THE WOMEN LEFT BEHIND. II. 31 of these poor women in this distress; what weeping CHAP. and crying on every side; some for their husbands that were carried away in the ship, as it was before related; 1608. others not knowing what should become of them and their little ones; others melted in tears, seeing their poor little ones hanging about them, crying for fear and quaking with cold. Being thus apprehended, they were hurried from one place to another, and from one justice to another, until, in the end, they knew not what to do with them. For to imprison so many women and innocent children for no other cause, many of them, but that they would go with their husbands, seemed to be unreasonable, and all would cry out of them; and to send them home again was as difficult, for they alleged (as the truth was) they had no homes to go to, for they had sold or otherwise disposed of their houses aud livings. To be short, after they had been thus turmoiled a good while, and conveyed from one constable to another, they were glad to be rid of them in the end upon any terms, for all were wearied and tired with them; though, in the mean time, the poor souls endured misery enough; and thus in the end necessity forced a way for them. But that I be not tedious in these things, I will omit the rest, although I might relate other notable passages and troubles which they endured and underwent in these their wanderings and travels, both at land and sea. But I haste to other things. Yet I may not 2 I have here substituted would, which Hutchinson gives as the reading of Bradford's MS for must, which is in Morton's copy. There can be no doubt as to which is the true reading. It is much to be regretted that the worthy Governor did not see 32 RESULT OF THE PERSECUTION. CHAP. omit the fruit that came hereby. For by these so II. public troubles in so many eminent places1 their cause 1608. became famous, and occasioned many to look into the same; and their godly carriage and christian behaviour was such as left a deep impression in the minds of many. And though some few shrunk at those first conflicts and sharp beginnings, (as it was no marvel,) yet many more came on with fresh courage, and greatly animated others; and in the end, notwithstanding all these storms of opposition, they all got over at length, some at one time and some at another, and met together again, according to their desires, with no small rejoicing. poor exiles, he would not have failed know about their trials and persecutions. They were not aware that they were to be the germs of a great empire. Boston, Hull, and Grimsby. CHAPTER III. OF THEIR SETTLING IN HOLLAND, AND THEIR MANNER III. BEING now come into the Low Countries, they saw CHAP. many goodly and fortified cities, strongly walled, and guarded with troops of armed men. Also they heard 1608. a strange and uncouth language, and beheld the different manners and customs of the people, with their strange fashions and attires; all so far differing from that of their plain country villages, wherein they were bred and born and had so long lived, as it seemed they were come into a new world. But those were not the things they much looked on, or long took up their thoughts; for they had other work in hand, and another kind of war to wage and maintain. For though they saw fair and beautiful cities, flowing with abundance of all sorts of wealth and riches, yet it was not long before they saw the grim and griseled' face of poverty coming on them like an armed man, with whom they must buckle and encounter, and from whom they could not fly. But they were armed with faith and patience against him and all his encounters; 'Griseled, for grisly - frightful, hideous. 16 34 THE PILGRIMS IN AMSTERDAM. CHAP. and though they were sometimes foiled, yet by God's III. assistance they prevailed and got the victory. 1608. Now when Mr. Robinson, Mr. Brewster, and other principal members were come over, (for they were of the last, and stayed to help the weakest over before them,) such things were thought on as were necessary for their settling and best ordering of the church affairs. And when they had lived at Amsterdam about a year, Mr. Robinson, their pastor, and some others of best discerning, seeing how Mr. John Smith and his company was already fallen into contention with the church that was there before them, and no means they could use would do any good to cure the same; and also that the flames of contention were like to break out in that ancient church itself, (as afterwards lamentably came to pass); which things they prudently foreseeing, thought it was best to remove before they were any way engaged with the same; though they well knew it would be much to the prejudice` of their outward 'Neal, Hist. of N. England, i. 76, falls into an error when he speaks of "the flames of contention having broken out in Mr. Smith's church." Belknap, Amer. Biog. ii. 157, follows it when he says, "these people (Smith and his congregation) fell into controversy, and were soon scattered;" and Francis Baylies, Memoir of Plymouth, i. 11, repeats it when he says, "some dissensions happening amongst them, (Smith's people) the church was dissolved." This error arises from their not being aware of, or not attending to, the fact of the existence of another congregation of Separatists at Amsterdam, which had been established many years before Smith settled there; who went over to Holland, as ap pears from page 22, only a short time before Robinson. The contention was not among the members of Smith's congregation, but between his church and "the church that was there before them," "that ancient church," namely Johnson's, mentioned in the note on page 24. Baylie, in his Dissuasive, p. 16, Hornius, Hist. Eccles. p. 232, and Neal, Hist. Puritans, i. 437, err in saying that Smith set up his church at Leyden; whereas it was to avoid him and his company that Robinson removed to that city. Cotton, in his Way of Cong. Churches, p. 7, says, "I understand by such as lived in those parts at that time, Smith lived at Amsterdam, and there died, and at Leyden in Holland he never came." REMOVAL TO LEYDEN. 35 III. estate, both at present and, in likelihood, in the future; CHAP. as indeed it proved to be. 2 For these and some other reasons they removed to 1609. Leyden,' a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation, but made more famous by the university wherewith it is adorned, in which of late it had been by so many learned men; but wanting that traffic by sea which Amsterdam enjoyed, it was not so beneficial for their outward means of living and estates. But being now here pitched, they fell to such trades and employments as they best could, valuing peace and their spiritual comfort above any other riches whatsoever; and at length they came to raise a competent and comfortable living, and with hard and continual labor. Being thus settled, after many difficulties, they continued many years in a comfortable condition, enjoying much sweet and delightful society and spiritual comfort together, in the ways of God, under the able ministry 3 "By several passages in Gov. Bradford's manuscript it seems as if they began to remove to Leyden at the end of 1608." Prince, p. 120. The distance from Amsterdam to Leyden is about 38 miles. The university of Leyden was established in 1575, the year after the memorable siege of that place. The Prince of Orange, wishing to reward the citizens for their constancy and valor, gave them the choice of two privileges either an exemption from taxes, or a university; they chose the latter. It has been at times one of the most celebrated in Europe; and from its reputation the city itself was called the Athens of the West, and the North Star of Holland. Among its distinguished professors and scholars were Arminius, Episcopius, Grotius, Lipsius, Junius, Vossius, Descartes, Scaliger, Salma sius, and Booerhave. See Grotius, 3 Cotton Mather, in his Life of |