It opens with a dedicatory letter of transmittal “To his much respected friend....” This is a form of profuse and discursive acknowledgment typical of the time. It seems to have been appended by an associate of the settlers, whose concern was “... but the recommendation of the relation itself,” to a distinguished member of the “merchant adventurers” who had sponsored the _Mayflower_ voyage. The dedication is signed _R.G._, which I assume to be a misprint for the initials of Robert Cushman. The only member of the party at Plymouth with initials R.G. was Richard Gardiner, an undistinguished “Stranger” who stayed only briefly and took little part in the venture. The fact that misprints are frequent throughout the rest of the book suggests the possibility of reference to Cushman, who is a person most likely to have drafted such a letter. As a deacon of the Leyden congregation who also served as their business agent, he was instrumental in securing English permission for removal to the New World, and, after having had to turn back on the unseaworthy _Speedwell_, he continued negotiations with the “merchant adventurers” while the _Mayflower_ sailed on to Plymouth. Visiting the plantation on the second ship, _Fortune_, he delivered the patent which confirmed their legal right to settle there, together with a stringent contract from the sponsors, which he finally induced the Pilgrims to sign, after preaching a pointed sermon on “The Dangers of Self-Love.” The manuscript of the relations must have been carried back to England with him on the _Fortune_ in December of 1621. Appended at the end of the volume is another chapter which I attribute to Cushman. A long exposition of “Reasons and considerations touching the lawfulness of removing out of England into the parts of America,” signed _R.C._, is a thinly veiled promotional tract organized like a sermon, which cites Scripture to justify the plantation and to persuade others to follow. Among the prefatory letters is one containing “Certain useful advertisements ...” and signed _I.R._. We are told that this letter of advice concerning man’s proper relation with God and with his fellow men was “... written by a discreet friend unto the planters in New England, at their first setting sail from Southampton.”[4] This “unfeigned well-willer” is most likely John Robinson, pastor of the expatriate Separatist congregation in Leyden, and hence understandably solicitous for the welfare of the Pilgrims, and also in a position to proffer such counsel. The letter may have been appended to this book especially to serve as a model of morality for those “Strangers” who might hopefully be induced to emigrate and join the party at Plymouth.