the dance was in no degree abated, and some of the younger members of our party continued until three in the morning. The next day was devoted to the remaining business of the celebration, which took place in the following orde, At ten o'clock there was a parade of a military company called the Standish Guards, consisting of about fifty men, well-dressed, med, and drilled. To these it was intended to present a new staid of colours; and for this purpose a platform was erected in from of one of the houses in Court Square, on which, after the music of an excellent band, a young lady of about eighteen ascended, accompanied by her father. Her dress was a cloth riding-habit, with velvet cap surmounted by a plume of ostrich feathers, and a long white blonde veil hanging gracefully on one side of her face. She delivered a short but appropriate address to the captain of the company on presenting him the colours for his corps. The captain. replied in a much more ambitious strain; his oration, which had been evidently penned and committed to memory, was of the most inflated style, filled with lofty and sonorous words, and full of heroism, devotion, wounds, and death. Its effect, however, was completely marred by the gallant captain closing his unusually florid and energetic speech with the words, "In the name of this corpse, I receive, madam, the flag presented by your own fair hands." Not a muscle of any countenance betrayed the slightest perception of this error in pronunciation; for in America it is common to give to all French words used in the language, such as route, tour, &c., the pronunciation which their authority would warrant if they were English, and to speak them as if they were written rout, tower, &c. At first this strikes one as a great vulgarity; but it is no more so than the constant practice of the English themselves, in giving to French names a purely English pronunciation, as in Paris, Calais, Lyons, &c., which, though maintaining exactly the same orthography, are so differently pronounced by the natives of England and France.

After the presentation of the colours we repaired to the Pilgrim Hall-of which a more detailed description will be given farther on-and the members of the Pilgrim Society there forming themselves into a line, and being joined by all the strangers and most of the resident heads of families in the town, marched to the music of the band, in a long procession, to the principal church, a fine Gothic building recently erected by the Unitarians. Here we heard the oration delivered by the Rev. Dr. Robbins. It was a grave, sensible, and well-arranged discourse, chiefly historical, but happily blended with moral reflections suggested by the event commemorated, and the associations of the time and place. In the course of the service an ode was sung by the choir and audience to the air of "God save the King," which tune has been long since adopted and used in this country for devotional hymns, under the

name "America." In the Appendix will be found some beautiful lines on the subject of the Pilgrim Fathers, by two of the sweetest poets of the country, Mr. Pierpont and Mrs. Sigourney.*

The service was closed by an appropriate hymn, sung to the tune of the "Old hundredth psalm," the peculiarity of which was, that it was delivered out, line by line, after the manner of the Pilgrims; it being on record that in their devotional exercises these fathers followed here the practice then common in England, of reading from the pulpit a single line only of the psalm to be sung; and when that was finished, but not before, giving out the second. This was a practice well adapted to a period when there were not printed books enough for all, and when all could not read; but wholly unnecessary at the present day, when circumstances are so much changed. A ludicrous anecdote is current on this subject, which states that the minister gave out from the pulpit, to the great astonishment of his congregation, the following paradoxical lines from an old version of David's Psalms. The first line was this:

"The Lord will come, and he will not❞—

This seemed so flat a contradiction in terms that many refused to sing it at all, supposing that there was some error in the delivery. Their surprise, however, was still farther increased by the next succeeding line

"Be silent, but speak out”—

which seemed so impossible to be done that the choir were in despair; though, if the two lines had been read at once, with attention to the punctuation, they would stand thus:

"The Lord will come, and he will not

Be silent, but speak out."

After the service the guards, who had escorted the Pilgrim Society to the church, marched homeward in military order; and the afternoon was given to interchange of friendly greetings and domestic visitings. In the evening a large assemblage was collected at the orthodox church of Mr. Hall to hear an address on the history and influence of temperance societies in Great Britain, which I had been announced to deliver there.

The audience was very numerous, and the impression appeared to be as powerful as could well be desired, the address lasting upward of two hours, and great numbers coming at its close to express their satisfaction, and their regret at its not being longer.

On Sunday, the 23d, we attended the church of the Rev. Mr. Briggs, and heard a very eloquent and beautiful sermon from a passage in the Gospel of St. John: "He must increase;" alluding to the increase of the followers of Christ, and the general spread of his doctrines over the civilized world. It embraced a most interesting and philosophical review of the history of the past; it comprehended also a survey of the present; and it carried forward the imagination

* See Appendix, No. XIV. and XV.

to the prospects of the future. The sermon was written, as is almost always the case in this country; and the preacher was young, from 25 to 30; but it was a most masterly composition, and admirably delivered: we had the pleasure to learn that the whole character of the man was in perfect harmony with the professions of the minister.

During the three remaining days of our stay at Plymouth, the 24th, 25th, and 26th of December, we were engaged during the mornings and afternoons in examining all the objects of interest in the town, and in the evenings in delivering, in the Pilgrim Hall, three Lectures on Palestine, which were attended by very large audiences in proportion to the population, beginning with 150 on the first evening, and ending with more than 300 on the third. This occupation, too, brought me here, as elsewhere, acquainted with the principal families of the place, who were all most anxious to show us attention in the exercise of their hospitalities, and in opening to us every source of information on all the topics of interest connected with Plymouth and its neighbourhood on which we desired to be informed.

With their aid and assistance, therefore, we visited the rock on which the Pilgrims first landed from the Mayflower, the ship that brought them from England; the Pilgrim Hall, with its noble picture, and its interesting museum of Pilgrim relics; the burialground of the first settlers, in which the mate of the Mayflower, at the age of 98, was deposited in 1697, the gravestone bearing the inscription being still preserved, he being only 21 on his arrival in the settlement, and living 77 years after his landing; and the Record Office, in which we saw the original documents as far back as 1623, when plots of ground were assigned by lot to the settlers; as well as many enactments and orders of the first court, attested by the autograph signatures of the Pilgrim fathers, Bradford, Winslow, Standish, Brewster, Prince, and Morton. From these united sources of documentary and oral information, the following history and description of Plymouth is drawn.

FOUNDATION OF PLYMOUTH COLONY.

461

CHAPTER L

History of the Foundation of Plymouth Colony.-Affecting Embarcation of the Pilgrims at Delfthaven.--Sail from Plymouth in the Mayflower.-Arrival off Cape Cod. -Civil Compact signed in the Cabin of the Mayflower.-Landing on Plymouth Rock. -First Treaty inade with the Native Indians.-First Offence punished among the English Settlers-Community of Property.-Individual Possessions.-First Introduc tion of Trial by Jury.-First Execution for Crime.-Severe Sickness and destroying Hurricane. First Code of Laws.-Fines for drinking, smoking, and Sabbath-breaking-Punishment of whipping for extorting high Profits.-Instance of Rigour and Impartiality in executing the Laws.-Singular Regulations respecting Manners. Union of Plymouth with the Colony of Massachusetts.-Oliver Cromwell's Commission to Governor Winslow.-First Notice of Horses seen in the Colony.-Persecution of the Quakers.-Selling Criminals for Slaves.-Employment of native Indians as Magistrates.-Efforts of Plymouth in the Temperance Reformation.-Jail and Poorhouse both empty, and Distilleries of Rum extinct.-Native Indians in Plymouth.

THE history of the foundation of Plymouth Colony is too remarkable and too interesting to be passed over in silence in any description of America; and written on the spot itself, every incí dent of it assumes additional importance. Without entering, however, into very minute details, an outline of the principal events connected with the rise and progress of this remarkable settlement may very appropriately precede a description of its present condi

tion.

The religious persecutions which characterized the reigns of Mary, Elizabeth, James, and Charles, in England, led many of the most pious and worthy of the nation to seek an asylum in other countries, and to become voluntary exiles from their natiye land, rather than endure the oppressions to which they were subjected there.

It was in the year 1610 that a party of such exiles went to Holland, under their pastor, Mr. John Robinson, where they resided in peace for some few years, first at Amsterdam and then at Leyden; but finding, even there, some obstacles to the full enjoyment of their religious opinions, and little prospect of advancing their condition, they resolved, about the year 1616, to remove to America. Their motives for this step, as recorded by themselves, were to "preserve the morals of their youth; to prevent them, through want of employment, from leaving their parents and engaging in business unfavourable to religion; to avoid the inconveniences of incorporating with the Dutch; to lay a foundation for the propagation of the Gospel in remote parts of the world; and, by separating from all the existing establishments in Europe, to form the model of a pure Church, free from the admixture of human additions."

In 1617 Mr. Robinson employed Mr. Robert Cushman and Mr. John Carver as agents for his church to the Virginia Company, to obtain a grant of territory for settlement within their limits, and, at

the same time, security from the king that they should enjoy their religious freedom. They did not return till 1618, and the answer they brought was, that the Virginia Company would grant the land, and "the king would connive at thein, and not molest them, provided they carried themselves peaceably;" but he would not set the example of granting any act of toleration officially, or under the great seal of state. In 1619 a second negotiation was opened by Mr. Bradford and Mr. Cushman, and these obtained the patent desired; but as it was not in all respects such as was unanimously approved, it was never made use of; and they contented themselves with obtaining a grant of land from the Virginia Company, which was made to them along the banks of the Hudson River-all the territory north of the Chesapeake being then called "Northern Virginia"-and determined to rely on Divine Providence for the issue.

It was thought best that a portion of the whole number should go out first, and that Mr. Robinson the pastor and another portion should remain behind until the arrival of the first party should be heard of. This being agreed on, several of the congregation sold their estates and made a common fund, which, with money contributed by others, enabled them to purchase the Speedwell, of sixty tons, and to charter the Mayflower, of 180 tons, for the voyage. All things being ready, they prepared to embark at Delfthaven. The following touching account is recorded in the New-England Memorial, of the last hours they passed on the Continent of the Old World before they embarked for the New.

"When they came to the port, they found the ship and all things ready; and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipped, and to take their leave of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of Christian love. The next day, the wind being fair, they went on board, and their friends with them; when truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs, and sobs, and prayers did sound among them, what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's hearts, so that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood upon the quay as spectators could not refrain from tears. Yet comfortable and sweet it was to see such lively and true expressions of dear and unfeigned love. Their reverend pastor falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks, commended them with most fervent prayers unto the Lord and his blessing; and then, with mutual embraces and many tears, they took their leave one of another, which proved to be the last leave of many of them."

The pilgrims embarked on board the Speedwell, at Delfthaven, in Holland, on the 22d of July, 1620, and sailed for Southampton, in England. Here they found the Mayflower awaiting their arrival, and both vessels sailed from the port together on the 5th of August following. The Speedwell, however, proving leaky, was