After turning twenty-two, he was admitted, on proof and security, a citizen of Leyden, as William Bradford, Englishman. In the end of the next year his marriage bans were published, and he was registered as a worker in fustian, a coarse cloth of cotton and flax. On December 20, 1613, he wedded Dorothy May, aged sixteen, formerly of Cambridge, and probably the granddaughter of John May, Bishop of Carlisle in 1577. Her autograph, "Dority May," appears in her marriage contract. Bradford, when in America later, had friendly correspondence with her father in Holland. While in Leyden now, he had the joy of perceiving the rapid growth of the Puritan fellowship there, numbering finally almost three hundred. Purchasing considerable land, they settled in a community by themselves. Robinson, their spiritual head, was held in much esteem throughout the city, for his noble character and fine abilities. Bradford in written eulogy ascribes to him "y^e tender love & godly care of a true pastor." Yet in spite of the hospitality of Holland, the condition was not normal nor the prospects ideal, for an English settlement among those of foreign speech. The rising generation would naturally affiliate with their neighbors, entering the Dutch army and society; and the outcome promised to be a blend of blood and customs. The truce between Holland and Spain would be over in 1619; and the Thirty Years War was already rising in Europe. Wishing to preserve their national character and distinct religious order, they meditated emigration as a colony. In this the foreign missionary motive was also strong, freely acknowledged, and always remembered. "A great hope & inward zeall they had," Bradford later recorded, "of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for y^e propagating & advancing y^e gospell of y^e kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of y^e world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others for y^e performing of so great a work." They were dissuaded from the tropical enticements of Spanish American neighborhoods by the recollection of Spain's interests and ambitions there. The vote was indeed close, to go to any part of the strange western world; and our hero, being in favor of it, may have been required to turn the hesitating weight of opinion that way. But if residence in the British dominion, near or far, was preferable, some sort of recognition by the English government was necessary. This was a hard thing to secure, yet King James finally gave a reluctant verbal consent to their desired settlement in some remoter territory, where they would afford him and his servile clericals the least annoyance, while helping to establish the empire as respectable and industrious citizens.