ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND SHIP.

235

XV.

Dec.

about were they who were owners of the corn which CHAP. we found in caves, for which we have given them full content,' and are in great league with them. They 1621. sent us word there was a ship near unto them, but 11. thought it to be a Frenchman; and indeed for ourselves we expected not a friend so soon. But when we perceived that she made for our bay, the governor commanded a great piece to be shot off, to call home such as were abroad at work. Whereupon every man, yea boy, that could handle a gun, were ready, with full resolution that, if she were an enemy, we would stand in our just defence, not fearing them. But God vided better for us than we supposed. These came all in health, not any being sick by the way, otherwise than by sea-sickness, and so continue at this time, by the blessing of God. The good-wife Ford was deliv

signatures of the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earl of Warwick, and of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. There is another signature so obscurely written, as to be illegible. It does not appear what use was made of this patent by the Plymouth planters; it was, not long afterwards, superseded by the second patent, surreptitiously obtained by Pierce, for his own benefit, and which, after his misfortunes, was assigned to the adventurers." Judge Davis gives an abstract of this patent in his Appendix, p. 362. I have sought for the original in vain in the archives of the State. It was never printed; and it is to be feared is now lost. The original of the third patent, granted in 1629 to William Bradford and his associates, is preserved in the office of the Register of Deeds at Plymouth. It is on parchment, signed by the Earl of Warwick, and the seal of the Plymouth Company, four inches in diameter, is appended to it. It is prefixed to the printed Laws of

pro

236

THE FORTUNE'S RETURN CARGO.

CHAP. ered of a son the first night she landed, and both of XV. them are very well.

1621.

Dec.

When it pleaseth God we are settled and fitted for 11. the fishing business and other trading, I doubt not but by the blessing of God the gain will give content to all. In the mean time, that we have gotten we have sent by this ship; and though it be not much, yet it will witness for us that we have not been idle, considering the smallness of our number all this summer. We hope the merchants will accept of it, and be encouraged to furnish us with things needful for further employment, which will also encourage us to put forth

ourselves to the uttermost.

Now because I expect your coming unto us, with other of our friends, whose company we much desire, I thought good to advertise you of a few things needful. Be careful to have a very good bread-room to put your biscuits in. Let your cask for beer and water be iron-bound, for the first tire, if not more. Let not your

De La Noye (or Delano) was, ac-
cording to Winslow, in his Brief
Narrative, "born of French pa-
rents," and Simonson (or Sim-
mons) was a "child of one that
was in communion with the Dutch
church at Leyden." The widow
Foord brought three children, Wil-
liam, Martha, and John. For a
further account of some of these,
and the other early settlers, see
Farmer's Genealogical Register,
Mitchell's Family Register, ap-
pended to his Hist. of Bridgewater,
and Deane's Family Sketches, in
his Hist. of Scituate.

"The Fortune sails Dec. 13,
laden with two hogsheads of beaver
and other skins, and good clap-
boards as full as she can hold; the
freight estimated near £500. But
in her voyage, as she draws near
the English coast, is seized by the

French, carried into France, kept there fifteen days, and robbed of all she had worth taking; then the people and ship are released, and get to London Feb. 17." Bradford, in Prince, p. 199. Smith, in his New England's Trials, printed in 1622, says she was laden with three hogsheads of beaver skins, clapboard, wainscot, walnut, and some sassafras.

"Upon her departure, the governor and his assistant dispose the late comers into several families, find their provisions will now scarce hold out six months at half allowance, and therefore put them to it, which they bear patiently." Bradford, in Prince, p. 199.

2

George Morton, to whom I suppose this letter was written, came out in the next ship, the Ann.

THINGS NEEDFUL FOR THE COLONY.

237

XV.

Dec.

meat be dry-salted; none can better do it than the CHAP. sailors. Let your meal be so hard trod in your cask that you shall need an adz or hatchet to work it out 1621. with. Trust not too much on us for corn at this time, 11. for by reason of this last company that came, depending wholly upon us, we shall have little enough till harvest. Be careful to come by some of your meal to spend by the way; it will much refresh you. Build your cabins as open as you can, and bring good store of clothes and bedding with you. Bring every man a musket or fowling-piece. Let your piece be long in the barrel, and fear not the weight of it, for most of our shooting is from stands.

Bring juice of lemons,
For hot waters,

and take it fasting; it is of good use.
aniseed water is the best; but use it sparingly. If
you bring any thing for comfort in the country, butter
or sallet oil, or both, is very good. Our Indian corn,
even the coarsest, maketh as pleasant meat as rice;
therefore spare that, unless to spend by the way.
Bring paper and linseed oil for your windows,' with

Oiled paper to keep out the snow-storms of a New England winter! This serves to give us some idea of the exposures and hardships of the first colonists. It is an indication of progress in domestic comfort when we find Higginson in 1629 writing from Salem to his friends in England, "Be sure to furnish yourselves with glass for windows." See Hutchinson's Collection of Papers, p. 50. Glass windows were first introduced into England in 1180. They were so rare in the reign of Edward III. that Chaucer, in describing his chamber, mentions particularly that

"with glass "Were all the windows well y-glazed."

Even in the time of Henry VIII.
they were considered a luxury, and
yeomen and farmers were perfectly
contented with windows of lattice.
In the days of Queen Elizabeth
they were unknown except in a
few lordly mansions, and in them
they were regarded as movable
furniture. When the dukes of
Northumberland left Alnwick cas-
tle to come to London for the win-
ter, the few glass windows, which
formed one of the luxuries of the
castle, were carefully taken out
and laid away, perhaps carried to
London to adorn the city residence.
See Anderson's Hist. of Commerce,
i. 90, ed. 1764; Ellis's Specimens
of the Early English Poets, i. 221,
323; Hallam's Middle Ages, ii.
294; Northumberland Household

238

Dec.

POWDER AND SHOT.

CHAP. cotton yarn for your lamps. Let your shot be most XV. for big fowls, and bring store of powder and shot. I 1621. forbear further to write for the present, hoping to see 11. you by the next return. So I take my leave, commending you to the Lord for a safe conduct unto us, resting in him,

Your loving friend,

E. W.'

Plymouth, in New England, this 11th of December, 1621.

Book, Preface, p. 16; E. Everett's

Edward Winslow, of whom

Address before the Merc. Lib. As- some account will be given heresoc. p. 19.

after.

CHAPTER XVI.

REASONS AND CONSIDERATIONS TOUCHING THE LAWFUL-
NESS OF REMOVING OUT OF ENGLAND INTO

THE PARTS OF AMERICA.

XVI.

The Pre

FORASMUCH as many exceptions are daily made CHAP. against the going into and inhabiting of foreign desert places, to the hindrances of plantations abroad, and 1621. the increase of distractions at home; it is not amiss amble. that some which have been ear-witnesses of the exceptions made, and are either agents or abettors of such removals and plantations, do seek to give content to the world, in all things that possibly they can.

And although the most of the opposites are such as either dream of raising their fortunes here to that than which there is nothing more unlike, or such as affecting their home-born country so vehemently, as that they had rather with all their friends beg, yea, starve in it, than undergo a little difficulty in seeking abroad; yet are there some who, out of doubt in tenderness of conscience, and fear to offend God by running before they be called, are straitened and do straiten others from going to foreign plantations.

For whose cause especially I have been drawn, out of my good affection to them, to publish some reasons