The romantic story of the Mayflower pilgrims, and its place in the life of to-dayAddison, A. C. (Albert Christopher)
History
The romantic story of the Mayflower pilgrims, and its place in the life of to-day
Addison, A. C. (Albert Christopher)
Mayflower (Ship); Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony)
Brewster quitted Leyden for a time and went to London, not as was
thought to elude the vigilance of the Ambassador, but to arrange with
shipmasters for a voyage to the West, which the Pilgrims had begun to
think about. While Brewster was being sought by the Bishop of London's
pursuivants, Sir Dudley Carleton, unaware of the hunt proceeding in
London, was actively searching for him at Leyden, and at last
triumphantly informed Secretary Naunton that he had caught his man. But
as it turned out, the bailiff charged with the arrest, "being a dull,
drunken fellow," had seized Brewer instead of Brewster! The prisoner was
nevertheless detained, and after some ado consented to submit himself
for examination in England, on conditions which were observed. Nothing
came of it however. Brewster returned free and unmolested and Brewer
remained in Leyden for some years, when, venturing back to England, he
was thrown into prison and kept there until released by the Long
Parliament fourteen years later.
Events were meanwhile shaping the destiny of the little Pilgrim
community. Holland, though a welcome temporary asylum, was no permanent
place for these English exiles, and their thoughts turned before long
towards a settlement in North America. By good fortune this was a
country then being opened up, and it appeared as a veritable Land of
Promise to these refugees in search of a new home.
The first attempt to found an English colony on the mainland of North
America was made in 1584, when Sir Walter Raleigh took possession of the
country and named it Virginia in honour of his Queen. Nothing came of
this venture, but in 1607 a company of one hundred and five men from
England, sailing in three small ships, had landed on the peninsula of
Jamestown in Chesapeake Bay, and the first permanent settlement was
established.
The chief of this Virginian enterprise was the redoubtable John Smith, a
Lincolnshire man, the first of those sons of empire to go out from the
East to the West. Strange that this pioneer in the wilderness, who gave
to New England its name, should have come from a country which was to
contribute so much to the peopling of the New England States. It is upon
record that in 1619 Smith, who was then unemployed at home, volunteered
to lead out the Pilgrims to North Virginia, but nothing came of the
offer.
[Illustration: _Photograph by James, Louth_
BUST OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH
_Presented by General Baden-Powell to the Louth Grammar School_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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