hardly have " served " except as secretary or general man-of-affairs. So Brewster is de scribed by Bradford as having been in youth the " servant " of Davison, — by which is clearly meant what we should call a " private secretary." Poor Button finished his pilgrimage November i6th. The passenger list of one hundred and two was kept good, how ever, for Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins at about that time became the parents of a son, who, from his birthplace, was named Oceanus Hopkins, and in after life became a sailor. Thus attended by the angels of life and of death, the weary " Mayflower " neared her goal. On the morning of November 20th (n. s.), as Bradford's account shows the day to have been (though he squarely states the 9th O. S. [or 19th N. s.]), there came at daybreak the electric sound of " Land ho 1 " ^ Hills beautifully wooded, 1 When did the " Mayflower " sight land ? Bradford says, in " Mourt," " the 9th of November " (i.e., old style),"and upon the nth of November we came to an anchor." Yet this narrative does not account for the intervening day and night. In his History, however, he mentions the discovery of land, and adds (p. 77) : "And ye next day they gott into ye Cape-harbour, wher they ridd in saftie ; " and he afterward says (p. 80) : " Being thus arrived at Cape-Codd ye n. of November," etc. (It further appears that the anchoring was on Sat urday afternoon; and the almanac shows that Saturday was the nth, o.s.) As " Mourt " and the History are contradictory, the author follows the latter, — which is not only more carefully prepared, but balances the time consumed with 6o THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. sloping to the water's edge, made a charming contrast to the monotony of the ocean view, and caused a delight which is rarely inspired by a view of the Truro shore late in Novem ber. Jones said that he thought the land to be Cape Cod. The villain might have spoken with certainty, for he had kept faith with the Dutch merchants who bribed him to carry the Pilgrims far to the north of Manhattan.^ the work performed ; while " Mourt " seems to ignore a day and a night. Novem ber 2oth ( N. s. ) is therefore taken to be the date of making land, and " ye next day," November 21st, as the time of anchoring and going ashore on the Cape. 1 Did Jones betray the Pilgrims ? The only witness is Morton, secretary of Plymouth Colony, who in 1669, in his Memorial, said : " But some of the Dutch having notice of their intention, and having thoughts about the same time of erecting a plantation there likewise, they fraudulently hired the said Jones, by delays while they were in England, and now under pretence of the shoals, to dis appoint them in their going thither." He adds : " Of this plot between the Dutch and Mr. Jones I have had late and certain intelligence." This statement is clear and strong. There is no evidence against it, and the known circumstances are in its favor. Yet Moulton, Broadhead, Hildreth, and Dr. Young have in turn sought to discredit it. The latter is especially zealous, and says that if Mor ton's information " had been early intelligence, it would have been more certain." This is a wild remark. For example, the world within a half-century has gained much more of certain information concerning the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns and of the contemporary affairs of Holland and Spain than it had before. On Dr. Young's favorite subject — this very one, the Pilgrims — the amount of cer tain information discovered more than two hundred years after the death of Elder Brewster is very great, and in the Doctor's own eyes would have been of inestimable value. Bradford and Winslow say nothing of Jones's fraud ; the objectors therefore assume that they did not know of it, and that if it had existed they would have known of it far better than their successor, Morton. But in 1665 the English, having subjugated the Dutch at New York, established as the first mayor of that place Thomas Willett, a prominent ofiicer of Plymouth. From boyhood to manhood he had lived among the Dutch at Leyden, and was selected because in taste, sympathy, and language he was nearly as much Dutch as Eng lish, and so especially acceptable to the conquered people. He now came into possession of the secret letters, records, and accounts of the Dutch founders and rulers. He was just the one to ferret out anything in these archives which con cerned his fellows at Plymouth, and to transmit it to his old associate, the colonial secretary. Thus Morton could get intelligence inaccessible at an early date, and which moreover was certain because late. Morton had no lack of weaknesses, but his veracity is above question. Some of their neighbors in Holland having a mind themselves to settle a plantation there, secretly and sinfully contracted with the master of the ship . . . to put a trick upon them. — .^af«a//a, book i. chap. ii. [This work, of small value when uncorroborated, is worth something as confirmatory evidence.] The Dutch by " under-contrivance . . . subtly deprived " the Pilgrims of their "birthright ofthe land." — Hubbard, 1684. Who was Jones ? It is but recently that his first name or early history has i620.] ARRIVAL AT CAPE COD. 6l Soon it was generally known that the land was really near the end of the already noted Cape. The ship was at once headed S. S. E., to pass around to the Hudson. After run ning that course half a day, she found herself in the shoals and currents off the elbow of the Cape. Many attempts were made to pass through, until toward evening, the wind hauling ahead, the ship with some difficulty sailed back to clear water to pass the night.^ These waters had been navigated by been known. In 1617 the coming Earl of Warwick sent two ships to the East Indies. One was the " Lion," under Captain Thomas Jones. Like many others, these ships, under pretence of cruising against pirates, did a little piracy them selves. The famous Martin Pring, sent in the " Royal James " to suppress buccaneering, caught the " Lion " and her consort pursuing a junk, and after a bloody action, in which the " Lion" was burned, with several of her crew, he sent Jones home a prisoner in the " Bull ; " but Warwick obtained his release. January, 1620 {n. s.), the East India Company complained of Jones for hiring away their men for the Danish service. Jones was again arrested ; but Warwick obtained his release on the ground that he was engaged to take a cargo of cattle to Virginia. The next month Jones sailed thither in the " Falcon " (150 tons), with thirty-six passengers, four mares, and fifty-two kine. Just before that the Virginia Company had John Clark in Ireland buying cattle for Virginia. As this was the only cattle-ship in a long period, we can pretty surely identify Clark as the master's mate of the " Mayflower," who, Cush man says, " went last year to Virginia with a ship of kine." As 1620 did not begin until March 25th, a ship sailing in February would have gone out in 1619. Jones and Clark could easily have made the voyage in time to engage for the " Mayflower." Six months after Jones's trip in the latter he took the " Discov ery " (60 tons) to Virginia, and then northward, trading along the coast. The Council for New England complained of him to the Virginia Company for robbing the natives. In 1622 he stopped at Plymouth on his way home, and taking ad vantage of the distress there, was extortionate in his prices. In July, 1625, he appeared at Virginia in possession of a Spanish frigate, which he said had been captured by one Powell under a Dutch commission, but was thought a resump tion of his old buccaneering practices. Before investigation he sickened and died. (See Rev. E. D. Neill in N. Y. Hist. Mag., January, 1869 ; N. E. Gen. and Hist. Reg., xxviii. 314.) In November, 1621, Clark seems to have come to Virginia as pilot of the " Flying Hart " with the senior Gookin's cattle, and in 1623 as master of the " Providence," dying soon after his arrival. In 1612 he was captured by the Span ish while at Virginia. 1 Professor Agassiz and Amos Otis — high authority certainly — think the shoals which the " Mayflower " encountered were off Nauset Beach (Eastham) ; Drs. Freeman and Young think them those off Monamoy. There seems no rea son to doubt the latter conclusion. Archer's Relation of Gosnold's discovery of the Cape says Tucker's Terror and Point Care were twelve leagues from the end of the Cape. From Highland Light to Pollock Rip, at the very elbow of the Cape, is just about twelve leagues ; Nauset Beach is hardly half that distance. The " Mayflower " stood southerly for half a day, with apparently a good breeze, 62 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. Gosnold, Smith, and various English and French explorers, whose descriptions and charts must have been familiar to a veteran master like Jones. He doubtless magnified the danger of the passage, and managed to have only such efforts made as were sure to fail. Of course he knew that by stand ing well out, and then southward in the clear sea, he would be able to bear up for the Hudson. His professed inability to devise any way for getting south of the Cape, is strong proof of guilt. Reaching deep water, an anxious consultation was held. The apparent danger of the southern passage, lateness of the season, and indications of disease, led the Pilgrims to decide on putting into Cape Cod Harbor (now Provincetown), and there keeping the ship until a suitable place for settle ment could be found in the neighborhood by means of the shallop. Thus they felt obliged to abandon the idea of living in the Virginia Company's territory under the patent considered so valuable. The " Mayflower " thereupon fell off, and headed for the point of the Cape. The next day the leaders learned that some persons were advancing the idea that there would be an end of all author ity as soon as the company should land. The Virginia Com pany had no rights in New England, and of course their patent could confer none ; neither did any other body exer cise authority there. The King made a general claim to the whole territory, but had delegated no power to the Pilgrims, not even authorizing them to enter the country. It was therefore asserted that as soon as they had left the ship every one would be his own master, and that all government would be at an end. It was true that, landing beyond the before she came to the shoals, and she ought to have made twelve leagues These shoals must be the same with what Bradford in 1622 calls "the shoal of Cape Cod," south of Chatham (Hist., p. 128), and which Winslow mentions (Chron. PU., p. 300). Many years after this voyage Bradford (Hist., p. 77) describes the point off which the " Mayflower" found these shoals as that which Gosnold " called Point Care and Tucker's Terror ; but the French and Dutch to this day call it Mala bar." Archer speaks of Gosnold's doubling this point. He would not have used that expression if the " Concord " had merely given a wide berth to a shoal making out from Nauset. l620.-) THE AGREEMENT. 63 limits of the Virginia. Company, the Pilgrims would lose such rights as they might claim to derive from their patent, and would be outside of all established authority. They indeed recognized James I. as their sovereign, but he ignored them. The moment they landed north of 41° north latitude, they would become waifs and estrays, save that they would still be a voluntary church. The leaders were equal to the emer gency. If England had no government for them, they would make one for themselves. If none had any claim to especial privileges, all should stand equal, and be bound by such laws of equal bearing as the majority should adopt. If the world would not provide them with a civil organization, they would present the world with a new system, of a simplicity and excellence hitherto unknown. Not that they fully compre hended the logic of their own ideas, but that in this un foreseen emergency they instinctively laid hold on great principles hitherto unrevealed to the nations of the earth. The Swiss republic was an aristocracy of birth, the Dutch republic an aristocracy of wealth. Our English yeomen and artisans could not have founded the one or the other ; but the twelve leaders who were distinguished among their fellows by the then significant title of " master " would have been com mended by the best English and Continental sentiment of their day if they had claimed official and social superiority. Their nobility showed itself in anticipating the day when "just and equal laws," adopted and administered by the people, should govern great nations. The adult males of the company were summoned to the " Mayflower's " cabin, the necessities of the case explained, and the following document was drawn up and signed by all the men of the company, as follows (those in italics had the title of " Master," or " Mr.") : — In ye name of God, Amen ! We whose names are under-writen, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God and advance- 64 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. mente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northeme parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves togeather into a civiU body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of ye ends aforesaid ; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and con venient for ye general! good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11. of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our sover aigne lord. King James, of England, France, & Ireland ye eight eenth, and of Scotiand ye fiftie-fourth. An°. Dom. 1620.1 John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, Isaac Allerton, Myles Standish, John Alden, Samuel Fuller, Christopher Martin, William Mullins, William White, Richard Warren, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Tilley, John Tilley, Francis Cook, Thomas Rogers, Thomas Tinker, John Rigdale, Edward Fuller, John Turner, Francis Eaton, James ChUton, John Crackston, John Billington, Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Degory Priest, Thomas Williams, Gilbert Winslow, Edmund Margeson, Peter Brown, Richard Britteridge, George Soule, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardiner, John Allerton, Thomas English, Edward Dotey, Edward Lister.^ Thus in a few minutes was this little unorganized group of adventurers converted into a commonwealth. The first act of the citizens of the new-made State was to confirm John Carver as governor till their next New Year's Day (March 25th).^ It is probable that this business was not ended until 1 Bradford gives no list of signers ; this is adapted from Morton. 2 Total, 41. ' Bradford says that after making this compact, " they chose, or rather con firmed, John Carver their governor for that year '" (p. 93) ; and in " Mourt " he relates that on the 23d of the next March, Carver was chosen " our governor for this year." Many learned and skilful writers have endeavored to show that the i62o.] ARRIVAL AT PROVINCETOWN. 65 the ship had reached her anchorage, and that Provincetown may justly claim to be the birthplace of that " free and equal " government which now spans the continent.^ Of this compact John Quincy Adams remarked, in 1802 : " This is perhaps the only instance in human history of that posi tive, original social compact which speculative philosophers have imagined as the only legitimate source of government. Here was a unanimous and personal assent by all the individuals of the commu nity to the association, by which they became a nation. . . . The set tlers of all the former European colonies had contented themselves with the powers conferred upon them by their respective charters, without looking beyond the seal of the royal parchment for the measure of their rights and the rule of their duties. The founders of Plymouth had been impelled by the peculiarities of their situa tion to examine the subject with deeper and more comprehensive research." While this important matter was in progress, the " May flower " had doubled the Cape, and headed for a time toward the east along Long Point, finally luffing to an anchorage a furlong within this Point and about a mile from the site of Provincetown. The voyage between Plymouth, England, and Cape Cod lasted sixty-seven days. But the company had been ninety- nine days on the passage from Southampton, and the greater word " confirmed " was not the one intended, and either that one of these elec tions did not happen, or the second was the confirmatory one. The two state ments are not only consistent, but are easily explained. At Southampton there was appointed a " governor," with one or more assistants, for each ship. For the " Speedwell " were selected Martin and Cushman, — two of the agents who had attended to fitting-out the expedition. What more sure than that for governor in the other ship should be taken the remaining agent, especially as he was deacon of the emigrating church, the confidential friend of Robinson, and one of the foremost members ? On the voyage he was the only governor, and it was quite a matter of course that upon the adoption of a new frame of govern ment he should be " confirmed " for the rest of that year, and that on March 23d, he should be elected for the ensuing year, which began on March 25th. 1 This was the birthplace of popular constitutional liberty. — Bancroft's U. S., i. 310. It was here that the government based on the will of the governed was first established on the American coast. — North American Rev., 1., 336. 5 66 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. portion had passed one hundred and thirty-three days in cramped-up quarters on shipboard since they had given that parting salute to their friends in the harbor of Delfthaven. A month longer of this life must be endured, amid the rigors of a New England winter, and some ten weeks drag away before all the women and children can be provided for on shore. Yet not all of them, even then ; for there be many patient waiters who will be taken from the ship by the grim ferry-man and conveyed to a landing which mortal feet can never tread. CHAPTER VII. Landing on Cape Cod. — Soil and Vegetation. — The Shallop. — Two Cape Explorations. — Peregrine White. — A Third Coasting Explora tion, extending to Plymouth, which is examined. — Clark's Island. — The Rock. THERE is a tradition that the " Mayflower " was driven into her harbor by a storm; but she seems to have had pleasant weather, for immediately after anchoring, sixteen well-armed men went on shore to explore, and others to pro cure fire-wood. The explorers climbed the hills and ascer tained the shape of that portion of the Cape. They reported that the land consisted of hills of sand, which reminded them of the dunes of Holland, except that these were better, be cause covered with fine black earth, a " spit " deep, in which grew forests of oak, pine, sassafras, juniper, birch, and holly, with some ash and walnut, while grape-vines abounded. The woods were like a grove or park, being so free from under brush that a person might ride a horse in any direction. They afterwards found that this was due to the savages, who burned the country over every spring and fall to destroy the undergrovsrth, which hindered their hunting. The other party had been attracted by the wood they called juniper. This was really the red cedar, which resembles its cousin, the European savin, from which are gathered the medicinal berries called juniper. The red cedar, like the famed sandalwood, " sheds its perfume on the axe that slays it," and is very fragrant while burning. It at once became the favorite fuel.^ (The salt-boilers have long since extermi nated the trees and made " Wood End " a misnomer, and the 1 The " camphire " of Solomon's Song (i. 14 and iv. 13), which some con found with the " camphor," but which is the sweet-smelling cypress, reminds one of the " juniper " of our fathers. 68 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. unprotected black soil has been succeeded by drifting sand. To save the harbor from ruin. Government has adopted the Dutch practice of sowing the sand with beach-grass {Psamma arenaria), which grows readily and prevents drifting. In the eastern part of Provincetown, near Snow's Hill and along the railroad, is now a fine little grove showing a great variety of trees, under which we still find the rich black earth that once extended through the town.^) The first morning which greeted the Pilgrims in their port of refuge was that of Sunday, November 22. With heartfelt thankfulness for preservation from the dangers of the sea, they held their worship and sang " the Lord's song in a strange land." On Monday morning worldly cares returned. Jones was very impatient of delay on the coast at that time of year ; he refused to move his ship until they should have fixed their place of settlement and found him another safe harbor. Some of his company even proposed that the passengers and stores be set on shore, and the " Mayflower " started for home ; but it does not appear that Jones was inclined to any such outrageous proceeding. The Pilgrims at once prepared to explore the coast in their own shallop, — a sloop-rigged craft of twelve to fifteen tons, which they had brought between decks, having been obliged to take her partly to pieces for stowage. It was supposed that their carpenters would trim her up in six days ; but parts had been so strained during the voyage that seventeen days were required.^ In the mean time the people went on shore for exercise, while many were engaged in helving and fitting 1 Even midst the streets of Provincetown the sand formerly blew about in uncomfortable drifts, and no slight trouble and expense have been incurred in giving those most travelled a durable veneering of various more stable materials. The writer himself once heard a tradesman on the main street of that siliceous town cautioning his shop-boy not to sweep the imported earth sidewalk too vigorously, lest he make a hole therein to the sand below. 2 In 1605, on the Maine coast, Weymouth bad a shallop which he "brought in pieces out of England." Bradford's History says the Pilgrims' shallop was " stowed in quarters in the ship ; " and Mourt says that they were " forced to cut her down in bestowing her betwixt decks," and " she was much opened by the people's lying in her." 1 620.] CAPE COD. 69 tools and getting out timber for another shallop. From Wood End around to the east side of the harbor, the flats extend from the shore, and at low water it is very shallow for a long way out. The Pilgrims, when going ashore and returning, were forced to wade for " a bowshot or two," though they availed themselves as far as possible of the greater depth at high water. Many of the more active and frolicsome often exposed themselves by jumping from the boat and wading ashore unnecessarily ; and the resulting coughs and colds most disastrously affected systems already impregnated with the scurvy of sea-life. The women, like good housewives, were anxious to dispose of the accumulated washing. There was a bank in front of the present village of Provincetown, between which and the shore was a large pool of fresh water. Dr. Dexter finds that here was the washing done, while the busy matrons were ex posed to the weather of the last of November. The bank has disappeared, and the site of the pool is now a part of the harbor ; but at times may be found near the wharves some of the black earth which once formed the ridge. The voyagers tried for cod and other fish, but found none except a few left by the tide. They evidently fished entirely in the harbor ; for outside there would have been some cod at that season, the supply increasing till spring. Gosnold found them so abundant in May, 1602, that he named the Cape for them. John Smith changed the name in 1614 to Cape James, in honor of the King; but the abounding cod fish weighed more strongly with the public, and the old name prevailed. The great muscle-clam was found, and its rude pearls made it an object of interest to the visitors ; but its meat caused them " to cast and scour " in a manner at first alarm ing. Along the shores was the " greatest store of fowl that we ever saw," — an abundance which long characterized Prov incetown winters, but has been reduced by pursuit. Our travellers were the most astonished at the whales which played about them, and much regretted their lack of whaling gear; for the crew declared that, if equipped, they might 70 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. easily secure ;^3000 to ;^4000 worth of oil for a return cargo. As they entered the harbor, they had noticed on the Cape shore, some five miles to the southeast, what looked like the mouth of a river. Thinking that there might perhaps be a good place for their plantation, and weary of waiting for the shallop to be made seaworthy, some of the more daring desired to explore the region by the toilsome land route through forests and swamps. The great hazard of such a journey, in pathless and unknown regions where savage foes might be lurking, led the more prudent to urge waiting for the shallop ; but the volunteers were so eager that finally the journey was " rather permitted than approved." THE FIRST EXPLORATION. Wednesday, November 25th, there were set on shore six teen men, each with a musket, sword, and corselet,^ all under the command of Captain Myles Standish, to whom were joined as advisers, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward Tilley. Standish's name now first appears in the record. He was not a member of the Pilgrim church, and was a scion of a distinguished English family, including in its genealogy a Roman Catholic bishop, besides several knights, and which still held large estates. The first known of him with certainty is that while a youth he received from Eliza beth a commission in the English army in Holland. As the first mention of him in the Pilgrims' journal is as " Captain " Standish, such was probably his army rank. Skill and bra very, joined to a perfect devotion to the interests of his new ) associates, made him of priceless value as their military leader and as a civil officer. Stephen Hopkins was one of those who joined the "Mayflower" from London, his family in cluding eight persons. He long was prominent in the Colony, being often associated with Standish. Edward Tilley's days 1 Strictly, " breast armor," but loosely applied to cuirass armor ; i. e., breast and back. I620.J CAPE COD.— THE FIRST EXPLORATION. ^\ were to be very few in the land ; he appears to have been of 1 a I ROtriES OF THE FIRST TWO EXPLORATIONS. the Leyden band, and this appointment shows him a person held in esteem. 72 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. On landing, the party of twenty proceeded along the shore for a mile. They then saw six people with a dog coming towards them. Supposing this to be a party already ashore with Jones, they kept on ; but the others on seeing them ran into the woods, whistling the dog after them and showing themselves to be Indians. Fearing that the narrow beach might be ambushed, the explorers also turned into the open forest and continued their way. The Indians thereupon left the wood to the northward, running away over the sand at the back of the hills. As the explorers followed, hoping to open communication, they saw by the footprints that the savages had come the same way by which they were return ing ; also, that in their retreat they had run up a hill (prob ably " Negro Head ") to reconnoitre. Night coming on, the explorers encamped near the present eastern boundary of Provincetown. They built a barricade of logs and boughs, making it the height of a man and shaped like a horseshoe, the open end to the leeward. In the middle a fire was kept. Three of the number stood as sentries during the time occupied by the burning of six inches of match on their muskets, and then were relieved. Thursday, November 26th, the march was resumed at day break. The Indian footprints were followed around East Harbor nearly to the outer shore, whence they led into a wood from which the underbrush had not been burned, while the surface was broken into a tiresome succession of hills and valleys, as may be seen by the traveller through the region north of East Harbor village, Truro. The woods have long since disappeared, giving place to bleakness and sterility, and the present generation is doing itself credit by persevering efforts to restore the trees.^ But our Pilgrims were obliged to force their way up hill and down, through a dense thicket which tore their very armor apart. 1 The traveller of to-day will there see the unusual (for New England) sight of large patches of pine-land with the trees set out in prim orchard style, form ing regular lines and squares. So jealous has it been necessary for the dwellers in this modern desert to become for their boscage and herbage, that some years ago persons were fined for climbing the artificially scrub-clad hillocks or walking over the unstable sward (?). i62o.] CAPE COD. — THE FIRST EXPLORATION. n They were also much troubled by thirst, having brought only some biscuit and Dutch cheese, with a " little bottle of aqua vitce." Since leaving the " Mayflower " they had found no fresh water, and on this second day their sufferings were intense. At about lO A. M. they came to the deep valley which now holds the sad remains of the once-thriving village of East Harbor. The hollow was overgrown with brush, " wood-gaile," and long grass ; through the tangle were sev eral little paths, along one of which they saw a deer disap pearing. Here they found abundant and excellent springs, which accounted for the deer-paths. This was their first draught of New England water. It would have been thought good at any time; but in their exhausted condition they declared it " as pleasant unto them as wine or beer had been in fore-time." They then turned to the inner shore, and soon reached a point on the great circle of the harbor, only four miles across the water from the anchorage of the " May flower." Here, as they had promised, they made a fire to notify the ship of their safety. A mile south of this valley they came to another, containing a fine pond, which now gives its name to the Truro hamlet of Pond Village. A mile to the east is the elevation on which stands the famous Highland Light. This was found to be a haunt of wild fowl and deer, and continued so for a century and a half afterwards. It also abounded in sassafras, — a plant to which the Europeans then ascribed extraordinary medici nal virtues. As the roots sold in England for three shillings a pound, ships were glad to load home with it, and explorers always rejoiced at finding the bush.^ Farther south were indications of the former cultivation of maize. At length a little path was found leading to several peculiar heaps of sand. One of these, covered with old mats, was crowned with a great wooden mortar, and had an earthen pot at one end. Wondering what it might be, the explorers dug into it 1 Champlain (1604-1607) found no sassafras east of Portland, Me. It was then worth in France fifty livres per pound, — about I9.25, — the equivalent of forty dollars or more now. 74 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620 and found the decayed fragments of a bow with arrows. Judging the place to be a grave, they carefully replaced its covering, that they might not give offence by disturbing a sepulchre. Stubble from the last season's corn was next found, but no indications of the cultivators. The strawberry-plant abounded in every direction, and there were many walnut-trees full of nuts and festooned with grape-vines. Soon were discovered the traces of a civilized person's house, near which were a pile of planks and a great kettle from some ship. Not far away was a heap of sand which had been recently patted over with hands. Examination showed it to contain a small, old basket of shelled corn, while farther down was a large, new basket, round and narrowed at the top, holding three to four bushels of maize, including thirty-six whole ears, some yellow, some red, and some mixed with blue, such as one sees often in the Cape Cod granaries of to-day. The Pilgrims were intensely interested. They had never before seen Indian corn, but they were aware that their main dependence would be their annual crop of it. They had become exceedingly anxious over the necessity of obtaining some seed, and the improbability of being able to get any in season. This which they had found could be worth to its owner only its commercial price, but to the Pilgrims it was, under the circumstances, of inestimable value. If they should take it for their seed, they could improve the earliest inter course with the savages to find the owner and reimburse him beyond his own estimate of justice. If they left the deposit untouched, they might and probably would be unable to obtain a supply in time for the planting season ; the lack of this crop might reduce the Colony to starvation, or the aban donment of their settlement. The result proved that the settlers would, without their corn-crop, have been placed in this very dilemma. After " much consultation " the explor ers, as they record in their Diary, " concluded to take the kettle and as much of the corn as we could carry away with us ; and when our shallop came, if we could find any of the i62o.] CAPE COD. — THE FIRST EXPLORATION. 75 people and come to parley with them, we would give them the kettle again and satisfy them for their corn." All the ears were placed in the kettle, which was then filled as full of loose corn as two men could easily carry on a staff. After empty pockets had been filled, the rest of the corn was reburied. In this case the Pilgrims were governed by necessity, — a law unto itself, — and wronged no one ; for the next summer they succeeded, after anxious inquiry, in finding and fully satisfy ing the owner, even paying him double price. But Judge Baylies, a friendly critic, calls their course " inexcusable ; " though he afterwards says it "was probably the means of saving the Colony from starvation, for the grain was all used for planting, and from its product they derived at one time their sole support." This second statement shows the first to be itself " inexcusable." ^ Not far to the south the explorers discovered the rivulet which they had from the start intended to reach. It was the stream now called Pamet River (pronounced Paw-met). Close by was the ruin of a rude fortification, evidently made by Europeans. The river had two arms, divided at the mouth by a high, sandy hill. The farther branch extended nearly across the Cape, but two canoes lay ready for use on the shores of the central peninsula. Farther journeying, however, was out of the question. The party had strict orders not to be gone more than two nights ; so it became necessary to leave the examination of the Pamet valley to another time. Retracing their steps as far as the present Pond Village, they made a barricade and mounted guard. That night was very rainy, affording little rest to the jaded and unsheltered travellers. Friday, November 27th, the party finding the kettle too burdensome, concealed it in the pond ; they also put in order their muskets, which had been disabled by the rain. While marching towards home, they found a sapling bent over a 1 Rev. Mr. Slafter, in his admirable edition of Champlain's voyages to our coast, makes some very unjust remarks upon this affair. J6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. spot where some acorns were scattered. Stephen Hopkins knew that it was a deer-trap, and kept his comrades away from it ; but Bradford, who brought up the rear, not hearing his caution, went to examine the affair, upon which the sap ling flying up, he was caught by the leg, but not hurt. This entrapping of the grave young counsellor of the party must have created a good deal of mirth, in which Bradford was likely to take a leading part. It was fortunate for him that the trap was not powerful, for the Indians often made them so strong that moose, bears, and wolves were tossed ; and some years afterwards a straying horse was found suspended in the air by one. The noose around Bradford's leg was a cord neatly made from the wild hemp of the region, and it was carried along, as valuable for the imitation of the rope-makers. The travellers afterwards started up three bucks, which were soon out of reach; and weary Bradford had enough humor to make a comment on the greater advantage of having one deer than of seeing three. Partridges ^ and great flocks of wild geese and ducks also tantalized the party. As the toilsome march drew towards its end, the explorers saved distance by wading creeks, instead of going around. At length, in the early darkness of that season, they came to the " Mayflower's " landing-place, and gave notice of their pres ence by a discharge of musketry. The anxious Carver, with Jones and a large party, were already on shore near by, and came to meet them. Bradford says: "And thus we came weary and welcome home, and delivered our corn into the store to be kept for seed ; for we knew not how to come by any, and therefore were very glad, purposing so soon as we could meet with any of the inhabitants of that place, to make them large satisfaction." THE SECOND EXPLORATION. For the next ten days nothing noteworthy happened. At length the shallop could be used, though two days would be 1 Ruffed grouse ? — Dr. Dexter. 1620.] CAPE COD. — THE SECOND EXPLORATION. 'j'^ needed to finish her ; and the anxious Pilgrims determined to send her as she was, with twenty-four explorers, to the Pamet. Jones volunteered to accompany them in his long-boat with nine sailors, and the Pilgrims, as a sort of peace-offering, made him, instead of Standish, leader of the expedition. Monday, December 7th (n. S.), the shallop and the long boat put off. They at once encountered heavy seas with head-winds, and Jones (or some one else) used little judg ment in prosecuting the voyage. The shallop was forced to shelter over night in East Harbor, while her inmates, wading ashore in a freezing snow-storm, marched five miles to find a shelter from the cutting wind.^ They must have missed the hollow (East Harbor village) where the former party found water, and struggled on in the chilling tempest to Great Hollow. The distance was estimated by them at two miles more than it was, so toilsome was the way. The exposure told upon the enfeebled systems of some to such an extent that Bradford says they " took' the original of their death here." Before noon of the second day (December 8th) the party was re-embarked and brought to the Pamet. This entrance, which they named Cold Harbor, was found too shallow for ships, although there was and still is twelve feet depth at high water. Through half a foot of snow the explorers tramped up and down the diluvial hills and valleys, until when within a mile of the Atlantic shore Jones himself clamored for a halt. A pine-grove offered a good place for their barricade, while three fat geese and six ducks well sup plemented the ship's rations, and were eaten with " soldiers' stomachs." The Pamet proving still salt or " brackish,'' some who wished to settle there were for following it up to the fresh water at its head ; but they were outvoted by those who dis- ^ East Harbor has recently been closed by a costly scientific dike, built by the State to preserve the main harbor, which was in danger of filling with sand from the ocean's breaking through into East Harbor. The railroad now tra verses the dike, and the enclosed space will soon become solid land. 78 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. liked the rough surface and poor harbor. The next morning (December 9th) they went to the deposit of corn found by the first party and removed the remainder, as well as a neigh boring store, together with some beans. They now had about ten bushels of seed, — a quantity ample for their spring planting. The ground was covered with snow, so that but for their first discovery while the ground was bare, they would not now have found the corn at all. The earth was also frozen, so that they had to chop into it a foot with their swords before they could dig. Their side-arms must have been pretty substantial weapons to withstand this usage. Jones, who had become homesick, now returned to the ship with fifteen of the men and the corn. The next day he sent back the shallop with a new crew. The eighteen who bivouacked a second night at the Pamet began the day (December loth) by following a deer-path, supposing it a trail which would lead to the Indian dwellings, and returning to the river made an astonishing discovery. They found a large mound covered with boards, and to ascertain its char acter carefully dug into it. First appeared a bow between two mats ; next came a finely carved and painted board, three fourths of a yard long, having upon it three prongs like the points of a crown or the tines of a trident.^ With the bow there were bowls, trays, dishes, and trinkets. Last came a large and a small bundle. The first contained a great quantity of fine, pungent red powder, in which were the bones of a man, with the skull still clothed with fine yellow hair. By his side was a knife, a pack-needle, and a few iron articles, all bound up in a pair of cloth breeches and a sailor's canvas cassock. The small package had the bones of a child, packed in the same pungent but not offensive powder. The child's limbs were bound around with bracelets and strings of fine white beads, while alongside were many curious little 1 Was not this part of a " fleur-de-lys " ? Roger Ludlow, of Dorchester, while digging his cellar (1631), found at a foot from the surface two French coins of 1596. Were these brought by the sailor rescued at the bay by Dermer ? Thomas Morton's account of a French ship and crew destroyed at Boston Bay was doubtless an inaccurate version of the Cape Cod affair. i620.] CAPE COD. — THE SECOND EXPLORATION. 79 matters and a small bow. Some few small things were taken as samples for the information of those on ship-board ; but, unlike explorers and investigators of the present day, the party carefully replaced nearly all of them, and neatly re covered the grave. This tomb was the subject of much wonder. The hair showed the man not to have been an Indian. Some thought him to have been a European who had been buried by the natives with especial honor, while others thought he might have been slain and buried in this way as a triumph over him. Dr. Dexter has advanced the idea that the body was that of some Norse explorer. It does not appear that the Pilgrims ever afterwards troubled themselves about the matter. They, however, learned facts which solved various puzzles besetting them at this time. About 1616 a French fishing-ship was wrecked on Cape Cod. Her inmates reached the shore, bringing their pro visions and many other matters. The natives remembered the atrocious act of Captain Thomas Hunt, who in 16 14 had kidnapped seven of their number and twenty natives from the mainland, carrying them to Europe as slaves. Knowing no difference in white men as to such matters, they pursued the poor French mariners with untiring hostility, waylaying and slaying them at every turn. Soon only three whites sur vived. These were captured, and were sent from tribe to tribe to be made subjects of amusement or contempt. The poor fellows were treated worse than slaves for a time ; but at length one was allowed to marry into the tribe. He be came a father, but did not long live to enjoy his new digni ties, nor did his child survive. In the summer of 1619 Captain Dermer rescued the two survivors, finding one at Middleboro' (Namasket), and the other at Massachusetts Bay. This story accounts for the ship's kettle, the hut of planks, the attempt at a European fortification, the honored grave containing a body of European appearance with nautical relics, and the child buried in the same place. (The subsequent discovery of a ship's bucket is explainable in the same manner.) 80 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. On returning to the shallop the explorers found that the newly arrived sailors had ferreted out two Indian dwellings. Bradford with seven others thereupon proceeded to examine them. The wigwams had been recently occupied. Each was made of long saplings bent over in an arch and crossing, both ends being stuck in the earth. The structure was thus rounded on the top, and formed a circle on the ground. It was snugly covered with mats on the outside, and lined with neater and finer mats. A little place for a fire was in the centre, the smoke finding its way out at the top by a large hole, easily closed by a mat if desired. Though the door was only three feet high, there was sufficient height within for a man to stand upright, and for several to lie about the fire. These houses were well provided with wooden bowls, trays, and dishes, earthen pots, small baskets made of crab- shells, and a great variety of big and little woven baskets. There was also a ship's bucket, without a bail, but retaining its iron ears. There were three deer's heads, one not long dead, and in a neighboring hollow tree was some venison, which was even too "gamey" for the English stomach of that day. There were also fragments of fish, baskets of parched acorns, sedge and rushes for mat-making, silk-grass, tobacco-seed, and seeds of unknown kinds. A few specimens were selected from the knick-knacks, with the understanding that when the shallop returned, a variety of goods should be left in these wigwams, both in payment for what had been taken, and for the purpose of establishing peace and traffic. Late on December loth (Thursday), the explorers were once more in the " Mayflower," making their report. During their absence a son had been born to Mr. and Mrs. William White, and in token of the pilgrimage then in progress, the little stranger was named Peregrine. He was destined to outlive every member of the company into which he was born ; and after a youth unduly gay for his day and genera tion, even in the next century, long after Plymouth Colony had been merged in Massachusetts, a fine, hearty-looking veteran of Marshfield used to be pointed out with great i62o.] CAPE COD. — THE SECOND EXPLORATION. 8 1 respect as Captain Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England.^ The Pamet region offered a fine harbor for boats at least ; it had corn-land obviously good, fish and great whales abounded along the shore, suggesting a profitable situation for oil, bone, and dried fish, it seemed healthful, and the promontory between the rivers was easy to defend. Sickness was increasing, and a pestilence was feared unless the com pany should soon debark. Therefore some insisted that a settlement be at once begun. It was answered that a ship- harbor must be found, and if a colony were now planted, its position would eventually be changed to a better place yet to be discovered. The headland in the Pamet had no supply of water, and furnishing that even in time of peace would be severe labor. In 1616 Captain John Smith, in connection with his map of New England, had overmuch praised the harbor of Agawam (now Ipswich),^ and many of the people, attracted by his description, were for an expedition to that point. Others opposed going so far. Coppin, one of the two pilots, said that across the bay was a fine harbor at the mouth of a large river, called ' Thievish Harbor ' because when he was there a native stole a harping-iron ^ from his ship ; he advised an expedition to that point. 1 In 1632 Peregrine White went to Marshfield with his stepfather's family ; in 1636 he volunteered for the Pequod war ; 1642 he was " ancient-bearer " (or ensign) of the " train-band ; " 1648 he married Sarah, daughter of William Bassett, and was fined for the premature opening of his family record (she died 1711). He was very attentive to his mother, visiting her daily in her later years. He made these visits on a black horse, and wore a coat with buttons the size of a silver dollar. He was " vigorous and of a comely aspect to the last." In 1665, at the request of the King's Commissioners, the General Court gave two hundred acres of land to him, as the first white native of New England. His estate is still in the family, being now held by J. A. White. It is two and a half miles north of the Webster place (Marshfield). He joined the Church in his seventy-eighth year, and died at Marshfield 1704, aged eighty-four. His descend ants are many and honorable. One of them (George W. French, of Bridgewater) has the veteran's spy-glass, — an instrument much shattered, but still containing fine lenses. (The inventory of Lieutenant Samuel Nash, of Duxbury, 1684, men tions a " perspective glass." Such glasses were invented 1609, only eleven years before Peregrine's birth, by Galileo, who was taking refuge in Holland while the Pilgrims were there.) 2 Smith writes it " Augoam." ' Harpoon. 6 82 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. Every fair day the dwellers at Provincetown see a beautiful blue mount in their western horizon. This is the height of Manomet, on the south side of Plymouth Harbor. It rises three hundred and ninety-six feet, and is a famous landmark for navigators from all parts of the bay. Coppin's vaguely remembered harbor may have been Boston, Ipswich, New buryport, or Portsmouth ; but he conjectured that it might be near this constantly seen headland. It was therefore decided that a new expedition should follow the shore, looking for an eligible harbor, and if not sooner finding one, should examine that supposed to be near Manomet, but should not push beyond. Tuesday, December 15th, weather prevented the start; and the " Mayflower " with her company had that day a narrow escape from disaster and probable destruction. At London some of the Adventurers, for secret purposes, had foisted into the ship a profane, ruffianly fellow named John Billington, with his wife and two sons, John Jr., and Francis. The atten tion of the leaders was absorbed until the ship was at sea ; then, when BiUington's intrusion became understood, it was too late to return him. On the day named, one of these mischievous boys went into the stateroom of his parents in their absence ; finding a loaded gun, he fired it in the little apartment, where was a small cask half full of loose powder, while close by, and within four feet of the stateroom, was the cabin fire, around which the people were gathered on. account of the cold. Had an explosion taken place, the loss of life must have been great, the ship might have been so shattered as to sink, and if not, would hardly have escaped taking fire. But their journal well says, " By God's mercy, no harm was done." THE THIRD EXPLORATION. Next day, December i6th, the weather was still severe; but progress was possible, and every moment must be im proved. The mortality had begun. On the 14th died Edward Thompson, a youth in the employ of William White, and i620.] CAPE COD. — THE THIRD EXPLORATION. 83 now on the i6th Jasper More was dying. He was one of four orphans whom the kind-hearted Pilgrims had adopted. Rich ard, the eldest, had found a home with Elder Brewster, as also had a brother whose name is not given ; little Ellen was fortunate in the care of Mrs. Winslow; Jasper had been taken by the childless Carvers. Richard alone survived the winter, and he became the head of a Duxbury family. Those who were setting forth must have had sad forebodings as to the vacant places they should find on their return. The voyage, too, might be of fearful peril to themselves as the frail, over loaded shallop coasted in a tempestuous winter, along unknown shores inhabited by wild beasts and savages. " Ten of their principal men " had been selected from vol unteers, as Bradford says ; and the names recorded in Mourt are Captain Standish, Governor Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward Tilley, and John How land from Leyden ; with Richard Warren, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward Dotey (Doten) from the London section. The Pilgrims also took of their own seamen John Allerton and Thomas English. Jones sent three of his seamen, with the two mates and pilots, Clarke and Coppin. The master-gun ner of the " Mayflower " also by importunity got into the party, for he had been much taken by the Indian curiosities brought in, and had hope of traffic with the natives. The party thus consisted of eighteen, — twelve of the passengers, and six of Jones's men. Bradford seems to have been the journalist, as he had been of the previous expeditions. It was late on Wednesday before the shallop left the ship. Owing to a northeasterly wind, it was necessary to row the jheavy craft until she could stretch by Long Point. During this protracted effort Edward Tilley became insensible from cold, while the gunner was " sick unto death," in which state he continued till the next day. It is probable that Tilley would not permit himself to be carried back to the ship ; but he should have been returned by force, if need be, for he had already contributed his entire strength to the work of explo ration, and now he (with his brother) was giving his life. 84 the pilgrim republic. [1620. ROirtE OF A PORTION OF THE THIRD EXPLORATION. l620.] CAPE COD. — the third EXPLORATION. 85 After the shallop could make sail, the exposure was still great. The waves broke over the passengers and immediately froze, so that their journal says their clothes were like unto coats of iron. At length a long course of " full and by " brought them under the lee of the Truro shore, and they became comparatively comfortable. After coasting along the inner side of the Cape for about twenty miles, they came to the point now known as Billings gate; the present islands were then connected, forming a part of the mainland. Doubling this point, the explorers were charmed with Wellfleet Bay, — a sheet of water a league across, and more than twice as long. On the Eastham beach a group of Indians were busy about a great black thing; but seeing the shallop, ran inland. The craft put ashore near the present camp-meeting landing. It is unnecessary to tell a voyager to that region that the Pilgrims had much trouble to get near the shore. A shoal, bare at low water, reaches a mile out, while at high water it is only a very light boat that comes within a long jumping distance of the strand. The explorers slept with unusual precautions, for the camp-fire of the savages could be seen not five miles away. In the morning eight men took the shallop, and the other ten examined the land. Their course was first northerly, up Wellfleet Bay. They found here a harbor with over thirty feet of water. Indian Brook, between Eastham and Wellfleet, and Cook's Brook, farther south, interested the land party, for these were the first " becks " they had seen in the country. At different places along the beach they found three medium- sized grampuses, about eighteen feet long, and clothed with two inches of blubber.^ But finding Wellfleet Bay not suit able for settlement, both parties turned about to the south. In due time the spot was reached where the Indians had been seen the previous night. It appeared that they had 1 The grampus (from French " Grand-poisson ") is a remarkable cetacean often half the size of a Greenland whale, it being from fifteen to thirty feet in length, and from two to three in diameter ; they are sometimes cast on the Cape over twenty feet long, and having a " blanket " of blubber four inches thick. 86 THE pilgrim republic. [162a been stripping a grampus. The shore party at ten o'clock started on the track of the Indians, and lost sight of the shallop, which contained their dinner. Old corn-land was dis covered, but no houses. At length they came to a great burial-place ; one part of it was surrounded by palisades set close together. Some of the graves were paled around, and others had a frame like a wigwam nicely built over them, but not matted. Outside the enclosure the graves were much more simple. None of these sepulchres were disturbed. Farther on were a few frames of houses now deserted, and a deposit of acorns in the ground ; but the most careful search did not reveal any inhabitants, — a matter much regretted, for the explorers were anxious to establish friendly relations and pay their debts. At sunset the party returned to the beach, and by good luck found the shallop within hailing distance. The men on shore, though hungry and weary, repaired to a neighboring creek, where they built a barricade and laid in their night's stock of fuel, before the tide allowed the shallop to come to them. Their camp-fire was always a matter of difficulty, for the Indian fires every six months, in destroying the underbrush of the woods, licked up all the dry wood also, and rendered fuel scarce. At about midnight a hideous cry rang through the woods beside them, and their sentries shouted, "Arm! Arm!" Two muskets were fired, and the noise ceased. Coppin, or some other person who had been on the coast before, quieted the alarm by declaring this noise to be from wolves or foxes, such as he had often heard in Newfoundland. The remainder of the night passed without incident, and the weary explorers doubtless slept soundly ; for although it was past the middle ;of December and they lay in the open air, they make no mention of suffering from the cold. Their disadvantages were partly offset by a season, for the most part, wonderfully mild. Had the winter been of the severer sort, such as occur at brief intervals, their toils and perils would have been terribly increased. Friday, December i8th, was an eventful day. At 5 A.M., i620.] CAPE COD. — THE THIRD EXPLORATION. 87 nearly two hours and a half before sunrise, the party was called, that the full advantage of high water might be had. Some who thought their guns damp, fired and reloaded them as an ordinary precaution. After public prayer, the break fast not being ready, the greater number carried their weap ons from the barricade down to the creek and piled them on the beach, where they would be ready when the shallop should come up to high-water mark ; but Standish, Bradford, and two others declared that they would not part with their arms on any account, although they saw no cause for precaution. After the explorers had settled down in the barricade, eating breakfast around their fire, the woods all at once rang with a terrible yell, and a sentinel rushed in, crying, " They are men ! Indians ! Indians ! " The careless ones who had disarmed themselves, now ran to recover their weapons. Standish's military progressiveness was here illustrated. All his asso ciates had matchlocks, such as were used by the British army till at least seventy years later ; the matches were extin guished, and there must be a perilous delay before many could be lighted. But Standish had a " snaphance," or a gun with a sort of flint-lock; and advancing to the open end of the barricade, he delivered his fire while his three associates were lighting their matches at the camp-fire.^ From the beginning, 1 The practical use of muskets dates from about 1470, — a century later than the use of cannon. In 1629 the Massachusetts ofiicers in England wrote to En- dicott : " We have followed your advice, and sent most of our guns snaphance, bastard-musket bore." Yet matchlocks prevailed ; for in 1631 it was ordered at the Bay that every man who has a musket keep one pound of powder, twenty bullets, and two fathoms of match. In 1661 the Marquis of Worcester patented breechloading firearms ; but they were first put in practical use by the British Major Ferguson, who had de vised for his corps a rifie of that sort, which did our men much damage at Brandywine in 1777. (See Gen. Reg., xxxviii. 240, 351.) .Yet in 1688, when the finely equipped soldiers of the Prince of Orange advanced on St. James's Palace, they " had their matches lighted " [their bayonets were daggers, which, after firing, they were to insert in the muzzles of their guns]. — Macaulay' s Eng. Strange to say, in 1645, forty-three years before this time, when the best troops of England and Holland were thus adhering to matchlocks, Standish was marching to the support of Uncas, and his forty Plymouth soldiers were "well armed all with snaphance peeces." — Bradford's Hist., 434. 88 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. arrows had been flying thickly around the whites, but no one had been injured. The great majority of the party had run to recover their weapons and protect the shallop, for the preservation of the little craft was a prime essential. The two divisions were out of each other's sight. When, therefore, the four at the barri cade, by firing in alternate couples, had caused the savages to fall back, they anxiously shouted for those in the shallop, not knowing but they had been cut off, or at least the craft and weapons destroyed. Back, out of the semi-darkness, came the cheering answer : " Well, well, every one ! " " Be of good courage ! " Three of their guns, probably on board, were fired, and there was a call for coals to light the other matches. One at the barricade (very likely Bradford him self) seized a huge blazing firebrand, and throwing it over his shoulder, darted out through the dim light among the bushes and supplied the want. This sudden apparition terrified the Indians greatly. There was one stout fellow, probably the Indian leader, who took a position behind a tree within half musket-shot of the English, whence he deliberately shot three arrows, which were all seen and skilfully avoided by the persons aimed at. Three shots were fired at him without his flinching. But one, taking more careful aim, struck the tree close by this chiefs head, throwing a shower of bark and splinters about his ears, upon which the savage gave a terrific " shrike " and fled, fol lowed by his whole support. The Indians numbered from thirty to fifty, and were screened by the darkness of the woods, while the English were exposed by their fire or posi tion on the beach. It is very remarkable that in what was really a sharp skirmish no white man was wounded, though the coats hanging in the barricade were shot through and through, and that no Indian is known to have been injured. When the men first ran out to regain their arms, the Indians, with terrible cries, swept around them ; but some who were clad in armor and had cutlasses, made a dash and caused the savages to fall back. By the time the arms were regained. i620.] CAPE COD.— THE THIRD EXPLORATION. 89 the Indians with renewed courage were again ready for a charge, and were only deterred by a sharp fire. Their war- cry is represented by Bradford to have been " Woach, woach, ha ha hach woach ! " These words are not Indian, nor is their intended sound quite evident. It is unfortunate that no one has yet explained the explanation. Six men being left to guard the shallop, the remaining twelve pursued the flying savages a quarter of a mile. Then, that the latter might understand that the English claimed a victory, the whites shouted in concert several times and fired two muskets. This defiance was thought necessary to dis courage the natives from future assaults. Returning, the whites picked up eighteen arrows, which they afterwards sent by Jones to their friends in England.^ The arrows were headed, some with brass, some with deer's horn, and others with eagle's claws. The brass may have come from the French wreck, for these were the Nausets, the only inhabi tants from Chatham to Provincetown. There evidently was little or no traffic between the tribes, wampum being unknown in that whole region ; otherwise, quartz and flint arrow-heads would have found their way from the mainland, where their manufacture was a regular trade, and was one of the few in dustrial pursuits not deemed disgraceful to men. The dilu vium of the Cape affording no good mineral for the purpose, the arrow-heads were made as described. The place of this attack was unquestionably Great Meadow Creek (Herring River), in Eastham. Morton has named another place ; but it is one which the land party could not have reached in time to encamp when they did. After a prayer of thanksgiving for their deliverance, the travellers 1 Mourt says that doubtless many more arrows were shot, "for these we found were almost covered with leaves." This seems to mean that the ground was then free from snow, and the arrows buried themselves in the surface-layer of dead leaves. Dr. Dexter, in his "Mourt" (note 191), is certainly ingenious in the theory that the meaning is that the arrows in flying through the air strung themselves with the dead foliage still on the trees. If so, how did the "many more " arrows get lost, Doctor ? The Indians at such close quarters would not have aimed so high. 90 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. named the spot " The First Encounter." ^ They then stood away before an easterly and southerly wind. Manomet was some forty-five miles distant by a coasting route, and the explorers intended to reconnoitre the intervening shore. After two hours it began to snow and be rough, to which fact Young attributes their not putting in at Barnstable Har bor, where he thinks it highly probable they otherwise would have settled. The waves became so violent by the middle of the afternoon that the hinges of the rudder were broken, and the steering had to be done by two men with oars. At length Coppin, looking ahead through the storm, announced that he saw the harbor to which they were bound. A press of sail was carried, so as to bring the craft in before dark ; but the gale increasing, its mast split in three pieces, the sail dragged overboard, and the shallop narrowly escaped foun dering. Fortunately, they were near the entrance of Plymouth Harbor ; and having the flood-tide with them, easily rowed in by Manomet. As they made an entrance the excited Coppin shouted, " The Lord be merciful unto us, for my eyes never saw this place before ! " Then he and Clark undertook to run the craft ashore between Saquish and the Gurnet, in a cove full of breakers, where destruction would have been swift and sure; but a stout, cool-headed sailor who held one of the steering oars, bade the rowers, if they were men, to pull her head to port, or they were lost. He was promptly obeyed ; upon which he told them to give way, for he saw a fair sound before them, and doubted not to find a safe anchorage. These words inspirited his comrades ; and though it was dark and rainy, he soon had them fast in a sheltered position between Clark's Island and Saquish Head, which was then also an island.^ 1 This was only three miles from the point on the Atlantic side where, in 1605, Indians murdered one of Champlain's men for the sake of the kettle in which he was getting water. The French chastised them for this. 2 Dr. Dexter (" Mourt," n. 196) thinks the wind was northeast, and that the cove was on the south side ot the harbor. But I do not think the heavy shallop could have been rowed in the teeth of a gale from Warren's Cove over Brown's i62o.] THE THIRD EXPLORATION. — CLARK'S ISLAND. 91 The explorers were now safe ; but they and their equipments were wet through. They did not dare to land in the dark ness, for fear of savages, except a few of the more venture some, who succeeded, after great effort, in kindling a fire on Clark's Island in the rain. About midnight, however, the wind shifted to the northwest, with a freezing temperature that drove all the company to the watch-fire. Such was their rude welcome to Plymouth Harbor. (This place, nearly five years before, had been named Plymouth by Captain John Smith. Of course the Pilgrims had his map, which was common in England, and on that the name and position were distinctly set down, and from the discussion upon Ipswich it appears that they had studied his narrative.^ The story that their new home was named from a grateful recollection of Plymouth, England, is pleasant but unfounded. They found the place named to their hand, and began using the name during the first year of their residence. In time the town was known as Plymouth, and the whole Colony as New Plymouth.) Saturday, December 19th, rose bright and warm. The explorers at daylight found themselves in a safe position on a small, uninhabited island, abundantly wooded with their favorite red-cedar. They then or soon after named the place Clark's Island, from the master's mate, because he was the first to land upon it.^ They proceeded to repair the Island shoal to Clark's Island. A northeast gale there at that time of year is pretty sure to blow itself out ; but a southeast one, with rain or snow, is yet surer to whirl into the northwest, with clear cold weather. By the latter test, the gale was southeast, and, by Mourt, the shallop in entering the harbor bore up northward, and by continuing that course would have been cast away. 1 See map. Chapter XI. 2 Clark's Island contains eighty-four and a quarter acres, and is of good soil. Crops of figs are matured there every year in the open air. Near the middle of the island is a huge boulder, formerly called " Election Rock," from the picnic parties held there on the ancient election holiday. Of late years a story, taking the form of tradition, has averred that under the shelter of this rock the Pilgrims held this Sunday's worship. Some members of the Massachusetts Historical Society have therefore cut on the rock's perpendicular southern face the words from Mourt, "ON THE SABBOTH DAY WEE RESTED." The boulder is now called " Pulpit Rock." While this tradition is groundless and of modern origin, the author in many a twilight hour has found it very full of sermons, especially when its late veteran owner, " The Lord of the Isle," Edward F. Wat son (colloquially known as " Uncle Ed."), has acted as expounder. 92 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. shallop and put the arms in order. By the end of the mild, bright day they were once more in good trim and ready to advance. Time was of exceeding value to them. How many in their situation would not have felt justified in examining the harbor, even on Sunday? Like Moses, they could see their promised land ; unlike his case, an hour's sail would take them into it. But their historian says : " And this being the last day of ye weeke, they prepared ther to keepe ye Sabath ; " and Mourt's Journal simply states : " On the Sab- both day wee rested." Much has been eloquently and poeti cally said concerning the worship of the Pilgrim explorers on that farnous Sunday, but the two quotations above given comprise all that can be known concerning it. Monday, Dec. 21, N. S. (ir, O. S.), was the birthday of New England ; for then was the technical landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Bradford (" History," pp. 87, 88) says of this day: " On Monday they sounded the harbor and found it fit for shipping; and marched into the land and found divers corn fields and little running brooks, — a place (as they supposed) fit for situation; at least it was the best they could find." For situation, the explorers required four conditions, — a ship-harbor, cleared land, an abundance of good water, and natural defences. Various places, like Pamet, offered some of these ; but in all that region the only sufficient combination of the four was at Plymouth. The harbor, if not excellent, was tnily " the best they could find " between Cape Cod Harbor (Provincetown) and Boston Bay; there were the broad cornfields left by the Patuxets only three years before (the only cleared land known to have been thereabouts) ; while a deliciously pure water filtering from the sandy back ground danced across the fields to the sea, forming the only group of brooks around Plymouth Bay; the site was pro tected on the east by the harbor, on the south by a great brook in a ravine, on the west by an abrupt hill of a hundred and sixty-five feet elevation, and on the remaining side was an open field ready for a palisade which would be covered by cannon on the hill. r620.] THE THIRD EXPLORATION. — PLYMOUTH ROCK. 93 Venters of " historic doubts " have advanced the idea that this first landing was in some other direction from Clark's Island ; but a careful study of the topography concerned, aided by records, clearly demonstrates the fact that it was at Plymouth, and at the very site of the present village. The Pilgrims themselves described the event to the future Elder Faunce, who was twenty-seven years old when he followed to the grave John Howland, the last survivor of this exploring party; in his old age the elder sat by the Rock before a great assembly, and as he watered the relic with his tears, repeated clearly to the people of 1741 the account which the Fathers had given him.^ If the question had not been settled by the local physical geography, it would have been by this testimony of an associate of the Pilgrims. The shallow water gave few opportunities for landing dry- shod from the heavy shallop. For miles along that diluvial shore but one rock was to be seen, and that was a sienitic 1 There is a curious piece of evidence as to the opinion on this point of Ply mouth in the provincial era. In 1774, Blaskowitz, one of the King's deputy- surveyors for North America, presented Edward Winslow, Jr., with a fine and accurate pen-and-ink map of Plymouth Harbor. Winslow (Pilgrim Edward's great-great grandson) was one of the original members of the Old Colony Club when in 1769 it held the first celebration of " the landing," and he was its first orator. Two notes on the map were made evidently by himself or family. At Clark's Island is written : " On this island the pious Settlers of this Ancient Town first landed, Dec'r 8, o. s., 1620, & here kept their first Christian Sabbath." The site of Plymouth Rock is marked with a " I," and near by is this note : "No. I. — The place where the settlers above-mentioned first landed upon the main, Dec. 22, N. s., 1620, upon a large rock," etc. Many of Winslow's asso ciates must have been present when Elder Faunce formally identified the Rock, and declared what he had been told by the Forefathers themselves of the landing upon it. The minute made by Winslow, or at least transmitted by him, must be received, until impeached, as the declaration of Elder Faunce. The error as to December 22d for December 21st has been explained (p. xvi). The fact is un mistakable that Winslow meant to state that the explorers at Clark's Island De cember 8th, 9th, loth (o. s.), on the nth (o. s.) landed on Plymouth Rock, and that this landing is what his club was formed to commemorate. Winslow's idea must have been the idea of the club. What could be more absurd than to claim that in note " No. i," the words " settlers above-mentioned " do not mean those just mentioned as landing on Clark's Island "Dec. 8, O. S., 1620"? This map is preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, and is a relic of great value. The U. S. Coast Survey has reproduced its technical part, omitting the historical notes, and on the same sheet it gives Champlain's chart of 1605 and the recent one by the Coast Survey itself. 94 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. boulder, itself a travel-worn pilgrim from some far-off north- land. It weighed perhaps half a dozen tons, and its irregular top-surface offered a convenient landing-place. Directly be hind it rose a bluff (Cole's Hill) some thirty feet high, from the edge of which for a fifth of a mile along a protecting stream (Town Brook), the recently tilled fields sloped gently back to the sharply defined foot of the main hill at the rear. In dim and prehistoric ages " Forefathers' Rock " had been reft from its parent ledge by icy Nature; wrapped in the chill embrace of some mighty floe or berg of the glacial epoch, it had been slowly borne for centuries over mountain and valley, until, guided by the Divine Hand, it found at last a resting-place between land and water where in future eons it was to be so greatly needed, and where it was to become the most noted boulder in Christendom. On that rockless strand it had patiently awaited the great day which should, though unconsciously, make it forever famous as the stepping- stone of New England civilization.^ 1 A rock of almost the same size and character was glacially " dropped " into Town Brook, near its mouth, and not seven hundred and fifty feet from the his toric boulder. In December, i88i, Government raised it and took it away for use as a buoy-rock at Boston. The only other storied boulder about Plymouth is the Clark's Island " Pulpit Rock." There is, however, on the southeasterly shore of the same isle a small boulder which bears strange-looking oval black marks, of traditionally diabolical origin. These impressions we have heard delicately alluded to as " the old woman's foot-prints," — thereby avoiding the faintest suspicion of profanity. They are very frequently called " Mary Chilton's Footprints." CHAPTER VIII. The " Mayflower " reaches Plymouth. — Plymouth Harbor. — The Gur net, Saquish, Brown's Island, etc. — Plymouth's Natural Characteristics. PROBABLY the sounding and exploring filled out the 2 1st (the shortest day of the year), and sent the weary party to another night's rest at Clark's Island. In due time they sailed for their ship, the high land near which she lay being in favorable weather visible from the hill at the Ply mouth site they had chosen as " the best." Their return trip of twenty-five miles deviated but slightly from the forty- second parallel of latitude.^ As, after a week's suspense, the people in the " Mayflower " sighted the returning shallop, they must have most anxiously counted and re-counted the heads of its party, to see if all had survived their perils ; joyful must have been the welcome as the wanderers cam'e over the gangway. Yet two who should have been among the foremost to greet the returning, were missing. On the 17th, while Bradford was toiling through the wilds of Eastham, his wife Dorothy had fallen over board from the ship, or a boat alongside, finding a watery grave ; and the next day, James Chilton's wife and daughter closed his eyes forever. On many others disease was telling steadily. Still, courage was unabated, and the good news of the explorers gave much comfort. On December 25th the "Mayflower" sailed for the new harbor ; but when within six miles of its entrance, the wind coming-ahead, she was forced back to her old anchorage. December 26th, the passage was successfully made ; but half 1 End of Cape Cod, 42° 4' N., 70° 14' W. ; Saquish is on the forty-second parallel. 96 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620 an hour after arrival the wind again shifted, so that with a little delay the ship would have been once more driven back to Cape Cod. As she finally ploughed her way into Plymouth Harbor, the most eager curiosity must have prevailed. Four or five miles under her lee rose the beautiful mount of " Hither Manomet," around whose base the waves had brought from sea and land PlYMDTJlH BAY Seale 2i MUes periwh PLYMOUTH HARBOR (SCALE 2>^ MILES PER INCH). a long range of boulders, upon which in northeasterly gales, such as may have been then blowing, it was literally true that — " The breaking waves dashed high, On a stern and rock-bound coast." 1620.] THE GURNET. -SAQUISH. -DISTANCES. 97 On the right, not a mile away, rose the promontory of the Gurnet, then covered with trees, growing perhaps over the grave of the bold Norse chieftain, Thorwald, who in 1004 was buried on this headland, or some similar one near by, and his grave marked at each end with the Christian cross. The woods long ago disappeared, and now this outpost shows its twin lighthouses standing in the centre of Fort Andrew's verdant ruins, while near by is the life-saving station.^ Farther in came Saquish Head, also well wooded, but now having only one tree, while its green slopes are crowned by the remains of Fort Standish. Saquish then being an island, the long, graceful sweep of Stage Cove between it and the Gurnet was broken, by a channel.^ Just within Saquish, with its exhaustless clam-banks, lay Clark's Island, — doubly inter esting to the emigrants from the shelter it had given their brethren. Beyond, stretching to the right, appeared the bay of Duxbury and nook of Kingston, between which rose the symmetrical slope of Captain's Hill ; on the left, beyond the 1 The Gurnet lights are a hundred and two feet above low water, and show at twelve and a half miles. The white towers, which are of shingled wood, are seventy-two feet tall. In 1768 the Province built the first lighthouse there, cost ing ;^66o. This being burned in 1801, the present structures were erected in 1803. In 1776 a fort was built on the Gurnet, and armed with six guns of from six pounds to twelve pounds calibre. Light as they were, they not unsuccess fully exchanged shots with the British frigate "Niger." In 1812-1815 some forty-two-pounders were provided. In the Civil War the work was heavily armed, and was then named Fort Andrew, from the Governor of the State. From the Gurnet to Elisha's Point directly across the harbor's mouth is three and three quarter miles. Yet during the Rebellion an artillery sergeant stationed at the Gurnet persisted to the author that the distance was seven miles, and that he had the exact range. Other ofiicial authority asserted the course from the Gur net to Plymouth Rock to be seven miles ; but it does not much exceed five, and an air-line is four and three quarter miles. So difiicult is it to obtain accurate information on very simple matters I From the Gurnet to Saquish is one and three quarter miles (air-line) — two miles by beach ; from Clark's Island to the Rock the boat-course is three and a half miles, and to the mouth of Jones River almost the same ; from the Rock to Jones River is three and a quarter miles, and to the shore at the foot of Captain's Hill four miles. See note 6, p. 99. 2 B. M. Watson has a deed (1712) which calls Saquish an island. J. M. Watson, of Clark's Island, has often shown the author the probable line of the insulating creek ; and Captain Hall, of the Gurnet, has also pointed him to a place where in great storms the water even now breaks over and separates the two heads. See Wood's map (1634), which gives two islands; also next note. 7 98 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. shoal now called Brown's Island,^ was the wonderful natural breakwater known as Plymouth Beach, then clothed with trees and vines which have long since been vandalized. Within the Beach, half-way between the Rock and the excellent anchorage called the " Cow- Yard," the " Mayflower " came to rest. Her bulwarks had been rent, her timbers sprung, and her hull battered; but with her work nobly performed and her name made immortal, she now reposed peacefully at the goal. Freedom's ark had reached its Ararat.^ 1 Not far outside Beach Point begins the shoal called Brown's Island, which extends seaward beyond the Gurnet. For some three miles the water at low tide on this flat varies from six to twenty-four inches, and parts are often bare. The practical ship- channel from the Gurnet to the Cow-Yard does not average more than half a mile in width. At its inner end there is a fine anchorage, with deep water, — the average tide being 9.3 feet, the extreme tide 12.8. Champlain gives Saquish as an island, omitting "Brown's " as such. The latter never was a true island. Bradford himself speaks of it as " ye flats that lye without, caled Brown's Hands," and Secretary Morton mentions it as " a flat." The evidence is very clear that the , , , , two islands found by the Pilgrims A PORTION OF champlain's SKETCH (1605) ri V A K • \, A tV, [showing the mouth of PLYMOUTH were Clark s and oaquisn, and that harbor]. those " old inhabitants " who have „, „ - . , ™ , , , , , seen stumps on Brown's Island saw J. The Gurnet; 2. Saquish; 3. Clark s Island; ... ..,_ .. , ... 4. Brown's Island, a shoal (where Champlain's ship nothing more than mental or actual grounded) ; 5. Plymouth Beach. driftwood ; for the shoal is probably larger than it ever was before. This subject has received so much attention here partly for the vindication of Dr. Young, whose similar conclusion (Chron. Pil., p. 161) has been disputed. 2 Plymouth Beach, which is three miles long on its east shore, stretches be fore the town at about a mile's distance. It is a very interesting formation, and of the highest value to the harbor. Mourt says the " Mayflower " " lay a mile and almost a half off." From the Rock to the point of the beach is one and three quarter miles (by channel), and to the Cow-Yard anchorage is two and a half miles. So the ship must have lain considerably within Beach Point. At the vicinity indicated there is now from fourteen to twenty-four feet depth at low water, — ample for the " Mayflower," almost in ballast. I620.] CHOOSING A SITE. 99 The next day, being Sunday, was devoted to worship and rest; yet curious eyes must have been peering over that ship's rail during much of the day. Monday, December 28th, the position of the settlement was to be decided by the whole company. Accordingly, the men landed at some point near their ship, and proceeded by way of the woods. They took note that with an occasional oak there were the pine, walnut, beech, ash, birch, hazel, holly, poplar (which they called "asp," from aspen), wild- cherry, wild-plum, and a profusion of grape-vines; they also found the highly prized sassafras.^ Coming to the open land, they discovered abundant strawberry plants,^ with yar row, sorrel, carvel,^ brooklime, liverwort, watercress and wild leeks, onions,* flax, and hemp,^ of fair quality. There were (naturally) good beds of sand and gravel, and also fine pottery clay, which would wash like soap. The old Patuxet cornfields were ready for cultivation, and had a rich black soil, " a spit deep," like that at the Cape. Along the shore were wild-fowl of many kinds, with cod, skate, herring, and what the Pilgrims called a " turbot " (probably a flounder, or young halibut) ; there were also the largest and best of mus cles and clams, with traces of crabs and lobsters. A whole day was spent at this point, though a score of miles of harbor shore remained to be visited.^ Evidently the leaders were holding their comrades there, and trying to demonstrate the fitness 1 The chestnut and elm are not mentioned as found at Plymouth ; but Wins low discovered great chestnut-trees in the Taunton region six months later, and now elms of over a century's growth shade Leyden Street. 2 Roger Williams says that in the Providence territory were enough wild strawberries within a few miles to fill a ship. " Wood's Prospect " states that at Massachusetts Bay this fruit was found two inches in circumference, and one could gather half a bushel in a forenoon. 3 Chervil, Anthriscus Cerefolium. * Probaby the Allium Canadense. 6 The Apocynum Cannabinum. Captain John Smith mentions "a kind or two of ' flax,' wherewith they make nets, lines, and ropes both small and great, very strong for their quantities." Morton says " there is hemp, that naturally groweth, finer than our hemp of England." 8 Historian John Oldmixon (1673-1742) makes a glorious blunder when he states that " the Harbour [Plymouth] was a Bay larger than Cape Cod, and two fine Islands, Rhode Island and Ehzabeth Island, in it I " ( Chron. PH., 164.) 100 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. of the place. Of course this first site examined would be that which had been approved on December 21st by Governor Carver, Captain Standish, and Masters Bradford, Winslow, Warren, and Hopkins ; for the decision of such men would have received the first and fullest consideration. In fact, the Pilgrims' journal says that at this place, so closely inspected, were " four or five small brooks of very sweet fresh water, that all ran into the sea!" As has been shown, this group of brooks identifies the region as that about Plymouth Rock, for not more than three such streams can be found elsewhere in the entire circuit of that inland bay, and these are widely detached. The visits of the 21st and the 28th were both to the same place, and that place the present Plymouth. Tuesday, December 29th, as some wished to look farther, the party went to " discover " at Kingston, where they sailed three miles up a river and found they had only gained half a mile. With unthought-of humor and still more unintentional satire, they named this crooked stream Jones River for their cap tain, whose knavery was unsuspected and whose good-will was much desired. Some, who wished to settle at' Kingston, were overruled because of the forest, which could not be cleared in time for planting; furthermore, the site was not naturally defensible. Clark's Island was advocated as a safe position ; but that was rejected because thickly wooded and poorly watered. Here again is seen what a place required to be " fit for situation." Wednesday, December 30th, it was agreed to seek Divine guidance, and after re-examining two localities, to settle the matter by vote.^ The result, Bradford says, — in Mourt, — was the " conclusion by most voices to set on the main land, on THE FIRST PLACE." This last expression seems to mean that the settlement was on the first place which had been under consideration throughout. No one of information doubts that the place now selected was at Plymouth Rock. Their home having been selected, some twenty of the more 1 We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer. — Mourt. I620-1.] THE DATE OF LANDING. IOI enthusiastic, that very afternoon, built a barricade and deter mined to begin sleeping on shore. The others left them there, agreeing to bring food in the morning, and prepare with them for building. It would seem that the weather had been pleasant ever since the first landing of the shallop at Clark's Island. The enumeration of herbs and soils by the explorers shows that the ground was bare, and probably not even frozen.^ A very disagreeable change was at hand. That night there arose a tempest of great severity. The shore party, having had no time to prepare a roof, were drenched through, and were forced to sit in the pouring rain all the long winter night. Thursday, December 31st, the shallop was unable to reach the shore with food until near noon, and she then could not make her way back to the ship. The latter was obliged to keep three anchors down, so tremendous was the wind. In the midst of the storm one of the Pilgrims, named Richard Britteridge, died on board ; but no messages of life or death could pass between ship and shore. Thus ended the last day of December, as time is now reck oned, and with it, on the wings of the tempest, passed away the notable year of 1620. But to our ancestors, with their " old style" calendar, that day was only" December 2 ist; "and as their new year began on March 25th, their first day of Jan uary was no more to them than the first day of any especially unattractive month.^ So what to us would be full of interest 1 Lossing (Pict. Field-Book of the Revolution) theatrically invents eighteen inches of snow to accompany the landing. The critical observations of the ex plorers as to soil, herbs, roots, the washing qualities of the day, etc., made a week later (December 28th, N. s.), indicate not only bare but unfrozen ground. Mourt makes no mention of snow at Plymouth village that entire winter. After the storm on the day of the First Encounter (December i Sth), the only reference to snow at any place is that which Brown and Goodman encountered some eight miles away from Plymouth January 22d (n. s.). Snow is commonly very light at Plymouth, and few persons keep sleighs. 2 At the Conquest the English year began at Christmas. January ist was not the legal New Year's Day until 1752 ; but the pubhc had partially recognized it for generations before. Sewall mentions that in 1700-1 January ist (o. s.) was ushered in by four trumpeters on Boston Common, in honor of the new year. (See note on page xvi, Preface.) 102 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620-1. as New Year's Day, was to them only the 22d of December, and the year of 1620 was but three quarters finished. It made small diff'erence to them just then. They were not holiday-keepers at any time ; and with the tremendous respon sibilities which taxed their energies to the utmost, their only surcease of labor could be on the holy day when they gath ered weekly to seek further strength from that Source which they had ever found so bountiful. Thus the landing of the Pilgrim explorers was on December 21st, N. S., and the per manent landing was on December 20th, o. s., or December 30th, N. s. ; yet the affluence of historical error which attends Pilgrim history has not spared even these simple dates. CHAPTER IX. Building and Land Allotments. — Indian Alarms. — Pestilence and Prom ise. — Coming of Samoset. — Reception of Massasoit, and Treaty. JANUARY I, 1621 (n. S.), on board the "Mayflower," *^ which was madly rolling and straining at her anchors in the middle of the storm, there came to Isaac and Mary Allerton a son who did not survive his birth. Saturday, January 2d, the work of building the town actually began. All who were able, went on shore and spent the day felling and carrying building materials; but tugging timber an eighth to a quarter of a mile must have been severe work for their debilitated bodies. Sunday, the shore-guard of some twenty men were alarmed by an outcry of unseen savages, and anxiously prepared to sustain an assault ; but soon all became quiet. The next morning, those afloat returned to their labor. Some felled, some rived, and some carried ; and their journal says : " So no man rested all that day." These words are significant; for it was December 25th by their reck oning, and that day their native land was in a tumult of Christmas festivity. As this day of the year had been selected by the Pope for Christmas observance, and from his Church had descended to that of England, the Separatists and Independents denounced it as a part of antichrist; and their opposition was most unfortunately intensified by the general license and excess of the day. The prejudice against celebrating Christmas long continued in the Old Colony. Within fifty years, descen dants of that land, though living elsewhere and professing great theological liberality, have been known to distinguish the day by an excess of disregard, even enforcing an ostenta- 104 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. tious simplicity at the family table. The gradual disappear ance of this prejudice is one of the happy signs of the growth of Christian charity. Christmas is now welcomed by people of every branch of the Church Universal, and a regard for its associations is each year extending more widely through the " many mansions " in the earthly house of our Father.^ As the day drew to a close, another outcry of Indians was heard, causing all to fall to arms ; but nothing further came of it beyond additional care imposed on the weary settlers. At night, as usual, some twenty were left to " keep the court of guard " on shore, and the others returned to the ship. That morning Jones, finding his stock of beer fast diminish ing, and determined to keep enough for his voyage home, had refused to serve out any to the passengers. The latter were ill content with plain water for hard-working men accus tomed to more liberal cheer. But in the evening, as Bradford and his tired comrades were resting around the cabin fire, the buccaneer captain's heart warmed a little at the recol lection of the festivities at home, and he entertained them with beer in abundance. Thereafter, those on board were occasionally supplied with it, but those on shore received none. Beer .was a very important article of diet. Tea, cof fee, chocolate, and cocoa were then unknown to the English ; our settlers had no cider, and not even milk or whey. Beer was the substitute for all these, and its withdrawal was a posi tive hardship, especially as the people were still confined almost entirely to ship's provisions.^ January 5th ended with a heavy storm of wind and rain, which continued through the following day, once more cutting off" communication and preventing work. On the 7th, labor was resumed, and the company divided into nineteen families. 1 In 1659 Massachusetts Bay forbade keeping " any such day as Christmas, either by forbearing to labor, or feasting, or any other way," under penalty of five shillings. Plymouth never had any such contemptible law. Christmas " ales " and " mummings " would hardly have been permitted there ; but any one might freely have feasted and observed the day in any manner not intruding upon those who did not wish to keep it. 2 See note, p. 100. i62i.] THE FIRST STREET AND LAND ALLOTMENTS. 1 05 The households of Carver and Hopkins had comprised eight each ; but the first was now reduced, by a death, to seven : Brewster's and AUerton's numbered six each. The single men were assigned to the different families, according to the greatest convenience of all. Each family was to build its own house, and to have a plot three rods long and half a rod broad, for each of its members. The choice of location was determined by lot, and then the homesteads were staked out. The village was to be built in the form of a single street, run ning from the water back to the foot of Fort Hill, and parallel with the high bank of the stream, with room for the house- lots on each side of the way. This rivulet is now called Town Brook. The street was first called The Street ; then succes sively First Street, Great Street, and Broad Street, until, in 1823, it received its present name of Leyden Street. The street is still there, passing between its " two rows of houses " from the sea-side to the hill ; the latter no longer teems with artillery, but it is thickly studded with the graves of seven generations who in turn walked the street below. As the visitor traverses this avenue and recalls the scenes it has wit nessed, he must be insensitive indeed if he does not feel the thrill that comes from treading on " hallowed ground." It would be interesting to see a full plan of the allotments. If the modest Pilgrims could have imagined the interest with which their posterity would regard their minutest movements, they might, perhaps, have left us something far more satis factory than the fragmentary accounts we have. Yet even then, the first and second generations of their successors might in their astonishing indifference have exposed such memorials to the same destruction that has swept away much of what actually was handed down. (Not only written and printed documents, but, as will be seen, such material things as weapons and armor — even the battle-sword and corselet of Myles Standish — were stupidly lost.) But we have a partial sketch of the new street. The first entry in the records of the Colony is a very incomplete plan of it, in Bradford's handwriting, as follows : — io6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC [1621. "The Meersteads and Garden-plotes of those which came first, layed out 1620. The North side. South side. Peter Brown John Goodman Mr. Brewster Hige way. John Billingto Mr. Isaak AUi jton Allerton Francis Cooke Edward Winslow A plan, more fully drawn, would probably be as follows : i62i.] EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 107 After two days of rain (which prevented work) and a quiet Sunday, labor was resumed on Monday, the nth. The dis tance between the ship and the landing was no small dis advantage, for a trip of a mile and a half was of itself a waste of time ; but the frequent necessity of waiting for the tide increased the trouble. A vessel of eighty tons might have lain near the shore ; but one of one hundred and eighty could not safely do so. This day death took Degory Priest, who had left his wife and children behind to follow him when he should have their new home ready. The next day a party, sent to gather the dry swamp-grass for thatching the roofs, found recent cornfields and saw the smoke of great camp-fires. The following day Standish took five men and boldly went into the wilderness to the place where the fires had been seen ; he was determined to estab lish, if possible, a friendly intercourse with the natives, none of whom had yet been visible around Plymouth. Some old wigwams were found, but no inhabitants. It is recorded that, coming home, they shot an " eagle," which was excellent meat, hardly to be told from mutton; upon which Baylies remarks : " So grateful was the flesh of this nauseous bird to these famished men." But the Colonists were not famished, for they had plenty of food until their harvest renewed the supply. They must have slain some great sea-fowl of good flavor, and from want of familiarity have supposed it to be a species of eagle; for, with their European experience, they probably knew as little about eagles as they soon after showed they did about lions. The next day a sailor found a live herring on the beach (Jones appropriated it for his supper), which encouraged the Pilgrims to hope for the speedy coming-in of these fish. By a remarkable oversight, they brought no fish-hooks of moderate size, and had been unable to take cod or lesser fish since the first.^ Their hooks must have been very large. January i6th word came from the ship that Mr. Martin could 1 Some years before the obstruction of Town Brook, tom-cod were abundant in December, eels and smelts coming into the brooks earlier. I08 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. live but a few days, and that Governor Carver must see him about his accounts. Rev. Dr. Cheever absurdly supposes that " his accounts " meant the preparation of his mind for death, thus forgetting that Mr. Martin was the treasurer of the company, and that Governor Carver was its civil, not its religious, leader. The sad visit was made on Sunday; Mon day Martin was no more.^ On Monday, the 1 8th, all able to work were busy. Jones sent some of his men in the shallop for fish, and they had a narrow escape from a sudden storm ; but at night brought in a great cod and three seals. The seals still abound in those waters, and are to be seen basking on the beaches or amusing the visitor by the curious scrutiny they give his boat. The same day one of the Billingtons went with a master's mate to explore the fine lakelet now called Billington Sea. They were disappointed at finding this not to be a branch of Narraganset Bay or of the Hudson, which latter was then supposed to be a great strait making New England an island.^ 1 Of Martin little is known ; but as agent to satisfy such men as Warren, Hopkins, and Mullins, he must have been able and trusty. The March before the " Mayflower " sailed he was cited by the Archdeacon of Chelmsford for " suffering his son to answer me . . . that his ' father ' gave him his name." The same day the Archdeacon complained of Solomon Prower of Billerica for refus ing to answer him " unless questioned from some catechism." Prower (who died January 2) was a member of Martin's family, and is described by the vague term " servant." He doubtless was something more, and had been taught Separatism along with young Martin, who did not come in the " Mayflower." Many his tories call Prower the son of Martin. " The author too much fears seeming presumptuous to squarely assume that John Billington, Sr., was the discoverer. Bradford, in " Mourt," says it was Francis Billington ; but in the record of a month earlier he called a boy " one of Francis BiUington's sons," when he unmistakably should have said " one of John BiUington's sons." Editors especially are aware that when a writer has made such an error once, the probabilities are strong that he will repeat it if the name soon recurs. Probably the copy of Mourt's Relation which eventually reached the printer was hastily made from the original by or for Cushman, at Plymouth, on his visit in 1621 ; and these two errors, with others, may be due to the transcriber. Something of this sort is more probable than that a master's mate while " in some fear " of encountering Indians should go into the wilder ness with only a little boy for his guide and companion, or that Bradford should record the distance of various points as according to "their estimation," or men- i62i.] THATCHED ROOFS, 109 The first building erected was one twenty feet square, for common use until all were privately housed, and for meetings afterwards. Its walls (begun January 4th), probably of rudely squared logs, were by January 19th ready for the roof. Some were set to making mortar and " pointing-up " the crevices, while others gathered and laid the thatch of swamp-grass, of which, after the English fashion, all their roofs were con structed. The Forefathers are often pitied because they had no better shelter than these thatched roofs ; but at that very time many thousands of the urban houses of England were so covered : they abounded in such thriving towns as York, Worcester, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, and Nottingham, often forming whole streets. Since 1600 the dite of London had regularly gathered under " the thatched roof of the Rose Theatre," and in 161 3 the Globe Theatre, while Shakspere himself was a lessee, had been burned because the ignited wad of a gun used in the play (" Henry VIIL") lodged in the thatched roof. In 1688, when William III. landed at Torbay, his lodging was in a thatched house, above which the banner of his headquarters was displayed. The settlers, therefore, must have held their roofing in no low estimation.^ tion what "they found " and "they saw," and their risk as "they were but two persons." Had Clark gone with only a small boy, the estimates and observa tions would have been attributed to him rather than to the two as equals. There is little room to doubt that Plymouth in naming her lovely lake unwittingly com memorated Billington, her first malefactor. The tendency to repeat a slip of the pen, as suggested above, is shown in Winthrop's History, where he calls his fellow-governor Sir Robert Berkley, instead of Sir William, and soon does so a second time. Billington Sea is the source of Town Brook, which was in 1621 a highway for marvellous crowds of alewives in their season. Several excellent mill-sites have been established along its course, and the passage of the fish impeded. The " Sea " is still a secluded spot, the deer coming to drink of its waters, while the wood-duck is found around its shores, and occasionally an eagle may be seen soaring far above it. Near by ran the path by which the natives came from the interior to fish around Plymouth, and which was long used by the whites in their trips to Middleborough and westward. B. M. Watson informs the author that this path in entering Plymouth not only crossed his beautiful estate of " Hillside," but passed nearly or quite over the site of his house. Plymouth is remarkably well watered. Between the beach and Jones River eight streams empty into the harbor, while scattered about the township are some two hundred ponds, with a total surface of about three thousand acres. 1 See Appendix, " Building, etc." IIO THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. Frost and rain hindered work nearly half the time in each week; but the house was speedily finished. The tired workers could now rest and sleep in an English house ; but the beds of twenty men covered the entire floor at night. The com pletion of any portion of the village was a source of especial satisfaction, from the fear that the community would soon become unable to continue building, and yet need houses for the sick and dying. Bradford had been foremost in all undertakings; he was already suff'ering with rheumatic pains in his ankles as the result of his exposures, when on January 21 he was seized while at work with a terrible pain in " his hucklebone," or hip, which attack was so severe that death was momentarily expected; he says, "he grew a little better towards night, and in time, through God's mercy in the use of means, re covered." Here is seen one phase of the sensible Pilgrim faith. They believed most fully in God's interference in the aff'airs of daily life through " special providences," more par ticularly in answer to prayer; but this came, not by any phenomenal suspension of the laws of Nature or change in their mode of operation, but by a blessing on ordinary means faithfully and earnestly used. They were less inclined to pray that God would work out plans for their benefit than that He would bless their own efforts. If Elder Brewster prayed for protection against enemies, he took good care that his gun was ready and his sword sharp, so that he might do his part towards securing the blessing asked. January 22d and 23d were unhappy days. Four men were sent to cut thatch along Town Brook. At noon two of them, Peter Browne and John Goodman, told their comrades to bind what was cut, and then to join them at a place a mile and a half from the village, and half a mile short of Billington Sea. When the others repaired to the spot they could find nothing of Browne and Goodman, nor obtain any response to their shouts. Full of alarm, they reported the mattter at the plantation. Although the rain was now heavy, the gallant Carver at once took four men and made a search ; but could I62l.] BROWNE AND GOODMAN LOST. m find no trace of the lost ones. A fear then arose that they had been captured by Indians. The next morning twelve armed explorers scoured the vicinity, but had to return with out tidings. Of course great gloom spread through the circle so mysteriously broken. It afterwards appeared that the two lost men, on reaching the appointed place, took their dinner in their hands and, while eating, strolled to a little pond. They had with them a spaniel and a large female mastiff.^ At the pond a deer had come to drink. The dogs pursued it, the men following. The excited chase led far to the south ; and when the deer, as was to be expected, escaped, the men realized that they were lost. The rain was then pouring, so that they could not see far; they had not learned to tell the north from the south side of a tree by its moss, and their dogs were at fault, or not allowed to act on their instincts. So long as light lasted, the poor fellows tramped about in the woods. At dark it became snowy and freezing. They were thinly clad and had no food, nor any weapons but their sickles. They searched in vain for some old wigwam. In the night two wild beasts, which they supposed to be. lions, began to roar or howl, while a third, nearer still, kept up a response. The only refuge from the beasts, if they should make an attack, was in a tree. So the men stood by the trunk of one, ready to climb if it should become necessary, but delaying until then because of the exposure to the piercing wind, and also to save their dogs. The brave mastiff" was already anxious to rush at the nearest beast, and was with difficulty held by the neck, the men fear ing that the " lion " would destroy her. At length the wild beasts departed, and the men spent the rest of the night walking up and down to keep from freezing. The late sunrise of that Saturday morning must have been long indeed in coming to our shivering, famished, and fatigued 1 Martin Pring at Plymouth, 1603, had two great " mastive dogges," named " Fool " and " Gallant," the former being trained to carry a half-pike in his mouth. The Indians were more afraid of these dogs than of twenty men. — American Magazine of History. 112 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. estrays, who probably then took the sun for a guide. They passed many of the lakelets just mentioned, and eight miles southwest from town struck a plain six miles long, which had been burned over by the Indians. In the afternoon from a hill-top they got a glimpse of the sea and of two islands which they recognized as those at Plymouth, and by night reached home, when just ready to sink from their suff"erings. Goodman's feet were in such condition that his shoes had to be cut from them, and he to be carefully nursed. Those on shore were much rejoiced at this return ; but those on board, not knowing of it, were very sorrowful till the next day. It is worthy of notice that in this case we have the first mention of snow since the cruise of the shallop, more than a month before. There probably was no snow at Plymouth during that time, the many storms taking the form of rain. The winter, with its exceptional mildness, though very blustering, was of no greater severity — perhaps of less — than the settlers had been accustomed to.-" The next day was Sunday (January 24th) ; and as the greater part of the men were now stopping on shore, it had been arranged that all able to leave the ship, should come to wor ship in the new common-house. The morning opened with a high wind, during which, more than an hour before sunrise, those in the ship saw that the common-house was on fire. They had come on board the previous night, supposing that the two lost men had been captured by the savages ; the lat ter, they now feared, emboldened by success, had entered the settlement and set the building on fire. Anxious as they were to join their comrades and find the true state of things, it was three quarters of an hour before the tide would permit. On arriving they were relieved by learning that Browne and Goodman had returned and that the fire had caught from a spark lodging in the thatch. The framework of the roof was in good condition. The house had been full of beds, and the muskets were all there, loaded ; Carver and Bradford 1 In 1631 Dudley of Massachusetts Bay wrote to the Countess of Lincoln that the winter of 1620-1 was " a calm winter, such as was never seen here since." i62i.] WOLVES. — CHURCH SERVICES. 113 were both sick in bed, but escaped with all speed. The dry thatch naturally burned with a fiash, while the high wind swept the cinders away from the building, so that the loss of the thatching was the chief damage. Monday the rain poured all day long on the shore people in their roofless house ; then followed three days of bright, mild weather, in which they "wrought cheerfully;'' then another rainy day. In the evening, the weather clearing, Goodman tried to take some exercise with his frost-bitten feet. The little spaniel kept him company, and when but a short way from home, was pursued by two great wolves. It took refuge between Goodman's lame feet, while he picked up a stick, which he threw at them, hitting one and causing both to run away. He then found a piece of paling, with which he stood at guard, while the wolves, returning, sat a long time " on their tails, grinning at him," and hoping to secure the dog, but finally sneaked away. The next day the Colonists built a shed for storing their coarser provisions, and on Sunday, January 3 1 st, they were able for the first time to hold undisturbed a regular service in their common-house. The sanctuary on Leyden Street, or on the summit at its head, has been duly opened on the first day of every week from that day to this, and the voice of public prayer and praise has continued unbroken to the ninth generation. The first week of February work went actively on. Among other matters, their " hogsheads of meal " (probably rye) were brought ashore and put in the store-house. It was expedient to grind the finer grains before shipping, and to have the meal " so hard trod " in the cask that " you shall need an adze or hatchet to work it out with" {Winslow). The second week was mingled wet and cold, the rain caus ing much of the fresh clay " daubing " between the imper fectly joined logs of their houses to fall out. On the 9th or 1 0th Jones saw from the ship the retreating forms of two Indians who had been reconnoitring from Clark's Island; these were the only natives that had been actually seen since the " First Encounter." 8 114 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. The little houses grew apace, but the number of prospec tive occupants steadily diminished. The bluff overlooking the Rock had been set apart as a burial-place at the point now known as Cole's Hill.^ The mortality was more than four a week. Husband and wife, parent and child, employer and servant, the robust and the delicate, were borne away in constant succession. By the end of their February, thirty- one had died. One of the first cottages finished had to be taken for a hospital ; in the eff"ort to keep it warm, its thatched roof was set on fire one cold day, but the flames were checked before much harm had been done. Even Captain Jones showed an intermittent sympathy, for on the 19th, having been shooting and killed five geese, he sent them to the sick. The lack of proper medicines, delicacies, and conveniences must have been distressing, although Surgeon Fuller seems to have been unusually intelligent and skilful.^ Jones in his hunting excursion found a dead deer from which the Indians had cut the horns, leaving the carcass. A week later a Colonist, while lying in wait for game, was startled to see twelve natives pass close by his hiding- place and proceed towards the plantation. He hurried home and gave the alarm, upon which the men were called from work and put under arms; but nothing further was 1 The oldest house in Plymouth village (1883) is the " Leach House," on Summer Street ; it was built in 1679. The Bunch of Grapes tavern, on Main Street, was long ago made into an " L " for Dr. Warren's former house, where it still is. Judge Sewall says in his Diary (1697) ; " I lodge at Cole's ; the house was built by Governor Winslow, and is the oldest in Plymouth." W. T. Davis, in a note to the author, says that Cole was a " vintner," and kept a tavern on the lot as signed Elder Brewster in 162 1 ; and on this land is the house of the late Hon. Thomas Russell (father of the late Judge Thomas Russell, president of the Pil grim Society). This Cole must have been the son of James Cole who about 1633 built the first house on the bluff, from which it was called Cole's Hill. James kept a tavern from 1638 to i66o. 2 The only salt then made in England was by evaporation ; this was much used in its crude state, and was very impure, and promotive of scurvy and con sumption. The rich used salt from France. Rock-salt was not found in England until 1660, and was not worked until long after. The Pilgrims, from living on food cured with the sea-salt of the times, contracted scorbutic diseases, which doubtless gave the fatal character to much of their winter's sickness. l62i.] INDIAN ALARMS. — THE ARTILLERY. 115 seen. Standish and Cooke, ..on coming home, left their tools in the woods, and on returning, found that the savages had taken the implements. These various indications that the Indians were lurking about the village led to the prompt adoption of a military organization, distinct from the civil government, on Saturday, February 27th, at a meeting of the people in the common house, Myles Standish being 'chosen captain, with full authority as commandant. But fur ther proceedings were interrupted by the appearance of two Indians on Strawberry Hill (Watson's Hill),i an eminence corresponding to Fort Hill, but on the other side of Town Brook, though not a quarter of a mile from The Street. Each party made signs to the other to come to them, but neither moved. At length the Colonists stood to their arms, while Standish and Hopkins crossed the brook to parley with the strangers. They took only one gun with them, and this they laid upon the ground in token of peace ; but the savages disappeared behind the hill, where by the noise a multitude seemed to be gathered, though no more were seen. Standish at once set about placing artillery on the Fort Hill platform, so as to command the approaches to the vil lage. On March 3d Jones and his men aided in landing five cannon and getting them into place. The largest was a " saker," a gun of ten feet length, weighing about eighteen hundred pounds, and having a bore of four inches; this indicates something near a four-pound ball. The next was a " minion," a gun of a thousand pounds weight and a ball of between three and four pounds. The third gun is uncertain, but was probably a " minion," or else was a " falcon," — about a two-pounder. The two small pieces were " bases," throwing balls of perhaps half a pound. When the heavy day's work was done, the men received proper entertainment. Jones contributed a very fat goose, and his hosts added a mallard, a fat crane, and a dried neat's tongue. This little cordiality on the part of the sea-captain much pleased the Colonists, who seem ordinarily to have stood in some awe of 1 Its Indian name was Cantaugcanteest. Il6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. him; and their journal adds to its mention of this supper: " and so we were kindly and friendly together." While the able-bodied men were thus laboring for their common safety, the invalids still dropped away. On the day the great guns were mounted, William White and William Mullins, with two of less note, were added to the dead. Four days later Mrs. Mary Allerton was laid in the burial plot on Cole's Hill, where a month earlier Standish had stood beside the grave of his fair young wife. About the middle of March the mortality began to abate ; but it had nearly halved the company, and was destined to exactly do so before it ended. At one time there were but seven well persons ; and these, Bradford says, tended the sick with the utmost faithful ness and kindness, washing their loathsome linen, cooking their food, and performing duties " which dainty and queazy stomachs cannot endure to hear named. Two of these seven were Mr. William Brewster, their reverend elder, and Myles Standish, their captain and military commander, unto whom myself and many others were much beholden in our low and sick condition. And yet the Lord so upheld these persons that they were not at all infected." Governor Carver was for most or all the time able to join these devoted laborers. Bradford adds that many who died, while they had any strength remaining, used it in ministering to those yet farther gone. He adds : " I doubt not but their recompense is with the Lord." Fearing that the savages, seeing by the graves from afar how much the settlement was reduced, might be emboldened to make an attack, the mounds on Cole's Hill were smoothed down and the spot sowed with grain.^ The 13th of March was warm at noon, and " the birds sang 1 This tradition has passed through only two hands : Elder Faunce trans mitted it to Deacon Spooner, who gave it permanent form ; and Elder Faunce heard it from the Pilgrims themselves. One can have little patience with those careless writers who say that these graves were planted with Indian corn. The Pilgrims retained the English usage of calling all grain " corn," (The English to-day use this word as a family name for corn, oats, barley, wheat, rye, etc.) Planting maize (Indian corn) would have involved waiting until late spring, and would not have been done before the treaty with Massasoit had rendered such precaution needless. i62i.] SPRING GARDENING. — AN INDIAN. "7 in the woods most pleasantly," — an entry which shows that the sick journalist appreciated the charms of Nature; but the day ended with heavy thunder, the first that the Colonists had heard since their arrival. On the 17th some garden seeds were sown. The sickness was rapidly abating, and the spirits of all felt the genial influence of spring.^ Friday, March 26th, was a momentous day. On that fair, warm morning the men met at the common house to finish the business interrupted, four weeks before, by the appear ance of savages on Watson's Hill, and for which they had not since been able to spare time from the sick and their labors. Now they met with an astonishing interruption. While they were deliberating they saw a solitary Indian coming down Leyden Street ; he advanced with a bold air and gave them the good old English greeting of " Welcome ! " The histo rians usually put into his mouth the words " Welcome, Eng lishmen ! " but the second word was no part of his salutation. He would have entered the common house, but was stopped, from fear that he was a spy. He said in broken English, which the settlers easily understood, that he did not belong in that region, but was a sachem of Monhegan,^ where he had 1 Unfortunately the kinds of seed are not given. The native bean, squash, and pumpkin were probably planted in the hills with the maize ; certainly the bean was, and it climbed upon the corn-stalks. (The indigenous beans are said to have been of the " Sieva " variety. Champlain called the native beans of Cape Cod " Brazilian beans.") The potato does not appear to have been culti vated at Plymouth until the next century. The cucumber was not then in com mon use in England. It had been under Edward III., but became disused, and was forgotten for a century ; though reintroduced long before 1621, it had not become generally known. The steward's account for the Commencement dinner at Harvard College in 1703 gives us a glimpse of the vegetables then provided for good tables. He bought only carrots and turnips : but for fruits there were apples, oranges, and cherries; for drinks, wine, beer, and cider. In 1708, at President Leverett's installation, the vegetables were parsnips, onions, cranberries, andpotatoes (though the latter were probably sweet potatoes, which had been known in Boston since imported from the West Indies by William Peirce, seventy years before). At this dinner there were wine and a little beer, but no cider, its place being taken by two pounds tobacco (2s.) and four dozen pipes (2s. 8a'.). '^ Monhegan, or Mohegan (Indian, Muhekanneuk, from maingan, a wolf), is an island on the Maine coast between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, and is about twelve miles from the shore. It was an early resort of English fishermen. II 8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. learned his English from fishing-vessels. He proved his statement by giving the names of most of the captains who fished on the Maine coast. He said that he came to Cape Cod with Captain Dermer the year before, and had remained eight months on a visit ; he could reach home by sea in one day with a good breeze, but it would take five days to go by land. He described the native tribes far and near, their sachems and their strength. This chief's name was Samoset. A ridiculous attempt has been made of late to secure for his name the pronunciation of Sa.-moss-et. The right sound is Sam-o-set. The Indian open a had the sound of aw ; this name, doubtless, was origi nally Saw-vs\o-set, as sachem was saw-\iera.}- In 1623 Sir Christopher Lovet, at the present Southport, Me., had much intercourse with him, and calls him " Somerset " who had rendered many services to the whites; and in 1625 John Brown bought a tract of land of him, and mentions him as "Summerset." So late as 1653 the then aged chief was still at his Maine home, and continued to be called " Somerset " by his white neighbors ; this is the last known of him. Now, with no other guide, people spell names by their sound ; and it is quite evident that Lovet and Brown give us pretty nearly the sound of the' chief's name as spoken by himself and associates. A curious illustration of the Indian pronunciation and complete alteration of a name through adherence to its old sound, is that of the Manomet on Buzzard's Bay. It was of course spoken as Maw-no-met; this sounds so much like Monument that the latter name came into use, and is now the only one known for that railway village.^ Samoset was entirely naked, except for a leathern girdle, 1 A traveller among Maine Indians tells me that they pronounce Piscataqua " Pis-ca-to«/-qua " (from pisgattauwi, "growing dark;" or kowat, "pine- tree," and wapees, " white "). A like Indian name is that of Tewksbury and eastern Lowell (Mass.), — " Wamesit," still spoken " Waa^me-sit." 2 Another case is that of Sagus, the Indian name of the region of Lynn, Mass. Its old sound has been preserved by spelling it " Saugus." The aboriginal " Patucket " is now, idem sonans, " Fawtacktt." i62i.] VISIT OF SAMOSET. II9 which, with its fringe, was about a foot wide ; he had straight black hair, short in front and long behind, with no beard. His only weapons were a bow and two arrows, of which one had no head. He was quite talkative, and of good presence. The wind arising, a horseman's cloak was put around him, and upon his asking for beer, he was taken to dinner ; and here we get a glimpse of the Pilgrim larder at that time. In the lack of beer, Samoset was given some strong water, followed by biscuit, with butter and cheese, pudding, and mallard. All these he liked well, and had been accustomed to them on English ships. After dinner he resumed his conversation. He said that the Indian name of Plymouth was Patuxet (Paw-tux-et),i and that nearly four years before all the inhabitants had died of a remarkable plague, so that now no one of the tribe remained to claim possession. Their neighbors to the west were Massasoit's tribe, numbering sixty warriors; about as far down the Cape were the Nausets, who made the attack on the Pilgrims (at Eastham). They were still exasperated against the whites on account of Hunt's villany ; some eight months before they had attacked Sir Ferdinando Gorges' men, killing three and barely missing two more. (This doubtless referred to Dermer's voyage.) Samoset knew all about the Eastham fight or " huggery;" he also knew of the stolen tools, and was charged by the Pilgrims with a threaten ing message demanding their return. At night his entertainers would gladly have parted with him, not feeling quite safe to let him remain in their houses ; but as the complacent visitor was not inclined to go, they offiered to keep him on board the " Mayflower," to which he assented quite readily; but the shallop could not get off. So they lodged him at Stephen Hopkins's, and quietly kept a watch on him. The next day (Saturday) they presented 1 The Indian name for this locality was Patuxet (pronounced Paw-tux-et, meaning " Little Bay " or " Little Falls "). This title is much more appropriate to Plymouth than Accomac ( " Across-the-water "), often given as its definite Indian name. It might be " Accomac " to Cape Cod or Duxbury, but not to its own inhabitants. 120 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. him with a knife, a bracelet, and a ring. He then left for the Wampanoags,^ promising soon to bring some of them back with beaver, — a kind of fur unknown to the English at that time. Sunday, March 28th, the pious settlement was not a little embarrassed by the return of Samoset with five tall savages. They were liberally entertained, and with the best of inten tions sought to repay their Sunday-keeping hosts with en ergetic singing and dancing. These Indians were better apparelled than Samoset at his first visit. Each had a deer skin hung on his shoulders, and long hose of dressed deer skin extending from the feet to the groin, meeting there a leathern girdle. They had their hair short in front, but in the rear coming to their shoulders. One had his front hair done up on a feather in a fan-shape ; another wore a fox-tail pendant. The chief had on his left arm a wild-cat skin, which the Indian leaders made a badge of authority, as the modern white man does the epaulet.^ The chief carried a pouch of tobacco, from which he occa sionally smoked, or gave some for smoking to the others. The operation of smoking, from the deep inhalations by which the smoke was often drawn into the lungs, was then called by the English " drinking " tobacco.** The chief also carried a long, slender bag like a hollow girdle, filled with corn parched and pulverized ; this meal, called " nocake," when mixed in small quantities with water would subsist the Indians for a long time, and was their chief reliance on jour- 1 Wampanoage : wapan, east ; ake, land ; i. e., the land east of Narraganset Bay. 2 Morton of Merry Mount says, in his " New Canaan," that the savage men wear one deer-skin, and the women wear two, which trail after them, and " in time I think they may have their pages to bear them up." But Morton's squaws had learned more than one extravagance at the Mount. 2 Anthony Thacher and George Poole were chosen a committee to draw-up an order concerning disorderly drinking tobacco. — Plymouth Col. Rec, 1646. Of the Indians, Winslow says, " The men take much tobacco." They gener ally all take tobacco, and it is the only plant which men labor in, the women managing all the rest. They say they take tobacco for two causes, — first, against the rheum, which causeth the toothache, which they are impatient of; secondly, to revive and refresh them, they drinking nothing but water. — Roger Williams. i62i.] VISIT OF THE INDIANS. 121 neys and marches. Roger Williams says that a spoonful of nocake (also spelled "nokake " or " nokehich ") and a spoon ful of water often made him a good dinner ; but in that case he must have been an uncommonly light eater. The savages had left their bows and arrows a quarter of a mile from the town, as Samoset had been at first charged to have them do. They had some four beaver-skins; but the Pilgrims refusing to trade on Sunday, the Indians agreed to bring more on another day, and insisted on leaving their present stock with the whites till their next visit. This party also returned the tools taken in the woods a month before. These Indians were slightly diff"erent from Samoset in speech and customs. For instance, they had their faces painted, often repulsively; some had a black band, five fingers broad, from the forehead to the chin, while others were striped and colored in various styles. After a short visit, which they seemed to enjoy, the strangers withdrew, some armed Pilgrims accompanying them as far as the place where they had left their weapons, though two of the savages were disposed to run from the English guns, until their companions reassured them. Samoset, knowing when he was well-off", pleaded sickness, which, though thought a pretence, obtained him permission to remain till the next Wednesday, at which time he was pre sented with a hat, shirt, stockings, shoes, and a cloth to tie about his waist, and was sent to remind the others of their promise to come and trade. This was the last day of March, with fine warm weather, and garden-seeds all in the ground. After Samoset's departure a meeting was held to further consider the matters twice postponed by interruptions from the natives. The third meeting had not come to an agree ment when two savages appeared on Watson's Hill, daring the whites, and by whetting their arrows and rubbing their bow-strings inviting a fight. Standish and two men armed with guns moved towards the hill, upon which the challen gers fled. So the meeting was broken up a third time. The same day their ship-carpenter, who had been long disabled 122 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. by scurvy, succeeded in refitting the shallop, so that the last passengers in the " Mayflower " were brought to land. Thus it was eight full months from the embarkation in Holland before the last of the passengers was released from shipboard. Thursday, April ist, was a fine spring day. About noon the Colonists met to attend to the business which had now been three times interrupted by the Indians. In the course of an hour the session was broken off" by the same cause for the fourth time. Samoset re-appeared, and with him came one destined to be an invaluable friend to the Colony. This was Tisquantum, sometimes called Squanto, who was the only member living of the Patuxet tribe that formerly dwelt at Plymouth. He had been carried to England by Hunt and found a home for three years with Gorges, and afterwards with the " Worshipful John Slaney," a London merchant and treasurer of the Newfoundland Company. Tisquantum was next sent to Newfoundland, whence Captain Dermer took him back to England, and then brought him back on his famous voyage of 1619-20, when the two visited Plymouth. Tisquantum on reaching his former home found himself alone in the world; for in 1617-18 a great plague had swept from the Kennebec to Narraganset Bay, cutting off" ninety-jive per cent of the natives, and totally annihilating the tribe at Patuxet. Hence it was that the Pilgrims found the land deso late, yet bearing marks of cultivation. Six months before the landing of the Pilgrims Tisquantum and Samoset had accompanied Dermer to Plymouth, and he had pronounced it the very place for a settlement. The captain had also gone inland to Middleborough, where he had a friendly interview with Massasoit and his brother, but found the people so hos tile from recollection of Hunt's wickedness that they would have slain him save for the earnest appeals of Tisquantum. The latter, who could speak English better than Samoset, and had acquired more English habits, was a permanent and most welcome addition to the Colony. Three other natives also came, bringing a few skins to trade, and some fresh-dried herring. The news they brought, however, rendered petty i62i.] MASSASOIT'S FIRST COMING. 123 trading a thing to be set aside; for Massasoit, the grand- sachem of the confederated tribes of Pokanoket, was close at hand with his warriors, including his brother and other counsellors. The excitement was great, for the coming interview was full of good or evil. If friendly relations could not be estab lished with the potentate of Pokanoket, the Colony would be in great and continued danger ; but if everything should be amicable, the benefits would be incalculable, for with Massa soit as an ally, peace would be well assured with all the tribes, from Narraganset Bay to the end of Cape Cod. The fierce Nausets could be made friendly; an opening be found for a mutually beneficial traffic, and a way prepared for the introduction of civilization and Christianity among the scat tered tribes. The unexpected opportunity called for conduct alike resolute, dignified, and conciliatory; but concern soon yielded to hope and curiosity as the appearance of the Indian monarch was awaited. Massasoit in about an hour appeared on Watson's Hill with a train of sixty men. The Colonists were not willing that their governor should venture among the savages, and the latter very naturally hesitated about letting their chief visit the armed village. Tisquantum at length brought from the grand-sachem a request for a messenger to come over and confer with him. The mission required skill and bravery, for there was yet no security against bad faith on the part of the natives, who might be playing a far deeper game than the assailants at Eastham. But Edward Winslow at once set out for the savage camp, wearing his armor and side-arms. His comrades must have anxiously watched as he walked down the slope to the ford and then advanced boldly up the oppo site hill and disappeared in the crowd of Indians. It was several hours before they saw him again. On being conducted to Massasoit, Winslow presented him with a pair of knives and a chain of copper work with a jewel attached ; and to Quadequina, the ruler's brother, he gave a knife, an earring, a pot of strong waters, a good quantity of 124 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. biscuit, and some butter. These presents (probably selected by the advice of Samoset and Tisquantum) were gladly accepted. The king ate and drank, and gave the rest of the provision to his followers. He then examined Winslow's sword and armor with much curiosity, expressing a desire to buy them. Winslow made a speech, saying that King James saluted the Indian ruler with peace and love, accepting him as a friend and ally, and that the governor desired to see him, that he might " confirm a peace with him," establish neigh borly relations, and open a trade for mutual benefit. The interpreters did not succeed very well ; but Massasoit gathered the substance, and was much pleased. Leaving Winslow as a hostage with his brother, and taking a guard of honor of some twenty warriors without their bows and arrows, the chief then started for the village. When the watchful Col onists saw him coming. Captain Standish and Master Allerton, with six musketeers, repaired to the passage over Town Brook. As he crossed, the Pilgrim guard saluted him, and the two leaders took their places, one at each side, and con ducted him ceremoniously to The Street, where, in a house not yet quite finished, there had been placed a green rug and some cushions for him. Governor Carver, wisely assuming some little state, came at once with a small body-guard of mus keteers, attended by drum and trumpet. After grave obeis ances, the governor kissed the chiefs hand, and was kissed in return. They then joined in some strong drink, of which Massasoit " drunk a great draught, that made him sweat all the while after ; " he also ate of meat offered him, and gave to his men what remained. The following treaty was then concluded between the two rulers (it is in the words of Bradford) : — I. That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of our people. 2. And if any of his did hurt to any of ours, he should send the offender, that we might punish him. 1621.] TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 125 3. That if any of our tools were taken away, when our people were at work, he should cause them to be restored ; and if ours did any harm to any of his, we would do the Uke to them. 4. If any did unjustly war against him, we would aid him ; if any did war against us, he should aid us. 5 . He should send to his neighbor confederates to certify them of this, that they might not wrong us, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace. 6. That when their men came to us, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them, as we should do our pieces when we came to them. Lastly, that doing thus. King James would esteem of him as his friend and ally. By this negotiation our little Colony was perfecting itself as an independent government, with only a general allegiance to the British king. Making foreign treaties and alliances defensive and off'ensive is certainly a high assumption of sov ereign powers ; nor does the formal use of King James's name, without his permission or knowledge, much modify the action. The spirit of independence was germinating, although a cen tury and a half of training was still necessary to mature it. This treaty was made in all sincerity by the parties, who evi dently meant and mutually understood its spirit to extend vastly beyond the bare letter. Voltaire says of William Penn's treaty: " It was the only one ever concluded between savages and Christians that was not ratified with an oath, and the only one that was never broken 1 " Yet here was such a treaty, made long before Penn's birth, and it was ratified by no oath, nor was it broken during the lifetime of any of the contracting parties. Massasoit ruled some forty years after this event, outliving Carver, Bradford, Winslow, Brewster, Standish, and Allerton ; yet he had been many years in his grave before this compact was violated by his younger son. As the provisions of this agreement were interpreted, the chief was well pleased, and they were applauded by his fol lowers. This business ended, some little courtesies were extended. Massasoit, who diff"ered little in his apparel from 126 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. his attendants, was distinguished by a great necklace of white bone beads, on which, behind, hung a little bag of tobacco ; from this he occasionally smoked (" drank," the whites called it), and gave to his hosts for their pipes. He also carried in his bosom a long knife, hung by a cord. His face was painted a dull red, while his head was oiled, and he looked greasy. He was a stout man, in the prime of life, with grave manners and few words, but was especially pleased with the Colonists' trumpet, which some of his followers made eff"orts to sound. Still, he had not forgotten the experience of his people with former English and French visitors, and seemed not entirely free from fear throughout the interview. His followers all had painted faces, some black, some red, some yellow or white, frequently laid on in crosses or curious figures; some were clad in the skins of wild animals, and others naked; all were strong and tall. The governor at length escorted Massasoit to the brook, where they embraced and took a courteous farewell. The Pilgrims, however, retained seven of his men as hostages for Winslow's safe return. Soon Quadequina, the king's brother, came across the rivulet with a large following, Winslow re maining as security for him also. This chieftain was a fine- looking, tall young man, of much modesty, who received the hospitalities of the place very kindly ; he was, however, quite fearful of the muskets, which at his request were laid away. At his departure two of his men wished to remain over night ; but it was not thought best to permit it. Winslow was then released, as also were the native hostages. Samoset and Tisquantum spent the night with their white friends, who kept a sharp watch, as Massasoit's men, with their families, were encamped in the woods half a mile away. This precau tion was wise, though the Indians were doubtless thoroughly friendly. Indeed, they already had a plan for coming in a few days to plant corn south of the Brook, by Watson's Hill, and spend the summer by the side of their new friends. The next morning several natives came to the village, evi dently hoping for further good cheer, and brought word that i62i.] PUBLIC BUSINESS. — PILGRIM AUTHORITIES. 127 Massasoit would like a call from some of the settlers. The good faith of the savages had not yet been so far tested as to relieve such a visit from all sense of danger ; but this element was probably an attraction to Standish and Allerton, who at once went. The chief welcomed them, giving them a few ground-nuts and some tobacco. On their return the king's kettle was sent for by the whites, and was returned full of peas, — a present which gave much satisfaction. It soon became evident that besides Massasoit's natural kindness, fear of the Narragansets, his powerful and bitter enemies, was a strong inducement to him to make a close alliance with the settlers, whose terrible firearms would add much strength to his scanty resources. It was now Friday, April 2d, another fair day. Samoset and Tisquantum were still guests of the Colony. In the after noon the latter went to Eel River, apparently, and by tread ing in the mud, caught, with his hands alone, as many fat, sweet eels as he could bring back to his entertainers. The settlers this day resumed the public business that had been four times broken off". There was no further interruption. Military orders were adopted, and various civil laws and ordi nances established, — which latter fact the historians have very generally overlooked. This was March 23 (o. S.), and two days before Carver's term as governor would expire by limitation ; he was therefore re-elected for the coming year. Here ends Bradford's journal as given in Mourt's Relation. It is indeed invaluable, and the student will close it with the deepest regret that it could not have been long continued. Appended to it, however, are four narratives and a letter, all by Edward Winslow, which give many of the more important events of the remainder of the year ; and Bradford's formal history has much additional information. Bradford and Winslow are the only authorities as to the transactions of this year ; yet many historians neglect their writings, and by rely ing on Morton, Hubbard, Baylies, Bancroft, the second Free man, and so on, are led into many errors of detail, and the 128 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. setting forth of an amount of false history that is amazing, when the importance of the matter and the accessibility of the evidence are considered. The reader will regret to part company with Samoset, who is mentioned no more in Plymouth history after Carver's re election. He returned soon to his own tribe at the present Bristol, Me. ; but a warm-hearted, hospitable people like the Pilgrims would not be likely to lose sight of one who had proved such a benefactor, while a chief in no way diffident, and so fond of the accessories of civilization, would be pretty sure to continue an acquaintance that must have proved of no small benefit and honor to him. It is probable that he often visited his white friends, but that they found no occasion to formally mention the fact. The next Sunday, April 4th, at the service in the common- house it is not to be supposed that Elder Brewster failed to lengthily " improve " the occurrences of the last week. Their importance was not to be estimated. The Colonists had secured in Tisquantum an invaluable associate; they had gained a vast amount of knowledge as to their surroundings and possibilities; they had changed their condition of con stant alarm to one of no small degree of strength and quiet; and they began to see a way by which, slow though it must be, the light of Christianity could be shed upon the darkened minds of their neighbors. Secular and religious feelings combined to make the day one of grateful praise and joyful thanksgiving. CHAPTER X. THE ABORIGINES OF NEW ENGLAND. THE history of the New England Indians previous to the seventeenth century is absolutely unknown. They had no relics and memorials, no traditions and legendary songs. With the possible exception of the Dighton Rock, of which they knew not the story, all their previous generations had died and made no sign. Even the intelligent Massasoit knew nothing of his immediate predecessors.^ These savages invariably had tawny, but not always un- pleasing complexions, straight black hair,^ prominent cheek bones, and bright but sunken black eyes. Further than this, there was no uniformity ; in stature, shape, erectness, energy, power of endurance, and character of countenance, there was no general rule. Some were brave to a fault, cour teous, tractable, genial, chaste; others were the contrary. All were fierce in battle, revengeful, and cruel to captured enemies. They rarely possessed sentiments of honor and chivalry, but, as their ardent friend Gookin records, were generally " much addicted to lying and speaking untruth." 1 The ancients, nevertheless, possessed some knowledge of the existence of America ; for the Indians mentioned by Pliny and Pomponius Mela as having been cast on the shore of Northern Europe and sent to Metellus Celer, proconsul of Gaul, were undoubtedly American Indians, and not Asiatic. — Anon. 2 They " have scarcely any beard, and tear it out as fast as it grows." — Champlain. 9 130 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. Their ideas of war were surprises, pillage, and cruelty to the vanquished.^ Respect for the chastity of female prisoners was the gen eral) perhaps universal, rule among them. But the female sex was held in great contempt; on their women was put the whole physical labor of ordinary life. When the hunter brought home a deer, his wife had to skin and dress it; while her master sat in the shade smoking his pipe, the weary woman, who had labored the whole day in the corn-field, perhaps with an infant on her back, was compelled to prepare the meal and then to sit aside while her husband at his leisure devoured the food, leaving for her only what he did not want, if any such there was. The women varied as widely as the men in physical and moral qualities ; divorce was easy and common, concubinage often practised, and some women followed lewdness as an occupation ; but this was held discreditable. The aged and sick were generally cared for. These Indians, considering their lack of tools, were rerharkably ingenious and skilful. They kept time by the moon and seasons; they were good weather-prophets and rude ob servers of the stars, even calling the north star mask, which meant " bear." Their religion was gross superstition, and con sisted largely in slavish submission to ^e\x powahs (powows) or priests. They worshipped many gods, of whom the chief was Kiehtan (supposed to mean old man), the original creator and dispenser of good here and hereafter. Abamacho, the chief evil spirit, was much prayed to for the cure of sick ness, the powahs pretending to have ready access to him, — if suitable offerings were furnished them. In 1620, by constant and cruel warfare, aided by terrible 1 Given to treachery. — M. Pring on Plymouth Indians, 1603. They are great thieves. — Champlain. All Indians are extremely treacherous. — Plym. Records, Roger Williams, X.U2. They [the Pokanokets] were wont to be the most cruel and treacherous people in all these parts, even Uke lions ; but to us they have been Uke lambs. — .ff. Cush man (Chron. Pil., p. 258). i6— .] THE INDIAN TRIBES AND THEIR STATUS. 13 1 plagues, the Indian tribes had become mostly small, and were still dwindling. Their decay began years before the advent of the white settlers, and would have continued even if they had been left to themselves. At that time Maine contained several tribes, of which the Abenakis ^ were the principal. This name was probably generic. Along the coast was a fierce people called Tarran tines, who used to make bloody forays on their weaker brethren, even beyond Boston. Central Massachusetts con tained a thousand Nipmucks, in disconnected families or groups, having nothing in common. At Springfield and Hadley were two small kindred tribes ; but the rest of western Massachusetts, "Vermont, and northern New Hampshire, were all vacant. On the lower Connecticut and westward along the Sound swarmed so many small, detached tribes that western Connecticut was the most densely populated region north of Mexico. The tribes last mentioned had all been reduced to vassalage by the Mohawks,^ who levied tribute annually Neglect to pay was punished by ravaging the territory of the delinquents, taking them away as slaves, or putting them to death. The fierce Mohawks were sometimes known to pursue their victims into the English cabins and to slay them there. Yet they would not force a white man's door if bolted against them, nor did they ever molest the settlers. The solitary, unarmed Colonist often met predatory Mohawks in the woods, but was invariably treated with respect. Even in their merciless on slaughts on the Massachusetts Indians, Mohawks usually spared the convert, or "praying" Indian, as being a ward of the whites. From the Saco to the Connecticut,^ and extending not more than thirty or forty miles from the seaboard, was the territory of the Five Confederacies. These were composed 1 Abanakee: from waianung, "the east," or "place of light;'' and akee, land. 2 Roger Williams says from moho, " to eat" (i. e., cannibals ?). * Saco : sauk or sagook, " pouring forth." Connecticut : guinniticut, " the endless tidal river." 132 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [i6— . of several tribes with well-defined limits, each being under a sachem, whose powers were great but generally mildly exe cuted. The tribes forming a confederacy had a grand-sachem, or " king," as the early settlers sometimes called him. The powers of this federal chief seem to have depended entirely on his strength and energy. Massasoit's were slight ; those of Sassacus, at one time, large.^ The Pequod"^ nation was the strongest confederacy; it cov ered the eastern half of Connecticut, and extended some five miles into Rhode Island. The Pequod tribe proper occupied New London, Groton, Mystic,* Stonington, and the adjoining part of Westerly. The grand-sachem, Sassacus, was a bold, grasping chief, who had under him twenty-six tribes, includ ing some on Long Island and a part of the Nipmucks. His despotic rule was odious, and the cruelty of his people caused them to be greatly hated. The Pequods were the only New England Indians who put their prisoners to death with pro tracted tortures. Yet they were in some respects unusually enterprising. They, with their bitter enemies, the Narragan sets, were the only nations that used wampum, or money made of shell-beads; with such a representative of value they were able to carry on traffic to advantage and to reach a higher prosperity than the other nations. The Dutch traders to the Hudson had found them out, — to their mutual advantage. A large tribe of this nation on the west was the Mohegan; its sachem was Uncas, who though by birth and marriage one of the ruling family of the Pequods, was led by their tyranny to rebel, about 1634, and secure his indepen dence. He became from the first a friend of the whites, and continued through life to be their ally, though often a trouble some one. The Narraganset'^ nation extended from the Pequods to 1 In 1682, on a question as to Hog Island (off Bristol, R. I.), the venerable John Alden testified that it was always Pokanoket property ; in proof of which he cited the fact that anciently Massasoit had " royalties " of all deer killed on it. ^ Pequttog or paguatauog, the "destroyers." ' Missi, "great," and tuk or itiuk, "stream." * Probably from naiaganset, " at the point." i6— .] THE NARRAGANSETS. — THE PAWTUCKET TRIBES. 133 Narraganset Bay, and included the small islands ; it also made a claim to the large island, then called Aquiday ; ^ but Massa soit disputed their title. The Narragansets comprised several tribes, including those on Block Island. Their grand-sachem was Canonicus, who served during the minority of his nephew, Miantonomo, and afterward had a joint rule with him. These chiefs are credited with making to Roger Williams a princely gift of territory at Providence ; but it appears that Williams had a life lease only, the chiefs retaining the title, and that he paid the full cash value for all he received. Still, they had a great regard for the brave preacher, and showed it by patiently sitting out all his knotty monthly sermons, although opposing his missionary work among their people.^ This nation was so favored by traffic, climate, soil, and fish eries that life was generally easy and prosperous. Still, they were only less ferocious and aggressive than the Pequods, and waged with the latter many bloody wars. The great plague of 1617-18 had spared the Pequods and Narragansets; but wars and ignorance of the treatment of disease were fast thin ning their population. The nations to the east were only saved from subjugation and slavery by the hostility of these rivals, neither of which dared detach warriors for distant operations, lest its watchful foe should ravage the home- territory thus left unguarded. These two great nations are reputed to each have had, when strongest, from four thousand to five thousand fighting men. The Pawtucket^ confederacy was the northeasternmost of the five Indian States. Its chief sachem was Passacona way, head of the Wamesits. The principal tribes of this nation, with the modern names of their central location, were : the Wamesits at Lowell, Naumkeags at Salem, Aga wams at Ipswich, Penacooks from Lowell to Concord, N. H., Piscataways at Portsmouth and Dover, and the Accomintas 1 Aquidnec, now Newport, R. I. ^ In 1870 the Narragansets lived mostly in Charlestown, R. I., where they owned one seventh of the territory. There were about a hundred, but only one of pure Indian descent. 3 Patucket, " the falls." 134 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [i6— . (Sacos?) in southwestern Maine. Ten years before 1620 this nation had numbered nearly twenty thousand, of whom three thousand were warriors. Every spring all the tribes joined in a visit to their chief-sachem. The beautiful region of Wamesit (eastern Lowell, now known as Belvidere), about the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack, gave them a noble camping-ground, while the long series of falls and rapids aff'orded most attractive fishing, and hosts of natives here caught and cured their year's supply. The reunion festivities and fishing continued some three weeks, and then great squad rons of canoes conveyed the people to their widely scattered homes. These gatherings are supposed to have drawn to gether as many as twelve thousand persons. Around this riparian place of assemblage the stone implements and the fragmentary skeletons of the natives are still not unseldom brought to Hght. Early in the century the Tarrantines had made a foray, and a terrible slaughter of the unprepared Pawtuckets resulted. Their chief sachem, or bathsheba, being among the slain, a dispute arose as to the succession, entailing a civil war, with an immense additional loss of life.^ Passaconaway, formerly a priest, and then sachem of the Wamesits, won the position by his valor and retained it with a strong hand, joined to a not unintelligent administration. In 1646 the apostle Eliot began to visit him, converting many of his subjects and making the chief a life-long friend of the whites, as also was his son and successor, the amiable Wanalancet, "the last of the Indian kings." The plague of 1616-17-18 completed the ruin of this nation. The nature of the disease is doubtful. It began near Saco and swept down to Narraganset Bay, but not beyond. Richard Vines, a physician,^ passed the winter of 1616-1 7 among the victims ofthe plague; he and his men even slept in the cabins of the sick, but not a white man was 1 At its height 1615. — Gorges. "^ Vines was Gorges' agent. He stayed at Maine until 1645, when his royal- ism led him to retire to Barbadoes, where he practised until his death in 1648. He was a worthy man, and ever a friend to New England. His removal indi cates a popular hostility to the King's cause. i6— .] THE PLAGUE. — THE MASSACHUSETTS. 135 aff"ected. The skin of the victims was of a deep yellow, both before and after death; still, it seems the disease was not yellow fever, and it evidently was not that terrible scourge of the natives, the small-pox. The living abandoned the attempt to bury the dead ; and long afterwards, white explorers de scribed the country with its bleaching skeletons, as a " modern Golgotha." The Pawtuckets were on the verge of extinction. At the landing of the Pilgrims they were slightly improving in condition, but never again became a people of importance. (The Penacooks were left in the best condition of the tribes of this nation by these various disasters. After Philip's War they acted with the Maine Indians in depredations on the whites. In 1690 they could muster ninety men; but in 1726 their effective force was only^z'^.) The Massachusetts^ confederacy adjoined the Pawtucket on the south, and was friendly with it; these nations had alike suffered from Tarrantine, Narraganset, and Mohawk attacks. The great pestilence had been highly destructive to the Massachusetts, reducing their warriors from three thou sand to not much above a hundred, — which left the nation so weak that it nominally transferred its federal allegiance to Massasoit, chief sachem of the Pokanokets. It is difiicult to ascertain what authority Massasoit ever exercised over it, or what duty it observed towards him beyond acknowledging him as its sovereign. This nation consisted chiefly of the Massachusetts around Boston, the Nashuas around Lancaster and Groton, the Nashobas^ at Littleton, the Nonantums at Newton, the Punkapoags of Canton and Stoughton, and the Neponsets at Quincy, Weymouth, and thence southward. Some of the Nipmucks were also included, and some indefi nite bodies that ranged as far south as Pembroke and Bridge- water (they were probably Neponsets) ? 1 From massa, "great," and adchu, "mountains," — "big hills.'' "Blue hills." — Roger Williams. 2 Neshoba, " a gray wolf." ' An important part of Plymouth territory was bought of Chickatabut, the Neponset sachem ; and this portion went so far south as to include Bridgewater and part of Taunton, from which latter its boundary ran to the northeast corner of Rhode Island. 136 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [16—. The Pokanoket'^ confederacy filled the space between the Massachusetts and the Narragansets. Massasoit's official home was at Sowams, now the site of Warren, on Narragan set Bay. Before the plague he had an alliance with the Massachusetts and Pawtuckets, which gave a joint security against the Narragansets, who were much dreaded by all; but in 1620 the Pokanoket army of three thousand had fallen to not much above three hundred, and his own Wampanoag tribe had but sixty warriors left. It has been seen that the Pequod hostility diverted the attention of the Narragansets from Massasoit, and that in addition to this uncertain safe guard he had taken the earliest opportunity to make an alli ance, defensive and off'ensive, with the Pilgrims.^ The Pokanoket nation was composed mainly of the Wam panoags around Bristol County, Rhode Island, the Pocassets at Rehoboth, Swansea, and Tiverton, the Saconets {Saw-co- nets) at Little Compton, the Namaskets at Middleborough, the Agawaywams at Wareham, the Manomets at Sandwich, the Sakatuckets (5"«iy-ka-tuck-ets) * at Mashpee, the Matta kees at Barnstable, the Nobsquassets at Yarmouth, the Mona moys at Chatham, and the Nausets at Eastham. The islands to the south were also all included. The Patuxet {Paw- tux-et) tribe at Plymouth, which disappeared in the time of the great plague, had been a member of this nation. The devastation wrought by the disease in this region was horri ble, yet the Cape Indians were not much affected, while those on the islands escaped altogether; and strange to say, the Namaskets (Middleborough), who were in the centre of the path followed by the pestilence, were also spared, the deluge of death dividing at that point and depopulating the country on each side of them. The Nausets (who attacked the Pilgrim explorers at " First Encounter ") were credited with a hundred warriors.* 1 Poquanock, " cleared land." (?) 2 Robert Cushman, 1621, calls them " dejected," and " as a people afirighted." ' Sau-ke-tuk, " at the mouth of a tidal stream." * The northernmost Nausets were sometimes called Pamets ; but there is no indication of any separate tribe. i6i8-2i.] THE INDIAN POPULATION. 137 The size of these various nations and tribes is a matter of uncertainty. The total Indian population of New England after the plague, is set by some at twenty-five thousand, and by others so high as a hundred thousand. It probably was rather under than over the average of those numbers ; forty thousand will not be a very unsafe supposition. Statistical science was unknown in the days of the Pilgrim Fathers. Estimates of the population of London diff'ered widely, and the population of England was altogether un known. Exactness in numbers seems not to have been appreciated. For example, Bradford often speaks of " eight or ten men," " four or five men," and so on, where he might more easily state the number precisely ; thus, on the ninety- first page of his History, thirteenth line, he says " six or seven sound persons," while, as appears in the twenty-fourth line, he means exactly seven. He was as accurate as most historians of his generations, and merely shared the prevailing vague ness and neglect of statistical statements. CHAPTER XI. EARLY EXPLORERS OF NEW ENGLAND. IT is probable that the Norsemen visited the site of Plym outh, their sagas seeming to narrate the following adven tures : In the year 986 Bjorne, while near Iceland, was blown southwesterly by a storm and saw Labrador.^ He returned safely, and in 1000 Leif and Eric not only followed his route, but explored the coast of New England, which they called Vineland, from the profusion of wild grape-vines. In 1003 Thorwald, brother of Leif, visited the region and spent the winter, where he found the shortest day nine hours long ; this, of course, with his rude means of measuring time, was only an approximation, but it indicates his winter quar ters as not far from latitude 41" to 42°. From incidental allusions it may be inferred that the place was in Buzzard's or Narraganset Bay. The next spring, sailing for home, he coasted along an extended promontory, the description of which answers to that of Cape Cod, and within it found a great bay ; upon the western side of this bay he came to a fine headland, which drew from Thorwald the exclamation : " This is a beautiful spot, and here I should like to fix my dwelling." Shortly after, being mortally wounded by natives {Skrcellinger)^ he gave the following directions: "Let me 1 The compass was not practically known in Europe till Marco Polo, Vene tian traveller (1260), or Flavio Gioja, of Amalfi, a Neapolitan mariner, who sus pended the needle, which had previously been floated in a straw or a little split stick, circ. 1302 (?). The Swedes are supposed to have known the compass in some form about 1250 ; its variation remarked by Columbus 1492, and Sebastian Cabot 1540. The compass-box and hanging compass invented 1608 by William Barlowe, an English clergyman and natural-philosopher. 2 From adjective skral, " slim," " lean," and substantive Skrcela, " a peeling," — " dried-up, shrivelled thing," or lean, spare man. I007-I347-] THORFIN AND LATER NORSEMEN. 139 be buried on the beautiful headland where I wished to fix my dwelling ! Put a cross at my head and one at my feet, and let the place be hereafter called Krossaness." The Gurnet head, which, fortress-crested and crowned with two lighthouses, stands on the north side of the entrance to Plymouth Harbor, answers so well to the description of Thor- wald's burial-place that the loyal descendant from Plymouth stock feels strongly that here was that spot where the brave captain was laid to rest with Christian rites, and his grave marked with the symbol, of this faith. The now nearly tree less Gurnet with its scarped sides comprises twenty-seven acres of excellent land, which recently as 1620 was finely wooded.i In 1007 Thorfin Karlsefne, with his wife Gudrid and a hun dred and sixty men, came with three vessels to Vineland and remained three years. During this time, at " Straumfjord " (on Buzzard's Bay?), a son was born to him who received the name of Snorre, and was the first white child born on the American continent, and an ancestor of Thorwaldsen. Frey dis came in loii, and in 1121 Bishop Eric made a voyage from Greenland to Vineland. The last Norse expedition was in 1 347, when came the Black Plague, which, with home cares and perils, prevented any more exploring expeditions. The Welsh claim that Prince Madoc discovered New England in 1170.^ 1 See pp. 96, 97, and 98. ¦¦' Gudrid, Thorfin's widow, made a pilgrimage to Rome, leaving accounts of and, as is supposed, a map of " Vinland " in the Vatican. This map was studied by the Pinzons. " Adam of Bremen " (died 1076) was a canon and historian. At the end of his magnum opus, a manuscript-book, entitled " On the Propagation of the Christian Religion in the North of Europe," which was made public in 1073, in an extra geographical treatise " On the Position of Denmark and other Regions beyond Denmark," Adam says : " Besides these there is still another Region which has been visited by many, lying in that Ocean [the Atlantic], and which is called Vinland, because Vines grow there spontaneously, producing very good Wine ; Corn likewise springs up there without being sown ; " after describing which the canon adds : " This we know, not by fabulous Conjectures, but from positive Statements of the Danes." The Sagas concerning North America are in the "Codex Flatcensis," a man uscript skin-book, finished in 1387, and preserved in Copenhagen. It was 140 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [i347-i6— . Printing was then unknown; even the simplest literary knowledge was rare, and the means of preserving manuscripts very poor. Soon the story of far-away Vineland became vague and broken ; then it passed into the form of Sagas, and before many generations was regarded as a myth. At the birth of Columbus the European world was largely as though Vineland had never been visited, and Thorwald had been buried in the fabled Atlantis. Vigilant has been the search for relics of these visitors. So early as 1 680 much interest was excited by a boulder at the margin of Taunton River, where now is Berkley ; but the territory then pertaining to Dighton, the relic gained celebrity as " The Dighton Rock." On one side of it are cut charac ters or figures, which were at length attributed to Norsemen. Casts of the rock were sent to Danish antiquaries, together with rival and contradictory copies of the inscription, and much interest was excited. Strange to say, it required more than a century and a half to obtain a conclusive decision against the Norse theory .^ The history of the rock is now completely in the dark, but the inscriptions jnay be by some prehistoric tribe coeval with the " mound-builders." ^ On the reprinted at Christiania, 1860-8, with the title Flateyarb6k. Torfaeus, an Icelan dic historian, called modern attention to those Sagas in 1705. The Landndmabdk (a sort of Norse "Domesday Book") and the Eyrbygga Sagas give elaborate accounts of Are Marson (anno 983), Bjorne Asbrandson (anno 999), and Gudleif Gudlaugson, and their visits to " Irland-it-Mikla," translated " Great Ireland," and supposed to be the middle Atlantic coast. These early-comers mistook the Indian language for Irish, — hence the name. 1 Those favoring the " Norse theory " claim a portion of the inscription to consist of Roman letters, and ideographs as follows — ORFIN CXXXI N f'«r] M," (NAM) 1 1 r Piotuifl, T c " LWoman and OhildJ *^. which they interpret: "Thorfin's (^^^"^ 151 (men) took (this land). (Here was born) Snorre." [The Norse reckoned 12 decades to the hundred ; hence the number.] This agrees substantially with the relevant Saga account of Thorfin, which gives the number of his people as 151. — "Nam" is from the Norse verb meaning " to take." 2 The rock is of a sandstone belonging to the Upper Silurian, and suffers by weathering. Elisha Slade thinks the inscription must have been cut with me tallic tools and by a person of skill. III2-I6— .] THE ARMORED SKELETON. 141 Maine coast is a similar rock, bearing upon its side eighteen mysterious characters, and having on its top three holes about a foot apart, as if to receive the feet of a tripod. Archsologists hope to identify this and some like rock- work as Runic. For a long time the curious stone tower in the heart of New port, R. I., was believed to be a Norse edifice ; but with great reluctance antiquaries have come to the conclusion that the tower was a windmill, built in i6'j&-'j by Governor Benedict Arnold, and was by him copied quite closely from a mill near his English birthplace.^ In 1832, at Troy, Mass. (now Fall River) , was exhumed an ancient skeleton ; it had on a brass breastplate and a belt made of brass tubes, while by its side were several brazen arrows. Some imagine these the remains of one of the chieftains who followed Thorwald or Thorfin ; while the iconoclasts declare it to be the skeleton of an Indian who had obtained some sheet brass from trading- vessels. Pring, in 1603, mentions savages at Plymouth who wore on their breasts " plates of brasse a foot long and half a foot broad; " and the Pilgrims at Nauset (1620) were at tacked with arrows headed with brass. Still, the debatable accoutrements' structure was ahead of Indian art, and an analysis by Berzelius shows their composition to be nearly identical with old Norse armor, to which their shape also bears close resemblance.^ For almost four hundred years after Eric's voyage, Vine- 1 With their usual zeal, Roman Catholic historians claim it, absurdly reputing it to be the baptistery of a Norse-Indian cathedral built by Eric Upsi, who in 1 112 was made bishop of Garda, Greenland, his see including that country and Vine- land. Verazzani spent fifteen days exploring this vicinity in 1524, and does not mention what would then have been a still more remarkable ruin ; neither do any others, Roger Williams included ; while Governor Arnold does, in 1678, be queath it in his will as "my stone-built Wind-mill." (See note, Chap. XLV.) 2 Holl is a Norse word, meaning " hill," and the fact is held by enthusiasts as significant that on the south shore of Massachusetts are to be found six local geographical names with the termination " Hole " or " HoU," and this sufiix does not occur notably elsewhere on the coast. The places referred to are : Powder- Hole, Holmes's-Hole, Wood's-Hole (or, recent usage, " Holl "), Robinson's-Hole, Quick's-Hole, and Butler's-Hole (now obsolete). Another Norse termination is " Hop." (See " Mount Hope," p. 165.) 142 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1497. land was once more practically unknown to Europe. At length, in 1497, after Columbus had brought to light the West Indies,-* but nearly a year before he had reached the conti nent beyond them, John Cabot, with his young son Sebastian, in an English ship named the " Matthew," discovered our mainland of America, coming upon it near Nova Scotia.^ The same year he returned, and induced that royal miser, Henry VIL, to aid in an expedition for the next year. The senior Cabot dying before the preparations were complete, Sebastian took command. He examined the New England coast and doubtless passed some distance southward, taking possession at all points in the name of the King of England. The Cabots were therefore the rediscoverers of North America, and Sebastian added the central portion to the British Crown. Of his subsequent life nothing is known until 1549, when Edward VI. appointed him Grand Pilot of England. His death is unrecorded, and his grave unknown.^ Bancroft says of him : " He gave England a continent, and no one knows his burial-place." Little more was done by English sailors for generations, beyond efforts to find a northwest passage to India; but France, Spain, and Portugal were all active in attempts to make discoveries on which to found claims to some part of the new-found territory. Yet a hundred years after John Cabot's death there was not a white family in America north of the Chesapeake.* The coast was but slightly known, the 1 Columbus visited Iceland in 1477, sailed far enough west to see the coast of Greenland, and probably learned all about Vinland, and farther south, as Sagas also (it is claimed) tell of the Chesapeake, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida regions. 2 N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., xxxii. 381. The landfall has been frequently ascribed to Labrador. Professor E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, thinks it was Cape Ann. ' The supposed dates of his birth and death are 1477 and 1557. * Early writers (notably Milton, in "Paradise Lost") refer in extravagant terms to a semi-mythical New England city called Norumbega. A mere tradi tion has located this fur-trading post — for such it was, if it was anything — in Maine, and on the Penobscot; but Professor Horsford thinks he has identi fied its site on the Charles River, near the boundaries of Waltham and Weston, Mass., four miles above tide-water. A dammed-up basin being drained to facilitate the construction of the Cam- 1517-1602.] EARLY FISHERMEN. — GOSNOLD. 143 climate was considered unendurable in winter by Europeans, and the Indians had uniformly proved to be not only arrant liars and thieves, but every way treacherous and destructive. Yet the Newfoundland fisheries had quickly sprung up. In 1 5 1 7 there were fifty vessels engaged in them, and in 1577 even three hundred and fifty; of the latter fleet a hundred and fifty were French, a hundred Spanish, fifty Portuguese, and fifty English. Every year these hardy adventurers con tinued their profitable trips. In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold, in company with Bartholo mew Gilbert, went on a trading voyage in the ship " Concord." May 24th the craft made the coast of Maine near Cape Ned- dick; thence it stood southward, and next morning was " embayed with a mighty headland." A day was spent on shore traversing this headland, which, from the abundance of fish taken along it, was named by Gosnold Cape Cod. The southeasterly point of the Cape he called Point Care, and the breakers near it, having alarmed one of his men, were named Tucker's Terror. After exploring the archipelago and find ing Gay Head (set down as " Dover Chff""), Gosnold, on June 4th, anchored off Cuttyhunk, by the western entrance to Buz zard's Bay. This island, which they named Elizabeth Island, contained a fresh-water lake two miles around, and separated from the sea by a beach only a hundred feet broad. There bridge Water-works, there was exposed a remarkable fortification, which is worthy of notice whether it be Norumbega's, or, as is more probable, the work of primeval aborigines perhaps as early as the mound-builders. A ditch over nine hundred feet long supplied the moat from Stony Brook. The moat itself is about a thousand feet in circuit, and has a waste-ditch five hundred feet long to the Charles. The enclosed ground, rounding up from the fosse to a small plateau thirty feet above the water, forms a hillock surrounded on all sides by low ground, except an elevated neck on the land side. Through this neck the moat had to be dug very deep, and the earth thrown out still forms an extra ordinary embankment. The presence in the moat of old stumps of many-ringed trees, and the utter absence two hundred and fifty years ago of local traditions, either aboriginal or Colonial, as to any other origin of the remains, assure their great antiquity. The name " Norumbega" seems to savor of the more northern Indian dia lects ; and theorizers think the place was under French authority, as that nation through missionary zeal formed closer alliance with the Indians (particularly the Northern tribes), and hereabouts penetrated farther inland than others. 144 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1602. was in the lake a " rocky islet," which, like the main island, was well wooded. On this islet Gosnold built a storehouse or " fort," and began trade with the natives. In twenty-four days from her arrival the " Concord," only partially laden with a cargo of sassafras, took all hands on board and sailed for home. August 2d she reached England, none of her men during their hundred and thirty days' absence having been sick, but nearly all returning, as Brereton, their companion, says, " much fatter " for the trip. Gosnold made many valuable observa tions, pushing explorations as far, at least, as the site of New Bedford, and giving the name of Hap's Hill to an eminence in Dartmouth. The present visitor to Cuttyhunk will find " Gosnold's Pond " still uninvaded by the sea ; and while the devastating axe has swept away the woods, he may trace in the soil of the " rocky islet " some outlines of the storehouse. It is often misrepresented that this twenty-four days' visit to Cuttyhunk was an attempt by Gosnold to found a colony ; and he is said to have been supported in the undertaking by Shakspere's friend, the Earl of Southampton. Even Archer, the journalist of the voyage, records that Gosnold and eleven others desired to remain ; but as they could not effect a suit able division of the ship's scanty provisions, and Indian hos tilities were imminent, they yielded to necessity and left the island with " many sorrowful eyes." Brereton, his associate, makes a like intimation. Gosnold, however, in his report to his father, makes no mention of having had any intention of remaining, but pleads shortness of provisions as the reason for his hasty departure with a scanty cargo. In fact, this ship was fitted out, not by Southampton, but by the execrable Lord Cobham, and its purpose was simply a contraband trading voyage. Raleigh had a patent giving him the exclusive trade of that whole region ; and when, four weeks after the " Concord's " return, the secret of her voyage reached his ears, he brought a suit for the confiscation of her cargo. As Gosnold and Cobham knew that they could not obtain Raleigh's consent to mere trading, and instead of ask- i6o3.] GOSNOLD. — PRING. 145 ing it poached on his preserve, it is not to be supposed that they would have risked life or money in planting a colony where it was illegal for them to gather or buy even a single cargo of sassafras ! When the " Concord " reached England, her provisions were exhausted, — not a particle of biscuit or bread left, and no drink but a little vinegar ; yet her whole trip had not lasted nineteen weeks. A surreptitious trader might have set out with such a short supply, but not a colony going in, search of a home. Raleigh's letter to Lord Cecil calling for the con fiscation of the " Concord's " cargo shows clearly that she was an illegal trader, and Gosnold merely an enterprising interloper.^ Still, Gosnold is entitled to regard for his eff'orts in explor ing our coast and connecting it with exact information, in place of vague surmise. Massachusetts, in 1864, did him but justice when she incorporated the whole group of Elizabeth Islands into a town which she named Gosnold.^ The next year (1603) some Bristol merchants, at the in stance of the learned Hakluyt, sent out Martin Pring with clothing, hardware, and trinkets; but they first obtained Raleigh's consent. Pring had thirty men in the " Speedwell," of fifty tons, and had as a consort the " Discoverer," of twenty- six tons, under William Browne, with fourteen men. He coasted along the Maine shore to Cape Neddick, and, as his journal says, he then " bare into that great gulfe which Cap- taine Gosnold overshot the yeere before ; " that is, he entered Cape Cod Bay, instead of keeping beyond it. Finding " no people on the north side thereof" with whom to trade, he " sailed and came to anchor on the south side ; " that is, in 1 This explanation of the character of Gosnold's and Pring's voyages is due to Rev. B. F. De Costa, of New York city, and was fully set forth by him before the New England Historical Genealogical Society, Nov. 7, 1877, and in the Maga zine of American History, December, 1882. 2 The good taste shown in the selection of this name was hardly due to the " General Court ; " for that body, if the persons locally interested had so peti tioned, would probably have been equally willing to name the town Southwest Falmouth, or East Westport. 10 146 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1603. the south part of the same " great gulfe," and not, as has been carelessly supposed, on the south side of the Cape itself Off" the mouth of his harbor, which he named Whitson Bay, from the mayor of Bristol, Pring found twenty fathoms of water, and at his anchorage seven; there was a "pleasant hill " near by ; the harbor was " winding like a snail ; " and there was a river up which he sailed in boats. One of his company went six miles into " the country." A barricade was built on shore, where a store of sassafras was soon ob tained by trade. The " Discoverer " was quickly despatched home, and in seven weeks from coming to anchor Pring fol lowed with the " Speedwell." Just before his departure the natives, who had become hostile, set the woods on fire, causing a great conflagration. Dr. Belknap hastily concluded that the " south side " above mentioned was the south side of Cape Cod, instead of Cape Cod Bay ; and subsequent writers have followed him unques- tioningly. But Pring says he went " into " the bay, and he nowhere says that he went beyond it. Belknap decided that Pring's anchorage was at Edgartown, which answers none of the conditions, — the depth of water, the hill, the winding har bor, the river. Plymouth Harbor, on the contrary, satisfies all of them. (An interesting bit of circumstantial evidence is found in the story of Browne and Goodman [January 22-3, 1620], who discovered, just outside Plymouth, a plain six miles long which had been burned over by the savages.) Pring did, indeed, give the latitude of his port as 41° 25' N., while the latitude of Plymouth court-house is 41° 57' N. ; but latitude was then found by the " cross-staff"," — a rude instrument not reliable within half a degree. The latitudes given by Champ lain, the most careful of navigators, are often from a quarter to half a degree out. Such reckoning has no weight against the evidence of the natural features and of the distinct narra tive. There is no room for doubt that Plymouth, not Edgar town, was Pring's port.^ 1 Pring called it an " excellent haven," and says he followed the high grounds, " where commonly the best havens are, which also fell out to his expectation." This Is strong evidence for Plymouth, and against Edgartown. 1605.] DE MONTS AND CHAMPLAIN. 147 In 1605 the fifth French expedition visited this continent. Henry IV. had granted De Monts the territory between 40° and 46° N., called Acadia; and that officer now came over to his grant with four vessels, taking as pilot Samuel Champlain, a captain of the French navy, who had already explored the St. Lawrence. At Port Royal (now Annapolis) De Monts established, under Poutrincourt, a colony which existed until broken up by Argall in 161 3. The admiral wintered at St. Croix, the expedition suff"ering great hardships until spring. Then, having heard from the Indians of a large river, which may have been the Merrimack, he set forth to find it. On the 17th of July, 1605, in a barque of fifteen tons, he seems to have examined Boston Harbor even into the mouth of the Charles River. He called that stream " Riviere du Gua," from his own family name ; but Captain John Smith was more successful in displacing this title in behalf of English royalty than he was with Gosnold's practical appellation of Cape Cod. In this cruise Cape Cod Bay was examined, and Plymouth received a vis it and the name of " Port of the Cape St. Louis." Champlain's deeply in teresting account of the expedition has handed down to us a very fair map of Plymouth Har- bor.i This French enterprise stimulated the English to new eff'orts. In 1605, Raleigh's attainder having vacated his rights, the Earl of Southampton and others despatched the "Archangel," under Captain George 1 Champlain was on our coast the greater part of 1604-7 ; he crossed the Atlantic some twenty times. See description of map in note, p. 98. SECTION FROM CHAMPLAIN'S MAP. 148 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1607. Waymouth, to trade and explore. Waymouth followed up one of the great rivers, supposed to be the Kennebec, and enthusiastically recommended its valley for settlement. Se curing the usual home freight of fish and furs, he returned, taking with him five natives. Waymouth has sufi'ered much obloquy from the report that these natives were carried away for slaves; but he himself says he took them to England that they might be taught as interpreters for future expedi tions. It is certain that Gorges took three of the number into his family, and kept them three years ; and this benevo lent man was wont to say that the training of these inter preters had alone rendered possible his future schemes of colonization. In 1607 Gorges and the cruel Judge Popham planted a colony at Phillipsburg (or Sagadahoc, as is supposed), by the mouth of the Kennebec. Two ships came, " The Gift of God " and the " Mary and John," bringing a hundred per sons. Through August they found all delightful ; but when the ships went back in December, fifty-five of the number returned to England weary of their experiment and fearful of the cold. The remaining colony of forty-five persons was curiously overweighted in its attempt to maintain the aristo cratic distinctions which the average English mind then thought essential. It had a president (Popham's brother), an admiral (Gilbert), a master of ordnance, a sergeant-major, a secretary, a marshal, a commander of fortifications, and a " searcher." These eight formed the council. The rest of the people had no voice or vote upon any matters whatever, either in church or state. During the winter there was one death only, but that was the president. With spring the ships returned from England. Admiral Gilbert learned that a great estate had fallen to him and called for attention. His associates were disappointed in both soil and climate, and the rigors of a Maine winter can hardly have had attractions for emigrants from the green slopes of southern England ; so every soul returned with Gilbert. Notwithstanding this result. Gorges continued for more than thirty years to push explora- I609-I4-] HUDSON. — BLOK. — SMITH. 149 tion and emigration to that region; but his ambition and liberality ever resulted in disappointment and loss.^ Meanwhile, in 1609, Henry Hudson, an English sailor in Dutch employ, came over in his galliot the " Half Moon," and explored the river which bears his name. From 1 610 to 1614 Admiral Blok, in the same service, examined Long Island Sound and the rivers emptying into it ; he even pushed his researches as far as Boston Harbor, — from which fact the Dutch set up a claim, " by right of discovery," to all the ter ritory from the fortieth to the forty-fifth parallel, naming the whole region " Nieu Nederland." The smaller district gener ally understood by New Netherland was not specifically so called until 1623, when a permanent settlement was begun there.2 In i6i4the celebrated John Smith came to the Maine coast with a couple of vessels, on a venture made by four persons. Soon finding that the mine of gold and copper which he had been specially charged to investigate lay beyond terrestrial research, and that the specified alternative of whaling would be a " costly conclusion," he set his two crews (forty-nine men and boys) at catching and curing fish, of which they took sixty thousand within a month. He then, in an open boat with a few men, explored the coast from the Penobscot to Plymouth and Cape Cod ; but while reconnoitring traded thriftily, gathering in eleven hundred beaver-skins. The map of New England which he then prepared, makes a surprising approach to accuracy, considering how little could be posi tively known ; and this map was used by the Pilgrims. Smith found at least forty native villages along the coast, and more than two hundred well-wooded islands, many of the latter " planted with corn, groves, mulberries, savage gardens ; 1 The same spring in which Maine was deserted because too cold, the French were colonizing at Quebec with great confidence, that place being farther south than Paris. 2 In 1614 Blok's ship " Tiger " was burned with its cargo in New York Har bor. The following winter he built there a barque of sixteen tons, called " The Unrest," and went home in her. Blok doubtless visited Plymouth, as some Dutch navigator made a map of it at about that time. It is worthy of note that this map, like Champlain's, shows Clark's and Saquish as two islands. ISO THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1614. the sea-coast, as you pass, shows you corn-fields and great '^ynt,iu ^u art Vinut^. SoutkH^mptonU Sirrma 'O^aAeuj/cu.uuit. ¦ Splert CUrkp vCcHait. '. SECTION FROM SMrTH'S MAP. troops of well-proportioned people." He adds: "I would I6i4-i6.] SMITH'S EXPEDITION. — BRAWNDE. 15 1 rather live here than anywhere." (This was before the rav ages ofthe plague.) On this trip Smith sustained two attacks from the Neponsets of the Cohasset region ; the first seems to have been bloodless, but the second resulted in the death of one native. Smith gave to many points along his route good English names which are still in use, but applied to different places from those to which he assigned them. Only three remain as he affixed them, and they are : Plymouth, Charles River, and Cape Ann. This exploration is com memorated by a small monument lately erected at the Isles of Shoals, once called " Smith's Isles," — a name which should have been retained.^ Loading his own ship with the furs, oil, and cod-fish col lected in his absence. Smith sailed for home, leaving Hunt to get a cargo of dry fish and take it in the other ship to Spain. In doing this Hunt went to Cape Cod Bay and there seized twenty-seven natives for slaves, as related in connection with the European's grave found on Cape Cod by the Pilgrims. Smith expressed intense indignation at this act of Hunt's, and might well do so, on business grounds as well as from human ity; for this deed proved the cause of serious disasters to future voyagers, and put the Pilgrims in great peril at " First Encounter." Smith continued through life an energetic friend of New England colonization, though his most promising plans brought him only disappointment. Notwithstanding a tendency to inveracity as to his personal exploits. Smith was a brave and noble man, whose services are worthy of honor able commemoration from Maine to Virginia.^ In 1616 Captain Edward Brawnde was at "Sodquin" and Monhegan, in a ship of two hundred tons called the "Nachen" (?), "bound about Cape Cod for the discovery of certain peril which is told by the savages to be there." He was under the orders of John Smith, " Admiral of New Eng- 1 He changed Cape Cod to " Cape James," and called the Cape harbor "Milford Haven." (See Map.) " Smith was son of George Smith, of WiUoughby, and was born 1579 ; died 1631. 152 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1619. land." The " certain peril " was the Malabar shoals, off" Monamoy. In 1 61 9 the indefatigable, if visionary. Gorges sent one of Smith's captains, Thomas Dermer, to join one Rocroft already on the Maine coast, and take charge of a trading and explor ing expedition. On arriving, Dermer found that Rocroft, after setting ashore a part of his crew for mutiny, had aban doned his post and gone to Virginia. Dermer, loading his own ship (of two hundred tons) with fish and furs, sent her home ; then with a few men, and Tisquantum as interpreter, proceeded in an open pinnace of only five tons to re-explore the coast from the Kennebec to Cape Cod, giving attention to the inlets and harbors. On this trip he redeemed the two French sailors already noticed on page 78. Dermer accompanied Tisquantum to the latter's home at Patuxet (Plymouth), where, alas! the returning wanderer found no one to welcome him. Dermer says : " When I arrived at my savage's native country, finding all dead, I travelled almost a* day's journey westward to a place called Namasket (Middleborough), where, finding inhabitants, I de spatched a messenger a day's journey west to Pokanoket, which bordereth on the sea, whence came to see me two kings attended with a guard of fifty armed men, who being well satisfied with what my savage and I discoursed unto them, and being desirous of novelty, gave me content in whatsoever I demanded." These two kings were, of course, Massasoit and Quadequina, who a year and a half later grati fied their love of " novelty " in their visit to the Pilgrims. The common people were much prejudiced against. the Eng lish on account of an unprovoked slaughter made by a ship master. The French had possessed their minds with the idea that he was English ; but Dermer doubted his having been so. The natives were bent upon killing the captain, and indeed finally spared him only upon Tisquantum's earnest entreaty. After wintering in Virginia, Dermer returned to Cape Cod for trading and observation. In July, 1620, he likened the soil of Eastham and Brewster to the best tobacco land of Virginia, i620.] DERMER. — GORGES. 153 while the district west of Middleborough seemed to him fit test for grain ; he expressed a wish that English Plymouth might have the advantages of Patuxet Plymouth ; the latter he described as having a hardy, strong soil, and recorded his opinion in favor of making the first New England settlement at that point, provided the number of settlers should be at least fifty. It is not a little remarkable that within six months the place should have been selected for the first plantation by persons who knew nothing of his voyage, and whose number, when*fully established, was just fifty-one. Passing around and down the Cape, Dermer, while at Mon amoy, after trading peacefully with the natives, was treacher ously attacked and captured. He paid the required ransom ; but they still refused to release him, and sought to waylay and kill his men. Upon this, by a bold push, he captured several of his captors, and made them pay a canoe-load of corn as damages. At Capawack (Martha's Vineyard) he also traded amicably with the natives ; but either there or on the Cape, while his men were on shore to assist him (except one who kept the boat), the savages made a treacherous and unprovoked attack upon him. All the men on shore were killed, while Dermer, escaping to his boat, was there seized, and his head would have been cut off on the cuddy, had not the boat-keeper repulsed the assailants with his single cutlass. Dermer had received fourteen wounds, probably causing his death, which occurred soon after in Virginia. He seems to have been worthy of ranking with the best of the many able navigators who had explored the coast before him, and the " Old Colony " should commemorate his services by bestow ing his name on some of her natural features.^ Gorges seemed to become more zealous from losses and 1 Dermer, as a captain under Smith, was trading and exploring on our coast in 1615 ; in 1619 he went from New England to Virginia via Long Island Sound, — the first known passage of that route by English vessels. He stopped to warn the Dutch from Manhattan, where they were staying, not as settlers, but as temporary traders. Their reply was conciliatory. (I can but regard them as the rightful claimants there, and as having, in common with some other nations, veTj generally been the aggrieved party in their wars with the English.) 1 54 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620. failures. The old Plymouth Company having died out, and his proprietary projects failing, he secured, on Nov. 13, 1620, the incorporation by royal charter of the " Council for New England." This body received, with full powers of govern ment, a tract reaching from the fortieth to the forty-eighth parallels of north latitude, and stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The area was above 1,500,000 square miles (which of course they did not dream of for a moment). The Pil grims thus became unconscious intruders on the property of this corporation, and the latter on receiving its grant had thereon a promising colony, planted with no cost to the company. But that body did not, for six months after its organization, know that there was a white settlement within its borders, nor did the Pilgrims learn for a year after their arrival, of the new authority over them. The corporation would naturally be glad to permit the Col ony to continue its self-supporting operations, and would waive any claim to land the settlers might obtain by purchasing of the Indian proprietors. With its title confirmed by the lords of the manor, Plymouth would be on a strong footing. The Colony was already exercising the functions of a fully developed State. It had organized a government based on universal suffrage and equality, and under it had chosen officers, enacted laws, organized a military department, erected a public-edifice and a fortification, established trade with its neighbors, and negotiated a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance with the ruler of the surrounding country. These operations were on a small scale, indeed, but the fact was the same. While a long series of official efforts had been in effectually made to people New England, the poor, friendless, diseased waifs of the " Mayflower " had been almost literally cast ashore in Cape Cod Bay, and within their first half-year had successfully established a democratic commonwealth which lived to see England a like republic, outlasted that parliamentary triumph over royal despotism, and will prob ably, still under popular rule, witness a return of the British commonwealth as a future epoch. CHAPTER XII. Return of the " Mayflower." — The First Spring in Plymouth.— Plant ing. — Death of Governor Carver. — Government. AFTER a wide but necessary digresssion from the affairs of Plymouth, we return to witness the departure of the " Mayflower." Notwithstanding Jones's impatience at first, it had been absolutely necessary that the ship should remain until all the passengers could be housed on shore. While the great sickness was at its height, it was not unreasonable to fear that the company might be reduced to a handful of invalids incapable of maintaining a foothold in the wilder ness. Aside from this, it was highly important that the " Mayflower " should be at hand for aid and shelter in case of any fresh disaster, until the Colonists should regain a fair degree of strength. Soon, however, the mortality extended to the crew, and, as with the shore party, about half the number died. The " Mayflower's " crew have been noticed as coarse, inhuman men. This was fearfully demonstrated in their treatment of each other during these suff"erings, the neglected mariners dying while cursing their hard-hearted shipmates. One bequeathed a comrade all his little possessions, on con dition that he should be carefully nursed while he lived. The dying patient had two messes provided for him ; but his heir then declared that he was getting cheated by the patient's living so long, and refused to render further assist ance, saying that the man might " choke " before he would do more. The boatswain also died ; he was " a proud young man, and would often curse and scoff" at the passen- IS6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. gers ; " but in his weakness such of the latter as were still on board nursed him carefully. The dying man thereupon be wailed his former actions, saying, " Oh ! you, I now see, show your love like Christians indeed one to another ; but we let one another lie and die like dogs." The gunner, the cook, and three quartermasters were also dying. Some time be fore this, Bradford, being very sick on shore, had a longing for beer, and sent on board for a small can, but was refused in uncivil terms. Afterward, Jones, becoming terrified at the mortality in his ship, told the Governor to send on board freely for beer when needed by the sick, though he should exhaust it, and leave nothing but water for the voyage home. The " Mayflower's " crew was so weak that Jones did not dare to put to sea until health should return, nor was he willing even then to go, unless the winter gales should be over. At length, on the iSth of April, the good ship, after a rest of four months, unfolded her wings, and in thirty-one days was safe in England. It does not appear that the "Mayflower" ever revisited Plymouth; but in 1629 she came to Salem, with a company of the Leyden people for Plymouth, and in 1630 was one of the large fieet that attended John Winthrop, discharging her passengers at Charlestown. Nothing is mentioned of her after that time. In 1648 a ship named " Mayflower " was engaged in the slave-trade, and the ill-informed as well as ill-disposed have sometimes sneer ingly alleged that this was our historic ship ; but it is ascer tained that the slaver was a vessel of three hundred and fifty tons, — nearly twice the size of her of happy memory. In fact, " Mayflower " was then a favorite name for English ships, and Hunter has learned of at least sixteen so called, which belonged to various ports in the time of Elizabeth and James I.^ 1 In 1588 the ofiicials of Lynn offered the " Mayflower " (150 tons), to join the fleet against the dreaded Spanish Armada. In 1657, Samuel Vassall, of London, complained that the Government had twice impressed his ship " Mayflower," which he had fitted out with sixty men "for the Straits." i62i.] RETURN OF THE " MAYFLOWER." 157 The return of the " Mayflower " must have been a painful sight to the Pilgrims. She had been an ever-ready shelter in case of disaster, and was a connecting link between them and the rest of their race. After her departure their nearest civilized neighbors would be the hostile but feeble French, five hundred miles to the northward, at Nova Scotia, and the not friendly English Conformists, five hundred miles to the south, at James River. Visiting these points with their shallop was not to be thought of For many months their only communication could be with savages, and with those savages would largely rest their destiny. The whole commu nity must have watched that departure, and wistful eyes have gazed from Fort Hill on the lessening sail until it dropped below the horizon. Spring was now well established, and those able to wor'iv were preparing to plant the crop which must support the Colony next year. Tisquantum had taken up his residence with the Pilgrims, and become their agricultural teacher. He told them that Indian corn should be planted when the oak- leaves had become as big as the ears of a mouse ; this time would soon come, and as maize would be their chief crop, they must make ready for it. Having no draft animals, their land had to be broken up by the heavy hoe then in use. It may be that only the hills were dug up before planting, and the intervening spaces left to be cultivated while the corn was growing. The crop needed, for manure, about three alewives in each hill. Tisquantum showed them where in Town Brook they could best catch the fish, which, he said, would actually crowd the brook just before planting-time.^ Soon after the sailing of the " Mayflower " came an un usually warm day for April. Governor Carver was not a man to send his associates to duty, but rather to lead them to it; and this day he headed the workers in the field. Theif devoted leader had exerted himself incessantly in procuring 1 In 1880 the Old Colony Memorial noticed that alewives began to run up Town Brook April 22d, — which was about a fortnight earlier than in 1879. Both springs were early. IS8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. the outfit of the Colony, and in reducing matters to a system, during and after the voyage. Since then, his cares had been intense, and also his physical eff'orts. In the landing and building operations ; in the long sickness, when for much of the time he had been one of Standish and Brewster's five associates in nursing the cabins full of sick, and performing the arduous labors required ; from the kitchen and laundry, to the hospital and the grave, by night and by day, — he had been one of these devoted brothers of mercy; in council he had been laborious, and in leadership self-sacrificing and chivalrous. He had used his fair estate for the public good, and it was now to be seen that he had also expended his truly noble life. He came home from the cornfield on this day complaining of great pain in his head ; he soon became insensible, and some days later, ceased to breathe. The settlers were overwhelmed with grief at this most unexpected loss ; but they bore their leader to Cole's Hill with a truly English regard for official dignity, surrounding the funeral with some small ceremony, and firing volleys of musketry over the unmarked grave. Before summer had come, that sacred soil was again laid open, and the broken-hearted Kath arine was laid beside her husband. Almost of them might Elder Brewster have said : " Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their death they were not divided." Of Carver's History no more survives than has been given. Most reluc tantly do we turn from the scanty page, which a few hasty strokes of Bradford's pen might have made so luminous.-^ 1 In a storm of 1735 a torrent pouring down Middle Street made a ravine in Cole's Hill and washed many human remains down into the harbor. In 1809 a skull with especially fine teeth was exposed. In 1855 these graves were ex posed in laying the public conduit on Cole's Hill. In one grave lay two skele tons, pronounced by surgeons male and female. The man had a particularly noble forehead ; and it was fondly surmised that here were the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Carver. These found a new grave on Burial Hill ; but the other relics, with barbaric taste, were placed in the top of the stone canopy over Forefathers' Rock. In 1 879, during some work on the southeast side of the hill, many more bones were unearthed, and some, with questionable taste, were carried away by the spectators in remembrance of their "renowned sires." (These bodies were all found buried with their feet to the east. ) In the course ofthe recent excavations on Cole's Hill, some scattered bones i62i.] BRADFORD ELECTED GOVERNOR. 159 It is a sufficient proof of William Bradford's standing among his fellows that he was chosen to the vacant governorship, although still disabled by a sickness which had threatened his life; on account of his weakness, Isaac Allerton was chosen as his assistant. (These two formed the " adminis tration," by successive annual election, for three years, but consulted with the Elder and other leading men. In 1624 the plan was changed to a governor and five assistants, the former having a double vote. This board of " assistants," or " magistrates," as they were interchangeably termed, was equivalent to the " executive council " of various modern States. It was also a court for jury trials and the decisions of questions ; but an appeal lay from it to the whole people. The first board is supposed to have included Allerton, Standish, Edward Winslow, and Fuller, the last three contin uing in office many years. The Governor and his Council seem to have had little if any authority, beyond carrying out the orders of the people and the enforcement of a few of human bodies have been found ; and on Monday, as workmen were digging out one of the post-holes in front of the house of Arad Perkins, a skull was thrown out by the spade. The poor relic of humanity was broken in removal ; but the pieces were gathered up by Mr. Snell, of the Plymouth Rock House. It was examined by Dr. Warren Peirce, who declared it to be the skull of an elderly white person, probably a male. From the location there can be little doubt the remains were those of one of the Pilgrims who died in the first sad winter, and was buried on the hill. — Old Col. Memorial, Oct. 11, 1883. " In making improvements on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, the graves of Pilgrims who came over in the ' Mayflower ' have been discovered. One grave was opened November 27 ('83), and a skeleton found in perfect order. These are the only graves of the first settlers that have been positively identified, and a tablet will be put up marking their position." This stone is now in place (see last section of last chapter). It is probable that Carver was of Essex origin. His attendant, John Howland, was from an Essex family. In Doctors' Commons, London, Hon. W. T. Davis found the will of Bishop John White, dated 1621, in which he alludes to a son, not called by name, who had left his country and church. Roger White was at Leyden, and was a brother of Mrs. RobinSon. I suspect that Mrs. Carver was a sister ; for Robinson's use of " brother " in addressing Carver seems to savor of something more than mere -church fraternity ; and especially is it so with his mention of Mrs. C. as " your good wife, my loving sister " (Bradford, Hist. 63-64). Davis queries whether Bishop W.'s son may not have been William White, ofthe " Mayflower." Was not the latter also probably a near kinsman of Roger White ? [Bp. Francis W. ?] I60 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. detached laws that had been established, — laws which, so far as appears, were mostly oral, though they may have been written in those precious little books of Bradford's which the British troops are supposed to have purloined from the library of the Old South, along with his other papers. The Gov ernor, by the way, until 1636, was also both treasurer and secretary of state.) The whole adult male population, in town-meeting assem bled, attended to all questions of public interest, generally making a reference of each case to the Governor and Council. In criminal matters, however, the people were sometimes both judge and jury. The first offence committed in the Colony occurred early in this first spring; the offender — turbulent John Billington — refused to obey some order of the captain, and repaid the rebuke of that officer with abuse and threats. Standish ever had much more authority in his hands than the Governor, and he was not one to bear the sword in vain. Billington was promptly " convented before the whole company," and adjudged to lie for a time in a public place with his neck and heels tied together. The bully was at once humbled, and begged for pardon; this was granted, and the more readily from the fact that no punishment had yet been inflicted on any one. The second case occurred on June 28, and is of special importance as having put an end to the ruffianly practice of duelling. Stephen Hopkins's two employees were Edward Dotey (or Doten) and Edward Lister, — two young men who seem to be more nearly described by the term " cadet " than the formerly generic name of " servant." Their surnames indicate a Scrooby origin, and give a faint clew to Hopkins's early home. The fiery youths, having some dispute, pro ceeded, in the style of chivalry, to fight a duel, each armed, according to old custom, with a sword in the right hand for assault, and a dagger in the left, mainly for parrying and making feints. Soon Dotey was wounded in the hand, and Lister in the thigh. Honor was satisfied; but not so with justice. Such brutality must be nipped in the bud. i62i.] DUELLING. — PLANTING. i6l Accordingly, the wounded men were brought before the whole company, by which tribunal they were sentenced to have their heads and feet tied together, and to remain so for twenty-four hours, without food or drink. The punishment, as painful as ignominious, was forthwith begun ; but before an hour the evident sufferings of the culprits, with their humble appeals for pardon, earnestly seconded by good Master Hopkins, procured their release. The treatment was effectual, for duelling was never again heard of in the Old Colony. The planting-season was well improved. Twenty acres were put in Indian corn, each hill having two or three ale wives at the bottom. If the hills were three feet apart each way, there were 96,800 hills in all, — requiring at least forty tons of fish. When to the labor of breaking up the land with the hoe or mattock, and the subsequent planting, was added that of taking the fish and carrying them up the steep bank of Town Brook to the field, with the subsequent drop ping and burying them, the toil of the planters, many of them not yet fully restored to health and vigor, may be imagined.^ The available force of the colony, when the last traces of the great sickness disappeared, was twenty-one men and some six large boys. By these, the twenty acres of corn-land were well tilled ; six acres more were sown with wheat, rye, barley, and peas, and vegetable gardens were cultivated around the houses. Fuel had to be brought a long distance, and the necessity for fresh provisions consumed much time in hunt ing and fishing. Yet as the summer passed, the settlers grew strong and hopeful. The aid of Tisquantum is not to be overlooked ; but he must have been rather an adviser than a laborer, and more inclined to be useful as a purveyor than as a toiler in the field. As a result of his Indian train ing, he was given to falsehood and deception ; but mainly so for the purpose of impressing the natives with extravagant ideas of the power of his English hosts, and his restraining 1 Baskets were in use : may not hand-barrows have been ? The first men tion of a wheelbarrow is at an inquest in 1665. (Plymouth Records, iv. 85.) II 1 62 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [r62l. influence over their use of it. To the Colony he was a de voted friend, and, according to his Tight, served them with rare zeal, pointing out the best hunting and fishing grounds, and giving much information concerning the natural produc tions of the region and their proper uses. He was the in terpreter between the two races, and the pilot on all the early expeditions. The little faults of this child of Nature are completely eclipsed by his great merits. CHAPTER XIII. Winslow's Four Narratives. — Expeditions to Sowams ; Nauset ; Mid dleborough, and Boston Harbor. I. A VISIT TO Massasoit. WHEN summer had come, the settlers thought it desir able to send an embassy to Massasoit, and the Gov ernor detailed Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins, adding Tisquantum as guide and interpreter. A trooper's coat of red cotton was trimmed with lace for a present, an ornamental copper chain with a medal attached being added as a token, by bringing which, Massasoit's messengers might be known from pretenders. The ambassadors were to make close observations of the country. Bradford says the expedition started on July I2th (n. S.), which was Monday ; Winslow records it as June 20th, which was Sunday. It appears from the account that the day actually was Tuesday, 13th. Probably Bradford's date is that on which the instructions were given and arrangements made, leaving the actual start for the next morning at nine o'clock. The first village reached was Namasket (Middle borough). The natives of this place had long annoyed the Pilgrims by thronging into Plymouth for entertainment, and this had led to the idea that Namasket must be very near. The tourists were surprised to find that it required a weary tramp of fifteen miles to reach it, occupying them until three P. M. The village was at the rapids, near the present Star Mills, or " Lower Factory." The inhabitants received them with joy, and gave them the best feast their larder would afford ; it consisted of a corn-bread which the Indians l64 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. called " maizium" ^ boiled shad-roe, and musty acorns. The first two were highly palatable; Winslow says the visitors partook heartily of the " shads," and that the natives provided wooden spoons to eat with. After dinner, the poor Indians complaining much of the ravages of the crows in their corn, Winslow shot one at a distance of eighty yards, — which much astonished the people. By sunset the travellers reached a camp of this tribe at a weir in the Taunton River, four to five miles beyond their dining-place, at or near the present village of Titicut, in north west Middleborough. Being very cordially received, and treated to a supper of bass, of which the natives had caught a large amount, the Plymouth people in turn contributed liberally from their own haversacks, trusting to Massasoit for a new supply. There being no wigwams, they slept in the open air. The next morning the Pilgrims followed the left bank of the Taunton to a noted ford some three and a half miles from the present Taunton Green. Here they removed their nether garments and waded to the Raynham side, taking note that they were in tide-water. They had breakfasted at the weir, and now lunched, — two brave old Indians with their families, the only population left by the plague, contributing such food as they had, receiving in return the gratifying present of a bracelet of beads. The two renewed their journey, still attended by several Namaskets, two of whom insisted on carrying the white men across all the brooks. One of these men, in return for little gifts, attached himself to Winslow, and the other, for a like reason, adhered to Hopkins. During the second afternoon the travellers entered the territory of the Wampanoags, the home-tribe of Massasoit ; it comprised the present territory of Warren, Bristol, and Barrington in Rhode Island, and parts of Seekonk and Swansea in Massachusetts. Old writers and most recent ones often speak of this region as Pokanoket; but this term (as was seen in Chapter X.) pertained to 1 From " Maize" Indian corn. i62i.] SOWAMS. — VISIT TO MASSASOIT. 165 Massasoit's whole dominions from Cape Cod to Narraganset Bay. The chief sachem had two seats, — one at Montaup (mod ernized to " Mount Hope " ) ; ^ the other and principal, Sowams, on Narraganset Bay, at the present Warren. A Wampanoag village was soon reached. A meal was prepared of fish and oysters, — the latter not obtainable at Plymouth, the harbor of which, abounding in lobsters, muscles, crabs, and clams, is uncongenial to that princely bivalve which adds fame to the adjoining town of Wareham. Before night the pedestrians had arrived at Sowams. The great chief was absent, but was soon found by a messenger. Winslow and Hopkins saluted the sovereign with a discharge of their muskets, and were cordially welcomed by him. Received into his dwelling and seated beside him, with a large crowd of native spectators, they proceeded, by Tisquantum's help, to deliver their mes sage, in substance as follows : As his subjects came often and without fear to the settlement, so the messengers showed like confidence by this visit. As a token of good-will, the Gov ernor had sent him a coat. The Pilgrims desired the present amity to continue, not from fear, but from a desire to do justice to all, and to live in peace, especially with their next neighbors; but as his people thronged to Plymouth with their families, where they were welcome, the uncertainty of the crops made it necessary to husband resources, and would prevent the Pilgrims from continuing entertainment to all comers. Yet if Massasoit should at any time be pleased to visit them, or send any of his friends, a hearty welcome would be ready ; so the Governor had sent him a chain, which he was asked to lend any one whom he desired to have received with hospitality, in order that they might be known as his friends. It was also requested that orders be given for such as had peltry for sale to take it in bulk to Plymouth, rather 1 Norse enthusiasts claim that the natives caught their name from a Norse appellation derived from Icelandic " H6pa" "to recede," supposed to have been given by the Norse explorers as the bay seemed to increase before them. (It was near here, in Fall River, that Leif is supposed to have built his huts ["booths"] and lingered some time.) 1 66 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. than to waste time and labor by peddling it through the season. It was added that when the Pilgrims were exploring Cape Cod they took some corn found there, with the purpose of paying for it whenever an owner could be discovered. Massasoit was therefore requested to employ a messenger, at the expense of the Pilgrims, to find the owner and make known their desire of payment. He was also asked to ex change some of his Narraganset seed-corn for Cape corn, that both kinds might be tried at " Pawtuxet." The chieftain having cordially assented to all these requests, then arrayed himself in the gay coat ; and placing the chain around his neck, sat in state with great self-admiration, while his men were not a little proud " to see their king so bravely attired." Massasoit next made a lengthy harangue to his people, who frequently interrupted him with assent or applause. The purport of the speech, as translated piecemeal, was: " Am not I the ruler of this country; is not Sowams mine ; and shall not the people there carry their furs to Plymouth ? " To this his dutiful subjects answered that they were his, and would be at peace with the Pilgrims and carry their furs to them. Like interrogatories were successively made concern ing at least thirty other places, and the same answer returned ; until, as Winslow says, " so that as it was delightful, it was tedious unto us." The chieftain then produced tobacco, and passed the even ing smoking with his guests and making inquiries about England. He expressed much surprise that the King should remain single, his wife having died more than two years before. He also desired the French to be notified not to come up the Narraganset to Pokanoket, for it was now King James's country, and he was King James's man. Bedtime came, but nothing was said about supper. The chief had been absent so long that his house was bare of food, and he appar ently had not authority or means to procure any from his people. When ready to retire, the visitors were taken to Massasoit's own bed. This consisted of a platform of rude l62l.] INDIAN MANNERS. — SCANTY FOOD. 167 planks raised on stakes about a foot above the ground, and only covered with a thin mat.^ The well-intending chieftain and his wife lay across one end, and the guests on the other. Soon, two of the chief men crowded themselves upon the royal couch, which was not adapted to so many occupants ; and poor Winslow says, " We were worse weary of our lodging than of our journey." The next day (Thursday) several of Massasoit's sachems, with attendants, came to do honor to the visitors. The natives, being inveterate gamblers, devoted themselves to keenly striv ing for each other's furs and knives, which the Pilgrims had not yet learned to consider as sinful, for the ambassadors ofi'ered to shoot with them at a mark for skins. This off"er was prudently declined ; but the strangers were asked to shoot at the mark without a wager. This was done ; and the natives were filled with amazement at the execution done by a charge of buckshot. No breakfast had been provided either for the guests or the royal household; but soon after noon Massasoit brought in two fish, which he had shot with arrows : they were probably bass. The fish having been boiled, at least forty persons gathered around to partake ; and, strange to say, most of them obtained a share. This was the only meal the visitors had during their tarry of a day and two nights, in place of the five substantial repasts which they would have had at home. It illustrates the character of the natives that they chose to lie around gambling instead of procuring food either for them selves or their honored guests, and that their king had to go out and kill his own dinner. Thursday night brought an increase of discomfort The 1 Gookin says : " In their wigwams they make a couch or mattress, firm and strong, raised a foot from the earth, first covered with boards split out of trees ; and upon these they spread mats generally, and sometimes bear and deer skins. These are large enough for three or four persons to lodge upon ; for their mat tresses are six or eight feet broad." Morton has as additional information, that the " boards " rest on rails supported by forked sticks driven in the ground, and that the natives lie upon the mats, covering themselves warmly with the fur skins, which are well tanned. If the "boards" were thin, this combination would make no mean imitation of o. modern spring-bed. l68 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. habit of the Indians was to lull themselves to sleep with " bar barous singing; "^ when this noise had ceased, the "lice and fleas within doors, and mosquitoes without," pretty much prevented sleep either in the cabin or under the trees. Friday morning the amiable Massasoit was very urgent that his visitors should prolong their stay; but they, not only desiring to spend Sunday at home, but fearing that, from lack of food and sleep, they should soon become too weak for rough travelling, set out before sunrise. The chieftain, who was evidently " both grieved and ashamed" that he could not entertain them better, sent Tisquantum to various places to secure trade for Plymouth, and for a homeward guide de tailed Tockamahamon (Tock-a-ma-^aw-mon) , who had before served the Pilgrims faithfully, and did so for long after. The travellers had bought a partridge, which gave them a slight breakfast. At the village where they before found the oysters, they traded for a small fish and a handful of nocake, which at that time of year was precious. They also bought a string of dried clams, which they gave to their six Indian attendants. As the worn-down Pilgrims plodded along, every time they drank they put a spoonful of nocake in the water, and then smoked a pipe of tobacco. Even their little store of these things they could not forbear to share with the long ing natives, and so soon exhausted it. Along their route they noticed that the land, before the plague, had contained a large population, the bleaching bones of unburied thousands being still to be seen. The party travelled for many miles in solitude through fields once cultivated, the goodness of the soil displaying itself in a crop of weeds which reached above the men's heads. This was mostly along the streams. Back from these were many fine trees of oak, walnut, fir, and beech, besides " exceeding great " chestnut-trees. The woods were all park-like, so that a man might readily have ridden a horse through them. 1 Rev. Mr. Morrell (see Index), in his historical Latin poem, says of this singing : — " And recall Odes which us affect with Grief, Though to their Minds perchance they give Relief." l62i.] HOME FROM SOWAMS. — BOY LOST. 169 On regaining their lodging-place at the weir they found no savages remaining. One of their attendants had shot a shad and also a small squirrel (or neuxis, as Winslow says) ; and giving half of each to the white men, he tried fishing at the weir. Winslow then despatched a letter to Plymouth to re lieve the anxiety of his friends. Two Indians remained with them and caught an abundance of fish, which were soon "roasted" {i.e., broiled), and gave the party their first full meal for three days. The Pilgrims went satisfied to their out door couch ; but the Indians prepared for another season of shortness by catching more fish, and roasting and eating them instead of going to sleep. Saturday, long before daylight, the tourists were roused by a fearful thunderstorm, and the rain was very violent nearly all day. No fire could be made, but the surplus of fish cooked the previous night made an excellent breakfast. At Namasket were welcome food and shelter. Here the travellers rewarded their six attendants, according to their several merits. One unfaithful, dishonest fellow was duly rebuked, and a lesson on morality given the people at his expense ; after which he was paid a trifle. The people of Namasket were urgent that the travellers should spend the night there, and wondered much that they set forth in such a rain rather than take a fresh start on Sunday. Just after the wanderers reached Billington Sea the rain ended, and in due time, passing down Town Brook, they came to Leyden Street, where, we may well believe, an enthusiastic welcome awaited them as they came home " wet, weary, and surbated." ^ II. An Expedition to Nauset. In August, John BiUington's son John disappeared. The Governor at once employed natives to trace him, and through Massasoit learned that he was at Nauset, in the hands of the same Indians who attacked the Pilgrims at First Encounter. The boy, losing himself in the woods, had wandered for five days, living on berries, until he reached the native village of 1 " Surbated," — with sore feet. 170 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. Manomet, at the head of Buzzard's Bay, twenty miles from home. The sachem there was Canacum {Caw-na-cum) , who for some mysterious purpose sent the boy to Aspinet, sachem of the Nausets. A party of ten, well armed, at once went in the shallop to recover him, Standish probably being the leader, with Winslow as an associate. Soon after leaving the Gurnet the shallop was caught in a heavy thunderstorm, accompanied by a waterspout. Night approaching, the boat put in at Cummaquid (Barnstable). Entering in the dark, the company anchored in mid-harbor at high tide, and, like many a tourist since, were annoyed six hours later at finding themselves stranded, and far away from the nearest water. In the morning some Indians were seen looking for lobsters. Tisquantum and Tockamahamon learned from them that the boy was safe at Nauset ; they also brought an invitation for the whites to breakfast with their chief. Four hostages were left with four whites in the boat, while six Pilgrims went with the natives. The sachem, lyanough (or " Janno"), was twenty- six years old, gentle, courteous, and "very personable, . . . indeed not like a savage save for his attire," says Winslow. His entertainment was " plentiful and various." The visitors were grieved by a matron, supposed to be a hundred years old, who came to look at them because she never had seen Englishmen, but who indulged in passionate outcries because their countryman (Hunt) had carried away her three sons, seven years before. The Pilgrims assured her of their abhor rence of Hunt's course, and made her some presents, " which somewhat appeased her." After dinner the shallop proceeded to Nauset (Eastham), lyanough and two of his men going with it. The place was reached before night ; but the inevitable low tide had come again. lyanough and Tisquantum waded ashore, and soon a large crowd of savages came out to the boat, urging the whole party to land and have the shallop dragged in. But as this was the identical spot of the First Encounter, the Pilgrims were very cautious, standing on their guard, and only allowing two Nausets to come on board. One of these was an owner i62i.] ASPINET. — INDIAN ALARMS. 171 of the corn taken from Pamet, with whom they made an ami cable settlement, he choosing to go to Plymouth for his pay, instead of having an equivalent of corn brought to him. After sunset the sachem Aspinet appeared with a hundred attendants. Half of these remained with their weapons on the shore, while Aspinet with the remainder went off" to the shallop. There the boy, profusely decorated with beads, was borne over the flats on the shoulders of an Indian, and de livered to his countrymen. Aspinet agreed to future friend ship, and was presented with a knife for his trouble; while another knife was given to him who had first taken care of the boy. Here the Pilgrims were startled by a report that the Narra gansets had invaded Pokanoket and taken Massasoit prisoner. If this were true, the Colony must be in extreme danger, and would require the immediate presence of the ten absentees. The prow was at once turned west; but the wind was pro- vokingly unfavorable, and the supply of drinking-water nearly gone. The shallop therefore during the night put in for the shore, where it encountered lyanough with nearly all his tribe. The sachem kindly led a party of the explorers a long way in the dark, searching with slight success for water. What little could be found was put in their runlet, which lyanough insisted on carrying down to the shore on his own shoulders. In the mean time the women of his tribe had shown the explorers such little kindnesses as they could, and had welcomed them by singing and dancing before them with joined hands. The sachem, when the shallop left, took a bead-bracelet from his neck and hung it upon one of the white men (probably Winslow) . Still the wind held light, and the new supply of water proved too brackish for drinking. In the morning lyanough hailed the Pilgrims, upon which they put in to the shore, and taking him on board, proceeded to his home at Barn stable, where they were sure to find good water. The chief entertained them with the same hospitality as before, the much-needed water was obtained, and the anxious excur- 172 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. sionists went on their way, arriving that night safe at Leyden Street.i III. An Expedition to Middleborough. On their arrival, the absentees heard a repetition of the rumor that Massasoit had been captured. They also heard that one of Massasoit's sachems, Corbitant, chief of the Pocas sets (around Swansea), who was already suspected of treas onable intimacy with the Narragansets, was now at Namasket (Middleborough) endeavoring to prejudice the people against Massasoit, and denouncing the peaceful relations just estab lished between the Pilgrims and the Cape sachems. He was violently railing against Tisquantum, Tockamahamon, and also Hobomok. The latter, one of Massasoit's chief captains and counsellors, called a pinese (or pniese), and a stout, val iant man, had recently allied himself with the Pilgrims, whom he continued to serve with rare fidelity and intelligence until his death in old age. Tisquantum and Hobomok went privately to Namasket to ascertain the facts of the case, but were captured by Corbi tant, who declared they should at once be killed. While the savage chief was holding a knife to Tisquantum's breast and boasting that with the death of the interpreter the English would lose their tongue, Hobomok broke away, and, taking to the woods, hastened to Plymouth. The settlers were at once called together, and their decision was quickly reached. It was agreed that a timid policy would invite an attack, and that a neglect to defend and, if need be, to avenge their allies, would discourage other Indians from joining them. It was therefore agreed that Standish, with ten men, should go to Namasket next day. If he should find that Tisquantum had been murdered, he was to behead Corbitant, but take care to harm only those concerned in the murder. In the mean time Nepeof, another sachem, should be held as a hostage for Massasoit's safety. 1 The reader will deeply regret that, a year and a half later, the amiable lyanough was drawn into a conspiracy for the extermination of the whites, and brought upon himself a miserable death through fear of retribution. i62i.] EXPEDITION TO MIDDLEBOROUGH. 173 The next day, August 24th, the force marched, although it was very rainy. Camping a few miles out from Namasket, the men ate the food from their knapsacks, and then laid the latter aside as impedimenta. It was arranged to make the attack at midnight, Standish giving special instructions to each man. As the force advanced, their guide lost his way, causing the wet and weary men to flounder around the drip ping forests in the darkness in a very discouraging manner, until at length Winslow found some clew to his former line of travel, and conducted them to the village. The house indicated by Hobomok was surrounded. Corbi tant was called for, and notice given that not a person must leave the place until it had been searched. The wily chief, it was soon found, had left those parts ; but in an attempt to rush from the house a man and a woman had been slightly wounded. In the tumult of the onset many of the Indian boys, seeing the care taken not to hurt the women, ran around, crying, '^ Neen squaes ;" that is, "I am a girl." The women also in their alarm hung upon Hobomok, according to Wins low, calling him " towam," or friend, though the word used was probably netop or netomp. It was soon found that Corbi tant had returned to his Swansea home, and that Tisquantum was at the village unharmed. Corbitant's house seems to have been a sort of summer resort considerably beyond the Namasket village, being probably at what is now Muttock Hill ; and the party next turned toward the village. As they drew near, Hobomok mounted the roof of a house and sent forth a series of yells, which soon caused Tisquantum and Tockamahamon to come forth and welcome their friends. A social breakfast was then given to his white and native friends by Tisquantum, in a house which belonged to him. The Pilgrims then left an oral message for Corbitant, say ing that they had before entertained him kindly, and should not have sought to do otherwise but for his evil actions ; if he continued his hostile course and undertook to form con spiracies against them, or should rebel against Massasoit, or off"er violence to any of their Indian friends or of Massasoit's 174 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. subjects, or if that chieftain did not return unharmed from the Narragansets, the white man's vengeance should fall on Corbitant ; no place should secure him or his, but retribution should follow him to the bitter end.^ The end of the second day (August 25 th) found the little army once more at home, whither they were accompanied by many of their Indian friends, who were only too ready to relieve their champions by carrying their knapsacks, spare clothing and weapons. No enemy had been encountered, but a tremendous eff'ect had been produced. With the Indian love of falsehood, the story probably grew with each repeti tion, and the Pilgrim prowess was magnified more and more. The sachem of Capawack (Martha's "Vineyard), of whom the Pilgrims knew nothing, sent to make peace and acknowledge allegiance to the English King. The bold Aspinet formally did the same, and was joined by old Canacum, of Manomet. Then followed five others, and even Corbitant solicited the mediation of Massasoit to procure the forgiveness and re newed favor of such valuable friends and terrible enemies as the men of Plymouth ; and, the report of Massasoit's capture proving to be unfounded, he easily made his peace. The following document, signed during the autumn as a sequel to this expedition, doubtless meant to the signers vastly more than it expresses in terms : — Know all men by these presents, that we whose names are under written do acknowledge ourselves to be the loyal subjects of King James, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. In witness whereof, and as a testimonial of the same, we have subscribed our names or marks as foHoweth : ^ — Oquamehud, Natawahunt, Quadequina, (5) Canacum, (i) Corbitant, (3) Hutmoiden, Obbatinewat, (2) Chikatabut, (4) Apenow, (6) 1 For several days after the expedition the two wounded Namaskets were cared for at Plymouth, where their injuries were healed by Deacon Fuller, the "good physician." 2 This document (judging from Morton's copy) was drawn up Sept. 13, 1621. The signatures were probably added subsequently at such odd intervals as the conscience or fear of the several chiefs dictated. i62i.] EXPLORING BOSTON HARBOR. 175 Note. — i. Sachem of Manomet ; 2, of a tribe near Boston ; 3, of Pocasset ; 4, of Neponset and Weymouth ; 5, Massasoit's brother ; 6, probably Aspinet of Nauset. The other three were sachems, — one of Capawack, and the others probably of Namasket, Agawam, or Saconet ; though Drake supposes the first to have been Massasoit, and the fourth a Nipmuck sachem under him. But the peaceful inclinations of the Indians, as well as their trepidation, had too little foundation to last long. One more example — a terrible one — was to be required before native hostilities should be forever after unknown on Cape Cod, and unheard of in any part of the Pokanoket kingdom by that generation. IV. Trip to Boston Harbor. The Pilgrims had often heard that the Indians of Massa chusetts Bay were hostile to them ; and they now determined, in view of the successful visits just made at the Cape, Namas ket, and Sowams, to send a party to the Bay to establish peace and commerce. Accordingly, ten men were selected, with Tisquantum and two other natives attending as guides and interpreters. Standish commanded, and Winslow seems to have been counsellor. The shallop sailed late on the even ing of September 28th, and about dark on the 29th came to anchor (as seems probable from the vague description) under that beautiful promontory in Quincy which is still called Squantum.i Doubtless the Pilgrims named this head for their interpreter, while at the mouth of the harbor they called a group of islands The Brewsters, and the outermost projec tion of the mainland Point Allerton, — thus commemorating both the lowliest and the loftiest of their company in a way which promises to be fully as enduring as the natural features in question. 1 Bradford always wrote this name " Squanto," Winslow as " Tisquantum," Robert Cushman as " Squantum." This affords one key to the portions of Mourt written by Bradford and by Winslow. In 1627-8 Merry-Mount Mor ton knew this headland as Squantum. In 1634 Wood's "N. E. Prospect" mentions " Poynt Allerton." Winthrop also uses the name. Applied to one English town it is spelled " Ollerton," and to another — a Yorkshire post-town not far from Scrooby — it is " Northallerton." It was pronounced 01-Ierton. 176 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. On the morning of the 30th they ventured on shore and breakfasted from a pile of lobsters which lay there. Then Standish, with a guide and four men, boldly started inland. Soon meeting a woman on her way to get the lobsters, they bought them of her, and learned where her people were. Tisquantum went thither and returned with the chief Obba tinewat. He and his tribe (the Shawmuts?) seem to have belonged on or about the peninsula of Shawmut, now Boston, but did not dare to live long in any one place for fear of the Tarrantines. The squaw-sachem near Medford was also hos tile to him. Although in the centre of the Massachusetts nation, he acknowledged allegiance to Massasoit and readily consented to become subject to the King of England, prob ably at this time adding his mark to the document quoted in the last narrative. Under the protection of the white men, Obbatinewat undertook to take them to the dreaded squaw-sachem. This woman ruled in the place of her late husband, Nanepashmet, sachem of the Massachusetts tribe, and he probably had been the last grand-sachem of the once great Massachusetts nation. There is, however, much doubt when or how completely the rule was transferred to Massasoit. On the morning of October ist all but two men were landed at or near the present Charlestown. Three miles in land they found a place where the corn had just been gath ered, the house pulled down, and no inhabitants left. A mile farther was the house of the late ruler ; it stood upon the top of a hill (Rock Hill, Medford), and was erected on a scaffold of poles and planks laid six feet above the ground. Near by, not far from Mystic Pond, was a fort built of poles thirty to forty feet long, set snugly together in the ground, making an enclosure of a hundred and fifty feet circumference. A trench breast-high was on each side, the entrance being over a bridge. In the centre was the uncovered frame of a house, within which the famous chief lay buried. A mile beyond was a similar structure, in which Nanepashmet had been killed two years before, and which had remained unoccupied since. l62i.] TRADING WITH THE NATIVES. 177 Stopping at the second fort, the whites sent two of their interpreters to find the inhabitants. A mile away the women of the region were discovered; the poor creatures, in the absence of their husbands, had been so terrified at the ap proach of the white men that they had pulled down their houses and fled inland, bearing away as much corn and other property as possible. With great fear they allowed the inter preters to conduct them to the strangers ; but, won by gentle ness, soon gained confidence, and proceeded to entertain the visitors as well as possible. After " much sending for,'' a man of the tribe was brought forward, shaking with fear, but who regained his courage so soon as he found that trade was desired, and agreed to pro duce his skins. He also said that the squaw-sachem was so far inland that she could not be reached in season for an interview, probably being near Concord, Mass. It was here that Tisquantum showed his Indian breeding, by advising the whites to rob the savage women of their beaver coats and other useful matters ; for he said they were bad people, and had often threatened the white men. The latter indig nantly replied that were the natives ever so bad, they should suffer no injustice: their words mattered little; but if they resorted to hostile acts, they should fare " far worse than he desired." As the party returned it was followed by the women, who, in their eagerness to trade, sold the very beaver coats which constituted almost their entire clothing; yet they showed much delicacy, tying little boughs of trees about themselves, and winning from Winslow the praise " they are more modest than some of our English women are." With a promise to come again if the natives would save their furs, the visitors took a friendly leave. Boston Harbor greatly pleased the explorers, they declaring that there could be no better harbor for shipping. As they wound their way among its forty-seven beautiful islands, the most of which had been cleared and cultivated, but now were desolate, they regretted that they had not settled there instead 12 178 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. of at Plymouth. Sailing by the light of the harvest-moon, they reached home the next forenoon, having made satis factory progress in establishing good feeling between them selves and the natives, and gained a goodly addition to the stock of beaver with which they were to reduce their heavy debt to the Adventurers.^ ^ Shipments of beaver continued highly profitable until, after many years, the supply failed. The fur became very popular in England, and could not always be furnished in quantities sufficieiit for the demand. A pound sterling for a pound of beaver was often the rate in London. The beaver was the financial salvation of the Colony, and it deserves to find a place among the official em blems of our Commonwealth, as once, in a brief era of good taste, it was placed on one of the postage-stamps of Canada, and is still emblazoned on the escutcheon of New York city. CHAPTER XIV. WINSLOW'S MARRIAGE. — CIVIL MARRIAGES. THE autumn of 1621 waned on a prosperous community. The sickness had ceased, though it had destroyed one half the company ; but it was equally true that one half had survived it, and that uniform good health now blessed the settlement. On Leyden Street were seven dwelling-houses and four public buildings. One of the latter was for worship and town-meetings ; it was also available as a hospital or work shop. The others were depots for provisions, clothing, trading-stock, and general supplies, while in one was gar nered the year's crop. The corn had liberally repaid the labor expended on it, and the smaller grains had yielded moderately. The peas alone failed, late planting and drought having been fatal. Upon the whole, the crops had been highly satisfactory and encouraging. The houses had been put in good condition for winter, a store of materials provided for additional buildings, and a goodly stock of furs and prepared lumber made ready for export to England by the next ship. The waters swarmed with fish, abundant sea-fowl flew along the shore, and in the woods were found herds of deer and a plentiful store of wild turkeys. The settlers were in amity with all the Indians of the region, and with the more important were in intimate friendship. The Pilgrims, fond as they were of social enjoyment, had since landing known no day of rest except the sacred day of worship. Now that the summer was past and the harvest l80 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. I1621. ended, they determined to have a period of recreation, com bined with thanksgiving for their many mercies. The Gov ernor thereupon sent out four huntsmen, who in one day secured enough game to supply the Colony for nearly a week. Hospitality was extended to Massasoit, who accepted and brought ninety people with him. The guests remained three days, during which they captured five deer to add to the larder of their hosts. The motley company indulged in a round of amusements, and the Colonists entertained their visitors with military tactics and evolutions. Without doubt, religious services opened each day; for the Pilgrims were cheerful Christians, who carried religion into all their affairs. Thus heartily and royally was inaugurated the great New England festival of Thanksgiving. For two centuries it con tinued to be a peculiarity of the Eastern States ; but it has now become national, its annual return finding a welcome along the Lake shore and the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.^ The climate of Plymouth had proved very satisfactory. Winslow writes that he had never known a " more seasonable year," and had not found the winter colder than in England, I In 1623 a public day of Thanksgiving is noticed ; and one is mentioned in a letter of 1632. Under the head of " John Lothrop " it will be seen that his flock kept such a feast in 1636 at Scituate, just after the Colony in its first series of laws had provided for the appointment of such days by the Governor and Coun cil. The inference is clear that this was in accordance with the new law, es pecially as Magistrate Hatherly was one of Lothrop's flock. In 1639 Lothrop mentions the Thanksgiving feast, he being then at Barnstable. There was a Thanksgiving ordered for Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1668 (o. s.). I do not doubt that such a religious festival was held after every harvest, and that it was so much a matter of course that the records did not mention it any more than they did the great training-day, with its sermon and holiday features. The law of 1636, which became permanent, proves very clearly that the Thanksgiving day was one of the institutions of the Colony. One writer argues that Lothrop's two feasts were merely local, and that there is no reason to suppose there was any general festival by authority, except those of 1621, 1623, and 1668. If so, why in their very scanty list of laws, in 1636, did they make careful provision for days of fasting and of thanksgiving ? There is slight record either of fast-days, but it would be absurd to suppose that they were not held in many cases. Other Colonies held thanksgiving services on special occasions, but Plymouth seems to have originated our great harvest-festival, with its family reunions and wide spread charity. l62i.] WINTERS. — MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. l8l — meaning, probably, his home in Worcestershire. Contrary to the general statement, the first winter was exceptionally mild, though blustering. In the village there was little, if any, snow, and the harbor was open. Occasionally the entire haven is frozen, and the winter severe; but not usually so much so as at a short distance inland. The Pilgrims might well have been thankful that to their sufferings during the first winter was not added a season of great rigor, such as was experienced at Plymouth in 1633 and 1642. It has been thought that in this latter case the Colony could hardly have survived. The first marriage in the Colony occurred May 22. Edward Winslow had been a widower only seven weeks, and Susanna White a widow not twelve weeks : but the case was excep tional. What would be indecorous in an older community was here proper and desirable. Winslow should be at the head of a household, and the White children needed a pater nal guardian, especially as their mother was occupied with the care of an infant. The marriage proved fortunate for all concerned. Among Mrs. Winslow's subsequent children was Josiah, whom fifty-two years later she saw the first native governor of an American colony; thus she was the mother of the first white child in New England, the wife of one governor and mother of another. The Pilgrims had adopted the views of the Dutch Calvinists as to marriage ; they held that the Scriptures and the primitive Christians had never authorized clergymen to perform marriage services, but that marriage, with its civil obligations and its connection with the rights of property, as well as its business importance to the State, should make it a strictly civil contract, to be entered into before the magistrate. Indeed the Pilgrims could not well practise any other method ; for Elder Brewster was not a clergyman, but remained through life a mere lay ofiicer in the church. Marriage before a magistrate was the rule throughout New England for generations.^ 1 See supplementary chapter, — "Marriage Celebrations." CHAPTER XV. The " Mayflower's " Passengers. — Who are the Living, and Who the Dead? — List of Families. — Biographical Notes. A S the first year of the Pilgrim Colony approaches its ¦^ -^ close, the reader may well ask for the names of those who have fallen, and of those who have survived. Since the re-discovery of Bradford's History such a list is possible; but before 1855 not even the number of the "Mayflower's" passengers was certainly known to historical writers. Many gave it as a hundred and one, some a hundred; it will be seen to be a hundred and two. Many of the names were unknown, and great errors were made as to the com position of the company. For instance, John Howland was so confidently supposed to have brought as his wife a daughter of Governor Carver that the statement was engraved on his tombstone a century and a half after his death ; the number of their children was also stated by tradition. Yet when Bradford's book came to light it was found that Carver brought no children, and that Howland did not marry until some years after his arrival, his wife being Elizabeth Tilley, who was fourteen years old at the landing. In the roll of the " Mayflower's " passengers it is worth while to notice their truly English names. Of course there are no middle names, for such were not in general use even a century and a half later, as is shown by the names of our revolutionary officers and early Presidents. Those who im agine that the Pilgrim Fathers inclined to uncouth Hebrew names, or those derived from Scriptural texts and religious phrases, may be surprised to notice that of the known Chris tian names of the male passengers more than a fifth are simply John, almost as many being either William or Edward ; l620-l.] WHO CAME IN THE "MAYFLOWER." 183 while with the other sex the finest of English names pre dominate. PASSENGERS IN THE "MAYFLOWER," CAPE COD, NOV. 21, 1620. " Mr." was then spoken as Master, and usually so written. The * denotes those who brought children. The f shows those who left wives who came soon after. The children are, as near as may be, in the order of seniority. Those who died during the first year are in italic. The age at the landing is given, when known, thus : (30) ; and also, at the right, the date of decease of those who survived the first year. Adult Colonists, 59. Mr. John Carver. His Wife, Katharine. Mr. William Bradford (30) . His Wife, Dorothy (23). Mr. Edward Winslow (25) . His Wife, Elizabeth. Mr. William Brewster * (54) His Wife, Mary (51) . . • Mr. Isaac Allerton * (32) His Wife, Mary. Mr. Samuel Fuller, Surgeon f Captain Myles Standish (36) His Wife, Rose. Mr. Christopher Martin. His Wife, . Mr. William Mullins.* His Wife, . Mr. William White.* His Wife, Susanna Mr. Stephen Hopkins * His Wife Elizabeth . Mr. Richard Warren f John Howland (27) George Soule . . . John Crackstone.* Francis Cook *t (38?) John Billington * . . His Wife, Eleanor. Edward Tilley. His Wife, Ann. i6s7 i6ss 1644 1626? 1659 1633 1656 1680 1644164-16281673168016631630 John Tilley.* His Wife, Bridget. Thomas Rogers.* Thomas Tinker.* His Wife, . John Rigdale. His Wife, Alice. James Chilton.* His Wife, . Edward Fuller.* His Wife, . John Turner.* Francis Eaton * 1633 His Wife, Sarah. Moses Fletcher. John Goodman. Thomas Williams. Degory Priest\ (41). Edmund Margeson. Richard Britteridge. John Allerton. Peter Brown 1633 Gilbert Winslow (21st 3T.). Edward Dotey (Doten) . . 1655 Richard Clark. Thomas English. Richard Gardner. John Alden (21) .... 1687 Edward Lister 162- 1 84 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1620-1. Sailors hired for One Year, 2. William Trevor. | Ely. Servants (presumed Minors), 9. William Holbeck, Robert Carter. John Langemore. William Latham John Hooke. Roger Wilder. Solomon Prower. Edward Thompson. Elias Story. 164- Youths and Children. Girls, II. Priscilla Mullins . . after 1687 Mary Chilton 1679 Mrs. Carver's maid . . . 162- Elizabeth Tilley (14) . . . 1687 Desire Minter. Remember Allerton (over 13). Constance Hopkins (over 13) 1677 Damans Hopkins . . after 1666 Mary Allerton (11). . . . 1699 Humility Cooper. Ellen More. Boys, 21. Love Brewster . . . . Wrestling Brewster . . Joseph Mullins. Bartholomew Allerton. John Crackstone, Jr. . . Giles Hopkins (about 15) Turner. Turner (2d). John BiUington, Jr. . . Francis Billington. Joseph Rogers . . . . 1650 164- ? 1628? 1690 1628-9 . 1678 John Cook 1694? Richard More 1656 Jasper More. His Brother . Henry Sampson (6) Resolved White (5) Tinker. . . 1684 after i6go Samuel Fuller 1683 Samuel Eaton (infant) . . . 1684 Oceanus Hopkins, do. before 1627 Summary. Died. Survived. Total. Adults 36 Seamen Servants ....... 8 Girls I Boys 6 SI 23 S9 2 2 I 9 10 II IS 21 SI Elizabeth Tilley was daughter of John; the boy, Samuel Fuller, was son of Edward. The parentage of the others does not need explanation. l62i.] LIST OF PILGRIMS. — FAMILIES, ETC. 185 Of the fifty-one dead, it will be remembered that Edward Thompson, Jasper More, Dorothy Bradford, and James Chil ton died in Provincetown Harbor, and of course were buried there ; the others all died after reaching Plymouth, and were buried on Cole's Hill, near the Rock. Martin, Hopkins, Mullins, BiUington, Warren, John Aller ton, English, Alden, Trevor, Ely, Prower, Langemore, Dotey, and Lister, with the families of the first three, joined the party when it reached England. It is not improbable that Gardner and Gilbert Winslow did the same. Therefore not more than eighty of the company were from Leyden. Allowing for the younger children and servants, it is evident that not half the company can have been from Robinson's communicants. Button, who did not reach Cape Cod, is not included in this list, his place being taken by Oceanus Hopkins. Dr. Prince, by counting them both and excluding the two seamen who were for one year a part of the Colony, makes the pas sengers a hundred and one; and this is often given as the correct count. As has been seen, there were a hundred and two, or, leaving out the seamen, a hundred. Bradford gives this list by families as follows (save that here the maiden names of the matrons are given when known, besides some slight transposition of the single men, and the use of " employee " for " servant," to more clearly express the meaning) : — The List according to Families. Mr. John Carver; his wife, Katharine; Desire Minter; John Howland, Roger Wilder, and William Latham (employees) ; a maid servant, dsA. Jasper More {" a child that was put to him "). Mr. William Bradford and his wife, Dorothy May. (Their son John came afterward.) Mr. Edward Winslow j his wife, Elizabeth Barker ; George Soule and Elias Story (employees) ; Ellen More, who was " put to him." Mr. William Brewster ; his wife, Mary ; their sons. Love and Wrest ling ; Richard More and his brother, who were " put to him." Mr. Isaac Allerton; his wife, Mary Norris ; their children, Bar tholomew, Remember, and Mary ; John Hooke (employee). John Crackstone and his son, John. 1 86 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. Captain Myles Standish and his wife, Rose. Mr. Samuel Fuller. (His wife and child came 1623.) Mr. Christopher Martin ; his wife ; Solomon Prower and John Langemore (employees). Mr. William Mullins ; his wife ; their c}c^dxQn, Joseph and Pris cilla ; Robert Carter (employee). Mr. William White; his wife, Susanna; their son. Resolved; ' Wm. Holbeck and Edward Thompson (employees). Mr. Stephen Hopkins ; his wife, Elizabeth ; their children, Giles, Constance (by a former wife), Damaris, and Oceanus; Edward Dotey (or Doten) and Edward Lister (employees). Mr. Richard Warren. (His wife and five daughters came in 1623 ; two sons probably in 1621.) Francis Cooke and his son John. (His wife came in 1623.) John Billington ; his wife, Eleanor j their sons, John and Francis. Edward Tilley and his wife, Ann ; their cousins, Henry Sampson and Humility Cooper. John Tilley; his wife, Bridget 'Van der Velde ; their daughter Elizabeth. Thomas Rogers and his son Joseph. Thomas Tinker ; his wife, and their son. John Ridgdale and his wife, Alice. James Chilton ; his wife, and their daughter, Mary. Edward Fuller ; his wife, and their son Samuel. John Turner and his two sons. Francis Eaton ; his wife Sarah, and their infant son Samuel. Degory Priest. (His wife and children came 1623.) Moses Fletcher ; John Goodman; Thomas Williams ; Edmund Margeson; Richard Britteridge; John Allerton; Richard Clark; Thomas English ; Peter Brown ; Gilbert Winslow ; Richard Gardner ; John Alden (cooper) j William Trevor and Ely (hired seamen). Summary. Died. Husbands 10 Wives 14 Children and Youths 7 Minor employees, etc 8 Other men 12 51 51 Survived. Total 8 18 4 18 25 32 3 II II 23 i62i.] WHAT BEFELL THE FIRST-COMERS, ETC. 187 Five husbands had been left widowers, and one wife a widow; nine husbands had been buried with their wives; only three couples remained unbroken, and there were but two couples who had not lost some member of their family. Five children lost both parents ; three others had been made fatherless, and three motherless. Such was the work of the " first sickness." Special Biographical Notes. — Some of the company, who may not again come to notice prominently, require further mention here : Gilbert Winslow (Edward's brother) retumed early to England, and there died; Gardner became a sailor before 1628, and died early; Lister, when his indentures were out, went to Virginia, and there died ; Latham, after 1643, went to the Bahamas, and with others starved to death ; the two hired seamen retumed to England at the end of their year, and nine years later Trevor touched at Plymouth as captain of the " Handmaid." Priscilla Mullins married John Alden ; Mary Chilton married Gov emor Winslow's brother John, and lived in Boston, leaving children (her daughter Susanna became wife of Robert Latham, of Bridge- water) ; Mrs. Carver's maid married Francis Eaton, and died in a few years ; Ehzabeth Tilley married John Howland ; Desire Minter soon retumed to England, and died; Remember Allerton married Moses Maverick, of Marblehead, son of the East Boston pioneer; Constance Hopkins became wife of Nicholas Snow, of Eastham, and Damaris married Jacob Cook (1646) ; Mary Allerton (the latest sur vivor of this entire company) married Elder Thomas Cushman; Humility Cooper was sent for by friends in England, and died there. Love Brewster died young; Bartholomew Allerton retumed to England ; John Crackstone, Jr., froze his feet while lost in the woods, and died from a resulting fever ; Giles Hopkins lived at Yarmouth, and left children on the Cape, while Oceanus died early ; Joseph Rogers, often confounded with his cousin Joseph R., kept the Jones River ferry, and died 1678 ; Richard More married Christian Hunt (1636), and had a family in Duxbury; Henry Sampson married Ann Plummer in 1636, and also reared a Duxbury family ; Resolved White married Judith, daughter of Captain William Vassal, of Scituate, and had a family in Marshfield ; Samuel Fuller became an honored citi zen, and ancestor of an honored posterity ; Samuel Eaton went early 1 88 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. with his father to Duxbury, and died at Middleborough, — in 1660 he married Martha Billington. Moses Fletcher's first wife was Maria Evans; in 16 13 he married at Leyden Sarah, widow of William Dinghy. Mrs. Bradford was fi-om Wisbeach, Cambridge, England ; Mrs. Standish is said to have come from the Isle of Man; Mrs. Winslow was from Chetsum (?), Eng land. John Crackstone had at Leyden a daughter Anna, wife of Thomas Smith. CHAPTER XVI. The Second Detachment. — The " Fortune." — Cushman's Visit. — Wes ton's Unfairness. — The " Peirce Patent." ON the 19th of November (1621) the Nauset Indians saw a ship feeling her way into the Cape Harbor, and with wonderful quickness conveyed the intelligence to Plymouth. The Pilgrims, since the sailing of the " Mayflower " seven months before, had seen or heard no more of the outside world than if it had been blotted from existence. Yet they felt not joy, but alarm, at the prospect of again meeting Euro peans. They did not expect a friendly visit until spring, for not till then could new Colonists begin to live in comfort, or be of use to the settlement. They suspected the strange ship to be French, coming with hostile intentions ; for England and France were then at war. The diminished band might well dread an encounter with a crew of fierce privateersmen armed to the teeth ; but in the defence of their wives and children the Pilgrims were not the ones to count their opponents. Standish had under him twenty men. Imagine them drawn up in two ranks. In the first rank is seen Governor Bradford and Elder Brewster. The good Elder fights as he prays, and though he would far rather convert an enemy than hurt him, he would not dream of allowing him the first fire. Then come Edward Winslow and Isaac Allerton, the wise Dr. Fuller, the grave Richard Warren, the robust Stephen Hopkins, the genial John How land, and that young enthusiast John Alden, and then Peter 190 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. Brown, the ancestor of John Brown of Ossawatomie. It is not necessary to name the file-closers ; with such leaders they must surely be heroes. On November 20th, just one year from the day the " May flower " sighted the hills of Cape Cod, their sentry on Fort Hill shouted, " Sail, ho ! " The leaders were alert. The vessel was dimly seen standing out from the Cape, and her course anxiously watched, until it became evident that she was heading for Plymouth. Then a cannon was fired from the battery to call in those who had gone to work. Every man fell into his place, and the half-dozen boys that could handle a gun went with alacrity to stand by their fathers. From three to four hours of suspense passed quickly; but many times did the sharp eye of Standish inspect every one's equipment and repeat his directions in short, decisive terms. The stranger drew into the harbor ; and when sufficiently near, threw out from her " ancient-staff"" the red cross of England. Equally unexpected and joyful was the discovery made that she was the " Fortune," a ship of only fifty-five tons, despatched by their associates. The Adventurers had sent Robert Cushman over to exam ine affairs and return to them with a report, and with him had forwarded some thirty-five new Colonists. As the reader has just studied the names of the first company, those of the new comers will be of interest. The following is the best list that can now be offered. The age at landing and the year of death are given when known. Those in italics either died or removed before 1627: — John Adams 1633 WiUiam Bassett 1667 Elizabeth, his wife. Edward Bompasse 1684? Jonathan Brewster (28) 1659? Clement Briggs. Thomas Cushman (14) 1691 Stephen Dean 1634 Philip de la Noye (19) 1681 l62i.] THE "FORTUNE" PILGRIMS. 191 Widow Martha Ford, and her children, — William Ford 1676 John Ford 1693 Martha Ford (see end of note) 1684? Robert Hicks 1648 William Palmer ' 1638 William Palmer, Jr. Thomas Prence (19) 1674 Moses Simonson. John Winslow 1674 William Wright 1633 William Beat, John Cannon, William Connor, Thomas Flavel and son, William Hilton, Bennet Morgan, Thomas Morton, Austin Nicholas, William Pitt, Hugh Static, James Stew art, William Tench. This list foots up but thirty-three, while Bradford says thirty-five came. The other two names are involved in mys tery ; for in 1624, at the distribution of an acre to each inhabi tant, only thirty-three acres were assigned to those "which came in the ' Fortune.' " Two may have died or removed, or have been children who were at once absorbed by the families which came in the " Mayflower." This latter seems the more probable, as the survivors of the " Mayflower," of whom there could not have been more than forty-nine, re ceived at least sixty-eight acres, showing an accession of nineteen ; of these a few were children born since the landing, or Indians domesticated ; but the most must have been new arrivals.^ 1 Several of this little band were among the pioneers of Duxbury; namely, William Bassett, blacksmith and armorer, who left a good library, and was the ancestor of the Bassetts in that region. Mrs. Bassett was his third wife, the first having been " Cecil Lecht " (as the Dutch scribe spelled it) ; and the second (married 1611) was Margaret Oldham (five months earlier he had been published to Mary Butler, who soon died). Bassett was also one of the Bridgewater pio neers. — Jonathan Brewster, the Elder's oldest son. — De La Noye, whose name became Delano (Savage thinks De La Noye the son of Jean and Marie De Launay. Naval Constructor B. F. Delano, of South Scituate, eminent in the United States Navy of the Rebellion, was a descendant of Phillip, who died 1682), the progeni tor of all of that name in this part of the country. — John Ford, and William Ford, the miller. — William Palmer, nailer. — Thomas Prence, for eighteen 192 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621, Besides two months on the ocean, these passengers had been kept in the English Channel another two months by baffling winds. The greater part of them were lively young men whose religious characters were yet to be formed ; and while on shore at the English Plymouth were so glad to escape from ship-life that they sold all their spare clothing and other property to get spending money, or, as Bradford says, " many of them had brushed away their coats and cloaks at Plymouth as they came." Neither had they bed ding, " nor pot nor pan to dress any meat in." Such rollickers seemed sadly out of place in the grave community, but most of them eventually made excellent citizens. Robert Cushman had come in part to persuade the people to assent to the two " articles " rejected at Southampton. It was probably for this purpose that he now delivered (Sunday, Dec. 9/19, 1621) a discourse against self-love, taking a text from I Cor. x. 24: "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." On his return to England this dis course was printed. It is interesting as being probably in the style of the prophesying which was then practised in public worship, and as one of the first two documents printed con cerning the Pilgrim Republic; Mourt's Relation being the other. This discourse has been reprinted, and, under the name of " Cushman's Sermon," has been praised overmuch, for it is in truth rather a dull aff'air.-' years governor of the Colony. — Moses Simonson, whose name, changing to Simmons, has been honorably transmitted. Among the others the lad Cushman, who became Brewster's next successor as Elder, early lost his mother, Sarah, and his father had married Mary Single ton in 1617 ; Stephen Dean, projector of the first corn-mill in the Colony, mar ried Elizabeth Ring about 1627, and died 1634, leaving three children ; Hicks was for a time unfriendly to the Government, but became a good citizen, con cerning whose wool-pulling at Southwark in i6i5 a curious affidavit was recorded in Plymouth, 1638 ; John Winslow was a brother of Edward, and became an active citizen and officer until his removal to Boston, about 1657, leaving chil dren in both places ; William Wright, a worthy man, became Bradford's brother- in-law after 1627, his wife being Priscilla Carpenter ; Mrs. Ford's third child (Martha) is supposed to be the one born the night after her landing, thus leav ing yet another of the thirty-five to be accounted for. This Martha was married to William Nelson 1640. 1 In an edition of Cushman's Discourse, Judge Davis of Boston advanced the i62i.] CUSHMAN'S SERMON. 193 Cushman was still full of faith in Weston ; and while desir ing most ardently the welfare of the Colony, he was very earnest to obtain a consent to the articles rejected, which he believed just to both parties. When, therefore, he found the Colonists still opposed, he delivered this address, intended to persuade some, and overawe others. The so-called sermon is mainly the censorious plea of an attorney for the Adventurers. If any reply was made, Cushman naturally omitted to print it ; he however prefaced his printed discourse with an instruc tive little sketch of the Colony. He supposed New England to be so called because of its resemblance in soil and climate to Old England, and also as it seemed to be an island of like size. (Winslow and others long afterward supposed it an island, and so lately as the American Revolution Lord North, in a despatch, spoke of New England as an island.) Cush man's preface is especially noticeable from its testimony as to the justice and benevolence with which the Colonists were treating the natives.^ His tendency to rebuke and dictation makes his evidence the more convincing, for Cushman was a man of truth and sincerity. His corroboration of Bradford and Winslow on this point, and his additional statement as to the eff'orts of the Pilgrims to civilize and Christianize the savages, is therefore of great interest and value. idea that at first the Pilgrims put all their possessions into a common stock, and until 1623 had no individual property. In his edition of Morton's Memorial he honorably admits his error. The same mistake was made by Robertson and Judge Marshall, and is occasionally repeated. There was no community of goods, though there was labor in common, with public supplies of food and clothing. 1 Dr. Young says : " The first planters of Plymouth and Massachusetts in variably purchased of the natives the lands on which they settled (at Plymouth the native owners were all dead) for considerations deemed at the time fully equivalent. They followed literally the instructions given by the first governor of the New England Company to Governor Endicott in 1629: ' If any of the sal vages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endeavor to purchase their title, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion. Particularly publish that no wrong or injury be offered to the natives.' And in 1676 it was as truly as proudly said by Governor Josiah Winslow, of Plymouth : ' I think I can clearly say, that before these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in this Colony but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors.' " 13 194 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. The " Fortune " was soon loaded with two or three hogs heads of beaver, and as many clapboards and other kinds of prepared lumber as she would hold, room having been first appropriated to the profitable sassafras. The total value was about ;^S00.^ On December 23d the ship sailed for England. Mr. Cushman returned in her as he had intended, and Trevor and Ely, whose year of service had ended, went with him. This left the population of the settlement at least eighty-six, of whom above fifty were able to render military service. The Pilgrims were justly proud of this cargo. In view of their great loss in numbers and strength, and arduous labors during the summer, they felt that their English partners must be surprised as well as gratified on receiving this pioneer cargo from the infant plantation. Alas ! As the ship drew near the English coast she was captured by a French craft and carried into Isle Dieu; her cargo was taken by the captors, but after fourteen days the ship and company were released. Cushman preserved his papers, among which were valuable letters from Bradford, Winslow, and William Hilton, and also Bradford's and Winslow's Journal, called Mourt's Relation. The " Fortune " brought a letter from Weston, who severely censured the Colonists because they did not collect a cargo for the " Mayflower " on her return the previous spring. He said that he knew the cause was their weakness, but that it was " more weakness of judgment than of hands." But if they should give the " Fortune " a good lading, and consent to the disputed articles, he added : — " I promise you I will never quit the business, though aJl the other Adventurers should. . . . And so praying God to bless you with all graces necessary both for this hfe and that to come, I rest your very loving friend, "Thomas Weston." 1 A hogshead held about 191 beaver-skins. These averaged some ij lbs. each, and sold in England at near £1 per pound weight, and for extra-fine par cels 24?. The other skins and small peltry often paid the charges on the entire shipment. i62i.] BRADFORD'S REPLY TO WESTON. 195 Strange to say, without even waiting for a reply to his letter or for the return of the " Fortune," he withdrew from the enterprise, the first and only one to leave it thus early ; and then, besides endeavoring to establish a rival settlement to intercept the Plymouth trade, he defrauded the Colony both directly and indirectly, adding in each case the sin of ingrati tude for benefits expressly bestowed on him. Bradford made a grand reply to Weston, beginning as follows : — " Sir, — Your large letter written to Mr. Carver and dated the 6th of July, 1621, I have received the loth of November, wherein (after the apology made for yourself) you lay many heavy imputations upon him and us all. " Touching him, he is departed this hfe and now is at rest in the Lord from all those troubles and incumbrances with which we are yet to strive. He needs not my apology j for his care and pains were so great for the common good, both ours and yours, as that therewith (it is thought) he oppressed himself and shortened his days, of whose loss we cannot sufficiently complain. At great charges in this adven ture I confess you have been, and many losses may sustain ; but the loss of his and many other honest and industrious men's lives cannot be valued at any price. . . . " But it pleased God to visit us then with death daily, and with so general a disease that the living were scarce able to bury the dead, and the weU not in any measure sufficient to tend the sick. And now to be so greatly blamed for not freighting the ship, doth indeed go near us and much discourage us. But you say you know we wiU pre tend weakness ; and do you think we had not cause ? Yes, you tell us you believe it, but it was more weakness of judgment than of hands. Our weakness herein is great, we confess ; therefore we will bear this check patiently, among the rest, till God send us wiser men." This is a very favorable specimen of Bradford's composi tion, and one which, by united manliness and pathos, will impress the reader. He proceeded to state that the Pilgrims had decided to yield, and had therefore signed the long-con troverted articles ; as the ship was also well laden, and all his demands complied with, it was hoped that friendship would 196 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1621. once more prevail, and his promises not be forgotten. Espe cially must he take notice that the thirty-five people just landed had been sent out with no provisions to support them till the next harvest ; therefore, unless he would see that the Adventurers sent a prompt supply, as Cushman would certify, a famine must visit the settlement. Alas for hope deferred, making the heart sick ! Not only was Weston the first to desert them, but the Adventurers who remained left the Colo nists to starve. The provisions in the " Mayflower " were the last that her passengers ever received from them. Not only were the " Fortune's " people landed with no suste nance for the winter and spring, but the ship herself required to be revictualled from the scanty stores of the Colonists. After she sailed, an estimate of the remaining food showed barely enough to last till July, provided the settlers were put on half allowance. This severe limitation was at once applied to every person, and was patiently borne ; for all expected the " Fortune's " successor to come soon with a supply. The Colonists worked steadily through the winter, which seems, like their first one, to have been of unusual mildness. Although but half fed, their health and courage remained unabated. Bradford relates one incident as " rather of mirth than of weight." On Christmas, when he called the men to follow him to work, the sportful portion of the new company protested that their consciences would not let them work on that day. The liberal Governor replied that he would force no one's conscience, but would excuse them until they should be " better informed." On returning at noon he found the devotees at play in the street, some pitching the bar, others at stool-ball, and so on. He thereupon took away their im plements, telling them that his conscience would not let them play while the others worked; and that if they attached a sanctity to the day, they must stay in their houses and keep it devotionally. Those young men acquiesced ; and thenceforth asked for no holidays not enjoyed by all. The Colony had received by the " Fortune " a patent of their land from the Council for New England. That the i62i.] THE PEIRCE PATENT. 197 patent might be in the name of some resident of England, it was drawn up in the name of John Peirce and his associates, — like the New York grant formerly received from the Vir ginia Company. This patent (dated June i, 1621, O.S.) was the first grant made by this new North Virginia or New England corpora tion. The document, which is still at Plymouth in good con dition, bears the seals and signatures of the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earl .of Warwick, Sir Ferdi nando Gorges, and one which cannot now be deciphered.^ With the incredible carelessness formerly shown as to histori cal documents and relics, this patent was once lost. Years after it had been supposed to have disappeared forever, it was accidentally found among the papers of the late Judge Davis, to whom it seems to have been lent by some official who neither made a note of the fact nor took the trouble to remember it. The patent is now given in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections (Vol. IV., series ii., p. 156), with valuable notes by Charles Deane. It established no boundaries, but gave to Peirce and his unnamed associates a hundred acres of land for each person who should remain in the Colony three years, or who should die after taking ship thence. For four years after that limit they were to have a hundred acres for each immigrant. Rent was to be paid after seven years, at the rate of two shillings for each hundred acres. Each " undertaker " was to have fifteen hundred acres for the support of churches, schools, and hospitals. The Colonists were to devote themselves chiefly to planting, sell ing, making and procuring of staples, such as corn, silk-grass, hemp, flax, pitch, tar, soap, ashes, potash, iron, clapboards, , etc. This patent remained in force for only one year, and was then supplanted, through the knavery of John Peirce (as will be seen) , by one under which he ineffectually sought to make the Plymouth people his vassals. 1 Among the original members of the Council for New England were Earl Pembroke, Grand Master of Freemasonry in England at the time this patent was granted, and Earl Arundel, who became Grand Master in 1633-5. CHAPTER XVII. ANNOYANCES FROM THE INDLANS. EARLY in 1622 many rumors arose of hostile intentions on the part of the Narragansets. That tribe, thinking that if the Pilgrim support should cease they might subjugate the Pokanoket and allied nations, felt inspired to attempt the destruction of the white settlement. Soon Tockamahamon conducted to Plymouth a Narra ganset messenger who asked for Tisquantum, but seemed relieved to find that he was away from home ; and leaving for him a sheaf of new arrows tied around with a rattlesnake's skin, attempted to depart ; but being required to remain for that night, was led to admit, with much reluctance, that the messenger whom Canonicus, his king, sent the previous year to treat of peace, had on his return rather persuaded him to war, and to provoke him thereto, embezzled most of the pres ents sent by the Governor, and then dwelt upon the meanness of the gift as compared with what he had carried to Plymouth. It was desired to detain the man until Tisquantum should be present to question him minutely ; but the precise Standish insisting that by the " law of arms " a messenger must not be subjected to forcible restraint, the envoy was sent back with a high-sounding message from Bradford. The Governor ex pressed his desire for peace ; but if Canonicus was determined otherwise, he was dared to put in an appearance with his host. Indeed, but for want of shipping, the Colonists would save him that trouble and seek him on his own ground. The messenger at once departed, though the weather was stormy and he was urgently invited to remain. i622.] DEFYING CANONICUS. — MARTIAL PREPARATIONS. 1 99 On Tisquantum's return he pronounced the arrows and snake-skin to be a challenge to war. Bradford, then filling the skin with powder and bullets, sent it back to Canonicus with a message still more defiant than the former. The belli cose chief was alarmed, and refused to receive the mysterious missive into his house. The messenger who brought the skin would not take it back ; so it was given to another, who in dread passed it along ; and after posting a long time from place to place, it finally came again unbroken to Plymouth, having answered its purpose in overawing Canonicus. But as lofty language was a poor reliance, the Colonists proceeded to empale their village. A line of palisades was carried from the shore along the north side of the hamlet, and thence around the upper part of Fort Hill to Town Brook, — a length of half a mile. This great task was accom plished in five weeks, although it was winter. In the line were four flanking bastions, from which the whole outside could be raked with musketry. In three of these bastions or " jetties " were gates, which were locked at night and constantly warded. Standish next proceeded to arrange those able to bear arms, in four companies, the captains of which, in their order, were to command the whole body if he should be absent or disabled. He then held " a general muster or training," at which each company, with a discharge of musketry, took possession of its proper station in the line of defence. Stand ish was too good a soldier not to know the value of those little military forms and ceremonies which are too generally considered frivolous ; and consequently, at the close of this first of New England " musters," each company escorted its captain to his house, and fired a salute on leaving him. The little captain-in-chief's new battalion, some fifty strong, with his tactics and discipline, was a garrison which Canonicus might well hesitate to assail.^ As there was fear lest the savages should contrive to set 1 Here practically began the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. 200 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1622. fire to the houses, in order to make an attack during the con fusion, Standish trained one company, in case of fire, to at once form a square around the endangered building and face outward, on the alert for an enemy. Standish's remarkable force of character was shown by his inspiring such a heterogeneous body with the spirit of mili tary obedience and even enthusiasm. His sharp words of command, his patronizing approval, and his prompt censure must have sounded strangely at first to the Governor, the Assistant, the Elder, the Deacon, and other leading spirits, and have created a desire to resist on the part of Billington, Lis ter, and the less zealous of the new-comers ; but Standish at the head of his command, was, for the time being, the greatest man in the Colony, and though most obedient in civil mat ters, he was not a captain who would waive one particle of his authority when under arms. By the couch of the sick his eye was of more than feminine gentleness ; but when on mili tary duty was such that no delinquent cared a second time to face it, and before it the murderous savage and the frenzied planter with levelled gun were known to quail. In March it was decided to make a second trip to Boston Harbor; but the final arrangements were disturbed by Hobo mok's suspicions of Tisquantum. There had been at first some fear that these two would connive to benefit themselves at the expense of the Colonists ; and the latter, therefore, had not been sorry to find some little jealousy between the two. To insure accurate intelligence, Bradford more especially patronized Tisquantum, and Standish Hobomok. Hobomok now advised against the proposed expedition, expressing a fear that the Massachusetts were in league with the Narra gansets and would contrive to destroy the party, or that otherwise Canonicus would attack the settlement during the absence of Standish and his comrades. He alleged that he had seen many consultations between strange visitors and Tisquantum, which were always broken off if he drew near ; and he had no doubt that Tisquantum was leagued with the enemy to lead the expedition to ruin. i622.] TISQUANTUM'S INDIAN ALARM. 201 The leaders, after long deliberation, decided that they must search for food, and that a timid abandonment of the voyage would give confidence to their enemies * They therefore sent the shallop, with Standish and ten men, accompanied by both Tisquantum and Hobomok. While the boat was on her way, one of Tisquantum's family came running to a party that had gone back of the settlement, and shouted to them to hasten home, for the Narragansets, with Massasoit and Corbitant, were advancing from Namasket to destroy the plantation in Standish's absence. He showed a fresh cut on his face, say ing that he received that for speaking in favor of the English, and had a narrow escape from worse usage. He frequently looked over his shoulder, and seemed to be in great fear that the enemy were following close behind. On being taken into Plymouth he repeated his story to the Governor. Standish, from lack of wind, was still off the Gurnet.^ Hearing three alarm-guns from the battery, he returned as fast as he could. As he approached the village, he saw that every man there was under arms, prepared to repel an immediate assault. On hearing the story, Hobomok said flatly that it was false, and he most stoutly upheld the good faith of Massasoit, de claring that the chief would not undertake any such matter without obtaining the approval of his pineses, or " men of valor," of whom he, Hobomok, was one. The Governor said that he should lament a war with any of the natives, but especially with Massasoit, for whom his love " more ex ceeded " than to others. The honest Hobomok bluntly replied that as there was no cause for distrust, the Governor would do well to continue his affection. Finally, Hobomok's wife was sent to Sowams to observe matters. Finding every thing as usual, she told Massasoit what had happened at Plymouth ; upon which the king was much provoked. He sent to the Governor, thanking him for his kind feelings, and 1 This point is here mentioned for the first time by the name " Gurnet," by Winslow, in his Relation. He styles it "the point . . . called the Gurnet's Nose." This would imply that the name was in general use. 202 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1622. assuring him that, according to their treaty, notice would be given of any hostile indications. The truth is that Hobomok and Massasoit were to some extent superior to their nature and education. Poor Tisquan tum was only equal to his, and had hoped to become the most important of the savages through his infiuence with the whites. He had before this, sent private word to several Indians that the whites meant to kill them ; and after receiv ing satisfactory presents, would pretend to have secured a pardon for the intended victim. In time he so far imposed on his countrymen that even sachems sought his protection, and paid court to him rather than to Massasoit. Still, the grand-sachem stood first in the confidence of the Colonists ; and therefore, as Winslow supposes, Tisquantum had devised this false alarm, hoping that the first result would be an in vasion of Massasoit's country, and such overt acts as should alienate that chief from the Colony. Then Tisquantum might stand first in the regards of both races, and reap no small dignity and profit. One of the interpreter's tricks was to tell the natives that the white men kept the plague buried in the store-house, from which it might at pleasure be sent forth to any people whom his friends, the whites, might wish to destroy. One day Tisquantum came to the store-house just as the ground had been opened where some barrels of gunpowder were kept buried without his knowledge. Hobomok privately asked him what those barrels were ; upon which the ready story-teller replied that this was the place where the plague was kept, as he had often intimated ; but Hobomok inquiring of a white friend as to the matter, the plotter was exposed, and fell into yet greater disfavor with both races. This alarm over, the trip to the Massachusetts was resumed. Nothing more is said of it than that the party " had a good store of trade," and were put in great danger by a storm as they re-entered Plymouth Harbor, where they found Massa soit waiting to vindicate himself, and much enraged at Tis quantum. He at length went home somewhat pacified ; but i622.] TISQUANTUM'S PERIL. 203 soon after sent a messenger to entreat Bradford to consent to the death of the stirrer-up of strife. The Governor replied that the culprit deserved death, but he desired that it might not be inflicted, for Tisquantum was of great value to the English, who without him could not well understand the king or his subjects. Massasoit sent the messenger back with others, bearing a rich present, and demanding that, according to their solemn treaty, his subject Tisquantum be surren dered. He also sent his own knife, with which the messen gers were to cut off Tisquantum's head and hands for delivery at Sowams as evidence of the execution. Bradford refused Massasoit's gift of a large lot of skins, be cause the surrender, if made, should not be for a consideration. He invented all sorts of delays, but could not well violate the treaty. If he should openly disregard it, the Indians would lose confidence in the white man's word, and be ever inclined to bad faith. Honor was in conflict with humanity and gratitude. When Bradford had exhausted his last pretext for delay, Tisquantum was summoned. He well knew for what he was wanted ; but though he might easily have escaped, he would not attempt it, but promptly placed himself at Bradford's dis posal. He made no appeal or complaint, beyond denouncing Hobomok as the author of his ruin. At this moment word was brought that a boat had just crossed the mouth of the harbor and disappeared behind the land. The Governor then declared that there were such rumors of collusion between the French and the hostile Indians that he would do nothing further in Tisquantum's case until he should have investi gated the character of this craft. As this involved postpone ment to a future day, the messengers flew into a rage and departed for Sowams. Massasoit also was very angry at the non-surrender, and, discontinuing his visits to Plymouth, seemed to lose all friendship for the Colonists. Tisquantum was no more molested ; but, with a due regard for safety, was ever afterward careful not to venture outside the protection of the white men. CHAPTER XVIII. Weston's Impudence. — Scarcity of Food. — The " Charity " and the " Swan." — The Weymouth Colony. — Tisquantum's Death. — Expe dition for Corn. THE boat which had appeared so opportunely for Tisquan tum was the shallop ofthe "Sparrow," — a small ship partly owned by Weston, now fishing on the Maine coast in company with some thirty other English vessels. It brought a series of letters from Weston, extending over three months. The earliest gave assurances of great things that the Adven turers were about to do for the Colony ; but in the later epistles Weston announced that he had sold his shares and withdrawn from the Adventurers altogether. He also stated that he was about to establish near Plymouth a settlement on his own ac count, and sent by this craft seven men as the advance of his company. These men he coolly begged the Plymouth people to keep until the main body should come.-' He added that he had sent in the " Sparrow," for the Colony, a ton of bread and a quantity of fish ; and closed, as usual, with very pious expressions of regard. Bradford seems to have known his man too well to base any hopes upon this supply. It was well that disappointment was thus saved ; for Weston not only sent no bread or fish to the Colonists, but neglected to furnish food for the seven men he thrust upon them. His thorough falsity was now so apparent that even the worthy Cushman began to understand him. The people at Plymouth were at length famishing. For six months they had lived on half allowance ; but June found 1 For notices of some of these men, see Phineas Pratt, Chap. XXI., and John Hampden, Chap. XX., note. l622.] SHELL-FISH. — PRIVATION AND DEPRIVATION. 205 them with an empty store-house. Wild-fowl and ground-nuts were out of season, bass were plenty in the outer harbor, and cod in the bay ; but they had no nets strong enough for the former, and no deep-water tackle suited to the haunts of the latter. Lobsters, clams, and muscles were obtainable with considerable labor, and formed the chief diet during much of the hot weather.^ Shell-fish, with no bread, meat, or vegetables, and often scanty in amount, proved insuflScient to preserve the fresh complexions and the strength of the people; yet the settlers had a wonderful exemption from disease. Such was the community of which Weston besought the sustenance for some months of seven pioneers of a rival, if not hostile, plantation. Hospitality has ever been a lead ing virtue of the Old Colony, and the seven intruders were welcomed to an equal share of such provision as the Colonists could get for themselves This shallop also brought a letter from John Huddleston, master of one of the fishing-vessels at the East. He was an 1 It has been mentioned that clams were abundant at Plymouth Harbor, no tably on Saquish banks (the name Saquish meaning something like " clam "). Winslow's Manomet (Buzzard's Bay) reference to "clams and other shell-fish, one in shape like a bean, another like a clam," means the common clam (Mya arenaria), the TZZ0T-c\a.m (solen), and the quahog [from Indian " poquauhock "] ( Venus mercenaria). It might have been applied to Plymouth and vicinity. Dr. Young says, p. 306: " The English call the first of these (the common clam) the 'sandgaper,' the name clam not being in use there, or to be found (1844) in their dictionaries." Yet it is thus mentioned by Captain John Smith in his " Descrip tion of New England," 1616 : " You shall scarcely find any bay, or shallow shore, or cove of sand, where you may not take as many clambes, or lobsters, or both, at your pleasure." Johnson's " Wonder-working Providence," 1654, speaks of "clam-banks, a fish as big as horse-muscles." Morton's " New English Canaan," 1637, notices them ; Joscelyn's " Rarities," 1672, speaks of " clam, or clamp, a kind of shell-fish, awhite muscle ; " and Wood's " Prospect," 1634, says, "clams, or clamps, is a shell-fish not much unlike a cockle; it lieth under the sand. These fishes be in great plenty. In some places of the country there be clams as big as a penny white-loaf." The reference to large clams evidently means sea- clams, or quahogs. The razor-clam slightly resembles a bean-pod, or one of its shells the broad part of the blade of a razor (See Mass. Hist. Coll. viii. 192). Joscelyn calls them "sheath-fish, which are very plentiful, a delicate fish, as good as a prawn, covered with a thin shell like the sheath of a knife, and of the color of a muscle." Morton says; " Razor-Jishes ^ett are. . . ." See Gould's Rep. on MoUusca of Mass. 206 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1622. entire stranger to the Pilgrims, but took this occasion to notify them, in a very kindly letter, of a massacre in Virginia, where the savages had murdered three hundred and forty-seven settlers,! and but for the exposure of their plot at the last moment by a friendly Indian, would have annihilated that colony. The worthy captain therefore urged the Pilgrims to be forearmed. When the " Sparrow's " shallop returned to Maine, Win- slow accompanied her in one of the Colony's shallops (they now had two) to buy provisions. He was cordially received by Captain Huddleston, who, however, could spare very little from his stores. That little he at once furnished, and refused all pay. He also gave Winslow a letter to the other captains on the coast, who, with many expressions of regard and sym pathy, all followed Huddleston's example; for while none could give much, what might be spared was gladly contributed without price. When Winslow reached home he found the people visibly weaker ; some had lost flesh, while others were troubled with bloating. Still, no pestilence had resulted. Winslow's glean ings among the fishing-fleet produced bread enough to allow each inhabitant four ounces a day from the last of June until harvest. This scanty ration, however unsatisfactory to the appetite, was invaluable in a sanitary point of view when added to the otherwise almost unvaried diet of shell-fish. As the self-denial of half-starved people could not be relied upon as to making a proper expenditure of their bread, all was locked up, and the little allowance weighed out daily. In the spring sixty acres of Indian corn had been planted. The decreasing strength of the Colonists was hardly equal to the thorough cultivation by hand of so large a field ; but even that waning vigor was required elsewhere. In view of the Virginia massacre and suspension of Massasoit's friendship, the Pilgrims began building a stronghold on Fort Hill. But however energetic the instinct of self-preservation may have 1 The above number of killed is that stated by Captain John Smith. i622.] THE "CHARITY" AND THE "SWAN." 207 rendered the minor members of the Colony at the outset of this undertaking, they soon tired, under the summer's sun, of sawing plank and tugging heavy oak timbers up the hill from remote locations. The work went on more and more slowly ; when winter came, their fort was still unfinished, and seemed likely to remain so for that season. In the middle of the summer two of Weston's emigrant ships arrived, — the " Charity," of 100 tons, and the " Swan," of only 30. They brought nearly sixty of his men, including a few of fair character, and many who were not. This brawl ing, profane crowd was landed at Plymouth, while the " Char ity " made a trip to Virginia, and the " Swan " went in search of a place for a settlement.^ Weston had obtained his patent under a pretence of ex tending the Church of England in New England; and his principal men seem to have had a Puritan contempt for Separatists and Independents, whom they still merged under the general term of Brownists. They were victualled from the " Charity's " stores, but for house-room drew upon the Pilgrims. The latter showed them as much kindness as was in their power, but were repaid with nothing but disorder and poorly concealed ridicule and slander. The very moder ate crop of maize to which the Colony looked for the next year's sustenance was outrageously plundered by the visitors, who had discovered the rustic luxury of green corn roasted in the ear, and, to gratify their fancy for it, robbed the corn field by night and day until they had very seriously damaged the crop. After six weeks the vessels returned, and took the men to Wessagusset,^ now Weymouth, where, at a place called Old Spain, the new colony was begun. Although they had a sur geon of their own (Mr. Salisbury), they left at Plymouth several of their sick, who remained in the care of Dr. Fuller 1 Mr. Weston, in a letter, owns that many of them are rude and profane fel lows; . . . and Mr. John Pierce (sic), in another, writes: "As for Mr. Weston's company, they are so base in condition for the most part, as in all appearances not fit for an honest man's company." — Bradford. 2 Winslow gives this name as " Wichaguscusset." 208 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1622. until healed, and then joined their fellows. Seven men had been supported by the Plymouth people for a long time ; the remainder had received shelter and much other accommoda tion, and had inflicted vital injury on their hosts. Yet for all they had done and all they had lost, no compensation was ever even offered to the Pilgrims. Instead of thanks, they received ingratitude and misrepresentation. In September the " Discovery " arrived from Virginia on her way to England, under Jones, the former master of the " Mayflower." ^ Jones had spare provisions and a large stock of goods for the Indian trade. He readily furnished the Pil grims with all they wanted, but exacted a double price, and would only allow for beaver-skins a fifth or a sixth of their value. So great was the distress of the Colony, present and prospective, that the opportunity to trade on even these ra pacious terms was attributed to " God's good mercy." The Indian wares were of the greatest importance, for with them food could be purchased from the natives. The Colony's crop proved very light. Several of the subor dinates had followed the example of Weston's men in stealing green ears ; and though some were publicly whipped, the depredations continued. The result was that the matured corn, finally harvested, was altogether insufficient to feed the people, even for the winter. In October the " Charity" sailed for England, leaving Wes ton's Colony an ample supply of provisions to last until the next harvest. This supply was at once wasted in the most reckless manner. One of the leaders was charged with main taining an Indian harem from the public stores, while insubor dination and prodigality ruled everywhere. At an early day the new-comers began to anticipate a famine. 1 See Neill's " English Colonization,'' etc., noticed p. viii. Bradford vaguely says, " One Captain Jons being cheefe therin." This expression shows that ship masters were then sometimes called captains, — a title, however, which he had used before. Jones had as a passenger John Pory, late Secretary of Virginia, who for courtesies received returned thanks to Bradford and Brewster in a cor dial, pious note. But Neill calls him, with unconscious humor, a. " brilliant scholar and tippler." i622.] CORN. — TISQUANTUM'S DEATH. 209 The head of this Weymouth company was " Master Rich ard Greene," a brother-in-law of Weston's ; the next authority was John Sanders. There was also a surgeon ; but no men tion is made of a religious teacher. The government of the Colony exercised little if any restraint upon the settlers. Soon loud complaints began to be heard from the Neponsets that the new settlers were not only insolent, but were in the habit of robbing them. Bradford assured Obtakiest's mes sengers of the detestation of the Plymouth people for such conduct, and volunteered to remonstrate. He did the latter faithfully, but without effect ; for the abuses and complaints steadily increased. Late in the season Master Greene proposed taking the " Swafi " and uniting with Bradford in a cruise on the south side of Cape Cod, to buy corn with the Plymouth trading goods obtained from Jones. An agreement was soon put in writing. Standish was to command, and Tisquantum be pilot and interpreter. Just as the " Swan '' was ready to sail, Mr. Greene died at Plymouth of a fever, and there, as the head of a sister Colony, he was buried with great ceremony. Twice the vessel sailed, and was driven back by storms ; the third time, Standish was. down with a fever, and his place was taken by Bradford. The " Swan" failing on her first trial to find the way through the Monamoy shoals, her incompetent master in sisted on postponing efforts to the next day. Accordingly Tisquantum took the craft to Monamoy (now Chatham), into which port she easily sounded her way. The natives at first fled, but were persuaded by Tisquantum to return and trade, — to such good purpose that eight hogsheads of corn and beans were soon obtained. Preparations were then made for resum ing the voyage, for Tisquantum felt sure of finding the passage through the shoals. But he was destined not to make the trial, being seized with a fever, attended by nose-bleeding, which symptom the Indians regarded as fatal ; and it speedily proved so in this case. Tisquantum bequeathed his little property to several of his 14 210 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1622 white friends, and requested from Bradford, who tenderly nursed him, a prayer that his soul might " go to the English men's God in heaven." Well might Bradford feel this death to be " a great loss." Tisquantum had at the outset allied himself with the Pilgrims, and rendered them invaluable ser vices. If, with the weaknesses and ambitions of a savage, he had practised upon the foibles of his countrymen, he had at the same time magnified the greatness of the white men. To them his untutored heart had ever been true, and his devotion such as the highest civilization cannot well surpass. This son of Nature is indeed entitled to grateful recollection. In some far-off day it may be that the people of the Old Colony will honor themselves by applying the names of their ances tors to the towns and natural features of that region. Then, it is to be hoped, the devotion of Tisquantum and Hobomok will receive due recognition. The " Swan," now without a pilot, gave up her southern cruise, and stood over to Boston Harbor. There Bradford was assailed with new complaints against the Weymouth Colonists. The latter, too, had by their prodigality destroyed the trade, for the Indians now asked as much for a quart of corn as they formerly did for a beaver's skin. A great pesti lence or plague was also devastating their tribes, so that there could be little traffic on any terms. The vessel next went to Nauset (Eastham). There some ten hogsheads of corn and beans were bought; but as the shallop had been cast away in a storm, the grain could not be brought off. Brad ford therefore stacked it, and hired an Indian living near by to guard it from thieves and vermin. The sachem was also employed to care for the shallop. At Mattachiest (Barn stable Harbor) a further purchase (some ten hogsheads) was made and stacked in like manner. Bradford, desiring to examine the country, went home from the Cape on foot. He was treated with much respect by the natives along his route of forty miles through the wilderness, and came safely to Plymouth, " weary and surbated " {i. e., with galled feet). Three days afterward the ship came in. i622.] BRINGING HOME CORN. — INDIAN JUSTICE. 211 the cargo was divided, and she went home. Soon after Bradford walked to Namasket, and subsequently to Manomet (twenty miles south). At the former place he bought corn, to be delivered at Plymouth by the Indians. They, as usual, set their women at transporting it on their shoulders over the fifteen-mile route ; but soon the pestilence reached Namas ket, putting an end to the labor, and requiring the Plymouth men to perform themselves the slow, heavy labor they had paid others to do. At Manomet (Buzzard's Bay) more corn was bought, and left with Canacum for a time. During his stay with this hospitable old chief the Governor witnessed a curious case of criminal justice. One cold night two Mona moy Indians entered Canacum's dwelling; and taking seats by the fire, proceeded to smoke their pipes, while all present preserved a profound silence. After a long time one of the visitors, in the name of his sachem, made Canacum a present of beads and tobacco, and asked his opinion. Two of the Monamoys had quarrelled while gambling, and one had killed the other. The homicide was a powah of great note, whom the tribe could not well spare ; but a stronger tribe than theirs threatened them with war if they did not execute him for the murder. Their sachem therefore referred the matter to Canacum. The latter took the opinion of his chief men, and also called upon Hobomok, Bradford's guide, who was well known as a pinese of Massasoit's. Hobomok replied that it was better for one to die than many, since he deserved it, and the rest were innocent. Canacum then decided in favor of the homicide's death. The little supplies the Pilgrims thus procured would go but a small way toward subsisting their Colony till a new harvest. Another famine was evidently to come with the summer. Weston's men were arousing a hostile feeling among the Massachusetts tribes, trade was at a standstill, and the pros pect for the new year appeared discouraging. CHAPTER XIX. INDIAN TREACHERY. THE omens were indeed inauspicious as the third year of the Colony (1623 O. S.) opened. But with all their evils, present and impending, the people had the inestimable bless ing of universal good health ; and though less resolute hearts might have quailed, the calm courage of the Pilgrims rose with these new demands upon it. Nothing that energy could accomplish was left undone to keep back the wolf that threat ened their doors. In January Standish, having recovered his health, took the remaining shallop, and, with the aid of the " Swan" and her carpenter, repaired the one wrecked at Nauset, and brought off the two stacks of corn, which had stood two months without injury. Before the ship sailed both these shallops had to be cut adrift in a storm, but were soon recovered in good condition. While at Nauset a savage stole some goods from Standish's shallop. The impetuous little captain at once went to the sachem (Aspinet), demanding either the goods or the thief; and refusing all hospitality, left with threats against the whole tribe if his demand was not complied with. The next day the sachem, with a great following, came to the captain. Winslow describes Aspinet's salutation as follows : " He thrust out his tongue that one might see the root thereof, and therewith licked his hand from the wrist to the fingers' end, withal bowing the knee, striving to imitate the English gesture, being instructed therein formerly by Tisquantum. His men did the like, but in so rude and savage a manner as 1623.] INDIAN PLOTTING. — STANDISH'S WATCHFULNESS. 213 our men could scarce forbear to break out in open laughter." The chief returned the goods, and said that he had "much beaten " the thief. He then caused his women to feast the whites on new bread, and seemed to be glad at the restora tion of harmony. This corn was divided, as before, with the Weymouth people. In February, the corn running low, Standish went in the shallop to find some more at Mattachiest (Barnstable). There he was frozen in at night. As lyanough's men were in a con spiracy to kill the party, they sought to throw Standish off his guard by professing great love for him, and bringing much corn. Several strange Indians also came with them, pretending great curiosity to see the white people. The lat ter, still unsuspicious, were obliged to accept lodgings of the Indians ; but Standish's wonderful instinct telling him of danger near, he made half his men keep watch while the others slept, and so averted the attack. Here, as at Nauset, an Indian stole some trading-goods from the shallop. Standish at once caused his men to sur round the sachem's cabin, where most of the people were. He then assured the natives that while he would do them no wrong, neither would he suffer any; and if this matter were not righted, he should attack them forthwith. lyanough, finding the thief, made him secretly lay his plunder on the shallop's cuddy, and then urged Standish to search more carefully and see whether his goods were not somewhere on board after all. Standish accepted this dishonest form of restitution without more words. The savages, however, had been so frightened that they dared do nothing further at that time, and to conciliate the captain, sold him corn enough to completely load the shallop. In the middle of March Standish went in the shallop to the north side of Sandwich to obtain the corn Bradford bought at Manomet in January. The Indians now received the whites with decided coldness. Soon two of the Neponsets arrived ; one being Wituwamat, " a notable insulting villain," who had already slain both English and French, whom he derided 214 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. because " they died crying, making sour faces, more like children than men." This ruffian gave Canacum a dagger which he had obtained from Weston's men, and then made a speech, saying that his tribe had concluded to slaughter the Weymouth Colonists, which they felt strong enough to do, as the Neponsets num bered from thirty to forty fighting men; but the Plymouth people would surely avenge their murdered countrymen un less the conspiracy was extensive enough for the destruction of both Colonies. The Neponsets had already solicited the co-operation of Canacum, lyanough, and many others, and now was a good opportunity to begin by slaying Standish and his men. After this speech Wituwamat was treated with far greater hospitality than Standish, — much to the latter's plainly expressed indignation. The Indians then sought to persuade Standish, on account of the cold, to send for all his men to come and sleep on shore with him ; but he refused, and insisted that the corn should be sent on board, that he might pay the carriers (women), which was done. He had become a good Indian linguist, excelling all his associates; but was unable to extract any meaning from Wituwamat's bloodthirsty harangue, so careful had the con spirator been to use figurative and unusual expressions. Yet his instinct again warned him ; and it was well that it did so, for though he insisted on lodging at his own rendezvous, he was accompanred by a stout Pamet who had secretly agreed to kill him. This savage had heretofore been known to the Pilgrims as " very affable, courteous, and loving," especially toward Standish. He was now more attentive than ever. He presented the captain with a great kettle, and refused any present in return, saying that he was rich, and could afford gifts to those he loved. He even tugged down some of the corn, remarking that he had never done such work before. Standish was that night affected by a wakefulness for which, as he declared to the Pamet, he could not account. All night he either sat by the fire or walked to and fro, not once feeling sleepy. His intended assassin patiently watched; iec3.] PLOTTING. — RETURN TO PLYMOUTH. 215 but, Indian-like, dared not attack him while he remained awake. The next day the shallop reached Plymouth. The Pamet went in her ; and on the way, professing grief for the destitution of his white friends, promised to procure them a large quantity of corn if they would go with him to Pamet. Standish bore up for that place ; but the wind hauling ahead, he once more stood away for home. In all probability he had again unconsciously saved his life; but neither he nor his associates had as yet the least suspicion of the wide spread, desperate plot for their destruction. Gratitude for an act of mercy at their hands was about to bring them timely warning of their danger, and of the sharp remedy required to counteract it. CHAPTER XX. THE WONDERFUL CURE OF MASSASOIT. STANDISH and his comrades found Plymouth much ex cited over the report that a Dutch ship was stranded at Sowams, and that Massasoit lay dangerously sick at the same place. The impending famine made the Pilgrims especially desirous of communicating with the friendly Dutch; while the Indian custom of making visits of ceremony to prominent people in sickness rendered it highly desirable that an em bassy be sent to the bedside of Massasoit. Therefore, taking Hobomok as interpreter, Winslow was sent as chief messen ger; for he was familiar with the Dutch tongue, and had already been at Sowams to visit Massasoit, with whom he was a favorite. Winslow's associate on the journey was, as he says, " Master John Hamden, a gentleman of London, who then wintered with us and desired much to see the country." Dr. Belknap found reasons for supposing Win slow's " consort " to have been the illustrious John Hamp den. The reasons for this conclusion are not given, and many writers doubt its correctness. But no good argument has appeared against Belknap's supposition, and it is favored by many circumstances. The visitor's title of " Master," his earnestness to encounter hardship and danger that he might " see the country," and the readiness of the Colonists to make him Winslow's colleague and adviser on so important a mis sion, all indicate a guest of no ordinary stamp. It was like Hampden to privately cross over in some fishing-vessel and examine for himself the region in which, as many thought, all 1623.] JOHN HAMPDEN. — VISITING CORBITANT. 217 freedom-loving Englishmen would sbon be driven to find an asylum. Dr. Young thinks that a visit froni the great patriot could not fail to be pointedly noticed by both Winslow and Bradford ; but these authors wrote of this expedition before Hampden had become famous, though not before he had become odious to the Crown. A conspicuous record of his friendship for the Colony would have been only an additional obstacle to the much-desired royal charter. So long as it cannot be shown that Hampden at that time was elsewhere, there is nothing improbable in the belief that he was with Winslow.^ The first night the messengers were kindly entertained by the Namaskets. At i P. M., on the second day, they reached Slade's Ferry (in Swansea),^ where they were told that the Dutch ship was afloat and sailing away, while Massasoit was dead and buried. Hobomok, fearing that with Massasoit dead there would be no safety for white men, urged an im mediate return ; but Winslow, reflecting that they were then in the country of the Pocassets, whose chief (Corbitant) would be likely to succeed Massasoit, and that a visit might strengthen the questionable friendship of that sachem, de sired to go to his dwelling. There was danger in this, for both Winslow and Hobomok had been active in the Namasket expedition of 1621, which was aimed at Corbitant's life in case Tisquantum had proved to be slain, and the insincere sachem might take this opportunity of revenge. But both of Winslow's companions yielding to his desire, the party 1 There was a James "Hamblin" in Barnstable (1640), but he does not ap pear to have been a man of any prominence, nor one who would at all answer to the description ; neither was he a citizen of Plymouth at the land-division of 1623-4, or the cattle-division of 1627. The statement that subsequent to this time Hampden, with his cousin Crom well, Pym, and Hazelrig embarked for New England, but were stopped by Gov emment, is groundless. The passengers were only temporarily detained, and these names are not on their list, which is extant. In this connection it is interesting to find Phineas Pratt saying in his narrative (Mass. Hist. Coll., iv., series i.) that as he neared Plymouth he met " Mr. Ham- din." His expression shows the latter to have been his social superior, and a person supposed to be well known to his readers. (See Chap. XXI.) 2 Near western limits of Fall River. 2l8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. proceeded to Corbitant's house (the sachimo-comaco) at Mattapuyst (Gardner's Neck, Swansea). The sachem had gone to visit Massasoit ; but his wife, the " squaw-sachem," treated the travellers with hospitality, while an Indian messenger went to Sowams for tidings. On the journey Hobomok had touchingly mourned for his friend and ruler, exclaiming, Neen womasu sagimus I neen womasu sagimus I etc., or, " My loving sachem ! my loving sachem ! Many have I known, but never any like thee 1 " Winslow adds that he was assured by Hobomok that " Whilst I lived I should never see his like among the Indians. He was no liar; he was not bloody and cruel, like other Indians; in anger and passion he was soon reclaimed ; easy to be recon ciled towards such as had offended him ; ruled by reason in such measure as he would not scorn the advice of mean men ; and that he governed his men better with few strokes than others did with many, truly loving where he loved. Yes, he feared we had not a faithful friend left among the Indians ; showing how he ofttimes restrained their malice, etc., con tinuing a long speech with such signs of lamentation and unfeigned sorrow as it would have made the hardest heart relent." This description gives us a highly favorable opinion of Mas sasoit, and of Hobomok also. Under the circumstances, it was doubtless a just tribute to the great ruler, of whose char acter we should otherwise have little positive information. Half an hour before sunset the runner returned from Sowams, stating that the Dutch ship had just departed, but that the king was still living, though he would doubtless die .before the visitors could reach him. The latter then set forth with such speed as they could in the early darkness, and reached Sowams late in the evening. Massasoit's dwell ing was so crowded that while all tried to make room, the strangers had great difficulty in reaching the sick-bed. The powahs were in the midst of their incantations,^ making, as 1 The priest comes close to the sick person and performs many strange ac tions about him, and threatens and conjures out the sickness. The poor people 1623.] INDIAN DOCTORING. — MASSASOIT'S TREATMENT. 219 Winslow says, " such a hellish noise as it distempered us that were well, and therefore unlike to ease him that was sick." During the din several women were more sensibly engaged in chafing the chief's limbs to maintain the animal heat. The patient had not slept for two days, and had become entirely blind. When the " charming" ceased, Massasoit was told who had come to see him. Upon this he feebly groped with his hand, which Winslow took. The chief then twice said faintly, Keen Winsnow ? ^ or " Art thou Winslow? " Winslow rephed, Ahhe ! or " Yes ! " The patient then feebly muttered, Malta neen wonckanet namen, Winsnow ! which was to say, " I shall never see thee again, O Winslow ! " Winslow then delivered, through Hobomok, a message of sympathy from Bradford, and producing " a confection of many comfortable conserves," etc., he took some of it upon the point of his knife, and with great trouble succeeded in getting it through the sick man's teeth. When the confection had been dissolved in his mouth, it was readily swallowed. This greatly astonished and de lighted the spectators, for nothing had been before swallowed for two days. Winslow then contrived to clean Massasoit's mouth, " which was exceedingly furred," and scrape his swollen tongue, re moving an abundance of foul matter. Next, the patient commonly die under their hands ; for, alas ! they administer nothing, but howl and roar and hollow over them, and begin the song to the rest of the people, who all join like a choir in prayer to their gods for them. — Roger Williams. Wood says : " The powow sitting down, the rest give attentive audience to his imprecations and invocations, and after the violent expression of many a hideous bellowing and groaning, he makes a stop, and then all the auditors with one voice utter a short canto, which done, the powow still proceeds, sometimes roaring like a bear, other times groaning like a dying horse, foaming at the' mouth like a chafed boar, smiting his naked breast and thighs with such violence as if mad. Thus he will continue sometimes half a day." 1 The Indians had much trouble with the European r sound, and commonly made an indistinct and unhappy nasal in place of it. Williams says : " Some pronounce not / nor r, yet it is the most proper dialect of other places." Eliot's Indian Grammar states that " These consonants /, n, r, have such a natural coincidence, that it is an eminent variation of their dialects. We Massachusetts pronounce the n ; the Nipmucks, / ; Northern Indians, r." The Western Indians of to-day seem to follow the old Nipmucks in substituting / for r. 220 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. ' [1623. desiring drink, some of the confection was dissolved in water and given him. Within half an hour he had visibly improved, and soon began to see again. Winslow continued his nursing all night. He also sent Indians to Plymouth with a note de scribing the case, and asking Dr. Fuller's advice, as well as that some delicacies be returned, especially a pair of chickens for broth. Before morning, the king's appetite beginning to return, he asked for broth or pottage like that he had eaten at Plymouth. Winslow was unfamiliar with such cookery, and had neither meat, rice, vegetables, nor seasoning. In that early month there were no herbs to be found. But setting his wits at work, he took the coarse part of some pounded corn and set it on the fire in an earthen pot; ^ he then added a handful of strawberry-leaves and the sliced root of a sassafras-bush. When this compound had been well cooked, he strained the liquid through his handkerchief and gave a pint of it to his patient. The broth was highly relished, and seemed to work wonders ; the vital organs resumed their duties, his sight became perfect, and gentle slumber soon followed. When Massasoit awoke, he persuaded Winslow to go to the different wigwams and treat several of the tribe who were sick, the kind Massasoit telling Winslow that the poor sufferers were " good folk." This labor, though very offensive to the senses, being performed with cheerfulness and success, was as benefi cial to the people of Plymouth, from a political point of view, as it was medically to the sufferers. In the afternoon, Massasoit desiring some wild fowl. Win- slow succeeded in shooting a very fat duck, at a range of three hundred and sixty feet. When this had been made into broth, Winslow insisted on skimming off the fat, fearing its effect on a weak stomach ; but his wilful patient would not allow it. In consequence, within an hour Massasoit, who had eaten too heartily of the dish, was again very sick. In his straining he brought on the dreaded nose-bleed, which could 1 The pots they seethe their food in are made of clay or earth, almost in the form of an egg, the top taken off. — Gookin. 1623.] MASSASOIT'S RECOVERY. 221 not be checked for four hours. The case for some time was desperate ; but at length his retching subsided, and then the hemorrhage, after which he slept for nearly eight hours. When he awoke, Winslow bathed his face and beard; but suddenly the chief thrusting his nose into the basin of water, and drawing up a large quantity, ejected it so violently that his nose-bleed returned. At this sight the Indians gave up their renewed hopes and utterly despaired ; but Winslow, seeing that the bleeding was superficial, soon stopped it. The loss of blood had been a benefit. The king now needed only care as to diet, and more sleep ; by the second morning he was comparatively well, having a good appetite, and being able to sit up and converse. The supplies from Plymouth arrived in about twenty-four hours from the departure of the runners from Sowams (fifty miles arid back). The medicines were no longer needed, and the chickens Massasoit wisely concluded to keep for breed ing. Visitors continued to come from all the tribes round about, and to them a pinese constantly repeated the details of the wonderful cure which his English friends had wrought upon their good ruler when he was wellnigh " spent." The day before Winslow's coming, a visiting sachem had assured Massasoit that the English were no friends to him, and espe cially insisted that they had neglected him in his sickness. After his recovery the chief could not too warmly or too constantly express his gratitude, exclaiming, among other things : " Now I see the English are my friends and love me ; and while I live I will never forget this kindness they have showed me." Hamden and Hobomok had earnestly assisted Winslow, and all three were entertained by the Indians in the best pos sible manner, until, after nearly two days from their arrival, they were sped on their way with the warmest thanks of both sovereign and people. Before their departure Massasoit, in a secret council with his pineses, charged Hobomok with a message to be delivered to Winslow during the journey. The sachem Corbitant, who had remained in close attendance on 222 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. his chief, accompanied the messengers, and insisted on their spending that night at his home. He proved a genial hOst and a witty entertainer, who, more sensible than many white' men, was highly pleased when any of his many jokes were " returned again upon him." His conversation with Winslow showed much intelligence and shrewdness. Inquiring the meaning of the " blessing " which Winslow asked on the food, he and his followers patiently received a long lecture on divine matters and religious observances, taking exception only to the seventh commandment. As to the moral theology and reason for asking the blessing, and giving thanks for the food after its consumption, the Indians, according to Winslow, " said they believed almost all the same things, and that the same power we called God, they called Kiehtan." This pleasant scene is the last in which Corbitant appears. He probably continued to rule his tribe for a long term of years, and be friendly to the English ; for if an enemy, he would have been occasionally criticised. The fifth night after leaving Plymouth the messengers spent with their native friends at Namasket, and the sixth night found them once more at home, well but weary. Ham- den's desire to " see the country " and its people had been gratified in an extraordinary manner. On the road Hobomok had astonished Winslow by delivering Massasoit's parting message, which will be given in due course. CHAPTER XXI. THE GREAT INDIAN CONSPIRACY. WESTON'S Colonists at Weymouth had exhausted their stores before the middle of March, even devouring their seed-corn. Then some of them obtained scanty sup plies from the savages in return for the most menial services. Others were detected in stealing from the natives, for which they were set in the stocks or whipped ; but nevertheless a plan came to be generally entertained of seizing by force on the stores of the Indians, as the latter would no longer sell corn at any price. Some few of the whites were worthy men ; and these ad vised John Sanders, their overseer, to take no such step with out obtaining the approval of the Governor of Plymouth. The latter was therefore consulted. Of course he sternly discountenanced the scheme, assuring the settlers that the natives were not withholding their corn through malice, but were themselves scantily supplied ; the proposed course would hinder the spread of " the glad tidings of salvation," and would " breed a distaste in the savages against our per sons and professions ; " if the King or the Council for New England should send over a general governor, — which he said was then expected, — that officer would doubtless punish such an outrage, and the principals could " expect no better than the gallows ; " the people of Plymouth were in like des titution, having little corn, but by the aid of clams, muscles,^ ground-nuts, and such things, would maintain themselves till 1 Morton says : " I have often gone to Wessaguscus, where were excellent muscles to eat (for variety), the fish is so fat and large." 224 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. harvest; surely the Weymouth settlers could do the same, for, in addition to these resources, they had an abundance of oysters, which were not found at Plymouth ; moreover, the proposed act would arouse the hostility of the Indians, and so far from preserving the Colonists, would but insure their destruction. Besides this public letter, Bradford privately showed San ders his special danger of punishment as the leader. The result was the abandonment of the scheme. Sanders sailed in a shallop to Monhegan to try to buy food ; but he first came to Plymouth, where from the dwindling stores he was given enough corn for his voyage. He never returned to his colony, but a substitute appointed by him ruled in his stead. Matters fast became worse at Weymouth. The settlers had a well-built village enclosed in a strong palisade ; but the most of them left their houses and camped about in the woods or along the beach, where they could search for food. They had sold to the Indians nearly all their clothing for provisions, and were now half naked as well as half starved. One of them ran away and joined the savages; and one, hunting for clams, stuck in the mud, where, unable from weakness to extricate himself, he was drowned by the tide. Squalor, demoralization, and abjectness ruled everywhere, except that a handful of the better men stayed by the planta tion and vainly tried to establish a healthier state of things. They even hung one of the men who had stolen corn from the natives. The Indians, on their part, were not blameless. Proud of their greater strength, they were arrogant and abusive. When the wretched whites obtained a mess of food and had nearly cooked it, the savages often came up, and taking the kettles from the fire, would devour the contents, while with drawn knives they kept off the famished owners. If on a cold night they found a white man asleep under his ragged blanket, they would strip off the covering and add it to their own couches. Their conduct was as outrageous as that of the Colonists, and lacked the excuse of starvation. 1623.] THE PLOT. — MASSASOIT'S WARNING. 225 Winslow, on his return from Sowams, found the leaders at Plymouth filled with anxiety at this state of things. He in tensified their concern by giving them Massasoit's parting message, as follows : The Neponsets had determined to slaughter the Weymouth people, which they felt able to do with the nearly forty fighting men of their tribe. They made no complaint against Plymouth ; but as they knew that their deed would be sternly punished by that Colony, they had extended their plan to include the simultaneous murder of the Plymouth people by neighboring tribes. A league for this purpose had been formed by the Neponsets, Nausets, Succonessets, Mattakees, Manomets, Agawaywams, and the natives of Capawak (Martha's Vineyard). Earnest entreaties had been made to Massasoit, even in his sickness, to join in the plot, but in vain. Massasoit now earnestly warned the Pilgrims to be active. He had heard them say that they would not strike until they had been struck ; if they waited for the first blow, they would find that blow to be the murder of their sixty countrymen at Weymouth, whom subsequent energy could not bring back, and whose overthrow would precipitate upon Plymouth a bloodthirsty host difficult to withstand. The Chief therefore charged the Colonists, as they valued the lives of their countrymen and of themselves, to promptly seize and execute the main conspirators among the Neponsets. In no other way could the whites secure safety. Massasoit, though the federal head of all these hostile tribes, seems to have had no control over their actions; still, his sympathy would naturally be with them, and the fact that it was not so was evidence of the badness of their cause. His humanity and regard for his people gave much additional weight to his advice. The meaning of Wituwamat's harangue during Standish's recent visit at Manomet now became evident, and also why the captain's pretended friend had tried so earnestly to lure him to Pamet. This latter conspirator was still at Plymouth, seeking to draw Standish across the bay ; but now that his errand was known, he was peaceably dismissed. Winslow's 11; 226 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. story was soon corroborated. Among those who in some way suffered for participation in Corbitant's Namasket escapade in 162 1, was a chief called Wassapinewat, brother to Obtakiest, sachem of the Neponsets. Fearful of further retribution, he now came to Plymouth and bore witness to the new plot. April 2 (March 23 O. s.) was the day when the " court," or town-meeting of the people, was held for the annual elec tion, and Bradford stated the case fully to the citizens. The people were much grieved at the thought of shedding the blood of those whose good they had kept prominently in view, and whom they had hoped soon to imbue with Chris tian love; but Massasoit's opinion on such a question was wellnigh authoritative, and their own reason was forced to indorse it. As the Governor could not wage hostilities with out consent of the people, he was now clothed with due authority, and the matter placed in the hands of himself and his associates. It was by them decided that Standish should take a sufficient force, and under appearance of a trading trip, warn the Weymouth people, and then inflict suitable punishment on the conspirators; especially making sure of Wituwamat, whose head was to be brought back and used as a warning to his abettors, who might not otherwise credit the story of his overthrow. Standish selected only eight men, fearing that a larger force might alarm the Indians so that they would keep out of reach. On the day after town-meeting, as the captain was preparing for his desperate task, one of the Weymouth men of the better class, Phineas Pratt,^ made his appearance. Seeing the danger at Weymouth, Pratt had shouldered his pack, and started down the Indian path for Plymouth. An Indian followed, with the intention of killing him ; but passing by while Pratt had wandered from the right path, missed his prey and went on to Manomet. 1 Pratt (a carpenter) was one of Weston's seven men who arrived in that boat (1622) which unwittingly saved Tisquantum from surrender to Massasoit (p. 203). He says they were then kindly received at Plymouth. He married at Plymouth after this second return, and died in 1680 at Charlestown, ceU go. 1623.] INDIAN INSOLENCE. 227 On April 4 (1623) Standish sailed. At Weymouth he found the "Swan," without a soul on board. Ashore was the master, who assured Standish that the Indians were so friendly that he allowed them to come and lodge with him when they pleased, and kept no arms by him. At the plan tation all were living in fancied security, with the men scat tered abroad in three localities. By Standish's advice, those farthest away were called home, and ordered on pain of death to stay there. Standish's provision had been taken from the Plymouth store of seed-corn, and was therefore very precious. Of this he gave a pint a day to each of the people, to prevent their straggling. The first day proving stormy, little could be done. An Indian spy came in under pretence of selling furs, and on his return reported that while the captain spoke smoothly, his eye showed that he was angry at heart. The conspirators, thereupon suspecting the plot to be dis covered, assumed an air of bold defiance. Pecksuot, a noted pinese, said to Hobomok that he understood that the captain had come to kill the savages, including the speaker; and added : " Tell him we know it, but fear him not, neither will we shun him. But let him begin when he dare; he shall not take us unawares ! " Several of the savages hung about Standish, whetting their knives and making insulting remarks and defiant gestures. Wituwamat also came, boasting of his knife, which had on the handle a woman's face. He said he had another at home with which he had killed both English and French ; that knife had on it a man's face, and by and by the two must marry. Soon the knife should see and eat, but should not speak, — by which he intimated that his weapons were more secret and terrible than the English fire-arms. Then Pecksuot, in his turn, ridiculed Standish's small stature, and dilated upon his own strength and courage. The little captain marvellously controlled his hasty temper, and manifested only indifference. He sought to get the chief conspirators together before beginning the fight ; but late on the second day, concluding this to be impracticable, he made sure of such as were present. Pecksuot and a comrade, Witu- 228 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. wamat and his brother, — a noted ruffian, though only eigh teen years old, — and Standish with about an equal number of his band, were gathered in one room ; and the door having been shut, the captain gave the word. The stalwart Pecksuot wore suspended from his neck a knife which he had brought to an edge all along its back, giving it a point like a needle. Standish advanced upon him, and a fierce struggle ensued for the possession of this knife. Standish won; and turning the weapon upon its owner, after a further desperate contest thrust it into his heart. Wituwamat and his comrade also fell, but the young savage was taken alive and immediately hanged. The chiefs fought with great vigor, making no out cries, but receiving an astonishing number of wounds before they succumbed. Another party slew two more Indians, and a seventh was killed by Standish. Early on the same day three of the Weymouth men had escaped and gone to live among the Indians, like him pre viously mentioned. That night a messenger came to the tribe with " a sad and short message," which caused all the Indian men to arm and mysteriously depart. One of the whites, becoming alarmed, urged his comrades to return ; but they refusing, he skulked back alone, and so saved his life. The next morning Standish, with four of his men and two settlers, aided by Hobomok, went out to meet the tribe. The warriors were finally seen approaching in Indian file. Both parties strove for the strategic advantage of a small hill, which was at length gained by the whites. The Indians fell each behind a tree and kept up a fiight of arrows, aiming chiefly at Standish and Hobomok. Then was shown the superstitious fear the savages had of a pinese ;^ for Hobomok, throwing off his coat and running toward them, they turned and fled before him like a flock of sheep, until they gained the thicket of a swamp, where they hid. Standish tried to parley with them, but received only foul language. He then 1 The pineses were all supposed to have facile communication with the Devil. "Hobomok" (see Abamacho) means "devil," — hence the old-fashioned objurga- tive references to " Hob." 1623.] ^WESSAGUSSET ABANDONED. 229 challenged the sachem to come out and " fight like a man," " showing how base and woman-like he was in tonguing it as he did." Obtakiest, however, took a wiser course, and with drew his men to a safe retreat. The only casualty in this skirmish was to a powah, one of the chief conspirators, whose arm was broken by a shot just as he was aiming an arrow at Standish.^ After the action an Indian youth, previously known as courteous and friendly, came to Standish and confessed the plot to murder Weston's Colonists, who had built three boats for the Indians, and were putting the last touches on two more. As soon as this work should be finished the massacre was to take place. Three days later Standish would have been too late. The captain next released the Indian women who had been held captive during the fight, and then urged the settlers to go on with their plantation, assuring them that he should not fear to live there with fewer men than they had ; or if they preferred, they would be made welcome at Plymouth. They, however, determined to go to the fishing-vessels at Mon hegan and abandon the country. Their movable property was all loaded on the " Swan," the palisade gates tightly fas tened, and away they sailed, having been supplied by Stand ish with all his precious corn except a scanty ration for the homeward trip. The Plymouth party then went home, ac companied by a few of the settlers who were disposed to remain in New England. The return of Standish and his party, all unhurt, caused much rejoicing at Plymouth. The head of Wituwamat was set on a pike above the fort, — not in brutal triumph, but ac cording to the custom in England and other enlightened countries of that day.^ Brewster, when a member of Queen 1 In N. E. Gen. Reg., July, 1853, is an entirely erroneous account of this fight, though the writer might easily have seen the only authoritative relation of it, — that by Winslow (Chron. Pil., 338-341). 2 Philip's head, after he was shot at the end of his war, adorned the fort in a similar manner for over twenty years. A pair of wrens long nested in the vacant skull. (See note to " Faunce," Chap. LVI.) 230 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. » t«623. Elizabeth's brilliant court, had known hundreds of heads dis played at one time on London Bridge ; and he and others of the company must have seen a like garniture upon the Tower and Temple Bar. Indeed, it was more than a century after Brewster's death that (1747) the passers along London's busiest street were compelled to travel under the decaying heads of Lords Lovat, Kilmarnock, and Balmerino, adherents of the second Pretender.^ The Indian who had pursued Pratt from Weymouth came to Plymouth as a spy during Standish's expedition. He was seized and confined in fetters at the new fort. This edifice, begun ten months before, had been a subject of difference among the people; some had thought it unnecessary, and some had pronounced it " vainglorious." Through the per sistence of the leaders the work had slowly advanced, and under the present alarm the people had rallied and com pleted it just in time for this Indian. The size is not given. De Razieres (1627) will be seen in his description to call it large and square, while Bradford speaks of it as " strong and comely," and " a great work for them." The lower story was used for religious worship, probably from the time of its completion; and it is supposed that from that time burials were made around it, according to the English custom of making the churchyard the place of interment.^ On top of 1 In 1660 the heads of Solicitor Coke and General Harrison were set on Westminster Hall, facing London ; while on London Bridge was placed the head of Hugh Peters, former pastor of Salem, Mass. The three lords mentioned in the text were the last persons executed in England by decapitation, and the last whose remains were exposed, save felons " hanged in chains," till 1834. (See p. S.) ^ In 1633 it was ordered that " whereas our ancient work of fortification by continuance of time is decayed, and Christian wisdom teacheth us to depend upon God in the use of all good means for our safety," therefore that a " work of fortification be made about the said fort " by the united labor of all able- bodied men in the Colony. Still two years later it was found necessary to hire Thomas Boseman to " do the fort ; " the posts, ten inches square, to be not over ten feet apart, with three rails between, and boarded nine feet high, cut sharp at the top ; all the lumber to be sawed. (In 1642 it was again ordered that a fortification be made about the ordnance, and another piece be mounted on Fort Hill. In 1643 ^ watch-house was built near by the fort (fragments of its brick foundation have often been scratched out of the ground by the author,'s cane). 1623.] THE FORT. — UNRAVELLING THE PLOT. 23 1 the structure a watch was stationed night and day, and the artillery was placed there behind battlements. A marble tablet was in 1876 placed to indicate the site of this fort, a similar one marking the neighboring site of the watch-tower of 1643. The depressions in the ground plainly mark the out line of some structure there, but pertairi to the third renewal of the fort in 1676, rather than to the previous works. When the Neponset spy had seen the head of Wituwamat, he was terrified, and confessed the entire plot. He said that Obtakiest, the sachem, had been averse to it, but was drawn in by importunity. There were five principals, two being Wituwamat and Pecksuot ; the wounded powah was another ; the others were still alive. The man insisting on his own innocence, and privately hiring^ Hobomok to intercede for him, was released, and sent to Obtakiest with a message of caution against further plots, a demand that he return the three Englishmen who went to him, and an order that he should not molest the houses of the abandoned village. Mr. Grimes furnished the brick at lis. per M. This was a special precaution against the Dutch and the Narragansetts. (In 1643 Barnstable and Yarmouth were ordered to each construct a stronghold to which the women and children could repair in case of an attack.) In Philip's War the fort was again rebuilt. In March, 1884, while digging a grave for Abigail Judson, the aged sister of the Baptist missionary to Burmah, much of this brick foundation was exposed, including the hearth. Probably the Fort Hill structure was used for worship until 16418-9, when the first church edifice was built at the foot of the Hill on the rear of Bradford's garden, and near the site of the present " Church of the Pilgrimage." Doubtless town-meetings were held in the fort, and the common-house given up to storage. In 1649 •* ^^^ ordered that these meetings be held in the new " meeting-house " above mentioned. Burials have continued on the Hill, but within forty years restrictions have been laid. Gravestones were not erected for at least eighty years after burials began. The oldest known is said to be of Joseph Bartlett, died April, 1703, at. 37 ; but there is over an older grave a more recent stone bearing a prior date, — that of " Edward Gray, Gent.," who died June, 1681, tet. circ. 52. The number of graves not to be identified is very great, and includes nearly all of the first two generations. " Never let tool or art or levelling or adorning meddle with this spot ! " — Dean Stanley (on Burial Hill, 1878). On the next Forefathers' Day, from his pulpit in Westminster Abbey he paid a generous tribute to the Pilgrim Fathers. — From E. E. Ellis, D.D. 1 The Pilgrims were aware of this quiet inducement to compassion, — at least, Winslow mentions it. 232 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. Long after, the sachem sent word that he wanted to make peace, but none of his people dared to go near the whites for fear of further punishment, and he had but just been able to find a woman who would venture with a message; he was sorry the three whites had been killed before Bradford had called for them, and would have returned them safely if alive. The woman added that the chief changed his sleeping-place every night, through fear of another attack. The confederates of the Neponsets were equally terrified ; and although none of them were molested, abandoned their homes and hid in swamps and other desolate places, where the exposure and poor food destroyed many by a variety of diseases. Among those who perished thus miserably, the reader will be grieved to find the energetic Aspinet, the grave Canacum, and the gentle lyanough. Abuses, although retaliated, had made the Neponsets hostile to Weston's set tlers. The Cape Indians had no wrongs to avenge. They had been treated by Plymouth with much more than justice, and derived nothing but benefit from the association. Their chief motive in joining the Neponset plot was apparently the hope of plunder. The humble English cottages were to them palaces, and the plain furniture, clothing, tools, weapons, trading-goods, and little superfluities of the white people were to the aboriginal eye wonderful treasures; and this temptation must have been far more influential than the exhortations of the far-dwelling Wituwamat. The terrified savages now ran " to and fro like men demented," and poor lyanough lived long enough to tell his comrades that " the God of the English " was offended, and would destroy them. At length four men were sent with a canoe filled with peace- offerings for the white men ; but a storm overtaking it and drowning three, no others dared attempt a visit. The war like Indians of the Cape were subdued forever, and from that time were faithful allies of the whites ; and when, after more than fifty years, Indian hostilities were next known at Ply- mouth,! ^\yQ natives of the Cape rendered good service of I Sachem Philip's War, 1675. 1623.] ROBINSON'S IMPRACTICAL HUMANITY. 233 their white benefactors, for such had the Pilgrims and their successors proved. In the following December, John Robinson, in writing his last letter to Bradford, said of this fight : " O, how happy a thing had it been if you had converted some, before you had killed any. . . . Let me be bold to exhort you to seriously consider of the disposition of your captain, whom I love, and am persuaded the Lord in great mercy and for much good hath sent you him, if you use him aright. He is a man humble and meek amongst you, and towards all, in ordinary course. But now if this be merely from a humane spirit, there is cause to fear that by occasion, especially of provo cation, there may be wanting that tenderness of the life of man, made after God's image, that is meet." This (with its context) evinces a lofty sentiment of humanity ; but it came from one who was three thousand miles from the scene of danger, and one who had never been in contact with the savage tribes, nor probably in sight of an Indian.^ Massasoit, prudent and moderate, and inclined to leniency with his sub jects, was a far better counsellor in this case, occurring in his own dominions, than was the good Robinson, resting in the shades of Leyden University. Of the plot to murder themselves, their wives, and their little ones, the Pilgrims had ample proof. In a similar way, the previous year, the people of the far stronger settlements at Virginia had been slaughtered by hundreds, and their Colony most narrowly escaped annihilation. The blow was ready to fall again. Massasoit earnestly urged a preventive action, " short, sharp, and decisive," which should paralyze the conspirators. The Pilgrims deliberated carefully, but they could see no better course. There was no better course ! To no small extent the fate of Anglo-Saxon civilization on this continent was involved in the issue. Fortunately, not Robinson, but Standish, was to execute the plan, and to exe cute it in such a way that its settlement would remain undis- 1 Similar conditions are apt to increase the zeal of the present sympathizer for and admirer of the Indians of our Western States. 234 THE PILPRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. turbed for the remainder of that generation. Standish very daringly risked his life to save his fellow-colonists from harm, and had saved them by no common degree of skill and bravery. He might well have felt hurt when the only notice from the Leyden company was that above quoted. He never was permitted to remonstrate with Mr. Robinson on his stric tures ; but thirty years after the burial of the latter, the old hero's dying hand wrote in his will concerning a little girl on Cape Cod, granddaughter of the pastor, " I give £}, to Mercy Robinson, whom I tenderly love for her grandfather's sake." Such was the chivalrous answer of the disinherited heir of the house of " Standish of Standish " to the ecclesiastical criticism, which was not less unjust and galling than it was nobly meant. CHAPTER XXII. Weston's Fraud. — John Peirce's Attempt to seize the Colony. — The Fishing Monopoly. — A General Governor. SOON after the dissolution of his colony Weston appeared at Plymouth. He had come over with a fishing-vessel in " the disguise of a blacksmith ; " and taking boat with a few men, started from Maine to visit Wessagusset. Near Rye Beach he was wrecked, and stripped to his shirt by the Indians ; but at the Piscataqua had borrowed some garments and kept on his way. He now pleaded piteously for a new outfit. The Pilgrim leaders pointed out their own poverty ; but at length, yielding to persistence, lent him from the public store a hundred and seventy pounds of beaver: the transaction was private, for fear of the disapprobation of the people, who were joint owners of the property. That the Pilgrim officials should have been ready to forget recent in juries and remember ancient benefits, was creditable to their hearts ; but this secret use of the public property, contrary to the wish of many of the owners, was the least defensible of any of their recorded acts. Nor was the result such as to justify their course; for after Weston had obtained the beaver he boasted that he could then at any time embroil the Colony, by exposing the manner in which the leaders had exceeded their authority in aiding him. This fur enabled him to fit out the " Swan " and build up a trade which con tinued for many years ; yet this ingrate never repaid the loan, nor did he ever neglect a chance to ridicule and slander his Plymouth benefactors. It will be remembered that the " Fortune," in 1621, brought over a patent granting to the Colony the land which it required. 236 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. This patent ran to John Peirce, of London (one of the Adven turers), and his associates. In 1622 Peirce quietly contrived to have this patent exchanged for another (a " deed pole ") to him, his heirs, associates, and assigns. His plan was to take no associates, but to set himself up as the sole proprietor of the country, the settlers becoming his tenants, subject to him as their lord-paramount, and under his laws and courts. The Adventurers, though indignant at this treachery, tried to buy Peirce's claims. The patent had cost him £$0 ; but as he would not sell for less than ;£^S00, the trade was not made. (Dr. Prince unfortunately stated that this bargain was made, and historians generally repeat his error.) In December, 1622, Peirce equipped the "Paragon" and set out to take possession of his principality. The Adven turers hired him to take along many passengers and much freight for Plymouth. In fourteen days the " Paragon " re turned to London, badly damaged by a storm ; but the next February was again started out with additional passengers and freight crowded in by Peirce to cover his recent losses. In mid-ocean a fearful tempest beat upon her for two weeks. Her upper works were torn off, her main-mast cut away, and her escape from sinking was of the narrowest ; but finally she found her way back to England. The Adventurers had expended for goods, passage-money, and subsistence, ;^640, for most of which they had a claim on Peirce. His losses had much reduced his property; and in part payment of this claim he surrendered his stock as an Adventurer, and assigned his patent to the Company. The rest of the debt was never received, nor does it appear that the patent had any definite valuation assigned to it in this transfer. In July there came to Plymouth the ship "Plantation," bringing Francis West, whom the Council for New England had appointed their admiral for the purpose of driving from the coast all fishermen who had not taken a costly license from the Council. The fishermen, mostly from the West of England, proved too strong and stubborn, and West quickly 1623.] GORGES AND THE FISHERIES. 237 left them alone. His interference, however, so disturbed matters that the imperilled fishing-fleet shrank from four hundred vessels to a hundred and fifty. The ship-owners appealed to Parliament. There, Sir Ferdinando Gorges de fended the monopoly, and was vigorously answered by Sir Edward Coke, who was then nobly atoning for his former services to tyranny. Coke said : " Shall none visit the sea- coast for fishing? This is to make a monopoly upon the seas, which were wont to be free. If you alone are to pack and dry fish, you attempt a monopoly of the wind and sun 1 " An act was passed making the fisheries free ; but King James, with his usual hostility to public privileges, refused his assent. West reported having met at sea a ship with passengers and goods bound for Plymouth. This was good news, for the Colonists were suffering from famine. West's ship-master had two hogsheads of peas for sale; but when he saw the distress of the people, raised the price to ;^8 a hogshead. The Pilgrims manfully refused to submit to the extortion, and let the fellow carry his peas to Virginia. In search of provisions, Standish made a voyage to the northward, and on his return brought with him David Thomp son, a Scotchman, who early in that year had commenced a settlement near the mouth of the Piscataqua, under the auspices of Mason and Gorges. It was he who had clothed the naked Weston. About 1626 Thompson removed to the island which still bears his name in Boston Harbor.^ Late in September word came to Plymouth that Robert 1 In 1650, the title of his heirs to the island being disputed, there occurred an instructive illustration of the unreliability of memory, especially in old persons. The Sagamore of Agawam (Ipswich) deposed that in 1619 or "thereabouts " he went to the island with Thompson, who then took possession of it. William Trevor (of the "Mayflower") deposed that he himself took possession of the island in 1619, at which time it took the name of Island of Trevor ; and he after ward in London told Thompson of the place. Myles Standish deposed that he came to the country in 1620, and the same year, "I take it," visited the place and named it "Island Trevor." Yet Standish and Trevor could not have made their visit before Sept. 28th, 1621 ; while Thompson did not see the island before 1623, nor remove to it before 1626. 238 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. Gorges (son of Sir Ferdinando) had taken a Colony to the deserted village at Weymouth, and was commissioned by the Council for New England as governor-general of the whole country. He was to have a council, consisting of Admiral West, Christopher Levett, and the governor of Plymouth for the time being ; he might add such as he thought desirable : and he, with any two of his council, had full power to decide all cases, civil or criminal, even those of life and death. Before Bradford could visit Weymouth, Governor Gorges, sailing for Maine, was forced into Plymouth by a storm. He remained two weeks, and was much pleased with his treatment. Weston, with his " Swan," chancing into Plymouth, Gorges at once called him to account for fraudulent conduct toward Sir Ferdinando and for the misconduct of his Colony. The latter was sufficiently answered by an alibi ; but for the former, Weston was threatened with arrest. Bradford, in response to Weston's piteous appeals, with great difficulty saved him from seizure. Weston, on finding himself again safe, con ducted himself with such arrogance and insolence that Gorges insisted on making him a prisoner. Weston once more be sought the influence of Bradford, who " with much ado " got him free again. Gorges soon returning to his plantation, Weston resumed his old manners, and even ridiculed Brad ford and his associates for their pains in his behalf. Gorges, on getting away from the influence of Bradford, whom he seems to have greatly respected, repented of his leniency and sent one Captain Hanson to seize Weston. Bradford refused to permit the arrest, as the warrant was not properly drawn, and he addressed to Gorges strong arguments against the proceeding; he also gave Weston a hint to escape, which was not acted on. Soon came a formal warrant, and Weston was held through the winter, but then set free, his detention proving expensive to Gorges. He returned to Plymouth, going thence to Virginia, to vex the over-patient Pilgrims no more, except as their constant debtor and defamer, till his death at Bristol, England, some twenty years later. 1623.] GOVERNOR-GENERAL GORGES. — MR. MORRELL. 239 In a few months Gorges, who had been a dashing soldier in the Venetian wars, found the rude fare of New England not in the line of his tastes or experience, and returned to England. More than sixty years passed away before the next governor-general made his appearance. In Gorges' suite had come Mr. William Morrell, an Episco pal clergyman of education and sense, who had in his pocket a commission with full authority to regulate and control the religion^ affairs of the country ; but he found the churches to be of the fewest, and no one disposed to accept his ser vices. When Gorges retired, Mr. Morrell came to Plymouth, where he spent a year socially, busying himself chiefly in studying the manners of the natives and the natural history of the region. He said nothing to his hosts of his large ec clesiastical powers, except that just before leaving, he for the first time showed his commission to a friend ; and it was not known until after his departure that he had all the time been authorized to compel the people to conform to the Church of England, and to fill their pulpits as he might please. He seems to have been an excellent gentleman, worthy of a much larger and more congenial field of labor. On reaching home he embodied his observations in an elegant Latin poem, which, with a translation, is in the first volume of the Massa chusetts Historical Society's Collections.^ 1 Its title was Nova Anglia. CHAPTER XXIII. Drought and Famine. — Coming of the "Anne." — New Settlers. — Marriages. — The " Paragon " and " Swan." — Legal Code, etc. AS the spring of 1623 advanced, it became evident that a worse famine was at hand than that of the previous year. Every possible source of food must be sedulously de veloped during the summer ; but the next corn-crop was the great reliance for the succeeding winter and spring. Hitherto all labor had been in common, and the results had been placed in the public store, for the equal benefit of those who produced much, and those who produced little ; otherwise there had been no community of goods. Under this system the less earnest were showing little zeal in the common tasks, general dissatisfaction was felt, and a change became very desirable. Especially was this so in view of the approaching famine ; for as the Governor would have no food to serve out to the people, he could not keep them closely at work, but must leave each to seek sustenance in his own way and time, and to labor in much the same manner. A new plan was therefore decided upon, and before plant ing-time, a lot was assigned for one year to each household, at the rate of an acre for every member. The lots were to be cultivated according to the pleasure of the holders, who were to own the crop, after giving a small portion to the public treasury. The effect of this new system was wonderful. Women and children helped plant the family lots, although they would have considered it a great hardship to work in the common field. A far greater area was planted, and all were earnest in their cultivation. 1623.] DROUGHT. — PRAYING FOR RAIN. — FAMINE. 241 Alas for human expectations ! Early in June there set in a drought which lasted some seven weeks. The moist fish in the hills enabled the maize to sustain itself for a long time ; but finally the younger plants became sere and dry, while the older began to mature abortively, and the beans wilted. Existing famine could be endured ; but the failure of the corn-crop would involve the destruction of the Colony. The faithful Hobomok already mourned over their ruin, and the most courageous settlers began to despair. Late in July a day was devoted to fasting and prayer. Week after week, in fearful succession, the sun had daily wheeled his way through an unclouded sky, scorching the very earth with his fierceness. Fast-day opened with extreme bright ness and heat. Hour after hour, in their fortified sanctuary on the hill-top, the forlorn Pilgrims rehearsed to each other the sacred promises, sang the penitential psalms, bewailed their supposed shortcomings, and pleaded for divine relief. For some nine hours these services continued ; and when the people resumed the arid path to their homes, lo, the clouds were rolling up the sky, and the deep dust no longer reflected the solar fires. The same evening a fine, gentle rain was " distilled," as the grateful Winslow expresses it, and con tinued to be so at intervals for fourteen days ; and he adds : " It was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God." Hobomok, much im pressed, declared to his Indian brethren the wonderful good ness of the white man's God, who had so gently and steadily overcome their drought and its effects, when in similar crises the Indian conjurations had been followed by storms, which, by uprooting or beating down the feeble crops, had inflicted as much injury as benefit. The white people, similarly im pressed, once more gathered in their place of worship and held a service of heartfelt thanksgiving for this and other mercies. The famine of this year began even in the planting sea son. There were no preserved meats, no vegetables, and no 16 242 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. bread-stuffs obtainable. Tradition has it that the last pint of corn was divided among the people, giving each one five kernels ; but the story rests on no foundation, and is opposed to common-sense. Such a distribution could have been of but the very slightest benefit, while a little grain would be of great value to keep for some emergency of sickness. The suffering was fearful. The larder was often emptied in the morning, with no knowledge as to the source of the next meal. Parties were constantly fishing, mainly for bass. Some times an absence of five or six days was required to obtain a load ; whenever the boat came in, a fresh party was ready to man her anew. Some of the best hunters were kept in the woods, where they occasionally shot a deer. When these sup plies fell short, every one able was busied seeking for shell fish ; and the liberal deposits of clams ^ around Saquish Head are said to have gone far toward supporting the Colony. It is related of Elder Brewster, who had once feasted in palaces with ambassadors, that now, with no viands whatever on his table but a meagre wooden platter of boiled clams and a pot of water, he was accustomed to give hearty thanks that he and his were still allowed to " suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand " (Deut. xxxiii. 19).^ For three or four months this famine prevailed, and some times so severely that Winslow mentions seeing men at noon day staggering for want of food. Water was the sole drink, while fish was almost exclusively the diet, and only too often insufficient in quantity. As in the previous year, the fresh English faces of the people faded ; yet uniformly good health prevailed. Late in July arrived the ship "Anne," 140 tons, William Peirce master; and ten days later came-in the pinnace " Little James," 44 tons. Bridges master. These vessels brought about 1 That most worthy antiquary. Rev. Dr. Freeman (ist Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., viii. 192), often mentions the clam as "a worm." 2 Bradford devoutly says : " But God fedd them out of y= sea for y= most parte, soe wonderfull is his providence over his in all ages ; for his mercie en dureth for ever." 1623.] COMERS IN THE "ANNE" AND "LITTLE JAMES." 243 a hundred new persons, including those who had formerly sailed in John Peirce's " Paragon." Many were from the Leyden flock, and several were wives, children, and kindred of the earlier settlers. Besides these, the Adventurers, de spite the efforts of Robert Cushman, now the Colony's agent, had sent several people so unfit for pioneer life that Bradford went to the expense of returning them by the next ship. The list of the ninety-seven remaining is shown, by the land division of 1624 and the cattle division of 1627, to have been substantially as follows (those in italic died or removed be fore June, 1627; of the others, the age at landing and the time of death are given when known) : — Anthony Annable 1673 His wife, Jane, and two children. Edward Bangs (31) 1678 His wife, Rebecca, and two children. Robert Bartlett (20) 1676 Thomas Clark (18) 1697 Cuthbert Cuthbertson 1633 His wife, Sarah (Allerton-Priest) . . , 1633 And four children. John Faunce 1654 Edward Holman. John Jenney 1644 His wife, Sarah, 1656, and three children. Manasseh Kempton 1663 Experience Mitchell (24) 1689 George Morton 1624 His wife, Juliana (38), 1666 and five children. Thomas Morton, Jr. Joshua Pratt 1656 Nicholas Snow. Francis Sprague, his wife, Anna, and child Mercy. Stephen Tracy, his wife, Triphosa, and child Sarah. Ralph Wallen by 1681 His wife, Joyce. " Mr. Perce's two servants." 244 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. OTHER WOMEN AND GIRLS. Fear Brewster 1633 Patience Brewster 1634 Mary Bucket (Becket?) 1677 Dr. Fuller's wife, Bridget. Robert Hicks' wife, Margaret, and three children. Francis Cook's wife, Hester (d. 166-?), and three children. Eleanor Newton (25) 1681 WiUiam Palmer's wife, Frances. Christian Penn. Mrs. Alice Carpenter-Southworth (33) 1670 Barbara (became Mrs. Standish) 166? Richard Warren's wife, Elizabeth (40) 1673 And five daughters, — Mary, Ann, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Abigail. Edward Burcher (Bourchieri) and wife ; Christopher Conant; Anthony Dix; Edmund Flood; William Heard ; Robert Long; John Oldham (1636), his wife, and eight associates ; James Rand; Robert Ratliffe {Radcliffe f) , wife, and two children ; Thomas Tilden, wife, and child; Thomas FlavelFs wife; William Hilton's wife, and two children. The above list closes the catalogue of those who are known as the Pilgrims, the First Comers, or the Forefathers. These names, therefore, are used synonymously for those who came in the " Mayflower," the " Fortune," and the " Anne,'' with her consort. The number at landing, it will be remembered, was: "Mayflower," 102; "Fortune," 35; "Anne," about 96: total, 233. At the close of 1623 there were probably one hundred and eighty of these immigrants living at Plymouth. Special Biographical Notes. — Timothy Hatherly, one of the Adven turers, also came out on a trading-trip, but soon returned. In 1632, coining again, he settled at Scituate, and became a leading man. Some of the new-comers who may not be specially mentioned hereinafter require further notice here : — Annable in 1630 went to Scituate, and in 1640 to Barnstable. Although un able to write his name, he was prominent in both towns and in the Colonial Council. Edward Bangs (shipwright), who (it is supposed) married Lydia, daughter of 1623.] WHAT BEFELL THE NEW-COMERS SUBSEQUENTLY. 245 The immigrants were all in good health, save one, who soon became so ; they in turn found that no death had occurred among the " Mayflower's " company since the close of the great mortality in 1621, — a fact giving much encouragement as to the healthfulness of the climate. There were now many joyful reunions; but among the less zealous incomers was Robert Hicks, was one of the founders of Eastham, as also was Snow, who had married Constance Hopkins (ofthe " Mayflower "). Descendants of these two Fathers are numerous and prominent on Cape Cod. Bartlett married Mary Warren, and left a goodly family. Their great-grand daughter, Lydia Bartlett, married Dr. Lazarus Le Baron in 1720. Thomas Clark (carpenter) is sometimes confounded with John Clarke, mate of the " Mayflower." He married Susanna Ring, and went to Harwich, on Cape Cod. He was buried on the Hill in Plymouth, where his stone gives his age as ninety-eight ; but Savage finds it to have been but ninety-two. Faunce married Governor Morton's daughter Patience, their son becoming the third and last of the ruling elders at Plymouth. Holman became a man of family. Mitchell was among the founders of Duxbury; and when Bridgewater was set off became a leading man there, as many of his descendants have been. He married Jane Cook about 1628. Thomas Morton, Jr., became a permanent resident, although his father, who came in the "Fortune," soon died or removed. In 1612 George Morton is mentioned as having a brother Thomas; and this was probably the same man. Tracy also went to Duxbury early, and so did a Pierce, — probably the Abra ham Pierce who for many years was the only negro at Plymouth, and was an energetic citizen of Duxbury, both in matters of peace and war. He is thought to have been one of " Mr. Perce's two servants," their employer probably being the master of the "Anne," who usually wrote his name "Pierse." (Bradford spells it " Peirce.") Sprague too was a settler at Duxbury. He was a disor derly citizen ; and his daughter Mercy, who married William Tubbs in 1637, so conducted as to be divorced in 1668. Wallen was dead by 1643. His wife, Joyce, doubtless came with him ; but some may question it. Conant went early to Massachusetts, and was a witness there in 1636. Some have wrongly thought his name a corruption of Roger Conant's. The latter was probably one of the unnamed with Oldham. Dix became a Boston navigator. He was captured by Dixey Bull, the alleged pirate, who released and reimbursed him. December, 1638, in a barque of thirty tons, Dix, with two of his four men, was lost on the outer coast of Cape Cod in a snow-storm. Hilton became a pioneer at Piscataqua (Dover), and was a man of ability. The Brewster girls were the Elder's daughters. Fear became the wife of Allerton, and Patience of Prence. Mary Bucket married George Soule (of the " Mayflower "), who was another Duxbury pioneer. Mrs. Fuller, a sterling woman, was daughter of Mrs. " Joos "-Lee, as the 246 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. grave disappointment. Rude houses, scantily furnished, they expected ; but they had counted on a land of plenty. When they saw that their hospitable hosts could place on the table nothing but a lobster or a piece of fish or a mess of boiled clams, flanked by a pot of spring water; and when they learned that milk and fresh beef or mutton had never been seen in the Colony, and that every form of bread had been unknown for months, while most of the settlers were as poorly off for clothing as for food, and that the only supplies certain and abundant in Plymouth were fine air, pure water, and plenty of hard work, — it is not very surprising that some, who at best were indifferent and irresolute, should have tearfully wished themselves in Europe. But soon the influence of the seniors and of the reunited friends, too happy to care just now for these things, produced a hopeful feeling and caused contentment to prevail.^ 1 Bradford says : " These passengers when they saw their low & poore con dition ashore, were much danted and dismayed, and according to their diverse humors were diversely affected ; some wished them selves in England againe ; others fell a weeping, fancying their own miserie in what y^y saw now in others ; other some pitying the distress they saw their freinds had been long in, and still were under ; in a word, all were full of sadnes. Only some of their old freinds rejoysed to see them, and y' it was no worse with them, for they could not ex- pecte it should be better, and now hoped they should injoye better days togeather. And truly it was no marvell they should be thus affected, for they were in a very low condition, many were ragged in aparell, & some litle beter then halfe naked ; though some y' were stord before, were well enough in this regard. But for food they were all alike, save some y' had got a few pease of y" ship y' was last hear. The best dish they could presente their freinds with was a lobster, or a peece of fish, without bread or anything els but a cupp of fair spring water." Dutch scribe at Leyden wrote it. Fuller's first wife was Elsie Glascock. In 1612 he married Agnes Carpenter, and in 1617 Bridget Lee. Mrs. Cook was a Walloon. , Eleanor Newton married John Adams, of the " Fortune." After his death she married Kenelm Winslow, a Marshfield carpenter, and brother of Edward. Christian Penn was third wife of Francis Eaton (of the "Mayflower"), and then wife of Francis Billington (of the " Mayflower "). Barbara , whose last name is unknown, became Standish's second wife. She is reputed to be his first wife's sister, and to have come over at his request. Of the Warren girls, Mary became wife of Robert Bartlett (1628) ; Ann married (1633) Thomas Little ; Sarah married (1634) John Cook (of the "May flower ") ; Elizabeth married Richard Church, and was mother of the famous Indian-fighter ; Abigail married Anthony Snow, of Marshfield. 1623.] THE "ANNE" SAILS. 247 The new settlers brought a supply of food to last them until they could raise a crop in the next year, and they were afraid this would soon be spent if delivered over for public use ; on the other hand, many of the old planters, who with their families had labored early and late to raise a good crop in their little fields, were unwilling to contribute the proceeds for common consumption. It was therefore agreed that the older settlers should take none of the " Anne's " stores, but should have the exclusive benefit of their own harvest. Another source of apprehended trouble lay in the fact that some ofthe immigrants, like Oldham and his comrades, were not of the regular company ; as then expressed, they were " particulars," while the others were " on the general." It was soon agreed that the " particulars " should be freed from all labors in common, except military and similar duties; that they should obey the laws, carry on no trade for furs with the Indians, and should annually contribute to the public treasury a bushel of corn for each male " particular " who had reached the age of sixteen. The furs on hand were stored in the " Anne,'' which was then filled with clapboards, many hands making quick work. On September 20th the ship sailed, Winslow going in her to give full information to the Adventurers, as well as to procure many things needed.^ Harvest followed soon after, and was abundant; all had enough to supply them for the ensuing year, and the more industrious had grain to sell. The system of individual labor had proved highly successful, and the period of famine had come to an end, never to return to the firesides of the Old Colony. Before the departure of the "Anne," Governor Bradford married Mrs. Alice Southworth, — the fourth marriage in the Colony. The first has been noticed, — that of Edward Wins low and Mrs. White ; it seems probable that the others were between John Alden and Priscilla Mullins,^ and Francis Eaton and Mrs. Carver's " maid-servant." Bradford's marriage was 1 The " Anne " late next year made a voyage from England to Virginia. ' See note, p. 257. 248 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. followed soon after by that of Standish with " Barbara ," of John Howland with Elizabeth Tilley, of Peter Brown with Mrs. Ford. These marriages, like the first, were all solemn-, ized by a magistrate, both from necessity and principle.^ It is a favorite Old Colony tradition that Bradford and Alice Carpenter were lovers in adjacent English homes, but that father Carpenter forbade the match on account of Brad ford's social inferiority; that Alice was then given to the well-to-do Edward Southworth, while Bradford, going to Holland, made a loveless match with Dorothy May, who found a sought-for solution of her loneliness in the waters of Cape Cod Harbor ; and that Bradford then wrote to the now widowed Alice to come to him. This story is groundless and absurd. As has been seen, Bradford's parents represented the two leading families of their parish ; ^ the subsidy and parish lists in that region show no family named Carpenter. Alexander Carpenter, the father of Alice, lived with his family at Wring- ton, near Bath. From Austerfield to Wrington would then have been an expensive, arduous journey of some weeks' duration. Bradford was only seventeen when he began his migration to Holland, which he accomplished a few months later. With the lad's evidently close attention to general and religious studies, it is quite absurd to suppose, without some evidence, that previous to that early age he had been busy with amatory pursuits in a remote part of the kingdom. Bradford was at Leyden in 1609, with about a hundred other Pilgrims. Nearly twice as many of their sympathizers, from all parts of England, gradually joined them. The first men tion of Mr. Carpenter's being there is in 161 2, when his daughter Juliana was married to George Morton from York shire, and Agnes became second wife of Deacon Fuller. There is no reason whatever for supposing that Bradford ever 1 See supplementary chapter, — " Marriages." 2 One thing is clear, — that the Bradfords of Austerfield, during the eighteen years that he who was afterward the Governor of New Plymouth was living with them, associated with the very best of the slender population by whom they were surrounded. — Hunter's " Founders of New England." 1623.] BRADFORD'S MARRIAGES. — MRS. SOUTHWORTH. 249 saw the Carpenters before their arrival at Leyden. He was then a young man of more property and culture than most of his associates, and was fast becoming a leader. In all probability the obscure Mr. Carpenter, who is only known to us as the father of his daughters, would have most gladly welcomed an alliance with him. In the autumn of 161 3 Brad ford married Dorothy May. There is nothing to indicate that they were not a thoroughly affectionate couple; and that the union was pleasant may be inferred, to some extent, from Bradford's semi-confidential correspondence, in later years, with his father-in-law May, who remained in Holland. Edward Southworth was early at Leyden, where he married Alice Carpenter, May 28, 1613; their second son (Thomas) was born 1616. The widowed Alice had good reasons for coming to Plymouth. Her little property would there be a competence, and her boys might expect good positions at maturity ; she was of its faith ; her brother Fuller was already there, and her brother and sister Morton, with her five nieces, and Fuller's wife, were to go in the " Anne ; " that she accom panied them is easily accounted for, without reference to Brad ford. Then the latter's house much needed a mistress ; the lady's relatives were among Bradford's intimate friends, and brief wooing was quite according to the spirit of the times. Hence the speedy result.^ November 5-1 5th, the "Paragon" and the "Swan" both chanced to be at Plymouth. With a patriotic desire to trans plant the English carousals of Guy Fawkes' Day, the sailors were on shore, roystering in one of the houses. As it was a cold night, they kept up so great a fire that the sparks kindled the thatch and caused the destruction of " three or four " ^ 1 Dr. Dexter informs the author that at Leyden the Dutch clerk wrote appli cants' names as he understood them ; and the Doctor finds that the dull-eared scribe had at various times entered the name of Southworth with these nine dif ferent spellings, viz. : Sodert, Sodtvsraert, Sudtwert, Sadtwoot, Soutwaert, Sced- waert, Sutwaert, Southward, and Houthward. Alice Carpenter's name is rendered ' Els Carpenter." . . . At Amsterdam, parties to a marriage-contract wrote their own names on the application ; and he found the signatures of Bradford and " Dority " May. The latter is the only autograph of her known. ^ Captain John Smith erroneously gives the number as seven. Quite prob- 250 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623. houses, with the goods and provisions stored in them by some of the " particulars." Mr. Hatherly was a heavy loser; and this led him to return to England and earn a new supply of money before settling down. The fire began next to the great storehouse, in which was the stock of trading-goods from the " Anne " and the coming year's provision for the Colony. Had the contents of this building been destroyed, Bradford says, " the plantation had been overthrown." Strange does it seem that after all that had been endured and overcome, the Colony should have been brought to the very verge of extinction by the orgies of a few stranger sailors ! During this fire there was much excitement. Some were for throwing the goods out of the storehouse ; but as it was evident that there would be plundering and destruction by the tumultuous sailors, this was not done : but a guard inside the house prepared everything for removal in case of ex tremity, while another covered the building with wet blankets, which were kept soaked. During the confusion a voice from an unseen friend in the crowd cautioned the Pilgrims to be vigilant, for enemies were present. As the fire abated, smoke was seen coming from a wattled shed adjoining the store house, into which some one had thrust a long, lighted brand that would have destroyed the whole, but for this timely discovery.^ Among the closing acts of this most eventful year in Pil grim history was the beginning of a permanent series of statutes. Several authors affirm that the Colony had till now no written laws, and others strangely state that it had none until 1636, the date of its first full code; it has even been asserted, by no mean authority, that it never had any formal statutes. But it may be remembered that on April 2, 1621, the day after Massasoit's treaty, sundry civil as well as mili- ably he included those two burned the first year, thus summing-up the total num ber burned since the settlement. 1 Hubbard gives the false impression to his readers that the store-house was burned. 1623.] LAWS. — TRIAL BY JURY. 251 tary " laws and orders " were enacted by the people. Addi tional laws, without doubt, were adopted as needed, and entered in Governor Bradford's note-book. The first of the laws entered in the Colony's record-book (which book prob ably came in the "Anne") was enacted Dec. 27, 1623, and provided that " all criminal facts, and also all matters of trespasses and debts between man and man, should be tried by the verdict of twelve honest men, to be impanelled by authority, in form of a jury, upon their oath." Trial by jury was thus, for the first time, established as the right of every one.^ Up to that time all trials had been held by the whole body of freemen, the governor having little authority beyond carrying out the decision. The court of the people had become too large and heterogeneous for ordinary trials, and its sessions would involve a waste of time. This great step was the beginning, in the Colonies of New England, of a long series of enactments, which are described by that eminent English jurist, Lord Campbell, as " antici pating and going beyond most of the salutary amendments which have been adopted in the reigns of William IV. and Victoria." 2 1 In 1636 magistrates were given jurisdiction of petty complaints and cases involving not more than 10s. ; in 1666 like authority was given the " celect men " of towns.^ Samuel Warren, writing of England as it was in 1730, says : " The system of registration, either of birth or marriage, was then scarcely known, or at least very imperfectly practised." Tryon Edwards says that the county registry of deeds, town record of births, marriages, and deaths, local elective magistracy, specific legislative appropria tions, and great law-reforms in general, all originated in New England. — Lippincott's Magazine, June, 1876. CHAPTER XXIV. The " Little James's " Misadventures. — Rotation in OfSce. — Coming of the " Charity." — Robinson's Last Words. — First Cattle, etc. — Division of Land. THE pinnace " Little James," which had come to remain in the Colony's service, thus being the first vessel be longing to a New England port, is of interest as the pioneer of our commercial marine. She was a two-masted craft of forty-four tons, " bravely set out '' with flags, pennants, waist- cloths, and other trimmings; and Bradford feared that her owners " did over-pride themselves in her," for she proved a rare example of the " unlucky ship," as laid down in the nautical creed. First, her crew showed signs of deserting, or else running away with, her. They had shipped on shares, expecting to cruise against the French or Spanish. They had little mind for peaceful commerce, but were finally pacified by Bradford's paying them regular wages from his heavily taxed treasury. Then, with great effort, she was stocked with goods and sent to trade with the Narragansets. But the Manhattan Dutch had forestalled them, and she returned with a pittance of maize and beaver. Then, as she reached the mouth of Ply mouth Harbor, a storm seized her, and her anchors coming home, she only escaped destruction on Brown's Island shoal by sacrificing her mainmast. With trouble and expense the craft was refitted, and in the spring of 1624 was sent to catch a load of fish on the Maine coast ; but the Colonists had to pinch themselves to provide her with an outfit, including provisions and salt. Soon a fierce storm drove her against a rock, which burst a hole in 1624-25.] MISFORTUNES OF THE "LITTLE JAMES." 253 her " as a horse and cart might have gone in ; " then it swept her into deep water, where she sank with her worthy master. Bridges, and one of his men, while everything in her was washed away. Four months later, the fishing-captains in those waters kindly offered to give their services in raising her, if Plymouth would bear the cost of the repairs. The offer was accepted, and the beaver, so laboriously gathered to send to their English creditors, was diverted to this untoward charge. The captains had all their spare casks set up and fastened to the wreck at low tide ; as the water rose and lifted the hull, they beached it at the highest point. Planks were sawed, rig ging bought; and soon the " Little James " was again riding before Plymouth. But in vain did she display her renewed bravery. She had been a constant vexation and source of expense, and she was now remanded to the Adventurers who had sent her out. Early in September she sailed; and at the last moment one of her passengers exposed to Governor Bradford a slanderous letter, calculated to do the Colony very great harm, of which he had been made the innocent carrier. This was her Parthian arrow. The ill-luck of the " Little James " continued ; for as soon as she reached London, she was seized for debt by Thomas Fletcher, one of the Adventurers, who had a claim on the others. In 1625 he with others sent her with a large ship to fish at Cape Cod. They soon had a cargo, and on their return Standish took passage as agent for the Colony, to attempt a purchase of all the Adventurers' rights in it. Fletcher and his friends, who had sent many goods to the Colony, ordered Winslow to remit the pay in furs by the pinnace. The captain of the ship was earnest to take them ; but the orders were positive, and they were sent in the pinnace. The two vessels went "joyfully home together," the larger towing the smaller entirely across the ocean, and only parting from her when almost in sight of the English Plymouth. The large ship was under orders to proceed to Spain and sell 2S4 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624-25. her fish ; but through rumors of a French war the captain touched at Plymouth and went on to Portsmouth, where his cargo sold at a loss to the owners. Had he obeyed orders, the ship would have cleared ;f i,8oo. Soon after her strong escort left her, the " Little James " was seized by a Barbary rover, and carried with impunity out of the English Channel to Sallee. There her captain and seamen were thrown into slavery, and her choice beaver sold at 4^. a skin (one-sixtieth of their value) , furs being in small request where the climate was so hot.^ Standish, finding the large ship bound for England, pre ferred her roomy quarters to those of the small craft. He therefore paid a visit to old Plymouth, which he had not seen since he and his long-lost Rose had joined in that eventful departure on Sept. 16, 1620. Had he remained in the pin nace, he, too, would have gone into life-long slavery ; but it is extremely probable that his master would have found him an unsatisfactory purchase. This capture is the finale of the known history of the " Little James." Her loss involved the ruin of all her in mates, and threw Thomas Fletcher into hopeless bankruptcy. The long series of disasters which had attended her was well- calculated to strengthen the superstition as to " unlucky ships; " and, indeed, it not unseldom happens that the efforts of those who are contending against some similar form of credulity are overwhelmed by a series of chance events which give the error a firmer hold than it had before. As New Year's Day (March 25, 1624, O.S.) approached, Bradford declined a third re-election as governor, alleging that, whether a post of honor or of labor, it should be regu larly changed from one to another, for such was the purpose of annual elections ; there should, too, be a governor's coun cil. Still, the people insisted on re-choosing him ; but added a 1 In 1680 Rhode Island sent William Harris to England on public business. Being captured by a Barbary rover, at the end of a year's slavery the Colony ransomed him for $1,200; but he died almost as soon as he reached England on his way home. l624] THE "CHARITY." — CAPE ANN. — FISHING. 255 council of five, and gave him a double vote in the board. (In 1633 the council was increased to seven, and it so continued till the end of the Colony.) In the new council were Allerton and Winslow ; probably Standish and Fuller. About election time there came from England the ship " Charity." Bradford says, " The ship came on fishing, — a thing fatal to this plantation." Yet so strongly were the Londoners possessed with the fishing-mania that Robert Cushman wrote to Bradford : " I am sorry we have not sent you more and other things ; but in truth we have run into so much charge to victual the ship, provide salt, and other fishing implements, &c., as we- could not provide other comfortable things, as butter, sugar, &c." Cushman was a most devoted friend, but he thought the comforts of life of far less consequence to his long-suffering friends than an other of the fishing experiments which had proved so con stantly disastrous. The " Charity " had brought the Colonists a patent of land at Gloucester Harbor, Cape Ann, and a party went over there and helped the crew build a fishing-stage for her use ; ^ but, as Bradford says, she made a " poore viage of it," for her master. Baker, was — " A very drunken beast, and did nothing (in a manner) but drink and guzzle, and consume away the time and his victuals ; and most I The " Charity " also brought a shipwright and a saltmaker. The former soon built two shallops and a strong " lighter," and had prepared the timber for a ketch, when in the hot weather he died of a fever. He was a very worthy and much-respected man. But the saltmaker (?) was an ignorant, self-conceited fellow, who went on for a year making one expensive failure after another at Plymouth and Cape Ann. After long persisting in his vain endeavors to find an impervious soil in which to make the shallow excavations for natural evaporating, he had to fall back on the expensive use of artificial heat. Bradford says : " For he could not doe any thing but boyle salt in pans, & yet would make them y' were joynd with him beleeve ther was so grat a misterie in it as was not easie to be attained, and made them doe many unnecessary thinges to blind their eys, till they dis cerned his sutltie. The next yere he was sente to Cap-Anne, and y= pans were set up ther wher the fishing was ; but before sommer was out, he burnte the house, & the fire was so vehemente as it spoyld the pans, at least some of them, and this was the end of that chargable bussines." The Adventurers had much hope of a salt-trade with the Maine fishing-fleet, and fear of their dissatisfaction led the people to accede to this charlatan's large demands for workmen and materials. 256 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. of his company followed his example ; and though Mr. William Peirce was to oversee the business and to be master of the ship home, yet he could do no good amongst them ; so as the loss was great." ^ James Sherley, who had succeeded Weston as manager for the Adventurers, wrote that a strong faction of that body had been disaffected to the plantation, but after a stormy session he had restored harmony, and they had celebrated it with a pottle (two quarts) of his wine.^ Doubtless Sherley was at first sincere, from a speculator's standpoint ; but he proved a canting sharper, from whose clutches, after many troublous years, the Pilgrims escaped solvent with great difficulty. Yet the present people of Plymouth mostly hold an idea that this " Old Man ofthe Sea" was a benefactor; and ignoring many of their noblest ancestors, have given his name to her central public square. Bradford at this time also received from John Robinson the letter which so cruelly criticised Standish's daring acts at Weymouth; and the pastor also wrote to Elder Brewster. He spoke in despair of being soon allowed to join his flock. Of the Adventurers, five or six were the Colony's warm friends, as many more were its " professed adversaries," and the great majority were kindly disposed, but under the influ ence of Puritan clergy ("ye forward preachers"), who were determined the Independent pastor should not go over, " es pecially such of them as have an eye that way themselves " (in fact, though he did not say so, a plot was already in progress for wresting the Colony from Congregational rule, and establishing there the Church of England after the Puritan forms). His grief was great, but he counselled patience to "bear our languishing state." He also decided that Elder Brewster, not being a minister, could not lawfully baptize or conduct the communion. His letter to Brewster had this grand conclusion : — 1 The loss was reduced by Plymouth's keeping a man at the Cape trading for beaver. ^ In 1624 the Pilgrims, for peace's sake, yielded to Sherley's request, and consented to extend their contract with the Adventurers beyond 1627. Fortu nately for Plymouth, the latter body in some freak refused to accept the offer. 1624.] ROBINSON'S FAREWELL. — THE FIRST CATTLE. 257 "Your God and ours, and the God of all His, bring us together, if it be His will, and keep us in the meanwhile and always to His glory, and make us serviceable to His majesty and faithful to the end. Amen." And from Bradford he parted with this benediction : — " Unto Him who is the same to His in all places, and near to them who are far from one another, I commend you and all with you, — resting, yours tmly loving, John Robinson." Such were the last words which ever came to the Pilgrims from their great pastor. It seemed hardly probable that, before reaching fifty years, he should forever rest from his labors, while Brewster, nearly threescore, should toil on a score longer; but so it was. In the "Charity" (March, 1624) there came to Plymouth a bull and three heifers, which Bradford records as " the first beginning of any cattle of that kind in the land." ^ Of the bovine head of this pioneer herd we know nothing ; but of his spouses, two were black, and the third was white-backed. They probably were two-year-olds, of a large-framed breed. Their familiar appearance must have given the settlers an increased home feeling, while the Indians cannot have failed at first to regard them with awe. They had to be placed under a keeper, for the wolves roamed along the outside of the palisade. The cultivation of grass was then generally unknown ; but Plymouth was favored with an abundance of sweet native grass, which, as Bradford says, soon made the cattle " as fatt as need be," and caused him to wish there might be one animal for each hundred which could be richly pastured. Three years later, these animals were all thriving, 1 This statement effectually disposes of the tradition (so widely spread by Longfellow) as to John Alden's carrying his bride home on the back of a bull in 1623 ; in fact their daughter Elizabeth was born at about the time these cattle landed. There was, moreover, no place to which the bridal couple could go, except on a winged bull; for the whole of Plymouth village lay within the radius of a quarter of a mile, and there was not then another civilized habitation in the Colony. 17 258 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. ['624. in company with new-comers and their own posterity. (See Chapter XXIX.) The temporary division of land in 1623 was in 1624 con tinued until the end of the Adventurers' contract (in 1627). The plan of leaving each individual to work as he pleased, and have the proceeds, but no more, had been highly suc cessful, even the women and children eagerly sharing the lighter field-work, — a thing before unknown. The result was an abundant crop. Indian corn became the money of the Colony; and the surplus of it caused a healthy and lively traffic, according to a business law beyond political control, as to the effect of a circulating medium of intrinsic value. The land division of 1624 is the second entry in the Plymouth records, and it affords the only clew to the passengers by the " Fortune "in 1621, and " Anne " and " Little James " in 1623. There were ninety-seven lots, and a total area of some two hundred acres. It is pleasant to find that between Howland's and Hopkins' fields, on the south side of Town Brook,^ was one assigned to Hobomok, their most useful and faithful Indian comrade. Captain John Smith, writing in England in 1624, mentions Plymouth as then containing about a hundred and eighty people, who had thirty-two dwelling-houses, some cattle and goats, with much swine and poultry ; and that the plantation ha4 »o far cost in the vicinity of £'j,ooo. 1 Indian name, PcUackosi. CHAPTER XXV. THE PURITAN CONSPIRACY. — OLDHAM AND LYFORD.^ ALTHOUGH Oldham and his nine other " particulars " (in the "Anne," 1623) had not come to unite with the Colonists, but only desired to live near them for safety, the Pilgrims kindly gave them an invitation, which was accepted, to live in their village and share equally in its advantages. Oldham was an uneducated man and a blusterer, but had native ability and the social position indicated by the title of " Master." It is probable that the malcontent Adventurers had sent him to aid in organizing against the Congregational (or Independent) rule, the elements of disaffection which Robert Hicks and others had secretly reported to exist in strength.^ During the ensuing winter some slight show of discontent was caused by Oldham's counsels ; but it was at once ended by Bradford's offer to change any one who wished from a " general " to a " particular." This ended the trouble ; for the petitioners had small desire for a change — as soon as they were free to make it. Still, a small faction was kept together by Oldham's assurance that a section ofthe Adventurers would see that no more supplies reached the Colony, and would soon place the " particulars " in power. It was therefore 1 This chapter was published by the author independently (1883), in pamphlet form, and entitled " The Puritan Conspiracy agamst the Pilgrim Fathers and the Congregational Church — 1624. Cupples, Upham, & Co., Boston." 2 Robinson was not permitted to join his people, the hope being entertained by those in authority in England that without their pastor the Plymouth emi grants might fall back into the forms and faith of the Established Church. — Davis's Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, p. 95. 260 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. with much surprise that in March (1624) they saw the ship " Charity " arrive, bringing Winslow home with ample sup plies of cattle, etc. But she also brought a series of com plaints, made by some returned " particulars " and others, which Bradford was called upon to answer. They were, briefly, as follows : — " There was much religious controversy in the Colony ; family exercises on Sunday were neglected ; both sacraments were disused ; children were not catechised, or even taught to read ; many of the ' particular ' members refused to work for the ' generals j ' the water was not wholesome ; the ground was barren, and would not bear grass ; the climate was such that salt would not preserve fish, and there was hardly a fish or wild fowl to be found; thieves abounded, and so did wolves and foxes ; the Dutch were intruding on the trade ; and, finally, the people were much troubled with mosquitoes ! " When the the ship returned, some months later, Bradford sent his reply, which was a fine mixture of gravity and satire : — "From the beginning, down, there had been known no contro versy, public or private, on religious matters ; any neglect of family duties on the Lord's day would be rebuked, if known ; that they were deprived of their pastor and his ministration of the sacraments, was grievous, for when with him they had the communion every Sunday ; the children generaUy were taught in private families, and the Colony desired at once to begin a ' common school,' for which a teacher and due support had been heretofore lacking ; all the ' particulars ' do work for ' generals ' — willingly or unwillingly, and wUl be taught to work well, or the plantation will rid itself of such ; the water was ' as good as any in the world,' though not like the beer and wine of London which the grumblers ' so dearly love ; ' in England was no such grass, and the cattle were already ' fatt as need be,' and would there were one animal for each hundred the grass would keep ; the matter of fish was too absurd, in view of the great fishing fleet which visited the coast every year ; sundry thieves who had come in there had ' smarted well for it,' but if London had reared no thieves, none of them would have got over to trouble this Colony ; foxes and wolves were in many good countries, but poison and traps would thm them ; if the Dutch with 1624.] OLDHAM'S CONFESSION. — LYFORD. 26 1 commendable energy were getting a strong hold now, they would get Plymouth too if the plantation should be broken up ; and, finally, men who could not endure the biting of a mosquito were too dehcate for founding colonies,* but this pest was really no greater than in every new place, and in time would scarcely exist." Soon after this arrival Master Oldham went to the authori ties with the confession that he had " done them wrong both by word and deed, and by writing into England." He had been assured that no further succor would be sent to the Colony, but the large supplies by the " Charity" showed the " eminent hand of God " to be with them ; his heart smote him, and those in England should no longer use him for their purposes ; he begged that the past be forgotten, and himself regarded as one of them in all things. So generous was Old ham's forgiveness that he was even invited to meet regularly with the Governor's Council of Five. He was probably sin cere at the time, and his co-operation restored universal harmony. The " Charity " had also brought Master John Lyford, — a Church of England preacher of the Puritan section, — with his wife and some four children.^ The plotting Adventurers had selected him as their agent. Winslow and Cushman, who knew nothing of him, opposed his going ; but finally yielded for the sake of peace, writing home that they thought him " an honest, plain man, though none of the most eminent and rare." They had, however, arranged that he could have no pastoral position until the Church should see fit to choose him to one. Of course, neither they nor their comrades dreamed of the conspiracy on foot. So Lyford came at the 1 In Bradford's Mms.: "• • ¦ We would wish such to keepe at home till at least they be muskeeto proofe. Yet this place is as free as any, and experi ence teacheth that y= more y land is tild, and y= woods cut downe, the fewer ther will be, and in the end scarse any at all." Bradford's latter conclusion is not wholly correct, for on Saquish and other parts where the trees have been ruthlessly cleared off, the mosquitoes are still noted for their abundance and appetite. 2 When later he left Plymouth for Nantasket, he had " a wife and children, four or five." — New English Canaan. 262 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. Colony's charge, and was not only housed, given an over- proportion of provisions, and provided with a servant, but, like Oldham and Elder Brewster, was invited to sit with the Council. Wily Lyford at once made his hosts ashamed, — " he so bowed and cringed unto them, and would have kissed their hands if they would have suffered him ; yea, he wept and shed many tears, blessing God that had brought him to see their faces, and admir ing the things they had done in their wants." Soon he professed conversion to Congregationalism, and, making " a large confession of faith," obtained membership in their Church. He offered to altogether renounce his Epis copal ordination, declaring that he could consider himself no minister unless his new Church should re-ordain him; but Elder Brewster caused him to stop forthwith, assuring him that the Pilgrim flock required no such thing of its members as that they separate from the Church of England, but only that they separate from the world, and leave church names to care for themselves.^ Still, though Lyford continued to be wail the alleged corruptions with which he said his Episcopal calling had entangled him, and which burdened his con science, he blessed God that he had now freedom to enjoy His ordinances in their purity among His people. Although not chosen pastor, he preached in turn with Elder Brewster, and all went very smoothly. After some weeks it was noticed that Lyford and Oldham were having much privacy with those not considered in sym pathy with the Church, and especially with the profane and less reputable attaches of the plantation, like John Biihngton, and that a faction was forming under their direction. As the " Charity " was about to go home, it was noticed that Lyford kept writing a great number of letters, and in that connection was often whispering to his followers things which seemed to give them much secret amusement. With the disaffection 1 Neither require we of any of ours, in the confession of their faith, that they either renounce or in one word contest with the Church of England. — John Robinson, Apology, 52. I624-] LYFORD'S LETTERS. 263 already among the Adventurers, there would be very great danger to the Colony if a new series of slanders should be sent to England uncontradicted, and work its mischief for a whole year before it could be known at Plymouth and re futed in the ordinary course of things. The case required the exercise of a power which in like danger has been, and still is, exercised by all governments; and the Council de cided that these mysterious letters must be examined. Cap tain William Peirce, of the " Charity," was an earnest friend to the Colony, and ready to co-operate.^ When the ship sailed, Bradford went in her, towing a boat for his return. Edward Winslow was on board, on his way to England as the Colony's agent. Peirce having produced the letters, there were found to be more than twenty from Lyford, filled with malicious falsehood, in furtherance of a plan for the " ruin and utter subversion " of the Colony. Oldham was a poor writer, and had sent little ; ^ but some third person had notified a friend that Mr. Lyford and Mr. Oldham intended a reformation in church and commonwealth, and that so soon as the ship had gone, they would begin by forming a new congregation. Of most of these letters copies were taken, and the originals forwarded; but to prevent Lyford's denying the genuineness of the correspondence, some of the worst originals were retained, and copies sent with their address. After Lyford and his family had embarked at Gravesend for America, Winslow had left in the cabin a letter from him self to Pastor Robinson, and one from an English friend to Elder Brewster. Lyford, already at work as a spy, had pur loined these letters, copied them, and resealing them, had restored them to their place without discovery. The copies, with " scurrilous and flouting annotations," he was now send ing to his friend John Pemberton, a Puritan minister and the Colony's " adversary." These papers were also taken for 1 In 1776 the Committee of Safety at Boston opened all letters coming from Halifax addressed to Tory inhabitants. On one occasion at least they publicly announced the information as " by an intercepted letter." 2 He was so bad a scribe as his hand was scarce legible. — Bradford. 264 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. evidence. Having transacted this business, and left Winslow and Peirce to look after the case in England, Bradford re turned in his boat. His errand had been guessed, and the conspirators expected to be called to account ; ^ but when weeks went by with no sign, they concluded that the Gov ernor had only made a parting call on his friend Peirce, and was still not only without any evidence of their plot, but without suspicion of it. As they supposed their faction able to sway a majority of votes in town-meeting, they began in a skirmishing way to pick quarrels with the officers, and to show "great malig nancy." Thus Oldham, when civilly called in his turn to watch, refused obedience to the captain, upon whom he drew a knife, calling him a " rascal," a " beggarly rascal." The Governor sending to have the noise stilled, Oldham " ramped more like a beast than a man, and called them all traitors and rebels, and other such foul language," says Bradford, " as I am ashamed to remember." But Oldham yielded when " clapt up " for a little while, especially as he seems to have expected a popular demonstration in his favor, and found not one voice raised in his behalf. Next, the original plan was tried. On a Sunday, Lyford, ignoring the public worship, assembled his followers and held a meeting under that Episcopal ordination which he had so recently disclaimed and denounced in the public assembly. Pains seem to have been taken to make the schism specially offensive, with " insolent carriages," which are not described. The sedition had broken out in the very way foretold in the letters, and it behooved the government to act for self- preservation before the entering wedge should be followed by a second. A " court " of the people, or a town-meeting, was called. It probably was held in the fort-church on the hill, and little imagination is needed to picture the assembly : Bradford presides, with his Council sitting by him on the plat form; Standish acts as marshal, and, as is the rule at the Sunday gatherings in that place, a quarter of the men come 1 They were somewhat blanke at it. — Bradford. 1624.] TRIAL OF LYFORD AND OLDHAM. 265 in military order, fully armed; a sentinel is kept day and night on the roof of the church, where the artillery is ranged behind a rampart, and his tread is heard in the intervals of business ; the hall is poorly lighted through openings more like loop-holes than windows, while the low, heavy beams of the ceiling rest at each end on massive oaken knees, giving the place the appearance of a ship's " between-decks ; " some eighty men of the Colony are present, with several full-grown lads and a few visiting strangers, of whom nothing is known to us ; many of those present are full of wonder as to the object of the meeting, and some who know of it, — like good Deacon Fuller, the surgeon, — feel sure that " Brother Lyford " will set himself right ; the governor is fearful as to the extent of the defection among the many voters outside the Colony's church; and the arch-conspirators, counting on a majority, and confident that there is no positive evidence of their plot, are bold and hopeful; throughout the meeting generally, there is a pent-up excitement, with a feverish anxiety as to the mysterious something about to take place. In opening, Bradford in general terms charged Lyford and Oldham with plotting to destroy the government. They both made a square denial, and indignantly demanded his proof. They were referred to their public actions. Oldham was re minded that he had come, not as a Colonist, but on his private account; yet he and his had been taken into the village, which they had not expected ; and in trying to bring ruin on those who in his days of weakness had so kindly received him to their homes and councils, he was guilty of ingratitude as well as treachery. Lyford, with a large family, had been brought over and maintained at the public expense, and by his own seeking was in church-membership with them ; for him to plot their ruin, was most perfidious. The culprits, supposing that Bradford had put in his whole case, were probably surprised that he had discovered nothing definite. Lyford renewed his denial, declaring that he knew nothing of the Colony's English enemies or their plans, nor had he any relations whatever with them ; and that he should 266 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. be suspected of any collusion with such, filled him with aston ishment. Then, for the first time, his letters were produced ; and some having been read before the men who had so often heard in that place his prayers and sermons, he stood con victed of treachery, knavery, hypocrisy, and persistent lying. The sudden exposure overwhelmed him, and he became speechless. But Oldham's courage rose with the emergency, and he determined to try immediate conclusions with the government. Denouncing the opening of his letters and threatening revenge, he sought to rally his friends by im periously shouting: "My masters, where are your hearts? Now show your courage ! You have often complained to me, thus and so ! Now is the time ! If you will do anything, I will stand by you ! " Many restless but not ill-meaning spirits had been fiattered by the confidential manners of Old ham and Lyford ; but now that the plot was unmasked, they recoiled. Others who would not have been unfavorable to a successful rebellion, had no inclination to a losing side. So when Oldham, at the close of his vehement call, stood before the assembly and glared at his recent associates, not one voice was raised in his favor. A dead silence was the effectual answer. Bradford then demanded Lyford's opinion as to the pro priety of opening the suspected letters. The culprit knew that the two copies he had surreptitiously made of Winslow's letters must be in Bradford's package, and would condemn him if he should censure Bradford's act; so he remained silent. The Governor then explained to the people the necessity of his seizure of correspondence, that he might ward off the "mischief and ruin" which the "conspiracy" sought to bring on " this poor Colony." He then caused one of his associates to read all the letters, and exhibit those in Lyford's hand, and also to show the manner in which Lyford had opened the letters of others. The public astonishment now increased. These letters, in much detail, charged official wastefulness, negligence, caprice, and general mismanagement of the joint- 1624.] THE PILGRIMS' LIBERALITY. 267 stock interests. One accusation drew from Bradford a very interesting declaration, and one doubly important from the publicity with which it was now made. Lyford had written that the Church would have none remain in Plymouth but Separatists. Bradford denounced this assertion as " a false calumniation ; " he called attention to the fact that there were then present many citizens who were not Separatists, but were highly esteemed, the Colony being " glad of their company " and desirous of receiving any like them. This statement, joined to Lyford's claim that the non-Separatists were in the majority, will give many readers a new idea of Pilgrim tolera tion.^ It is a curious fact that Lyford charged the Plymouth authorities with discouraging the non-church-members from attending worship, even on Sunday, and with resenting his endeavor to get the people generally to attend divine service. Bradford actually felt called upon to refute this, and to show that church-going was compulsory. The unfriends of the Pilgrim Fathers, in those days, generally inveighed against them as being lax themselves, and as shamefully neglecting to enforce religious observances and instruction on their asso ciates and subordinates. It was little thought that, two hun dred and sixty years later, the self-same Pilgrims would be the subject of halting, shamefaced apology from the great bulk of their own ill-informed descendants, as having ex ceeded their generation in rigidity of doctrine and severity of practice ! Lyford also urged his English principals to hurry over all the settlers they could ; even servants should be made share holders, at least in form ; but Robinson and his people must be kept back, and for fear of their private embarkation, neither Winslow nor Peirce should longer go in the ship. Thus could he gain Colonists enough to vote down and suppress the Congregational element. If a captain whom they had spoken of should come over " as a ' general,' " — i. e. one of the gen- 1 Wilham Hilton was not of their Church. An improbable rumor is pre served by Hubbard that Lyford's baptism of Hilton's child was the first occasion of difference. 268 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624, eral Colonists, — he would be chosen commander ; " for," said Lyford, " this Captain Standish looks like a silly boy, and is in utter contempt." (This passage may have caused a smile, but probably not on the face of the choleric little captain.) If these reinforcements did not come, Lyford and his friends must move to a place across the harbor, or fuse with the original settlers, — va nobis I Lyford was then urged to produce any evidence, however slight, to sustain even the least of his charges ; and he and his friends were offered every opportunity to do this, or to present any other complaint or grievance. They were re minded that all the men of the Colony were present, and therefore any witnesses they could name would at once ap pear. The Governor desired that he and his associates should not be spared in any respect, if any one had anything to say against their conduct. The opportunity was full and free, and there were impartial strangers present to listen. But no one responded, until Lyford, in a humble tone, began to say that certain complainants, as he now saw, had abused his confidence, and led him to misuse his real friends ; and he accused Billington and others of thus deceiving him. These men thereupon earnestly denied his statements, and protested that he was wronging them; they had indeed been drawn into some of his meetings, but had refused consent to his conspiracies. Probably Lyford was beginning to tell the truth; but those whom he had taught to be false to their own brethren were not the men to stand by him in his public disgrace. It was a fearful humiliation to the university-trained divine, when publicly denounced as a traitor and a liar by a vulgar brawler like Billington, to know that such men as Bradford and Brewster, Fuller and Warren, Standish, Howland, Alden, and Prence, all believed his low-lived accuser, whom they despised much less than they did himself. Bradford then summed up Lyford's knavery and hypocrisy, especially in religious matters, and fully set forth what had been proved. Oldham had some conscience, but no shame. Lyford, tech- 1624.] OLDHAM BANISHED. — LYFORD'S DUPLICITY. 269 nically a gentleman, though conscienceless, had a class pride ; and as he stood, the focus of all eyes, so thoroughly con victed that not a voice uttered a word in his favor, the igno miny overwhelmed him. One may imagine the disgust of the stalwart Oldham when his fellow-conspirator burst into tears and began to bewail and confess to the meeting that his letters were " false and naught both for matter and man ner ; " that he feared he was a reprobate ; that his sins were so great as to make him doubt of God's pardon ; and that he was " unsavory salt," — an admission which the reader will not be inclined to dispute. The people quickly rendered their verdict, but it is not known whether there were any dissenting votes.-^ The sen tence was, that Oldham be banished forthwith, but that his family might remain till he had a comfortable home for them. Lyford was to go at the end of six months ; but it was really intended to pardon him if his repentance should seem genu ine. He promptly took occasion, before the Church, to more fully confess his wrongdoing, shedding abundant tears, and charging himself with envy and malice toward his brethren ; he said he had counted on the great body of the people to help him carry his points with violence, and God might justly charge him with shedding innocent blood, for he knew not what might have come had not his writings been stayed, and he blessed God that they were stopped, — God might justly make him a vagabond, like Cain. His effusive contrition produced such a sentiment in his favor that he was permitted to resume preaching ; and warm-hearted Deacon Fuller and others declared a readiness to sue on their knees for his pardon. The stormy sky became once more serene; but in a few weeks from that clear sky there dropped a thunder bolt. About September ist, when that unfortunate craft, " Little James," was ready to return to London, one of her company brought to the Governor a letter which Lyford was seeking ^ Roger Conant and others of Oldham's company of " particulars " were not Colonists, and therefore not voters in town-meeting. 270 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. to forward by him. Self-preservation required an examina tion of this missive ; and forthwith was revealed an amazing depth of depravity. Lyford was now, with many professions of pious concern, assuring the malcontent Adventurers that his hosts at Plymouth were full of " indirect courses " and " injurious dealing " toward them, and were audacious to " darken ye truth " with " great pretenses " and equivocation in many things. " Ye church (as they call themselves)," though " ye smallest number in the Colony," deprived the majority of the means of salvation, and held to no ministry for the conversion of the people generally; and poor souls were complaining of it with tears to him, and he was under censure for preaching to all comers. As to his former letters, which he had so often and so tearfully recanted and denounced before his congregation, he now said : — " I suppose my letters, or at least the copies of them, are come to your hands, for so they here report ; which, if it be so, I pray you take notice of this, that I have written nothing but what is certainly true I" Once more the Governor wrote a long defence of the Col ony, and sent it with the letter, as well as a full exposure of Lyford's acts. This last letter, of course, ended all thought of pardon ; but another result of it was startling. Mrs. Lyford, a worthy matron, was so morbidly affected that in her dis traction she went to one of the deacons and made frightful revelations as to her husband's licentiousness before and after marriage. While he .was a suitor, she had a hint that he had contracted parental responsibilities, but he satisfied her scruples by taking an oath that he was not guilty ; yet after marriage the story not only proved true, but the child was brought to their home. And afterward her constant vigilance over the maid-servants had been required on his account, and had not always been effectual. She confirmed her statements before some other persons, and was overcome by the fear that a divine judgment was ever pursuing her on her husband's account. 1624.] LYFORD'S DEPARTURE. — OLDHAM'S INSOLENCE. 271 Lyford remained at Plymouth duriirg the winter, probably living still from the public stores. He then joined Oldham, who was domiciled at Nantasket (Hull),^ where were a few straggling settlers. Strange to say, some of their former friends remained steadfast, and voluntarily removed with them. Among these was Roger Conant, who became the brave and worthy founder of Salem, and who seems at this time to have been so rigid against Separatists that, as against them, he could condone Lyford's wickedness and accept his unholy ministrations. In March, 1625, Oldham, in defiance of his sentence, sailed into Plymouth with some strangers, and began to assail the people with such abusive language that even his comrades rebuked him ; but all reproofs were as " oyle to ye fire," and he went on in " his mad fury " denouncing the settlers as " a hundred rebels and traitors." The madman was com mitted until his senses had returned. Then he was led to his boat between two rows of musketeers, each as he passed ex pediting him by an ignominious " thump " in the rear with the butt of his gun ; and at his embarkation they bade him " goe, and mende his maners." So thoroughly did Oldham absorb public attention that no one noticed the arrival from England of the ship " Jacob ; " and when Oldham was about running the gauntlet, Winslow landed with Master William Peirce, entirely unobserved until they appeared in the crowd. They soon increased the excite ment. On reaching London, the last summer, with their report of Lyford's acts, they had been violently assailed by his friends, who declared it a great scandal that " a minister, a man so godly," should be so aspersed; and a suit for slander was threatened. At length a hearing was had before a meeting ofthe Adventurers, at which two moderators jointly presided; Lyford's friends choosing Mr. White, a lawyer, and his opponents selecting Mr. Hooker, a preacher, both eminent men. The case attracted a crowd of outside partisans. 1 In Bradford's Mms., "Natasco." 272 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. In the course of the meeting, Winslow, in some warmth, said that Lyford had " dealt knavishly." Upon that, Lyford's friends broke out, demanding that those present witness that Winslow had " cald a minister of ye gospell knave" and they would " prosecute law upon it." When the tumult had abated, Winslow called to the stand two strangers who had been made known to him. They were from Lyford's Puritan parish in the English pale of Ireland. He was there guilty of an es pecially flagrant act, involving the betrayal of a young female parishioner who was intending marriage with another of his flock, and his then promoting the nuptials. The victim being soon driven by remorse to confession, Lyford fled in fear of retribution, reaching England in time to be picked up and sent to Plymouth by the Adventurers, who of course knew nothing of this transaction. These two " godly and grave " gentlemen having very modestly but clearly given the par ticulars, Lyford's friends became mute with shame. "The moderators joined in deciding that Lyford's conduct at Ply mouth had fully justified his condemnation there ; but what had now come to light, proved his unfitness for the ministry forever after, no matter what repentance he might express. The subject was then dismissed; but the ill-feeling not only survived, but caused the Adventurers to fall apart, so that the great majority thenceforth wholly abandoned the Colony's interests. Not many months after Lyford's withdrawal to Nantasket, that worthy Puritan divine. White, at the Enghsh Dorchester, heard that the exiles had left Plymouth through some distaste of Separation. To Puritan prejudice this seemed a quite sufficient recommendation. In 1623 White (through the Dorchester Company) had caused fourteen fishermen to winter at Cape Ann (Gloucester); the next year (1624) he gave the place the character of a settlement; in 1625 he provided it with twelve neat-cattle, and invited Lyford to go there as pastor, Roger Conant as superintendent, and Oldham as overseer of trade. The first two went, but Oldham pre- l62-.] OLDHAM'S ADVENTURES.— JOHN GALLOP. 273 ferred trading on his own account.^ At the end of 1625 this plantation, which had sunk ;^3,420, was abandoned. Conant, 1 Oldham's after-life was exciting and tragic. He stayed at Nantasket, trading with the Indians, until in 1626 he sailed for Virginia. At the Cape Cod shoals the ship feU into such danger that destruction was imminent. The passengers had recourse to prayer and the confession to each other of such sins as most burdened them. Oldham made full acknowledgment of all the wrongs which he had done or intended to the people of Plymouth, As he had sought their ruin, he said, God had now met with him, and might destroy him, — yea, he feared they all were faring the worse for his sake, and solemnly vowed to make amends if God would forgive him. The vessel was saved, though tumed back ; and Oldham, strange to say, remembered his pledge. He treated the Plymouth people with " an honorable respect," and once more declared the hand of God to be with them. He received full permission to come and go ; and when, in 1628, the Colony sent a state-prisoner to England, they entrusted him and the evidence against him to their friend Oldham, who then went over. Oldham became a man of note in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and a member of its Church, which, wlule separating vehemently, disclaimed " separa tion." He was a member of the first General Court of Magistrates and Repre sentatives wluch met at Boston, being a " deputy " from Watertown. His chief employment was trading with the Narragansets, in connection with which he bought in their Bay of Canonicus, — the beautiful island of one thousand acres, now called Prudence. Thereabouts, in 1634, Master William Peirce went with the " Rebecca," to bring away five hundred bushels of com which Oldham had accumulated, and while there saw at least one thousand natives. In July, 1636, John Gallop,* of Boston, while sailing home from the Connecticut, encountered Oldham's pinnace off Block Island, with her deck occupied by four teen Indians. Seemg that she had been captured, he determined to retake her. His crew consisted of his two young sons and a hired man. His fire-arms were two guns and two pistols, and for these he had only duck-shot As he bore down, the savages stood ready to repel him with their stolen weapons ; but his shot so galled them that they all ran below. Then arming his bow with his anchor. Gallop came on with all speed, and " rammed " the pinnace so violently that six of the savages, terrified at this form of warfare, leaped into the sea and were drowned ; another stroke, and four followed them. Then, ranging alongside. Gallop grappled an Indian, and tying him, put him in his own hold. Next was taken the frightened sachem, who was the chief murderer, and he was bound ; but as Gallop did not dare to put him with the other prisoner (for they would * Sub-Note. — Gallop (Galloupe?) died at Boston 1649, leaving 40^-. for "the new meeting-house " (Old South). He was a Boston pilot, probably the first professional one. His successors are constantly reminded of him by a fine island in Boston Harbor bearing his name. He left three sons, all seamen, and a widow. To John, Jr., he gave his shallop, and to the other sons his barque, in which their mother had a half-interest. John was killed at the Narraganset fort, 1675, while captain of a Connecticut company. He took his first lesson in war at the attack on the murderers in Oldham's pinnace, and fell, thirty-nine years later, while bravely leading his men in the battle which destroyed the nation to which those savages had belonged. 18 274 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [162-. taking a few of the men and the outfit, then founded what is now Salem,^ Lyford going as their minister and serving as such until 1629.^ Some readers ,may be surprised to learn that for the first three years of its existence that ancient have quickly released each other), he consulted safety by casting him into the sea. The two surviving pirates remaining concealed in Oldham's hold. Gallop ventured on board; for he had seen a man's body in the stern-sheets hidden under a seine. While his crew covered him with their fire-arms, he examined the corpse, which was still warm, though the head was cleft and the hands and feet had been in process of amputation when the attack began. The head was too bloody for recognition, and Gallop proceeded to wash it. Soon he exclaimed : " Ah I Brother Oldham, is it thou .' I am resolved to avenge thy blood I " Oldham, while peacefully trading, had been surprised and assassinated for the sake of plunder. (Bradford's Mms. says : "... being weakly mand, upon some quarell they knockt him on y^ head with a hatched, so as he fell downe dead, & never spake word more.") His two Indian employes betrayed him ; and two boys, his kinsmen, who were with him, had been sent on shore as prisoners, but were eventually recovered through Roger Williams. Oldham's body was buried in the sea, which had just swallowed eleven of his murderers. The waves becoming too high for towing the pinnace home, every thing accessible was removed for the benefit of Oldham's family, and then she was set adrift. She reached the land in safety, with the two Indians in her. All the minor sachems of the Narraganset nation had been privy to this piracy and murder ; but the two grand sachems, whom Roger Williams " stimulated " with six fathoms of beads, pursued and killed Adusah, the immediate assassin. His confederates escaped to the Pequods, whose league with them was one leading cause of the war which the next year annihilated that cruel and treach erous nation. Jonathan Brewster terms Oldham "brother." A Thomas Oldham was at Duxbury 1643, and Scituate 1650. The name was among those of Duxbury 's Revolutionary soldiers; and on the monument to Plymouth's volunteers lost in the Civil War is the name of J. T. Oldham. The relationship of these to John is probable. 1 Conant's leading companions in the change from Cape Ann to Naumkeag (Salem) were John Balch, John Woodbury, and Peter Palfrey ; also William Trask, captain in the Pequod war, and John Humphrey. All except Balch became members of the legislature in the future Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and all have a long line of worthy descendants, including many of eminence. Conant's wife seems to have been with him at Cape Ann, and probably at Ply mouth. Their son Roger, Jr., was the first-bom white child of Salem. Balch, from a Somersetshire family which dated from the Conquest, had a wife Annice, who may have come later ; but they had in 1629 at Salem a son Benjamin (living 1706). Woodbury's wife was named Agnes, and Palfrey's Edith. ^ Lyford (about 1629) went to a Virginia parish, and soon after died. His widow returned with her children to New England, where she was ever respected, and seems to have been the Widow Ann Lyford, who in 1641-2 was at Hingham, as wife of Edmund Hobart, and whose children, Ruth and Mordecai, then released goods left by "their father, John." 1624] CESSATION OF DISCUSSIONS. 275 town worshipped exclusively in the form of the Church of England, as also at that time did all the scattered settlers around Boston Bay. Thus ended the great Puritan conspiracy against the Church which the Pilgrims had planted with such sacrifices and watered with such sacred tears, and against that government jwhich they had erected on the then novel principle of the equality of all men before the law. Plymouth lost something by the withdrawal of a few men like Roger Conant, and by the enmity of the Adventurers : but she gained much more by the increased zeal of those who remained ; for many who had hitherto stood aloof from her religious organization, felt called upon to rally to its defence and join in its membership ; and all felt a new respect for their government, generally so mild, but which had proved so vigorous in the time of peril. Thus came it that this momentous year of 1624 closed on a scene of harmony long to continue. What might have been, had Lyford's place been filled by some liberal and worthy Churchman? It is hardly probable that Plymouth's ceremonials — her formal informality — had become very firmly fixed. It is certain that in Holland the Pilgrims had invited to their communion all pious-minded Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Calvinists of various kinds, welcoming them as brethren of one great household ; Robin son in his farewell remarks had suggested the employment of some Nonconformist minister by his people during his absence, and had advised them to seek union with the godly part of the English Churchmen, — advice in which he was consistent, for it is recorded that he honored the godly min- listers of the Church of England " above all other the profes sors of religion," for " his spirit cleaved unto them," and he urged "sweet communion" with them.^ Already in Ply mouth were many " not of the Separation," and, as Bradford records, the Pilgrims " were glad of their company." ^ Might 1 Winslow, Chron. Pil., 389. 2 Governor Hinckley wrote in a letter (1684) to England: "Not that we would infringe the liberties of others of orthodox principles, much less . . . the way of the Church of England." — 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., v. 124. 276 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624. not such a congregation have slowly yielded in externals to a ministry of united wisdom, strength, love, and devotion? But unfortunately those ordinances and methods which the seniors had long before known as unnaturally allied with the cruelty and rapacity of bailiffs, now became associated in every mind with Lyford's frauds, vices, and sacrilege. There are those of us, yielding to none in loyalty to our ancestors, and feeling that if we had been with them we should have been of them, who regret the perversion of this opportunity to win them to perhaps some partial use of " that form of sound words," a form Separatists were taught to regard as one of " stinted prayers " and " dumb reading," but which three centuries of Churchmen have found so ample for devotion, so increasingly rich in associations, and so grateful in all the conditions of humanity. Yet our fathers' ways were sanctified to them. Judge them by their works, through which, though dead, they still live. CHAPTER XXVI. Marriages, etc. — Official Business. — More Cattle. — Cape Ann Interference. AMONG the events of 1624, Governor Bradford became the father of a son (June 27th), who, like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, received the name of William, and who in turn contributed to the next generation a fifth William Bradford (born March 11, 1654), as appears on the records in the writing of the delighted Governor. The William born in 1624 became a scholar, magistrate, and mili tary leader, and was Deputy-Governor at the dissolution of the Colony. He had a grandson William, born at Plympton (Mass.), 1729, who became Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, served her long in the Continental Congress, and was one of her most eminent patriots in the Revolution. There was also born a daughter to John and Priscilla Alden who was named Elizabeth ; she was destined to outlive every individual then in the Colony (she died 171 7), and, as the widow of William Paybody, to survive the Colony itself by twenty-five years. On August 15th Thomas Prence, the future governor, but then only twenty-two years old, married Patience, daughter of Elder Brewster. This was the ninth marriage since the landing, the others (pretty certainly) having been, — I. Edward Winslow and Mrs. Susanna White. 2. Francis Eaton and Mrs. Carver's maid. 3. John Alden and Priscilla Mulhns. 4. Govemor Bradford and Mrs. Alice Southworth. 5. Myles Standish and Barbara . 278 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624-25. 6. John Howland and Elizabeth TUley. 7. Peter Brown and Mrs. Martha Ford. 8. John Adams and Eleanor Newton, or John Winslow and Mary Chilton. In June of that year, less than ten months after his arrival in the " Anne," George Morton died, leaving a wife and five children, including an infant (Ephraim). Mr. Morton was from Yorkshire, and may have been the son of a Roman Catholic family at Bawtry, which had a George who about that time disappears from their record. He probably joined in the flight to Holland; but is first mentioned when, at Leyden in 1612, he married Juliana Carpenter, senior sister of Bradford's second wife, and also of Fuller's. His son was the Secretary Morton, author of the Memorial ; his grandson. Elder Faunce, was the last incumbent of Brewster's eldership ; a descendant (through Ephraim) was Perez Morton, Attorney- General of Massachusetts (1810-32); and another, of the seventh generation, was Marcus Morton, an eminent jurist, who in 1840 and 1843 was Governor of that State, and whose son Marcus is now Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court on whose bench his father served so long and honorably. Early in 1625 Winslow came home in the ship "Jacob," commanded by the veteran Peirce. He brought a letter from some of the Puritan Adventurers, explaining their deser tion. They were afraid that the Pilgrims renounced all national, diocesan churches, and so were Brownists after all ; and they should sin against God in building up such a people. Yet if the French discipline be practised, so that the scan dalous name of Brownists be taken away, and they be given ,a voice in the local government, they would again co-operate ; ¦but consent was refused to the going-over of Robinson and his flock, unless they should give a written adhesion to the Church of England, which the Adventurers termed " our Church." A conciliatory reply was made, but these corre spondents appeared no more. Some few friendly Adventurers also wrote, saying that the joint-account had been closed; ;^i,400 remained due on it. l62S.] BUSINESS MATTERS. 279 and goods to meet this should be shipped to them as trade permitted. Notwithstanding the talk about Brownists, they said, the great cause of the breaking up was lack of funds through losses at sea, and the deserters would yet " cover their faces with shame." This letter was from James Sherley, William Collier, Thomas Fletcher, Robert Holland, " &c," — the force of the " &c." being unknown. These people had consigned to Winslow and Allerton four young cattle and a stock of cloth, hose, shoes, leather, etc., to be sold on their private account, at seventy per cent profit, — a rate thought oppressive, but which, including interest and charges, with risk of the sea and of capture, does not seem exorbitant. The goods were poor ; but the four black heifers were eagerly bought, and they became known as Raghorn, the Smooth- horned Heifer, the Blind Heifer; the fourth name unknown. Sherley sent a red heifer as a gift, to be kept for the benefit of the poor. Thus the herd now included nine animals, of which six were black heifers. It was the return for this cargo that was captured in the " Little James," to Thomas Fletcher's ruin. These furs had been bought of the Maine Indians with the surplus maize of last year. One of their little shallops had been decked over sufficiently to keep the corn dry, though the men had no shelter ; and in lack of seamen, Winslow " and some of the old standards " had sailed her to the Kennebec and traded the corn for seven hundred pounds of beaver, with other peltry. By the "Jacob," Cushman wrote to Bradford (Jan. 11, 1625, N. S.), in whose family the lad Thomas Cushman was living, and begged of him, " Have a care of my son as of your own." He expected to go to Plymouth in the next ship and remain, but feared the Colony's interests at London might come to be neglected, for Sherley was sick nigh unto death. He added that Sherley "received the tokens you sent him, and thanks you for them," and returns a cheese, with other things. (Bradford, in reply [June 19, 1625], said to Cushman : " My wife remembers her love to you, and 280 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1625. thanks you for her spice." He added a caution against Peirce, the former Adventurer, who was threatening myste rious parliamentary proceedings, and getting intelligence through Robert Hicks ; and he urged that the Adventurers' claim be bought up, as many would not build fences nor set trees if "those enemies" were to take them in 1627; and " let us be as little engaged in fishing, or any other projects, as you can," — trading is twice as profitable, and takes but two boats.) In the spring of 1625 Standish had a characteristic adven ture. The " Jacob " was sent from Plymouth to Cape Ann to catch and cure a load of fish, and Standish, with some of his men, went in her, to see the work well started. They found that one Captain Hewes, in a ship sent out by the Puritan malcontents in England, had taken possession of the fishing-stage which Plymouth had built the year before on her own land, at the west side of Gloucester harbor. Hewes refused to yield the stage to its owners.^ The impetuous Standish prepared to seize it. Hewes had placed his men on the stage, with loaded muskets and lighted matches, behind a barricade of barrels ; Standish prepared to storm the posi tion, — an operation which could not have been bloodless. Just then good Roger Conant, and Captain Peirce of the "Jacob," interposed as peacemakers; and finally, all present agreeing to join in building a new stage for the " Jacob," the doughty Standish turned away to peaceful pursuits ; but we may well believe that his chivalric spirit chafed at such a compromise with ruffianism. Standish was a friend of peace, and ever ready to fight for it, with little regard for the odds against him. I Bradford, writing on June 28 to the Council for New England, complains of Plymouth's treatment by the Adventurers, saying : " They have not only cast us off, but entered into a particular course of trading, and have by violence and force taken at their pleasure our possession at Cap-Anne." He also expresses his wish to be "free from them." (See Bradford's Letter-Book.) CHAPTER XXVII. Official Business. — Death of Cushman. — Robinson's Death, and Leyden Church Matters. IN the summer of 1625 Standish went to England with the "Little James" and her consort (see p. 253). Besides arranging with Sherley for more satisfactory charges, he was to ask the Council for New England to help buy off the Adventurers, as when one side had made itself free, the other ought not to remain bound. But little could be done. The tyranny of the new King (Charles I.) and his prelates, which threatened to overwhelm the national liberty, had thrown London trade into a ferment ; there had been a terrible course of small-pox ; and that had been followed by a plague which during the year (1625) cut down 41,313 ofthe inhabit ants.^ Standish made good progress, but was finally obliged to suspend action till a better season, for the merchants lived outside the city during the plague, and would not attend to avoidable business. The Colony's few friends were cramped by recent losses, and he could only hire .^150 at fifty per cent interest, to pay his expenses and procure goods for home. So, after five months of fruitless effort, he took passage in a fishing-vessel bound to the Maine coast. In April (1626) his arrival was reported at Plymouth, probably by an Indian messenger, and a shallop was sent for him and his goods. He was received with a hearty welcome ; and without doubt J Before the great plague of 1664 there were those of 1592, 1593, 1603, 1625, and that of 1636, which latter destroyed 10,460 people in London, and was pre ceded by a raging small-pox, as were most of the others, — by that or some other epidemic. 282 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1625. his narrow escape from the Barbary pirates was duly remem bered by Elder Brewster in the next Sunday's services. The joy at Standish's safe return was quickly followed by sorrow at the news he brought. Some friends, like Fletcher, had been ruined in fortune, and others had been cut off by the plague, both in England and Holland. The Pilgrims re tained enough of loyalty to the person of a bad King, as well as to his office, to mourn the death of James I., of which they now first heard, more than a year after its occurrence. Not a month after the King's, came the death of Prince Maurice,^ the head of the Dutch Government during their residence in Leyden ; and at about the same time that of their impulsive, true-hearted brother, Robert Cushman. In his last letter he deplored the probable death of Sherley; but Sherley had recovered, while Cushman, at the early age of forty-five, was dead, and the Colony, so far as its English interests were concerned, had lost its " right hand." ^ But other emotions were absorbed in that which followed the announcement of John Robinson's death. On a Saturday the iron-nerved pastor found himself ill ; yet the next day, as usual, he conducted two services. During the week his medi cines seemed to affect him favorably, and he had little or no pain ; but the next Saturday he ceased to breathe. The plague then raged at Leyden as well as at London ; but he had no infection, his disease being an " inward ague." His senses were clear to the last, so that his friends freely visited him ; and as his brother-in-law, Roger White, wrote, " If either prayers, tears, or means would have saved his life, he had not gone hence." Three days later the body was laid in one of the many cells under the paved floor of St. Peter's Church. George Sumner, 1 Son of William the Silent, and when fifteen with him at his assassination ; he was godfather of William III. of England. The judicial murder of John of Bameveldt is a stain on his memory. White, in his letter to Bradford, styles him "ys old prince. Grave Mourise," Grave being a title (as the German, Graf, a count). 2 In 1625 Bradford wrote Cushman to aid Standish in buying the return-cargo of trading-goods, " for therein he hath the least skill." 1625.] ROBINSON'S BURIAL. — HIS FAMILY. 283 of Boston, has found the Dutch official's record of the inter ment, as follows : " 1625, 4 March. — John Roelends, preacher of the English sect by the Belfry, buried in the Peterschurch ; " while another officer, with different spelling, gave this receipt : " 1625, 10 March. — Open and hire for John Robens, English preacher, 9 florins." These common burial-cells held four bodies each ; and seven years from the deposit of the last, the cell was cleared and the bodies buried outside the city. Of the final disposition of Robinson's remains, nothing is known. Edward Winslow, on a revisit to Leyden, was assured that " the university and the ministers of the city attended Robinson to the grave with all their accustomed solemnities ; " and in 1714 Dr. Prince, of the " Old South," at Boston, when in Leyden, met aged people whose parents had told them of the high esteem in which both city and univer sity held Robinson for his " learning, piety, moderation, and high accomplishments," and that the magistrates, scholars, and many of the gentry took part in his funeral. The plague then so raged that on the next day after Robinson's death twenty-five of the victims were buried in " the Peterschurch," and public funerals were forbidden. The suspension of the rule in Robinson's case, even though his disease had not been infectious, is good evidence that the authorities regarded his death as a public loss. Robinson lived and died in that large house on Klok Street already described on page 34. A census of October, 1622, gives the occupant of this estate as " Jan Robberson," preacher ; his wife, Bridget ; and their children, John, Bridget, Isaac, Mercy, Fear, and James ; with Maria Hardy as servant.^ In 1 63 1 Isaac emigrated to Plymouth, and, by tradition, brought his mother; but this, like most Plymouth tradi tions, rests on no evidence. Mrs. Robinson was an official witness, in 1629, of the marriage of her daughter Bridget; but in 1648, at her daughter Fear's wedding, she did not act in that capacity, but she may have been present nevertheless. 1 March 27, 1623, Robinson buried a child in St. Peter's ; and Dexter thinks he may also have done so in February, 1621. 284 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1625. In 1644 the so-called " Brownist " church was still at Leyden ; and the " Reformed" churches that year contributing 17,567 florins to aid their brethren in Ireland, this body gave 558 florins ($223.20), which, as money was then valued, was a donation suggestive of both zeal and prosperity. In 1655 this flock was authorized to unite itself to the Dutch National Church; in 1658 Hoornbeek recorded it as having been so merged, and carrying with it the widow, children, and re maining friends of Mr. Robinson. That this eminent ma tron spent her life with her children at Leyden, is beyond doubt. This congregation, from the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1611 down, seems to have had no church edifice assigned to it. Yet Dr. Prince (1714) was told at Leyden that the city pro vided it with one; and in 1786 the estimable wife of Presi dent John Adams visited the indicated edifice, and indulged in emotions which were as sincere as if the relic ( ?) had been gen uine. Rev. William Stevens, of Edinburgh, in his " Church History," says of Leyden : " The Brownists had a chapel here, and their pastor was John Smith " ! In fact, none of the his tories or records of Leyden mention the Pilgrims as a body, or their place of worship. The misinformation of Dr. Prince, Mrs. Adams, and others, was due to the fact that in 1609, the year in which the Pilgrims entered Leyden, some English there on business formed a strong Presbyterian church, which continued until 1807; and as King James had no hostility to Presbyterians out of England, the obsequious Dutch rulers had granted them the use of public church premises. While the Pilgrim congregation was completely ignored, this Pres byterian body became known as the English church. Hence those searching for Pilgrim memorials have been misled by the name. Robinson, whose health had been unusually good, was only thirty-two at the flight from England, and forty-nine at his death. It is not probable that his intense labors shortened his days; but this cannot be said of the many disappoint ments as to rejoining his parishioners at Plymouth. The 1625-6.] MRS. BREWSTER'S DEATH. 285 Puritan faction which thwarted him kept him in such a state of annoyance, anxiety, and grief as seems to have worn and fretted him until he was unable to withstand even a moderate attack of disease, and was as truly a martyr as Barrow, Green wood, or Penry. Had he reached Plymouth, his prospect for threescore years and ten would have been better than that of many a " first-comer " who went beyond it.^ ' Robinson's greatness is not always appreciated by those who walk in other paths than that which he liked best. Pre judices of class, sect, party, or nation too often prevent us from doing justice to men, especially of a bygone genera tion, who have wrought for liberty and truth by other methods and under other names than those of our own adoption or inheritance. Even the beloved disciple said : " Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him because he followeth not with us ; " and the divine reproof then given does not even yet prevent repetitions of that bigoted example. But the day will come when all true men will disregard the name, the manner, and the habitation of those who have devoted their talents, few or many, to making the pathway of humanity smoother on earth and more direct toward heaven. Then with one consent will a high place be awarded to John Robinson.^ * * * In 1625-6 died Mary, wife of Elder Brewster, aged about fifty-six. She seems to have become Brewster's wife soon after his retirement from Elizabeth's court to Scrooby. Their son Edward can hardly have been born later than 1589, if he was captain of Lord Delaware's bodyguard in Virginia, 1 Bradford beautifully says : " His and their adversaries had been long and continually plotting how they might hinder his coming hither, but y'' Lord had appointed a better place." 2 While we do not know WilUam Brewster and William Bradford and John Carver and Samuel Fuller and their associates in the Leyden company as we wish we knew them, we are yet able to conclude that to teach and love and lead such men into the path of great enterprise would be possible to no small soul. — Dexter's Hist. Cong., p. 410. 286 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1625-6. 1609.^ Robinson in his last letter had hoped "that Mrs. Brewster's weak and decayed state of body will have some repairing by the coming over of her daughters" (Fear and Patience) ; but so it came, that the worthy elder mourned at the same time for his wife and his pastor. 1 Rev. E. D. Neill. Dexter thinks Edward was not Brewster's son. CHAPTER XXVin. Trade. — The Adventurers sell their Interest in the Colony. — The "Purchasers." — Origin of Cape Cod Ship-Canal. IN 1626 the Pilgrims found themselves left to their unaided efforts. Fishing had ever proved a poor business ; agri culture was very successful, but their debts could only be met by the profits of an extensive trade, and the people placed all their outside traffic in the hands of the Governor and some few others, agreeing to do nothing on private account. A stock of goods for Indian traffic was obtained unex pectedly. Word came to Plymouth that an English post at Monhegan was to break up, and had many goods to sell. Bradford and Winslow went there in an open boat. As in coasting along they naturally stopped at the Piscataqua plan tation, David Thompson, the shrewd Scotchman, concluded to go along with them as a competitor. The sellers, in view of the rivalry, marked up their goods and refused to sell less than the whole stock. The bidders therefore delegated one person, who bought the stock at some ;^8oo, and divided it equally. Several goats were also taken, to be sold for corn to the people at Plymouth, as individual property. At Sagadahoc there was found the rescued cargo of a wrecked French ship; and this, too, was bought and divided. The bills now exceeded ;^i,ooo. The Plymouth men paid in beaver and other things; but as the voracious Thompson had gone beyond his means, he and his creditors persuaded Bradford and Winslow to take all the French goods, and pay for the second half with a simple note due the next year. 288 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1626-7. This shows that the Pilgrim credit, so exceptionally good at Leyden, continued unimpaired. Traffic flourished. Indian corn, which grew so finely at Plymouth, was in general demand at 6s. a bushel ; but as the neighboring plantations ruined the adjacent market, it was necessary to seek remoter places. For this, as a larger vessel was wanted, they persuaded a house-carpenter to saw a shal lop in halves and insert some six feet of waist. Thus they had a decked vessel, " convenient and whole," which did good service for seven years ; and with this " barque " they built up a fine trade on the Kennebec.-' They also sent Allerton to conclude the bargain begun in 1625 by Standish, the terms to be subject to home approval. Bradford and others also gave him, under their hand and seal, a power of attorney to borrow ;^ioo for two years, for public use. Returning in 1627 with the fishing-fleet for Maine, Allerton reported that he had borrowed ;^200 at thirty per cent, and with it had bought another stock of goods, " much to the comfort and content of the plantation ; " but what was far more so, he had contracted with the Adventurers for their entire interest in the Colony, at ;^ 1,800, to be paid ;^200 on each St. Michael's Day, " at ye place appoynted for ye re ceipts of money on ye west side of ye Royall Exchaing in London." The board of Adventurers had fallen from some seventy members to forty-two, whose names were subscribed to this document in the following order : ^ — John White,3 WiUiam Pennington, Henry Browning, John Pocock, WiUiam Quarles, Richard Wright, Robert Kean, Daniel Poynton, John Ling, Edward Bass, Richard Andrews, Thomas Goffe, WiUiam Hobson, Newman Rookes, Samuel Sharpe, 1 In 1626 this pinnace narrowly escaped destruction by the Maine Indians, who sought to avenge some wrong done by the fishing-vessels, which had also sold them fire-arms. !2 This list is from Bradford's Letter-Book, ist Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., iii. 48. ' Haven thinks White was that Dorchester clergyman reputed to be the author of "The Planter's Plea." 1627.] THE "ADVENTURERS'" SALE. 289 Robert HoUand, James Sherley, Thomas Mott, Thomas Fletcher, Timothy Hatherly, Thomas Brewer, John Thomed, Myles Knowles, WiUiam CoUier, John Revell, Peter Gudbum, Emanuel AUtham, John Beauchamp, Thomas Hudson, Thomas Andrews, Thomas Ward, Fria. Newbald, Thomas Heath Joseph Tilden, WilKam Perrin, Eliza Knight, Thomas Coventry, Robert AUden, Lawrence Anthony, John Knight, Matthew Thomhill, Thomas MUlsop. This contract was gladly approved at Plymouth ; but there was anxiety as to what security could be offered. The Colony being unchartered and its government based on the consent of the governed, was then a legal nonentity, and of course incapable of making a contract. If its leaders became personally bound for the debt, and the plantation should be broken up by any disaster, conspiracy, invasion, or royal seizure, or if its trade should cease to be especially profitable, they would most probably end their days in the debtor's ward of a London prison. Still, the responsibility was as sumed by William Bradford, Myles Standish, Isaac Allerton, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, John Howland, John Alden, and Thomas Prence, who therefore became the owners of the settlement, so far as the Adventurers' liens and title went. What should they do with it? From the first there had been sundry " untoward persons " with the Pilgrims, but not of them, — men uncordial toward the church, if not to the civil power. Had there been that sectarian exclusiveness which misinformation so generally attributes to the Pilgrims, they would have used this easy opportunity to omit from the new list of freeholders all non conformists to the " standing order." This policy was pro posed and rejected; and it was decided to form an equal partnership, which should include all heads of families and all self-supporting single men, young or old, whether church- members, non-church-members, or anti-church-members. These men, enrolled as " Purchasers," then received each one share in the public belongings, with the right to take a share 19 290 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. for his wife, and another for each of his children. These shares were bound for so much of the public debt as the trade should not pay, and to them belonged everything per taining to the Colony, except each person's personal effects. These purchasers were found to number (about) 156, — 57 men, 34 boys, 29 matrons, and 36 girls. This did not include servants and indentured persons, of whom there may have been 20 to 30. As their necessities required the development of new fields of commerce, the enterprising Pilgrims laid out a route across Cape Cod, so that by boating up Scusset River and making a portage of two or three miles, goods could be placed in boats on Manomet River (now Monumet River) ,^ at a point a mile or two above Buzzard's Bay. On the south bank of the Manomet, where the stream is 250 feet wide, a palisaded trading-house (about 20 X 40 feet) was erected within 300 feet of low-water mark.^ A pinnace was also built, and, to gether with the house, was placed in charge of two men. When a trading trip was to be made, the goods were brought in boats from Plymouth to the head of the Scusset, carried over to the Manomet, and then boated down to the pinnace. The latter then found her way to Narraganset Bay, Long Island Sound, and a few years later to the Connecticut River and Manhattan. In due time the pinnace returned with her gatherings, and the transportation was reversed. The two custodians of the trading-house and craft then attended to raising corn, swine, and poultry, until the next trip. Tradition has it that some of them once whiled away the time by cut ting on a neighboring rock this bold prophecy, which long anticipated Bishop Berkeley's : — " The Eastern Nations sink ; their glory ends, And Empire rises where the sun descends." 1 See page 118. 2 The original deed of conveyance from Sachem Quochatset, of "land at Sandy Sea and Manamet and Herring River," dated July 21, 1669, is still in existence, and is the basis of all subsequent sales. Included in the tract then sold, besides the Pilgrims' trading-post, is the locality now known as " Cedar- ville," which has been made famous by that consummate piece of novelistic unpertinence, " Cape Cod Folks." 1627.1 THE CAPE COD SHIP-CANAL. 291 The Cape Cod isthmus has been happily called the Pilgrim Suez, with Buzzard's Bay for its Red Sea, and Plymouth as its Aleppo. The traffic across it long continued ; and it became so important that John Alden and George Soule, of the origi nal company, lived several years after a route for a canal had been traced there, and had become a subject of interest in the neighboring Colony of Massachusetts Bay. But six succes sive generations have sailed to the unseen shore, and the work is still known as the ^^ proposed Cape Cod Ship-canal." But may this seventh generation see the Pilgrim Suez pierced like its great prototype ! New England cannot afford to neg lect any such commercial advantage, for empire still follows the descending sun.^ 1 In August, 1775, while Washington was besieging the British in Boston, an agile coaster from New York, with a hundred barrels of flour for his army, came along the Sound and up Buzzard's Bay to the old Pilgrim landing, and sent the flour in carts by the ancient route to Scusset River. Colonel Cotton was then at Plymouth with a regiment recruited thereabouts, largely from the amphibious element driven from the sea by the British cruisers. (Among Cotton's officers we find the honored names of Bradford, Alden, Cole, Church, Sampson, Thomas, and Wadsworth. Alas I there was no Winslow, for that family was stifily Tory.) Quartermaster Davis made a detail from this force, placing it under Captain Samuel Bradford. A flotilla of twenty whale-boats under Captain Sylvanus Drew received the soldiers, who then made a five-hours' passage to Scusset, relieving the rowers as the wind served by making sails of their blankets. They narrowly escaped destruction on Scusset Bar. The next morning the boats, taking the flour, rovped cautiously along the shore for fear of the enemy's ships, and by 5 P. M. landed their precious cargo at Cohasset, whence it was carted to Washington's camp. In the war of 1812 this route was much used. So the Cape Cod canal route has no small history. The canal was finally begun Oct. 15, 1883, but at our date of publication was not nearly completed, though probably only a very few more years will be needed at the present rate of progress. CHAPTER XXIX. THE CATTLE DIVISION. — SEVEN YEARS' LIST OF COLONISTS. ACCORDING to the Pilgrim policy of encouragement to individual responsibility and effort, the cattle were promptly distributed, so that a few people should have the care and use of an animal for ten years, and then restore to the public the original animal and one half of its increase, if any. In case of any abuse or neglect, the whole of that group of persons were to be responsible for the damage, and were to forfeit possession of the animal. The one hundred and fifty-six purchasers were formed in twelve groups (of thirteen each), according to their own preferences. The fif teen cattle were arranged in twelve divisions, one of which was assigned by lot to each group ; each of the twelve divi sions, except the fourth, had a pair of she-goats added to it. The swine were divided in like manner ; but owing to their greater number, no record was made, and probably they were given absolutely. This cattle division, made at a town meeting, June i, 1627 (n. S.), is of great interest, as showing the growth to that date of the Pilgrim families. The record is (in substance) as follows : — [Some very slight changes have been made in the order ofthe names to promote clearness; "junior" has been supplied in some cases, and the repetition of " two she-goats " avoided in the various lots. Of the first company, Simonson became Simmons, and Delanoy, Delano. It will be remembered that there were a score or two persons at Plymouth not named in this list of " Purchasers."] 1627.] THE CATTLE DIVISION. 293 I. The first lot fell to Francis Cooke and his company ; joined to him, his wife Hester Cooke, Moses Simonson, John Cooke, Philip Delanoy, Jacob Cooke, Experience Mitchell, Jane Cooke, John Faunce> Hester Cooke, Jr. Joshua Pratt, Mary Cooke, Phineas Pratt. To this lot fell the least of the four black heifers came in the "Jacob." 2. The second lot fell to Mr. Isaac Allerton and his company ; joined to him, his wife Fear Allerton, Sarah Cuthbertson, Bartholomew AUerton, Samuel Cuthbertson, Remember Allerton, Maria Priest, Mary Allerton, Sarah Priest, Sarah AUerton, Edward Bumpas, Cuthbert Cuthbertson, John Crackstone. To this lot fell the great black cow, came in the "Anne," to which they must keep the lesser of the two steers. 3. The third lot fell to Captain Standish and his company ; joined to him, his wife Barbara Standish, Edward Winslow, Charles Standish, Susanna Winslow, Alexander Standish, Edward Winslow, Jr. John Standish, John Winslow, 2d. Abraham Pierce, Resolved White, Thomas Clarke, Peregrine White. To this lot fell the red cow which belongeth to the poor of the Colony; to which they must keep her calf of this year, being a buU, for the com pany (Colony). 4. The fourth lot fell to John Howland and his company ; joined to him, his wife Elizabeth Howland, John Alden, John Howland, Jr. PrisciUa Alden, Desire Howland, Elizabeth Alden, WiUiam Wright, John Alden, Jr. Thomas Morton, Jr. Clement Briggs, Edward Doten, Edward Holman. To this lot feU one of the four heifers came in the " Jacob," called Raghorn. 294 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. 5. The fifth lot to Mr. WiUiam Brewster and his company; joined to him. Love Brewster, Richard More, WrestUng Brewster, Henry Sampson, Jonathan Brewster, Thomas Prence, Lucretia Brewster, Patience Prence, William Brewster, 2d, Rebecca Prence, Mary Brewster, Humility Cooper. To this lot feU one of the four heifers came in the "Jacob," called the Blind Heifer. 6. The sixth lot fell to John Shaw and his company ; joined to him. John Adams, Elizabeth Basset, Eleanor Adams, William Basset, Jr. James Adams, EUzabeth Basset, Jr. John Winslow, Francis Sprague, Mary Winslow, Anna Sprague, WiUiam Basset, Mercy Sprague. To this lot fell the lesser of the black cows, came at first in the " Anne ; " with which they must keep the bigger of the two steers. 7. The seventh lot fell to Stephen Hopkins and his company; joined to him, his wife EUzabeth Hopkins, WilUam Palmer, Giles Hopkins, Frances Palmer, Caleb Hopkins, WiUiam Palmer, Jr. Deborah Hopkins, John BiUington, Nicholas Snow, Eleanor Billington, Constance Snow, Francis BiUington. To this lot fell a black weaning calf ; to which was added the calf of this year, to come of the black cow which fell to John Shaw, etc., which proving a bull, they were to keep it for five years for common use, and after to make the best of it. Nothing belongeth of these two for the company of the first stock, but only half the increase. 8. The eighth lot feU to Samuel FuUer and his company ; joined to him, his wife Bridget Fuller, Martha Ford, Samuel Fuller, Jr. Anthony Annable, Peter Browne, Jane Annable, Martha Browne, Sarah Annable, Mary Browne, Hannah Annable, John Ford, Damaris Hopkins. To this lot feU a red heifer, came of the cow which belongeth to the poor of the Colony, and is of that consideration, viz. : these persons 1627.] THE CATTLE DIVISION. 295 nominated to have half the increase ; the other half, with the old stock, to remain for the use of the poor. (See Note, " 1638.") 9. The ninth lot fell to Richard Warren and his company; joined with him, his wife EUzabeth Warren, EUzabeth Warren, Jr. Nathaniel Warren, Abigail Warren, Joseph Warren, John BiUington, Jr. Mary Warren, George Soule, Ann Warren, Mary Soule, Sarah Warren, Zachariah Soule. To this lot feU one of the four black heifers that came in the " Jacob," caUed the Smooth-horned Heifer. 10. The tenth lot fell to Francis Eaton and those joined with him ; his wife Christian Eaton, Rebecca Tracy, Samuel Eaton, Ralph Wallen, Rachel Eaton, Joyce WaUen, Stephen Tracy, Sarah Morton, Triphosa Tracy, Robert Bartlett, Sarah Tracy, Thomas Prence, Jr. To this lot an heifer of the last year, caUed the White-beUied Heifer. 1 1. The eleventh lot feU to the Governor, Mr. WiUiam Bradford, and those with him, to wit : his wife AUce Bradford, Mannasseh Kempton, WUliam Bradford, Jr. Julian(a) Kempton, Mercy Bradford, Nathaniel Morton, Joseph Rogers, John Morton, Thomas Cushman, Ephraim Morton, William Latham, Patience Morton. To this lot f eU an heifer of the last year, which was of the great White- back Cow that was brought over in the "Anne." 12. The twelfth lot feU to John Jenny and his company; joined to him, his wife Sarah Jenny, Samuel Hicks, Samuel Jenny, Ephraim Hicks, Abigail Jenny, Lydia Hicks, Sarah Jenny, Jr. Phebe Hicks, Robert Hicks, Stephen Dean, Margaret Hicks, Edward Bangs. To this lot feU the great White-back Cow ; to which cow the keeping of the bull was joined for these presents to provide for. 296 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. Some eight months after this allotment a trade was made which gives interesting information. Edward Winslow (Jan. 30, 1628, N. s.), of the third company above named, sold his family's six-thirteen interest in the red cow to Captain Stan dish for ;^5 io.f. in corn. Allowing for the different value of money at the present day, this indicates that the entire worth of the cow was at least $200 ; and this was only for the ten years' use, with half the increase. The same day Pierce sold his share and Clarke's to Standish for two ewe lambs, this being the first intimation of any sheep in the Colony. So Standish secured a cow entirely to himself, probably with a view to his removal to Duxbury .^ 1 The public animals having been distributed, a land division was arranged, and Jan. 13, 1628, N. s., each Purchaser received twenty acres besides the single acres previously allotted. These hundred and fifty-six fields were (so far as might be) in quadrilaterals, four acres by five, and covered some five square miles. They ranged from Jones River to Eel River, about six miles, with the village at the middle. The scanty mowing-fields of native grass were reserved, and for many years the Governor and Council assigned mowing privileges to the keepers of stock according to their needs. It was provided, before the distri bution of the little farms by lot, that those coming near the village should share the use of their land, for the first four years, with a neighbor or two whose allot ments were remote, and should have a compensating use of the outer lands at the end of that time. The poorer land was not included in this distribution, but remained in common. Cattle Notes. In 1633, Deacon Fuller, the "phisition," wrote in his will: " I give to the church of God at Plymouth the first cow-calf that my brown cow shall have." The same year his (and Bradford's) brother-in-law, William Wright, left " a ewe lamb " to the church. That year, heifers sold in Plymouth at £iz. 1638. William Nelson was hired as cow-keeper at the same rate as last year, viz., fifty bushels of corn ; to keep them till the middle of November. But in September Richard Willis was hired for the next year at the same rate, to be paid pro rata by each owner ; and only milch cows and working oxen were to be kept about town after May. This year the stock for the poor had increased to thirteen animals. 1644. Arthur Howland attached a " Dutch cow " of Mendham's in Duxbury, for £6. A cow left by Mr. Andrew Hallett, Sen., for the poor at Yarmouth, was to be kept three years by Thomas Payne, for her milk and half the increase. 1645. Robert Hicks left " a cow calf " to the town of Plymouth. 1647. Coddington, on Aquiday Island, had some Cotswold "rambes;" his ewes generally bore twins, and he held his "quine " ewes at £2 silver, or a pair for one cow. That year, at Cambridge, cows were rated £% oxen £6, horses £¦], sheep £1 ioj., swine £1. 1627.] FULL LIST OF COLONISTS. 297 The cattle division of 1627, affording as it does the last glimpse of several Plymouth households, renders appropriate a list of the immigrants and the births for the first seven years, with the deaths and removals. Phineas Pratt came overland from Weymouth, and John Shaw and Jonathan Brewster's wife had come in some way not recorded. Lyford brought his family in the " Charity." All the others were either natives of the Colony or " first-comers ; " that is, those who came in the "Mayflower," "Fortune," or "Anne'' and consort. In these lists the " Mayflower's " passengers have a *, the " Fortune's " a f, and those of the " Anne " and "Little James" a |. Those known to have come by other means are marked with a §. Those to whom no mark is prefixed were natives of the Colony. Next after each man's name is given that of his wife, with her maiden name, and if a widow, her former married name, so far as known. Chil dren's names are indented below those of their parents. So far as practicable, the age of each person in 1627, and the year of death, are given : — tJohn Adams 1633 JEleanor (Newton) Adams, [29] 1681 James Adams .... 165 1 *John Alden, [28] .... 1687 ?PrisciUa (MuUins) Alden. EUzabeth Alden, [3] . . 1717 John Alden, Jr., [i] . . 1702 *Isaac AUerton, [39] . . . 1659 JFear (Brewster) AUerton , 1633 ?Bartholomew Allerton. ?Remember AUerton. *Mary Allerton, [18] . . 1699 Sarah AUerton. JAnthony Annable . . . 1673 tJane Annable 1643 JSarah Annable. {Hannah Annable. {Edward Bangs, [35] . . . 1678 fWilliam Basset . . . 1667 fElizabeth Basset. WilUam Basset, Jr. 1649. Richard Church (father of the warrior) sold land at Eel River to Robert Bartlett for £2^, and took for £8 los. a red ox called Mouse. 1659. Cows at Plymouth had fallen to £3 ; in 1685, to £2 ioj. In 1641, a colt was worth £6; in 1643, a mare £8. Relative values were such that in 1637 a first-class bed was worth £8, or more. In 1625, a year after their introduction at Plymouth, twelve cows were sent from England to Cape Ann. At the close of that year Conant must have taken them with him to Salem. At the latter place, in 1629, under Endicott, were horses and " rother beasts " (i. e., neat cattle), and he that year bought from Plymouth three breeding-sows for £g. 298 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. Elizabeth Basset. {Robert Bartlett, [24] . . 1676 ?John BiUington .... 1630 •Eleanor BiUington. ¦ ?John BiUington, Jr. . 1628-9 ?Francis BiUington. ?WiUiam Bradford, [37] . . 1657 {Alice (Carpenter - South- worth) Bradford, [271 1670 WiUiam Bradford, Jr., [3] 1704 Mercy Bradford, [i]. ?William Brewster, [61] . 1644 ?Love Brewster .... 1650 ?Wrestling Brewster. t Jonathan Brewster, [34] 1659 § Lucretia Brewster (Mrs. Jonathan). WiUiam Brewster, 2d. Mary Brewster. f Clement Briggs. ?Peter Browne 1633 {Martha ( Ford) Browne. Mary Browne. tJohn Ford 1693 I Martha Ford . . . .1684? {Edward Bumpas .... 1684 ? ?Francis Cook, [45 ?] . . 1663 {Hester Cook 166-.? ?John Cook 1694 {Jacob Cook. {Jane Cook. {Hester Cook. Mary Cook, [i]. ?Humility Cooper. {Thomas Cushman, [20] . 1691 {Thomas Clark, [22] . . . 1697 {Cuthbert Cuthbertson . . 1633 {Sarah (Allerton - Vincent - Priest) Cuthbertson . 1633 {Samuel Cuthbertson. {Mary Priest. {Sarah Priest. ?John Crackstone, Jr. . . 1628 ? {Stephen Dean 1634 {Philip Delano(y), [25] . . 1681 ?Edward Doten .... 1655 ?Francis Eaton 1633 {Christian (Penn) Eaton. ?Samuel Eaton, [7]. Rachel Eaton. {John Faunce 1654 ?Samuel FuUer 1633 {Bridget Fuller. Samuel Fuller, Jr., [3] . 1695 {Robert Hicks 1648 {Margaret Hicks. {Samuel Hicks. {Ephraim Hicks. {Lydia Hicks. Phebe Hicks .... 1665 {Edward Holman. ?Stephen Hopkins . . . 1644 ?Elizabeth Hopkins. ?Giles Hopkins. ?Damaris Hopkins. Caleb Hopkins. Deborah Hopkins. ?John Howland, [34] . . . 1673 ?EUzabeth (TiUey) Howland, [21] 1687 John Howland, Jr., [3 m.] 1663 Desire Howland, [2 y.]. {John Jenney 1644 {Sarah (Carey) Jenney . . 1656 {Samuel Jenney. {Abigail Jenney. {Sarah Jenney. {Manasseh Kempton . . . 1663 {JuUana (Carpenter-Morton) Kempton, [42] . . . 1668 {Nathaniel Morton, [15?] 1685 {Patience Morton. {John Morton. , {Sarah Morton. {Ephraim Morton, [4] . 1693 ?WiUiam Latham. {Experience MitcheU, [28] 1689 ?Richard More. 1627.] LIST OF COLONISTS : THE LIVING AND DEAD. 299 {Thomas Morton, Jr. {WiUiam Palmer .... 1638 {Frances Palmer. {WiUiam Palmer, Jr. {Abraham Pierce. {Joshua Pratt 1656 §Phineas Pratt, [37] . . . 1680 {Thomas Prence, [25] . . 1673 {Patience (Brewster) Prence 1634 Thomas Prence, Jr. Rebecca Prence. •Joseph Rogers .... 1678 ?Henry Sampson, [13] . . 1684 §John Shaw. {Moses Simmons(on). {Nicholas Snow .... 1671 ?Constance (Hopkins) Snow 1676 ?George Soule 1680 {Mary (Bucket) Soule . . 1677 Zechariah Soule. {Francis Sprague. {Anna Sprague. {Mercy Sprague. ?Myles Standish, [43] . . 1656 {Barbara Standish. Charles Standish. Alexander Standish . . 1702 John Standish. {Stephen Tracy. {Triphosa (Le ) Tracy. {Sarah Tracy. Rebecca Tracy. {Ralph WaUen 1643 ? {?Joyce Wallen. ?Richard Warren .... 1628 {EUzabeth Warren, [44] . . 1673 Nathaniel Warren. Joseph Warren. {Mary Warren. {Ann Warren. {Sarah Warren. {EUzabeth Warren. {Abigail Warren. ?Edward Winslow, [32] . . 1655 ?Susanna (FuUer[?]- White) Winslow 1680 Edward Winslow, Jr. John Winslow, 2d. ?Resolved White, [12] 1690-3 Peregrine White, [7] . 1704 {John Winslow, [30] . . . 1674 ?Mary (Chilton) Winslow . 1679 {WiUiam Wright .... 1633 THE DEAD (so far as known). ?Mary (Norris) AUerton . 1621 ?John AUerton 1621 ?Dorothy (May) Bradford . 1620 ?Mary Brewster .... 1625 ? ?Richard Britteridge . . . 1620 ?WiUiam Button .... 1620 ?Robert Carter 1621 ?John Carver 1621 ?Katherine Carver . . . 1621 ?Mrs. Carver's maid-servant, — Mrs. Francis Eaton ?James Chilton 1620 ?His wife 1621 ?Richard Clark .... 1 621 ?John Crackstone, Sen. . 1621 ?Sarah Eaton .... 1621 ?Thomas English . . . 1621 ?Moses Fletcher . . . 1621 ?Edward Fuller and wife 1621 •John Goodman . . . 1621 ?John Hooke .... 1621 ?William Holbeck . . . 1621 ?Oceanus Hopkins . . ?John Langmore . . . 1621 ?Christopher Martin and wife 1621 300 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. ?WiUiam MuUins (MoUnes), wife, and son Joseph ?Edmund Margeson . . ?EUen Moore .... •Jasper Moore .... ?His brother ?Degory Priest .... ?Solomon Prower . . . ?John and AUce Ridgdale ?Thomas Rogers . . . ?Rose Standish . . . ?Elias Story •Edward and Ann Tilley 1621 1621 1621 1620 1621 1621162116211 621 1621 16211621 •John and Bridget (Van der Velde) Tilley . . . 1621 ?Thomas Tinker, wife, and son 1621 •John Turner and two sons 1621 ?Edward Thompson . . . 1620 ?William White . . . . 1 62 1 ?Thomas Williams . . . 1621 ?Elizabeth (Barker) Winslow 1621 {John Cannon (Carman) . {A child, Mrs. Cuthbertson's {George Morton .... 1624 {William Tench 1 .... THE ABSENT (some dead). ?Samuel FuUer, 2d {a). ?Richard Gardner. ?Edward Lister. ?Desire Minter. ?Gilbert Winslow. {WiUiam Beal. {Edward Burcher and wife. {William Connor. {Christopher Conant. {Anthony Dix 1638 {Thomas Flavell, {wife, and {son. {Edmund Flood. {William Ford (a). {Timothy Hatherly {a). {William Hilton, {wife, and two children. {WiUiam Heard. {Robert Long. §John Lyford, his wife Ann, and four(?) children. {Bennet Morgan. {Thomas Morton. {Austin Nicholas. {John Oldham, wife, and eight others. {WiUiam Pitt. {James Rand. {Robert Ratcliffe, wife, and child. {Hugh Stacy (Statie). {James Stewart. {Thomas Tilden, wife, and child. {One of " Mr. Pierce's servants." {a) Reappeared in Colony. Purchasers, 156; dead, 58 ; removed, 53. Total, 267. * A former remark upon the Christian names of our ances tors may be repeated as to the foregoing lists. Those who still suppose that the Pilgrims generally gave their children 1 Cannon and Tench bequeathed each an acre of land to John Billington. BiUington's heirs were afterward in possession of this bequest, which is good evidence that the devisors were dead ; if so, they died before the cattle dis tribution. These acres were their aUotment of 1623-4. 1627.] PILGRIM GIVEN-NAMES. 30I uncouth Hebrew names from the Septuagint, or doctrinal phrases and texts of Scripture, may profitably consider the above rolls, which include all the known Pilgrim names for the first seven years of the Colony. The whole number of given names is 230. Of these, there are 29 Johns, 20 Williams, 12 Thomases, 10 Edwards, and 14 are divided between Sam uel, Francis, and James; there also are 10 Marys, 10 Sarahs, 8 Elizabeths, and 4 Anns. These 11 fine names comprise more than half the whole. Love, Wrestling, Resolved, Remember, Humility, and Fear are mild exceptions to the general rule ; Desire was probably from the French D^sirde ; Oceanus and Peregrine were very happily derived from the circumstances of the case. One can hardly find a census-roll which has a purer and better English character.^ 1 Of course there are no middle names, for it was almost two centuries later that these came into popular use, as may be seen by the names of our Revolu tionary leaders, early Presidents, and statesmen. In 1718 occurs the first double- name at Harvard College, and there were not many for a century afterward. The earliest middle name at Plymouth which the editor has met with, is that of the author's great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Southworth Howland, who died in 1739 (grandson to both John Howland the Pilgrim, andCaptain Thomas Southworth, son of Mrs. [Southworth] Bradford). This is almost, if not quite, the only instance of such names, until the latter half of the century. The people of Plymouth in this, as in all other things, were more modest and less given to display than those of the aristocratic Bay. Surnames date from the time of Edward the Confessor, and were at first largely derived from men's vocations or surroundings. In 1643, of 68 freemen at Taunton were 17 Johns, 13 Williams, and 7 Thomases. No name among them was more unusual than that good old one, — Hezekiah. William Ford and the orphan Fuller may have been steadily in the Colony, though not among the " Purchasers." There were several in this position, mostly bound servants. (Common errors are, to set Elder Brewster's age from two to six years more than the fact, and Thomas Clark's five years, — the latter resulting from an error on his gravestone.) CHAPTER XXX. The " Undertakers." — Plymouth and the Dutch Settlements. — De Rasiferes' Visit. — De Rasi^res' Description of Plymouth, etc. — Wampum. THE public debt (;^i,8oo to the Adventurers, and ;^6oo to others) requiring better financial management than could be expected from the general town-meetings, the Col ony's bondsmen — Bradford, Standish, Allerton, Winslow, Brewster, Howland, Alden, and Prence — engaged to make the payment within six years, and to annually import ;^50 worth of hose and shoes, to be sold for corn at six shillings a bushel, provided the entire outside trade ofthe Colony should for that time be left to them. From this undertaking they became known as the " Undertakers." So the business of the Colony had passed from the Adventurers to the Pur chasers, and from them to the Undertakers. The latter thereupon (1627) received possession ofthe pinnace used in the Maine trade, the shallop called the " bass-boat," the barque and trading-house at Manomet, and all the public trading-stock of furs, fells, beads, corn, hatchets, knives, etc. Each Purchaser was yearly to pay the Undertakers six bushels of corn or twenty pounds of tobacco (but this contribution was never exacted). In the autumn of 1627 the Undertakers sent Allerton again to England to attend to business there, and especially to pro cure a grant of territory at the Kennebec. On that river the Pilgrims had created a profitable trade with the natives ; now, their Puritan rivals at Piscataqua and other places, and the fishing-vessels, were not only interfering with it, but were 1627.] TRADE.— FRIENDLY DUTCH OVERTURES. 303 aiming at a patent which should exclude Plymouth from any share of the traffic. Allerton was cordially received in Eng land, and through him the eight Plymouth Undertakers were joined by four Londoners, — James Sherley, John Beauchamp, Richard Andrews, and Timothy Hatherly. This addition seemed full of promise, but it proved a great and long-con tinuing calamity. T^e Colony's trade the same autumn was very pleasantly and profitably enlarged. The Dutch explorations of the Hudson had led (16x5) to the United New Netherlands Com pany, with exclusive trade there, but in 1621 it had been superseded by the famous West India Company. The Dutch claimed the territory from the fortieth to the forty-fifth paral lels, which included every mile of New England coast and as far south as Philadelphia. For years two trading-posts were maintained ; but no settlement was made, though the over tures to the Pilgrims in 1620 showed that the subject was in mind. But in 1623 a permanent colony of men, women, and children was placed at Manhattan under the government of the West India Company, and by 1627-28 there were two hundred and seventy people there, with more than a hundred cattle. Strange to say, the Dutch and their old friends at Plymouth had not met or communicated down to 1627. In 1623, Win- slow, on his medical visit to Massasoit, had hoped to meet a Dutch ship, and was much disappointed at missing her. The Dutch had continued to visit the Narraganset, but had been careful not to attract the attention of Plymouth, for fear of creating a competition in that profitable trading-field. So Bradford was agreeably surprised when, in March, 1627, there came to him a friendly letter from Isaak DeRasi^res,^ secre tary of the West India Company's Government at Manhattan. The letter was addressed to the " Noble, Worshipful, Wise, and Prudent Lords, the Governor and Councillors residing in Nieu-Pliemiien ; " and it comprised a wish for the temporal and eternal happiness of their " Lordships." The democratic ^ Bradford always gives this name as DeRasier, 304 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. Bradford remarks that it is the Dutch manner to be " full of complimental titles ; " and he modestly leaves this glowing address untranslated, while he gives the body of the missive in English. The Dutch, expressing a desire for kindly intercourse now that the mother-countries had renewed their league, said they would meet their friends for trade wherever wished. A reply in Dutch was sent to " The Honorable and Worshipful, the Director and Council of New Netherland, our very loving friends and Christian neighbors." It wished their " Honors' Worships and Wisdoms " worldly prosperity and " eternal rest and glory." Their friendship was reciprocated, and a grateful remembrance expressed of the Pilgrims' life in Hol land, the " freedom and good content" of which would never be forgotten by themselves or their children. Still, Bradford cautioned the Dutch against settling within the territory of the Council for New England ; and he urged them to forbear trad ing with the natives around Buzzard's Bay, or the Narraganset and Sowams region, " which is, as it were, at our doors." The next August " John Jacobson of Wiring " brought to Plymouth from Manhattan a kind but resolute answer, assert ing the Dutch right to trade within the limits of the Plymouth patent; for if the English King claimed the country, so did the Dutch States-General, and this claim they would maintain. This letter was directed to " Monsieur Monseigneur William Bradford, Governor in ' Nieu-Plemeiien.' " After " kind and friendly entertainment " of Jacobson, " Monseigneur " Brad ford returned by him an equally courteous and firm missive, in which he said that Plymouth would expel by force, if need be, any one who should enter her territory to molest her trade. He also requested a visit from the Dutch authorities, that an agreement might be made as to their " mutual com merce." He warned them, however, of their danger by the way should they fall into " the hands of those of Virginia, or the fishing-ships which come to New England." ^ 1 Bradford's History errs in putting this visit in 1628. His Letter-Book gives the correct date, as shown by the copied letters themselves. 1627.] DE RASlfeRES' VISIT. — WAMPUM. 305 On the 4th of October (1627) Secretary De Rasi^res no tified Bradford that he was on board the barque "Nassau," off the trading-house at Manomet, and asked that a boat be sent for him. John Jacobson, of Wiring, had in six hours walked the twenty miles from Manomet to Plymouth ; but the portly secretary said that he had " not gone so far this three or four years," and he feared his feet would fail him. So a boat was at once sent to 'Scusset,^ and the secretary, with the chief of his company, was brought to Plymouth.^ He moved in some state, for Bradford rather disdainfully mentions him as " accompanied with a noise of trumpeters and some other attendants." He proved a very worthy man, the son of one of those Huguenots who, driven from France, had been sheltered by the Dutch and given a home on the banks of the Waal. After several days' hos pitality, including a Sunday, De Rasi^res returned to the "Nassau " with some ofthe Plymouth people. In her he had brought " cloth of three sorts and colors, and a chest of white sugar," besides small wares, for which his hosts paid him mainly tobacco of their own raising. Thus began a trade which lasted several years to mutual benefit, until Virginia contrived to divert it. From De Rasi^res, Plymouth learned the use of wampum (or sewan) as money. This article consisted of beads made chiefly from the shell of the quahog. As only a small part of the shell was purple, the beads of that color had an en hanced value. The shell was broken into small pieces, which, chipped to a somewhat regular form, were then drilled, ground to a rounded shape, and finally polished. As noticed in Chapter X., the use of this form of money had not then ex tended east of the Narraganset. De Rasieres sold the Pil grims ;^50 worth ; but it was two years before the natives took up even this small amount. But then discovering its benefit, they sought it so eagerly that enough of it could not be had 1 Original form of this name (in Bradford), Manonscusset. 2 So among the earliest events in the history of the " Cape Cod canal route " was the passage over it of a foreign embassy " with trumpeters." 20 306 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. for trade, although they had learned to make it. Some of the whites tried to produce it by improved processes, but they soon found that the manufacture of such as the Indians would receive cost more than its current value. Thus the wampum was not a cheap article rated at a fictitious valua tion, but into each fathom of it had been put quite as much labor as the market price of the wampum would pay for in merchandise. Six of the white beads, or three of the purple, were the equivalent of a penny, for the labor which would produce them would bring a penny for other purposes. The mercantile prosperity which this money brought to the natives made them especially eager buyers of fire-arms, which Dutch and French traders and the fishermen sold them, despite all laws. Not long after this visit, De Rasieres was displaced by some faction, and on reaching Holland wrote to Director Blommaert, of his company, a letter, which about 1847 found its way to the Royal Library of Holland. This document, through the efforts of J. R. Brodhead (the able historian of New York), is printed in the New York Historical Collections (vol. ii., new series) ; and the portion of it relating to Ply mouth in its seventh year throws no small light upon our subject. It says : — " Coming out of the River Nassau, you sail east by north about fourteen mUes along the coast, a half a mUe fi-om the shore ; and you then come to Frenchman's Point,^ at a smaU river where those of Pawtuxet ^ have a house made of hewn oak planks called Aptuxet,' where they keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade and possession, where also they have bvilt a shaUop in order to go and look after the trade in sewan * in Sloup's Bay ° and there abouts, because they are afi^d to pass Cape Malabar, and in order to avoid the length of the way, — which I have prevented for this year by 1 Agawam Pt., near head of Buzzard's Bay. ^ Plymouth. ' Manomet, now corrupted to Monument, a Cape Cod Railroad station iu Sandwich. * Sewan is wampum, or " peag." 6 East entrance to Narraganset Bay. 1627.] DE RASIERES' LETTER ON PLYMOUTH. 307 seUing them fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would by so doing dis cover the trade in furs ; which if they were to find out, it would be a great trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they shall be obliged to use other means. If they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how the case stands, what will they do when they get a notion of it? " From Aptuxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods, passing several Uttie rivulets of firesh water, to New Plymouth, the principal place in the country Pawtuxet, so caUed in their ' octroye ' * firom His Majesty in England. New Plymouth Ues in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, or Malabar, east and west from the said point of the Cape, which can be easily seen in clear weather. Directly before the begun town lies a sand-bank ^ about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaks violentiy with an easterly and northeasterly wind. On the north side there lies a smaU island,' where one must run close along in order to come before the town ; then the ships run behind that bank * and Ue in a very good roadstead. The bay is very fuU of fish of cod ; so that the Govemor before named has told me that when the people have a desire for fish, they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom they remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them, in three or four hours' time, as much fish as the whole community require for a whole day; and they muster about fifty famiUes. " At the south side of the town there flows down a smaU river * of fi-esh water, very rapid, but shaUow, which takes its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there empties into the sea ; where in April and the beginning of May there come so many herring from the sea that want to ascend that river that it is quite surprising. This river the EngUsh have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a httie door, which sUdes up and down, and at the sides wi± treUis- work through which the water has its course, but which they can also close with shdes. At the mouth they have constmcted it with planks, like an eel-pot with wings, where in the middle is also a sUding door, and with treUis-work at the sides, so that between the two there is a 1 Octroi (Lat. auctoritas, a.uthonty) originally meant any ordinance authorized by a sovereign. 2 Plymouth Beach. ' Saquish. 4 The Beach. ' Town Brook, 308 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. square pool into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, that at one tide there are ten thousand to twelve thousand fish in it, which they shut off in the rear at the ebb, and close up the treUises above, so that no more water comes in ; then the water runs out through the lower treUises, and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hiU three or four fishes ; and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world ; and if they do not lay this fish therein, the maize wiU not grow, so that such is the nature of the soU. " New Plymouth Ues on the slope of a hiU, stretching east toward the sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon-shot of eight hundred feet long' leading down the hiU, with a crossing^ in the middle, northward to the rivulet and southward to the land.* The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and courtyards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack ; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross street, stands the governor's house, before which is a square enclosure upon which four patereros {steenstucken'^) are mounted, so as to flank along the streets. "Upon the hiU they have a large square house with a fiat roof, made of thick sawn planks stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannons, which shoot iron baUs of four and five pounds and command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain's door ; they have their cloaks on,' and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a ser geant without beat of dram. Behind comes the Govemor in a long robe ; ^ beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak on,' and on the left hand the captain with his side-arms and cloak on,' and with a small cane in his hand ; and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard, night and day. 1 This distance is 1,155 feet. 2 i. e., " a street crossing," etc. 8 He reverses the actual bearings. * Little cannon. ' * This visit was in October, and the day may have been cold. 1627.] DE RASIERES' LETTER ON PLYMOUTH. 309 "Their govemment is after the English form. The Governor has his council, which is chosen every year by the entire community by election or prolongation of term. In the inheritance they place all the children in one degree ; only the eldest son has an acknowledg ment for his seniority of birth. "They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon the sub ject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintain and en force very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst them. They speak very angrily when they hear from the savages that we should live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment. "Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony,* and consequently not so suitable for the plough. They ap portion their land according as each has means to contribute to the eighteen thousand guilders ^ which they have promised to those who had sent them out, whereby they had their freedom without ren dering an account to any one ; only if the King should choose to send a governor-general, they would be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign chief. " The maize-seed which they do not require for their own use is deUvered over to the Govemor at three guilders the bushel, who in his tum sends it in sloops to the North * for the trade in skins among the savages ; they reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of bea ver's skin. In the first place, a division is made according to what each has contributed, and they are credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute yearly toward the deduction of his obligation. Then with the remainder they purchase what next they require, and which the Govemor takes care. to provide every year. They have better means of hving than ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons, and cranes, and other small-legged birds which are in great abundance there in the winter. The tribes in their neigh borhood have aU the same customs as already above described,* only they are better conducted than ours, because the EngUsh give them the example of better ordinances and a better life; and who also, to a certain degree, give them laws by means of the respect they from the very first have estabhshed amongst them." 1 Perhaps gravelly. ^ Guilder, about 42 cts. 8 xhe Kennebec region. * i. e., in some former part of the letter. 310 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. All the observations of this intelligent foreigner are most interesting and instructive ; but especially so is his testimony to the influence on the natives of the " better life " of the Pil grim Fathers above the Dutch, and the respect which they earned " from the very first." CHAPTER XXXI. THE WRECK OF THE "SPARROWHAWK." WHOEVER coasts along the inner shore of Cape Cod, . finds Orleans and Brewster separated for three quarters of a mile by Namskeket Creek. From the head of this creek a walk of two miles will take him to the inner side of Orleans Harbor, which opens on the Atlantic, so nearly comes the sea to cutting off the Cape's forearm. On the farther side of this lake-like harbor, resting on the alluvial meadow, is " The Old Ship," a sand-dune, so called from the fact that for many generations it covered the wreck of the " Sparrowhawk." Near the close of 1626 this vessel left England for Virginia, with goods and passengers. The Scotch captain, Johnson, became disabled with the scurvy, and so incompetent were his subordinates that the vessel soon lost her reckoning. In six weeks her water and beer came to an end, and the casks were burned for fuel, leaving the only drink on board, a little wine owned by a passenger. Thirst, freezing, and scurvy were all imminent, and the craft was pushed recklessly on in a north west to southwest direction, trusting to a chance land-fall. Over the Cape Cod shoals, which had so sorely tried many of the best navigators of that age, the fugitive vessel safely passed, in happy ignorance of their existence, and on a win ter's morning in 1627, found herself off a small inlet. Pound ing over a bar, she drifted into an inland bay, where, as some of the planks had started, she was at once beached for repairs. The wanderers, having no idea of their whereabouts, were filled with anxiety; and when, after landing their goods to 312 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1627. be dried, they saw a band of Indians approaching in canoes, they stood to their arms, prepared for a desperate defence, but were pleasantly surprised when the natives hailed them in friendly English, asking if they were " the Governor of Plymouth's men." The Indians were at once invited in and feasted as well as might be. Finding that their harbor of refuge was on the outer side of Cape Cod, the ship's people employed the natives to conduct two men to Plymouth, with a letter to the Governor, asking for pitch, oakum, and spikes, in ex change for other goods. As his associates were busied on other matters, Bradford himself took a shallop-load of these naval stores to Namskeket, and from that point had them carried overland to the vessel. He was received with grati tude, and his supplies used to such purpose that the craft was soon ready to continue her voyage. Bradford bought for her a stock of maize, and also secured the return of some of the sailors who had run away to join the savages. Then, with cordial leave-takings, the Governor returned to Plymouth ; but soon received news that when the vessel was about to sail, a storm had cast her ashore on the eastern side of the harbor, a hopeless wreck. Her people were thereupon removed, with their goods, to Plymouth, to remain until vessels should come for them from Virginia. Their dismantled " Sparrowhawk " became in time buried by drifting sand, but her memory was vaguely preserved in the name given to the superincumbent dune, — "The Old Ship." These guests, who must have added a fourth to Plymouth's population, were mostly servants, male and female, generally from Ireland in charge of their employers. The chief of the latter. Master Fells and Master Sibsie, obtained leave to busy their people in cultivating a great field of maize, the crop to be theirs, and the clearing of the land to be equivalent to rent. Fells employed one servant as his housekeeper, from which arose some scandal. In such matters our ancestors were neither slack nor delicate, nor did they hesitate to act on mere suspicion. The twain were sharply examined by 1627.] THE "SPARROWHAWK." 313 the magistrates, but as there was nothing to rebut their firm denial, they were discharged. Soon, however, finding that self-conviction was at hand, and fearing the pitiless scourge, they fled in a small boat, hoping to find a Virginia vessel at Cape Ann. Not succeeding, and narrowly saving their lives in a storm near Boston Harbor, they returned to Plymouth. No penalty seems to have been inflicted on them, but it was contrived to hustle Fells and his following off to Virginia some time in advance of their comrades. Late in the summer two vessels came from Virginia and took away the remainder of the company. Their fine corn- crop was bought by the Colony, and for the supplies which they received beyond that amount, they paid from their large stock of clothing, shoes, hose, " perpetuanes," etc. They had received whatever hospitality the narrow means of the place permitted, and the resulting traffic had been of much mutual benefit. So they sailed away with much kind feeling ; and many years after, from their home in the then " foreign parts " of Virginia, warm expressions of gratitude occasionally reached Plymouth. In 1782, as Governor Bradford's descendants of the fifth generation were listening to the last sounds of the American Revolution, the sands of Cape Cod made an unwonted move ment, and the old " Sparrowhawk " presented herself to " in curious eyes ; " but was soon hidden again by the sand-drift. Two generations later, few people remembered the history of the wreck, and fewer still imagined that beneath the sands of " The Old Ship " any trace of the vessel could have survived decay; but in May, 1863, when the land was shaken by another great war, the sand once more withdrew its veil, and again the " Sparrowhawk " saw the sun. Fortunately Amos Otis, the learned antiquary of Yarmouth, was then able to examine the craft.^ She lay rather below the surface of the meadow formed after the closing of the 1 Mr. Otis, who was descended from the great patriot Otis of the Revolution, died 1875, aged 74; his wife was of the Governor Hinckley lineage. For Mr. Otis's observations on this wreck, see N. E. Gen. Reg., xviii. 37. 314 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1^27. original inlet from the sea, and over which the sand had drifted. She was well built of oak, still wholly undecayed, the corners of her timbers being as sharp as when new. Yet every particle of iron had disappeared, except as rust stains in the surrounding earth. The ancient repairs on the craft were evident, as several of her "tree-nails" had been split with a chisel and tightened by wedging. The deck and bows were wanting, her upper works having been burned away. In the hold were found beef and mutton bones, some shoe- soles, a small metallic box, and a pipe-bowl like a modern opium-smoker's.^ She was perhaps of seventy tons' burden when complete; her mid-ship section was a decided semi circle, showing capacity and stability, while her stern had a remarkable length of dead-wood, like a modern steamer, indi cating speed. Her ribs were pieced-up, or built upon, in a way which had been thought of modern device. Her keel showed but one step for a mast ; but there was probably a small mast with a lateen sail mounted at her stern, making the then-common rig of a ketch. In a few weeks the wreck was again buried by the changing sand,^ but this time it was not forgotten. In 1865 it was 1 In 1844, in an Indian burial-place near High Cliff, ij miles north of Ply mouth Rock, a similar pipe was found. This burial-place must have been dis used some years before the Pilgrims landed ; and the pipe-bowl, being European, is probably due to the visit of Pring, Champlain, or Smith. It is now in the possession of W. T. Davis, of Plymouth. 2 The " Somerset," a British blockading frigate, was wrecked at Province- town, 1776, and her well-preserved hull is still exposed and buried by turns, as the sand shifts at intervals of a few years. The following recent paragraph probably refers to the " Somerset." " The entire back shore of Cape Cod changed more the past winter than for many years. It is estimated that an average of a hundred feet of shore has been washed away between Race Point and High Head. Four miles east of Race Point Light a bluff forty feet high has disappeared, showing the outlines of an ancient vessel. About sixty feet of the hull can be traced. The wreck lies embedded in sand, her stern under the bluff. She was apparently 35-foot beam. Her upper works have been cut ^way or burned to the lower deck. The planking is five-inch hewn live oak, and ceilings the same thickness. The tim bers are 12 inches square. A 20-foot draught mark can be seen on her stern, which is 14 inches through, and 3 feet 2 inches from wood-ends to cut-water. The planking was sawed to fit the curve of the bow. Her style of planking and fastening is peculiar, and shows a style of carpentry beyond the remembrance of 1627.] THE WRECK OF THE "SPARROWHAWK." 315 raised and placed for exhibition on Boston Common, where many persons inspected it. The same year it was removed to Providence, where it was kept till 1889, when it was pre sented to the Pilgrim Society, and set up in the basement of Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.^ With this interesting story ends the record of 1627. If 1623 was a year especially momentous in Plymouth history, 1627 may contest its claim to importance. the present generation. She is evidently a reUc of Revolutionary days, probably an old English war-ship." — Newspaper ef 1886. 1 As far as we can leam, its last private owner was Charles W. Livermore, of Providence. In Orleans, when disinterred, the wreck was owned by Leander Crosby, of Orleans, and during its Boston exhibition, by C. P. Knowles and C. W. Livermore. Hon. Jonathan Higgins, of Orleans, has kindly interested himself in connec tion with this subject. CHAPTER XXXII. MORTON OF MERRY MOUNT. IN 1628 Plymouth once more appeared as the protector of the men of Massachusetts Bay. In 1625 the worthy Captain WoUaston,^ with some partners and about thirty in dentured servants, began a plantation at the present Quincy, on a mount a hundred feet high, near the sea, commanding a fine view of Boston Harbor. Two miles to the east was Old Spain, the scene of Standish's fearful contest in 1623, and there some of Robert Gorges' colonists still lived. Discouraged by a year's trial, WoUaston went to Virginia with a few of the servants, and found ready sale for their re maining service-due. He then sent for his assistant, Rasdall, to come with more of the servants, leaving Lieutenant^ Fitcher in charge at this mount, then called Mount WoUaston. There were only nine or ten servants left at the latter place ; but with them was one Thomas Morton, a former London attor ney of some education, who had come over with Weston's men in 1622, and was now one of Wollaston's partners. Morton soon gave these servants a feast ; ^ and when they had 1 A man of pretty parts. — Bradford. 2 " Livetenante " is Bradford's first quaint spelling of his title. 8 Bradford describes Morton's standing and movement thus : " One 'M.^- Mor ton, who, it should seeme, had some small adventure (of his owne or other mens) amongst them; but had litle respecte amongst them, and was cleghted byy'^ meanest servants. . . . But this Morton abovesaid, haveing more craft then hon- estie, (who had been a kind of petie-fogger, of Furnefells Inne,) in y= others ab sence, watches an oppertunitie (commons being but hard amongst them,) and gott some strong drinck & other junkats, & made them a feast." l628.] MORTON'S REVELS AND MISDEMEANORS. 317 become excited with liquor, he told them that their fellows had been sold as slaves in Virginia, as they themselves would be in turn ; but he, as one of the principals in the plantation, would not only cancel their indentures, but would make them his equal partners in it, if they would first drive out Fitcher. They gladly comphed, and poor Fitcher was obliged to decamp.^ The reign of equality and fraternity at once began at Mount WoUaston, now re-named Merry Mount. A profitable trade was kept up with the natives ; but the time not given to busi ness was spent in drunkenness and licentiousness. With the profits, rum was bought on a large scale; dissolute Indian squaws were domesticated; a May-pole was erected, upon which were posted wanton verses from Morton's muse, and around it the planters and squaws joined in dances and mad revels. Yet Morton maintained a pre-eminence, and was Lord of Misrule. As he welcomed accessions to this com mercial and bacchantal commune, a fear soon arose among his neighbors that fugitive servants and culprits would in time find their way to him, and render Merry Mount both an Alsatia and an Algiers, full of danger to the whole line of settlements. Morton next proceeded to employ Indian hunters, whom he made expert with fire-arms. The adjacent savages began to despise their bows and arrows, and make desperate eff"orts to get guns, regardless of cost. Morton sold all he could spare, sending to England for more. Before long the other Colonists began in all directions to meet savages armed with guns, in whose use, having nothing else to attend to, they were excelling the whites in skilfulness, and becoming expert at repairing and choosing the weapons. The safety of the latter had been due chiefly to their superior arms. At First Encounter or at Wessagusset, Standish's party would have had small chance of survival if the Indians had been trained sharpshooters, with guns in their hands; nor could any of 1 So they took oppertunitie, and thrust Levetenante Fitcher out a dores. — Bradford Mms. 3X8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1628. the settlements, from Plymouth to Piscataqua, have withstood such an enemy .^ For the safety of traders and planters. King James, in 1622, had by proclamation forbidden the disposal of fire-arms to the Indians ; and while the remoter tribes had procured some from the Dutch, French, and lawless fishermen, such weapons had been kept from the savages around the settlements. The plantations at the Bay and beyond, besides Merry Mount itself, were then as follows : Edward Hilton was established at Cocheco (Dover, N. H.) ; near him was his brother William, at Piscataqua (Portsmouth) ; Roger Conant's company was still at Naumkeag (Salem) ; Mr. Jeffrey and others were on the site of Manchester-by-the-Sea; at East Boston, Samuel Maverick, a stanch Churchman, lived in a fortified house, crowned by four of the little breech-loading cannon then called " murderers ; " at Charlestown, in a palisade, dwelt Thomas Walford, a smith, who must have had but moderate custom ; near the northwest corner of the present Boston Common, beside a spring and surrounded by an orchard of his own planting, was William Blackstone (or Blaxton, as he wrote it), an Episcopal minister, and an agent for the Gorges claimants ; on an island in Boston Harbor, David Thompson's widow continued his plantation ; there was the settlement at Old Spain (Weymouth), and that at Nantasket (Hull), strag- ghng across to Bear Cove (Hingham). All these people seem to have been Episcopalians, and to have had little intercourse and less sympathy with the Plym outh Congregationalists, whom they still called Brownists. But now, when in trouble, they, after a grave consultation, solicited the protection of the schismatic Old Colony. In effectual efforts were also made by courteous letters to con vince Morton of the peril resulting from his course, and to persuade him to obey the King's proclamation. He replied 1 Bradford says : " Hithertoo y= Indeans of these parts had no peeces nor other arms but their bowes & arrowes, nor of many years after ; neither durst they scarce handle a gune, so much were they affraid of them ; and y= very sight of one (though out of kilter) was a terrour unto them." l628.] MORTON'S CAPTURE. 319 with scorn, saying that the King was dead, and his displeasure had died with him; defying the allies to molest him, and assuring them of a hot reception if they should undertake it. The planters then besought Governor Bradford to proceed to extremities. Standish with his musketeers soon landed, and advanced on Merry Mount. Morton had barricaded his men within his own house, and had set his table with " divers dishes of pow der and bullets ; " but his forces, being " over-armed with drink," were less formidable than they appeared. After answering Standish's summons with a volley of abuse, Mor ton, fearing that his house would be destroyed, led his tipsy followers out of doors to meet the invader. In his excite ment he had overcharged his carbine until it was half full of powder and shot, and with it he prepared to annihilate Stan dish; but the little captain, closing with him, pushed the muzzle to one side, and seizing Morton, held him a prisoner. The " action " then ended ; the only bloodshed having been from the nose of a Merry Mountaineer, whose tipsy gait had caused him to run that organ against a sword point, and deprive himself of " but a little of his hott blood." Morton's men were for the most part left to pursue the business of their plantation in their own way. Their property does not appear to have been levied upon, nor was their notorious May-pole disturbed. The entire purpose of the attack had been to stop the reckless sale of fire-arms to the Indians. Morton was held at Plymouth until a ship, sailing from the Isles of Shoals for England, took him over, in charge of an agent who was paid for his services at the common cost. This agent was the noted John Oldham, now Plymouth's good friend. Morton had been a spy for Sir Ferdinando Gorges ; and that courtier not only saved him from all harm, but seems to have contrived to get him into favor at court, as being a good Churchman persecuted by Separatists. The expense of this expedition and of Morton's transshipment was paid as follows ; ^ — 1 Bradford's History, 240. 320 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1628. Plymouth ;^2 10 o Naumkeag i 10 o Piscataqua 2 10 o Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Burslemi 200 Nantasket i 10 o Mrs. Thompson 0150 Mr. Blackstone 0120 Edward Hilton 100 ;^i2 7 o This affair was in June (1628). The next September, stern Endicott had established the new Colony of Massachu setts Bay, and visiting Merry Mount, hewed down the May pole, assuring the remaining settlers that unless there should be " better walking," he would make their Merry Mount " a woful mount " for them. The name was also changed by some one to Mount Dagon, but it soon regained its first title, which it now bears in the modified form of WoUaston Heights. The next year (1629) AUerton astonished his friends by bringing Morton back to Plymouth as his clerk, but was forced by public opinion to dismiss him.^ Morton then went to his old nest at Mount WoUaston, where his treatment of the savages quickly led to bitter complaints from them. At the same time a warrant arrived for his return to England on a charge of murder. Thereupon Endicott arrested him ; his goods being taken for his creditors — including Indians whom he had despoiled — and for the cost of his extradition. Mor ton was set in the stocks, with his hands tied behind him ; and to satisfy the Indians for their many wrongs, his emptied house was burned in their presence. Morton was then sent to England in the " Handmaid," under Trevor, who came over with the PUgrims in 1620. After some time in jaU, he 1 Bradford mentions Winnisimmet (now Chelsea) ; but it is not clear what he meant by it. Was Burslem there ? In 1636 Weymouth sent a " Mr. Burs- ley " as deputy to the General Court. ^ Bradford says : " He not only brought him over, but to y^ towne (as it were to nose them), and lodged him at his owne house, and for a while used him as a scribe to doe his bussines, till he was caused to pack him away." I628-43-] MORTON'S FINAL MOVEMENTS. 32 1 was acquitted on the charge of murder, and by representing himself as banished for his devotion to the Book of Common Prayer, attained renewed influence at court under Gorges, and apparently under Archbishop Laud. He was a bitter enemy of the Colonies, and his book, " The New English Canaan," published at Amsterdam, 1637,^ was unsparing in its satire and abuse of them. Late in 1643 he appeared again at Plymouth, and Brad ford, who considered him as " grown old in wickedness," for some mysterious reason permitted him to winter there. Stan dish took " great offence " at this permission, especially as Morton persistently fowled on the captain's land.^ Winslow, who attributed his English imprisonment chiefly to Morton, was also indignant. In a letter to Governor Winthrop, he termed Morton a " serpent ; " and finds strange matter for ridicule in the fact that Morton " is living meanly " in Ply mouth at four shillings a week, being " content to drink water so he may diet at that price." The next spring Morton went to Boston, where he was convicted of defamation of the Col ony in his book ; but as he could not pay a fine, and was too old and shaken for the usual alternative of whipping, he was permitted to go to Piscataqua, where in a few years he died. 1 The date on some volumes, " 1632," is spurious. The " New English Canaan " has remarks of value upon the natives and the physical features of the country; but Morton records as history many erroneous things gathered through poor interpreters. A story based on the Pilgrim discovery of the French grave on Cape Cod, and the fight at First Encounter, is an absurd but palpable trav esty; yet Dr. Drake adopted it in his "Book of the Indians," also Thacher in his " History of Plymouth." Morton's book is to be taken with allowance in even its best parts, while in those relating to himself and his white neighbors it is wholly unreliable. Bradford styles it: "An infamouse & scurillous book against many godly & cheefe men of y= cuntrie ; full of lyes & slanders, and fraight with profane callumnies against their names and persons, and ye ways of God." Yet writers seeking to belittle the pioneers of New England, sometimes quote him as an authority, and some narrow sectarians, believing his cant and pretence of having suffered for religion's sake, have found not only apologies, but pleasant words for the evil living at Merry Mount. 2 Morton's book satirized the bristling little captain under the amusing title of " Captain Shrimp ; " but that fiery soldier is not likely to have appreciated his joke. 21 CHAPTER XXXIII. AUerton's Strange and Dishonest Conduct. — Warren's Death. — The Massachusetts Bay Company. — Its Endicott Colonists. — Their Sickness. — Their Theology. IN 1628 Allerton came back, having paid the Adventurers' first ;^200, and reduced the other debts to £400, leaving in all but ;^2,ooo due. This result gave much satisfaction, as it seemed like the beginning of the end. A grant of land on the Kennebec had also been secured ; and under it a fortified trading-house was at once built, where now is Augusta,^ the capital of Maine. This was provided with a stock chiefly of coats, shirts, rugs, blankets, corn, biscuit, peas, prunes, knives, hatchets, and wampum, and a brisk trade for beaver was begun with the natives. Allerton also, with no authority, brought over a young man named Rogers, to be pastor of the Plymouth Church, giving him at the general expense an outfit of clothing, as well as his fare.2 The surprise of the Colonists at this proceeding increased not a little when they found the preacher to be hopelessly insane. So, besides the cost of maintaining him till the next year, they were forced to pay his expenses back to his friends. AUerton's motive for this reckless act was always a mystery. It was noticed that while he had brought a good supply of trading-goods, Allerton, in violation of the agreement between the partners, had included a large stock of his own. The two lots of goods were put up together with no distinguishing marks ; and in case of a partial loss at sea, there would have 1 The place was then known as "Cushenoc," or some name of similar sound. * The latter charge, which shows the cost of the trip at that time, was : For passage, £l; for eleven weeks' diet at 4J. 8d., £2 lis. 4^. : total, £3 lis. ^d. (Constant Southworth also came in this ship, and paid the same.) r628.] RICHARD WARREN'S DEATH. — HIS FAMILY. 323 been nothing to prevent his taking his entire venture from the portion saved. It was seen, too, that when he landed the goods, he generally claimed as his the articles which were proving most salable. He then, in further violation of his agreement, used his goods in carrying on a competing traffic with his partners. StUl, it seemed incredible that he was wil fully defrauding his associates. The English partners were earnest for his continued employment ; and he was sent back to them the next autumn, after he at his own request had re ceived rigid instructions, and had given earnest assurances of fidelity and continued love. In 1628 died Richard Warren, one of those nineteen signers of the Pilgrim Compact who survived the first season. Gard ner, Lister, and Gilbert Winslow had left the Colony ; but it was not until now, after seven years of co-labor, that any of the men who joined in that pioneer Thanksgiving festival in 162 1 had been laid in the grave. Secretary Morton, who knew Mr. Warren, says of him : " He was a useful instru ment, and during his life bore a deep share in the difficulties and troubles of this first settlement." Mrs. Warren, forty- eight years old at her husband's death, survived him forty- five years ; and when, at the rare age of ninety-three, she was borne up Burial Hill, it was entered on the Colonial records that she, " Having lived a Godly life, came to her grave as a shock of corn fully ripe." This pair had two sons and five daughters, through whom they have a wide posterity of many names; and those who bear the patronymic have in many generations especially honored their ancestry.^ • General James Warren, who at the death of General Joseph Warren at Bunker Hill succeeded him as President of the Congress of the Province, was the Pilgrim's great-great-grandson ; and the late Judge Charles H. Warren, of Massachusetts, was a grandson of this patriot, ks follows : — I. Richard and Elizabeth (Pilgrims). 5. James (General) and Mercy [OtisJ 2. Nathaniel and Sarah [Walker]. 6. Henry and Mary [Winslow]. 3. James and Sarah [Doten]. 7. Charles Henry married Abby 4. James and Penelope [Winslow]. Hedge. Mrs. Warren No. 5, was daughter of the Revolutionary patriot Otis. For some unexplained reason, the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Warren was not until the twenty-second day after her death. 324 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1628. In 1628 occurred a movement of vital consequence to Plymouth. The various English claims around Boston and Salem had been absorbed or superseded by the Massachu setts Bay Company, which strong corporation had a grant from the Council for New England of all the territory from three miles south of Charles River to three mUes north of the Merrimack, and reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The latter ocean, however, was not then thought to be far beyond the Hudson ; and the latter was supposed, by com municating with it or with the St. Lawrence, to make New England an island. The settlers at Massachusetts Bay, and even the highest statesmen of England, were long wont to call that Colony New England, regardless of the other settlements, and to limit the name of Massachusetts Bay to Boston Har bor. The new Company's grant was confirmed by the King in a charter of unprecedented liberality in the matter of self- government by the Company (but not intentionally by the people). 1 Many members of the new body were men of wealth and education ; some had titles, and several had influential con nections. It was expected that the corporation and its offi cers would continue in England; and with this idea, in 1628 it sent over to Naumkeag ^ (Salem) John Endicott as a sort 1 The early settlers at Salem used to speak of a trip to Boston as " going to the Bay ; " but Bradford always included that Colony in the term " Bay." When in 1652 Massachusetts proceeded to the decidedly unlawful act of coining money, she at first issued coins which were blank, except that on one side was the value in pence, thus : III., VI., or XII.; and on the other she as serted her pretended claim to be considered New England by stamping simply " N. E." Ten years later, and long after, she minted the pine-tree currency, but preserved the original date, 1652. The public unwittingly ignored the pre tentious claim of Massachusetts involved in the " N. E.," and with a mild humor generally termed the coins " North Easters." The early Colonists and other English made much use of the third of a pound, called the "noble" (6s. 8d.), and the "mark," which was two nobles (13^'. ^d.). Winslow and Cushman, in the early days of Plymouth, spoke of New Eng land as a supposed island ; and even so late as the Revolution, the British prime-minister. Lord North, referred in a despatch to the " Island of New England." Winslow renders the word " Massacheuseucks." 2 Bradford (1624) gives this name as "Nambeke," and several years later as " Naumkeake." 1628-9.] MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. — ITS CREED. 325 of deputy-governor, with a body of working-men. Endicott found already on his territory some eight settlements, rang ing from single households to the viUage at Naumkeag under Conant. The latter at first was disinclined to recognize his authority, — a leading reason being Endicott's instructions from home to prohibit the cultivation of tobacco. Both at Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth the tobacco-crop was a prominent one, and Endicott was forced to waive the prohi bition so far as concerned the " old planters," while enforcing it upon those who had come with himself. Endicott's people, living through their first winter largely upon meats preserved in the unwholesome salt already noticed, and having imperfect housing, suffered a mortality like that of the Pilgrims in their first season. Soon a cry for help went out to Plymouth. Through Roger Conant, Endicott must have learned of Plymouth's " good physician," Dr. Fuller, and Bradford was entreated to send him to Salem. Fuller hastened to the sufferers, and repeated his journey both that year and the next. He spared no pains in " letting blood and other means," and met with much success in his eflforts ; but even then scores of the new-comers died from scurvy and fever.^ Fuller had long been a Congregational deacon, and the deacons in that Church, even though laymen, were as care fully selected and as formally ordained as were the clergy. Our medical deacon seems to have been strong as a theo logian. In Salem the Episcopal form of worship had been the only one known from the beginning in 1625-6 ; and Endicott and his fellows, as Puritans, not only adhered to it, but no one who saw them depart from England supposed that they would ever do otherwise.^ While warring against disease, Deacon Fuller also assailed Endicott's Puritanism, 1 Endicott himself, in after years, had repute as a physician. At this time he was forty-one years old, having been born, like his great associate, Win throp, in the notable year of the Spanish Armada. 2 Neither was our departure from the parishional congregations in England a separation from them as no churches, but rather a secession from the corruptions found amongst them. — Cotton. 326 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1629. and with more decided results. At the end of this visit Endicott sent Governor Bradford a letter expressing his thanks for it ; and also exhibiting the Puritan prejudice with which he had theretofore regarded Separatists and " Brown ists," but which he had found groundless. On this point he said : — " I acknowledge myself much bound to you for yom kind love and care in sending Mr. FuUer among us, and rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form of God's worship. It is, as far as I can yet gather, no other than is warranted by the evidences of trath, and the same which I have professed and maintained ever since the Lord in mercy revealed himself unto me ; being far from the common report that hath been spread of you touching that particular." Thus Endicott came to Salem as an Episcopalian, and so remained for his first year; and the Separatists of Plym outh (still miscalled Brownists) were " everywhere spoken against." But Endicott was about to take the lead in a remarkable change. In 1629, not seven weeks after Endicott's letter, three Epis copal clergymen were sent over to Massachusetts Bay by the corporation in England, — Messrs. Higginson, Skelton, and Bright. As England was disappearing in the horizon, Higginson markedly showed his attachment to the Church of England and his opposition to Separatists by standing at the stern ofthe ship " Talbot" and exclaiming: — " We wiU not say, as the Separatists were wont to say at their leav ing of England, ' FareweU, Babylon ! FareweU, Rome ! ' But we wiU say, ' FareweU, dear England ! FareweU, the Church of God in Eng land, and aU the Christian friends there ! ' We do not go to New England as Separatists firom the Church of England." Yet three weeks from their landing, Higginson had been elected " teacher," and Skelton pastor, by the ballots of the Salem congregation, headed by Endicott himself The two 1630.] SUPREMACY OF INDEPENDENCY. 327 preachers had been reordained under the hands of each other and of " three or four ofthe gravest members; " and the two had first declared the ministerial calling twofold, — first, from the Lord ; second, from the people.^ Mr. Bright, adhering to his former views, went over to Charlestown ; but after minis tering there a year, returned to England in discontent. Two of Endicott's new Council, — the brothers Browne, a lawyer and a merchant, — takii?g ground against the new way, were most arbitrarily shipped back to England, although they had made no change from the position which they held when elected, and which they were then expected to maintain during life. Thus after an unquestioned sway of some four years was Episcopacy slain in the house of its friends, and Independency exalted to its place. Yet so odious was the term Separatist, or Separation, that the Salem clergy, while clinging to the thing, indignantly disowned its name. But their Indepen dency, at that trial of it, had a far shorter tenancy than the rule it had supplanted. In 1630 arrived Winthrop with a great company, who had after embarkation written a farewell message to the Puritan friends unable to accompany them, and had addressed it " To the Rest of their brethren in and of the Church of England," therein declaring themselves " members of the same body," who should " unfeignedly grieve for any sorrow that shall ever betide her, . . . our dear mother; " yet these immigrants turned their backs on this " dear mother " as soon as they came within the influence of 1 Bradford and some others are said to have arrived from Plymouth by sea, during the services, and to have joined in the laying-on of hands. This is prob ably an error. The Salemites protested most earnestly that they were not becoming Separatists, and would hardly have called in leaders of Separatism to join in their very first exercises. Sept. 6, 1630 [n. s.], Winthrop writes of a later case, in his Journal : " We used imposition of hands, but with this protestation by all, that it was a sign of election and confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should renounce his ministry received in England." (Three days later, Winthrop was elected governor ofthe Colony. Till then, Endicott seems to have continued to serve under his original appointment from England. ) Higginson died the next year, when only forty-two, leaving a widow and eight children. The name has been honorably represented by his posterity. 328 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1630. Higginson, Skelton, and Endicott.^ Congregationalism, how ever, being little to their mind, they soon formed a Massa chusetts synod, which gave the people Church and State enforced by an educated, strong-minded hierarchy, whose yoke was not easy, nor its burden light.^ Many a liberally inclined inhabitant of that priest-ridden community must have learned to regard with complacency the tyranny of their old Church at home. The religious despotism which so despotically ruled the Bay Colony often exerted a malign influence on the com paratively liberal Plymouth; but the Independency of the latter not only survived, but extended itself until Congre gationalism became the " standing order," even in Massachu setts and its child Connecticut. Massachusetts, led by an aristocracy, social and religious, and acting under the King's charter, was in many respects the opposite of the Congrega- tionalist Plymouth, whose yeomen and artisans were fortunate in the fact that royalty and nobility had thus far ignored their self-authorized little democracy. That the incorporated, highly connected Colonists at the Bay often assumed airs of superiority over the almost friendless plebeian State beside them, was natural ; as also was it that the sturdy common- sense and liberal leanings of the weaker body should finally 1 Governor Hutchinson (1765) says that the Massachusetts planters had con tinued in communion with the Church of England till they left the country, though dissatisfied with some ceremonies, but not with the form of its govern ment, being very careful to distinguish themselves from Brownists and other Sep aratists; and that if they had remained in England, andthe Church been governed with " its present moderation " (i. e., 1765), they would doubtless have continued in it. (See p. 325, note 2.) In 1631 Captain John Smith says that the chief undertakers to Massachu setts were men of ;£'soo a year, and some of ;f 1,000, and " are good Catholic Protestants, according to the Reformed Church of England." By " undertakers " he of course means the members of the corporation, many of whom were still in England. (At the same time, speaking of the Colonists of Virginia, Smith de clares " 100 good laborers better than 1,000 such gallants as were sent me, that could do nothing but complain, curse, and despair." This indicates a woful difference between the "seed-grain" of that Colony and of New England.) 2 In 1636 the eminent John Cotton, of Boston, writes to Lord Say: "Democ racy I do not conceive that ever God did ordain as a fit government, either for church or commonwealth. If the people be governors, who shall be the gov erned?"— Gen. Reg. x. 12. 1628-9.] SMITH'S FLIGHT, AND PLYMOUTH PASTORATE. 329 permeate the other, so that after two generations of rivalry the more genial spirit of the Pilgrims should supplant the bigoted sternness of the Puritans. In the " Talbot " with Higginson came Ralph Smith, another preacher, with his family ; but after his goods had been stowed on board so that much time would be lost in discharging them, it became suspected that he was a Separatist. Rather than delay the ship, Matthew Cradock, governor in England of the Massachusetts Company, sent Endicott an order concern ing Smith, that " unless he will be conformable to our govern ment, you suffer him not to remain within the limits of our grant." Endicott and his friends were then denouncing the charge that they were intending to become Separatists, and Smith not only found a cold welcome but there was some reason to think that he would be shipped ofif to England in the " Lion's Whelp " (a hundred and twenty tons) . He there fore took himself away to Nantasket (Hull), where was a " straggling people." While he was there in doleful quarters, a Plymouth boat chanced to call, and he persuaded its com pany to carry himself, family, servants, and goods, home with them. Smith, said to have been a university scholar, was soon made pastor at Plymouth (1629), — the first person to hold that position.^ He was of no great ability, and was far infe rior as a preacher to Brewster; but he was a minister (of Episcopal ordination) , and — unlike Brewster — could admin ister the sacraments, which had not before been enjoyed at Plymouth, unless Lyford may for a few months have con ducted Eucharistic celebrations with a ritual according to whatever his frame of mind (or pretence) may have been at the time-being. At about the same time came one Deacon Richard Master- son from Leyden, where in 1619 he had married Mary 1 This case is doubly important as showing the hostility toward Separatists still felt by the English Puritans, and also that Plymouth was in some sort an asylum for people who for opinion's sake could not domicile at Massachusetts Bay. 330 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1662. Goodall, of Leicester, England. In 1633 he died, and the next year his widow became Smith's wife, bringing him some property. In 1636, the Plymouth people getting tired of his ministrations, Smith left their pulpit. Several years later he removed to the Bay, and preached at Manchester-by-the-Sea. In 1662 he died at Boston, leaving an estate to the care of his stepson, though he is somewhat involved in the record with another literary Ralph Smith, who died at about that time, leaving a property of less than ;f40, the chief items being his books, " a small hammer," and an alarm-clock worth 20s. ' CHAPTER XXXIV. New Immigrants. — " Mayflower " and " Lion." — TraveUing Expenses. — Mrs. Robinson. IN August, 1629, the renowned "Mayflower" came from England to Salem, under Plymouth's old friend Peirce ; and in her came thirty-five Leyden people on their way to Plymouth. The next May (1630) Peirce, then in the " Lion," brought a somewhat smaller detachment, which he landed at Charlestown, whence the voyage to Plymouth was completed in shallops. As both these companies reached the Colony too late to raise a crop until another year, their maintenance was at first a serious burden ; but this was voluntarily and cheerfully borne by the Undertakers alone, as also was the cost for transportation and outfit. These two companies comprised the weak and poor, those able to take care of their own passage having been left to do so. But there is something mysterious in the charges paid. In 1628, it has been seen that a first-class passage from England to Plymouth cost £2 us. 4d. Now, the short trip from Leyden to England was added, and the outlay on these immigrants (about sixty) was ;^S50, or some £g 35. each. There were, to be sure, some heavy bills for clothing, with an average of nearly two pairs of shoes to each person, which indicates a remarkable degree of poverty among the beneficiaries. Yet Bradford's little syndicate not only assumed this untoward outlay, but never called for repayment. Several brethren " of note, and better discretion and government among them," also came over on their own account, adding strength and means to the Colony; and it should be mentioned that the 332 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1629-30. former companies proved " useful," as Bradford says, and "such as feared God."^ Some of the " Lion's " people complaining of AUerton's management, Sherley, in defending his co-agent, wrote to Bradford: "Verily, their indiscreet carriage here hath so abated my affection toward them, as were Mrs. Robinson well over, I would not disburse one penny for the rest." It would have been most fortunate for Plymouth if these com plaints, whatever they were, had led to the immediate dis charge of both Allerton and Sherley. The above quotation has naturally enough given rise to the idea that John Robinson's widow was one of the " Lion's " company ; but there is no reason for supposing that she ever came to America. She has been called the mother of Abra ham Robinson, who settled at Cape Ann, and died there in 1645 ; but the Leyden census of 1622 names all the members of the Robinson family, and does not mention an Abraham. Their son Isaac came over not long after this emigration of 1629-30, but there is no mention of his mother in that con nection. On the other hand, Hoornbeek states positively that in 1658 Mrs. Robinson and her family were still at Leyden, where they had recently united with the Dutch Calvinist Church with such formalities as would seem clearly to identify them. 1 In 1638 Joscelyn put the average cost of clothing to emigrants from Eng land to Boston, at £4 each. In 1629 good shoes for the Bay Colonists cost 2s. yd. per pair. Bradford puts down the first company as " thirty-five persons." Prince infers that he meant thirty-five families ; and there is some reason for the belief, — though in that case Bradford must have made a slip of the pen. But the text follows him exactly, as his statement is definite. Still, if we suppose the emi grants he mentions to be the adults, wifh twice as many children and youths in their charge, the large outlay becomes reasonable. Half a century later. Judge Sewall, of Boston, went to England, and of course indulged in some luxury. His outlay one way was : fare, £2 y. ; cabin ex penses, £4 1 IS. 4^. ; total, £6 14s. 4^. CHAPTER XXXV. RascaUties of Allerton. — His New Maine Trading-post. — Ashley and WiUet. — French Plunderers. — Sickness and MortaUty at the Bay. ALLERTON, on his return from England in 1629, not only insulted his associates by bringing back Morton, whom they had just expelled at so much peril, but violated the promises so solemnly made, and instructions which he had himself solicited. He bought classes of goods which he was ordered not to get, and again mixing his own wares with the Colony's, had by the way sold as his own what ever any one would buy, and turned the remainder over to the Plymouth people as their share. The Colony, therefore, though paying an agent to provide their goods, was left with an inadequate stock for the traffic on which their solvency depended. Yet Sherley's letters vouched so strongly for AUerton's correctness, and urged the great importance of his continued employment, that he was sent to England again in 1629. In 1630 Allerton returned with information that he, with the London partners and William Peirce, had a patent of land on the Penobscot, where Castine now is, and had sent one Edward Ashley to open trade there with the natives. The Plymouth partners were invited to join. At any rate, they were expected to help Ashley with men, goods, and boats. This scheme was very distasteful to the men of Plymouth. Ashley, though a shrewd trader, was an evil liver, having once dwelt among the savages, going naked in their style, and sharing their vices. Yet the new post, if a rival, must dam- 334 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1630. age the Kennebec trade, and would be pushed to that end by Allerton especially. So through necessity they acceded, and fitted out Ashley with wampum, corn, and other matters very much needed for themselves; but they exacted from him a bond in ;^500 not to be unchaste with the savages, or to sell them gunpowder; and also required him to take as a co-agent Thomas WiUet, an excellent young business-man just from Leyden. Soon it was found that the English partners, ignoring the necessities of Plymouth, were sending abundant goods to Ashley, while the latter was remitting his large profits entirely to London, in disregard of his debt to Plymouth. For want of the articles supplied him, the Plymouth people had to pur chase trading-goods for their own use from chance vessels, and even from AUerton's private stores, paying in beaver at a heavy discount. Yet even then they felt obliged to buy a barque for the use of the Castine post. Before a year (1630) Ashley was detected in the two of fences feared from him; and for selling gunpowder to the savages had been sent a prisoner to England by the English Council's naval authorities on the coast.-^ His stock would have been confiscated ; but Bradford, by producing Ashley's bond, showed that due precaution had been used. The post was then turned over to WiUet, who for nearly five years conducted a very profitable trade there. In 1632 (1631 O.S.), while WiUet was away on business, a party of French visited his post. Bradford says that " many French compliments they used'^nd congees they made ; " but finding the place in charge of three or four dull servants, they robbed it of ;^SOO worth of goods and departed, bidding the disarmed servants tell their master that " some of the Isle of Rd gentlemen" had been there. For this act the partners 1 And that I may make an end concerning him, after some time of impris- onmente in ye Fleet, by ye means of friends he was set at liberty and intended to come over againe ; but ye Lord prevented it, for he had a motion made to him by some marchants to goe into Russia, because he had such good skill in ye beaver trade, the which he accepted of, and in his returne home was cast away at sea ; this was his end. — Bradford. 1630.] SICKNESS AT THE "BAY." 335 could obtain no redress. (It will be seen that in 1635 WiUet met with a much graver disaster of a like nature.) In the summer of 1630 there was still so much sickness at Massachusetts Bay that Dr. Fuller was once more called from Plymouth. July 8th (n. S.) he notes that he went to Mattapan (Dorchester) and " let some twenty of these peo ples' blood." August 4th (Sunday) he and Winslow were at Salem, when there came a letter from Governor Winthrop, then at Charlestown, upon the terrible mortality raging from Salem to Dorchester, and desiring the Salem Church to con sider how to " pacific ye Lord's wrath." It was decided to hold a fast on Friday, August 9th (n. s.), and the Plymouth visitors were besought to write home, that their Church might also be " provocked to this godly worke," — a request which met with the cordial assent of the Old Colony. For many months the sickness continued, and at the end of the year two hundred graves proved its malignancy. Among the victims was William Gager, the new Colony's physician and a member of Winthrop's family. He was pronounced " a right godly man," and, like his brother physician of Plymouth, was the senior deacon of his church. The winter of 1630-3 1 , like that of 1620-21, was of exceptional mildness, — a fact most fortu nate for the sufferers. In the middle ofthe winter Peirce arrived once more in the " Lion," and fortunately brought with him a large supply of lemon-juice, by the aid of which the deaths were confined to the " discouraged." It is noteworthy that all the victims were from those who arrived in the Colony in June or July of 1629 or 1630.^ When at length Dr. Fuller 1 We conceive that this disease grew from ill-diet at sea, and proved infectious. — Winthrop's yournal. By an astonishing miscalculation, the food brought by Winthrop was alto gether insuflScient, and a famine threatened; Peirce was therefore hurried back for supplies. The suffering became great, and in answer to some clamorers Winthrop showed them his last measure of flour baking in his oven. Johnson (" Wonder-working Providence ") quotes a woman as saying : " My husband hath travelled as far as Plymouth (which is near forty miles), and hath with great toil brought a. little corn home with him ; and before that is spent, the Lord will assuredly provide." Fast-day services were ordered; but they were changed to those of 'Thanksgiving by the previous arrival (Feb. 5-15, 1630-31) of Peirce 336 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1630. could be spared from the Bay, it is thought he was accompa nied to Plymouth by the grateful Endicott. Governor Win throp expressed a desire to go with him, but said that his executive duties would not permit his absence for two hours.^ Thus again was the New Colony indebted to the Old for labors of wisdom and mercy. with 34 hhds. wheat flour, 15 hhds. peas, 4 hhds. oatmeal, 4 hhds. beef and pork, and 1 5 cwt. cheese, butter, suet, etc. In 1629 for each passenger to Salem was provided 2 qts. of sweet oil. In 1629 the Massachusetts Company in England contracted with Lambert Wilson, " chirurgeon," to serve the Colony " and also the Indians," and to in struct in his arts one or more youths, " of which Mr. Hugenson's son, if his father approveth, may be one, the rather because he hath been trained up in literature." There is no further trace of Wilson ; but the record is interesting as showing a desire for surgeons of literary cultivation. John Pratt, surgeon, was a pioneer at Newtown (Cambridge) ; but no mention is made of the arrival of Robert Morley, who had been engaged to come over for three years and " serve as a barber and surgeon " at 20 nobles the first year, 30 nobles the second, and 20 marks the third. ( Noble = i of a pound; mark = 2 nobles.) 1 1630. Massachusetts established wages as follows: Laborers, dd. a. day; building mechanics, i6d.; also meat and drink. In this year the Bay people began to use the name "town " for a municipal corporation. CHAPTER XXXVI. The Warwick Patent. — The Royal Charter and AUerton's Chicanery. — The " Handmaid " with Immigrants — The Eddys. — Indian Uneasi- THE CouncU for New England sent over in 1630, a new patent of the Plymouth territory. The Peirce patent of 1 62 1 established no boundaries, and was uncertain or silent on many points; but this new instrument defined the grant as co-extensive with the present Massachusetts counties of Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstable (save Hingham and Hull), with so much of Rhode Island as lies east of Black stone River and Narraganset Bay. It was also to extend to the west as far as the utmost parts of Pokanoket, and was to follow the middle of the river and bay to the sea. This clearly included the island of Rhode Island (Aquiday) ; but an adverse claim was made, and some years later Bradford yielded to it. The patent also fixed the bounds of Ply mouth's tract on the Kennebec. This reached from the present Augusta, some thirteen miles down the stream, to Cobbiseconte Falls, and extended fifteen mUes on each side of the river, with the full and exclusive right and jurisdiction over the river within these bounds. This patent ran to William Bradford, his heirs, associates, and assigns, leaving him (like John Peirce in 1622) to decide who should be his associates, if anybody; or, if he pleased, to make himself lord of the manor and hold the Colonists as his tenants and subordinates. It gave him and his, authority to make and repeal laws and ordinances not contrary to the laws of England ; to decide who might abide on their land, 338 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1630. and to " expulse, repel, and resist by force of arms " all who without leave should seek to dwell within their limits, or to traffic with the natives there, or make any annoyance ; and the ships and goods of intruders might be forfeited. No inhabitant under the patent should be controlled by any general governor acting under the Council, except for public defence or summons to court. The grant, made in fee-simple, was to include every right possessed by the Council itself, to the fullest extent of its power of conveyance. This was not to include the coining of money, and required for the Crown one-fifth part of all gold and silver ore found, and another fifth for the Council. This patent, signed by the Earl of Warwick, President of the CouncU for New England, on Jan. 13, 1629 (o. S.), answer ing to Jan. 23, 1630 (n. S.), may stiU be seen in the Plymouth registry of deeds. It was long missing, and in 1741 was rescued from private hands.^ The Council appointed Captain Standish its attorney to enter on the grant, and after taking possession in its name, to deliver full " possession and seizin " to Bradford or his representatives. In Standish's absence, Winslow, Howland, or Alden might act for him. Alden finally did so, in presence of James Cudworth, William Clarke, and Nathaniel Morton, who certified to the fact on the patent. (The ceremony was probably performed by " turf and twig," in which the grantor publicly asserted his claim to the land by cutting up a small turf and clipping a twig ; no objection being made to this exercise of proprietor ship, he then gave the turf and twig to the new owner, and the delivery was complete.) The Council by its charter had all the rights which it thus amply conveyed, and even more ; but lawyers differ as to its power of transfer, some holding that Plymouth (through Bradford) merely derived ownership of the land, with control of the inhabitants and trade under the English laws, but not the right to create a form of government and enforce laws of its own making. But the Colonial policy of England was 1 See misadventures of "Pierce Patent," page 197. 1630.] THE "WARWICK PATENT." — THE CHARTER. 339 then vague, and there was a disposition to allow chartered companies to exercise or transfer their privileges much as they chose, provided there ensued no harm to the revenue, and no disorder. The " Warwick patent," as it is called, was quite in harmony with the unwritten law, which their King regarded nearly as much as he did his own parchment char ters, though they had seals " as broad as the house floor," as Bradford expressed it. England found no fault with the self-government of Plymouth, even while endeavoring through a score of years to subvert the liberties granted Massachu setts Bay by the ponderous charter of Charles I. The patent was practically valid to its full extent, and so continued till, in the next generation, Andros trampled down all law. Still, the " Mayflower " Compact remained the fundamental law, and was affectionately regarded till the end of the Colony. The patent was chiefly for outside use ; for, if of less noble origin than the self-evolved charter, it was incomparably more valuable in the eyes of non-residents. A royal charter was still desired, and the agents at London brought influences to bear, which led the King to order one drawn as liberal as that of Massachusetts. The Lord Keeper and the solicitor expedited it; but the motive-power was costly, and Sherley wrote to Bradford, " many locks must be opened with the silver, nay, the golden key ! " At length the charter reached the Lord Treasurer for his action on what concerned the customs. Allerton and Sherley, without authority from Plymouth, had put ^n a clause freeing her imports into England from duties for seven years, and out ward cargoes for twenty-one years. This the Lord-Treasurer refused to pass without a vote of the King's Council, which action had not been secured when the time came for Allerton to go home in the " Lion " with Peirce, leaving the matter with a solicitor. Sherley wrote that there was no doubt of success if their agent could at once come back, and that therefore the Plymouth people should urge AUerton to return, " and his wife to spare him this one year more to finish this great and weighty matter." 340 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1630. This effort had cost ;^500, and — thus was the result — the charter was never again heard from. It would have passed the seals without question but for the surreptitious clause. Bradford thinks it rnight, as it was, but for AUerton's secret plan to secure a reappointment, in pursuance of which he dictated Sherley's letter. Some of the Undertakers urged AUerton's dismissal; but others pleaded Sherley's approval of him, and the fact that his dismissal would grieve his father- in-law. Elder Brewster, which would be worse than losing money. In an unfortunate moment of weak amiability, Allerton was sent back the next autumn. In November, 1630, came into Plymouth the " Handmaid," under John Grant, twelve weeks from Southampton. All her masts had been carried away; of her twenty-eight cows, ten had died ; but her passengers (about sixty) were all well. As two of the latter, rated as " gentlemen," desired to settle at Boston, Standish carried them there ; but the Bay people refused to receive them, because, as Winthrop says, they had " no testimony." Probably these passengers all remained at Plymouth, and were largely made up of those more sub stantial people who, as the rear-guard of the immigration from the Leyden community, now came at their own expense. Among them were John and Samuel, sons of William Eddy, of Cranbrook, England. John, with his wife Amy, removed to Watertown (near Boston) in 1633, and of their eight children, the eldest was a daughter, whom they named Pil grim. Samuel remained at Plymouth. The posterity of these brothers has caused the family name to be honorably known in many parts of our country. In 1630-31 the Indians were very unquiet. The Mo hawks ravaged the Nipmucks, and one hundred Tarrantines came from Maine in canoes to Ipswich River, and crossing overland, killed seven of the peaceful natives at Sagus ^ (Lynn) ; but hearing the alarm-guns of the whites, safely re treated with much spoil. Chickatabut, of the Neponsets, was hostile to Plymouth on account of the attack in 1623 ; 1 See Indian pronunciations •, page 118, note 2. 1630.] RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS. 341 but he was very friendly with the Massachusetts settlers. In various directions the savages desired a war, not from any alleged grievance, but, as Winthrop says, to plunder " our stuff." When a superior and an inferior race co-inhabit, some individual wrongs are inevitable, and for them the in ferior race will be quite as likely as the other to be respon sible; but the two pioneer Colonies of New England, from first to last, made every possible effort to secure more than justice to the aborigines, and to treat them with philanthropy. Their kindness to the Indians immediately around them had now its effect in preserving a precarious peace with those farther away.^ 1 The justice ofthe Bay Colony was curiously shown in 1631. " Mr. Josiah Plaistow," for stealing four baskets of corn from the Indians, was sentenced to return them eight baskets, be fined ;^5, and no more to have the title of " Mr.," but to be called Josiah Plaistow only. His two servants, for aiding him, were whipped, they having no money or titles to lose. In 1631 was a marked exhibition of the kind feeling which had grown up between Plymouth and the Cape tribes. In January Richard Garrett, a shoe maker at Boston, sailed for Plymouth with his daughter and four men. Near the Gurnet a storm struck them, their stone killock broke in pieces, and after several hours their boat stranded on the Cape. Landing, they found no fuel. Two men started on foot for Plymouth, and seven miles along met two squaws whose husbands were close at hand. Next day one of the Indians went forward with them ; but one of the whites died at the Manomet trading-house, and the other on reaching Plymouth. In the mean time the second Indian husband had gone back to the boat, where, building a wigwam over the four sufferers and making a fire, he carefully nursed them. Garrett soon dying, the Indian with his tomahawk chopped in the frozen ground a grave eighteen inches deep, and to protect the body from wolves brought wood and made a pile over the spot. Bradford had by that time sent a relief boat from Plymouth, but yet another man died on the spot from gangrene. The only survivors, the Garrett girl and Henry Harwood, a " godly young man " from Boston, were taken to Plymouth. Dr. Fuller was obliged to extend surgical treatment to the man ; and when, six weeks later, the latter was able to take Garrett's luckless shallop for Boston, he was caught in a similar storm, and had another narrow escape. He recovered twenty nobles from Garrett's estate, — probably because the craft had not been properly manned and provided. Doubtless the Indians were well rewarded, for Bradford was very scrupulous in such cases. The natives on Cape Cod were so nearly isolated from the others that they soon fell into many ways of civilized life; and they and their successors ever remained fast friends of the whites. Indeed, the very extensive missionary labor among them was far more effective and enduring than the justly famed work in Massachusetts of John Eliot. (See note, p. 193.) CHAPTER XXXVII. John BiUington. — His Crime and Execution. — His Family and their FaiUngs. JOHN BILLINGTON, foisted into the "Mayflower" by some supposed enemy of the Pilgrims, had ever been profane and turbulent.^ Cushman, as the Adventurers' agent, in 1 62 1 probably tried to discipline him; for in 1625 Brad ford wrote to the former, " Billington still rails against you, and threatens to arrest you, I know not wherefore. He is a knave, and so will live and die ! " In 1630 the prophecy was fulfilled. Billington charged John Newcomen, a young man, with interfering with his hunting, and at length waylaid him. Newcomen ran behind a tree ; but Billington shot at him, and gave him a wound which, after several days, proved fatal.^ A grand jury found a bill, and a petit jury convicted the murderer. The doubt as to the Warwick patent's power to give its grantees the right to make and enforce their own laws, is con sidered a modern question ; and it is thought — a not long- understood fact — that an able-bodied inhabitant adds, at present rates, at least a thousand dollars to the mercantile valuation of a community. Yet Billington had reasoned out both these matters, and boldly claimed that the authorities had no right to inflict death, but by so doing would render themselves liable as murderers, but even were it otherwise, 1 It will be remembered that BiUington was the first malefactor in New Ply- month, he being adjudged in 1 621 to be "laid neck and heels " for insubordi nation. See p. 160. 2 He shote him with a gune, wherof he dyed. — Bradford. 1630.J BILLINGTON'S EXECUTION. — HIS FAMILY. 343 they could not afford to rob their still weak, indebted, and endangered Colony of a strong, industrious householder. Doubt enough was raised in some directions to cause a ref erence of the matter to Winthrop and the other leaders newly arrived at the Bay, whose authority under the Crown was above question. They decided that Billington " ought to die, and the land be purged from blood." Then the sen tence was executed (in September). The infliction of the law's extreme penalty is ever, to a well-constituted mind, a grievous circumstance; and now, for the first time, such an event occurring in the Old Colony, the evil life of the victim was forgotten in the recollection that he had been one of the original company, sharing in the terrors of the first winter, and bearing his part in all the after sacrifices and adventures, — for the very defects of his charac ter were such as could not well permit him to be a coward or a laggard. In the early perils and triumphs he had joined ; and that such a one, whatever his demerits, should die by the executioner's hand, was, as Bradford remarks, " a matter of great sadness unto them." BiUington's name seemed for a time to be one of ill-omen. His widow succeeded to his farm at Plain Dealing (two miles north of Plymouth Rock), and for her cattle was, in 1636, authorized by the court to mow the adjacent grass; but " what is too much for her " was to go to Deacon John Doane. A controversy ensued, doubtless as to this " too much," and the deacon, charging the dame with slander, sued for ;^ioo damages. The court gave the complainant nothing; but evidently finding the slander very flagrant, sentenced the defendant to a fine of £$, to sit in the stocks, and to be publicly whipped. In 1638 the widow gave the farm to her only living child in terms which sound oddly now; for she declared the gift to be from "the natural love I bear unto Francis BiUington, my natural son." Later in that year she married with Gregory Armstrong, at which time she had two cows, a house, garden, and land for fifteen hundred hills of corn. If she survived, she was to have aU 344 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1630. Armstrong's property, " except some things for his friends." If he survived, he was to retain the use of her property, but was to give two yearling heifers to " the natural children of Francis Billington, the said Eleanor's natural son." The word "natural" was then used to distinguish one's own child from a step-child, child-in-law, or adopted child ; and it often occurs in the records, to the misleading of careless and censorious readers. (Thus, in 1685, William Walker was excused from training because he was weak, and also had " two natural sons" in the train-band; and in 1686 Isaac Robinson, son of the Leyden pastor, conveyed land to his " natural son " Peter, — meaning his son by nature.) Armstrong died at Plymouth, November, 1650. Of his wife the records make no mention after 1642 ; but it may be hoped that in her later life she enjoyed a period of that tran quillity to which she had so long been a stranger. Francis BUlington, in 1634, married Christian Penn, widow of Francis Eaton. They proved a thriftless pair, and were forced to bind out most or all of their eight children. (Their son Joseph was placed with John Cooke ; and on a charge of enticing him to frequent absences it was ordered that, during any of his future truancies, his parents should both sit in the stocks on lecture-days.) Francis was occasionally sued and fined, and was once sentenced to pay 20s., or be whipped, on some petty matter ; ^ but besides frequent appearance in court as plaintiff, defendant, or culprit, he was in later life on various committees, boards of reference, and other bodies, which suggests his good standing. His son Joseph was in constant disgrace, and seems to have had the viciousness without the energy of his grandfather; but several of the family became excellent members of society. Reasons have already been given for the belief that Bil lington Sea was discovered by John the Senior, and that the 1 In 1638 he was fined I2.f. for smoking in the highway. In 1647 he was ordered to pay Williara Hanbury two barrels of tar, — which disproves the often- stated idea that tar-making was first introduced into the Colony by the worthy Thomas Coram forty-five years later. 1630.] NAMING PLYMOUTH'S PUBLIC PLACES. 345 name Francis, given in Mourt's Relation, is due to a slip of the pen or an error of the copyist. One can hardly won der too much that, beyond a few streets, the public places of Plymouth so rarely bear the names interwoven with her early history, and that the few exceptions commemorate Allerton the treacherous, Sherley the defrauder, and Billington the malefactor. CHAPTER XXXVIII. AUerton's Finale. — Trade at the Bay. — Massachusetts Encroachments. — Roger WilUams. — Peirce brings Mrs. Winthrop in the "Lion." BY 1 63 1 AUerton's false-deaUng had become so conspicu ous that his further employment was out of the question. In the spring of that year he so far neglected the duty for which he was paid, that he altogether omitted to send over the annual stock of trading-goods, though the resulting disas ter was averted by Winslow, who had gone to England to investigate. The wearisome detail of AUerton's wrongdoing may be found in Bradford's History. Suffice it to say that he was now dismissed in disgrace. His five voyages to Eng land had involved his associates in no small loss; but his course had been approved and abetted by Sherley. Yet now that Allerton lost credit, Sherley began to cry out against him, and rejoice that his career had been stopped. But Hatherly, one of Sherley's partners, retained confidence in Allerton, and proved it by signing a bond of indemnity to the Plymouth partners, which brought him much loss. It is uncertain when Allerton left Plymouth. His domicile was probably there till 1634; though from 1632-3 he was busy, at the site of the present Machias, waging a wild but damaging competition against that Penobscot trade into which he had forced his Plymouth brethren. In 1633 his (third) wife. Fear Brewster, died at Plymouth. The next year he was taxed there for the last time ; but it may have been from a reluctance to part with a name once so honored that it con tinued to be recorded on the list of freemen until 1637. In 1631-59] ALLERTON'S LAST YEARS. — BAY POACHING. 347 1644, Elder Brewster was still supporting his grandson, Isaac Allerton, Jr., who graduated from Harvard College, 1650. AUerton's Machias post was pUlaged by the French in 1633, to his great loss ; his pinnace was wrecked next year ; and a year later another of his pinnaces was lost in the terrible tragedy which gave name to Thacher's Island. The same year (1635) his great fishing-station at Marblehead was burned, and he was warned to remove from the town. In 1636 he was partially wrecked. In 1637 he was in London, showing the malice which persons so often exhibit toward those whom they have wronged, and endeavoring to harm both Plymouth and the Bay.^ A few years later he was trading at Man hattan. In 1644, with his fourth wife (Joanna ), he was cast away in a snow-storm at Scituate, but with no loss of life. Finally settling at New Haven, where his " house with four porches " is still notable, he continued to traffic by water between that place and Manhattan, with his son Isaac as a partner, till his death in 1659. His tomb is to be seen in the public square at New Haven. But the wrong-doer's Nemesis followed him to his grave ; and he, who in early Plymouth had stood second only to Bradford, and had been the wealthi est of the Colonists and their trusted representative abroad, died insolvent in reputation and estate. When in 163 1 the great sickness ended at the Bay, trade became brisk. Nearly everything was in demand, and prices were so high that flour was about seventeen shillings a bushel, and peas fourteen shillings. Everything that Plymouth had to sell was readily taken, especially in exchange for horses and neat cattle. But the energy of Massachusetts Bay was not restrained by courtesy, gratitude, or legal rights. A pin nace, blown by a storm into Plymouth Harbor, was found to have been sent by the Boston authorities on a surreptitious trading trip within Plymouth's boundaries, as had been done before. Bradford sent her home, and notified the Massachu setts Government that such depredations on Plymouth must 1 Winslow, who was also in London, wrote to Winthrop, Sen.: Allerton " loveth neither you nor us." 348 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1631. stop, or they would be resisted " even to the spending of our lives." Winthrop replied, and Bradford rejoined vigorously; but the letters are lost. Suflfice it to say, that illicit traffic ended. In the early autumn the Plymouth pulpit made a notable acquisition. Roger WUliams,^ soon after landing (February, 1I630-1), was unanimously invited by the Boston Church to fill their pulpit during the absence of Pastor Wilson in Eng land. WiUiams demanded as a condition that the members express their repentance for having ever communed or even worshipped with the Church of England, and, further, that they prohibit their members from thereafter attending such worship during occasional visits to England, even if no other services might be available. The Boston Church very prop erly refusing to do this, Williams rejected their call and went to Salem. It is a surprising fact that any person should have left the Boston of 163 1 because he found there a religious liberality which amounted to a sin; but the surprise is in creased many fold when the person so departing is found to have been Roger WiUiams. Salem was ready to receive the young preacher as an as sistant pastor ; but he had begun to contest the validity of the King's charter in a way which, if permitted, would much imperil the existence of the government. The magistrates of the Colony therefore requested the Salem Church to with hold action until their new teacher's views should be more clearly understood. Williams cut short the controversy by leaving Massachusetts and going to Plymouth. He was there placed in the Pilgrim pulpit as the colleague of Smith, in contrast with whom, his freshness and vigor proved highly acceptable. With all honor to the Roger Williams of after years, the plain fact must be stated that he left Boston in 163 1 because the theological hardness there was too liberal 1 WiUiams was born in Wales, 1599-1603 (?). In 1621 Sir Edward Coke procured him a scholarship in Sutton Hospital (now Charter House). He entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1625, obtaining an " A. B." in 1627. (See Chap. XLII.) 1631.] GRAND RECEPTION OF MRS. WINTHROP. 349 for him. Plymouth had no charter to be assailed or lost, and she was sufficiently liberal to tolerate illiberality. In November (1631) the indomitable Peirce brought the " Lion " again to Boston. Among his passengers was John Eliot, who, though yet to win a deathless fame, was little noticed in the public enthusiasm which welcomed Governor Winthrop's wife and family. The Bay people had ever a high respect for oflficial dignity, though their favor was often fickle; whUe, on the other hand, their Plymouth neighbors were very constant, but not enthusiastic. It was now thought a delicate compliment to receive the lady with a turn-out of the whole militia. The second day after, the substantials and luxuries of the Colony came pouring in to the Governor's great " framed house ; " and there was such universal feasting in honor of the arrival that the grateful Winthrop declared it a great marvel that so much people and food could be got together in Boston at such short notice. Some two weeks later Governor Bradford came up from Plymouth and paid his respects to Mrs. Winthrop. Of course due honor awaited him at Boston's executive mansion ; but he preferred to slip down the harbor and spend the night on board the " Lion " with his old friend Captain Peirce. Bradford was impatient of ceremony or parade ; and it may well be supposed that the aristocratic formalists at the Bay were far less congenial to him than the intelligent veteran of the " Lion." ^tfOAC-WijF CHAPTER XXXIX. SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER'S ESCAPADES. IN 1630 came to Boston Sir Christopher Gardiner, " Knight of the Sepulchre," who expressed a desire to forsake the world and pursue " a godly course," even to supporting himself by humble pursuits; and who sought admission to the church. Finally, at Neponset River, seven miles out from Boston, he began housekeeping with two servants and " a comely young woman whom he called his cousin." The next winter Captain Peirce, returning to Boston with the " Lion," said that in London he had visited two ladies who had each been married and deserted by Gardiner, and who now, " condoling each other's estate," were living together. They had both written to Winthrop. The first wife only asked the truant's safe return to his duty; while the other, whom he had robbed of costly jewels, plate, and linen, mildly desired his " destruction for his foul abuse." One of the in jured ladies, expressing her opinion of the knight's " cousin " with extreme plainness, desired her return to England along with Sir Christopher. It was resolved to ship the couple back to London, and a force was sent to bring them to Boston. The knight was wary, and fled, fully armed, to the woods. His housekeeper was taken to Boston. But Dudley declared her to be " impenitent and close ; " she would only admit that her name was Mary Grove, that Sir Christopher and she had untU recently been Catholics, but were now Protestants, and that the. knight had formerly a wife in Europe, but she was dead. Grim Dudley 1631.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER'S CAPTURE. 35 1 dismissed the case with the remark : " So we have taken order to send her to the two wives in Old England, and let thera search her further ! " Still, he calls her " a gentlewoman." Soon after, the Indians told Bradford that Gardiner was lurking about Namasket (Middleborough), and naively asked leave to kill him. Bradford, sternly forbidding their harming the man, hired them to bring him in. The savages had a fear of the knight's weapons; but by the upsetting of his canoe as he was escaping from them across Namasket River, he lost his gun and rapier. Scrambling ashore, he stood at bay with his dagger ; but the natives, beating this from his hands with long poles, captured him. Gardiner, when the Indians led him into Plymouth like some wild beast, was found with his arms very sore and much swelled, from the blows given to disarm him. Bradford, cen suring the Indians for the violence they had used, treated the knight with much hospitality, and provided him with such surgical treatment as quickly healed his injuries. At length Captain Underbill came from Boston and took Gardiner back as a prisoner. Bradford kindly besought Winthrop's leniency for the knight, and was assured that whUe " no hard measure " had been intended, " he shall speed the better for your media tion." With a thoughtfulness not always or often shown in the future, Massachusetts insisted on paying Plymouth for all her cost and trouble. The errant pair were not sent to England, though until re cent researches ^ the contrary has always been stated. They remained several months at Boston, where the knight was rather an honored guest than a prisoner. In August,' 163 1, Thomas Purchase of Maine visited Boston. In 1628 he had settled where is now Brunswick ; and in 1654, being the leader of that region (Merrymeeting Bay), he was placed over it as magistrate, by Plymouth, whom the English Government had ordered to extend its authority there. Purchase married Mary Grove on this Boston visit, and not only took her to his I By Charles Francis Adams, Jr., whose article in " Harper's Monthly," March, 1883, made known the connection of Purchase with the case. 352 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1631. Maine home, but also for the next year had Sir Christopher as a guest. This implies that the scandal in the case had come to be disbelieved, or that Mr. Purchase was practical rather than sentimental. Madam Purchase, who seems to have made a good wife, died at Boston in 1656-7, and the Worshipful Thomas, re-marrying, survived to the age of a hundred and one. Gardiner professed many thanks for Boston's " great courtesy" to him; but late in 1632, on reaching London, he actively co-operated with Morton, Ratliffe, Mason, Gorges, and other malignant enemies of Massachusetts Colony. In deed, he and Morton were at the Bay as agents and spies for Gorges, who was hoping to deprive the Bostonians of the north side of their harbor and bay. It was sought to silence Gardiner by proceedings for bigamy ; but the failure to make out a case against him mystifies the story told to Peirce, and makes the knight's whole record a puzzle. He no more ap pears in history, unless in 1656 he was Charles II.'s London spy, described as " Christopher Gardiner, an American." CHAPTER XL. The Bay Dictatorial. — Bradford's Satirical Letter. — The Narragansets Conspiring. LATE in 1630, Edward Winslow, on his way to England, took ship at Boston. That town, though but a few months old and filled with sickness and privation, exhibited distinctions in society, closely observed, which were not dreamed of in Plymouth. Winslow seems to have been the especial " gentleman " of the plebeian plantation, and to have taken kindly to the higher social influences which surrounded him at the Bay and in England, though to Plymouth his heart was ever as the needle to the pole. Out of complaisance to his Boston hosts, he must have given an ill-considered and unauthorized assent to their wish for the exclusion from New Plymouth of all Massachusetts Bay people whose removal had not been sanctioned by their rulers. Plymouth had been ready to make common cause against culprits like Morton and the " Knight of the Sepulchre ; " but she had words of welcome for all law-abiding men, regardless of sect, who came to her in search of a home. Her surprise must have been great when, in 1631, she received something like a rebuke from the Bay because, in disregard of that un known concession of Winslow's, she was harboring John Phil lips, John Pickworth, Richard Church, and others who had left the Bay without passports. This letter is not preserved ; but it probably had a flavor of the superiority naturally felt by the aristocratic administrators of the King's charter over the obscure democracy existing only by its own consent. 23 354 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1631. Certainly, Bradford gave the document a quarantine of more than six months, and then made this happy answer : — To our worshipful good friends, Mr. Winthrop, Governor of Massa chusetts, and the rest of the Council there : Gentlemen, and Worthily Beloved Friends : — We have now at length retumed an answer to your letter dated the 26th of July. (The reason we have so long deferred the same, is because we have had no court tiU the last month, being January.) The sum whereof is this : that we are wiUing to correspond with you in this or any other neigh borly course, so far as may no way be prejudicial to any, or swerve from the rules of equity. How far Mr. Winslow expressed that agree ment you intimate, we know not (seeing he is absent) ; but our mean ing and former practice was and hath been, the questioning of only such as come to dweU and inhabit, whether as servants or freemen ; and not of sojourners which come but for a season, with a purpose to return. Yet if any abuse should grow hereby, we shaU agree to any good order for the preventing or reducing the same, provided the way be left open for poor men to reUeve their wants, and for mutual help to both plantations. We have therefore given warning in open court to aU our people not to receive any as servants or others dweUers with them, but to acquaint us first therewith, that we inquire of their cer tificates or dismissions. But we have set no penalty on it as yet, because we hope there shaU be no need. If there be, we have Uberty to punish such things at our discretions. If that wiU not serve, when we understand what penalty you appoint in the case, we shaU do the like, or that which shaU be equivalent unto it. As for the instances you give : We find that John PhiUips, when he came, was sick, and if he had not been received by some to house, he had been in danger to have perished. He aUeged that he was sent by his master to seek a service ; yet as a servant he was not entertained by any, tiU his master came and sold his time, not to him that gave him houseroom, but to him that would give most ; so he hath no cause to complain. For John Pickworth, he came but as a sojoumer to work for a few weeks, in which time he got a wife, and so is long since retumed double, and hath no cause to complain, — except he hath got a bad wife. -^ 1631.] BRADFORD'S REPLY TO WINTHROP. 355 Richard Church came Ukewise as a sojourner to work for the present, though he is stUl here resident longer than he purposed ; and what he wiU do, neither we, nor I think himself knows ; but if he resolve to setde here, we shaU require of him to procure a dismission. But he did afiirm to us at the first that he was one of Mr. Webb's men, and freed to go to England, or whither he would, — the which we rather beheved, because he came to us from Wessagusset upon the faUing out with his partner.-' For others intimated, we know none (though we have inquired) ; but they had a dismission either to come hither or go for England. Now, there are divers gone from hence to dweU and inhabit with you, as Clement Briggs, John HiU, John Eddy, Daniel Ray, etc., the which if either they or you desire their dismissions, we shaU be ready to give them, hoping you wiU do the Uke m hke cases, — though we have heard something otherwise. Thus with our prayers to the Lord for your prosperity as our own, and our hearty salutations unto all, we rest Your assured loving friends, PUm : Feb. 6, 1631.^ William Bradford, Goue'r, John Alden, Tho. Prence, Myles Standish, Samuel ffuller. 1 John Phillips, in 1639, bought Robert Mendall's house and land at Duxbury for £(> in hand, " and xviij-teene pounds " on credit ; at Duxbury, in 1658, he was killed by lightning, — the first case in the Colony; in 1666 Grace, wife of his son John, was killed in like manner at or near the same place ; as at the same time were Jeremiah Phillips, a lad, and William ShurtlefE. (The Shurtleff descent from this pioneer, is : ist generation, William ; 2d, Abiel ; 3d, Benjamin ; 4th, Ben jamin; 5th, Benjamin (M. D.) ; 6th, Nathaniel B. (M. D.), a zealous antiquary, and mayor of Boston, who died 1874, cet. 64.) John Pickworth had a land-grant at Salem in 1637 ; his wife, Ann, joined the church there in 1638, — indicating that he still had "no cause to complain" of his Plymouth visit. Church soon after married EHzabeth Warren, daughter of the late Richard ; he was a carpenter, and one of the designers and builders of the first regular church edifice at Plymouth ; in 1642 the Court employed him to make a gun- carriage for the fort ; his son was the famous warrior of Philip's War. William Webb was early a ship-builder at Weymouth ; Clement Briggs was at Weymouth in 1633 ; Ray, a Plymouth house-owner in 1630, probably went to Salem ; Eddy has been mentioned on page 540. ^ Feb. 26, 1632, N. s. 3S6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1632. The gentry at Boston can hardly have enjoyed the tone of equality assumed by these self-governing yeomen and arti sans ; and some of them were not so prosaic as to be unable to see that this reply made up a lack of deference by a sur plus of satire. The six months' delay was significant too ; for all the people of the Colony still dwelt in the town of Ply mouth, and a " court " or town-meeting could always be called at a day's notice. They could not except to such an excuse, but they were well aware that it was a bit of diplo matic trifling. Much the same was it with the ready acqui escence in their wishes so far as might conform to " equity " and " not be prejudicial to any," — a qualification which wholly reversed the professed consent. Then, again, the quiet hint that the truth as to Winslow's thoughtless agreement with them could only be ascertained from him, was no flattering tribute to Puritan veracity. Nor was there much satisfac tion in the court-order with no penalty for its violation, or the conclusion to do nothing untU the Bay had adopted and put in operation the policy of reciprocity. The Phillips case was deftly used to put the complainers in the wrong, and that of Pickworth was turned into a neat joke at the expense of their solemn worships ; that of Church, of whose plans neither his hosts nor himself could tell anything, was a decidedly cavalier dismissal of his matter. The satire was pretty evi dent in the offer to those who had gone from Plymouth to the Bay of all the dismissions they or any one else might desire, and in the suggestion that the Bay might follow the same course to advantage, though there was some sort of rumor that her policy was entirely on one side, — taking, but not giving. Bradford seems to have carefully used this op portunity, with forms of courtesy, to remind the magnates at the Bay that the rulers of the Old Colony were their peers, and that future negotiations must be on the basis of equal rights and courtesies. In 1632, the Narraganset and other Indians were still con spiring, as Winthrop has it, " to cut us ofif to get our victuals and other substance." As in the last year, they alleged no 1632.] INDIAN FORAYS. 357 grievances, but were merely longing for rapine and plunder. The Maine Indians had already killed Henry Way of Dor chester, with his four comrades, and plundered their shaUop. Near by, at Richmond's Island, Walter Bagnall and another trader were killed (but not without blame on his part), and after the house had been robbed of ;^400 worth of goods, it was burned with their bodies in it. In April the Narra gansets made war on Massasoit; and chasing him into the Plymouth trading-post at Sowams, besieged him there. The garrison consisted of only four whites ; but one of these was Myles Standish. He at once sent an Indian runner to Bos ton for gunpowder; and Winthrop forwarded twenty-seven pounds, — all the man could carry. Four days later the Narragansets, learning that the Pequods had invaded their country, all returned home, taking with them as allies the Massachusetts tribe from Medford, and the Neponsets, each mustering only some thirty warriors. No serious fighting resulted ; and a few weeks later Standish notified Winthrop that the two great nations had become suspiciously friendly. Yet Massasoit and Plymouth were no more molested. Soon afterward there was a sad exhibition of party spirit at Boston ; for Deputy-Governor Dudley made it a grave charge that his rival, Winthrop, had disposed of twenty-seven pounds of gunpowder to another Colony, — and the point was especially mean from the fact that the gunpowder was Winthrop's private property.^ ^ In 1644 Plymouth desired to buy powder of Massachusetts; the deputies were willing to accommodate her with two barrels, but the Council non-concurred. Soon after, Aquiday made a like request, but both houses refused her. The. same year Virginia was also denied a supply. The generous Winthrop seemsi to have disapproved of this churlishness ; and when, a few months later, the mag azine (at Roxbury) exploded, and the Colony's whole stock of powder vanished in a cloud of smoke, he viewed it as a divine retribution. CHAPTER XLI. Winthrop's Visit to Plymouth. — His Return. — Duxbury. — Scituate The Old Colony's Divisions. — Loss of the " Lion." ON Thursday, Nov. 4, 1632 (n. S.), as the " Lion " lay at Boston, she was visited by Governor Winthrop, Pastor Wilson, and Captains Patrick and Underbill, with probably some attendants. Master Peirce took them in the " Lion's " shallop to the old Weymouth plantation, — Standish's early fighting ground, — where they passed the night and were feasted on game by the hospitable planters. Friday morning Peirce returned to his ship, while Winthrop and his comrades proceeded on foot to Plymouth, twenty-five miles away, by that Indian path along which, nine years before, Phineas Pratt had fled for his life.^ It was evening when they were met outside the Pilgrim town by Governor Bradford, Elder Brew ster, and others, who escorted them to Bradford's house, where a bountiful hospitality awaited them. During their stay Win throp says that they were " feasted every day at several houses." Sunday forenoon came the Lord's Supper. In the after noon the guests had the doubtful pleasure of hearing Roger Williams preach, he having left the Bay a year before in a controversy with them. In technical phrase, Williams " pro pounded a question," which Pastor Smith briefly expounded ; and then WiUiams "prophecied" {i.e. preached).^ Next 1 B. M. Watson and W. T. Davis, of Plymouth, have recently traced some miles ot this path. 2 " Prophesying " was a less formal sort of preaching, based on i Cor. xiv. 31. One reason for it and the succeeding discussion, was the scarcity of religious books ; it gave the congregation the result of study and reflection by some of 1632.] SUNDAY SERVICE AT PLYMOUTH. 359 Bradford gave his views, followed by Elder Brewster and some others. Winthrop then spoke by invitation ofthe elder ; followed by Pastor Wilson, who was called upon, not as a clergyman, but merely as a visiting brother. Finally, Deacon Fuller reminded the people of the duty of giving ; upon which Bradford went down to the deacon's seat and deposited his gift in the box, the others following. Of course the Geneva Bible was read, with a running com ment; and there must have been the singing of some of Ains- worth's very literal psalms, the tune printed under each, being in only one part, and the congregation singing in unison (by far the best mode of " congregational " singing, and that in principal use in Germany and England). But the lines were not " deaconed ; " that practice not being brought from Eng land until about 168 1, when it was adopted for the benefit of some who could not read.^ their ablest men, and met the need of those not uncommon people who with strong minds and the spirit of inquiry could not read. In Amsterdam, the order of the Separatist service had been as follows : Prayer ; Scripture with comment ; Singing a psalm ; Sermon by the pastor, or by a teacher ; Singing another psalm ; Sacraments on proper Sundays ; A Col lection for the poor ; The Benediction. 1 " Deaconing " or " lining-out " the hymn or psalm, was established in Eng land by ParUament, 1644. The practice continued in New England for about a century. Ainsworth's Psalms were used until 1692, when Pastor Cotton, of Plymouth, declaring some of the tunes too difficult for the people at large, ob tained leave in such cases to substitute the New England Psalm-book. The result was the early disuse of Ainsworth. Before " deaconing " came, there was no preliminary reading of the psalm. The book was sung through in course during many successive weeks, and then begun again. Reading Scripture with out comment was condemned as " dumb reading," savoring of a liturgy. The first New England edition of Watts' " Psalms and Hymns " was printed 1741 ; William Billings' "New England Psalm Singer," the first music-book composed here, appeared 1770. (Billings also published later " The Singing Master's Assistant," "The Psalm Singer's Amusement, 1781," "The Suffolk Harmony," and other matters. These were all printed from engraved copper plates). In 1778 the "Worcester Collection" was printed at Worcester by Isaiah Thomas. In 1796, at Barnstable, "Belknap's Collection" supplanted Tate and Brady. The introduction of "part-singing" was much (ani properly, as far as the congregation were concerned) opposed. (The tendency of the two preachers. Smith and Williams, to make much of trifles, had led them into an excitement against the practice of applying the title " Goodman " to those next below the rank of " Master," for they held it sinful to call any man good. Receiving small sympathy at Plymouth, they now laid the 360 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1632. The next Wednesday (November lOth) their visitors were on foot long before the tardy sunrise. Bradford, Brewster, Smith, and others went with them in the dark for half a mile. Lieu tenant Holmes and two others, taking Governor Bradford's mare, attended them to the great Pembroke swamp, midway of the journey. The travellers were carried over North River on the back of Ludham, their guide, — a Weymouth man, for whom Winthrop called the place Ludham's Ford.^ Soon after they reached a brook-crossing, which, from one Hughes, was named " Hue's Cross." Winthrop says that this title displeased him ; and fearing that it would give the Romanists a chance to claim that their people were first there, he changed the name to " Hue's Folly." It is a curious fact that bigotry could prevent such a high-toned gentleman from seeing the great impropriety of this act. He would have shrunk from the idea of discourtesy to his recent hosts ; but his heat against a mere word led him without scruple into the high handed act of altering the geographical names established in their Colony. His action was ignored; and long after his death the Plymouth records were still mentioning " Hue's Cross." 2 That evening the travellers revisited their Wey- matter before Winthrop. He said that in the English courts the crier always called on all " Good men and true," but it was a mere custom ; nobody was mis led by the expression ; all knew it had no reference to moral goodness. It would be a pity to disturb so harmless a practice when so ancient; and it was the same when a person was called " goodman." Strange to say, this bit of common- sense satisfied these hypercritics.) ^ In 1638 there was a horse-boat ferry at this point, but it was a losing ven ture. In 1656 Ralph Chapman represented to the Court that his obligation to run the North River Ferry would " bring him to extreme poverty and misery." The Court released him, if he would bring over the Scituate magistrates at court- time. ^ In 1634 Endicott, instigated by Williams it was said, while parading his com pany called forward the " ancient-bearer," and with his sword cut the flag so that it no longer showed a cross. The national flag of England then was white, with one broad red stripe bisecting it horizontally, and another perpendicularly, thus forming a St. George's cross. After the accession of James I., English ships StiU carried this at the stern ; but both Scotch and English bore at the mainmast head the Union Jack. Land forces carried the old flag until after the Scotch union. Endicott probably slit out the outer end of the horizontal bar. He was nominally punished for appearance' sake, but his treasonable act was really approved ; for when, three years later, Vane, as a matter of policy, wished to display the ensign on their fort as some ships went out, none could be 1632.] WRECK OF THE "LION." 36 1 mouth friends ; and once more in their honor, the air, water, and forest contributed a right-royal feast. The next day, after just a week's absence, they reached home. When Peirce had parted from Winthrop on the outward trip, he at once sailed for England by way of Virginia. Eight days later, by the neglect of a mate to make soundings as ordered, the " Lion " was wrecked on a shoal at Peak's (Fetche's) Island, thirty miles north of the Chesapeake. Five of her ten passengers and seven of her twenty-eight sea men were drowned. Peirce was nearly bankrupted, and Plymouth lost ;f8oo in furs. The latter blow was especially severe, from its coincidence with the Castine robbery and the frauds by Allerton and Sherley. Yet, in 1632, the local affairs of the Old Colony had so prospered, that in the autumn the people rejoiced in " an especial manner; " that is, by holding a thanksgiving festival.^ But the people of the Bay Colony complained much of cold and wet, with short crops and " a plague of mosquitoes and rattlesnakes." The increase of draught and other animals led some of the Plymouth people to seek room on the northerly side of the harbor. Work had begun there by 1628 ; and now, in 1632, these planters asked incorporation as a town. The division of the Pilgrim Church, strange to say, had not been expected, and the plan met with great disfavor. The land had originally been granted on condition that the planters come to church at Plymouth and live in that town winters ; and this had been regarded as a permanent rule. But the petitioners could not be slighted ; for among them were Myles Standish and John Alden, with Love Brewster, Eaton, Soule, and Sampson, ofthe " Mayflower; " Jonathan Brewster, Bas- found at Boston, and he had to borrow from a ship-captain. In 1652, although in the time of the Commonwealth, the cross was restored to the flags at the Bay, General Cudworth records that Plymouth censured Endicott's fanaticism. In 1635 Winthrop gave way to the superstition against the names of the days and months, and from that time forth he wrote " ye 20. of ye 3. month," for May 20th ; " ye third day," for Tuesday, etc. 1 Winslow to Winthrop. 362 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1632-6. sett, Simonson, Delanoy, and Bompasse, of the " Fortune ; " and Mitchell, Freeman, Collier, and other strong men of later date. So in 1632 a reluctant assent was given for a separate church ; and the new settlement took the name of Duxbury,^ from one of the seats of the Standish family. The next year care was taken to enact that Plymouth should always be the capital of the Colony, and the Governor's dwelling-place. Bradford voiced a widespread feeling when he expressed a fear that this dispersion presaged the ruin of the Colony, " at least of y' churches of God ther, and will provock y° Lord's displeasure against them." In 1636, in an efifort to reunite the people, a joint-commit tee of nine advised that Plymouth and Duxbury villages be consolidated at Jones River (Kingston), and that a stone church be built there in token of stability. (Two of the members favored Morton's Hole, even nearer Duxbury.) The project was argued before a meeting of the citizens, who then referred it with power to the two churches, where it fin ally died. Owing to this suspense, Duxbury was not incor porated, nor a pastor elected, untU 1637. It seems at the first to have been under the able lay ministration of Elder Brew ster, who soon established a home in Duxbury ; but now the church settled Ralph Partridge, a learned Cambridge scholar whom Laud had ejected from his English pulpit and " hunted like a partridge over the mountains."'^ During the delay Scituate had been incorporated (1636); therefore Duxbury dated as the third town in the Colony. It became prosperous, and attracted a fine class of inhabitants through its superior fertility to Plymouth.^ 1 See Supplementary Chapter, " Variations of Spelling." 2 Mather's " Magnalia " gives him a punning notice, a part of which is as follows : " Mr. Partridge was, notwithstanding the paucity and poverty of his congregation, so afraid of being anything that looked like a bird wandering from his nest, that he remained with his poor people tUl he took wing to become a bird of Paradise, along with the winged seraphim of heaven." Partridge lived to an advanced age, dying in 1658. ^ 1638, Jones River Bridge was made passable for carts. Francis Sprague was licensed as an inn-holder in Duxbury. He continued to be so until 1666, though often before the Court. He killed Hatherly's mare, beat Bassett's ser- "T 'J I I I I I I I I I I r I wood's map of new ENGLAND IN 1 634. 1632-40.] NEW OFFSHOOT TOWNS. 363 To prevent further scattering, several grants of farm-lands had been made (1632-3) at Cut River, which from its ver dant shores became Green River, soon perverted to Greene's River.^ It was thought no one would desire to live so far from Plymouth, and that even the employes would remain there only in the busy season of agriculture. But this plan led to another grievous dispersion under no less a leader than Edward Winslow. A new church was necessarily con ceded; and in 1640 the place became a town called Rex- ham, soon re-named Marshfield. Yet as Taunton, Sandwich, Barnstable, and Yarmouth — all of more recent origin — had been legalized in 1639, Rexham became the eighth town in order. Scituate,^ begun about 1628 by " men of Kent," did not at first draw from Plymouth ; Barnstable had been settled from Scituate ; the overflow from Lynn had resulted in Sand wich and Yarmouth ; and Taunton was peopled by immigrants who had come, to it overland through Boston. Therefore these towns, unlike Duxbury and Rexham, were regarded as unmixed blessings, and were incorporated very promptly. vant, drank " overmuch," sold liquor Ulegally, etc. He was succeeded by his son, who was like him. Francis' daughter Mercy became wife of William Tubbs, and by eloping secured him a happy divorce. In 1637, orchards were plenty at Duxbury. The town charter granted that year bore the great seal of the Colony, and provided that 1-20 of the gold and silver ore found there should belong to " our sovereign lord the king." 1 Bradford calls it " Greens Harbor." 2 An Indian name, originally Satuit. Bradford makes it " Sityate." CHAPTER XLII. Roger Williams. — The Connecticut River Trading-Post. — Indian Pestilence. IN 1633 there was much regret in Plymouth at the abrupt return of Roger WiUiams to Salem.^ He had been in some controversy over certain " strange opinions " which he " this year began to fall into ; " but he was highly esteemed nevertheless. His teaching, Bradford says, was "well ap proved, for the benefit whereof I still bless God; and am thankful to him even for his sharpest admonitions and re proofs, so far as they agreed with the truth." He calls him a man of " many precious parts, but very unsettled in judg ment." Governor Winslow and Dr. Fuller seem to have been especially friendly with Williams, and some of his flock went with him to Salem. On reaching the Bay he soon began that series of contro versies with the Government which, two years later, led to his famous banishment. He disputed the King's right to grant the Colony's charter ; he abetted the mutilation of the King's colors on parade, because of the cross on them; he de nounced as a sin even a casual attendance on the Church of England's service, — the service established by the law of England, and regularly joined in by King, Council, and Par liament;^ he declared it blasphemy to administer to "un regenerate " persons the oath of allegiance, of office, or of 1 See page 348. ^ Being unanimously chosen teacher at Boston, before your dear father came, divers years, I conscientiously refused, and I withdrew to Plymouth be cause I durst not officiate to an unseparating people. — Williams to John Cotton, Jr. I634-] ROGER WILLIAMS' RIGIDITY AT THE BAY. 365 testimony, though such oaths were required by law, and the " unregenerate " were the great majority of the people. When the General Court suspended for three months a mo tion to give Salem a certain piece of public land, he caUed on the churches to which the offending representatives belonged to discipline them for this vote, — a discipline which might go to the extent of political disfranchisement. On the faUure of the churches to concur in his views, he renounced fellow ship with them ; and finally, his own church halting at that measure, he repudiated it also, and formed in his own house, a new and " delightful " (to him) society made-up of a hand ful of flinty adherents. Then, his wife still attending her former church, he classed her among the unregenerate, and excluded her from his family-prayers.-' The English Government was already unfriendly to the Bay Colony, and adversaries like Gorges, Mason, Gardiner, and Morton zealously promoted this ill-will by distorting every unusual event. WiUiams' violent assault on the King's char ter, flag, form of worship, and oaths of allegiance and fidelity, could be twisted by the willing English courts into treason. The Colonial Government must effectually stop such teachings in its pulpits, or suffer the consequences at the hands of the hostile Home Government. Williams had not become a citizen at the Bay, and the question was whether a sojourner should be allowed to embroil their Colony with Government. Then, too, the preacher's course on local matters was " subversive of public order." It was therefore sensibly decided, after a long trial in public, that he be returned to England. He was not to be sent as a prisoner, but merely as a passenger. That he should go to the wilderness and spend the winter with the savages, or sufifer any other physical hardship or risk, was no part of his sentence. That was something of his own choice, — a noble choice, it must be admitted. 1 Williams insisted that the civil law had no right to notice " breaches of the first table ; " this includes paganism, idolatry, blasphemy, desecration of the Lord's day, and fihal rebellion. He was equally zealous in preaching that women had no right to attend church without veils over their faces. 366 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1634. With various whimsical and bigoted views, Roger Williams manifested some liberal sentiments in advance of his age, but they were not then so prominent as to be made an accu sation. Nor was he charged by the authorities at the Bay with unsoundness of faith, undue liberality, or heretical views as to baptism or the communion.' Least of all is there any foundation for the general idea that he was banished because he was a Baptist. In fact, he did not become a Baptist until he had been three years at Providence, and in the course of the next four months seceded from that denomination; for the rest of his life he was unconnected with any church, and held the baptism of the Baptists, as well as that of all other sects, to be invalid.^ It was not his theology or his liberality that caused his banishment. His doctrine of " soul liberty," 1 Many judicious persons judged him to have had the root of the matter in him. — Mather's " Magnalia," on Williams. 2 Richard Scott, a Baptist pioneer of Providence, says of Roger WiUiams : " I walked with him in the Baptist way about three or four months, when he broke from the society and declared at length the grounds and reason for it, — that their baptism could not be right, because it was not administered by an apostle." WiUiams held that authority to baptize was personally to the apostles, and was not transmissible ; hence there could be no valid baptism until an agent should be directly commissioned by Jesus Christ. Immersion was adopted by the Baptists of England in 1642. There is no evidence of its reception by the brethren here until some years later. Mrs. Scott is said to have brought Williams into his brief connection (1639) with the Baptists. She was sister to the noted Ann Hutchinson, and had shared her exile the year next before. None of the charges against Mrs. Hutchinson, nor against Mr. Williams, had hinted at any nonconformity to the practice of sprink ling, practised in all the churches at the Bay ; nor is there anything to show that any of these people carried any hostility to it from Boston to Rhode Island. WiUiams had always practised sprinkling in his ministry at the Bay, and there seems no reason to doubt that this form was used when he was rebaptized as a Baptist. In 1649 Williams writes to Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, his famUiar correspondent and physician, that several at Rehoboth had accepted dipping as baptism ; he adds that he thinks the form right, but doubts the authority of any one to administer it. This suggests the thought that the form had not been so long in use thereabouts as not to be still noteworthy from its rarity ; and also that the writer's views upon it were not of such long standing as to be under stood without distinct assertion. — 4 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vi. 274. Was Williams satirical on his former associates, or on his dignified corre spondent, when, in 1669, he wrote to Governor Winthrop (of Connecticut), that Gregory Dexter, a printer at Providence, was " conscionable, though a Baptist " ? — 5 Mass. Hist. Soc- Coll., i. 414. I63S-6.] WILLIAMS' REMOVAL TO PROVIDENCE. 367 which has made his name so iUustrious, seems to have chiefly developed itself after his departure from Salem. Certainly, in the latter place he showed small inclination to tolerate dififer- ences of opinion, especially from his own.^ Williams, having secretly fled from the Bay, spent the win ter of 1635-6 (n. s.) with the Indians; the next spring, with five Salem friends, he began a settlement on the Seekonk shore of Blackstone River. Williams thought this outside the other Colonies until, as he says, " I received a letter from my ancient friend Mr. Winslow, the governor of Plymouth, professing his own and others' respect for me, yet lovingly advising me, as I was fallen into the edge of their bounds, and they were loth to displease the Bay, to remove but to the other side of the water, and then, he said, I had the country before me, and might be as free as themselves, and we should be loving neighbors together." Williams, with his five comrades, willingly crossed to the opposite bank of the river, and there began a village which he piously named Providence. As people thronged in, he proclaimed thorough freedom of conscience, even for Jew, Turk, or Hindoo, so long as no one molested another. Winslow early made his way to Williams' new home, and that brave pioneer being absent, the Governor left with Mrs. Williams a piece of gold for their relief. Some years later, 1 I find no proof that Mr. Williams, at the time of his residence [in Massa chusetts], had advanced to the full doctrine of liberty of conscience which he afterward avowed, and subsequently modified. — "As to Roger Williams," by Rev. Dr. Dexter. rt was not religious persecution, in any strict sense, that drove this man from the Bay. He was sent away as a disturber of the civil peace. If he had some ideas in religious matters which were in advance of. his times, it was not for those ideas that he was banished. — Rev. I. N. Tarbox, D. D., N. E. Gen. Reg., xxx. 480. Dr. Palfrey says of Williams' first term at Salem : " He had made the most of his short time in becoming obnoxious to the Government." — Hist. N. E., i. 406. John Quincy Adams, the ex-President, terms Roger WUliams " a conscien tiously contentious Christian." Williams' last words were : " I have been all wrong," or, " We have been all wrong." His nurse, Mrs. Angeli, could not tell to what hewas alluding. Angeli was Williams' hired man at Salem, who accompanied him in his exile. 368 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1635-6. Massasoit made a sort of claim that Providence was within Pokanoket. If so, it would be subject to the Plymouth Gov ernment; but whUe the claim was pending, WUliams says " the prudent and godly Governor, Mr. Bradford, and others of his godly Council," assured him that if he should be found to be under them, the liberty of conscience in his community should be subjected to no interference. Many years afterward Williams asked leave to come in and publicly dispute with the theologians of New Plymouth ; and after making a reference to his services to the United Colonies,^ mentioned a rumor that Governor Prence, of Plymouth, and other zealots, thought of suppressing Rhode Island's toleration. Prence replied that Williams' services should not be forgotten, and the story of intended interfer ence with his toleration was " foul and false," — strong words, which honor the writer. The proffered disputation was de clined, but in terms which reveal a remarkable and generally unsuspected freedom of debate on religious matters in the Old Colony ; for the Governor adds : " But if you judge it advantageous to your Colony's interest, and what you ac count the only way of worship among you, who can hinder you to maintain the discussion of those propositions in any of our towns, and at what times you please ? " Though Williams was long most ungratefully and meanly 1 In 1637, before the Pequod War, WiUiams advised the authorities at Bos ton to " enrage " the Narragansets and the Pequods with each other, — "a thing much desirable." — 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vi. 190. In 1675, finding it difficult to get an audience with the Narraganset chief, Williams gave him a glass of wine and placed a bushel of apples before his attendants ; and he says, "Being therewith sensibly caught (as beasts are), they gave me leave to say anything. ... I told him [the chief] if he were false to his engagements, we would pursue them with a winter war, when they should not, as mosquitoes and rattlesnakes, bite us." — Williams in Plym. Records, a. 455. Williams' mission was a failure, and his threat was carried out the ensuing winter. In 1676 Williams was captain of the Providence train-band, and doubtless fought against the Narragansets, who burned a large part of Providence and killed several of the people. In this assault the early records of Providence were destroyed. Yet it is the fashion in that region to ignorantly speak of the Narragansets as the fast and uniform friends of its people, from the earliest settlement down. 16S4] WILLIAMS VISITS ENGLAND. 369 excluded from the Bay Colony, he was always a familiar vis itor at Plymouth and Connecticut. Governor Winthrop, of the latter Colony, was his physician and intimate friend ; ^ and Williams says even of Winthrop's father, the governor of Massachusetts Bay, " though he were carried with the stream for my banishment, yet he tenderly loved me to his latest breath." He also attributes his coming to the Narra ganset region to " the express advice of your ever-honored Mr. Winthrop." 2 That Winthrop permitted his friend, and his family's friend, to remain shut out from the Bay is inexplicable. After that great leader had gone to his grave, Williams visited England, where he received much attention from the famous Protector, Cromwell, who took great interest in talking with him upon New England. Williams had tempting ofifers to remain there ; but his love for the free little commonwealth of his own crea tion drew him homeward. He came through Boston at length, armed with a pass from the British Government, or, shameful to say, his passage would have been questioned. Plymouth, however, would have received him with open arms. Williams' pen was ever acridly active in the intervals of trading with the natives and preaching to them, and an alloy 1 John Winthrop, Jr., was not only a physician, but was also considerable of a general scientist. In one place we find him making observations on Jupiter ; in another he gives his neighbors some gratuitous medical-lectures on Cholick, flux, the merits of sulphur, etc. Everywhere he has a sharp look-out for miner als, — probably quickened by the shrewd New England eye for expected profits. His prescription for fever illustrates the state of the science at that time : " Mix snakeweed and Iig. vitae with niter, to take in the morning ; mix fower graines apiece of corall, oculi cancrorum, and ivory, to be taken at any time ; thre or 4 graines of unicornes horn mixt with the black powder at night." 2 The author believes that Winthrop was privy to Williams' escape from the Bay, and perhaps after the preacher's seizure had been ordered, warned him to fly. Winthrop was then under an elongated cloud. Haynes was govemor (1635-6); Dudley, as Winthrop's bitter opponent, had been governor the last year, and Vane became so the next year. In 1638 Mrs. Williams pleasantly indicated her regard for Mrs. Winthrop in sending her by a passing Indian a " handful of chestnuts," as the forerunner of "a bigger basket "when conveyance should offer. — See Letter from Williams to Winthrop, Sen. 24 370 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1643-84. to his liberality is found on many of his pages. In 1643 hs published a sharp reply to Cotton, who held to communing with pious Church of England people. In 1652 he assaUed the regular clergy in "A Hireling Ministry none of Christ's;" he was hot against the Quakers ( or " Foxians," as he and many called them), and his attack on their great leader, entitled " George Fox digged out of his Burrows," is quite in that vituperative style which characterized the obtrusive " Foxians " themselves. His denunciations of the new sect were highly acceptable to his old opponents at the Bay ; and Savage remarks that this intolerance gained him the title of " Child of Light," which a lifetime of Christian charity had not earned for him. Yet, astonishing to say, that greatest grace — charity, was, to the end, the ruling principle of his life. Williams was only two years chosen governor by the Colony for which he had done so much, and was rarely hon ored by it in any way. So neglected was he by the many men who owed to him their prosperity, that in old age he became dependent on his sons, — he whom the United Colo nies of New England should have delighted to maintain with high honor. Yet to the last he was cheerful and loving. When, in 1684, he died, at about the close of his fourscore years, the Colony awoke to his worth.^ He was buried at his Providence, under arms, with all the honors of a magis trate, and his memory is entailed on the successive genera tions of Rhode Island as a priceless legacy. In i860 his grave was opened, that his remains might be placed under a fine public monument to his memory. Every particle, even of the bones, had disappeared ; but the inter laced roots of an apple-tree had enveloped the body so that their branches and fibres preserved the shape of skull, trunk, and limbs.2 Roger Williams' theology was largely visionary and con- 1 Roger had a brother Robert, a schoolmaster at Newport, who in 1647 offered Governor Winthrop of Connecticut five sorts of English grass-seed at 5J. a bushel. — 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., i. 343. ^ This singular reUc is now owned by the Rhode Island Historical Society. I633-] THE CONNECTICUT RIVER TRADE. 371 tradictory, but his practice was steadily self-sacrificing, public- spirited, and beautifully philanthropic. Though the Quakers goaded him to bitterness, his purse, home, and heart would have opened to them had they faUen into distress. It is much to say that neither they nor his other opponents, from the day he landed at Providence to the day of his death, ever made him commit an act of disloyalty to his great doctrine of freedom of conscience. That of this doctrine he was the steadfast expounder and exemplar, in an age when the prin ciple was most rarely understood, either practically or ab stractly, even by those who sought to comprehend it, entitles him to perpetual honor and gratitude.^ In 1633 some Connecticut River Indians, whom the Pe quods had driven out, personally besought Plymouth to reinstate them, and also establish a trading-post with them. Not later than 163 1 Edward Winslow had found out that river ; now the barque was sent there on a trading-trip, but the result was a rejection of the Indian offer. The poor natives then applied to Massachusetts, but met with another refusal. Soon after Bradford and Winslow, thinking better of the plan, visited Boston to insure a joint occupation of the territory, especially as the Dutch were threatening to hold it, to the exclusion of all others. But the Bay people made several objections: there were three thousand Indi ans there ; ^ the river was frozen seven months of the twelve ; the bar at its mouth had but six feet of water ; its current was too strong for navigation ; they lacked trading- goods. Winthrop's editor. Judge Savage, well says that these sound " more like pretexts than real motives," and as if intended to deter the Plymouth people. Bradford and Winslow made forcible answer, and offered to lend a stock 1 True, Mr. Williams expressed to Winthrop, Sen., his desire to banish Sam uel Gorton ; but " the tide " was adverse. Many years later he lamented " such an infinite liberty of conscience " in the case of the Quakers, and declared " a moderate restraint and punishment of these incivilities " not to be persecution, but " a duty and command of God." Still, as I attribute his feelings in both cases to an invasion of his civil and social rights, and not to religious differences, I think my closing remarks merely just. ' Winthrop's " Blessing of the Bay " reported canoes carrying eighty men. 372 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1633. of trading-goods; but Massachusetts still declined, though fully assenting to Plymouth's making the venture alone. So in September Plymouth fitted out her " great new barque," under Lieutenant WiUiam Holmes, and placed in it a well-made trading-house in pieces. When the craft reached the site of the present Hartford, it was found that the Dutch were already there, commanding the river with a fortified post, which they called " The House of Good Hope." They forbade the further passage of the barque, and stood to their two great guns with direful threats. Holmes replied that the Governor of Plymouth had sent him to ascend that river, and whether they fired or not, he should obey orders. He then stood gallantly past the battery, which remained silent. On the present site of Windsor, Holmes landed the re stored sachem, Natawannute, who had sold his protectors a tract of land there at a goodly price. The house was quickly set up, stocked, and armed, — a stream protecting it on one side, and a palisade on the others. Holmes then sailed for home, leaving the post in charge of Jonathan Brewster. The Dutch would not consent to a joint occupation, but through the original discovery of the river by Blok, claimed exclu sive ownership of that whole region.^ The next year, obtain ing seventy armed men from Manhattan, they prepared to expel their rivals, and in battle array, with drums beating and colors flying, advanced on the Plymouth house to carry it by assault; but when they had noted the strength of the place, and the warm reception prepared for them, they held a parley, which resulted in their comfortable return, bloodless, to the House of Good Hope. Late in the year the Dutch sent some four men far above the Plymouth house, to a tribe which had a strong fort held by a thousand warriors, and was hostUe to the Windsor Ind ians. The messengers were to secure all the trade which came down the river, and prevent any treaty of peace with the Plymouth men. In the winter the Indians there were 1 Theu- statement is that he discovered it in 1614, naming it The Versch, or " Fresh-water " River. t633-] THE INDIAN PLAGUE. 373 attacked by a very malignant form of small-pox, and of their thousand warriors not fifty were left alive. The Dutch emis saries fled in terror ; and it was only when near the last ex tremity of cold and hunger that they reached the Plymouth house, and received for many days such careful nursing as saved their lives. Nor did they or their comrades fail in warm expressions of gratitude at this return for their former hostility. • The pestilence swept down upon the natives around Wind sor. Through poor shelter and nursing, the mortality was terrible. There were not enough well people to procure food and fuel for the sick, nor even a supply of water. Some of the victims warmed themselves for a few miserable hours by burning their wooden trays and bowls, and their bows and arrows. Some died whUe crawling out-of-doors in search of water. The Plymouth men, unlike the Dutch, nerved them selves to brave the disease and to nurse the sufiferers as well as they could ; but the havoc continued untU it had cut ofif the friendly sachem and nearly all his tribe. The contagion spread to the Narragansets, slaying seven hundred of them. Passing on to the Neponsets, it sadly re duced that already small tribe, Chickatabut, the sachem, being a victim. Sweeping around Boston, it practically destroyed the fragmentary Massachusetts tribe in the Medford region and the Uttle Sagus tribe near the Lynn coast. The English settlers did all they could for the stricken Indians, but had no success in staying the pestilence. Maverick, the Episcopal proprietor of the East Boston Island ("Noddle's"), was especially devoted and heroic, as also was his wife ; in a single day he buried thirty of the dead, bringing to his own large house many of the little orphans. Strange to say, no white person was anywhere attacked by the disease ; though at first, especially on the Connecticut, they had been in great fear of it. Many of the surviving natives warmly acknowledged the courageous philanthropy of the whites; and the Plymouth people " did much commend and reward " their men at Windsor. 374 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1633. This contagion swept through Indian regions far beyond those then known to the English. The Pilgrims on their arrival had found the savages dwindling away ; nor had civili zation, by teaching better modes of living, been able to efifect a permanent change. Those who attribute the disappearance of the Massachusetts and Plymouth Indians to the incoming of the white race much mistake the facts of history. Had the early settlers of those Colonies postponed their coming for half a century, it is not probable that they would have found half as many natives as they actually did.^ This same year (1633) the Plymouth barque, carrying ;^500 of cargo, was at Manhattan when Captain John Stone, of Virginia, was also there. Stone, who claimed that the Ply mouth men had " reproached " those of Virginia, had a junket with the Dutch Governor, who gave a tipsy assent to Stone's scheme of piratical revenge. Then, when most of her crew were on shore. Stone seized the barque and made sail for Virginia. But some of the Dutchmen, who had often enjoyed the hospitality of Plymouth, said : " Shall we sufifer our friends to be thus abused and have their goods carried away before our faces, whilst our Governor is drunk?" They thereupon pursued Stone, and recapturing the barque delivered her to the owners. Soon afterward, Stone being at Boston, Standish was sent there to prosecute him for piracy. The Massachusetts offi cials, who were generally very patient under wrongs suffered by Plymouth, now higgled over technicalities, and finally de clared the act no piracy, because the master of the barque after her rescue agreed to " pass it by." Standish was finally wearied into letting the matter drop. Stone then accom panied some others to Plymouth, where he had " friendly and civil entertainment; " but there arose some suspicion of his having a design on the Governor's life. However placidly the magnates of the Bay might view the crime against Plym outh, it was quite the reverse when Stone was charged with an act of immorality at Boston. He was then hunted down 1 See pp. 134-6. 1633-] STONE'S END. — SHERLEY. 375 with soldiers, and tried for his life. As only one of the two required witnesses could be found, he was convicted of a less offence, and banished under penalty of death if he should return. Late that year he and Captain Norton, with six at tendants, were all waylaid and killed by the Pequods while trading on the Connecticut. This year was disastrous to Sherley, who was suffering from the wreck of the " Lion," which he largely owned ; and now, by the burning of London Bridge, he lost one of his ware houses, which stood upon it. Yet as he had neglected the urgent demand of the Colonists for an account of their goods received by him or bought at their charge, his groaning over his disasters ought not to have secured him further credit ; but so prosperous had Plymouth's trade been, that her Under takers were able to commit the folly of sending him on trust 3,366 pounds of beaver, and 346 otter-skins; and once more they demanded a statement of their account. ^^^0rvt^ k^iM Colonel Robert Stetson, Mrs. Alice Bradford, Sen., 1659; James Leonard, 1664; Samuel Luthers, 1679; Mrs. Mary WiUiams (daughter of Pastor Lothrop, of Barnstable), 1667 ; Edward Gray (whose grave bears the oldest date now legible on Burial Hill ; see p. 231). Possibly some of the above may have been unable from sickness to write at that time. Thus Peregrine White, who was a very legible and forcible penman, in his last days made his mark on his will. Persons who could not write were often able to read weU. 402 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1636. inferential laws and judicial constructions. It is a very sur prising fact that until now there had been no law establishing the ofiSces of governor, councillors, or constables. By gen eral consent for fifteen years these officers had been annually elected, and had administered their undetermined functions subject to revision by the people as a body. Even BiUing ton's trial had been under the English common law, and his executioner appears to have had no other authority than the oral order of the town-meeting or its council. Truly it was a wonderful community that, by mass-meetings of its citizens, could so long and so successfully conduct such weighty afifairs, domestic and foreign, with no more formally defined frame of government, or assignment and limitation of ofiScial powers, and with no written laws against crime. Yet the new code left much to the law of England " as near as may be." All new laws or changes were to be made by the freemen in town-meeting ; claims within forty shillings and petty ofifences were left to the magistrates ; ^ capital ofifences were treason, murder, diabolical conversation, wilful burning of ships or houses, violation, and unnatural crimes ; persons not freemen might serve on juries ; the grand-jury was to make inquiries ; a widow was to have one third the real-estate for life, and one third the personalty absolutely. These were the chief provisions. New laws were added yearly, until in 1658 a second re vision was made, the secretary (Morton) writing a copy for each town on paper sent by the latter ; and this copy was to be publicly read in each town once a year. In 1671 a new digest was made ; and for the first time the laws were printed, Samuel Green doing the work at the Cambridge Press. In 1685 the fourth and last revision was made and printed. In 1836 the State of Massachusetts employed WiUiam Brigham to edit a collection of these various laws, with the Pilgrim Compact, Warwick patent, and some allied documents; the result being a volume of much value to the student. The laws were always sharply restrictive as to spirituous 1 " Councillors," or " assistants." l636-«.] PROHIBITION OF TOBACCO-SMOKING. 403 drinks. In 1667 cider was included, and strong measures were taken to keep everything of the sort from the Indians. The frequent falsity of Indian evidence as to the source whence they obtained strong drink, led in 1673 to the establishment for such cases of the new principle of allowing the accused to testify for himself at his option. In 1682 this was extended to suits for the collection of accounts. Thus the plan of admitting persons as their own witnesses, though generally thought an idea of our day, is the revival of an Old Colony practice. So early as 1638 the smoking of tobacco, then called " drinking " it, was forbidden on the highway, or out of doors within a mile of a dwelling-house, or while at work in the fields. Unlike England and Massachusetts, Plymouth never had a law regulating apparel, but all persons were left free to indulge their tastes, and the liberty seems to have been much used by young and old alike.^ As in 1634 Massachusetts adopted a representation of towns in her General Court, so did Plymouth in 1638, the first ses sion being in June, 1639. The governor and councillors (assistants) were called " the bench," and the town members " committees" at first, and then " deputies." The two branches sat as one body, with the governor presiding; and so con tinued to do till the end ofthe Colony .^ This body might pass 1 One of the laws of 1636 inflicted a fine of 20s. for firing a gun in the night, save at a wolf or for a man lost. Three successive shots made a general alarm ; two shots indicated a house on fire. In 1675, when Philip's War began, this law was changed into a prohibition against shooting " at any game whatsoever, ex cept at an Indian or a wolf." WUfuUy ignoring the evident and most proper purpose of this awkwardly expressed law, some malicious hypercritics have tried to prove that the early settlers classed Indians as " game," aUowing them to be hunted when nothing else but wolves might be. In 1638 the Court foolishly attempted to regulate wages throughout the Colony. Laborers were to have i2<^. a day with board, or i8d. without it. Nine months later this policy was sensibly abandoned. In 1648 the Plymouth General Court met at 7 A. M. in summer and 8 A. M. in the winter, with 6d. fine for tardiness. 2 The General Court of Massachusetts sat as one body from 1634 to 1644; it then divided into two houses, and William Hathorne became the first speaker of the lower branch. In Connecticut a like division took place in 1645. Massachusetts Bay did not adopt a system of laws until 1641. It then enacted 404 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1638. laws, but, except in a crisis, final action must be postponed till the next session. Decisions in the General Court were by a majority vote, with no division between the bench and the deputies. Yet the freemen still met annually in one assembly as a " court of election," and chose the governor, assistants, treasurer, and (after 1643) colonial commissioners. The freemen might also repeal any of the laws passed by the legislature and enact others. The court of the people was supreme.^ A high sense of justice was shown in the election of depu ties. None but freemen could vote in the General Court of election ; but as the deputies were paid by the towns sending them, it was held that those who paid should elect, and that all heads of families, though non-freemen, might vote for deputies and on any other business of town-meetings, pro- a hundred provisions entitled " The Body of Liberties," compiled by Nathaniel Ward, pastor at Ipswich, who had been a lawyer as well as a Church of England clergyman in the mother-country. These laws were submitted to the several towns before adoption by the General Court. (For note on Ward, see notice of Dunster.) 1 In 1646 the deputies, thinking attendance too burdensome for four times a year, were excused except for the session at the annual court of election. At the same time Rehoboth was given a local court with a jury ; but an appeal lay from it to the General Court. In 1647 the Rehoboth men, in view of the distance and the possible risks of the trip, were authorized to send their ballots to the court of election instead of coming. In 1652 this was applied to all towns. As soon as a town-meeting had chosen its two deputies, one of them was to give notice that those who did not wish to attend the General Court were at once to present their baUots for gov ernor, assistants, treasurer, and commissioners, " sealled upp." The deputies- elect then made these sealed ballots into a packet, which was itself sealed. These packets were handed in at the court of election, after those present had deposited their ballots, and all were counted together. Before that, every freeman in the Colony was fined y. for absence from the General Court. In 1633, a few months before his death, Peter Brown was so fined, and in December, 1639, nine Scituate men were. In 1660, for neither attending nor sending a " proxy," as the ballot was termed, the fine was made IOJ. In 1659 a motion to again require the voters to attend in person was lost, 63 to III; this vote shows the size of the people's "court of election " then. In Massachusetts the whole body of freemen was required to meet until 1663, and then after a year's interval the practice was renewed for some few years. The freemen there were only one sixth of the adult males, nor were the church- members a much greater proportion of the whole people. Citizenship was sought there, but it was rather avoided in New Plymouth, and was occasionally, in some degree, forced on desirable men. 1638.] PRIVILEGE OF THE BALLOT. 405 vided they first took the oath of fidelity.^ It was subsequently provided that voters not freemen must have a freehold worth ;^2o; but the next generation voted, in 1671, that as " some do abuse their liberty," voting in town-meetings be confined to freemen. 1 In 1644 those not taking the oath of fidelity were declared not to rank as " inhabitants." CHAPTER XLIX. PEACH'S CRIMES. — LEGAL AND MORAL SEVERITY. IN 1635, the ship "Plain John" brought to Virginia one Arthur Peach, twenty years old, who was from a good family in Ireland. In 1637 ^^ did brave service in the Pequod War, and next year was living at Plymouth in the employ of Governor Winslow. But as he was " out of means and loth to work" he soon sought to evade his creditors by fleeing to Manhattan; and enticed, as his companions in flight, three servants or apprentices, — Thomas Jackson, Richard Stinnings, and Daniel Cross. On the way they met a Narraganset going to the Bay to buy some articles for Mixano, son of Canonicus. Next day, while several miles north of the present Pawtucket, they saw this Indian return ing, and conspired to rob and kill him ; so Peach called him to come into the bushes and smoke a pipe. The poor fellow complied ; and as he sat smoking. Peach and another joined in fatally stabbing him with a sword. Supposing their vic tim dead, the ruffians robbed his pack of three woollen coats and five fathoms of wampum, and resumed their journey. Roger Williams soon heard that four destitute white men were nearing the Pawtucket region, and sending them food, with some rum, had them brought in. After a night's hospi tality he furnished them a passage by canoe to Aquiday, and added a letter recommending them to hospitality. In the mean time the wounded native had revived so far as to crawl out into the Boston path, where he was found by a passing Indian. His story created a panic among the na tives. The Pequods had said that their overthrow would be 1638.] PEACH'S CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT. 407 followed by a general slaughter of the other tribes, and this deed led the Narragansets to believe that they were to be hunted down and kiUed in detaU. WiUiams promptly brought the wounded man to Providence, where he was attended by the two local surgeons, James and Greene ; but after a full statement of his assault, he died. Williams then had the fugitives intercepted at Aquiday. Cross escaped in a departing pinnace, but the others were seized. Williams reported the case to Winthrop, with the remark that while every " son of Adam is his brother's keeper or avenger," Plymouth should act in this case. Win throp concurred, not, as Bradford erroneously says, because the scene of the crime was within New Plymouth territory (for Winthrop did not then admit that), but because the culprits were last resident at Plymouth. Winthrop further advised that if Plymouth would not assume jurisdiction, the chief murderer be given up to the Narragansets, on their pledge to execute him without torture. Plymouth at once took charge of the case. The trial con tinued through several sessions, and on Sept. 4/14, 1638, the jury found all three prisoners guilty of murdering Penowa- wyanquis at Misquameece. The culprits confessed, and pro fessed great penitence. After the salutary manner of the times, sentence was speedily followed by execution. Roger Williams, Surgeon James, and several Narragansets had come from Rhode Island as witnesses, and they also attended the hanging. This prompt justice quieted the Indians ; but some of the more ignorant English complained much that all three should have been put to death, for, they contended, life for life quite met the requirements. This " matter of much sadness " had a sequel of virtuous barbarity. It soon appeared that Dorothy Temple, a maid servant in Master Stephen Hopkins's family, had fallen a victim to the wiles of Peach. The next February the magis trates were informed that Hopkins refused to shelter or pro vide for Dorothy and her infant son ; but the Court, finding her indentures had two years longer to run, decided that, as 408 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1638. Hopkins was entitled to her service for that time, he must also clothe and board her in his family or elsewhere. The stubborn Hopkins then refusing to have anything further to do with his unfortunate dependant, the Court committed him for contempt of court, though the confinement was probably to the house of the messenger.^ After four days of this dis cipline Hopkins was released by his payment of £^ to good Master John Holmes, who assumed the charge of Dorothy and her child for the two years in question. It would be supposed that the Court now left the poor young mother to quietly bear her burden and sufifer her social penance, but for such cases there was then no con donation or mercy. The next June she was arraigned for unlawful maternity, and sentenced to be twice publicly whipped. The first infiiction was begun, but the wretched victim fainting under it, the rest of the penalty was remitted. Unless there was some renewal of offence by the culprit, — and no aUusion to any is made in the proceedings, — her treatment, despite the final grant of mercy, is shameful to the authorities of Plymouth. Such judicial cruelty was then common, regardless of sex and age, in England and her Colonies, as well as in all other countries ; but the men of Plymouth had reached a higher degree of humanity than most other communities, and the brutality of this case is not ex cused by general usage as to common crimes. The authorities of Plymouth at least knew better. Would that their clerk, like the recording angel in the case of Uncle Toby, could have dropped a tear upon his record and effaced it forever ! 1 Mr. Hopkins had formerly sat on the bench of this Court ; and among those who now ordered his arrest were his old "Mayflower" comrades, Bradford, Winslow, and Alden. Pilgrim justice was no respecter of persons. CHAPTER L. Boundaries. — New Settlements and Changes. — London Contracts set tled. — Captain Cromwell's Visit. IN 1639-40, Bradford and Winslow for Plymouth, and En dicott and Stoughton for the Bay, sought to settle their mutual boundary. Massachusetts was chartered southerly to an east-and-west line three miles south of Charles River. She claimed this term " river " to include every little brook which contributed to the river proper, — her construction thus extending Massachusetts so far south as to take in Cape Cod Harbor, Scituate, Marshfield, Duxbury, the most of Plymouth Harbor, a part of Taunton, and even a portion of the town of Plymouth itself; and for this preposterous boundary the men of the Bay obstinately contended. Bradford drew a reply from his native valley: the Trent and Ouse made the Humber, but neither of them was ever understood as the Humber ; many rivulets ran into them, but none of those rivulets were ever called the Trent or Ouse; those little streams are all made up of lesser streams, but each of the latter is independent and has its own name. When the Massachusetts charter was given, nothing was known of the Charles above its mouth. What could be clearer than that it was intended to bound the grant by a line running west from a point three miles south of the river's mouth, the only part of it then known? This reasoning was good, but took from Massachusetts a large tract which clearly was not included in the Plymouth patent. Finally, a line was fixed upon, and though not ratified until 1664, was respected till the merging of the two jurisdictions. 410 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1640-42. From 1640 to 1645, the two Colonies were at issue as to their western co-limits. Massachusetts claimed the Seekonk region, and only ceased when the Colonial Commissioners decided for Plymouth. Winthrop says that in 1641 Ply mouth sent a copy of her patent to Boston, and though " not fully satisfied, but not willing to strive for land, we sat stiU." He fails to add that the stillness was very brief. In 1640 it was much desired that a Plymouth agent be sent to close matters with the London partners. Besides the dan ger of such persecution as Winslow had suffered on his last trip, was that of imprisonment for debt on the outrageous claim of Sherley and his mates, with no chance for release except on their own terms. Winslow protested against sub jecting either himself or any other to the great risk; but there was one PUgrim whom danger never turned from the line of duty, and Myles Standish volunteered for the haz ardous mission. Finally, Governor Winthrop's advice was sought ; and as he gave it that no messenger be allowed to expose himself, Standish was compelled to remain at home in safety. Sherley then offered to meet an agent in Holland or France; for the pious people about him, who took an interest in the Colony, brought great pressure to end a con troversy so calculated to bring reproach on the Reformed religion.-' Finally, in 1642, the Londoners offered terms. No account had yet been rendered, but Sherley claimed ;^I50, Andrews i^544, and Beauchamp ;^400. Andrews charged the other two with defrauding Plymouth, and urged that nothing be given them until they should exhibit their accounts; he believed nothing due Sherley, nor more than ;^I50 to Beauchamp.^ 1 This delay was an additional disaster to Plymouth from a sudden shrink age of prices. Domestic animals, from the sale of which these debts were to a considerable extent to be paid, fell seventy-five per cent (from ;f20 to £S). This reduction came all at once, and some people were made bankrupt by it. 2 This name is in England corruptly pronounced " Beacham," and Brad ford, by so spelling it, for the most part shows this to have been the pronuncia tion in his day. The phonographic value of such old speUings is not duly appreciated. 1640-46.] FINALE WITH THE "UNDERTAKERS." 411 He returned his land to the Colony, and gave his claim of £544 to Massachusetts, which very promptly exacted the last penny from Plymouth. Andrews was at once paid, and so was the chief Shylock, Sherley. The latter parted from Plymouth with pleasant words and promises of future ser vice ; he told them that Andrews was honest, but he did not believe Beauchamp entitled to ;^ioo, if anything. With the latter, matters dragged provokingly; in 1645 he received ;^2io IOS. in sundry houses and lands from Bradford, Prence, Standish, Alden, and Winslow, — the latter with curious pre cision setting forth that his deed included not only the house and land in general, but "the garden, back-house, doors, locks, bolts, wainscot, glass, ... all the shelves as they now are in each room," etc. Finally, in March, 1646 (n. S.), when it had stood over a quarter of a century, the Pilgrim Republic for the first time enjoyed the luxury of owing no man any thing. Its debts had been inflated, its funds embezzled, its trade defrauded, and its confidence betrayed; but it had borne every burden without shrinking, and had preferred to endure fraud and robbery rather than risk any sacrifice of honor. Its leaders took care that every chance of wrong should fall on themselves rather than on the public creditors who had treated them so unjustly. Repudiation is not a plant of Old Colony growth. In 1640 Bradford, at the public request, transferred to the Colony the Warwick patent (of 1630). For the original pur chasers were reserved three modest tracts, — one at Sowams, one near Yarmouth, and the third at Nauset (Eastham, etc.). The latter soon acquired singular importance. Plymouth was so depleted by emigration to the newer towns that she became very dull, and her business scanty. Several of her people, attributing this decay to the poorness of her soil and " strait ness " of the place, persuaded the community to declare for a general removal to some fertile region which should give room for all and admit of expansion as the population increased. Singularly enough, Nauset was selected, and to it the church prepared to emigrate in a body. 412 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1644-6. Only a few had opposed this project ; but soon there was a general waking-up to the fact that every objection brought against Plymouth would lie with equal or greater force against Nauset. Not only would the dwellers at the new spot be beyond the reach of prompt relief and without defence if as sailed, but the territory, so far from allowing a progressive expansion, was not large enough for even those then prepar ing to occupy it. In fact, Plymouth was vastly superior in many respects, and inferior in none. Some few persisted in removing, and in 1644 a company went headed by ex-Governor Prence, Deacon John Doane, Nicholas Snow, Josiah Cook, Richard Higgins, John Smalley, and Edward Bangs. The traveller along the Cape, where the purest English communities in the country are to be found, will constantly hear some of these surnames, and will often find them represented by the leading inhabitants. The new plantation prospered, and in 165 1 became Eastham. Had the chosen site been in the region of Bristol or of New Bedford, Plymouth would perhaps have shared the fate of Jamestown, or at least have fallen into obscurity. Fortunate is it for his tory that the proposed plan was impracticable. After this loss of active householders, Plymouth's fortunes reached a distressingly low ebb. In the same year with the migration, death removed Brewster, Hopkins, Atwood, and Jenney. Of the earlier leaders, Bradford and Howland alone were left in the original village ; as the former reviewed the vacant places, he sadly writes in his History: "Thus was this poor church left like an ancient mother grown old and forsaken of her chil dren (though not in their affections)," until "she that had made many rich, became herself poor." So in 1646, when a gale drove into Plymouth port Captain Cromwell, a parliamentary officer, with three ships returning from a rich cruise against the Spanish enemy, Winthrop at tributed the storm to a special act of Providence, " so directing for the comfort and help of that town, which was now almost deserted." The account of this visit is the last entry but one in Bradford's History. For about a month the sailors spent 1646.] DEATHS OF VOYSYE AND CROMWELL. 413 their money with nautical profuseness, and did much good by freely giving to the poor ; but Bradford fears that they scat tered " yet more sin " than cash, for at first they were very drunken and riotous. One man, Voysye, while fighting, re sisted his captain, and received on his head a blow from Cromwell's rapier-hilt. Voysye would not have the injury cared for, and the very next day went ashore to fight with a shipmate ; but soon his wound inflamed, and proved mortal. The Plymouth authorities arrested Cromwell for homicide ; he then being tried by a court-martial according to his own re quest, and acquitted. The dead sailor was buried under arms, each member of the train-band being presented by the naval commander with a piece of black taffeta to make a mourning- robe. Three years later, while Cromwell was at Boston (where he was quite popular), he was killed by a fall from his horse ; and the superstitious did not fail to note with awe-struck feel ings that his rapier-hilt made upon his head just such a wound as he had given Voysye. Cromwell seems to have been a generous, gallant, and noble seaman. CHAPTER LL THE CONFEDERATION. — STATISTICS. IN 1643, after a six years' discussion begun by Plymouth, the four Colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, formed a confederation, called " The United Colonies of New England." Each was annually to choose two church-members as its commissioners. These eight were to meet in the four Colonies by turn each September, and were to take charge of Indian afifairs and matters of war. Save the mutual rendition of fugitives, each Colony was to retain full control of its internal afifairs ; but the commissioners soon contrived to give something like an air of authority to their merely advisory power on matters of education and religion. No single Colony was to make war. If one was attacked, the league was to relieve it until the commissioners could examine the case ; if they found the attack to have been pro voked by the invaded Colony, they were to require reparation from the same to its assailant and the confederates. If, on the other hand, the Colony stood approved, or an oflfensive war was necessary, the confederates should make common cause and each furnish men arid money according to its military popu lation; that is, the able-bodied males between the ages of sixteen and sixty. On this basis the quota for 235 soldiers was : Massachusetts 1 50, New Plymouth 30, Connecticut 30, New Haven 25.^ (Plymouth's force was divided among her [then] eight towns, thus : Plymouth 7, Scituate 5, Duxbury 5, 1 In 1672 Connecticut absorbed New Haven, and the mUitary quota became, — Massachusetts 100, Plymouth 30, Connecticut 60. 1643-] STATISTICS. — VOTERS' QUALIFICATIONS. 415 Taunton 3, Sandwich 3, Barnstable 3, Yarmouth 2, Marshfield 2, — total 30.^) The population was about a hundred for each soldier in the above apportionments. Of the 23,500 white people in the four Colonies, some 2,300 had been born there, the others having come scattering along in some 198 ships from 1620 to this same year of 1 643 ? Now immigration stopped very suddenly, owing to the establishment of the Commonwealth. In fact, there were soon more passengers for England than from it, several gallant Colonists going over to fight for the Parliament, and some well-to-do families returning to enjoy the new privileges of English life. In Massachusetts not one man in four was a church-mem ber, but there and in New Haven only church-members were entitled to vote. No such restriction was ever adopted in Plymouth or Connecticut ; yet the ratio of voters was a half greater in Massachusetts than in Plymouth, for the former had 1708, and the latter, which in the same proportion would have had 345, really showed but 230. Elections at the Bay were stoutly contested, and even Winthrop had been more than once voted down. Hence a feeUng of partisanship had led many to seek the rank of freeman. But in Plymouth it is not known that the voters ever divided on the choice of a gov ernor, and public positions had much more of responsibility and work than of dignity or emolument ; hence many people avoided citizenship through a desire of escaping petty ofiSces and court duties which a freeman might not decline without suffering a fine, and a few years later the government found 1 In 1689 the quota of these towns had changed thus : Plymouth 4, Scituate 6, Duxbury 2, Taunton 4, Sandwich 3, Barnstable 4, Yarmouth 3, Marshfield 3, — total, 29. " New England then had 12,000 neat-cattle, 3,000 sheep, 1,000 acres in orchards and gardens, and 15,000 under general tillage. At the opening of PhiUp's War, 1675, Massachusetts had about 22,000 popu lation, Plymouth 7,000, Connecticut, etc., 14,000: total, 43,000. There were about 4,000 each in Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. In 1693 the new Massachusetts had 63,000 (in 75 tovms), of whom 17,000 were in the recent Plymouth, and 7,000 in Boston. Growth was then badly checked by the over issue of paper money. 27 4l6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1643-S4. it necessary to use persuasion and something like compulsion to lead desirable men to accept these duties and privileges. Rhode Island had not yet a Colonial organization; but after gaining one, she was by a miserable policy still excluded from this union, her request for admission being met by the contemptuous and contemptible answer that by annexing herself to one of the adjoining Colonies she would at once be in the Confederation.^ This famous league held its last little congress at Hartford in 1684, when its sessions had become triennial. Before the next time came, Andros had crushed out the liberties of the Colonies and every trace of self-government. The terms of the Confederation were ever few, for the most part, its pur poses being vaguely expressed, and its councils often discor dant. Massachusetts was especially antagonistic, although the main strength of that body.^ She objected to the equal representation of the Colonies, — a policy perpetuated in the formation of the United States Senate. She claimed that the greater number of the sessions should be at Boston, that the president should always be one of her members, and that the latter should take precedence at the sittings ; but all the ' In 1640, three years before this league, Coddington and the leading men at the north part of Aquiday sought union with Plymouth, but those of Newport and Providence successfully opposed it. Had this plan succeeded, the resulting state would now be one of the strongest in New England as to commerce and manufactures. In 1642 Plymouth questioned whether her bounds did not in clude Providence; but she doubtless found they did not, for the subject was dropped. 2 Plymouth and the other Colonies in 1655 were much offended at the refusal of Massachusetts to aid Ninigret, who had been promised protection, and who was threatened by the Long Island Indians. Massachusetts was repeatedly voted down in the board of commissioners on this subject, but refused to be bound by the majority vote, as her conscience was not clear, she said. In 1656 Plymouth paid John Howland los. for the use of his horse ridden to and from New Haven by one of her commissioners. In 1672 it cost Plymouth Colony ;^8o to entertain the commissioners at that session there ; this added one third to her tax-levy. In 1667 Plymouth directed her representatives to insist that " in case the Con federation hold, it be better observed than formerly hath been ; '' and to " signify to Massachusetts that we take it ill that we cannot for our monies be supplied with ammunition, although they have good quantities." (See notice of John Brown for a display of injured dignity by Massachusetts.) 16430 THE NEW-ENGLAND CONFEDERATION. 417 concession she could get was that her members might sign the record next after the president. It is an interesting fact that her most stubborn contest was in defence of " State rights," in opposition to all her associates. John Quincy Adams says : " This, like other confedera cies, presents a record of incessant discord, of encroachments by the most powerful upon the weaker members, and of disregard by all the separate members of the conclusions adopted by the whole body." This is too strong, though measurably correct. Yet this league derived strength from what would seem its chief weakness. A union sharply de fined and administered would have died young ; but this loosely constructed federation outlived Charles I., Cromwell, and Charles 11.^ If its internal powers were small, its out ward front awed the French at the east, the Dutch on the south, and the Swedes and Finns beyond them, all of whom had threatened some one of the Colonies. Nothing less than the influence of this union could have postponed for thirty years a war with the Narragansets. With all its faults, it illustrated the truth that " in union there is strength ; " and in its closely-restricted powers, its exclusion from the internal afifairs of the several Colonies, and its principle of State equality, it was the prototype of that grander Federal Union which, a century after the Colonial federation's dissolution, made our country a nation. Yet this Confederation was a stronghold of bigotry, and did much to reduce liberally-inclined Plymouth to the level of her stern associates. It was but natural that a Colony should lose something of its independent thought and action by becoming one of the lesser members of such a body; that while it gained much in security and industrial progress, its self-reliance and manliness must sufifer. From this period, but not alone from this cause, Plymouth history ceases to be of continuous interest. Save the Quaker excitement and 1 It also survived the Narraganset nation and the Dutch rule at Manhattan. Of those who were magistrates at its formation, only John Alden, of Plymouth, and Simon Bradstreet, of Boston, saw its end. 41 8 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1643. Philip's War, the story becomes uneventful, except as the heroes and heroines of the bygone Pilgrim age sink one by one to their nobly-earned rest. If " happy are the people whose annals are barren," the Old Colony henceforth had much tranquil enjoyment. This review now purposes little more than a series of fare well notices of persons already introduced, or those connected with them, and to leave Plymouth's later experiences to ex hibit themselves mostly through the medium of condensed biography.^ 1 Among the principal events of general history which follow are : the begin nings of Harvard College ; the Quaker disturbances ; the Witchcraft excitement ; Philip's War ; the growth of Anabaptistry and Intolerance ; and the union of Plymouth with Massachusetts. CHAPTER LIL GORTON. — HIS MOVEMENTS AND CHARACTER. IN 1636 Samuel Gorton, of London, came with his wife to Plymouth, after a stop at Salem. He was one of the volunteers for the Pequod war in 1637, but of his business nothing is said. He soon won the reputation of a " prodigious minter of exorbitant novelties." Morton calls him " blas phemous and familistic," — which probably means nothing more than that he was aggressive, and had ideas beyond the range of the secretary's bigotry. Gorton and his wife boarded with Smith, the ex-pastor ; and after a time Mrs. Smith ex pressed a higher opinion of Gorton's prayers than of her hus band's. Smith, thus touched in both his professional and his conjugal pride, ordered the Gortons from his house. Gorton claiming the rights of a tenant, the case went to court, where it was decided for Smith. From some provocation, Gorton was led to treat the Bench to a little choice invective, address ing the presiding magistrate as " Satan," and extending his remarks to the local clergy. He was then heavily fined, and ordered to leave the Colony within fourteen days ; but lest his family might sufifer, only ;^io was taken from him. Gorton then went across to Aquiday, and was there soon, involved in a case over a pig, which resulted in his getting whipped at the public post for contempt of court. It is just to Gorton to say that this ofifence seems to have been chiefly in a punning description of the justices as " just-asses," and calling Mr. Justice Eaton " a lawyer " ! He passed on to Providence, where he speedily led the tolerant Roger Williams to express regrets that he could not also banish him, as " the 420 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1642-76. tide was against it."^ In 1642 Gorton and his friends, includ ing " John Weeks and wife," with others who had followed him from Plymouth, crossed from Providence to Shawomet (now Warwick), and created a thriving town. Probably Gorton had hitherto been in the wrong ; but the outrageous conduct of Massachusetts soon put him in the right. Gorton's wrongs do not belong in a book having the scope of this review ; but it may be added that after his persecu tion began he had the strong sympathy of Plymouth, which seems to have been fully reciprocated.^ In his eightieth year he went as interpreter in Plymouth's behalf on a last attempt to avert Philip's outbreak. Gorton has without doubt been grossly misrepresented by the early writers at the Bay. In 1676, when he died at the age of eighty, he had for very long been annually elected to oflSces of trust in his town of War wick, and had also been an honored preacher. He was in familiar correspondence with Governor Winthrop of Connec ticut, who was his physician, and Gorton's letters to him not only show Latin scholarship, but are of a beauty of penman ship rarely seen at that day. Yet if many of his contempo raries failed to fully or justly understand his doctrines, those who now read his manuscripts are not much more successful. It certainly appears that he was up to the orthodox standard of his times, even to the extent of vehemence against the Quakers and others whom his enemies called " heretics." Take him all in all, he deserves far better from history than he has received. 1 Williams seems to have objected, not to the principle of banishing unwel come persons, but its application to himself. ' Under the head of " John Brown," it wiU be seen that Plymouth protected Gorton against Massachusetts by claiming jurisdiction over his territory. In after years, when some " Gortonists " had a controversy with Pomham over some hogs, Pomham would not have the case referred to Plymouth because of the favor there to the Gortonists, and John Brown is mentioned as " very familiar " with them. CHAPTER LIIL CHAUNCEY. — DUNSTER. — HARVARD COLLEGE. — PRINTING. FOR two years John Reynor had ably and acceptably filled the Plymouth pulpit, when in 1638 he was joined by Charles Chauncey, a graduate of Trinity College, on the Cam, where he had been successively named as Greek and as He brew professor. In 1629, while vicar of Ware, he was cited for terming some of Laud's churchly novelties as " idola trous," and only escaped prison by a Latin apology to that primate. In 1635, for opposing the erection of a rail before his communion-table by some unauthorized parishioners. Laud ruined him by fines, and after keeping him a prisoner for more than a year, exacted from him an approval of chan cel-rails, and of kneeling at them in the communion, — a con cession which Chauncey bewailed forever after. Laud rarely lost sight of his victims, and soon again summoned Chaun cey, — this time for neglecting to read the " Book of Sports."^ The clergyman's only hope now was in flight, and he quickly found his way across the Atlantic to Boston. Then he was (1638) " invited and sent for" to come to Plymouth as " pastor," under Reynor as " teacher." Chauncey's ability and learning made him a marvellous ac- 1 James I. authorized games on Sunday, publishing in 1618 "The King's Majestie's Declaration to his Subjects concerning Lawful Sports to be used " on Sundays after evening prayers. The second " Book of Sports," that referred to above, was pubUshed with a ratification by Charles I. in 1633. It caused violent and angry discussions among the clergy j and when Cromwell came, the book was ordered by Parliament to be burned by the hangman, and the sports were suppressed. 422 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1641. quisition even to that well-filled pulpit, and Bradford, Winslow, Brewster, Fuller, and others must have had many an intellec tual treat of a high order. But before three years had passed, the new pastor began to declare immersion the only real bap tism for either infants or adults, and to insist that the com munion must be celebrated by candle-light, in the manner (?) of the Last Supper.^ Great efiforts were made to bring him back. Pastor Partridge, of Duxbury, held several public dis cussions with him, as also did other clergymen ; but with the usual result of making each disputant only the more positive. Then Chauncey's own statement of his views was sent to the churches at Boston, Hartford, and New Haven, all the pastors of which expressed a vigorous disapproval ; but he became the more firm. With very great liberality, the Pilgrim church then invited him to continue with them, and to administer the ordinances in his way to all who should so desire, while Reynor served in other cases. But Chauncey would accept nothing short of entire conformity to his views. Bradford says: "The church yielded that immersion or dipping was lawful, but in this cold country not so convenient; " but that they dared not assent to the unlawfulness of sprinkling, " which all the churches of Christ do for the most part use at this day." So in 1 64 1 Chauncey went from Plymouth to Lothrop's former pulpit at Scituate. There he carried-out his views ; and early illustrated them one winter's day by cruelly im mersing his two little children, one of whom became insen sible from the cold. The mother of another child was so afraid to present it that Chauncey sent her with a note to Boston, where the infant was sprinkled. Several of his flock began to oppose his practices ; and after the manner of Laud, he sought to coerce them by excommunication. They there fore seceded, under the lead of William Vassall (captain of the train-band, and one of the twelve members of the CouncU 1 Pastor Leveredge, of Sandwich, became a convert to Chauncey's idea of night communion. The poor man had already more causes of disquiet than he could overcome, and this intensified them. (See notice of him.) I645-54-] WETHERELL. — CHAUNCEY. 423 of War), who acted with the Congregationalists, while privately retaining his Episcopal preferences. The new body built a little thatch-roofed church, and founded the South Parish of Scituate. In 1645 William WethereU, of Duxbury, became its pastor, and served till his death, thirty-nine years later.^ The Old Colony churches and magistrates sternly disapproved of this new church, and long refused it recognition ; while, on the other hand, it was much encouraged by the Bay. Plymouth did not regard such differences as justifying the division of a parish, and the consequent weakening of its resources, whether done in the interests of Congregationalists at Scituate, or of Baptists at Rehoboth {q. v.). She was at least consistent. Chauncey's manners made much ill-feeling between the parishes, and he foolishly came to profess a fear for his life at the hands of Vassall. His clerical income fell ofif; but he eked it out with his fees as a practising physician, like many pastors of the time. His medical standing is indicated by a court-order of 1647, that Francis Crooker may marry Mary Gaunt, of Barnstable, if " Mr. Chauncey and some other ap proved phisition " will certify that his is " not the falling sick ness." In 1648 the liberal Vassall returned to England, but the new parish was kept up with vigor.^ Chauncey's fare grew hard and harder, until, in 1654, when Laud had long been beheaded and Cromwell was in power, he concluded to accept a call to his old parish of Ware ; but while in Boston waiting for a ship, he was led to change his course and become the second president of Harvard College, — an institution which here requires some notice. ' An anecdote related of WethereU, in Scituate, may serve to illustrate the manner of those times. One Bryant entered the church after service had begun, and Parson WethereU, at the close of his prayer, thus addressed him : " Neighbor Bryant, it is to your reproach that you have disturbed the worship by entering late, living as you do within a mile of this place ; and especially so since here is Goody Barstow, who has milked seven cows, made a cheese, and walked five miles to the House of God in good season." 2 In 1653 Chauncey sued his neighbor William Barstow for slander. The General Court gave him ;^ioo, with i8s. 6d. costs. Chauncey on the spot for gave Barstow the ;^ioo. (For similar case see "John Brown.") 424 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1638-40. In 1638 the General Court of Massachusetts opened a theo logical school at the then Newtown, and placed over it as master Nathaniel Eaton. The next year Eaton fled, to escape arrest for wasting the funds, and for whipping the students more than was proper, he often giving them from twenty to thirty stripes at a time, and also severely flogging the tutor ; ^ his wife, too, had starved the students in their commons. At about that time the town was re-named Cam bridge, from the place where several of the Colonists had been educated ; while " the School " was dignified to Har vard College. In 1639 its first class was entered on a three- years' course of study, Nathaniel Brewster coming from Plymouth as one of its members. In 1640 Henry Dunster was made the first president of the College by that title. He had just come from the English Cambridge, and though but thirty years old, — the youngest president the institution has ever chosen, — he stands among the highest on the list for learning and ability. His duties were varied. Now he was giving instruction in Hebrew,^ Syriac, or Chaldaic, which were all in the regular course; anon he was accounting with his steward, to whom most of the College receipts came in, for cattle, sheep, goats, meat, sugar, malt, parsnips, butter, satin, kersey, cottons, nails, and especially maize.^ Once, at least, the authorities required him to personally flog two of his junior class, with some ceremony, they having committed burglary, and there then being no law in Massachusetts against that crime. One of the above culprits graduated the next year in good standing, and received his degree.* 1 He was Nathaniel Briscoe. Eaton became an Episcopal clergyman in Virginia, and Winthrop dismisses him from notice with the acid remark he was " usually drunken, as is the custom there." ''¦ The great test in Hebrew was Isaiah iii., on the " bravery " of women. 8 Among the receipts were : a sheep of 67 lbs., £1 is.; 35 lbs. sugar ; a fat cow ; a calf ; a quarter of beef ; 3 yards yellow cotton ; 2,000 nails ; and a goat from Watertown, which died. Even Governor Dudley paid his son's tuition in corn. * The father of one of them, Nathaniel Ward, pastor of Ipswich, was also educated as a lawyer, and framed the first statute-book of Massachusetts. He is 1638-47-] HARVARD COLLEGE. — PRINTING. 425 In 1647 Dunster reported that the College building needed much repair, from its "yearly decays" and "first evil contri- val." ^ The next year he complained of spurious wampum- peag, saying there was much " false peag," " badd and unfin ished ; " the beads from the dark part of the shell having twice the value of white, he said that " the endeans " were circulating " dyed peag." As this currency was much used by the whites, the fraud probably injured the College treasury.^ The presi dent, however, was equal to all the calls upon him, and gave the young College much strength and character. Dunster, too, was closely connected with the introduction of printing into this country. In 1638 Mr. Glover, an English clergyman, sailed with his wife for Boston, bringing a printing- press and an exceedingly illiterate printer named Stephen Day.^ Glover died on the voyage, but his widow, who had property, bought a house at Cambridge. There the press was set up by Day, and its first known production was the " Free man's Oath " for oflScial use ; the second was an almanac for 1639, calculated for New England by our old friend " William Peirse, Mariner," former captain of the " Anne," " Lion," and best known by a long and fearful religious poem, "The Simple Cobbler of Agawam." In the i8ist stanza, the souls of unbaptized infants having forcibly pleaded their innocence of Adam's sin, the Divine Judge is represented as replying: — " A Crime it is I Therefore m Bliss You may not hope to dwell ; But unto you I shall allow The easiest Room in Hell I " In 1646 Ward, returning to England, made the CoUege a parting gift of six hun dred acres of land ; so his son's punishment did not disaffect him. In England, however, he was ill-natured toward New England, and told falsehoods about it. In 1674 Thomas Sargeant, probably a junior, was ordered by the overseers to be flogged for blasphemy. The students were gathered in the library ; the president then made a prayer ; next Sargeant knelt, and was flogged by Goodman Healey ; then the president closed the instructive exercises with another prayer. There probably was far less disgrace attached to this whipping than to Sargeant's further penalty of sitting by himself at meals and eating without wearing his hat For the first century of the College, chastisement was a common penalty, and was freely inflicted by the tutors, without involving any great discredit on the culprit. 1 First buUding finished, 1639. * In 1644 Pynchon, of Springfield, complained that Printer Day, of Cambridge, had paid him some " blue wampum," not worth half price. ' An English printer progenitor was John Day ; bom 1522, died 1584. 426 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1654. " Mayflower; " the third was the famous " Bay Psalm-book." ^ Dunster, by private solicitation and much cost to himself, succeeded in building a president's house, and to it he carried Mrs. Glover as his wife. He also took the press into his house, and kept it there until his own removal in 1654. Before the latter date Day had departed, and his place was taken by Captain Samuel Green, — the ancestor of a noble line of printers, booksellers, and writers.^ In 1654 this pioneer 1 This had 147 leaves ; a good copy now being worth $1,200 to iSi,500. Yet it was not the first book printed in America (it was practically the first in north em North America) ; for a school-book, " The Spiritual Ladder," had been printed in Mexico a hundred and seven years before, and was followed there and in Peru by at least a hundred other books from the Spanish Jesuit priests. The first press at Boston was set up in 1674; at Exeter (Eng.), eleven years after the Cambridge press ; at Manchester a hundred years later ; and at Liverpool a hundred and ten years. ^ Green probably came over in 1632, and was long the town clerk of Cara bridge and captain of the train-band ; he died 1702, " very old." He seems to have turned his business over to his son Samuel, for Sewall records in 1690 that Printer Green and wife died of small-pox. In 1692 an inventory ofthe property in his office belonging to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, etc., was as foUows : — Utensils for printing, belonging to the corporation in the Costody of SamueU Green, of Cam bridge, Printer, Sept. i, 1662. The presse with what belongs to it, with one tinn pan and two Frisletts. Item — Two tables of cases for letters with one olde case ; the foutt of letters, together with the imperfections that came since. Item — one brass bed, one imposing stone, 2 bbls. of ink, 3 chases, 2 composing sticks, i ley brush, 2 candlesticks — i for the cases, the other for the press. Item — the frame and box for the cistern. Item — the riglet brass and scabbard, the sponge, i galley, i mallet, i shooting stick, and furniture for the chases. Item — the letters that came before, that were mingled with the colleges. Only printers will be likely to recognize the "tinn pan" and "frisletts," for tympan and friskets. Two years later a request was sent to the Society for a font of pica, both " Roman and Italian " (italic). Day lost his money in an attempt to found Lancaster ; he then worked under Green, and died 1668, cet. 58. This volume bears the imprint of the present " University Press," whose building lies within a stone's-throw of the old quarters, and which has outgrown the wildest conceptions of Day and Green. It now employs some three hun dred persons, who, with a hundred tons of type and some forty printing-presses, are kept busy in carrying on that work so happily begun two and a half centuries ago in Dunster's back room. Of the present owners, — John Wilson and Charles E. Wentworth, — a remarkable coincidence is that Mr. Wentworth in the due fitness of things followed Dunster's example and married a descendant of Rev. Mr. Glover. Mr. Wilson's father (his predecessor) put forth a system of punctuation which perhaps guides more printers in these dubious matters than any other one book extant. I653-9-] DUNSTER. 427 " University Press " had passed into the control of the Colo nial Commissioners and the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England, which in 1658 printed Eliot's Indian Bible. In 1653 Dunster began to preach against infant baptism, and so vigorously that Pastor Mitchell of Cambridge declared his own faith to have been shaken, until he reminded himself that such teaching could come only " from the EviL One 1 " When the pastor was baptizing an infant, the next year, Dunster arose and " bore testimony " against the ceremony. He was tried for disturbing the ordinance, being sentenced to admonition in public, and to give bonds for future good behavior. Public feeling was such that he felt obliged to re sign his ofiQce. The overseers found that .^40 was due him, and recommended that .^100 besides be paid on account of his eminent services. The General Court, almost with con tumely, refused compliance ; and it was not till several years afterward that they gave his widow ;£'20 in payment of the debt of .^40. It was only by pitiful solicitation that Dunster obtained the Court's leave to remain through the winter of 1654-5, with his dangerously sick family, in that house which he had built for the College at much loss to himself. Chauncey had been frozen-out at Scituate on charges of Anabaptistry, — which was something vague and variable in its meaning. Dunster had been frozen-out at the College also on a charge of Anabaptistry. Yet Chauncey was at once in vited to Dunster's chair, and the next spring Dunster took his library and head of cattle to Chauncey's old parish in Scitu ate, where he established his home. There he occasionally preached ; and as, like Chauncey, he was a regularly educated physician, probably practised as such. He won the regard of the liberal leaders Hatherly and Cudworth, and joined them in pleading for leniency toward the Quakers, whose tenets he powerfully opposed. Dunster died in Scituate in 1659, when only forty-nine years old. His heart ever yearned toward the College which had cast him out, and to which he made gifts, as well as to some persons who had been active in displacing him. He also asked to be buried beside the College. His 428 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1663. body in its coffin was packed in the herb tansy, probably for safer conveyance, and in time was removed to the old burying- ground opposite the College grounds.^ Several of his succes sors in ofifice have, by dififerent generations, been laid beside him, and the spot is caUed " Presidents' Corner." One who knows Dunster's history is not likely to visit that grave and read his epitaph without unwonted emotion. Chauncey, to obtain the ofliice, promised to keep to himself his views upon immersion and evening communion. He had made constant sacrifices for conscience' sake, and for these very principles had left comfort and dignity at Plymouth for privation and strife at Scituate ; that he should surrender them now, even to the extent of silent acquiescence, is marvellous.^ StiU, he did not find a bed of roses. In his first year he was forced to complain to the General Court of the scantiness of his support, though they had agreed to provide for him liber ally ; the Indian corn, in which much of his income was paid, could only be traded for family supplies by losing Zd. to i2d. on a bushel ; he had no farm and cattle, as Dunster had ; he had been forced to use ;^ioo of his own funds; and if no change should be made, he might look for another place. In 1663 his troubles were not only unremoved, but he was in debt, and tempted to go elsewhere. The deputies proposed to increase his ;^ioo stipend to ;^I20, but the Council refused concurrence. After his death his sons, representing the great straits in which he had been during his entire term of office, modestly asked that the arrears of his salary be paid " in money," and their invalid brother aided. This was done. 1 In 1846 Dunster's monument was so broken and iUegible that its identity was doubted. An exhumation showed the body still surrounded by its packing of tansy; the features were traceable, a short brown beard remaining on the upper lip. '^ Chauncey, however, was under no restrictions in expressing his opinion of men's wearing long hair ; and this he preached against as abominable in the sight of God, and one of the crying sins of the land. Governor Endicott, on succeed ing Winthrop in 1649, hastened to procure a law against long hair, — though his own portrait presents him " bearded like the pard." The Apostle Eliot was sharp against long hair, as well as wigs, and sagely attributed the Indian war to God's wrath thereat. i66s-72.] CHAUNCEY'S LAST YEARS. 429 Still Chauncey was a strong and able president, and wor thily carried forward the work so grandly begun by Dunster. In 1665 he conferred a degree on Caleb Cheeshateaumuck, the only one of the many Indian students who ever gradu ated. It was after a highly successful administration of sev enteen years that Chauncey, at the Commencement in 1671, pronounced a Latin oration, in which he took a solemn fare well of his friends. The next February, at the age of eighty, he too was laid in Presidents' Corner, where his Latin epitaph will be found beside Dunster's.^ 1 Chauncey's wife, Catharine, died 1666 ; they had six sons, and all were edu cated both as clergymen and physicians. The clergy were then often physicians, in 1624 ParUament being strongly petitioned against this practice in England. CHAPTER LIV. William Brewster. — Stephen Hopkins. — John Atwood. — John Jenney. — Grist-Mills, etc. — WiUiam Thomas. — John Lothrop. REMARKABLE is it that after the first winter the ranks of the Pilgrim leaders remained so nearly unbroken until their little commonwealth was firmly established and embraced in a powerful alliance. Warren and Fuller were dead, and Allerton had departed in dishonor ; but when the Confederation was formed, Bradford and Winslow, Standish and Brewster, Hopkins, Howland, and Alden were still at the head of afifairs. Had these men been added to the victims of the first year, there would have been no English-speaking state in the probable future of New England. At(M i-fM cr In the first year of the Confederacy (on AprU 18/28, 1644) the Old Colony as one man mourned the death of Elder Brewster. His age, which very singularly was unknown to his associates, was 78.^ His only surviving children were his sons ' Bradford says : " He was near fourscore years of age, if not all out." Morton, in trying to copy this into his " Memorial," twists it into "fourscore and four," and he also follows Bradford in antedating the death one year (1643); but the church records give 1644, — a date which the Colony records in more than one place show to be correct. (See "Mayflower's" passenger-list, p. 183.) Brewster's birth, by the " Memorial," must have been 1559; by Steele, Windsor, and Mitchell, 1560; by the church records, 1564: but in Brewster's afiidavit, which Dr. Dexter has found in Holland, the Elder himself in June, 1609, gave his age as 42. So he was born in the latter half of 1566, or the first half of 1567. It is safe to call it 1566. (See N. E. Gen. Reg., xviii. 18.) I644-] WILLIAM BREWSTER'S DEATH. 43 1 Jonathan and Love, both of Duxbury. At that place the Elder had a house and farm ; but he also retained his Ply mouth house, and there died.^ The Elder continued to work in the fields as long as his strength permitted; and so simple were his habits that, in marked distinction to his fellow-colonists and their contem poraries, water formed his only drink until he had passed threescore years and ten. His last illness was brief, and on the day next before his death he was not wholly confined to his bed. Until his last noon he was able to talk with friends as they " mourned and wept over him ; " he then lay in silence with a short, quick breath until about the usual hour of seek ing repose, when his breath at once became long, like that of peaceful slumber, and he literally " fell asleep." As the Elder had left no will, it was feared that the sons might disagree as to their rights. So when the body had been laid on Burial Hill with especial honor and reverence, the sons went from the grave to Governor Bradford's house, and were then exhorted by Pastors Reynor, of Plymouth, Par tridge, of Duxbury, and Bulkley, of Marshfield, that they should " honor their reverend father " by fraternal harmony. Jonathan replied that though the elder son, who might by custom claim superior rights, he only desired an equal divi sion. " Here," said he, " are four of my father's dear and ancient friends, — Governor Bradford, Master Edward Wins low, of Marshfield, Master Thomas Prence, of Plymouth, and 1 This is indicated by the expression in Plym. Rec, xii. 115 : " William Brews ter, late of Plymouth." Hon. W. T. Davis, in his " Ancient Landmarks of Ply mouth," p. 131, mentions the Elder as dying in Duxbury; but a subsequent study of the inventory of the estate showed, by the clothing and other personal articles at the Plymouth house, that he was residing there in his last days. Mr. Davis in his next edition, as he notifies the author, will change his statement accordingly. Jonathan Brewster's wife was Lucretia ; they removed to Norwich, Conn., 1648, where he, from his correspondence with Governor Winthrop, Jr., seems to have been a leading citizen ; his children were William, Mary, Jonathan, and Benjamin. Love Brewster married Sarah Collier (daughter of WiUiam), 1634 ; they both died at Duxbury, 1650; their children were Sarah, Nathaniel, WiUiam, and Wrestling. Through these grandchildren the good Elder's name has descended in a most worthy manner. 432 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1644. Captain Standish, of Duxbury. If any difiference should arise, let their decision end the matter at once and forever." To this Love assented. The settlement was thus made harmo nious. Jonathan, as the " first born," was given his father's arms and a two-year old heifer; Love had an allowance for the board of his nephew, Isaac Allerton, Jr., whom the Elder had left for him " to table." All else was shared evenly. The inventory was as follows : — £ s. d. Clothing and Household Utensils at House in Plymouth 28 8 20 Articles at House in Duxbury 10708 Latin and other Learned Books, 64 vols 15 19 4 English Books, 211 vols 2707 £•^1^ 9 5 The land seems to have been divided without appraisal. The opening chapters of this book gave nearly all that is known of the youth and early experiences of this good and lovable man. During the first nine years of the Colony, when the Pilgrims were without a minister, he preached twice every Sunday, as Bradford says, " both powerfully and profitably," so that " many were brought to God by his ministry ; " " he was wise and discreet and well-spoken, having a grave and deliberate utterance ; of a very cheerful spirit, very sociable and pleasant, of an humble and modest mind, of a peaceful disposition, undervaluing himself and his own abilities, and sometimes overvaluing others; inofifensive and innocent in his life and conversation." He was beloved by all, though he hesitated not to tell people of their faults. He was espe cially sympathetic with those vvho had met with reverses of fortune, and " none did more offend or displease him than such as would haughtily and proudly carry and lift up them selves, being risen from nothing, and having little else in them to commend them but a few fine clothes or a little riches more than others." " In teaching he was very moving and stirring of affections, also very plain and distinct. . . . He had a singular good gift i644] STEPHEN HOPKINS. 433 in prayer, ... in ripping up the heart and conscience before God. . . . He always thought it were better for ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and tedious in the same, — except upon solemn and special occasions, as in days of humiliation and the like." Several pages might be devoted to the character of this sainted Pilgrim, but it is better to close here with Bradford's remark upon him : " I should say something of his life, if to say a little were not worse than to be silent." STEPHEN HOPKINS. In the year of Brewster's death (1644) died Stephen Hop kins. He joined the Pilgrims as they touched at England on their final voyage, and it is but recently that anything has been known of his previous life. Now, it appears that when, in 1609, Governor Gates sailed from England for Virginia, his chaplain, Mr. Buck, had as a lay-reader Stephen Hopkins, who possessed " much knowledge of the Scriptures, and could reason well in them." The ship having been wrecked at Ber muda, Hopkins maintained that as her people had engaged to serve the Company in Virginia, the landing at another place had vitiated the contract and released them from subordina tion. Gates, calling this treason, caused Hopkins to be sen tenced to death by court-martial. Hopkins bewailed the ruin which would ensue to his wife and children, and the chaplain, admiral, and other officers with difficulty brought Gates to pardon him. The stay on the island had then lasted six months, and to eke out the provisions deer had been caught in traps. Reference to the framing of the Compact in the " May flower " will show that strangers were advancing the same idea that had brought Hopkins into trouble eleven years before. It is not probable that he, with his family and sub stance, now preached insubordination; but his theorizings may have led his hot-headed employes, Dotey and Lister, into vaporing. It is now seen why Hopkins was the only man on 434 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1644. the first exploration to identify the deer-trap which subse quently caught Bradford. The first mention of Hopkins as one of the Pilgrims is on the birth of his son Oceanus. His prominence is shown by his title of Master, his two men " servants," his selection as one of Standish's counsellors on the first exploration, and as Winslow's colleague in the venturesome visit to Massasoit's home in 1621. He was also one of the Governor's Council in 1633-4-5-6, and perhaps earlier. While he was in the latter ofifice he was tried by his colleagues for assaulting John Tisdale. The jury, which included his old comrades, Stand ish and Howland, found him guUty; and his sentence was to pay £2 to Tisdale, and £t^ to the King, "whose peace he had broken." It was set forth that the penalty was made heavy be cause as a magistrate " he ought after a special manner to have kept" the King's peace. " King" of course meant Colony. In 1637 Hopkins' impartial friends fined him £2 for allow ing servants and others to sit in his house drinking and "playing shovel-board." In 1638 they fined him ;^i each on five complaints for selling beer, wine, and strong liquors at too great a profit. It was long common for the best citi zens to be intrusted with this traffic, as Constant Southworth, in Duxbury, and in 1660 William CoUier, the richest man in the Colony. Hopkins seems to have carelessly allowed his license to lapse, for in 1639 he was charged with selling " strong waters " without a license ; on " frankly admitting " the fact he was fined .^3, though the next year Francis Sprague, of Duxbury, for the same ofifence was fined only £1} In 1639, too, Hopkins was before the Court for selling at 16^. a looking-glass, "the like of which is bought at the Bay for 9^." No decision is recorded, but the case is inter esting as making the first mention of looking-glasses in the Colony. A four days' committal the same year for contempt of court has been noticed (p. 408). 1 Deacon John Doane, of Plymouth, and the future General Cudworth, of Scituate, were up on a like charge also in 1640, but the result is not stated. The license-laws, were always enforced with sharpness. 1644-1 STEPHEN HOPKINS. 435 It is not to be supposed that this sturdy old Pilgrim was not always a much-respected citizen. The law in such cases was vague and inferential rather than positive, — its penalties be ing largely discretionary with the Court ; and this prominent citizen, who was probably stubborn and argumentative, with a disposition to construe the law to suit his own ideas, may have been thought a useful subject for illustrating the impar tiality of the Bench. Perhaps, too, he annoyed his associates by becoming more lax in practice as he grew older, while they increased in strictness. There was a tender spot in the veteran's heart, for his Pilgrim wife having died shortly be fore him, he directed in his will that he be laid as near her as possible.^ He left two sons and five daughters, through whom he has not lacked many honored descendants, though of various surnames.^ Hopkins was a man of enterprise. At his land near Eel River (Plymouth), which he sold in 1637, there was a wharf, apparently several years old, and the first mentioned in the Colony. A farm near Yarmouth was left to his second son, Giles, whom he termed " heir apparent." His horse (the second mentioned in the Colony) was appraised at ;^6; of his fifteen neat-cattle, the yoke of oxen was held at ;^I5, and his cows at;^5 105. each. He had a share in a ship, and he retained, as his own dwelling, the house on the lot assigned him at the landing from the " Mayflower." This house stood opposite Governor Bradford's, on the easterly corner of Main and Leyden Streets. In 1652 it was hired by the Govern ment, which ordered Standish to construct in it a magazine for the public stock of gunpowder. The residue of the build ing was made into jury and committee rooms. It certainly was well that the jurymen had previously, under 55. penalty, 1 Governor Winthrop, Sen., in his English wiU of 1620, asks to be "laid near my godly and loving wives, if conveniently may be." (See Mrs. Alice Bradford's like request.) 2 One of his great-grandsons, with a weak hand but a stout heart, wrote " Stephen Hopkins " beneath the Declaration of Independence ; while the " signer's " brother was Ezekiel Hopkins, the first admiral of our national navy, the co-equal with Washington himself. 436 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1644. been forbidden to smoke while on duty; for such igneous recreation in the new state apartments would have imperilled the public quite as much as did the practice of the former owner when he allowed servants to sit there and play shovel- board. JOHN ATWOOD. In 1644 also died Mr. John Atwood, a prominent and wealthy citizen, who had come over about 1633. In 1638 hewas an assistant; in 1641-2-3-4, a deputy from Plym outh; and in 1641, Colonial Treasurer. He lived on North Street, near the Rock, in a house which in 1638 he bought of Governor Prence for ;^ 80. In 1649 his widow, Ann, sold this estate, for £SS' to Benjamin Vermayes, who the year before had married Bradford's daughter Mercy. The deed was careful to state that it included " all the fruit-trees on the land ; " but it excepted the shingles in the cellar, — which is the first notice yet found of this new covering fijr roofs.^ To this deed the excellent Mistress Atwood made her mark, as many of even the foremost dames of that day would have been forced to do. Mr. Atwood, with all his prominence, is frequently mentioned in the Annals as John Wood. (There was in Duxbury a less-known John Atwood, a weaver.) JOHN JENNEY (the Miller). A fourth noted death in 1644 was that of John Jenney. He was a man of property and enterprise ; but there is no evidence that, as reported, he owned the " Little James," in which he arrived in 1623. Yet in 1637 he had a "new barque," and in 1641 joined in building a ship. In the last-named year he endeavored to establish salt-works on Clark's Island; but no success is reported. In 1633 Stephen Dean was authorized to build on Town Brook a beating-mill, which may have meant a mill for rudely 1 In 1641 Mr. Thomas HiU, of Plymouth, had many apple-trees for sale. (See p. 399, for notice of roofs.) I634-44-] JOHN JENNEY. — MILLS. 437 pulverizing maize in great mortars, so that a portion of coarse meal could be had by sifting, while the residue was in form for hominy and other dishes. UntU then every family used a hand-mortar, though later little steel mills were not un known.^ At Dean's death, in 1634, it is probable that his mill was incomplete, for the General Court had just voted to make his wheel-pit a foot deeper, leaving him to furnish the " yron work." ^ In 1636 Jenney built a grist-mill on Town Brook. In 1638 he was indicted for not grinding well and seasonably ; in the year of his death his widow was presented because the mill was not kept clean, and she promised to have it better cared for. This mill, figuratively speaking, was often in hot water ; and so late as 1718, its then owner. Captain Church, who had left a lad in charge of it, was warned that unless it did better work, a rival mill would be permitted at the same place. Grist-mills were at first scarce, for their construction de manded more capital, science, and experience than could often be found, especially in combination; hence the miller was usually a man of much importance. Jenney was four years an assistant, and in 1641 a deputy. When, in 1645, Rehoboth was founded, Richard Wright built a mill, and the next year, because he would not leave it to serve as deputy, he was fined. In 165 1, when Bridgewater was founded, the only citizens to bear the title of " Master " were James Keith, the pastor, and Samuel Edson, the miller. So the early mil lers were men of good position. Until 1639 Duxbury ground at Plymouth, having easy ac cess by water. But in that year Thomas HUier and George PoUard agreed, at "their own pper cost," to build a "water mUne " to grind both " English and Indian ; " and it was a hundred and twenty-eight years before any rival mill was permitted there. Sandwich for years came a weary way to 1 In 1655 the General Court awarded Samuel Fuller the leather breeches, worth 20^., which William Pitman left on gomg away, in Ueu of a steel mUl which he stole from Fuller. 2 In 1635 the Court appointed a committee (Standish chairman) to see if a mUl could be built by subscription. The plan probably failed. 438 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1644. Jenney's miU, bringing her grists in boats, or on the backs of horses, bulls, and even cows; but in 1648, when her miller was charged with using an unsealed toll-dish, he was running the second mill on that site. The toll at Plymouth for the first two years was to be a " pottle " (two quarts) for a bushel, and afterward a quart. At Scituate (where the toll was a pottle) William Gilson built a wind-mill in 1636; in 1640 a saw-mill was also there (at " Stockbridge's Mills"), and it probably was the first in the Colony. Even in 1675 saw-mills were spoken of in the smaller towns at the Bay as a " late invention." From the beginning, at Plymouth, clap boards had been rived and shaved, as was much other short material, while planks were split out and hewed or sawed. Saw-pits were considerably used for nicer work. Massachu setts was much prompter in erecting grist-mills, for in 1629 Endicott received from London a hundred-and-ten buhrs for making millstones ; they cost 2s. each, and were bought of " Edward Casson, merchant taUor." The ship which Jenney helped build ^ was the largest yet undertaken at Plymouth, although its rate is given at only fifty tons, and its cost ;^200, — figures so small that one is led to doubt their accuracy, in view of the importance at tached to the affair. The cost was borne as follows: Mr. Paddy ,2 Mr. Hanbury, John Barnes,^ an eighth each; Gov ernor Bradford, Mr. Jenney, and his son Samuel, Mr. Atwood, Samuel Hicks, George Bower, John Cooke, Mr. WUlet, Mr. Hopkins, Edward Bangs, a sixteenth each. It is a matter of regret that nothing more can be found concerning this vessel. 1 See " Ship-building." 2 William Paddy came late to Plymouth. He was the Colony's first treas urer (1636) ; for nine years he served as deputy, and for some eighteen years as deacon. His wife, Alice, died 1651, and he removed that year to Boston; there he died 1658, while a selectman. He left the great estate of ;^2,758, bequeathed equally to his nine children. His name has long been extinct there. In 1831, during some repairs on the Old State House, his gravestone, with human remains, was found under the street. ^ In 1671, as John Barnes stood at his barn-door stroking his bull, the animal mortally wounded him by a sudden blow with the horns. 1651.] WILLIAM THOMAS. — JOHN LOTfiROR 439 Mr. Jenney's widow, Sarah, died in 1656, leaving ;^248. The name is worthily perpetuated in the Old Colony, but their descendants have paid little attention to their Pilgrim progenitors. WILLIAM THOMAS. In 165 1 died of consumption, at Marshfield, WUliam Thomas, aged seventy-seven. He was one of the Merchant Adven turers in 1620-7, and in 1630 came to New Plymouth. In 1 641 he was a deputy from Barnstable, also in 1646 from Marshfield, and for seven years he served as an assistant. He was a scholarly, public-spirited gentleman, though illiberal in religious matters. His son Nathaniel served in Philip's War, and of his later descendants many have been prominent. One ofthem — also a William Thomas — died at Plymouth in 1882, aged ninety-three, and ranking as the oldest surviving graduate (1807) of Harvard College. The gallant leader of the American right at the siege of Boston (1776) was of another family, though also of the Old Colony. In the old burying-ground at Marshfield may stUl be seen the gravestone of this worthy pioneer. The inscription reads — " Here lies what remains of WiUiam Thomas, Esq., one of the founders of New Plymouth Colony, who died in y' month of August, 165 1, about y" 78th year of his age." (There is close by, the stone of his son Nathaniel, who died Feb. 13, 1674, aged about sixty-eight, and who volunteered himself and his man for the Pequod War in 1637.) JOHN LOTHROP, the famous pioneer preacher of Barnstable, died 1654. He was an Oxford scholar, and became eminent as rector of Edgerton, in Kent, but renouncing his living, joined Jacob's flock in London. Jacob, as a Puritan, had sharply assailed 440 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1624-34. the Separatists, especially Robinson and his Congregational ists ; but Laud's persecutions driving him to HoUand, Robin son won him from Puritanism, so that in 1616 he opened in London the first Independent church in England.^ In 1624 Jacob went to Virginia, where he soon died. Lothrop suc ceeded him at London. In 1632 this flock was pounced upon while privately worshipping in the house of Humphrey Barnet, a brewer's clerk ; and while eighteen escaped, forty- two were thrown into prison. The laymen were the next year released on bail ; but Laud denied even such grace to the recusant pastor, though Mrs. Lothrop was in a mortal sickness. When her end drew near, however, Lothrop was permitted to leave his prison long enough to make her a parting visit, this boon having been granted at the solicita tion of their children, who called in a body on the Primate. After nearly two years, the King was persuaded to let Lothrop go into exUe.^ In 1628 some "men of Kent" came over and settled at Satuit (now Scituate). Chief among them were Nathaniel Tilden and sons, Henry Merrit, and Thomas Bird. After a time Giles Saxton preached there. In 1634 Lothrop (for merly of Kent) joined them as pastor, bringing some thirty of his London flock ; and to him came back thirteen of his people who had already domiciled at Plymouth.^ As this Kentish town grew, there arose the usual complaint of poor soil and scanty room; in consequence of which the great body of the church, headed by Lothrop, removed to Cape ' Robinson's congregation did not become Independent until it reached Leyden. ^ Lothrop's London successor, Mr. Canne, opposed infant baptism. The next pastor, Samuel Howe, was seized and kept in prison till his death, but his deacon, Stephen More, conducted lay services till freedom came in 1641. The site of the edifice used by this church when it began to worship publicly under the Commonwealth, was afterwards occupied by Thrale's brewery. The famous Dr. Johnson, as executor in behalf of his noted friend Mrs. Thrale, sold the estate to the " Barclay & Perkins " of his day; and the brewery of that noted firm still occupies it, and it was there that the Austrian marshal, Haynau, was mobbed in 1852 for having whipped women in the Hungarian rebellion. 3 In 1635 William Brooks, then cet. 20, came to Scituate, a passenger in the " Blessing," and married Susan Dunham, a widow. i6S3.] JOHN LOTHROP. 44I Cod and founded Barnstable. Yet Scituate prospered, and in time became the wealthiest and strongest town in the Colony. Barnstable also grew strong ; and one will be fortunate in deed if he can find two better or pleasanter communities than those of Lothrop's two towns. At the West Parish of Barn stable, still strong, is the church organization which claims to have been established by Jacob at London, to have been transplanted by Lothrop to Scituate, and then brought by him to Barnstable ; so that it is the original body of the first Congregational church in Great Britain. In charge of it, Lothrop died in 1653, full of years and honor. His son Bar nabas, an eminent magistrate in the last years of the Colony, was born at Scituate, 1636 ; married Susanna Clark ; and died at Barnstable, 171 5. His grandson, Isaac Lothrop of Plymouth (died 1750), was a highly esteemed judge of the Common Pleas ; and his sons, Isaac and Nathaniel, were noted men. Isaac (died 1808) was an earnest antiquary, who as judge of probate for thirty years, had great opportunities ; his brother, a physician, graduated at the head of his class in Harvard, 1756, and died in 1828, having long been the oldest person in Plymouth.^ 1 John Lothrop was one of the twenty-two children of Thomas Lothrop, of Yorkshire. Probably he was brother to Mark Lothrop, who died at Bridgewater (New Plymouth), 1686, aged about 89. (See "Memoirs of Lothrops," by Rev. E. B. Huntington.) I find that Lothrop is mentioned in a deed of 1641 as " minister," — which title was not then generally applied to the clergy. Lothrop's congregation had a thanksgiving feast Dec. 22, 1636 (o. s), "mak ing merry of the creature, the poorer being united of the richer." Dec. 11, 1639 (o. s.), was another festive meeting ; and it being very cold after praise, it divided into three companies " to feast together," some at Hull's, some at Mayo's, and the rest at Lombard, senior's. CHAPTER LV. THE PILGRIM TRIUMVIRS. )-kf; -cW-trM^ IN 1646 Massachusetts, justly fearing retribution for her cruelty to Gorton and her abuse of Dr. Child and his fellow-petitioners for religious toleration, engaged Governor Winslow of Plymouth to visit England as her representa tive, — a selection which she justified by his " presence, speech, courage, and understanding, as also being well known to the Commissioners." ^ Winslow's Plymouth associates dis approved of his mission ; and the very last sentence of Brad ford's History (in 1650) says of it: " He hath now been absent this four years, which hath been much to the weaken ing of this government, without whose consent he took these employments upon him." It was a sad day at the close of autumn when, turning forever away from scenes so dear and sacred to him, the gallant Winslow proceeded up the old path to the Bay. On the way his horse fell sick and died, — an omen which its somewhat superstitious rider might well have heeded. At Boston, the treasury being empty, he was detained until for his expenses the Colony could borrow ;^I00 from the merchants. In England Winslow found the places of his old enemies filled by the patriots of the Commonwealth ; and with these 1 Commissioners of Plantations of English Government. 1646.] EDWARD WINSLOW. 443 he acquired such influence as to save Massachusetts from all harm, though the Commissioners for Plantations upheld Gorton's full right to the lands and liberty which that Colony had so outraged. Gorton was at hand, and set forth his case in a bitter but not unjustifiable book, called " Simplicity's Defence." Winslow made a harsh reply (1646), under the title of " Hypocrisy Unmasked." The next year Dr. Child's brother made a much-provoked attack upon Boston and its representative, in " New England's Jonah cast up in London ; " and Winslow retorted with " New England's Salamander dis covered by an Irreligious and Scornful Pamphlet." As an appendix to his book against Gorton, is published Winslow's charming " Brief Narration," which is copied in Young's " Chronicles," and which gives us all that is known of Robinson's farewell address, besides much other Pilgrim his tory of the highest value. It redeems the volume from the reproach for bigotry and injustice which is merited in its main part; for, like most successful men, Winslow hardened with years, as he had illustrated only the year before he left Plymouth. The General Court had then received from Cap tain Vassall, of Scituate, and others, a strong petition for legalized toleration for men of every religious belief who would " preserve the civil peace and submit unto govern ment." No exception was to be made of Turk, Jew, Papist, Arian, or Socinian. Yet the majority of the deputies favored the plan; and it is said that the magistrates were equally divided. In the latter case, the liberals must have been Stan dish, Hatherly, Brown, and Freeman ; while against them stood Bradford, Winslow, Prence, and Collier. As the Court sat in one body, and the Governor had no veto, it was evident that toleration would be enacted if a vote should be taken ; so Winslow and his friends resorted to a Parliamentary trick, not yet obsolete, by procuring a postponement of the matter, under pretence of giving it a fuller consideration. Of this petition Winslow wrote : " You would have admired to have seen how sweet this carrion relished to the palate of most of the deputies." 444 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1649-55. Winslow soon turned to work more worthy of him, pub lishing a tract upon " The Glorious Progress of the Gospel among the Indians," with extracts from Eliot and young Mayhew. His labors led, in 1649, to the incorporation of the famous English Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England, and to a large private endowment of it. In 1650 President Steele, of this society, wrote to the Colonial Commissioners in New England that Winslow was unwill ing to be longer kept from his family, but that his great acquaintance and influence with members of Parliament required his longer stay. It also appeared that during his nearly four years' service, Massachusetts had paid him only the niggardly sum of ;^300. The Commissioners there fore gave him ;^ioo in view of his labors for the Indians. But the courtly Pilgrim soon found a more munificent em ployer, for his abiUty and worth recommended him to Oliver Cromwell. In 1652 the great Protector made him chairman of a joint English and Dutch commission to award damages to England for her vessels recently destroyed in neutral Denmark by the Dutch. He continued in such high favor with Cromwell that in 1655 he was sent as chief of three commissioners to cap ture the Spanish West Indies and establish himself as gover nor of Hispaniola. His colleagues were General Venable, who led the soldiers of the expedition, and Admiral Penn, in charge of the fleet. Through the mutual jealousy of these two officers, the attack on Hispaniola proved a failure and a disgrace. The fleet then sailed for what proved the success ful conquest of Jamaica. But Winslow was taken with a fever, — perhaps resulting from his chagrin at the recent dis aster, — and midway of the voyage he died, on May 8/18, 1655, at the age of sixty-one. The "grand commissioner" was buried in the sea ; and over the spot the fleet fired forty- two guns, as a salute of high rank. Thus died and was buried the youngest of the three great leaders. Edward Winslow, son of Edward and Magdalen (Oliver), was born at Droitwich, Worcester, 1595. He doubtless had I595-I644-] WINSLOW AND HIS FAMILY. 445 early social advantages beyond his associates, and a fair edu cation, though it is uncertain whether he was at college. His two marriages have been noticed. Mrs. Susanna Winslow sur vived until 1680, when she was laid in the Winslow burying- ground at Marshfield, where was the family estate called Careswell. Hers was an eminent position. She was mother of the first English child born in the Colony, and the " May flower's " cabin was his birthplace ; she became the wife of one governor of the Colony, and the mother of another, the latter being the first native-born governor of a North Ameri can Commonwealth. Of her elder children. Resolved White was living in 1690, with his posterity around him, and Pere grine survived until 1704, famous as the Colony's first-born, and as having even at threescore been most attentive and loving to his mother. Winslow left but one son, Josiah [^. v.] (2), the future gov ernor, who also left one son, Isaac (3) ; the latter left one son, John (4), a future general in the British army, and whose second son. Dr. Isaac (5), left a son John (6), and he a son Isaac (7), who died at Boston, — the last of the descent to bear the name of Winslow. The latter, however, has been honorably perpetuated through Edward's three brothers, who settled near him. John, who married Mary Chilton, of the " Mayflower," held various public positions in the Old Colony, but spent the later portion of his life in Boston, living on Spring Lane, where he died in 1674, leaving six sons; Kenelm, a carpenter, married Eleanor Newton, of the " Anne," widow of John Adams, and died 1672, leaving three sons; Josiah, the third brother, though a profitless accountant, became prominent in Marshfield, where he was for thirty years town-clerk, and was a deputy, one son surviving him there. Edward Winslow was governor in 1633, 1636, and 1644, assistant for some twenty years, and Colonial commissioner during the first year of the Confederacy. His abilities and character can have been of no common order, and his pro longed absence was well described by Bradford as weakening 446 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1656. the government, for his place was not again filled during the Colony's lifetime.^ JfL&3 S/firJa^ A. D. 1656, the year following Winslow's death, brought that of the Colony's veteran captain. About 1631 he had removed to an exceptionally good tract between a high hill and the shore in Duxbury. The hill is now from him caUed Captain's Hill, and upon its summit is a fine monument to his memory.^ Adjoining his farm was that of Elder Brew ster, and near by gathered many prominent citizens. The first personal knowledge extant of Standish is that when young. Queen Elizabeth gave him a commission in the army then aiding the Dutch against Spain. The Pilgrims at the outset made him captain-in-chief, and that post and rank he held to his death. The date of his birth is supposed to have been 1584. In 1645, when the Narragansets were threatening, and troops were summoned, Standish occupied the river-bank opposite Providence with the Plymouth contingent of forty men, all armed with snaphances, ten days before the Massachusetts troops were afield with their matchlocks. As the Providence people, under guise of neutrality, were openly furnishing the savages with supplies not a mile from his encampment, he compelled them to take sides and suspend this hostile traf- 1 It is a notable fact that the only authentic portrait of any of the Forefathers is one of Edward Winslow, painted in London 1651. It will be seen in the copy given that the face indicates great strength of character, and that the hair and dress are not suggestive ot austerity. The only suspicion of any other portrait is one supposed on good grounds to be of Myles Standish. 2 Ground was broken for this monument in 1872, the corner-stone being laid October 7 that year. The monument had reached a height of seventy-two feet Oct. 7, 1876, when work ceased for nearly a decade, but has now been carried to completion. The shaft, which is a slightly tapering battlemented stone tower, is surmounted by an heroic statue of Myles, fourteen feet tall. The whole monu ment is over one hundred and ten feet tall, and cost more than $40,000. 1653-6.] MYLES STANDISH. 447 fic.^ Fortunately war was averted by the prompt show of the English forces; but in 1653-4, the Dutch preparing to as sault the United Colonies, Plymouth raised sixty men, and her veteran captain, then in his seventieth year, left the council of war and took his place at their head. The force was to march twenty miles to the Manomet trading-house, and there take Samuel Mayo's barque, the " Adventure ; " but just as it was about to start (1654), came the happy news that Crom well had met with another " crowning mercy," by which the humbled Dutch had been led to renew their natural alliance with the English. Standish's last months were full of suffering from gravel and strangury. He had himself made a study of medicine, and seems to have served as physician at Duxbury, as Pastor Danforth did at Taunton, Governor Winthrop in Connecticut, and first Chauncey and then Dunster at Scituate. As in 1652 Dr. Matthew Fuller had gone from Plymouth, leaving no regular practitioner there, Standish could not readily obtain even the rude treatment of the times, and from his anguish death is said to have been a welcome relief. He was buried with much ceremony, probably in a burial-ground near his hill, but there is no exact knowledge of the site.^ In his will I His force was out nearly three weeks. The drummer, William Chase, of Yarmouth, had 5^. extra pay. Each soldier was provided with i lb. tobacco, I lb. gunpowder, 3 lbs. buUets. The powder cost the Colony 2s. per lb. ; the whole supply of tobacco cost ;^i ys. ^d. In 1642 a permanent council of war (twelve members), with large powers, was established. In 1653 every town was required to keep a drum (costing ^'4), and a stand of colors (£2). * The grave has at last, in all probabihty, been found. In the summer of 1887 the Duxbury correspondent of the Boston " Herald " ascertained that "About sixteen years ago Benjamin Prior, a once wealthy shipbuilder of Dux bury, died in the almshouse. Before his death he informed Mrs. Ruth Hall, daughter of Olive Standish and mother of Caroline B. HaU, that Captain Stand ish was buried in the old cemetery at South Duxbury. Since he died a memo randum to that effect has been found. Prior said that his father told him of the burial, he having learned it in turn from his father, who said that he attended the funeral, and that the grave was marked by two three-cornered stones, one at the head and the other at the foot. " The Priors were long-lived ; Benjamin dying at the age of ninety-five years, and noted for his remarkable memory. The intervening two hundred and thirty- 29 448 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1656. he mentions his " dear loving wife, Barbara," as still living,^ and directs his body to be laid as near as convenient to his " two dear daughters," Lora and Mary. The latter, the wife of his third son, Josiah, was daughter of John Dingley, of Marshfield; she was married in 1654, and died the same year, but not until she had won a place in the warm heart of the old soldier. The indifference which allowed us no knowledge of even the vicinity of these graves, was disgraceful, and those so creditably honoring the noble veteran's hill-top might well have added to their work a systematic search for his resting-place. Standish was also eminent in civil duties. He excelled his one years since the death of Standish, Oct. 3/13, 1656, can be bridged by three people having an average age of seventy-seven years." The cemetery referred to is a short distance west of Hall's Corner, South Duxbury. One finds to-day in its centre a grave marked by two three-sided pyramidal stones, one at the head and the other at the foot, while two depressions close by show other ancient graves, — without doubt, those of his two daughters. To further prove that the grave is Standish's, Mrs. Hall, a short time before she died, told an "Old Colony Memorial " correspondent that when a little girl she went with her mother one afternoon to see old Dr. Wadsworth. During the afternoon two men calling, the Doctor said to them : " Go out with me, gentle men, and I will show you where Captain Myles Standish is buried." Upon their return to the house Dr. Wadsworth casually observed : " It is very singular that they could find two three-cornered stones to mark his grave with." A subsequent anonymous criticism in the " Memorial " disputes the Prior tra dition on the grounds that Hall's Corner Cemetery was not consecrated ground at the time of Standish's death ; that he would not have previously placed his daughters in unconsecrated ground; and that the term "honorably buried" would not have been applied by Morton to the Captain himself had he been buried in the before-mentioned place. This correspondent thinks the debatable interment took place in that old Harden HiU burial-ground formerly surround ing the first church in Duxbury, which territory, with its occupants, has been partially washed away by the sea. We feel inclined to believe in the Priors' statements, in spite of the preceding exception taken. Standish was a man not filled with respect for things conse crate (unless, indeed, he was a Roman Catholic, in which case Congregational consecration might have had less than no weight with him), and would very likely have instilled his own freedom of views into those who were of his family. The post-mortem honor of being interred in consecrated ground would be bar ren indeed, even at that devout period, when added to the reputation, life, and services of one like Myles Standish. Around the " lot " a rude and massive stone battlement has been thrown as a mural monument. On each comer a large can non is mounted, while from a staff within this little fortalice waves ever the flag of that newer republic which he who sleeps beneath helped to found. — En. I In 1659 she witnessed Elizabeth Hopkins' will. 1656.] STANDISH'S OFFICES AND RELICS. 449 associates in acquiring the Indian language, — a study which doubtless had much to do with his attaching Hobomok to his person from the first ; a curious comradeship, which ended in settling that sachem on Standish's Duxbury farm, and caring for his old age at the captain's own fireside. Standish was therefore of especial value in all transactions with the natives, in peace or war ; as an explorer, surveyor, trader, arbitrator, and magistrate, being in constant request. He was for six years treasurer of the Colony, and for some twenty-nine years an assistant.^ The narrow policy of the Confederacy in re stricting the commissionerships to church-members, deprived that board of the benefit of his presence. Yet for a long period, as mUitary commander, he had far more power than ever was given to the Governor; and if he had not been among the truest of comrades, he might have made himself a strong and troublesome master. His thatched dwelling stood some thirty rods from the sea, but from the washing away of the shore the site is now very much nearer.^ He had a good view of Plymouth with its harbor, and from the hill which sheltered him on the north having a fine look-out, which included even Cape Cod. The house fell to his oldest son, Alexander, who had married Sarah, the daughter of John Alden, — a union which must have delighted the veteran fathers, who had lived in one family during the terrors and anxieties of the first year of the Colony. Some ten years after the captain's death the house was burned with an adjoining store, and in the fire were lost most of the souvenirs of the old hero. Standish's spring is still distinct on the hill, and is said to have been stoned-about by his own hands. The cellar of the house is also distinct; and within recent years several relics 1 In 1656, as Standish was breaking-up, Alden was chosen treasurer in his stead. Standish had received no salary, and the Court now presented him with the £1$ remaining in his hands, and with two barrels of oil which belonged to the Colony. 2 The pioneer settlers found the region of Captain's HUl thickly wooded. Wolves ranged all about, and for protection from them, as well as from Indians, a. long palisade was built. Many wolves were kiUed thereabouts, one thirty years after Standish's death. 450 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1656. have been found in it, which are now in Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth. The sorrow one feels over the accidental burning of Standish memorials is faint beside the indignation with which he learns that people living in the last generation used to see the captain's armor and helmet, in good condition, in possession of a descendant at Plympton, who, by mere negli gence, allowed them to decay and disappear, and that a sword of the old hero's was, by the same person, lent for use at a neighboring muster, and not being reclaimed, was lost. Even now many Pilgrim relics are disappearing in like manner. Of the extent of Standish's early education nothing is known, but his library indicates a man of literary tastes and studious habits. The Iliad, Caesar's Commentaries, and Barifife's Artillery suggest a love for martial classics and science ; historical tendencies are shown by several volumes ; the number of books on controversial theology is curious for a non-church-member's collection; the dictionary hints at philological pursuits, for at that day such a book was not always found in libraries of more pretension. The list of his books, with the prices afifixed by his executors, is as follows : — £ ^¦ History of the World, and Turkish History i 10 Chronicle of England, and Country Farmer 08 History of Queen Elizabeth, State of Etirope i 10 Dr. Hall's Works, Calvin's Institutions i 04 Wilcox's Works, and Mayor's i 00 Rogers' Seven Treatises, and French Academy 12 Three Old Bibles 14 Caesar's Commentaries, Bariffe's Artillery 10 Preston's Sermons, Burroughs' Christian Contentment, Gospel Conversation, Passions ofthe Mind, The Physician's Practice, Burroughs' Earthly Mindedness, do. Discoveries . . . . i 04 Ball on Faith, Brinl/s Watch, Dodd on the Lord's Supper, Sparks Against Heresy, Davenport's Apology lo Carried forward ;^9 02 1656.] STANDISH'S EFFECTS AND ORIGIN. 45 1 £ s. Brought forward 9 02 A Reply to Dr. Cotton on Baptism, The German History, The Sweden InteUigencer, Reason Discussed 10 One Testament, Psalm Book, Nature and Grace in Conflict, A Law Book, The Mean in Mourning, Allegations, Johnson Against Hearing 06 Parcel of Old Books, divers subjects 4to 14 " " " " " 8vo 05 Wilson's Dictionary, Homer's lUad, Commentary on James Ball's Catechism 12 II 09 John Alden, James Cudworth, "' \ Dec. 2, 1656. VORTH, ) Among Standish's effects were five horses and colts, worth ,^48, with two saddles, a pillion, and one bridle; four oxen, ^24; ten cows and calves, eleven sheep, and fourteen swine (but no cart or carriage is mentioned). There were also a fowling-piece, three muskets, four carbines, two small guns, a sword, and a cutlass, — the number of muskets just equal ling that of the Bibles. He also had sixteen pieces of pewter, a dozen wooden plates (trenchers), three brass kettles, four iron pots, a skillet, a warming-pan, two spinning-wheels, a stUl, and a malt-mUl. The whole personalty was appraised at :^358 7^. / the land and buildings being set at ;^I40, — making a very fair estate for the times. Standish was from a family which, under the Plantagenets and " Roses," won knightly honors and manorial power; but in the thirteenth century the house had divided, the elderi branch living at Standish Hall, and the other at Duxbury Hall, both in the parish of Standish. Myles seems to have come from a subdivision of the former, in the neighboring village of Chorley. He claimed the inheritance of this sec tion of the family, in his will, as follows : — " I give unto my son and heir-apparent, Alexander Standish, all my lands, as heir-apparent by lawful descent, in Ormistic, Bousconge, 452 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1656. Wrightington, Maudsley, Newburrow, Cranston, and in the Isle of Man, and given to me as right heir by lawful descent, but surrepti tiously detained from me, my great-grandfather being a second or younger brother from the house of Standish of Standish." 1 Early in this century the American descendants of Myles began an inquiry into the case. It was found that while Elizabeth's commission indicated Standish's birth as in 1584, the leaf for 1584-5, in the Chorley parish-register, had been pumiced so carefully as to leave no trace of the writing, though the record is otherwise complete from 1549 to 1652. This defaced page is not even now open to inspection. In 1847 ^^- Bromley, an attorney for the heirs, obtained leave as an antiquary to examine the volume, but the rector, find ing him searching for Standish's birth, arrested him under some ancient law, and enforced on him a fine of about £7S> with the alternative of imprisonment; and he even refused to certify that the register is illegible at that point. The in cumbent of Chorley seems to act as watch-dog for a patron who doubts the soundness of his titles. It is quite evident that the legal proof of Standish's birth and descent has been destroyed to secure a fraudulent transfer of his inheritance. I These places are now Ormskirk, Burscough, Wrightington, Mawdesly, New burg, and Croston. They are in three parishes of the Hundred of Leyland, in which is also Standish parish. These estates are not the main property of the famUy, but seem to have been a younger brother's portion. In 1656, the year of Standish's death, also died Ralph Standish, proprietor of Standish HaU ; he was son of Alexander, son of Edward, son of Alexander (married, 1518), and this Edward was a "second or younger brother from the house of Standish of Standish." Was he not Myles' great-grandfather? In Myles' time Duxbury Hall was held by Thomas Standish, son of another Alex ander, son of Thomas, son of James, son of Thomas (married, 1497) ; neither is thought to have been a second son. Myles is supposed to have been born in Chorley parish, the church of which is also the burial-place of the family at Duxbury Hall. (See W. H. Whitman, N. E. Gen. Reg., xxvii. 145.) Wigan and Chorley are some eight miles apart on a north and south line. Duxbury Hall is about one and one half miles southerly ft-om Chorley; Standish is some three miles northerly from Wigan, four miles southerly from Duxbury Hall, and twenty miles northeast from Liverpool. The five estates first men tioned are along a nearly parallel zigzag line, some five or six miles to the westward. Alexander doubtless endeavored to enforce his claim to this property, for he had in England an attorney named Robert Orchard. He left ;^6oo. 1656.] STANDISH'S CHARACTER. — FAMILY ROMANISM. 453 The latter, which is now of great value, including farms, vil lages, and coal-mines which yield half a miUion dollars a year, is hopelessly beyond the reach of the PUgrim's heirs. No portion of Pilgrim history is more romantic than the part taken in it by Myles Standish. The others sought a home where they might worship God according to their con sciences, rear their children in a virtuous atmosphere, and aid in disseminating the Gospel. Standish can hardly have felt any of these influences. He was not of their Church, and so little had he to do with it that some theorists have supposed him to have been an adherent of Romanism, as the Standish Hall family has ever been.^ Moreover, his fair Rose was childless. An officer in the British army, brave and gal lant, he had a tempting vista before him through the ending of the twelve years' truce with Spain ; and his family connec tion must have been of advantage in any event. A man of choleric temper, having a taste for authority, energy and military skill, he at the age of thirty-six turned his back on the attractions of the Old World, and allying himself with the weak and well-nigh friendless Pilgrims, was for thirty-six years longer their most chivalrous, devoted, and modest associate. For Standish no work was too difficult or dangerous, none 1 The Standishes were on the Lancashire estates not long after the Con quest, Thurston de Standish appearing in 122a as one of the Norman barons. Hugh Standish, his son, was at Duxbury HaU in 1306. His descendant, Sir Richard Standish, was there in 1677, and Sir Frank Standish in 1812. In 1442 Sir James Standish and Jane, his wife, of "Dokesbury HaU," gave to Chorley Church, in presence of Vicar Tarleton, of Croston Church, the head of St. Law rence, which Sir Rowland Stanley, brother of Lady Standish, had brought from Normandy. Richard II. knighted John Standish for being the first to wound poor defamed Wat Tyler after the mayor had felled the victim. Sir Ralph Standish was a commander against France under Henrys V. and VI. Alexander Standish was knighted for valor at Hutton Field, 1482. Ralph Standish mar ried the Duke of Norfolk's daughter, and came near losing his head for joining the Pretender. Dr. Henry Standish of this family was bishop of St. Asaph, and was a famous scholar; he strove on his knees to persuade Henry VIII. not to leave the Church of Rome, and he had been one of Katharine's advisers in the King's divorce suit. The Jesuit Gerard, one ofthe Guy Faux conspirators, was also called Father Standish, and was probably of this family. At the Reforma tion the Duxbury Hall family went with the Protestants, while that at Standish Hall adhered to the Roman Church. 454 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1657. too humble or disagreeable. As captain and magistrate, as engineer and explorer, as interpreter and merchant, as a ten der nurse in pestUence, a physician at all times, and as the Cincinnatus of his colony, he showed a wonderful versatility of talent and the highest nobility of character. Great as a ruler over others, he was far greater as a ruler over himself His services merit our warmest gratitude, and challenge our admiration. He was the man of men whom the Pilgrims most needed to come to them, and nothing was more im probable than that such a one would do so, or if he did, that he would long remain loyal, steadfast, and submissive to the voice of the people. No man ever more decidedly had a mission, and none ever more nobly fulfilled it. mktiL ^m^joA. In the harvest-time of 1656 Standish went to his rest. In the next seed-time Bradford followed. The intervening win ter had been to the Governor one of debility, but not of pos itive illness untU May I7th.^ That night he was filled with " inefifable consolations," as Mather relates, and in the morn ing declared that " the good Spirit of God had given him a pledge of the first-fruits of his eternal glory.'' The next day he died (May 9/19, 1657), at the age of sixty-seven. His last resting-place was happily selected. It is on the brow of Burial HUl, looking down on that spot where from the early days was his happy home. All along, just below it, lies the town of which he was in such large part the founder and guardian; farther out lies the harbor, with its islands and headlands, including that monumental hill where lived his great comrade Standish; and in clear weather, across the sparkling bay, appears Cape Cod, where his young wife, Dorothy, found a watery grave before Plymouth had been 1 He last presided in court Feb. 13, 1657 (n. s.) ; March 15th he was absent from iUness, and CoUier took the chair then, and also at the next session, May 4th. I62I-S7.] BRADFORD'S GOVERNORSHIP. 455 reached. It is a beautiful and grand panorama, which offers to the eye not a few of the most interesting landmarks of Pilgrim history. It was no common procession that bore the dead leader up that sharp ascent. The whole community stood sadly and reverently by while the grave was filled. The trainband fired over the spot the volleys due to a chief magistrate ; but, according to Colonial usage, there were no other ceremonies. Yet the mourning was profound throughout the United Colo nies of New England, for he was everywhere regarded " as a common blessing and father to them all." ^ From Carver's death in 162 1 Bradford had been governor continuously, except for three years of Winslow and two of Prence. Even in those years he was senior-assistant, which was in fact deputy-governor. For five years he had been a Colonial commissioner, and for two years president of that congress. This continuous service had been against his wish. He in 1624, and Roger White in 1625 for the brethren still at Leyden, had strongly upheld the policy of rotation in the chief ofifice ; but the people would not consent to it, until in 1633, as Winthrop records, Bradford " by importunity gat ofif," and Winslow was chosen. In 1634, Winslow going to England, Prence was governor. In 1637 again the burden was laid on Bradford ; but his " importunity " secured the election of Prence in 1638. The law required the governor to live at Plymouth ; and Prence, who was settled in ease at Duxbury beside his wealthy father-in-law. Collier, was rather inclined to pay the fine of ;^20, and remain on his broad acres by Captain's HiU. At length he accepted, on con dition that Bradford continue governor untU he himself should be ready to move. The records add, that to this Bradford " condescended," provided he should not be compelled to remain in ofifice more than three months. Surely the times have changed ! ^ 1 See Bradford's Monument, p. 467. 2 The govemor had no salary in Bradford's time. In 1638, probably to pay the cost of Prence's removal to town, a salary of iiS4o a year was voted, but it 456 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1639-57. In 1639 Bradford was again governor, and so continued until his death, save during Winslow's service in 1644. Yet in 1655 he filed eight objections to a re-election. Hewas chiefly troubled at the lukewarmness of the people in maintaining a learned ministry, and at the neglect of the deputies to adopt the Massachusetts system of universal taxation for this pur pose. He also complained because they would not pass laws for the suppression of error. He seems to have been so far encouraged in the matter that he finally remained in oflfice ; but the clergy were left to depend on voluntary contributions until three months after his death. He was also empow ered to appoint a deputy-governor to relieve his labor, but never did so. In June, 1656, he was chosen governor for the thirty-first time, and Standish was again placed by his side as one of the assistants. When the freemen next gathered in their " court of election," it must have been with fuU hearts and moistened eyes that they regarded those two vacant seats. Although New Plymouth was still a small colony, the governor's duties were heavy ; for he was chief-justice, minis ter for foreign afifairs, speaker of the General Court, and audi tor of the treasury. Yet Bradford seized time for grave study and for writing his History. In 1650 he wrote the closing lines of this invaluable work, and added that full list of " Mayflower " passengers ; but he brought the body of the History down only to 1646. At the bottom of the last section he wrote: " Anno 164'y. And Anno 164%," — an entry which shows his intention of continuing the work. But during the remaining seven years of his life, time and strength were wanting. He was a diligent letter-writer and an excellent one, which renders the extensive destruction of his letter- book especially lamentable.^ In connection with his Hebrew studies, he wrote eight pages of exercises, with English was soon rescinded, — perhaps on Bradford's re-election, as is shown by the primitive process of crossing out the entry in the official journal with no note or comment. 1 See Preface, page xiv. 1657-1 BRADFORD'S WRITINGS. 457 explanations, and bound up the sheets with the manuscript of his History, where they are still preserved, with this comment by him : — " Though I am grown aged, yet I have had a longing desire to see with my own eyes something of that most ancient language and holy tongue, in which the law and oracles of God were written ; and in which God and angels spake to the holy patriarchs of old time ; and what names were given to things fiom the creation." * Like many sturdy writers of prose, Bradford had a weak ness for poetical composition, and in his will he said to his executors : — " I commend unto your wisdom and discretion some small books written by my own hand, to be improved as you shall see meet. In special, I commend to you a little book with a black cover, wherein there is a word to Plymouth, a word to Boston, and a word to New England, with sundry useful verses." ^ These " small books," so historically valuable, disappeared generations ago, and their very subjects are unknown, except, strange to say, those poetical bantlings for which their author was so solicitous. Cotton Mather says of Bradford : — " He was a person for study as well as action, and hence, notwith standing the difficulties through which he passed in his youth, he attained unto a notable skill in languages. The Dutch tongue was be come almost as vemacular to him as the English ; the French tongue he could also manage ; the Latin and the Greek he had mastered ; but the Hebrew he most of all studied, because, he said, he would see 1 Bradford's Hist., Deane's Pref., page xiv. 2 Governor Bradford left 275 books. Joseph B. Waters, Sharon, Mass., has his Bible, printed 1 592. It is in Old English letter ; the covers and margins are worn nearly down to the reading. It has a family record from the Governor's birth in 1590, Mr. Waters being in the seventh generation. Dr. Prince, who had these "small books " (1736), says in his preface that one contained, in Bradford's own hand, a register of the early deaths, marriages, and punishments at Plymouth ; and in another place he says (vol. i. p. 72) that it in cluded " a register of deaths, etc., from Nov. 6, 1620, to the end of March, 1621." He also refers to "a little ancient table-book of his son. Major William Brad ford, . . . from 1649 to 1670." 458 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1657. with his own eyes the ancient oracles of God in their native beauty. He was also well skilled in history, in antiquity, and in philosophy ; and for theology, he became so versed in it that he was an irrefragable disputant against the errors, especially those of Anabaptism, which with trouble he saw rising in his Colony ; wherefore he wrought some significant things for the confutation of those errors. But the crown of all was his holy, prayerful, watchful, and fmitful walk with God^ wherein he was very exemplary." Evidently the constant pressure of the bigotry which ruled the Bay Colony had an efifect on Bradford's later years, and led him to great despondency over the growing laxity of his own people. The increasing conservatism of age, too, tended to lessen his former liberality, and led him to desire the interference of the law for the assessment of church expenses.-' Yet in private life he remained a liberal, courteous gentleman, as is pleasantly shown in the journal of DruUlette, a French Jesuit, who came to Boston in 1650, and improved the oppor tunity to spend a day at Plymouth. He especially mentions Bradford's kindness, and the fact that, the day being Friday, the Governor gave him an excellent dinner oifish. Bradford, unlike Winthrop, was remarkably free from the prevalent superstition of his times. He never renounced the names of the days and months ; he declined to express an opinion that the great eclipse of 1635 had any connection with the preced ing storm ; he never mentioned the comets which so gener ally alarmed even the educated people of that century ; nor has he even alluded to witchcraft, over which princes, eccle siastics, universities, and magistrates of the highest standing in Europe and America were then as mad as their most igno rant neighbors. Through long years he sowed the seed of liberality, and his is the glory, though in his old age he left 1 The meddlesomeness of the oligarchs of the Bay was without limit. In 1656 they complained to the Congress of Commissioners that Plymouth would not lay a compulsory tax for the support of her clergy. It is true that she was then poor ; her eleven towns, with their three hundred voters, had fewer churches in proportion than any other of the United Colonies, and her small salaries did not always command the most learned preachers. The Colony for a long time was in discredit from laxity, and poor Bradford in his later years became much discouraged at the prospect. 1657-] NOBLE CHARACTER OF BRADFORD. 459 Others to tend the crop. He was the man of a thousand — yea, of many thousands — for the especial place which called him to its service. Wonderful indeed was it that a single shipload of yeomen and artisans, cast up like waifs on the shore of an unknown wilderness, should have had not only a Carver, Brewster, and Fuller, but also such a greater trio as Winslow, Standish, and Bradford. Since the earliest thought of emigration from Leyden, as in the hegira from England, Bradford had been among the foremost. In all the early perils and labors of the settlement, he stood side by side with Carver, Standish, and Winslow. In bodily labors he wrought beside the strongest ; in action he was ofthe bravest; and in council he led the wisest. From that sad day when the handful of convalescents fired their matchlocks over the grave of Carver, to that which, more than a third of a century later, saw his own departure, he had gone before the foremost, and stood without a peer. Many pages might well be filled with his eulogy, but the subject may be most fitly left with his own words upon Elder Brewster: " I should say something of his life, if to say a little were not worse than to be silent." This review has from the first been an almost continuous biography of William Bradford, for his life was so interwoven with that of his Colony that the record of either is the history of both. The poetic period of the PUgrim Republic ended with its adop tion of a statute-book and a legislature ; and its history rarely rises above the merest common-place after those three consecutive years in which died Winslow, Standish, and Bradford. CHAPTER LVI. Governor Bradford's Family and Others. — Bradford's Widow. — The Carpenters. — Constant and Thomas Southworth. — The Bradford Children. — Major William Bradford. — Thomas and Mary Cushman. — Elder Faunce. — Secretary Morton. — Captain William Pierce. — Massasoit. — Deaths. BRADFORD'S WIDOW. GOVERNOR BRADFORD'S widow, after long debility, died April 5, 1670 (n. S.), aged about eighty. She asked in her will to be laid as near to her husband " as may conveniently be ; " and on the third day after her death her body was borne to the spot with especial ceremony.^ The Colony records tell us that she was a " godly matron, and much loved while she lived, and lamented, though aged, when she died." In Chapter XXIII. was pointed out the absurdity of the tradition as to her youthful relations with Bradford. There is a not more probable tradition that she brought a fair property from England. She is said to have labored dili gently for the improvement of the young women of Plymouth, and to have been eminently worthy of her high position.^ By her first marriage she had two sons. Constant and Thomas Southworth, whom on coming to America she left, probably for education, with their father's relatives. Constant came over 1 Indicated by the record " honorably interred." 2 It has been inferred that her labors were in the direction of literary edu cation ; but such training was not then the rule among women below the gentry. Mrs. Bradford, like many genuine ladies of her time, could not write her name ; her mark may be found at the bottom of her will, also as witness with her husband to a will in 1651, and to an instrument recorded in 1659. She left ,f 162 17.?., and made a small bequest to her servant, Mary Smith. 1612-87.] THE CARPENTERS. 461 to her in 1628, and Thomas soon after. Through the former this lady is said to be the ancestress of all the Southworths in this country. The year next after the funeral of this distinguished matron, another Mrs. Alice Bradford was added to the family group on Burial Hill. She was Alice Richards, wife of William Bradford, Jr., and the mother (1654) of a fifth William Brad- ford.i She died Dec. 22, 1671, aged about forty-four, and the record of her burial, two days later, adds, " She was a gracious woman." She left four sons and six daughters. THE CARPENTERS. Governor Bradford's wife had four sisters. It is not known when Alexander Carpenter, her father, died, nor when his family returned from Leyden to their old home at Wrington, in Somersetshire;^ but about 1644 Mary Carpenter was at the latter place, and had just buried her aged mother. A brother of Winslow's who went on business to Bristol, some eight miles from Wrington, took over a letter from the Brad- fords, who invited Mary to come to them; they would be " helpful " to her, though they had grown old and the country was more unsettled than formerly, for the ministers were returning to England, where they now found peace. The poverty of the Carpenters is indicated by Bradford's oflfer to pay her passage (about ;^5), if she needed it. She came; and to the entry of her death in 1687, aged about ninety, the record quaintly adds : " She was a Godly old maid, never married." Another of the sisters, Agnes (or Anna) Carpenter, became the second wife of Dr. Samuel Fuller at Leyden, in 161 2 ; she died before 161 7, when FuUer married Bridget Lee, who so long survived him at Plymouth. Juliana, another sister, became George Morton's second wife, also in 1612, at Leyden, and came to Plymouth in 1623 1 See Chapter XXVI. 2 Sixteen miles west-southwest from Bath. 462 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1662-79. with her husband and five chUdren. Her second husband was Manasseh Kempton, who died in 1662, and of whom it is recorded : " He did much good in his place the time God lent him." His widow died Feb. 19, 1665, aged eighty-one, and was buried the next day. The record pays her this trib ute : " She was a faithful servant of God." The youngest of the Carpenter sisters was Priscilla, who came to Plymouth soon after 1627, and was married to Wil liam Wright, whose death was noticed in the account of the locust year, 1633; in 1634 she became the wife of John Cooper, first of Scituate, and then a leading associate of Lothrop's in founding Barnstable, from which town he was a deputy, and where he bequeathed half his large property to the church. Priscilla, who left children, died in 1689, aged ninety-one. So four of these sisters exceeded an average age of eighty-five years. CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH was about fourteen years old when he rejoined his mother at Plymouth. He and his brother were received by Bradford as own sons, and their advanced studies were under his care. They did him and their mother ample credit, becoming leading citizens. Constant, who settled at Duxbury, was a volunteer for the Pequod War in 1637, and the same year he married Elizabeth, daughter of William Collier. They had five daughters and three sons, the latter being Edward, Nathaniel, and William, — names common among their de scendants. Constant for seventeen years was deputy from Duxbury, and for sixteen years was the Colony's treasurer ; on the death of his younger brother he succeeded him as an assistant, and served for nine years. At the breaking out of Philip's War he disregarded his sixty-one years and went out as commissary, but soon yielded the arduous place to the famous warrior Church, who had married his daughter Alice, the namesake of his mother. In 1679, while still treasurer, Mr. Southworth closed his useful life, aged about sixty-five. i65i.] CAPTAIN THOMAS SOUTHWORTH. 463 The Southworths of our broad nation should not allow Burial Hill to continue without a memorial to him and his mother. CAPTAIN THOMAS SOUTHWORTH was some two years younger than Constant, but he was even more prominent. Though only twenty-eight when Elder Brewster died, he was proposed as his successor ; but Brad ford, who designed him for the civil-service, caused the substitution of another of his prot6g6s, — Thomas Cushman. Thomas Southworth, in 165 1, was a deputy from Plymouth; the next year he became an assistant ; and so continued by annual election for the remaining eighteen years of his life, save three years in which he was at Augusta in charge of the Kennebec trading-post. For three years he is recorded in the novel character of a member of each section of the leg islative body (1652-3-4), being a deputy from Plymouth and an assistant for the Colony at large. This was practica ble, as the two branches sat and acted as one. He was also for nine years a Colonial Commissioner. As a soldier Thomas was as active as his brother, and be coming commander of the trainband in 1659, received the title of captain, by which he is generally mentioned. For several generations those who bore the name of Southworth, and those who married the female descendants, were almost without exception brave soldiers in the Colonial wars. Indeed the family came from a long line of English knights, the Southworths of Southworth, but the descent having, three generations before Edward, passed into the younger line, the title had gone elsewhere. Thomas married an Elizabeth Raynor (not the pastor's daughter) ; they had but one child, Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Howland's son Joseph, to whom the Captain bequeathed his rapier and belt, while leaving his house and land to his daughter. In 1654 died John Faunce, who had married Southworth's cousin Patience Morton. At the head of his grave during his burial stood a pitiful group of little orphans left in pov- 30 464 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1669. erty; but Lieutenant Southworth, taking by the hand Thomas, a boy of eight years, led him away to adopt into his family, and transmitting that which he had received from Governor Bradford, gave the orphan a good education, secular and religious. When another generation gathered reverentially around Elder Faunce, the connecting link between two cen turies, he forgot not to tell the story of his benefactor, and to declare that for the training thus given he should have " rea son to bless God to all eternity." For strange to say, the eldership which Mr. Southworth had declined in early life, fell when next vacant to the orphan whom he had fitted for whatever station might await him, and who became the last ruling-elder known in Plymouth. Captain Southworth died Nov. 28, 1669, when only fifty- three, while his mother was still living. The record says: " He was a very Godly man ; and he lived and died full of faith and comfort, being much lamented by all of all sorts, sects, and conditions of people." ^ THE BRADFORD CHILDREN. Governor Bradford had in Leyden one child, John, whom he probably left there in charge of his father-in-law. May, — very likely the Elder May some time at Amsterdam. John came over not before 1627. He became an active citizen of Plymouth and married Martha, daughter of Thomas Bourne, of Marshfield. He removed to Norwich, Conn., where he died childless in 1678. By his second marriage the Governor had William, born 1624, Mercy about 1626, and Joseph in 1630. Mercy mar ried (1648) Benjamin Vermayes, who attained no prominence. Joseph married Jael Hobart, daughter of the famous Hing ham pastor, and they had two sons, Joseph and Elisha (the latter of whom had thirteen children) .^ He died at Stony 1 This shows the liberality of Captain Southworth, and also indicates the harmonious co-existence of various sects in the Plymouth congregation, — a fact several times alluded to in these pages. 2 Elisha nanied one of his sons Carpenter Bradford. 1656-1702.] MAJOR BRADFORD'S OFFICES. 465 Brook (two and a half miles from Plymouth village) in 171 5, aged eighty-four. The elder brother requires a more extended notice. MAJOR WILLIAM BRADFORD. His first wife, Alice, has been mentioned in connection with his mother. He next married a " Widow Wiswall " (not reUct of Pastor W. — Drew), who was mother of his son Joseph. His third wife was Mary, widow of John Holmes, pastor of Duxbury, and daughter of John Atwood. Their children were Israel, David, Ephraim, and Hezekiah. The nine sons and six daughters survived their father ; from them has come a numerous and widespread posterity. In 1656-7 William Bradford, Jr., was deputy from Ply mouth; in 1658 he became an assistant, in which office he served for twenty-four successive years, and for the re maining ten years of the Colony's existence filled the new ofifice of deputy-governor, save in the three years of Andros' tyranny, though even then he was in the nominal Council of New England. For twelve years he was a Colonial Commis sioner, now by direct election, and now by substitution. In 1695-1702, or longer, he was judge of probate. His entrance into the board of assistants is not pleasant to contemplate, for he was placed there as the representative of that new school of illiberality which was then proscribing Hatherly and Cud worth, Skiff and Robinson, for their opposition to the pro ceedings against the Quakers. Bradford was a high-minded gentleman by nature ; but, unlike his sire, he was less a man of genius than a follower of precedent and usage. This made him wofully inefficient as a leader in Philip's War, while he was a gallant subordinate. Major Bradford of course had received from his father a good education. He was fond of antiquarian pursuits, espe cially such as related to his ancestors, and was a Latin scholar. He was not only very careful as to the preservation of his father's Latin books, but he bequeathed them to a nephew 466 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1656-1704. whom he thought more inclined to their study than were any of his nine sons. Among the Bradford papers so lamentably lost from the " Old South " was, as Dr. Prince says, " A little pencil-book wrote with a Blew-lead Pencil," by Major Wil liam. The little volume would probably be of high value, could it be found, and might fiU many blanks in Plymouth's history.^ Major Bradford lived at Stony Brook, in the Jones River parish of Plymouth, and died there March i, 1704 (n. S.), aged eighty. He had requested to be laid beside his father ; but, for a wonder, the Plymouth road was impassable from snow. The funeral procession therefore followed the shore of the harbor for the two and a half miles, so that the dead veteran entered the village close by the Rock on which his father originally landed.^ A stone, "with uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture 1 Major William left his father's manuscript History to his eldest son, Major John Bradford, who in 1728 gave Dr. Prince the "small books " mentioned, and authorized him to reclaim the History from Judge Sewall and deposit it in the "Old South" (see Preface, page iv.). Dr. Prince had then been twenty-three years gathering this library. The famous manuscript is a folio seven and one-half inches by twelve, backed with parchment. On the cover is some interesting scribbling by the Governor's children, amid which can be traced the name of his daughter, Mercy Bradford. 2 Dr. James Thacher, historian of Plymouth, when eighty-nine years old talked on Pilgrim matters with the present writer. He well and long knew Ebenezer Cobb, who clearly remembered this funeral procession along the beach. " Father Cobb " was acquainted with Peregrine White, born in the " Mayflower," and for half a century was contemporary with Elder Faunce. Mr. Cobb was born at Plymouth, 1694, while John Cooke and Mary AUerton Cushman, of the " May flower," were living, and he died at Kingston, 1801, aged a hundred and seven years, eight months. So his life more than included the entire eighteenth century. These pages are thus connected with the last surviving Pilgrims by merely the overlapping lives of Father Cobb and Dr. Thacher. Dr. Thacher, fifth in descent from Anthony of Thatcher's Island memory (see p. 389), was born 1754 and died 1844, aged ninety. He was an army-surgeon in the Revolution ; he was the first custodian of Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, serving from 1820 till his death, and continuing active and zealous to his last year. It was something to listen to the sprightly veteran who had known so many of Elder Faunce's audience when he bade adieu to Forefathers' Rock. William Thomas, of Plymouth (see Index), with whom the writer conversed in 1879 and who died in 1882, was twelve years old at Mr. Cobb's death, and knew him. So the lives of these two veterans more than covered the period from Mrs. Cushman's death to that of President Garfield. I6S4-67-] ELDER CUSHMAN. 467 USKE. LIESY BODY OF i HONOURABLE, W^0& WHO EXPIRED EEB'y'^O Ifel IfOif >tCH.D 79 YEARS |£i^ |h.alf a ton in a day ; this made some two hundred and fifty pounds of good iron, and was worth in the rough state about $3, — a large return for a day's work in Colonial times. In many cases there was a par tial renewal of ore, so that ponds were profitably re-dredged after something like twenty-five years. I cannot learn whether or not the process is even now going on, but it probably is, at least in some places. 1652.] OLD COLONY IRON WORKS. — LEONARDS. 529 working that it extended to several of the towns, and devel oped allied branches of the business.^ The production of bog-iron is not now mentioned in the statistics ; but the cen sus does show that in the Old Colony, less the slices taken off by Rhode Island, the products of iron reach some $10,500,000 yearly, — a sum more than a half greater than the reported value of all the domestic manufactures and agricultural products. How much of this immense business is due to that pioneer mill at Taunton of 1652, and the gen erations of skilful, thoughtful men there graduated, no one can tell ; and while the name of Robinson is of highest honor among the iron-workers of the Old Colony, that of LeonaYd is pre-eminently worthy of some conspicuous memorial from the disciples of Tubal Cain.^ 1 In 1665 three men of the Taunton iron-works were excused from " training," when their work needed. The same year the Court ordered that better iron be made. The first fire-arms made in this country were by Hugh Orr, a Scotch inhabi tant of Bridgewater, Mass. In 1748 he made for the province five hundred mus kets, which having been stored in the castle at Boston, were carried away by the British at the evacuation in 1776. The Bridgewater iron-works made cannon- balls and anchors for the patriots. The first cast-iron tea-kettle was founded at Carver about 1760. Open ket tles were long made of wrought-iron, brass, or copper, as a general thing. The French ship's kettle found on Cape Cod by the Pilgrims was probably of wrought-iron ; if cast-iron, it would have been too heavy, filled with corn, to be carried on a wilderness march by two men in armor. In 1647 certain Nipmucks complained that Uncas' brother, in a raid, had carried away ten of their copper kettles. Yet where portability was unimportant, cast-iron pots must have come into use, to some extent, soon after Child's successful attempt at casting them. But who used his " stoves " ? ^ There is a tradition that Philip's gratitude to the Leonards for kindnesses led him to prevent his people from molesting Taunton. Unfortunately for this pleasant story, Taunton was attacked very early, and people were killed there ; but their half-dozen blockhouses, and the soldiers usually present, afford a more probable explanation of her partial immunity. Yet the Leonards' blockhouse is said to have been attacked, and two of its young women having been killed, were buried under the doorstone, lest the savages exhume and dismember the bodies. CHAPTER LXI. Ability of Clergymen. — John Cotton, Jr. — Ralph Partridge. — John Holmes. — Ichabod Wiswall. — Thomas Walley. — Jonathan Russell. — William Leveredge. — Captain Tupper. — Richard Bourne. — John Smith. — George Shove. — Samuel Danforth. — Marmaduke Mat thews. — John MiUer. — Thomas Thornton. — Richard Blinman. — Edward Bulkley. — Samuel Arnold. — James Keith. — Theodore Edson. — Samuel Treat. — John Mayo. — Thomas Crosby. — John Sassamon the Martyr. — The Mayhews. THE pulpits of the four " United Colonies of New Eng land " were more generally fiUed by University men than were the pulpits of Old England. Even in the least wealthy Colony (New Plymouth), the best scholarship ofthe day was represented to an extent which leaves our own complacent generation small room for boasting. Mention has been made of Pastors Smith, Williams, Raynor, Chaun cey, Lothrop, WethereU, Dunster, Newman, Myles, Hooke, and Street (some may add Blackstone), — all but one from English universities, and coming quite directly from the pul pits of the Church of England. Of the laity, Brewster had been at Cambridge, England ; Bradford would have honored any of the colleges, while Winslow and Standish, if not schol ars, were scholarly. There were also many other preachers whom lack of space alone excludes from the extended notice their merits would justify. JOHN COTTON, Jr., AND OTHERS. For thirteen years, from Raynor's exit, Plymouth was with out a pastor. Elder Cushman preached acceptably; but the 1637-75] COTTON. — PARTRIDGE. — WISWALL. 531 pulpit was for a short time occupied by two clergymen, — James WiUiams and WUliam Brimsmead. In 1667 it came under the ministration of John Cotton, Jr., a Harvard scholar, and son of the famous preacher of the two Bostons. After highly successful labors, he left in 1697, not free from a moral taint. From 1664 to 1667 Cotton had served under Mayhew as a missionary to the Indians, whose tongue he had so mas tered that he subsequently became the reviser of Eliot's Indian books.^ Duxbury's first pastor was Ralph Partridge, a scholar from the English Cambridge, and a former rector. He was of such repute that the Bay Synod of 1646-9 solicited his ad vice on certain points. He served Duxbury from 1637 till 1658, in which latter year he died, full of honor. His suc cessor was John Holmes, who in 1658 was called from Har vard CoUege to this charge. He honored himself by condemning the treatment of the Quakers, — a wrong which he feared God would specially rebuke; in 1675, only three weeks before his death, he declared in a Fast-day sermon that the passing years had not changed his feeling on this point. (His wife [married 1661J, Mary Atwood, daughter of John, became Deputy-Governor Bradford's second wife.) Duxbury's third pastor was Ichabod Wiswall, a native of the Massachusetts Dorchester. He entered Harvard when the course was three years (before his graduation it was made four years) ; but at the end of the three years (1647) he, with Brimsmead (p. 467) and others (including Josiah Winslow, it is said), took their departure. Wiswall was essentially a " political parson." He so vigorously defended the rights of the poor in Clark's Island, which Andros had conveyed to his creature Clarke that Andros had him before his Council, and compeUed Wiswall to make three horseback journeys from Duxbury to Boston (228 miles) whUe so suffering from gout that he could not wear shoes, but must ride with his feet bandaged in towels; before the Council the resolute preacher was kept standing on his inflamed feet 1 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., viii. 228. 532 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1638-1700. untU at the point of fainting from the agony. He was also assessed heavy fees. In 1691 Wiswall was sent to London to guard Plymouth's interests, with the partial aid of Increase Mather, who was also there in the Bay's behalf. When, to Wiswall's intense grief, Plymouth had been forced into an nexation to Massachusetts, he roundly charged the result to the " impudence '' and duplicity of Mather, aided by those " who are wont to trot after the Bay horse." Wiswall was proficient in astrology; and in 1680 both he and WethereU, in their pulpits, insisted on the connection of Governor Wins low's death with the comet of that year. Yet he was a man of learning, power, and sincerity, and his death (1700) was very widely mourned.^ At Barnstable Lothrop was followed by Thomas Walley (1663-78), and he by Jonathan Russell (Harvard, 1675). Sandwich first settled William Leveredge (about 1638), who led a troubled life, none the more quiet from his adoption of Chauncey's idea of observing the Lord's Supper every Sunday in the night-time. In 1654 he removed to Oyster Bay, Long Island, making the passage with his wife and goods in Samuel Mayo's barque " Desire," under Captain Nickerson. The pastor's disquiet was not ended ; for Baxter, a Rhode Island privateer, captured the " Desire," with her lading, taking her to New Haven. Rhode Island disavowed the act, and Baxter was made to restore his plunder. Lever edge eventually became a noble missionary to the Indians. A curious disposition was then made of the Sandwich pul pit. The people were divided between Captain Tupper, a soldier, and Richard Bourne, a merchant of education and of some wealth. It was agreed that on each Sunday the pulpit be taken by the candidate who had the greater number of adherents present at the time. After four years John Smith, an educated minister, was settled.^ Tupper and Bourne there- 1 Wiswall's stone is the oldest in the Duxbury burying-ground. 2 He had left Barnstable through disaffection, largely due to his brother-in- law, the future Governor Hinckley ; he went to Sandwich, 1658, and left through discords, after thirty years' service. 1639-1727-] TAUNTON. — YARMOUTH. — MARSHFIELD. 533 upon devoted themselves to the Indians, and formed several congregations of them. Bourne was still in this work a quarter of a century later, and his descendants nobly be friended the posterity of his dusky disciples. The thrifty town of Mashpee is a memorial of this family.^ At Taunton, Street was followed by George Shove (1665- 87) , a native of Dorchester and graduate of Harvard, whose name has worthily descended. Next ( 1 687-1 727) came Samuel Danforth, member of a family of rare and varied attainments ; he graduated at Harvard (1683), and was proficient in law and medicine, as well as theology. His name is still honor ably represented in the Old Colony. Yarmouth first settled Marmaduke Matthews, a learned but erratic man (Oxford), who probably served 1639-45. John MUler followed (abotit 1646-52) ; and in 1662 Thomas Thorn ton was called, but, like his predecessors, he was plunged into much controversy; he was a man of education, and, like so many of his cloth, practised as a physician. It was in his time that the clergy began to be generally given the title of " Reverend," although Lothrop, of Barnstable, had been so designated. At Marshfield, several substantial Welshmen settled by in vitation of Governor Winslow, and with them came Richard Blinman, who was pastor there in 1641-2 ; he was a scholar, and may have been in advance of the times, for he was in dis favor as " new cloth on an old garment." He and his coun trymen soon went to Cape Ann. Next came Edward Bulkley (Harvard College), the "able and learned" son of the first pastor of Concord, whom he succeeded in 1660. During the writing of this page (1882) a Bulkley of the old stock has 1 In 1794 three of Bourne's great-great-grandsons were in the United States Congress ; his grandson Ezra was the first Common Pleas judge in Barnstable County. In 1670 the senior Bourne was regularly ordained at Mashpee by the Apostle Eliot. He loaded one son with the name Shearjashub. Tupper died April 7, 1676 (n. s.), aged 97, in the height of Philip's War; his wife, Anne, died two months later, aged 90. In 1787 his great-grandson was preaching to the Indians at Herring Pond and River, where his ancestor labored. 534 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1662-1719. been inducted to the same pulpit. Marshfield's third minister was Samuel Arnold. Bridgewater's first preacher, settled in 1662, was James Keith, a Scotch graduate from Aberdeen University; he was not only learned, but wise, and was more humane than his class, who generally made up for a lack of mercy by an over plus of sternness. His relations with his parish must have been happy, for he served it until his death, in 17 19, more than a quarter of a century after the demise of the Colony. His deacon and father-in-law was " Mr. Samuel Edson, the miller," whose descendant. Dr. Theodore Edson, was the first minister (Episcopal) settled in Lowell, where death closed his sixty years' rectorship in 1883.^ SAMUEL TREAT. The John Eliot of Cape Cod was the third pastor at East ham. John Mayo, of Barnstable, had served in 1646-9, and Thomas Crosby had succeeded him on Mayo's transfer to the " Old North " in Boston. Both were unpopular, and to re lieve Crosby an early custom was changed ; namely, that of requiring the raters to assess a " minister's tax," and then leaving the preacher to go around and collect it, with the odium of a tax-gatherer if he was efficient, and impoverish ment if he was not so. Mr. Treat, eldest of the twenty-one children of Governor Treat of Connecticut, graduated at Harvard, 1669; he was settled at Eastham, 1672, at £$0 a year, with house, land, and firewood.^ He was wont in his stalwart sermons to dwell on the delight with which the tortures of his impenitent hearers would be witnessed by God, while they writhed in hell with 1 Samuel Edson's wife, Susanna Orcut (married 1637), was " of majestic fig ure and great benignity." Mr. Keith's wife was her daughter Susanna. Deacon Edson died 1692, aged 80. The ruling elder of this church (1675) was Mr. Brett. '^ Mr. Mayo, in old age, came back to die in Barnstable. In 1674 Treat mar ried his daughter Eliza, who died i6g6, leaving eleven children. He then married widow Esterbrook, daughter of Pastor Willard of the Old South, Boston, and she bore him three children. 1695-1717-] PASTOR TREAT'S LABORS. 535 " a thousand devUs rending and tearing and macerating " them through all eternity. Yet he was a man of kind and joyous spirits,^ much given to humor, and fond of practical jokes, over which he indulged in peals of laughter which were then of most unclerical sound. Treat was a great favorite with the Indians. He learned their language and spent much time visiting their poor huts. The oppressed squaws derived considerable social benefit from these visits, as his example taught the new lesson of their equality with the men. In 1695, on the Cape, east of Yarmouth, he had five hundred and five " Praying Indians," with fifteen hundred children, all of whom he was teaching, with the aid of eight native helpers. His labors were greatly blessed, but he lived to see his flock rapidly dwindling before pestilences which the white people vainly strove to avert. Fifty years after his death this Indian population was but a hundred and six; in 1802 it had fallen to four, and now there are none.^ In March, 171 7, came "the great snow," which for several days blockaded the Boston magistrates who had gone to Pastor Brattle's funeral at Cambridge.^ As the tempest swept over Eastham, Treat lay dying with palsy. The wind so eddied around his parsonage that it was left, untouched by snow, in the basin of an enormous circular drift. Under this barrier a tunnel was excavated for the funeral train. The Indian converts assisted in bearing the body, and the toilsome way required many relays. It was a sublime sight as down that crystal archway and on through the outlying drifts their venerable pastor was borne to his grave by the united hands of his white and his red disciples, — the returning laborer 1 In 1684 Jabez Snow's vfife, for raiUng expressions at Mr. Treat, was fined IOJ. 2 In the Old Colony limits, in 1763, were only 905 Indians; on the islands 671 : total, 1,576. About that time they began to blend with the negroes, pro ducing a race vastly more peaceable, industrious, and teachable. Indians of pure blood became scarce, and are now practically unknown. Massasoit's only known lineal descendant is a woman with two strains of negro blood. ' Brother of Major Thomas Brattle, founder of Brattle Street Church, Boston, with whose funeral this is often confounded. 536 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1637-75. surrounded by the living sheaves. No titled potentate ever had burial more truly royal.^ JOHN SASSAMON, THE MARTYR. This settled preacher of the Old Colony has been much misrepresented. He was a Punkapoag Indian, born at Dor chester of parents who became Christians. He served with the English in the Pequod War (1637), ''¦nd was subsequently a student in the Indian department at Harvard College. He was next at Natick, under Eliot. In 1664, Philip having asked for a teacher of reading, Eliot twice sent his son to him, and finally detailed Sassamon for the work. Eliot also advised that this teacher be paid by the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. After a time Sassamon re turned to his Natick home. Finally, through Eliot, he was settled over the Namasket converts in Middleborough. There the sachem gave him twenty-seven acres of land, so that he was both a settled minister and a landholder under the gov ernment of New Plymouth.^ In January, 1675, Sassamon discovered that Philip was secretly plotting the destruction of the whites and the sup pression of Christianity among the natives. He nobly did his duty to the government under which he lived, and to his fellow-Christians, by laying the information before Governor Winslow; but stated that in so doing he was putting his Hfe in great danger. A week later his body was found in As sawampset Pond,^ near his home, whUe his hat and gun lay on the ice by a hole, as if he had accidentally fallen in (Feb. 8, 1675, N. s.). The Government, ordering an autopsy, 1 Mr. Treat's grave-stone has by chance kept its place, and is conspicuous in Eastham burying-ground. It mentions his " very zealous discharge of his min istry for the space of forty-five years, and laborious travail for the souls of the Indian natives." He was aged 68. Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the "Decla ration of Independence," was his grandson. '^ This sachem (Watuspan) also gave a neck, containing fifty-eight and one half acres, to Sassamon's sister Betty (and her husband, Felix) ; and from her the place is now called Squabetty. 8 This pond, 4x6 miles, is the largest in the State. 1675] SASSAMON'S MURDER. 537 soon discovered that he had been killed by blows and the wringing of his neck. PhUip then came to Plymouth, asking to be examined, but knew well that no evidence against him had revealed itself; so he was necessarily acquitted, though believed guilty. In the ensuing spring Patuckson, who had kept silent through fear, came in and testified that, from a hill, he had seen the murder committed by three Indians, — Tobias, Tobias' son, and Philip's counsellor, Mattashinnay. The three were arrested. A jury of twelve excellent citizens was sworn ; and to secure a full understanding of the details of the case, five " grave " Indians were added to the panel. After a care ful trial, the seventeen agreed on a verdict of guilty. Tobias' son then confessed that his two fellow-prisoners did the deed, but not with his help. Those two were hanged June 8/18, 1675. Philip during all these proceedings had kept ominously aloof, and before a month had passed visited Swansea with massacre and pillage. Probably young Tobias would have been pardoned, although his guilt had been fully proved ; but in view of Philip's operations his sentence was carried- out, after a month's delay.^ Sassamon's murder seems to have been quite as much to stop his conversion of the savages as on account of any spe cial information he may have been able to give. Gookin strengthens this view by calling him " The First Christian Martyr of the Indians." Eliot records that he was " a man of right eminent parts and wit," and that " his death was much bewailed " by the English. Few writers seem to have known of Sassamon's high standing with these two eminent philanthropists, hor of the further fact that he was not a sub ject of Philip's, but that his allegiance was entirely due to the Colony in which he was an established pastor and land- o\vner. From Hubbard and Increase Mather down, it has been the custom to belittle, and sometimes to malign, this faithful convert; but with the loving indorsement of Eliot 1 The story of his having been reprieved for a month because his rope broke at the first execution, is not authorized by the records. 538 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1635-57. and Gookin, he is entitled to an honorable place among the preachers ofthe Old Colony.^ THE MAYHEWS. Though this glorious quintet lived not on the soil of New Plymouth, their relationships and influences connect them with its history. Thomas Mayhew, a merchant, was at Med ford in 1635 as Matthew Cradock's agent, and had some difference with the Government. In after years he acquired the conflicting titles of Gorges and of Lord Stirling to the Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands ; and thither, from Watertown, in 1642 he sent his son Thomas (aged twenty-six). The young man at once mastering the Indian tongue, devoted himself to missionary work, and in 1643, three years before Eliot's first Indian sermon, converted Hiacomes, who proved a worthy assistant. In 1644 his father came to conduct the secular business. The son's converts multiplied, and glowing accounts of his labors were printed at London. In November, 1657, to stimulate missionary work, he sailed from Boston for Eng land in an old but large vessel (four hundred tons), called, from its Charlestown captain, " Garrett's Ship." Among her fifty passengers wfere Mayhew's brother-in-law and several young scholars of unusual promise. The excellent Gookin, unable to get a berth in her, reluctantly went in one of two smaller vessels. Joyously these three ships went together 1 Munroe's "History of Bristol" calls Sassamon Philip's "secretary," and says that as such he was intrusted with all Philip's plans. This is sustained by no evidence whatever. In fact, Philip had no plans. Mr. Munroe also calls the Wampanoags Sassamon's " kindred," which they were not ; nor is there the least authority for his further statement that Sassamon once abjured Christianity and went to live in heathenism with Philip. He also ignores the fact that Sassa mon owed Philip no allegiance, but that he did owe it to New Plymouth, and was by every sense of duty, legal as well as moral, bound to reveal any plots coming to his knowledge. Freeman's " History of Cape Cod " terms Sassamon a " renegade Indian ; " and this sneer at his conversion to Christianity is made as if it in some sort pal liated his atrocious murder. Yet the author of that work was supposed to be, like Sassamon, a Christian preacher of the Old Colony. i68i-i7S8.] THE MISSIONARY MAYHEWS. 539 down to the sea ; but while the lesser craft both came safely to port, " Garrett's Ship " has never been heard from.^ The father, then sixty-nine years old, was no idle mourner, and paid to his son's memory the noblest possible tribute, by himself taking up the missionary work so violently inter rupted. Hiacomes co-operated zealously, and their labors in the Vineyard and at Nantucket were blessed with new churches and increasing civilization. In 1681 the patriarch went to his rest, the snows of ninety-three winters on his head. For eight years he had been assisted by his grandson John, eldest son of the lost missionary, and this young man now took charge of the work. When, eight years later, John also died, at the age of thirty-seven, his eldest son, Experi ence, though but sixteen years old, consecrated himself to the sacred labor of his ancestors, and persevered in it untU called away in 1758, at the age of eighty-five. He was not a scholar of the colleges, but Harvard honored herself by making him a Master of Arts.^ He left four sons, of whom Zachariah, the youngest (and the only one not sent to col lege), took up the duties which his dying sire had laid down. With entire devotion he wrought on to his life's end, but in his latter days his heart was saddened by the steady wasting away of the aboriginal population. Thus lived, labored, and died these five generations of Mayhew-men, who successively turned away from ease and honor, and in a higher walk of life made their name sublime. 1 The loss of " Lamberton's Ship " was a parallel. This 80-ton craft in 1646 left New Haven for England, carrying several prominent colonists. By cutting the ice for three miles out from her wharf, she was enabled to pass into Long Island Sound, — never to be heard from. George Lamberton, her owner, went in her, as also did the wife of Lieutenant-Governor Goodyear. Goodyear eventually married the widow of Lamberton. " Garret's Ship " is often described as new ; but on her last previous voyage Pastor Hooke went over in her, and was alarmed at finding her " too old." — 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vii. Thomas Mayhew, Jr., left four boys and two girls. He died poor, and the widow received some aid from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which also supported the oldest son at Harvard CoUege, requiring him to es pecially study the Indian tongue. His mother finally married Mr. Sarson, of the Vineyard. ^ Experience Mayhew's first wife was Governor Hinckley's daughter ; his second was granddaughter of Missionary Bourne. CHAPTER LXIL JOSIAH WINSLOW. — THE DEATH OF SACHEM ALEXANDER. (^^'J/'>^y [JAr^. — THIS son of Plymouth, born in 1628, seems to have in herited his father's position as the " gentleman " of the Colony, and on uniting himself with Penelope, the accom plished daughter of Herbert Pelham, to have made his patri monial home of Careswell (in Marshfield) the seat of elegant hospitality. He was well educated (presumably at Harvard) ; but while excelling his father in liberality, he fell far short in strength of character and body. Yet he was a general favor ite, and as soon as he came of age was made a deputy from Marshfield; at thirty he began a term of sixteen years as assistant, from which office he passed to the Governor's chair, and from that was borne to the grave. ^ He was also a Com missioner of the United Colonies for some twenty-one of the last twenty-three years of his life. In the great Narragan set campaign (1675-6) he was general of the confederated forces.^ 1 Winslow presided in court for the last time Nov. 6, 1680 (n. s.) ; he died Dec. 28, 1680 (n. s.), aged 52. " In 1673, when troops were raised under Cudworth to resist the threatened foray of the Dutch, Winslow presented the corps with a drum, while Sergeant Thompson, of Scituate, Lieutenant Hunt, of Rehoboth, and Captain WiUet, of Swansea, each gave a halbert. (In 1675, during Winslow's administration, it was ordered that four halberts be carried before the Governor on the first day of each session, and two on the other days.) 1676-7.] GOVERNOR JOSIAH WINSLOW. 541 Randolph, the King's emissary, in 1676-7 found the ameni ties of Careswell a pleasing contrast to the indignities so liberally extended to him at Boston; and Winslow, hoping through this courtier to grasp the elusive charter which in the former generation his father had so eagerly pursued, made a free use of social blandishments. Randolph wrote to the King that Governor Winslow was " a gentleman of loyal principles," and had been of " great courage and conduct" in Philip's War, which having been chiefly won by him and his troops, " makes him to be feared and not loved by his neighbors, the Bostoners." Winslow, he added, misliked the disloyal conduct of the Boston leaders toward the King's person, and thought their encroachments on the rights and trade of the other Colonies such that security and prosperity could only be secured by the King's assump tion of direct powers of government, — a change which would be willingly accepted by Connecticut and Plymouth. Much of this probably was merely surmised by Randolph, but the graceful Governor, in striving to please this courtly foe of the " Bostoners," may have led him to imagine some things not stated in words. Still, a continued complaint of the Bay Colony's arrogance is quite evident. In Winslow's last year Randolph, strong Episcopalian as he was, became a freeman of New Plymouth and took the oath of fidelity to it. He made strong promises of assistance at the English Court, and it is quite probable that but for Cudworth's sudden death (p. 505), Randolph would have caused the phantom charter to " materialize." Winslow was both a child of the first marriage in the Colony, and the only native governor; still, he had a strong attachment for his "kin beyond the sea," and in 165 1, during his father's employments in London, seems to have been with him for a short time. The father's portrait was painted, and the son's doubtless made at the same time. The two origi nals now hang side by side in Pilgrim Hall. In the young Governor's last years he was much regretting that official cares would not permit another visit. His experience was excep- 542 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1662. tional among the leaders of the Colony in seeing of the latter neither the beginning nor the end ; for before his birth (1628) it was firmly established, and at his decease (1680) it bade fair to be perpetual. His early death was widely mourned. The General Court conducted the funeral with oflficial cere mony, and the cost was paid from the Colonial treasury. The people present must have been deeply impressed, as among the mourners they saw Peregrine White, the Colony's first born, and Resolved White, a boy in the " Mayflower," the dead Governor's half brothers, and beside them the only sur viving signer of the " Mayflower " Compact, John Alden, with Priscilla still on his arm. SACHEM ALEXANDER. A notice of Josiah Winslow involves some mention of Philip's War, but the reader of this already too-extended re view must be left to seek most of the details in Palfrey's New England, Dexter's edition, of Church, and Baylies' Memoir. Mather's account is incomplete, and Hubbard's unreliability has been shown (page ix).^ One misrepresentation by the latter has given rise to much unjust criticism of Plymouth. The following account of the case so falsified by Hubbard, was given by Major William Bradford to his pastor, Mr. Cot ton ; from this authority there is no appeal, especially to a writer of notorious inaccuracy, who lived in another Colony and wrote from hearsay fifteen years after the transaction. Bradford's narrative is substantially thus : — In the summer of 1662 came rumors that Alexander (who had succeeded his father in 1660) was plotting with the Nar ragansets for the destruction of the whites. As he was bound with Plymouth in a league of offence and defence, and had long been protected by it, he was called upon to appear and clear up the matter. As he did not come, though near by, Brad- 1 A serious mistake of Hubbard's assigns the Sudbury fight to April 18, 1676 (o.s.) ; this misled many writers of repute, and has found its way into the in scription on the two successive monuments over the slain. The true date is clearly April 21 (o. s.) See N. E. Gen. Reg., vn. 7, 221 ; and xx. 135, 341. l662.] ALEXANDER. — HIS DEATH. 543 ford, with Winslow and some others, went to fetch him. Alexander was at Halifax Pond, not ten mUes from Ply mouth. He and his company saw the whites approaching, but were so unconcerned that they did not go out to their stacked arms, nor even discontinue their breakfast. Alexan der readily consented to return with Bradford and Winslow, and said that he should have presented himself as requested, had he not waited for Captain Willet's return from Manhattan. The party then went to Collier's, in Duxbury, where a satis factory conference was had between Alexander and several of the magistrates. The chief and his party then went their way. Two or three days afterward Alexander presented himself at Winslow's house in Marshfield, saying that he was on his way to Boston. While at Winslow's he was taken very sick; he was then carried by water to Bradford's house in Plymouth. Thence his people bore him overland to the river in Middleborough, where he was re-embarked and rowed to his home. A few days later he died.^ This is the only existing account from any one having a personal knowledge of the matter, and its accuracy is beyond question. Yet Hubbard has circulated a story of violence, and of the consequent death of Alexander with a broken heart; and nearly every writer has sentimentally repeated the tale as historic fact. There is not a particle of evidence showing any incivility toward the chief, nor did Philip, whose random talk against Plymouth long found a ready and sym pathetic listener in Massachusetts, ever make any complaint to her on this score. There is no reason to suppose that any iU-feeling among the Indians grew out of the transaction, though it has been generally alleged as a leading cause of the war which broke out thirteen years later. 1 Between June 13 and Aug. 16, 1662 (n. s.). — Plym. Rec, iv. i6, 25. 35 CHAPTER LXIII. SACHEM PHILIP'S WAR. PHILIP'S WAR was forced upon the Colonists by the Wampanoags. A large majority of the Indians living within the bounds of New Plymouth continued friendly to the whites ; nor were there many, if any, hostiles there out side the three affiliated tribes of the Narraganset shore, — the Wampanoags, the Pocassets, and the Saconets (see p. 136). These had resisted civilization and Christianity. Their fel lows, who had become " Praying Indians," gathered in the towns, or in villages of their own, under white protection, so that the chiefs could no longer levy tribute from them, or sum mon them to the war-path. Therefore those who adhered to savage life and heathen rites came to hate their converted brethren, and to long for a check upon the missionary work. The whites made almost every practicable overture in be half of peace. Indeed, Massachusetts carried the policy of conciliation to an extreme which proved disastrous ; for she weakened the respect of the Wampanoags for the authority of New Plymouth under which they lived, and while much promoting Indian insubordination, discouraged effective pre cautions on the part of the whites. If Plymouth earnestly protested that deadly plots were forming against her settle ments ; if Sassamon gave the particulars of them ; if Wa,ban, the Christian sachem of the Nonantums, uttered the most serious warnings, and other Praying Indians confirmed his statements, — Philip could at once satisfy the rulers at Boston by sitting at their festive board and assuming the role of a i575] THE INDIANS ALWAYS JUSTLY TREATED. 545 son-of-peace cruelly wounded by the arrows of slander. Time and again did Philip ^ thus cajole the men of the Bay; while, on the other hand, their infatuated course led him into the idea that they would give no help to Plymouth when he should begin to ravage her settlements. The opinion which generally prevails among those who do not go to the original sources of information is, that PhUip and his fellow-savages were in 1675 suffering great griev ances for which they had vainly sought redress. This was not the case. Their fellow-natives, the whites, by whose side they had been born and bred, had been to them of con stant and incalculable benefit, — caring for them in sickness and famine, teaching them to raise new fruits, to properly cook their food, to make healthful and comfortable clothing, and in general to enjoy the appliances of civilization. The laws had been very careful of the Indian's rights, and had been so strictly enforced that the courts were sometimes charged with straining them in his favor. No Indian com plaint was too trivial for attention in the highest quarters. Thus, in 1645 we find Governor Bradford ofificially notifying Governor Winthrop that " Mr. Offley, a gentleman of Bos ton," had not duly paid a Cape Cod Indian who helped him catch sturgeon; and doubtless Winthrop made it his first business to see justice done the savage. So, too, in 1641 Governor Winslow and Captain Standish are found, with Edward Freeman, holding a court at Yarmouth, and order ing, on two complaints from Massatumpain, first, that Mr. Andrew Hellot (Hallet) pay for a deer which his son had bought of an Indian long before ; and, second, that the sug gestively-named Walter Devill pay 2s. for mending a hole which he had shot in the same Indian's kettle.^ In all the affairs of life, as Dr. Palfrey well says, the red man found that " the shield of the law was held over him with assiduous soUcitude." 1 Plym. Rec, v. 76, 80. * This name has been improved into Devoll and Devol. It may once have been De VUle. 546 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1675. A superior and an inferior race cannot live in contact with out some wrong-doing by individuals of one or the other by turns; but as between Plymouth and Philip's people, such personal jarrings were reduced to near the minimum, nor did they show a balance of discredit against the whites. Let a few witnesses be called : — Dr. S. G. Drake, ever inclined to give the aborigines the benefit of all doubts, and to see doubts very easily, is entitled to all the more confidence when he feels it his duty as an historian to say, — " In no instance was land taken from the Indians without their consent, or without what was then considered a fair compensation. . . . The English, as a general thing, wished the Indians well, and were of much service to them ; and their immense labors to Chris tianize them, prove their sincerity to benefit them." ^ Governor Josiah Winslow wrote to the commissioners in 167s.— " I think I can clearly say that before these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in this Colony but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors. Nay, because some of our people are of a covetous disposition, and the Indians are in their straits easily prevailed with to part with their lands, we first made a law that none should purchase, or receive of gift, any land of the Indians without the knowledge and allowance of our Court." . . . And if at any time they have brought complaints before us, they have had justice, impartial and speedy, so that our own people have frequently complained that we erred on the other hand, in showing them too much favor." ' That noble missionary to the Indians, Thomas Mayhew, in writing to Governor Prence in 1671, refers to the threatening 1 N. E. Gen. Reg., Jan., 1858. 2 In 1651 the father of the future Governor Hinckley was indicted for buying land of an Indian, and in 1674 two such offenders were imprisoned until they returned their purchase. The various phases of a suit for this cause against William Nickerson are conspicuous. ' Plym. Rec, x. 362. i675-] JUSTICE SHOWN THE INDIANS. 547 aspect of Philip's people, " notwithstanding your gentle and kind dealing with them." ^ The Indians had no friend more true than Roger WiUiams, nor one quicker to defend them from wrong. Yet he says that Sachem Philip "broke all laws," though the men of Ply mouth were his tribe's " ancient friends and protectors." ^ He also says, " All Indians are extremely treacherous." "* Samuel Gorton was an interpreter at the last interview PhUip had with white men before taking the war-path. Gor ton had for a generation been intimate with the Indians, and was a fearless friend. He and James Brown did everything possible to pacify Philip, and to discover the cause of his hostUity, that it might be remedied ; but Gorton subsequently denounced PhUip as " that unworthy sachem," and recorded, as to the war, " on what hinge the occasion thereof turned, I know not." As to Philip's War, Josiah Winslow solemnly appealed to God in support of the innocence of Plymouth as to any ill-doing, and states that the Indians alleged no ground of discontent except the execution of three murderers [Sassa mon's], who, he says, acknowledged the fairness of their trial, and one of whom confessed the crime.* In 1667 PhUip formally admitted that his father and him self had been preserved by Plymouth from Narraganset subjugation. In 1717 Shute, the King's Governor of Massachusetts (then including Plymouth) , assured the famous Indian missionary, Father RaUe, that "the English had not entered on land without fair and honorable purchase of the Indians." James Otis, the eminent patriot of our Revolutionary era, a native of the Old Colony, in i ']6'] made this declaration to Governor Bernard : — " The Indians had perfect confidence in our fathers, and appUed to them in all their difficulties. Nothing has been omitted which justice 1 6 Mass. Hist. Coll., i. 196. ^ ^ Mass. Hist. Coll., vi. 300. 3 Plym. Rec, x. 442. * 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., i. 428. 548 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1675. or humanity required. We glory in their conduct ; we boast of it as unexampled." Rev. Dr. Young, that eminent authority, says : — " The first planters of Plymouth and Massachusetts invariably pur chased of the natives the lands on which they settled, for considera tions which were deemed at the time fully equivalent." * Another high authority remarks : — " In their intercourse with the Indians, the people of the Colony [New Plymouth] set a bright example of humanity." " John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of our nation, was eminent as the champion of the oppressed ; his opinion on this subject, after long and zealous research, being that " the Indian titie was extinguished by compact, fulfiUing the law of justice between man and man." And he cites Vattel, the great writer upon international law, as paying a high tribute to our ancestors for a rigid observance of the aboriginal rights, and establishing the preceptive rule by their example. Dr. Palfrey remarks of the Indians at the opening of Philip's War: — "The course of conduct pursued toward them had been praise worthy in a singular degree. The Indians were a people extremely difficult to deal with, by reason alike of their mental and of their moral defects ; but they were treated equitably and generously." ' Cumulative testimony of this high character might be con tinued through many pages, but what has been cited would seem enough to convince any candid reader of the grievous wrong done our Old Colony ancestors. It has long been the fashion in this connection for poetizers, lecturers, and story-writers of high as well as low degree, somewhat from 1 Chron. Pil., 259. ' North Am. Review, 1. 336. e Hist. N. E., iii. 137. 1675] PHILIP LOW-LIVED AND DEGRADED. 549 ignorance, partly from sickly sentiment, and partly from confounding the men of Plymouth with the less liberal dwellers at the Bay, to attribute to our fathers a phenomenal degree of hypocrisy, rapacity, and cruelty ; but as the facts are studied from the original records, these notes of calumny will be changed to those of praise. The substitution of fancy for reality is most complete in the common idea of Chief-Sachem Philip. Even writers of repute have joined not only in conferring upon him the royal title (king), but in endowing him with lofty sentiments and with great qualities as a ruler and a diplomatist, a strategist and a warrior. Yet the real Philip was a man who clung to savage life and heathen superstitions ; he was without mental discipline or restraint, was ignorant of every useful pursuit, and even of the Indian arts of war. Until his great outbreak he had shown an aptitude for little but falsehood and treach ery, now conducted with insolence, and now with abjectness. The people under Pokanoket rule had long been falling away, and in 1675 Philip's immediate tribe was limited to some three hundred men, women, and children, with whom he ranged Mount Hope Neck, finding abundant room. Those who suppose that a person of his coarseness, ignorance, in experience in war, inbred indolence, and purposelessness, could spring at one bound into the great character usually ascribed to him, must attach little potency to the training and education of civUized life. In fact, Philip himself could not have understood all the high qualities generally assigned him, so far would they have been above anything which his rude mind had learned to comprehend. Dr. Palfrey draws of him this just portrait : — " The title of ' king,' which it has been customary to attach to his name, disguises and transfigures to the view the form of a squahd sav age, whose palace was a sty ; whose royal robe was a bear-skin or a coarse blanket, alive with vermin ; who hardly knew the luxury of an ablution ; who was often glad to appease appetite with food such as men who are not starving, loathe ; and whose nature possessed just the capacity for reflection and the degree of refinement which might 550 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1675. be expected to be developed from the mental constitution of his race by such a condition and such habits of Hfe. . . . ' King ' PhiUp is a mythical character." ^ There is no reason for supposing that " Sachem PhUip," as his contemporaries generally termed him, began the war with any definite plan or any clear expectation as to the result, — except blood and plunder. Nor is there evidence or proba bility that he had a preliminary understanding with any Indians outside his own jurisdiction. The mere example of Philip's followers was enough to arouse the savage instincts of the Nipmucks. It is evident that Philip did not suppose that the strife would extend beyond New Plymouth. From his constant petting at Boston, and the tendency there to snub Plymouth when she complained of his bad faith, he naturally supposed that Massachusetts would not interfere against him, and the co-relations of the United Colonies were beyond his ken. Among the " Hutchinson Papers " is a letter addressed to the " Governor and Council at Boston," in reply to an offer for ransoming some white captives. It is without signature, but was doubtless dictated to some renegade convert by Philip, who could not write. One passage is as follows : — " I am sorrow that I have done so much wrong to you, and yet I say the falte is lay upon you ; for when we begun the quarrel with Plymouth men, I did not think that you should have so much trouble as now is." ^ In 1677 the Government of Massachusetts asserted that they might have avoided all the loss and trouble of the war, for 1 Hist. N. E., iii. 223. A fair specimen of the current extravaganzas on Philip is in Fowler's " His torical Sketch of Fall River ; " as, for instance : " King Philip's talents were of the highest order. . . . Philip was certainly a man of great powers of mind. . . . It [his death] is now viewed as the fall of a great warrior, a penetrating states man, a mighty prince " (pp. 9, 11). The exceUent Baylies remarks of Philip : "His talents were unquestionably of the first order." — Memoir, part iii., 170. This is a pure flight of fancy. « Palfrey's Hist. N. E., iii. 188. I675-] PHILIP'S WAR UNPREMEDITATED. 551 the enemy declared at the outset that " they had no quarrel with the Massachusetts." ^ So far was Philip from making patient and elaborate prepa rations for the strife that he was singularly destitute of the necessaries of war. This is compatible alone with the theory that he contemplated merely an occasional raid upon a Ply mouth town, until, enriched with spoil, he should be raised to savage opulence by a bribe to resume peaceful relations ; or if endangered, he could run away : for there is no evidence of his having had any home attachment to Mount Hope Neck above any other region, and he had no property there besides the land, save what could be carried away by the women and chUdren. There is a tradition that Philip had not decided on war, when it was forced upon him by the unauthorized act of his followers in attacking Swansea, and the coming down upon them of the Plymouth and Boston forces. Philip started with perhaps two hundred and fifty fighting men ; but for these he had accumulated but thirty muskets, and only enough powder to last through the first skirmish ; he had no store of provisions or clothing, nor an ordinarily good stock of canoes. In response to the first attack made upon him, he fled from the Colony with his whole force. Ten months later, when the Nipmucks had cast him off, he returned to Mount Hope and skulked about in an aimless manner, until at the end of two months he was shot while running away. Nothing in his character, from first to last, indicates any forethought or shows the least trace of heroism. Most surprising is it to learn that Philip is not known to have taken part in any one of the fights of the war, nor even to have been in the immediate vicinity of any of them after the initial skirmish at Pocasset Swamp. The public documents of that time " do not indicate a beUef on the part of the Eng lish of any such comprehensive and far-sighted scheme as in later times has been attributed to Philip. The natural con clusion from their language is that his outbreak was regarded 1 Letter to Govt, of Conn., Mass. Archives, ii. 195. 552 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. li6;5-6. as prompted by the vindictiveness and caprice of an unreason ing and cruel barbarian." ^ The whites were less unprepared than the Indians, but suf fered much through two errors. They grossly undervalued their foe, and had just enough of English tactics to feel a contempt for the " backwoods " strategy which their case required. Plymouth had only one man competent to deal with the savages, and he was Benjamin Church ; but his ideas of enlisting friendly Indians and fighting Philip in his own way, and of treating with full confidence those Indians not in arms, seemed to the authorities as visionary and suicidal. With full license. Church would have been likely to seize or destroy Philip and his host in the first fortnight of the war. He promptly took the field, but was so hampered that he retired as soon as PhUip fled from the Old Colony. It is a singular fact that in this war there was hardly a grave disaster to the whites which was not largely due to their reck lessness or gross negligence. The first attack found the people of Swansea neglecting watch and ward to attend a fast-day service. The same day, half a dozen of her citizens, in a foolhardy attempt to rescue their household goods, were killed. Wheeler, at Brookfield, sacrificed himself and men in an ambush of which he had been warned. Peirce at Paw tucket, Wadsworth at Sudbury, and Lothrop at Deerfield, all fell in ambushes from which very slight care and strategic common-sense would have saved them. (Indeed, Lothrop's men had idiotically piled their guns in the carts of grain which they were escorting, and had scattered themselves about pick ing wild grapes; the result was the loss of ninety fine men, — the most terrible blow ofthe war.) During the war, twelve men started from Springfield for the mill at Westfield ; to save the burden of their weapons they went unarmed, and aU were killed, — as might have been expected. Medfield was furnished with a strong guard, but no watch was kept, and the soldiers were scattered among the 1 Palfrey's N. E., iii. 226. 1675-6.] CARELESSNESS OF THE SETTLERS. 553 various families ; the houses being attacked suddenly, before the guard could be put in order, half the town was ruined, and the savages were gone. At Groton a blockhouse was captured after the garrison had been decoyed from it by a most clumsy device. At Lancaster the famous Rowlandson garrison was strengthened externally by a pile of fire-wood, inviting the fatal torch, which of course came to it. An especially astonishing case was that of William Clark's garrison-house on Eel River, three miles south of Plymouth village, — a post so strong that much property of the neigh borhood had been stored in it. In March, 1676, every man of the garrison went up to Plymouth to attend the Sunday- morning service, and to save trouble, they left the heavy garrison-gate standing open. Soon, Totoson and his savage crew rushed in and killed Mrs. (Sarah) Clark and ten other women or children.^ Then, plundering the post and burning it, they escaped, while the smoke reminded the distant Clark of his criminal folly. The capture of the Narraganset fort by Winslow's army was a succession of blunders, including the preparation, the mode of attack, and the terrible retreat ; so that while it was a brilliant victory, it was also a lamentable affair to the victors.^ Yet on all occasions the whites showed 1 The only survivor was a lad who had been tomahawked and left for dead. The surgeons covered his exposed brain with a silver plate, and he was long after known as " Silver-headed Tom." — Thacher. 2 Of the 1,080 whites, about 70 were killed outright, and 150 wounded; of the latter, some scores died of their wounds. Connecticut had 315 men in the fight : they were brave to a fault, and suffered much loss ; but their Colony's claim that nearly half of them were killed or wounded, was preposterous. Church's persistence in favor of occupying the fort where the wounded would be in comfortable cabins, and the whole force find provisions for four months or more, almost caused a panic among the other officers. Winslow yielded to the clamor, and consented to burning the fort with its great stores, though his troops were nearly destitute. Church says the Plymouth corps had not "one biscake left." So the victors fled, and the horrors of the night retreat were enhanced by the death of 34 of their wounded as they were conveyed through the storm. No one knows the strength of the Indians. Tifft, the wretched renegade, set it at 800 warriors, of whom 97 were killed and 48 wounded ; but these figures seem too low by far, especially as there were 500 wigwams, and the victory destroyed the Narraganset nation. Arnold puts their loss at 600 killed and 400 wounded or captured. It is thought that the nation entered the war with 2,000 fighting men, and that only 200 were left to make the final peace. Besides the killed 554 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1675. the highest degree of courage and energy, and, though con stantly courting disaster, more gallant captains never led braver men. The war broke out at Swansea, June 29, 1675 (n. s.), when Job Winslow's house was plundered. The next day (Sun day), while the people were absent at worship, several houses were rifled, and two burned. The following Thursday Thomas Layton was killed near Fall River; another man was shot while returning from church, and two more as they ran for the surgeon. Later in that day the six previously men tioned were kUled, and several houses burned.-' Two days before this massacre, three hundred Plymouth troops had reached Swansea, and made a strong garrison-house of Pastor Myles' dwelling; but their imbecility on this day was de clared by Winslow and Hinckley to be " to our grief and shame." Reinforcements came promptly and eagerly from Boston, but ten days of inaction passed before the Indians were followed into Mount Hope peninsula, — a tract twelve miles long, where Philip's men harbored. Then it was found that the Indians had paddled across the bay to Pocasset. Thereupon the pursuit rested for nearly three weeks, while the Massachusetts men went to the Narragansets and made another worthless treaty. But Philip in the mean time burned thirty houses at Dartmouth, killed many of the people in cluding the non-resistant Quakers, and is said to have added torture. His men also burned the houses at Middleborough, and besides burning some houses at Taunton, killed John Tisdale and two Eastham soldiers. Church, constantly struggling against incompetency of and captured, many went to join the Maine savages. The Niantic tribe remained friendly through the war, and that is what since the war has been known as the Narraganset tribe. 1 The victims were John Salisbury, William Salisbury, Gershom Cobb, Joseph Lewis, John Jones, Robert Jones, John Fall, Nehemiah AUen, William Lohun. The group of six is generally said to have been killed on Friday, but the record shows it to have been on the fast-day, Thursday. In these early attacks twelve houses were burned. The next year more houses were burned, leaving but five standing out of the original forty. 1675] POCASSET SWAMP FIGHT, ETC. 555 superiors, contrived to have two brisk skirmishes and to drive the Indians into Pocasset Swamp, on a peninsula. There, July 29th (n. S.), an attack was made by the reunited troops. The whites, rushing headlong toward the Indian coverts, at once had five killed and seven wounded. Then, with more caution, they pushed the savages steadily back, until, the light becoming dim in the wood, the troops retired to the entrance of the Neck. It was afterward learned that in another half- hour of attack the Indians must have surrendered from lack of ammunition, and that they were expecting to do so, — thus nearly did the first battle come to ending the war ! But the troops cannot be blamed for ignorance on this point. So great was their infatuation, however, that this suspended action was thought to have finished the contest. Therefore, the next morning the Massachusetts forces returned to Boston, leav ing one of their companies to aid the Plymouth men in guarding the outlet of the peninsula until the enemy should be starved into surrender. The Indians had come by water to Pocasset, but it does not seem to have been thought that they might in the same way escape from it. Yet after ten eventless days the besiegers found that the fighting-men, with a few others, had fled on rude rafts up Taunton River and were beyond reach. Here, again, the war might have been ended by a few blockading pinnaces. The most of the In dian women and children were left to the care of the whites, in whose philanthropy toward them the merciless enemy seems to have had great confidence. On August lOth (n. S.) the Indian horde was seen from Rehoboth escaping over the plains toward the northwest. There were some two hundred or more, and they were laden with pillage. Young Pastor Newman rallied his flock and led the pursuit. Soon he was joined by some Mohegans whom old Uncas had promptly sent to Boston, and whom the authorities, with the blundering so common to them during the entire war, had forwarded to the scene of action by way of Plymouth. Had these come by the direct route, they would have intercepted Philip's party and destroyed it. 5S6 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1675. or held it until a crushing force should come up. As it was, they overtook and killed some thirty of the Wampanoag train, and re-captured much plunder, with no loss to them selves. Indeed, the care of this plunder is said to have caused them to drop the pursuit. A body of friends from Providence also joined the Rehoboth men, as did a small squad of Boston men under Henchman ; but after a fruitless night's pursuit a retreat was ordered, be cause no one had thought to forward any food to the men. A company of Praying Indians, raised at the Bay by Gookin, offered to make a circuit and cut off the head of Philip's col umn ; but such was the unhappy distrust of these allies that the whites would not allow them to take their arms away alone, lest they should join the enemy. So Philip escaped into central Massachusetts, the Nipmuck country, not through any strength or sagacity of his own, but through gross negli gence and mismanagement on the part of the whites' leaders. The Nipmucks made no pretence of having grievances. Their intercourse with the whites had been harmonious ; their comforts of life and their personal safety had greatly in creased, and among them education and Christianity had seemed to make much progress. Yet their dormant savage- ness was at once aroused by the Wampanoag example of rapine and slaughter, and they turned upon their white neighbors and benefactors with a zest that at times became fiendish.^ From their superior knowledge of the white settle ments, where they had so often received hospitality and relief, and their better equipment and greater intelligence, they became more dreaded enemies than Philip's men. For seven months after Philip's flight, the war circled away from the Old Colony. Her Governor, Josiah Winslow, how ever, was made general of the confederate force which de stroyed the treacherous Narragansets in the next winter. Church attended him as volunteer aide, and in the corps was 1 For example, note their treatment of the expectant mother, described in Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative ; their cutting out of the cattle's tongues at Andover, etc. 1676.] PHILIP'S WAR. — THE WHITES' REVERSES. 557 a Plymouth battalion (a hundred and fifty-eight men) of two companies, under Major WiUiam Bradford and Captain John Gorham. Winslow was gallant, but his bodily weakness led to indecision of mind; overborne by clamor, he reluctantly disregarded Church's strenuous advice to hold their captured fort with its stout, warm, well-provisioned cabins, and con sented to a retreat through the midnight snowstorm. Had he acted on Church's counsel, many a New England home would have been spared the mourning which darkened it from that day. Bradford was severely wounded in this fight, Gorham died (February 15th) a few weeks later from exposure, and Church received three wounds, one of which was severe.^ From thirty-three to forty of the Plymouth men were killed or seriously wounded.^ Six weeks later Winslow resigned with ruined health, and Church, in warranted discontent, went, taking his family, to stay with friends on Rhode Island. In early spring (1676) the war swept back to Plymouth. On March 22d was that needless massacre at Clark's garrison, only three miles from the Colony's council-chamber; two weeks later came the most severe blow of the war to Ply mouth, in the destruction, by the Narragansets, of Captain Michael Peirce's fine company of Scituate men, with several Indian allies, near Blackstone's " Study Hill." The General Court called for three hundred white soldiers ^ and a hundred friendly Indians; but indecision ruled, the troops were not raised, and the towns were bidden each to look to its own defence. Then came the darkest hour of the war. In May 1 He was almost equaUy annoyed by a bullet which went through his pocket, making many holes in a pair of borrowed mittens by reason of their being in a roll. 2 Generally stated as twenty; but Plym. Rec, vi. 118, show that the Colony paid through Church's gallant Rhode Island friend. Major Peleg Sanford, for the care of twenty-eight wounded, and make allusions to others. Of these San ford buried Lincoln, Harris, Somersby, and another. Mention is made of five " lost in the woods " on the retreat, — which doubtless means that they fell by the way and froze to death, or were killed by Indian prowlers. The loss was there fore more than thirty-three, besides those killed in the assault. * The quota was : Scituate 50, Plymouth 30, Taunton 30, Barnstable 30, Rehoboth 30, Sandwich 28, Marshfield 26, Yarmouth 26, Eastham 18, Duxbury 16, Bridgewater 16: total, 300. 558 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1676. was burned that part of Plymouth now Halifax ; at Bridge- water many buildings were destroyed, with cattle and house hold goods, but none of the people were killed during the war, though they were active and daring. Taunton suffered a blow, five of her slain men leaving thirty-two orphans; Scituate, after various annoyances, received on May 30th a desperate assault, in which Cornet Stetson's saw-mill was burned, with twenty-two other buildings, and among the killed were six heads of families ; young WUlet was assassinated at Swansea, where, as also at Middleborough and Rehoboth, many of the remaining or renewed houses were burned. Plymouth's council of war, in their extremity, sent for Church, who came. He offered to raise a hundred and fifty whites and a hundred friendly Indians, if the Council would add fifty whites and give him entire freedom of action. His demands were thought unreasonable, and he returned in no good humor to Rhode Island. Soon after he chanced to cut one of his fingers, and in the flow of blood his super stitious mind saw a rebuke of inaction while his friends were in peril. He returned to Plymouth, and though bound by some stingy conditions, obtained a captain's commission (August 3d), with some discretionary powers. It was high time. The reduced and impoverished Nipmucks, confessing that they had gone to war without reason, were suing at Boston for amnesty. They were berating Philip as the beginner of the conflict, and were not only disowning him, but were not unlikely to surrender him at Boston as a peace-offering.^ 1 Sagamore John did so fetch in old Mattoonas, a renegade Christian chief, who led off at Mendon in the first slaughter made by the Nipmucks. Mattoonas acknowledged the justice of his sentence as a murderer, and was shot by John's men. This treachery to his comrade did not save Sagamore John, for he had kiUed unresisting people " otherwise than in the way of war," and he too was executed. James "the Printer," a scholar from Harvard CoUege and a printer on Indian works there, had also sinned deeply, but he was pardoned. His father was dea con in the Indian Church at Grafton, and grieved over his defection. James' name appears with that of the third Printer Green in the imprint of an edition of the Indian Bible, Boston, 1709. 1676.] BLUNDERS. — CHURCH'S PROWESS. 559 Philip would have been slain at sight by the Mohawks, the Mohegans, and Pequods, or by the friendly Niantics, who represented what remained of the Narraganset nation. Had he been sagacious, he would have taken the only outlet open to him and escaped to the Maine Indians, who would have welcomed him and his followers, but with only the instinct of a hunted animal, he ran back to his familiar haunts and sought to hide himself. There some three hundred savages, who preferred the deprivations of the war-path to peaceful pursuits, or who dreaded the retribution of the whites, gath ered around Philip and Anawan, his chief captain. This band seems to have had no plan of action, and no purpose beyond replenishing its supplies by plunder and committing here and there a murder where there was freedom from risk. Still, the force was very formidable from its unseen movements, which left every exposed person or possession in constant peril. Very few indeed suffered, but no white person was thoroughly safe outside the village of Plymouth. Church was to raise sixty English and a hundred and forty Indian followers, but would not wait for them. Entirely alone, he plunged into the hostUe Saconet camp, and with the squaw-sachem's consent called on the warriors to renounce Philip and take the war-path against him. A violent scene ensued, in which Church's life was only preserved by his per sonal magnetism ; but finally his call was accepted, and until his death, forty-two years later, the Saconets were his firm friends. Soon Church was on the enemy's trail, with only twenty- two friendly Indians and eighteen whites, but the latter in cluding such scions of the Forefathers as Lieutenant Jabez Howland, Nathaniel Southworth, Jacob Cook, and Jonathan Delano.^ Church's success was amazing. At first was a little sharp skirmishing, but his campaign soon became hunting 1 Howland (born about 1628) was son of the PUgrim John. Delano, two years later, married Church's cousin Mercy Warren. Southworth (born 1648) was Church's brother-in-law. Cook (born 1653), son of Jacob and grandson of the Pilgrim Francis, was also grandson of Stephen Hopkins the Pilgrim. 36 560 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1676. rather than war. He ranged up and down like a knight of romance, and the multitudes of prisoners sent in attested his prowess. When he needed recruits, he enlisted his most energetic prisoners ; and these, however surly at first, quickly became devoted to him. In no instance was this strange confidence misplaced, though it was sometimes extended to hostile warriors on the very day of their capture. Within three weeks of the date of Church's commission he had Philip's lair at Mount Hope surrounded at midnight. True to his system, he placed his men in pairs, an Indian and a white man at each point. As the dawn approached on Aug. 22, 1676 (n. S.), Philip took the alarm and fled alone and unarmed by a path which led him to the post of Jacob Cook and a Saconet named Alderman. Cook's gun missed fire, but the Saconet's double-shotted piece was true. Philip, bounding into the air, fell upon his face in the mire of the swamp. One bullet had pierced his lungs, and the other his heart. It was some hours before their victim was identified ; and he was so squalid that Church, whose Indian comradeship had overcome his race prejudices, caUed him " a doleful, dirty beast." Anawan, Philip's captain, who probably had been the real military leader from the outset, was still at large with sixty warriors, declaring that he would fight till death. Sixteen days after Philip's fall. Church chanced on this chiefs almost impregnable stronghold. Only Cook and six friendly Indians were at hand, but with this little squad Church climbed the overhanging cliff in the dusk and leaped down directly before Anawan, who sat by a fire awaiting his supper. The old chief, overcome by the audacity of the proceeding, and ignorant of the number of his assailants, exclaimed, "How dah" (I am taken), and at once surrendered, with all his band. No regu lar body of hostiles was left in the field, but there was occa sional skirmishing and capturing for five months more. In less than five weeks, almost unaided by the regular troops under Bradford, or by the Government, Church had practically ended the war and rendered the enemy forever powerless. 1676.] THE WAR A SEVERE BURDEN. 561 His entire campaign had been marvellous for its boldness and success, but the capture of Anawan was an astonishing climax even to such a wonderful career. This war was far more grievous to New England than was the Revolutionary struggle, a century later. In New Ply mouth and Massachusetts thirteen towns had been destroyed, six hundred houses burned, and six hundred people killed, — the latter mostly from the able-bodied men. Of property, ;^i 50,000 worth had been destroyed (including eight thou sand cattle), and the ordinary growth for two years been positively reversed. Besides most severe private losses, the public outlay had reached ;i^ 100,000. Connecticut had val iantly done her part, but the war had not reached her borders nor impaired her pecuniary abUity. Massachusetts was strong and prosperous, despite her sufferings; but to poor Plymouth, with her resources sadly shrunken- and her powers of recuperation broken, her Colonial debt of .^27,000 seemed a heavier burden than she could bear. Yet she rose as of yore to the emergency, and rested not until her credi tors had principal and interest. The noted debt-payers of her first generation were not dishonored by their children. During this terrible war England had seemed an indifferent spectator. At its close she tendered not one penny of relief; and instead of words of sympathy, as " English " as the England of to-day, sent over a rebuke because the Colonies had not forwarded official bulletins from time to time. The only aid which ever came to the Colonies from any source was from a company of English Nonconformists in business at Dublin, led by Nathaniel Mather (brother of Increase), who had gone there after graduating at Harvard College (1647). As much as ;£'i,000 was contributed, but even these warm hearted men could not escape the general tendency to blun der. They invested their money in provisions, for the freight of which they paid some ;^450, and when the cargo had reached Boston its market value there was less than the cost in Dublin. 562 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1676. From the Mather donation Plymouth received ;£'i24 io.y., and divided it among her towns according to their direct losses. Thus Yarmouth and Eastham had but lOs. each, while Swansea had .^21, Dartmouth ;^22, and Rehoboth ;^32. The conquered lands at Mount Hope yielded about ;^i,ioo, of which .;£300 was also given to the towns. These lands had ever been within the Plymouth bounds, but after the war Massachusetts, as was her custom, clutched at them, and meanly begged the King to bestow them on her as a per sonal favor. But Rhode Island, with surpassing effrontery, claimed them by right of conquest, although her Govern ment had taken no part in the war. Church, the Plymouth captain, had crossed from Rhode Island to make his final foray on Philip, and had been accompanied by two gallant friends from the Island, Sanford and Golding, who went as volunteers. On this slight basis Governor Cranston founded a claim that PhUip had been killed through a Rhode Island captain, and left it an easy inference that his Colony, by end ing the war, had a victor's claim on the lands. Next, a royal favorite at Nova Scotia came very near getting a grant of the territory, and it was not without much effort that poor Ply mouth was left in quiet possession. The Showamitt lands in Somerset were also sold for the benefit of the wounded, the widows, etc. The United Colonies conformed to the usage of their day by selling into foreign bondage their foes taken in arms. A few, convicted of killing people " otherwise than in the way of war," were executed. Some years later, Charles II. mar keted as bondmen his Scotch subjects taken at Bothwell Bridge. Still later, James II. sold into West Indian slavery at least eight hundred and forty-one of his fellow-Englishmen captured in Monmouth's rebellion, and the most refined ladies of his Court strove for grants of these salable prison ers, not for purposes of mercy, but to replenish their dainty purses. That a like disposal was made of hostile savages in New England is less a matter of surprise and censure than regret. But not even then were wanting New-England men 1676.] THE INDIANS AFTER PHILIP'S WAR. 563 SO far in advance of their time as to vehemently protest. Yet the horrors of the battle-field had been greatly mitigated by the preservation of prisoners from butchery, that they might be ransomed or sold. In the progress of civUization the time was coming when ransom and bondage should also be outgrown, but in 1676 that advance had not been made by even the most enlightened communities of the world. Several of the Massachusetts " Praying Indians " had re lapsed into the extreme of savagery, and the beautiful system of Indian churches, which Eliot had developed with such zeal, never regained much strength. Still, in New Plymouth the converts had remained true to their fellow-Christians. Many of them enlisted, and far more would have done so but for an unjust and widespread distrust of them among the common people. The general treatment of these wUling allies was, as the reader will surmise, especially discreditable at Boston, where the defection of a few leaders caused a sort of panic. The Cape Cod and Island tribes were so steadfast that the Indian captives were placed in their keeping. At the beginning of the war it is supposed there were about twelve thousand Indians in Massachusetts and Plymouth com bined, four thousand in New Hampshire and western Maine, and twenty-five hundred to three thousand in Rhode Island. Not one fourth of these became hostile. Most of the uncap- tured warriors found their way to the Maine tribes, frequently leaving their squaws. The white population at that time was nearly, — Massachusetts, 22,000; Connecticut, 14,000; New Plymouth, 7,500; and 4,000 each for Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. CHAPTER LXIV. BENJAMIN CHURCH.— JOHN ALDEN. — THOMAS HINCKLEY. CAPTAIN BENJAMIN CHURCH. THIS hero of the Old Colony requires some further no tice. In 1632, in reply to the sharp inquiries of the Boston magnates, Bradford cavalierly replied as to Richard Church: "He is still here resident; and what he will do, neither we nor, I think, himself knows." But Church soon knew that he would stay in Plymouth and join his fortunes with those of Richard Warren's orphan daughter Elizabeth. To them in 1639 was born a little Benjamin. He grew up in his father's trade, — a carpenter; but instinctively allied himself to the martial family of Southworth, his wife being Alice, daughter of Constant and granddaughter of Mrs. Bradford. A year before the war he was making himself a new home at Saconet. At the peace he became a pioneer of Bristol, on the Mount Hope lands, but finally returned to Saconet, which became Little Compton. He was made a local magis trate, and represented his town in the Plymouth legislature, and after the union, in that of Massachusetts. He refused a mUitary commission under the tyrant Andros, but in 1689 went against the Maine Indians as major, com manding in chief the united troops of Massachusetts and Plymouth. At the end of the campaign Plymouth gave him ;^42 as her share of his salary, but Massachusetts shamefully refused to pay her part. In 1690 he was persuaded to go 1692-1704.I THE BAY'S MEANNESS TO "CHURCH. 565 again, but was poorly supported, and an officer of equal rank was placed over him by Massachusetts, which Colony once more refused her share of his pay and expenses. He was so destitute after reaching Boston that he was forced to beg his lodging of Captain Alden untU he could send to his brother for a horse. The officers, whom he had held sharply to their duty, spread slanderous reports about him, and these were greedily received at Boston; but on reaching Plymouth, Church at once dissipated the malicious tales. Plymouth, in her great poverty from the war, gave him .^14; but owing to the disregard of his claims by Massachusetts, he could only meet his debts incurred for recruiting and subsistence by selling a portion of his land at a sacrifice. This treatment cut Church to the heart; yet in 1692, as the danger grew. Governor Phipps was able to enlist his services once more. On his return Massachusetts, now a province, paid his last wages (it must have cost her a pang), but ignored her pre vious debts to him. In 1696 Church again raised a force for Maine, and re turned with valuable captures of cannon, stores, and peltry. Massachusetts took to herself this prize-of-war, and paid the soldiers their bare wages. The General Court once voted to dismiss them with half-pay, but Governor Stoughton indig nantly visited the hall and procured a reconsideration. Still Church was again left to pay his own recruiting expenses. So late as 1 704 Church, then a colonel, conducted a vigorous campaign against the Maine hostiles. His force of twelve hundred men, including several Plymouth Indians, operated in whale-boats along the coasts and rivers. Once more the Massachusetts Court higgled over his pay, but finally gave him his wages, with a vote of thanks, and munificently added the pittance of ;^I5 toward his expenses in raising troops. Church had a contempt for meanness and imbecility, and by making enemies of mean and little men, suffered the in dignities and losses which their secret slanders could induce from men far better than themselves. Long after his death, the generation which then ruled Massachusetts (1734) sought 566 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1623-1718. to make some atonement for the sins of their fathers by giv ing his heirs five hundred acres of land near his old home. In 1 71 8 Church, then seventy-eight years old, was living in peace and honor on his farm at Little Compton, where his ancient friends, the Saconets, dwelt around him in the habits of civilization. Hearing that his sister's only son had died while abroad, he mounted his horse and paid her (Mrs. Irish) a visit of condolence. While returning the horse stumbled, and the venerable Colonel received injuries which soon proved fatal. His wife survived him but a year. They left five sons and two daughters. Their widespread posterity should enthusiastically join in crowning the Saconet heights with a far-seen monument worthy of their great ancestor, so loyal and loving, heroic and wise, — the Myles Standish of the second generation. JOHN ALDEN. This last surviving signer of the Pilgrim Compact died at Duxbury, Sept. 12/22, 1687, in his eighty-eighth year. Noth ing is known of him before he was hired at Southampton to go in the " Mayflower " and serve the Colonists for one year as a cooper. Trevor and Ely were also engaged as seamen ; but when they returned in the " Fortune," Alden chose to remain with the Pilgrims. Probably Priscilla Mullins was the chief inducement, for in 1623 she became his wife. As be fore noted, the first cattle did not reach the Colony until 1624; and the whole civilized portion of New Plymouth lay within reach of Alden's voice as he stood by his door in Leyden Street. An important part ofthe tradition of "Myles Standish's Courtship " is therefore fiction ; nor is there reason for believing any part of it. Standish was of twice Priscilla's age, and Alden was to him as a son. Standish's second wife, the reputed sister of his first, seems to have been sent for not less than a year before Priscilla's marriage, for she arrived by the " Anne" in 1623, and was married so promptly that she had lost her maiden name at the ensuing land-division ; there 1623-87.] ALDEN AND HIS FAMILY. 567 is littie reason for supposing that she was not the first and only person thought of as her sister's successor. Standish and Alden were joint-pioneers of Duxbury, and there Stan dish's son and " heir-apparent," ^ Alexander, married Alden's daughter Sarah. Alden's Duxbury home was at Eagle-tree Pond, some two mUes north of Captain's HiU. The farm is still held by the Aldens, and the Pilgrim's supposed well is in daily use ; but his Bible, preserved in Pilgrim Hall, is the only reliable souvenir of him, save some few oflficial papers.^ The colonial cooper soon became a leader. He was assist ant to every governor but Carver, serving at least forty-three years ; he was the Colony's treasurer some thirteen years, and was eight times deputy from Duxbury, sometimes holding two of these positions at once. He is credited with martial tastes, and in the early days was probably Standish's close attendant. Alden's male descendants have furnished a con stant succession of noteworthy soldiers and sailors, and the females, to a striking extent, have had husbands of like character. When Alden died in old age, Priscilla was still living, and they seem to have bequeathed to their posterity an unusual length of days. Their oldest child, Elizabeth (born 1624), wife of William Paybody, a military and civil leader of Dux bury, died at ninety-three when a great-great-grandmother, into whose mouth is traditionally put the following couplet : " Rise, daughter, to thy daughter run ! Thy daughter's daughter hath a son ! " The PUgrim's grandson Samuel, of Duxbury, lived to ninety- three. A noted example of the family longevity was John 1 In 1878 two strangers, sitting side by side at a public table near Portland, Me., found themselves to be Captain Myles Standish and John Alden ; both were lineal and worthy descendants of their famous namesakes. ^ This Bible is in Old English type, and has the imprint : " London, Robert Barker, Printer to the King, 1620." It doubtless was a parting purchase or present, as Alden embarked in the " Mayflower." The scarcity of Pilgrim books is remarkable. 568 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [16-26-1846. Alden, the Pilgrim's great-grandson, who died at Middle borough in 1 82 1, aged a hundred and two; of his two hun dred and nineteen descendants, who with himself covered, five generations, a hundred and seventy-three attended his funeral, and three of his children were living under the patri monial roof in 1846, at an average age of eighty- four and a half years. The Pilgrim's oldest son, John (born 1626), was the naval commander of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. Boston, where he died in 1702, preserves his name in Alden Lane, his naval oflfice descending to his son John. In the witch craft frenzy, the father chancing to enter the court-room, a girl suddenly charged him with witchcraft. Judge Gedney (who had long known and esteemed the Captain) instantly assumed the truth of this charge, and became very indignant because Alden would not confess himself guilty. After spending fifteen weeks in prison, he escaped, and found a refuge with his friends at Duxbury, but when the madness abated, returned to his command.^ Some of the Pilgrim's great-grandsons were valiant soldiers for freedom in our Revolutionary War ; and in the great Civil War of 1861-5, the traditional character of the family was well maintained by Admiral James Alden, described as " one of the most courtly and accomplished " officers of the Union Navy.^ From the 1 Captain Alden, then 68 years old, had lived in Boston thirty years, and was known as " the tallest man in Boston." He was an honored member of the Old South Church, but it is said that the blind superstition of his brethren in de nouncing him because of a self-conceited child's chatter, drew from him some vigorous language which savored of the quarter-deck rather than the vestry. While he was in prison, his house was visited by Judge Sewall and others, who held fast-day services there (July 20/30, 1692), but we have no intimation of their belief that he was unjustly accused. His escape was probably by connivance of some one in authority. He reached Duxbury at midnight, and told his friends that he was escaping from the devil. When he resumed his naval life it is pretty evident that he and his wife showed a lack of cordiality towards their Old South associates who had been so devoid of charity, for on June 12/22, 1693, Sewall again intruded into his house with some lachrymose professions of grief "for their sorrow and temptation by reason of his imprisonment." His antique slate head-stone is now honorably embedded in a side-waU of the porch of the New Old South Church. '' N. E. Gen. Reg., xxxi. 363. l6l8-92.] GOVERNOR HINCKLEY. 569 Pilgrim pair also descended John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Presidents of the United States. Until the Quaker troubles of 1657-60, John Alden was noted for his liberality and tenderness. This may have been the reflection of Standish's character ; for after the old hero's death, Alden followed the imperious Prence, whom he greatly respected. Yet however much his posterity may wish that his course had been different in this respect, they have every reason to believe him a brave, sincere, and honorable man, worthy of a place in the front rank of the Fathers of New England.'^ THOMAS HINCKLEY, The sixth governor, served from 1680 to the demise of the oflfice in 1692, save the three years of Andros. (This latter period is marked in the Plymouth Records by a blank, ex tending from Oct. 5/15, 1686, to Oct. 8/18, 1689.) Hinckley was born in England, 1618 ; in 1635 he came to Scituate with his parents, Samuel and Sarah. The family removing to Barnstable with Lothrop, Thomas in 1645 became a deputy from that town; from 1658 to 1680 he was an assistant; from 1678 until the confederacy fell before Andros, he was a commissioner. He was also a soldier, and fought at the capture of the Narraganset fort. He was courteous, and, like Prence, had a commanding presence. He was brave and patriotic, but the exigencies of his time led him to temporize 1 Alden's son Joseph settled at Bridgewater; his wife was daughter of Moses Simmons, of the " Fortune." His son David married Mary, daughter of Con stant Southworth ; he was one of the last magistrates of Plymouth, and held office in the new province. Jonathan, the fourth son, retained the Duxbury home. The third daughter, Ruth, married John Bass, of Braintree, and became ancestress of the Adamses. The fourth daughter, Mary, married a son of Thomas Delano, of the '' Fortune." The venerable Pilgrim did not escape the fashionable obituary anagram. His, by Pastor Cotton, was entirely accurate, thus : " Enh al on Hi," which exactly makes Iohn Alden. His elegy says : — " On dying bed his ails were very great. Yet, verily, his heart on God was set." 570 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1687-1706. in a manner unknown to the Pilgrim governors. He died in 1706, leaving many descendants.' Hinckley's old friends censured his sitting in Andros' Coun cil, but he claimed that he could there best protect Plymouth. He certainly did protest to the King in manful terms against Andros' abuses. He was illogically earnest in resisting a plan to tax his fellow-Congregationalists for the support of Church-of-England worship, and termed it " insolence " when Randolph sensibly claimed that such a tax would be justified by the existing practice of assessing Quaker residents toward the Congregational " minister tax." ^ As Deputy-Governor Bradford also sat in this nominal council, Hinckley had a good example for his membership. But another Plymouth member was Nathaniel Clark (son of Thomas ofthe " Anne "), whose subserviency and rapacity made him forever after odious in Plymouth; and it came about that of Plymouth's seven members, Clark was the only one who had any influence with Andros or had a part in his real counsels. The last session of the Plymouth General Court before it 1 Hinckley's letters indicate Latin scholarship. That he was a versifier and probably an astrologer, is shown by his eulogy on Governor Winslow, 2d, which begins with this aUusion to the great comet of that year : — " What Heaven's blazing sign, so formidable. Means, fully to express I am not able. Tremendous ire sure doth appear in 's brow. By this great breach that 's made upon us now.'' 4 Mass. Hisi. CoU., v. 53. '^ Yet in 1684 Hinckley wrote to England : " Not that we would infringe the liberties of others of orthodox principles, much less . . . the way of the Church of England." — 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., v. 124. His address to the King is an able and manly summing up of abuses by Andros. Yet the ordinary accounts of Andros are probably exaggerations, for while he was an absolutist and a tyrant, his subsequent course in Virginia ren ders it highly improbable that he did not desire to benefit the Colony. The Colonies had a narrow escape from a worse ruler. The infamously cruel Colo nel Kirke was to have come over as the satrap, with a council of his own choos ing ; but Monmouth's outbreak caused Andros to be substituted, so that the King might use Kirke in butchering the vanquished rebels. Had Kirke come, he would have begun with bloodshed, and have been annihUated by the people. Randolph notified the Primate that the income of the Society for Propa gating the Gospel among the Indians reached ;^2,ooo a year ; and he advised seizing the funds and using them for a Church of England seminary in New Ehgland. I687-9-] ANDROS'S TYRANNY. — FREEDOM. 571 was abolished by Andros, was on Oct. 5/15, 1686. The next January began an administration based on the idea that the people of New England were outside the protection of Eng lish law ; that they could maintain no form of town-govern ment, have no representation, no vote, and no voice even in assessing their taxes, — in short, no rights whatever, except " not to be sold as slaves." ' Notice was given that aU the land in the country belonged to the King, that all convey ances of it were null and void, and that the Indian signatures and marks on the deeds from the early sachems were not worth " the scratch of a bear's paw." Those who were the holders of land, the supposed owners untU now, could only retain possession even of their native homesteads by paying heavy fees to Andros and receiving a new deed, provided he chose not to assign the land to some one else. Hinckley declared that aU the personal property in the Old Colony would be too little for the new fees on her land-titles. For tunately, Andros had not time to enforce this policy there to any troublesome extent. On ^^^^, 1689, came news to Plymouth that the men of Boston, four days before, led by John Nelson (one of Andros' Church-of-England brethren), had thrust the tyrant and his agents into prison, and reinstated their officers displaced in 1686. Thereupon Governor Hinckley and his fellow-magis trates of 1686 resumed their functions as if there had been no suspension, and emphasized their restoration by throwing into jaU Andros' friend. Councillor Clark.^ 1 At the trial of the Ipswich men for protesting against Andros' depriving the towns of the privilege of assessing their taxes. Chief- Justice Dudley declared this to be the only right belonging to the people of New England. 2 Clark was born at Plymouth, 1644 ; he was educated by Secretary Morton, whom he succeeded in office 1685-6. He induced Andros to order that Ply mouth surrender Clark's Island to him, which she had long let for the benefit of the poor. Of course Plymouth regained the island iu 1689, but the odium incurred by Clark was manifest until his death, in 1718. He was the pioneer lawyer of Plymouth. His grave-stone is near his father's, mentioned on page 245. (See Thacher's " Plymouth," pp. 152-5-8, for abstract of notice of Clark, by Isaac Goodwin, of Worcester, whom Thacher terms [p. 250] " a learned lawyer and antiquarian.") 572 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1689-91. But with Plymouth's revived government of the people did not return the ancient public spirit. The popular mind had been disturbed on the rights of property and the sacredness of obligations ; trade had been badly shaken ; the public debt was large, and taxes were onerous ; the acts of the unchartered government had less legal basis than ever before. If the re ported invasion of England by the Prince of Orange should not have succeeded (and beyond his landing, nothing was known at Boston until June 5th, N. S.), the Colonial Govern ment would be swept away by a worse despotism than that of Andros, which would mercilessly avenge the uprising against him. The Colony was not only weakened internally, but its existence was threatened from without. Massachusetts was eager to swallow it, and New York more so. The latter indeed succeeded in having it consigned to her ; but though forbid den taking possession until further action, she so far asserted authority and exerted influence as to cause Little Compton and Dartmouth to disown their allegiance to Plymouth and withhold the taxes due. The people of the Colony at large were strong for its continued independence ; but when it was thought that ;^500 would secure the seventy years' sought charter, the sum could not be collected, and a tax of ;^200 for the purpose was found impracticable. Governor Hinckley even suggested asking for a charter sub forma pauperis. Still, the regular elections were held in 1689, 1690, and 1691, and the Colonial Government boldly exercised even its most questionable functions. Thus Jean Armand de la Forrest, a Frenchman, for barbarously murdering one of his country men, had been tried and condemned in Bristol County, but had escaped to Boston. He was reclaimed and brought to Plymouth. On Aug. 9, 1690, N. S., the Governor and assist ants reviewed the case and affirmed the sentence. Forrest begged for a pardon on condition of serving against the Indians in Maine, but was hanged the next morning, after confessing his guilt. In the meantime at the English Court, Increase Mather, agent for Massachusetts, had been joined by Pastor WiswaU, 1691-2.] THE CLOSE OF THE OLD COLONY. 573 of Duxbury, whom he undertook to aid in Plymouth's behalf; and Wiswall's charge against Mather of bad faith will be re membered (p. 532). Finally, in October, 1691, Plymouth was a second time rescued from the grasp of New York, but only to fall into that of Massachusetts. The new authority was not at once established; the last " Court of Election " being held by the people of New Ply mouth on June 2/12, 1691, and the officers then chosen served- out their year. The last Court of Assistants met April 5/15, 1692. In the absence of Hinckley, Deputy-Governor Brad ford presided. The magistrates would not recognize the open fact that the knell of the Colony had sounded. The ancient forms were followed, and the old air of authority assumed. The jurors were called and the docket read, but the exercise of doubtful powers was avoided by continuing all the cases to the next term. Yet the Court asserted itself by fining two absent jurors. A fast-day was ordered for three weeks later, and the body adjourned to the regular election-day, June 9/19. Before that day came. Governor Phipps had arrived from England with a charter which com bined Massachusetts Bay, New Plymouth, the Vineyard Ar chipelago, Maine, and Nova Scotia into the royal province of Massachusetts.^ When the time came for Plymouth's Court of Election, the legislature of the new province was on its second day's session at Boston, and in its upper branch were sitting half the magistrates of the Old Colony, including her governor and her deputy-governor. The body-politic created in the cabin of the " Mayflower " lived only in history. This result was bitterly deplored by the people of Ply mouth, and Hinckley lost friends through covertiy promoting it. The discontent long lingered, and was in part perpetu ated by the slight recognition of Plymouth men by the new Government. As a partial result, the dwellers in the Pilgrim land continued a peculiar people; and for generations the 1 At this union Massachusetts Bay had 58 towns and about 58,000 inhabi tants; New Plymouth had 17 towns, with some 13,000 inhabitants. 574 THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. [1692. curious observer noted the difference between the villagers about the northern bay and cape, peopled by the Puritans, and those around the southern bay and cape, where settled the Pilgrims. Even to-day in the latter region are to be found some of the most purely English of cojnmunities with a transatlantic development.^ Time brought healing on its wings, and another generation saw the two Colonies one in soul, as they had long been one in body. In the American struggles against royal control, and eventually for independence, and in the passage to na tionality through a confederacy modelled on the ancient league of the United Colonies of New England, as well as in the more recent contests of war and of peace, the name of Massachusetts has stood second to none in honor and re nown ; but her fair fame has been no more zealously upheld and cherished by the descendants of the Puritans who fol lowed Winthrop, than by the sons of the Independents who walked with Bradford. Both classes now join in applauding the assertion of self- government so gallantly maintained by the Colony of the Bay, and in honoring the milder, more home-like virtues which found their best exemplification in The Pilgrim Republic. 1 When the Revolution began, in 1775, it was estimated that ninety-eight per cent of the white people in New England were of English descent. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. Earthquakes. — Comets. — Lightning. — Aurora Borealis. — Climate. — Buildings, Houses, etc. — Food. — Cotton, Wool, and Crops. — Ship building. — Clothing. — Pewter vs. Earthen. — Funeral Matters. — Verdict of a Coroner's Jury. — Indian Warrant. — Winthrop's Super- naturalism. — Wolves and other Wild Animals. — SmaU-Pox. — Marriage Celebrations. — Divorces. — Matrimonial Impediments Delayed Marriages. — Capital Cases. — Treason. — Various Court- Cases. — Card-Playing. — Church Items. — Church Troubles. — For mation of Counties. — Variations of Spelling. — The Pilgrim Society ; its Hall and Monuments. EARTHQUAKES. ON June i/ii, 1638, Plymouth heard a heavy rumbling to the northward. A*s it came nearer, the ground shook so that dishes fell from shelves, and people out of doors could stand only by laying hold of the fences. Bradford says the shock was " very terri ble," and created a fear that the houses would fall. Ships at sea were shaken, and the quaking extended far inland. For years afterward the summers were unseasonable and frosty, so that much Indian com did not ripen ; but as to any connection, Bradford says, " I leave it to naturalists to judge." Few people were then so intelligently defer ential to science.^ In 1658 was another severe earthquake, and in 1662 an especially heavy one. 1 Honest Morton explained earthquakes in the foUowing lucid manner : "The efficient cause is supernatural, as either principally God, or instrumentally the angels, although naturally the wind shut up within the powers and bowels of the earth." 578 APPENDIX. In 1727 was the greatest earthquake since 1662. Pastor Coleman, of Brattle Street Church, Boston, says : " The pewter fell off the shelves, the fids of warming-pans were thrown open, and walkers . . . had to sit down, unable to stand." Dr. Prince, of the Old South Church, Boston, states that the houses rocked and cracked. Pastor Foxcroft noticed that the earthquake was heralded by the noises of the dogs and by flashes. Jabez Delano, of Dartmouth, reported that at Nantucket " ye harth-stones grated one against the other." There were seven distinct shocks, and some of them were especially fearful in the West Indies. In 1755 the most severe earthquake ever known in New England came in a bright moonlight evening. Many chimneys were shaken down in Boston ; in the rural towns the stone walls around the fields were thrown over ; at sea, ships were tossed and fish were Idlled in great numbers. To allay the superstitious fears which it aroused, a very sensible and philosophical tract was written by Professor Win throp, of Harvard College, a great-grandson to the first Govemor Winthrop. He also took occasion to defend hghtning-rods. Some nineteen earthquakes followed during the next sixty years, of which the most severe was on Nov. 28, 1814. The heaviest shock of this century in New England, however, was on Oct. 19, 1870. It is a noteworthy fact that no loss of life from this source has been known in this country — at least east of the Rocky Mountains — until the great earthquake of September, 1886, at Charleston, S. C. In this some thirty- two ( ?) lives were lost, and nearly $5,000,000 worth of property, etc. COMETS. In the days of the Pilgrims, and long after, comets were regarded with terror by all nations. Even the wise Winthrop and many of the most learned clergy of his day shared this feehng ; but as Govemor Bradford never deigned to give them the sUghtest notice, it is pretty certain that he at least was free from the superstition. This can hardly be said for Secretary Morton, Bradford's nephew and pupil, who was quite carried away by it. In his "Memorial" he declares that comets "usually precede and portend great calamities," and cites sixteen especially malign comets during the Christian era. That of 1618 he held to be a harbinger of the great Indian plague of that period ; but he unfortunately overlooked the fact that the plague came a year earlier than the comet ! COMETS. — LIGHTNING. 5 79 A comet in 1664, visible for three months, was declared by Morton to be " sent immediately by God to awake the secure worid ; " and he connected it with the ensuing Dutch war, deaths by lightning, and the small-pox. In 1668 a comet, which set just before dark, left its train above the horizon for several hours each night. The appearance was pro nounced " a flaming sword ; " and the Govemor and Council of Massachusetts called on the clergy to intercede against the calamity which it was supposed to threaten. (A quaint old writer remarks that the only calamity which followed was a renewal of their laws against the Baptists.) The Govemor and Council of New Plymouth do not seem to have paid any attention to the "flaming sword," although their worthy secretary must have quaked in his shoes at the sight of it. In 16S0 a comet was seen in New England by the naked eye for nine weeks, and longer " with a good telescope." (So the latter was then to be found here?) Foster's Almanac for 1681 says of it : "They are by most thought to be foreranners of evil, . . . though some think otherwise." Yet Increase Mather, subsequently President of Har vard College, proclaimed that such blazing stars foretold great changes and miseries ; and the learned pastors — WethereU, of Scituate, and Wiswall, of Duxbury — taught earnestly from their pulpits that this comet was directiy connected with the death of Govemor Josiah Winslow, which foUowed in the same year. (Four years later Judge SewaU was impressed by the fact that President Rogers, of Harvard CoUege, died just at the close of a solar eclipse.) We may not rejoice overmuch at the decay of this superstition, for during the writing of some of the preceding chapters, in many a town of the United States, citizens, native as weU as foreign, were manifest ing alarm at the presence of an especiaUy beautiful comet. LIGHTNING. Through some pecuharity of its position, thunder-storms are un usual Ul the viUage of Plymouth, and a lightning-stroke is a very rare event. Yet the writer has seen startling displays of the sort in and around the harbor. Oct. 14, 1883, there was a stroke on Water Street, mth slight results beyond serious fractures, at long intervals, in the underground pipes of the town water-works. 580 APPENDIX. The first fatal case among the inhabitants of the Colony was in July, 1658, when John Phillips was struck at Marshfield. Eight years later (July 4, 1666, n. s.) Grace, wife of Mr. Phillips' son John, was kiUed by lightning at or near the same place ; as also, by the same stroke, were a lad named Jeremiah PhiUips, and William Shurtleff. Mr. Shurtleff had his child in his lap, and was holding his wife by the hand to encourage her, but he alone was hurt. This storm immedi- ! ately foUowed a fast on account of drought, and ended with a hurri cane. Prayer was too efficacious. Between the deaths of Mr. Phillips and his daughter-in-law occurred another case. In 1660 three men from Boston, who were fishing, put in at Plymouth Harbor on account of a heavy rain-storm. As they sailed toward Duxbury, a flash of lightning killed one of them — a young man named James Pierce — and threw him overboard. His body was much burned beneath his clothing. These five deaths are aU which are recorded from this cause during the existence of the Colony (1620-92). There were, however, many cases in the neighboring regions. One of general interest occurred in 1665, when Captain Davenport was kiUed in the Castle at Boston by a bolt which did no other harm. About the time of Mrs. PhiUips' death there were several similar cases at the Bay, and four at Piscat aqua. In 1673, at Wenham, Pastor Higginson had stopped to talk with a man on the road, when a bolt killed the man and his dog, but left the preacher unscathed. In 1685, in Boston, a man, a woman, and two horses were struck dead. In 1755 Rev. Dr. Prince, of the "Old South" at Boston, con demned lightning-rods, then coming into use under Franklin's aus pices ; for Dr. Prince feared that they might so accumulate electricity in the earth as to " change the forces of Nature." It was in reply that Professor Winthrop made a defence of those " innocent and in jured iron points " in connection with his elucidation of earthquakes. THE AURORA BOREALIS. One would suppose that the " Northem Lights " must have been a finiitful source of terror in the superstitious era of the " first settlers ; " but, strange to say, it was not until two generations after Winthrop that the aurora attracted particular attention, or at least was generaUy understood to be a phenomenon by itself. The first definite notice of AURORA BOREALIS. — CLIMATE. 581 it in England is under date of 17 17, when Dr. Prmce, of Boston, was there, and saw the display. The next year an anonymous writer in New England saw it and called it a meteor, but inquired if it might not reaUy be what philosophers caU " aurora borealis." Yet there are two prior allusions to the aurora, chiefly valuable as showing the prevailing ignorance on the subject. In 163 1 Foxe, the Arctic voyager, while seeking the northwest passage, records that at "clock 12 there was pettidances, or henbanes (as some write them)." In 1649 a writer at Chester, England, says that as he was going home at night two clouds were " firing at each other " in a way he never saw before. It is weUnigh incredible that our ancestors were unob servant of the fine auroral displays so frequent in our latitude ; but ¦ their sUence on the subject indicates that they were so, as also does the language of discovery used by their grandchildren. In such case they missed what to them would have been a source of much unhappiness. CLIMATE. The first winter of the settlers at Plymouth (1620-21) was of remark able mildness ; so was the first winter of the settlers at Boston (1630-31).^ The winters at Plymouth are generally much less severe than in the inland towns of its vicinity, though the region immediately at its south is yet more favored. Frequently, years pass in Plymouth without sufficient snow for sleighing ; nor are owners of carriages often provided with sleighs. Yet the early settlers found some very hard winters, such as might have proved fatal to the Colony at Plymouth if added to the hardships of the first season. 1 The intervening winters all seem to have been exceptionally mild, for Wins low, in 1623, said : " I can scarce distinguish New England from Old England in respect of heat and cold, frost, snow, rain, winds, etc. Some object because our plantation Ueth in the latitude of 42° it must needs be much hotter. I con fess I cannot give the reason of the contrary ; only experience teacheth us that if it do exceed England, it is so little as must require better judgments to discern it. And for the winter, I rather think if there be difference, it is both sharper and longer m New England than Old." And Winslow's " Old England " was the southern part, as he came from Worcestershire. As to the other winters, from 1620 to 1630, there is a suggestion in Win throp's apparently absurd entry of Feb. 10/20, 1630-31 : " It hath been observed ever since this Bay was planted by Englishmen — namely, seven years — that at this day the frost hath broken up every year." His neighbor, Blaxton, had been there seven years, and so had Robert Gorges' settlers at Old Spain [Weymouth]. (See pp. 101, 112.) 5 82 APPENDIX. In 1634-5 Boston Harbor was frozen over. In 1637-8 was a severe winter. The winter of 164 1-2 was the coldest for forty years, the rigor extending to Virginia, where the unprepared settlers lost most of their swine and many cattle by it. Boston Harbor was extensively frozen ; Plymouth Harbor being entirely closed, so that for five weeks oxen and carts were driven over the inner and outer harbor. In the winter of 1645-6 ploughs ran at the Bay untU February 26th (n. s.), when the first snow feU, and blockaded the roads for three weeks. In 1680-81 the harbor was frozen between Boston and East Boston ; and in 1684-5 some nine hundred people went on the ice from Boston to the castle. In 1695-6 was the coldest winter which had then been known, the harbor being firmly frozen for the nine miles between Boston and Nantasket. Food was very scarce and dear. Owing to the severe weather, the General Court did not get a quomm until the third day of its session, and the acting-governor (Stoughton) had much doubt of the legahty of its session for that reason. In 1677 the summer heat was terrible in New England, and Sewall says that in Boston the people had " much ado to live." During the first century of the New England Colonies there were several seasons of destructive drought, of which the most serious were as foUows : In 1623, for 24 days; 1630,41 days; 1657, 75 days; 1662,80 days; 1674,45 days; 1688,81 days; 1694,62 days; i705,4odays; 1715, 46 days. Some notable droughts thereafter were: 1728, 61 days; 1730, 92 days ; 1741, 72 days ; 1749, 108 days ; 1755, 42 days ; 1762, 123 days between May i and September i (the longest drought yet [1887] known in this part of the country); 1773, 80 days; 1791, 82 days. In 1695 there was a tremendous hailstorm, which in Boston broke 480 " quarrels " of glass in Judge SewaU's wmdows. BUILDING NOTES, HOUSES, ETC. In 1628 thatched roofs at Plymouth were ordered to be changed to boards or paling, to prevent fires. Shingles are first mentioned there in 1649.' 1637, houses were clapboarded inside, and their par titions were so made. 1639 John Barker, bricklayer, is noticed, and his apprentice, William Barden. John " Mynard " (Maynard) in that ^ Plym. Rec, xii. 181. BUILDING NOTES. — FOOD. 583 year contracted to build the first prison. Ships from England to Salem were baUasted with bricks in 1629. At Inverness, Scotland, in 1689, "the best roofs were of thatch" {Macaulay) ; the windows had no glass, and in bad weather were closed with shutters. In 1638 the first " meeting-house " (36' X 20') at Dedham had a thatched roof. (The term " meeting-house " for church seems of colonial origin, it then being perforce used for every variety of gathering, political and social, as weU as religious.) The Pilgrims' fureplaces were probably of stones laid in clay, while the chimneys (standing outside the waU) were made " cob-house " style, of httie straight sticks, and plastered inside with clay. At New town (Cambridge), 1631, Mr. Sharp's chimney, "not being (well) clayed," took fire, as also did his thatched roof. Wooden chimneys and thatchmg were thereupon forbidden, as at Plymouth. In 1636 every householder in Plymouth Colony was required to keep a ladder which would reach the top of his roof, in case of "fyer." Boston procured her first fire-engine in 1679 ; thence to 1837 her fire-department was volunteer. The first windows were of paper satu rated with Unseed oil, and such could be found on Cape Cod in 1718. Higginson wrote in 1629 for the colonists to Salem to bring window- glass ; Plymouth must have had it by that time. The Plymouth houses do not seem to have been round-log cabins, as frequently they are caUed and pictured. De Rasieres wrote in 1627 that they were extemaUy of hewed plank, and the fort-meeting-house of sawn plank. Squared logs may have given him this impression, but possibly the Colonists built rudely but regularly framed houses at the outset, knowing nothing of primitive log-cabin constmction.* FOOD. The early settiers had salt and smoked fish in plenty ; of game and fresh fish there was no lack in their seasons, nor of lobsters and clams, but there were no oysters in Plymouth waters. They early had a good stock of poultry, goats, and swine, but beef and veal were rarities for a long period. Orchards were promptiy planted, which yielded a supply Of indiffer ent pears and good apples. Wild plums, grapes, huckleberries, and 1 See pp. 103, 109, 113. 584 APPENDIX. Strawberries grew in profusion aU through southern New England ; but the art of preserving fruits was but little understood, and the bountiful yield went much to waste. Wheat-bread was very common until the continuous wheat-blight of 1664-5-6 caused the general abandonment of that crop. Indian com was always the great reliance, and from it not a few hearty dishes were prepared. Rye was much used, either by itself or in combination with maize. Maize, pumpkins, and beans were practicaUy indigenous, and richly repaid any tolerable form of cultivation. When in 1652 the first coffee-house was opened in London, and customers were attracted by the novelty of the beverage, tea was only known as a curiosity sometimes exhibited in opulent circles, and in 1666 it was sold at 6oj-. a pound.' The coffee-plant was not carried to the West Indies untU the eighteenth century. Neither tea nor cofiee was known to the Pilgrim Fathers, and probably not to the next generation. Beer was the aU but universal table -beverage ; cider was considerably drunk ; first, home-made wine, and at an early day im ported wine, were not uncommon.'^ DistiUed liquors were sold in every town under close restrictions, but with the better portion of society were kept less for regular than exceptional and hospitable occasions, — it would seem, though, there was no scruple about their moderate use, except at unseemly places. Strong liquors, as a class, were often caUed aqua vitce; rum is occasionaUy specified, but the term "strong waters '' was commonly used, brandy being then vmknown to the Enghsh. The common potato was a stranger to the first settlers. In 1636 Captain WUliam Peirce brought fifteen tons of sweet potatoes from the West Indies to Boston, and sold them at 2d. a pound. In 1 708 potatoes are first mentioned in the steward's biUs at Harvard CoUege, but even those may have been sweet potatoes. A hundred years after Raleigh had carried the potato from Virginia to his Irish tenants, leading agri culturists of England were alluding to it as an unimportant novelty, and in the " Complete Gardener," pubhshed at London by the eminent nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, the seventh edition in 1719 does not even mention the potato. It was not until 1 783 that this tuber came into general use in France. It is pretty certain that on the hundredth 1 This tea came via Holland. The first direct importation was in 1668. In 167 1 Pepys, who had access to the most refined tables in London, mentions " thea " as a strange drink. 2 See note, p. 586. COTTON, WOOL, AND CROPS. 585 anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, very few families in the Old Colony had a knowledge of tea and coffee, and none of the common potato. The breakfast of the Pilgrim colonists generally comprised milk and hasty pudding (" y= Indian porridge"), or rye-pudding and bread, with pea or bean soup or stew, flavored with pork ; or salt fish. For dmner, bean soup or baked beans and pork, stewed peas, squash, tumips, parsnips, and onions. Fresh fish was common, but beef and mutton were very seldom seen. Butter and cheese, after the first few years, were plenty, except among the very poor. Children usuaUy had miU£, whUe the youths drank water or the beer of the elders. At no tirae after the famuie of 1623 was there a lack of good food in the Old Colony. COTTON, WOOL, AND CROPS. In 1 62 1 Virginia raised her first regular crop of cotton and em ployed her first slave-labor upon it. At the same time the Pilgrims were raising their first crop of Indian com, with their govemor, elder, captain, and doctor working in the field beside the other citizens. Before the West Indies and Virginia began to supply her, England had procured her cotton from Cyprus and Smyrna. The first cotton came to Boston from Barbadoes, arriving in 1633. In 1643, as home troubles disturbed England's exports to the Colonies, New England began to manufacture cotton goods. The inflammable nature of cotton was not understood by those who substituted it for linen, and in 1645 several children at the Bay were fatally burned by its use. A Watertown man, whose cotton clothes took fire, saved his life by jumping into his weU. Still, cotton won its way, and New England's manufacture of it, begun in the households of 1643, has now a yearly product of more than |l 160,000,000. In 1638 Pastor Rogers and his flock, expeUed from Yorkshire, came to Massachusetts with capital and founded Rowley, where they set up a wooUen and fulling miU. In 1653, in the Old Colony, James Torrey had a cloth-miU at Scituate. In 1672 George Bonum buUt a fulling- miU on Town Brook, Plymouth. In 1633 New Plymouth found it necessary to forbid the exportation of sheep; in 1639 to require every householder to sow at least one square rod of flax or hemp. In many famUies, probably in the greater number, the large and smaU spinning-wheels were to be heard, and 586 APPENDIX. domestic looms were much used, though there were professional weavers (or " websters "). In 1647 tar is mentioned. The iron manu facture, which began in 1652 and has attained colossal proportions, required a separate notice (pp. 527-9). In 1637 mention is casually made of a hedge, and in 1641 of Thomas HiU as a nurseryman, he having many apple-trees on sale. In 1664-5-6 the wheat, which had been a fine crop, was blasted each year, and its cultivation was generally abandoned. Morton regarded this Wight as a divine rebuke " of the Ucentiousness of apparel," on which many had spent the profits of former wheat-crops. Tobacco (named, not from Tobago, but from the forked tube used in smoking it by the first-found Indians) was popularized in England by Raleigh. James I. was furious against it, and the Massachusetts Company forbade its cultivation in their colony ; but it was long an important crop at Plymouth, which sold much of it to the Dutch. It is not cultivated in the Old Colony now, save as a curiosity, but good crops might be raised in the southern parts.' SHIP-BUILDING.2 Massachusetts was early at ship-buUding. In 1628-9 was buUt at Salem a barque large enough to go to the " Banks." Winthrop, on his Medford farm, July 4, 1631 (o. s.), launched the " Blessing of the Bay," 30 tons, bmlt of locust; in 1632 a 100-ton ship was built, and in 1633 Peirce's "Rebecca" of 60 tons, both at Medford; in 1636 Peirce's " Desire," 120 tons, was built at Marblehead ; in 1640 Salem, under the influence of Hugh Peters, her minister, buUt a 300-ton ship, and Boston launched her first ship, the "Trial," of 160 tons, which sailed under the veteran captain, Thomas Graves, formerly of the " Plantation," " EUzabeth Bonadventure," " Reformation," etc. ; in 1642 Boston built three ships, Dorchester one, and Salem one, and the next year Gloucester one ; yet one year later Boston built one of 250 tons, and Cambridge one of 250, which latter went at once to the Canaries with a load of staves. In 1676 were owned in and around Boston 430 vessels of from 30 to 250 tons. 1 WUliams says the Indians were moderate in the use of tobacco ; and quaintly remarks thereon : " And yet excess were more tolerable in them, because they want [lack] the refreshing of beer and wine which God hath vouchsafed Europe." 2 See p. 438. SHIP-BUILDING. — CLOTHING. 587 The first vessel buUt in New England was by the Popham-Gorges Company, 1607-8 (see p. 148), and she is said to have carried some of them to England. The Salem craft was preceded by several shal lops, a ketch, and a barque buUt at Plymouth. CLOTHING. The dress of our ancestors is famiUar to us through engravings. Stockings were of course far more important than now as a part of men's apparel. In 1559 Henry II. of France, at his sister's wedding, wore the first pair of silk stockings known in France, — satin and sUk bemg then interchangeable terms. In 1 561 a pair was given to Queen EUzabeth of England, who declared she would thereafter wear no other kind ; her stockings tiU then had been cut from cloth and sewed up, much Uke boots.' In 1564 the first pair, in England, of knit woollen hose for men was worn by the Earl of Pembroke. By the time of the Pilgrims, knit hose were in general use, and knitting was a common industry. In 1629 the Massachusetts Company provided for its men two hun dred pairs of " Irish stockings," at some iT,d. a pair, and one hundred pairs of knit stockings at about 2s. ^d. a pair ; also two hundred suits, doublet and hose of leather, lined with "oU-skin leather," the doublet and hose fastened together with hooks and eyes. It also sent one hundred waistcoats of green cotton, bound with red tape. (The Irish stocking seems to have been held by a band under the foot, and to have ascended to the body, where it joined the doublet. Mourt's Relation compares the Indian leggings to " Irish trousers," being "long hosen up to theur groins.") See p. 120. The item of " shoes and hose " is prominent in aU the Pilgrims' imports for several years. It was much the fashion at the Bay to wear red stockings, and probably so at Plymouth. Among the PUgrims were weavers, but for several years they im ported their cloth, and also some ready-made clothing. They early had flax and hemp, but their cUp of wool must have been smaU for many years ; yet mattresses and pillows of wool were much used. 1 In 1676 an English traveller saw in France the newly-invented parasols, which he described lucidly as " a pretty sort of cover for women riding in the sun, made of straw, — something like the fashion of tin covers for dishes." It was the middle of the next century before the first umbrella was seen in the streets of London, and its owner was mobbed for the effeminacy. 588 APPENDIX. PEWTER vs. EARTHEN. As tea and coffee were unknown to the Forefathers, the many Delft- ware tea and coffee pots and cups, preserved as PUgrim relics, are to be regarded as anachronisms ; and especiaUy so as at the time of the " Mayflower's " voyage earthen table-ware was not in common use. When the Pilgrims made their night-trip through Delft, on their way to the " Speedwell," the famous wares of that city had not found their way to plebeian tables. It seems pretty certain that the first-comers brought no earthen table-ware, and acquired very little in after years, although they had earthen bowls, jugs, pots, and pans. Stout wooden plates, caUed "trenchers," were used, as also were wooden bowls. For elegant ware pewter was much employed, and was often produced with great nicety of workmanship. Govemor Bradford's inventory shows thirty-four pieces of pewter, consisting of three large and two smaU plates, fourteen " dishes," thirteen platters, a bottle, and a candlestick. Standish left sixteen pewter dishes and a dozen wooden trenchers. Peter Palfrey, of Salem, bequeathed his daughter Mary two pewter platters. Pewter ware is frequently men tioned in the wiUs and schedules of both our Colonies, and some of the articles appear to have been of considerable value. In 1676 James Briggs, of Scituate, complained that Constable Jen kins had taken from his house a pewter basin, without first making a legal demand for his claim. The Court ordered the constable to pay 6d. damages and costs, and restore the basin, or pay 75. silver as an equivalent. As money was then at least four times its present value, the article must have been of high grade. In 1729 the First Church at Hanover, Mass., bought a set of communion-ware and a christening-basin, all of pewter, and stiU pre serves them as relics. Table-forks were also unknown to the EngUsh tables of the " May flower's " day, though large forks were used in cooking. Tom Coryat had about that time brought a fork from Italy to London ; and as he ate with it at a pubUc table, the people used to crowd around to see the comical performance. For many years afterward the table-fork was regarded as a curiosity, much as chop-sticks now are, and its use was ridiculed as a freak of effeminacy by Beaumont and Fletcher, and by "rare Ben Jonson." The diner was accustomed to hold his meat whh the left fingers, while he cut it into pieces which FUNERAL MATTERS. 589 could be conveyed to the mouth by the knife or the fingers. This process required much wiping of the hands, for which purpose there was a plentiful supply of napkins, — as is shown by the inventories of weU-to-do famUies. In fashionable circles saffron was much used on meats, and hence the left-hand fingers of such people often acquired a yellow color. Probably not one of the Pilgrims ever saw a fork used at table. It has been thought that in Switzeriand the pre- Adamite man ate with a fork ; but the bone forks found there were doubtiess used for some other purpose, as there is no trace of table- forks in the historic age before the twelfth century. FUNERAL MATTERS. At burials there was no service. The beU toUed (if there was one) ; the neighbors assembled, with their pastor, and conducted the body to the grave, standing reverently by tiU the earth had been fiUed in. In case of functionaries, the trainband did escort duty and fired voUeys over the grave. In 1697 Captain Jonathan Alden, a son of the Pilgrim, was buried under arms at Duxbury, and it was noted as an innovation that Pastor WiswaU made an address at the grave ; but no reUgious exercises are mentioned. In 1685, at the funeral of Pastor Adams at Roxbury, Pastor Wilson, of Medfield, prayed with the company before going to the grave ; and this is the first instance known in these Colonies. The practice had not become really common in 1720. So late as 1774, when Joseph Howland was buried at Newport (great-grandson of the PUgrim Howland), Rev. Drs. Hopkins and Styles walked in the procession, but held no services, " it not being the practice then, as now, for a prayer or address to be offered at a funeral." ' August. 1686, was the first burial at Boston using the Episcopal service (SewaU). The early Dissenters (and many Nonconformists too) were ex tremely fearful that religious ceremonies over the dead would grow into prayers for then: souls, with the doctrine of Purgatory and the invocation of saints in then: behalf. Even Cartwright and Hildersham, who remained in the Church of England, shared this feeling, and were annoyed because their finend Richard Mather did not. The French Protestant churches forbade prayer or sermon at funerals, " to avoid superstition." 1 Life and Records of John Howland of Rhode Island, p. 491. 590 APPENDIX. In 1697, at Govemor Bradstreet's funeral in Salem, eight of the clergy attended, but the exercises seem to have been exclusively miUtary. In 1656, for some reason, the body of Titus Waymouth was buried at the expense of New Plymouth. The cost was as foUows : — £ s. d. Item. — For a winding-sheet, five yards of lockorum and thread 085 Coffin 080 Digging grave 030 Clerk of Court 026 Tavern charges 0120 £1 13 II VERDICT OF A CORONER'S JURY. " Rehoboth, the 14th July, 1664. " Wee whose names are herevnder subscribed doe signify to aU per sons whome it may concerne, that according to our best light and appre hension, Rebeckah Sale, the late wife of Edward Sale, was her owne executioner, viz. : shee hanged herself in her owne hiered house." AN INDIAN WARRANT. When the native converts, caUed Praying Indians, began to found villages, some of them were made magistrates over the others ; and to their credit, be it said, that while over-strict and severe, they ad ministered substantial justice. The foUowing warrant to Constable Waterman for the arrest of one Wicket, issued by Justice Hihoudi, is preserved : — " I Hihoudi, You Peter Waterman, Jeremy Wicket : Quick you take him, Fast you hold him. Straight you bring him Before me, Hihoudi." WINTHROP'S SUPERNATURAL FANCIES. The great Winthrop's habit of attributing current events to super natural causes is illustrated by some of the entries in his journal. Among them, in substance, are the foUowing : — In 1639 he records that one Keyser, of Lynn, being at Plymouth, — one Dickerson with him, " a professor, but a notorious thief," — WOLVES AND OTHER WILD ANIMALS. 591 was commg out of the harbor with the ebb and the wind southeriy, a fresh gale ; yet, with aU their skiU and labor, they could not in three hours get the boat over one league, so they were forced to anchor, and at the flood to go back to the town, where, Dickerson being ar rested, a gold ring and other stolen gold pieces were found upon him, and he was whipped. In 1640 he says that his son, the Connecticut Govemor, had a Greek Testament, the Psalms, and the Book of Common Prayer bound in a volume together; and this volume, with one thousand others, was kept in a chamber with some corn. The mice selected the book in -question, and gnawed entirely through the Prayer Book, but did not touch another leaf of that volume or any other. In 1648, he says, the ship "Welcome" (300 tons) lay at Boston, having in her eighty horses and one hundred and twenty tons of bal last, when one Jones, " husband of the witch " lately executed, wanted passage in her to Barbadoes, but was refused for lack of the fare. Then, in calm weather, the ship began to roll, and continued to for twelve hours ; although they brought a great weight to one side of her, yet would she heel the other side, and that so deep as to cause a fear that she would founder. The Boston magistrates hearing of the case, being told that the ship would stand stiU so soon as Jones was in prison, sent to arrest him. As the constable was going over the ferry to find his man, a person said, " You can tame men sometimes ; cannot you tame this ship ? " The officer rephed, " I have that here that (it may be) wiU tame her and make her be quiet." He then displayed his warrant ; and at that instant the ship began to stop, and when Jones was put in prison " moved no more." (No wonder that poor Jones wanted to get away from the people who, thirteen days before, had hanged his wife Margaret as a witch, because, as Winthrop says, she was a healer of disease, apparently using only such things as were harmless, as anise-seed, liquors, etc. ; but her practice was " beyond the apprehension of aU physicians and surgeons," and she would teU the refusers of her medicine that they never would get weU. This seems to have been the rather sturdy method of early Boston for getting rid of an "irregular practitioner.") WOLVES AND OTHER WILD ANIMALS. Wolves have been mentioned as prowling in Plymouth before the settlement was a month old. They proved a serious annoyance for at 38 592 APPENDIX. least two generations. In 1633 *^^ ^^y people imported four Irish greyhounds for hunting them. Still, in the same year, Plymouth's "ancient order" of 2d. bounty for each wolf killed, was Umited to those who should seek to destroy wolves, and not those who " acci dentally hght on them ; " but the first code, that of 1636, offered four bushels of corn to "whoever shall kUl a wolf." In 1642, the beasts having become very destractive, the Old Colony Court ordered twenty- seven wolf-traps to be built and daily watched, under penalty of \os. for each trap neglected; namely, in Plymouth 5, Duxbury 5, Scituate 4, Sandwich 3, Barnstable 3, Yarmouth 3, Marshfield 2, Taunton 2. The comparative immunity of Taunton, which elsewhere appears, is some thing remarkable. In 1649 the men of Plymouth held a town meetuig in Govemor Bradford's house, and besides ordering their five traps to be maintained they offered ii,s. for the head of every wolf kiUed in that town. In 1665, when the Colony-at-large paid a bounty of \os., there were thirty-one wolves' heads brought in ; namely, Plymouth 3, Duxbury i, Rehoboth 2, Taunton i, Scituate i. Sandwich 4, Yarmouth 6, Barn stable 9, Eastham 4. Here again Taunton's one wolf and Rehoboth 's two, contrast strikingly with Cape Cod's twenty-three. In 1656, when Bridgewater was incorporated, she was ordered to keep up five wolf-traps. From time to time the bounty on wolves was raised or lowered, according to the annoyance, and in 16 71 it was 30^. As this was paid by the town in which the wolf was kiUed, there was occasional dispute as to liability. Thus, in 1679 WilUam Crow, an eminent citizen of Plymouth, complained to the General Court of the persistent non-payment to him by that town of a wolf-bounty. In 1683 the people of Sandwich, then paying a bounty of 15^., com plained of the wolves as " very destmctive and devouring our crea tures." In 1686 a wolf was kiUed in Duxbury, and in 1689 there were thirteen slain in the whole Colony. In 1 704 Sandwich suffered so much that she offered ;^3, in addition to the public bounty, for each wolf kiUed. The affinity of wolves for Cape Cod led, in 171 7, to a curious pre ventive plan, — the erection of a fence from Buzzard's Bay to Cape Cod Bay, nearly following the present ship-canal route. This fence, in tended to keep the wolves from entering the Cape, was to be six feet high and to cost ;^soo. The people of the neighboring mainland loudly protested that this structure would quarter on them the wolves SMALL-POX. 593 which would otherwise go down the Cape, and the General Court refused to aid in building it. It was next proposed that the Cape towns themselves construct h. Sandwich and Falmouth came forward to pay their part, but the outer towns, apparently thinking that these two would take care of the intruders through self-protection, would give nothing ; and so this humble imitation of the Chinese WaU was never erected. When the last of the wolves left the Cape, is unknown ; but so late as 1739 Truro, at the far end, was offering a reward for the head of "the wolf that has of late been prowling through the township." Towns paid 5^-. for a fresh pah of wUd-cat's ears. The Rehoboth Record of 1733 certifies that "John Pierce brought a wild-cat's head before the town and his ears were cut off by the constable in the presence of two selectmen," — prima facie, a rather painful assertion. Wareham Records of 1765 quote foxes' heads as worth " t,s. for old ones, and \s. for young ones puppied this year." Various towns took defensive measures against minor pests. For example, in 1693 Duxbury required of every householder, under penalty of is., that between May and July i he kiU one crow and six blackbirds, or else twelve blackbirds. In 1738 that town offered 3//. for each fuU-grown rat, 3;/. for a blackbird, and dd. for a crow ; and in 1744 every head of a family was ordered to dehver-in ten rats' heads, or ten blackbirds, under penalty of dd. for each one lacking. In 1 740 Sandwich offered a bounty for heads of crows, blackbirds, and blue jays. In 1740 HoUis, N. H., paid \s. for each rattlesnake kiUed. Dedham, in 18 19, gave bd. for "an inch and a half of the end of a rattlesnake's taU, with the rattle." SMALL-POX. This loathsome disease is said to have originated in Arabia a.d. 569. If so, the experience of the next eleven hundred years was well nigh profitiess as to its treatment. Even in England in the days of the Pilgrims persons unmarked by the disease were much fewer in her town and viUage streets than those who bore its traces. Some were decrepit in arms or legs, others were deaf or repulsively deformed in countenance, and cases of blindness from small-pox were not infre quent. This was therefore one of the most dreaded and terrible of diseases ; for if the plague was more deadly, it was more easy to avoid by removal when it came at long intervals, whUe the smaU-pox was 594 APPENDIX. a constant, though unseen, danger, and often most crael when it spared hfe. The medical treatment of the small-pox was then very bad, the patient being deprived of a change of air and subjected to a heating regimen.' Notice has been taken of the appaUing ravages of the small-pox among the Indians in 1633-4; but though no white person then took it, the disease ravaged Boston six times during her first century, and probably extended to most of the settiements of New England. One of these attacks, 1665-6, is that which Morton attributes to the comet of 1664. In 1677 ^ ship wi'^h the disease on board anchored at Nan tasket, where she was visited by several Charlestown people. The result was another season of the pestUence, in which eight hundred deaths occurred in Boston. Nothing is said of it at Plymouth, but it probably raged there in a less degree, from the better means of super vision and isolation. In 1721 came Boston's sixth visitation, and of her six thousand cases eight hundred and fifty were fatal. This proportion of one in seven was customary there, but it was much exceeded in England. This time the disease also extended to Plymouth ; the town " suffered great distress," and a committee of twelve was chosen to aid the selectmen in preventing its spread. Three years before this outbreak Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, when in Turkey, had learned of the process of inoculation, which had there been tested upon criminals, and then appUed to practice. Lady Mary introduced the treatment into England, bravely trying it upon her own son. This process rendered the disease vastly lighter, and freed it from its terrible after-work. In fact, it reduced the mor- taUty to one in seven hundred. In Boston, during the attack of 1721, only one physician would countenance inoculation. His name, worthy of high honor, was Zabdiel Boylston. Against his new treatment arose a fearful and almost universal clamor. The lawyers declared that if any of his in oculated patients should die, he would be liable to the penalty of murder; the physicians indorsed this opinion, and added that the mixture of vims with the healthy human system would develop a hybrid race of beings ; the clergy, as usual to the fore, denounced in- ' In 1 520, the Spanish carrying this disease to Mexico, it slew 3,000,000 ; in 1707 it destroyed one fourth the population of Iceland, and in 1733 ravaged Greenland. The Crusaders are said to have spread it through Europe. SMALI^POX. 595 oculation as an attempt to thwart the foreordained wiU of God and a dishonoring of God's image. The violent invectives of the learned roused the rest of the people to fury. Threats of hanging Dr. Boylston were so loud that he was forced to hide for fourteen days, and to visit his patients in disguise. WhUe one of the latter. Pastor Waller j(Wal- ley?), of Roxbury, was confined to his chamber during inoculation, a bombshell was thrown through his window to destroy him as a self- made monster ; but fortunately the fuse would not burn. In the face of this tempest of obloquy, only one leading clergyman stood forth as Dr. Boylston's defender, and showed his sincerity by having his entire family inoculated. Few readers would readily hit upon this inteUigent divine, who was so ready to face both learned and popular clamor and to denounce its superstition, for he was none other than Cotton Mather, the ancient prosecutor of witchcraft ! ' It is much to be wished that brave Dr. Boylston could have had a vision of the smaU-pox visitation at Boston seventy-six years after this outbreak. Then the people were once more frantic, but it was from a desire to be inoculated before the disease should overtake them. They surged in crowds around the physicians' offices, clamoring to be " grafted," as they caUed it ; and in three days the operation was performed on nine thousand of them. In 1778 Dr. Winslow inoculated three hundred at "the islands," none of whom died. These islands were doubtless Nantucket, etc. In 1802 vaccination was tried in New Jersey, and soon after in New York and Connecticut; in 1809 it was generally adopted in Boston, and in 1 8 16 occurred the first public-vaccination in Plymouth, there being eight hundred subjects. So inoculation, introduced with such a struggle less than a century before, had even then yielded, with no great disturbance, to a stiU more novel process which left it more than half-way back in the path of sanitary-progress.^ 1 The inoculation excitement at Boston in 1721 became a matter of interest in royal circles. The Puritan historian Rev. Dr. Neal, of London, who had written upon it, was in 1722 invited to call upon the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Caroline). When he reached the palace the Princess laid aside Fox's " Book of Martyrs," which she was reading, and talked for an hour upon the results of inoculation in New England, and Dr. Neal's reply to the objections of a preacher there. She also made many interested inquiries as to the state of religion in New England, and the work of the Dissenting bodies of England. During this time the prince (afterwards George II.) came in and joined in the conversation. 2 What would this period have thought of Pasteur's theories of to-day ? 59^ APPENDIX. MARRIAGE CELEBRATIONS.' CivU marriages were the New England custom among the first generations. Nov. 4/14, 1692, the year Plymouth was merged into Massachusetts, the clergy were first authorized by the new province to solemnize marriages. Yet in the Andros period. May 18/28, 1686, was the first marriage at Boston with prayer-book and ring. In 1647 some Bostonians desired that independent and stalwart Hingham preacher, Peter Hobart, to come up and preach at a wed ding ; but the magistrates forbade it, saying that they did not wish to introduce the English custom of clerical marrying which this would lead to, and moreover, the preacher in question was " averse to our ecclesiastical and civil govemment, and a bold speaker." In 1708, at Plymouth, Josiah Cotton and Hannah Sturtevant were married by Pastor Littie. (Was this the first under the new rule ?) DIVORCES." In 1 66 1 Elizabeth Burge, of Sandwich, was divorced from Thomas, Jr., on scriptural grounds, and he was then severely whipped at Ply mouth, and again at Sandwich. He soon after left the Colony. In 1664 WiUiam Tubbs, of Scituate, sought a divorce from his wife, Mercy Sprague. After the patriarchal style, WiUiam Paybody, of Dux bury, gave him a writing of divorcement, with Lieutenant Nash and John Sprague as witnesses. The General Court treated the document as a nuUity, and fined Paybody £e,' s-^d each witaess jQ^. In 1652 the Court had admonished Goodwtfe Tubbs for " mixed dancing ; " and in 1668, finding that she had eloped from the Colony, it granted her husband a divorce. In 1670 James SkifTs wife Elizabeth, daughter of Neighbor Cooper, of Boston, went to Roanoke with " another man for her husband." Skiff lived on the Vineyard, which was not in the New Plymouth juris diction ; but he came to the Plymouth General Court, which certified to his having a divorce from his own Court. In 1663 Ensign John WiUiams, of Barnstable, was fined ;^io for slandering his own wife, Sarah, and John Bayley ; but ten years later he secured a divorce for scriptural cause. 1 See also next three sections. 2 The Bay Colony enacted divorces in 1639, re-enacted 1658. MATRIMONIAL IMPEDIMENTS, ETC. 597 In 1675 Edward Jenkins, of Taunton, petitioned that his daughter Mary be divorced from Marmaduke Atkinson, who had been out of the Colony and made no provision for her during seven years or more. The decision was a smgular one ; namely, that while the Court " sees no cause to grant a divorce, yet they do apprehend her to be no longer bound, but do leave her to her liberty to marry if she please." In 1680 Ehzabeth Wade was regularly divorced from Thomas Stevens for his bigamy. In 1686 John Glover, of Barnstable, was divorced from Mary for scriptural cause. These six cases include aU the divorces granted during the Colony's existence. In 1670 Samuel HaUoweU asked for a divorce on his wife's confession of legal cause and her abuse of him ; but the Court, " being not very clear," post poned this case three months, to see if the wife would persist in self- accusations; she apparentiy did not, for the matter was not again mentioned.' MATRIMONIAL IMPEDIMENTS, ETC.2 In 1646 Richard Taylor complained that he was hindered from marrying Ruth Wheildon by her father, Gabriel. Wheildon, when before the Court, promised to yield. In 1 66 1 John Sutton sued Mary Russell for breach of promise, claiming ;^20o; he recovered ;^i5 and costs. Two years later John Jacob, of Scituate, marrying Mary, had the case reviewed ; and as he showed the fault to have been chiefly her father's, the Court remitted 50J. ofthe above amount. In 1 66 1 also, Richard Sylvester, of Scituate, in behalf of his daughter Dinah, sued an unnamed person for breach of promise ; he claimed jf 200, and recovered ;^20 and costs. In 1663 Elizabeth Soule sued Nathaniel Church for the same cause, with betrayal, and recovered ;£io and costs. In 1673 Richard Sutton, of Roxbury, testified at Plymouth to his engagement with EUzabeth Symonds, but their marriage was prevented by her parents, Moses and Sarah. The Court ordered the father to pay Sutton £t, for his time and expense, and voted to release the pair from their agreement unless they chose to renew it. 1 A slightly irrelevant matter is the law of 167 1 against conjugal violence; namely, " No man shall strike his wife, nor any woman her husband, on penalty of such fine not exceeding ^fio, or such suitable corporal punishment as the Court shall determine." 2 See pp. 487, 501-2. 598 APPENDIX. In 1679 James WiUet, who had married Lieutenant Peter Hunt's daughter EUzabeth, claimed that the father had promised him j^'ioo as an inducement, and he sued Hunt therefor, but lost his case, and had to pay the costs. StiU, the marriage seems to have been an honorable and happy one. In 1652 Jonathan Coventry was indicted for " making a motion of marriage " to Katharine Bradbury, servant to Mr. Bourne, of Marsh field, without the latter's consent. Coventry left the Colony before arrest. In the same year the Court warned Edward Holman not to frequent the house of Thomas Shrieve, and that Goodwife Shrieve do not frequent the house or company of Holman, at their peril. This proved ineffectual, for next year they were ordered to avoid each other, or be whipped ; and that seems to have been enough. The year next before, the General Court admonished Samuel Eaton and Goodwife Hall, of Duxbury, for " mixed dancing ; " and in 1666 John Robinson, grandson of the Leyden pastor, was bound over to carry himself properly towards Thomas Crippen's wife. In 1 648 Thomas Dunham was ordered to abstain from visiting or sending to Martha Knott, of Sandwich, from October 4 tiU the first Tuesday of December, that the Court may better leam of his pretended contract, unless the Govemor, on the clearing of things, give him leave. A romantic case was that of Govemor Thomas Prence against Arthur Howland, Jr., nephew of the Pilgrim. The tolerant course of the elder Arthur Howland toward the Quakers had earned Prence's hearty ill-wiU ; and when, in 1660, he found that Arthur, Jr., had wooed his daughter Elizabeth, he had the swain before the General Court, where he was fined ;f 5 for making love without her father's permission. The couple remained constant, for in 1667 the irate Govemor once more brought up young Arthur, who was again fined ^^5 because he had " disorderly and unrighteously endeavored to obtain the affections of Mistress Elizabeth Prence," and was put under a bond of ^^50 to " refrain and desist." But Prence, Uke Canute, was unable to control the forces of Nature. This action was in July ; but before the next spring the imperious Govemor seems to have been forced to capitu late, for Arthur and Elizabeth were united, and in the course of events there was a Thomas Howland and a Prence Howland. Prence's friend and neighbor. Constant Southworth, had an expe rience somewhat like with his daughter Elizabeth. In his wiU (1679), DELAYED MARRIAGES. 599 which disposed of .£'360, he gave her "my next best bed and furniture, with my wife's best bed, provided she do not marry WiUiam Fobes ; but if she do, then to have 5^." The beds and adjuncts were then worth thirty times 5^-., for a fine bed was thought a goodly bequest ; but it was the grand old story, — Elizabeth chose to have 5s. with Wil ham, to two beds without him ; and as his wife, she went to provide her own beds at Little Compton, then in Plymouth Colony. As the second generation of the Old Colony entered on the stage it developed much radicahsm, which not a little disturbed the more conservative. One fancy was the performance of the marriage cere mony by unauthorized people, and some couples went so far as to marry themselves. In 1654 Edward Perry, on Cape Cod, was fined ;^5 for " disorderly marriage," and Magistrate Prence, when passing by on his return from court to Eastham, was to marry him rightly. Perry refused to be re married, and was fined ;^5 more, with the discouraging notice that his fine would be repeated every three months tiU he complied. In 1678 Edward Wanton, for marrying himself, was fined ;^io, and Thomas Boarman, for the same offence, £^^. In 1684 WiUiam Gifford was fined 50J. for disorderly marriage. (An extraordinary case of self-marriage was at Boston in 1641. Richard Bellingham, who was then Govemor of Massachusetts, gave much scandal by suddenly marrying Penelope Pelham, who was about forming a contract with another. He was forty-nine, and she twenty- two, and he had not been many months a widower. As he had not been legally published, and had also married himself, he was prose cuted, and was brought before the General Court. He himself pre sided there, and he refused to leave the bench during this trial. The secretary therefore postponed the case amidst excitement, and it was not again caUed up. BeUingham had just beaten the senior Winthrop for govemor by six votes; he was again elected in 1654, and from 1665 tiU his death in 1672.) DELAYED MARRIAGES. The founders of the Old Colony intended that unchastity should be absolutely unknown there ; and for all offenders whom their " morbid vigilance " could detect, however long afterward, there was littie mercy and no deUcacy of treatment {vide poor Dorothy Temple !). Even matrimony long previous to discovery was not accepted as fiiU con- 600 APPENDIX. donation. Yet they innocently-enough preserved a custom which much thwarted their endeavors for complete propriety. In England had early existed the practice of public espousal, which usually preceded by several months, and often by years, the actual marriage. The relation of espoused people to each other was perhaps somewhat vague in the public mind, and it not infrequently appeared that the final ceremony came too late for propriety's sake. Hence the religious reformers had bestirred themselves in favor of combining espousals and nuptials in one ceremony. But the settlers of New Plymouth estabUshed the system of pre-contract. By this, the couple (having the consent of the parents or guardians, in the case of minors) made before two witnesses a solemn promise of marriage in due time, the ceremony having the formahty of the magisterial weddings then in vogue. The custom of pre-contract had the same Ul results as the espousals to which it was equivalent. WhUe the cause was not suspected, the evil was met with severe measures. Newly united people were vigi lantly watched, and woe to them if their family record was prematurely opened. In several of the earher cases the husband was publicly whipped, whUe the wife sat close by, in the stocks, and was compeUed to witaess the punishment. Soon the penalty was changed to ;^5 for contracted parties, and £^io for others ; but unless the fine should be paid, the whipping was continued. The General Court was not too dignified to try these cases for the whole Colony, nor to record that one couple's delinquency was "six weeks," and another was "five weeks and four days." The cases before them averaged one a year, and the offenders were of every social grade. There was Peregrine White, the first-bom chUd of the Colony and stepson of Govemor Winslow ; Thomas Cushman, Jr., son ofthe Elder; James Cudworth, Jr., son of the future general and deputy-govemor, and Jonathan, his brother ; Samuel Arnold, Jr., son of the Marshfield pastor ; Isaac Robinson, Jr., grandson of the great Leyden pastor ; Thomas Delano ; Nathaniel Church ; and other scions of leading famihes. Gallantry suggests the omission of their partners' names. Some writers have made the mistake of supposing that generation to have been below the present in general purity of life ; but ' it is far from the fact when allowance is made for the pre contract, which was a sort of semi-marriage, and also for the impartial diligence with which such cases were ferreted out and recorded. PLYMOUTH'S CAPITAL CASES. — TREASON. 60I CAPITAL CASES. There were ten executions under the civU authority in New Ply mouth Colony ; namely, BiUington, murder, 1630 (Chapter XXXVII.) ; Peach and two others, murder, 1638 (Chapter XLIX.) ; a youth named Granger, for unnatural crimes, 1642 ; Robert Bishop's wife, Alice Clark, for kUhng her daughter Martha, four years old, 1648 ; three Indians, for kiUing John Sassamon, a preacher and landowner in Middleborough, 1675 ; Jean Armand de la Forrest, murder, 1690.' The case of Mrs. Bishop is especiaUy sad. It is evident that she was insane, but the medical skiU of that day was not sufficient to perceive it. There was a paraUel case at Boston in 1638, when Dor othy Talby was hanged for kilhng her child while, as now is clearly seen, she was insane from reUgious excitement. Forrest, a French man, was convicted at Bristol (now in Rhode Island) of murdering a fellow-countryman. He escaped to Boston, and being reclaimed, was taken to Plymouth. His case was reviewed, and the sentence con firmed August 9th (n. s.) ; the next moming he was hung, after pen itently confessing his guUt. He was earnest for a commutation on condition of serving against the Indians, then making war in Maine. In 1664 Samuel Howland was tried for murder and acquitted, but after the manner of the times was made to pay his jail-fees, — los. In 1 66 1 John Hawes, of Yarmouth, for giving a fatal faU to Joseph Rogers while wresthng with him Christmas Day, was acquitted on a charge of manslaughter. TREASON. In 1671 John Cowin, of Scituate, was charged with treason in say ing that he scorned to be in subjection to any Englishman, and that there never was any king in England who was an Enghshman but one crooked-backed Richard, a crooked rogue, — just hke a well-known deformed man of Scituate. Perhaps the witnesses tried to screen him, or the Court sought to make a show of loyalty without convicting Cowin, for it is recorded 1 Of these ten, all were hanged except one Indian in 1675, who was shot. In 1670, at Boston, a man was hanged as "a persistent thief,"— a very rare case in New England history, though such executions were not uncommon in nearly all other regions of the Old and New Worlds. 602 APPENDIX. that the witnesses were unwiUing to testify to his face, and as " the case is rare," and wishing " advice and help from others," Cowin was kept in jail three months, and on a re-trial acquitted. VARIOUS CASES.' In 1638 Thomas HaUoweU, a servant, being unable to account for a pair of red silk stockings in his possession, was locked up ; then confessing that he stole them from a window in Boston, he was re turned to that place for punishment. 1638. John Davis, for not duly deUvering goods by boat at Sand wich, was sued by Michael Turner for ;^2o; but the Court gave Davis ^os. and costs because Turner " should have set up a pole with a white cloth on the top " to show the entrance to the harbor. 1638. Francis Sprague'-' fined 6i-. 8d. for assaulting WiUiam Holla- way, and HoUaway fined 5J. for abusing and provoking Sprague. In 1 649 HoUaway and Peregrine White were indicted for fighting. 1640. John Jones and Peter Mecock, for kiUing hogs at North River, ordered to each pay j£8 to the owners of the hogs, and also be whipped ; their comrade, John Harker, to pay ;^5, and sit in the stocks to see the others whipped. (This year, in Maine, Mr. John Winter, of Richmond's Island, was indicted for extortion, for taking a noble for a gallon of aquavita, when somebody else sold a hogshead of the same for £'j seven months before. Goody Mendum was fined 2^. 6d. for calling Thomas GuUison and John Davis, " yee divells." The wife of Abraham Cum- ley was put under bonds for remarking that " y" Magistrates were come about one foolery or other." Joane Andrews was bound over " to stand in a towne meeting at Yorke, and in a towne meeting at Kittery, tiU 2 hours bee expired, with her offence written upon a paper in cappitaU letters, pinned upon her forehead," for seUing a " furkine of butter " with two stones in it, — which sentence was afterward carried out ; and " Mis Saraih Morgan " had to " stand with a gagg in her mouthe halfe an houre at a public town meeting at Kittery, with the cause of her sentence writ upon her forehead," for striking her husband. [An order of the same court was, that aU inhabitants of the province should bring their chUdren to baptism if they had not akeady done so.]) 1 See pp. 434, 476, 502, 512, 516, 546. 2 See note, pp. 362-3. VARIOUS CASES. 603 1652. Joseph Ramsden ordered to live no more in the woods remote from neighbors, whereby " his wife has been exposed to great hardship and peril of losing her life," but that he bring her with aU speed to some neighborhood. In 1656 the order was repeated, and in case of non-compliance his house was to be tom down. 1658. Edward Holman, teUing a lie in court, los. WiUiam Hail stone, tailor, of Taunton, was fined 30^-., with 235'. costs, on charge of teUing three lies in a petition to the Court ; but one of these proving true, IOS. and all the costs were remitted. (In 1654 HaUstone had been made to pay his servant Jonathan Briggs ;^i5 for not having taught him " the art and mystery " of a tailor.) 1659. Thomas Ewer, for seditious speeches, to lie neck and heels at the Court's wiU ; but it appearing that he was infirm, he was par doned, but on next offence was to be banished from the Colony. 166 1. Ralph Smith, of Cape Cod, whUe in the way of duty having hed about seeing a whale, fined 20s. WiUiam Randall, teUing a he, IOJ. 1662. George Crispe's wife, for telUng a Ue, "but not a perni cious Ue, — only unadvisedly," — discharged. 1664. James Leonard, innkeeper, of Taunton, losing his wife by death, his license was taken away because he was not so weU fitted as before to keep an inn. 1666. Constable Ford, of Marshfield, having arrested Widow Na omi Sylvester, her daughters Naomi and Dmah attacked Ford and rescued her. As a penalty, then brother WUham was ordered to pay Ford £2. 1668. Thomas Lucas, swearing, to be put in the stocks. (In 1663, for a third offence of drunkenness, he was sentenced to be whipped, but not untU he should offend the fourth time. In 1675, for getting drunk and reviUng magistrates, he finaUy was whipped.) 1668. Abraham Sampson, of Duxbury, swearing, 1 0J-. 1671, John Gray, Yarmouth, swearing, c,s. 1670. Richard WUhs, of Scituate, who had lived divers years apart from his wife, was ordered to leave the Colony after reaping his next crop ; but he might stay with leave of the magistrates and town. And if his wife should come to live with him, well. 1674. John Perry, of Scitaate, sued WilUam Tubbs for reporting him as saying that he did not care a " surreverence " for the magis trates. Perry lost his case. 604 APPENDIX. 1674, 1676. The Plymouth Church complained that some of its members " walked disorderly, sitting long in pubhc-houses with vain company and drinking." In 1684 the elders repeated the charge, which was doubtless weU deserved. 1678. John Barker, of Bamstable, whom John Williams, of Scitu ate, had reared, was charged with calling WilUams " the wickedest man that ever was on the face of the earth." The case was non suited. 1 68 1. Nathaniel Southworth and Joseph Warren, Jr., refusing to aid constable, each los. (They were probably "society" young men.) 1685. Mr. John Combe, for drunkenness, was disfranchised. Re stored long afterward. 1685. Hannah DiUingham, charged with "ploying" eight silk hoods, was found not guUty. In 167s Jonathan Pratt took the post of under-marshal, on condi tion that he be excused from helping to execute criminals. CARD-PLAYING. In 1656 adults, for card-playing, were to be fined 50J. ; children and servants, " to be corrected at the discretion of theh parents or masters for the first offence," and in future cases to be publicly whipped. Subsequently, gaming in pubhc-houses for hquors was pro hibited ; so also were cards, dice, " cross-and-pyle," and other unlaw ful games, " wherein there is lottery," at any private house. Still, no mention is made of any infliction of corporal punishment for this reason. In 1633 Richard Berry, WiUiam Griffin and wife, and Richard MitcheU and wife, were fined £2 each for playing cards. In 1679 Joseph Thorne, of Scituate, playing cards twice, was fined £1 ; Joseph Peirce, one offence, los. ; James Bennett, several times, £1 ; Joseph Holbrook, once in the woods, ioj. ; his man Patrick, do., IOS., and himself one time in Gannet's chamber and one time in his barn, £1 ; his man for latter offence, los. Finally, los. was abated from Holbrook's fines. At another time from that town Isaac Woodworth, for two offences, was fined £1, and Matthew Gannet, for several such and for allowing others to play in his house, paid £2. CHURCH ITEMS. 605 Probably card-playing was secretly practised at aU times, and no great vigilance was used against it, as gambling did not accompany it. CHURCH ITEMS.' The first church-beU in New England was at Newtown (Cam bridge), 1631-2 ; and this beU was carried to Hartford in the migra tion of 1636 (see p. 394). The next beU known to us was at Salem, in 1638. The earliest mention at other places is, — Boston, 1646, Watertown, 1649, Charlestown, 1657, Dorchester, 1662, Plymouth, 1679. The two last named, and probably the others, had previously used drums. Some viUages used a conch-sheU, and others a horn. Stoves first used in First Parish "meeting-house," Scituate, 1824; in Second Parish, 182 1. The old Hingham Church, stiU used, was opened January, 1682, when two infants were sprinkled. It was first heated in 182 1, the novelty drawing a crowd. Feb. 3, 1686 (n. s.). Judge SewaU ("the New England Pepys") says of the Old South, Boston : " This day so cold that the sacra mental bread is frozen pretty hard, and rattles sadly as broken into the plates." The Convention of 1788, to act on the proposed United States Constitution, found the legislative haU at Boston too smaU. The Long-Lane Meeting-house was offered them, with the promise that a stove should be put in to warm it. From the favorable decision of the Convention there. Long Lane was named Federal Street, and in time its church was made famous by Channing. In 1640 there were twenty-six churches at Massachusetts Bay, Ply mouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, — seven of them being in Plymouth. In 1691 Plymouth had about twenty, to some fifty-five in the other Colonies named. There were in aU at least eighty clergy men, and of these more than half were from Enghsh universities. Near the close of the eighteenth century the intense Calvinism of the " standing order " of churches was repulsive to many Massachu setts people, including not a few of the clergy. Had the Congrega tionahsm of to-day ruled at that time, no great division would then have taken place ; and so, two centuries earUer, if the Church of Eng land had been what she now is, the great Puritan uprising would not have occurred. 1 See p. 34. 6o6 APPENDIX. When the revolt came in New England, its adherents adopted Unitarianism, but for a generation retained more of their old ideas than are now found in many Congregational circles. The writer vividly recalls several of these famiUes which, a third of a century after the schism, had changed very little beyond dropping the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, as now, Congregational parishes comprised two organizations. The " society " had charge of aU financial matters, even to fixing and paying the minister's salary, and the sole care and ownership of the house of worship, with all other parish property. As the society pretty much embraced the town-meeting, including aU the GaUios, it had many non-religious members. The "church" admitted to itself only professors of reUgion ; it had charge of reUgious instruction, discipline, and observances ; it gave the " caU " to a new pastor, — but this was not valid until indorsed by the society. The society, having the power of the purse (filled by town-taxation), had the means of "starving out" an unpopular preacher, although the church was nominaUy entitied to initiate removals. When societies and pastors both became Unitarian, a new church was formed under the pastor, and dissatisfied members could only depart empty-handed. If the society alone changed, a new preacher was placed in the pulpit, and the former pastor was sometimes ex cluded by something very like force. There were eighty-one cases in which churches were virtually dismissed by theh societies, the former taking away some 3,900 members out of 5,182, but leaving behind ^600,000 of funds and other property. The right to the latter was only settled by bitter litigation. In a few cases the churches became Unitarian, and were set adrift by the stiU Orthodox society.' In the year 1800 there occurred the first case ui which society and church both declared for Unitarianism, and it was one especiaUy start ling to the adherents of the old faith ; for this was none other than the "First Church of Plymouth," — the original church ofthe Pilgrim Fathers. Rev. Chandler Robbins' rigid Hopkinsonian views had nearly caused a division in 1 794, and when he died, in 1 799, it was determined to secure a pastor of the new school. The church accord ingly gave a call, twenty-three against fifteen, to Rev. James KendaU, of Sterling (bom 1769, died 1859); the society concurred, — two hundred and fifty-three against fifteen. Soon after, Unitarianism was 1 Dexter, Hist. Congregationalism. CHURCH TROUBLES. 607 fomially adopted. Deacons Crombie and Spooner remamed, but Deacon John Bishop withdrew with the nonconforming minority, who formed the organization which is stiU prominent as the " Church of the PUgrimage." ' The first pastor of this church was Adoniram Jud son, father of the iUustrious missionary; before 1810 the son, then a private school-teacher at Plymouth, professed religion and was ad mitted to his father's church. Stones to the memory of both father and son are to be seen on Burial Hill. CHURCH TROUBLES.^ As the ecclesiastical rale in Plymouth hardened with the coming on of the second generation, a corresponding restiveness became manifest. In 165 1 John Rogers, of Marshfield, was fined 5^. for "viUifying the ministry," and Mr. Arthur Howland was indicted and admonished for non-attendance at worship. In 1657 Zoeth Howland was set in the stocks for speaking disre- spectfuUy of the clergy, and Ralph Jones was fined los. for absence from worship. In 1658 the new law for supporthig the clergy by a compulsory tax ' having been termed by Dr. Matthew FuUer a " wicked and devilish law," enacted " while the devil sat in the stem," he was fined 50^. The same year Lieutenant James Wiatt was " sharply reproved " for writing a business letter on Sunday, or " at least in the evening, some what too soon ! " That autumn a fast was held to avert the Lord's displeasure, as shown by much sickness, bad ripening of crops, and by his not blessing effectually the endeavors against the Quakers. In 1659 fines for absence from public worship were inflicted on Mr. Arthur Howland and wife, of Marshfield, the wife of Henry How land, of Duxbury, her son Zoeth, and her son-in-law, John Smith, Jr., of Plymouth ; also on John Soule and George Soule's wife, of Dux bury, and on Mrs. Cudworth, Goodwife Coleman, and WiUiam Parker and wife, of Scitaate. Here evidently had been a cropping-out of sympathy for the Quakers. The next year Henry Howland, the father, was up on a lUce complaint, and was fined /^"j, while his son and daughter Smith were mulcted in ;£2. (See p. 503 for like cases.) In 1669 Mr. Arthur Howland was arrested for neglecting his minis ter-tax ; in respect to his age and low estate he was excused tiU further notice. Three others were raade to pay the rate and costs. 1 Thacher, Hist. Plymouth. " See pp. 501-2. « See p. 534. 39 6o8 APPENDIX. In 1660 Robert Bartlett, having spoken contemptuously of "the ordinance of psalm-singing," was censured by the General Coiut. In 1666 William Thomas (2d) having charged Pastor Arnold, of Marshfield, with teaching " horrible blasphemy," the General Court, on an examination of the sermon, declared it " Orthodox trath," and «censuring Mr. Thomas for " great arrogancy," cautioned him to " carry more soberly." In 1670 Robert Harper was whipped for revUing Pastor WaUey, of Bamstable. So late as 1682 John RandaU was fined los. ior neglect ing public worship, and Christopher Gifford the same for speaking contemptuously of " the dispensers of God's word." Ex-pastor Ralph Smith, of Plymouth, had in 1641 sued Ralph Gor ham for slander, claiming ;^io and recovering £2 ; but in 1652, when Magistrate John Brown sued Pastor Newman, of Rehoboth, for slander, he recovered ;^ioo and 23J. costs, but satisfied with vindication, re fused the ;^ioo. Two years later Giles Hopkins sued Pastor Lever edge, of Sandwich, for slander, claiming £^0 and recovering ;^20 and costs. Some time after, Mr. Leveredge's flock had him arrested for seUing a gun to an Indian, and he was fined £1$. In 1653 Pastor Chauncey, of Scituate (the futare President of Harvard CoUege), brought a slander suit against his neighbor, WiUiam Barstow, and recovered ;^ioo, with 18s. 6d. costs. After the example of Mr. Brown, Dr. Chauncey forthwith remitted the ;^ioo. With good reason did Bradford, in his old age, sorrow over the lack in the second generation of the unity and love enjoyed by the PUgrim pioneers. THE FORMATION OF COUNTIES. In 1685 New Plymouth was divided into three counties, — Plymouth, Bamstable, and Bristol. Their boundaries were much as now, save that Rochester, which included southem Wareham, was in Bamstable, and Bristol County extended to Narraganset Bay and Blackstone River. Hingham and HuU then belonged to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Each county was to have a semi-annual court with probate jurisdiction, and its clerk was also to register deeds. The executive ofiicer was a marshal. The counties (each of which was named for its shire-town) were constituted as foUows, except that Rochester and Falmouth were not incorporated untU the next year. COUNTIES. — VARIATIONS OF SPELLING. 609 Plymouth County. — Plymouth, Scituate, Duxbury, Marshfield, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and plantations to the north toward the Colony line. Bamstable County. — Bamstable, Sandwich, Yarmouth, Eastham, Falmouth, Rochester, and the viUage of Monamoy (which in 1712 became the town of Chatham). There was also the Indian town of Mashpee, with a government by itself. Bristol County. — Bristol, Taunton, Rehoboth, Dartmouth, Swansea, Little Compton, Freetown, and plantations where now are Attlebor ough, Cumberland, and Warren. Several of these towns had more than one viUage. Dartmouth comprised the future New Bedford, Westport, and Fairhaven; Ply mouth included the present Kingston, Carver, and Plympton, with parts of Halifax and Wareham. Thus, several towns not naraed above were aheady existing as thriving viUages. The relative standing of the towns in 1689 may be inferred from the tax laid for the Maine expedition in the Indian war; namely. Scitaate, ;^8 ; Taunton, £(i ; Plymouth, Sandwich, and Bamstable, ;^5 each ; Rehoboth, £4 los. ; Yarmouth, Marshfield, Eastham, and Bristol, £4 each ; Dartmouth, £2, los. ; Bridgewater and Swansea, ;^3 each; Duxbury and Little Compton, £2.\os. each; Middleborough and Falmouth, ;^i each ; Rochester, Freetown, and Monamoy, los. each : total, £(i'] 10s. (The next year the "ratable estate " of these towns varied very widely from the above ratio.) VARIATIONS OF SPELLING. In the Pilgrim era there was no fixed speUing of EngUsh words, and the same writer varied his orthography to an extent traly mar- veUous. Bradford only conformed to the usage of the highest digni taries when, on four adjoining pages of his History (118-1 9-20-21, MS.), he spells Oldham four different ways; thus, Oldom, Oldum, Oldame, and Oldam, and none of them as it was finaUy estabhshed. Emanuel Downing, a university man, went so far in one sentence as to write both Sweades and Sweedes.i Queen Elizabeth employed seven different speUings for the word " sovereign ; " and her favorite, 1 In the buUding- accounts (1610-13) of Wadham CoUege, Oxford, one finds the term gargoyle rendered " Gorgel," " Gargill," " Gurgul," " GurgoU." In the same document " Cornish" is reckoned at 2d. per foot. The fine workmen who wrought stone are alluded to as " Free Masons " or " Free Stone Masons." 6lO APPENDIX. Leicester, rendered his own narae in eight different ways, according to his passing fancy. In the Buckinghara deeds the narae " VUliers " is given in fourteen different forms ; and in the family documents of the Percys, their name is spelled fifteen ways. WUham Penn's father is recorded by turns as Admiral Pen, Penn, or Penne. The most awk ward and inconsistent variations of orthography in the seventeenth century, or earlier, are no evidence of iUiteracy. This might be in ferred frora a letter by Day, the printer of the famous Bay Psalm- book, at Harvard College, who wrote that a person was about to " mare his dauter " to a suitor who " hath catel aU rede " for his use.' Of course, as the Indians had no alphabet, theh words had no speUing. The first-comers, therefore, used what seemed to them to express the sound, and of course they fell into various renderings of many words. Modem writers err rauch when they suppose that sorae early speUing of an Indian narae establishes its form, or anything else, except the sound of it according to the pioneer's ear. Thus, when a distinguished leader in PhUip's War writes " Saughkonnett," the only thing to be said is that such was his way of representing Saconet (pronounced .Si^w-conet) . There is no right or wrong as to these names so long as the sound is preserved ; but every reason exists for reducing thera to their simplest form. Long ago sorae bungler put a second t on the end of Dracut, and it has but recently been lopped- off again. So soraebody wrote two ^'s at the end of Narraganset, and the senseless superfluity is kept up by local writers. In the Plyraouth records the clerks gave full vent to the prevailing fancy. Chyrurjeon for surgeon, on theh pages, is not so odd-seeming as is a reference to " the governments of evmp " and " the cause to be jswed " (issued). Olerton for AUerton is somewhat phonetic, like the Enghsh form Ollerton. Mixed-up with the modern speUings, and other variations, one meets with Mary as Marie, Catharine as Catorne, Bridget as Brigett, Jane as Jaane, Evans as Evance, CoUier as Colyar, Alden on one page and AUdin on the next, Aldrich as Aldereg, Spring field as Sprinkfield, Cushman as Cochraan, Brown as Browen, Sprague as Spragg, Moses as Moyses, Quincy as Quinsey, and so on in a long succession, which shows that many of the slight distinctions of modem naraes are whoUy without significance. Mrs. Bradford's narae, AUce, is given as AlUce, and AUes {Els in the Dutch records) ; some uninformed descendants, in naming 1 See Mass. Hist Coll., i. 364. VARIATIONS OF SPELLING. 6ll children for her, have adopted one of these misspelUngs as " the original way." Colonel Stetson appears as Cunel Studson, and Jones River as Joanes Riuer. So prominent a citizen as Bradford's stepson is mentioned mdifferently as Southwood, Southeme, and Southworth ; and he seems to have been unsettied in his own usage.' One man is recorded as violating the "kinke's" (king's) peace. A curiously free-and-easy orthography is in a General-Court record concerning Governor Hinckley's cow, which is mentioned as " haueing the tipps of bother homes sawed off" (vn. 265). Then comes the name of Vre, Ure, or Ewer; and of Fans (Faunce), Phance, or Vance. Bradford's Mms. renders CromweU as "CormueU." The development of the name of Fobes is curiously traceable in the official writings of those days. The first-comer wrote his name "ffarabas," and the form graduaUy changed, thus: ffarabas. Farrow- bush, fforbas, Forbes, Forbus, Forbush, Forbish, Furbish, Furbush, Fobes. Some branches of the faraily stopped the development pro cess at one stage, and some at another ; thus giving several naraes, aU from the same original ffarabas (Barrabas?). It is to be noticed that formerly the _^ was the equivalent of the capital F. Thus, Dr. FuUer wrote "ffuller," while others wrote his name "FuUer." Some modern writers make the mistake of copying these old names, and capitaUzing the first of the/'s, whUe retaining the second. The trae method is to begin such names with the two smaU letters, or to drop both if a capital is used. Few of these changes are more curious than that by which a family bearing the fine old name of Stanley wrought it through several pre posterous forms into the equally fine old name of Sterling; thus, Stanley, StaUon, Stolion, StaUion, Sterling. One branch of it went to Connecticut, and in New London in 1650 a prominent meraber was uncouthly subscribing hiraself " Edward StaUion." Some freak changed Satuit into Scituate," and left it so ; but for- , tanately Dokesberry, Dukesbury {Orig. = The Duke's Bury), Dukes Bery, Ducksberry, Ducksborough, Ducksburrow, Duxbarow, Dux- burrow, and Duxborough all gave way to the compact modem Eng hsh form Duxbury. These few examples, given from the many at hand, are enough to show the chaotic condition of EngUsh orthography in colonial days, and to Ulustrate the fact that the forms of words found in old papers ' See note, p. 249, for Southworth spellings. " Sityat^t. — Bradford. 6l2 APPENDIX. and records of high authority prove little as to the general usage in the matter, or even as to the ordinary practice of the writer in ques tion. A fixed forra of speUing is a modem idea as weU as a modem practice. It is to be hoped that many of the present methods are not yet so firmly set that they may not give way to somethmg more simple and more easily learned. For the great purposes of a written lan guage, a person may almost hesitate between the present unvarying absurdities and the ancient usage which accepted whatever a doubtful or erratic pen chanced to throw off. TIIE PILGRIM SOCIETY; ITS HALL, AND MONUMENTS. The landing of the Pilgriras was first formally celebrated Dec. 22, 1769. In that year the Old Colony Club had been formed by seven raen of Plymouth, and they held a social observance of the day. In 1773 the club, after its fifth celebration, was dissolved through the strife between Whigs and Tories. There have since been frequent celebrations, at sorae times with great ceremony, and at others with very little, under direction of various bodies, including churches, the PUgrim Society, and the Standish Guards. In 1770 an address was made to the Old Colony Club by Edward Winslow (great-great-grand son of the Govemor Edward) ; and the succession of orators includes John Quincy Adams (1802), Daniel Webster (1820), Edward Everett (1824), and many eminent divines and pubUcists of Old Colony affiliations. As mentioned in the Preface (p. xx), the Old Colony Club, hke aU others interested, applied to the Pilgrim reckoning not the ten days due the Enghsh calendar for 1620, but the eleven days which had been found its due in 1751, when Old Style was corrected to New Style. As the landing was certainly on a Monday, they set it down as on the impossible date of Monday, Dec. 22, 1620. The Dutch and French almanacs, which had been brought to New Style, show that the Monday in question was the 21st, while by the Old Style almanac of the EngUsh the 2 2d was Friday. So by no system was Monday the 2 2d. In 1850 Judges Savage and Warren, with Dr. N. B. Shurtieff, having demonstrated in a report that the landing was on the 21st, the Pilgrim Society unanimously adopted that as the true date of the anniversary. THE PILGRIM SOCIETY. 613 The reformed date was adopted in Boston, and found its way to Brooklyn, N.Y., but does not seem to have extended farther, nor to have found its way mto many of the almanacs. Even in Plymouth an element was found which preferred estabUshed error to novel truth, and to it, strange to say, in 1882 the PUgrim Society surrendered the date it had upheld for thirty-two years. Yet stiU the Society voted that the 21st was the correct date, and that they were yielding to an erroneous but tirae-honored usage. A trastee remarked that if their spirit had ruled the Scrooby Separatists m 1607, there would have been no Pilgrim Fathers to coraraeraorate. (The Society has suice, with great propriety, re-adopted the 21st as theh date.) PILGRIM HAIX. In 1824 the PUgrim Society built PUgrim Hall, at Plymouth, and apparently by chance selected a site which was once owned by the first Govemor Winslow, and later by Govemor Bradford. In 1880 J. Henry Stickney, of Baltimore, seeing the needs of the edifice whUe paying it the chance visit of a stranger, proceeded to expend ^15,000 in reconstracting it and rendering it fire-proof (His generous zeal has also been extended to the Society's work upon Cole's HiU.) The haU is visited each year by many thousands of tourists, who stady (?) 6l4 APPENDIX. its fine paintings based on the embarkation and landing of the Pil grims, or examine its historical hbrary and coUection of relics of the Forefathers. The Pilgrim Society also has at Plymouth two monuments, — the Canopy over Forefathers' Rock, and the National Monument to the Forefathers.' The former, which is over the Rock, close by the steam boat wharf, is a beautiful speciraen of granite work ; it is fifteen feet square on the ground, by thirty feet high, and cost some ^35,000. In the upper part is a vault in which bad taste has deposited the frag ments of bones which were thrown up from Pilgrim graves in 1855, while laying the public conduit on Cole's HiU. Near this stracture a fine stone stairway leads up the face of Cole's HiU to the site of the first burial-place, where an obscure horizontal slab of polished granite briefly commeraorates the early use of the spot for that purpose, and the discovery ofthe bones ofthe first dead there." The National Monument is on an elevation at the rear of the north erly part of the village. After many years of effort the comer-stone was laid Aug. 2, 1859, — the two hundred and fifty-ninth anniversary ofthe famous embarkation at Delfthaven (p. 50). (The corner-stone of the Canopy was laid at the same tirae.) The plan contemplated an omate pedestal eighty feet high, supporting a statae of Faith seventy feet high ; but the increase of prices in the Civil War made a great reduction of size necessary to any early completion of the work. It was 1876 before the main portion of the pedestal was built. The next year Hon. Oliver Ames, of Easton (a native of Plyraouth), presented the statue of Faith (expending $30,000 for the purpose). Although the pedestal is but forty-five feet high, and the statae thirty-six, the latter is stiU the tallest granite figure yet cut. It is two hundred and sixteen times the bulk of life, as may be inferred from the fact that its right arm is nineteen feet ten and a half inches long, and the upraised finger two feet and an inch. On viewing the monument wiU be seen on each comer buttress of the pedestal a sitting statue of heroic size (also in granite). These represent Morality, Education, Law, and Liberty. Below them are smaU allegorical statues on the sides, and in front are richly sculptured panels representing scenes in Pilgrim History. Upon the pedestal are the names of the " Mayflower's " company. The statae of Morality was contributed in 1878 by the State of Massachusetts, at a cost of ' See also p. 446 for Standish Monument. " See pp. 158-9. THE PILGRIM SOCIETY. 615 $10,000. The beautiful panel in front of it, representmg the Embarka tion at Delfthaven, was given by the State of Connecticut. In 188 1 Roland Mather, of Hartford, Conn., presented the statue of Education and an accompanying panel. Signing the Pilgrim Compact (at a cost of $15,000). The other two buttresses are also worthily occupied, for the United States Government decided to present the statue of "Liberty" in 1886, and this, as well as its companion ("Law"), is a noble work. It will be seen that, aside from its historical asso ciations, Plymouth is worthy of attention from its works of art. Of the grandest of these memorials — the statue of Faith — Hon. John D. Long finely said in a recent oration : " Her eyes look toward the sea. Forever she beholds upon its waves the incoming 'May flower ;' she sees the PUgrims land. They vanish, but she, the monu ment of theh faith, reraains, and teUs their story to the world. This our generation too shall pass away, and its successors for centaries-to- come ; but she wiU stand, and, overlooking our forgotten raemory, mU StiU speak of them and of their foundation of the Repubhc on the Plymouth Rocks of Liberty, Law, Morality, and Education." INDEX. A SOUND of in In(Kan names, ii8. ^^) Abamacho, 130. Abanakee, 131. , Abbott, Arehbp. George, 13, 40. Abenakis, The, 131. Aberdeen University, 534. Aborigines of New England, The, 129-137. Absent, List of up to 1627, 300. Acadia, 117. Accomac, 119. Accomiatas, The, 133. Achurch, 14, Acorns, 76, 80, 164. Acreage cultivated, 161. Adam of Bremen on Vinland, 139. Adams, Charles Francis, on Chiistopher Gardiner, 351. Adams, Eleanor Newton- (Mrs. John-), 378, 445- Adams, James, 294, 297. Adams, John, igo, 246, 294, 297, 378. Adams, John (Prest.), 569. Adams, (Mrs. Prest. John-), at Leyden, 284. Adams, John Quincy, 569, 612. Adams, John Quincy, on the "Compact," 65 ; on Roger Williams, 367 ; on the New England Confederation, 417 ; on the treatment of the Indians by early settlers, 548. Adams-Newton marriage, 278. Adams, Pastor (Roxbury?), 589. Adams, Prof. (Neshota), 467. Adchu, 135. Admiral, First American (Hopkins), 435. Admiral Alden, 568. Admiral West, 236, 237, 238. Adultery, 309, 596. Adusah kUled, 274. " Adventure," The barque, 447. "Adventurers," The . . . Organized, 44; Articles of Agreement with the Pilgrims, 52-54 ; unfairness of, 58 ; send Cushman and the "Fortune" emigrants, 190; fallmg out with Peirce, 236; lack of reason, 243 ; creed, 256 ; they desert the colony, 278, 280; seU their interest to the colonists, 288, 289 ; list of, 288, 289. Adze, 113. Agamenticus (Acomenticus), 361-I-. Agassiz, Prof. L. J. R., 61. Agawam, 81, 175, 361-^. (Igowam). See Ipswich. Agawam, Sagamore of, 237. Agawam Point, 306. Agawams, The, 133. Agawaywams, The, 136, 225. Agents, The (London), of the Pilgrims, 43, 45- Agriculture, 157, 287, 585. "Ague," An "inward," 282. " Ahhe ! " 219. Ainsworth, Rev. Henry, 31. Ainsworth's Psalm-book, 359. Ake, or Akee, 120, 131. Alarm-docks, 330. Alby, Benj., 523. Alden, The name, 291. Alden, Admiral James, 568. Alden, David, 569. Alden, Elizabeth, 257, 277, 293, 297, 567. See also " Paybody." Alden, James, 568. Alden, John (Pilgrim), 64, 132, 183, 185, 186, 187, 189, 289, 291, 293, 297, 338, 417, 489, 508, 542, 566-569; marriage of, 247, 257. 566; at Duxbury, 361, 567; detained by the Bay on account of Hock ing affair, 382, 383 ; chosen treasurer, 449, 451; his decline in liberality, 488, 503, 569 ; public regard for, 505 ; public offices, his home, 567 ; his character, 569. Alden, John (2), 293, 297, 568. Alden, John (3), 565. Alden, John (4), 567, 568. Alden, John (a recent), 567. Alden, Jonathan, 569, 589. 6i8 INDEX. Alden, Joseph, 569. Alden, Simmons (Mrs. Joseph-), 569. Alden, Mary, 569. See " Delano." Alden, Mary Southworth- (Mrs. David-), 569. Alden, Priscilla Mullins- (Mrs. John-), 187, 247, 257) 566, 567. Alden, Robert, 289. Alden, Ruth, 569. Alden, Samuel, 567. Alden, Sarah, 449. Aldens, The, 567. Alden Lane, Boston, 568. Alden-Mullins marriage. The, 247, 257, 566, 567. Alden, spellings, 610. Alderman (Saconet), 560. Aldrich, spellings, 610. " Ales," 104. Alewives, 109, 157, 161. Ale.\ander Pokanoket (sachem), 473, 474, 542, 543- Alfred, king, 18. Alice (Bradford), spellings, 610, 611. " Aligarto " (Aligator), Winthrop's, 472. Allen, John, 512, 524. Allen, Nehemiah, 554. Allerton, Bartholomew, 184, 185, 1S7, 293, 297. Allerton, Fear Brewster- (Mrs. Isaac-), 245, 346, 378. Allerton, Isaac (Pilgrim), 124, 127, 183, 289, 345i 389, 474; his marriages, 37, 245, 347 ; assistant governor, 159; his family, 103, 185, 293, 297 ; his missions to Eng land, 288, 302 ; he brings Morton back, 320 ; his dishonesty and downfall, 322, 323, 333. 334, 339, 34°. 346. 397; his last years and death, 346, 347 ; autograph, 349- Allerton, Isaac, Jr., 347, 378, 432, 495. Allerton, Joanna (Mrs. Isaac-), 347. Allerton, John, 83, 183, 185, 186, 299. Allerton, Mary, 184, 185, 187, 293, 297, 468. Allerton, Mary Norris- (Mrs. Isaac-), 37, 116, 183, 185, 299. Allerton Point, 175. Allerton, Remember, 184, 185, 187, 293, 297. Allerton, Sarah, 293, 297, 378. Allerton, spellings and pronunciation, 175, 6ia. Allium Canadense, 99. AUtham, Emanuel, 289. "Almanac (1639), Peirse's," 425. Amalfi, Italy, 138. Ames, Hon. Oliver, 614. Ames, Rev. William, 37. Amoskeag, N. H., 361-I-. Amsterdam, 32, 38, 321 ; Separatists and their churches at, 16, 28, 29, 30, 31, 37, 180, 249, 359, 464. Amusements, 104, 180, 196, 317, 604. Anabaptists, 366, 458, 475. " Anabaptistry," 427, Anawam, 559, 560. Anchors, 529. "Ancient-bearer," 81, 360. See "En sign." " Ancient-Staff," 190. " " Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth " (Davis), xii, 431. Anderson, Rev. , Eng., xv. Andover, 556. Andrews, Joane, 602. Andrews, Richard, 288, 303, 397, 398, 410, 411. Andrews, Thomas, 289. Andros and his period, 339, 416, 465, 526, 531. 569, 570. 571, 596. Angeli, , 367. Angeli, (Mrs. ), 367. " Angel Gabriel," The ship, 388. Ann, The name, 301. Annable, Anthony, 243, 244, 294, 297, 401. Annable, Hannah, 294, 297. Annable, Jane (Mrs. Anthony-), 243, 294, 297. Annable, Sarah, 294, 297. Annapolis, N. S., 117. "Anne," The ship, xvi, 242, 247, 425, 471. Anthony, Lawrence, 289. Anthriscus Cerefolium, 99. Anti-prelatists, 13. Apenow, 174. Ap-Henry, 15. See Penry. Apocynum Cannabinum, 99. Apples, 117,368,370,389,436,510, 511,512, 583. Appropriations, legislative, 251. Aptuxet, 306-7. Aqua vitae, 438, 451, 511, 611 ; division of, 1627, 292-296 ; first, 257 ; prices of, 296, 297 ; -ships, 61. "Catwater," The, 57. Cecil, Lord Robert, 145. CecU, WiUiam, Lord Burleigh, 14, 15. Cedar, 67, 91. " Cedarville," 290. Cetaceans, 85. Chaldaic taught, 424, Champlain, Samuel, 73, 90, 146 ; on beans, 117; on Indians' beards, 129; at Ply mouth, 147 ; his chart of entrance to Ply mouth Harbor, 93, 98. "Champlain's Voyages" (Slafter), 75. Channel, English, 55. INDEX. 625 Channing, 60;. Chapman, Ralph, 360. "Charity," The ship, 207, 255, 260, 297, 471. Charles I., 20, 281, 339, 421. Charles II., 562. Charles River, 142, 147,150, 151, 324,361-!-, 409, 525. " Charles," The ship, 503. Charleston, S. C, earthquake, 578. Charlestown, Mass., 156, 176, 331, 335, 361-1-, 510, 594, 605 ; persons, 226, 318, 326, 379. 538. Charlestown, R. I., 133. Charter, Plymouth's desired, 40, 541, 572. Charter, Massachusetts Bay's, 33. Chase, WiUiam, 447. Chatham, Mass., 62, 89, 136, 209, 609. Chatham, Earl, ii. Chauncey, Catherine (Mrs. Charles-), 429. Chauncey, Charles, 421-423, 427-429, 495, 502, 608 ; fareweU and death, 429. Cheese, 73, 119, 336, 376, 585. Cheeshateaumuck, Caleb, 429. Cheever, Dr. G. B., xv, 108. Chelmsford, 108. Chelsea, Mass., 320. Cherry, WUd, 99. Cherries, 117. Chervil, 99. Chesapeake, The, 142. Cheshire, Conn., 512. Chester, Eng., 581. Chestnut trees, etc., 99, 168, 369. Chetsum (?), Eng., 188. Chickatabut, 135, 174, 340, 361-!-, 373. Chickens, 220, 221. Child, Dr. , 442, 527. "Child of Light," 370. Chilton, James, 95, 183, 185, 186, 299. ChUton, Mrs. James, 184, 1S6. ChUton, Mary, 94, 184, 186, 187, 278, 299, Chimneys, 5S3. Chipman, Hope Howland- (Mrs. ). 508. Chipman, John, 487. Chocolate, 104. Chorley, 45'. 453- Christian, , 485. Christiana, Nor., 140. Christians, primitive, marriages, i8z. Christison, Wenlock, 484, 485. Christmas observance, 102, 103, 104, 196. Church, AUce Southworth (Mrs. Benj.-), 462, 564. Church, Benjamin (Capt.), 246, 462, 552- 560,562,564-566; " Indian Wars," xn, xiii, 542. Church, Elizabeth-Warren (Mrs. Richard-), 246, 355. 564- Church, Nathaniel, 597, 600. Church, Richard (PUgrim), 246, 297, 353, 355. 377. 401. 564- Church, , 1775, 291. Church, (Capt., 1718), 437. Church ; absence from, 608 ; bells, 605 ; -edifice (first), 231 ; first in Plymouth, 376 (see Leyden St.) ; -govemment. Con gregational, 606 ; heating, 605 ; -History, Stevens', 284 ; laws (Old Colony), 499 ; Leyden (HoUand) house, 34, 35 ; Leyden St., "3, 231, 358, 359, 376, 607 ; matters, troubles, etc., 605-608; members, 415, 449; "of the Pilgrimage," Plymoutli, 231, 607 ; service at Plymouth, 358, 359 ; statistics, 605. Church of England, 278, 605 ; Pilgrims' re gard for, 262; "-in the Colonies," An derson's History of. Church, Dutch National, The, 284. Churches, The Reformed, 284. " Chymrjeon," 610. Cicadm, 377. Cider, 104, 117, 403, 584. Citizenship, Indian, 514. Clams, 99, 205, 223, 224, 242 ; dried, 168. Clapboards, 194, 197, 247, 438, 582. Clark, Alice, 601. Clark, Faith, 475. Clark, James, xiv. Clark, John (Mate), 83, 90, 108, 245. Clark, John (Pastor), 516. Clark, Nathaniel (CouncUlor), 531, 570, 571. Clark, Richard, 183, 186, 299. Clark, Sarah (Mrs. Wm.-), 553. Clark, Susanna, 441. Clark, Susanna (Mrs. Thos.-), 245. Clark, Thomas, 243, 245, 293, 296, 298, 301, 570. Clark, Thurston, 475. Clark (e) WUliam, 338, 553. Clark's Garrison, 553, 557. Clark's Island, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98. 99. '00. "3. '49, 436, 53', 57'- Clay, 99, 109, 113. Clergymen, 288, 530-539, 605. Clerk, John, 15. See " Clark." Clerk, Robert, 150. Clifton, Richard, 23, 24, 25, 29, 31. Climate, 86, loi, in, 112, 180, 181,245, 581, 582. " CUnk," The (London), 12. 626 INDEX. Clocks, 330. Cloth, 305, 585, 587. Clothing, 332, 587. Coal, 18, 513. Coats, 322. Cobb, Ebenezer, 466. Cobb, Gershom, 554. Cobbiseconte Falls, 337. Cobham, Lord, 144. Cockles, 205. Cocheco, 318, 361-I-. See Dover. Cocoa, 104. Cod, 69, 99, 107, 307 ; Tom-, 107. "Codex Flatcensis," The, 139. Coddington, (Gov., R. I.), 27, 296, 416, 516. Coffee, 104, 584, 585. Coffee-pots, 588. Cohannet, 525. Cohasset, 151, 291, 3614-. Coining raoney, 338. Coke, Sir Edward, 230, 237, 348. " Cold Harbor," 77. Cole, The name, 291. Cole, James, 114, 400. Coleman, , 13. Coleman, , Goodwife, 607. Coleman, (Pastor), on earthquakes, 578. Cole's HiU, 94, 158, 159, 613, 614; burials, 114, 185. Cole's Tavern, 114. Collier, Elizabeth, 462. Collier, Mary, 477. Collier, Sarah, 431. Collier, WUUam, 279, 289, 362, 431, 434, 454, 455. 462, 477. 478.489. 503, 52'. 5-I.1- Collier, spellings, 6io. Colonial Commissioners, The, 404, 426, 445, 463, 465, 480, 481, 517, 518. Colonial Council, The, 244. Colonists, adult (Mayflower), 183. Colonists, Weston's, 204. " Colonization of America, The English," (NeUl's), xii. Colors (flags), 447. Columbus, Christopher, 138, 140, 142. Combe, John, 604. Comets, 6, 458, 570, 578, 579. Commissioners, Colonial. See " Colon ial Commissioners." Commissioners of Plantations, The King's, 81, 385. 442, 443, 497-499- Committee of Safety, The Boston, 263. Common-House, The, 106, 109,231. Commonwealth, EngUsh, 415, 443. Commune, Plymouth not a, 193. Coramunion, (church-rite), 37, 47, 256, 421, 422, 524, 532, 605. Communion-ware, 588. Como, Italy, vritchcraft in, 492. Compact, The " Mayflower," 63, 64, 65, 401, 402. Compass, The early history of, 138 ; finding points of, by trees, in. "Complete Gardener," The, 584. Compton, Little, R. I., 609, 572. Conant, Christopher, 244, 245, 300. Conant, Roger, 245, 269, 271, 272, 273, 274, 280, 297, 318, 325. Conant, (Mrs. Roger), 274. Conant, Roger, Jr., 274. Conch-shells, 605. Concord, Mass., 177. Concord, N. H., 133. Concord River, 134, 36i-|-(?). " Concord," The ship, 62, 143-145. Confederation, The New England, xviu, 414-417, 445. "Confession of faith," 262. Conformists, English, 157. Congregational singing, 359 ; variances, 37, 605-607. Congregationalism, Calvinistic, 605; Con necticut, 328 ; strength at Leyden, 35 ; History of (Dexter's) xU; History of (Punchard's), 15 ; plot against, 256-275 ; modern, 5, 16, 605. Connecticut, 2, 3, n, 328, 377, 414, 492, 498, 499. 534. 553, 56', 595, 6'5- Connecticut River, 131, 273, 290, 371, 372, 375- Connecticut lands (Plymouth's) seized by the Bay, 391-396. Connor, WiUiam, 191, 300. Conspiracy, The great Indian, 223. Conspiracy, The Puritan against Congrega tionalism, 256 , 275. Conspirators, Indian, of 1623, 231. Constables, 402. Consumption, 114, 439. Contracts, Dutch marriage, 249. Convention of 17S8, The, 605. Cook, Francis, 183, 186, 293, 298, 475, 476, 559- Cook, Hester (Mrs. Francis-), 186, 244, 246, 293. 298. 475- Cook, Jacob, 187, 293, 298, 559, 560. Cook, Jacob (2), 559. Cook, Jane, 245, 293, 298. Cook, John, 184, 186, 246, 293, 298, 344, 438, 466, 468, 475. 476, 487, 488. Cook, Josiah, 412. INDEX. 627 cook, Mary, 293, 298. Cook, Sarah Warren- (Mrs. John-), 246. "Cook's Brook," 85. Cooper, EUzabeth, 596. Cooper, HumUity, 184, 186, 187, 294, 298. Cooper, Jane (widow), (?) 501, 502. Cooper, John, 378. Cooper, PrisciUa Carpenter-Wright- (Mrs. John-), 378, 462. Cooper, WiUiam, 393. Cooper, , 596. Coopers, 186, 566. Copeland, John, 484, 485. Copenhagen, Den., 139. Coppin, Robert, 46, Si, 83, 86. Copping, John, 14. Coral, 369. Coram, Thomas, 344. Corbitant, 772, 173, 174, 175, 217, 218, 222. Cordage, Indian, 76, 99. Corlet, Mr. , 495. Com, Indian, (maize, q. v.), 74, 78, 92, 116, 149, 161, 179, 197,209,258, 288, 302,322, 563, 577; "corn," a general term, 116; -bread, 163; distribution of five grains, a myth, 242; -fields, 99, 106, 150, 161, 206; miUs, 192; roasted-, 207 ; seed, 166; -stalks, 117; taken at Pamet, 1 71 ; "Vin land," 139. Cornice, price and spellings of, 609. Cornish, Samuel, 482. Corpus Christi CoUege, 26. Corselet, 70 ; Standish's, 105. Coryat, Tom, 588. Costumes, 308; Indian, 118, 120, 125, 126. Cotswold rams, 296. Cotton, 424, 585, 587 ; clothing, 585. Cotton, John, xiii, 27, 359, 370 ; on Puri tanism, 325, 328, Cotton, , (Mrs. John-), 388. Cotton, John, Jr., 364, 467, 507, 530, 531, 542, 569. Cotton, Josiah, 596. Cotton, , (Colonel, 1775), 291. CouncU, The Governor's, 159, 160, 201, 255. Council for New England, 52, 61, 154, 236, 324, 337, 338. CouncU of War, 422, 423, 447. " Councillors," 402. "Count," The title, 282. Counties, formation of, 608. Court of Assistants, 573. Court General, The, 81. Court Plymouth, 159-161. Court of Election, The, 404, 573. Court session of 1624, 264-269. Court matters, cases, etc., 160, 161, 344, 362, 363, 413, 419, 423, 424, 434, 475, 476, 478, 487, 489,492, 493, 502, 503, 512, 515, 516, 519, 523, 527, 535, 537, 588, 596-604, 607, 608. Courts, formation of, 159, 608. " Courtship of Myles Standish," The poem, -66. Coventry, Jonathan, 598. Coventry, Thomas, 289. Cowin, John, 601, 602. Cowles (Coles f ), EUzabeth, 379. Cows, 343, 388, 45 1 ; -keepers, 296. " Cow-yard," The, 98. CoxhaU, John, 484. Crabbe, Rev. , 46. Crabs, 99 ; -sheUs, 80. Crackstone, Anna, 188. Crackstone, John, 183, 185, 188, 299. Crackstone, John, Jr., 184, 185, 187, 293, 298. Craddock, Matthew (Gov.), 329, 538. Cranberries, 117. Cranbrook, Eng., 340. Cranes, 115, 309. Cranston, Gov., 562. Crew, coarseness of the " Mayflower's," 155, 156. Crimes, 2, 341, 342, 343. See "Capital Cases." Crippen, (Mrs. Thomas-), 598. Crispe, (Mrs. George-), 603, Crombie, Dea. , 607. Cromwell, Oliver, 217, 369, 525. Cromwell, Captain, 412, 413. CromweU, speUings, 611. Crooker, Francis, 423. Crops, 585, 586. Crosby, Leander, 315. Crosby, Thomas, 534. " Cross-and-Pyle," 604. Cross, Daniel, 406. Grossman, Sachem, 522. Cross-staff, The, 146. Croston, Eng., 452, 453. Crow-bounties, 593. Crow, WilUam, 592. Cruelty, Indian, 224. Crusaders, The, 594. Cucumber, The, 117. "Cudbert," 378. See Cudbertson or Cuth bert. Cudbertson, Samuel, 378. Cudworth, James (Gen.), 338, 361, 401, ^34, 451, 465, 480, 488-490, 501, 502-505, 506. Cudworth, , (Mrs. James-), 504, 607. Cudworth, James, Jr., 600. 628 INDEX. Cudworth, Jonathan, 600. Cudworth, Mary, 503. Cudworth, Ralph, 502. Cudworth, Ralph, D. D., 502. Cuirass armor, 70. Cultivating the fields, 157. Cumberland, R, I., 511, 609. Cumberland coal, 513. Cumley, , (Mrs. Abraham-), 602. Cummaquid, 170. Cupples, Upham, & Co., 259. Currency, 324. " Cushenoc," 322. Cushman, Mary Allerton (Mrs, Thos.-), 187, 466, 468, 476. Cushman, Mary Singleton (Mrs. Robt.-), 192. Cushman, Robert, 43, 51, 108, 192, 193, 204, 243, 279, 342 ; his discourse, (" Ser mon,") xvi, 192 ; death of, 282 ; faUings and disobedience, 45, 52, 55, 56; comes to New England, 190; remarks on New England, 193; monument to, 468; papers, 194 ; a wool-comber, 32. Cushman, Ruth Howland-(Mrs. ), 508. Cushman, Sarah, (Mrs. Robt.-), 192. Cushman, Thomas (Elder), 187, 192, 295, 298, 467, 468, 507, 530 ; Bradford's pro- t^g6, 279, 463, 467 ; monument to, 468 ; comes to Plymouth, 190; death of, 468. Cushman, Thomas, Jr., 600. Cushman, spellings, 610. Cuthbertson, Cuthbert, 243, 293, 298, 300, 378. Cuthbertson, Samuel, 293, 298. Cuthbertson, Sarah AUerton-Priest (Mrs. Cuthbert-), 243, 293, 298, 378. Cutiasses, 88. Cut River, 363. Cuttyhunk, 144. Cypress, 67. Cyprus, 585. ¦p\AMON, Sergeant , 503. -^-^ Dancing, 596. Dand, , 527. Danforth, Samuel (Pastor), 447, 511, 533. Danish service, 61. Dartmouth, Eng., 55, 56. Dartmouth, Mass., 144, 475, 528, 554, 562, 572, 609. Dates (O. S. and N. S.), xix, xxi, loi, 102. "Daubing" (clay), 113. D'Auhiey, Lieut., 387. Davenport, Captain, , 580. " Davies," John, 150. Davis, John, 602, Davis, Judge (Boston), 192, 197. Davis, , (Quartermaster), 291. Davis, WilUam T., xu, xiii, 15, 114, 159^ 314, 358, 431; on Robinson's detention, 259. Davison, William (Secy.), 8, 19, 20. Day, John, 425, Day, G.E. (Prof.), 35. Day, Stephen (prmter), 425, 426, 6to. Deaconesses, 31. " Deaconing " hymns, 359. Deacons, 31, 34, 325, 335, 378, 379. Dead, list of, up to 1627, 299, 300. Deane, Charles, xiu, xv, 197. Deane, Elizabeth (Mrs. Stephen-), 192. Deane, Stephen, 190, 192, 295, 298, 436, 437- Death, First (at sea), 59. Deaths from " first sickness," 186, 187. " Decayed Towns," 27. De Costa, Rev. B. F., 145. Dedham, Mass., 496, 583, 593. "Deed pole," A, 236. Deeds, 411. Deeds, County Registry of, 251. Deer, 76, 80, 109, 114, 132, 179,242 ; paths, 73. 78 ; traps, 75, 433, 434. Deerfield massacre, The, 552. Deer Island, 361 -)-. Delano, , The name, 191. &« Delanoy. Delano, , 569. Delano, B. F., 191. Delano, Jabez, on earthquakes, 578. Delano, Jonathan, 559. Delano, Mercy Warren- (Mis. Jonathan-), 559- Delano, Thomas, 600. Delanoy, 362. De la Noye, PhiUp, 190, 191, 292, 293, 298. De Launay, Jean, 191. De Launay, Marie (Mrs. Jean-), 191. Delaware, Lord, his body-guard, 285. " Delayed Marriages," 81, 599, 600. Delays before final landing, 6(5. Delft, gates of, 48. Delfthaven, 48, 50. De Monts, 147. Denmark and the Danes, 139, 140. Dennis, WiUiam, 15. Departures (PUgrim), from Amsterdam, 31 ; Delfthaven, 50; England, 28, 55, 57; Leyden, 49. Deputy-Governor, The last, 277, De Rasi^es, Isaak, 303, 305, 306; on the INDEX. 629 Fort, 230; letters to Plymouth, 303, 304, 305 ; on Plymouth, 306-309. Dermer, Capt. Thomas, 78, 79, 117, 119, 122, 152, 153. "Description of New England," clams, 205, " Desire," The barque, 472, 532, 586. DevUl, Walter, 545. De VUle, 545. See " DevUl." Devol, 545. 5««"DeviU." D'Ewes, , 385. Dexter, Gregory, 366. Dexter, Henry M. (Rev.), xu, xvi, xviu, 14. 22, 24, 33, 34, 35, 91, 249, 367 ; on Robinson, 283 ; on the FuUers, 285. Dice, 604. Dickens (?), Reynulph, 34. Dickerson, , 590, 591. [508. Dickinson, Elizabeth Howland- (Mrs. ), Dighton, Mass., 526. Dighton, Frances, 526. Dighton Rock, 129, 140. DUte, East Harbor, 77. DUlingham, Hannah, 604. DUuvium, 77. Dingley, John, 448. Dmgley, Mary, 448. Dingley, Sarah— (Mrs. WUliam-), 188. Dingley, WUUam, 188. Dining, dinners, etc., 117, 585, 588, 589. Dipping (baptism), 366, 422. " Discoverer," Browne's ship, 145, 146. " Discovery," The, 61 , 208. Diseases, 281, 282, 335. " Disorderly inarried," 503. Dissenters, 589. Divinity of Scriptures, 524. Divorces, 245, 363, 596, 597. Dix, Anthony, 244, 245, 300. Dixey BuU, 245. Doane, John, 343, 376, 378, 401, 412. 434- Doctors' Commons, London, 159. Dogs, 72, in, 113, 476. Domes day Book, 21, 140. Doncaster, Eng., 2t. Dorchester, Eng., 272. Dorchester, Lord, 33. Dorchester Company, 272. Dorchester, Mass., 78, 335, 361 -F, 492, 586 ; persons, etc., 78, 288, 357, 388, 511, 514, 523. 526, 531, 533, 536; church, 392, 393 ; vessels, 605. Doten, 83. See " Dotey." Dotey (Doty "Doten" or Doughty) Ed ward (Pilgrim), 83, 160, 183, 185, 186, 293, 298, 401, 433, 475- Dotey, Edward, Jr., 475. Dotey, Faith Clark- (Mrs. Edw..), 475. Dotey, Francis, 526, 527. Dotey, John, 475. Dotey, Sarah Faunce- (Mrs. Edw., Jr.-), 475. Double smaU-letters, initial use of in sur names, 611. Doughty, 475, 526. See Dotey. Dover, N. H., 133,482; persons, 245, 318, 399- " Dover Cliff," 143. Downing, Emanuel, 609. Dracut, speUings, 610, Drake, Dr., xiii, xiv, xviii, 175 ; on Indians, 546. Drake, Francis, Sir, 46. Dress, Indian, 120. Drew, Capt. Sylvanus, 291. " Drinking," tobacco, 403. See Tobacco- smoking. Droitwich, Eng., 445. Droughts, 241, 582. DruUlette, Father (?), 458. Drums, 124, 308, 447, 540, 605. Drunkenness, 399, 603, 604. Dublin, Ire., 561. Duck-shot, 273. Ducks, wild, 76, 77. Dudley, Chief-Justice, 571, Dudley (Dep. Gov.), 350, 357, 369, 382, 383, 424. Dudley, Robert. See " Leicester." Dudley, John, Sir, 112. DueUing, 160. " Dumb reading," 359. Dunham, Susan, 440. Dunham, Thomas, 598. Dunster, Henry, 424-427, 501 ; burial and grave, 424. Dunster, Glover- (Mrs. Henry-), 426. Dunes, sand, 67, 311. Dutch, The, at Connecticut, 371, 372, 373, 394 ; Church (National), 284 ; cow, a, 296; discoverers and claims, 149, 153, 303, 304; morals, 38, 309; merchant's intriguing, 56, 60; RepubUc, 63; settle ments, 417; ship at Sowams, 216, 217, 218 ; threats, 447 ; trade and traders, 132, 398, 586- Duxbury, 362, 409, 414, 486, 488, 531, 573, 589, 592. 593. 609; persons, etc., 83, 187, 188, 245, 274, 296, 355, 361, 362, 401, 423, 431, 436, 437, 447, 462, 475. 477, 482, 508, 566, 567, 568, 569, 603, 609 ; Bay, 96, 97 ; History of (Winsor's), xU; pioneers, 191 ; miU, 525; quota ol, 1676, 557- 630 INDEX. Duxbury, spelUngs (eleven), 6ii. Duxbury HaU, Eng., 451, 452, 453. Dwelling-houses, 1624, 358. Dyer, Mary (Mrs.), 484. " pAGLE," 107. ¦'--' Eagle-tree Pond, 567. Ear '9', 245, 370. Savins, 67. Sawkeiuck, 136. Saw-mUls, 438. Saxton, Rev. GUes, 440. Say, Lord, 328. Say and Brook, Lords, 381, 382. Saybrook, Conn., 3g4. Schoolmasters in the Old Colony, 4g5, 4g6. Schools, 494-497, 524 ; public subsidies to, '97, 495. 496- Schout, A, 33. Scituate, Mass.,36I^-,362, 363, 409, 486, 5g2; persons, 187, 244, 274, 347, 400, 401, 404, 427, 434. 438. 440, 441. 443. 447, 462, 473, 501-503, 540, 557, 558, 597, 603, 604, 607 ; churches, 422, 423, 605 ; miUtary quotas, 414, 415, 557; speUings, 361-I-, 611 ; Thanksgiving, 180; witch craft, 493. "Scituate, History of" (Deane's), xu. Scotchmen, 287. Scott, Benjamin, F. R. S., xii, 13. Scott, Richard, 366. Scott, (Mrs. Richard-), 366. Scott's "Lecture," xii. Scrofula, touching for, 4. Scrooby, Eng., and its famiUes, xvi, 18-26, 175 ; persons, 19-27, 160, 285 ; visits to, 22, 23 ; stocks, 24. Scurvy, 69, 114, 122, 311,325. Scusset, Mass., 305. Scusset River, 290, 2gi ; -Bar, 2gi. Sea clams, 205. Sealing weights and measures, 400. Seals, 108. Seasickness of the PUgrims, 57, 58. Secretary of State, The, 160. Sedge, 80. Seekonk, Mass., 164, 367, 410, 514, 522. Seel, 58. Seines, 274. Selectmen, Authority of, 251. SeUing prisoners of vrar, 562, 563. Semi-Separatists, 37. Senate, The United States, 416. Separatism, 16; origin of, 9; beginnings at Scrooby, 25 ; New England Puritans change to, 326-328; punishment for, '5- Separatists, The, 7, 9; church service and management, n, 262, 267, 275, 359; doctrines of, n, 13, 17, 102, 262, 275; persecution of, 5, n, 12, 14-16, 27, 29, 40, 256, 259, 278 ; not Puritans, the dif- INDEX. 653 ference, i, 9-13, 40, 256, 272 ; New Eng land Puritans and, 325-32g. " Servant," and meaiung of term, ig, 5g, 108, 160, 185. Servants, PUgrim, 184. Servants, Sale of service of, 316, 317. Service (Church-), The PUgrim, 35S, 35g. Seven Articles, The, 41 , 42. Sewall, Samuel (Judge), loi, 114, 332, 426, 510, 568, 57g, 582, 605. Sewan, 305, 306. See " Wampum." Shad, 164. Shakspere, 109. Shallop, The, 68, 76, 80, 85, 8g, 90. Shallops, 212, 256, 288, 306, 341. Sharpe, Samuel, 288. Sharpe, , Mr. (Cambridge), 583. Shaw, John, 294, 297, 2gg, 401. Shawmut (Boston), 176, 510 ; Indians, 176. Shawomet, 420, 517, 518. See Warwick. "Sheath-Fish," 205. Sheep, 3g8, 415, 424, 451, 476, 585 ; prices of, 2g6. Shell-fish, 205. Shepard, Thomas, 3go. Sherley, Thomas, 255, 256, 27g, 289, 303, 333, 339, 340, 345, 346, 410, 411. Sherwood Forest, 21. Shingles, 436, 582. Ship-buUding, 288, 314, 438, 447, 472, 586, 587- Ships, 471, 472. Shipwrights, 244; The "Charity," 256. Shire, The, 18. Shure towns (Plymouth), 608. Shirley Square, Plymouth, 256. Shirts, 322. Shoals, Cape Cod, 61, 62. Shoemakers, 341 . Shoes, 331, 332, 587. Shove, George, xiii, 533. Shovel-board, 434. Showamitt, 562. Shrewsbury, Eng., log. Shrieve (Mrs. Thomas-), 598. Shrieve, Thomas, 598. Shurtieff, Abiel, 355. Shurtleff, Benjamin (i), 355. Shurtieff, Benjamin (2), 355. Shurtleff, Benjamin (3) (M.D.), 355. Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. (M.D., etc.), 355, 612. Shurtleff, WiUiam, 355, 580. Shute, Samuel (Gov.), 547. Sibsie, (Master), 312. Sickness, Results of the "First," 185-187. Side-arms, 78. Sieva Beans, 117. Silk, 587. " SUver-headed Tom," 553. SUver ore, 338. Simmons, The name, 192. Simonson (or "Simmons"), Moses, igi, 192, 292, 293, 2gg, 362, 56g. "Simple Cobbler of Agawam," The, 168, 425. " SimpUcity's Defence," 443. Singing, Indian, 168. "Singing Master's Assistant," The, 35g. Singleton, Mary, ig2. Sitteate (Scituate), 361-!-. " Sityate," 363. " Six-Principle Baptists," 516. Skate, gg. Skeleton in Armor, The, 141. Skeletons found on Cole's HiU, 158 Skelton, Hugh (Rev.), 326-328. Skiff, EUzabeth Cooper- (Mrs. Jas.-), 5g6. Skiff, James, 465, 503, 5g6. Skillets, Iron, 527, Skral, 138. Skr