if it be allowed that holding a lease from the Catholic family of Morton implies acquaintance with them. The Mr. Richardson to whom he commits two of the children, was next to the Mortons, the most considerable person then at Bawtry. His name was Richard, and he had married Elizabeth Lindley, a daughter of William Lindley, of Skegby, near MansRichardson. field, a Visitation family. Her brother, Francis Lindley, of Skegby, Esquire, married Jane Molineux, daughter of Francis Molineux, of Teversal, Esquire. This lady died in 1633, aged 71, and was buried at Bawtry, where she had a rhyming epitaph :

One of her daughters was the wife of Robert Morton, of Bawtry; and another of Thomas Ledgard, Ledgard. a native of Bradford, in Yorkshire, but living at Bawtry, as a merchant. The inscription on

his tomb celebrates his skill in the construction of mathematical instruments, and his knowledge in everything relating to pilotage. Is it too much to claim him as an early friend of William Bradford? In his will

made in 1632, he bequeathed to his son, Tristram Ledgard, all his books and mathematical instruments. Lindley Richardson, the son of this marriage, was a sponsor at the baptism of one of the daughters of young Robert Bradford, who was thus placed under the care of his father.

Of Downes I know nothing, except that he was a subsidy-man at Scrooby. Silvester was

Silvester.

a divine living at Alkley, which is eastward from Austerfield, at no great distance. His will was made in 1615, and it appears by it that he was possessed of a fair estate, and also, what is more to our purpose, of a library of English and Latin books, at a time when in country places in England, books were exceedingly few. This collection of books," religious books probably, in the hands of a friend of the family. living near them, was perhaps a treasure of instruction to the governor in his youth. We may notice as a trait of the times, that he gives to the poor scholars of the Grammar School at Rossington, his Cooper's Dictionary, to be chained to a stall in the church, and used by them as long as it will last!

On the whole, it appears that the Bradfords of Austerfield, during the eighteen years that he was

living amongst them, who was destined to be the governor of the first settlement of New England, and who may justly be styled the Moses of the exodus, as Brewster was the Aaron; associated with the best of the slender population by whom they were surrounded.

No marriages have been found of the three daughters of Robert Bradford; but his son, who bore the same name, continued the line at Austerfield. He buried his first wife, whose name was Jane, on March 6th, 1614-5. She brought him two children, Elizabeth and Richard. The sponsors at the baptism of Elizabeth were, Lindley Richardson, Elizabeth Richardson, and Ellen Harrison; this was in 1613. In 1615 he married a second time, Elizabeth Sothwood. The marriage was solemnised by license of the Archbishop, a rare event in those days at Austerfield, and showing that she belonged to a family of rather the better class. It is a reasonable presumption that she was of the same family with the Mr. Southwood whose widow was the second wife of Governor Bradford. There was a numerous family, most of whom died in infancy. At the baptism of Mary, one of them, William Thorp, Modlin Benson, and Jane Marsland, were the sponsors.

There is nothing to tempt one to pursue this branch of the subject further. While William was working his way against many adverse circumstances to the distinction which he at last attained, his cousingerman, Robert, remained at Austerfield, sinking, it is to be feared, into poverty and obscurity. Before 1628 he had sold his lands, or at least portions of them, but probably all. The purchaser was Mr. William Vescy, a gentleman of very ancient family, who resided on a patrimonial inheritance

Decay of the family.

at Brampton in Le Morthing, about fifteen miles from Austerfield; who in that year made his will, in which he speaks of "lands at Austerfield, which I bought of Robert Bradford." In 1630, one Robert Wright, a draper, of Doncaster, leaves to "Robert Bradford, of Austerfield," his gray suit of apparel, and to Richard Bradford, his son, one fustian doublet and one pair of hose. Owing to an imperfection in the register, we cannot fix precisely the time when Robert Bradford died, but it was between 1630 and 1640, when he had not attained the age of fifty years.

Dr. Mather informs us, that a portion of the lands of the family descended to William, and that he sold

them when he was of full age and was living in Holland. As to the moral and religious

Alleged mo

ral and reli

gious state of state of the village in which he was born, it was probably neither much better nor

Austerfield.

much worse than the other agricultural villages of England at that time were; and no one now can either confirm or refute the very unfavourable representation which Dr. Mather gives of it. He describes Austerfield, or Ansterfield as he calls it, as a very ignorant profane place, not a Bible to be seen there, and with a minister at the chapel who was inattentive and careless. Yet the will, of which we had an abstract, is not without traces both of piety and charity; and we must do so much justice

Henry

Fletcher the curate.

to Henry Fletcher, who is the minister alluded to, as to say, that he appears to have been constantly resident on this poorly-endowed benefice from 1591, when he married Elizabeth Elvick, to 1624, when by his last will he directs that he shall be buried in the churchyard or chapel of Austerfield, near his wife and children. An Alice Bradford, who, if she were not the Alice who married Briggs, would be the Governor's mother, was a sponsor at the baptism of his eldest child Nathaniel, May 1st, 1595, with Mr. John Deacon and Mr. William Gregory.