In 1617, when Virginia had already been settled for several years, and the Dutch had successfully colonized a considerable portion of New England, Robert Cushman and John Carver were sent to England to try and obtain from James I. a patent, granting to the Scrooby Puritans lands in North Virginia, with the assurance of religious liberty. A whole year was consumed in unsatisfactory negotiations; and finally, the deputies from Holland were compelled to be content with a private message from James, that he would connive at the settlement in America of their brethren, though he could not give them his public sanction. On the strength of this, however, a patent was obtained from the Virginia Company in 1619, granting to a certain Mr. John Wincob――who was to be a kind of lay figure in the transaction, taking no active share in the matter――some lands on the Hudson. As the Dutch were already in possession on either side of that river, the Pilgrim Fathers endeavored to obtain, in addition, some sanction from them for their presence among them, but they were entirely unsuccessful; and it was finally agreed that one hundred members of the congregation, many of them women and children, should embark, under the care of Brewster as their spiritual pastor, and Carver as their civil governor, and, take their chance of finding a home in the New World. When they had done so, the remainder of their brethren, with the beloved Elder Robinson, were to join them. Two vessels were chartered for this apparently humble enterprise ――the _Speedwell_, which was to convey the pilgrims from Holland to Southampton, and the _Mayflower_, which was to await their arrival at the English port. On the 22d July, 1620, after a day of solemn humiliation and prayer, the advance guard of the deserted little church marched out among their brethren, and embarked on the _Speedwell_ in Delft harbor, arriving in due course at Southampton, where the _Mayflower_ lay at anchor. A fortnight later, both vessels set sail for America; but, before much progress had been made, the _Speedwell_ was compelled to put into Plymouth Harbor, being found utterly unseaworthy. This caused a delay of a month; and it was not until the autumn had begun that the _Mayflower_ made her final and solitary departure from Plymouth, with all who remained faithful to their purpose on board. A stormy voyage of sixty-five days brought the now world-famous little vessel in sight of Cape Cod, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to bear southward for the mouth of the Hudson, anchor was cast opposite the low coast, which had already been the refuge of so many tempest-tossed wanderers to the West. Illustration: BIBLE BROUGHT OVER IN THE MAYFLOWER, IN PILGRIM HALL, PLYMOUTH.