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diff --git a/old/65495-0.txt b/old/65495-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5037dbd..0000000 --- a/old/65495-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9761 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of What Cheer, by Job Durfee - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: What Cheer - Or Roger Williams in Banishment, a Poem - -Author: Job Durfee - -Editor: Thomas Durfee - -Release Date: June 3, 2021 [eBook #65495] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Brian Wilson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/American - Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT CHEER *** - - - - - Transcriber's note: Italic font is indicated by _underscores_. - - - - - WHAT CHEER - - OR - - ROGER WILLIAMS IN BANISHMENT - - _A POEM_ - - BY JOB DURFEE - -“And surely betweene my friends of the Bay and Plimouth, I was sorely -tost for fourteen weeks, in a bitter cold winter season, not knowing -what bed or bread did meane.”--_Roger Williams’s Letter to Mason._ - - - REVISED AND EDITED - - BY - - THOMAS DURFEE - - - PROVIDENCE - PRESTON & ROUNDS - 1896 - - - - - Copyright, 1896, - By THOMAS DURFEE. - - - _Snow & Farnham, Printers, - Providence._ - - - - -NOTICE. - - -The Editor owes it to the reader to say that, in preparing the -following poem for re-publication, he has ventured to omit some of -the stanzas and to make changes in others. The stanzas were omitted -because, in his opinion, they broke the continuity or retarded the -flow of the narration, slackening the reader’s interest, and could be -omitted with advantage to the poem. The changes have been mostly slight -and formal, and, when more extensive, have been made to modify (not the -meaning, but) only the expression; making it clearer or more direct, or -giving it an easier metrical movement. - - PROVIDENCE, R. I., - May, 1896. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - INTRODUCTION vii - - WHAT CHEER 1 - - NOTES 177 - - APPENDIX 215 - - - ADDENDA. - - LIFE’S VOYAGE 221 - - HYMN BY TWILIGHT 223 - - REYNARD’S SOLILOQUY 224 - - A SUMMONS TO THE COUNTRY 225 - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - -TO THE REV. ROMEO ELTON, - -PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES IN BROWN UNIVERSITY. - - - What time, dear Elton, we were wont to rove - From classic Brown along fair Seekonk’s vale, - And, in the murmurs of his storied cove, - Hear barbarous voices still our Founder hail; - E’en then my bosom with young rapture hove - To give to deathless verse the exile’s tale; - And every ripple’s moan or breeze’s sigh - Brought back whole centuries as it murmured by. - - But soon the transient dream of youth was gone, - And different labors to our lots were given; - You at the shrine of peace and glory shone,-- - Sublime your toils, for still your theme was Heaven; - I, upon life’s tempestuous billows thrown,-- - A little bark before the tempest driven,-- - Strove for a time the surging tide to breast, - And up its rolling mountains sought for rest. - - Wearied at length with the unceasing strife, - I gave my pinnace to the harbor’s lee, - And left that ocean, still with tempests rife, - To mad ambition’s heartless rivalry; - No longer venturing for exalted life, - (For storms and quicksands have no charms for me,) - I, in the listless labors of the swain, - Provoke no turmoil and awake no pain. - - To drive the team afield and guide the plough, - Or lead the herds to graze the dewy mead, - Wakes not the glance of lynx-eyed rival now, - And makes no heart with disappointment bleed; - Once more I joy to see the rivers flow. - The lambkins sport, and brindled oxen feed, - And o’er the tranquil soul returns the dream, - Which once she cherished by fair Seekonk’s stream. - - And when stern winter breathes the chilling storm, - And night comes down on earth in mantle hoar, - I guide the herds and flocks to shelter warm, - And sate their hunger from the gathered store; - Then round the cottage hearth the circle form - Of childhood lovelier than the vernal flower, - Partake its harmless glee and prattle gay, - And soothe my soul to tune the artless lay. - - Thus were the numbers taught at first to flow, - Scarce conscious that they bore a tale along; - Beneath my hand still would the pages grow,-- - They were not labor, but the joy of song; - Still every line would unsung beauties show - In Williams’ soul, and still the strain prolong; - Till, all in rapture with the theme sublime, - My thoughts spontaneous sought the embodying rhyme. - - No man was he of heart with love confined, - With blessings only for his bosom friend,-- - His glowing soul embraced the human kind,-- - He toiled and suffered for earth’s farthest end. - Touched by the truths of his unyielding mind, - The human soul did her long bondage rend; - Stern Persecution paused--blushed--dropped the rod: - He strove like man, but conquered like a God. - - And now, my Elton, as in hours of ease, - With aimless joy I filled this frail balloon, - So like blind impulse bids me trust the breeze, - And soar on dancing winds to fate unknown; - And be my lot whatever chance decrees-- - Let gales propitious gently waft me on, - Or tempests dash far down oblivious night,-- - Whate’er the goal, I tempt the heedless flight. - - _Tiverton, R. I., September, 1832._ - - - - -WHATCHEER. - - - - -CANTO FIRST. - -[SCENES. The Fireside at Salem--The Wilderness--The Wigwam.] - - - I sing of trials, toils and sufferings great, - Which FATHER WILLIAMS in his exile bore, - That he the conscience-bound might liberate, - And to the soul her sacred rights restore;-- - How, after flying persecution’s hate, - And roving long by Narraganset’s shore, - In lone Mooshausick’s vale at last he sate, - And gave soul-liberty her Guardian State. - - -II. - - He was a man of spirit true and bold; - Fearless to speak his thoughts whate’er they were; - His frame, though light, was of an iron mould, - And fitted well fatigue and change to bear; - For God ordained that he should breast the cold - And wet of northern wilds in winter drear, - And of red savages protection pray - From Christians, but--more savage still than they. - - -III. - - Midwinter reigned; and Salem’s infant town, - Where late were cleft the forests’ skirts away, - Showed its low roofs, and, from their thatching brown - Sheeted with ice, sent back the sun’s last ray; - The school-boys left the slippery hillock’s crown, - So keen the blast came o’er the eastern bay; - And pale in vapors thick the sun went down, - And the glassed forest cast a sombre frown. - - -IV. - - The busy house-wife guarded well the door, - That night, against the gathering winter storm-- - Did well the walls of all the cot explore - Where’er the snow-gust might a passage form; - And to the couch of age and childhood bore - With anxious care the mantle thick and warm; - And then of fuel gathered ample store, - And bade the blaze up the rude chimney roar. - - -V. - - That night sate Williams, with his children, by - The blazing hearth--his consort at his side; - And often did she heave the heavy sigh - As still her task of needle-work she plied; - And, from the lashes of her azure eye, - Did often brush the starting tear aside; - For they at Spring the savage wilds must try,-- - ’Twas so decreed by ruthless bigotry. - - -VI. - - Beside the good-man lay his Bible’s fair - Broad open page upon the accustomed stand, - And many a passage had he noted there, - Of Israel wandering o’er the desert’s sand, - And each assurance he had marked with care, - Made by Jehovah, of the _promised land_; - And from the sacred page had learned to dare - The exile’s peril, and his ills to bear. - - -VII. - - And, while the holy book he pondered o’er, - And often told, to cheer his consort’s breast, - How, for their faith, the blest apostles bore - The exile’s wanderings and the dungeon’s pest, - A heavy foot approached his humble door, - And some one, opening, instant entrance prest: - A well-known elder was he, strict and sour,-- - Strong in a church ensphered in civil power. - - -VIII. - - “I come,” he said in accents hard and stern, - “The Governor’s and Council’s word to bear: - They are convened, and hear, with deep concern, - That thou abusest their indulgence fair; - Ay, with resentment and abhorrence learn - That still thou dost thy specious tenets share - With visitors, who, smit therewith, discern - Strange godliness in thee, and from us turn. - - -IX. - - “Till spring we gave; and thou wast not to teach - Thy interdicted doctrines here the while, - But curb thy tongue, or with submissive speech - The church regain, and quit thy errors vile; - Of which condition thou committest breach, - And dost her saints from Salem’s church beguile; - And plan, ’tis said, to found in easy reach - A State where Antichrist himself may preach. - - -X. - - “From such a State our blessed elders see - The church may, even here, the infection share; - And therefore have the Council made decree, - That to the wilderness thou shalt not fare; - But have their mandate hither sent by me, - That thou to Boston presently repair;-- - Where waits a ship now ready for the sea, - To carry back thy heresy and thee.” - - -XI. - - Williams replied, “Thy message is unkind,-- - In sooth, I think it even somewhat rude; - The snow falls fast, and searching is the wind - And wildly howls through the benighted wood. - The path to Boston is a little blind, - Nor are my nerves in their robuster mood;-- - My soul has seldom at her lot repined,-- - But to submission now she’s disinclined. - - -XII. - - “A voyage to England, and to start to-night - And brave the ocean at this season drear? - ’Twould scantly give the hardy tar delight, - Much less my consort and these pledges dear. - Go, and the Council tell, that we’re not quite - In health to bear a trial so severe,-- - That if we yield ’twill be to lawless might, - And not to their kind feelings or their right.” - - -XIII. - - “Much do I grieve,” the elder then replied, - “To bear this answer to the Governor; - ’Twill show that thou hast Church and State defied, - And will I ween make not a little stir; - And should a pinnace, on the morn espied - O’er yonder waters speeding, bring with her - A squad of soldiers, Underhill their guide, - Be not surprised, but--Williams, quell thy pride!” - - -XIV. - - This said, he turned and hastily withdrew, - And all but Williams now were left in tears; - His wife, still comely, lost her blooming hue, - Her nature yielding to her rising fears; - A giddy whirling passed her senses through, - She almost heard the blazing musketeers, - And trembling to her couch retired to sigh, - And seek relief in prayer to God on high. - - -XV. - - “O! for a friend,” still as he paced the floor, - Sire Williams cried, “a friend in my sore need, - To help me now some hidden way explore, - By which my glorious purpose may succeed; - But closed to-night is every cottage door; - Yet there is one who is a friend indeed, - Forever present to the meek and poor-- - I will thy counsels, mighty Lord, implore.” - - -XVI. - - Here dropt the friend of conscience on his knees, - And prayed, with hand and heart to Heaven upreared; - “O, thou, the God who parted Egypt’s seas, - And cloud or fire in Israel’s van appeared, - Send down thine angel now, if so it please, - That forth from Church within the State ensphered - He guide my steps, to where there yet may be - A Church not ruled by men, but ruled by Thee.” - - -XVII. - - Our Father ceased.--The tempest roared around - With double fury at this moment drear, - The cottage trembled, and the very ground - Did seem to feel the element’s career; - With ice and snow the window-panes were bound, - Nor through their dimness could the earth appear, - And still in gusts the wind a passage found - Down the rude chimney with a roaring sound. - - -XVIII. - - A voice divine it did to Williams seem;-- - He sat awhile within himself retired, - Then seemed to rouse, as from a transient dream, - Just as the lamp’s last flickering ray expired; - Around the room soft falls a quivering beam, - Cast from the brands that on the hearth are fired; - The tempest lulls apace, until he seems - To hear from neighboring woods the panther’s screams. - - -XIX. - - “But what is that?--a knocking?--and once more? - Some way-lost wanderer seeks a shelter here; - Ah, wretched man, amid the boisterous roar - Of snow and wind, thy sufferings are severe!” - He raised the bar that kept the outer door, - And with the snow-gust from the darkness drear, - A stranger entered, whose large garments bore - Proof of the storm in clinging snowflakes hoar. - - -XX. - - Aged he seemed, and staff of length had he, - Which well would holy pilgrim have become, - But yet he sought, with quiet dignity - And easy step, the centre of the room; - Then by the glimmering light our Sire could see - His flowing beard, white as the lily’s bloom; - Age had his temples scored; but,--glancing free, - As from the imprint of a century, - - -XXI. - - His eyes beamed youth; and such a solemn mien, - Joined with such majesty and graceful air, - Our Founder thought he ne’er before had seen - In mortal form; and at the offered chair - The stranger gently shook his brow serene, - And by the act revealed his long white hair, - As fell the fleecy covering from it clean, - Where down his shoulder hung its tresses sheen. - - -XXII. - - And when he spake his voice was low and clear, - But yet so deeply thrilling in its tone, - The listening soul seemed rapt into a sphere - Where angels speak in music of their own. - “Williams,” it said, “I come on message here, - Of mighty moment to this age unknown, - Thou must not dally, or the tempest fear, - But fly at morn into the forest drear. - - -XXIII. - - “Thou art to voyage an unexploréd flood; - No chart is there thy lonely bark to steer; - Beneath her, rocks--around her, tempests rude, - And persecution’s billows in her rear, - Shall shake thy soul till it is near subdued: - But when the welcome of ‘What cheer! What cheer!’ - Shall greet thine ears from Indian multitude, - Cast thou thine _Anchor_ there, and _trust in God_.” - - -XXIV. - - The stranger ceased, and gently past away, - Though Williams to retain him still was fain; - “The night was dark, and wild the tempest’s sway, - And lone the desert,” but ’twas all in vain; - He only in soft accents seemed to say, - “Perchance I may behold thee yet again, - What time thy day shall more auspicious be, - And hope shall turn to joy in victory.” - - -XXV. - - The stranger past, and Williams, by the fire, - Long mused on this mysterious event: - Was it some seraph, robed in man’s attire, - Come down to urge and hallow his intent?-- - To counsel--kindle--and his breast inspire - With words of high prophetic sentiment? - Or had he dreamed and in his mind, as clear - As if in corporal presence, seen the seer? - - -XXVI. - - ’Twas strange--mysterious! Yet, if dream it were, - ’Twas such as chosen men of old had known, - When Jacob saw the heaven-ascending stair, - And Joseph hoarded for the dearth foreshown. - Ah! did the Omniscient hear his earnest prayer, - And did e’en Heaven the glorious project own! - Then would he, by the morrow’s earliest ray, - Unto the distant forest make his way. - - -XXVII. - - He sought for rest, but feverous was his plight - For peaceful and refreshing sleep, I trow; - Still mused he on the morrow’s toilsome flight, - Through unknown wilds and trackless wastes of snow; - How to elude the persecutor’s sight, - Or shun the eager quest of following foe, - Tasked his invention with no labor light-- - And long, and slow, and lagging was the night. - - -XXVIII. - - And if by fits came intervening sleep, - Through deserts wild and rugged roved his soul, - Here rose the rock--there sunk the headlong steep, - And fiercely round him seemed the storm to howl; - The while from sheltered glen his foes would peep - With taunts and jeers, and with revilings foul - Scoff at his efforts; and their clamors deep - Came mingled with that awful tempest’s sweep. - - -XXIX. - - Morn came at last; and by the dawning day, - Our Founder rose his secret flight to take; - His wife and infant still in slumber lay;-- - And shall he now that blissful slumber break? - Oh, yes, for he believes that trials may, - Within the mind, its mightier powers awake, - And that the storms, which gloom the pilgrim’s way, - Prepare the soul for her eternal day. - - -XXX. - - “Mary!” (she woke) “prepare the meet attire, - My pocket-compass and my mantle strong, - My flint and steel to yield the needful fire, - Food for a week, if that be not too long; - My hatchet, too--its service I require - To clip my fuel desert wilds among; - With these I go to found, in forests drear, - A State where none shall persecution fear.” - - -XXXI. - - “What! goest thou, Roger, in this chilling storm? - Wait! wait at least until its rage is o’er; - Its wrath will bar e’en persecution’s arm - From thee and me until it fails to roar. - Oh, what protecting hand from lurking harm - Will be thy shield by night?--What friendly door - Will give thee refuge at the dire alarm - Of hungry wolves, and beasts in human form?” - - -XXXII. - - “Oh cease, my Mary, cease!--Thou dost complain - That Heaven itself doth interpose to save,-- - Doth wing this tempest’s fury to restrain - The quest of foes, and prompt my soul to brave - The desert’s perils, that I may maintain - The conscience free against who would enslave;-- - Wait till the storm shall cease to sweep the plain, - And we are doomed to cross yon heaving main.” - - -XXXIII. - - No more he said, for she in silence went - From place to place until her task was o’er; - Williams, the while, the fleeting moments spent - To scrawl a message to delay the more-- - Aye, to mislead the beagles on the scent, - Till he could safely reach far wood or shore; - And, haply, hope its vain illusion lent - That friends might plead, and bigotry relent. - - -XXXIV. - - Then he to Heaven his weeping spouse commends, - And craves its blessing on his purpose bold;-- - Still Salem lies in sleep, and forth he wends - To breast the driving storm and chilling cold; - While the lone mother from the window sends - A look where all her aching heart is told; - Dimly she marks him as his course he bends - Across the fields, and toward the forest tends. - - -XXXV. - - To show him parting, to the light she rears - His child, yet ignorant of human woe; - And soon its guileless silver voice she hears, - “O! where is father going in the snow?” - The tender accents start the mother’s tears, - “He does, my child, to barbarous red men go, - To seek protection from hard brethren here - For thee and me, and all to him that’s dear.” - - -XXXVI. - - So forth he ventured;--even like the dove - That earliest from the window of the ark, - Went forth on venturous wings, to soar above - The world of waters heaving wild and dark - O’er sunken realms of death, the while she strove - Some high emergent mountain peak to mark, - Where she might rest, beyond the billow’s sweep, - And build herself a home amid the deep. - - -XXXVII. - - The boundless forests now our Founder trod, - And due southwestwardly his course he took; - The lofty pines and cedars round him nod,-- - Loud roars the tempest through the leafless oak; - The snow lies deep upon the frozen sod, - And still the storm’s descending torrents choke - The heavens above; and only fancy could,-- - So dim the view,--conceive the solitude - - -XXXVIII. - - Of the wide forests that before him lay: - His ever steady onward pace alone - Told that from home he lengthened yet his way, - While the same forms--the same drear hollow moan, - Seemed ever round him lingering to stay, - And every step of progress to disown; - As with all sail the bark may breast the tide, - Nor yet advance, but rather backward glide. - - -XXXIX. - - Above his head the branches writhe and bend, - Or in the mingled wreck their ruin flies; - The storm redoubles, and the whirlwinds blend - The rising snow-drift with descending skies: - And oft the crags a friendly shelter lend - His breathless bosom, and his sightless eyes; - But, when the transient gust its fury spends, - Amid the storm again his way he wends. - - -XL. - - Still truly does his course the magnet keep-- - No toils fatigue him, and no fears appal; - Oft turns he at the glimpse of swampy deep, - Or thicket dense, or crag abrupt and tall, - Or backward treads to shun the headlong steep, - Or pass above the tumbling waterfall; - Yet still rejoices when the torrent’s leap, - Or crag abrupt, or thicket dense, or swamp’s far sweep - - -XLI. - - Assures him progress.--From gray morn till noon-- - Hour after hour--from that drear noon until - The evening’s gathering darkness had begun - To clothe with deeper glooms the vale and hill, - Sire Williams journeyed in the forest lone; - And then night’s thickening shades began to fill - His soul with doubt--for shelter he had none-- - And all the outstretched waste was clad with one - - -XLII. - - Vast mantle hoar. And he began to hear, - At times, the fox’s bark, and the fierce howl - Of wolf, sometimes afar--sometimes so near, - That in the very glen they seemed to prowl - Where now he, wearied, paused--and then his ear - Started to note some shaggy monster’s growl, - That from his snow-clad rocky den did peer, - Shrunk with gaunt famine in that tempest drear, - - -XLIII. - - And scenting human blood:--yea, and so nigh, - Thrice did our northern tiger seem to come, - He thought he heard the fagots crackling by, - And saw, through driven snow and twilight gloom, - Peer from the thickets his fierce burning eye, - Scanning his destined prey, and through the broom, - Thrice stealing on his ears, the whining cry - Swelled by degrees above the tempest high. - - -XLIV. - - Wayworn he stood--and fast that stormy night - Was gathering round him over hill and dale; - He looked around and by the lingering light, - Found he had paused within a narrow vale; - On either hand a snow-clad rocky height - Ascended high, a shelter from the gale, - Whilst deep between them, in thick glooms bedight, - A swampy dingle lay before his sight. - - -XLV. - - Through the white billows thither did he wade, - And deep within its solemn bosom trod; - Then on the snow with oft repeated tread - Hardened a flooring for his night’s abode;-- - All there was calm, for the thick branches made - A screen above, and round him closely stood - The trunks of cedars and of pines arrayed,-- - To the rude tempest a firm barricade. - - -XLVI. - - And now his hatchet, with resounding stroke, - Hewed down the boscage that around him rose, - And of dry pine the brittle branches broke, - To yield him fuel for the night’s repose: - The gathered heap an ample store bespoke; - He smites the steel--the tinder brightly glows; - Fired by the match forth burst the kindling flame, - And light upon night’s seated darkness came. - - -XLVII. - - High branched the pines, and far the colonnade - Of tapering trunks stood glimmering through the glen; - And then rejoiced he in that lonely glade - So far away from persecuting men, - That he might break of honesty the bread, - And blessing crave in his own way again;-- - Of up-piled brush a seat and board he made, - Spread his plain fare, and piously he prayed. - - -XLVIII. - - “Father of mercies! thou the wanderer’s guide - In this dire storm along the howling waste, - Thanks for the shelter thou dost here provide, - Thanks for the mercies of the day that’s past; - Thanks for the frugal fare thou hast supplied; - And O! may still thy tender mercies last; - And may thy light on every falsehood shine, - Till man’s freed spirit owns no law but thine!” - - -XLIX. - - Our father ceased, and with keen relish he - Refreshed his wearied frame in that lone dell; - Ah! little can his far posterity - Conceive the pleasures of that frugal meal; - For naught he knew of lavish luxury, - And toil and fast had done their office well; - No costliest viands culled from land and sea - Could half so sweet to pampered palates be. - - -L. - - His hunger sated with his simple fare, - He would, in weariness, have sought repose; - But at the kindling blaze, heard wide and far, - The howlings drear of forest monsters rose; - And, lured around him by the vivid glare, - Came darkling with light foot along the snows - Whole packs of wolves, from their far mountain lair, - And the fierce cat, which scarce the blaze might scare. - - -LI. - - Growling they come, and in dark groups they stand, - Show the white fang, and roll the brightening eye; - Till urged by famine’s rage, the shaggy band - Seemed even the flame’s bright terrors to defy; - Then mid the group he hurled the blazing brand; - Swift they disperse, and raise the scattered cry; - But, rallying soon, back to the siege they came, - And in their rage scarce faltered at the flame. - - -LII. - - Yet Williams deemed that persecution took - A form in them less odious than in men; - He on their proper solitude had broke,-- - Ay, and had trespassed on their native glen; - His human shape they scantly too might brook, - For it their enemy had ever been; - But bigot man to probe the conscience sought, - And scathed his brother for his secret thought. - - -LIII. - - Oft he recruited now the sinking blaze-- - His stock of fuel seemed too scant to last; - Yet, in the terror of the glittering rays, - Was now the anchor of his safety cast; - With utmost reach the boscage did he raze, - Or clipt the branches overhead that past; - And still the burning pyre at times would raise, - Or hurl the firebrand at the monster’s gaze. - - -LIV. - - At length the groups a panic seemed to seize, - And soon he knew the terrifying cause; - For swelling slow beneath the arching trees, - Trilled the long whine the dreadful panther draws; - A sound that might the boldest bosom freeze; - ’Twas followed by a drear and awful pause; - Naught marred the silence save the murmuring breeze, - And the far storm, like roar of distant seas. - - -LV. - - Of all the dangerous monsters of the wood, - None did the hunter dread like panther dire, - For man and beast he fearlessly pursued;-- - Whilst others shunned, he was allured by fire; - And Williams knew how perilous his mood, - And braced his nerves to battle with his ire; - Beside the rising blaze he firmly stood, - And every avenue of danger viewed. - - -LVI. - - In God he trusted for deliverance,-- - He thought of Daniel in the lion’s den; - He waited silent for the fierce advance,-- - He heard the fagots break along the glen; - Another long-drawn yell, and the fierce glance - Of two bright burning eye-balls, looking then - Out of the darkness, did yet more enhance - The terrors of the menacing mischance. - - -LVII. - - But at this moment from the darkness broke - A human voice, in Narraganset’s tongue; - “Neemat!” (my brother) in kind tone it spoke, - “How comes Awanux these drear wilds among?” - And at the accents the dark thickets shook, - And from them lightly the red hunter sprung, - And from his belt familiarly he took - And fired his calumet, and curled its smoke. - - -LVIII. - - Then to our Founder passed the simple cheer, - In sign of friendship to a wandering man, - “Let not,” he said, “my brother quake with fear, - ’Twas _Waban’s_ cry at which the monsters ran.” - Williams received the pledge of faith sincere; - Yet warily his guest began to scan. - Tall did his straight and active form appear, - And armed but with the hunter’s simple gear. - - -LIX. - - The bear’s dark fur loose o’er his shoulders cast, - His hand did only at the breast confine, - The wampum wreath, which round his forehead past, - Did with the flame’s reflected brightness shine; - The beaver’s girdle closely swathed his waist; - It’s skirts hung low, all trimm’d with ’broidery fine; - The well-formed ankles the close gaiters bound, - With furs befringed, and starred with tinsel round. - - -LX. - - Nature’s kind feelings did his visage grace; - His gently arching brow was shorn all bare, - And the slight smile now fading from his face, - The aspect left of serious goodness there; - Though bright his eyes beneath his forehead’s base, - They rather seemed to smile than fiercely glare; - And the free dignity of Waban’s race - Seemed moving in his limbs and breathing from his face. - - -LXI. - - Williams the pledge of friendship now returned, - And thanks o’erflowing to the hunter gave: - “From the Great Spirit sure my brother learned - His brother’s danger, when he came to save.” - “Waban,” he answered, “from his lodge discerned - A stranger’s fire, and heard the monsters rave. - Waban has long within these wilds sojourned; - But ne’er before has pale Awanux burned - - -LXII. - - “His fire within this unfrequented glade. - Wanders my brother from his homeward way? - The storm is thick, he surely may have strayed; - Or has he hunted through the weary day - The rapid moose; or in this lonely shade - Seeks he to trap the deer, or make essay - To catch the wily beavers, who have made - Their cunning wigwams in the river’s bed?” - - -LXIII. - - “’Twere hard to tell my brother of the woods - What cause has forced his pale-faced brother here, - The red and white men have their different moods, - And Narraganset’s tongue lacks terms, I fear, - To tell the strifes among white multitudes-- - Strifes yet unknown within these forests drear, - Where undisturbed ye worship various gods, - And persecution leave to white abodes. - - -LXIV. - - “Let it suffice, (for weary is the night,) - That late across the mighty lake I came, - Seeking protection here of brethren white, - From those pale chiefs who had, with scourge and flame, - Driven them as me o’er sea in dangerous flight;-- - Our wrongs, as our offenses, were the same: - God we had worshipped as to us seemed right, - And roused the vengeance of our men of might. - - -LXV. - - “My brethren then had persecution fled, - And much I hoped with them a home to find; - But to our common God whene’er we prayed, - My honest worship did not suit their mind; - It differed greatly from their own, they said; - Their anger kindled, and, with speech unkind, - They drove me from my family and home, - An exile in this dreadful storm to roam. - - -LXVI. - - “And now, my brother, through the wilds I go, - To seek some far--some lone sequestered glen-- - Where burning fagot nevermore shall glow, - Fired by the wrath of persecuting men; - Where all may worship, as their gods they know, - Or conscience lights and leads their varying ken;-- - Where ages after ages still may bow, - And from free hearts free orisons may flow.” - - -LXVII. - - Waban a while mused on our Founder’s tale, - And silent sate in meditative mood; - For much he wondered why his brothers pale - For differing worship sought their kindred’s blood. - At last he thought that they must surely fail - To know the Great Spirit as a father good, - Or Chepian[1] was their god, and had inclined - Them to indulge a fell and cruel mind. - -[1] The name of the Indian devil. - - -LXVIII. - - Then pity blended with his wonder grew; - Here was a victim of that Evil One, - Who from him and his angry servants flew - To seek a shelter in the forest lone. - “Brother,” he said, “thy brother much doth rue - (Hearing thy tales,) that thou art forced to shun - Thy well-framed wigwam--thy familiar fire, - And sleep so far amid this tempest dire. - - -LXIX. - - “Now, brother, hear, what Waban has to say: - The night is cold, and fast the snows descend; - Still round thy sleep will howl the beasts of prey;-- - Will not my brother to my wigwam wend? - It smokes well-sheltered and not far away; - There may my brother this drear season spend, - And shun the wrath of Chepian’s angry men, - Until Sowaniu’s breezes scatter flowers again. - - -LXX. - - “Right welcome to the red man’s lodge shall be - His pale-faced brother, safe from Sachems pale; - Waban’s nausamp and venison shall be free - When hunger craves, and, when his store shall fail, - His dart is true, and swift and far will he - Pursue the bounding deer o’er hill and dale;-- - When melts the snow we may together raise, - On Seekonk’s banks, our common field of maize.” - - -LXXI. - - Williams replied, “My brother sure is kind, - But his red friends are doubtless with him here; - And they may teach my kindred, left behind, - To track my footsteps through the forest drear;-- - To journey homeward I have little mind; - My course is with the sun to wilds less near, - Where I would form, if granted the domain, - A tribe which never should the soul enchain.” - - -LXXII. - - “Alone is Waban,” was the sad reply; - “His wife and child have to that country gone - Where go our spirits when our bodies die, - And left thy brother in his lodge alone: - He goes by day to catch the beavers shy, - And sits by night in his still house to moan, - And much ’twould please him should the wanderer come, - And tell him where the loved ones’ spirits roam.” - - -LXXIII. - - “Brother, I thank thee--thou art kind indeed,” - Our Founder said--“and with thee I will go; - Would that my brethren of the Christian creed - Did half thy charity and goodness know! - Waban, thou wilt thy brother’s purpose speed, - And all the boundaries of those countries show - Which lie adjoining Narraganset’s bay, - And name the chiefs, and count the tribes they sway.” - - -LXXIV. - - “Waban can do it”--was the quick reply, - And Williams followed him, as fast he led - Through bush and brake with blazing brand held high; - The wolves around them gathered as they sped; - But Waban often raised the mimic cry - Of the fierce panther, and as oft they fled; - Until the path descending swiftly steep, - Led to his wigwam in the valley deep. - - -LXXV. - - Then Williams noted, through the deepest night, - The sparkles rising from the roof unseen, - And, by the glancing of the firebrand’s light, - Above him marked the thickening branches’ screen; - For denser here, and of a loftier height, - The pines and cedars arched their sombre green, - With boughs deprest beneath the burden hoar; - And further off did seem the tempest’s roar. - - -LXXVI. - - An undressed deerskin closed the entrance rude - Of the frail mansion of our Founder’s friend; - “Brother,” he said, “this is my poor abode, - But thou art welcome--it will well defend - Thee from the bitter tempest,” and he showed - The open pass. Beneath its arch they bend: - From mid the room the blazing fagots sent - The smoke and sparkles through the vault’s low vent, - - -LXXVII. - - And, shining round, did for the ceiling show - The braided mat of many colors made,-- - Veiled here and there, where, hanging in a row, - The beavers’ hides their silvery coats displayed; - And here and there were antlers, from the brow - Of bounding buck, around the room arrayed; - And also, hung among the hunter’s gear, - The dusky haunches of the moose and deer. - - -LXXVIII. - - Hard-by the blazing hearth, raised from the ground - Three braided pallets stood, with furs bespread, - Where once red Waban, wife and child had found - The humble settle, and still humbler bed; - But now, alas! beneath the grassy mound, - Two of the three sate with the silent dead;[2] - The wampum girdle, that his spouse once wore, - Gleamed on her garb of furs the settle o’er. - -[2] The Indians bury their dead in a sitting posture. - - -LXXIX. - - The room was warm, and plenteous the cheer - Which Waban then did to our Founder bring; - In trays the nocake,[3] and the joints of deer, - And in the gourd-shell water from the spring; - And, all the while, kept pouring in his ear - How he had pierced the wild duck on the wing; - And westward lately had the moose pursued - Afar, and struck him in Mooshausick’s wood. - -[3] A corruption of the Indian Nokehick--parched meal. - - -LXXX. - - Slightly our Founder tasted of the fare, - For toil and chill much more than hunger prest; - This Waban noted, and with tender care, - The vacant pallet showed, and urged him rest; - Waban he said, would still the fire repair, - And still in comfort keep his pale-faced guest, - “And may the Manittoo of dreams,” he said, - “The happiest visions on thy slumbers shed. - - -LXXXI. - - “Upon this pallet she was wont to lay - Herself to sleep whose spirit now is gone; - And may that spirit to thy visions say - Where now she dwells, and where my little son; - Whether on that blest island far away, - O’er the blue hills beyond the setting sun, - They with their kindred joy, or nearer home, - Still lingering, wait until the father come.” - - -LXXXII. - - Williams replied, that he would speak at morn - Of that far journey which the spirit takes; - And name the Guide, who never soul forlorn, - Whilst passing through death’s gloomy night, forsakes. - His brother, then, on fitting day in turn, - Would name the bounds, by rivers, bays, and lakes, - Of neighboring chiefs, and say what Sachems might - His mission threaten, or its hopes invite. - - -LXXXIII. - - Our Founder slept; and on that night, I ween, - Deep was the slumber of that pallet low, - Calm were its dreams as was his breast serene-- - Such sleep can persecutors never know; - He slept, until the dawning light was seen - Down through the dome to shine upon his brow; - Then Waban woke him to his simple cheer - Of the pure fount, nausamp,[4] and savory deer. - -[4] The word _samp_ is a corruption of the Indian _nausamp_, -and has the same meaning. - - - - -CANTO SECOND. - -[SCENES. The Wigwam--The Wilderness--Pawtucket Falls--Seekonk’s -Meads--The Wigwam.] - - - It was the morning of a Sabbath day, - When Williams rose to Waban’s simple cheer, - But knew not where, save that vast forests lay - Betwixt his home and the lone wigwam here; - Yet ’twas a place of peace; no thing of clay, - ’Twixt God and conscience in communion near, - Came, with profane and impious control, - To check the heavenward wanderings of his soul. - - -II. - - God loves the wilderness; in deserts lone, - Where all is silent, where no living thing - Mars the hushed solitudes, where Heaven looks down, - And Earth looks up, each as if marvelling - That aught should be; and, through the vast unknown, - Thought-breathing silence seems as uttering - The present God,--there does He rear his throne, - And, tranced in boundless thoughts, the soul doth own - - -III. - - And feel his strength within.--This day once more, - In place thus sacred, did our Founder keep; - None, save the Deity he bent before, - Marked the devotions of his feelings deep. - None, do I say? yet there was Waban poor; - Alas! his mind in utter night did sleep; - He saw our Founder at his earnest prayer, - But knew not what his supplications were. - - -IV. - - Yet earnestly the pious man besought, - That Heaven would deign to shed the Gospel light - On the kind pagan’s soul, as yet untaught - Save in the dreams of her primordial night; - And much he prayed, that to the truth when brought,-- - Cleansed of his sins in garments pure and white,-- - He might subdue the fierceness of his clan, - And gain man refuge from intolerant man. - - -V. - - Williams the task of goodness now essayed, - To win the wanderer to a worship new; - The utter darkness that his soul arrayed, - Concealed her workings from our Founder’s view, - Save when some question, rare and strange, betrayed - His dream-bewildered glimpses of the true.-- - Long was the task; and Williams back began, - At earth’s creation and the fall of man. - - -VI. - - He told how God from nothing formed the earth, - And gave each creature shape surpassing fair; - How He in Eden, at their happy birth, - Placed with His blessing the first human pair; - How, disobeying, they were driven forth, - And they, and theirs, consigned to sad despair, - Until, incarnate, God in pity gave - Himself for man, and made it just to save. - - -VII. - - He then told how the blessed martyrs bore - The chains of dungeons, and the fagot’s flame, - Glad that their sufferings might attest the more - Their perfect faith in their Redeemer’s name; - How His disciples past from shore to shore, - Salvation’s joyful tidings to proclaim; - How hither now they brought the Gospel’s light - To cheer the red men wrapt in pagan night. - - -VIII. - - Waban attentive listened to the strain, - And at its close for long in silence sate; - His visage did a graver cast attain - And all his heart’s deep feelings indicate. - At length he uttered thus the mental train:-- - “Weak is my soul, and dark is her estate! - No book has she to tell of Manit high, - Except this outstretched earth and starry sky. - - -IX. - - “Great news Awanux brings the red men here-- - News that their legends old doth much excel; - Yet give to Waban the attentive ear, - And the traditions of his sires he’ll tell. - From days afar, down many a rolling year-- - Down to thy brothers red--their fathers’ tale - Comes to inform them, in their mortal state, - What powers they should revere--what deprecate.” - - -X. - - Here Waban paused, and sitting mused a space, - As pondering gravely on the mighty theme; - Deep thought was graven on his earnest face, - And still his groping memory did seem - To gather up the legends of his race. - At length he roused, as from a passing dream, - And from his mat, majestically slow - Rearing his form, began in accents low: - - -XI. - - “Brother, that time is distant--far away, - When Heaven or Earth or living thing was not, - Save our great God, Cawtantowit, who lay - Extended through immensity, where naught - But shoreless waters were--and dead were they; - No living thing did on their bosom float, - And silentness the boundless space did fill; - For the Great Spirit slept--and all was still. - - -XII. - - “But though he slept, yet, as the human soul - To this small frame, his being did pervade - The universal space, and ruled the whole; - E’en as the soul, when in deep slumber laid, - Doth her wild dreams and fantasies control, - And give them action, color, shape and shade - Just as she wills. But the Great Spirit broke - His sleep at last, and all the boundless shook. - - -XIII. - - “In a vast eagle’s form embodied, He - Did o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring; - Fire in his eye lit all immensity, - Whilst his majestically gliding wing - Trembled hoarse thunders to the shuddering sea; - And, through their utmost limit quivering, - The conscious waters felt their Manittoo, - And life, at once, their deepest regions knew. - - -XIV. - - “The mountain whale came spouting from below, - The porpoise plunged along the foaming main, - The smaller fry in sporting myriads go, - With glancing backs above the liquid plain; - Yet still refused her giant form to show-- - Ay, sullenly below did yet remain - Earth-bearing Tortoise, the _Unamis_ vast, - And o’er her still the loftly billows past. - - -XV. - - “Then great Cawtantowit in his anger spoke, - And from his flaming eyes the lightnings past, - And from his wings the tenfold thunders broke. - The sullen Tortoise heard his words at last-- - And slowly she her rocky grasp forsook, - And her huge back of woods and mountains vast - From the far depths tow’rd upper light began - Slowly to heave.--The affrighted waters ran - - -XVI. - - “Hither and thither, tumultous and far; - But still Unamis, heaving from below - The full formed earth, first, through the waves did rear - The fast sky-climbing Alleghany’s brow, - Dark, huge and craggy; from its summits bare - The rolling billows fell, and rising now, - All its broad forest to the breezy air - Came out of Ocean, and, from verdure fair, - - -XVII. - - “Shed the salt showers. Far o’er the deep, - Hills after hills still lift their clustered trees, - Wild down the rising slopes the waters leap, - Then from the up-surging plain the ocean flees, - Till lifted from the flood, in vale and steep - And rock, and forest waving to the breeze, - Earth, on the Tortoise borne, frowned ocean o’er, - And spurned the billows from her thundering shore. - - -XVIII. - - “But great Cawtantowit, on his pinions still, - O’er the lone earth majestically sprung, - And whispered to the mountain, vale and hill, - And with new life the teeming regions rung; - The feathered songsters tune their carols shrill, - Herds upon herds the plain and mountain throng; - In the still pools the cunning beavers toil, - And the armed seseks[5] their strong folds uncoil. - -[5] Sesek--rattlesnake. - - -XIX. - - “Yet man was not.--Then great Cawtantowit spoke - To the hard mountain crags and called for man: - And sculptured, breathing, from the cleaving rock, - Sprang the armed warrior, and a strife began - With living things.--Hard as his native block, - Was his stone heart, and through it ran - Blood cold as ice--and the Great Spirit struck - This cruel man, and him to atoms broke. - - -XX. - - “Then He the oak, of fibre hard and fine, - With the first red man’s soul and form endowed, - And woman made he of the tapering pine, - Which ’neath that oak in peaceful beauty bowed; - She on the red man’s bosom did recline, - Like the bright rainbow on the thunder-cloud. - And the Great Spirit saw his work divine, - And on the pair let fall His smile benign. - - -XXI. - - “He gave them all these forests far and near, - The forms that fly, and those that creeping go, - The healthful fountains, and the rivers clear, - And all the broods that sport the waves below; - Then gave he man the swiftness of the deer, - And armed his hands with arrows and the bow, - And bade him shelter still his consort dear, - And tread his large domain without a peer. - - -XXII. - - “Then did he send Yotaanit on high, - (For Gods he fashioned as he formed the land,) - And bade him star with fires the azure sky, - And kindle the round blaze of Keesuckquand; - And then, to cheer by night the hunter’s eye, - Bright Nanapaushat sprung from Wamponand; - Thus with his will the manittoos comply, - And every region knows its deity.[6] - -[6] See note. - - -XXIII. - - “All things thus were formed from what was good, - And the foul refuse every evil had; - But it had felt the influence of the God, - (How should it not?) and a black demon, sad - And stern and cruel, loving strife and blood, - Filled with all malice, and with fury mad, - Sprang into life:--such was fell Chepian’s birth, - The hate of gods, and terror of the earth. - - -XXIV. - - “Then to the south-west the Great Spirit flew, - Whence the soft breezes of the summer come, - And from the depths Sowaniu’s[7] island drew, - And bade its fields with lasting verdure bloom. - O’er it he bent another welkin blue, - Which never night nor clouds nor tempests gloom, - And kindled suns the lofty arches through, - And bade them shine with glory ever new. - -[7] Sowaniu--here of three syllables--was written by Williams, -“Sowwainiu.” - - -XXV. - - “When thus Cawtantowit had finished all, - No more did he on eagle’s pinions roam, - There did he limits to his works install, - And centre there his everlasting home; - There did he cast the eagle and recall - His pristine shape, and manit-man become; - There still he dwells, the all-pervading soul - Of men and manittoos--yea, of creation’s whole. - - -XXVI. - - “All that is good does from Cawtantowit flow; - All that is evil Chepian doth supply; - Praying for good we to Cawtantowit bow, - And shunning evil we to Chepian cry; - To other manittoos we offerings owe, - Dwell they in mountain, flood, or lofty sky; - And oft they aid us when we hunting go, - Or in fierce battle rush upon the foe. - - -XXVII. - - “And manittoos, that never death shall fear, - Do likewise in this mortal form abide; - What else, my brother, is there beating here? - What heaves this breast--what rolls its crimson tide? - Whilst, like Cawtantowit, doth the soul appear - To live through all and over all preside; - And when her mortal mansion here decays, - She to Sowaniu’s blessed island strays, - - -XXVIII. - - “There aye to joy; if, whilst she dwelt with men, - She wisely counseled and did bravely fight, - Or watchful caught the beavers in the glen, - Or nimbly followed far the moose’s flight; - But if a sluggard and a coward, then - To rove all wretched in the glooms of night, - Misled by Chepian, a poor wandering ghost,-- - In swamps and fens and bogs and brambles lost. - - -XXIX. - - “And now, my brother, rightly worship we, - When to Cawtantowit we make our prayer? - Or when for help to Chepian we flee, - And pray that us from every harm he spare? - For every harm is all his own, we see, - And good Cawtantowit has ne’er a share-- - Then why should not I Chepian sue to be - Much sparing of his harm to mine and me?” - - -XXX. - - Williams made answer, “When red warriors brave - The fight’s dark tempest and for glory die, - Does Waban tremble whilst the battles rave, - And at the hurtling arrows wink his eye? - Or, basely cowering, does he mercy crave - Of the red hatchet o’er him lifted high? - Who prays to Chepian is a cringing slave, - And, dying, fills at last a coward’s grave.” - - -XXXI. - - Strongly these words to Waban’s pride appealed; - Yet back upon him did the memory rush - Of by-gone ages, and of many a field - Where fought his fathers, who with victory flush, - Not to Cawtantowit, but to Chepian kneeled, - And thanked his aid.--They cowards! and the blush, - That in their worship fear should seem revealed, - Was scantly by his tawny hue concealed. - - -XXXII. - - At last he said, “My brother doubtless knows-- - He has a book which his Great Spirit wrote: - Brave were my fathers, yet did they repose - With hope in Chepian, and his aid besought - When forth they marched to shed the blood of foes; - But maybe they, like Waban, never thought - That they were cowards, when they fiercely prayed - That Evil One to give their vengeance aid. - - -XXXIII. - - “Waban will think, and should it seem like fear-- - Waban ne’er shrunk when round him battle roared, - And at the stake when bound, his torturers near, - Among the clouds thy brother’s spirit soared - And scorned her foes--but should it seem like fear - To worship Chepian, whom his sires adored, - He will no more be that dread demon’s slave; - For ne’er will Waban fill a coward’s grave.” - - -XXXIV. - - Thus in grave converse did they pass the day, - Till night returning brought them slumbers sweet; - And, with the morrow, shone the sun’s broad ray - Serenely down on Waban’s lone retreat. - Then Williams might have journeyed on his way, - But doubt and darkness still restrained his feet; - And so with Waban made he further stay - To learn about the tribes that round him lay. - - -XXXV. - - Hence may he secretly to Salem write, - And friends approving, still his plans arrange; - For Waban soon will bear his peltry light - To Salem’s mart, and there may interchange - The mute epistles, meant for friendly sight,-- - Unseen of eyes inimical or strange, - Lest rumor of them reach the bigot’s ear, - And persecution find him even here. - - -XXXVI. - - Among the several tribes around to go, - And sound the feelings of each different clan, - Seemed not unmeet; but little did he know - How they might treat a pale-faced outlawed man, - Friendless and homeless, wandering to and fro, - And flying from his own white brethren’s ban; - They, for a price, might strike the fatal blow, - Or bear him captive to his ruthless foe. - - -XXXVII. - - Better it were, so deemed our Father well, - To seek and win the savage by degrees, - Since to his lot the dangerous duty fell, - (For such did seem high Heaven’s all-wise decrees), - To found unarmed a State where rung the yell - Of barbarous nations on the midnight breeze; - Against the scalping-knife with no defence - Or safeguard but his heart’s benevolence. - - -XXXVIII. - - With only this, his buckler and his brand-- - This, yet unproved and doubted by the best,-- - In cheerless wilds, mid many a savage band, - Spurned from his home, by Christian men opprest, - Must he the warrior’s weapon turn, his hand - Unnerve, and gently o’er his rugged breast - Gain mastery. The panther by the hare - Must be approached and softened in his lair. - - -XXXIX. - - That night, returning from the accustomed pool, - Came Waban laden with the beavers’ spoils, - And joy seemed dancing in his very soul - As he displayed the produce of his toils; - Much he rejoiced, and Williams heard the whole,-- - How long he watched, how many were his foils; - Then how the cunning beasts were captured all, - As through the fractured ice they sought to crawl. - - -XL. - - “Bravely,” said Williams, “has my brother done, - No more the cunning wights will mock his skill. - Waban is rich; will he not hie him soon - To the pale wigwams, and his girdle fill - With the bright wampum?--Ere to-morrow’s sun - Shall hide behind the crest of yonder hill, - Waban may gain the pale-faced stranger’s town, - And in his brother’s wigwam sit him down.” - - -XLI. - - “The hunter goes,” said Waban in reply; - Then fired his calumet and curled its smoke, - And silent sate in all the dignity - Which conscious worth can give the human look. - But when the fragrant clouds to mount on high - Had ceased, he from the bowl the embers shook, - And spread on earth the brown deer’s rustling hide, - Expanding to the eye its naked side. - - -XLII. - - Then thus he spake: “My brother doth require - Waban to show where neighboring Sachems reign;-- - Doubtless he seeks to light his council fire - Within some good and valiant chief’s domain, - That he may shun the persecutor’s ire, - And pray his God without the fear of men. - On Waban’s words my brother may repose, - Whilst these far feet imprint the distant snows.” - - -XLIII. - - Then from the hearth a quenchéd brand he took, - And on the skin traced many a curving line; - Here rolled the river, there the winding brook, - Here rose the hills, and there the vales decline, - Here spreads the bay, and there the ocean broke, - Along red Waban’s map of rude design. - The work now finished, he to Williams spoke, - “Here, brother, on the red man’s country look. - - -XLIV. - - “Here’s Waban’s lodge, thou seest it smokes between - Dark rolling Seekonk and Cohannet’s wave;[8] - Both floods on-flowing through their borders green, - In Narraganset’s basin find their grave. - O’er all the country ’twixt those waters sheen - Reigns Massasoit, Sachem good and brave; - Yet he has subject Keenomps far and near, - Who bring him tribute of the slaughtered deer, - -[8] Cohannet, the Indian name for Taunton, is here applied to -the river. - - -XLV. - - “And bend his battle bow.--Strong is he now, - But has been stronger. Ere dark pestilence - Devoured his warriors--laid his hundreds low,-- - That Sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defence - Three thousand bow-men; and he still can show - A mighty force, whene’er the kindling sense - Of common wrong does in the bosom glow, - And prompts to battle with the offending foe. - - -XLVI. - - “His highest chief is Corbitant the stern; - He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart, - He ’gainst Awanux does in secret turn, - Sharps his keen knife, and points his thirsty dart; - His council fires in Mattapoiset[9] burn, - Of Pokanoket’s woods his licensed part. - Cruel he is, and terrible his train-- - Light not your fires within that wolf’s domain. - -[9] Mattapoiset, now Swansey. - - -XLVII. - - “Here, tow’rd the winter, where the fountains feed - These rolling rivers, do the Nipnets dwell; - They Massasoit bring the skin and bead, - And rush to war when rings his battle yell; - Valiant are they, yet oft their children bleed, - When the far West sends down her Maquas fell; - Warriors who hungry on their victims steal, - And make of human flesh a dreadful meal. - - -XLVIII. - - “Here lies Namasket tow’rd the rising sun; - There Massasoit spends his seasons cold; - The warriors there are led by Annawan, - Of open hand and of a bosom bold; - Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks upon, - Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Apannow’s hold; - The bowmen there tread Massasoit’s land, - E’en to Seconnet’s billow-beaten strand. - - -XLIX. - - “Still tow’rd the rising sun might Waban show - And count each tribe, and each brave Keenomp name; - But then his brother does not wish to go - Nearer the pale-face and the fagot’s flame; - But rather tow’rd the tomahawk and bow, - And would the friendship of the red man claim: - Therefore will Waban, on the western shores, - Count Narraganset’s men and sagamores. - - -L. - - “Two mighty chiefs--one cautious, wise and old, - One young and strong, and terrible in fight-- - All Narraganset and Coweset hold; - One lodge they build, one council fire they light; - One sways in peace, and one in battle bold; - Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight; - This is Miantonomi, strong and brave, - And that Canonicus, his uncle grave.[10] - -[10] See note. - - -LI. - - “Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide - From Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign; - Thence sweeping down the bay, their forests wide - Spread their dark foliage to the billowy main; - Thence tow’rd the setting sun by ocean’s side, - Stretches their realm to where the rebel train, - Ruled by grim Uncas, with their hatchets dyed - In brother’s blood, on Pequot stream abide.[11] - -[11] See note. - - -LII. - - “Canonicus is as the beaver wise, - Miantonomi as the panther bold; - But tow’rd the faces pale their watchful eyes - Are oft in awful thinking silence rolled; - And often in their heaving bosoms rise - Thoughts that to none but Keenomps they have told; - They seem two buffaloes the herds that lead, - Scenting the hunters gathering round their mead. - - -LIII. - - “When first his fire Awanux kindled here, - Haup’s[12] chief was weak, and broken was his heart; - Disease had swept his warriors far and near, - And at his breast looked Narraganset’s dart; - Awanux gave him strength, and with strange fear - Did M’antonomi at the big guns start; - He dropt his hatchet; but his hate remains, - And only counsel wise his wrath restrains. - -[12] Haup, or Mount Hope, the summer residence of Massasoit. - - -LIV. - - “He sees the strangers spreading far around, - And earth turn pale as fast their numbers grow, - And fiercely would he to the battle bound, - And for his country strike the deadly blow, - But that behind the Pequot’s yells resound, - And on his left the Nipnet bends the bow; - And even thus his hatchet scarcely sleeps,-- - It dreams of Haup, and in its slumber leaps. - - -LV. - - “But, brother, still Miantonomi is - A valiant Sachem--yea, and generous too, - And gray Canonicus is just and wise, - His hands are ever to his tongue most true; - If from their lands my brother’s smoke should rise, - Whate’er those Sachems promise, they will do; - But Waban still doth not his friend advise - To cross the Seekonk where their country lies. - - -LVI. - - “Brother, attend and hear the reasons why;-- - There at Mooshausick dwells a dark pawaw, - Who hates Awanux, doth his God defy, - And Chepian worships with the deepest awe; - He’ll give my brother’s town a cloudy sky, - And to his councils under-sachems draw; - E’en now he whets the Narraganset knife, - Points at our clan, and thirsts for human life. - - -LVII. - - “Safer on Seekonk’s hither border may - My brother build, and wake his council blaze; - Clear are the meads--the trees are swept away - By mighty burnings in our fathers’ days. - There early verdure spring and flow’rets gay, - Long grows the grass, and thrifty is the maize; - And good old Massasoit’s sheltering wing - Will shield thy weakness from each harmful thing.” - - -LVIII. - - “Brother, I thank thee,” said our Founder here, - “Oft have I seen thy chief on Plymouth’s shore; - I will to-morrow seek those meadows clear, - And thy fair Seekonk’s hither banks explore. - But will not Waban pass Namasket near, - Where oft that wise and good old Sagamore, - Brave Massasoit, spends the season drear?” - “He will, my brother”--“Then let Waban hear: - - -LIX. - - “Tell thou that Sachem, generous and wise, - That Williams lingers in thy cabin low, - That he his children and his country flies, - To shun the anger of a Christian foe; - And that to him his pale friend lifts his eyes, - And asks protection.--Tell him that his woe - Springs from this thought, and from this thought alone, - God can be worshipped but as God is known.” - - -LX. - - A pause ensued, and Waban silent sate; - Yet to himself his lips repeating were; - At length he answering broke the pause sedate, - “Waban remembers, and the talk will bear.” - Then he in silence fired his calumet, - And gave its vapors to the wigwam’s air, - Whilst Williams wrote, with stationery rude, - His first epistle from the lonely wood. - - -LXI. - - ’Twas on the inner bark stript from the pine, - Our Father penciled this epistle rare; - Two blazing pine-knots did his torches shine, - Two braided pallets formed his desk and chair; - He wrote his wife the brief familiar line, - How he had journeyed, and his roof now where; - And that poor Waban was his host benign, - And bade her cheer and gave him blankets fine. - - -LXII. - - Then bade her send the Indian presents, bought - When first they suffered persecution’s thrall,-- - The strings of wampum, and the scarlet coat, - The tinseled belt and jeweled coronal; - The pocket Bible, which his haste forgot, - For he had cheering hopes of Waban’s soul; - Then gave her solace to the bad unknown, - That God o’errules and still protects his own. - - -LXIII. - - And to the hunter Williams now presents - The secret charge, with all directions meet; - For Waban means to take his journey hence - Ere dawns the day upon his lone retreat; - And then once more did sleep our Founder’s sense - And knowledge steal away till morn complete; - When he awoke and found his host was gone, - The lodge all silent, and himself alone. - - -LXIV. - - His fast he broke with the accustomed prayer, - And trimmed him for his walk to Seekonk’s side; - Calm was the morn, and pure the winter air, - As from the wigwam forth our Founder hied; - So tall the pines--so thick the branches were, - That, through their screens, the heavens were scarce espied; - But melting snows and dripping foliage prove - The South blows warmer in the fields above. - - -LXV. - - Now from the swamp to upland woods he past, - Where leafless boughs branched thinner overhead, - And saw the welkin by no cloud o’ercast, - And felt the settled snows give firmer tread. - Now all was calm, no wild and thundering blast - Mixed earth with heaven, as through the boughs it sped; - And far as eye the boundless forest traced, - Glimmered the snow and stretched the lonely waste. - - -LXVI. - - Onward he went, the magnet still his guide, - And through the wood his course due westward took; - Across his path, with antlers branching wide, - The red deer often from the thicket broke; - The timid partridge, at his rapid stride, - On whirring wings the sheltering bush forsook, - And the wild turkey foot and pinion plied, - Or from her lofty bough uncouthly cried. - - -LXVII. - - At last a sound like murmurs from the shore - Of far-off ocean, when the storm is bound, - Grows on his ear, increasing more and more - As he advances, till the woods resound - And seem to tremble with the constant roar - Of many waters--Ay, the very ground - Beneath him quivers,--and, through arching trees - Bright glimmering and gliding on, he sees - - -LXVIII. - - The river flowing to its dizzy steep - ’Twixt fringing forests, from so far as sight - Can track its course, and, rushing, oversweep - The rocky precipice all frothy white, - With noise like thunder in its headlong leap, - And springing sun-bows o’er its showery flight, - And bursting into foam, tumultuous go - Down the deep chasm, to smoke and boil below. - - -LXIX. - - Thence, hurrying onward through the narrow bound - Of banks precipitous, its torrents go, - Till by the jutting cliffs half wheeling round, - They pass from sight among the hills below. - There paused our Father, ravished with the sound - Of the wild waters, and their rapid flow, - And there, alone, rejoiced that he had found - Thy Falls, Pawtucket, and where Seekonk wound. - - -LXX. - - And as he dallied on its margin still, - His restless thought did on the future pause: - Here might his children drive the busy mill, - Here whirl the stones, here clash the riving saws; - But little did he think the torrent’s will - Would ever yield so far to human laws, - As from the maid the spindle to receive - And spin for her, and her fair raiment weave. - - -LXXI. - - Reluctantly he left the scene, and fast - Down Seekonk’s eastern bank pursued his way, - Seeking for Waban’s meads; yet often cast - His glances o’er the river, where the gray - Primeval giants, meet for keel or mast, - Stood, towering and distinct, in proud array; - And wore to his presaging eyes the air - Of lofty ships and stately mansions fair. - - -LXXII. - - Still onward, by the eastern bank he sped; - Here stretched the thicket deep, there swampy fen, - Here sunk the vale, there rose the hillock’s head; - Oaks crowned the mound, and cedars gloomed the glen, - Where’er he moved;--at length his footsteps led - Where a bright fountain, sparkling like a gem, - Burst from the caverned cliff, and, glittering, wound - Its copious streamlet, with a murmuring sound, - - -LXXIII. - - Far down the glade; and groves of cedars green, - With woven branches on the winter side, - Repelled the northern storm, whilst clear and sheen, - Crisped by its pebbly bed, the glancing tide - Gleamed in the sun, or darkened where the screen - Of boughs o’erhung its music-murmuring glide;-- - It laughed along;--and its broad Southern glade - Was bordered deep by woods of massy shade. - - -LXXIV. - - Charmed with the scene, our sire explored the place, - And penetrated deep the thickets round; - At length his vision opened on a space - Level and broad, and stretching without bound - Southward afar; nor rose o’er all its face - A tree, or shrub, or rock, or swelling mound; - Yet, in large herds dotting the snows, appear, - With antic gambols, the far bounding deer; - - -LXXV. - - And, further down, the Narraganset flood, - Unfurrowed yet by keel--its fretted blue - With isles begemmed, and skirted by the wood - Of far Coweset,--opens on his view; - So long he had beneath the forest trod, - That, when the prospect on his vision grew, - His soul as from a prison seemed to fly - And range in thought through an immensity. - - -LXXVI. - - Raptured he paused.--Here then was Waban’s mead; - In yonder little glen, the fountain by, - He’d rear his shelter--here his flocks should feed, - Cropping the grass beneath the summer sky; - There by his cot he’d sow the foodful seed, - And round his garden raise a paling high; - And there at twilight, should his herds be seen, - Following the tinkling bell from pastures green. - - -LXXVII. - - Ay, here, in fancy, did he almost see - A lovely hamlet in the future blest, - Where Christians all might mutually agree - To leave their God to judge the human breast; - A place of refuge whitherto might flee - The hapless exile for his faith opprest, - And find his lately trammelled conscience free, - And for the scourge and gibbet--charity. - - -LXXVIII. - - He thought he saw the various spires ascending - Of many churches, all of different kind, - And heard the Sabbath bells harmonious blending - Their calls to worshippers of various mind; - And saw the people as harmonious wending - To several worships, as their faith inclined; - And felt that Deity might bend the ear, - Such harmony from various chords to hear. - - -LXXIX. - - But still across his mind a shadow came-- - A doubt that seemed a superstitious fear; - For yet no Indian throng, with loud acclaim, - Had bid the welcome of Whatcheer! Whatcheer! - Till when he should be tossed;--as did proclaim - That nameless stranger--that mysterious seer;-- - But from Haup’s Sachem he a grant will gain; - Such were best welcome from that Sachem’s train. - - -LXXX. - - Full of this thought, he turned at close of day, - And gained the humble lodge as night came down; - And he could scarcely brook the short delay, - Till Waban, coming from the white man’s town, - Should from Namasket, where the Sachem lay, - The cheering welcome bring, or blasting frown; - For thou, Soul-Liberty, couldst then no more - Than build thy hopes on that rude sagamore. - - - - -CANTO THIRD. - -[SCENES. The Wigwam--Massasoit and other Chiefs--The Wilderness--A -Night in the Wilderness--The Narraganset or Coweset Country--Coweset -Height.] - - - No pain is keener to the ardent mind, - Filled with sublime and glorious intents, - Than when strict judgment checks the impulse blind, - And bids to watch the pace of slow events - To time the action;--for it seems to bind - The ethereal soul upon a fire intense, - Lit by herself within the kindling breast, - Prompting to act, while she restrains to rest. - - -II. - - Two nights had passed, and, Waban lingering still, - Williams began to doubt his steadfast faith; - Quick was his foot o’er forest, vale and hill, - His swerveless eyes aye keeping true his path. - Why does he tarry? and the doubts instil - Suspicions in our Sire of waking wrath - Against his purpose in the barbarous clan, - Whose fears e’en then on future dangers ran. - - -III. - - But on the morrow’s morn, while Williams mused,-- - Anxious and wondering at the long delay,-- - The wigwam’s entrance, by the deer-skin closed, - Abruptly opened, and a warrior gay - Glided within it. To the sight unused - Of Keenomp trimmed as for the battle fray, - Williams, recoiling, gazed with fixed surprise - On the fierce savage and his fearful guise. - - -IV. - - The eagle’s plumes waved round his hair of jet, - Whose crest-like lock played lightly o’er his head; - On breast and face the war-paints harshly met, - Down from his shoulders hung his blanket red, - With seeming blood his hatchet haft was wet,-- - Its edge of death was by his girdle stayed; - Bright flashed his eyes, and, ready for the strife, - Gleamed in his hand the dreadful scalping-knife. - - -V. - - He placed a packet, bound, in Williams’ hands, - And fired his pipe, and sitting, curled its smoke, - The while our Founder broke the hempen bands, - And gave the contents an exploring look. - There found he, answered, all his late commands - To Waban, ere the wigwam he forsook; - And from his wife a brief epistle too, - Which told her sorrows since their last adieu: - - -VI. - - How came the messengers with arméd men - To search her mansion for “the heretic;” - How his escape provoked their wrath--and then - How they condemned him for his feigning sick; - But with the thought consoled themselves again, - That he had perished in the tempest thick; - God’s righteous retribution, setting free - Their Israel from his heinous heresy. - - -VII. - - But, as he reads, the warrior starting cries, - “War! war! my brother.”--Williams drops his hand, - And at the voice perceives, in altered guise - Till now unknown, the generous Waban stand - Erect and tall, with fiercely flashing eyes, - The while he pressed the hatchet in its band; - “Brother, there’s war!” “With whom?” our Founder said; - “Have I not friends among my brothers red?” - - -VIII. - - “Haup’s valiant Sachem is my brother’s friend,” - Red Waban answered; “and I come before - Him, and the train of Keenomps who attend - Him, coming here--our mightiest Sagamore-- - To ask my brother that his aid he lend - ’Gainst Narraganset’s hatchet stained with gore; - Miantonomi lifts it o’er his head, - Gives the loud whoop, and names our valiant dead.” - - -IX. - - No time there was for Williams to reply - Ere near the lodge there rose a trampling sound, - And warriors entered, stained with every dye, - Crested and plumed, with--to their girdles bound-- - The knife and hatchet; whilst the battle cry - Burst from the crowds that flocked the lodge around, - And lighted up, in every Keenomp’s eye - That stared within, a dreadful sympathy. - - -X. - - Amid the train came Massasoit old, - But not too old for direst battle fray; - Strong was his arm as was his spirit bold; - His judgment, bettered by experience gray, - The wildest passions of his tribe controlled, - And checked their fury in its headlong way; - Still with the whites his peace he had maintained, - The terror of whose aid his foes restrained. - - -XI. - - There too came Corbitant, austere of mood, - And Annawan, who saw, in after times, - Brave Metacom, and all of kindred blood, - Slain, or enslaved and sold to foreign climes; - And strong Appanow, of Pocasset’s wood, - And other chiefs of names unmeet for rhymes; - And round our Father, in the fearful trim - Of savage war, they gathered, wroth and grim. - - -XII. - - Each fired his pipe, and seat in silence took; - Around the room a dreadful ring they made;-- - Their eyes stared fiercely through the wreathing smoke, - And luridly their gaudy plumage played, - The while, obscured, they did scarce earthly look, - But seemed like fiends in their infernal shade; - And still the vapors rose and naught they spoke, - Till Massasoit thus the silence broke: - - -XIII. - - “And is my brother here? What does he seek? - Tow’rd Wamponand, upon the passing wing, - A singing bird there went; its opening beak - Was by Namasket’s wigwam heard to sing - That thou art friendless, homeless, poor and weak, - Seeking protection from an Indian King. - Do the white Sagamores their vengeance wreak, - E’en as the red ones, on their brethren?--Speak.” - - -XIV. - - Sire Williams answered: “’Twas no idle song - Sung by that bird which passed Namasket near; - I am an exile these drear wilds among, - And hope for kindness from the red men here. - Oft had thy friendship to the pale-faced throng, - That first Patuxet[13] peopled, reached my ear; - And a whisper told me thou wouldst still be kind - To those who fly, and leave their all behind.” - -[13] Patuxet is the Indian name for Plymouth. - - -XV. - - Then rose the tawny monarch of the wood - To speak his memory, as became a chief; - And back he cast his crimson robes, and stood - With naked arm outstretched a moment brief; - Commanding silence by that attitude, - And to his words attention and belief. - Often he paused, his eyes on Williams fixt, - Whilst rang applause his weighty words betwixt. - - -XVI. - - “Brother,” he said, “full many a rolling year - Has cast its leaves and fruitage on the ground, - And many a Keenomp, to his country dear, - Has sate in death beneath his grassy mound, - Since first the pale Awanux kindled here - His council blaze, and so began to found - His tribes and villages, and far and near, - With thundering arms, to wake the red man’s fear. - - -XVII. - - “Brother, attend! When first Awanux came, - He was a child, not higher than my knee; - Hunger and cold consumed and pinched his frame; - Houseless on yonder naked shore was he; - Waves roared between him and his corn and game, - Snows clad the wilds, and winter vexed the sea; - His big canoe shrunk from the angry flood, - And death was on the barren strand he trod. - - -XVIII. - - “Brother, attend! I gave the infant food; - My lodge was open and my fire was warm; - He gathered strength, and felt a richer blood - Renew the vigor of his wasted arm; - He grew--waxed strong--the trees began to bud; - He asked for lands a little town to form; - I gave him lands, and taught him how to plant, - To fish and hunt,--for he was ignorant. - - -XIX. - - “Brother, attend! Still did Awanux grow; - Still did he ask for land;--I gave him more-- - And more--and more, till now his hatchet’s blow - Is at Namasket heard, with crash and roar - Of falling oaks, and, like the whit’ning snow, - His growing numbers spread my borders o’er; - Scarce do they leave a scant and narrow place - Where we may spread the blanket of our race.” - - -XX. - - Here paused the chief, as if to ask reply; - Of thankless guests he spoke, and seemed to say - That the white strangers grasped too eagerly, - Nor heeded aught their benefactor’s sway. - Ne’er to the Indian did our Sire deny - His share of Heaven’s free gifts; and, to allay - The ominous mistrust, he answered mild - The dusky king of Pokanoket’s wild: - - -XXI. - - “Brother, I know that all these lands are thine, - These rolling rivers, and these waving trees,-- - From the Great Spirit came the gift divine; - And who would trespass upon boons like these? - I would take nothing, if the power were mine, - Of all thy lands, lest it should Him displease; - But for just meed shouldst thou some part resign, - Would the Great Spirit blame the deed benign?” - - -XXII. - - “’Tis not the peäg,” said the sagamore, - “Nor knives, nor guns, nor garments red as blood, - That buy the lands I hold dominion o’er-- - Lands that were fashioned by the red man’s God; - But to my friend I give, and take no more - Than to his generous bosom seemeth good; - But still we pass the belt, and for the lands, - He strengthens mine, and I make strong his hands.” - - -XXIII. - - “Weak is my hand, brave chief,” our Sire replied; - “Aid do I need, but none can I bestow; - Yet on the vacant plain, by Seekonk’s tide, - I fain would build, and peaceful neighbors know; - But if my brother has that plain denied, - Far tow’rds the setting sun will Williams go, - And on the lands of other chiefs abide, - Whose blankets are with ampler room supplied.” - - -XXIV. - - As thus our Founder spake, this murmur low - Circled that savage group of warriors round, - “The stranger will to Narraganset go!” - “A hungry wolf shall in his path be found!” - Rejoined stern Corbitant, whose eyes did glow - With kindling wrath;--then from his belt unbound - His hatchet and beneath his blanket hid;-- - Warrior to warrior glanced, as this he did. - - -XXV. - - Again Haup’s Sachem broke the fearful pause: - “Brother, be wise; I gave thy brethren lands; - They smoked my pipe, and they espoused my cause; - They made me strong; and all the neighboring bands - Forsook the Narraganset Sachem’s laws[14] - And mine obeyed.--We weakened hostile hands; - All dropt their arms and looked, but looked in vain, - For my white friends to measure back the main. - -[14] See notes to Canto Fourth. - - -XXVI. - - “This leaf, which budded of their hope, now dies; - The Narraganset warriors crest their hair; - Their hatchets keen from troubled slumber rise - And through Coweset make their edges glare; - Chiefs strike the war-post,--blood is in their cries, - And fierce their yells cleave Pokanoket’s air; - They count already with revengeful eyes - The future scalps of vanquished enemies;-- - - -XXVII. - - “And all for Wampanoag’s life-blood crave. - On Seekonk’s marge the storm of war will burst; - Lands might I give thee there but that the wave - Will there run red with human slaughter first. - And yet my brother and his friends are brave; - His bulwarks there with guardian thunders pierced, - Might frown on harm;--for surely he would fight - Both for his own and for the giver’s right. - - -XXVIII. - - “And when the Narragansets by our arms - Are from the Seekonk driven far away, - No more molested by the wild alarms - Of scalping knife and tomahawk’s affray, - We may together sit, secure from harms, - And smoke the calumet from day to day; - And our descendants, all the years to come, - Have but one fire--one undivided home.” - - -XXIX. - - “Brother,” said Williams, “these thou seëst are - Hands that the blood of man ne’er crimsoned yet; - Oft do I lift them to the God of prayer-- - Ah! how unseemly if with slaughter wet! - But to the hostile Sachems I could bear - The pipe of peace, thy snow-white calumet, - And quench the flame of strife--how better far - Than win thy lands by all-devouring war! - - -XXX. - - “With Waban for my guide, in friendly guise, - Sachem, I would the arduous task essay - To heal those ancient feuds by counsel wise, - And quell the wrath begotten long away; - Were this not better than the sacrifice - Of armies slain in many a bloody fray? - Then may I plant, and, in each neighboring clan, - Meet with a friend where’er I meet a man. - - -XXXI. - - “Ha! Yengee,” said the Sachem, “wouldst thou go - To soothe the hungry panther scenting blood? - Say, canst thou bid Pawtucket’s downward flow - Turn and run backward to Woonsocket’s wood? - The path to peace is shut;--the eager foe - Sharpens his darts, and treads his dances rude, - And through the trembling groves the war-whoop trills - From bleak Manisses[15] to the Nipnet hills. - -[15] Manisses--Block Island. - - -XXXII. - - “Yengee! thou seest these Wampanoags brave-- - They are my Keenomps in the battle fray; - Would it become Haup’s sagamore to crave - Inglorious rest for warriors strong as they? - They shrink from nothing but a dastard’s grave: - Bound to the stake, upon their lips would play - The smile of scorn. How can they crouch and cry - For peace?”--he said; and Williams made reply: - - -XXXIII. - - “The Great Spirit, almighty o’er the Whole, - Wields earth at will and moulds the hearts of men; - At his command torrents may backward roll, - The hare may gambol in the panther’s den; - In Him I trust, and in His strength my soul - Is more than armies.--Let your brother then - Ask for himself, if not for thee or thine, - That on these lands the sky of peace may shine. - - -XXIV. - - “How could your brother plant, where all around - War’s tempest raging pours its showers of blood? - Where from each thicket bursts the war-whoop’s sound, - And death in ambush lurks in every wood? - When would the feet of his dear friends be found - To pass along the blood-stained solitude, - And bring their all--their dearer far than life-- - Beneath uplifted axe and scalping knife?” - - -XXXV. - - Upon our Father’s words to meditate, - That wise old chief kept silence for a space; - Thus far he had prolonged the shrewd debate, - And inly striven his bounties to retrace-- - Not, as it seemed at first, from growing hate, - But so to magnify his purposed grace, - That what he gave should be right worthy thought - Of the much needed succor that he sought. - - -XXXVI. - - “Keenomps!” at length thus spake the Sagamore, - “Shall our white brother, not for me or mine, - But for himself, seek Narraganset’s shore, - Disperse the clouds, and let the sunlight shine - From the blue sky of peace?--Our wounds are sore - But hatchets none too keen; and our design - May profit by delay, if he will light - His council fire and gathering friends invite. - - -XXXVII. - - “His bow’s now broken, and his knife now dull,-- - But when his warriors shall around him throng-- - Its sharpened edge will thirst to peel the skull - Of Narraganset foe;--and he, more strong, - Will wield a mightier weapon, and, more full - Of valor, help us guard ourselves from wrong; - Whilst many a soul he sends to join the ghosts - That cry for vengeance round Sowaniu’s coasts. - - -XXXVIII. - - “On Seekonk’s marge--our battle-stained frontier-- - His town will rise, and warlike will he feel; - The foe must pass him if he strike us here; - Our brother then will hang upon his heel, - Hinder his progress, and salute his ear - With the big thunders and the muskets’ peal; - Lo! from the east the Tarrateen no more - Dare pass the Yengee by the ocean shore.” - - -XXXIX. - - As ceased the chief, a fierce smile lit the eyes - And curled the muscles of those men of blood; - They feared the number of their enemies; - This hope was cheering, and all answered--good! - All save stern Corbitant, whose visage is - Dark and portentous as a slumbering flood, - Whose silent bosom holds the imaged storm, - And seems the tempest that the skies deform. - - -XL. - - Then rose each Keenomp, in his turn, and spake: - Each said his knife was sharp, his hands were strong; - But still such counsel as his chief might take - He should deem wise, and so advise his throng. - At length stern Corbitant did silence break;-- - But first unloosened from its leathern thong - His scalping knife, and then a circle true - With its bare point upon the earth he drew. - - -XLI. - - “So move the hunters,” the grim sachem said, - Then near the centre made of scores a few; - “Here do the moose and deer the thickets thread - To certain death from them whose feet pursue; - Do not the Yengees thus around us spread? - Are we not hunted thus our forests through? - Will Haup’s brave Sachem yield Awanux aid, - While weep the spirits of his kindred dead?” - -XLII. - - “Go! thou dark Corbitant!” the old chief cried, - “Unarmed, the stranger seeks our vacant land,-- - Far from his friends would plant by Seekonk’s tide, - His blood within the hollow of our hand. - When to the stranger has a chief denied - Food, fire, and space his blanket to expand? - Hunted by him!--when come his friends he may, - If timid deer we are, turn off the beasts of prey. - - -XLIII. - - “He goes, and goes but for himself alone, - To ask that peace between the nations be, - And if the belt of Narraganset won - He bring to Haup, ’twill be received by me. - Now do I charge you, Keenomps, all as one, - That on his path no lurking wolves ye be. - Who dares with purpose fell his way to haunt, - Dies by this hand--e’en were he Corbitant. - - -XLIV. - - “Do thou, swift Waban, with the Yengee go, - And point the way to Narraganset’s clan; - If thou dar’st walk before the bended bow, - Bring back the talks, that we the words may scan; - In all things else to him obedience show-- - He is thy sachem--be thou Winiams’[16] man. - But it were safe that thou the pipe should’st bear - Without that painted face and pluméd hair.” - -[16] The Wampanoags could not say _l_, but used _n_ in place -of it. - - -XLV. - - Then Williams brought his strings of wampum bright, - And to the Keenomps each a present made, - Which each received, and, mimicking the white, - His thanks returned, and uncouth bow essayed; - And Corbitant’s grim visage seemed to light - With something like a smile that o’er it strayed, - To see the wampum wreath our Founder flung, - Where glittering on his breast the bauble hung. - - -XLVI. - - To Haup’s old chief a belt, with tinselry - Enchased, he gave, and trimmed with gilded wire; - Which when he donned, the warriors gazed in glee - Upon their Sachem in such brave attire; - Then filing singly, each in his degree, - They leave the lodge, and through the woods retire; - The chief appointing Haup, whereat to be - To hear the issue of the embassy. - - -XLVII. - - Waban and Williams only tarried there, - And for the journey soon began to trim; - The red man doft his plumes, and loosed his hair, - And cleansed his visage of its colors grim; - Our Founder chose his Indian gifts to bear, - And pipe of peace, as well becoming him; - And forth they sallied, as from middle sky - The sun looked down between the branches high. - - -XLVIII. - - Waban went foremost, upon nimble feet, - Through ancient grove and over woodland glade;-- - His long black hair and blanket red, so fleet - He went, streamed backward in the breeze he made; - Often his form did out of sight retreat - Behind the crag--behind the thicket’s shade-- - And then his voice, along the echoing wood, - Told when he paused, or where his way pursued. - - -XLIX. - - At length upon Pawtucket’s marge they stood; - They heard the thunder of his falls below; - Though narrow was the pass, yet deep the flood, - And frail the ice to bridge its dangerous flow; - But on the bank a giant of the wood, - A towering hemlock, waved its lofty bough; - Waban his keen-edged hatchet promptly plied; - It bowed, it fell, and bridged the sounding tide. - - -L. - - Upstayed thereon from bank to bank they past, - And now they travel under hostile sway: - The night around them gathers thick and fast, - Till, as more doubtful grows their devious way. - Their blankets on the frozen earth they cast, - And light the fire, and wait the coming day;-- - When safely they their journey may pursue, - And greet the chiefs they seek in season due. - - -LI. - - Williams that night lay on the snow-clad ground, - With nothing o’er him but the starry blue; - In parchéd maize and water pure he found - A sweet repast, that woke devotion true; - For while he saw the soul constrained and bound, - With wings enthralled, but not her eagle view, - One pious prayer made every suffering light,-- - That he might free and speed her heavenward flight. - - -LII. - - The red man smoked his pipe, or trimmed the fire, - And to our Father many a story told - Of barbarous battles and of slaughter dire - That on Pawtucket’s marge befell of old;-- - How always son inherited from sire - The same fierce passions in like bosom bold; - And wondered that his pale-faced chief could dare - The pipe between such angry Sachems bear. - - -LIII. - - “Ten summers since, on yonder margin green,” - He thus continued in a sadder tone, - “A strong old hunter--Keenomp he had been - Of many deeds--dwelt with his daughter lone: - She, like the bright-eyed fawn, whose beauteous mien - So charms the hunter that he stands like stone; - He, like the brawny stag, with burning eye - And antlers broad, and sinews that defy - - -LIV. - - “The well-aimed shaft. Then Waban was a boy; - And, lonely, loved to go, by moonlight dim - Or dewy morn, to see, all life and joy, - The Bright-Eyed Fawn. But ah! it chanced to him - One morn to seek her at her home’s employ-- - And, O! what havoc there!--what horrors grim! - The old man lay in gore!--his daughter gone! - His lodge in ashes! But the dewy lawn - - -LV. - - “Showed prints of hostile feet. Waban is true-- - He followed on the trail--a devious route; - Far up the winding stream the morning dew - Betrayed their steps, and hers with theirs; here out - They turned--leaping from rock to rock, they drew - Still onward far, until a thrilling shout, - From far Woonsocket, died on Waban’s ears: - He pauses--listens--and again he hears-- - - -LVI. - - “The _Pequot’s_ yell! My Sachem sure has seen - The well-drawn arrow leave the red man’s bow; - So Waban went--the steps he made between - Him and his foes no memory left--e’en now - Waban is there; and, from behind a screen, - Formed by the leaf of bush and bending bough, - He saw the Bright-Eyed Fawn, bound to the stake-- - The fagots heaped around--the flames awake! - - -LVII. - - “Two warriors, standing, mock her cries, and four, - In the fire-water drenched, lie here and there - In slumber deep, from which they woke no more. - One arrow Waban sent;--through shoulder bare - Transfixed, one scoffer fell, and quenched in gore - His kindling brand. Then, springing from his lair, - As panther springs, with the bright glancing knife - Did Waban dart, and, hand to hand in strife, - - -LVIII. - - “Cleft down the second, who, with wild amaze, - But faintly fought;--straight from the Bright-Eyed Fawn - The bands were cut, and from the rising blaze - She springs unscathed. The slumberers on the lawn - Were not forgot: they slept--they sleep--yet gaze - (If gaze that be which is all sightless); dawn, - Noon, and night, are one. Broad Antler’s ghost - Wandered not long upon Sowaniu’s coast; - - -LIX. - - “Fully avenged, he sought the spirit band - Of his brave fathers, whilst the daughter, won - By Waban from the cruel Pequot’s hand, - Dwelt in his lodge, the mother of his son. - All now are gone--gone to the spirit land, - And Waban’s left all desolate and lone.” - Such tales the evening hours beguiled, and filled - With breathless zest, or with blank horror chilled. - - -LX. - - They slept at last, though piercing cold the night, - And round them howled the hungry beasts of prey; - Nor broke their slumber, till the dawning light - Gleamed in the east,--when they resumed their way. - Encrusted hard and flashing far and bright, - The snow sent back the rising solar ray; - Mooshausick’s wave was bridged from shore to shore, - And safe they passed the solid water o’er. - - -LXI. - - Westward till now his course did Waban draw; - He shunned Weybosset, the accustomed ford, - Where dwelt dark Chepian’s priest, that grim Pawaw, - Who well he knew the Yengee’s faith abhorred, - And who, perchance, if he our Founder saw - Bearing the pipe of peace, might ill accord - With such kind purpose, and, on evil wing - To Narraganset’s host strange omens bring. - - -LXII. - - Now down the western bank their course they speed, - Passing Pawtuxet in their onward way; - And fast doth Indian town to town succeed, - Some large, some small, in populous array; - And here and there was many an ample mead, - Where green the maize had grown in summer’s ray, - And forth there poured, where’er they passed along, - Of naked children many a gazing throng. - - -LXIII. - - Their small sunk eyes, like sparks from burning coal, - On the white stranger stared; but when they spied - The Wampanoag, they began to roll - With all the fury--mimicking the pride-- - Of their fierce fathers; and the savage soul, - Nursed e’en in youth on thoughts in carnage dyed, - Instinctively, with simultaneous swell, - Sent from their lips the unfledged battle yell. - - -LXIV. - - Their little bows they twanged with threatening mien, - Their little war-clubs shook to tell their ires; - Their mimic scalping-knives they brandished keen, - And acted o’er the stories of their sires; - And had their fathers at this moment seen - (For they were gone to Potowomet’s fires), - Our Founder’s guide, they might have caught the tone - Of their young urchins, and the hatchet thrown. - - -LXV. - - Still village after village smoked; the woods - All swarmed with life as forward still they fared; - For numbers great, but not for multitudes - So numberless, had Williams been prepared; - Was it for him to tamper with the moods - Of these fierce savages, whose arms were bared, - Whose souls were ripe, and stalwart bodies trim, - For the wild revelry of slaughter grim? - - -LXVI. - - How could he hope a safe abiding place, - Far in these forests, and his friends so few-- - Among a wild and blood-besotted race, - That naught of laws divine or human knew; - Their wars proceeding oft from mad caprice, - Their hearts as hard ’s the tomahawks they threw:-- - Would his temerity by Heaven be blest? - Would God nurse zephyrs on the whirlwind’s breast? - - -LXVII. - - Whilst musing thus, and onward moving still, - His soul o’ershadowed with suspicious fears, - He gained the summit of a towering hill, - And downward gazed.--Far stretched beneath appears - A woodland plain; and murmurs harsh and shrill, - As from accordant voices, on his ears - Rise from the midmost groves, and o’er the trees, - A hundred smokes curl on the morning breeze. - - -LXVIII. - - And now to sight, through leafless boughs revealed, - Now hid where thicker branches wove their screen, - Bounding and glancing, in swift circles wheeled - Men painted, plumed, and armed with weapons sheen, - And flashing clear or by the trees concealed,-- - Glimmering again and waved with threatening mien,-- - The lifted tomahawks and lances bright - Seemed to forestall the frenzied joy of fight. - - -LXIX. - - Mixed with the sound of voices and of feet, - Alternate slow and fast, the hollow drum - Its measured rote or rolling numbers beat, - And ruled in various mood the general hum;-- - Now slow the sounds, now rapid their repeat, - Till at a sudden pause, did thrilling come - That tremulous far undulating swell, - From out a thousand lips, the warrior’s yell;-- - - -LXX. - - As ’twere from frantic demons. And the face - Of Waban paled--then darkened as he said, - “The Narragansets there their war-dance trace, - They count our scalps, and name our kindred dead; - This heart grows big--it cannot ask for peace; - ’Twould rather rot upon a gory bed - Than hear the spirits of its sires complain, - And call for blood,--but ever call in vain.” - - -LXXI. - - “Waban,” said Williams, “dost thou fear to go? - Wilt thou thy Yengee sachem leave alone? - How will thy Sagamore the speeches know, - If homeward now his messenger should run? - Not thou, but I will ask the haughty foe - To quench his fires, and quell the dance begun; - But for thy safety, thou the calumet - Shalt bear beside me, till the chiefs are met.” - - -LXXII. - - “Waban,” he answered, “never shook with fear, - Nor left his Sachem when he needed friends; - It is the thought of many a by-gone year - That kindles wrath within my breast, and sends - Through all this frame, my boiling blood on fire!-- - Still Waban on his pale-faced chief attends, - But bears no pipe;--the Wampanoag’s pride - Bids him to die, as his brave fathers died.” - - -LXXIII. - - “Waban, at least, will smoke the pipe awhile?” - Said Williams gravely to his moody guide, - “Its fragrant breath is as on billows oil; - It calms the troubled waves of memory’s tide.” - The grateful offer seemed to reconcile - The peaceful emblem to the warrior’s pride: - He fills the bowl--he wakes the kindling fire-- - And o’er his head the curling clouds aspire. - - -LXXIV. - - And whilst he sits, the sylvan muse will string - Her rustic harp to wake no gentle strain - Of barbarous camps, and savage chiefs who sing - The song of vengeance to their raptured train; - Of councils, and of wizard priests that bring - Strange omens, dark dominion to maintain; - Of incantations dire, and of that spell - By Sesek wrought--which seemed the feat of Hell. - - - - -CANTO FOURTH. - -[SCENE. The Narraganset Camp at Potowomet.] - - - The twain have left the height, and sought the glade - Where the red warriors wheel the martial dance; - A while the thick young cedars round them made - A cover that concealed their still advance; - But passing quickly through the denser shade, - Sire Williams sent abroad his searching glance - O’er the rude camp, and saw, on every side, - Around the blazing fires the dancers glide. - - -II. - - Hundreds on hundreds thronged the glade, I ween, - With painted visages and pluméd hair; - There bristled darts, there glittered lances sheen, - And brandished knives upon the ambient air - Carved fiery circles--whilst, with threatening mien, - Their dark locks streaming and their muscles bare, - The dancers circled o’er the thundering ground, - And leaping, breathed the hard, harsh, aspirated sound. - - -III. - - But chiefly tow’rd the centre pressed the throngs - Where plied the bravest chiefs their dances rude:-- - There listened to their Sachem’s battle songs, - And when he ceased, in leaps his lance pursued; - The while the tumult swelled until their lungs, - Wrung to the highest effort, filled the wood - With the wild war-whoop, tremulous and shrill, - Then hushed itself and suddenly was still; - - -IV. - - Till from the groups another Sachem sprung, - To tell his deeds, and count his foemen slain; - Lancing the war-post as his numbers rung, - As if he slew his vanquished foe again; - Whilst on his words the listening warriors hung, - And drank with greedy ears the bloody strain, - Cheering at times with plaudits loud and long, - The butcheries numbered in the martial song. - - -V. - - Amid the tumult of this boisterous rout, - Williams, unmarked, had gained the central glade, - When all at once an unaccustomed shout - Startled the groups around the fires arrayed, - And staring eyes, and pointing hands about, - Proclaimed the strangers to their view betrayed; - Then died that hum, like the past whirlwind’s roar, - When the dust rises on the distant shore. - - -VI. - - And all were hushed, while round them, man to man - They glanced, and wonder in their faces grew, - Till through the camp the sullen rumor ran, - “Pale-faced Awanux! Wampanoag too!” - And warriors, kindling at the words, began - To grasp their weapons all that gathering through; - When, lo! they opened like a parting tide, - And once again their murmurs lulled and died. - - -VII. - - And Williams paused; for, from the severed crowd, - A chief advancing trod the breathing plain; - Bold was his port, his bearing high and proud, - A lance of length did his right hand sustain; - The glittering wampum did his brows enshroud, - His nodding plumage wore a crimson stain; - His armlets gleamed--his belt, with figures traced, - Supported skirts with purple pëag laced. - - -VIII. - - His naked limbs were stained a sable hue, - His naked chest and face a crimson red; - Streamed backward from his brow two ribbons blue, - And with his long black hair wild dalliance made; - Suspended from his belt, half sheathed from view, - His scalping knife and tomahawk were stayed; - His eyes below his lowering forehead glowed - Like two bright stars beneath a thunder cloud. - - -IX. - - With strong majestic stride and lofty gait, - He neared our Founder and his dusky guide, - Who, in half tone, could but ejaculate, - “Miantonomi!” when his Indian pride - Choked further utterance, though still elate, - Grasping his axe, with nostrils spreading wide, - Self-poised he stood; appearing to await - The approaching chief, who glanced disdainful hate. - - -X. - - Our Founder chid his guide, and high displayed - The calumet in one white hand, the while - He raised the other, and mild gesture made - Bespeaking peace. Well did the act beguile - And soothe the Sachem’s passion, and he said, - Turning from Waban, with a scornful smile: - “Has, then, Awanux come to hear the song? - Our darts are thirsty, and our arms are strong!” - - -XI. - - Then Williams: “Sachem, in the cause of Him, - The great Good Spirit whom we all adore-- - Who smiles not on the contests fierce and grim - Of his red children in the field of gore-- - I have come hither, in unwarlike trim, - To crave thy friendship, and of thee implore - That these black clouds portending bloody rain - May go, and let the sky shine out again.” - - -XII. - - So answering, the calumet of peace - He tendered to that warlike Sagamore, - Who clenched his hands, and backward stept a pace, - “Nay! Nay, Awanux! Wampanoag gore - Will M’antonomi’s feet in battle trace - Ere dies another moon. He hears no more; - ’Tis not for him, amid these Keenomps bold, - To talk of peace--that suits his uncle old.” - - -XIII. - - Williams to this: “Then the gray chief is wise; - His glance is forward, and around him turns; - But o’er the young chief clouds of anger rise, - He sees but backward, and his vengeance burns; - Show me to him who looks with wisdom’s eyes - Upon the nations, and most truly learns, - From by-gone toils and dangers of his life, - To prize the pipe above the scalping-knife.” - - -XIV. - - At this his bosom the young Sachem struck, - And braced his frame, and flashed his kindling eye-- - “This breast is generous,” he proudly spoke, - “Of like for like abundant its supply; - Of good and bad it hath an ample stock; - It cheers its friend, it blasts its enemy-- - Ten favors does it for each favor done, - And ten darts sends for every hostile one. - - -XV. - - “Follow the war-chief;--mid yon heavy cloud - Of warriors grim in arms and martial dyes, - Sits the gray Sachem in his numbers proud, - But prouder still in counsels old and wise.” - So spake he, striding tow’rd the lowering crowd. - Williams to calmness did his guide advise; - And both with cautious step and slow pursued - The Sachem tow’rd that fearful multitude. - - -XVI. - - Not more horrific gleams the glistering snake, - Where coiled on glowing rocks he basking lies, - When, at the approaching step his rattles shake, - Flickers his forky tongue, and burn his eyes, - Than glared that crowd of warriors round the stake, - Arrayed in murderous arms and martial guise; - Their turbulent murmurs kindling through the whole - The sympathetic wrath of one inspiring soul. - - -XVII. - - But when the Sachem, coming, near them trod, - He raised his open hand, and, pausing, spoke: - “Keenomps! Awanux, prompted by his God, - Brings back the pipe the Wampanoag broke. - Our fathers ever answered good with good, - And for the bearer of the pipe ne’er woke - The storm of vengeance;--list ye to his talk; - He brings no message from the tomahawk.” - - -XVIII. - - As thus he spake, the sullen murmurs died, - And, hushed and listening, all the warriors stood; - Again he moved--and at his onward stride - The deep mass parted like a severing flood; - And, yielding either way, the living tide - Left clear the space through which our Founder trod: - Their breath alone he heard--like the hoarse breeze - Foreboding tempests to the shuddering trees. - - -XIX. - - At last he came where the old Sachems sate, - Who formed the Narraganset senate grave; - Renownéd were they once, in fierce debate - Of battle dire, as bravest of the brave; - But now, as guardians of their little state, - To younger hands they prudent counsel gave. - Their youth was gone, but their experience sage - Had thrice its value in a wise old age. - - -XX. - - On settles, raised around the mounting blaze, - Sit gray Wauontom, Keenomp, Sagamore; - But he who most attracts our Founder’s gaze - Is sage Canonicus, whose tresses hoar - Float on the passing breeze; whose brow displays - The care-worn soul in many a furrowed score; - But whose bright eyes, that underneath it glow, - Still show the chief of sixty years ago. - - -XXI. - - Beside him lay the calumet of peace-- - It was his sceptre mid the din of arms; - No martial dyes did on his visage trace - The lines of wrath--for him they had no charms; - The neyhom’s[17] mantle did his shoulders grace, - With ample folds that stayed the winter’s harms; - At every movement, changing in the sun, - From plume to plume its glistering glories run. - -[17] The neyhom, or wild turkey. See note. - - -XXII. - - Mute were the chiefs and seemed to meditate; - Nor turned their heads, nor cast a glance aside, - When on the offered mat our Founder sate, - And close behind him came his watchful guide. - Then spread the warriors round in circle great, - And did the earth beneath their numbers hide; - They sit, kneel, stand, or climb the forest boughs, - Till all around the live enclosure grows. - - -XXIII. - - When ceased the crowd to stir, and died their hum, - Long on our Sire the old chief kept his gaze; - At length he said: “And has Awanux come? - He’s welcome to the red man’s council blaze. - What news brings he from the pale stranger’s home? - Or from the dog that near his wigwam strays? - Our young men see the pipe--what does it seek? - Our ears are open--let Awanux speak.” - - -XXIV. - - Sire Williams rose;--a thousand staring eyes - Were on him fixed; a thousand ears were spread - To catch his words, whilst all around him lies - That mass of life hushed in a calmness dread, - Like that of dark Ontario, when the skies - Are mustering their tempests overhead; - And the round moon looks through the gathering storm - And, glassed mid tempest shapes, beholds her form. - - -XXV. - - He paused a while; at last he thus began: - “Sachem of many moons, and wise as gray! - Well knowest thou how short the life of man; - These aged oaks have witnessed the decay - Of many a generation of thy clan, - Which flourished like their leaves, and past away; - Why war ye, then, upon a life so brief!-- - Why fill its little span with wretchedness and grief? - - -XXVI. - - “But they who seek the pure unmingled goods - That last for aye,--to strenuous duty true,-- - Count freedom of the soul, in her high moods, - The first of gifts from the Great Manittoo:-- - For this I wander to these distant woods; - For this from persecution’s brands I flew, - And left my friends, my kindred, and my home, - Through stormy skies and snowy wilds to roam. - - -XXVII. - - “Some thoughts of mine, that the Great Spirit might - Rule better His own kingdom than frail men, - Awoke the anger of my brothers white, - And sent me forth to seek some far-off glen, - Where I, unharmed, my council fire might light, - And share its freedom with my kindred, when - Under the tree of peace, the red men should - Smoke the white pipe in friendly neighborhood. - - -XXVIII. - - “On Seekonk’s eastern marge I chose a glade, - Fertile and fair, with hope to plant thereon; - The Wampanoag would the grant have made, - But, momently, the startling rumor run - That all Coweset was in arms arrayed - Against that chief, and, had the dance begun; - Then paused your brother--for he would not bring - His friends to sit beneath the hatchet’s swing. - - -XXIX. - - “Then did he take Haup’s calumet to crave - That peace between the hostile nations be; - Not that the Wampanoag warriors brave - Sought from the Narraganset storm to flee; - But that no guilty stain, on Seekonk’s wave, - Rebuke the Pokanoket Chief or thee,-- - The work, perchance, of darts from heedless bows, - Confounding pale-faced friends with warring foes. - - -XXX. - - “My motives these; now let the wise chief tell - What wrongs he suffers; what redress he seeks. - Do not his buried kindred slumber well? - What murdered victim’s ghost for vengeance shrieks-- - Sends through the echoing woods the warrior’s yell, - And from its iron sleep the hatchet wakes? - Or does some impious tongue his anger brave, - By speaking names made sacred by the grave?” - - -XXXI. - - Then passed a murmur through that concourse wide, - And man on man cast the inquiring eye; - At length the old chief laid his pipe aside, - And, musing, sate, as pondering his reply; - Then slowly rose, and drew the pluméd hide - From his right shoulder, and, with stature high, - Stretched forth his long bare arm and shriveled hand, - And pointing round the sky-encircled land;-- - - -XXXII. - - “As far,” he said, and solemn was his tone, - “As from Coweset’s hill the hunter’s sight - Goes tow’rd the Nipnet--tow’rd the rising sun-- - And o’er the mighty billows, foaming bright, - Where bleak Manisses’ shores they thunder on, - Moved Narraganset warriors,--till the White - Came from the east, and o’er the waters blue, - Brought his loud thunders in the big canoe: - - -XXXIII. - - “Yes, ere he came, Pocasset’s martial band - Did at our bidding come to fight the foe, - And the tall warriors of the Nipnet land - Rushed with swift foot to bend our battle bow; - And e’en the dog of Haup did cringing stand - Beside our wigwam, and his tribute show. - Then we were strong--we fought the Maquas fell, - And laughed to hear the bordering Pequot’s yell. - - -XXXIV. - - “But, Yengee, hear: The pale-faced strangers came; - No runners told us that they trod our shores; - Near the big waters rose their council flame, - And to it ran our eastern Sagamores; - Haup’s dog forgot the Narraganset name, - And ate the offal cast from white men’s doors, - Moved at their heels, and after him he drew - The strong Pocassets, and the Nipnets too. - - -XXXV. - - “Then the fierce Pequots on our borders broke,-- - We sent the belt to claim the accustomed aid; - The rebel chiefs the angry hatchet shook-- - They were the Yengee’s men, not ours, they said; - We stood alone; and, like a steadfast rock, - Turned back the torrent to its fountain head, - Which else had swept those sluggard tribes away, - That by Awanux’ wigwam slumbering lay. - - -XXXVI. - - “These are our wrongs, and who can ever mend - The belt thus broken by the rebel train? - The falling waters with earth’s bosom blend, - And who shall hold them in his palm again? - Against the common foe our warriors spend - Their blood like rivers--who can wake the slain? - Heal up the wounds for other men endured-- - Give back the blood which has their rest secured?” - - -XXXVII. - - The Sachem ceased, and mingled murmurs ran - Through all that crowd--“He speaks a manittoo! - Base Wampanoag! we’ll devour that clan, - And drive the Yengees back o’er ocean blue!” - And through the concourse motions mixed began, - With clash of arms, and twanging of the yew; - But when they saw our Founder rise again, - Mute stillness hushed the murmurs of the train. - - -XXXVIII. - - “Brother,” said Williams, “thou art old and wise, - And know’st the pipe is better than the dart. - The barb can drink the blood of enemies; - But the pipe’s conquest is the foeman’s heart; - It gives to us his strength and energies, - And makes the Pequot from our path depart. - This, to the good, gives triumph long and just-- - That, to the bad, a victory over dust. - - -XXXIX. - - “If, then, my brother can subdue his foes - By the white pipe, he will be very strong! - The offending chiefs once more will bend his bows, - And shout around his fire their battle song; - No more will Pequot harass his repose, - Or Maqua yells resound these hills among. - See not my brothers whence all this distrust?-- - The belt between them and the Yengees rust. - - -XL. - - “Hearken a space--Deem not the Yengee weak; - Betwixt him and Haup’s chief the chain is bright; - If thou on him a finger’s vengeance wreak, - The conscious chain will vibrate to the White, - And, roused from slumber, will the big guns speak, - And flames will flash from every woodland height. - Pause, brother, pause--and to the pale-faced train - Extend thy friendship, and keep bright the chain. - - -XLI. - - “But hearken still--Thy brother knows no guile; - His tongue speaks truly what his heart conceives; - Against the Pequots do your bosoms boil, - And for the Pequot deeds Awanux grieves; - Their hands are laden with the white man’s spoil, - And crimsoned with the stain that murder leaves; - Soon will the big guns to their nation speak, - And, in their aid, may’st thou just vengeance wreak. - - -XLII. - - “Thou would’st compel the Wampanoag’s aid - To guard thy borders, and chastise thy foes; - Will not my brothers let me them persuade - To get them warriors armed with more than bows? - Even Awanux, in his strength arrayed, - Whose thunder roars and whose red lightning glows? - Make him your friend and victory follows sure, - And Narraganset rests in peace secure.” - - -XLIII. - - The old chief downward gazed; the warriors round, - Some in stern silence sate of doubtful mood, - Some gave a scornful smile, some fiercely frowned, - And others toiled to sharp their darts for blood; - At length the Sachem, rising from the ground, - With piercing eyes, full in the visage viewed - Our anxious Founder.--“Thou dost speak,” he said, - “The words of wisdom, but these ears are dead; - - -XLIV. - - “Dead to a Yengee’s voice. When did the tongue - Of the white stranger fail to speak most fair? - When did his actions not his speeches wrong, - And lay the falsehood of his bosom bare? - Fain would I die in peace, and leave this throng - To have their glory down the ages fare; - But still I feel the stranger’s grasping hand, - And still he soothes me with his accents bland. - - -XLV. - - “If true he speak--that should his actions show; - May not his heart be darker than yon cloud, - And yet his words white as its falling snow? - Still, if his speech were true, and not a shroud - To hide dark thought, these gray hairs yet might go - Down to the grave in peace--and of my blood - Might all, whilst rivers roll, or rain descends, - Live with the Yengee, kind and loving friends.” - - -XLVI. - - ’Twas for our Founder now in turn to pause-- - He felt his weakness at rebuff so stern; - The kid had leaped beneath the lion’s paws, - Whose fangs began to move, and eyes to burn; - At length he said, “What bold encroachment draws - The Sachem’s mind into this deep concern? - How have the Yengees given thee offence? - What deeds of theirs have marred thy confidence?” - - -XLVII. - - At this, the Sachem from his girdle took - His snow-white pipe, and snapt the stem in twain: - “They came intruders, and the pipe was broke,” - Said the stern Sachem, and it snapt again; - “Our subject chiefs their ruling chiefs forsook, - And they were sheltered by the stranger’s train. - This fragment shows the serpent’s skin they sent, - Filled with round thunders to our royal tent. - - -XLVIII. - - “This shows, they raised their bulwarks high and proud, - And poised their big guns at our distant home. - This, when at Sowams[18] raged our battle loud, - How their round thunders made that battle dumb. - This, the fire-water how they have bestowed, - And with its madness have our youth o’ercome. - This, how amid the Pequot nation they - Build the square lodge, and whet him to the fray. - -[18] See note to stanza XXXIII. - - -XLIX. - - “This, with the Maqua how a league they made, - And filled with arms his all-destroying hand. - This, how they claim right over quick and dead-- - Our fathers’ buried bones, their children’s land. - This, how the earth grows pale, as fast they spread - From glade to glade, like snow from Wamponand, - When borne o’er ocean on the sounding gales, - It crowns the hills and whitens through the vales. - - -L. - - “Take thou the fragments--count their numbers well-- - Ten times complains our violated right; - They’ll help thy memory, and perchance will tell, - Ten causes have we to distrust the White; - Scarce can the grave our fathers’ spirits quell-- - They come complaining in the dreams of night; - Ten times the pipe was by the strangers broke, - Ten times the hatchet from its slumbers woke.” - - -LI. - - Williams the fragments took, and, counting ten, - He promptly answered with this calm reply: - “Sachem, some charity is due to men - Who tread upon thy pipe unwittingly. - Long had the waters tossed those wanderers, when, - Hungry and cold, they came thy borders nigh; - And, Sachem, they were ignorant of thy race, - They only sought a safe abiding place. - - -LII. - - “And this they found in that deserted strand, - Where slept the dead--where living men were not; - They knew no wrong in this--a rightful hand - Appeared, and welcomed to the vacant spot; - Each Sachem seemed as sovereign of his band-- - They took his belt, for ’twas a token brought - Of friendly greeting--who can this condemn? - They aid the Whites, the Whites in turn aid them. - - -LIII. - - “Bound in the skin of the great sachem snake, - My brother sent his barbs--but to his foe, - Awanux took the challenge by mistake, - And let his bullets for an answer go; - They deemed the Sachem angry, and did take - Some wise precaution ’gainst a secret blow; - They raise their bulwarks, and their guns they poise; - This was respect to sovereign brave and wise. - - -LIV. - - “No leagues have they with the fierce Maqua made, - Nor with the Pequot hostile is the race; - But if my brothers, for the fight arrayed, - O’er Pokanoket’s borders speed their pace, - I dare not say they would forego the aid - Of any tribe that would thy battle face; - Mohegans, Pequots, Tarrateens would fly - To join their force, and swell their battle cry. - - -LV. - - “To these six fragments of the pipe I’ve spoke; - Take them again, if I have answered well; - But those which tell me that the stem was broke - By the fire-water, and of what befel - Thee upon Haup--of claims thou canst not brook, - Made by those strangers from the nations pale - To these broad forests as their own domain-- - These will I ask Awanux to explain. - - -LVI. - - “This fragment tells me that his numbers grow, - That they are spreading fast, from glade to glade; - If the Great Spirit does increase bestow, - Will the wise Sachem that great Power upbraid? - The lands they take, well does my brother know, - They fairly purchase of the nations red; - E’en thus would I on Seekonk’s marge abide, - If peaceful nations dwelt on either side. - - -LVII. - - “On Seekonk’s bank, betwixt my brothers white - And the red nations I might friendly stand, - And help them still to understand aright - Whate’er was doubtful from each other’s hand; - The chain of friendship hold, and keep it bright, - And strengthen thus all Narraganset’s band; - Till ’gainst our common foes we all unite, - And conquer safety through resistless might. - - -LVIII. - - “This question seeks the Sachem’s plain reply: - Takes he the pipe--lays he the axe aside? - Have I his peace, or does he peace deny, - Nor in my honest counsels aught confide? - Still chooses he the doubtful strife to try, - And brave the Yengees with his foes allied? - Say--can he listen to an exiled man, - Whose words and deeds might still befriend his clan?” - - -LIX. - - “Brother,” the Sachem said in milder tone, - “Six fragments of the pipe, as well explained, - My willing hand receives--I ponder on - The last in doubt--the three, thou hast retained, - Send to Awanux--may he answer soon, - And show our blindness has of them complained; - Thy heart seems open, and its speech is brave; - Queries of weight demand an answer grave. - - -LX. - - “Large is our regal lodge, and furnished well - With skins of beaver, bear, and buffalo; - Nausamp and venison is its royal meal; - And its warm fire is like the summer’s glow: - There, with that Wampanoag shalt thou dwell, - And all our comforts in full safety know; - The whilst, our old chiefs shall, in council great, - Upon thy questions gravely meditate.” - - -LXI. - - Here closed the long debate, and, from the ground, - Rose the thronged warriors, and hoarse murmurs past - Through all that concourse, like the hollow sound - Of Narraganset’s waters, when the blast - Begins to roll the tumbling billows round - The rock-bound cape, which had so lately glassed - Its imaged self--its pendant crags and wood-- - In the calm bosom of the silent flood. - - - - -CANTO FIFTH. - -[SCENES. A Sequestered Dale--Open Glade and Grand National Council--The -SUMMIT OF HAUP.] - - - Deep in the dale’s sequestered solitude, - Screened from the winter’s storm and chilling blast - By branching cedars and thick underwood, - And ever with their shadows overcast, - Old Narraganset’s regal wigwam stood, - Where dwelt her chief, while yet the cold did last, - And tempests, driving from the frozen north, - Detained his warriors from the work of wrath. - - -II. - - And near it rose an ample council hall, - Where oft the Narraganset senate sate, - When came the wise men, at their Sachem’s call, - On schemes of high emprise to hold debate; - And in the shade were shelters meet, for all - His grave advisers who should on him wait; - And, with the red men just as with the white, - Such free provision did delays invite. - - -III. - - Here Father Williams must a while remain. - And, with apt converse born of feelings mild, - Soothe the stern natures of the warlike train, - His destined neighbors in that barbarous wild; - Allay distrust and confidence obtain, - Until suspicion and fierce wrath, despoiled - Of all their terrors, leave the vanquished mind - To generous friendship and full faith inclined. - - -IV. - - Day after day he passed from man to man, - Whome’er of note the mightier Sachems swayed, - And, to the chieftains of each martial clan, - In paints all grim--in horrid arms arrayed-- - He talked of peace; then o’er the dangers ran, - Were war against the Wampanoag made; - And then besought them that with friendly eyes, - They would behold his smoke from Seekonk rise. - - -V. - - Betwixt the tribes, on either side the stream, - Still he the belt would hold--the pipe would bear; - But never in his hand should lightning gleam - For either Sachem when he rushed to war; - And with the Yengees still might it beseem - Him to promote an understanding fair, - Till wide the tree of peace its branches spread, - And white and red men smoked beneath its shade. - - -VI. - - But chiefly did he this free converse hold - With M’antonomi, Sachem young and brave, - And great Canonicus, sagacious, old - And in his speech deliberate and grave. - One eve they sate--the storm without was cold, - ’Twas ere the council their decision gave, - And thus the talk went on among the three, - The questions simple and the answers free. - - -VII. - -MIANTONOMI. - - Why will my brother dwell amid our foes, - Yet seek from us a peaceful neighborhood? - May we not think he’ll bend their battle bows, - And thirst like them for Narraganset’s blood? - Why has he Seekonk’s eastern border chose, - And not surveyed Mooshausick’s winding flood? - Its banks are green,--its forests waving fair,-- - Its fountains cool, the deer abundant there. - - -VIII. - -WILLIAMS. - - Ne’er will I dwell among my brother’s foes,-- - To make them friends is now thy brother’s toil; - Too weak I am to bend their battle bows, - Had I the heart for such unseemly broil. - The forest fair that by Mooshausick grows, - Would long withstand the hardy woodman’s toil. - The Seekonk’s marge will easy tillage yield, - And soon the spiry maize will clothe its field. - - -IX. - -CANONICUS. - - How could my brother’s thoughts his friends offend? - Why flies he to the red from faces pale? - How can he still the nations red befriend? - What can his speeches with his foes avail? - No arms he bears, no Yengees him attend, - How dares his foot to print this distant vale? - The path was shut between the nations red,-- - How dared my brother on that path to tread? - - -X. - -WILLIAMS. - - The white man labors to enthrall the mind, - He will not let its thoughts of God be free; - I come the soul’s hard bondage to unbind, - And clear her access to the Deity; - The pale-faced foes whom I have left behind, - Would still accept a favor done by me. - I trusted God would guard his servant’s head, - Open all paths, and soothe my brothers red. - - -XI. - -CANONICUS. - - Thy generous confidence has on me won - And oped my ears, to other Yengees deaf. - Brother, the spirit of my son is gone-- - I burned my lodge to speak my mighty grief; - If thou art true I am not left alone, - Some comfort is there for the gray-haired chief; - If to thy words the fitting deeds be done, - I am thy father, thou shalt be my son. - - -XII. - - The kindest reader would fatigued complain, - Should I recount each question and reply, - That passed between our Father and the train - Of barbarous warriors and their Sachems high; - But though he languished o’er my humble strain, - Till patience left or dullness closed his eye, - To Williams it was not an idle song-- - The dull reality did days prolong. - - -XIII. - - They had their Corbitants of surly mood, - Who scarce would yield obedience to their lord; - Alike they thirsted for the Yengees’ blood, - And Wampanoag’s and alike abhorred. - By gaudy gifts their anger he subdued, - Or won their kindness by his soothing word; - But one there was who spurned all proffers kind, - Whose demon hate was to all goodness blind. - - -XIV. - - It was the grim Pawaw.--He came in ire - From his proud dwelling by Mooshausick’s stream; - His was the voice of gods and omens dire, - And loud he chanted his prophetic dream; - “The white man’s gods had set the woods on fire, - And Chepian vanished in its fearful gleam; - Their fathers’ ghosts came from their hunting ground-- - Their children sought, and only ashes found.” - - -XV. - - Gravely attentive did the council hear - That crafty priest his awful omens sing. - The warriors, ruled by superstitious fear, - Half credence gave, and overawed the king. - In groups they thronged the forest, far and near, - With gathered brows and surly muttering; - And still the prophet through the kindling crowds, - Moved like a comet through night’s lowering clouds. - - -XVI. - - And as he passed, the varying rumors flew - Of secret plans hatched by the Yengees’ hate; - And still their fears and doubts and wonder grew, - Whilst on that dream the chiefs prolonged debate; - For priest he was and politician too, - And oft he meddled with affairs of state, - Wrought on the fears of superstition’s crew, - And the best counsels of the wise o’erthrew. - - -XVII. - - Thus, when the senate dared resist his sway, - He still gained triumph with the multitude; - Till now the chiefs, half yielding to dismay, - Yet vexed and goaded by his rebel mood, - Bade that the clans assemble on a day, - And Williams meet the prophet of the wood, - And in their presence front and overthrow - His strange dominion, or all hope forego. - - -XVIII. - - I will not say that devils did enlist - To do the bidding of the grim Pawaw; - He may have been a wild ventriloquist, - Formed by rude nature; but the age which saw - The marvels that he wrought, would aye insist - His spells surpassed material nature’s law; - And that the monarch of the infernal shade - Mustered his legions to the wizard’s aid. - - -XIX. - - Great was his fame; for wide the rumor went - That all the demons were at his command, - And fiends in rocks, and dens, and caverns pent, - Came to the beck of his black waving hand; - The boldest Keenomps, on resistance bent, - Could not the terror of his charms withstand; - But still would shrink and shudder at the sound, - When spoke his viewless fiends in anger round. - - -XX. - - And it was rumored that he daily held - Communion strange with monsters of the wood, - Harked to their voices, and their meanings spelled, - And muttered answers which they understood; - That he had filled with wisdom unexcelled, - A cherished serpent of the sesek’s brood,-- - Had taught his forky tongue to modulate - The voice of man, and speak impending fate. - - -XXI. - - At length the morn of this stern trial rose, - And mustering towns poured forth their eager trains, - From where wild Pawcatuck’s dark water flows, - To where Pawtucket cleaves the sounding plains; - From where Aquidnay’s blooming bosom throws - The ocean back, unto the far domains - Of the rude Nipnet, Narraganset’s wood - Rendered in eager throngs the multitude. - - -XXII. - - Swarm upon swarm, far dark’ning all the ground, - They gathered, and on Potowomet’s plain, - The dusky rabble filled the borders round, - While near the centre stood the warrior train; - Wild dance their plumes; fierce looks, fierce threats abound, - With war of voices like the murmuring main, - Wherein these words continually prevail:-- - “The priest of Chepian grim!--Awanux weak and pale!” - - -XXIII. - - The council formed upon the open glade; - The Sachems sate about the mounting blaze; - Five thousand warriors round that senate made - A dreadful ring, and stared with fixed amaze; - Within the senate, (so the chieftains bade,) - Apart sate Williams, obvious to their gaze; - And off a little, but confronting him, - Appeared the wizard in his hideous trim. - - -XXIV. - - From crown to heel stained black as night he rose, - All naked save his waist and heaving chest; - The sable fox-hide did his loins enclose, - The sable fox-tail formed the nodding crest - Above his inky locks, which, dangling loose, - Half veiled his cheeks, and reached unto his breast; - Around that breast the same black fox’s hair - Moved as he breathed, and seemed as growing there. - - -XXV. - - Tall was his form, and in his dexter hand - He bore a barb with deadly venom fraught; - Whilst in his left, supported by a band, - He held a casket, where the rabble thought - A manittoo, awaiting his command, - Coiled in a serpent’s folds; and there was nought - That in brave warriors could awaken fright, - Save his dire glance and fascinating might. - - -XXVI. - - For, strange to tell! e’en on the human kind, - That serpent ventured his mysterious charm; - And there were those who thought the subtle mind - Of Chepian’s self inspired his winding form. - All sought his omens.--He was aye enshrined, - Through winter’s cold, in furs to keep him warm; - And never issued to the open light, - Till famine roused his rage, or prey provoked his might. - - -XXVII. - - Thus, with strange terrors armed, the wizard stood, - And on the casket riveted his eyes, - And whispered for a while in ghastly mood, - Until responses from it seemed to rise - Faintly distinct, whereat the vulgar blood - Stayed its career, and even Sachems wise - Heard with a thrill,--for these dread accents rose: - “Count ye the sands--ye count your pale-faced foes.” - - -XXVIII. - - The prophet looked around, the throngs to scan; - And well he noted by the silence dread - The moment of effect, and then began,-- - Beseeching first his fearful demon’s aid: - “Chepian, thou power of evil! dread of man! - God of destruction! pouring on the head - Of thy opposers, ruins, plagues, and pest,-- - Let all thy might thy serpent form invest.” - - -XXIX. - - He said; then turning to the throngs he spoke: - “Brothers! dark tempests overcast our sky; - The characters upon Cohannet’s rock - Set bounds in vain; the stranger doth defy - And break our spells; dread Chepian feels the shock; - In wrath he sees the approaching deity - Of the pale man--and, in his coming stride, - Feels scathe and death to his dominion wide. - - -XXX. - - “Now hearken, brothers:--’twas a dismal night, - And in his cave sate Tatoban alone; - The fading embers shed a dreary light, - And the big owl sent forth a hollow moan; - The god of tempests sped his rapid flight, - And with his footsteps made the forest groan; - And whilst he sate, out from the deepest gloom - Did the dread form of awful Chepian come. - - -XXXI. - - “‘Sleeps Tatoban!’ the awful demon said, - ‘Sleeps Tatoban! my Priest, my Prophet sleep! - Does not a pale man my dominion tread? - With hostile gods has he not crossed the deep? - Prophet! the spirits of your kindred dead - Already o’er their children’s ashes weep;-- - Arise! go forth, and by thy serpent quell - The daring stranger, and his gods expel! - - -XXXII. - - “‘Hast thou forgot, when, by Cohannet’s stream, - To curse the strangers every charm was tried? - How, at your mutterings, the moon’s pale beam - Retired from Heaven, and backward rushed the tide? - How I appeared, and, by the embers’ gleam, - To the hard rock my lance’s point applied, - And scored my mandate--saying to the foe, - Thus far thy gods may come--no further go?[19] - -[19] See note. - - -XXXIII. - - “‘Rouse, Prophet, rouse! A stranger now doth dare - Pass the charmed limits, and our peace invade!’ - He said, and, resting on the casket there, - Melted from sight into the sombre shade: - He chose my serpent for his earthly lair; - Swelled his huge volumes, and inspired his head, - And taught his tongue to speak the future well, - And charms most wise that can the bravest quell. - - -XXXIV. - - “And dar’st thou, stranger, brave his glance of fire? - Dar’st thou confront the terror of his charms? - Confront grim Chepian in the dread attire - Of the great Sesek, whose unearthly arms - Wake fear in Sachems? O, thou fool! retire-- - Bear off thy gods; for robed in all their harms - Thou art unsafe.--No power we yield to thee, - Or to thy gods; for Chepian rules by me.” - - -XXXVI. - - Williams replied, “Thou Priest of Beelzebub! - Chepian, I mean, if that’s his better name-- - I come not hither to assume thy robe - Pontifical, or emulate thy fame; - Or yet to trouble, with the warrior’s club, - Such saints as thou and thy dark demon claim; - For be but peaceful, and I let thee still - Worship thy manit dark, as suits thy will. - - -XXXVII. - - “But here I sit, to prove thee to thy face - A foul impostor, and thy charms a cheat;-- - To ope the eyes of a deluded race, - Strangely misled by thine infernal feat, - That in thy foe they confidence may place, - And him, in friendship, as a neighbor greet; - So try thy spells, thine utmost powers essay, - And if I blench, be thine the victor’s day.” - - -XXXVIII. - - “Die, then!” he said, and down with fury cast - The magic casket, and wide open flew - Its fur-lined cavern. Forth his volumes vast, - Fold following fold, the monstrous serpent drew; - Flashed on his burnished scales, the sunbeams past - Along his flexuous form in many a hue; - Proud of his freedom, o’er the glade he rolled, - And mocked the rainbow in his hues of gold. - - -XXXIX. - - High towered his head; in many an ample fold - He coiled his volumes, spires o’er spires ascending - And lessening as they rose and inward rolled; - His rustling scales, their various colors blending, - Surpassed the hues of diamond and of gold; - Till, from the top pyramidal extending, - Swam forth on crooked neck his eyes of flame, - Rang his sharp buzz, and on he slowly came. - - -XL. - - Shouted the crowds, as they beheld him rise, - “The manittoo! The manittoo!” they cried. - In sooth, their demon, from his burning eyes, - Seemed looking forth, and his unlabored glide - Scarce earthly seemed, the while his glistering dyes - In mingling brilliance changed and multiplied, - And scarce the curves that moved him did untwist; - But o’er them floating, like a globe of mist, - - -XLI. - - His quivering rattles buzzed. With curious eyes, - Williams beheld him gradually advance, - Then grasped a wand, then paused with fixed surprise, - To see the gorgeous radiance, moving, glance - The hues of heaven;--to see, now sink, now rise, - His bending spires,--his wavering colors dance; - And at each change of that deep thrilling hum - The motions change--the colors go and come. - - -XLII. - - An odor, strange though not offensive, spread - About him, as he near and nearer drew; - But, piercing, keen, it filled our Founder’s head, - Involved his brain, and passed his senses through; - Entranced he sate, while round him rose and played - Celestial hues, and music strange and new;-- - The heavens, the earth, to various radiance turned, - And in a maze of mingling colors burned. - - -XLIII. - - The juggling sesek vanished from his sight; - No alien object did his trance confuse; - So rang the hum, so danced the colors bright, - The hues seemed music, and the music hues; - Still swelled the sounds, still livelier flashed the light; - His limbs obedience to his will refuse; - He strove to rise, he yielded to affright, - Like one be-nightmared in the dreams of night. - - -XLIV. - - “Whence this dread power that steals my strength away? - This creeping torpor, this Lethean dew? - This strange wild rapture mingling with dismay? - Ye dangerous beauties! vanish from my view; - Creatures of Evil, come ye to betray - One victim more, and his sad soul subdue - Unto the Tempter, whose infernal spell - Brought death to Eden, and gave joy to hell? - - -XLV. - - “And shall my labors thus inglorious end? - Shall my defeat give him a triumph new?” - The thought was fire, and did new vigor lend; - Back rushed his soul through every avenue. - A seeming cloud did from his brain ascend, - The magic colors vanished from his view; - And at his feet, in many a supple sweep, - The odious reptile coiled him for the leap. - - -XLVI. - - Swift darts the tongue, the horrid jaws unfold;-- - Williams beheld--struck--cleft the head away: - In many a loosening coil the body rolled, - Collapsed, grew still, and there extended lay, - A headless reptile;--all its hues of gold - And diamond deadened in its life’s decay; - Whilst the foiled wizard looked upon the slain, - And choked and yelled, then choked with rage again. - - -XLVII. - - The crowds looked on ’twixt terror and surprise; - They gazed--they gaped with fixed astonishment; - Their serpent manit braved--ay, slaughtered lies! - Is it Awanux that is prevalent? - But when they gave full credence to their eyes, - Wild wondering clamors through the masses went, - Which closed in shouts that through the forest rolled, - “The wizard conquered by the Yengee bold!” - - -XLVIII. - - Ill could that juggler a white victor brook, - And Hell’s dark passions boiled through all his blood; - His eyes shot fire, and from his belt he took - His deadly dart,--and in stern silence viewed - Its poisoned barb, whose short and horrid crook - The jaws of seseks armed,--jaws all imbued - With the keen venom gathered from the fangs - Of such as died by self-inflicted pangs. - - -XLIX. - - Nothing he spake, but with a hideous yell, - Raised his long dart, and, backward as he bent, - From starting eye-balls shot the light of Hell; - At Williams’ breast the vengeful glance was sent, - But as his muscles did the barb impel, - Red Waban’s grasp obstructed their descent;-- - On earth the weapon falls and pants for blood; - The lifted arm still threatening vengeance stood. - - -L. - - Miantonomi, who the scene surveyed, - Too long had now his rising wrath concealed; - A mighty lance his better hand displayed, - And well he knew its haft of length to wield; - Backward its hilt the angry Sachem swayed, - And ’neath its stroke the staggering wizard reeled; - Till from a storm of blows he cringing fled, - And madly howling through the forest sped. - - -LI. - - “Go, Priest of Chepian, go!” the Sachem said, - “Thy dreams are false--thy charms are all a cheat; - Go to thy manit--tell him that his aid - Has failed thee once, and thou art sorely beat. - Us have thy prophecies too long betrayed, - And vacant in the council is thy seat. - When aid we need, we will to him apply - Who conquers thee, and slays thy deity.” - - -LII. - - A while the throngs sate as in deep amaze-- - A while ’twas doubtful what might be their mood; - At length wild shoutings they began to raise;-- - One transport filled the total multitude; - Their Sachem’s boldness cheerly did they praise, - For long had they with dread the wizard viewed; - Nor less admired our Founder’s courage true, - Which did that juggler and his charms subdue. - - -LIII. - - Then rose Canonicus, that shrewd old chief; - “Brother!” he said, “much glory hast thou won; - Thy deeds this day will scantly gain belief - With warriors red, from rise to set of sun: - Great Chepian’s priest, within a moment brief, - Thou, with thy fearlessness, hast overdone; - And thou art greater than his manits are,-- - For they were vanquished in the combat fair. - - -LIV. - - “Brother! we take thy calumet of peace, - And throw the hatchet into quiet shade; - The Wampanoag’s terrors may surcease, - And thou mayst plant on Seekonk’s eastern glade; - But hearken, brother!--better far would please - Thy council fire if by Mooshausick made; - But pass we that; for well our brother knows - To live our friend surrounded by our foes. - - -LV. - - “Brother! thou wilt our belt of friendship take, - And for us win the kindness of the White, - That when we war against the Pequot make, - His hands may aid us, and his counsels light;-- - His thunders speak and all the forests shake,-- - His lightnings flash and spread a wild affright - Through town and fortress, whereso’er we go, - Till not a Pequot lives to tell his nation’s woe. - - -LVI. - - “Brother! we grant thee quiet neighborhood,-- - The tree of peace o’ershadows thee and me; - And thou mayst hunt in Narraganset’s wood, - And catch the fish that in our waters be; - But thou must still promote the red man’s good, - Keep bright his belt, and make thy counsels free - When danger darkens;--and if this be done, - I am thy father, thou shalt be my son.” - - -LVII. - - Scarce need I say, Sire Williams cheerly gave - The pipe he bore and took the friendly belt; - That thanks he tendered to the Sachems brave; - That what he uttered he as deeply felt; - That he repeated each assurance grave - Of friendly favors, whilst he near them dwelt; - Nor pause I, now, the customs to describe, - By which the truce was honored by the tribe. - - -LVIII. - - He took the Sachem’s friendly calumet, - Then scattered wampum mid the warriors all; - On Miantonomi’s lofty brow he set, - Round waving plumes, the jeweled coronal; - The scarlet coat the elder potentate - Most trimly graced, and gave delight withal; - Then ribbons gave he, various their hue, - To counsellors and Keenomps, bold and true. - - -LIX. - - His mission finished, Father Williams sped, - With Waban guiding, through the forest lone; - Nor cold nor hunger did he longer dread, - Or bore them cheerly now, his object won; - Quickly to Haup did he the thickets thread-- - To Haup, so well to Pilgrim Father known-- - And found that Sachem, mid his warriors stern, - Alarmed, but hoping still his safe return. - - -LX. - - Gladly he heard from Waban’s faithful tongue - Sire Williams’ speeches and the answers given, - And wildly shouted all that warrior throng, - To learn the dire enchanter’s spell was riven; - And wilder shouts the echoing vales prolong, - To hear that priest was from the council driven; - “The tree of peace” they cried, “will bloom again, - The wizard’s banished, and his manit slain.” - - -LXI. - - Then to the elder chief our Father gave - The Narraganset friendly calumet; - And it was pleasant to behold the grave - And stern old Sachem, whilst his eyes were wet - With tears of gratitude;--he could outbrave - The stake’s grim tortures, and could smiling sit - Amid surrounding foes; yet kindness could - Subdue to tears this “stoic of the wood.” - - -LXII. - - He clasped our Father by the hand and led - Him up, in silence, to the mountain’s crown; - And there, from snow-capt outlook at its head, - They gazed o’er bay and isle and forest brown. - It seemed a summer’s eve in winter bred; - The sun in ruddy gold was going down, - And calm and far the expanded waters lay, - Clad in the glory of the dying day. - - -LXIII. - - There stretched Aquidnay tow’rd the ocean blue, - In virgin wildness still of isles the queen; - Her forests glimmered with the western hue, - Her vales and banks were decked with cedars green, - And southward far her swelling bosom drew - Its lessening contours, in the distance seen;-- - Till, wavering indistinctly, in the gray - Encroaching sea-mists they were hid away. - - -LXIV. - - Beneath his feet, Aquidnay’s north extreme - Displayed a cove, begemmed with islets gay; - Its silvery surface caught the setting beam, - Where’er the op’ning hemlocks gave it way; - Young nature there, tranced in her earliest dream, - Did all her whims in vital forms array; - Her feathered tribes round beak and headland glide, - Her scaly broods leap from the glassy tide. - - -LXV. - - Out from Aquidnay tow’rd the setting sun, - Spread the calm waters like a sea of gold - Studded with isles, till Narraganset dun - Fringed the far west, and cape and headland bold, - With forest shagged, cast their huge shadows down, - And glassed them in the wave; while silence old - Resumed her reign, save that by times did rise, - On Williams’ ears, the sea-birds’ jangling cries. - - -LXVI. - - Or the lone fowler, in his light canoe, - Round jutting point all warily did glide, - And pause awhile to watch, with steadfast view, - Where the long-diving loon might break the tide; - Then, noiseless, near the myriad seafowl drew, - And, baffled, saw them scur, with clangor wide, - Up from the foamy flood, and, mounting high, - Darken the day, and seek another sky. - - -LXVII. - - Then looking north, from far could he behold, - Bright bursting from his source through forests dun, - Like liquid silver, broad Cohannet rolled - Tow’rd parent ocean;--there his currents run - Embrowned by fringing woods;--here molten gold, - Gleaming and glittering in the setting sun, - They glance by Haup--there, eastward as they pour, - They cleave Aquidnay from Pocasset’s shore. - - -LXVIII. - - That rude Pocasset--which, when Williams saw - From towering Haup, did one broad forest shew; - Here, steep o’er steep, there, leaving Nature’s law, - Hill, glade, and swamp,--presenting to the view - So mad a maze, that there, if hunter draw - His sounding bow, and but a space pursue - The wounded deer, he finds his guidance fail, - And lost, halloos through tangled brake and dale. - - -LXIX. - - Yet the rude wigwams smoked from many a glade, - Where near the shore the oaks were branching wide, - Where future gardens might invite the spade, - Or furrowing plough the fertile glebe divide, - And where, still south, the hills retiring made - More ample meadows by the glassy tide; - Till far Seaconnet showed her rim of rock, - Whereon the ocean’s rolling billows broke. - - -LXX. - - But on Aquidnay dwelt our Founder’s gaze, - Enraptured still. “Would Seekonk’s mead compare - With yon wild Eden?” While he thus delays, - The old chief’s hand does on his bosom bear, - As he explains: “Another sachem sways - The isle of peace. All Haup’s dominions are - Stretched tow’rd the God of frost--look there and choose; - All thou hast won, and well a part mayst use.” - - -LXXI. - - Turned by the words that gently woke his ears, - Before his eyes a boundless forest lay; - The mossy giants of a thousand years, - O’er hill and plain their mighty arms display; - Mound after mound, far lessening north, appears, - Till in blue haze they seem to melt away; - Here Seekonk wedded with Mooshausick beamed, - And there Cohannet’s liquid silver gleamed. - - -LXXII. - - Here Kikimuet left his woodland height, - Bright in the clear, or dark beneath the shade; - There Sowams gleamed,--if names the muse aright, - Till in the forest far his glories fade; - While here and there, rose curling on his sight - The village smokes of many a sheltered glade; - And, nearer, clustered at the mountain’s base, - The foremost town of Pokanoket’s race. - - -LXXIII. - - Embosomed there in massy shades it stood; - Its frequent voices, up the silent steep, - Came on our Founder’s ear;--in cheerful mood, - The tones of childhood shrill, and manhood deep, - Told him what sports, what toils were there pursued; - Or, wild and clear, the melody would sweep - Of girlish voices, warbling plaintive strains, - Half chant, half music, over woods and plains. - - -LXXIV. - - Ah! how more lovely than the silence hushed, - That lists in horror for the foeman’s tread! - A tender joy our Father’s bosom flushed,-- - The work was his that had these blessings spread; - The storm, that else had o’er the nation rushed, - Had by his sufferings and his toils been stayed; - And as he mused, his hand the Sachem pressed, - For like emotions swelled his rugged breast. - - -LXXV. - - “And oh!” he cried, “what can the Sachem do? - How can he give to Winiams recompense? - Our foes were many, and our warriors few, - But Winiams came, and he was our defence; - Go, brother, plant--go, plant our forest through-- - All hast thou won by thy benevolence; - All hast thou saved from ruthless enemies, - Take what thou wilt, and take what best may please.” - - -LXXVI. - - Our Father answered--“give me bounds and deeds-- - No lands I take but such as parchment names; - To future ages will I leave no seeds - To yield a harvest of discordant claims; - If name I must, I name fair Seekonk’s meads-- - What first I craved still satisfies my aims; - These and the friendship of my neighbors are - Reward too generous for my toil and care.” - - -LXXVII. - - “My brother gives with palm expanded wide,” - The Sachem said, “but with a closing hand - Our gifts are half received and half denied; - Ha! was he born in the white stranger’s land? - My brother’s corn shall wave by Seekonk’s tide-- - My brother’s town shall on its margin stand; - And on the deer-skin, tested by my bow, - My painted voice shall talk, and to far ages go.” - - -LXXVIII. - - While thus they spake, the sun declining low, - In Narraganset’s shades, half veiled his light; - On rapid pinions did the dark winged crow - And broad plumed eagle speed their homeward flight; - Warned by the signs, the twain, descending slow, - In converse grave, pass down the wooded height; - And, in the Sachem’s sylvan palace, share - Respite from hunger, toil, and present care. - - - - -CANTO SIXTH. - -[SCENE. Seekonk’s Mead, or Place of the First Settlement.] - - - The winds of March o’er Narraganset’s bay - Move in their strength--the waves with foam are white; - O’er Seekonk’s tide the tossing branches play, - The woods roar o’er resounding plain and height; - ’Twixt sailing clouds, the sun’s inconstant ray - But glances on the scene--then fades from sight; - The frequent showers dash from the passing clouds; - The hills are peeping through their wintry shrouds. - - -II. - - Dissolving snows each downward channel fill, - Each swollen brook a foaming torrent brawls, - Old Seekonk murmurs, and from every hill - Answer aloud the coming waterfalls; - Deep-voiced Pawtucket thunders louder still,-- - To dark Mooshausick joyously he calls, - Who breaks his bondage, and through forests brown - Murmurs the hoarse response and rolls his tribute down. - - -III. - - But hark! that sound, above the cataracts - And hollow winds in this wild solitude, - Seems passing strange.--Who with the laboring axe, - On Seekonk’s eastern marge, invades the wood? - Stroke follows stroke;--some sturdy hind attacks - Yon ancient groves, which from their birth have stood - Unmarred by steel, and, startled at the sound, - The wild deer snuffs the gales,--then, with a bound, - - -IV. - - Vaults o’er the thickets, and down yonder glen - His antlers vanish; on yon shaggy height - Sits the lone wolf, half-peering from his den, - And howls regardless of the morning light; - Unwonted sounds and a strange denizen - Vex his repose; soon, cowering with affright, - He shrinks away, for with a crackling sound, - Yon hemlock bows and thunders to the ground. - - -V. - - Who on the prostrate trunk has risen now, - And does with cleaving steel the blows renew? - Broad is the beaver on his manly brow, - His mantle gray, his hosen azure blue; - His feet are dripping with dissolving snow, - His garments sated with the morning dew;-- - Our Founder is he, and, though changed by long - And grievous suffering, steadfast still and strong. - - -VI. - - Hard by yon little fountain clear and sheen, - Whose swollen streamlet murmurs down the glade, - Where groves of hemlock and of cedars green - Oppose to northern storms a barricade, - Stands the first mansion of his rude demesne, - A slender wigwam by red Waban made; - Their common shelter from the wintry blast; - And place of rest when daily toils are past. - - -VII. - - Yet from the storm he seldom shrinks away, - With his own hands he labors now to rear - A mansion, where his wife and children may, - In happier days, partake the social cheer; - And unrelenting bigot ne’er essay - To make the free-born spirit quail with fear - At threat of scourge, or banishment or death, - For free belief, the soul’s sustaining breath. - - -VIII. - - Day after day does he his toil renew; - From dawn till dark still doth his axe resound, - And falling cedars still the valley strew, - Or cumber with their trunks the littered ground; - The solid beams and rafters does he hew, - Or labors hard to roll or heave them round; - Or squares their sides, or shapes the joints aright - To match their fellows and the whole unite. - - -IX. - - The beams now hewn, he frames the building square, - Each joint adjusting to its counterpart-- - Tier over tier with labor does he bear, - Timber on timber closes every part, - Except where door or lattice to the air - A passage yields,--and from the walls now start - The rafters, matted over and between,-- - Against the storm and cold,--with rushes green. - - -X. - - Long did this task his patient cares engage, - ’Twas labor strange to hands like his, I ween, - That had far oftener turned the sacred page - Than hewed the trunk or delved the grassy green; - But toils like these gave honors to the sage; - The axe and spade in no one’s hands are mean, - And least of all in thine, that toiled to clear - The mind’s free march--Illustrious Pioneer! - - -XI. - - His cottage finished, he proceeds to rear - A strong rude paling round that verdant glade - His field and garden soon will flourish there, - And wild marauders may their fruits invade; - His maize may be a banquet for the bear, - And herds of deer may on his herbage tread; - But little thinks he that intruders worse - Than these will enter and his labors curse. - - -XII. - - Now milder spring ushers its April showers, - And up fair Seekonk woos the southern breeze; - The birds are singing in their woodland bowers, - Green grows the ground and budding are the trees - The purple violets and wild strawberry flowers - Invite the visits of the murmuring bees; - And down the glade the twittering swallow slips, - And in the stream her nimble pinions dips. - - -XIII. - - And now, with vigor and redoubled haste, - Our Founder delves to plant the foodful maize; - He turns the glebe, does nature’s rankness waste, - The boscage burn, and noxious brambles raze; - Then o’er the seed, on earth’s brown bosom placed, - The fertile mould with careful hand he lays; - Nor yet content,--still labors, other whiles, - The glade to gladden with a garden’s smiles. - - -XIV. - - Then in the woods he carved the deep alcove, - And led the climbing vines from tree to tree; - But near the cottage left the birchen grove, - Its tassels waving in the breezes free; - While o’er the stream their boughs the cedars wove, - Where wound a walk adown the murmuring lea; - And gadding vines embowered the fount’s bright flow - ’Twixt banks of vernal flowers in bloom below. - - -XV. - - Ne’er hatchet touched the overhanging bough, - Whereon the robin built her wonted nest; - About the borders did the wild rose grow, - For there the thrush might soothe her brood to rest; - Nor would he banish from her dwelling low - The long-eared rabbit, but her young caressed; - Fed from his hand they gambolled in the grove, - Caressed our Sire in turn, and mimicked human love. - - -XVI. - - And these long toils had Waban’s faithful aid; - His twanging bow announced the early dawn; - Boldly he pushed into the deepest shade, - Or scanned the tracks upon the dewy lawn; - With lusty arms he grappled on the glade - The growling bear, or caught the bounding fawn, - Or, with sure arrow and resounding bow, - Brought down the turkey from her lofty bough. - - -XVII. - - Sometimes he would the river’s bed explore, - Where with sure grasp the slippery eels he caught; - Sometimes he delved along the sandy shore, - And to the lodge the shelly tribute brought; - And ever shared he with his Sagamore, - (For so to call our Founder he was taught,) - The produce of his toils; and ’twas his care - To parch the maize and spread the frugal fare. - - -XVIII. - - So for a while they two in quietude, - With hopes auspicious, urged their task along,-- - Lighter of heart; though Williams still would brood, - And inly marvel, o’er the missing throng - Of friendly Indians, issuing from the wood - To greet him with “What-Cheer” in voices strong; - And oft would wonder if perchance a vain - Illusion had beguiled his troubled brain. - - -XIX. - - But omens dark and dire appeared at last: - The grim Pawaw had seen the mansion rise,-- - Had from Mooshausick’s highlands often cast - On the advancing work his watchful eyes; - And often, wafted on the passing blast, - Our Sire had heard that wizard’s warning cries:-- - Yet hoped that, baffled and chastised, his pride, - And courage too, had with his serpent died. - - -XX. - - Vain hope! The close had scarce been made secure, - Ere Seekonk’s western marge was blazing bright, - And decked with horns, and furs, and paints impure, - The prophet with a comrade danced all night - Around the flame, and howling, did adjure - His manittoo that most abhorred the light - To give him aid, and, by or force or fraud, - His hated neighbor drive once more abroad. - - -XXI. - - War! war! he threatened:--and when morning came,-- - Though quenched the fire,--upon the margin he, - All trim for strife, bent his gigantic frame - O’er Seekonk’s severing flow, and toward the lea - Shook his ensanguined barb and smote the stream, - And muttered curses numbering three times three; - Then bent his bow, and sent across the flood - Darts armed with serpents’ fangs and red with blood. - - -XXII. - - And brandishing his blade, he jeering said, - That vengeance gave it eyes and appetite, - It soon would eat, but eat in silence dread; - That if the red men all were turning white, - He’d seek the white men that were turning red; - The path was open, and his foot was light; - The Shawmut[20] hunters would with greedy ear - Hear in what covert couched their stricken deer. - -[20] The Indian name for Boston. - - -XXIII. - - Then, with a hideous yell that rent the skies, - He sternly turned and tow’rd Mooshausick flew. - Waban who watched the scene with blazing eyes, - Swift answer gave in shouts of valor true. - From threats like these our Sire might harm surmise, - But that he deemed the wily wizard knew - How heavy was Miantonomi’s spear, - And, if ’twere needful, might be made to fear. - - -XXIV. - - But, after this portentous morn, scarce sun - Looked on that glade, but brought them fresh alarms; - If Waban delved the shores or walked thereon, - Missiles around him flew from hidden arms; - His snares were plundered ere the morning shone, - Clubs smeared with blood and threatening deadly harms - Lay in his path, and voices strangely broke - From viewless forms on shrub, or tree, or rock. - - -XXV. - - Oft from the vacant air came bitter jeer - In gibberish strange, and oft from under ground - A hellish mockery smote the hunter’s ear, - And he would start; but if he glanced around - And Williams saw, he banished every fear; - For well he knew his Sachem could confound - Such diabolic phantoms,--he who slew, - In Potowomet’s glade, the serpent manittoo. - - -XXVI. - - Then taking courage he would seek the brake, - Cull the straight haft, and arm it with the bone - Or tooth of beaver, and the plumage take - From Neyhom wild to wing and guide it on - Straight to its mark, or with nice handling make - Of sinewy deer the bowstring tough, or hone - His glittering scalping-knife, and grimly feel - How sharp its point, how keen its edge of steel. - - -XXVII. - - At length, no longer heedful of disguise, - Upon the opposing bank the wizard stood, - With meet compeer--both armed; their battle cries - And challenge fired brave Waban’s martial blood; - Scorning all counsel, to the marge he flies, - And shoots his arrows o’er the severing flood; - To taunts and jeers his bow alone replies, - And soon their hostile missiles span the skies. - - -XXVIII. - - From tree to tree the champions fly and fight, - Driving or driven from the sheltering screen, - Each change, each movement, yielding to the sight - Their swarthy members through the foliage green; - Whereat their arrows follow, flight on flight, - With hideous yells at every pause between; - Now down the stream--now at the tumbling falls, - The petty battle raves, and wrath to vengeance calls. - - -XXIX. - - Hour after hour thus raged the doubtful fight, - Until the combatants their shafts had spent; - Then to the river’s marge in peaceful plight, - Bearing the pipe with fumes all redolent, - The fraudful wizard came, as to invite - Across the stream to cheer quite innocent - And friendly league a neighbor and a friend; - “Come, let the pipe,” he said, “the battle end. - - -XXX. - - “Waban is brave, and Tatoban is brave; - Hereafter let us live as neighbors kind, - And let thy arrows sleep; no more shall rave - This knife and hatchet; Tatoban was blind!” - “Go!” Waban cried, “thou and thy dastard slave! - Go trap the Neyhom, or the foolish hind; - But thinkest thou into thy open snare, - To lure the cunning fox, and slay him there?” - - -XXXI. - - Thus closed the strife that day; another came, - And all was peace; another sun and still - Another rose and set, and still the same - Unbroken peace--no threatening sign of ill: - Quite undisturbed red Waban trapped his game - Or delved the shore--no foe appeared; until - Our Sire believed that he might safely bless - His weary hours with earth’s best happiness. - - -XXXII. - - Waban, his only counsellor and friend, - Warrior and subject in this lone domain, - Did now the summons of his chief attend, - And, questioned by him, straightway answered plain. - “Waban,” said Williams, “do our battles end? - Is the war over--have we peace again? - No more on yonder bank the prophet stands - And wings his darts or whirls his blazing brands.” - - -XXXIII. - - Waban replied, “Did ever noon-day light - On midnight break? Did ever tempest shed, - Just as it gathered, radiance mild and bright? - Heard not my Sachem what the prophet said,-- - That if the red men were all turning white, - He’d seek such white men as were turning red? - Perchance he goes, and Waban has a fear - That to his cunning speech they’ll lend an ear.” - - -XXXIV. - - “Waban, fear not; my pale-faced brethren are - All Christians, or at least would such be thought; - And dost thou think that Beelzebub, how fair - Soe’er his speech may be, could move them aught - Against their brother? It is better far,-- - If it be true such vengeance he have sought,-- - Than that he lurk among the bushes here, - To fill our days with care and nights with fear. - - -XXXV. - - “But, Waban, I have now a task for thee;-- - Think not of him; but let thy mind be here. - Whilst snows o’erspread the earth and ice the sea, - I parted from my wife and children dear; - ’Twas stormy night, the hunter sheltered me, - And gave me in his lodge abundant cheer; - Then tow’rd the rising sun for me he sped, - And saw the home from which the wanderer fled. - - -XXXVI. - - “There too he saw his little children play, - And the white hand which gave the blanket red; - But now that gloomy time seems far away, - For much has happened, many a moon has sped; - The lodge is built, the garden smiling gay;-- - Will the swift foot once more the forest thread, - And guide the children and the snow-white hand, - With watchful tendance, to this distant land?” - - -XXXVII. - - Waban replied: “The nimble-foot will go;-- - But a gaunt wolf may haunt the hunter’s way, - And he will whet his darts, and string his bow, - And gird his loins as for the battle fray; - The Priest of Chepian ne’er forgets a foe;-- - His vengeance lasts until a bloody day - Doth feed the crows, or still a bloodier night - Gives the gaunt wolf a feast ere dawning light.” - - -XXXVIII. - - “God is our trust!” our pious Founder said, - “Arm, and go forth confiding in his might; - So far as e’er an exile’s foot dare tread - The ground forbidden him, thy sachem white - Will go to meet thee; and when morn has shed - Five times from eastern skies her golden light, - Will wait thee and his wife and children dear, - Hidden in Salem woods till thou appear.” - - -XXXIX. - - Our Founder then the brief epistle traced, - Entreating first that some kind Salem friend, - To aid his little Israel through the waste, - Would for a while two well-trained palfreys lend; - Then to his wife, with kind expression graced, - Did meet directions for her guidance send; - Called her from Egypt, bade her cheerly dare - The desert pass, and find her Canaan there. - - -XL. - - The morrow dawned, and Waban stood prepared; - His knife well sharpened and his bow well strung-- - He waited only till his chief declared - His purpose full; then on his mantle flung, - Girded his loins, his brawny arms he bared, - And lightly through the rattling thickets sprung; - And soon the thunderings of the partridge tell - Where bounds his distant foot from dell to dell. - - - - -CANTO SEVENTH. - -[SCENES. Seekonk’s Mead--The Wilderness--Salem--The Wilderness--The -Night at the Cavern--The New Home.] - - - Much Williams dreaded that dark priest, I ween, - Albeit he hid his fears from Waban’s eyes; - His threat’ning arrows and his savage mien - Would often now in midnight dreams arise; - And, rising, bring of blood a woful scene-- - His Mary pale--his children’s wailing cries; - And he would start, and marvel how a dream, - Delirium’s thought, should so substantial seem. - - -II. - - If in the lonely wilds, by evening dim, - That vengeful savage should the path waylay - Of all the dearest earth contained for him, - Those jewels of the heart, what power could stay - His thirst for blood--his fury wild and grim - As is the tiger’s bounding on his prey? - Oft came obtrusive this appalling thought-- - He shook it off--still it returned unsought. - - -III. - - Not long he brooks this torturing delay, - But soon tow’rd Salem through the forest goes, - Nor will the Muse go with him on his way, - And sing in horrid shades each night’s repose, - Until she, shuddering, mingle with her lay, - And seem herself to bear her hero’s woes; - Let it suffice that on the third day’s dawn, - He gazed from Salem woods on Salem town. - - -IV. - - He saw the cottage he must tread no more, - And sighed that man should be so stern to man; - Two harnessed palfreys stood beside the door, - And by the windows busy movement ran; - Then did his eyes the village downs explore, - Ere yet the labors of the day began; - But all still slept, save where the watch-dog bayed, - Or lowed the kine and cropt the dewy glade. - - -V. - - And many a field new traces of the plough, - And many a roof its recent structure showed, - And in the harbor many a sable prow, - Rocked by the billows, at her anchor rode; - And, ah! he saw (to him no temple now) - The lowly house where erst in prayer he bowed, - And strove to lead his little flock to Heaven; - His flock no more,--with strifes now sorely riven. - - -VI. - - He turned his eyes again to that dear spot - Where, by the door, the waiting palfreys stood: - There, laden now, they bore what Mary thought - The tender exiles, in the lonely wood, - Would need or miss the most, and likewise aught - That would most cheer or comfort their abode; - With useful household wares, securely piled, - But cumbersome for journeying through the wild. - - -VII. - - He saw red Waban take each palfrey’s rein, - And slowly walk the laden beasts before; - He saw his Mary, with her little train - Of blooming children, issue from the door; - He saw her loving neighbors them detain - The Almighty’s blessing on them to implore, - And heard the farewell hymn, a pensive strain - Of mingled voices as they trod the plain. - - -VIII. - - Pleasant it was, and mournful was it too, - To see the matron leading by the hand, - From all their joys to toils and dangers new, - That innocent and happy infant band; - For, hand in hand, did they their way pursue, - With childish wonder, toward the distant land;-- - As little witting of the ills that wait, - As that their labors were to found a State. - - -IX. - - Soon Waban passed him where concealed he stood, - And slowly led his docile charge along; - Then Mary stept into the dusky wood, - Still guiding, as she came, the prattling throng; - No longer viewless he his darlings viewed, - But, wild with rapture, from the thicket sprung: - “Oh, father! father!” burst the children’s cry, - And Mary claspt him in her ecstacy. - - -X. - - But short the transport--soon must they resume - The weary march, and from the dawning gray - Hour after hour, to pensive evening’s gloom, - Through the lone forest wend their devious way; - O’er river, vale, and steep, through brake and broom, - And rough ravine, with aching steps they stray; - The father’s arms oft bore the lovely weight, - Or on the palfrey’s back the weariest sate. - - -XI. - - And thus they past o’er many a rapid flow, - Climbed many a hill--through many a valley wound, - While wary Waban moved before them slow, - And for their feet the smoothest pathway found; - River and fen and miry waste and low, - The floods had swollen to their utmost bound; - Unbridged by frost, no passage do they show, - And far about the anxious wanderers go. - - -XII. - - The sun from middle skies now downward bent - His course, and for a while on lofty ground - They rested, and abroad their glances sent - Far o’er the sea of forest that embrowned - The landscape. The overarching firmament, - The woody waste enclaspt with azure round, - And yon bright sun, yon eagle soaring high, - And yon lone wigwam’s smoke, are all that cheer the eye. - - -XIII. - - At times the eagle’s scream trills from on high, - At times the pecker taps the mouldering bough, - Or the far raven wakes her boding cry,-- - All else is hushed the vast expanses through: - And, ah! they feel in the immensity - Of pathless wilds, around them and below, - As in mid-ocean feels some shipwrecked crew, - Borne wandering onward in the frail canoe. - - -XIV. - - And something was there in red Waban’s mien, - Which all the morn had drawn our Founder’s eyes; - For still he spake not, and was often seen - To bend his ear, or start as with surprise; - And now he stood, and, through the thicket’s screen, - The shadowy prospect seemed to scrutinize, - Then paused, unmoving, till a far-off howl - Did, with long echoes, through the stillness roll. - - -XV. - - It seemed a wolf’s, but Waban’s practised ear - Could well the language of the forest tell; - Again he paused, till from the distance drear, - A faint response in dying cadence fell; - Then spake in haste;--“Does not my sachem hear - The voice of vengeance in the breezes swell? - Come! Let us hasten to some friendly town, - For murder tracks us through the forest brown! - - -XVI. - - “Comrade to comrade calls!--the demon’s priest - Is on our trail!”--No more the red man spoke; - And this in Narraganset’s tongue exprest, - To Mary nothing told, save as the look - And earnest gesture may have stirred her breast - With vague alarm.--But these she soon mistook - As native to him in his wonted mood, - And seemed confirmed as she our Founder viewed. - - -XVII. - - He, in like speech, thus to his faithful guide:-- - “Waban, be calm! wake not in bosoms frail - A groundless fear; the tokens may have lied; - Some other wolf may be upon our trail.” - “Waban was hunted,” quickly he replied, - “Far tow’rd the white man’s town through yonder vale; - When there, the priest oft in his pathway stept, - And watched the wigwam where the white hand slept.” - - -XVIII. - - Sire Williams shuddered thus to realize - What he had hoped was but his fancy’s fear; - But yet he quelled each symptom of surprise, - And thus to Waban: “Brother, be your ear - Quick as the beaver’s, and your searching eyes - Like to the eagle’s, and, the foeman near, - Be your heart bolder than the panther’s, when - He slays the growling bear and drags him to his den.” - - -XIX. - - They left the steep, and, o’er the woodland plain, - Passed with all speed the tender group could make; - They ford the rivers, and their course maintain - Through ancient groves, where, bare of broom and brake, - The lurking foe might scant concealment gain; - Waban still moved before, and nothing spake; - His rapid glance scanned every thicket near, - And when he paused he bent the listening ear. - - -XX. - - Hour after hour the hunter thus did go, - His eyes still roving and his ears still spread; - His was a spectre’s glide;--but toiling slow, - The lagging group pursued with faltering tread. - At last he paused beneath a birchen bough, - Where the dense alders formed a barricade, - And there awaited them.--With anxious breast - Williams approached, and thus his guide addrest: - - -XXI. - - “Sees not my brother that the shadows grow - Fast tow’rd the east, and that the forest brown - Soon hides the sun?--then whither does he go - To rest in safety till the morrow’s dawn.” - Waban replied, “O’er yonder distant brow, - Smokes in the vale Neponset’s peopled town; - Thy red friends there will thee in safety keep, - There may the white hand and the children sleep.” - - -XXII. - - As thus he spake, across their pathway sped - The startled partridge on her whirring wings; - An arrow glanced--it grazed the hunter’s head, - And the shrill forest with the bowstring rings; - Red Waban’s eyes flash fire, and anger dread - Flames in his blood, and every muscle strings; - He stooped to mark where twanged that hostile bow, - Then sprang from tree to tree, to reach the foe. - - -XXIII. - - But ere he gained the purposed point, or viewed - The fell assassin, the dry fagots’ crash, - The waving coppice, and re-echoing wood, - And sounding footfalls down the brakes that dash, - Told him how vainly he his foe pursued, - Or that pursuit were dangerously rash; - And turning slowly he retraced his track, - As his foiled leap the lion measures back. - - -XXIV. - - The matron trembled, at the scene dismayed, - For she had marked that hostile arrow’s flight, - And Williams’ glance, and Waban’s mien betrayed - That instant peril did their fears excite; - And yet no frantic shrieks her acts degrade; - A mother’s cares did every thought invite; - And o’er the little scions of her blood - She stretched her arms’ frail fence, and trembling stood. - - -XXV. - - Calmer in bearing but with equal dread, - The anxious father viewed the threatening harm; - And, under God, what was there now to aid, - Save his own firmness and red Waban’s arm? - Behind--before--a dreary forest spread; - Far was Neponset; here the dire alarm - Of lurking savage; whilst the gathering night - Still added horror to a dubious flight. - - -XXVI. - - He paused a moment, and his means forlorn, - To guard the onward march, he thus arrayed: - The palfreys shielded by the burdens borne, - On either side the moving group, were led, - This by himself, that by his eldest born, - Whilst nimble Waban scoured the threatening shade, - And, keeping wary watch where’er he ran, - Now fenced their flanks, now pioneered their van. - - -XXVII. - - Like as the eagle,--when, from airy rest - She wards her callow young with watchful eye, - And sees the thickets move, by footsteps prest - Within the precinct of her nursery,-- - Wheels first on outstretched pinions round her nest, - Searching below, then darts into the sky - For far espial,--gathering every sound,-- - And soars aloft or sails along the ground; - - -XXVIII. - - So Waban watched and ran, while, moving slow, - The anxious father aids the group along. - In dreadful silence sleeps the forest now, - Hushed is the prattling of each infant’s tongue; - No sound is there, save that of footsteps low, - Or of the breeze that sighs the leaves among, - Or palfrey’s tramp--whose hoofs, with iron shod, - Now clink on rocks, now deaden on the sod. - - -XXIX. - - The sun at last sunk in the western shade, - And the thick forest cast a darker frown, - And now they paused amid an open glade, - More than a bow-shot from the thickets brown; - Then Father Williams to the hunter said, - “Where! where! O Waban, is Neponset’s town?” - And Waban answered, “Full one-half a sleep - This march requires to bring us to its steep.” - - -XXX. - - “Then here we rest, to take whate’er may come,” - Our Founder said, “and do you all prepare - To tread the realms that lie beyond the tomb; - There are no foes or persecutors there, - To drive the guiltless forth, and bid them roam - In savage wilds; yet do not quite despair; - When comes the foe,--and come he doubtless will, - Brother! we must be firm--if needful, we must kill!” - - -XXXI. - - “Waban is firm,” the hunter said, and smote - His naked breast, and raised his stature high; - “Yet hear the red man still;--not far remote - Is Waban’s rock, where he is wont to lie - When the far-striding moose has tired his foot, - And night comes down, and tempests rule the sky; - There may we rest; the foe’s approach is hard - But by one pass, and that will Waban guard.” - - -XXXII. - - The place they sought;--’twas down a rocky dell, - Where scarce the palfreys found a footing sure, - Where deeper darkness from the forest fell, - And thicker boscage did the pass immure; - At last, before them, like a citadel, - Rose a tall rock, whose frowning frontals lower - Over a narrow lea, with brambles dense - On either side like an impervious fence. - - -XXXIII. - - “Here,” said the red man, (as he raised a mass - Of vines that clustered down the rock’s descent,) - “Here’s Waban’s cavern, here is ample space - For thee and thine; in this rude tenement - Ten hunters oft have found their biding place, - Nor in it felt themselves too closely pent; - Waban will now below the opening raise, - In yon dry fagots’ heap, the mounting blaze.” - - -XXXIV. - - “Stay! stay!” said Williams, “wouldst thou lure the foe? - Wouldst start the flame to tell him where we sleep?” - The hunter smiled: “My Sachem does not know - How true the foe will to our footsteps keep; - He hears, perchance, e’en now our accents low, - Or marks us from some tree on yonder steep; - Waban will wake the fire; ’twill serve to show - His posture, numbers, and will aid our blow.” - - -XXXV. - - Williams assented; and while Waban fired - The arid fagots, he the burdens took - From off the palfreys, that, o’erwrought and tired, - Now stretched their toil-worn limbs and stoutly shook - Their liberated frames, and fuller breath respired, - And quiet grazed the lea. Then to the rock - The father hastened with a blazing brand; - His wife and children, linking hand in hand, - - -XXXVI. - - Followed his steps. It was a cavern rude, - Its floor a level rock, its vaulted roof - Of granite masses formed, whose arches stood - More firmly for the weight they propped aloof;-- - And here and there upon the floor were strewed - Extinguished brands, which, with like signs, gave proof - That men had dwelt there;--then, through screening vines - Sire Williams glances out and marks where shines, - - -XXXVII. - - Full on red Waban’s face, the mounting blaze. - Though half a bow-shot from the cavern he - Stands at the fire, yet its bright sheen displays - His hue and shape, and then could Williams see - How well the hunter judged thus far to raise - The burning pyre; no passage could there be - For hostile foot, save by that glittering flame, - Which well would light the arrow’s certain aim. - - -XXXVIII. - - Such furniture, as for their strongest need - The wretched exiles had themselves supplied, - Was to the cave now brought, with bread to feed - The little children clustering by the side - Of their fond parents.--Then did thanks succeed - To God who deigned such comforts to provide, - And earnest prayers that His protecting might - Would shield them through the dangers of the night. - - -XXXIX. - - With trembling haste a slight repast they took, - And to their several places then repaired; - The mother sate deep in the rocky nook - Beside her children, and their pallet shared; - Red Waban sate upon a jutting rock, - Hard by the cavern’s mouth, the pass to guard; - While at the entrance, Williams listening stood, - Screened by the vines, and every passage viewed. - - -XL. - - Deep night came down o’er forest, vale and hill-- - The dismal hootings of the darkling owl, - The melancholy notes of Whip-poor-will, - And the lone wolf’s far distant long-drawn howl, - Answered at times by panther screaming shrill, - Such hideous echoes through the forest roll, - That Mary shudders, and, from transient sleep, - The infants starting up for terror weep. - - -XLI. - - But Williams listened with accustomed ear, - The dread of man alone disturbed his breast; - Hour after hour, unmarked by danger near, - The pass he watches for the savage priest, - And still, with eyes turned tow’rd the flame, doth hear - Whatever steps the rustling leaves molest; - And oft he thought that through the brake he saw - The waving fox-tail of the grim Pawaw. - - -XLII. - - At last within the hollow forest rose - Strange sounds that were unmeaning to his ear;-- - As if there human hands were breaking boughs - Green with the verdure of the new-born year; - Crash follows crash.--“Are these approaching foes? - Do one or more their march thus pioneer?” - No answer Waban made, but seemed to shrink - Among the vines along the rock’s dark brink. - - -XLIII. - - A moment more, and, bounding o’er the hedge, - A monster trotted tow’rd the mounting flame; - Then turned and bayed;--’twere doubtful to allege - Dog, fox, or wolf, his aspect best became; - Still did he howl, with still increasing rage; - And Waban rose and gave his arrow aim, - But ere its flight, a whistled signal rang; - The hybrid turned, and to the forest sprang. - - -XLIV. - - “The fell Pawaw! his dog!” red Waban cried, - In tone suppressed, and hid himself again; - And Williams feared he had too much relied - Upon the courage of that dusky man; - He took the hatchet from the hunter’s side, - And dropt the feebler bludgeon from his span; - “Thy sachem,” said he, “will himself essay - To aid his warrior in the approaching fray.” - - -XLV. - - “’Tis good!” said Waban, “so red sachems do-- - But there! behold! behold! They come! They come!” - And Williams looked, and there, the thickets through, - Half in the light, half in the changeful gloom, - The forest boughs seemed moving out to view, - Branch heaped on branch, a weight most cumbersome - For human feet, yet human feet, he knew, - That burden bore, and with it dangers new. - - -XLVI. - - Straight to the blaze they moved, and, dashing down - The leafy branches on the mounting flame, - Put out the light, and smoke and shadow brown, - In total darkness, all the glade o’ercame; - The mother shrieked; the father, with a groan, - Heard the wild cry, and stayed her sinking frame; - And both now felt that, with that smothered ray, - The last faint trembling hope had died away. - - -XLVII. - - A fearful growl, close to the cavern’s vent, - First broke the thrall of horror and surprise; - And, by the gleam the smouldering embers sent, - That canine hybrid, shooting from his eyes - A baleful glare, crouched seemingly intent - On the scared infants as his famine’s prize; - The father drove the hatchet to his brains, - One yell he gave, and writhed in dying pains. - - -XLVIII. - - Seeking the cavern’s mouth along the rock, - Some groping hand the vine’s thick foliage stirred; - “Where art thou Waban!” and the war-whoop broke; - Palsied with fear the trembling mother heard; - “Where art thou, Waban!” and, with horrid look, - A giant savage through the foliage stared; - But, at that moment, from his rocky mound - Twanged Waban’s bow with sudden sharpest sound. - - -XLIX. - - Back reeled the savage with a dismal howl, - And on the earth like stricken bullock fell. - But still new terrors filled the father’s soul; - He heard another and more fearful yell; - Across the glade a new assailant stole; - The blaze reviving showed his movements well; - And Williams sprang his warrior to sustain, - Just as he strained the yielding bow again. - - -L. - - But as he drew the arrow to the head, - The cord snapt short; he dashed the weapon down, - And leaping from the rock upon the glade, - With glittering scalping-knife and haughty frown, - Before the assailant stood, who paused, surveyed,-- - Measuring the hunter’s height from heel to crown,-- - Then, swift as thought, the vengeful hatchet sent; - At Waban’s head the well-aimed weapon went. - - -LI. - - But well the wary hunter knew his foe - And read his murderous purpose in his eye; - He marked the coming steel, and, bending low, - Let it pass on and cleave the air on high; - Behind him rings the cliff with shivering blow, - And far around its scattered atoms fly; - Then with wild yells they wave the scalping-knife, - Together rush, and thrust and strike for life. - - -LII. - - O! ’twas a fearful scene--a moment dire; - For on the issue of that contest lay - The lives of infants, mother, and of sire, - And the fair fame that crowns a distant day. - Soon closed the champions by the glimmering fire, - Limbs locked in limbs in terrible affray; - They writhe--they wrench--they stagger to and fro, - Hands grasping hands that aim the fatal blow. - - -LIII. - - Now struggling by the flames they past from sight, - For Williams lingered yet to guard the cave; - And there, enveloped in a deeper night, - With fiercer fury did the contest rave;-- - The blow, the wrench, the pantings of the fight, - The crash of branches and of thickets gave - A dreadful note of every effort made, - Where life sought life within that shuddering shade. - - -LIV. - - The mother sank beside the father, pale - And scared; the children her affright partook; - At times they raised the sympathetic wail; - At times with breathless terror mutely shook. - Williams peered out along the kindling vale; - No sign of other foe there met his look; - Then with a word that quick return presaged, - He rushed tow’rd where the doubtful contest raged. - - -LV. - - He passed the flame and paused--for on his ear - There came, with one loud crash, a heavy sound; - He listens still; and silence, sudden, drear, - Reigns o’er the glade, and through the gloom profound. - Who is the victim? Evil-boding fear - Tells him that Waban gasps upon the ground; - One bubbling groan, as if the life-blood gushed; - A shuddering struggle then--and all was hushed. - - -LVI. - - In dire suspense the anxious father stood, - Yet did he still unmanly terrors quell; - His hand, yet innocent of human blood, - Now grasped the axe to meet the victor fell; - When from beneath the arches of the wood, - Rang the far-trembling, death-announcing yell, - So like a demon’s issuing from his pit-- - Who but that savage could the sound emit? - - -LVII. - - Then moving slowly in the gloomy wood, - Doubtful and darkling through the ghostly shade, - A form approached, and as it onward trod, - Appeared distinct upon the open glade; - ’Twas Waban!--Waban bathed in hostile blood; - And by the lock he held a trunkless head. - He stooped beside the mounting blaze to shew, - Still more distinct, his trophy to the view. - - -LVIII. - - With lips still quivering, and with eyes unglazed, - The reeking fragment seemed as living still; - Fierce on the horrid thing the victor gazed, - The battle’s wrath did still his bosom fill; - His eyes looked fire, another yell he raised, - That rang rebellowing from hill to hill; - Then, by the long dark lock swung from the ground, - He whirled on high the ghastly ball around. - - -LIX. - - Around--around--still gathering force it went; - Still on his sinews strained the whirling head, - Till cleaving from the skull the scalp was rent, - And through the air the ponderous body sped; - Deep in the hollow woods its force was spent, - Thrice bounding from the ground, then falling dead;-- - He turned and spoke: “No more the babes shall weep! - The grim Pawaw now sleeps! and Waban now can sleep!” - - -LX. - - They passed the turf, as they the cavern sought, - Where fell the body of the earliest slain;-- - Said Waban, as he paused beside the spot, - “The black Priest’s comrade never wakes again;” - Then seized the body roughly by the foot, - And dragged it, bleeding yet, along the plain - Straight to the rocky steep, and o’er it dashed; - It dropped in night; re-echoing thickets crashed. - - -LXI. - - Then the rude victor washed the stains away, - Cast him on earth, and soon deep slumber showed - How lightly in his rugged bosom lay - The horrid memory of that scene of blood;-- - But Williams watched until the dawning gray, - And Mary’s fitful sleep the scenes renewed, - While the young dreamers in her circling arms, - Oft shrieked and sobbed in slumber’s vain alarms. - - -LXII. - - The morning dawns, and they their march resume; - No perils now annoy their toilsome way; - The night came down, and with its sober gloom - Brought quiet sleep until the morning’s ray; - Again they rose, and gained their joyous home - On Seekonk’s marge, just at the close of day; - And Him they blessed, who had in safety led - Them through dire perils, to their humble shed. - - - - -CANTO EIGHTH. - -[SCENE. The New Home in Seekonk’s Mead.] - - - Through Seekonk’s groves the morning sun once more - Flames in his glory. Waving verdant gold, - The boundless forest stands. Wild songsters pour, - From every dewy glade and tufted wold, - The melody of joy. From shore to shore - The tranquil waters dream, and soul-like hold - A mirrored world below of softest hue, - With underhanging vault of cloudless blue. - - -II. - - And Williams issued from his humble cot, - Not as of late in solitary mood, - With cheerless heart and ill-foreboding thought, - But with light step and breast of quietude; - And by him came the partner of his lot, - And their young children, with blithe interlude - Of prattling speech, softening the graver talk - Of the fond parents in their morning walk. - - -III. - - In sooth his buoyant spirits seemed to spread - O’er all about him their enlivening flush; - Ne’er was the grass so verdant on the glade, - Ne’er did the fountain sparkle with such gush; - Ne’er had the stream such lovely music made, - Ne’er sang so blithe the robin on the bush; - The woodland flowers far brighter hues displayed, - More sunny was the lawn, more dark the shade. - - -IV. - - They walked and talked; he told his trials o’er; - And often Mary brushed aside the tear, - And oft they joined to thank kind Heaven once more, - That thus his sufferings were rewarded here; - Then they would sit beneath the fountain’s bower, - And woo the breeze, or smiling bend the ear - To childly mirth, which, in its silver tone, - Soothed the rude wilds with music erst unknown. - - -V. - - And all was happiness,--security - In blest seclusion. The rude storm seemed past, - The bow of promise spanned their life’s new sky; - No threatening cloud their prospects overcast,-- - No shadow lowered; but Heaven with gracious eye - Looked smiling down and blest their toils at last. - Their Salem friends to join them soon will try,-- - That they’re not here is all that brings a sigh. - - -VI. - - Thus for a time did they anticipate - The bliss which Heaven for pilgrims has in store, - When their freed souls review their former state, - And bygone pains enhance their joys the more; - But yet one lingering fear of frowning fate, - Our Founder’s bosom lightly brooded o’er-- - No Indian throng, as promised by the seer, - Had bid them welcome with Whatcheer! Whatcheer! - - -VII. - - But let it pass;--perchance it was a dream; - His thoughts seemed wandering or disturbed at best, - When stood or seemed to stand, in doubtful gleam, - That form scarce earthly, and his ears addrest;-- - Ay, let it pass--for ill would it beseem - So staid a man to be at all deprest - By visionary fears or superstitious dread, - Whilst Heaven is showering mercies on his head. - - -VIII. - - “Waban,” he said, “a generous feast prepare, - We can be cheerful, and yet not be mad; - The good man’s smiles may be a praise or prayer; - The wicked only should be very sad. - God feeds the birds, my Mary, in the air,-- - Hear how they thank Him with their voices glad. - The heart of man should nearer kindred own, - Joy in his smiles and sorrow in his frown.” - - -IX. - - Then forth fared Waban to the winding shore, - And quickly laid its shelly treasure bare, - Nor failed the woody dingles to explore, - And trap the partridge or the nimble hare; - And soon beneath a beech, beside the door, - On marshalled stones the blazing fagots are; - And when with heat the pristine oven glows, - Waban his tribute gives, and covers close. - - -X. - - Meanwhile our Founder went from place to place, - And did each plan of village grandeur name; - This rising mound the future church should grace, - Yon little dell the village school should claim; - That sloping lawn the council hall should base, - Where freemen’s voices should the law proclaim, - And ne’er to bigot yield the civil rod, - But save the Church by leaving her to God. - - -XI. - - So pass the hours, till westward through the skies - The sun begins to turn, and, savory grown, - From Waban’s ready feast the vapors rise; - The group beneath the beech then sit them down; - “Thou kind and generous man,” our Founder cries, - “Our brave defender! thy complexion brown - Bars not thy presence;--sit thou at the board,-- - Of these bright lands God made thy kind the lord. - - -XII. - - “My valliant warrior like a Keenomp fought, - And Chepian’s priest before his valor fell! - But his white Sachem in the battle wrought - Too little for a chief he loves so well.” - “The dog--the dog! that had the children caught,” - Exclaimed the red man, “does his valor tell; - A manit-dog he was, for well he knew - Whate’er the priest of Chepian bade him do. - - -XIII. - - “The priest of Chepian and his comrade came - To fight the white man and his warrior brave; - The fox-eared demon sought for other game, - And went to filch it from the rocky cave; - My Sachem white a manittoo o’ercame, - To demon dark a fatal wound he gave; - Brave is my Sachem, for he nobly slew - What Waban dreaded most,--that fearful manittoo!” - - -XIV. - - “Brother,” said Williams, “under Power Divine, - That shields the just man in dark peril’s hour, - Thine was the victory, and the glory thine - To quell Apollyon’s priest--a demon’s power! - Henceforth the demon must his lands resign, - And thou must be Mooshausick’s Sagamore, - The right of conquest will do very well, - When Hell assails us, and we conquer Hell. - - -XV. - - “But might the choice of either blameless go, - Mary! these fruits of suffering and of toils, - And racking cares through fourteen weeks of woe, - I’d prize far higher than the reeking spoils - Of all the nations laid by Cæsar low, - When he, the victor in Rome’s civil broils, - Sate, like the Jove he worshipped, o’er a world - Whose crowns were offered, and whose incense curled. - - -XVI. - - “And there is cause, I trow.--Who cannot see - That a dark cloud o’er our New England lowers? - The tender conscience struggles to be free; - The tyrant struggles, and retains his powers. - O, whither shall the hapless victims flee, - Where be their shelter when the tempest roars? - May it be here--may it be Heaven’s decree, - To make its builder of a worm like me.” - - -XVII. - - While thus he spake, the neighboring thickets shook, - And from them issued one of mien austere; - And Williams knew a Plymouth elder’s look, - In doctrines stern--in practice most severe; - His gait was slow, and loath he seemed to brook - Such signs of comfort and of earthly cheer; - And up he came, they scarce could reason why, - Like a dark cloud along a cheerful sky. - - -XVIII. - - The gloom that gathered o’er our Father’s breast, - He strove with heavy effort to dispel; - “Elder!” he said, “thou art an honored guest; - To see our ancient friends should please us well; - Thy journey long must give the banquet zest; - Come and partake our sylvan meal, and tell - The while what word or tidings thou mayst bear - From Plymouth’s rulers and our brethren there.” - - -XIX. - - “Williams,” he said, “I need no food of thine-- - The wilds I thread not without store my own; - But I would fain beneath that roof recline - To-night, and rest my limbs till morn be shown;-- - And there this eve some reasoning, I opine, - (For all may err,) a weighty theme upon, - May not be deemed amiss.--Perchance a light - Will on thee break and set thy feet aright.” - - -XX. - - “Elder, whatever themes,” our Founder said, - “My scant attainments fit me to essay, - Shall not avoidance have from any dread - That thy strict logic may my faults betray; - That ‘all may err,’ means that our friends have strayed, - And not that we have wandered from the way; - It is a maxim to perversion grown, - And points to others’ faults to hide our own. - - -XXI. - - “But as my Plymouth visitor requests, - We’ll seek that cottage; I have called it mine, - These hands have built it; but all friendly guests - May call it theirs, and, Elder, it is thine - While thou sojournest here. Whoever rests - Beneath its roof may not expect a fine, - A dungeon, scourge, or even banishment, - For heresy avowed, or doubted sentiment.” - - -XXII. - - They sought the cottage.--Its apartments rude, - But still a shelter from the cold and heat, - A cheerful fire and fur-clad settles shewed, - And other comforts, simple, plain, and neat. - The Elder paused, and all the mansion viewed, - Then, with a long-drawn sigh, he took his seat, - And briefly added--“Thou hast labored, friend, - Hard--very hard! I hope for worthy end.” - - -XXIII. - - He paused again, then solemnly began - A sad relation of the Church’s state; - O’er many a schism and false doctrine ran, - That had obtruded on its peace of late; - But most alarming was our Founder’s plan, - To leave things sacred to the free debate; - To make faith bow to erring reason’s shrine, - And mortal man a judge of creeds divine. - - -XXIV. - - “This simple truth no Christian man denies,” - He thus continued, “that the natural mind - Is prone to evil as the sparks to rise, - And to the good is obstinately blind; - Who then sees not, that looks with wisdom’s eyes, - That God’s elect should rule the human kind? - The good should govern, and the bad submit, - And saints alone are for dominion fit?” - - -XXV. - - Our Founder answered, “Art thou from the pit? - Get thee behind me, if such thoughts be thine; - Did Christ his gospel to the world commit, - That his meek followers might in purple shine? - He spurned the foul temptation, it is writ, - And the Great Tempter felt his power divine; - Art thou far wiser than thy Master grown, - And spurn’st a heavenly for an earthly crown?” - - -XXVI. - - “Nay--nay, friend Williams!” the grave elder cried, - “It is that crown of glory to secure - That the True Church should for her saints provide - The shield of law ’gainst heresy impure; - Quell every schism--crush the towering pride - Of the dark Tempter, ere his reign is sure; - For many finds he who are servants meet - To sow for him the tares among the wheat. - - -XXVII. - - “Men ever busy, searching for the new, - Scanning our creed as if it doubtful were, - These would we hold perforce our doctrines to, - And the vain labor to convert them spare; - God may in time their restless souls renew, - And give them of his grace a saving share;-- - Meanwhile our Church their errors would restrain, - And to her creed their wayward minds enchain.” - - -XXVIII. - - “A mortal thou!” our Founder here replied, - “Yet judge of conscience,--searcher of the heart - Thou, the elect?--but if it be denied, - How wilt thou prove it, or its proofs impart? - God gave to man that bright angelic guide, - A reasoning soul, his being’s better part;-- - He gave her freedom; but thou wouldst confine - And cramp her action to that creed of thine. - - -XXIX. - - “Who binds the soul extends the reign of hell; - She’s formed to err, but, erring, truth to find; - Pity her wanderings, but, O never quell - The bold aspirings of this angel blind! - God is her strength within, and bids her spell, - By outward promptings, the eternal Mind: - Long may she wander still in quest of light, - But day will dawn at last upon a polar night.” - - -XXX. - - “A dangerous tenet that!” the Elder said; - “A fallen angel doubtless she may be; - If truth she find by natural reason’s aid, - It ever leads her to some heresy; - Indeed, the truth too often is betrayed - To minds ill-fitted for inquiry free; - From bad to worse, from worse to worst we go, - And end our being in eternal woe. - - -XXXI. - - “Nature’s own truths do oft the mind mislead; - From partial glimpses men will judge the whole; - And it were better if our Church’s creed - Were learning’s object and its utmost goal; - Reason would then no higher purpose need, - Than, by it, point the yet erratic soul - To her high hope and everlasting rest!” - Williams this heard, and spake with kindling breast: - - -XXXII. - - “God gave man reason, that his soul might be - Free as his glance that spans the universe; - All things around him prompt inquiry free, - All do his reason to research coerce; - The Heavens, the Earth, the many breeding sea, - All have their shapes and qualities to nurse - The soul’s aspirings, and, from blooming youth - To ripe old age, provoke the quest of truth. - - -XXXIII. - - “Truth! I would know thee wert thou e’er so bad, - Bad as thy persecutors deem or fear, - Wert thou in more than Gorgon terrors clad, - Thy glance a death to every feeling dear; - Taught thou that God a demon’s passions had, - That Earth is Hell, and that the damned dwell here, - And death the end of all;--still would I know - The total Curse--the sum of being’s woe. - - -XXXIV. - - “Yet fear not this, for each new truth reveals - Of God a nearer and a brighter view; - Anticipation lags behind, and feels - How mean her thought at each discovery new; - Her stars were stones fired in revolving wheels-- - Truth! thine are worlds self-moved the boundless through - Who checks man’s Reason in her heavenward flight, - Would shroud, O God! thy glorious works in night! - - -XXXV. - - “Whence didst thou learn that the Almighty’s plan - Required thy wisdom to protect and save, - That, when he sent his Gospel down to man, - Thou to defend it must the soul enslave, - Enthrone deceit, and place beneath its ban - The honest heart, that dares its sentence brave? - Full well I trow the Prince of Darkness fits - The blood of martyrs shed by hypocrites. - - -XXXVI. - - “Hearken for once; just as the conscience pure - Is here God’s presence to my wayward will-- - Not to constrain it, but to kindly lure - It on by duty’s path, from every ill; - So to the State the Christian Church, secure - From human thrall, should be a conscience, still - Ne’er to constrain, save by that heavenly light - Which bares the Wrong, and maketh plain the Right.” - - -XXXVII. - - “No more, friend Williams,” said the Elder here, - “No more will we on this grave theme delay; - My hopes were high, and ’twas an object dear - To shed some light on thy benighted way; - But still wilt thou with sinful purpose steer - Thy little bark against the tempest’s sway; - On mayst thou go--I cannot say God speed! - But would thy object were some better deed. - - -XXXVIII. - - “Couldst thou renounce thy purpose here to base - A State where heretics may refuge find, - I do not doubt that to some little grace - The Plymouth rulers would be well inclined; - But as it is, perhaps some other place, - Still more remote, may better suit thy mind; - But till the morn as may a guest befit, - My message hither do I pretermit.” - - -XXXIX. - - Our Founder pondered on the Elder’s word; - What could this dark portentous message be, - With its delivery until morn deferred, - Lest it should mar night’s hospitality. - The wrath of Plymouth he had not incurred, - He with her Winslow was in amity; - Then what strange message had the Elder borne, - That utterance sought, and yet was hushed till morn! - - -XL. - - This cause, mysterious, darkling, undefined, - Did by degrees each cheerful thought efface, - And poured portentous glooms along his mind, - That seemed reflected by each friendly face; - The matron sighed, and childhood disinclined - To mirth or sport, sought slumber’s soft embrace, - And soon the gathered night did all dispose, - To shun their boding thoughts in dull repose. - - -XLI. - - Morn comes again;--the inmates of the cot - Rise from scant slumber, and their guest they greet; - “Williams,” he said, “it is my thankless lot, - Thee with no pleasant message now to meet; - Nor hath our Winslow in his charge forgot - (For his behest I bear and words repeat) - His former friendship, but right loth is he - To vex his neighbors by obliging thee. - - -XLII. - - “In short, thou art on Plymouth’s own domain; - Beyond the Seekonk is the forest free,-- - This must thou leave, but there thou mayst maintain - Thy State unharmed, and still our neighbor be; - Fain had I spared thee this deep searching pain, - By showing thee thy dangerous heresy; - It may not be; hence, therefore, must thou speed; - The Narragansets may protect thy creed.” - - -XLIII. - - To breathless statues turned the listeners stood, - Silent as marble and as cold and pale; - With vacant gaze our Sire the Elder viewed, - O’erwhelmed, confounded by this sudden bale; - As when some swain, deep in the sheltering wood, - Ere he has seen the tempest on the gale, - Marks the bright flash; the smitten senses reel; - He stands confounded ere he learns to feel. - - -XLIV. - - At length reviving from the stunning shock, - His thoughts returning in a broken train, - Our Founder thus the speechless stupor broke:-- - “I to my ancient friend may yet explain; - Just is my title here; the lands I took - Are part of Massasoit’s wide domain, - And fairly purchased; mine they dearly are; - Make this but known, and Plymouth must forbear.” - - -XLV. - - “And didst thou think,” the Elder cried, “to win - Of Pagan chief a title here secure? - Why not derive it from that man of sin - At papal Rome,--the Antichrist impure? - Our Church of Truth, against the Heathen thin, - Asserts her Canaan, and will make it sure. - Thy purchase feigned was by the Prophet shown - To Dudley, and by him to us made known.” - - -XLVI. - - “My purchase feigned!” our Founder quickly cried-- - “God made that Pagan, and to Him He gave - Breath of this air, drink from yon crystal tide, - Food from these forest lawns and yonder wave: - Yea, He ordained this region, far and wide, - To be his home in life, in death his grave. - Is thy claim better? Canst thou trace thy right - From one superior to the God of might?” - - -XLVII. - - The Elder answered: “Thinkest thou this land - For demons foul and their red votaries made? - Did not Jehovah, with his own right hand, - Tempest for Israel when the Heathen fled? - Does Plymouth’s Church less in his favor stand? - Or spares he devils for the savage red? - As to our title, then, we trace it thus: - God gave James Stuart this, and James gave us.” - - -XLVIII. - - “God gave James Stuart this!” our Founder cried, - Up-starting from his seat as he began, - “God gave James Stuart this!”--a choking tide - Of kindling feeling through his bosom ran, - To which his better part free speech denied, - Since all the Christian strove against the man, - And strove not all in vain;--yet, bursting forth, - His soul came big with grief that stifled half her wrath. - - -XLIX. - - “God gave James Stuart this!--I marvel when! - Fain would I see the deed Omniscience wrote; - Elder! there are commandments counting ten, - Which Great Jehovah upon Sinai taught; - Has He of late exempted Plymouth’s men-- - Reversed his justice and made sin no fault? - Taught them to covet of their neighbor’s store, - And licensed robbery of the weak and poor? - - -L. - - “Behold these hands, which labor has made hard,-- - Look at this weather-beaten brow and face,-- - And ask yourself if to be thus debarred - And hunted from their fruits like beast of chase, - Demands not meekness more than God has spared - To human hearts in his abundant grace! - Followed e’en here!--Again compelled to flee! - As if this desert were too good for me! - - -LI. - - “But I can go.--Oh, yes! I can submit;-- - God in his mercy will give shelter still; - Go--tell your Dudley in the book ’tis writ - That the oppressor shall hereafter feel; - Yet, gracious Lord, grant that repentance fit - Him to receive the everlasting seal - Of thy salvation--that his lost estate - Be yet revealed, ere it is all too late! - - -LII. - - “Grieve not, my Mary!--Children, do not weep! - Though yonder verdant lawns, and opening flowers, - And groves whose shades the murmuring streamlets sweep, - All perish for us now,--yet on far shores, - Perchance by yon blue bay or rolling deep, - Far from white brethren, mid barbarian powers, - Your father’s hands another glade may form,-- - Another roof to shield you from the storm.” - - -LIII. - - As here he ceased, in all the agony - Of mental pain he paced the cottage floor; - Absorbed in his own woes scarce did he see - The Elder pass, and leave his humble door; - His toils, cares, hopes, all lost; and poverty - Sudden, gaunt, naked, spread its glooms once more. - A clashing sound first broke this mental strife; - ’Twas Waban, edging sharp his scalping knife. - - -LIV. - - And such an ireful look, (his eyes so bright, - So played his muscles and so gnashed his teeth)-- - Red warrior ne’er did show, save when in fight - His weapon makes the hostile heart a sheath, - And forces out the soul. He looked a sprite - Kindling a hell within!--Recoiling ’neath - The horrid feelings that the image woke, - Our Founder shrank, and thus the form bespoke: - - -LV. - - “What fiend, O Waban! thus inflames thy breast?” - The spell of frenzy at the accents broke; - The red man paused, his hand the bosom pressed, - His eyes still flashing fire, and thus he spoke: - “My chief was angry with his pale-faced guest, - And at my sachem’s ire my own awoke; - I can pursue,--for viewless pinions lift - My nimble feet to speed thy vengeance swift.” - - -LVI. - - A freezing horror crept through every vein, - As Williams heard the son of Nature speak; - And humbled stood he, for that ire profane - Was but his own that did new semblance take - In that wild man;--there stood the ancient Cain - And here the modern, better skilled to check - The wayward passions, and how dark soe’er - The mirror there might be, the real form was here. - - -LVII. - - “Waban!” at length he said, “I grieve to see - That all I sowed fell on a barren rock; - How could my brother hope to gladden me - By such a deed? Thou dost thy sachem shock! - O! from thy savage nature try to flee;-- - Lay down thy murderous knife and tomahawk, - And dwell on better themes. New toils invite, - And high rewards my brother shall requite. - - -LVIII. - - “Oft have I heard my hunter name with pride - His long, deep, hollow, arrow-winged canoe; - Now drag her from the fern to Seekonk’s tide, - And bid her skim once more the waters blue; - She loves to rove, and we must far and wide - Seek other forests for a dwelling new; - Our toils here end; a cloud from Wamponand - Hangs o’er our glade, and blackens all the land.” - - -LIX. - - A fickle race the red man’s kindred were, - Free as the elk that roved their native wood, - Here did they dwell to-day, to-morrow there, - As want or pleasure ruled the changeful mood; - And Waban loved adventures bold and rare, - Nor heard with sorrow of a new abode; - And forth he goes to seek his long canoe, - And trim her breast to skim the waters blue. - - -LX. - - The while the infant group, from noon to night, - Passed here and there through all that cultured glade; - And sighed and wept, by turns, or sobbed outright, - As to its charms their last farewell they bade; - “Here father labored--here he slept till light - Renewed his toils,” they often thought or said; - And still the springing tears suffuse their eyes, - They dash them off--but still their sorrows rise. - - -LXI. - - They plucked the blossoms from the blushing bush, - They quaffed the waters from the purling rill, - Their bread they scattered to the gentle thrush, - That seemed half-conscious of the coming ill; - The rabbit eyed them from his covert brush, - Their crumbs supplied the little sparrow’s bill; - And sadly then they sighed their last adieu, - “Our little friends, farewell! we sport no more with you.” - - -LXII. - - Meantime the parents in the cottage sate, - Their bosoms heaving and their thoughts in gloom. - “O! what,” cried Mary, “is our coming fate? - And where, my husband, is our future home? - Will not dire famine on our footsteps wait, - And perils meet us whereso’er we roam? - Our harvest gone, who now can food supply? - Forced from this roof, where shall our children lie?” - - -LXIII. - - “Trust we in God!” our pious Founder said; - “Doubt not the bounty of His providence, - Who Israel’s children through the desert led, - And in all perils was there sure defence; - He did not bid us this far forest tread, - To leave us here in want and impotence. - Warnings, my Mary, were most strangely given, - Such as I sometimes deem were sent from Heaven! - - -LXIV. - - “Well can thy mind that stormy night recall, - The last in Salem that I dared abide,-- - In fleecy torrents did the tempest fall, - Our little dwelling reeled from side to side; - The fading brands just glimmered on the wall, - Alone I sate, my heart with anguish tried, - When lo! a summons at the door I heard, - Deemed it a wretch distressed, the pass unbarred. - - -LXV. - - “And straight appeared a venerable seer, - Such as on earth none ever saw before; - His temples spake at least their hundredth year, - In many a long and deeply furrowed score; - But, Oh! his eyes, in youthful glory clear, - Did from them a celestial radiance pour; - And then that face scarce seemed to veil the rays, - (Too bright for mortal!) of an angel’s blaze. - - -LXVI. - - “And when he spake, methought the music clear - Of tongue seraphic, filled his heavenly tone; - It came so full, yet gently, on my ear, - It well might serenade the Almighty’s throne; - ‘Williams,’ it said, ‘I come on message here - Of mighty moment, to this age unknown; - Thou must not dally, or the tempest fear, - But fly by morn into the forest drear. - - -LXVII. - - “‘Thou art to voyage an unexploréd flood, - No chart is there thy lonely bark to steer; - Beneath her rocks, around her tempests rude, - And persecution’s billows in her rear, - Shall shake thy soul till it is near subdued; - But when the welcome of _Whatcheer! Whatcheer!_ - Shall greet thine ears from Indian multitude, - Cast thou the Anchor there, and trust in God.’ - - -LXVIII. - - “He went away, and I could not detain - Him from departing in the stormy night; - He would but promise to be seen again - Where faith in freedom should my rest invite. - I’ve often dwelt on that prophetic strain, - Recalled that voice,--and rightly can recite - The words it uttered.--Oh that I had more - Their import weighed, and shunned this tyrant shore! - - -LXIX. - - “For, Mary, deem it not a sinful thought, - That Heaven should give her counsels to restore - The soul to freedom.--Lo! what wonders wrought - The God of Christians for the Church of yore; - With heathen darkness was the conscience fraught, - And tyrants chained it to a barbarous lore; - To break like thraldom in a Christian land, - Angels may speak, and God disclose his hand. - - -LXX. - - “This spot I rashly chose. No Indian train - Glad welcome gave to my enraptured ear, - And that mysterious form comes not again, - Inspiring courage; therefore hence we steer, - Nor land nor dwelling let us think to gain - Until the greeting of Whatcheer! Whatcheer! - Our journey stays,--there, there is our abode; - Our anchor there, our Hope, Almighty God!” - - -LXXI. - - Thus spoke our Sire, and now, with ready hand - And spirits lightened, Mary did prepare - For their departure to another land,-- - Alas! they knew not how and knew not where. - At eventide, red Waban from the strand, - The children from the glade, with cheerless air - Revisited the cot.--One more sad night, - And thence they journey at the rising light. - - -LXXII. - - Upon the cottage roof the Whip-poor-will - That night sang mournful to the conscious glade; - The lonely owl forsook her valley still, - And perched and hooted in the neighboring shade; - The wolf returned, and lapped the purling rill, - Sate on its marge, and at the cottage bayed; - From all its howling depths the desert came, - And seemed its lost dominion to reclaim. - - - - -CANTO NINTH. - -[SCENES. Seekonk’s Stream and Banks--Whatcheer Cove and -Shore--Mooshausick’s Vale, or Site of Providence.] - - - ’Tis early morn; Pawtucket’s torrent roar, - A solemn bass to Nature’s anthem bold, - Alone wakes Williams’ ear; its currents pour - Along with foaming haste, where they have rolled - Ages on ages, fretting here from shore - The basin broad, and there ’twixt hill and wold - Furrowing their channel deep; far hastening on, - Now lost in shades, now glimmering in the sun. - - -II. - - No thraldom had they known save winter’s frost; - No exile yet had their free bosom borne; - Deep in that glade (now to our Founder lost,) - Their wave eternal had a basin worn; - Oft thence their flow had borne the stealthy host, - In light canoes, before the gray of morn, - Darkling to strike the foe,--but now no more - They bear the freight of men athirst for gore. - - -III. - - Early that morn, beside the tranquil flood, - Where ready trimmed rode Waban’s frail canoe, - The banished man, his spouse and children, stood, - And bade their lately blooming hopes adieu. - The anxious mother had not yet subdued - Despondent sorrow, and the briny dew - Stole often down her cheeks; hers was the smart-- - The searching anguish of the softer heart. - - -IV. - - And, as she viewed the illimitable shade, - The haunt of savage men and beasts of prey, - She thought of all the dreadful ills arrayed - Against her children on their dangerous way; - “Ye houseless babes!” in her wild grief she said, - “What crimes were yours, what dire offences, say, - That even ye should share this cruel doom, - Beg of barbarians bread, and savage deserts roam?” - - -V. - - But Father Williams, to his lot resigned, - Now rose to feelings of a loftier tone; - For Heaven to vigor had restored his mind, - And firmly braced it for the task unknown; - He scarcely glanced upon the toils behind; - His soul inspired did bolder visions own, - That from his breast dispelled each dismal gloom, - And cheered him onward to his destined home. - - -VI. - - As the bold bird that builds her mansion high - On beetling crag or helmlock’s lofty bough, - Deep in the desert, far from human eye, - And deems herself secure from every foe,-- - Aloft in overshadowing branches nigh, - Perceives the wild-cat’s threatening eye-balls glow, - And spurns her eyry, with ascending flight - To some tall ash that crests the mountain’s height; - - -VII. - - So his vain toils he coldly now surveyed; - He had but sunk a bolder wing to try; - He snatched the weepers from the hated glade, - And bore them lightly to the shallop nigh; - Then sprang into the stern, and cheerly bade - The dusky pilot his deft paddle ply;-- - While, shoved from shore, the settling skiff descends - Low in the flood, and with the burden bends. - - -VIII. - - Now with a giddy whirl the wheeling prow - Veering around points with the downward tide; - Then Waban’s paddle cuts the glassy flow; - The mimic whirlpools pass on either side; - The surface cleaves, the waters boil below;-- - The cot, the glade, the forests backward glide; - Until the shadows, moving as they flew, - Closed round the green and shut the roof from view. - - -IX. - - Pawtucket’s murmurs die upon their ears, - As through the smooth expanse the swift canoe - Drives on; and now the straitened pass appears - With jutting mounds that lofty forests shew;-- - Each giant trunk a navy’s timber rears; - Their mighty shadows o’er the flood they threw, - Shutting the heavens out, till glimmering day - Could scarce the long, dark, winding path display. - - -X. - - Deep silence reigned o’er all the sable tide, - Broke only by the swarthy pilot’s oar; - Under the arching boughs the wanderers glide, - And the dark ripplings curl from shore to shore; - The startled wood-ducks ’neath the waters hide, - Or on fleet pinions through the branches soar; - Whilst overhead the rattling boughs, at times, - Tell where the streaked raccoon or wild cat climbs. - - -XI. - - Oft on the lofty banks, from jutting rocks - The buck looked wildly on the swift canoe; - Oft o’er the bramble leaped the wary fox, - With bushy tail and fur of ruddy hue; - Or wheeling high and gathering still in flocks, - The dark-winged crows did by their clamors shew - Where the lone owl, upon his moss-grown seat, - Maintained, unvanquished yet, his drear retreat. - - -XII. - - Far down the winding pass at length they spy - Where wider currents, bright as liquid gold, - Spread glimmering in the sun; and to the eye, - Still further down, broad Narraganset rolled - His host of waters azure as the sky; - For breezes from the hoary ocean cooled - His heaving breast, and, with rejoicing glance, - From shore to shore the wanton waters dance. - - -XIII. - - And now did Williams in his mind debate;-- - Should he that night cleave Narraganset’s flood, - Or on the Seekonk’s bank till morning wait, - And scour the while Mooshausick’s gloomy wood? - “Oh, would that Heaven might there predestinate - On earth, Soul-Liberty! thy first abode,” - (He often thought) “or where, in ocean’s arms, - Aquidnay smiles in her wild virgin charms.” - - -XIV. - - While thus he ponders, down the stream he sees, - Where from th’ encroaching cove the wood retires, - Dark wreaths of smoke rise o’er the lofty trees, - And deems that there some village wakes its fires. - “Waban,” he says, “seest thou yon dusky breeze? - Say, from what town that curling smoke aspires? - What valiant sachem holds dominion there? - And what the number that he leads to war?” - - -XV. - - “No town--the feast of peace!”--the red man cried, - And still with brawny arms impelled the oar; - “The clans from Narraganset far and wide, - And every tribe from Pokanoket’s shore, - There smoke the pipe, and lay the axe aside,-- - The pipe my chief to Potowomet bore; - Much they rejoice--their ancient hate forego, - And deem the White Chief a good Manittoo.” - - -XVI. - - A secret joy o’er Father Williams’ breast - Stole like the fragrance of a balmy morn, - That breathes on sleep with fearful dreams opprest, - And wakes to its delights the wretch forlorn; - His toils and wanderings were not all unblest; - Some joy to others had his sufferings borne;-- - But promised good brings doubt to the distrest, - And thus still dubious he his guide addrest: - - -XVII. - - “What singing bird has on the wandering wing - Borne these strange tidings to my hunter’s ear? - Where, on her pinions poising, did she sing, - And with her faithless song his bosom cheer?” - Waban replied, that he, while journeying - Unto the white man’s town, through forests drear, - Had on Cohannet’s banks his brethren met, - Bound to the banquet of the calumet. - - -XVIII. - - And now hoarse murmurs reach our Founder’s ear, - Rising behind a cape from crowds unseen; - Then by the eastern marge they swiftly steer, - Till shows a tufted isle its welcome screen; - Veering to this, they gain a prospect near - Of the red hosts that throng the opposing green;-- - Hundreds on hundreds did the fires surround, - Ran on the shores or verdant banks embrowned. - - -XIX. - - Along the strand their speed the racers try, - And with their flying feet scarce touch the ground; - From goal to goal the nimble hunters fly, - Crowds shout above them, and the woods resound; - Here their lithe limbs the swarthy wrestlers ply,-- - They tug, they writhe, they sweat, crowds shout around; - And there the circles watch the doubtful game, - Or greet the victor with their loud acclaim. - - -XX. - - Then Williams saw, beneath a shady bower, - Miantonomi, Sachem young and brave, - And Massasoit, Haup’s kind Sagamore, - And old Canonicus, so wise and grave, - Known by his peaceful pipe and tresses hoar, - And by the scarlet coat our Founder gave; - Round them their captains intermingled stood, - All friendly now, though lately fierce for blood. - - -XXI. - - From chief to chief the calumet they past, - Sitting, in silent solemn council, round; - Each thrice inhaled, thrice forth the vapors cast,-- - First to the power that bids the thunder sound, - Then to the gods that ride the angry blast, - Then to the fiends that dwell beneath the ground; - These made propitious, they the hatchet gave, - The bloody hatchet, to a peaceful grave. - - -XXII. - - “Waban,” said Williams, “we may venture now, - But pause ye short of the sure arrow’s flight;” - Instant the red man drove the foaming prow - Along the cleaving flood, and, at the sight - Of the red hosts of men, the rose’s glow - Fading at once left Mary’s cheek all white; - And sudden fears her children’s breasts surprise, - And, with their little hands, they veil their eyes. - - -XXIII. - - Full in the front of that vast multitude, - Beyond an arrow’s flight their skiff they stayed; - A sudden silence hushed the listening wood; - The crowds all paused, and with wild eyes surveyed - The pale-faced group, which in like stillness viewed - The wondering throngs. At length the woodland glade - Moves with their numbers; down the banks they pour, - Swarming and gathering on the dark’ning shore. - - -XXIV. - - As when some urchin, with a heedless blow, - The insect nations of the hive alarms, - Down from their cells the watchful myriads flow, - And earth and air grow black with murmuring swarms; - So from the woods the wondering warriors go, - So o’er the dark’ning strand their concourse forms; - None save their haughty chiefs remain behind, - And they the lofty banks and forest margin lined. - - -XXV. - - Then silence reigned again--but still they stared; - Some claspt their knives, and some their arrows drew; - Then from his seat his form our Founder reared, - The while beneath him rocked the frail canoe; - His hand he raised and manly forehead bared, - And straight their former friend the Sachems knew; - “Netop, Whatcheer!” broke on the listening air; - “Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” re-echoed here and there. - - -XXVI. - - Then o’er and the o’er the words burst loud and clear, - In shouts that seemed to seek the joyous sky; - With open arms and greetings of “Whatcheer,” - Lived all the shores, and banks, and summits high; - “Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” resounded far and near, - “Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” the echoing woods reply; - “Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” swells the exulting gales, - Sweeps o’er the laughing hills and trembles thro’ the vales. - - -XXVII. - - “Speed! Waban, speed!” with haste our Founder cried, - Soon as the hollow echoes died afar; - With lusty arm the hunter clove the tide, - The swift canoe seemed moving through the air; - One instant more and Williams, from her side, - Sprang on a rock, (thence giving it to share - His deathless fame,) and straight around him stood, - In cheerful throngs, the Indian multitude. - - -XXVIII. - - Miantonomi, stepping from the crowd, - Stretched forth his brawny hand, and cried “Whatcheer! - Welcome, my brother! say, what lowering cloud, - O’er Seekonk’s eastern marge, impels thee here? - Be it the Pequot in his numbers proud, - I hold his greeting in this glittering spear; - But oh! perchance my brother seeks this place, - To share with us the sacred rites of peace?” - - -XXIX. - - “Not so, brave chief; it is to seek a home, - By seer announced, by Heaven to me assigned; - Yonder abode lies wrapt in sable gloom, - Not of the Pequot, but the Plymouth kind; - My promised harvest blighted in the bloom, - My voiceless roof,--all, all have I resigned, - And hither come to seek Mooshausick’s plain, - And beg the gift once proffered me in vain.” - - -XXX. - - Good Massasoit, who did these accents hear, - Would now our Founder greet,--and with a face, - That spoke a sorrow deep and most sincere: - “Long have I strove,” he said, “in thought to trace - What Manit most my Plymouth friends revere; - For aye their deeds their better words efface, - Their tongues much speak of Spirit good and great, - Their hands much do the work of Chepian’s hate.” - - -XXXI. - - Here grave Canonicus came from the throng,-- - “Welcome, my son!” exclaimed the aged chief, - “Bear thou the inflictions of thy kindred’s wrong - With man’s stout courage, not with woman’s grief; - The lands thou seëst shall to thee belong, - And for thy comforts lost, a moment brief - Shall all the loss repair;--o’er yonder height - Is where till lately Chepian reigned in might. - - -XXXII. - - “Abandoned by his Priest his land now lies,-- - Left by that Priest’s own slaves,--for slaves had he - Who tilled his field and made his mansion rise, - Adorned with mats and colors fair to see; - The Priest is gone,--how, nothing care the wise; - His timid followers from their labors flee,-- - All fear within the fiend’s control to stay; - For who but Chepian’s Priest can Chepian sway?” - - -XXXIII. - - So spake Canonicus, the wise and old,-- - While shouts on shouts a full accordance shewed,-- - Then turned and sought the late forsaken hold; - Our Sire, the matron, and her charge pursued; - The ready tribes, behind them forming, rolled - In march triumphant onward through the wood, - Cheering the exile’s home; and as they sped, - Earth rumbled under their far-thundering tread. - - -XXXIV. - - The forest branches, woven overhead, - Shut out the day and cast a twilight gloom;-- - For where long since extends the verdant mead, - Shines the fair palace, beauteous gardens bloom, - One vault of green o’er-roofed a palisade - Of trunks and brambles, boscage, brake and broom;-- - Amid which chafed the warriors’ surly mood, - And cracked and crashed the thickets as they trod. - - -XXXV. - - They gained the height where now the Muses reign-- - Where now Brown’s bounty[21] to the human mind - Links earth and heaven; the fruit of honest gain - Moulding the youthful soul, by taste refined, - To truth’s eternal quest.--How poor and vain, - To such high bounty, seems a meaner kind;-- - But this in after times;--for forests then - Mantled the height and swarmed with savage men. - -[21] Brown University. - - -XXXVI. - - Thence, in the vale below, our Founder sees - Where dark Mooshausick rolls, and seaward casts, - Its waters,--rolling under lofty trees - With crossing branches, thick as e’er the masts - That shall, thereafter, on the wanton breeze - Display their banners, when, in sounding blasts, - The cannon utters its triumphant voice, - And bids the land through all its States rejoice. - - -XXXVII. - - And thence, with prescient eye, he gazes far - O’er the rude sites of palaces and shrines, - Where Grecian beauty to the buxom air - Shall rise resplendent in its shapely lines; - Ay, almost hears the future pavements jar - Beneath a people’s wealth, and half divines - From thee, Soul-Liberty! what glories wait - Thy earliest altars--thy predestined State. - - -XXXVIII. - - Then down the steep, by paths scored in its side, - Where frequent deer had sought the floods below, - He past, still following his dusky guide - And stooping often under drooping bough, - To a broad cultured field, expanding wide - Betwixt dense thickets and Mooshausick’s flow. - Its deep green rows of waving maize foretold - Abundant harvest from a fertile mould. - - -XXXIX. - - The Priest’s forsaken lodge rose thereamid, - Beside a fountain on a verdant lawn, - Spacious as some great Sachem’s, and half-hid - In mantling vines wherewith it was o’ergrown; - And Williams thought of what his warrior did - On that dark bloody night, so direly known,-- - Mourning the fate that caused the Sorcerer’s doom; - Yet sees its fruit, a temporary home. - - -XL. - - But some last scruples still his mind assail; - For, ah! what rites had made the place profane! - When thus the chief:--“No more my son bewail - Thy comforts lost; let the Great Spirit reign - Where Chepian reigned; ay, let thy God prevail; - Be thou His Priest, and this thine own domain; - From wild Pawtucket to Pawtuxet’s bounds - To thee and thine be all the teeming grounds.” - - -XLI. - - High thanks Sire Williams paid;--but as he spake, - Came over him a feeling passing strange; - A prophet’s rapture in his breast did wake; - For, at that moment, down the boundless range - Of heavenly spheres did some bright being take - Wing to his soul, and wrought to suited change - The visual nerve, and straight in outward space - Stood manifest in its celestial grace.[22] - -[22] See note. - - -XLII. - - At once he cried, “I see! I see the seer! - His very form, his very shape and air! - By yonder fount;--the same his robes appear; - The same his radiant eyes and flowing hair; - Mary! my children! come! his accents hear; - See age and youth one heavenly beauty share!” - They with him moved, (yet ne’er the vision saw,) - Until the father paused, transfixed in sacred awe. - - -XLIII. - - For strange to tell, youth’s lingering light began - To spread fresh glories o’er that aged face; - Till over beard, and hair, and visage wan, - Burst the full splendor of angelic grace; - A lambent flame about the forehead ran, - And rainbow hues the earthly robes displace; - The curling locks, like beams of living light, - Streamed back and glowed insufferably bright. - - -XLIV. - - The figure seemed to grow; its dazzling eyes - Were for a while upon Sire Williams bent, - Then upward turned, and, looking to the skies, - Spake hope in God with silence eloquent. - Still did it brighten, still its stature rise, - With Heaven’s own grandeur seeming to augment;-- - The pilgrim staff no longer did it hold, - But on an Anchor leant that blazed ethereal gold. - - -XLV. - - Our Father gazed, and, from that heavenward eye, - Beheld the clear angelic radiance flow; - And saw that figure, as it towered on high, - With inward glory fill, dilate and grow - Translucent,--and then fade,--as from the sky - The sunset fades or fades the radiant bow; - Until, dissolving in transparent air, - It disappeared and left no traces there. - - -XLVI. - - Then low, on bended knees, he drops to own - The Heaven-born vision, and his soul declare; - His wife and children, near him kneeling down, - Send up their hearts upon the wings of prayer; - The dusky tribes, in crescent round them shown, - Give ear;--hill, vale and forest listeners are; - Force to each word their faithful echoes lend, - And with their Ruler’s prayers their own ascend. - - -XLVII. - - “Mysterious Power! who dost in wonders speak, - We note thy tokens and their import spell; - Let Persecution still its vengeance wreak-- - Let its fierce billows roll with mountain swell, - Here must we Anchor, and their force repel. - Here, more securely, shall our bannered State - Blazon the conscience sacred--ever free; - Here shall she breast the coming storms of fate - And ride triumphant o’er the raging sea, - Her well-cast Anchor here, her lasting Hope in Thee! - - -XLVIII. - - “Here, thy assurance gives our wanderings rest, - And shows where all our future toils must be; - Lord! be our labors by thy mercies blest, - And send their fruits to far posterity; - Let our example still the Conscience free, - Where’er she is by tyrant force enchained, - And while the thraldom lasts, Oh! let her see - Her safety here, where, ever unprofaned - By persecution, her free altars are maintained. - - -XLIX. - - “Accept, O Lord! our thanks for mercies past; - Thou wast our cloud by day, our fire by night, - While yet we journeyed through the dreary vast; - Thou Canaan more than givest to our sight;-- - Lord! ’tis possessed, not seen from Pisgah’s height. - We deeply feel this high beneficence; - And ages hence our children shall recite - Of Thy protecting grace their Father’s sense, - And, when they name their Home, Proclaim Thy PROVIDENCE!” - - - - -NOTES.[23] - -[23] These notes were mostly written for the poem as first -published in 1832;--none after 1847, when the author died.--[EDITOR.] - - - - -CANTO FIRST. - - -STANZA I. - - _I_ SING _of trials, toils and sufferings great, - Which_ FATHER WILLIAMS _in his exile bore, - That he the conscience-bound might liberate, - And to the soul her sacred rights restore_. - -“ROGER WILLIAMS was born of reputable parents in Wales, A. D. 1598. -He was educated at the University of Oxford; was regularly admitted -to Orders in the Church of England, and preached for some time as -a minister of that Church; but on embracing the doctrines of the -Puritans, he rendered himself obnoxious to the laws against the -non-conformists, and embarked for America, where he arrived with his -wife, whose name was Mary, on the 5th of February, A. D. 1631.” He -had scarcely landed ere he began to assert the principle of religious -freedom, and insist on a rigid separation from the Church of England. -A declaration that the magistrate ought not to interfere in matters -of conscience could not fail to excite the jealousy of a government -constituted as that of Massachusetts then was; and this jealousy was -roused into active hostility when, in the April following his arrival, -he was called by the Church of Salem as teaching Elder under their then -Pastor, Mr. Skelton. - -“Of this appointment,” says Winthrop, “the Governor of Massachusetts -was informed, who immediately convened a Court in Boston to take the -subject into consideration.” Their deliberations resulted in a letter -addressed to Mr. Endicot, of Salem, to this effect:--“That whereas Mr. -Williams had refused to join the churches at Boston, because they -would not make a public declaration of their repentance, for having -communion with the Churches of England while they tarried there, and -besides had declared his opinion that the magistrate might not punish -the breach of the Sabbath, nor any other offence that was a breach of -the first table; and therefore they marveled they would choose him -without advising with the council, and withal desired him that they -would forbear to proceed until they had considered about it.” - -This interference of the government forced him to leave Salem. “He -removed to Plymouth, and was engaged assistant to Mr. Ralph Smith, the -pastor of the church at that place. Here he remained until he found his -views of Religious Toleration and strict non-conformity gave offence to -some of his hearers, when he returned again to Salem, and was settled -there after Mr. Skelton’s death, which took place on the 2d of August, -1634.” In this situation Williams preached against the cross in the -ensign, as a relic of papal superstition. His preaching however, on -this topic, does not seem to have been a subject of complaint, only as -it led some of his friends to the indiscretion of defacing the colors. -His persecutors, in excusing this act to the government of England, say -that they did so, “with as much wariness as they might, being doubtful -themselves of the lawfulness of a cross in an ensign.” But though he -may have given no offence by declaring an opinion on this subject -so little at variance with their own, yet when he ventured to speak -against the king’s patent, by which he had granted to his subjects the -lands which belonged to the Indians; and, above all, to maintain that -the civil magistrate ought not to interfere in matters of conscience, -except for the preservation of peace, his presence within the -jurisdiction of Massachusetts could no longer be tolerated. A summons -was granted for his appearance at the next court. - -He appeared accordingly. “It was laid to his charge,” says Winthrop, -“that, being under question before the magistracy and churches for -divers dangerous opinions, viz: That the magistrate ought not to punish -for the breaches of the first table, otherwise than in such cases as -do disturb the public peace. 2d. That he ought not to tender an oath -to an unregenerate man. 3d. That a man ought not to pray with such, -though wife, children, &c. 4th. That a man ought not to give thanks -after sacrament nor after meat, &c., and that other churches were -about to write the church of Salem to admonish him of these errors, -notwithstanding the church had since called him to the office of -Teacher.” - -These charges having been read, all the magistrates and ministers -concurred in denouncing the opinions of Williams as erroneous and -dangerous, and agreed that the calling him to office at that time was -a great contempt of authority. He and the church of Salem were allowed -until the next General Court to consider of these charges, and then -either to give satisfaction to the Court, or else to expect sentence. - -Much warmth of feeling was exhibited in the discussion of these -charges; and in the course of the debate it seems the ministers were -required to give their opinions severally. All agreed that he who -asserted that the civil magistrate ought not to interfere in case of -heresy, apostacy, etc., ought to be removed, and that other churches -ought to request the magistrates to remove him. Nothing will give a -better idea of the state of feeling on this occasion than the fact that -when the town of Salem at this time petitioned, claiming some land -at Marblehead as belonging to the town, the petition was refused a -hearing, on the ground that the church of Salem had chosen Mr. Williams -her teacher, and by such choice had offered contempt to the magistrates. - -The attendance of all the Ministers of the Bay at the next General -Court was requested. This was held in the month of November, -1635. Before this venerable congregation of all the dignitaries -of the church, Williams appeared, and defended his opinions. His -defence, it seems, was not satisfactory. They offered him further -time for conference or disputation. This he declined, and chose to -dispute presently. Mr. Hooker was appointed to dispute with him. -But Mr. Hooker’s logic, seconded as it was by the whole civil and -ecclesiastical power of Massachusetts, could not force him to recognise -the right of the civil magistrate to punish heresy, or to admit that -the king’s patent could of itself give a just title to the lands of -the Indians. The consequence was, that on the following morning he -was sentenced to depart, within six weeks, out of the jurisdiction of -Massachusetts. - -Such were the causes of Williams’ banishment, and such the -circumstances under which the decree was passed. He was a man who -fearlessly asserted his principles, and practiced upon them to their -fullest extent. Persecution could not drive him to a renunciation of -his opinions. His observance of any principle which he adopted was -conscientiously strict; but this very strictness of observance had -its advantages, in enabling him with more certainty to detect any -latent error which his opinions involved. He was as free to declare -his errors as he was to assert whatever appeared to him to be right. -His very honesty in this respect has given occasion to his enemies to -brand his character with inconsistency and apostacy; but he remained -true to every principle espoused by him, which posterity has since -sanctioned, and inconstant in those things only which are unimportant -in themselves, and which are unsettled even in the present day. A tacit -confession of his own fallibility was implied in the great principle -of which he was the earliest asserter, that government ought not to -interfere in matters of conscience; and therein consisted a wide -difference between his errors, whatever they were, and those of his -persecutors. This fact, in estimating the character of Williams, cannot -be too well considered. - -“Subsequently to his banishment, he was permitted to remain until -spring, on condition that he did not attempt to draw others to his -opinions.” But the friends of Williams could not consent to see their -favorite pastor leave them, without frequently visiting him whilst they -yet had an opportunity. In these interviews, the plan of establishing -a colony in the Narraganset country, where the principle of Religious -Freedom (the assertion of which had been the chief cause of his -banishment) should be carried into effect, was discussed and matured. -It is also highly probable that he did not fail to do what he conceived -to be the duty of a faithful pastor in other respects. At length the -rumor of these meetings reached the ears of the civil authorities; -and in January, 1635, (O. S.,) “The governor and assistants,” says -Winthrop, “met in Boston to consider about Mr. Williams; for they -were credibly informed, that he, notwithstanding the injunction laid -upon him, (upon liberty granted him to stay until spring,) not to go -about to draw others to his opinions, did use to entertain company in -his house, and to preach to them even of such points as he had been -sentenced for; and it was agreed to send him into England by a ship -then ready to depart. The reason was because he had drawn about twenty -persons to his opinions, and they were intending to erect a plantation -about the Narraganset bay, from whence the infection would easily -spread into these churches, the people being many of them much taken -with an apprehension of his godliness. Whereupon a warrant was sent to -him to come presently to Boston, to be shipped, &c. He returned for -answer, (and divers of Salem came with it,) that he could not without -hazard of his life, &c. Whereupon a pinnace was sent with commission to -Captain Underhill, &c., to apprehend him, and carry him on board the -ship, which then rode at Nantascutt. But when they came to his house -they found he had been gone three days, but whither they could not -learn.” - -It thus appears that the object of his government, in directing his -immediate apprehension at this time, was to prevent the establishment -of a colony in which the civil authority should not be permitted to -interfere with the religious opinions of the citizens. - -Williams was in the thirty-seventh or thirty-eighth year of his age -at the time of his banishment. He fled to a wilderness inhabited -only by savages. The two principal tribes--the Narragansets and -Wampanoags--had, but a short time before he entered their country, -been engaged in open hostilities. The government of Plymouth had on -one occasion extended its aid to its early friend and ally, Massasoit, -chief sachem of the Wampanoags. This interference had smothered, -but not extinguished the flame. With these warring tribes, one of -which (the Narragansets) was a very martial and numerous people, and -exceedingly jealous of the whites, Williams was under the necessity of -establishing relations of amity. He himself says that he was forced to -travel between their sachems to satisfy them and all their dependent -spirits of his honest intentions to live peaceably by them. He acted -the part of a peace-maker amongst them, and eventually won, even for -the benefit of his persecutors, the confidence of the Narragansets. -It was through his influence that all the Indians in the vicinity of -Narraganset bay were, shortly after his settlement at Mooshausick, -united, and their whole force, under the directions of the very men -who had driven him into the wilderness, brought to co-operate with the -Massachusetts forces against the Pequots. - -[See Winthrop’s Journal, and a Sketch of the Life of Roger Williams, -appended to the first volume of the Rhode Island Historical -Collections, for the above extracts.] - - -STANZA XII. - - _Much less my consort and these pledges dear._ - -Williams was the father of six children, viz: Mary, Freeborn, -Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. I am not able to determine their -number at the time of his banishment. - - -STANZA XLIII. - - _Thrice did our northern tiger seem to come._ - -Frequently called the Panther, the Cat of the Mountain, or Catamount. -There is indeed no animal of America entitled to the appellation of the -Panther; but this name is frequently applied to the animal mentioned, -and is adopted in this production for that reason. - - -STANZA LVIII. - - _’Twas Waban’s cry at which the monsters ran._ - -The Indians imitate very perfectly the cry of wild beasts, and use -that art in conveying signals and for other purposes, during their -hunts and other expeditions. The known antipathy between the wolf and -the catamount or panther, and the superiority of the latter over the -former, may justify the text. - - -STANZA LXVI. - - _Where burning fagot nevermore shall glow, - Fired by the wrath of persecuting men._ - -I know not that the fagot has been generally used in any protestant -country for the extirpation of heresy, yet its very general application -to that purpose by Roman Catholics has, by common consent, made it the -appropriate emblem of persecution in all countries. - - -STANZA LXIX. - - _Until Sowaniu’s breezes scatter flowers again._ - -Sowaniu, or the Paradise of the Indians, was supposed to be an island -in the far southwest. It was the favorite residence of their great god, -Cawtantowit, and the land of departed spirits. The balmy southwest was -a gale breathed from the heaven of the Indians. - - -STANZA LXXX. - - _“And may the Manittoo of dreams,” he said, &c._ - -Manittoo--a God. It is a word which seems to have been applied to an -extraordinary power, or mysterious influence. Any astonishing effect, -produced by a cause which the Indians could not comprehend, they appear -to have ascribed to the agency of a Manittoo. It is natural for man to -draw his ideas of power or causation, from what he feels in himself; -and when he does so, he will ascribe the effects which he observes to -the influence of mind. As he advances in knowledge the number of these -mysterious agents diminishes, until at last he is forced upon the idea -of one great, designing, first cause or agent. Man, from his very -constitution, therefore, must be a believer in the existence of God. -He approaches a knowledge of his unity by degrees, and improves in his -religious opinions in the same manner as he advances to the science -of astronomy. How essential then is that freedom of opinion which our -Founder sought to establish! - - - - -CANTO SECOND. - - -STANZA XIII. - - _In a vast eagle’s form embodied, He - Did o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring._ - -It was the belief of the Chippewas, a tribe supposed to have descended -from the same original stock (Lenni Lenape) with the Narragansets, -that, before the earth appeared, all was one vast body of waters; that -the Great Spirit, assuming the shape of a mighty eagle, whose eyes -were as fire, and the sound of whose wings was as thunder, passed -over the abyss, and that, upon his touching the water, the earth rose -from the deep. It was a prevailing tradition among the Delawares and -other tribes, according to Heckewelder, that the earth was an island, -supported on the back of a huge tortoise, called in the text Unamis. -It is the object of the author to embrace in the text a selection of -their scattered traditions on the subject of creation, and to give them -something like the consistency of a system. Waban, therefore, adopting -their leading ideas, has drawn out his description into the appropriate -sequency of events. Their Creator was a Manittoo, a mysteriously -operating power, and of the same nature as that principle of causation -which they felt in themselves, as constituting their own being. The -term _Cowwewonck_, in the Narraganset dialect, signified the soul, and -was derived from _Cowwene_, to sleep; because, said they, it operates -when the body sleeps. Hence in the text, whilst the Great Spirit -slept, he is represented as commencing the work of creation--operating -on the immense of waters as a part of his own being, and imparting -to it organic existences, (as the soul from itself creates its own -conceptions,) thus giving a sort of dreamy existence to the earth and -all living things, ere He assumed the shape of the eagle, and at his -fiat imparted to them substantial form and vital energy. The idea, -that the earth was raised out of the Ocean, seems to have been pretty -general amongst the Aborigines. - - -STANZA XIX. - - _Yet man was not; then great Cawtantowit spoke - To the hard mountain crags, and called for man._ - -According to the traditions of the Narragansets, the Great Spirit -formed the first man from a stone, which, disliking, he broke, and then -formed another man and woman from a tree; and from this pair sprang the -Indians. - - -STANZA XXII. - - _Then did he send Yotaanit on high--_ - -Yotaanit was the God of Fire; Keesuckquand, God of the Sun; -Nanapaushat, of the Moon; and Wamponand was the ruling Deity of the -East. - - -STANZA XXIII. - - _All things thus were formed from what was good, - And the foul refuse every evil had; - But it had felt the influence of the God, - (How should it not?)--_ - -Heckewelder ascribes to the Indians the opinion that nothing bad -could proceed from the Great and Good Spirit. Waban is here speaking -in conformity to that opinion. Hence he represents the creation of -Chepian, or the evil principle, as an incidental but necessary effect, -yet forming no part of the original design. - - -STANZA XXVII. - - _And manittoos, that never death shall fear, - Do too within this moral form abide._ - -“They conceive,” says Williams, “that there are many gods, or divine -powers, within the body of man--in his pulse, heart, lungs, &c.” - - -STANZA XXVIII. - - _But if a sluggard and a coward, then - To rove all wretched in the gloom of night._ - -“They believe that the soules of men and women go to the -southwest--their great and good men to Cawtantowit his house, where -they have hopes, as the Turks have, of carnal joys. Murtherers, liars, -&c., their soules (say they) wander restless abroad.”--_Williams’ Key._ - - -STANZA XXXVIII. - - _This yet unproved and doubted by the best._ - -The Charter of Pennsylvania was granted in 1681. The philanthropic Penn -was preceded by Williams in the adoption of a mild and pacific policy -toward the natives. Both seem to have been equally successful. - - -STANZA XLV. - - _Ere dark pestilence - Devoured his warriors--laid its hundreds low, - That sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defence - Three thousand bow-men, and he still can show - A mighty force._ - -The pestilence, to which Waban has reference, is that which shortly -preceded the arrival of the Plymouth planters. The Wampanoags, -before this calamity, were relatively a powerful people. Patuxet, -afterwards Plymouth, was then under the government of their sachem, -who, at times, made it his place of residence. Indeed the whole -country between Seekonk and the ocean, eastward, seems to have been -occupied by tribes more or less subject to him. Those toward the Cape -and about Buzzard’s Bay were, however, rather his tributaries than -his subjects. The different clans or communities, in this extensive -territory, were under the government of many petty sachems, who -regarded Ousamequin (afterwards Massasoit) as their chief. Availing -themselves of the misfortune of their neighbors, the Narragansets -extended their conquests eastward over some of these under-sachems; and -when Ousamequin fled from Pawtuxet to Pokanoket, to avoid the devouring -sickness, he found not only Aquidnay, but a part of Pokanoket, subject -to his enemies. (See note to stanza xxxiii canto iv.) Pokanoket was the -Indian name of the neck of land between Taunton river on the east, and -Seekonk and Providence rivers on the west. Mount Hope, or Haup as it -is called in the text, forms its southeastern extreme. The number of -warriors stated in the text as subject to Ousamequin, is hypothetical. -Some of the Nipnets were tributary to the Narragansets, but the greater -part of them were the allies or subjects of the Wampanoag Chief. - - -STANZA XLVI. - - _His highest chief is Corbitant the stern-- - He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart._ - -Mr. Winslow, who had frequent conferences with this chief, represents -him as “a hollow-hearted friend to the Plymouth planters, a notable -politician, &c.” He, with others, was suspected of conspiring against -the whites, and Captain Standish was sent, on one occasion, to execute -summary justice upon him and his confederates. He, however, escaped, -and afterwards made his peace with them through the mediation of -Massasoit. His residence was at Mattapoiset, now Swanzey. - - -STANZA XLVII. - - _Yet oft their children bleed - When the far west sends down her Maquas fell-- - Warriors who hungry on their victims steal, - And make of human flesh a dreadful meal._ - -In compliance with the common orthography, the name of this tribe is -written _Maqua_. Williams says, that in the Narraganset dialect they -were called Mohawaugsuck, or Mauquauog, from mobo, to eat; and were -considered Cannibals. It is probable, from its location, that he speaks -of the same tribe under the name of Mitucknechakick, or tree eaters, -“a people,” says he, “so called, living between three and four hundred -miles west into the land, from their eating Mituckquash--that is, -trees. They are men-eaters--they set no corn, but live on the bark of -the chestnut and other fine trees,” &c. Again, he says, “The Maquaogs, -or men-eaters, that live two or three hundred miles west,” &c. Thus it -is plain that the Maquas were considered, by the Narragansets and their -neighboring tribes, Cannibals. - - -STANZA XLVIII. - - _Here lies Namasket tow’rd the rising sun._ - -Namasket was within the limits of the territory which now constitutes -the township of Middleborough, and was about fifteen miles from -Plymouth. - - _Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks upon - Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Appanow’s hold._ - -The territory under that name, now forms a part of Fall River, Mass., -and all, or nearly all, Tiverton, R. I. The territory south to the -sea, was called Sagkonate, now written Sekonnet, or Seconnet, forming -at this time the township of Little Compton. The northeasterly part -of the island of Aquidnay was also called Pocasset. This word may be -a derivative from the Indian name of the strait separating the island -from the mainland. The name of the chieftain in the text must be -received exclusively on Waban’s authority. - - -STANZA L. - - _Two mighty chiefs, one cautious, wise, and old, - One young and strong, and terrible in fight, - All Narraganset and Coweset hold; - One lodge they build--one council fire they light._ - -In a deposition of Williams, dated the 18th June, 1682, he says, -that it was the general and constant declaration that the father -of Canonicus had three sons--that Canonicus was his heir--that his -youngest brother’s son, whose name was Miantonomi, was his marshal, or -executioner, and did nothing without his consent. - - _Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight._ - -This is the number at which Williams estimates them. Calendar says they -were a numerous, rich, and powerful people, and though they were, by -some, said to have been less fierce and warlike than the Pequots, yet -it appears that they had, before the English came, not only increased -their numbers by receiving many who fled to them from the devouring -sickness or plague in other parts of the land, but they had enlarged -their territories, both on the eastern and western boundaries. Their -numbers must have diminished rapidly, as Hutchinson estimates their -warriors in 1675 at two thousand; this estimate, however, might not -embrace those tribes which were subject to, or dependant on them, when -Williams entered the country. They seem to have been a people greatly -in advance of their neighbors. They excelled in the manufacture of -Wampumpeag, and supplied other nations with it--also with pendants, -bracelets, tobacco pipes of stone, and pots for cookery. After the -arrival of the whites, they traded with them for their goods, and -supplied other tribes with them at an advance. - - -STANZA LI. - - _Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide - From Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign--_ - -Under the general name of Narraganset, was included Narraganset proper -and Coweset. Narraganset proper extended south from what is now Warwick -to the ocean; Coweset, from Narraganset northerly to the Nipmuck -country, which now forms Oxford, Mass., and some other adjoining towns. -The western boundaries of Narraganset and Coweset cannot be definitely -ascertained. Gookins says, the Narraganset jurisdiction extended thirty -or forty miles from Seekonk river and Narraganset bay, including the -islands, southwesterly to a place called Wekapage, four or five miles -to the eastward of Pawcatuck river--that it included part of Long -Island, Block Island, Coweset and Niantick, and received tribute from -some of the Nipmucks. After some research, I am induced to believe -that the Nianticks occupied the territory now called Westerly; if so, -then the jurisdiction of the Narragansets extended to the Pawcatuck, -and perhaps beyond it. The tribe next westward was that which dwelt -“in the twist of Pequot river,” now called the Thames; and was under -the control of the fierce and warlike Uncas, a chief who had rebelled -against Sassacus, the Pequot sachem, and detached from its allegiance a -considerable portion of his nation, of which he had formed a distinct -tribe. - - -STANZA LIII. - - _Awanux gave him strength, and, with strange fear, - Did M’antonomi at the big guns start._ - -“We cannot conceive,” says Mourt in his journal, “but that he -[Massasoit] is willing to have peace with us: for they have seen our -people sometimes alone, two or three in the woods at work and fowling, -whereas they offered them no harm: and especially, because he hath a -potent adversary, the Narrohigansets, that are at war with him, against -whom he thinks we may be of some strength to him; for our pieces are -terrible unto them.” - - -STANZA LXXIV. - - _At length his vision opened on a space, - Level and broad, and stretching without bound - Southward afar--nor rose, o’er all its face, - A tree, or shrub, or rock or swelling mound._ - -It may excite our wonder that the barren plains of Seekonk should have -been at first selected by our Founder for a place of settlement. But it -is possible that at the time when the selection was made they were in a -state, as to fertility, different from their present. However this may -be, one thing is certain, that Williams made the selection during the -winter, when vegetation afforded no criterion of the soil, whilst its -very nakedness was in some respects a recommendation. It was an object -with the early settlers to establish themselves in the neighborhood of -some clearing, and particularly on meadows in the vicinity of rivers. -These yielded pasturage through the summer, and forage for their cattle -during winter, and land for tillage without the preparatory steps of -clearing. - - - - -CANTO THIRD. - - -STANZA VII. - - _War! War! my brother._ - -Williams says that, at the time of his first entering the Narraganset -country, a great contest was raging between Canonicus and Miantonomi on -one side, and Massasoit or Ousamequin on the other. Williams, at this -time, had come to the resolution of settling at Seekonk, on a part of -the lands belonging to the latter sachem. But should actual hostilities -be commenced between these tribes, his situation would become -peculiarly dangerous, occupying as he would, lands on the frontiers of -the weaker party. The Narragansets might regard his settlement as a -mere trading establishment, supplying their enemies with arms. Besides, -the Narragansets and Wampanoags, in many instances, laid claim to the -same lands. [See note to stanza thirty-third, canto fourth.] To obtain -a peaceable possession of these lands it was necessary to have the -consent of both. A reconciliation, therefore, of the contending tribes -became indispensable. Williams incidentally mentions that he travelled -between them to satisfy them of his intentions to live peaceably by -them, and it is hardly possible that the equally necessary object of -their reconciliation was neglected. Indeed, we find, shortly after -Williams entered their country, these chiefs, so recently hostile, -amicably granting their lands to him and his associates, and one of -them yielding to the authority of the other. Hence we may infer that -Williams not only attempted to pacify them, but that his efforts were -crowned with success. - -Ousamequin, or Ashumequin, was the name of the Wampanoag chief, -until about the time of the Pequot war, when he assumed the name of -Massasoit, or Massasoyt, for it is variously written. The latter is -used in the text as that by which he is most generally designated. It -was common for the Indians to change their names. That of Miantonomi -was originally Mecumeh. - - -STANZA VIII. - - _The Narraganset hatchet stained with gore-- - Miantonomi lifts it o’er his head, - Gives the loud battle yell, and names our valiant dead._ - -To name the dead was considered a great indignity, and, among chiefs, a -sufficient cause for war. Philip pursued one who had thus offended to -Nantucket. The life of the offender was saved only by the interference -of the whites. To avoid uttering the names of the dead they used -circumlocutions, such as _Sachem-aupan_, _Nes-mat-aupan_; the sachem -that was here, our brother that was here. - - -STANZA XI. - - _And Annawan, who saw in after times - Brave Metacom, and all of kindred blood, - Slain, or enslaved and sold to foreign climes._ - -Metacom was the original name of Philip. Anawan was the last of -Philip’s captains that fell into the hands of the English. He was -with Philip at the time he was surprised and slain. Church, giving an -account of the battle, says, “By this time the enemy perceived they -were waylaid on the east of the swamp, and tacked short about. One of -the enemy, who seemed to be a great surly old fellow, hallooed with a -loud voice, and often called out, ‘Iootash! Iootash!’ Captain Church -called to his Indian, Peter, and asked who that was that called so. He -answered that it was Annawan, Philip’s great captain, calling to his -soldiers to stand to it, and fight stoutly.” - - -STANZA XIX. - - _Scarce do they leave a scant and narrow place, - Where we may spread the blanket of our race._ - -“We have not room to spread our blankets,” was a phrase by which -the Indians signified that they were straightened in their -possessions.--_See Heckewelder_. - -STANZA XXII. - - _“’Tis not the peag,” said the Sagamore, - “Nor knives, nor guns, nor garments red as blood, - That buy the lands I hold dominion o’er-- - Lands that were fashioned by the red man’s God; - But to my friend I give.”_ - -Williams says the Indians were very shy and jealous of selling their -lands to any, and chose rather to make a grant of them to such as they -affected; but at the same time expected such gratuities and rewards as -made an Indian gift often times a very dear bargain. - -Of Peag there were two sorts--the white and black. The former was -called Wampom or Wampum, the latter Suckauhock. The first was wrought -from the white, the last from the black or purple part of a shell. - - -STANZA LXI. - - _Westward till now his course did Waban draw; - He shunned Weybosset, the accustomed ford._ - -I am informed that Weybosset, in the Indian language, signified a -ford, or crossing place. It is now the name of a street in Providence, -extending southwesterly from the place in the river so designated by -the Indians. - - -STANZA LXII. - - _And fast doth Indian town to town succeed, - Some large, some small, in populous array._ - -“In the Narraganset country (which is the chief people in the land) a -man shall come to many townes, some bigger, some lesser, it may be a -dozen in 20 miles travell.”--_Williams’ Key._ - - -STANZA LXIV. - - _For they were gone to Potowomet’s fires._ - -The words _Note_ or _Yote_ signified fire; _Potowash_, to make fire; -_Wame_ signified all, and _Et_ is a termination denoting place. If -this be so, it would seem that Potowamet, signified the place of -all the fires, or places where all the tribes assembled and kindled -their council or festal fires. The shell-fish, in which the shores of -Potowomet abound, and the numerous remains of Indian feasts found on -the upland, offer additional proof of the correctness of this inference. - - - - -CANTO FOURTH. - - -STANZA II. - - _There bristled darts--there glittered lances sheen._ - -Lances were arms which distinguished their sachems and other leaders. -At this early period the Indians had scarcely become familiarized to -the use of fire-arms. The French and Dutch had indeed begun to supply -them with these strange implements of death; but the English colonists -had taken every precaution to prevent their being furnished with them. -There were, however, no restraints on the trade of knives, hatchets, -lances, &c. - - -STANZA XX. - - _On settles raised around the mounting blaze - Sit gray Wauontom, Keenomp, Sagamore._ - -Wauontom, a counsellor; Keenomp, a captain; Sagamore, a chief or sachem. - - _Is sage Canonicus._ - -Williams considered Canonicus, at the time he wrote his Key to the -Indian Languages, about fourscore years old. - - -STANZA XXI. - - _The Neyhom’s mantle did his shoulders grace._ - -“Neyhomaushunck, a coat or mantle curiously made of the fairest plumes -of the Neyhommauog, or turkies, which commonly their old men make, and -is with them as velvet with us.”--_Williams’ Key._ - - -STANZA XXXIII. - - _Yes, ere he came, Pocasset’s martial band - Did at our bidding come to fight the foe, - And the tall warriors of the Nipnet land - Rushed with soft foot to bend our battle bow; - And e’en the dog of Haup did cringing stand - Beside our wigwam, and his tribute show._ - -The reader will not expect in the text minute historical accuracy, -yet it has been the wish of the author, throughout, not to violate -KNOWN historical truth; and the following facts, he thinks, give -something more than mere probability to the presumption, that Massasoit -was, before the arrival of the whites, in some sense, one of the -subject sachems of the Narraganset chiefs. The following extract of -a deposition of Williams, dated at Narraganset, the 18th of June, A. -D. 1682, will shew that Canonicus had authority of some sort over -Massasoit, and that the latter had claims, subordinate to those of -Canonicus, to certain lands which Williams procured of the last named -chief. In this deposition Williams says, “I desire posterity to see the -most gracious hand of the Most High, (in whose hands are all things,) -that when the hearts of my countrymen and friends and brethren failed -me, his infinite wisdom and merits stirred up the barbarous heart -of Canonicus to love me as his own son to the last gasp, by which -I had not only Miantonomi and all the Coweset sachems my friends, -but Ousamequin also, who, because of my great friendship for him at -Plymouth, and the authority of Canonicus, consented freely, (being also -well gratified by me,) to the Governor Winthrop’s and my enjoyment of -Prudence, yea of Providence itself, and all other parts I procured -which were upon the point, and in effect, whatever I desired of him.” -A distinction seems here to be intended between Prudence and other -places. It is probable that Prudence was conquered by the Narragansets, -whilst in possession of some under-sachem of Massasoit. And when the -latter renounced all claims to this Island, he at the same time assured -to Williams the peaceable enjoyment of Providence and all other places -purchased of him. - -A similar state of things appears in the deed, made by Canonicus -and Miantonomi to the settlers of Aquidnay, to have existed both in -reference to that island and a part of Pokanoket, where Massasoit -resided. This deed or memorandum is as follows: “We, Canonicus and -Miantonomi, the two chief sachems of Narraganset, by virtue of our -general command of the Bay, as also the particular subjecting of the -dead sachem of Aquidnick and Kitackumuckqut, [Kikemuet] themselves and -lands unto us, have sold unto Mr. Coddington and his friends united, -the great Island of Acquidnick, lying from hence eastward in this -bay, as also the marsh or grass upon Quinnannacut, [Conanicut] and -the rest of the islands in the bay, (excepting Chubackuweda, formerly -sold unto Mr. Winthrope, Governor of Massachusetts, and Mr. Williams -of Providence,) also the grass upon the rivers and coasts about -Kitakamuckqut, and from thence to Pauparquatsh [Poppasquash] for the -full payment of forty fathoms of white beads.” - -Ousamaquin was present, and granted the use of the grass and trees on -the main land, Pocasset side. Tradition points out the spot on which -the battle was fought that decided the fate of Aquidnick, and assigns -a date to the arrival of the English at Plymouth. Callender evidently -considers it to have taken place during the great sickness or plague -which prevailed among the eastern Indians before the coming of the -Whites. When the English arrived, Massasoit was at Pokanoket, in a -part of that territory so recently wrested by the Narragansets from -(probably) one of his under-sachems. He was then in no condition to -resist any of the demands of the victors, and there can be little doubt -that he submitted to them as a tributary or subject chief. The arrival -of the English, however, gave him allies, and enabled him to set the -Narragansets at defiance. Hence the hostility of the Narragansets to -the Whites; and hence Massasoit’s uniform adherence to them. That -Massasoit was considered by the Narragansets a tributary chief, and -bound to comply with the requisitions of their sachems, is rendered -very probable by the following passage in Winthrop’s Journal. It is -under date of April, 1632: - -“The Governor received letters from Plymouth signifying that there had -been a broil between their men at Sowamset and the Narraganset Indians, -who set upon the English house, there to have taken Ousamaquin, the -Sagamore of Pokanoscott, [Pokanoket] who fled thither with all the -people for refuge, and that Captain Standish, being gone thither to -relieve the English which were in the House, sent home in all haste -for more men and other provisions, upon intelligence that Canonicus -was coming with a great army against them. On that, they wrote to -our Governor for some powder to be sent with all possible speed, for -it seemed they were unprovided. Upon this the Governor presently -dispatched away a messenger with so much powder as he could carry, viz: -twenty-seven pounds. The messenger returned and brought a letter from -the Governor, signifying that the Indians were retired from Sowamset to -fight the Pequins, [Pequots] which was probable; because John Sagamore -and Chickatabott were gone, with all their men, to Canonicus, who had -sent for them.” - -Here Canonicus, on the point of marching against the Pequots, sent to -certain sachems of Massachusetts to join him; there is little doubt -that the same requisition was made of Massasoit, and attempted to -be enforced. He took shelter, however, under the English, and the -Narragansets finding that they could not compel obedience without -involving themselves in a war with the English, retired and prosecuted -the expedition without his assistance. But in 1636, when they were -somewhat relieved from the pressure of their enemies, they were -probably about engaging in a war with the Wampanoags, to punish this -contempt of their chief’s authority. Hence the great contest to which -Williams alludes. - -As a further proof that Massasoit was in some sort a subordinate -sachem of the Narraganset chiefs, it may be added, that the above -deed of Aquidnick appears to have been made in his presence, and that -he and his tribe were afterwards compensated for their rights in the -lands conveyed. Those rights were therefore considered of a character -subordinate to those of the Narraganset chiefs. - -Since the foregoing remarks were written, the author has noticed -a deposition of Williams, quoted by Backus, in his History of the -Baptists, and dated twenty-five years after the settlement of -Providence was commenced, which applies directly to the question here -discussed, and abundantly confirms the views already taken. Williams, -in his deposition, says, “After I had obtained this place, now called -Providence, of Canonicus and Miantonomi, [the chief Nanhiganset -sachems,] Osamaquin laid his claim to this place also. This forced -me to repair to the Nanhiganset sachems aforesaid, who declared that -Osamaquin was their subject, and had solemnly, himself in person with -ten men, subjected himself and his lands unto them at the Nanhiganset, -only now he seemed to revolt from his loyalty, under the shelter of the -English at Plymouth. This I declared from the Nanhiganset sachems to -Osamaquin, who without any stick acknowledged to be true that he had so -subjected, as the Nanhiganset sachems had affirmed; [but] that he was -not subdued by war, which himself and his father had maintained against -the Nanhigansets; but God, said he, subdued us by a plague which swept -away my people, and forced me to yield.” - - -STANZA XXXV. - - _They were the Yengee’s men, not ours, they said._ - -“He [Massasoit] also talked of the French, bidding us not to suffer -them to come to Narrohiganset; for it was King James’ his country, and -he was King James his man.”--_Mourt’s Journal._ - - -STANZA XXXVII. - - _He speaks a Manitoo!_ - -“There is a general custom among them,” says Williams, “at the -apprehension of any excellence in men or women, birds, beasts, or fish, -&c., to cry out Manittoo! that is, it is a god; as thus, if they see -one man excel others in wisdom, valor, strength, or activity, they cry -out Manittoo!” - - -STANZA XLI. - - _And for the Pequot deeds Awanux grieves._ - -“News came to Plymouth that Captain Stone, who last summer went out -of the Bay or Lake, and so to Aquawaticus, where he took in Captain -Norton, putting in at the mouth of Connecticut, (on his way to -Virginia,) where the Pequins [Pequots] inhabit, was cut off with all -his company, being eight in number.”--_Winthrop’s Journal._ - - -STANZA XLV. - - _If true he spake--that should his actions show-- - May not his heart be darker than yon cloud, - And yet his words white as yon falling snow? - Still if his speech were true--_ - -“Canonicus, the old high sachem of the Narraganset bay, (a wise and -peaceable prince), once in a solemn oration to myself, in a solemn -assembly, using this word, [Wannaumwayean, if he speak true,] said, I -have never suffered any wrong to be offered to the English since they -landed, nor never will. He often repeated this word, Wannaumwayean, -Englishman, if the Englishman speak true, if he meane truly; then shall -I goe to my grave in peace, and hope that the English and my posteritie -shall live in love and peace together. I replied that he had no cause -(as I hoped) to question the Englishman’s Wannaumauonck, that is, -faithfulnesse, he having had long experience of their faithfulnesse and -trustinesse. He took a stick and broke it into ten pieces, and related -ten instances, (laying down a stick at every instance), which gave -him cause thus to feare and say. I satisfied him on some presently, -and presented the rest to the governors of the English, who I hope -will be far from giving just cause to have barbarians question their -Wannaumwauonck of faithfulnesse.”--_Williams’ Key._ - - -STANZA XLVII. - - _This fragment shows the serpent’s skin they sent, - Filled with round thunders to our royal tent._ - -“The people called Narragansets,” says the N. E. Memorial, “sent -messengers unto our plantations with a bundle of arrows tied together -with a snake-skin, which the interpreter told them was a threatening -and a challenge, upon which the Governor of Plymouth sent them a -rough answer, viz.: That, if they loved war better than peace, they -might begin when they would; they had done them no wrong, neither did -they fear them, nor should they find them unprovided; and by another -messenger they sent the snake-skin back again, with bullets in it; -but they would not receive it, but sent it back again.” Mr. Davis in -a note adds: “The messenger was accompanied by a friendly Indian, -Tockamahamon. The messenger inquired for Squanto, who was absent. -The bundle of arrows was left for him, and the messenger departed -without any explanation. When Squanto returned, and the dubious -present was delivered him, he immediately understood the object.” The -planters, however, seem to have considered themselves threatened. They -immediately began to strengthen their defences, and every precaution -was taken against a surprise. - - -STANZA XLVIII. - - _This, when at Sowans raged our battle loud, - How their round thunders made that battle dumb._ - -See the passage from Winthrop, in note to stanza xxxiii. - - _This how amid the Pequot nation they - Build the square lodge, and whet him to the fray._ - -The Plymouth Company had established a trading house on the -Connecticut, as early as 1633. Their trade with the Pequots in arrow -points, knives, hatchets, &c., might very probably give offence to -the Narragansets. “We found,” says Winthrop, “that all the sachems of -Narraganset, except Canonicus and Miantonomi were the contrivers of Mr. -Oldham’s death, and the occasion was because he went to make peace and -trade with the Pequots.” - - - - -CANTO FIFTH. - - -STANZA XI. - - _Brother, the spirit of my son is gone; - I burned my lodge to speak my mighty grief._ - -Williams says, “The chiefe and most aged peaceable father of the -countrey, Canonnicus, having buried his sonne, he burned his own -palace, and all his goods in it, (amongst them to a great value), in a -solemn remembrance of his son, and in a kind of humble expiation to the -gods, who (as they believe) had taken away his sonne from him.” - - _I am thy father, thou shalt be my son._ - -See the extract from Williams’ testimony, in note to stanza xxxiii, of -canto iv. - - -STANZA XXIV. - - _The sable fox-hide did his loins enclose-- - The sable fox-tail formed his nodding crest._ - -The Indians had a superstitious regard for the black fox. Williams -says, they considered it a Manittoo--a god, spirit, or divine power. - - -STANZA XXXII. - - _Hast thou forgot, when, by Cohannet’s stream, - To curse the strangers every charm was tried._ - -“But before I pass on, let the reader take notice of a very remarkable -particular which was made known to the planters at Plymouth some short -space after their arrival; that the Indians, before they came to -the English to make friendship with them, got all the Pawaws in the -country, who, for three days together, in a horrid and devilish manner, -did curse and execrate them with their conjurations, which assembly -and service they held in a dark and dismal swamp.”--_N. E. Memorial._ - - _How I appeared, and, by the embers’ gleam, - To the hard rock my lance’s point applied, - And scored my mandate._ - -The inscriptions on the rocks by Taunton river have afforded a subject -of much speculation to the antiquary. It would not be strange if the -Indians ascribed to them a supernatural origin. - - -STANZA XLII. - - _An odor, strange, though not offensive, spread - About him, as he near and nearer drew;_ - -If my recollection serves me, Dr. Good, in his Book of Nature, supposes -that the seeming power of fascination in serpents may arise from an -odor emitted by them. The tale of the Hunter and the Rattlesnake, in -the New England Legends, must furnish the author with a justification -for the use which he has made of this serpent in the text; and it ought -also to be added, that his description of the serpent, in the act of -exercising his mysterious powers, is not essentially different from -that in the tale to which he has referred. - - -STANZA LXIII. - - _Here stretched Aquidnay tow’rd the ocean blue._ - -Aquidnay is the Indian name for Rhode Island. This name is variously -written--sometimes Aquidneck, sometimes Aquetnet, and sometimes -Aquidnet. Winthrop generally writes it Aquidnay, and the author has -chosen so to write it, for no other reason, than that the sound is a -little more agreeable. There is some reason to conclude that Aquetnet -is nearer its true etymology. See the following note. - - -STANZA LXX. - - _Another sachem sways - The Isle of peace._ - -_Aquene_ signified, in the Narraganset dialect, peace. It is possible -that Aquetnet, as the name of this island has been sometimes written, -may be its derivative; _et_ is a termination usually denoting place. -But whether this be or be not its etymology, the designation is not -inapplicable, since the island must have been a place of security -against the roving Maquas, Pequots, Tarrateens, &c. - - -STANZA LXXII. - - _There Sowams gleamed,--if names the muse aright, - Till in the forest far his glories fade;_ - -Calender intimates that Sowams is properly the name of a river, where -the two Swansey rivers meet and run together for near a mile, when -they empty themselves in the Narraganset Bay. Sowamset may, therefore, -indicate some town or other place on the banks of the river. These -names have been used by some as synonymous. - - - - -CANTO SIXTH. - - -STANZA III. - - _Who with the laboring axe, - On Seekonk’s eastern marge, invades the wood?_ - -Nothing is said of Williams, by the histories of the age, from the -time he left Salem, until his expulsion from Seekonk, afterwards -called Rehoboth. We learn, from some of Williams’ letters, that, after -purchasing land from Massasoit, he there built and planted, before he -was informed by Governor Winslow that he was within the limits of the -Plymouth patent. Until this information, he had supposed himself to be -beyond the limits of either Plymouth or Massachusetts. And, certainly, -the language of the Plymouth patent was sufficiently equivocal to -countenance almost any construction of it in reference to the western -(otherwise called southern) bounds of its grant. I will transcribe -its words, that the reader may judge for himself. It grants the lands -“lying between Cohasset rivulet toward the north, and Narraganset -river toward the south, the great Western Ocean toward the east, and -a straight line, extending into the main land toward the west, from -the mouth of Narraganset river to the utmost bounds of a country -called Pokanoket, alias Sowamset, and another straight line, extending -directly from the mouth of Cohasset river toward the west, so far -into the main land westward, as the utmost limits of Pokanoket, alias -Sowamset.” - -What is here intended by Narraganset river? Is it the bay or some -river falling into the bay? Was it intended by the utmost bounds -of Pokanoket? Do the words of the patent include or exclude that -territory? The truth is, that the geography of the country was, at that -time, very imperfectly understood, and the words of the patent are -not a true description of the territory to be granted. The charter of -Rhode Island is a proof that the Plymouth patent was not considered as -embracing within its limits what is called Pokanoket, alias Sowamset; -since that charter covers a considerable part of that very territory. -But, if Pokanoket was not included by the Plymouth patent, Williams -ought not to have been treated as a trespasser. It is not my purpose to -discuss the question of boundaries. These observations are made for the -purpose of showing that Williams had his reasons for believing that he -was out of the jurisdiction of Plymouth. - - -STANZA XXII. - - _And brandishing his blade, he jeering said, - That vengeance gave it eyes and appetite; - It soon would eat--but eat in silence dread._ - -“He [an Indian slain by Standish] bragged of the excellency of his -knife: _Hinnaim namen, hinnaim michen, matta cuts_: that is to say, by -and by it should see, by and by it should eat, but not speak.” - - - - -CANTO SEVENTH. - - -STANZA V. - - _His flock no more,--with strifes now sorely riven._ - -The opinions for which Williams was banished, were but the beginning -of schism in the Massachusetts churches, and his banishment but the -commencement of persecution. Many members of the church of Salem still -adhered to him, and finally followed him to Providence. - - -STANZA XXI. - - _O’er yonder distant brow - Smokes in the vale Neponset’s peopled town._ - -Neponset is the name of a river in Massachusetts. On the banks of this -river there seem to have been several Indian towns or villages, at the -time of Williams’ banishment. - - -STANZA LVII. - - _And by the lock he held a trunkless head._ - -“Timequassin, to cut off, or behead, which they are most skillful to do -in fight.”--_Williams’ Key._ - - - - -CANTO EIGHTH. - - -STANZA XVI. - - _Who cannot see, - That a dark cloud o’er our New England lowers? - The tender conscience struggles to be free-- - The tyrant struggles, and retains his power._ - -Williams seems to have had a strong presentiment that a season of -persecution was approaching, and often expressed a desire that his -plantation _might be a shelter for persons distressed for conscience_. - - -STANZA XIX. - - _And there this eve some reasoning, I opine, - (For all may err) a weighty theme upon, - May not be deemed amiss._ - -It was the first intention of the author to have drawn the materials -of the conversation in the text from the controversy between Williams -and Cotton; but, on examination, he was satisfied that it was not -suited to a performance of this kind. This controversy originated as -follows: A prisoner (one who was doubtless suffering for heretical -opinions) addressed a letter to a Mr. Hall, in which he discussed -and argued against the right of government to persecute for matters -of conscience. Hall sent this letter to Mr. Cotton, who answered it. -Hall, dissatisfied with the answer, transmitted it to Williams. In -the hands of Williams it remained some time; for he was struggling -with all the difficulties incident to his situation at Providence. He -however composed a reply to Cotton’s answer, which he entitled the -Bloody Tenent. He says it was written whilst engaged at the hoe and -oar, toiling for bread--whilst attending on Parliament--in a change -of rooms and places; in a variety of strange houses; sometimes in the -field, in the midst of travel; where he had been forced to gather and -scatter his loose thoughts and papers. And, certainly, considering the -circumstances in which it was composed, it is a work calculated to -increase our admiration of the man. The Bloody Tenent, together with -Mr. Cotton’s answer to the prisoner’s letter, was published in London, -at a time when his Puritan brethren in England were addressing him and -others in Massachusetts, with most earnest remonstrances against their -cruel persecutions of other denominations. - -He, in his replies, had been endeavoring to extenuate and excuse the -conduct of the civil government, and had taken particular care to -exculpate himself. It is easy, therefore, to conceive what a shock -this reverend dignitary must have suffered, when his answer to the -prisoner’s letter, which went in principle the full length of the most -unsparing persecution, together with Williams’ reply, was published -and circulated among the brethren there. He instantly raised a cry, -that Williams was _persecuting him_, by publishing his answer to -the prisoner’s letter, and commenting upon it. But he felt himself -under the necessity of doing something more. His brethren in England -would require some sort of justification, and one consistent with the -sentiments he had already expressed in his letters to them. Hence the -controversy between him and Williams, is, on the part of Cotton, a -sophistical attempt to avoid the charge of persecuting for matters -of conscience. We do not persecute consciences, says he, but we do -punish those who commit violence on their own consciences. If the -reader should be so curious as to inquire, how Mr. Cotton ascertained -when a man committed violence on his own conscience, I will state his -process as I understand it. When it was discovered that any member -entertained opinions inconsistent with the fundamental doctrines of the -order to which he belonged, he was in the first place called before -the church, and admonished of his error. If he still persisted, he -was summoned before the magistracy, where the charges were specified, -and the magistracy determined whether he was or was not convinced in -his own mind of his errors. His judges never failed to be satisfied -that he was convinced. If the accused afterwards persisted in his -opinions, he was considered as one committing violence on his own -conscience, and treated as an incorrigible heretic and disturber of the -peace, and as such banished, imprisoned, scourged, or hanged, as the -enormity of his heretical opinions might require. I have necessarily -given the conversation between Williams and the Plymouth elder a turn -different from that of the controversy between him and Cotton; but -have endeavored to preserve something of the tone of feeling which -pervades the latter. I flatter myself, however, that the Plymouth -elder is a more moderate man than Mr. Cotton. As a proof, hear Mr. -Cotton in his own words set forth the advantages which a state derives -from persecuting heretics, and the summary mode in which the civil -magistrate may deal with them. - -To the question of Williams, What glory to God--what good to the souls -and bodies of their subjects, did these princes bring in persecuting? -Mr. Cotton thus replies: “The good that is brought to princes and -subjects, by the due punishment of apostate seducers and idolaters and -blasphemers, is manifold. - -First; it putteth away evil from the people, and cutteth off a gangrene -which would spread to further ungodliness. - -Secondly; It driveth away wolves from worrying and scattering the sheep -of Christ; (for false teachers be wolves.) - -Thirdly; Such executions upon such evil doers causeth all the country -to hear and fear, and do no more such wickedness. - -Fourthly; The punishments, executed upon false prophets and seducing -teachers, do bring down showers of God’s blessings upon the civil state. - -Fifthly; It is an honor to God’s justice that such judgments are -executed.” - -He says, “If there be stones in the streets the magistrate need not -fetch a sword from the smith’s shop, nor a halter from the roper’s, to -punish a heretic.” - -It will appear that time has made no improvement upon the leading -principles of Williams, as gathered from different parts of his replies -to Cotton. He says that “the people are the origin of all free power -in government.” “That the people are not invested by Christ Jesus -with power to rule his Church.” That they can give no such power to -the magistrate. “That the kingdom of Christ is spiritual”--that to -introduce the civil sword into this spiritual kingdom is “to confound -Heaven and earth together, and lay all upon heaps of confusion”--“Is -to take Christ and make him king by force (John vi, 15)--to make his -kingdom of this world--to set up a civil and temporal Israel--to -bound out new earthy lands of Canaan; yea, and to set up a Spanish -inquisition, in all parts of the world, to the speedy destruction of -millions of souls,” &c. - -Cotton says, “that when the kingdoms of this earth become the kingdoms -of the Lord, it is not by making Christ a temporal king; but by making -the temporal kingdoms nursing fathers to the Church”--“that religion -was not to be propagated by the sword; but protected and preserved by -it.” - -Williams replies, “that the husbandman weeds his garden to increase his -grain, and that consequently it is the object of the hand that destroys -the heretic to make the Christian”--“That the sword may make a nation -of hypocrites, but not of Christians,” &c. - -I have thrown together these few detached sentences, that the reader, -who may have little inclination to peruse a controversy on a question -which happily has no place in the present age, may form some opinion -of its character. The discussion occupies two considerable volumes. - - -STANZA XLI. - - _Williams, he said, it is my thankless lot, - Thee with no pleasant message now to meet; - Nor hath our Winslow, in his charge forgot - (For his behest I bear and words repeat) - His former friendship, but right loth is he - To vex his neighbors by obliging thee._ - -After Williams had built and planted at Seekonk, he was visited by a -messenger from Plymouth with a letter from Winslow, then Governor. -Professing his and others’ friendship for him, he lovingly advised -Williams, since he had fallen into the edge of their bounds, and they -were loath to displease the Bay, to remove but to the other side of -the water, and there he had the country before him, and might be as -free as themselves, and they should be loving neighbors together.--See -Williams’ letter to Mason. Mass. His. Col. - - -STANZA XLV. - - _Thy purchase feigned was by the prophet shown - To Dudley, and by him to us made known._ - -Williams, in his letter to Mason, says, that Governor Winthrop and -some of the council of Massachusetts were disposed to recall him from -banishment, and confer upon him some mark of distinguished favor for -his services. “It is known,” says Williams, “who hindered--who never -promoted the liberty of other men’s consciences.” Mr. Davis, in a note -to his edition of the New England Memorial, conjectures that he alludes -to Mr. Dudley. The reader will not consider me as doing violence to -historical probability, by supposing that this man gave information -to the magistrates of Plymouth that Williams had established himself -within the limits of their patent, and required his expulsion. He was -the author of the following lines: - - “Let men of God in courts and churches watch - O’er such as do a toleration hatch, - Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice - To poison all with heresy and vice. - If men be left and otherwise combine, - My epitaph’s I dy’d no libertine.” - -Yet we ought, perhaps, to blame the system, rather than the magistrate -whose duty it was to carry it into effect. - - -STANZA XLVII. - - _God gave James Stuart this, and James gave us._ - -The patents of the companies which settled in this country granted -them lands without any reference to the rights of the natives. But the -companies never availed themselves of these grants to that extent. -Whatever may have been their opinions, they acted under them as if they -had only invested them with the right of pre-emption. Cotton Mather is -the only historian, that I recollect, who makes a merit of paying the -Indians for their lands, and of not expelling them immediately from the -soil in virtue of these patents. - - - - -CANTO NINTH. - - -STANZA III. - - _Early that morn, beside the tranquil flood, - Where, ready trimmed, rode Waban’s frail canoe, - The banished man, his spouse and children stood, - And bade their lately blooming hopes adieu._ - -I have represented Williams, throughout this narrative, as -unaccompanied by any of his Salem friends. And such, I think, was the -fact up to the time he left, or was about leaving, Seekonk. Indeed, -there was no necessity for any of his friends to accompany him in his -flight from Salem “in the winter’s snow.” They could render him no -assistance in negotiations with the Indians.--They could not alleviate -his hardships by participating in them. But what seems to settle the -question, (if in fact it be a question) is, that he himself, though -he frequently alludes to his sufferings and transactions “during the -bitter cold winter,” no where intimates that any white man participated -in them. He uniformly speaks in the first person singular: “I was -sorely tossed for fourteen weeks--I left Salem in the winter’s snow--I -found a great contest going on between the chiefs--I travelled between -them--I first pitched and began to build and plant at Seekonk--I -received a message from Mr. Winslow--I crossed the Seekonk and settled -at Mooshausick.” It is strange that he should, on no occasion, mention -that some of his friends suffered with him, if any actually did. All -accurate information concerning Williams, during these fourteen weeks, -must, I apprehend, be drawn from his writings; and I have chosen to -follow them. And indeed had he been accompanied by one or more of his -friends, they could not have aided the author in the conduct of his -narrative, any more than they could have borne a part in the trials and -labors of Williams. - -Williams says that he mortgaged his house and land in Salem to go -through, and all that came with him afterwards were not engaged, but -came and went at pleasure; but he was forced to go through and stay by -it. (His purchase of the Indians.) - -I have not been able to ascertain in what particular part of Seekonk -Williams attempted to form his plantation, and have consequently felt -myself at liberty to suppose it was in the neighborhood of Pawtucket -Falls. - - -STANZA XXV. - - _“Netop, Whatcheer!” broke on the listening air._ - -Netop--friend. The tradition is, that when Williams in a canoe -approached the western banks of the river, at a place now called -Whatcheer Cove, he saw a gathering of the natives. When he had come -within hail, he was accosted by them in broken English with the -friendly salutation, “Wha-cheer! Wha-cheer!” Here he landed, and was -kindly received by them. The land which was afterwards set off to him -included this spot, and he commemorated the amicable greeting of his -Indian friends by naming the field there assigned to him the Manor -of Whatcheer, or Whatcheer Manor. This field is now the property of -Governor Fenner, and the field adjoining it, which was likewise set -forth to Williams, has continued to the present day in the possession -of his descendants. We are probably indebted to the name which Williams -gave the first mentioned field, for the preservation of this tradition. - - -STANZA XXXVII. - - _Ay, almost hears the future pavements jar - Beneath a people’s wealth, and half divines - From thee, Soul-Liberty! what glories wait - Thy earliest altars--thy predestined state._ - -To show that Williams was not without a presentiment of the temporal -advantages that might arise to his projected settlement, from a -full liberty in religious concernments, I quote the following from -his memorial to Parliament, prefixed to his Bloody Tenent made more -bloody, &c. Speaking of Holland he says: “From Enchuysen, therefore, -a den of persecuting lions and mountain leopards, the persecuted -fled to Amsterdam, a poor fishing town, yet harborous and favorable -to the flying, though dissenting consciences. This confluence of the -persecuted, by God’s most gracious coming with them, drew boats--drew -trade--drew shipping, and that so mightily in so short a time, that -shipping, trade, wealth, greatness, honor, (almost to astonishment in -the eyes of all Europe and the world), have appeared to fall, as out of -Heaven, in a crown or garland upon the head of this poor fishertown.” - - -STANZA XL. - - _From wild Pawtucket to Pawtuxet’s bounds, - To thee and thine be all the teeming grounds._ - -The first grant made by Canonicus and Miantonomi to Williams, appears -to have been a verbal grant of all the lands and meadows upon the two -fresh rivers, called Mooshausick and Wanaskatucket; but on the 24th of -March, 1637, they confirmed this grant by deed, and, in consideration -of the many kindnesses and services he was constantly rendering -them, made the bounds Pawtuxet river on the south, Pawtucket on the -northwest, and the town of Mashapauge on the west. This grant includes -nearly all the county of Providence, and a part of the county of Kent. - - -STANZA XLI. - - _For, at that moment, down the boundless range - Of heavenly spheres did some bright being take - Wing to his soul, and wrought to suited change - The visual nerve, and straight in outward space - Stood manifest in its celestial grace._ - -This passage, it is true, supposes action on the mind by a supernatural -being, but it does not suppose the outward bodily manifestation of the -angelic form described. It simply supposes the image or conception, -wrought in the mind by the supernatural agency, to _externize_ itself -through a change effected by a sympathetic action in the visual organ. -Or, in other words, it supposes the internal image to become so -distinct as to reflect itself into the retina and overcome the action -of external objects thereon; whereby the internal image is made to -appear in the field of vision as an external reality. In justification -of this idea, I am glad to have it in my power to refer to No. C. of -the Family Library, entitled “Outlines of Disordered Mental Action, by -Professor Upham, of Bowdoin College”--p. 117. - -I feel that these remarks are due to the very friendly criticism which -this poem has received on the other side of the Atlantic; in which, -understanding (as I suppose) the apparition to be represented as an -external reality, the reviewer blames it as an extravagance not in -accordance with the general character of the narrative. - - -STANZA XLVII. - - _Her well-cast anchor here--her lasting hope in Thee._ - -The Anchor, with the motto Hope, which formed the device on the seal of -the Colony, may be considered as having reference to the dangers and -difficulties through which the settlers had passed, and were passing at -the time it was adopted. This was done in 1663. - - -STANZA XLIX. - - _And ages hence our children shall recite - Of thy protecting grace their Father’s sense, - And, when they name their home, proclaim Thy Providence._ - -Williams carried the philanthropy, which breathes in his great -principle of Soul-Liberty, into all the important acts of his life. -Although the munificent grant of Canonicus and Miantonomi had been -made to him only, he shortly after made it the common property of his -friends who joined him at Providence, reserving to himself no more than -an equal share, and receiving from them the small sum of thirty pounds, -not as purchase money, but as a remuneration for the gratuities which -he had made to the Indians out of his own estate. - -“The following passage,” says Mr. Benedict, in his history of the -Baptists, “explains, in a very pleasing manner, Mr. Williams’s design -in these transactions: ‘Notwithstanding I had frequent promise from -Miantonomi, my kind friend, that it should not be land that I should -want about these bounds mentioned, provided I satisfied the Indians -there inhabiting, I having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with -all the sachems and natives round about us, and having _in a sense -of God’s merciful Providence to me in my distress, called the place -Providence; I desired it might be for a shelter to persons distressed -for conscience. I then considered the condition of divers of my -countrymen_. I communicated my said purchase unto my loving friends, -John Throckmorton and others, who then desired to take shelter here -with me. And whereas, by God’s merciful assistance, I was procurer of -the purchase, not by moneys nor payment, the natives being so shy and -jealous that moneys could not do it, but by that language--acquaintance -and favor with the natives, and other advantages which it pleased God -to give me, and also bore the charges and venture of all the gratuities -which I gave to the great sachems and natives round about us, and -lay engaged for a loving and peaceable neighborhood with them to my -great charge and travel; it was therefore thought fit that I should -receive some consideration and gratuity.’ Thus, after mentioning the -said thirty pounds, ‘this sum I received, and in love to my friends -and _with respect to a town and place of succor for the distressed -as aforesaid_, I do acknowledge this said sum a full satisfaction,’ -he went on, in full and strong terms, to confirm those lands to said -inhabitants, reserving no more to himself that an equal share with the -rest; his wife also signing the deed.” - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -Having in the preceding notes given some account of the principal -events which marked the life of Williams up to the time he settled at -Mooshausick, it may be agreeable to such of my readers, as have not -his biography at hand, to find here some notice of the actions which -distinguished the remainder of his days. The following summary is drawn -chiefly from Mr. Benedict’s History of the Baptists, and the Sketch of -the Life of Williams annexed to the first volume of the Rhode Island -Historical Collections. - -Williams was soon joined at Providence by a number of his friends from -Salem. In a short time their number amounted to forty persons. They -then adopted a form of government, by which they admitted none to -become their associates, but such as held to the principle of Religious -Freedom. - -The year following his settlement, a formidable conspiracy of the -Indians was planned against the English colonists. He gave his -persecutors information of the fact. He addressed a letter to the -Commissioners of the United Colonies, “assuring them that the country -would suddenly be all on fire, meaning by war--that by strong reasons -and arguments he could convince any man thereof that was of another -mind--that the Narragansets had been with the plantations combined with -Providence, and had solemnly settled a neutrality with them, which -fully shewed their counsels and resolutions for war.”[24] Had this plot -been carried into effect, it would probably have eventuated in the ruin -of the colonies from which he had been banished. Instead of indulging -resentment by remaining inactive, he immediately exerted himself to -bring about a dissolution of the Indian confederacy. He accomplished -what no other man in New England at that time would have attempted. -By his influence with the Narragansets, he broke up the combination, -and formed treaties between them and the United Colonies, by which the -latter had their aid in the war which followed with the Pequots. - -[24] _Hutchinson’s State Papers._ - -The first four years that succeeded Williams’ settlement at Providence, -were necessarily occupied by him there about the affairs of the -plantations. He travelled amongst the Indians, and secured the -friendship of their chiefs and warriors. He promoted the settlement -of Rhode Island and Warwick. Much of his time must also have been -required in making provisions for the support of his family, cast out, -as they were, into the depths of a savage wilderness. Soon after his -settlement, he had embraced the leading tenets of the Baptists, and had -been baptized. He then formed a society of this order, and preached to -it; but resigned his pastoral office on his going to England to solicit -the first Charter. - -Not being permitted to pass through Massachusetts in order to embark -on this voyage, he went by land to Manhattan, [New York,] then under -the Dutch. A war between the Dutch and Indians was at that time raging -with great violence. In this war, Mrs. Ann Hutchinson and family, who -had been banished from Massachusetts, had fallen victims to Indian -barbarities; and, as if every step of this remarkable man was to bear -the impress of his benevolence, he was here instrumental in pacifying -the savages, and stopping the effusion of blood. After this, he took -ship for England. Whilst on this voyage, that no time might be lost -in laying posterity under obligations to him, he composed his Key -to the Indian Languages. This, together with his Bloody Tenent, was -published on his arrival in England. Here, as agent for the colonies -of Providence, Rhode Island, and Warwick, he obtained a charter of -incorporation, signed by the Earl of Warwick, then Governor and Admiral -of the English Plantations, and by his council. - -On the 17th September, 1644, he landed at Boston, bringing a letter of -recommendation to the Governor and Assistants of Massachusetts Bay, -from some of the most influential members of the Long Parliament. He -thus avoided the penalty incurred by entering their bounds. At the -first General Assembly formed under this Charter, a law was passed -establishing the most unlimited toleration in matters of conscience. -Unconfined to those who professed Christianity, its provisions extended -to the whole human family. I mention this, because it has been said -that Maryland furnishes the first example of a legislative act of this -kind. The Maryland act was passed in 1649, and its privileges extended -only to those who professed to believe in Jesus Christ. - -Mr. Coddington afterwards procured a Charter, which gave him almost -unlimited authority over the islands of Narraganset bay. This caused -great discontent. It was called _Coddington’s Obstruction_. Williams -and Clark were sent to England, in 1651, to procure its revocation. -They effected the object of their mission in October, 1652. Whilst -in England, Williams resided with Sir Henry Vane, at his seat in -Lincolnshire. He returned in 1652, and brought a letter from Sir Henry, -inviting the planters to a close union. The colony, during his absence, -had been distracted by many divisions. This letter, together with the -earnest solicitations of Williams, restored harmony. He was several -times after, as well as before this, elected to the office of President -or Governor of the colony. - -Williams died in 1683, at Providence, and was buried under arms, in his -family burying ground, with every testimony of respect which the colony -could manifest. - -The religious sentiments of Williams seem to have become more and more -liberal as he advanced in life. Whatever rigid forms those sentiments -may have assumed, in the early part of his career, they gradually -melted down, and blended themselves in that warm and deep feeling of -universal benevolence, which had given birth to his great principle -of Soul-Liberty. The dominion of that feeling, over every other in -his breast, is sufficiently indicated by the firmness with which he -adhered to this principle in circumstances the most trying. This -feeling naturally sought for a congenial nature in other breasts, and -Williams soon learned that there were good men in all societies. He -freely joined in worship with all, and imparted his instructions to -all who were disposed to hear him. This liberality, however, was not -inconsistent with theological discussions, in which he occasionally -participated. His dispute with the Friends gave umbrage to some of that -order. It occupied two or three days, and eventuated by a publication -by Williams, entitled “George Fox digged out of his burroughs.” -Although some of this order seem, for a time, to have remembered this -dispute to his disadvantage, yet there were others who cherished for -him the kindest and most respectful feelings. Among these was Governor -Jenks, who though a Quaker, bestows the highest praise on Williams, -both as a man and a Christian. - -When not engaged abroad on business of the colony, he statedly preached -to the Indians in Narraganset; and those amongst them, who would hear -no one else, were attentive to him. That branch of the Narragansets, -called the Nianticks, seem to have been an object of his peculiar care. -They were so far Christianized by his labors that they took no part in -Philip’s war, and their present existence, as the only remnant of a -once powerful people, may be traced to the effects of his ministry. - -Williams retained his influence with the Indians nearly to the last -of his and their existence. While Philip was making preparation for -war, in 1671, commissioners were sent to Taunton to inquire into the -cause. Philip, suspicious of their design, remained in his camp; and -when summoned by the commissioners to meet them, he required that they -should meet him. Matters remained in this posture until Williams, then -seventy years old, with a Mr. Brown offered to become a hostage in his -camp. Philip then met the commissioners, delivered up seventy guns and -promised fidelity. This event gave the colony four years to prepare for -the final struggle. - -Whilst, in 1676, this cruel and exterminating war was raging, the -Indians approached the town of Providence. Williams, it is said, on -seeing their advance, still feeling his wonted confidence in his -influence over them, took his staff and left the garrison. But some of -the old warriors on seeing him approach, advanced from the main body, -and told him, that as for themselves they would do him no harm, nor -would any amongst them who had long known him, but their young men -could not be restrained. Upon which he returned to the garrison. - - - - -ADDENDA. - - -LIFE’S VOYAGE. - - There rose, amid the boundless flood, - A little island green; - And there a simple race abode - That knew no other scene; - - Save that a vague tradition ran, - That all the starry skies - Bore up a brighter race of man, - Robed in the rainbow’s dyes. - - A youth there was of ardent soul, - Who viewed the azure hue, - And saw the waves of ocean roll - Against its circle blue. - - He launched his skiff, with bold intent - To seek the nations bright, - And o’er the rolling waters went, - For many a day and night. - - His lusty arms did stoutly strain, - Nor soon their vigor spent: - All hope was he right soon to gain - And climb the firmament; - - Where glorious forms, in garments bright, - Dipped in the rainbow’s dyes, - And streets, star-paved, should lend their light - To his enraptured eyes. - - And then might he his isle regain, - Fraught with a dazzling freight, - And lead his kindred o’er the main - To that celestial state. - - But, whilst he plied the bended oar, - The island left his view; - And yet afar his bark before, - The azure circle flew. - - Yet flattering hope did still sustain - And give him vigor new; - But still before him o’er the main - Retired the circle blue. - - Though whirlpools yawned; and tempests frowned - And beat upon his head, - And billows burst his bark around, - Hope on that phantom fed; - - Nor yet had ceased his labors vain, - Had not his vigor failed, - And ’neath the fever of his brain, - His vital spirit quailed. - - Then Death appeared upon the sea, - An angel fair and bright; - For he is not what mortals say-- - A grim and haggard sprite. - - And, “Thou dost chase,” he said, “my child! - A phantom o’er the main; - But though it has thy toils beguiled, - Thou hast not toiled in vain. - - “Thou hast thus roused each slumbering might, - And framed thy soul to be - Fit now to climb yon starry height;-- - Come, then, and follow me.” - - -HYMN BY TWILIGHT. - - See the hues of evening fading - From the sky and tranquil bay; - See the groves, with deeper shading, - Brown the dale as fails the ray. - - Hear the distant torrent falling, - Hear the note of whip-poor-will, - Hear the shepherd homeward calling - Flocks that bleat on lonely hill. - - See yon cloud the distance glooming, - Hear its far-off thunder roar, - Hear the distant ocean’s booming - Billows beat the eternal shore. - - God is in the hues of heaven - Fading from the sky and bay; - God is in the shades of even, - That chase the heavenly hues away. - - God is in the torrent falling, - In the song of whip-poor-will, - In the voice of shepherd calling, - In the bleating on the hill, - - In the cloud the distance glooming, - In the distant thunder’s roar, - In the far-off ocean booming - On his everlasting shore. - - God! Thou art all substance wreathing - Into forms that suit thy will; - God! Thou art through all things breathing - One harmonious anthem still. - - -REYNARD’S SOLILOQUY. - -(FROM THE SCHOOL OF QUEEN MAB.) - - Halloo! halloo! Wild woodland now! - How the twinkling stars look down! - And rocky and rude is the mountain’s brow, - And dark is the forest’s frown. - Ha! ha! the dens and brambled fens - My wild eyes laugh to greet, - And over the clifts and rocky rifts - Right merrily dance my feet. - - Pure is the gale, and odors rise - From the wild woodland hill; - Wo-hoo! Wo-hoo! the dark owl cries, - And shrilly the whip-poor-will; - But the deep tone of the owlet’s moan - Is a note of courage all free, - And the whip-poor-will’s trill beneath the hill - Gives music and motion to me. - - The farmers’ geese are very well fed, - And fat and sleek are they;-- - The blood-hound lies in his dreamy bed, - So let me seek my prey. - On drumming wings the partridge springs, - As over the brakes I fly; - But soon, like specks, the lily-white necks - Will float before my eye. - - Ha! ha! I’ll pause upon this height; - The village is all in view; - The two-legged bodies are still to-night, - And I’ll the game pursue. - But hark!--I hear a sound, I fear-- - ’Tis surely not yet day-- - O! ’tis the sound of the opening hound-- - Away! away! away! - - O’er bush, o’er brake, o’er rock I go, - But nearer they come, I fear; - Far off huzzas the two-legged foe-- - Wow! wow!--the hounds are near. - I’ll double my track, I’ll run me back, - I’ll pother the beagles some-- - Now for my den I’ll strain again, - And gain my mountain home. - - -A SUMMONS TO THE COUNTRY. - - Is it to sit within thy stately hall, - Or tread the crowded street, thy chief delight? - From all her heights and depths though Nature call - Thee to her charms--though grove, and plain, and height, - Warble for thee--though Ocean’s stormy might - Thunder for thee--though the starred heavens sublime - Shine out for thee--though peering orient bright - O’er mountain wood, the sire of day and time - Doth call for thee--and with retiring light - Glance down his hues from their celestial clime - To lure thee forth;--yet can all these excite - In thy cold breast no chord’s responsive chime? - Still wilt thou choose a prison-yard and cell?-- - Well! God forgive thy choice, for thou dost penance well. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes - - -The following changes have been made to the text as printed: - -1. Marked footnotes have been located immediately below the stanza, -heading or paragraph to which they refer. - -2. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - -3. Page 161 (Canto 8), heading to final stanza: "LXII" changed to -"LXXII". - -4. Notes, Page 185 (Canto 2): word "STANZA" prepended to heading -"XXVIII". - -5. Notes, Page 186 (Canto 2): heading "STANZA XXXVII" corrected to -"STANZA XXXVIII". - -6. Notes, Page 201 (Canto 5, Stanza 11, second note): reference to -"stanza xxii" corrected to "stanza xxxiii". - -7. Notes, Page 202 (Canto 5): heading "STANZA LXII" corrected to -"STANZA LXIII". - -The following anomalies in the printed text are noted, but no change -has been made: - -1. Spelling and hyphenation within the poem have been left unchanged, -aside from obvious typographical errors. - -2. Some compass directions are hyphenated within the poem, but -unhyphenated in the Notes. - -3. Within the Notes, the quotes from Williams' writings retain the -archaic and sometimes variable spelling of his day. - -4. Variant spellings of Native American names have not been amended. - -5. Page 158 (Canto 8, Stanza 63), "And in all perils was there sure -defence": "there" in the original is a possible reading; "their" a more -likely one. - -6. "Calendar" (Page 188), "Callender" (Page 196) and "Calender" (Page -203) all appear to refer to John Callender, who wrote "An Historical -Discourse ... of the Colony of Rhode-Island", first published 1739. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT CHEER *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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