property which was more her equal? 4. Study the conflict between love and friendship in the mind of Alden. 5. Write a paragraph on Standish's changes of feeling toward Alden. 6. What do you consider the chief motive or moral of the poem ? ? 7. What other lessons are taught? 8. What does the poet, in the person of Priscilla, show to be the special office, duty, and influence of woman in her relation to man? 9. How many traits has Priscilla peculiar to herself, i.e., individual, and how many that are typical of all women and universal? 10. Are the three chief persons fixed types, or do they change, or grow? 11. Compare differences of occupation, dress, custom, and manners in the seventeenth century from the nineteenth. 12. Which scenes do you think the most humorous, the most touching, the most interesting, the most beautiful? 13. Compare the rival lovers, in intellect, heart, feeling, energy, sensitiveness, courage, refinement, generosity, unselfishness. 14. At which crisis does Priscilla help Alden? 15. Study the characters of the Indians in Part VII. IV. MISCELLANEOUS.-1. Look up the meaning of such words as matchlock, doublet, wampum, azure-eyed, gules, thwarts, inkhorn, sagamore, ominous, homespun, subterranean, etc. 2. Read the quotations from the Bible. 3. Find other examples of the various figures of speech than those given in the introduction. 4. Scan any ten lines of the poem. 5. Commit to memory any dozen lines that you care for. (Other questions will suggest themselves to the teacher ad libitum.) G. A. W. THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. I. MILES STANDISH. 2 IN the Old Colony' days, in Plymouth the land of the Pil grims,' To and fro in a room of his simple and primitive dwelling,* Clad in doublet and hose, and boots of Cordovan leather, Strode, with a martial air, Miles Standish the Puritan Captain. Buried in thought he seemed, with his hands behind him, and pausing Ever and anon to behold his glittering weapons of warfare, Hanging in shining array along the walls of the chamber, 5 1 Old Colony was the territory in eastern Massachusetts occupied by the Plymouth colonists. 2 This town, the oldest in New England, is situated on the harbor of the same name on the coast of Massachusetts about thirty-five miles southeast of Boston. 3 The Pilgrims, or Forefathers, were those emigrants who came to America early in the seventeenth century on account of religious differences in England, and founded the Old Colony. The "Mayflower" arrived first with one hundred persons on board, including John Alden, Priscilla, and Miles Standish, who disembarked December 21, 1620. The "Fortune" came next, in November, 1621, with twenty-nine passengers; and the "Anne" and the "Little James" brought forty-six more in August, 1623. 4 The colonists built their first houses of rough-hewn logs filled in with mortar; the roofs were thatched, and oiled paper was used instead of glass. "From the fifteenth to the seventeenth century the costume for men included hose or breeches, reaching to the knees, and a doublet, which was a close-fitting garment, double or wadded, covering the body from neck to a little below the waist. 6 Cordova, a city and province in southwestern Spain, gave its name to a fine quality of leather manufactured from goat-skin by the Moors. Cordwainer, an English name for shoemaker, is derived from Cordovan. 1 2 Cutlass and corselet of steel, and his trusty sword of Damas 3 cus, Curved at the point and inscribed with its mystical Arabic sentence, While underneath, in a corner, were fowling-piece, musket, and matchlock." 10 Short of stature he was, but strongly built and athletic, of iron; Brown as a nut was his face, but his russet beard was already Flaked with patches of snow, as hedges sometimes in November." Near him was seated John Alden,' his friend and household companion, 15 Writing with diligent speed at a table of pine by the window; Fair-haired, azure-eyed, with delicate Saxon complexion, 1 A short, curved sword used by sailors. 2 A coat-of-mail, or piece of armor, consisting of breastplate and backpiece, worn by pike-men to protect the body. 3 Formerly the capital of Syria in Asiatic Turkey, and one of the oldest cities in the world. It was renowned for its sword-blades, which were made of such finely tempered steel that the point could be made to touch the hilt without breaking. They were often engraved with phrases from the Koran. The Pilgrim Society of Plymouth and the Massachusetts Historical Society both exhibit the alleged "identical sword-blade used by Miles Standish"! 4 A light gun for shooting water-fowl or other birds. 5 A form of musket invented about the end of the fourteenth century. It was fired by bringing a slow match of twisted rope fixed in a crooked iron lever into contact with the powder-pan, the lid of which was thrown forward by the hand. It was a very uncertain weapon in time of wind or rain, and was replaced by the flintlock about 1650. 6 Miles Standish (1584-1656) was born in England; fought in the Netherlands in their heroic struggle against the King of Spain, emigrated to New England in 1620; took a leading part in the wars with the Indians; visited England for supplies (1625–1626); was magistrate of Duxbury, and aided in the settlement of Bridgewater. He is mentioned in Bradford's and Winslow's Journal, which was printed in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims. Little else is known with certainty of his history. 7 John Alden (1599-1687) was born in England, emigrated to New England in 1620; married Priscilla Mullens; was a magistrate for over fifty years, and was active in the management of the new colony. He was one of the signers of the compact in the cabin. of the " Mayflower." Having the dew of his youth, and the beauty thereof, as the captives Whom Saint Gregory' saw, and exclaimed, "Not Angles but Angels." Youngest of all was he of the men who came in the "Mayflower."2 20 Suddenly breaking the silence, the diligent scribe interrupting, Spake, in the pride of his heart, Miles Standish the Captain the warlike weapons that hang here Burnished and bright and clean, as if for parade or inspection! This is the sword of Damascus I fought with in Flanders; this breastplate, Well I remember the day! once saved my life in a skirmish; 3 25 1 St. Gregory the Great (540 ?-604), Pope, and author of a book, Cura Pastoralis, which was translated by King Alfred the Great. The story of Gregory and the English slaves is thus told by Greene: Years ago, when but a young deacon, Gregory had noted the white bodies, the fair faces, the golden hair of some youths who stood bound in the market-place of Rome. "From what country do these slaves come?" he asked the traders who brought them. "They are English, Angles!" the slave-dealers answered. The deacon's pity veiled itself in poetic humor. "Not Angles, but Angels," he said, "with faces so angel-like!"-History of the English People, p. 54. Gregory wished to go as a missionary to Britain, but was restrained by the Pope. Seven years after his election as Pope (597) he sent St. Augustine with forty monks to Ethelbert, King of Kent, who was baptized with 10,000 of his subjects in the space of a year. 2 The ship which conveyed the Pilgrims from Southampton to Plymouth in 1620. It was a vessel of about 180 tons burden, and was named from the mayflower, which is the English hawthorn. In America the mayflower is the trailing arbutus. 3 Flanders, also called the Low Countries, or Netherlands, an ancient country of Europe extending along the North Sea from the Strait of Dover to the mouth of the Schelde, and including Belgium and parts of Holland and France. Its territory has varied much in extent. 4 A soldier armed with an arquebus, or ancient hand gun; also used loosely of a musketeer. Had it not been of sheer steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Standish Would at this moment be mould, in their grave in the Flem Thereupon answered John Alden, but looked not up from his writing: 66 "Truly the breath of the Lord hath slackened the speed of the bullet; He in his mercy preserved you, to be our shield and our weapon!" 1 Still the Captain continued, unheeding the words of the stripling: "See, how bright they are burnished, as if in an arsenal hanging; 35 That is because I have done it myself, and not left it to others. Serve yourself, would you be well served, is an excellent adage; So I take care of my arms, as you of your pens and your inkhorn.' Then, too, there are my soldiers, my great, invincible army, Twelve men, all equipped, having each his rest and his matchlock, 4 Eighteen shillings a month, together with diet and pillage, And, like Cæsar," I know the name of each of my soldiers! 40 1 The Bible was the one great book of the Puritans, and its phraseology became unconsciously a part of their thoughts and speech. Cf. the language of Alden with Psalms, xxxiii. 6, 20. 2 In the seventeenth century pens were commonly made of quills and ink-bottles of horn. 3 The support upon which the heavy matchlock was rested while being fired. 4 About four dollars and a half; but money was worth from three to five times as much at that time. 5 Caius Julius Cæsar, born 100 B.C., killed at Rome by Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators, 44 B.C. He was not only the first general and statesman of his age, but also, with the exception of Cicero, the greatest orator. He was also an accomplished mathematician, philologist, jurist, and architect, and the author of the famous Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars, mentioned in 1. 70. |