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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6854.txt b/6854.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b802d3b --- /dev/null +++ b/6854.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12108 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Anne Bradstreet and Her Time, by Helen Campbell + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Anne Bradstreet and Her Time + +Author: Helen Campbell + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6854] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 2, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNE BRADSTREET AND HER TIME *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Fite, Tom Allen, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +ANNE BRADSTREET AND HER TIME + +BY + +HELEN CAMPBELL + +AUTHOR OF "PRISONERS OF POVERTY," "MRS. HERNDON'S INCOME," "MISS +MELINDA'S OPPORTUNITY," ETC. + + + + +A BOOK FOR "MISS ICY." + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Grave doubts at times arise in the critical mind as to whether +America has had any famous women. We are reproached with the fact, +that in spite of some two hundred years of existence, we have, as +yet, developed no genius in any degree comparable to that of +George Eliot and George Sand in the present, or a dozen other as +familiar names of the past. One at least of our prominent literary +journals has formulated this reproach, and is even sceptical as to +the probability of any future of this nature for American women. + +What the conditions have been which hindered and hampered such +development, will find full place in the story of the one woman +who, in the midst of obstacles that might easily have daunted a +far stouter soul, spoke such words as her limitations allowed. +Anne Bradstreet, as a name standing alone, and represented only by +a volume of moral reflections and the often stilted and unnatural +verse of the period, would perhaps, hardly claim a place in formal +biography. But Anne Bradstreet, the first woman whose work has +come down to us from that troublous Colonial time, and who, if not +the mother, is at least the grandmother of American literature, in +that her direct descendants number some of our most distinguished +men of letters calls for some memorial more honorable than a page +in an Encyclopedia, or even an octavo edition of her works for the +benefit of stray antiquaries here and there. The direct ancestress +of the Danas, of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wendell Phillips, the +Channings, the Buckminsters and other lesser names, would +naturally inspire some interest if only in an inquiry as to just +what inheritance she handed down, and the story of what she failed +to do because of the time into which she was born, holds equal +meaning with that of what she did do. + +I am indebted to Mr. John Harvard Ellis's sumptuous edition of +Anne Bradstreet's works, published in 1867, and containing all her +extant works, for all extracts of either prose or verse, as well +as for many of the facts incorporated in Mr. Ellis's careful +introduction. Miss Bailey's "History of Andover," has proved a +valuable aid, but not more so than "The History of New England," +by Dr. John Gorham Palfrey, which affords in many points, the most +careful and faithful picture on record of the time, personal +facts, unfortunately, being of the most meager nature. They have +been sought for chiefly, however, in the old records themselves; +musty with age and appallingly diffuse as well as numerous, but +the only source from which the true flavor of a forgotten time can +be extracted. Barren of personal detail as they too often are, the +writer of the present imperfect sketch has found Anne Bradstreet, +in spite of all such deficiencies, a very real and vital person, +and ends her task with the belief which it is hoped that the +reader may share, that among the honorable women not a few whose +lives are to-day our dearest possession, not one claims tenderer +memory than she who died in New England two hundred years ago. + +NEW YORK, 1890. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. THE OLD HOME + +CHAPTER II. UPHEAVALS + +CHAPTER III. THE VOYAGE + +CHAPTER IV. BEGINNINGS + +CHAPTER V. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW + +CHAPTER VI. A THEOLOGICAL TRAGEDY + +CHAPTER VII. COLONIAL LITERARY DEVELOPMENT IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY + +CHAPTER VIII. SOME PHASES OF EARLY COLONIAL LIFE + +CHAPTER IX. ANDOVER + +CHAPTER X. VILLAGE LIFE IN 1650 + +CHAPTER XI A FIRST EDITION + +CHAPTER XII. MISCELLANEOUS POEMS + +CHAPTER XIII. CHANCES AND CHANGES + +CHAPTER XIV. A LEGACY + +CHAPTER XV. THE PURITAN REIGN OF TERROR + +CHAPTER XVI. HOME AND ABROAD + +CHAPTER XVII. THE END + + + + +ANNE BRADSTREET AND HER TIME. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE OLD HOME. + + +The birthday of the baby, Anne Dudley, has no record; her +birthplace even is not absolutely certain, although there is +little doubt that it was at Northhampton in England, the home of +her father's family. She opened her eyes upon a time so filled +with crowding and conflicting interests that there need be no +wonder that the individual was more or less ignored, and personal +history lost in the general. To what branch of the Dudley family +she belonged is also uncertain. Moore, in his "Lives of the +Governors of New Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay," writes: "There +is a tradition among the descendants of Governor Dudley in the +eldest branch of the family, that he was descended from John +Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who was beheaded 22 February, +1553." Such belief was held for a time, but was afterward +disallowed by Anne Bradstreet. In her "Elegy upon Sir Philip +Sidney," whose mother, the Lady Mary, was the eldest daughter of +that Duke of Northumberland, she wrote: + + "Let, then, none disallow of these my straines, + Which have the self-same blood yet in my veines." + +With the second edition of her poems, however, her faith had +changed. This may have been due to a growing indifference to +worldly distinctions, or, perhaps, to some knowledge of the +dispute as to the ancestry of Robert Dudley, son of the Duke, who +was described by one side as a nobleman, by another as a +carpenter, and by a third as "a noble timber merchant"; while a +wicked wit wrote that "he was the son of a duke, the brother of a +king, the grandson of an esquire, and the great-grandson of a +carpenter; that the carpenter was the only honest man in the +family and the only one who died in his bed." Whatever the cause +may have been she renounced all claim to relationship, and the +lines were made to read as they at present stand: + + "Then let none disallow of these my straines + Whilst English blood yet runs within my veines." + +In any case, her father, Thomas Dudley, was of gentle blood and +training, being the only son of Captain Roger Dudley, who was +killed in battle about the year 1577, when the child was hardly +nine years old. Of his mother there is little record, as also of +the sister from whom he was soon separated, though we know that +Mrs. Dudley died shortly after her husband. Her maiden name is +unknown; she was a relative of Sir Augustine Nicolls, of Paxton, +Kent, one of His Majesty's Justices of his Court of Common Pleas, +and keeper of the Great Seal to Prince Charles. + +The special friend who took charge of Thomas Dudley through +childhood is said to have been "a Miss Purefoy," and if so, she +was the sister of Judge Nicolls, who married a Leicestershire +squire, named William Purefoy. Five hundred pounds was left in +trust for him, and delivered to him when he came of age; a sum +equivalent to almost as many thousand to-day. At the school to +which he was sent he gained a fair knowledge of Latin, but he was +soon taken from it to become a page in the family of William Lord +Compton, afterward the Earl of Northumberland. + +His studies were continued, and in time he became a clerk of his +kinsman, "Judge Nicholls," whose name appears in letters, and who +was a sergeant-at-law. Such legal knowledge as came to him here +was of service through all his later life, but law gave place to +arms, the natural bias of most Englishmen at that date, and he +became captain of eighty volunteers "raised in and about +Northhampton, and forming part of the force collected by order of +Queen Elizabeth to assist Henry IV. of France, in the war against +Philip II. of Spain," He was at the siege of Amiens in 1597, and +returned home when it ended, having, though barely of age, already +gained distinction as a soldier, and acquired the courtesy of +manner which distinguished him till later life, and the blandness +of which often blinded unfamiliar acquaintances to the penetration +and acumen, the honesty and courage that were the foundations of +his character. As his belief changed, and the necessity for free +speech was laid upon him, he ceased to disguise his real feelings +and became even too out-spoken, the tendency strengthening year by +year, and doing much to diminish his popularity, though his +qualities were too sterling to allow any lessening of real honor +and respect. But he was still the courtier, and untitled as he +was, prestige enough came with him to make his marriage to "a +gentlewoman whose Extract and Estate were Considerable," a very +easy matter, and though we know her only as Dorothy Dudley, no +record of her maiden name having been preserved, the love borne +her by both husband and daughter is sufficient evidence of her +character and influence. + +Puritanism was not yet an established fact, but the seed had been +sown which later became a tree so mighty that thousands gathered +under its shadow. The reign of Elizabeth had brought not only power +but peace to England, and national unity had no further peril of +existence to dread. With peace, trade established itself on sure +foundations and increased with every year. Wealth flowed into the +country and the great merchants of London whose growth amazed and +troubled the royal Council, founded hospitals, "brought the New +River from its springs at Chadwell and Amwell to supply the city +with pure water," and in many ways gave of their increase for the +benefit of all who found it less easy to earn. The smaller +land-owners came into a social power never owned before, and +"boasted as long a rent-roll and wielded as great an influence as +many of the older nobles.... In wealth as in political consequence +the merchants and country gentlemen who formed the bulk of the House +of Commons, stood far above the mass of the peers." + +Character had changed no less than outward circumstances. "The +nation which gave itself to the rule of the Stewarts was another +nation from the panic-struck people that gave itself in the crash +of social and religious order to the guidance of the Tudors." +English aims had passed beyond the bounds of England, and every +English "squire who crossed the Channel to flesh his maiden sword +at Ivry or Ostend, brought back to English soil, the daring +temper, the sense of inexhaustable resources, which had bourn him +on through storm and battle field." Such forces were not likely to +settle into a passive existence at home. Action had become a +necessity. Thoughts had been stirred and awakened once for all. +Consciously for the few, unconsciously for the many, "for a +hundred years past, men had been living in the midst of a +spiritual revolution. Not only the world about them, but the world +within every breast had been utterly transformed. The work of the +sixteenth century had wrecked that tradition of religion, of +knowledge, of political and social order, which had been accepted +without question by the Middle Ages. The sudden freedom of the +mind from these older bonds brought a consciousness of power such +as had never been felt before; and the restless energy, the +universal activity of the Renaissance were but outer expressions +of the pride, the joy, the amazing self-confidence, with which man +welcomed this revelation of the energies which had lain slumbering +within him." + +This was the first stage, but another quickly and naturally +followed, and dread took the place of confidence. With the +deepening sense of human individuality, came a deepening +conviction of the boundless capacities of the human soul. Not as a +theological dogma, but as a human fact man knew himself to be an +all but infinite power, whether for good or for ill. The drama +towered into sublimity as it painted the strife of mighty forces +within the breasts of Othello or Macbeth. Poets passed into +metaphysicians as they strove to unravel the workings of +conscience within the soul. From that hour one dominant influence +told on human action; and all the various energies that had been +called into life by the age that was passing away were seized, +concentrated and steadied to a definite aim by the spirit of +religion. Among the myriads upon whom this change had come, Thomas +Dudley was naturally numbered, and the ardent preaching of the +well-known Puritan ministers, Dodd and Hildersham, soon made him a +Non-conformist and later an even more vigorous dissenter from +ancient and established forms. As thinking England was of much the +same mind, his new belief did not for a time interfere with his +advancement, for, some years after his marriage he became steward +of the estate of the Earl of Lincoln, and continued so for more +than ten years. Plunged in debt as the estate had been by the +excesses of Thomas, Earl of Lincoln, who left the property to his +son Theophilus, so encumbered that it was well nigh worthless, a +few years of Dudley's skillful management freed it entirely, and +he became the dear and trusted friend of the entire family. His +first child had been born in 1610, a son named Samuel, and in 1612 +came the daughter whose delicate infancy and childhood gave small +hint of the endurance shown in later years. Of much the same +station and training as Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson, Anne Dudley could +undoubtedly have written in the same words as that most delightful +of chroniclers: "By the time I was four years old I read English +perfectly, and having a great memory I was carried to sermons.... +When I was about seven years of age, I remember I had at one time +eight tutors in several qualities, languages, music, dancing, +writing and needle work; but my genius was quite averse from all +but my book, and that I was so eager of, that my mother thinking +it prejudiced my health, would moderate me in it; yet this rather +animated me than kept me back, and every moment I could steal from +my play I would employ in any book I could find when my own were +locked up from me." + +It is certain that the little Anne studied the Scriptures at six +or seven, with as painful solicitude as her elders, for she writes +in the fragmentary diary which gives almost the only clue to her +real life: + +"In my young years, about 6 or 7, as I take it, I began to make +conscience of my wayes, and what I knew was sinful, as lying, +disobedience to Parents, etc., I avoided it. If at any time I was +overtaken with the like evills, it was a great Trouble. I could +not be at rest 'till by prayer I had confest it unto God. I was +also troubled at the neglect of Private Duteys, tho' too often +tardy that way. I also found much comfort in reading the +Scriptures, especially those places I thought most concerned my +Condition, and as I grew to have more understanding, so the more +solace I took in them. + +"In a long fitt of sickness which I had on my bed, I often +communed with my heart and made my supplication to the most High, +who sett me free from that affliction." + +For a childhood which at six searches the Scriptures to find +verses applicable to its condition, there cannot have been much if +any natural child life, and Mrs. Hutchinson's experience again was +probably duplicated for the delicate and serious little Anne. +"Play among other children I despised, and when I was forced to +entertain such as came to visit me, I tried them with more grave +instruction than their mothers, and plucked all their babies to +pieces, and kept the children in such awe, that they were glad +when I entertained myself with elder company, to whom I was very +acceptable, and living in the house with many persons that had a +great deal of wit, and very profitable serious discourses being +frequent at my father's table and in my mother's drawing room, I +was very attentive to all, and gathered up things that I would +utter again, to great admiration of many that took my memory and +imitation for wit.... I used to exhort my mother's words much, and +to turn their idle discourses to good subjects." + +Given to exhortation as some of the time may have been, and drab- +colored as most of the days certainly were, there were, bright +passages here and there, and one reminiscence was related in later +years, in her poem "In Honour of Du Bartas," the delight of +Puritan maids and mothers; + + "My muse unto a Child I may compare, + Who sees the riches of some famous Fair, + He feeds his eyes but understanding lacks, + To comprehend the worth of all those knacks; + The glittering plate and Jewels he admires, + The Hats and Fans, the Plumes and Ladies' tires, + And thousand times his mazed mind doth wish + Some part, at least, of that brave wealth was his; + But seeing empty wishes nought obtain, + At night turns to his Mother's cot again, + And tells her tales (his full heart over glad), + Of all the glorious sights his eyes have had; + But finds too soon his want of Eloquence, + The silly prattler speaks no word of sense; + But seeing utterance fail his great desires, + Sits down in silence, deeply he admires." + +It is probably to one of the much exhorted maids that she owed +this glimpse of what was then a rallying ground for the jesters +and merry Andrews, and possibly even a troop of strolling players, +frowned upon by the Puritan as children of Satan, but still +secretly enjoyed by the lighter minded among them. But the burden +of the time pressed more and more heavily. Freedom which had +seemed for a time to have taken firm root, and to promise a better +future for English thought and life, lessened day by day under the +pressure of the Stuart dynasty, and every Nonconformist home was +the center of anxieties that influenced every member of it from +the baby to the grandsire, whose memory covered more astonishing +changes than any later day has known. + +The year preceding Anne Dudley's birth, had seen the beginning of +the most powerful influence ever produced upon a people, made +ready for it, by long distrust of such teaching as had been +allowed. With the translation of the Bible into common speech, and +the setting up of the first six copies in St. Pauls, its +popularity had grown from day to day. The small Geneva Bibles soon +appeared and their substance had become part of the life of every +English family within an incredibly short space of time. Not only +thought and action but speech itself were colored and shaped by +the new influence. We who hold to it as a well of English +undefiled, and resent even the improvements of the new Version as +an infringement on a precious possession, have small conception of +what it meant to a century which had had no prose literature and +no poetry save the almost unknown verse of Chaucer. + +"Sunday after Sunday, day after day, the crowds that gathered +round the Bible in the nave of St. Pauls, or the family group that +hung on its words in the devotional exercises at home, were +leavened with a new literature. Legend and annal, war song and +psalm, State-roll and biography, the mighty voices of prophets, +the parables of Evangelists, stories of mission-journeys, of +perils by the sea and among the heathens, philosophic arguments, +apocalyptic visions, all were flung broadcast over minds +unoccupied for the most part by any rival learning. The disclosure +of the stores of Greek literature had wrought the revolution of +Renaissance. The disclosure of the older mass of Hebrew +literature, wrought the revolution of the Reformation. But the one +revolution was far deeper and wider in its effects than the other. +No version could transfer to another tongue the peculiar charm of +language which gave their value to the authors of Greece and Rome. +Classical letters, therefore, remained in the possession of the +learned, that is, of the few, and among these, with the exception +of Colet and More, or of the pedants who revived a Pagan worship +in the gardens of the Florentine Academy, their direct influence +was purely intellectual. But the language of the Hebrew, the idiom +of the Hellenistic Greek, lent themselves with a curious felicity +to the purposes of translation. As a mere literary monument the +English version of the Bible remains the noblest example of the +English tongue, while its perpetual use made it from the instant +of its appearance, the standard of our language. + +"One must dwell upon this fact persistently, before it will become +possible to understand aright either the people or the literature of +the time. With generations the influence has weakened, though the +best in English speech has its source in one fountain. But the +Englishman of that day wove his Bible into daily speech, as we weave +Shakespeare or Milton or our favorite author of a later day. It was +neither affectation nor hypocrisy but an instinctive use that made +the curious mosaic of Biblical words and phrases which colored +English talk two hundred years ago. The mass of picturesque allusion +and illustration which we borrow from a thousand books, our fathers +were forced to borrow from one; and the borrowing was the easier and +the more natural, that the range of the Hebrew literature fitted it +for the expression of every phase of feeling. When Spencer poured +forth his warmest love-notes in the 'Epithalamion,' he adopted the +very words of the Psalmist, as he bade the gates open for the +entrance of his bride. When Cromwell saw the mists break over the +hills of Dunbar, he hailed the sun-burst with the cry of David: 'Let +God arise, and let his enemies be scattered. Like as the smoke +vanisheth so shalt thou drive them away!' Even to common minds this +familiarity with grand poetic imagery in prophet and apocalypse, +gave a loftiness and ardor of expression that with all its tendency +to exaggeration and bombast we may prefer to the slip-shod +vulgarisms of today." + +Children caught the influence, and even baby talk was half +scriptural, so that there need be no surprise in finding Anne +Bradstreet's earliest recollections couched in the phrases of +psalms learned by heart as soon as she could speak, and used, no +doubt, half unconsciously. Translate her sentences into the +thought of to-day, and it is evident, that aside from the morbid +conscientiousness produced by her training, that she was the +victim of moods arising from constant ill-health. Her constitution +seems to have been fragile in the extreme, and there is no +question but that in her case as in that of many another child +born into the perplexed and troubled time, the constant anxiety of +both parents, uncertain what a day might bring forth, impressed +itself on the baby soul. There was English fortitude and courage, +the endurance born of faith, and the higher evolution from English +obstinacy, but there was for all of them, deep self-distrust and +abasement; a sense of worthlessness that intensified with each +generation; and a perpetual, unhealthy questioning of every +thought and motive. The progress was slow but certain, rising +first among the more sensitive natures of women, whose lives held +too little action to drive away the mists, and whose motto was +always, "look in and not out"--an utter reversal of the teaching +of to-day. The children of that generation lost something that had +been the portion of their fathers. The Elizabethan age had been +one of immense animal life and vigor, and of intense capacity for +enjoyment, and, deny it as one might, the effect lingered and had +gone far toward forming character. The early Nonconformist still +shared in many worldly pleasures, and had found no occasion to +condense thought upon points in Calvinism, or to think of himself +as a refugee from home and country. + +The cloud at first no bigger than a man's hand, was not dreaded, +and life in Nonconformist homes went on with as much real +enjoyment as if their ownership were never to be questioned. +Serious and sad, as certain phases come to be, it is certain that +home life developed as suddenly as general intelligence. The +changes in belief in turn affected character. "There was a sudden +loss of the passion, the caprice, the subtle and tender play of +feeling, the breath of sympathy, the quick pulse of delight, which +had marked the age of Elizabeth; but on the other hand life gained +in moral grandeur, in a sense of the dignity of manhood, in +orderliness and equable force. The larger geniality of the age +that had passed away was replaced by an intense tenderness within +the narrower circle of the home. Home, as we now conceive it, was +the creation of the Puritan. Wife and child rose from mere +dependants on the will of husband or father, as husband or father +saw in them saints like himself, souls hallowed by the touch of a +divine spirit and called with a divine calling like his own. The +sense of spiritual fellowship gave a new tenderness and refinement +to the common family affections." + +The same influence had touched Thomas Dudley, and Dorothy Dudley +could have written of him as Lucy Hutchinson did of her husband: +"He was as kind a father, as dear a brother, as good a master, as +faithful a friend as the world had." In a time when, for the +Cavalier element, license still ruled and lawless passion was +glorified by every play writer, the Puritan demanded a different +standard, and lived a life of manly purity in strange contrast to +the grossness of the time. Of Hutchinson and Dudley and thousands +of their contemporaries the same record held good: "Neither in +youth nor riper years could the most fair or enticing woman draw +him into unnecessary familiarity or dalliance. Wise and virtuous +women he loved, and delighted in all pure and holy and unblameable +conversation with them, but so as never to excite scandal or +temptation. Scurrilous discourse even among men he abhorred; and +though he sometimes took pleasure in wit and mirth, yet that +which was mixed with impurity he never could endure." + +Naturally with such standards life grew orderly and methodical. +"Plain living and high thinking," took the place of high living +and next to no thinking. Heavy drinking was renounced. Sobriety +and self-restraint ruled here as in every other act of life, and +the division between Cavalier and Nonconformist became daily more +and more marked. Persecution had not yet made the gloom and +hardness which soon came to be inseparable from the word Puritan, +and children were still allowed many enjoyments afterward totally +renounced. Milton could write, even after his faith had settled +and matured: + + "Haste then, nymph, and bring with thee + Jest and youthful jollity, + Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles, + Nods and becks and wreathed Smiles, + Such as hang on Hebe's cheek + And love to live in dimple sleek; + Sports that wrinkled care derides + And Laughter holding both his sides." + +Cromwell himself looked on at masques and revels, and Whitelock, a +Puritan lawyer and his ambassador to Sweden, left behind him a +reputation for stately and magnificent entertaining, which his +admirers could never harmonize with his persistent refusal to +conform to the custom of drinking healths. In the report of this +embassy printed after Whitelock's return and republished some +years ago, occurs one of the best illustrations of Puritan social +life at that period. "How could you pass over their very long +winter nights?" was one of the questions asked by the Protector at +the first audience after his return from The embassy. + +"I kept my people together," was the reply, "and in action and +recreation, by having music in my house, and encouraging that and +the exercise of dancing, which held them by the eyes and ears, and +gave them diversion without any offence. And I caused the +gentlemen to have disputations in Latin, and declamations upon +words which I gave them." Cromwell, "Those were very good +diversions, and made your house a little academy." + +Whitelock, "I thought these recreations better than gaming for +money, or going forth to places of debauchery." + +Cromwell, "It was much better." + +In the Earl of Lincoln's household such amusements would be +common, and it was not till many years later, that a narrowing +faith made Anne write them down as "the follyes of youth." Through +that youth, she had part in every opportunity that the increased +respect for women afforded. + +Many a Puritan matron shared her husband's studies, or followed +her boys in their preparation for Oxford or Cambridge, and Anne +Bradstreet's poems and the few prose memorials she left, give full +evidence of an unusually broad training, her delicacy of health +making her more ready for absorption in study. Shakespeare and +Cervantes were still alive at her birth, and she was old enough, +with the precocious development of the time, to have known the +sense of loss and the general mourning at their death in 1616. It +is doubtful if the plays of the elder dramatists were allowed her, +though there are hints in her poems of some knowledge of +Shakespeare, but by the time girlhood was reached, the feeling +against them had increased to a degree hardly comprehensible save +in the light of contemporaneous history. The worst spirit of the +time was incorporated in the later plays, and the Puritans made no +discrimination. The players in turn hated them, and Mrs. +Hutchinson wrote: "Every stage and every table, and every puppet- +play, belched forth profane scoffs upon them, the drunkards made +them their songs, and all fiddlers and mimics learned to abuse +them, as finding it the most gameful way of fooling." + +If, however, the dramatists were forbidden, there were new and +inexhaustible sources of inspiration and enjoyment, in the throng +of new books, which the quiet of the reign of James allowed to +appear in quick succession. Chapman's magnificent version of Homer +was delighting Cavalier and Puritan alike. "Plutarch's Lives," +were translated by Sir Thomas North and his book was "a household +book for the whole of the seventeenth century." Montaigne's Essays +had been "done into English" by John Florio, and to some of them +at least Thomas Dudley was not likely to take exception. Poets and +players had, however, come to be classed together and with some +reason, both alike antagonizing the Puritan, but the poets of the +reign of James were far more simple and natural in style than +those of the age of Elizabeth, and thus, more likely to be read in +Puritan families. Their numbers may be gauged by their present +classification into "pastoral, satirical, theological, metaphysical +and humorous," but only two of them were in entire sympathy +with the Puritan spirit, or could be read without serious shock +to belief and scruples. + +For the sake of her own future work, deeper drinking at these +springs was essential, and in rejecting them, Anne Dudley lost the +influence that must have moulded her own verse into much more +agreeable form for the reader of to-day, though it would probably +have weakened her power in her own day. The poets she knew best +hindered rather than helped development. Wither and Quarles, both +deeply Calvinistic, the former becoming afterward one of +Cromwell's major-generals, were popular not only then but long +afterward, and Quarles' "Emblems", which appeared in 1635, found +their way to New England and helped to make sad thought still more +dreary. Historians and antiquaries were at work. Sir Walter +Raleigh's "History of the World," must have given little Anne her +first suggestion of life outside of England, while Buchanan, the +tutor of King James, had made himself the historian and poet of +Scotland. Bacon had just ended life and labor; Hooker's +Ecclesiastical Polity was before the world, though not completed +until 1632, and the dissensions of the time had given birth to a +"mass of sermons, books of devotion, religious tracts and +controversial pamphlets." Sermons abounded, those of Archbishop +Usher, Andrews and Donne being specially valued, while "The +Saint's Cordial," of Dr. Richard Sibbs, and the pious meditations +of Bishop Hall were on every Puritan bookshelf. But few strictly +sectarian books appeared, "the censorship of the press, the right +of licensing books being almost entirely arrogated to himself by +the untiring enemy of the Nonconformists, Laud, Bishop of London, +whose watchful eye few heretical writings could escape.. . . Many +of the most ultra pamphlets and tracts were the prints of foreign +presses secretly introduced into the country without the form of a +legal entry at Stationers' Hall." + +The same activity which filled the religious world, was found also +in scientific directions and Dr. Harvey's discovery of the +circulation of the blood, and Napier's introduction of logarithms, +made a new era for both medicine and mathematics. + +That every pulse of this new tide was felt in the castle at +Lempingham is very evident, in all Anne Bradstreet's work. The +busy steward found time for study and his daughter shared it, and +when he revolted against the incessant round of cares and for a +time resigned the position, the leisure gained was devoted to the +same ends. The family removed to Boston in Lincolnshire, and there +an acquaintance was formed which had permanent influence on the +minds of all. + +Here dwelt the Rev. John Cotton, vicar of the parish and already +obnoxious to the Bishops. + +No man among the Nonconformists had had more brilliant reputation +before the necessity of differing came upon him, and his personal +influence was something phenomenal. To the girl whose sensitive, +eager mind reached out to every thing high and noble he must have +seemed of even rarer stuff than to-day we know him to have been. + +At thirteen he had entered Emmanuel College at Cambridge, and +adding distinction to distinction had come at last to be dean of +the college to which he belonged. His knowledge of Greek was +minute and thorough, and he conversed with ease in either Latin or +Hebrew. As a pulpit orator he was famous, and crowds thronged the +ancient church of St. Mary in Cambridge whenever he preached. Here +he gave them "the sort of sermons then in fashion--learned, +ornate, pompous, bristling with epigrams, stuffed with conceits, +all set off dramatically by posture, gesture and voice." + +The year in which Anne Dudley was born, had completed the change +which had been slowly working in him and which Tyler describes in +his vivid pages on the theological writers of New England: + +"His religious character had been deepening into Puritanism. He +had come to view his own preaching as frivolous, Sadducean, +pagan." He decided to preach one sermon which would show what +changes had come, and the announcement of his intention brought +together the usual throng of under-graduates, fellows and +professors who looked for the usual entertainment. Never was a +crowd more deceived. "In preparing once more to preach to this +congregation of worldly and witty folk, he had resolved to give +them a sermon intended to exhibit Jesus Christ rather than John +Cotton. This he did. His hearers were astonished, disgusted. Not a +murmur of applause greeted the several stages of his discourse as +before. They pulled their shovel caps down over their faces, +folded their arms, and sat it out sullenly, amazed that the +promising John Cotton had turned lunatic or Puritan." + +Nearly twenty years passed before his energies were transferred to +New England, but the ending of his university career by no means +hampered his work elsewhere. As vicar of St. Botolphs at Boston +his influence deepened with every year, and he grew steadily in +knowledge about the Bible, and in the science of God and man as +seen through the dim goggles of John Calvin. + +His power as a preacher was something tremendous, but he remained +undisturbed until the reign of James had ended and the "fatal eye +of Bishop Laud" fell upon him. "It was in 1633 that Laud became +primate of England; which meant, among other things, that nowhere +within the rim of that imperial island was there to be peace or +safety any longer for John Cotton. Some of his friends in high +station tried to use persuasive words with the archbishop on his +behalf, but the archbishop brushed aside their words with an +insupportable scorn. The Earl of Dorset sent a message to Cotton, +that if he had only been guilty of drunkenness or adultery, or any +such minor ministerial offence, his pardon could have been had; +but since his crime was Puritanism, he must flee for his life. So, +for his life he fled, dodging his pursuers; and finally slipping +out of England, after innumerable perils, like a hunted felon; +landing in Boston in September, 1633." + +Long before this crisis had come, Thomas Dudley had been recalled +by the Earl of Lincoln, who found it impossible to dispense with +his services, and the busy life began again. Whether Anne missed +the constant excitement the strenuous spiritual life enforced on +all who made part of John Cotton's congregation, there is no +record, but one may infer from a passage in her diary that a +reaction had set in, and that youth asserted itself. + +"But as I grew up to bee about fourteen or fifteen I found my +heart more carnall and sitting loose from God, vanity and the +follys of youth take hold of me. + +"About sixteen, the Lord layd his hand sore upon me and smott mee +with the small-pox. When I was in my affliction, I besought the +Lord, and confessed my Pride and Vanity and he was entreated of +me, and again restored me. But I rendered not to him according to +ye benefit received." + +Here is the only hint as to personal appearance. "Pride and +Vanity," are more or less associated with a fair countenance, and +though no record gives slightest detail as to form or feature, +there is every reason to suppose that the event, very near at +hand, which altered every prospect in life, was influenced in +degree, at least, by considerations slighted in later years, but +having full weight with both. That Thomas Dudley was a "very +personable man," we know, and there are hints that his daughter +resembled him, though it was against the spirit of the time to +record mere accidents of coloring or shape. But Anne's future +husband was a strikingly handsome man, not likely to ignore such +advantages in the wife he chose, and we may think of her as +slender and dark, with heavy hair and the clear, thoughtful eyes, +which may be seen in the potrait of Paul Dudley to-day. There were +few of what we consider the typical Englishmen among these Puritan +soldiers and gentry. Then, as now, the reformer and liberal was +not likely to be of the warm, headlong Saxon type, fair-haired, +blue-eyed, and open to every suggestion of pleasure loving +temperament. It was the dark-haired men of the few districts who +made up Cromwell's regiment of Ironsides, and who from what Galton +calls, "their atrabilious and sour temperament," were likely to +become extremists, and such Puritan portraits as remain to us, +have most of them these characteristics. The English type of face +altered steadily for many generations, and the Englishmen of the +eighteenth century had little kinship with the race reproduced in +Holbein's portraits, which show usually, "high cheek-bones, long +upper lips, thin eyebrows, and lank, dark hair. It would be +impossible ... for the majority of modern Englishmen so to dress +themselves and clip and arrange their hair, as to look like the +majority of these portraits." + +The type was perpetuated in New England, where for a hundred +years, there was not the slightest admixture of foreign blood, +increased delicacy with each generation setting it farther and +farther apart from the always grosser and coarser type in Old +England. Puritan abstinence had much to do with this, though even +for them, heavy feeding, as compared with any modern standard was +the rule, its results being found in the diaries of what they +recorded and believed to be spiritual conflicts. Then, as now, +dyspepsia often posed as a delicately susceptible temperament, and +the "pasty" of venison or game, fulfilled the same office as the +pie into which it degenerated, and which is one of the most firmly +established of American institutions. Then, as occasionally even +to day, indigestion counted as "a hiding of the Lord's face," and +a bilious attack as "the hand of the Lord laid heavily on one for +reproof and correction." Such "reproof and correction" would often +follow if the breakfasts of the Earl of Lincoln and his household +were of the same order as those of the Earl of Northumberland, in +whose house "the family rose at six and took breakfast at seven. +My Lord and Lady sat down to a repast of two pieces of salted +fish, and half a dozen of red herrings, with four fresh ones, or a +dish of sprats and a quart of beer and the same measure of wine ... +At other seasons, half a chine of mutton or of boiled beef, graced +the board. Capons at two-pence apiece and plovers (at Christmas), +were deemed too good for any digestion that was not carried on in +a noble stomach." + +With the dropping of fasts and meager days, fish was seldom used, +and the Sunday morning breakfast of Queen Elizabeth and her +retinue in one of her "progresses" through the country, for which +three oxen and one hundred and forty geese were furnished, became +the standard, which did not alter for many generations. A diet +more utterly unsuited to the child who passed from one fit of +illness to another, could hardly be imagined, and the gloom +discoverable in portions of her work was as certainly dyspepsia as +she imagined it to be "the motion and power of ye Adversary." +Winthrop had encountered the same difficulty and with his usual +insight and common sense, wrote in his private dairy fifteen years +before he left England, "Sep: 8, 1612. ffinding that the variety +of meates drawes me on to eate more than standeth with my healthe +I have resolved not to eat of more than two dishes at any one +meale, whither fish, fleshe, fowle or fruite or whitt-meats, etc; +whither at home or abroade; the lord give me care and abilitie to +perform it." Evidently the flesh rebelled, for later he writes: +"Idlenesse and gluttonie are the two maine pillars of the flesh +his kingdome," but he conquered finally, both he and Simon +Bradstreet being singularly abstinent. + +Her first sixteen years of life were, for Anne Dudley, filled with +the intensest mental and spiritual activity--hampered and always +in leading strings, but even so, an incredible advance on anything +that had been the portion of women for generations. Then came, for +the young girl, a change not wholly unexpected, yet destined to +alter every plan, and uproot every early association. But to the +memories of that loved early life she held with an English +tenacity, not altered by transplanting, that is seen to-day in +countless New Englanders, whose English blood is of as pure a +strain as any to be found in the old home across the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +UPHEAVALS. + + +Though the long engagement which Mr. Ruskin demands as a necessity +in lessening some of the present complications of the marriage +question may not have been the fortune of Simon and Anne +Bradstreet, it is certain that few couples have ever had better +opportunity for real knowledge of one another's peculiarities and +habits of thought. Circumstances placed them under the same roof +for years before marriage, and it would have been impossible to +preserve any illusions, while every weakness as well as every +virtue had fullest opportunity for disclosure. There is no hint of +other suitors, nor detail of the wooing, but the portrait of +Governor Bradstreet, still to be seen in the Senate Chamber of the +Massachusetts State House, shows a face that even in middle life, +the time at which the portrait was painted, held an ardor, that at +twenty-five must have made him irresistible. It is the head of +Cavalier rather than Roundhead--the full though delicately curved +lips and every line in the noble face showing an eager, +passionate, pleasure-loving temperament. But the broad, benignant +forehead, the clear, dark eyes, the firm, well-cut nose, hold +strength as well as sweetness, and prepare one for the reputation +which the old Colonial records give him. The high breeding, the +atmosphere of the whole figure, comes from a marvellously well- +balanced nature, as well as from birth and training. There is a +sense of the keenest life and vigor, both mental and physical, and +despite the Puritan garb, does not hide the man of whom his wife +might have written with Mrs. Hutchinson: "To sum up, therefore, +all that can be said of his outward frame and disposition, we must +truly conclude that it was a very handsome and well-furnished +lodging prepared for the reception of that prince who, in the +administration of all excellent virtues, reigned there a while, +till he was called back to the palace of the universal emperor." + +Simon Bradstreet's father, "born of a wealthy family in Suffolk, +was one of the first fellows of Emanuel College, and highly +esteemed by persons distinguished for learning." In 1603 he was +minister at Horbling in Lincolnshire, but was never anything but a +nonconformist to the Church of England. Here in 1603 Simon +Bradstreet was born, and until fourteen years old was educated in +the grammar school of that place, till the death of his father +made some change necessary. John Cotton was the mutual friend of +both Dudley and the elder Bradstreet, and Dudley's interest in the +son may have arisen from this fact. However this may be, he was +taken at fifteen into the Earl of Lincoln's household, and trained +to the duties of a steward by Dudley himself. Anne being then a +child of nine years old, and probably looking up to him with the +devotion that was shared by her older brother, then eleven and +always the friend and ally of the future governor. + +His capacity was so marked that Dr. Preston, another family friend +and a noted Nonconformist, interested himself in his further +education, and succeeded in entering him at Emanuel College, +Cambridge, in the position of governor to the young Lord Rich, son +of the Earl of Warwick. For some reason the young nobleman failed +to come to college and Bradstreet's time was devoted to a brother +of the Earl of Lincoln, who evidently shared the love of idleness +and dissipation that had marked his grandfather's career. It was +all pleasant and all eminently unprofitable, Bradstreet wrote in +later years, but he accomplished sufficient study to secure his +bachelor's degree in 1620. Four years later, while holding the +position of steward to the Earl of Lincoln, given him by Dudley on +the temporary removal to Boston, that of Master of Arts was +bestowed upon him, making it plain that his love of study had +continued. With the recall of Dudley, he became steward to the +countess of Warwick, which position he held at the time of his +marriage in 1628. + +It was in this year that Anne, just before her marriage recorded, +when the affliction had passed: "About 16, the Lord layde his hand +sore upon me and smott me with the small-pox." It is curious that +the woman whose life in many points most resembles her own--Mrs. +Lucy Hutchinson--should have had precisely the same experience, +writing of herself in the "Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson": "That +day that the friends on both sides met to conclude the marriage, +she fell sick of the small-pox, which was in many ways a great +trial upon him. First, her life was in almost desperate hazard, +and then the disease, for the present, made her the most deformed +person that could be seen, for a great while after she recovered; +yet he was nothing troubled at it, but married her as soon as she +was able to quit the chamber, when the priest and all that saw her +were affrighted to look on her; but God recompensed his justice +and constancy by restoring her, though she was longer than +ordinary before she recovered to be as well as before." + +Whether disease or treatment held the greater terror, it would be +hard to say. Modern medical science has devised many alleviations, +and often restores a patient without spot or blemish. But to have +lived at all in that day evidenced extraordinary vitality. +Cleanliness was unknown, water being looked upon as deadly poison +whether taken internally or applied externally. Covered with +blankets, every window tightly sealed, and the moaning cry for +water answered by a little hot ale or tincture of bitter herbs, +nature often gave up the useless struggle and released the +tortured and delirious wretch. The means of cure left the +constitution irretrievably weakened if not hopelessly ruined, and +the approach of the disease was looked upon with affright and +regarded usually as a special visitation of the wrath of God. + +That Anne Dudley so viewed it is evident from the passage in her +diary, already quoted; that the Lord "smott" her, was unquestioned, +and she cast about in her girlish mind for the shadow of the +sin that had brought such judgment, making solemn resolutions, +not only against any further indulgence in "Pride and Vanity," +but all other offences, deciding that self-abnegation was the +only course, and possibly even beginning her convalescence +with a feeling that love itself should be put aside, and all her +heart be "sett upon God." But Simon Bradstreet waited, like +Colonel Hutchinson, only till "she was fit to leave her chamber," +and whether "affrighted" or not, the marriage was consummated +early in 1628. + +Of heavier, stouter frame than Colonel Hutchinson, and of a far +more vigorous constitution, the two men had much in common. The +forces that moulded and influenced the one, were equally potent +with the other. The best that the time had to give entered into +both, and though Hutchinson's name and life are better known, it +is rather because of the beauty and power with which his story was +told, by a wife who worshipped him, than because of actually +greater desert. But the first rush of free thought ennobled many +men who in the old chains would have lived lives with nothing in +them worth noting, and names full of meaning are on every page of +the story of the time. + +We have seen how the whole ideal of daily life had altered, as the +Puritan element gained ground, and the influence affected the +thought and life--even the speech of their opponents. A writer on +English literature remarks: "In one sense, the reign of James is +the most religious part of our history; for religion was then +fashionable. The forms of state, the king's speeches, the debates +in parliament and the current literature, were filled with +quotations from Scripture and quaint allusions to sacred things." + +Even the soldier studied divinity, and Colonel Hutchinson, after +his "fourteen months various exercise of his mind, in the pursuit +of his love, being now at rest in the enjoyment of his wife," +thought it the most natural thing in the world to make "an +entrance upon the study of school divinity, wherein his father was +the most eminent scholar of any gentleman in England and had a +most choice library.... Having therefore gotten into the house +with him an excellent scholar in that kind of learning, he for two +years made it the whole employment of his time." + +Much of such learning Simon Bradstreet had taken in unconsciously +in the constant discussions about his father's table, as well as +in the university alive to every slightest change in doctrine, +where freer but fully as interested talk went on. Puritanism had +as yet acquired little of the bitterness and rigor born of +persecution, but meant simply emancipated thought, seeking +something better than it had known, but still claiming all the +good the world held for it. Milton is the ideal Puritan of the +time, and something of the influences that surrounded his youth +were in the home of every well-born Puritan. Even much farther +down in the social scale, a portrait remains of a London house +mother, which may stand as that of many, whose sons and daughters +passed over at last to the new world, hopeless of any quiet or +peace in the old. It is a turner in Eastcheap, Nehemiah +Wallington, who writes of his mother: "She was very loving and +obedient to her parents, loving and kind to her husband, very +tender-hearted to her children, loving all that were godly, much +misliking the wicked and profane. She was a pattern of sobriety +unto many, very seldom was seen abroad except at church; when +others recreated themselves at holidays and other times, she would +take her needle-work and say--'here is my recreation'.... God had +given her a very pregnant wit and an excellent memory. She was +very ripe and perfect in all stories of the Bible, likewise in all +the stories of the Martyrs, and could readily turn to them; she +was also perfect and well seen in the English Chronicles, and in +the descents of the Kings of England. She lived in holy wedlock +with her husband twenty years, wanting but four days." + +If the influence of the new thought was so potent with a class who +in the Tudor days had made up the London mob, and whose signature, +on the rare occasions when anybody wanted it, had been a mark, the +middle class, including professional men, felt it infinitely more. +In the early training with many, as with Milton's father, music +was a passion; there was nothing illiberal or narrow. In Milton's +case he writes: "My father destined me while yet a little boy to +the study of humane letters; which I seized with such eagerness +that from the twelth year of my age I scarcely ever went from my +lessons to my bed before midnight." "To the Greek, Latin and +Hebrew learned at school the scrivener advised him to add Italian +and French. Nor were English letters neglected. Spencer gave the +earliest turn to the boy's poetic genius. In spite of the war +between playwright and precisian, a Puritan youth could still in +Milton's days avow his love of the stage, 'if Jonson's learned +sock be on, or sweetest Shakspeare Fancy's child, warble his +native wood-notes wild' and gather from the 'masques and antique +pageantry,' of the court revels, hints for his own 'Comus' and +'Arcades'." + +Simon Bradstreet's year at Cambridge probably held much the same +experience, and if a narrowing faith in time taught him to write +it down as "all unprofitable," there is no doubt that it helped to +broaden his nature and establish the Catholic-mindedness which in +later years, in spite of every influence against it, was one of +his distinguishing characteristics. In the meantime he was a +delightful companion. Cut off by his principles from much that +passed as enjoyment, hating the unbridled licentiousness, the +"ornate beastliness," of the Stuart reign, he like others of the +same faith took refuge in intellectual pleasures. Like Colonel +Hutchinson--and this portrait, contrary in all points to the +preconceived idea, is a typical one--he "could dance admirably +well, but neither in youth nor riper years made any practice of +it; he had skill in fencing such as became a gentleman; he had +great love to music and often diverted himself with a viol, on +which he played masterly; he had an exact ear and judgment in +other music; he shot excellently in bows and guns, and much used +them for his exercise; he had great judgment in paintings, +graving, sculpture, and all liberal arts, and had many curiosities +of value in all kinds; he took great delight in perspective +glasses, and, for his other rarities was not so much affected with +the antiquity as the merit of the work; he took much pleasure in +improvement of grounds, in planting groves and walks and fruit +trees, in opening springs, and making fish-ponds." + +All these tastes were almost indispensable to anyone filling the +position which, alike, Dudley and Bradstreet held. "Steward" then, +had a very different meaning from any associated with it now, and +great estates were left practically in the hands of managers while +the owners busied themselves in other directions, relying upon the +good taste as well as the financial ability of the men who, as a +rule, proved more than faithful to the trust. + +The first two years of marriage were passed in England, and held +the last genuine social life and intellectual development that +Anne Bradstreet was to enjoy. The love of learning was not lost in +the transition from one country to another, but it took on more +and more a theological bias, and embodied itself chiefly in +sermons and interminable doctrinal discussions. Even before the +marriage, Dudley had decided to join the New England colony, but +Simon Bradstreet hesitated and lingered, till forced to a decision +by the increasing shadow of persecution. Had they remained in +England, there is little doubt that Anne Bradstreet's mind, +sensitively alive as it was to every fine influence, would have +developed in a far different direction to that which it finally +took. The directness and joyous life of the Elizabethan literature +had given place to the euphuistic school, and as the Puritans put +aside one author after another as "not making for godliness," the +strained style, the quirks and conceits of men like Quarles and +Withers came to represent the highest type of literary effort. But +no author had the influence of Du Bartas, whose poems had been +translated by Joshua Sylvester in 1605, under the title of "Du +Bartas. His Duuine Weekes and Workes, with a Complete Collection +of all the other most delightfull Workes, Translated and Written +by ye famous Philomusus, Josvah Sylvester, Gent." He in turn was +an imitator; a French euphuist, whose work simply followed and +patterned after that of Ronsard, whose popularity for a time had +convinced France that no other poet had been before him, and that +no successor could approach his power. He chose to study classical +models rather than nature or life, and his most formidable poem, +merely a beginning of some five or six thousand verses on "the +race of French kings, descended from Francion, a child of Hector +and a Trojan by birth," ended prematurely on the death of Charles +IX, but served as a model for a generation of imitators. + +What spell lay in the involved and interminable pages the modern +reader cannot decide, but Milton studied them, and affirmed that +they had aided in forming his style, and Spenser wrote of him-- + + "And after thee, (du Bellay) 'gins + Barras hie to raise + His Heavenly muse, th' Almighty to adore. + Live, happy spirits! th' honor of your name, + And fill the world with never dying fame." + +Dryden, too, shared the infatuation, and in the Epistle Dedicatory +to "The Spanish Friar," wrote: "I remember when I was a boy, I +thought inimitable Spenser a mean poet, in comparison of +Sylvester's 'Dubartas,' and was wrapt into an ecstasy when I read +these lines: + + "'Now when the winter's keener breath began + To crystallize the Baltic ocean; + To glaze the lakes, to bridle up the floods, + And periwig with snow (wool) the bald-pate woods.' + +"I am much deceived if this be not abominable fustian." Van Lann +stigmatizes this poem, _Le Semaine ou Creation du Monde_, as "the +marriage-register of science and verse, written by a Gascon Moses, +who, to the minuteness of a Walt Whitman and the unction of a +parish-clerk, added an occasional dignity superior to anything +attained by the abortive epic of his master." + +But he had some subtle, and to the nineteenth century mind, +inscrutable charm. Poets studied him and Anne Bradstreet did more +than study; she absorbed them, till such originality as had been +her portion perished under the weight. In later years she +disclaimed the charge of having copied from him, but the infection +was too thorough not to remain, and the assimilation had been so +perfect that imitation was unconscious. There was everything in the +life of Du Bartas to appeal to her imagination as well as her +sympathy, and with her minute knowledge of history she relished his +detail while reverencing his character. For Du Bartas was a French +Puritan, holding the same religious views as Henry IV, before he +became King of France, his strong religious nature appealing to +every English reader. Born in 1544, of noble parents, and brought +up, according to Michaud in the Biographic Universelle, to the +profession of arms, he distinguished himself as a soldier and +negotiater. Attached to the person of Prince Henry "in the capacity +of gentleman in ordinary of his bedchamber, he was successfully +employed by him on missions to Denmark, Scotland and England. He +was at the battle of Ivry and celebrated in song the victory which +he had helped to gain. He died four months after, in July, 1559, at +the age of forty-six, in consequence of some wounds which had been +badly healed. He passed all the leisure which his duties left him, +at his chateau du Bartas. It was there that he composed his long +and numerous poems.... His principal poem, _La Semaine,_ went +through more than thirty editions in less than six years, and was +translated into Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, German and +Dutch." + +The influence was an unfortunate one. Nature had already been set +aside so thoroughly that, as with Dryden, Spenser was regarded as +common-place and even puerile, and the record of real life or +thought as no part of a poet's office. Such power of observation +as Anne Bradstreet had was discouraged in the beginning, and +though later it asserted itself in slight degree, her early work +shows no trace of originality, being, as we are soon to see, +merely a rhymed paraphrase of her reading. That she wrote verse, +not included in any edition of her poems, we know, the earliest +date assigned there being 1632, but the time she had dreaded was +at hand, and books and study went the way of many other pleasant +things. + +With the dread must have mingled a certain thrill of hope and +expectation common to every thinking man and woman who in that +seventeenth century looked to the New World to redress every wrong +of the Old, and who watched every movement of the little band that +in Holland waited, for light on the doubtful and beclouded future. + +The story of the first settlement needs no repetition here. The +years in Holland had knit the little band together more strongly +and lastingly than proved to be the case with any future company, +their minister, John Robinson, having infused his own intense and +self-abnegating nature into every one. That the Virginian colonies +had suffered incredibly they knew, but it had no power to dissuade +them. "We are well weaned," John Robinson wrote, "from the +delicate milk of the mother-country, and inured to the difficulties +of a strange land; the people are industrious and frugal. We +are knit together as a body in a most sacred covenant of the +Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and +by virtue whereof, we hold ourselves strictly tied to all care +of each other's good and of the whole. It is not with us, as with +men whom small things can discourage." + +By 1629, the worst difficulties had been overcome, and the +struggle for mere existence had ended. The little colony, made up +chiefly of hard working men, had passed through every phase of +suffering. Sickness and famine had done their worst. The settlers +were thoroughly acclimated, and as they prospered, more and more +the eyes of Puritan England turned toward them, with a longing for +the same freedom. Laud's hand was heavy and growing heavier, and +as privileges lessened, and one after another found fine, or +pillory, or banishment awaiting every expression of thought, the +eagerness grew and intensified. As yet there had been no +separation from the Mother Church. It had simply "divided into two +great parties, the Prelatical or Hierarchical, headed by Laud, and +the Nonconformist or Puritan." For the latter, Calvin had become +the sole authority, and even as early as 1603, their preachers +made up more than a ninth of the clergy. The points of disagreement +increased steadily, each fresh severity from the Prelatical party +being met by determined resistance, and a stubborn resolution +never to yield an inch of the new convictions. No clearer +presentation of the case is to be found anywhere than in Mason's +life of Milton, the poet's life being absolutely contemporaneous +with the cause, and his own experience came to be that of hundreds. +From his childhood he had been set apart for the ministry, +but he was as he wrote in later life, with a bitterness he +never lost, "Church-outed by the prelates." "Coming to some +maturity of years, and perceiving what tyranny had invaded in the +Church, that he who would take orders, must subscribe slave, and +take an oath withal, which, unless he took with a conscience that +would retch, he must either straight perjure or split his faith, I +thought it better to prefer a blameless silence before the sacred +office of speaking, bought and begun with servitude and +forswearing." + +Each year of the increasing complications found a larger body +enrolled on his side, and with 1629, Simon Bradstreet resigned any +hope of life in England, and cast in his fortunes once for all +with the projected colony. In dissolving his third Parliament +Charles had granted the charter for the Massachusetts Colony, and +seizing upon this as a "Providential call," the Puritans at once +circulated "conclusions" among gentry and traders, and full +descriptions of Massachusetts. Already many capitalists deemed +encouragement of the emigration an excellent speculation, but the +prospective emigrants had no mind to be ruled by a commercial +company at home, and at last, after many deliberations, the old +company was dissolved; the officers resigned and their places were +filled by persons who proposed to emigrate. + +Two days before this change twelve gentlemen met at Cambridge and +"pledged themselves to each other to embark for New England with +their families for a permanent residence." + +"Provided always, that, before the last of September next, the +whole government, together with the patent for the said +plantation, be first legally transferred." Dudley's name was one +of the twelve, and at another meeting in October he was also +present, with John Winthrop, who was shortly chosen governor. A +day or two later, Dudley was made assistant governor, and in the +early spring of 1630, but a few days before sailing Simon +Bradstreet was elected to the same office in the place of Mr. +Thomas Goffe. One place of trust after another was filled by the +two men, whose history henceforward is that of New England. Dudley +being very shortly made "undertaker," that is, to be one of those +having "the sole managinge of the joynt stock, wth all things +incydent theronto, for the space of 7 years." + +Even for the sternest enthusiasts, the departure seemed a +banishment, though Winthrop spoke the mind of all when he wrote, +"I shall call that my country where I may most glorify God and +enjoy the presence of my dearest friends." + +For him the dearest were left behind for a time, and in all +literature there is no tenderer letter than that in which his last +words go to the wife whom he loved with all the strength of his +nature, and the parting from whom, was the deepest proof that +could have been of his loyalty to the cause he had made his own. + +As he wrote the Arbella was riding at anchor at Cowes, waiting for +favorable winds. Some of the party had gone on shore, and all +longed to end these last hours of waiting which simply prolonged a +pain that even the most determined and resolute among them, felt +to be almost intolerable. Many messages went back carried by +friends who lingered at Cowes for the last look at the vanishing +sails, but none better worth record than the words which hold the +man's deep and tender soul. + +"And now, my sweet soul, I must once again take my last farewell +of thee in old England. It goeth very near to my heart to leave +thee, but I know to whom I have committed thee, even to Him, who +loves thee much better than any husband can; who hath taken +account of the hairs of thy head, and puts all thy tears in his +bottle; who can, and (if it be for his glory) will, bring us +together again with peace and comfort. Oh, how it refresheth my +heart to think, that I shall yet again see thy sweet face in the +land of the living; that lovely countenance that I have so much +delighted in, and beheld with so great content! I have hitherto +been so taken up with business, as I could seldom look back to my +former happiness; but now when I shall be at some leisure, I shall +not avoid the remembrance of thee, nor the grief for thy absence. +Thou hast thy share with me, but I hope the course we have agreed +upon will be some ease to us both. Mondays and Fridays at five +o'clock at night we shall meet in spirit till we meet in person. +Yet if all these hopes should fail, blessed be our God, that we +are assured we shall meet one day, if not as husband and wife, yet +in a better condition. Let that stay and comfort thine heart. +Neither can the sea drown thy husband, nor enemies destroy, nor +any adversity deprive thee of thy husband or children. Therefore I +will only take thee now and my sweet children in mine arms, and +kiss and embrace you all, and so leave you with God. Farewell, +farewell. I bless you all in the name of the Lord Jesus." + +"Farewell, dear England!" burst from the little group on that 8th +of April, 1630, when at last, a favorable wind bore them out to +sea, and Anne Bradstreet's voice had part in that cry of pain and +longing, as the shores grew dim and "home faded from their sight. +But one comfort or healing remained for them, in the faith that +had been with all from the beginning, one record being for them +and the host who preceded and followed their flight. So they left +that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting +place; ... but they knew they were pilgrims and looked not much on +those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest +country, and quieted their spirits." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE VOYAGE. + + +It is perhaps the fault of the seventeenth century and its firm +belief that a woman's office was simply to wait such action as man +might choose to take, that no woman's record remains of the long +voyage or the first impressions of the new country. + +For the most of them writing was by no means a familiar task, but +this could not be said of the women on board the Arbella, who had +known the highest cultivation that the time afforded. But poor +Anne Bradstreet's young "heart rose," to such a height that +utterance may have been quite stifled, and as her own family were +all with her, there was less need of any chronicle. + +For all details, therefore, we are forced to depend on the journal +kept by Governor Winthrop, who busied himself not only with this, +making the first entry on that Easter Monday which found them +riding at anchor at Cowes, but with another quite as characteristic +piece of work. A crowded storm-tossed ship, is hardly a point to +which one looks for any sustained or fine literary composition, +but the little treatise, "A Model of Christian Charity," the fruit +of long and silent musing on the new life awaiting them, holds +the highest thought of the best among them, and was undoubtedly +read with the profoundest feeling and admiration, as it took shape +in the author's hands. There were indications even in the first +fervor of the embarkation, that even here some among them +thought "every man upon his own," while greater need of +unselfishness and self-renunciation had never been before +a people. "Only by mutual love and help," and "a grand, patient, +self-denial," was there the slightest hope of meeting the demands +bound up with the new conditions, and Winthrop wrote--"We must be +knit together in this work as one man. We must entertain each +other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge +ourselves of our superfluities for the supply of others' +necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together, in all +meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in +each other; make others' conditions our own; rejoice together, +mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before +our eyes, our commission and community in the work as members of +the same body." + +A portion of this body were as closely united as if forming but +one family. The lady Arbella, in compliment to whom the ship, +which had been first known as The Eagle, had been re-christened, +had married Mr. Isaac Johnson, one of the wealthiest members of +the party. She was a sister of the Earl of Lincoln who had come to +the title in 1619, and whose family had a more intimate connection +with the New England settlements than that of any other English +nobleman. Her sister Susan had become the wife of John Humfrey, +another member of the company, and the close friendship between +them and the Dudleys made it practically a family party. Anne +Bradstreet had grown up with both sisters, and all occupied +themselves in such ways as their cramped quarters would allow. +Space was of the narrowest, and if the Governor and his deputies +indulged themselves in spreading out papers, there would be small +room for less important members of the expedition. But each had +the little Geneva Bible carried by every Puritan, and read it with +a concentrated eagerness born of the sense that they had just +escaped its entire loss, and there were perpetual religious +exercises of all varieties, with other more secular ones recorded +in the Journal. In the beginning there had been some expectation +that several other ships would form part of the expedition, but +they were still not in sailing order and thus the first entry +records "It was agreed, (it being uncertain when the rest of the +fleet would be ready) these four ships should consort together; +the Arbella to be Admiral, the Talbot Vice-Admiral, the Ambrose +Rear-Admiral, and the Jewel a Captain; and accordingly articles of +consortship were drawn between the said captains and masters." + +The first week was one of small progress, for contrary winds drove +them back persistently and they at last cast anchor before +Yarmouth, and with the feeling that some Jonah might be in their +midst ordered a fast for Friday, the 2d of April, at which time +certain light-minded "landmen, pierced a runlet of strong water, +and stole some of it, for which we laid them in bolts all the +night, and the next morning the principal was openly whipped, and +both kept with bread and water that day." + +Nothing further happened till Monday, when excitement was afforded +for the younger members of the party at least, as "A maid of Sir +Robert Saltonstall fell down at the grating by the cook-room, but +the carpenter's man, who unwittingly, occasioned her fall caught +hold of her with incredible nimbleness, and saved her; otherwise +she had fallen into the hold." + +Tuesday, finding that the wind was still against them, the captain +drilled the landmen with their muskets, "and such as were good +shot among them were enrolled to serve in the ship if occasion +should be"; while the smell of powder and the desire, perhaps, for +one more hour on English soil, made the occasion for another item: +"The lady Arbella and the gentlewomen, and Mr. Johnson and some +others went on shore to refresh themselves." + +The refreshment was needed even then. Anne Bradstreet was still +extremely delicate, never having fully recovered from the effects +of the small-pox, and the Lady Arbella's health must have been so +also, as it failed steadily through the voyage, giving the sorest +anxiety to her husband and every friend on board. + +It is evident from an entry in Anne Bradstreet's diary after +reaching New England that even the excitement of change and the +hope common to all of a happy future, was not strong enough to +keep down the despondency which came in part undoubtedly from her +weak health. The diary is not her own thoughts or impressions of +the new life, but simply bits of religious experience; an +autobiography of the phase with which we could most easily +dispense. "After a short time I changed my condition and was +married, and came into this country, where I found a new world and +new manners at which my heart rose. But after I was convinced it +was the will of God I submitted to it and joined to the church at +Boston." + +This rebellion must have been from the beginning, for every inch +of English soil was dear to her, but she concealed it so +thoroughly, that no one suspected the real grief which she looked +upon as rebellion to the will of God. Conservative in thought and +training, and with the sense of humor which might have lightened +some phases of the new dispensation, almost destroyed by the +Puritan faith, which more and more altered the proportions of +things, making life only a grim battle with evil, and the days +doings of absolute unimportance save as they advanced one toward +heaven, she accepted discomfort or hardship with quiet patience. + +There must have been unfailing interest, too, in the perpetual +chances and changes of the perilous voyage. They had weighed anchor +finally on the 8th of April, and were well under way on the morning +of the 9th, when their journey seemed suddenly likely to end then +and there. The war between Spain and England was still going on, and +privateers known as Dunkirkers, were lying in wait before every +English harbor. Thus there was reason enough for apprehension, when, +"In the morning we descried from the top, eight sail astern of +us.... We supposing they might be Dunkirkers, our captain caused the +gun room and gun deck to be cleared; all the hammocks were taken +down, our ordnance loaded, and our powder chests and fireworks made +ready, and our landmen quartered among the seamen, and twenty-five +of them appointed for muskets, and every man written down for his +quarter. + +"The wind continued N. with fair weather, and after noon it +calmed, and we still saw those eight ships to stand towards us; +having more wind than we, they came up apace, so as our captain +and the masters of our consorts were more occasioned to think they +might be Dunkirkers, (for we were told at Yarmouth, that there +were ten sail of them waiting for us); whereupon we all prepared +to fight with them, and took down some cabins which were in the +way of our ordnance, and out of every ship were thrown such bed +matters as were subject to take fire, and we heaved out our long +boats and put up our waste cloths, and drew forth our men and +armed them with muskets and other weapons, and instruments for +fireworks; and for an experiment our captain shot a ball of wild +fire fastened to an arrow out of a cross bow, which burnt in the +water a good time. The lady Arbella and the other women and +children, were removed into the lower deck, that they might be out +of danger. All things being thus fitted, we went to prayer upon +the upper deck. It was much to see how cheerful and comfortable +all the company appeared; not a woman or child that shewed fear, +though all did apprehend the danger to have been great, if things +had proved as might well be expected, for there had been eight +against four, and the least of the enemy's ships were reported to +carry thirty brass pieces; but our trust was in the Lord of Hosts; +and the courage of our captain, and his care and diligence did +much to encourage us. + +"It was now about one of the clock, and the fleet seemed to be +within a league of us; therefore our captain, because he would +show he was not afraid of them, and that he might see the issue +before night should overtake us, tacked about and stood to meet +them, and when we came near we perceived them to be our friends-- +the little Neptune, a ship of some twenty pieces of ordnance, and +her two consorts, bound for the Straits, a ship of Flushing, and a +Frenchman and three other English ships bound for Canada and +Newfoundland. So when we drew near, every ship (as they met) +saluted each other, and the musketeers discharged their small +shot, and so (God be praised) our fear and danger was turned into +mirth and friendly entertainment. Our danger being thus over, we +espied two boats on fishing in the channel; so every one of our +four ships manned out a skiff, and we bought of them great store +of excellent fresh fish of divers sorts." + +It is an astonishing fact, that no line in Anne Bradstreet's poems +has any reference to this experience which held every alternation +of hope and fear, and which must have moved them beyond any other +happening of the long voyage. But, inward states, then as +afterward, were the only facts that seemed worthy of expression, +so far as she personally was concerned, and they were all keyed to +a pitch which made danger even welcome, as a test of endurance and +genuine purpose. But we can fancy the dismay of every house-wife +as the limited supply of "bed matters," went the way of many other +things "subject to take fire." Necessarily the household goods of +each had been reduced to the very lowest terms, and as the +precious rugs and blankets sunk slowly, or for a time defied the +waves and were tossed from crest to crest, we may be sure that the +heart of every woman, in the end at least, desired sorely that +rescue might be attempted. Sheets had been dispensed with, to +avoid the accumulation of soiled linen, for the washing of which +no facilities could be provided, and Winthrop wrote of his boys to +his wife in one of his last letters, written as they rode at +anchor before Cowes, "They lie both with me, and sleep as soundly +in a rug (for we use no sheets here) as ever they did at Groton; +and so I do myself, (I praise God)." + +Among minor trials this was not the least, for the comfort we +associate with English homes, had developed, under the Puritan +love of home, to a degree that even in the best days of the +Elizabethan time was utterly unknown. The faith which demanded +absolute purity of life, included the beginning of that +cleanliness which is "next to godliness," if not an inherent part +of godliness itself, and fine linen on bed and table had become +more and more a necessity. The dainty, exquisite neatness that in +the past has been inseparable from the idea of New England, began +with these Puritan dames, who set their floating home in such +order as they could, and who seized the last opportunity at +Yarmouth of going on shore, not only for refreshment, but to wash +neckbands and other small adornments, which waited two months for +any further treatment of this nature. + +There were many resources, not only in needlework and the +necessary routine of each day, but in each other. The two +daughters of Sir Robert Saltonstall, Mrs. Phillips the minister's +wife, the wives of Nowell, Coddington and others made up the group +of gentlewomen who dined with Lady Arbella in "the great cabin," +the greatness of which will be realized when the reader reflects +that the ship was but three hundred and fifty tons burden and +could carry aside from the fifty or so sailors, but thirty +passengers, among whom were numbered various discreet and +reputable "young gentlemen" who, as Winthrop wrote, "behave +themselves well, and are conformable to all good orders," one or +two of whom so utilized their leisure that the landing found them +ready for the marriage bells that even Puritan asceticism still +allowed to be rung. + +Disaster waited upon them, even when fairly under way. Winthrop, +whose family affection was intense, and whose only solace in +parting with his wife had been, that a greatly loved older son, as +well as two younger ones were his companions, had a sore +disappointment, entered in the journal, with little comment on its +personal bearings. "The day we set sail from Cowes, my son Henry +Winthrop went on shore with one of my servants, to fetch an ox and +ten wethers, which he had provided for our ship, and there went on +shore with him Mr. Pelham and one of his servants. They sent the +cattle aboard, but returned not themselves. About three days after +my servant and a servant of Mr. Pelham's came to us in Yarmouth, +and told us they were all coming to us in a boat the day before, +but the wind was so strong against them as they were forced on +shore in the night, and the two servants came to Yarmouth by land, +and so came on shipboard, but my son and Mr. Pelham (we heard) +went back to the Cowes and so to Hampton. We expected them three +or four days after, but they came not to us, so we have left them +behind, and suppose they will come after in Mr. Goffe's ships. We +were very sorry they had put themselves upon such inconvenience +when they were so well accommodated in our ship." + +A fresh gale on the day of this entry encouraged them all; they +passed the perils of Scilly and looked for no further delay when a +fresh annoyance was encountered which, for the moment, held for +the women at least, something of the terror of their meeting with +supposed "Dunkirkers." + +"About eight in the morning, ... standing to the W. S. W. we met +two small ships, which falling in among us, and the Admiral coming +under our lee, we let him pass, but the Jewel and Ambrose, +perceiving the other to be a Brazilman, and to take the wind of +us, shot at them, and made them stop and fall after us, and sent a +skiff aboard them to know what they were. Our captain, fearing +lest some mistake might arise, and lest they should take them for +enemies which were friends, and so, through the unruliness of the +mariners some wrong might be done them, caused his skiff to be +heaved out, and sent Mr. Graves, one of his mates and our pilot (a +discreet man) to see how things were, who returned soon after, and +brought with him the master of one of the ships, and Mr. Lowe and +Mr. Hurlston. When they were come aboard to us, they agreed to +send for the captain, who came and showed his commission from the +Prince of Orange. In conclusion he proved to be a Dutchmen, and +his a man of war from Flushing, and the other ship was a prize he +had taken, laden with sugar and tobacco; so we sent them aboard +their ships again, and held on our course. In this time (which +hindered us five or six leagues) the Jewel and the Ambrose came +foul of each other, so as we much feared the issue, but, through +God's mercy, they came well off again, only the Jewel had her +foresail torn, and one of her anchors broken. This occasion and +the sickness of our minister and people, put us all out of order +this day, so as we could have no sermons." + +No words hold greater force of discomfort and deprivation than +that one line, "so as we could have no sermons," for the capacity +for this form of "temperate entertainment," had increased in such +ratio, that the people sat spell bound, four hours at a stretch, +both hearers and speaker being equally absorbed. Winthrop had +written of himself at eighteen, in his "Christain Experience": "I +had an insatiable thirst after the word of God; and could not +misse a good sermon, though many miles off, especially of such as +did search deep into the conscience," and to miss this refreshment +even for a day, seemed just so much loss of the needed spiritual +food. + +But the wind, which blew "a stiffe gale," had no respect of +persons, and all were groaning together till the afternoon of the +next day, when a device occurred to some inventive mind, possibly +that of Mistress Bradstreet herself, which was immediately carried +out. "Our children and others that were sick and lay groaning in +the cabins, we fetched out, and having stretched a rope from the +steerage to the main mast, we made them stand, some of one side +and some of the other, and sway it up and down till they were +warm, and by this means they soon grew well and merry." + +The plan worked well, and three days later, when the wind which +had quieted somewhat, again blew a "stiffe gale," he was able to +write: "This day the ship heaved and set more than before, yet we +had but few sick, and of these such as came up upon the deck and +stirred themselves, were presently well again; therefore our +captain set our children and young men, to some harmless +exercises, which the seamen were very active in, and did our +people much good, though they would sometimes play the wags with +them." + +Wind and rain, rising often till the one was a gale and the other +torrents, gave them small rest in that first week. The fish they +had secured at Yarmouth returned to their own element, Winthrop +mourning them as he wrote: "The storm was so great as it split our +foresail and tore it in pieces, and a knot of the sea washed our +tub overboard, wherein our fish was a-watering." The children had +become good sailers, and only those were sick, who, like "the +women kept under hatches." The suffering from cold was constant, +and for a fortnight extreme, the Journal reading: "I wish, +therefore, that all such as shall pass this way in the spring have +care to provide warm clothing; for nothing breeds more trouble and +danger of sickness, in this season, than cold." + +From day to day the little fleet exchanged signals, and now and +then, when calm enough the masters of the various ships dined in +the round-house of the Arbella, and exchanged news, as that, "all +their people were in health, but one of their cows was dead." Two +ships in the distance on the 24th of April, disturbed them for a +time, but they proved to be friends, who saluted and "conferred +together so long, till his Vice Admiral was becalmed by our sails, +and we were foul one of another, but there being little wind and +the sea calm, we kept them asunder with oars, etc., till they +heaved out their boat, and so towed their ship away. They told us +for certain, that the king of France had set out six of his own +ships to recover the fort from them." + +Here was matter for talk among the travellers, whose interest in +all that touched their future heightened day by day, and the item, +with its troublous implications may have been the foundation of +one of the numerous fasts recorded. + +May brought no suggestion of any quiet, though three weeks out, +they had made but three hundred leagues, and the month opened with +"a very great tempest all the night, with fierce showers of rain +intermixed, and very cold.... Yet through God's mercy, we were +very comfortable and few or none sick, but had opportunity to keep +the Sabbath, and Mr. Phillips preached twice that day." + +Discipline was of the sharpest, the Puritan temper brooking no +infractions of law and order. There were uneasy and turbulent +spirits both among the crew and passengers, and in the beginning +swift judgment fell upon two young men, who, "falling at odds and +fighting, contrary to the orders which we had published and set up +in the ship, were adjudged to walk upon the deck till night, with +their hands bound behind them, which accordingly was executed; and +another man for using contemptuous speeches in our presence, was +laid in bolts till he submitted himself and promised open +confession of his offence." + +Impressive as this undoubtedly proved to the "children and youth +thereby admonished," a still greater sensation was felt among them +on the discovery that "a servant of one of our company had +bargained with a child to sell him a box worth three-pence for +three biscuits a day all the voyage, and had received about forty +and had sold them and many more to some other servants. We caused +his hands to be tied up to a bar, and hanged a basket with stones +about his neck, and so he stood two hours." + +Other fights are recorded, the cause a very evident one. "We +observed it a common fault in our young people that they gave +themselves to drink hot waters very immoderately." + +Brandy then as now was looked upon as a specific for sea-sickness, +and "a maid servant in the ship, being stomach sick, drank so much +strong water, that she was senseless, and had near killed +herself." + +The constant cold and rain, the monotonous food, which before port +was reached had occasioned many cases of scurvy and reduced the +strength of all, was excuse enough for the occasional lapse into +overindulgence which occurred, but the long penance was nearly +ended. On the 8th of June Mount Mansell, now Mt. Desert, was +passed, an enchanting sight for the sea-sad eyes of the +travellers. A "handsome gale" drove them swiftly on, and we may +know with what interest they crowded the decks and gazed upon +these first glimpses of the new home. As they sailed, keeping well +in to shore, and making the new features of hill and meadow and +unfamiliar trees, Winthrop wrote: "We had now fair sunshine +weather, and so pleasant a sweet air as did much refresh us, and +there came a smell off the shore like the smell of a garden." + +Peril was past, and though fitful winds still tormented them, the +12th of May saw the long imprisonment ended, and they dropped +anchor "a little within the islands," in the haven where they +would be. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BEGINNINGS. + + +There are travellers who insist that, as they near American shores +in May or early June, the smell of corn-blossom is on the wind, +miles out at sea, a delicate, distinct, penetrating odor, as +thoroughly American as the clearness of the sky and the pure, fine +quality in the air. The wild grape, growing as profusely to-day on +the Cape as two hundred years ago, is even more powerful, the +subtle, delicious fragrance making itself felt as soon as one +approaches land. The "fine, fresh smell like a garden," which +Winthrop notes more than once, came to them on every breeze from +the blossoming land. Every charm of the short New England summer +waited for them. They had not, like the first comers to that coast +to disembark in the midst of ice and snow, but green hills sloped +down to the sea, and wild strawberries were growing almost at +high-tide mark. The profusion of flowers and berries had rejoiced +Higginson in the previous year, their men rowing at once to "Ten +Pound Island," and bringing back, he writes: "ripe strawberries +and gooseberries and sweet single roses. Thus God was merciful to +us in giving us a taste and smell of the sweet fruit, as an +earnest of his bountiful goodness to welcome us at our first +arrival." + +But no fairness of Nature could undo the sad impression of the +first hour in the little colony at Salem, where the Arbella +landed, three days before her companions reached there. Their own +cares would have seemed heavy enough, but the winter had been a +terrible one, and Dudley wrote later in his letter to the Countess +of Lincoln: "We found the Colony in a sad and unexpected +condition, above eighty of them being dead the winter before; and +many of those alive, weak and sick; all the corn and bread amongst +them all, hardly sufficient to feed them a fortnight, insomuch +that the remainder of a hundred and eighty servants we had the two +years before sent over, coming to us for victuals to sustain them, +we found ourselves wholly unable to feed them, by reason that the +provisions shipped for them were taken out of the ship they were +put in, and they who were trusted to ship them in another, failed +us and left them behind; whereupon necessity enforced us, to our +extreme loss, to give them all liberty, who had cost us about L16 +or L20 a person, furnishing and sending over." + +Salem holding only discouragement, they left it, exploring the +Charles and the Mystic Rivers, and finally joining the settlement +at Charlestown, to which Francis Higginson had gone the previous +year, and which proved to be in nearly as desperate case as Salem. +The Charlestown records as given in Young's "Chronicles of +Massachusetts," tell the story of the first days of attempt at +organization. The goods had all been unshipped at Salem and were +not brought to Charlestown until July. In the meantime, "The +Governor and several of the Patentees dwelt in the great house +which was last year built in this town by Mr. Graves and the rest +of their servants. The multitude set up cottages, booths and tents +about the Town Hill. They had long passage; some of the ships were +seventeen, some eighteen weeks a coming. Many people arrived sick +of the scurvy, which also increased much after their arrival, for +want of houses, and by reason of wet lodging in their cottages, +etc. Other distempers also prevailed; and although [the] people +were generally very loving and pitiful, yet the sickness did so +prevail, that the whole were not able to tend the sick as they +should be tended; upon which many perished and died, and were +buried about the Town Hill." + +Saddest of all among these deaths must have been that of the Lady +Arbella, of whom Mather in a later day, wrote: "She came from a +paradise of plenty and pleasure, in the family of a noble earldom, +into a wilderness of wants, and took New England in her way to +heaven." There had been doubt as to the expediency of her coming, +but with the wife of another explorer she had said: "Whithersoever +your fatal destiny shall drive you, either by the waves of the +great ocean, or by the manifold and horrible dangers of the land, +I will surely bear you company. There can no peril chance to me so +terrible, nor any kind of death so cruel, that shall not be much +easier for me to abide, than to live so far separate from you." + +Weakened by the long voyage and its perpetual hardships, and +dismayed, if may be at the sadness and privations of what they had +hoped might hold immediate comfort, she could not rally, and Anne +Bradstreet's first experience of New England was over the grave, +in which they laid one of the closest links to childhood and that +England both had loved alike. + +Within a month, Winthrop wrote in his journal: "September 30. +About two in the morning, Mr. Isaac Johnson died; his wife, the +lady Arbella, of the house of Lincoln, being dead about one month +before. He was a holy man and wise, and died in sweet peace, +leaving some part of his substance to the Colony." + + "He tried + To live without her, liked it not and died." + +Still another tragedy had saddened them all, though in the press +of overwhelming business, Winthrop wrote only: "Friday, July 2. My +son Henry Winthrop drowned at Salem," and there is no other +mention of himself till July 16, when he wrote the first letter to +his wife from America. + +The loss was a heavy one to the colony as well as the father, for +Henry Winthrop, though but twenty-two, had already had experience +as a pioneer, having gone out to Barbadoes at eighteen, and became +one of the earliest planters in that island. Ardent, energetic, +and with his fathers deep tenderness for all who depended on him, +he was one who could least be spared. "A sprightly and hopeful +young gentleman he was," says Hubbard, and another chronicle gives +more minute details. "The very day on which he went on shore in +New England, he and the principal officers of the ship, walking +out to a place now called by the Salemites, Northfield, to view +the Indian wigwams, they saw on the other side of the river a +small canoe. He would have had one of the company swim over and +fetch it, rather than walk several miles on foot, it being very +hot weather; but none of the party could swim but himself; and so +he plunged in, and, as he was swimming over, was taken with the +cramp a few roods from the shore and drowned." + +The father's letter is filled with an anguish of pity for the +mother and the young wife, whose health, like that of the elder +Mrs. Winthrop, had made the journey impossible for both. + +"I am so overpressed with business, as I have no time for these or +other mine own private occasions. I only write now that thou +mayest know, that yet I live and am mindful of thee in all my +affairs. The larger discourse of all things thou shalt receive +from my brother Downing, which I must send by some of the last +ships. We have met with many sad and discomfortable things as thou +shalt hear after; and the Lord's hand hath been heavy upon myself +in some very near to me. My son Henry! My son Henry! Ah, poor +child! Yet it grieves me much more for my dear daughter. The Lord +strengthen and comfort her heart to bear this cross patiently. I +know thou wilt not be wanting to her in this distress." + +Not one of the little colony was wanting in tender offices in +these early days when a common suffering made them "very pitiful +one to another," and as the absolutely essential business was +disposed of they hastened to organize the church where free +worship should make amends for all the long sorrow of its search. + +A portion of the people from the Arbella had remained in Salem, +but on Friday, July 3Oth, 1630, Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson and +Wilson entered into a church covenant, which was signed two days +after by Increase Nowell and four others--Sharpe, Bradstreet, +Gager and Colborne. + +It is most probable that Anne Bradstreet had been temporarily +separated from her husband, as Johnson in his "Wonder-working +Providence," writes, that after the arrival at Salem, "the lady +Arrabella and some other godly women aboad at Salem, but their +husbands continued at Charles Town, both for the settling the +Civill Government and gathering another Church of Christ." The +delay was a short one, for her name stands thirteenth on the list. +Charlestown, however, held hardly more promise of quiet life than +Salem. The water supply was, curiously enough, on a peninsula +which later gave excellent water, only "a brackish spring in the +sands by the water side ... which could not supply half the +necessities of the multitude, at which time the death of so many +was concluded to be much the more occasioned by this want of good +water." + +Heat was another evil to the constitutions which knew only the +equable English temperature, and could not face either the intense +sun, or the sudden changes of the most erratic climate the earth +knows. In the search for running-water, the colonists scattered, +moving from point to point, "the Governor, the Deputy-Governor and +all the assistants except Mr. Nowell going across the river to +Boston at the invitation of Mr. Blaxton, who had until then been +its only white inhabitant." + +Even the best supplied among them were but scantily provided with +provisions. It was too late for planting, and the colony already +established was too wasted and weakened by sickness to have cared +for crops in the planting season. In the long voyage "there was +miserable damage and spoil of provisions by sea, and divers came +not so well provided as they would, upon a report, whilst they +were in England, that now there was enough in New England." Even +this small store was made smaller by the folly of several who +exchanged food for beaver skins, and, the Council suddenly finding +that famine was imminent "hired and despatched away Mr. William +Pearce with his ship of about two hundred tons, for Ireland to buy +more, and in the mean time went on with their work of settling." + +The last month of the year had come before they could decide where +the fortified town, made necessary by Indian hostilities, should +be located. The Governor's house had been partly framed at +Charlestown, but with the removal to Boston it was taken down, and +finally Cambridge was settled upon as the most desirable point, +and their first winter was spent there. Here for the first time it +was possible for Anne Bradstreet to unpack their household +belongings, and seek to create some semblance of the forsaken +home. But even for the Dudleys, among the richest members of the +party there was a privation which shows how sharply it must have +fared with the poorer portion, and Dudley wrote, nine months after +their arrival, that he "thought fit to commit to memory our +present condition, and what hath befallen us since our arrival +here; which I will do shortly, after my usual manner, and must do +rudely, having yet no table, nor other room to write in than by +the fireside upon my knee, in this sharp winter; to which my +family must have leave to resort, though they break good manners, +and make me many times forget what I would say, and say what I +would not." + +No word of Mistress Dudley's remains to tell the shifts and +strivings for comfort in that miserable winter which, mild as it +was, had a keenness they were ill prepared to face. Petty miseries +and deprivations, the least endurable of all forms of suffering, +surrounded them like a cloud of stinging insects, whose attacks, +however intolerable at the moment, are forgotten with the passing, +and either for this reason, or from deliberate purpose, there is +not a line of reference to them in any of Anne Bradstreet's +writings. Scarcity of food was the sorest trouble. The Charlestown +records show that "people were necessitated to live upon clams and +muscles and ground nuts and acorns, and these got with much +difficulty in the winter-time. People were very much tried and +discouraged, especially when they heard that the Governor himself +had the last batch of bread in the oven." + +All fared alike so far as possible, the richer and more provident +distributing to the poor, and all watching eagerly for the ship +sent back in July in anticipation of precisely such a crisis. Six +months had passed, when, on the fifth of February, 1631, Mather +records that as Winthrop stood at his door giving "the last +handful of meal in the barrel unto a poor man distressed by the +wolf at the door, at that instant, they spied a ship arrived at +the harbor's mouth with provisions for them all." The Fast day +just appointed became one of rejoicing, the first formal +proclamation for Thanksgiving Day being issued, "by order of the +Governour and Council, directed to all the plantations, and though +the stores held little reminder of holiday time in Old England, +grateful hearts did not stop to weigh differences. In any case the +worst was past and early spring brought the hope of substantial +comfort, for the town was 'laid out in squares, the streets +intersecting each other at right-angles,' and houses were built +as rapidly as their small force of carpenters could work. +Bradstreet's house was at the corner of 'Brayntree' and Wood +Streets, the spot now occupied by the familiar University Book- +store of Messrs. Sever and Francis on Harvard Square, his plot of +ground being 'aboute one rood,' and Dudley's on a lot of half an +acre was but a little distance from them at the corner of the +present Dunster and South Streets." Governor Winthrop's decision +not to remain here, brought about some sharp correspondence +between Dudley and himself, but an amicable settlement followed +after a time, and though the frame of his house was removed to +Boston, the town grew in spite of its loss, so swiftly that in +1633, Wood wrote of it: + +"This is one of the neatest and best compacted Towns in New +England, having many fair structures, with many handsome contrived +streets. The inhabitants most of them are very rich and well +stored with Cattell of all sorts." + +Rich as they may have appeared, however, in comparison with many +of the settlements about them, sickness and want were still +unwelcome guests among them, so that Dudley wrote: "there is not a +house where there is not one dead and in some houses many. The +natural causes seem to be in the want of warm lodging and good +diet, to which Englishmen are habituated at home, and in the +sudden increase of heat which they endure that are landed here in +summer, the salt meats at sea having prepared their bodies +thereto; for those only these two last years died of fevers who +landed in June and July; as those of Plymouth, who landed in +winter, died of the scurvey, as did our poorer sort, whose houses +and bedding kept them not sufficiently warm, nor their diet +sufficiently in heart." + +Thus far there were small inducements for further emigration. The +tide poured in steadily, but only because worse evils were behind +than semi-starvation in New England. The fairest and fullest +warning was given by Dudley, whose letter holds every strait and +struggle of the first year, and who wrote with the intention of +counteracting the too rosy statements of Higginson and Graves: "If +any come hither to plant for worldly ends that can live well at +home, he commits an error, of which he will soon repent him; but +if for spiritual, and that no particular obstacle hinder his +removal, he may find here what may well content him, viz., +materials to build, fuel to burn, ground to plant, seas and rivers +to fish in, a pure air to breathe in, good water to drink till +wine or beer can be made; which together with the cows, hogs and +goats brought hither already, may suffice for food; for as for +fowl and venison, they are dainties here as well as in England. +For clothes and bedding, they must bring them with them, till time +and industry produce them here. In a word, we yet enjoy little to +be envied, but endure much to be pitied in the sickness and +mortality of our people. And I do the more willingly use this open +and plain dealing, lest other men should fall short of their +expectations when they come hither, as we to our great prejudice +did, by means of letters sent us from hence into England, wherein +honest men, out of a desire to draw over others to them, wrote +something hyperbolically of many things here. If any godly men, +out of religious ends, will come over to help us in the good work +we are about, I think they cannot dispose of themselves nor their +estates more to God's glory and the furtherance of their own +reckoning. But they must not be of the poorer sort yet, for divers +years; for we have found by experience that they have hindered, +not furthered the work. And for profane and debauched persons, +their oversight in coming hither is wondered at, where they shall +find nothing to content them." + +This long quotation is given in full to show the fair temper of +the man, who as time went on was slightly less in favor than in +the beginning. No one questioned his devotion to the cause, or the +energy with which he worked for it, but as he grew older he lost +some portion of the old urbanity, exchanging it disastrously for +traits which would seem to have been the result of increasing +narrowness of religious faith rather than part of his real self. +Savage writes of him: "a hardness in publick and ridgidity in +private life, are too observable in his character, and even an +eagerness for pecuniary gain, which might not have been expected +in a soldier and a statesman." That the impression was general is +evident from an epitaph written upon him by Governor Belcher, who +may, however, have had some personal encounter with this +"rigidity," which was applied to all without fear or favor. + + "Here lies Thomas Dudley, that trusty old stud, + A bargain's a bargain and must be made good." + +Whatever his tendencies may have been they did not weigh heavily +on his family, who delighted in his learning and devoted spirit, +and whose affection was strong enough to atone for any criticism +from outsiders. + +Objectionable as his methods may sometimes have been--sour as his +compatriots now and then are said to have found him, "the world it +appears, is indebted for much of its progress, to uncomfortable +and even grumpy people," and Tyler whose analysis of the Puritan +character has never been surpassed, writes of them: "Even some of +the best of them, perhaps, would have seemed to us rather +pragmatical and disputatious persons, with all the edges and +corners of their characters left sharp, with all their opinions +very definitely formed, and with their habits of frank utterance +quite thoroughly matured. Certainly ... they do not seem to have +been a company of gentle, dreamy and euphemistical saints, with a +particular aptitude for martyrdom and an inordinate development of +affability." + +They argued incessantly, at home and abroad, and "this exacting +and tenacious propensity of theirs, was not a little criticized by +some who had business connections with them." Very probably +Governor Belcher had been worsted in some wordy battle, always +decorously conducted, but always persistent, but these minor +infelicities did not affect the main purposes of life, and the +settlement grew in spite of them; perhaps even, because of them, +free speech being, as yet, the privilege of all, though as the +answering became in time a little too free, means were taken to +insure more discretion. + +In the meantime Cambridge grew, and suddenly arose a complaint, +which to the modern mind is preposterous. "Want of room" was the +cry of every citizen and possibly with justice, as the town had +been set within fixed limits and had nearly doubled in size +through the addition in August, 1632, of the congregation of the +Rev. Thomas Hooker at Chelmsford in the county of Essex, England, +who had fallen under Laud's displeasure, and escaped with +difficulty, being pursued by the officers of the High Commission +from one county to another, and barely eluding them when he took +ship for New England. + +One would have thought the wilderness at their doors afforded +sense of room enough, and that numbers would have been a welcome +change, but the complaint was serious enough to warrant their +sending out men to Ipswich with a view of settling there. Then for +a time the question dropped, much to the satisfaction, no doubt, +of Mistress Dudley and her daughter, to whom in 1633, or '34, the +date being uncertain, came her first child, the son Samuel, who +graduated at Harvard College in 1653, and of whom she wrote long +after in the little diary of "Religious Experiences": + +"It pleased God to keep me a long time without a child, which was +a great greif to me, and cost mee many prayers and tears before I +obtained one, and after him gave mee many more of whom I now take +the care." + +Cambridge still insisting that it had not room enough, the town +was enlarged, but having accomplished this, both Dudley and +Bradstreet left it for Ipswich, the first suggestion of which had +been made in January, 1632, when news came to them that "the +French had bought the Scottish plantation near Cape Sable, and +that the fort and all the amunition were delivered to them, and +that the cardinal, having the managing thereof, had sent many +companies already, and preparation was made to send many more the +next year, and divers priests and Jesuits among them---called the +assistants to Boston, and the ministers and captains, and some +other chief men, to advise what was fit to be done for our safety, +in regard the French were like to prove ill neighbors, (being +Papists)." + +Another change was in store for the patient women who followed the +path laid open before them, with no thought of opposition, +desiring only "room for such life as should in the ende return +them heaven for an home that passeth not away," and with the +record in Winthrop's journal, came the familiar discussion as to +methods, and the decision which speedily followed. + +Dudley and Bradstreet as "assistants" both had voice in the +conclusions of the meeting, the record of which has just been +given, though with no idea, probably, at that time, that their own +movements would be affected. It was settled at once that "a +plantation and a fort should be begun at Natascott, partly to be +some block in an enemy's way (though it could not bar his +entrance), and especially to prevent an enemy from taking that +passage from us.... Also, that a plantation be begun at Agawam +(being the best place in the land for tillage and cattle), least +an enemy, finding it void should possess and take it from us. The +governor's son (being one of the assistants) was to undertake +this, and to take no more out of the bay than twelve men; the rest +to be supplied, at the coming of the next ships." + +That they were not essential to Cambridge, but absolutely so at +this weak point was plain to both Dudley and Bradstreet, who +forthwith made ready for the change accomplished in 1634, when at +least one other child, Dorothy, had come to Anne Bradstreet. +Health, always delicate and always fluctuating, was affected more +seriously than usual at this time, no date being given, but the +period extending over several years, "After some time, I fell into +a lingering sickness like a consumption, together with a lameness, +which correction I saw the Lord sent to humble and try me and do +me Good: and it was not altogether ineffectual." + +Patient soul! There were better days coming, but, self-distrust +was, after her affections, her strongest point, and there is small +hint of inward poise or calmness till years had passed, though she +faced each change with the quiet dauntlessness that was part of +her birthright. But the tragedy of their early days in the colony +still shadowed her. Evidently no natural voice was allowed to +speak in her, and the first poem of which we have record is as +destitude of any poetic flavor, as if designed for the Bay Psalm- +book. As the first, however, it demands place, if only to show +from what she afterward escaped. That she preserved it simply as a +record of a mental state, is evident from the fact, that it was +never included in any edition of her poems, it having been found +among her papers after her death. + + UPON A FIT OF SICKNESS, _Anno_. 1632. + _Aetatis suce_, 19. + + Twice ten years old not fully told since + nature gave me breath, + My race is run, my thread is spun, lo! here + is fatal Death. + All men must dye, and so must I, this cannot + be revoked, + For Adam's sake, this word God spake, when he + so high provoke'd. + Yet live I shall, this life's but small, in + place of highest bliss, + Where I shall have all I can crave, no life is + like to this. + For what's this life but care and strife? since + first we came from womb, + Our strength doth waste, our time doth hast and + then we go to th' Tomb. + O Bubble blast, how long can'st last? that + always art a breaking, + No sooner blown, but dead and gone ev'n as a + word that's speaking, + O whil'st I live this grace me give, I doing good + may be, + Then death's arrest I shall count best because + it's thy degree. + Bestow much cost, there's nothing lost to make + Salvation sure, + O great's the gain, though got with pain, comes + by profession pure. + The race is run, the field is won, the victory's + mine, I see, + For ever know thou envious foe the foyle belongs + to thee. + +This is simply very pious and unexceptionable doggerel and no one +would admit such fact more quickly than Mistress Anne herself, who +laid it away in after days in her drawer, with a smile at the +metre and a sigh for the miserable time it chronicled. There were +many of them, for among the same papers is a shorter burst of +trouble: + + UPON SOME DISTEMPER OF BODY. + + In anguish of my heart repleat with woes, + And wasting pains, which best my body knows, + In tossing slumbers on my wakeful bed, + Bedrencht with tears that flow from mournful head, + Till nature had exhausted all her store, + Then eyes lay dry disabled to weep more; + And looking up unto his Throne on high, + Who sendeth help to those in misery; + He chas'd away those clouds and let me see, + My Anchor cast i' th' vale with safety, + He eas'd my soul of woe, my flesh of pain, + And brought me to the shore from troubled Main. + +The same brooding and saddened spirit is found in some verses of +the same period and written probably just before the birth of her +third child, the latter part containing a touch of jealous +apprehension that has been the portion of many a young mother, and +that indicates more of human passion than could be inferred from +anything in her first attempt at verse. + + All things within this fading world hath end, + Adversity doth still our joys attend; + No tyes so strong, no friends so dear and sweet + But with death's parting blow is sure to meet. + The sentence past is most irrevocable + A common thing, yet oh, inevitable; + How soon, my Dear, death may my steps attend, + How soon 't may be thy Lot to lose thy friend! + We both are ignorant, yet love bids me + These farewell lines to recommend to thee, + That when that knot's untyed that made us one, + I may seem thine, who in effect am none. + And if I see not half my dayes that's due, + What nature would, God grant to yours and you; + The many faults that well you know I have, + Let be interred in my oblivious grave; + If any worth or virtue were in me, + Let that live freshly in thy memory, + And when thou feel'st no grief as I no harms, + Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms: + And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains + Look to my little babes my dear remains, + And if thou love thyself, or loved'st me, + These O protect from step-Dames injury. + And if chance to thine eyes shall bring this verse, + With some sad sighs honor my absent Herse; + And kiss this paper for thy love's dear sake + Who with salt tears this last farewell did take. + --_A. B._ + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OLD FRIENDS AND NEW. + + +In spite of the fits of depression evident in most of the +quotations thus far given, there were many alleviations, as life +settled into more tolerable conditions, and one chief one was now +very near. Probably no event in the first years of Anne +Bradstreet's life in the little colony had as much significance +for her as the arrival at Boston in 1633, of the Rev. John Cotton, +her father's friend, and one of the strongest influences in the +lives of both English and American Puritans. She was still living +in Cambridge and very probably made one of the party who went in +from there to hear his first sermon before the Boston church. He +had escaped from England with the utmost difficulty, the time of +freedom allowed him by King James who admired his learning, having +ended so thoroughly that he was hunted like an escaped convict. +Fearless and almost reckless, the Colonial ministers wondered at +his boldness, a brother of Nathaniel Ward saying as he and some +friends "spake merrily" together: "Of all men in the world, I envy +Mr. Cotton of Boston, most; for he doth nothing in way of +conformity, and yet hath his liberty, and I do everything in that +way and cannot enjoy mine." + +The child born on the stormy passage over, and who in good time +became Anne Bradstreet's son-in-law, marrying her daughter Dorothy +in 1654, appeared with the father and mother at the first public +service after his arrival, and before it was positively decided +that he should remain in Boston. The baptism, contrary to the +usual custom of having it take place, not later than ten days +after birth, had been delayed, and Winthrop gives a characteristic +picture of the scene: "The Lord's day following, he (Mr. Cotton) +exercised in the afternoon, and being to be admitted, he signified +his desire and readiness to make his confession according to +order, which he said might be sufficient in declaring his faith +about baptism (which he then desired for their child, born in +their passage, and therefore named Seaborn). He gave two reasons +why he did not baptize it at sea (not for want of fresh water, for +he held sea-water would have served): 1st, because they had no +settled congregation there; 2d, because a minister hath no power +to give the seals, but in his own congregation." + +Some slight question, as to whether Boston alone, or the colony at +large should be taxed for his support was settled with little +difficulty, and on Sept. 10, another gathering from all the +neighboring towns, witnessed his induction into the new church a +ceremony of peculiar solemnity, preceded by a fast, and followed +by such feasting as the still narrow stores of the people +admitted. + +No one can estimate the importance of this occasion, who does not +realize what a minister meant in those first days, when the sermon +held for the majority the sole opportunity of intellectual +stimulus as well as spiritual growth. The coming of John Cotton to +Boston, was much as if Phillips Brooks should bestow himself upon +the remotest English settlement in Australia, or a missionary +station in northern Minnesota, and a ripple of excitement ran +through the whole community. It meant keener political as well as +religious life, for the two went side by side. Mather wrote later +of New England: "It is a country whose interests were most +remarkably and generally enwrapped in its ecclesiastical +circumstances," and he added: "The gospel has evidently been the +making of our towns." + +It was the deacons and elders who ruled public affairs, always +under direction of well-nigh supreme authority vested in the +minister. There was reason for such faith in them. "The objects of +much public deference were not unaware of their authority; they +seldom abused it; they never forgot it. If ever men, for real +worth and greatness, deserved such pre-eminence, they did; they +had wisdom, great learning, great force of will, devout +consecration, philanthropy, purity of life. For once in the +history of the world, the sovereign places were filled by the +sovereign men. They bore themselves with the air of leaderships; +they had the port of philosophers, noblemen and kings. The +writings of our earliest times are full of reference to the +majesty of their looks, the awe inspired by their presence, the +grandeur and power of their words." + +New England surely owes something of her gift of "ready and +commanding speech," to these early talkers, who put their whole +intellectual force into a sermon, and who thought nothing of a +prayer lasting for two hours and a sermon for three or even four. +Nathaniel Ward, whose caustic wit spared neither himself nor the +most reverend among his brethren, wrote in his "Simple Cobbler": +"We have a strong weakness in New England, that when we are +speaking, we know not how to conclude. We make many ends, before +we make an end.... We cannot help it, though we can; which is the +arch infirmity in all morality. We are so near the west pole, that +our longitudes are as long as any wise man would wish and somewhat +longer. I scarce know any adage more grateful than '_Grata +brevitas_'." + +Mr. Cotton was no exception to this rule, but his hearers would +not have had him shorter. It was, however, the personality of the +man that carried weight and nothing that he has left for a mocking +generation to wonder over gives slightest hint of reason for the +spell he cast over congregations, under the cathedral towers, or +in the simple meeting house in the new Boston. The one man alive, +who, perhaps, has gone through his works conscientiously and +hopefully, Moses Coit Tyler, writes of John Cotton's works: "These +are indeed clear and cogent in reasoning; the language is well +enough, but that is all. There are almost no remarkable merits in +thought or style. One wanders through these vast tracts and +jungles of Puritanic discourse--exposition, exhortation, logic- +chopping, theological hair-splitting--and is unrewarded by a +single passage of eminent force or beauty, uncheered even by the +felicity of a new epithet in the objurgation of sinners, or a new +tint in the landscape-painting of hell." + +Hubbard wrote, while he still lived: "Mr. Cotton had such an +insinuating and melting way in his preaching, that he would +usually carry his very adversary captive, after the triumphant +chariot of his rhetoric," but "the chariot of his rhetoric ceased +to be triumphant when the master himself ceased to drive it," and +we shall never know the spell of his genius. For one who had shown +himself so uncompromising in action where his own beliefs were +concerned, he was singularly gentle and humble. Followed from his +church one day, by a specially sour and peevish fanatic, who +announced to him with a frown that his ministry had become dark +and flat, he replied: + +"Both, brother--it may be both; let me have your prayers that it +may be otherwise." + +Such a nature would never revolt against the system of spiritual +cross-questioning that belonged to every church, and it is easy to +see how his hold on his congregation was never lost, even at the +stormiest episode in his New England career. + +The people flocked to hear him, and until the removal to Ipswich, +there is no doubt that Anne Bradstreet and her husband met him +often, and that he had his share in confirming her faith and +stimulating her thought. Dudley and he remained friends to the +end, and conferred often on public as well as private matters, but +there are no family details save the record of the marriage in +later years, which united them all more closely, than even their +common suffering had done. + +Health alone, or the want of it, gave sufficient reason for at +least a shadow of gloom, and there were others as substantial, for +fresh changes were at hand, and various circumstances had brought +her family under a general criticism against which Anne Bradstreet +always revolted. Minute personal criticism was the order of the +day, considered an essential in holding one another in the +straight path, and the New England relish for petty detail may +have had its origin in this religious gossip. As usual the first +trouble would seem to have arisen from envy, though undoubtedly +its originator strenuously denied any such suspicion. The houses +at Cambridge had gradually been made more and more comfortable, +though even in the beginning, they were the rudest of structures, +the roofs covered with thatch, the fire-places generally made of +rough stones and the chimneys of boards plastered with clay. To +shelter was the only requisite demanded, but Dudley, who desired +something more, had already come under public censure, the +governor and other assistants joining in the reproach that "he did +not well to bestow such cost about wainscotting and adorning his +house in the beginning of a plantation, both in regard to the +expense, and the example." + +This may have been one of the "new customs" at which poor Anne's +"heart rose, for none of the company, not even excepting the +governor, had come from as stately and well-ordered a home as +theirs, the old castle still testifying to the love of beauty in +its ancient owners." Dudley's excuse was, however, accepted, "that +it was for the warmth of his house, and the charge was but little, +being but clapboards nailed to the wall in the form of wainscot." + +The disagreement on this question of adornment was not the only +reason why a removal to Ipswich, then known as Agawam, may have +seemed desirable. Dudley, who was some thirteen years older than +the Governor, and whose capacity for free speech increased with +every year, had criticised sharply the former's unexpected removal +to Boston, and placable as Winthrop always was, a little feeling +had arisen, which must have affected both families. The first open +indication of Dudley's money-loving propensities had also been +made a matter of discussion, and was given "in some bargains he +had made with some poor members of the same congregation, to whom +he had sold seven bushels and a half of corn, to receive ten for +it after harvest, which the governor and some others held to be +oppressing usury." + +Dudley contested the point hotly, the governor taking no "notice +of these speeches, and bore them with more patience than he had +done upon a like occasion at another time," but the breach had +been made, and it was long before it ceased to trouble the friends +of both. With all his self-sacrifice, Dudley desired leadership, +and the removal to Ipswich gave him more fully the position he +craved, as simply just acknowledgment of his services to the +Colony, than permanent home at Cambridge could have done. +Objections were urged against the removal, and after long +discussion waxing hotter and hotter Dudley resigned, in a most +Puritan fit of temper, leaving the council in a passion and +"clapping the door behind him." Better thoughts came to all. The +gentle temper of both wife and daughter quieted him, and disposed +him to look favorably upon the letter in which the council refused +to accept his resignation, and this was the last public occasion +upon which such scandal arose. But Ipswich was a safe harbor, and +life there would hold fewer thorns than seemed sown in the +Cambridge surroundings, and we may feel sure, that in spite of +hardships, the long-suffering Anne and her mother welcomed the +change, when it had once been positively decided upon. + +The most serious objection arose from the more exposed situation +of Ipswich and the fact that the Indians were becoming more and +more troublesome. The first year, however, passed in comparative +quiet. A church was organized, sermons being the first necessity +thought of for every plantation, and "Mr. Wilson, by leave of the +congregation of Boston whereof he was pastor, went to Agawam to +teach the people of that plantation, because they had yet no +minister," to be succeeded shortly by Nathaniel Ward, a man of +most intense nature and personality, who must have had marked +effect on every mind brought under his influence. A worker of +prodigious energy, he soon broke down, and after two years of +pastorship, left Ipswich to become a few years later, one of the +commission appointed to frame laws for the Colony and to write +gradually one of the most distinctive books in early American +literature, "The Simple Cobbler of Agawam." That he became the +strong personal friend of the Bradstreet family was natural, for +not only were they of the same social status, but sympathetic in +many points, though Simon Bradstreets' moderation and tolerant +spirit undoubtedly fretted the uncompromising Puritan whose +opinions were as stiff and incisive as his way of putting them. An +extensive traveller, a man of ripe culture, having been a +successful lawyer before the ministry attracted him, he was the +friend of Francis Bacon, of Archbishop Usher and the famous +Heidelberg theologian, David Pareus. He had travelled widely and +knew men and manners, and into the exhortations and expoundings of +his daily life, the unfoldings of the complicated religious +experience demanded of every Puritan, must have crept many a +reminiscence of old days, dear to the heart of Anne Bradstreet, +who, no matter what theory she deemed it best to follow, was at +heart, to the end of her life a monarchist. We may know with what +interest she would listen, and may fancy the small Simon and +Dorothy standing near as Puritan discipline allowed, to hear tales +of Prince Rupert, whom Nathaniel Ward had held as a baby in his +arms, and of whom he wrote what we may be sure he had often said: +"I have had him in my arms; . . . I wish I had him there now. If I +mistake not, he promised then to be a good prince; but I doubt he +hath forgot it. If I thought he would not be angry with me, I +would pray hard to his Maker to make him a right Roundhead, a +wise-hearted Palatine, a thankful man to the English; to forgive +all his sins, and at length to save his soul, notwithstanding all +his God-damn-me's." + +Even in these early days, certain feminine pomps and vanities had +emigrated with their owners, and much disconcerted the energetic +preacher. Anne Bradstreet had no share in them, her gentle +simplicity making her always choose the least obtrusive form of +speech and action, as well as dress, but she must have smiled over +the fierceness with which weaker sisters were attacked, and +perhaps have sought to change the attitude of this chronic fault- +finder; "a sincere, witty and valiant grumbler," but always a +grumbler, to whom the fashions of the time seemed an outrage on +common sense. He devotes a separate section of his book to them, +and the delinquencies of women in general because they were +"deficients or redundants not to be brought under any rule," and +therefore not entitled to "pester better matter with such stuff," +and then announces that he proposes, "for this once to borrow a +little of their loose-tongued liberty, and mis-spend a word or two +upon their long-waisted but short-skirted patience." "I honor the +woman that can honor herself with her attire," he goes on, his +wrath rising as he writes; "a good text always deserves a fair +margent, but as for a woman who lives but to ape the newest court- +fashions, I look at her as the very gizzard of a trifle, the +product of a quarter of a cipher, the epitome of nothing; fitter +to be kicked, if she were of a kickable substance, than either +honored or humored. To speak moderately, I truly confess, it is +beyond the ken of my understanding to conceive how those women +should have any true grace or valuable virtue, that have so little +wit as to disfigure themselves with such exotic garbs, as not only +dismantles their native, lovely lustre, but transclouts them into +gaunt bar-geese, ill-shapen, shotten shell-fish, Egyptian +hieroglyphics, or at the best into French flirts of the pastry, +which a proper English woman should scorn with her heels. It is no +marvel they wear trails on the hinder part of their heads; having +nothing it seems in the forepart but a few squirrels' brains to +help them frisk from one ill-favored fashion to another.... We +have about five or six of them in our colony; if I see any of them +accidentally, I cannot cleanse my fancy for a month after.... If +any man think I have spoken rather merrily than seriously, he is +much mistaken; I have written what I write, with all the +indignation I can, and no more than I ought." + +Let it be remembered, that these ladies with "squirrels brains," +are the "grandmothers" whose degenerate descendants we are daily +accused of being. It is an old tune, but the generations have +danced to it since the world began, each with a profound +conviction of its newness, and their own success in following its +lead. Nor was he alone in his indignation, for even in the midst +of discussions on ordnance, and deep perplexities over unruly +settlers, the grave elders paused, and as Winthrop records: + +"At the lecture in Boston a question was propounded about veils. +Mr. Cotton concluded, that where (by the custom of the place) they +were not a sign of the woman's subjection, they were not commanded +by the apostle. Mr. Endecott opposed, and did maintain it by the +general arguments brought by the apostle. After some debate, the +governor, perceiving it to grow to some earnestness, interposed, +and so it brake off." Isaiah had protested, before Nathaniel Ward +or the Council echoed him, but if this is the attitude the sturdy +preacher held toward the women of his congregation, he must have +found it well to resign his place to his successor, also a +Nathaniel, Nathaniel Rogers, one of the row of "nine small +children," still to be seen in the New England Primer, gazing upon +the martyr, John Rogers, the famous preacher of Dedham, whose +gifts of mind and soul made him a shining mark for persecution, +and whose name is still honored in his descendants. + +Of less aggressive and incisive nature than Nathaniel Ward, he was +a man of profound learning, his son and grandson succeeding him at +Ipswich, and the son, who had accompanied him from England +becoming the President of Harvard College. His sympathy with Simon +Bradstreet's moderate and tolerant views, at once brought them +together, and undoubtedly made him occasionally a thorn in the +side of Governor Dudley, who felt then, precisely the same +emotions as in later life were chronicled in his one attempt at +verse: + + "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 Heresie and Vice." + +Nathaniel Rogers has left no written memorial save a tract in the +interest of this most objectionable toleration, in which, while +favoring liberty and reformation, he censured those who had +brought false charges against the king, and as a result, was +accused of being one of the king's agents in New England. Anne +Bradstreet's sympathies were even more strongly with him than +those of her husband, and in the quiet listening to the arguments +which went on, she had rarest opportunity for that gradual +accumulation of real worldly wisdom to be found in many of her +"Reflections" in prose. + +At present there was more room for apprehension than reflection. +Indian difficulties were more and more pressing, and in Sept., +1635, the General Court had included Ipswich in the order that no +dwelling-house should be more than half a mile from the meeting- +house, it being impossible to guard against the danger of coming +and going over longer space. The spring of 1636-7 brought still +more stringent care. Watches were kept and no one allowed to +travel without arms. The Pequot war was the culmination for the +time, the seed of other and more atrocious conflicts to come, and +whatever the judgment of to-day may be on the causes which brought +such results, the terror of the settlers was a very real and well- +grounded fact. As with Deerfield at a later date, they were +protected from Indian assaults, only by "a rude picketted fort. +Sentinels kept guard every night; even in the day time, no one +left his door-steps without a musket; and neighborly communication +between the houses was kept up principally by underground passages +from cellar to cellar." + +Mr. Daniel Dennison, who had married Anne Bradstreet's sister, was +chosen captain for Ipswich and remained so for many years. As the +Indians were driven out, they concentrated in and about New +Hampshire, which, being a frontier colony, knew no rest from peril +day and night, but it was many years before any Massachusetts +settler dared move about with freedom, and the perpetual +apprehension of every woman who dreaded the horrible possibilities +of Indian outrage, must have gone far toward intensifying and +grinding in the morbid sensitiveness which even to-day is part of +the genuine New England woman's character. The grim details of +expeditions against them were known to every child. The same +impatience of any word in their favor was shown then, as we find +it now in the far West, where their treachery and barbarity is +still a part of the story of to-day, and Johnson, in his "Wonder- +Working Providence," gives one or two almost incredible details of +warfare against them with a Davidic exultation over the downfall +of so pestilent an enemy, that is more Gothic than Christian. + +"The Lord in mercy toward his poor churches, having thus destroyed +these bloody, barbarous Indians, he returns his people in safety +to their vessels, where they take account of their prisoners. The +squaws and some young youths they brought home with them; and +finding the men to be deeply guilty of the crimes they undertook +the war for, they brought away only their heads." + +Such retribution seemed just and right, but its effect on Puritan +character was hardly softening, and was another unconscious factor +in that increasing ratio of hatred against all who opposed them, +whether in religious belief, or in the general administration of +affairs. In these affairs every woman was interested to a degree +that has had no parallel since, unless it may be, on the Southern +side during our civil war. Politics and religion were one, and +removal to Ipswich had not deadened the interest with which they +watched and commented on every fluctuation in the stormy situation +at "home," as they still called England, Cotton taking active part +in all discussions as to Colonial action. + +It was at this period that she wrote the poem, "A Dialogue between +Old England and New," which holds the political situation at that +time. Many of the allusions in the first edition, were altered in +the second, for as Charles II. had then begun his reign, loyalty +was a necessity, and no strictures upon kings could be allowed. +The poem, which is rather a summary of political difficulties, has +its own interest, as showing how thoroughly she had caught the +spirit of the time, as well as from the fact that it was quoted as +authority by the wisest thinkers of the day, and regarded with an +awe and admiration we are hardly likely to share, as the +phenomenal work of a phenomenal woman. + + A DIALOGUE BETWEEN OLD ENGLAND AND NEW, + CONCERNING THEIR PRESENT TROUBLES. + _Anno_, 1642. + + _NEW ENGLAND_. + + Alas, dear Mother, fairest Queen and best, + With honour, wealth and peace happy and blest; + What ails thee hang thy head and cross thine arms? + And sit i' th' dust, to sigh these sad alarms? + What deluge of new woes thus overwhelme + The glories of thy ever famous Realme? + What means this wailing tone, this mournful guise? + Ah, tell thy daughter, she may sympathize. + + _OLD ENGLAND._ + + Art ignorant indeed of these my woes? + Or must my forced tongue my griefs disclose? + And must myself dissect my tatter'd state, + Which mazed Christendome stands wond'ring at? + And thou a child, a Limbe, and dost not feel + My fainting weakened body now to reel? + This Physick purging portion I have taken, + Will bring Consumption, or an Ague quaking, + Unless some Cordial, thou fetch from high, + Which present help may ease my malady. + If I decease, dost think thou shalt survive? + Or by my wasting state dost think to thrive? + Then weigh our case, if't be not justly sad; + Let me lament alone, while thou art glad. + + _NEW ENGLAND._ + + And thus (alas) your state you much deplore, + In general terms, but will not say wherefore; + What medicine shall I seek to cure this woe + If th' wound so dangerous I may not know? + But you, perhaps, would have me ghess it out, + What hath some Hengist like that Saxon stout, + By fraud or force usurp'd thy flow'ring crown, + Or by tempestuous warrs thy fields trod down? + Or hath Canutus, that brave valiant Dane, + The Regal peacefull Scepter from the tane? + Or is't a Norman, whose victorious hand + With English blood bedews thy conquered land? + Or is't Intestine warrs that thus offend? + Do Maud and Stephen for the crown contend? + Do Barons rise and side against their King, + And call in foreign aid to help the thing? + Must Edward be deposed? or is't the hour + That second Richard must be clapt i' th' tower? + Or is't the fatal jarre again begun + That from the red white pricking roses sprung? + Must Richmond's aid, the Nobles now implore, + To come and break the Tushes of the Boar? + If none of these, dear Mother, what's your woe? + Pray do you fear Spain's bragging Armado? + Doth your Allye, fair France, conspire your wrack, + Or do the Scots play false behind your back? + Doth Holland quit you ill for all your love? + Whence is the storm from Earth or Heaven above? + Is't drought, is't famine, or is't pestilence, + Dost feel the smart or fear the Consequence? + Your humble Child intreats you, shew your grief, + Though Arms nor Purse she hath for your relief, + Such is her poverty; yet shall be found + A Suppliant for your help, as she is bound. + + _OLD ENGLAND._ + + I must confess, some of those sores you name, + My beauteous body at this present maime; + But forreign foe, nor feigned friend I fear, + For they have work enough, (thou knowst) elsewhere. + Nor is it Alce's Son nor Henrye's daughter, + Whose proud contention cause this slaughter; + Nor Nobles siding to make John no King, + French Jews unjustly to the Crown to bring; + No Edward, Richard, to lose rule and life, + Nor no Lancastrians to renew old strife; + No Duke of York nor Earl of March to soyle + Their hands in kindred's blood whom they did foil. + No crafty Tyrant now usurps the Seat, + Who Nephews slew that so he might be great; + No need of Tudor Roses to unite, + None knows which is the Red or which the White; + Spain's braving Fleet a second time is sunk, + France knows how oft my fury she hath drunk; + By Edward third, and Henry fifth of fame + Her Lillies in mine Arms avouch the same, + My sister Scotland hurts me now no more, + Though she hath been injurious heretofore; + What Holland is I am in some suspence, + But trust not much unto his excellence. + For wants, sure some I feel, but more I fear, + And for the Pestilence, who knows how near + Famine and Plague, two Sisters of the Sword, + Destruction to a Land doth soon afford. + They're for my punishment ordain'd on high, + Unless our tears prevent it speedily. + + But yet I answer not what you demand + To shew the grievance of my troubled Land? + Before I tell the Effect I'le shew the Cause, + Which are my sins, the breach of sacred Laws, + Idolatry, supplanter of a nation, + With foolish Superstitious Adoration, + Are liked and countenanced by men of might + The gospel trodden down and hath no right; + Church offices were sold and bought for gain, + That Pope had hoped to find Rome here again; + For Oaths and Blasphemies did ever Ear + From Belzebub himself such language hear? + What scorning of the saints of the most high, + What injuries did daily on them lye, + What false reports, what nick-names did they take + Not for their own but for their Master's sake? + + And thou, poor soul, wert jeer'd among the rest, + Thy flying for the truth was made a jest + For Sabbath-breaking, and for drunkenness, + Did ever loud profaneness more express? + From crying blood yet cleansed am not I, + Martyrs and others, dying causelessly. + How many princely heads on blocks laid down + For nought but title to a fading crown! + 'Mongst all the crueltyes by great ones done, + Of Edward's youths, and Clarence hapless son, + O Jane, why didst thou dye in flow'ring prime? + Because of royal stem, that was thy crime. + For bribery, Adultery and lyes, + Where is the nation I can't parallize? + With usury, extortion and oppression, + These be the Hydraes of my stout transgression. + These be the bitter fountains, heads and roots, + Whence flowed the source, the sprigs, the boughs, and fruits, + Of more than thou canst hear or I relate, + That with high hand I still did perpetrate; + For these were threatened the woful day + I mockt the Preachers, put it far away; + The Sermons yet upon Record do stand + That cri'd destruction to my wicked land; + I then believed not, now I feel and see, + The plague of stubborn incredulity. + + Some lost their livings, some in prison pent, + Some fin'd from house and friends to exile went. + Their silent tongues to heaven did vengeance cry, + Who saw their wrongs, and hath judg'd righteously, + And will repay it seven fold in my lap; + This is forerunner of my After clap. + Nor took I warning by my neighbors' falls, + I saw sad Germany's dismantled walls, + I saw her people famish'd, nobles slain, + The fruitful land a barren Heath remain. + I saw immov'd her Armyes foil'd and fled, + Wives forc'd, babes toss'd, her houses calimed. + I saw strong Rochel yielded to her Foe, + Thousands of starved Christians there also + I saw poor Ireland bleeding out her last, + Such crueltyes as all reports have passed; + Mine heart obdurate stood not yet aghast. + Now sip I of that cup, and just't may be + The bottome dreggs reserved are for me. + + NEW ENGLAND. + + To all you've said, sad Mother, I assent, + Your fearful sins great cause there's to lament, + My guilty hands in part, hold up with you, + A Sharer in your punishment's my due. + But all you say amounts to this affect, + Not what you feel but what you do expect, + Pray in plain terms what is your present grief? + Then let's joyn heads and hearts for your relief. + + OLD ENGLAND. + + Well to the matter then, there's grown of late + 'Twixt King and Peers a Question of State, + Which is the chief, the law or else the King. + One said, it's he, the other no such thing. + 'Tis said, my beter part in Parliament + To ease my groaning land, shew'd their intent, + To crush the proud, and right to each man deal, + To help the Church, and stay the Common-weal + So many obstacles came in their way, + As puts me to a stand what I should say; + Old customes, new prerogatives stood on, + Had they not held Law fast, all had been gone; + Which by their prudence stood them in such stead + They took high Strafford lower by the head. + And to their Land be't spoke, they held i' th' tower + All England's Metropolitane that hour; + This done, an act they would have passed fain + No Prelate should his Bishoprick retain; + Here tugged they hard (indeed), for all men saw + This must be done by Gospel, not by law. + Next the Militia they urged sore, + This was deny'd (I need not say wherefore), + The King displeas'd at York himself absents, + They humbly beg return, shew their intents; + The writing, printing, posting too and fro, + Shews all was done, I'll therefore let it go; + + But now I come to speak of my disaster, + Contention grown, 'twixt Subjects and their Master; + They worded it so long, they fell to blows, + That thousands lay on heaps, here bleeds my woes; + I that no wars so many years have known, + Am now destroy'd and slaughter'd by mine own; + But could the Field alone this strife decide, + One Battle two or three I might abide. + But these may be beginnings of more woe + Who knows but this may be my overthrow? + Oh, pity me in this sad Perturbation, + My plundered Towns, my houses devastation, + My weeping Virgins and my young men slain; + My wealthy trading fall'n, my dearth of grain, + The seed times come, but ploughman hath no hope + Because he knows not who shall inn his Crop! + The poor they want their pay, their Children bread, + Their woful--Mothers' tears unpittied. + If any pity in thy heart remain, + Or any child-like love thou dost retain, + For my relief, do what there lyes in thee, + And recompence that good I've done to thee. + + NEW ENGLAND. + + Dear Mother, cease complaints and wipe your eyes, + Shake off your dust, chear up and now arise, + You are my Mother Nurse, and I your flesh, + Your sunken bowels gladly would refresh, + Your griefs I pity, but soon hope to see, + Out of your troubles much good fruit to be; + To see those latter days of hop'd for good, + Though now beclouded all with tears and blood; + After dark Popery the day did clear, + But now the Sun in's brightness shall appear; + Blest be the Nobles of thy Noble Land, + With ventur'd lives for Truth's defence that stand; + Blest be thy Commons, who for common good, + And thy infringed Laws have boldly stood; + Blest be thy Counties, who did aid thee still, + With hearts and States to testifie their will; + Blest be thy Preachers, who did chear thee on, + O cry the Sword of God and Gideon; + And shall I not on them with Mero's curse, + That help thee not with prayers, Arms and purse? + And for myself let miseries abound, + If mindless of thy State I ere be found. + These are the dayes the Churches foes to crush, + To root out Popelings, head, tail, branch and rush; + Let's bring Baals' vestments forth to make a fire, + Their Mytires, Surplices, and all their Tire, + Copes, Rotchets, Crossiers, and such empty trash, + And let their Names consume, but let the flash + Light Christendome, and all the world to see, + We hate Romes whore, with all her trumpery. + + Go on, brave Essex, with a Loyal heart, + Not false to King, nor to the better part; + But those that hurt his people and his Crown, + As duty binds, expel and tread them down, + And ye brave Nobles, chase away all fear, + And to this hopeful Cause closely adhere; + O Mother, can you weep and have such Peers, + When they are gone, then drown yourself in tears, + If now you weep so much, that then no more + The briny Ocean will o'erflow your shore. + These, these are they I trust, with Charles our King, + Out of all mists, such glorious days shall bring; + That dazzled eyes beholding much shall wonder, + At that thy settled peace, thy wealth and splendor. + Thy Church and weal establish'd in such manner, + That all shall joy, that then display'st thy Banner; + And discipline erected so I trust, + That nursing Kings shall come and lick thy dust. + + Then justice shall in all thy courts take place, + Without respect of person, or of case; + Then Bribes shall cease, and Suits shall not stick long + Patience and purse of Clients oft to wrong; + Then high Commissions shall fall to decay, + And Pursivants and Catchpoles want their pay. + So shall thy happy nation ever flourish, + When truth and righteousness they thus shall nourish, + When thus in peace, thine Armies brave send out, + To sack proud Rome, and all her Vassals rout; + There let thy name, thy fame and glory shine, + As did thine Ancestors in Palestine; + And let her spoyls full pay with Interest be, + Of what unjustly once she poll'd from thee, + Of all the woes thou canst, let her be sped + And on her pour the vengeance threatened; + Bring forth the Beast that rul'd the World with 's beck, + And tear his flesh, and set your feet on 's neck; + And make his filthy Den so desolate, + To th' astonishment of all that knew his state. + This done, with brandish'd Swords to Turky goe, + For then what is 't, but English blades dare do? + And lay her waste for so 's the sacred Doom, + And to Gog as thou hast done to Rome. + Oh Abraham's seed lift up your heads on high, + For sure the day of your Redemption 's nigh; + The Scales shall fall from your long blinded eyes, + And him you shall adore who now despise, + Then fulness of the Nations in shall flow, + And Jew and Gentile to one worship go; + Then follows days of happiness and rest; + Whose lot doth fall, to live therein is blest. + No Canaanite shall then be found i' th' Land, + And holiness on horses bell's shall stand; + If this make way thereto, then sigh no more, + But if it all, thou did'st not see 't before; + Farewell, dear Mother, rightest cause prevail + And in a while, you'll tell another tale. + +This, like all her earlier work, is heavy reading, the account +given by "Old Age" in her "Four Ages of Man," of what he has seen +and known of Puritan affairs, being in somewhat more lively +strain. But lively was an adjective to which Mistress Anne had a +rooted objection. Her contemporaries indulged in an occasional +solemn pun, but the only one in her writings is found in the grim +turn on Laud's name, in the "Dialogue" just quoted, in which is +also a sombre jest on the beheading of Strafford. + +"Old Age" recalls the same period, opening with a faint--very +faint--suggestion of Shakespeare's thought in his "Seven Ages." + + "What you have been, even such have I before + And all you say, say I, and somewhat more, + Babe's innocence, youth's wildness I have seen, + And in perplexed middle Age have been; + Sickness, dangers and anxieties have past, + And on this stage am come to act my last, + I have been young and strong and wise as you; + But now _Bis pueri senes,_ is too true. + In every age I've found much vanity + An end of all perfection now I see. + It's not my valour, honor, nor my gold, + My ruined house now falling can uphold, + It's not my learning Rhetorick wit so large, + Hath now the power, death's warfare to discharge, + It's not my goodly state, nor bed of downs + That can refresh, or ease, if Conscience frown, + Nor from Alliance can I now have hope, + But what I have done well that is my prop; + He that in youth is Godly, wise and sage, + Provides a staff then to support his Age. + Mutations great, some joyful and some sad, + In this short pilgrimage I oft have had; + Sometimes the Heavens with plenty smiled on me, + Sometime again rain'd all Adversity, + Sometimes in honor, sometimes in disgrace, + Sometime an Abject, then again in place. + Such private changes oft mine eyes have seen, + In various times of state I've also been, + I've seen a Kingdom nourish like a tree, + When it was ruled by that Celestial she; + And like a Cedar, others so surmount, + That but for shrubs they did themselves account. + Then saw I France and Holland say'd Cales won, + And Philip and Albertus half undone, + I saw all peace at home, terror to foes, + But oh, I saw at last those eyes to close. + And then methought the clay at noon grew dark, + When it had lost that radiant Sunlike Spark; + In midst of griefs I saw our hopes revive, + + (For 'twas our hopes then kept our hearts alive) + We changed our queen for king under whose rayes + We joy'd in many blest and prosperous dayes. + I've seen a Prince, the glory of our land + In prime of youth seiz'd by heaven's angry hand, + Which fil'd our hearts with fears, with tears our eyes, + Wailing his fate, and our own destinies. + I've seen from Rome an execrable thing, + A Plot to blow up nobles and their King, + But saw their horrid fact soon disappointed, + And Land Nobles say'd with their annointed. + I've Princes seen to live on others' lands; + A royal one by gifts from strangers' hands + Admired for their magnanimity, + Who lost a Prince-dome and a Monarchy. + I've seen designs for Ree and Rochel crost, + And poor Palatinate forever lost. + I've seen unworthy men advanced high, + And better ones suffer extremity; + But neither favour, riches, title, State, + Could length their days or once reverse their fate. + + I've seen one stab'd, and some to loose their heads, + And others fly, struck both with gilt and dread; + I've seen and so have you, for tis but late + The desolation of a goodly state, + Plotted and acted so that none can tell + Who gave the counsel, but the Prince of hell. + Three hundred thousand slaughtered innocents + By bloody, Popish, hellish miscreants; + Oh, may you live, and so you will I trust, + To see them swill in blood until they burst. + + I've seen a King by force thrust from his thrones + And an Usurper subt'ly mount thereon; + I've seen a state unmoulded, rent in twain, + But ye may live to see't made up again. + I've seen it plunder'd, taxt and soaked in blood, + But out of evill you may see much good. + What are my thoughts, this is no time to say. + Men may more freely speak another day; + These are no old-wives tales, but this is truth, + We old men love to tell what's done in youth." + +Though this is little more than rhymed chronology, there are +curious reminders here and there of the spirit of the time. Gentle +as was Anne Bradstreet's nature, it seemed to her quite natural to +write of the "bloody, Popish, hellish miscreants"-- + + "Oh may you live, and so you will I trust, + To see them swill in blood untill they burst." + +There was reason it was true; the same reason that brings the same +thought to-day to women on the far Western frontiers, for the +Irish butcheries had been as atrocious as any Indian massacre our +own story holds. The numbers butchered were something appaling, +and Hume writes: "By some computations, those who perished by all +these cruelties are supposed to be a hundred and fifty or two +hundred thousand; by the most moderate, and probably the most +reasonable account, they are made to amount to forty thousand---if +this estimation itself be not, as is usual in such cases, somewhat +exaggerated." + +Irish ferocity was more than matched by English brutality. +Puritanism softened many features of the Saxon character, but even +in the lives of the most devoted, there is a keen relish for +battle whether spiritual or actual, and a stern rejoicing in any +depth of evil that may have overtaken a foe. In spite of the +tremendous value set upon souls, indifference to human life still +ruled, and there was even a certain relish, if that life were an +enemy's, in turning it over heartily and speedily to its proper +owner, Satan. Anne Bradstreet is no exception to the rule, and her +verses hold various fierce and unexpected outbursts against +enemies of her faith or country. The constant discussion of mooted +points by the ministers as well as people, made each man the judge +of questions that agitated every mind, and problems of all natures +from national down to town meeting debates, were pondered over in +every Puritan home. Cotton's interest in detail never flagged, and +his influence was felt at every point in the Colony, and though +Ipswich, both in time and facilities for reaching it, was more +widely separated from Boston than Boston now is from the remotest +hamlet on Cape Cod, there is no doubt that Nathaniel Ward and Mr. +Cotton occasionally met and exchanged views if not pulpits, and +that the Bradstreet family were not entirely cut off from +intercourse. When Nathaniel Ward became law-maker instead of +settled minister, it was with John Cotton that he took counsel, +and Anne undoubtedly thought of the latter what his grandson +Cotton Mather at a later day wrote. "He was indeed a most +universal scholar, and a living system of the liberal arts and a +walking library." + +Walking libraries were needed, for stationary ones were very +limited. Governer Dudley's, one of the largest in the Colony, +contained between fifty and sixty books, chiefly on divinity and +history, and from the latter source Anne obtained the minute +historical knowledge shown in her rhymed account of "The Four +Monarchies." It was to her father that she owed her love of books. +She calls him in one poem, "a magazine of history," and at other +points, her "guide," and "instructor," writing: + + "Most truly honored and as truly dear, + If worth in me, or ought I do appear, + Who can of right better demand the same? + Then may your worthy self from whom it came?" + +As at Cambridge, and in far greater degree, she was cut off from +much that had held resources there. At the worst, only a few miles +had separated them from what was fast becoming the center and soul +of the Colony. But Ipswich shut them in, and life for both +Mistress Dudley and her daughter was an anxious one. The General +Court called for the presence of both Dudley and Bradstreet, the +latter spending much of his time away, and some of the tenderest +and most natural of Anne Bradstreet's poems, was written at this +time, though regarded as too purely personal to find place in any +edition of her poems. The quiet but fervent love between them had +deepened with every year, and though no letters remain, as with +Winthrop, to evidence the steady and intense affection of both, +the "Letter to her Husband, absent upon some Publick employment," +holds all the proof one can desire. + + "My head, my heart, mine Eyes, my life, my more, + My joy, my Magazine of earthly store. + If two be one as surely thou and I, + How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lie? + So many steps, head from the heart to sever, + If but a neck, soon would we be together; + I like the earth this season mourn in black + My Sun is gone so far in 's Zodiack, + Whom whilst I joyed, nor storms nor frosts I felt, + His warmth such frigid colds did cause to melt. + My chilled limbs now nummed lye forlorn, + Return, return sweet Sol, from Capricorn; + In this dead time, alas, what can I more + Than view those fruits which through thy heat I bore? + Which sweet contentment yield me for a space, + True, living Pictures of their Father's face. + O strange effect! now thou art Southward gone, + I weary grow, the tedious day so long; + But when thou Northward to me shalt return, + I wish my Sun may never set but burn + Within the Cancer of my glowing breast. + The welcome house of him my dearest guest. + Where ever, ever stay, and go not thence + Till nature's sad decree shall call thee hence; + Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone, + I here, thou there, yet both are one." + +A second one is less natural in expression, but still holds the +same longing. + + Phoebus, make haste, the day's too long, be gone, + The silent nights, the fittest time for moan; + But stay this once, unto my suit give ear, + And tell my griefs in either Hemisphere. + (And if the whirling of thy wheels don't drown'd) + The woeful accents of my doleful sound, + If in thy swift Carrier thou canst make stay, + I crave this boon, this Errand by the way, + Commend me to the man more lov'd than life, + Shew him the sorrows of his widowed wife; + My dumpish thoughts, my groans, my brakish tears, + My sobs, my longing hopes, my doubting fears, + And if he love, how can he there abide? + My Interest's more than all the world beside. + He that can tell the Starrs or Ocean sand, + Or all the grass that in the Meads do stand, + The leaves in th' woods, the hail or drops of rain, + Or in a corn field number every grain, + Or every mote that in the sunshine hops, + May count my sighs, and number all my drops: + Tell him, the countless steps that thou dost trace, + That once a day, thy Spouse thou mayst embrace; + And when thou canst not treat by loving mouth, + Thy rays afar salute her from the south. + But for one month I see no day (poor soul) + Like those far scituate under the pole, + Which day by day long wait for thy arise, + O, how they joy, when thou dost light the skyes. + O Phoebus, hadst thou but thus long from thine, + Restrained the beams of thy beloved shine, + At thy return, if so thou could'st or durst + Behold a Chaos blacker than the first. + Tell him here's worse than a confused matter, + His little world's a fathom under water, + Nought but the fervor of his ardent beams + Hath power to dry the torrent of these streams + Tell him I would say more but cannot well, + Oppressed minds, abruptest tales do tell. + Now post with double speed, mark what I says + By all our loves, conjure him not to stay." + +In the third and last, there is simply an imitation of much of the +work of the seventeenth century; with its conceits and twisted +meanings, its mannerisms and baldness, but still the feeling is +there, though Mistress Bradstreet has labored painfully to make it +as unlike nature as possible. + + "As loving Hind that (Hartless) wants her Deer, + Scuds through the woods and Fern with hearkening ear, + Perplext, in every bush and nook doth pry, + Her dearest Deer might answer ear or eye; + So doth my anxious soul, which now doth miss, + A dearer Deer (far dearer Heart) than this. + Still wait with doubts and hopes and failing eye; + His voice to hear or person to descry. + Or as the pensive Dove doth all alone + (On withered bough) most uncouthly bemoan + The absence of her Love and Loving Mate, + Whose loss hath made her so unfortunate; + Ev'n thus doe I, with many a deep sad groan, + Bewail my turtle true, who now is gone, + His presence and his safe return, still wooes + With thousand doleful sighs and mournful Cooes. + Or as the loving Mullet that true Fish, + Her fellow lost, nor joy nor life do wish, + But lanches on that shore there for to dye, + Where she her captive husband doth espy, + Mine being gone I lead a joyless life, + I have a living sphere, yet seem no wife; + But worst of all, to him can't steer my course, + I here, he there, alas, both kept by force; + Return, my Dear, my Joy, my only Love, + Unto thy Hinde, thy Mullet and thy Dove, + Who neither joys in pasture, house nor streams, + The substance gone, O me, these are but dreams, + Together at one Tree, O let us brouse, + And like two Turtles roost within one house. + And like the Mullets in one River glide, + Let's still remain one till death divide. + Thy loving Love and Dearest Dear, + At home, abroad and everywhere. + _A.B._" + +Of a far higher order are a few lines, written at the same time, +and with no suspicion of straining or of imitation in the quiet +fervor of the words, that must have carried a thrill of deep and +exquisite happiness to the heart of the man, so loved and honored. + + _"To my dear and loving Husband:_ + If ever two were one then surely we, + If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; + If ever wife was happy in a man, + Compare with me ye women if you can. + I prize thy love more than whole Mines of Gold, + Or all the riches that the East doth hold. + My love is such that Rivers cannot quench, + Nor ought but love from thee give recompense. + Thy love is such I can no way repay, + The heavens reward thee, manifold I pray. + Then while we live in love let's so persevere, + That when we live no more, we may live ever." + +The woman who could feel such fervor as these lines express, owed +the world something more than she ever gave, but every influence +tended, as we have seen, to silence natural expression. One must +seek, however, to discover why she failed even when admitting that +failure was the only thing to be expected, and the causes are in +the nature of the time itself, the story of literary development +for that period being as complicated as politics, religion and +every other force working on the minds of men. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A THEOLOGICAL TRAGEDY. + + +It was perhaps Anne Bradstreet's youth, and a sense that she could +hardly criticise a judgment which had required the united forces +of every church in the Colony to pronounce, that made her ignore +one of the most stormy experiences of those early days, the trial +and banishment of Anne Hutchinson. Her silence is the more +singular, because the conflict was a purely spiritual one, and +thus in her eyes deserving of record. There can be no doubt that +the effect on her own spiritual and mental life must have been +intense and abiding. No children had as yet come to absorb her +thoughts and energies, and the events which shook the Colony to +the very center could not fail to leave an ineffaceable +impression. No story of personal experience is more confounding to +the modern reader, and none holds a truer picture of the time. +Governor Dudley and Simon Bradstreet were both concerned in the +whole course of the matter, which must have been discussed at home +from day to day, and thus there is every reason for giving it full +place in these pages as one of the formative forces in Anne +Bradstreet's life; an inspiration and then a warning. There are +hints that Anne resented the limitations that hedged her in, and +had small love of the mutual criticism, which made the corner +stone of Puritan life. That she cared to write had already excited +the wonder of her neighbors and Anne stoutly asserted her right to +speak freely whatever it seemed good to say, taking her stand +afterwards given in the Prologue to the first edition of her +poems, in which she wrote: + + "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue + Who says my hand a needle better fits, + A Poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong, + For such despite they cast on Female wits; + If what I do prove well, it won't advance, + They'l say it's stol'n, or else it was by chance. + + "But sure the antique Greeks were far more mild, + Else of our Sexe, why feigned they those Nine + And poesy made Callippi's own Child; + So 'mongst the rest they placed the Arts Divine, + But this weak knot they will full soon untie, + The Greeks did nought but play the fools and lye." + +This has a determined ring which she hastens to neutralize by a +tribute and an appeal; the one to man's superior force, the other +to his sense of justice. + + "Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are, + Men have precedency and still excell, + It is but vain unjustly to wage warrs; + Men can do best and women know it well, + Preheminence in all and each is yours; + Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours." + +Plain speaking was a Dudley characteristic, but the fate of Anne +Hutchinson silenced all save a few determined spirits, willing to +face the same consequences. In the beginning, however, there could +have been only welcome for a woman, whose spiritual gifts and +unusual powers had made her the friend of John Cotton, and who +fascinated men and woman alike. There was reason, for birth and +training meant every gift a woman of that day was likely to +possess. Her father, Thomas Marbury, was one of the Puritan +ministers of Lincolnshire who afterward removed to London; her +mother, a sister of Sir Erasmus Dryden. She was thus related in +the collateral line to two of the greatest of English intellects. +Free thinking and plain speaking were family characteristics, for +John Dryden the poet, her second cousin, was reproached with +having been an Anabaptist in his youth, and Johnathan Swift, a +more distant connection, feared nothing in heaven or earth. It is +no wonder, then, that even an enemy wrote of her as "the +masterpiece of women's wit," or that her husband followed her +lead with a devotion that never swerved. She had married him at +Alford in Lincolnshire, and both were members of Mr. Cotton's +congregation at Boston. + +Mr. Hutchinson's standing among his Puritan contemporaries was of +the highest. He had considerable fortune, and the gentlest and +most amiable of dispositions. The name seems to have meant all +good gifts, for the same devoted and tender relation existed +between this pair as between Colonel Hutchinson and his wife. From +the quiet and happy beginning of their married life to its most +tragic ending, they clung together, accepting all loss as part of +the cross they had taken up, when they left the ease of +Lincolnshire behind, and sought in exile the freedom which +intolerance denied. + +It is very probable that Anne Hutchinson may have known the Dudley +family after their return to Lincolnshire, and certainly in the +first flush of her New England experiences was likely to have had +intimate relations with them. Her opinions, so far as one can +disentangle them from the mass of testimony and discussion, seem +to have been in great degree, those held by the early Quakers, but +they had either not fully developed in her own mind before she +left England, or had not been pronounced enough to attract +attention. In any case the weariness of the long voyage seems to +have been in part responsible for much that followed. Endless +discussions of religious subtleties were their chief occupation on +board, and one of the company, the Rev. Mr. Symmes, a dogmatic and +overbearing man, found himself often worsted by the quick wit of +this woman, who silenced all objections, and who, with no +conception of the rooted enmity she was exciting, told with the +utmost freedom, past and present speculations and experiences. The +long fasts, and continuous religious exercises, worked upon her +enthusiast's temper, and excited by every circumstance of time and +place, it is small wonder that she supposed a direct revelation +had come to her, the nature of which Winthrop mentions in his +History. + +"One Mrs. Hutchinson, a member of the church of Boston, a woman of +a ready wit and bold spirit, brought over with her two dangerous +errours: + +"1. That the person of the Holy Ghost dwells in a justified +person. + +"2. That no sanctification can help to evidence to us our +justification. From these two, grew many branches; as, 1st, Our +union with the Holy Ghost, so as a Christian remains dead to every +spiritual action, and hath no gifts nor graces, other than such as +are in hypocrites, nor any other sanctification but the Holy Ghost +himself. There joined with her in these opinions a brother of +hers, one Mr. Wheelwright, a silenced minister sometime in +England." + +Obnoxious as these doctrines came to be, she had been in New +England two years before they excited special attention. Her +husband served in the General Court several elections as +representative for Boston, until he was excused at the desire of +the church, and she herself found constant occupation in a round +of kindly deeds. She denied the power of works as any help toward +justification, but no woman in the Colony, gave more practical +testimony of her faith or made herself more beloved. Though she +had little children to care for, she found time to visit and nurse +the sick, having special skill in all disorders of women. Her +presence of mind, her warm sympathy and extraordinary patience +made her longed for at every sick bed, and she very soon acquired +the strongest influence. Dudley had made careful inquiries as to +her religious standing, and must have been for the time at least, +satisfied, and unusual attention was paid her by all the +colonists; the most influential among them being her chief +friends. Coddington, who had built the first brick house in +Boston, received them warmly. Her public teaching began quietly, +her ministrations by sick beds attracting many, and it is doubtful +if she herself realized in the least the extent of her influence. + +Governor Vane, young and ardent, the temporary idol of the Colony, +who had taken the place Governor Winthrop would have naturally +filled, visited her and soon became one of her most enthusiastic +supporters. Just and unprejudiced as Winthrop was, this summary +setting aside by a people for whom he had sacrificed himself +steadily, filled him with indignation, though the record in his +Journal is quiet and dignified. But naturally, it made him a +sterner judge, when the time for judgment came. In the beginning, +however, her work seemed simply for good. It had been the custom +for the men of the Boston church to meet together on Thursday +afternoons, to go over the sermon of the preceding Sunday, of +which notes had been taken by every member. No women were +admitted, and believing that the same course was equally desirable +for her own sex, Anne Hutchinson appointed two days in the week +for this purpose, and at last drew about her nearly a hundred of +the principal women of the Colony. Her lovely character and +spotless life, gave immense power to her words, and her teaching +at first was purely practical. We can imagine Anne Bradstreet's +delight in the tender and searching power of this woman, who +understood intuitively every womanly need, and whose sympathy was +as unfailing as her knowledge. Even for that time her Scriptural +knowledge was almost phenomenal, and it is probable that, added to +this, there was an unacknowledged satisfaction in an assembly from +which men were excluded, though many sought admission. Mrs. +Hutchinson was obliged at last to admit the crowd who believed her +gifts almost divine, but refused to teach, calling upon the +ministers to do this, and confining herself simply to conversation. +But Boston at last seemed to have gone over wholly to her +views, while churches at other points opposed them fiercely. +Up to this time there had been no attempt to define the +character of the Holy Ghost, but now a powerful opposition to her +theory arose, and furious discussions were held in meetings and +out. The very children caught the current phrases, and jeered one +another as believers in the "Covenant of Grace," or the "Covenant +of Works," and the year 1636 came and passed with the Colony at +swords points with one another. Every difficulty was aggravated by +Vane, whose youth and inexperience made it impossible for him to +understand the temper of the people he ruled. The rise of +differences had been so gradual that no one suspected what +mischief might come till the results suddenly disclosed +themselves. That vagaries and eccentricities were to be expected, +never entered the minds of this people, who accepted their own +departure from authority and ancient ordinances as just and right, +but could never conceive that others might be justified in acting +on the same principle. + +To understand even in slight degree the conflict which followed, +one must remember at every turn, that no interests save religious +interests were of even momentary importance. Every member of the +Colony had hard, laborious work to do, but it was hurried through +with the utmost speed, in order to have time for the almost daily +lectures and expoundings that made their delight. Certain more +worldly minded among them had petitioned for a shortening of these +services, but were solemnly reproved, and threatened with the +"Judgment of God on their frowardness." + +With minds perpetually concentrated on subtle interpretations, +agreement was impossible. Natural life, denied and set aside at +every point, gave place to the unnatural, and every colonist was, +quite unconsciously, in a state of constant nervous tension and +irritability. The questions that to us seem of even startling +triviality, were discussed with a fervor and earnestness it is +well nigh impossible to comprehend. They were a slight advance on +the scholastic disputations of the preceding century, but they +meant disagreement and heart-burnings, and the more intolerant +determined on stamping out all variations from their own +convictions. + +Any capacity for seeking to carry out Robinson's injunction in his +final sermon at Leyden seems to have died once for all, in the war +of words. "I beseech you," he had said, "remember that it is an +article of your church covenant, that you be ready to receive +whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written word of +God." There was small remnant of this spirit even among the most +liberal. + +Dudley was one of the chief movers in the course resolved upon, +and mourned over Cotton, who still held to Anne Hutchinson, and +wrote and spoke of her as one who "was well beloved, and all the +faithful embraced her conference, and blessed God for her fruitful +discourses." + +Mr. Welde, on the contrary, one of her fiercest opponents, +described her as "a woman of haughty and fierce carriage, of a +nimble wit and active spirit, and a very voluble tongue, more bold +than a man, though in understanding and judgment inferior to many +women." + +How far the object of all this confusion realized the real state +of things cannot be determined. But by January, 1637, dissension +had reached such a height that a fast was appointed for the Pequot +war and the religious difficulties. The clergy had become her +bitterest enemies, and with some reason, for through her means +many of their congregations had turned against them. Mr. Wilson, +once the most popular minister in Boston, had been superseded by +her brother,--Mr. Wheelwright, and Boston began the heretical +career which has been her portion from that day to this. + +Active measures were necessary. The General Court was still +governed by the clergy, and by March had settled upon its future +course, and summoned Wheelwright, who was censured and found +guilty of sedition. Governor Vane opposed the verdict bitterly. +The chief citizens of Boston sent in a "Remonstrance," and actual +anarchy seemed before them. The next Court was held at Newtown to +avoid the danger of violence at Boston, and a disorderly election +took place in which the Puritan Fathers came to blows, set down by +Winthrop as "a laying on of hands." + +The grave and reverend Wilson, excited beyond all considerations +of Puritanical propriety, climbed a tree, and made a vigorous +speech to the throng of people, in which many malcontents were at +work urging on an opposition that proved fruitless. Vane was +defeated and Winthrop again made governor, his calm forbearance +being the chief safety of the divided and unhappy colonists, who +resented what they settled to be tyranny, and cast about for some +means of redress. None was to be had. Exile, imprisonment and even +death, awaited the most eminent citizens; Winthrop's entry into +Boston was met by gloomy silence, and for it all, Welde and Symmes +protested Anne Hutchinson to be responsible, and denounced her as +a heretic and a witch. + +She in the meantime seems to have been in a state of religious +exaltation which made her blind and deaf to all danger. Her +meetings continued, and she in turn denounced her opponents and +believed that some revelation would be given to show the justice +of her claims. There was real danger at last. If the full story of +these dissensions were told in England, possession of charter, +which had already been threatened, might be lost entirely. Dudley +was worked up to the highest pitch of apprehension, believing that +if the dissension went on, there might even be a repetition of the +horrors of Munster. Divided as they were, concerted action against +enemies, whether Indian or foreign, could not be expected. There +was danger of a general league of the New England Indians, and +"when a force was ordered to take the field for the salvation of +the settlements, the Boston men refused to be mustered because +they suspected the chaplain, who had been designated by lot to +accompany the expedition, of being under a covenant of works." + +Such a state of things, if known in full at home, would shut off +all emigration. That men of character and means should join them +was an essential to the continued life of the Colony. Setting +aside any question of their own personal convictions, their +leaders saw that the continuance among them of these disturbing +elements meant destruction, and Winthrop, mild and reasonable as +he sought to be, wrote: "He would give them one reason, which was +a ground for his judgment, and that was, for that he saw that +those brethren, etc., were so divided from the rest of the country +in their judgment and practice, as it could not stand with the +public peace, that they should continue amongst us. So by the +example of Lot in Abraham's family, and after Hagar and Ishmael, +he saw they must be sent away." + +With August came the famous Synod of Cambridge, the first ever +held in New England, in which the Church set about defining its +own position and denouncing the Hutchinsonians. Eighty-two +heresies were decided to have arisen, all of which were condemned, +and this being settled, Cotton was admonished, and escaped exile +only by meekly explaining away his errors. Wheelwright, refusing +to yield, was sentenced to imprisonment and exile; Mrs. +Hutchinson's meetings were declared seditious and disorderly, and +prohibited, and the Synod separated, triumphant. The field was +their own. + +What they had really accomplished was simply to deepen the lines +and make the walls of division still higher. In later years no one +cared to make public the proceedings of the body, and there is +still in existence a loose paper, described by the Rev. George E. +Ellis in his "Life of Anne Hutchinson"; a petition from Mr. John +Higginson, son of the Salem minister ... by which it appears that +he was employed by the magistrates and ministers to take down in +short hand, all the debates and proceedings of the Synod. He +performed the work faithfully, and having written out the +voluminous record, at "the expense of much time and pains," he +presented it to the Court in May, 1639. The long time that elapsed +may indicate the labor. The Court accepted it, and ordered that, +if approved by the ministers, after they had viewed it, it should +be printed, Mr. Higginson being entitled to the profits, which +were estimated as promising a hundred pounds. The writer waited +with patience while his brethren examined it, and freely took +their advice. Some were in favor of printing it; but others +advised to the contrary, "conceiving it might possibly be an +occasion of further disputes and differences both in this country +and other parts of the world." + +Naturally they failed to agree. The unfortunate writer, having +scruples which prevented his accepting an offer of fifty pounds +for the manuscript, made probably by some Hutchinsonian, waited +the pleasure of the brethren, reminding them at intervals of his +claim, but so far as can be discovered, failing always to make it +good, and the manuscript itself disappeared, carrying with it the +only tangible testimony to the bitterness and intolerance of which +even the owners were in after years ashamed. + +In the meantime, Harry Vane, despairing of peaceful life among his +enemies, had sailed for England early in August, to pass through +every phase of political and spiritual experience, and to give up +his life at last on the scaffold to which the treachery of the +second Charles condemned him. With his departure, no powerful +friend remained to Anne Hutchinson, whose ruin had been determined +upon and whose family were seeking a new and safer home. Common +prudence should have made her give up her public meetings and show +some deference to the powers she had always defied. Even this, +however, could not have saved her, and in November, 1637, the +trial began which even to-day no New Englander can recall without +shame; a trial in which civil, judicial, and ecclesiastical forces +all united to crush a woman, whose deepest fault was a too +enthusiastic belief in her own inspiration. + +Winthrop conducted the prosecution, mild and calm in manner, but +resolutely bent upon punishment, and by him sat Dudley, Endicott, +Bradstreet, Nowell and Stoughton; Bradstreet and Winthrop being +the only ones who treated her with the faintest semblance of +courtesy. Welde and Symmes, Wilson and Hugh Peters, faced her +with a curious vindictiveness, and in the throng of excited +listenders, hardly a friendly face met her eyes, even her old friend, +John Cotton, having become simply a timid instrument of her +persecutors. + +The building in which the trial took place was thronged. Hundreds +who had been attracted by her power, looked on: magistrates and +ministers, yeoman and military, the sad colored garments of the +gentry in their broad ruffs and high crowned hats, bringing out +the buff coats of the soldiers, and the bright bodices of the +women, who clung to the vanities of color, and defied the tacit +law that limited them to browns and drabs. Over all hung the gray +November sky, and the chill of the dolorous month was in the air, +and did its work toward intensifying the bitterness which ruled +them all. + +It is doubtful if Anne Bradstreet made one of the spectators. Her +instinct would have been to remain away, for the sympathy she +could not help but feel, could not betray itself, without at once +ranking her in opposition to the judgment of both husband and +father. Anne Hutchinson's condition was one to excite the +compassion and interest of every woman, but it had no such effect +on her judges, who forced her to stand till she nearly fell from +exhaustion. Food was denied her; no counsel was allowed, or the +presence of any friend who could have helped by presence, if in no +other way. + +Feeble in body, depressed and anxious in mind, one reacted on +another, and the marvel is not that she here and there contradicted +herself, or lost patience, but that any coherence or power of +argument remained. + +The records of the trial show both. Winthrop opened it by making a +general charge of heresy, and Anne demanded a specific one, and +when the charge of holding unlawful meetings was brought, denied +it so energetically and effectually, that Winthrop had no more +words and turned the case over to the less considerate Dudley, +whose wrath at her presumption knew no bounds. Both he and the +ministers who swore against her, used against her statements which +she had made in private interviews with them, which she had +supposed to be confidential, but which were now reported in +detail. Naturally she reproached the witnesses with being +informers, and they justified their course hotly. Mr. Cotton's +testimony, given most reluctantly, confirmed their statements. The +chief grievance was not her meetings, so much as the fact that she +had publicly criticized the teaching and religious character of +the ministers, insisting that Mr. Cotton alone had the full +"thorough-furnishing" for such work. Deep but smothered feeling +was apparent in every word the initiated witnesses spoke, and the +magistrate, Mr. Coddington, in vain assured them, that even if she +had said all this and more, no real harm had been done. Cotton +sided with him, and spoke so powerfully that there was a slight +diversion in her favor, rendered quite null by her claim of +immediate inspiration in what she had done. + +The records at this point, show none of the excitement, the +hysterical ecstasy which marked the same declaration in the case +of some among the Quakers who were afterward tried. Her calmness +increased instead of lessening. On the score of contempt of the +ministers it had become evident that she could not be convicted, +but this claim to direct revelation, was an even more serious +matter. Scripture might be twisted to the point of dismemberment, +so long as one kept to the text, and made no pretence of knowledge +beyond it; contention within these bounds was lawful and +honorable, and the daily food of these argumentative Christians +who gave themselves to the work of combining intellectual freedom +and spiritual slavery, with perpetual surprise at any indication +that the two were incompatible. + +The belief in personal revelation, actually no more than a deep +impression produced by long pondering over some passage, was +really part of the Puritan faith, but the united company had no +thought of discovering points of harmony, or brushing aside mere +phrases which simply concealed the essential truth held by both. +Such belief could come only from the direct prompting of Satan, +and when she firmly and solemnly declared that whatever way their +judgment went, she should be saved from calamity, that she was and +should remain, in direct communion with God, and that they were +simply pitiless persecutors of the elect, the wrath was instant +and boundless. A unanimous vote condemned her at once, and stands +in the records of Massachusetts as follows: + +"Mrs. Hutchinson, the wife of Mr. William Hutchinson, being +convicted for traducing the ministers and their ministry in the +country, she declared voluntarily her revelations, and that she +should be delivered, and the Court ruined with their posterity, +and thereupon was banished, and in the meanwhile was committed to +Mr. Joseph Welde (of Roxbury) until the Court shall dispose of +her." + +Her keeper for the winter was the brother of her worst enemy. She +was to be kept there at the expense of her husband, but forbidden +to pursue any of her usual occupations. Naturally she sunk into a +deep melancholy, in no wise lessened by constant visits from the +ministers, who insisted upon discussing her opinions, and who +wrought upon her till she was half distracted. They accused her of +falsehoods, declaring that she held "gross errors, to the number +of thirty or thereabouts," and badgering the unhappy creature till +it is miraculous that any spirit remained. Then came the church +trial, more legitimate, but conducted with fully as much virulence +as the secular one, the day of the weekly lecture, Thursday, being +chosen, as that which brought together the greatest number of +people. + +The elders accused her of deliberate lying, and point by point, +brought up the thirty errors. Of some she admitted her possible +mistake; others she held to strenuously, but all were simply +speculation, not one having any vital bearing on faith or life. +Public admonition was ordered, but before this her two sons had +been publicly censured for refusing to join in signing the paper +which excommunicated her, Mr. Cotton addressing them "most +pitifully and pathetically," as "giving way to natural affection +and as tearing the very bowels of their souls by hardening their +mother in sin." Until eight in the evening, an hour equivalent to +eleven o'clock with our present habits, the congregation listened +to question and answer and admonition, in which last, Mr. Cotton +"spake to the sisters of the church, and advised them to take heed +of her opinions, and to withhold all countenance and respect from +her, lest they should harden her in her sin." + +Anne Bradstreet must have listened with a curious mixture of +feelings, though any evidence of them would naturally be +repressed. Once more all came together, and once more, Anne +Hutchinson, who faced them in this last encounter with a quiet +dignity, that moved the more sympathetic to pity, denied the +charges they brought, and the three years controversy which, as +Ellis writes, "had drawn nearly the whole of the believers in +Boston---magistrates, ministers, women, soldiers, and the common +multitude under the banners of a female leader, had changed the +government of the Colony, and spread its strange reports over +Protestant Europe, was thus brought to an issue, by imputing +deception about one of the most unintelligible tenets of faith to +her, who could not be circumvented in any other way." + +The closest examination of her statements shows no ground for this +judgment. It was the inferences of her opponents, and no fact of +her real belief that made against her, but inference, then as now, +made the chief ground for her enemies. Excommunication followed at +once, and now, the worst having come, her spirits rose, and she +faced them with quiet dignity, but with all her old assurance, +glorying in the whole experience so that one of the indignant +ministers described her manner with deep disgust, and added: "God +giving her up, since the sentence of excommunication, to that +hardness of heart, as she is not affected with any remorse, but +glories in it, and fears not the vengeance of God which she lies +under, as if God did work contrary to his own word, and loosed +from heaven, while his church had bound upon earth." + +Other ministers were as eager in denunciation, preaching against +her as "the American Jezebel," and even the saintly Hooker wrote: +"The expression of providence against this wretched woman hath +proceeded from the Lord's miraculous mercy, and his bare arm hath +been discovered therein from first to last, that all the churches +may hear and fear. I do believe such a heap of hideous errors at +once to be vented by such a self-deluding and deluded creature, no +history can record; and yet, after recantation of all, to be cast +out as unsavory salt, that she may not continue a pest to the +place, that will be forever marvellous in the eyes of all the +saints." + +Even the lapse of several generations left the animus unchanged, +and Graham, usually so dispassionate and just in statement, wrote +of her almost vindictively: + +"In the assemblies which were held by the followers of Mrs. +Hutchinson, there was nourished and trained a keen, contentious +spirit, and an unbridled license of tongue, of which the influence +was speedily felt in the serious disturbance, first of domestic +happiness, and then of the public peace. The matrons of Boston +were transformed into a synod of slanderous praters, whose +inquisitional deliberations and audacious decrees, instilled their +venom into the innermost recesses of society; and the spirits of a +great majority of the citizen being in that combustible state in +which a feeble spark will suffice to kindle a formidable +conflagration, the whole Colony was inflamed and distracted by the +incontinence of female spleen and presumption." + +Amidst this rattle of theological guns there was danger that +others might be heard. To subdue Boston was the first necessity, +and an order for disarming the disaffected was issued. The most +eminent citizens, if suspected of favoring her, had their firearms +taken from them, and even Capt. John Underhill was forced to give +up his sword. An account of the whole controversy was written by +Mr. Welde and sent over to England for publication in order that +the Colony might not suffer from slanderous reports, and that no +"godly friends" might be prevented from coming over. For the +winter of 1637, Boston was quiet, but it was an ominous quiet, in +which destructive forces gathered, and though never visible on the +surface, worked in evil ways for more than one of the generations +that followed. Freedom had ended for any who differed from the +faith as laid down by the Cambridge Synod, and but one result +could follow. All the more liberal spirits saw that Massachusetts +could henceforth be no home for them, and made haste to other +points. Coddington led a colony to Rhode Island, made up chiefly +of the fifty-eight who had been disarmed, and in process of time +became a Quaker. This was the natural ending for many, the heart +of Anne Hutchinson's doctrine being really a belief in the "Inward +Light," a doctrine which seems to have outraged every Puritan +susceptibility for fully a hundred years, and until the reaction +began, which has made individual judgment the only creed common to +the people of New England. It was reasonable enough, however, that +Massachusetts should dread a colony of such uneasy spirits, +planted at her very doors, enfranchised and heretical to an +appalling degree and considered quite as dangerous as so many +malefactors, and an uneasy and constant watch was kept. + +The Hutchinsons had sold their property in Boston and joined +Coddington at Pocasset, of which Mr. Hutchinson soon became the +chief magistrate. His wife, as before, was the master spirit. She +even addressed an admonition to the church in Boston, turning the +tables temporarily upon her enemies, though the end of her power +was at hand. In 1642, her husband died, and various circumstances +had before this made her influence feared and disliked. Freedom in +any English settlement had ceased to be possible, and as +Massachusetts grew more powerful, she resigned any hope of holding +the place won by so many sacrifices and emigrated to the Dutch +settlement, forming a small colony of sixteen persons at Pelham in +Westchester County, New York, where a little river still bears her +name. + +One son had remained in Boston, and was the ancestor of the Tory +Governor of Massachusetts during the Revolution, and a daughter +also married and settled there, so that her blood is still found +in the veins of more than one New England family, some of whose +ancestors were most directly concerned in casting her out. But her +younger children and a son-in-law were still with her, with a few +of her most devoted followers, and she still anticipated peace and +a quiet future. Both came at last, but not in the looked-for +guise. No date remains of the fate of the little colony and only +the Indian custom of preserving the names of those they killed, +has made us know that Wampago himself, the owner of the land about +Pelham, was the murderer of the woman, whose troubled but not +unhappy life went out in the fire and blood of an Indian massacre. + +To the Puritans in Boston, such fate seemed justice, and they +rejoiced with a grim exultation. "The Lord," said Welde, "heard +our groans to heaven, and freed us from our great and sore +affliction." No tale was too gross and shameless to find +acceptance, and popular feeling against her settled into such +fixed enmity that even her descendant, the historian Hutchinson, +dared not write anything that would seem to favor her cause. Yet, +necessary as her persecution and banishment may have been to the +safety of the Colony, the faith for which she gave her life has +been stronger than her enemies. Mistaken as she often was, a truer +Christianity dwelt with her than with them, and the toleration +denied her has shown itself as the heart of all present life or +future progress. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +COLONIAL LITERARY DEVELOPMENT IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. + + +It was before the final charge from Ipswich to Andover, that the +chief part of Anne Bradstreet's literary work was done, the ten +years after her arrival in New England being the only fruitful +ones. As daughter and wife of two of the chief magistrates, she +heard the constant discussion of questions of policy as well as +questions of faith, both strongly agitated by the stormy years of +Anne Hutchinson's stay in Boston, and it is very probable that she +sought refuge from the anxiety of the troubled days, in poetical +composition, and in poring over Ancient History found consolation +in the fact that old times were by no means better than the new. +The literary life of New England had already begun, and it is +worth while to follow the lines of its growth and development, +through the colonial days, if only to understand better the +curious limitations for any one who sought to give tangible form +to thought, whether in prose or poetry. For North and South, the +story was the same. + +The points of divergence in the northern and southern colonies +have been so emphasized, and the impression has become so fixed, +that the divisions of country had as little in common as came +later to be the fact, that any statement as to their essential +agreement, is distrusted or denied. Yet even to-day, in a region +where many causes have made against purity of blood, the traveller +in the South is often startled, in some remote town of the +Carolinas or of Virginia, at the sight of what can only be +characterized as a Southern Yankee. At one's very side in the +little church may sit a man who, if met in Boston, would be taken +for a Brahmin of the Brahmins. His face is as distinctively a New +England one as was Emerson's. High but narrow forehead, prominent +nose, thin lips, and cheek bones a trifle high; clear, cold blue +eyes and a slender upright figure Every line shows repressed +force, the possibility of passionate energy, of fierce enmity and +ruthless judgment on anything outside of personal experience. +Culture is equally evident, but culture refusing to believe in +anything modern, and resting its claims on little beyond the time +of Queen Anne. It is the Puritan alive again, and why not? +Descended directly from some stray member of the Cromwellian party +who fled at the Restoration, he chose Virginia rather than New +England, allured by the milder climate. But he is of the same +class, the same prejudices and limitations as the New England +Puritan, the sole difference being that he has stood still while +the other passed on unrestingly. But in 1635, it was merely a +difference of location, never of mental habit, that divided them. +For both alike, the description given by one of our most brilliant +writers, applied the English people of the seventeenth century +being summed up in words quite as applicable to-day as then: "At +that time, though they were apparently divided into many classes, +they were really divided into only two---first, the disciples of +things as they are; second, the disciples of things as they ought +to be." + +It was chiefly "the disciples of things as they ought to be" that +passed over from Old England to the New, and as such faith means +usually supreme discomfort for its holder, and quite as much for +the opposer, there was a constant and lively ebullition of forces +on either side. Every Puritan who came over waged a triple war-- +first, with himself as a creature of malignant and desperate +tendencies, likely at any moment to commit some act born of hell; +second, with the devil, at times regarded as practically +synonymous with one's own nature, at others as a tangible and +audacious adversary; and last and always, with all who differed +from his own standard of right and wrong---chiefly wrong. The +motto of that time was less "Dare to do right," than "Do not dare +to do wrong." All mental and spiritual furnishings were shaken out +of the windows daily, by way of dislodging any chance seeds of +vice sown by the great adversary. One would have thought the +conflict with natural forces quite enough to absorb all +superfluous energy, every fact of climate, soil and natural +features being against them, but neither scanty harvests, nor +Indian wars, nor devastating disease, had the power to long +suppress this perpetual and unflinching self-discipline. + +Unlike any other colony of the New World, the sole purpose and +motive of action was an ideal one. The Dutch sought peltries and +trade in general, and whereever they established themselves, at +once gave tokens of material comfort and prosperity. The more +Southern Colonies were this basis, adding to it the freedom of +life--the large hospitality possible where miles of land formed +the plantation, and service meant no direct outlay or expense. +Here and there a Southern Puritan was found, as his type may be +found to-day, resisting the charm of physical ease and comfort, +and constituting himself a missionary to the Indians of South +Carolina, or to settlements remote from all gospel privileges, but +for the most part the habits of an English squire-ruled country +prevailed, and were enlarged upon; each man in the centre of his +great property being practically king. Dispersion of forces was +the order, and thus many necessities of civilization were +dispensed with. The man who had a river at his door had no +occasion to worry over the making or improvement of roads, a boat +carrying his supplies, and bridle-paths sufficing his horse and +himself. With no need for strenuous conflict with nature or man, +the power of resistance died naturally. Sharp lines softened; +muscles weakened, and before many generations the type had so +altered that the people who had left England as one, were two, +once for all. + +The law of dispersion, practical and agreeable to the Southern +landholder, would have been destruction to his New England +brethren. For the latter, concentration was the only safety. They +massed together in close communities, and necessarily were forced +to plan for the general rather than for the individual good. In +such close quarters, where every angle made itself felt, and +constant contact developed and implied criticism, law must work +far more minutely than in less exacting communities. Every +tendency to introspection and self-judging was strengthened to the +utmost, and merciless condemnation for one's self came to mean a +still sharper one for others. With every power of brain and soul +they fought against what, to them, seemed the one evil for that or +any time--toleration. Each man had his own thought, and was able +to put it into strong words. No colony has ever known so large a +proportion of learned men, there being more graduates of Cambridge +and Oxford between the years 1630 and 1690 than it was possible to +find in a population of the same size in the mother country. "In +its inception, New England was not an agricultural community, nor +a manufacturing community, nor a trading community; it was a +thinking community---an arena and mart for ideas--its characteristic +organ being not the hand, nor the heart, nor the pocket, but +the brain." + +The material for learning, we have seen, was of the scantiest, not +only for Winthrop's Colony but for those that preceded it. + +The three little ships that, on a misty afternoon in December, +1606, dropped down the Thames with sails set for an unknown +country, carried any freight but that of books. Book-makers were +there in less proportion than on board the solitary vessel that, +in 1620, took a more northerly course, and cast anchor at last off +the bleak and sullen shore of Massachusetts; but for both alike +the stress of those early years left small energy or time for any +composition beyond the reports that, at stated intervals, went +back to the mother country. The work of the pioneer is for muscles +first, brain having small opportunity, save as director; and it +required more than one generation before authorship could become +the business of any, not even the clergy being excepted from the +stress of hard manual labor. + +Yet, for the first departure, an enthusiasm of hope and faith +filled many hearts. The England of that day had not been too +kindly toward her men of letters, who were then, as now, also men +of dreams, looking for something better than the best she had to +offer, and who, in the early years of the seventeenth century, +gathered in London as the centre least touched by the bigotry and +narrowness of one party, the wild laxity and folly of the other. +"The very air of London must have been electric with the daily +words of those immortals whose casual talk upon the pavement by +the street-side was a coinage of speech richer, more virile, more +expressive than has been known on this planet since the great days +of Atheman poetry, eloquence and mirth." There were "wits, +dramatists, scholars, orators, singers, philosophers." For every +one of them was the faith of something undefined, yet infinitely +precious, to be born of all the mysterious influences in that new +land to which all eyes turned, and old Michael Drayton's ringing +ode on their departure held also a prophecy: + + "In kenning of the shore, + Thanks to God first given, + O you, the happiest men, + Be frolic then; + Let cannons roar, + Frighting the wide heaven. + + "And in regions far + Such heroes bring ye forth + As those from whom we came; + And plant our name + Under that star + Not known unto our north. + + "And as there plenty grows + Of laurel everywhere-- + Apollo's sacred tree-- + You, it may see, + A poet's brows to crown + That may sing there." + +The men who, in passing over to America could not cease to be +Englishmen, were the friends and associates--the intellectual +equals in many points of this extraordinary assemblage of +brilliant and audacious intellects; and chief among them was the +man at whose name we are all inclined to smile--Captain John +Smith. So many myths have hid the real man from view--some of +them, it must be admitted, of his own making--that we forget how +vivid and resolute a personality he owned, and the pride we may +well have in him as the writer of the first distinctively American +book. His work was not only for Virginia, but for New England as +well. His life was given to the interests of both. Defeated plans, +baffled hopes, had no power to quench the absorbing love that +filled him to the end, and, at the very last, he wrote of the +American colonies: "By that acquaintance I have with them, I call +them my children; for they have been my wife, my hawks, hounds, my +cards, my dice, and, in total, my best content, as indifferent to +my heart as my left hand to my right." + +Certain qualities, most prominent then, have, after a long +disappearance, become once more, in degree at least, characteristic +of the time. The book man of to-day is quite as likely to be also +the man of affairs, and the pale and cloistered student of the past +is rather a memory than a present fact. History thus repeats itself +as usual, and the story of the literary men of the nineteenth +century has many points in common with that of the seventeenth. + +Smith's description of New England had had active circulation in +the Mother Country, and many a Puritan trusted it entirely, who +would have frowned upon the writer had he appeared in person to +testify of what he had seen. Certainly the Cavalier predominated +in him, the type to which he belonged being of the noble one "of +which the Elizabethan age produced so many examples--the man of +action who was also the man of letters; the man of letters who was +also a man of action; the wholesomest type of manhood anywhere to +be found; body and brain both active, both cultivated; the mind +not made fastidious and morbid by too much bookishness, nor coarse +and dull by too little; not a doer who is dumb, not a speech-maker +who cannot do; the knowledge that comes of books, widened and +freshened by the knowledge that comes of experience; the literary +sense fortified by common sense; the bashfulness and delicacy of +the scholar hovering as a finer presence above the forceful +audacity of the man of the world; at once bookman, penman, +swordsman, diplomat, sailor, courtier, orator. Of this type of +manhood, spacious, strong, refined and sane, were the best men of +the Elizabethan time, George Gascoigne, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir +Walter Raleigh, and, in a modified sense, Hakluyt, Bacon, +Sackville, Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and nearly all the rest." + +It would have been impossible to make John Smith a Puritan, but an +ameliorated Puritan might easily have become a John Smith. It is +worth while to recall his work and that of his fellow colonists, +if only to note the wide and immediate departure of thought in the +northern and southern colonies, even where the Puritan element +entered in, nor can we understand Anne Bradstreet, without a +thought of the forces at work in the new country, unconscious but +potent causes of all phases of literary life in that early time. + +The Virginia colonist had more knowledge of the world and less +knowledge of himself, introspection, or any desire for it, being +no part of his mental constitution or habit. + +Intellectually, he demanded a spherical excellence, easier then +than now, and attained by many a student of that day, and to this +Captain John aspired, one at least of his contemporaries giving +proof of faith that he had attained it in lines written on him and +his book on the history of Virginia and New England: + + "Like Caesar, now thou writ'st what them hast done. + These acts, this book, will live while there's a sun." + +The history is picturesque, and often amusing. As a writer he was +always "racy, terse, fearless," but, save to the special student, +there is little value to the present student, unless he be a +searcher after the spirit that moved not only the man, but, +through him, the time he moulded. For such reader will still be +felt "the impression of a certain personal largeness ... +magnanimity, affluence, sense and executive force. Over all his +personal associates in American adventure he seems to tower, by +the natural loftiness and reach of the perception with which he +grasped the significance of their vast enterprise and the means to +its success.... He had the faults of an impulsive, irascible, +egotistic and imaginative nature; he sometimes bought human praise +at too high a price, but he had great abilities in word and deed; +his nature was, upon the whole, generous and noble; and during the +first two decades of the seventeenth century, he did more than any +other Englishman to make an American nation and an American +literature possible." + +Behind the stockade at Jamestown, only the most persistent bent +toward letters had chance of surviving. Joyful as the landing had +been, the Colony had no sturdy backbone of practical workers. +Their first summer was unutterably forlorn, the beauty and +fertility that had seemed to promise to the sea-sad eyes a life of +instant ease, bringing with it only a "horrible trail of +homesickness, discord, starvation, pestilence and Indian +hostility." No common purpose united them, as in the Northern +Colony. Save for the leaders, individual profit had been the only +ambition or intention. Work had no place in the scheme of life, +and even when ship after ship discharged its load of immigrants +matters were hardly mended. Perpetual discord became the law. +Smith fled from the tumults which he had no power to quiet, and a +long succession of soon-discouraged officers waged a species of +hand-to-hand conflict with the wild elements that made up the +Colony. One poet, George Sandys, whose name and work are still of +meaning and value to the student, found leisure, borrowed from the +night, for a translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses," commended by +both Dryden and Pope, and which passed at once through eight +editions, but there were no others. + +Twenty years of colonial life had ended when he returned to +England, and the spirit of the early founders had well nigh +disappeared. Literary work had died with it. A few had small +libraries, chiefly Latin classics, but a curious torpor had +settled down, the reasons for which are now evident. There was no +constant intercourse, as in New England. The "policy of +dispersion" was the law, for every man aspired to be a large land- +owner, and, in the midst of his tract of half-cleared land, had +small communication with any but his inferiors. Within fifty years +any intellectual standard had practically ceased to exist. The +Governor, Sir William Berkeley, whose long rule meant death to +progress, thundered against the printing-press, and believed +absolutely in the "fine old conservative policy of keeping +subjects ignorant in order to keep them submissive." For thirty- +six years his energies were bent in this direction. Protest of any +sort simply intensified his purpose, and when 1670 dawned he had +the happiness of making to the English Commissioners a reply that +has become immortal, though hardly in the sense anticipated, when +he wrote: "I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing; +and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has +brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and +printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. +God keep us from both." + +A dark prayer, and answered as fully as men's own acts can fulfill +their prayers. The brilliant men who had passed from the scene had +no successors. The few malcontents were silenced by a law which +made "even the first thrust of the pressman's lever a crime," and +until 1729 there was neither printing nor desire for printing in +any general sense. The point where our literature began had become +apparently its burial-place; the historians and poets and students +of an earlier generation were not only unheeded but forgotten, and +a hundred years of intellectual barrenness, with another hundred, +before even partial recovery could be apparent, were the portion +of Virginia and all the states she influenced or controlled. No +power could have made it otherwise. "Had much literature been +produced there, would it not have been a miracle? The units of the +community isolated; little chance for mind to kindle mind; no +schools; no literary institutions, high or low; no public +libraries; no printing-press; no intellectual freedom; no +religious freedom; the forces of society tending to create two +great classes--a class of vast land-owners, haughty, hospitable, +indolent, passionate, given to field sports and politics; and a +class of impoverished white plebeians and black serfs; these +constitute a situation out of which may be evolved country +gentlemen, loud-lunged and jolly fox-hunters, militia heroes, men +of boundless domestic heartiness and social grace, astute and +imperious politicians, fiery orators, and, by and by, here and +there, perhaps after awhile, a few amateur literary men---but no +literary class, and almost no literature." + + * * * * * + +The Northern Colony had known strange chances also, but every +circumstance and accident of its life fostered the literary spirit +and made the student the most honored member of the community. The +Mayflower brought a larger proportion of men with literary +antecedents and tendencies than had landed on the Virginia coast; +and though every detail of life was fuller of hard work, privation +and danger--climate being even more against them than Indians or +any other misery of the early years--the proportion remained much +the same. It is often claimed that this early environment was +utterly opposed to any possibility of literary development. On the +contrary, "those environments were, for a certain class of mind, +extremely wholesome and stimulating." Hawthorne has written +somewhere: "New England was then in a state incomparably more +picturesque than at present, or than it has been within the memory +of man." And Tyler, in his brilliant analysis of early colonial +forces, takes much the same ground: "There were about them many of +the tokens and forces of a picturesque, romantic and impressive +life; the infinite solitudes of the wilderness, its mystery, its +peace; the near presence of nature, vast, potent, unassailed; the +strange problems presented to them by savage character and savage +life; their own escape from great cities, from crowds, from mean +competition; the luxury of having room enough; the delight of +being free; the urgent interest of all the Protestant world in +their undertaking; the hopes of humanity already looking thither; +the coming to them of scholars, saints, statesmen, philosophers." + +Yet even for these men there were restraints that to-day seem +shameful and degrading. Harvard College had been made responsible +for the good behavior of the printing-press set up in 1639, and +for twenty-three years this seemed sufficient. Finally two +official licensers were appointed, whose business was to read and +pronounce a verdict either for or against everything proposed for +publication. Anyone might consider these hindrances sufficient, +but intolerance gained with every year of restriction, and when +finally the officers were induced by arguments which must have +been singularly powerful, to allow the printing of an edition of +"Invitation of Christ," a howl arose from every council and +general assembly, whether of laws of divinity, and the unlucky +book was characterized as one written "by a popish minister, +wherein is contained some things that are less safe to be infused +amongst the people of this place"; and the authorities ordered not +only a revisal of its contents but a cessation of all work on the +printing-press. Common sense at length came to the rescue, but +legal restraints on printing were not abolished in Massachusetts +until twenty-one years before the Declaration of Independence. + +As with Virginia the early years were most fertile in work of any +interest to the present time, and naturally so. Fresh from the +life not only of books but of knowledge of "the central currents +of the world's best thinking," these influences could not die out +in the generation nearest them. For every writer some history of +the Colony was the first instinct, and William Bradford holds the +same relation to New England as Captain John Smith to Virginia-- +the racy, incisive, picturesque diction of the latter being a key- +hole to their colonial life, as symbolical as the measured, +restrained and solemn periods of the Puritan writer. Argument had +become a necessity of life. It had been forced upon them in +England in the endeavor to define their position not only to the +Cavalier element but to themselves, and became finally so rooted a +mental habit that "even on the brink of any momentous enterprise +they would stop and argue the case if a suspicion occurred to them +that things were not right." + +They were never meek and dreamy saints, but, on the contrary, +"rather pragmatical and disputatious persons, with all the edges +and corners of their characters left sharp, with all their +opinions very definitely formed, and with their habits of frank +utterance quite thoroughly matured." But for Bradford, and Morton, +and Johnson, and other equally worthy and honored names, this +disputatious tendency was a surface matter, and the deeper traits +were of an order that make petty peculiarities forgotten. For +Bradford especially, was "an untroubled command of strong and +manly speech.... The daily food of his spirit was noble. He +uttered himself without effort, like a free man, a sage and a +Christian," and his voice was that of many who followed him. +Loving the mother country with passion, the sense of exile long +remained with them--a double exile, since they had first taken +firm hold in Leyden, and parted from its ease and prosperity with +words which hold the pathos and quiet endurance still the +undertone of much New England life, and which, though already +quoted, are the key note of the early days. + +"So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their +resting-place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, +and looked not much on these things, but lift up their eyes to the +heavens, that dearest country, and quieted their spirits." + +What John Winthrop's work was like, whether in private diary or +letter, or in more formal composition, we have already seen, but +there is one speech of his in 1645, which was of profoundest +interest to the whole Colony, and must have stirred Anne +Bradstreet to the very depths. This speech was made before the +general court after his acquittal of the charge of having exceeded +his authority as deputy governor. And one passage, containing his +statement of the nature of liberty, has been pronounced by both +English and American thinkers far beyond the definition of +Blackstone, and fully on a par with the noblest utterances of John +Locke or Algernon Sidney. + +As time went on authorship passed naturally into the hands of the +clergy, who came to be the only class with much leisure for study. +The range of subjects treated dwindled more and more from year to +year. The breadth and vigor of the early days were lost, the +pragmatical and disputatious element gaining more and more ground. +Unfortunately, "they stood aloof with a sort of horror from the +richest and most exhilarating types of classic writing in their +own tongue." The Hebrew Scriptures and many classics of Roman and +Greek literature were still allowed; but no genuine literary +development could take place where the sinewy and vital thought of +their own nation was set aside as unworthy of consideration. The +esthetic sense dwindled and pined. Standards of judgment altered. +The capacity for discrimination lessened. Theological quibbling +made much of the literature of the day, though there was much more +than quibbling. But the keenest minds, no matter how vivid and +beautiful their intelligence, were certain that neither man as a +body, nor the world as a home, were anything but lack evils, +ruined by the fall of Adam, and to be ignored and despised with +every power and faculty. Faith in God came to be faith in "a +microscopic and picayune Providence," governing the meanest detail +of the elect's existence, and faith in man had no place in any +scheme of life or thought. If a poem were written it came to be +merely some transcription from the Bible, or an epitaph or elegy +on some departed saint. + +In spite of themselves, however, humor, the Saxon birthright, +refused to be suppressed, and asserted itself in unexpected ways, as +in Nathaniel Ward's "Simple Cobbler of Agawam," already mentioned. +What the cobbler saw was chiefly the theological difficulties of the +time. Discord and confusion seemed to have settled upon the earth, +and "looking out over English Christendom, he saw nothing but a +chaos of jangling opinions, upstart novelties, lawless manners, +illimitable changes in codes, institutions and creeds." He declaims +ferociously against freedom of opinion, and "the fathers of the +inquisition might have reveled over the first twenty-five pages of +this Protestant book, that actually blaze with the eloquent savagery +and rapture of religious intolerance." He laughed in the midst of +this declamation, but it was rather a sardonic laugh, and soon +checked by fresh consideration of man's vileness. + +Liberty had received many a blow from the hands of these men, who +had fled from home and country to secure it, but it could not die +while their own principles were remembered, and constantly at one +point or another, irrepressible men and women rose up, bent upon +free thought and free speech, and shaming even the most determined +and intolerant spirit. One of such men, outspoken by nature, +recorded his mind in some two thousand printed pages, and Roger +Williams even to-day looms up with all the more power because we +have become "rather fatigued by the monotony of so vast a throng +of sages and saints, all quite immaculate, all equally prim and +stiff in their Puritan starch and uniform, all equally automatic +and freezing." It is most comfortable to find anyone defying the +rigid and formal law of the time, whether spoken or implied, and +we have positive "relief in the easy swing of this man's gait, the +limberness of his personal movement, his escape from the +pasteboard proprieties, his spontaneity, his impetuosity, his +indiscretions, his frank acknowledgements that he really had a few +things yet to learn." He demanded spiritual liberty, and though, +as time went on, he learned to use gentler phrases, he was always +a century or two ahead of his age. The mirthfulness of his early +days passed, as well it might, but a better possession-- +cheerfulness--remained to the end. Exile never embittered him, and +the writings that are his legacy "show an habitual upwardness of +mental movement; they grow rich in all gentle, gracious, and +magnanimous qualities as the years increase upon him." + +His influence upon New England was a profound one, and the seed +sown bore fruit long after his mortal body had crumbled into dust; +but it was chiefly in theological lines, to which all thought now +tended. Poetry, so far as drama or lyric verse was concerned, had +been forsworn by the soul of every true Puritan, but "of course +poetry was planted there too deep even for his theological grub- +hooks to root out. If, however, his theology drove poetry out of +many forms in which it has been used to reside, poetry itself +practiced a noble revenge by taking up its abode in his theology." +Stedman gives a masterly analysis of this time in the opening +essay of his "Victorian Poets," showing the shackles all minds +wore, and comparing the time when "even nature's laws were +compelled to bow to church fanaticism," to the happier day in +which "science, freedom of thought, refinement and material +progress have moved along together." + +We have seen how the power of keen and delicate literary judgment +or discrimination died insensibly. The first era of literary +development passed with the first founders of the Republic, and +original thought and expression lay dormant, save in theological +directions. As with all new forms of life, the second stage was an +imitative one, and the few outside the clergy who essayed writing +at all copied the worst models of the Johnsonian period. Verse was +still welcome, and the verse-makers of the colonial time were +many. Even venerable clergymen like Peter Bulkley gave way to its +influence. Ostensible poems were written by more than one +governor; John Cotton yielded to the spell, though he hid the fact +discreetly by writing his English verses in Greek characters, and +confining them to the blank leaves of his almanac. Debarred from +ordinary amusements or occupations, the irrepressible need of +expression effervesced in rhymes as rugged and unlovely as the +writers, and ream upon ream of verse accumulated. Had it found +permanent form, our libraries would have been even more encumbered +than at present, but fortunately most of it has perished. Elegies +and epitaphs were its favorite method, and the "most elaborate and +painful jests," every conceivable and some inconceivable quirks +and solemn puns made up their substance. The obituary poet of the +present is sufficiently conspicuous in the daily papers which are +available for his flights, but the leading poets of to-day do not +feel that it is incumbent upon them to evolve stanzas in a casual +way on every mournful occasion. In that elder day allegories, +anagrams, acrostics--all intended to have a consolatory effect on +mourning friends--flowed from every clerical pen, adding a new +terror to death and a new burden to life, but received by the +readers with a species of solemn glee. Of one given to this habit +Cotton Mather writes that he "had so nimble a faculty of putting +his devout thoughts into verse that he signalized himself +by ... sending poems to all persons, in all places, on all +occasions ... wherein if the curious relished the piety sometimes +rather than the poetry, the capacity of the most therein to be +accommodated must be considered." Another poet had presently +the opportunity to "embalm his memory in some congenial verses," +and wrote an epitaph, and ended with a full description of-- + + "His care to guide his flock and feed his lambs, + By words, works, prayers, psalms, alms and anagrams." + +To this period belongs a poetic phenomenon--a metrical horror +known as "The Bay Psalm Book," being the first English book ever +issued from an American printing-press. Tyler has given with his +accustomed happy facility of phrase the most truthful description +yet made of a production that formed for years the chief poetical +reading of the average New Englander, and undoubtedly did more to +lower taste and make inferior verse seem praiseworthy than any and +all other causes. He writes: "In turning over these venerable +pages, one suffers by sympathy something of the obvious toil of +the undaunted men who, in the very teeth of nature, did all this; +and whose appalling sincerity must, in our eyes, cover a multitude +of such sins as sentences wrenched about end for end, clauses +heaved up and abandoned in chaos, words disemboweled or split +quite in two in the middle, and dissonant combinations of sound +that are the despair of such poor vocal organs as are granted to +human beings. The verses seem to have been hammered out on an +anvil, by blows from a blacksmith's sledge. In all parts of the +book is manifest the agony it cost the writers to find two words +that would rhyme---more or less; and so often as this arduous feat +is achieved, the poetic athlete appears to pause awhile from sheer +exhaustion, panting heavily for breath. Let us now read, for our +improvement, a part of the Fifty-eighth Psalm: + + "The wicked are estranged from + the womb, they goe astray + as soon as ever they are borne, + uttering lyes are they. + Their poyson's like serpents' poyson, + they like deafe Aspe her eare + that stops. Though Charmer wisely charm, + his voice she will not heare. + Within their mouth, doe thou their teeth, + break out, O God most strong, + doe thou Jehovah, the great teeth + break of the lions young." + +It is small wonder that Anne Bradstreet's poems struck the unhappy +New Englanders who had been limited to verse of this description +as the work of one who could be nothing less than the "Tenth +Muse." When the first edition of her poems appeared, really in +1650, though the date is usually given as 1642, a younger +generation had come upon the scene. The worst hardships were +over. Wealth had accumulated, and the comfort which is the +distinguishing characteristic of New England homes to-day, was +well established. Harvard College was filled with bright young +scholars, in whom her work awakened the keenest enthusiasm; who +had insight enough to recognize her as the one shining example of +poetic power in that generation, and who wrote innumerable elegies +and threnodies on her life and work. + +The elegy seems to have appealed more strongly to the Puritan mind +than any other poetical form, and they exhausted every verbal +device in perpetuating the memory of friends who scarcely needed +this new terror added to a death already surrounded by a gloom +that even their strongest faith hardly dispelled. + +"Let groans inspire my quill," one clerical twister of language +began, and another wrote with the painful and elephantine +lightness which was the Puritan idea of humor, an epitaph which +may serve as sufficient illustration of the whole unutterably +dreary mass of verse: + + "Gospel and law in's heart had each its column; + His head an index to the sacred volume; + His very name a title page and next + His life a commentary on the text. + Oh, what a monument of glorious worth, + When in a new edition he comes forth + Without _erratas_ may we think he'll be, + In leaves and covers of eternity." + +Better examples were before them, for books were imported freely, +but minds had settled into the mould which they kept for more than +one generation, unaffected in slightest measure by the steady +progress of thought in the old home. + +The younger writers were influenced to a certain degree by the new +school, but lacked power to pass beyond it. Pope was now in full +tide of success, and, with Thomson, Watts and Young, found hosts +of sympathetic and admiring readers who would have turned in +horror from the pages of Shakespeare or the early dramatists. The +measure adopted by Pope charmed the popular mind, and while it +helped to smooth the asperities of Puritan verse, became also the +easy vehicle of the commonplace. There were hints here and there +of something better to come, and in the many examples of verse +remaining it is easy to discern a coming era of free thought and +more musical expression. Peter Folger had sent out from the fogs +of Nantucket a defiant and rollicking voice; John Rogers and Urian +Oakes, both poets and both Harvard presidents, had done something +better than mere rhyme, but it remained for another pastor, +teacher and physician to sound a note that roused all New England. +Michael Wigglesworth might have been immortal, could the genius +born in him have been fed and trained by any of the "sane and +mighty masters of English song"; but, born to the inheritance of a +narrow and ferocious creed, with no power left to even admit the +existence of the beautiful, he was "forever incapable of giving +utterance to his genius--except in a dialect unworthy of it," and +became simply "the explicit and unshrinking rhymer of the five +points of Calvinism." + +Cotton Mather describes him as "a feeble little shadow of a man." +He was "the embodiment of what was great, earnest and sad in +colonial New England." He was tenderly sympathetic, and his own +life, made up mostly of sorrow and pain, filled him with longing +to help others. "A sensitive, firm, wide-ranging, unresting +spirit, he looks out mournfully over the throngs of men that fill +the world, all of them totally depraved, all of them caught, from +farthest eternity, in the adamantine meshes of God's decrees; the +most of them also being doomed in advance by those decrees to an +endless existence of ineffable torment; and upon this situation of +affairs the excellent Michael Wigglesworth proposes to make +poetry." His "Day of Doom," a horribly realistic description of +every terror of the expected judgment, was written in a swinging +ballad measure that took instant hold of the popular mind. No book +ever printed in America has met with a proportionate commercial +success. "The eighteen hundred copies of the first edition were +sold within a single year; which implies the purchase of a copy of +'The Day of Doom' by at least every thirty-fifth person in New +England.... Since that time the book has been repeatedly +published, at least once in England and at least eight times in +America, the last time being in 1867." + +It penetrated finally all parts of the country where Puritan faith +or manners prevailed. It was an intellectual influence far beyond +anything we can now imagine. It was learned by heart along with +the catechism, and for a hundred years was found on every book- +shelf, no matter how sparsely furnished otherwise. Even after the +Revolution, which produced the usual effect of all war in bringing +in unrestrained thought, it was still a source of terror, and +thrilled and prepared all readers for the equally fearful pictures +drawn by Edwards and his successors. + +It is fortunate, perhaps, that Anne Bradstreet did not live to +read and be influenced by this poem, as simply candid in its form +and conception as the "Last Judgements" of the early masters, and +like them, portraying devils with much more apparent satisfaction +than saints. There is one passage that deserves record as evidence +of what the Puritan faith had done toward paralyzing common sense, +though there are still corners in the United States where it would +be read without the least sense of its grotesque horror. The +various classes of sinners have all been attended to, and now, +awaiting the last relay of offenders-- + + "With dismal chains, and strongest reins + Like prisoners of hell, + They're held in place before Christ's face, + Till he their doom shall tell. + These void of tears, but filled with fears, + And dreadful expectation + Of endless pains and scalding flames, + Stand waiting for damnation." + +The saints have received their place and look with an ineffable +and satisfied smirk on the despair of the sinners, all turning at +last to gaze upon the battalion of "reprobate infants," described +in the same brisk measure: + + "Then to the bar all they drew near + Who died in infancy, + And never had, or good or bad, + Effected personally. + But from the womb unto the tomb + Were straightway carried, + Or, at the least, ere they transgressed-- + Who thus began to plead." + +These infants, appalled at what lies before them, begin to first +argue with true Puritanic subtlety, and finding this useless, +resort to pitiful pleadings, which result in a slight concession, +though the unflinching Michael gives no hint of what either the +Judge or his victims would regard as "the easiest room." The +infants receive their sentence with no further remark. + + "You sinners are; and such a share + As sinners may expect; + Such you shall have, for I do save + None but mine own elect. + + Yet to compare your sin with their + Who lived a longer time, + I do confess yours is much less, + Though every sin's a crime. + + A crime it is; therefore in bliss + You may not hope to dwell; + But unto you I shall allow + The easiest room in hell." + +In such faith the little Bradstreets were brought up, and the +oldest, who became a minister, undoubtedly preached it with the +gusto of the time, and quoted the final description of the +sufferings of the lost, as an efficient argument with sinners: + + "Then might you hear them rend and tear + The air with their outcries; + The hideous noise of their sad voice, + Ascendeth to the skies. + They wring their hands, their cartiff-hands, + And gnash their teeth for terror; + They cry, they roar, for anguish sore, + And gnaw their tongue for horror. + But get away without delay; + Christ pities not your cry; + Depart to hell, there may you yell + And roar eternally. + + * * * * * + + "Die fain they would, if die they could, + But death will not be had; + God's direful wrath their bodies hath + Forever immortal made. + They live to lie in misery + And bear eternal woe; + And live they must whilst God is just + That he may plague them so." + +Of the various literary children who may be said to have been +nurtured on Anne Bradstreet's verses, three became leaders of New +England thought, and all wrote elegies on her death, one of them +of marked beauty and power. It remained for a son of the +sulphurous Wigglesworth, to leave the purest fragment of poetry +the epoch produced, the one flower of a life, which at once buried +itself in the cares of a country pastorate and gave no further +sign of gift or wish to speak in verse. The poem records the fate +of a gifted classmate, who graduated with him at Harvard, sailed +for England, and dying on the return voyage, was buried at sea. It +is a passionate lamentation, an appeal to Death, and at last a +quiet resignation to the inevitable, the final lines having a +music and a pathos seldom found in the crabbed New England verse: + + "Add one kind drop unto his watery tomb; + Weep, ye relenting eyes and ears; + See, Death himself could not refrain, + But buried him in tears." + +With him the eighteenth century opens, beyond which we have no +present interest, such literary development as made part of Anne +Bradstreet's knowledge ending with the seventeenth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SOME PHASES OF EARLY COLONIAL LIFE. + + +Much of the depression evident in Anne Bradstreet's earlier verses +came from the circumstances of her family life. No woman could +have been less fitted to bear absence from those nearest to her, +and though her adhesive nature had made her take as deep root in +Ipswich, as if further change could not come, she welcomed +anything that diminished the long separations, and made her +husband's life center more at home. One solace seems to have been +always open to her, her longest poem, the "Four Monarchies," +showing her devotion to Ancient history and the thoroughness with +which she had made it her own. Anatomy seems to have been studied +also, the "Four Humours in Man's Constitution," showing an +intimate acquaintance with the anatomical knowledge of the day; +but in both cases it was not, as one might infer from her +references to Greek and Latin authors, from original sources. Sir +Walter Raleigh's "History of the World," Archbishop Usher's +"Annals of the World," and Pemble's "Period of the Persian +Monarchy," were all found in Puritan libraries, though she may +have had access to others while still in England. Pemble was in +high favor as an authority in Biblical exposition, the title of +his book being a stimulant to every student of the prophecies: +"The Period of the Persian Monarchy, wherein sundry places of +Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel are cleared, Extracted, contracted and +Englished, (much of it out of Dr. Raynolds) by the late learned +and godly man, Mr. William Pemble, of Magdalen Hall, in Oxford." + +This she read over and over again, and many passages in her poem +on the "Four Monarchies" are merely paraphrases of this and +Raleigh's work, though before a second edition was printed she had +read Plutarch, and altered here and there as she saw fit to +introduce his rendering. Galen and Hippocrates, whom she mentions +familiarly, were known to her through the work of the "curious +learned Crooke," his "Description of the Body of Man, Collected +and Translated out of all the best Authors on Anatomy, especially +out of Gasper, Banchinus, and A. Sourentius," being familiar to +all students of the day. + +If her muse could but have roused to a sense of what was going on +about her, and recorded some episodes which Winthrop dismisses +with a few words, we should be under obligations that time could +only deepen. Why, for instance, could she not have given her +woman's view of that indomitable "virgin mother of Taunton," +profanely described by Governor Winthrop as "an ancient maid, one +Mrs. Poole. She went late thither, and endured much hardships, and +lost much cattle. Called, after, Taunton." + +Precisely why Mrs. Poole chose Tecticutt, afterward Titicut, for +her venture is not known, but the facts of her rash experiment +must have been discussed at length, and moved less progressive +maids and matrons to envy or pity as the chance might be. But not +a hint of this surprising departure can be found in any of +Mistress Bradstreet's remains, and it stands, with no comment save +that of the diligent governor's faithful pen, as the first example +of an action, to be repeated in these later days in prairie farms +and Western ranches by women who share the same spirit, though +more often young than "ancient" maids. But ancient, though in her +case a just enough characterization, was a term of reproach for +any who at sixteen or eighteen at the utmost, remained unmarried, +and our present custom of calling every maiden under forty, +"girl" would have struck the Puritan mothers with a sense of +preposterousness fully equal to ours at some of their doings. + +A hundred years passed, and then an appreciative kinsman, who had +long enjoyed the fruit of her labors, set up "a faire slab," still +to be seen in the old burying ground. + + HERE RESTS THE REMAINS + + OF + + MRS. ELIZABETH POOL, + + A NATIVE OF OLD ENGLAND, + + Of good family, friends and prospects, + all which she left in the prime of her life, to enjoy the + religion of her conscience in this distant wilderness; + + A great proprietor of the township of Taunton, + + A chief promoter of its settlement and its incorporation + 1639-40, + + about which time she settled near this spot; and, + + having employed the opportunity + + of her virgin state in piety, liberality and sanctity of manners, + + Died May 21st A.D. 1654, aged 65. + + to whose memory + + this monument is gratefully erected by her next of kin, + + JOHN BORLAND, ESQUIRE, + + A.D. 1771. + +Undoubtedly every detail of this eccentric settlement was talked +over at length, as everything was talked over. Gossip never had +more forcible reason for existence, for the church covenant +compelled each member to a practical oversight of his neighbor's +concerns, the special clause reading: "We agree to keep mutual +watch and ward over one another." + +At first, united by a common peril, the dangers of this were less +perceptible. The early years held their own necessities for +discussion, and the records of the time are full of matter that +Anne Bradstreet might have used had she known her opportunity. She +was weighed down like every conscientious Puritan of the day not +only by a sense of the infinitely great, but quite as strenuously +by the infinitely little. It is plain that she saw more clearly +than many of her time, and there are no indications in her works +of the small superstitions held by all. Superstition had changed +its name to Providence, and every item of daily action was +believed to be under the constant supervision and interference of +the Almighty. The common people had ceased to believe in fairies +and brownies, but their places had been filled by Satan's imps and +messengers, watchful for some chance to confound the elect. + +The faith in dreams and omens of every sort was not lessened by +the transferrence of the responsibility for them to the Lord, and +the superstition of the day, ended later in a credulity that +accepted the Salem Witchcraft delusion with all its horrors, +believing always, that diligent search would discover, if not the +Lord's, then the devil's hand, working for the edification or +confounding of the elect. Even Winthrop does not escape, and in +the midst of wise suggestions for the management of affairs +sandwiches such a record as the following: "At Watertown there was +(in the view of divers witnesses) a great combat between a mouse +and a snake; and after a long fight, the mouse prevailed and +killed the snake. The pastor of Boston, Mr. Wilson, a very +sincere, holy man, hearing of it, gave this interpretation: That +the snake was the devil; the mouse was a poor, contemptible, +people, which God had brought hither, which should overcome Satan +here, and dispossess him of his kingdom. Upon the same occasion, +he told the governor that, before he was resolved to come into +this country, he dreamed he was here, and that he saw a church +arise out of the earth, which grew up and became a marvelously +goodly church." + +They had absolute faith that prayer would accomplish all things, +even to strengthening a defective memory. Thomas Shepard, whose +autobiography is given in Young's "Chronicles of Massachusetts +Bay," gave this incident in his life when a student and "ambitious +of learning and being a scholar; and hence, when I could not take +notes of the sermon I remember I was troubled at it, and prayed +the Lord earnestly that he would help me to note sermons; and I +see some cause of wondering at the Lord's providence therein; for +as soon as ever I had prayed (after my best fashion) Him for it, I +presently, the next Sabbath, was able to take notes, who the +precedent Sabbath, could do nothing at all that way." + +Anthony Thacher, whose story may have been told in person to +Governor Dudley's family, and whose written description of his +shipwreck, included in Young's "Chronicles," is one of the most +picturesque pieces of writing the time affords, wrote, with a +faith that knew no question: "As I was sliding off the rock into +the sea the Lord directed my toes into a joint in the rock's side, +as also the tops of some of my fingers, with my right hand, by +means whereof, the wave leaving me, I remained so, hanging on the +rock, only my head above water." + +When individual prayer failed to accomplish a desired end, a fast +and the united storming of heaven, never failed to bring victory +to the besiegers. Thus Winthrop writes: "Great harm was done in +corn, (especially wheat and barley) in this month, by a +caterpillar, like a black worm about an inch and a half long. They +eat up first the blades of the stalk, then they eat up the +tassels, whereupon the ear withered. It was believed by divers +good observers, that they fell in a great thunder shower, for +divers yards and other places, where not one of them was to be +seen an hour before, were immediately after the shower almost +covered with them, besides grass places where they were not so +easily discerned. They did the most harm in the southern +parts.... In divers places the churches kept a day of humiliation, +and presently after, the caterpillars vanished away." + +Still another instance, the fame of which spread through the whole +Colony and confounded any possible doubter, found record in the +"Magnalia", that storehouse of fact so judiciously combined with +fable that the author himself could probably never tell what he +had himself seen, and what had been gleaned from others. Mr. John +Wilson, the minister of the church at Boston until the arrival of +Cotton, was journeying with a certain Mr. Adams, when tidings came +to the latter of the probably fatal illness of his daughter. "Mr. +Wilson, looking up to heaven, began mightily to wrestle with God +for the life of the young woman ... then, turning himself about +unto Mr. Adams, 'Brother,' said he, 'I trust your daughter shall +live; I believe in God she shall recover of this sickness.' And so +it marvelously came to pass, and she is now the fruitful mother of +several desirable children." + +Among the books brought over by John Winthrop the younger, was a +volume containing the Greek testament, the Psalms, and the English +Common Prayer, bound together, to which happened an accident, +which was gravely described by the Governor in his daily history +of events: + +"Decem 15. About this time there fell out a thing worthy of +observation. Mr. Winthrop the younger, one of the magistrates, +having many books in a chamber where there was corn of divers +sorts, had among them one, wherein the Greek testament, the psalms +and the common prayer were bound together. He found the common +prayer eaten with mice, every leaf of it, and not any of the two +other touched, nor any other of his books, though there were above +a thousand. Not a Puritan of them all, unless it may be the +governor himself, but believed that the mice were agents of +the Almighty sent to testify His dissatisfaction with the +objectionable form of prayer, and not a fact in daily life but +became more and more the working of Providence. Thus, as the good +governor records later: + +"A godly woman of the church of Boston, dwelling sometimes in +London, brought with her a parcel of very fine linen of great +value, which she set her heart too much upon, and had been at +charge to have it all newly washed, and curiously folded and +pressed, and so left it in press in her parlor over night. She had +a negro maid went into the room very late, and let fall some snuff +of the candle upon the linen, so as by morning all the linen was +burned to tinder, and the boards underneath, and some stools and a +part of the wainscot burned and never perceived by any in the +house, though some lodged in the chamber overhead, and no ceiling +between. But it pleased God that the loss of this linen did her +much good, both in taking off her heart from worldly comforts, and +in preparing her for a far greater affliction by the untimely +death of her husband, who was slain not long after at Isle of +Providence." + +The thrifty housewife's heart goes out to this sister, whose +"curiously folded and pressed linen," lavender-scented and fair, was +the one reminder of the abounding and generous life from which she +had come. It may have been a comfort to consider its loss a direct +dispensation for her improvement, and by this time, natural causes +were allowed to have no existence save as they became tools of this +"Wonder-working Providence." It was the day of small things more +literally than they knew, and in this perpetual consideration of +small things, the largeness of their first purpose dwindled and +contracted, and inconceivable pettiness came at last to be the seal +upon much of their action. Mr. Johnson, a minister whose course is +commented upon by Bradford, excommunicated his brother and own +father, for disagreement from him in certain points of doctrine, +though the same zeal weakened when called upon to act against his +wife, who doubtless had means of influencing his judgment unknown to +the grave elders who remonstrated. But the interest was as strong in +the cut of a woman's sleeve as in the founding of a new Plantation. +They mourned over their own degeneracy. "The former times were +better than these," the croakers sighed, and Governor Bradford wrote +of this special case; "In our time his wife was a grave matron, and +very modest both in her apparel and all her demeanor, ready to any +good works in her place, and helpful to many, especially the poor, +and an ornament to his calling. She was a young widow when he +married her, and had been a merchant's wife by whom he had a good +estate, and was a godly woman; and because she wore such apparel as +she had been formerly used to, which were neither excessive nor +immodest, for their chiefest exception were against her wearing of +some whalebone in the bodice and sleeves of her gown, corked shoes +and other such like things as the citizens of her rank then used to +wear. And although, for offence sake, she and he were willing to +reform the fashions of them, so far as might be, without spoiling of +their garments, yet it would not content them except they came full +up to their size. Such was the strictness or rigidness (as now the +term goes) of some in those times, as we can by experience and of +our own knowledge, show in other instances." + +Governor Bradford, who evidently leans in his own mind toward the +side of Mistress Johnson, proceeds to show the undue severity of +some of the brethren in Holland. "We were in the company of a +godly man that had been a long time prisoner at Norwich for this +cause, and was by Judge Cooke set at liberty. After going into the +country he visited his friends, and returning that way again to go +into the Low Countries by ship at Yarmouth, and so desired some of +us to turn in with him to the house of an ancient woman in the +city, who had been very kind and helpful to him in his sufferings. +She knowing his voice, made him very welcome, and those with him. +But after some time of their entertainment, being ready to depart, +she came up to him and felt of his hand (for her eyes were dim +with age) and perceiving it was something stiffened with starch, +she was much displeased and reproved him very sharply, fearing God +would not prosper his journey. Yet the man was a plain country +man, clad in gray russet, without either welt or guard (as the +proverb is) and the band he wore, scarce worth three-pence, made +of their own home-spinning; and he was godly and humble as he was +plain. What would such professors, if they were now living, say to +the excess of our times?" + +Women spoke their minds much more freely in the early days than +later they were allowed to, this same "ancient woman" of +Amsterdam, having a sister worker of equally uncompromising tongue +and tendencies, who was, for her various virtues chosen as +deaconess, "and did them service for many years, though she was +sixty years of age when she was chosen. She honored her place and +was an ornament to the congregation. She usually sat in a +convenient place in the congregation, with a little birchen rod in +her hand, and kept little children in great awe from disturbing +the congregation. She did frequently visit the sick and weak, +especially women, and, as there was need, called out maids and +young women to watch and do them other helps as their necessity +did require; and if they were poor, she would gather relief for +them of those that were able, or acquaint the deacons; and she was +obeyed as a mother in Israel and an officer of Christ." + +Whether this dame had the same objection to starch as the more +"ancient" one, is not recorded, but in any case she was not alone. +Men and women alike, forswore the desired stiffness, retaining it +only in their opinions. By the time that Anne Bradstreet had settled +in Andover, bodily indulgence so far as adornment or the +gratification of appetite went, had become a matter for courts to +decide upon. Whether Simon Bradstreet gave up the curling locks +which, while not flowing to his shoulders as in Colonel Hutchinson's +case, still fell in thick rings about his neck, we have no means of +knowing. His wife would naturally protest against the cropping, +brought about by the more extreme, "who put their own cropped heads +together in order to devise some scheme for compelling all other +heads to be as well shorn as theirs were." + +One of the first acts of John Endecott when again appointed governor +of Massachusetts Bay, was "to institute a solemn association against +long hair," but his success was indifferent, as evidenced in many a +moan from reverend ministers and deacons. John Eliot, one of the +sweetest and most saintly spirits among them, wrote that it was a +"luxurious feminine prolixity for men to wear their hair long and to +... ruffle their heads in excesses of this kind," but in later +years, with many another wearied antagonist of this abomination, +added hopelessly--"the lust is insuperable." Tobacco was fulminated +against with equal energy, but no decree of court could stamp out +the beloved vice. Winthrop yielded to it, but afterward renounced +it, and the ministers compared its smoke to the smoke ascending from +the bottomless pit, but no denunciation could effectually bar it +out, and tobacco and starch in the end asserted their right to +existence and came into constant use. A miraculous amount of energy +had been expended upon the heinousness of their use, and the very +fury of protest brought a reaction equally strong. Radical even in +her conservatism, New England sought to bind in one, two hopelessly +incompatible conditions: intellectual freedom and spiritual slavery. +Absolute obedience to an accepted formula of faith was hardly likely +to remain a fact for a community where thought was stimulated not +only by education and training but every circumstance of their daily +lives. A people who had lived on intimate terms with the innermost +counsels of the Almighty, and who listened for hours on Sunday to +speculations on the component elements not only of the Almighty, but +of all His works were, while apparently most reverential, losing all +capacity for reverence in any ancient sense. Undoubtedly this very +speculation did much to give breadth and largeness, too much belief +preparing the way, first, for no belief, and, at last, for a return +to the best in the old and a combination of certain features of the +new, which seems destined to make something better for practical as +well as spiritual life than the world has ever known. + +The misfortune of the early Puritan was in too rigid a creed, too +settled an assurance that all the revelation needed had been +given. Unlike the Dunkard elders, who refused to formulate a +creed, lest it should put them in a mental attitude that would +hinder further glimpses of truth, they hastened to bind themselves +and all generations to come in chains, which began to rattle +before the last link was forged. Not a Baptist, or Quaker, or +Antinomian but gave himself to the work of protestation, and the +determined effort to throw off the tyranny and presumption of men +no wiser than he. Whippings, imprisonments and banishments +silenced these spirits temporarily, but the vibration of particles +never ceased, and we know the final result of such action. No +wonder that the silent work of disintegration, when it showed +itself in the final apparent collapse of all creeds, was looked +upon with horrified amazement, and a hasty gathering up of all the +old particles with a conviction that fusing and forging again was +as easy of accomplishment now as in the beginning. The attempt has +proved their error. + +Up to nearly the opening of the eighteenth century New England +life kept pace with the advances in England. There was constant +coming and going and a sense of common interests and common needs. +But even before emigration practically ceased, the changes in +modes of speech were less marked than in the old home. English +speech altered in many points during the seventeenth century. +Words dropped out of use, their places filled by a crowd of +claimants, sometimes admitted after sharp scrutiny, as often +denied, but ending in admitting themselves, as words have a trick +of doing even when most thoroughly outlawed. But in New England +the old methods saw no reason for change. + +Forms of speech current in the England of the seventeenth century +crystallized here and are heard to-day. "Yankeeisms" is their +popular title, but the student of old English knows them rather as +"Anglicisms." "Since the year 1640 the New England race has not +received any notable addition to its original stock, and to-day +their Anglican blood is as genuine and unmixed as that of any +county in England." + +Dr. Edward Freeman, in his "Impressions of America," says of New +England particularly, the remark applying in part also to all the +older states: "When anything that seems strange to a British +visitor in American speech or American manners is not quite modern +on the face of it, it is pretty certain to be something which was +once common to the older and the newer England, but which the +newer England has kept, while the older England has cast it +aside." Such literature as had birth in New England adhered +chiefly to the elder models, and has thus an archaic element that +broader life and intercourse would have eliminated. The provincial +stage, of feeble and uncertain, or stilled but equally uncertain +expression was at hand, but for the first generation or so the +colonists had small time to consider forms of speech. Their +passion for knowledge, however, took on all the vitality that had +forsaken English ground, and that from that day to this, has made +the first thought of every New England community, East or West, a +school. Their corner-stone "rested upon a book." It has been +calculated that there was one Cambridge graduate for every two- +hundred and fifty inhabitants, and within six years from the +landing of John Winthrop and his party, Harvard College had begun +its work of baffling "that old deluder, Sathan," whose business in +part it was "to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures." To +secular learning they were indifferent, but every man must be able +to give reason for the faith that was in him, and the more tongues +in which such statement could be made the more confusion for this +often embarrassed but still undismayed Sathan. Orders of nobility +among them had passed. Very rarely were they joined by even a +simple "Sir," and as years went on, nobility came to be synonymous +with tyranny, and there was less and less love for every owner of +a title. To them the highest earthly distinction came to be found +in the highest learning. The earnest student deserved and obtained +all the honors that man could give him, and his epitaph even +recorded the same solemn and deep-seated admiration. "The ashes of +an hard student, a good scholar, and a great Christian." + +Anne Bradstreet shared this feeling to the full, and might easily +have been the mother of whom Mather writes as saying to her little +boy: "Child, if God make thee a good Christian and a good scholar, +thou hast all that thy mother ever asked for thee." Simon +Bradstreet became both, and in due time pleased his mother by +turning sundry of her "Meditations" into Latin prose, in which +stately dress they are incorporated in her works. The New England +woman kept up as far as possible the same pursuits in which she +had been trained, and among others the concoction of innumerable +tinctures and waters, learned in the 'still-room' of every +substantial English home. Room might have given place to a mere +corner, but the work went on with undiminished interest and +enthusiasm. There were few doctors, and each family had its own +special formulas--infallible remedies for all ordinary diseases +and used indiscriminately and in combination where a case seemed +to demand active treatment. They believed in their own medicines +absolutely, and required equal faith in all upon whom they +bestowed them. + +Sturdy English stock as were all these New England dames, and +blessed with a power of endurance which it required more than one +generation to lessen, they were as given to medicine-taking as +their descendants of to-day, and fully as certain that their own +particular prescription was more efficacious than all the rest put +together. Anne Bradstreet had always been delicate, and as time +went on grew more and more so. The long voyage and confinement to +salt food had developed certain tendencies that never afterward +left her, and there is more than a suspicion that scurvy had +attacked her among the rest. Every precaution was taken by +Governor Winthrop to prevent such danger for those who came later, +and he writes to his wife, directing her preparations for the +voyage: "Be sure to be warme clothed & to have store of fresh +provisions, meale, eggs putt up in salt or ground mault, butter, +ote meal, pease & fruits, & a large strong chest or 2, well +locked, to keep these provisions in; & be sure they be bestowed in +the shippe where they may be readyly come by.... Be sure to have +ready at sea 2 or 3 skilletts of several syzes, a large fryinge +panne, a small stewinge panne, & a case to boyle a pudding in; +store of linnen for use at sea, & sacke to bestow among the +saylors: some drinking vessells & peuter & other vessells." + +Dr. Nathaniel Wright, a famous physician of Hereford, and private +physician to Oliver Cromwell for a time, had given Winthrop various +useful prescriptions, and his medicines were in general use, +Winthrop adding in this letter: "For physick you shall need no +other but a pound of Doctor Wright's _Electuariu lenitivu_, & his +direction to use it, a gallon of scirvy grasse, to drink a litle 5 +or 6 morninges together, with some saltpeter dissolved in it, & a +little grated or sliced nutmeg." + +Dr. Wright's prescriptions were supplemented by a collection +prepared for him by Dr. Edward Stafford of London, all of which +were used with great effect, the governor's enthusiasm for medical +receipts and amateur practice, passing on through several +generations. A letter to his son John at Ispwich contains some of +his views and a prescription for pills which were undoubtedly +taken faithfully by Mistress Anne and administered as faithfully +to the unwilling Simon, who like herself suffered from one or two +attacks of fever. The colonists were, like all breakers of new +ground, especially susceptible to fevers of every variety, and +Governor Winthrop writes anxiously: "You must be very careful of +taking cold about the loins; & when the ground is open, I will +send you some pepper-wort roots. For the flux, there is no better +medicine than the cup used two or three times, &, in case of +sudden torments, a clyster of a quart of water boiled to a pint, +which, with the quantity of two or three nutmegs of saltpetre +boiled in it, will give present ease. + +"For the pills, they are made of grated pepper, made up with +turpentine, very stiff, and some flour withal; and four or five +taken fasting, & fast two hours after. But if there be any fever +with the flux, this must not be used till the fever is removed by +the cup." + +Each remedy bears the internal warrant of an immediate need for a +fresh one, and it is easy to see from what source the national +love of patent medicines has been derived. Another prescription +faithfully tried by both giver and receiver, and which Anne +Bradstreet may have tested in her various fevers, was sent to John +Winthrop, Jr., by Sir Kenelm Digby and may be found with various +other singularities in the collections of the Massachusetts +Historical Society. "For all sorts of agues, I have of late tried +the following magnetical experiment with infallible success. Pare +the patient's nails when the fit is coming on, and put the parings +into a little bag of fine linen or sarsenet, and tie that about a +live eel's neck in a tub of water. The eel will die and the +patient will recover. And if a dog or hog eat that eel, they will +also die. I have known one that cured all deliriums and frenzies +whatsoever, and at once taking, with an elixer made of dew, +nothing but dew purified & nipped up in a glass & digested 15 +months till all of it was become a gray powder, not one drop of +humidity remaining. This I know to be true, & that first it was as +black as ink, then green, then gray, & at 22 month's end it was as +white & lustrous as any oriental pearl. But it cured manias at 15 +months' end." + +The mania for taking it or anything else sufficiently mysterious +and unpleasant to give a value to its possession remains to this +day. But the prescriptions made up by the chief magistrate had a +double efficacy for a time that believed a king's touch held +instant cure for the king's evil, and that the ordinary marks +known to every physician familiar with the many phases of +hysteria, were the sign-manual of witches. The good governor's +list of remedies had been made up from the Stafford prescriptions, +the diseases he arranged to deal with being "plague, smallpox, +fevers, king's evil, insanity, and falling sickness," besides +broken bones and all ordinary injuries. + +Simples and mineral drugs are used indiscriminately, and there is +one remedy on which Dr. Holmes comments, in an essay on "The +Medical Profession in Massachusetts," "made by putting live toads +into an earthern pot so as to half fill it, and baking and burning +them 'in the open ayre, not in a house'--concerning which latter +possibility I suspect Madam Winthrop would have had something to +say--until they could be reduced by pounding, first into a brown +and then into a black, powder." This powder was the infallible +remedy "against the plague, small-pox; purples, all sorts of +feavers; Poyson; either by way of Prevention or after Infection." +Consumption found a cure in a squirrel, baked alive and also +reduced to a Powder, and a horrible witches' broth of earth-worms +and other abominations served the same purpose. The governor makes +no mention of this, but he gives full details of an electuary of +millipedes, otherwise sowbugs, which seems to have been used with +distinguished success. Coral and amber were both powdered and used +in special cases, and antimony and nitre were handled freely, with +rhubarb and the whole series of ancient remedies. The Winthrop +papers hold numberless letters from friends and patients +testifying to the good he had done them or begging for further +benefactions, one of these from the agitator, Samuel Gostun, who +at eighty-two had ceased to trouble himself over anything but his +own infirmities, holding a wonder how "a thing so little in +quantity, so little in sent, so little in taste, and so little to +sence in operation, should beget and bring forth such efects." + +These prescriptions were handed down through four generations of +Winthrops, who seem to have united law and medicine, a union less +common than that of divinity and medicine. + +Michael Wigglesworth, whom we know best through his "Day of Doom," +visited and prescribed for the sick, "not only as a Pastor but as +a Physician too, and this not only in his own town, but also in +all those of the vicinity." But this was in later days, when John +Eliot's desire had been accomplished, written to the Rev. Mr. +Shepard in 1647: "I have thought in my heart that it were a very +singular good work, if the Lord would stirre up the hearts of some +or other of his people in England, to give some maintenance toward +some Schoole or Collegiate exercise this way, wherein there should +be Anatomies and other instructions that way, and where there +might be some recompense given to any that should bring in any +vegetable or other thing that is vertuous in the way of Physick. +There is another reason which moves my thought and desires this +way, namely, that our young students in Physick may be trained up +better than they yet bee, who have onely theoreticall knowledge, +and are forced to fall to practice before ever they saw an Anatomy +made, or duely trained up in making experiments, for we never had +but one Anatomy in the countrey." + +This anatomy had been made by Giles Firmin, who was the friend of +Winthrop and of the Bradstreet's, and who found the practice of +medicine so little profitable that he wrote to the former: "I am +strongly set upon to studye divinity; my studyes else must be +lost, for physick is but a meene helpe." A "meene helpe" it proved +for many years, during which the Puritan dames steeped herbs and +made ointments and lotions after formulas learned in the still- +room at home. The little Bradstreet's doubtless swallowed their +full share, though fortunately blessed for the most part with the +sturdy constitution of their father, who, save for a fever or two, +escaped most of the sicknesses common to the colonists and lived +through many serene and untroubled years of physical and mental +health, finding life enjoyable even at four-score and ten. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ANDOVER. + + +What causes may have led to the final change of location we have +no means of knowing definitely, save that every Puritan desired to +increase the number of churches as much as possible; a tendency +inherited to its fullest by their descendants. On the 4th of +March, 1634-5, "It is ordered that the land aboute Cochichowicke, +shall be reserved for an inland plantacon, & that whosoever will +goe to inhabite there, shall have three yeares imunity from all +taxes, levyes, publique charges & services whatsoever, (millitary +dissipline onely excepted), etc." + +Here is the first suggestion of what was afterward to become +Andover, but no action was taken by Bradstreet until 1638, when in +late September, "Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Dudley, Junior, Captain +Dennison, Mr. Woodbridge and eight others, are allowed (upon their +petition) to begin a plantation at Merrimack." + +This plantation grew slowly. The Bradstreets lingered at Ipswich, +and the formal removal, the last of many changes, did not take +place until September, 1644. Simon Bradstreet, the second son, +afterward minister at New London, Conn., whose manuscript diary is +a curious picture of the time, gives one or two details which aid +in fixing the date. + +"1640. I was borne N. England, at Ipswitch, Septem. 28 being +Munday 1640. + +"1651. I had my Education in the same Town at the free School, the +master of w'ch was my ever respected ffreind Mr. Ezekiell +Cheevers. My Father was removed from Ipsw. to Andover, before I +was putt to school, so yt my schooling was more chargeable." + +The thrifty spirit of his grandfather Dudley is shown in the final +line, but Simon Bradstreet the elder never grudged the cost of +anything his family needed or could within reasonable bounds +desire, and stands to-day as one of the most signal early examples +of that New England woman's ideal, "a good provider." + +Other threads were weaving themselves into the "sad-colored" web +of daily life, the pattern taking on new aspects as the days went +on. Four years after the landing of the Arbella and her consorts, +one of the many bands of Separatists, who followed their lead, +came over, the celebrated Thomas Parker, one of the chief among +them, and his nephew, John Woodbridge, an equally important though +less distinguished member of the party. They took up land at +Newbury, and settled to their work of building up a new home, as +if no other occupation had ever been desired. + +The story of John Woodbridge is that of hundreds of young Puritans +who swelled the tide of emigration that between 1630 and 1640 +literally poured into the country, "thronging every ship that +pointed its prow thitherward." Like the majority of them, he was +of good family and of strong individuality, as must needs be where +a perpetual defiance is waged against law and order as it showed +itself to the Prelatical party. He had been at Oxford and would +have graduated, but for his own and his father's unwillingness +that he should take the oath of conformity required, and in the +midst of his daily labor, he still hoped privately to become one +of that ministry, who were to New England what the House of Lords +represented to the old. Prepossessing in appearance, with a +singularly mild and gentle manner, he made friends on all sides, +and in a short time came to be in great favor with Governor +Dudley, whose daughter Mercy was then nearly the marriagable age +of the time, sixteen. The natural result followed, and Mercy +Dudley, in 1641, became Mercy Woodbridge, owning that name for +fifty years, and bearing, like most Puritan matrons, many +children, with the well marked traits that were also part of the +time. + +The young couple settled quietly at Newbury, but his aspiration +was well known and often discussed by the many who desired to see +the churches increased with greater speed. Dudley was one of the +most earnest workers in this direction, but there is a suggestion +that the new son-in-law's capacity for making a good bargain had +influenced his feelings, and challenged the admiration all good +New Englanders have felt from the beginning for any "fore handed" +member of their community. This, however, was only a weakness +among many substantial virtues which gave him a firm place in the +memory of his parishioners. But the fact that after he resigned +his ministry he was recorded as "remarkably blest in private +estate," shows some slight foundation for the suggestion, and +gives solid ground for Dudley's special interest in him. + +A letter is still in existence which shows this, as well as +Dudley's entire willingness to take trouble where a benefit to +anyone was involved. Its contents had evidently been the subject +of very serious consideration, before he wrote: + +SON WOODBRIDGE: + +On your last going from Rocksbury, I thought you would have +returned again before your departure hence, and therefore neither +bade you farewell, nor sent any remembrance to your wife. Since +which time I have often thought of you, and of the course of your +life, doubting you are not in the way wherein you may do God best +service. Every man ought (as I take it) to serve God in such a way +whereto he had best filled him by nature, education or gifts, or +graces acquired. Now in all these respects I concieve you to be +better fitted for the ministry, or teaching a school, than for +husbandry. And I have been lately stirred up the rather to think +thereof by occasion of Mr. Carter's calling to be pastor at Woburn +the last week, and Mr. Parker's calling to preach at Pascattaway, +whose abilities and piety (for aught I know) surmount not yours. +There is a want of school-masters hereabouts, and ministers are, +or in likelihood will be, wanting ere long. I desire that you +would seriously consider of what I say, and take advise of your +uncle, Mr. Nayse, or whom you think meetest about it; withal +considering that no man's opinion in a case wherein he is +interested by reason of your departure from your present +habitation is absolutely to be allowed without comparing his +reason with others. And if you find encouragement, I think you +were best redeem what time you may without hurt of your estate, in +perfecting your former studies. Above all, commend the case in +prayer to God, that you may look before you with a sincere eye +upon his service, not upon filthy lucre, which I speak not so much +for any doubt I have of you, but to clear myself from that +suspicion in respect of the interest I have in you. I need say no +more. The Lord direct and bless you, your wife and children, whom +I would fain see, and have again some thoughts of it, if I live +till next summer. + + Your very loving father, + THOMAS DUDLEY. + Rocksbury, November 28, 1642. + To my very loving son, Mr. John Woodbridge, at his house in Newbury. + +As an illustration of Dudley's strong family affection the letter +is worth attention, and its advice was carried out at once. The +celebrated Thomas Parker, his uncle, became his instructor, and +for a time the young man taught the school in Boston, until fixed +upon as minister for the church in Andover, which in some senses +owes its existence to his good offices. The thrifty habits which +had made it evident in the beginning to the London Company that +Separatists were the only colonists who could be trusted to manage +finances properly, had not lessened with years, and had seldom had +more thorough gratification than in the purchase of Andover, owned +then by Cutshamache "Sagamore of ye Massachusetts." + +If he repented afterward of his bargain, as most of them did, +there is no record, but for the time being he was satisfied with +"ye sume of L6 & a coate," which the Rev. John Woodbridge duly +paid over, the town being incorporated under the name of Andover +in 1646, as may still be seen in the Massachusetts Colony Records, +which read: "At a general Court at Boston 6th of 3d month, 1646, +Cutshamache, Sagamore of Massachusetts, came into the court and +acknowledged that, for the sum of L6 and a coat which he had +already received, he had sold to Mr. John Woodbridge, in behalf of +the inhabitants of Cochichewick, now called Andover, all the +right, interest and privilege in the land six miles southward from +the town, two miles eastward to Rowley bounds, be the same more or +less; northward to Merrimack river, provided that the Indian +called Roger, and his company, may have liberty to take alewives +in Cochichewick river for their own eating; but if they either +spoil or steal any corn or other fruit to any considerable value +of the inhabitants, the liberty of taking fish shall forever +cease, and the said Roger is still to enjoy four acres of ground +where now he plants." + +Punctuation and other minor matters are defied here, as in many +other records of the time, but it is plain that Cutshamache +considered that he had made a good bargain, and that the Rev. John +Woodbridge, on his side was equally satisfied. + +The first settlements were made about Cochichewick Brook, a "fair +springe of sweet water." The delight in the cold, clear New +England water comes up at every stage of exploration in the early +records. In the first hours of landing, as Bradford afterward +wrote, they "found springs of fresh water of which we were +heartily glad, and sat us down and drunk our first New England +water, with as much delight as ever we drunk drink in all our +lives." + +"The waters are most pure, proceeding from the entrails of rocky +mountains," wrote John Smith in his enthusiastic description, and +Francis Higginson was no less moved. "The country is full of +dainty springs," he wrote, "and a sup of New England's air is +better than a whole draught of old England's ale." The "New +English Canaan" recorded: "And for the water it excelleth Canaan +by much; for the land is so apt for fountains, a man cannot dig +amiss. Therefore if the Abrahams and Lots of our time come +thither, there needs be no contention for wells. In the delicacy +of waters, and the conveniency of them, Canaan came not near this +country." Boston owed its first settlement to its "sweet and +pleasant springs," and Wood made it a large inducement to +emigration, in his "New England's Prospect." "The country is as +well watered as any land under the sun; every family or every two +families, having a spring of sweet water betwixt them. It is +thought there can be no better water in the world." New Englanders +still hold to this belief, and the soldier recalls yet the vision +of the old well, or the bubbling spring in the meadow that +tantalized and mocked his longing in the long marches, or in the +hospital wards of war time. + +The settlement gathered naturally about the brook, and building +began vigorously, the houses being less hastily constructed than +in the first pressure of the early days, and the meeting-house +taking precedence of all. + +Even, however, with the reverence inwrought in the very name of +minister we must doubt if Anne Bradstreet found the Rev. John +Woodbridge equal to the demand born in her, by intercourse with +such men as Nathaniel Ward or Nathaniel Rogers, or that he could +ever have become full equivalent for what she had lost. With her +intense family affection, she had, however, adopted him at once, +and we have very positive proof of his deep interest in her, +which showed itself at a later date. This change from simple +"husbandman" to minister had pleased her pride, and like all +ministers he had shared the hardships of his congregation and +known often sharp privation. It is said that he was the second one +ordained in New England, and like most others his salary for years +was paid half in wheat and half in coin, and his life divided +itself between the study and the farm, which formed the chief +support of all the colonists. His old record mentions how he +endeared himself to all by his quiet composure and patience and +his forgiving temper. He seems to have yearned for England, and +this desire was probably increased by his connection with the +Dudley family. Anne Bradstreet's sympathies, in spite of all her +theories and her determined acceptance of the Puritan creed, were +still monarchical, and Mercy would naturally share them. Dudley +himself never looked back, but the "gentlewoman of fortune" whom +he married, was less content, and her own hidden longing showed +itself in her children. Friends urged the young preacher to +return, which he did in 1647, leaving wife and children behind +him, his pastorate having lasted but a year. There is a letter of +Dudley's, written in 1648, addressed to him as "preacher of the +word of God at Andover in Wiltshire," and advising him of what +means should be followed to send his wife and children, but our +chief interest in him lies in the fact, that he carried with him +the manuscript of Anne Bradstreet's poems, which after great +delay, were published at London in 1650. He left her a quiet, +practically unknown woman, and returned in 1662, to find her as +widely praised as she is now forgotton; the "Tenth Muse, Lately +sprung up in America." + +What part of them were written in Andover there is no means of +knowing, but probably only a few of the later ones, not included +in the first edition. The loneliness and craving of her Ipswich +life, had forced her to composition as a relief, and the major +part of her poems were written before she was thirty years old, +and while she was still hampered by the methods of the few she +knew as masters. With the settling at Andover and the satisfying +companionship of her husband, the need of expression gradually +died out, and only occasional verses for special occasions, seem +to have been written. The quiet, busy life, her own ill-health, +and her absorption in her children, all silenced her, and thus, +the work that her ripened thought and experience might have made +of some value to the world, remained undone. The religious life +became more and more the only one of any value to her, and she may +have avoided indulgence in favorite pursuits, as a measure against +the Adversary whose temptations she recorded. Our interest at +present is in these first Andover years, and the course of life +into which the little community settled, the routine holding its +own interpretation of the silence that ensued. The first sharp +bereavement had come, a year or so before the move was absolutely +determined upon, Mrs. Dudley dying late in December of 1643, at +Roxbury, to which they had moved in 1639, and her epitaph as +written by her daughter Anne, shows what her simple virtues had +meant for husband and children. + + AN EPITAPH + + ON MY DEAR AND EVER-HONORED MOTHER, + + MRS. DOROTHY DUDLEY, + + WHO DECEASED DECEMB 27 1643, AND OF HER AGE 61. + + Here lyes + A worthy Matron of unspotted life, + A loving Mother and obedient wife, + A friendly Neighbor pitiful to poor, + Whom oft she fed and clothed with her store, + To Servants wisely aweful but yet kind, + And as they did so they reward did find; + A true Instructer of her Family, + The which she ordered with dexterity. + The publick meetings ever did frequent, + And in her Closet constant hours she spent; + Religious in all her words and wayes + Preparing still for death till end of dayes; + Of all her Children, Children lived to see, + Then dying, left a blessed memory." + +There is a singular aptitude for marriage in these old Puritans. +They "married early, and if opportunity presented, married often." +Even Governor Winthrop, whose third marriage lasted for thirty +years, and whose love was as deep and fervent at the end as in the +beginning, made small tarrying, but as his biographer delicately +puts it, "he could not live alone, and needed the support and +comfort which another marriage could alone afford him." He did +mourn the faithful Margaret a full year, but Governor Dudley had +fewer scruples and tarried only until the following April, +marrying then Catherine, widow of Samuel Hackburne, the first son +of this marriage, Joseph Dudley, becoming even more distinguished +than his father, being successively before his death, Governor of +Massachusetts, Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Wight, and first +Chief Justice of New York, while thirteen children handed on the +name. The first son, Samuel, who married a daughter of Governor +Winthrop, and thus healed all the breaches that misunderstanding +had made, was the father of eighteen children, and all through the +old records are pictures of these exuberant Puritan families. +Benjamin Franklin was one of seventeen. Sir William Phipps, the +son of a poor gunsmith at Pemaquid, and one of the first and most +notable instances of our rather tiresome "self-made men," was one +of twenty-six, twenty-one being sons, while Roger Clapp of +Dorchester, handed down names that are in themselves the story of +Puritanism, his nine, being Experience, Waitstill, Preserved, +Hopestill, Wait, Thanks, Desire, Unite and Supply. The last name +typifies the New England need, and Tyler, whose witty yet +sympathetic estimate of the early Puritans is yet to be surpassed, +writes: "It hardly needs to be mentioned after this, that the +conditions of life there were not at all those for which Malthus +subsequently invented his theory of inhospitality to infants. +Population was sparce; work was plentiful; food was plentiful; and +the arrival in the household of a new child was not the arrival of +a new appetite among a brood of children already half-fed--it was +rather the arrival of a new helper where help was scarcer than +food; it was, in fact, a fresh installment from heaven of what +they called, on Biblical authority, the very 'heritage of the +Lord.' The typical household of New England was one of patriarchal +populousness. Of all the sayings of the Hebrew Psalmist--except, +perhaps, the damnatory ones--it is likely that they rejoiced most +in those which expressed the Davidic appreciation of multitudinous +children: 'As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are +children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full +of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the +enemies in the gate.' The New Englanders had for many years quite +a number of enemies in the gate, whom they wished to be able to +speak with, in the unabashed manner intimated by the devout +warrior of Israel." + +Hardly a town in New England holds stronger reminders of the past, +or has a more intensely New England atmosphere than Andover, +wherein the same decorous and long-winded discussions of fate, +fore-knowledge and all things past and to come, still goes on, as +steadily as if the Puritan debaters had merely transmigrated, not +passed over, to a land which even the most resigned and submissive +soul would never have wished to think of as a "Silent Land." All +that Cambridge has failed to preserve of the ancient spirit lives +here in fullest force, and it stands to-day as one of the few +representatives remaining of the original Puritan faith and +purpose. Its foundation saw instant and vigorous protest, at a +small encroachment, which shows strongly the spirit of the time. A +temporary church at Rowley was suggested, while the future one was +building, and Hubbard writes: "They had given notice thereof to +the magistrates and ministers of the neighboring churches, as the +manner is with them in New England. The meeting of the assembly +was to be at that time at Rowley; the forementioned plantations +being but newly erected, were not capable to entertain them that +were likely to be gathered together on that occasion. But when +they were assembled, most of those who were to join together in +church fellowship, at that time, refused to make confession of +their faith and repentance, because, as was said, they declared it +openly before in other churches upon their admission into them. +Whereupon the messengers of the churches not being satisfied, the +assembly broke up, before they had accomplished what they +intended." + +English reticence and English obstinacy were both at work, the one +having no mind to make a private and purely personal experience +too common; the other, resenting the least encroachment on the +Christian liberty they had sought and proposed to hold. By +October, the messengers had decided to compromise, some form of +temporary church was decided upon, and the permanent one went up +swiftly as hands could work. It had a bell, though nobody knows +from whence obtained, and it owned two galleries, one above +another, the whole standing till 1711, when a new and larger one +became necessary, the town records describing, what must have been +a building of some pretension, "50 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 24 +feet between joints"; and undoubtedly a source of great pride to +builders and congregation. No trace of it at present remains, save +the old graveyard at the side, "an irregular lot, sparsely covered +with ancient moss-grown stones, in all positions, straggling, +broken and neglected, and overrun with tall grass and weeds." But +in May, as the writer stood within the crumbling wall, the ground +was thick with violets and "innocents," the grass sprung green and +soft and thick, and the blue sky bent over it, as full of hope and +promise as it seemed to the eyes that two hundred years before, +had looked through tears, upon its beauty. From her window +Mistress Bradstreet could count every slab, for the home she came +to is directly opposite, and when detained there by the many +illnesses she suffered in later days, she could, with opened +windows, hear the psalm lined out, and even, perhaps, follow the +argument of the preacher. But before this ample and generous home +rose among the elms, there was the usual period of discomfort and +even hardship. Simon Bradstreet was the only member of the little +settlement who possessed any considerable property, but it is +evident that he shared the same discomforts in the beginning. In +1658 there is record of a house which he had owned, being sold to +another proprieter, Richard Sutton, and this was probably the log- +house built before their coming, and lived in until the larger one +had slowly been made ready. + +The town had been laid out on the principle followed in all the +early settlements, and described in one of the early volumes of +the Massachusetts Historical Society Collections. Four, or at the +utmost, eight acres, constituted a homestead, but wood-lots and +common grazing lands, brought the amount at the disposal of each +settler to a sufficient degree for all practical needs. It is +often a matter of surprise in studying New England methods to find +estates which may have been owned by the same family from the +beginning, divided in the most unaccountable fashion, a meadow +from three to five miles from the house, and wood-lots and pasture +at equally eccentric distances. But this arose from the +necessities of the situation. Homes must be as nearly side by side +as possible, that Indians and wild beasts might thus be less +dangerous and that business be more easily transacted. Thus the +arrangement of a town was made always to follow this general plan: + +"Suppose ye towne square 6 miles every waye. The houses orderly +placed about ye midst especially ye meeting house, the which we +will suppose to be ye center of ye wholl circumference. The +greatest difficulty is for the employment of ye parts most remote, +which (if better direction doe not arise) may be this: the whole +being 6 miles, the extent from ye meeting-house in ye center, will +be unto every side 3 miles; the one half whereof being 2500 paces +round about & next unto ye said center, in what condition soever +it lyeth, may well be distributed & employed unto ye house within +ye compass of ye same orderly placed to enjoye comfortable +conveniance. Then for that ground lying without, ye neerest +circumference may be thought fittest to be imployed in farmes into +which may be placed skillful bred husbandmen, many or fewe as they +may be attayned unto to become farmers, unto such portions as each +of them may well and in convenient time improve according to the +portion of stocke each of them may be intrusted with." + +House-lots would thus be first assigned, and then in proportion to +each of them, the farm lands, called variously, ox-ground, meadow- +land, ploughing ground, or mowing land, double the amount being +given to the owner of an eight-acre house-lot, and such lands +being held an essential part of the property. A portion of each +township was reserved as "common or undivided land," not in the +sense in which "common" is used in the New England village of to- +day, but simply for general pasturage. With Andover, as with many +other of the first settlements, these lands were granted or sold +from time to time up to the year 1800, when a final sale was made, +and the money appropriated for the use of free schools. + +As the settlement became more secure, many built houses on the +farm lands, and removed from the town, but this was at first +peremptorily forbidden, and for many years after could not be done +without express permission. Mr. Bradstreet, as magistrate, +naturally remained in the town, and the new house, the admiration +of all and the envy of a few discontented spirits, was watched as +it grew, by its mistress, who must have rejoiced that at last some +prospect of permanence lay before her. The log house in which she +waited, probably had not more than four rooms, at most, and forced +them to a crowding which her ample English life had made doubly +distasteful. She had a terror of fire and with reason, for while +still at Cambridge her father's family had had in 1632 the +narrowest of escapes, recorded by Winthrop in his Journal: "About +this time Mr. Dudley, his house, at Newtown, was preserved from +burning down, and all his family from being destroyed by +gunpowder, by a marvellous deliverance--the hearth of the hall +chimney burning all night upon a principal beam, and store of +powder being near, and not discovered till they arose in the +morning, and then it began to flame out." + +The thatch of the early house, which were of logs rilled in with +clay, was always liable to take fire, the chimneys being of logs +and often not clayed at the top. Dudley had warned against this +carelessness in the first year of their coming, writing: "In our +new town, intended this summer to be builded, we have ordered, +that no man there shall build his chimney with wood, nor cover his +house with thatch, which was readily assented unto; for that +divers houses since our arrival (the fire always beginning in the +wooden chimneys), and some English wigwams, which have taken fire +in the roofs covered with thatch or boughs." With every precaution, +there was still constant dread of fire, and Anne must have +rejoiced in the enormous chimney of the new house, heavily +buttressed, running up through the centre and showing in the +garret like a fortification. This may have been an enlargement on +the plan of the first, for the house now standing, took the place +of the one burned to the ground in July, 1666, but duplicated as +exactly as possible, at a very short time thereafter. Doubts have +been expressed as to whether she ever lived in it, but they have +small ground for existence. It is certain that Dudley Bradstreet +occupied it, and it has been known from the beginning as the +"Governor's house." Its size fitted it for the large hospitality to +which she had been brought up and which was one of the necessities +of their position, and its location is a conspicuous and important +one. + +Whatever temptation there may have been to set houses in the midst +of grounds, and make their surroundings hold some reminder of the +fair English homes they had left, was never yielded to. To be near +the street, and within hailing distance of one another, was a +necessity born of their circumstances. Dread of Indians, and need +of mutual help, massed them closely together, and the town +ordinances forbade scattering. So the great house, as it must have +been for long, stood but a few feet from the old Haverhill and +Boston road, surrounded by mighty elms, one of which measured, +twenty-five years ago, "sixteen and a half feet in circumference, +at one foot above the ground, well deserving of mention in the +'Autocrat's' list of famous trees." The house faces the south, and +has a peculiar effect, from being two full stories high in front, +and sloping to one, and that a very low one, at the back. The +distance between caves and ground is here so slight, that one may +fancy a venturous boy in some winter when the snow had drifted +high, sliding from ridge pole to ground, and even tempting a small +and ambitious sister to the same feat. Massive old timbers form +the frame of the house, and the enormous chimney heavily +buttressed on the four sides is exactly in the center, the +fireplaces being rooms in themselves. The rooms at present are +high studded, the floor having been sunk some time ago, but the +doors are small and low, indicating the former proportions and +making a tall man's progress a series of bows. Some of the walls +are wainscotted and some papered, modern taste, the taste of +twenty-five years ago, having probably chosen to remove +wainscotting, as despised then as it is now desired. At the east +is a deep hollow through which flows a little brook, skirted by +alders, "green in summer, white in winter," where the Bradstreet +children waded, and fished for shiners with a crooked pin, and +made dams, and conducted themselves in all points like the +children of to-day. Beyond the brook rises the hill, on the slope +of which the meeting-house once stood, and where wild strawberries +grew as they grow to-day. + +A dense and unbroken circle of woods must have surrounded the +settlement, and cut off many glimpses of river and hill that to- +day make the drives about Andover full of surprise and charm. +Slight changes came in the first hundred years. The great mills at +Lawrence were undreamed of and the Merrimack flowed silently to +the sea, untroubled by any of mans' uses. + +Today the hillsides are green and smooth. Scattered farms are +seen, and houses outside the town proper are few, and the quiet +country gives small hint of the active, eager life so near it. In +1810, Dr. Timothy Dwight, whose travels in America were read with +the same interest that we bestow now upon the "Merv Oasis," or the +"Land of the White Elephant," wrote of North Andover, which then +held many of its original features: + +"North Andover is a very beautiful piece of ground. Its surface is +elegantly undulating, and its soil in an eminent degree, fertile. +The meadows are numerous, large and of the first quality. The +groves, charmingly interspersed, are tall and thrifty. The +landscape, everywhere varied, neat and cheerful, is also +everywhere rich. + +"The Parish is a mere collection of plantations, without anything +like a village. The houses are generally good, some are large and +elegant The barns are large and well-built and indicate a fertile +and well-cultivated soil. + +"Upon the whole, Andover is one of the best farming towns in +Eastern Massachusetts." + +Andover roads were of incredible crookedness, though the Rev. +Timothy makes no mention of this fact: "They were at first +designed to accommodate individuals, and laid out from house to +house," and thus the traveller found himself quite as often landed +in a farm-yard, as at the point aimed for. All about are traces of +disused and forgotten path-ways-- + + "Old roads winding, as old roads will, + Some to a river and some to a mill," + +and even now, though the inhabitant is sure of his ground, the +stranger will swear that there is not a street, called, or +deserving to be called, straight, in all its borders. But this was +of even less consequence then than now. The New England woman has +never walked when she could ride, and so long as the church stood +within easy distance, demanded nothing more. One walk of Anne +Bradstreets' is recorded in a poem, and it is perhaps because it +was her first, that it made so profound an impression, calling +out, as we shall presently see, some of the most natural and +melodious verse which her serious and didactic Muse ever allowed +her, and being still a faithful picture of the landscape it +describes. But up to the beginning of the Andover life, Nature had +had small chance of being either seen or heard, for an increasing +family, the engrossing cares of a new settlement, and the Puritan +belief that "women folk were best indoors," shut her off from +influences that would have made her work mean something to the +present day. She had her recreations as well as her cares, and we +need now to discover just what sort of life she and the Puritan +sisterhood in general led in the first years, whose "new manners +and customs," so disturbed her conservative spirit. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +VILLAGE LIFE IN 1650. + + +Of the eight children that came to Simon and Anne Bradstreet, but +one was born in the "great house" at Andover, making his +appearance in 1652, when life had settled into the routine that +thereafter knew little change, save in the one disastrous +experience of 1666. This son, John, who like all the rest, lived +to marry and leave behind him a plenteous family of children, was +a baby of one year old, when the first son, Samuel, "stayed for +many years," was graduated at Harvard College, taking high honor +in his class, and presently settling as a physician in Boston, +sufficiently near to be called upon in any emergency in the +Andover home, and visited often by the younger brothers, each of +whom became a Harvard graduate. Samuel probably had no share in +the removal, but Dorothy and Sarah, Simon and Hannah, were all old +enough to rejoice in the upheaval, and regard the whole episode as +a prolonged picnic made for their especial benefit. Simon was +then six years old, quite ready for Latin grammar and other +responsibilities of life, and according to the Puritan standard, +an accountable being from whom too much trifling could by no means +be allowed, and who undoubtedly had a careful eye to the small +Hannah, aged four, also old enough to knit a stocking and sew a +seam, and read her chapter in the Bible with the best. Dorothy and +Sarah could take even more active part, yet even the mature ages +of eight and ten did not hinder surreptitious tumbles into heaped +up feather beds, and a scurry through many a once forbidden corner +of the Ipswich home. For them there was small hardship in the log +house that received them, and unending delight in watching the +progress of the new. And one or another must often have ridden +before the father, who loved them with more demonstration than the +Puritan habit allowed, and who in his frequent rides to the new +mill built on the Cochichewick in 1644, found a petitioner always +urging to be taken, too. The building of the mill probably +preceded that of the house, as Bradstreet thought always of public +interests before his own, though in this case the two were nearly +identical, a saw and grist-mill being one of the first necessities +of any new settlement, and of equal profit to owner and users. + +Anne Bradstreet was now a little over thirty, five children +absorbing much of her thought and time, three more being added +during the first six years at Andover. When five had passed out +into the world and homes of their own, she wrote, in 1656, half +regretfully, yet triumphantly, too, a poem which is really a +family biography, though the reference to her fifth child as a +son, Mr. Ellis regards as a slip of the pen: + + "I had eight birds hatcht in one nest, + Four Cocks there were, and Hens the rest; + I nurst them up with pain and care, + Nor cost, nor labour did I spare, + Till at the last they felt their wing, + Mounted the Trees, and learn'd to sing; + Chief of the Brood then took his flight + To Regions far, and left me quite; + My mournful chirps I after send, + Till he return, or I do end; + Leave not thy nest, thy Dam and Sire, + Fly back and sing amidst this Quire. + My second bird did take her flight, + And with her mate flew out of sight; + Southward they both their course did bend, + And Seasons twain they there did spend; + Till after blown by Southern gales, + They Norward steer'd with filled Sayles. + A prettier bird was no where seen, + Along the beach among the treen. + + I have a third of colour white + On whom I plac'd no small delight; + Coupled with mate loving and true, + Hath also bid her Dam adieu; + And where Aurora first appears, + She now hath percht, to spend her years; + One to the Academy flew + To chat among that learned crew; + Ambition moves still in his breast + That he might chant above the rest, + Striving for more than to do well, + That nightingales he might excell. + My fifth, whose down is yet scarce gone + Is 'mongst the shrubs and bushes flown, + And as his wings increase in strength, + On higher boughs he'l pearch at length. + My other three, still with me nest, + Untill they'r grown, then as the rest, + Or here or there, they'l take their flight, + As is ordain'd, so shall they light. + If birds could weep, then would my tears + Let others know what are my fears + Lest this my brood some harm should catch, + And be surpriz'd for want of watch, + Whilst pecking corn, and void of care + They fish un'wares in Fowler's snare; + Or whilst on trees they sit and sing, + Some untoward boy at them do fling; + Or whilst allur'd with bell and glass, + The net be spread, and caught, alas. + Or least by Lime-twigs they be foyl'd, + Or by some greedy hawks be spoyl'd. + O, would my young, ye saw my breast, + And knew what thoughts there sadly rest, + Great was my pain when I you bred, + Great was my care when I you fed, + Long did I keep you soft and warm, + And with my wings kept off all harm; + My cares are more, and fears then ever, + My throbs such now, as 'fore were never; + Alas, my birds, you wisdome want, + Of perils you are ignorant; + Oft times in grass, on trees, in flight, + Sore accidents on you may light. + O, to your safety have an eye, + So happy may you live and die; + Mean while my dayes in tunes I'll spend, + Till my weak layes with me shall end. + + In shady woods I'll sit and sing, + And things that past, to mind I'll bring. + Once young and pleasant, as are you, + But former boyes (no joyes) adieu. + My age I will not once lament, + But sing, my time so near is spent. + And from the top bough take my flight, + Into a country beyond sight, + Where old ones, instantly grow young, + And there with Seraphims set song; + No seasons cold, nor storms they see, + But spring lasts to eternity; + When each of you shall in your nest + Among your young ones take your rest, + In chirping language, oft them tell, + You had a Dam that lov'd you well, + That did what could be done for young, + And nurst you up till you were strong, + And 'fore she once would let you fly, + She shew'd you joy and misery; + Taught what was good, and what was ill, + What would save life, and what would kill? + Thus gone, amongst you I may live, + And dead, yet speak, and counsel give; + Farewel, my birds, farewel, adieu, + I happy am, if well with you. + A. B." + +The Bradstreets and Woodbridges carried with them to Andover, more +valuable worldly possessions than all the rest put together, yet +even for them the list was a very short one. An inventory of the +estate of Joseph Osgood, the most influential citizen after Mr. +Bradstreet, shows that only bare necessities had gone with him. +His oxen and cattle and the grain stored in his barn are given +first, with the value of the house and land and then follow the +list of household belongings, interesting now as showing with how +little a reputable and honored citizen had found it possible to +bring up a family. + + A feather bed and furniture. + A flock bed, (being half feathers) & furniture. + A flock bed & furniture. + Five payre of sheets & an odd one. + Table linen. + Fower payre of pillow-beeres. + Twenty-two pieces of pewter. + For Iron pott, tongs, cottrell & pot-hooks. + Two muskets & a fowling-piece. + Sword, cutlass & bandaleeres. + Barrels, tubbs, trays, cheese-moates and pailes. + A Stand. + Bedsteads, cords & chayers. + Chests and wheels. + +Various yards of stuffs and English cloth are also included, but +nothing could well be more meager than this outfit, though +doubtless it filled the narrow quarters of the early years. +Whatever may have come over afterward, there were none of the +heirlooms to be seen to-day, in the shape of family portraits, and +plate, china or heavily carved mahogany or oak furniture. For the +poorer houses, only panes of oiled paper admitted the light, and +this want of sunshine was one cause of the terrible loss of life +in fevers and various epidemics from which the first settlers +suffered. Leaden sashes held the small panes of glass used by the +better class, but for both the huge chimneys with their roaring +fires did the chief work of ventilation and purification, while +the family life centered about them in a fashion often described +and long ago lost. + +There is a theory that our grandmothers in these first days of the +settlement worked with their own hands, with an energy never since +equalled, and more and more departed from as the years go on. But +all investigation of early records shows that, as far as +practicable, all English habits remained in full force, and among +such habits was that of ample service. + +It is true that mistress and maid worked side by side, but the +tasks performed now by any farmer's wife are as hard and more +continuous than any labor of the early days, where many hands made +light work. If spinning and weaving have passed out of the hands +of women, the girls who once shared in the labor, and helped to +make up the patriarchal households of early times, have followed, +preferring the monotonous and wearing routine of mill-life, to the +stigma resting upon all who consent to be classed as "help". If +social divisions were actually sharper and more stringent in the +beginning, there was a better relation between mistress and maid, +for which we look in vain to-day. + +In many cases, men and women secured their passage to America by +selling their time for a certain number of years, and others whose +fortunes were slightly better, found it well, until some means of +living was secured, to enter the families of the more wealthy +colonists, many of whom had taken their English households with +them. So long as families centered in one spot, there was little +difficulty in securing servants, but as new settlements were +formed servants held back, naturally preferring the towns to the +chances of Indian raids and the dangers from wild beasts. +Necessity brought about a plan which has lasted until within a +generation or so, and must come again, as the best solution of the +servant problem. Roger Williams writes of his daughter that "she +desires to spend some time in service & liked much Mrs. Brenton +who wanted help." This word "help" applied itself to such cases, +distinguishing them from those of the ordinary servant, and girls +of the good families put themselves under notable housekeepers to +learn the secrets of the profession--a form of cooking and +household economy school, that we sigh for vainly to-day. The +Bradstreets took their servants from Ipswich, but others in the +new town were reduced to sore straits, in some cases being forced +to depend on the Indian woman, who, fresh from the wigwam, looked +in amazement on the superfluities of civilized life. Hugh Peters, +the dogmatic and most unpleasant minister of Salem, wrote to a +Boston friend: "Sir, Mr Endecott & myself salute you in the Lord +Jesus, &c. Wee have heard of a dividence of woman & children in +the bay & would be glad of a share, viz: a young woman or girle & +a boy if you thinke good." This was accomplished but failed to +satisfy, for two years later Peters again writes: "My wife desires +my daughter to send to Hanna that was her mayd, now at Charltowne, +to know if shee would dwell with us, for truly wee are so +destitute (having now but an Indian) that wee know not what to +do." This was a desperate state of things, on which Lowell +comments: "Let any housewife of our day, who does not find the +Keltic element in domestic life so refreshing as to Mr. Arnold in +literature, imagine a household with one wild Pequot woman, +communicated with by signs, for its maid of all work, and take +courage. Those were serious times indeed, when your cook might +give warning by taking your scalp, or chignon, as the case might +be, and making off with it, into the woods." + +Negro slavery was the first solution of these difficulties and one +hard-headed member of the Colony, Emanual Downing, as early as +1645, saw in the Indian wars and the prisoners that were taken, a +convenient means of securing the coveted negro, and wrote to +Winthrop: "A war with the Narragansett is very considerable to +this plantation, ffor I doubt whither it be not synne in us, +having power in our hands, to suffer them to maynteyne the worship +of the devill which their paw-wawes often doe; 2 lie, If upon a +just warre the Lord should deliver them into our hands, wee might +easily have men, woemen and children enough to exchange for +Moores, which wilbe more gaynefull pillage for us than wee +conceive, for I do not see how we can thrive untill wee gett into +a stock of slaves, sufficient to doe all our buisenes, for our +children's children will hardly see this great Continent filled +with people, soe that our servants will still desire freedome to +plant for themselves, and not stay but for verie great wages. And +I suppose you know verie well how wee shall maynteyne 20 Moores +cheaper than one English servant." + +The canny Puritan considered that Indian "devil-worship" fully +balanced any slight wrong in exchanging them for, "Moores", and +writes of it as calmly as he does of sundry other events, somewhat +shocking to the modern mind. But, while slaves increased English +servants became harder and harder to secure, and often revolted +from the masters to whom their time had been sold. There is a +certain relish in Winthrop's record of two disaffected ones, which +is perhaps not unnatural even from him, and is in full harmony +with the Puritan tendency to see a special Providence in any event +according to their minds: + +"Two men servants to one Moodye, of Roxbury, returning in a boat +from the windmill, struck upon the oyster bank. They went out to +gather oysters, and not making fast their boat, when the float +came, it floated away and they were both drowned, although they +might have waded out on either side, but it was an evident +judgement of God upon them, for they were wicked persons. One of +them, a little before, being reproved for his lewdness, and put in +mind of hell, answered that if hell were ten times hotter, he had +rather be there than he would serve his master, &c. The occasion +was because he had bound himself for divers years, and saw that, +if he had been at liberty, he might have had greater wages, though +otherwise his master used him very well." + +From whatever source the "Moores" were obtained, they were bought +and sold during the first hundred years that Andover had +existence. "Pomps' Pond" still preserves the memory of Pompey +Lovejoy, servant to Captain William Lovejoy. Pompey's cabin stood +there, and as election day approached, great store of election- +cake and beer was manufactured for the hungry and thirsty voters, +to whom it proved less demoralizing than the whiskey of to-day. +There is a record of the death in 1683, of Jack, a negro servant +of Captain Dudley Bradstreet's, who lost also, in 1693, by +drowning, "Stacy, ye servant of Major Dudley Bradstreet, a +mullatoe born in his house." Mistress Bradstreet had several, +whose families grew up about her, their concerns being of quite as +deep interest as those of her neighbors, and the Andover records +hold many suggestions of the tragedies and comedies of slave life. +Strong as attachments might sometimes be, the minister himself +sold Candace, a negro girl who had grown up in his house, and five +year old Dinah was sent from home and mother at Dunstable, to a +new master in Andover, as witness the bill of sale, which has a +curious flavor for a Massachusetts document: + +"Received of Mr. John Abbott of Andover Fourteen pounds, thirteen +shillings and seven pence, it being the full value of a negrow +garl named Dinah about five years of age of a Healthy sound +Constution, free from any Disease of Body and do hereby Deliver +the same Girl to the said Abbott and promise to Defend him in the +Improvement of her as his servant forever. + +ROBERT BLOOD." + +Undoubtedly Dinah and all her contemporaries proved infinitely +better servants than the second generation of those brought from +England; who even as early as 1656, had learned to prefer +independence, the Rev. Zechariah Symmes writing feelingly: "Much +ado I have with my own family, hard to get a servant glad of +catechising or family duties. I had a rare blessing of servants in +Yorkshire and those I brought over were a blessing, but the young +brood doth much afflict me." + +An enthusiastic cook, even of most deeply Puritanic spirit, had +been known to steal out during some long drawn prayer, to rescue a +favorite dish from impending ruin, and the offence had been +condoned or allowed to pass unnoticed. But the "young brood" +revolted altogether at times from the interminable catechisings +and "family duties", or submitted in a sulky silence, at which the +spirit of the master girded in vain. + +There seems to have been revolt of many sorts. Nature asserted +itself, and boys and girls smiled furtively upon one another, and +young men and maidens planned means of outwitting stern masters +and mistresses, and securing a dance in some secluded barn, or the +semblance of a merry making in picnic or ride. But stocks, pillory +and whipping-post awaited all offenders, who still found that the +secret pleasure outweighed the public pain, and were brought up +again and again, till years subdued the fleshly instincts, and +they in turn wondered at their children's pertinacity in the same +evil ways. Holidays were no part of the Puritan system, and the +little Bradstreets took theirs on the way to and from school, +doing their wading and fishing and bird's-nesting in this stolen +time. There was always Saturday afternoon, and Anne Bradstreet was +also, so far as her painful conscientiousness allowed, an +indulgent mother, and gave her children such pleasure as the rigid +life allowed. + +Andover from the beginning had excellent schools, Mr. Dane and Mr. +Woodbridge, the ministers, each keeping one, while "dame schools" +also flourished, taking the place of the present Kindergarten, +though the suppressed and dominated babies of three and four, who +swung their unhappy feet far from the floor, and whose only reader +was a catechism, could never in their wildest dreams have imagined +anything so fascinating as the Kindergarten or primary school of +to-day. Horn books were still in use and with reason, the often- +flagellated little Puritans giving much time to tears, which would +have utterly destroyed anything less enduring than horn. Until +1647, the teaching of all younger children had been done chiefly +at home, and Anne Bradstreet's older children learned their +letters at her knee, and probably, like all the children of the +day, owned their little Bibles, and by the time they were three or +four years of age, followed the expounding at family prayers with +only a glance now and then toward the kitten, or the family dog, +stretched out before the fire, and watching for any look of +interest and recognition. + +After 1647, and the order of the General Court, "that every +township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them +to fifty house-holders, shall then forthwith appoint one within +their towns to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to +read and write." The district school-house waited till Indian +raids had ceased to be dreaded, but though the walk to the small, +square building which in due time was set in some piece of woods +or at a point where four roads meet, was denied them, it was +something to come together at all, and the children found delight +in berrying or nutting, or the crackle of the crisp snow-crust, +over which they ran. + +They waked in those early days, often with the snow lying lightly +on their beds under the roof, through the cracks of which it +sifted, and through which they saw stars shine or the morning +sunlight flicker. Even when this stage passed, and the "great +house" received them, there was still the same need for rushing +down to the fire in kitchen or living-room, before which they +dressed, running out, perhaps, in the interludes of strings and +buttons, to watch the incoming of the fresh logs which Caesar or +Cato could never bear alone. + +In the Bradstreet mansion, with its many servants, there was less +need of utilizing every child as far as possible, but that all +should labor was part of the Puritan creed, and the boys shared +the work of foddering the cattle, bringing in wood and water, and +gaining the appetite which presently found satisfaction, usually +in one of two forms of porridge, which for the first hundred and +fifty years was the Puritan breakfast. Boiled milk, lightly +thickened with Indian meal, and for the elders made more desirable +by "a goode piece of butter," was the first, while for winter use, +beans or peas were used, a small piece of pork or salted beef +giving them flavor, and making the savory bean porridge still to +be found here and there. Wheaten bread was then in general use; +much more so than at a later date, when "rye and Indian" took its +place, a fortunate choice for a people who, as time went on, ate +more and more salt pork and fish. + +Game and fresh fish were plentiful in the beginning and poultry +used with a freedom that would seem to the farmer of to-day, the +maddest extravagance. The English love of good cheer was still +strong, and Johnson wrote in his "Wonder-Working Providence": +"Apples, pears and quince tarts, instead of their former pumpkin- +pies. Poultry they have plenty and great rarity, and in their +feasts have not forgotten the English fashion of stirring up their +appetites with variety of cooking their food." + +Certain New England dishes borrowed from the natives, or invented +to meet some emergency, had already become firmly established. +Hasty-pudding, made chiefly then as now, from Indian meal, was a +favorite supper dish, rye often being used instead, and both being +eaten with molasses, and butter or milk. Samp and hominy, or the +whole grain, as "hulled corn", had also been borrowed from the +Indians, with "succotash", a fascinating combination of young +beans and green corn. Codfish made Saturday as sacred as Friday +had once been, and baked beans on Sunday morning became an equally +inflexible law. Every family brewed its own beer, and when the +orchards had grown, made its own cider. Wine and spirits were +imported, but rum was made at home, and in the early records of +Andover, the town distiller has honorable mention. Butcher's meat +was altogether too precious to be often eaten, flocks and herds +bearing the highest money value for many years, and game and +poultry took the place of it. But it was generous living, far more +so than at the present day, abundance being the first essential +where all worked and all brought keen appetites to the board, and +every householder counted hospitality one of the cardinal virtues. + +Pewter was the only family plate, save in rarest instances. Forks +had not yet appeared, their use hardly beginning in England before +1650, save among a few who had travelled and adopted the custom. +Winthrop owned one, sent him in 1633, and the Bradstreets may have +had one or more, but rather as a curiosity than for daily use. +Fingers still did much service, and this obliged the affluence of +napkins, which appears in early inventories. The children ate from +wooden bowls and trenchers, and their elders from pewter. Governor +Bradford owned "fourteen dishes of that material, thirteen +platters, three large and two small plates, a candlestick and a +bottle," and many hours were spent in polishing the rather +refractory metal. He also owned "four large silver spoons" and +nine smaller ones. But spoons, too, were chiefly pewter, though +often merely wood, and table service was thus reduced as nearly to +first principles as possible. Very speedily, however, as the +Colony prospered, store of silver and china was accumulated, used +only on state occasions, and then carefully put away. + +The servant question had other phases than that of mere +inadequacy, and there are countless small difficulties recorded; +petty thefts, insolent speeches, and the whole familiar list which +we are apt to consider the portion only of the nineteenth century. +But there is nothing more certain than that, in spite of creeds, +human nature remains much the same, and that the Puritan matron +fretted as energetically against the pricks in her daily life, as +any sinner of to-day. Mistress Bradstreet, at least, had one +experience in which we hear of her as "very angry at the mayde", +and which gave food for gossips for many a day. + +Probably one of the profoundest excitements that ever entered the +children's lives, was in the discovery of certain iniquities +perpetrated by a hired servant John--whose surname, if he ever had +one, is lost to this generation, and who succeeded in hiding his +evil doings so thoroughly, that there were suspicions of every one +but himself. He was a hard worker, but afflicted with an +inordinate appetite, the result of which is found in this order: + +"To the Constable of Andover. You are hereby required to attach +the body of John----, to answer such compt as shall be brought +against him, for stealing severall things, as pigges, capons, +mault, bacon, butter, eggs &c, & for breaking open a seller-doore +in the night several times &c. 7th 3d month 1661." + +John, suddenly brought to trial, first affirmed that his appetite +was never over large, but that the food provided the Bradstreet +servants "was not fit for any man to eate," the bread especially +being "black & heavy & soure," and that he had only occasionally +taken a mere bite here and there to allay the painful cravings +such emptiness produced. But hereupon appeared Goodwife Russ, in +terror lest she should be accused of sharing the spoils, and +testifying that John had often brought chickens, butter, malt and +other things to her house and shared them with Goodman Russ, who +had no scruples. The "mayde had missed the things" and confided +her trouble to Goodwife Russ, who had gone up to the great house, +and who, pitying the girl, knowing that "her mistress would blame +her and be very angry," brought them all back, and then told her +husband and John what she had done. Another comrade made full +confession, testifying in court that at one time they killed and +roasted a "great fatt pigg" in the lot, giving what remained "to +the dogges," John seasoning the repast with stories of former +thefts. It was in court that Master Jackson learned what had been +the fate of "a great fatt Turkey ... fatted against his +daughter's marriage" and hung for keeping in a locked room, down +the chimney of which, "2 or 3 fellowes" let the enterprising John +by a rope who, being pulled up with his prize, "roasted it in the +wood and ate it," every whit. Down the same chimney he went for +"strong beare," and anyone who has once looked upon and into an +ancient Andover chimney will know that not only John, but the "2 +or 3 fellowes," as well, could have descended side by side. + +Then came a scene in which little John Bradstreet, aged nine, had +part, seeing the end if not the beginning, of which Hannah Barnard +"did testifye that being in my father's lott near Mr. Bradstreet's +barn, did see John run after Mr. Bradstreet's fouls & throughing +sticks and stones at them & into the Barne." + +Looking through a crack to find out the result she "saw him throw +out a capon which he had killed, and heard him call to Sam Martin +to come; but when he saw that John Bradstreet was with Martin, he +ran and picked up the capon and hid it under a pear tree." + +This pear tree, climbed by every Bradstreet child, stood at the +east of the old house, and held its own till well into the present +century, and little John may have been on his way for a windfall, +when the capon flew toward him. To stealing was added offences +much more malicious, several discreet Puritan lads, sons of the +foremost land holders having been induced by sudden temptation, to +join him in running Mr. Bradstreet's wheels down hill into a +swamp, while at a later date they watched him recreating himself +in the same manner alone, testifying that he "took a wheele off +Mr. Bradstreet's tumbril and ran it down hill, and got an old +wheel from Goodman Barnard's land, & sett it on the tumbril." + +John received the usual punishment, but mended his ways only for a +season, his appetite rather increasing with age, and his +appearance before the Court being certain in any town to which he +went. No other servant seems to have given special trouble, and +probably all had laid to heart the "Twelve Good Rules," printed +and hung in every colonial kitchen: + + Profane no Divine ordinance. + Touch no state matters. + Urge no healths. + Pick no quarrels. + Encourage no vice. + Repeat no grievances. + Reveal no secrets. + Mantain no ill opinions. + Make no comparisons. + Keep no bad company. + Make no long meals. + Lay no wagers. + +The problem of work and wages weighed heavily on the young Colony. +There were grasping men enough to take advantage of the straits +into which many came through the scarcity of labor, and Winthrop, +as early as 1633, had found it necessary to interfere. Wages had +risen to an excessive rate, "so as a carpenter would have three +shillings a day, a labourer two shillings and sixpence &c.; and +accordingly those that had commodities to sell, advanced their +prices sometime double to that they cost in England, so as it grew +to a general complaint, which the court taking knowledge of, as +also of some further evils, which were springing out of the +excessive rates of wages, they made an order, that carpenters, +masons, &c., should take but two shillings the day, and labourers +but eighteen pence, and that no commodity should be sold at above +fourpence in the shilling more than it cost for ready money in +England; oil, wine, &c., and cheese, in regard of the hazard of +bringing, &c., excepted. The evils which were springing, &c., +were: 1. Many spent much time idly, &c., because they could get as +much in four days as would keep them a week. 2. They spent much in +tobacco and strong waters, &c., which was a great waste to the +Commonwealth, which by reason of so many commodities expended, +could not have subsisted to this time, but that it was supplied by +the cattle and corn which were sold to new comers at very dear +rates." This bit of extortion on the part of the Colony as a +government, does not seem to weigh on Winthrop's mind with by any +means as great force as that of the defeated workmen, and he gives +the colonial tariff of prices with even a certain pride: "Corn at +six shillings the bushel, a cow at L20--yea, some at L24, some +L26--a mare at L35, an ewe goat at 3 or L4; and yet many cattle +were every year brought out of England, and some from Virginia." +At last the new arrivals revolted, and one order ruled for all, +the rate of profit charged, being long fixed at four pence in the +shilling. Andover adopted this scale, being from the beginning of +a thrifty turn of mind, which is exemplified in one of the first +ordinances passed. Many boys and girls had been employed by the +owners of cattle to watch and keep them within bounds, countless +troubles arising from their roaming over the unfenced lands. To +prevent the forming of idle habits the Court at once, did +"hereupon order and decree that in every towne the chosen men are +to take care of such as are sett to keep cattle, that they be sett +to some other employment withall, as spinning upon the rock, +knitting & weaving tape, &c., that boyes and girls be not suffered +to converse together." + +Such conversations as did take place had a double zest from the +fact that the sharp-eyed herdsman was outwitted, but as a rule the +small Puritans obeyed orders and the spinners and knitters in the +sun, helped to fill the family chests which did duty as bureaus, +and three varieties of which are still to be seen in old houses on +the Cape, as well as in the Museum at Plymouth. The plain sea- +chest, like the sailor's chest of to-day, was the property of all +alike, and usually of solid oak. A grade above this, came another +form, with turned and applied ornaments and two drawers at the +bottom, a fine specimen of which is still in the old Phillips +house at North Andover, opposite the Bradstreet house. The last +variety had more drawers, but still retained the lid on top, which +being finally permanently fastened down, made the modern bureau. +High-backed wooden chairs and an immense oaken table with folding +ladder legs, furnished the living-room, settles being on either +side of the wide chimney, where, as the children roasted apples or +chestnuts, they listened to stories of the wolves, whose howl even +then might still be heard about the village. There are various +references to "wolf-hooks" in Governor Bradstreet's accounts, +these being described by Josselyn as follows: + +"Four mackerel hooks are bound with brown thread and wool wrapped +around them, and they are dipped into melted tallow till they be +as big and round as an egg. This thing thus prepared is laid by +some dead carcase which toles the wolves. It is swallowed by them +and is the means of their being taken." + +Every settler believed that "the fangs of a wolf hung about +children's necks keep them from frightning, and are very good to +rub their gums with when they are breeding of teeth." It was not +at all out of character to look on complacently while dogs worried +an unhappy wolf, the same Josselyn writing of one taken in a trap: +"A great mastiff held the wolf . . . Tying him to a stake we bated +him with smaller doggs and had excellent sport; but his hinder leg +being broken, they knocked out his brains." + +To these hunts every man and boy turned out, welcoming the break +in the monotonous life, and foxes and wolves were shot by the +dozen, their method being to "lay a sledg-load of cods-heads on +the other side of a paled fence when the moon shines, and about +nine or ten of the clock, the foxes come to it; sometimes two or +three or half a dozen and more; these they shoot, and by that time +they have cased them there will be as many more; so they continue +shooting and killing of foxes as long as the moon shineth." + +Road-making became another means of bringing them together for +something besides religious services, and as baskets of provisions +were taken with the workers, and the younger boys were allowed to +share in the lighter part of the work, a suggestion of merry- +making was there also. These roads were often changed, being at no +time much more than paths marked by the blazing of trees and the +clearing away of timber and undergrowth. There were no bridges +save over the narrower streams, fording being the custom, till +ferries were established at various points. Roads and town +boundaries were alike undetermined and shifting. "Preambulators," +otherwise surveyors, found their work more and more complicated. +"Marked trees, stakes and stones," were not sufficient to prevent +endless discussions between selectmen and surveyors, and there is +a document still on file which shows the straits to which the +unhappy "preambulators" were sometimes reduced. + +"To Ye Selectmen of Billerica: Loving friends and neighbors, we +have bine of late under such surcomstances that wee could not tell +whether wee had any bounds or no between our towne, but now we +begine to think we have--this therefore are to desier you to send +some men to meet with ours upon the third Munday of ye next month +by nine a'clock in ye morning, if it be a faire day, if not the +next drie day, and so to run one both side of the river and to +meet at the vesil place and the west side of ye river." + +There were heart burnings from another source than this, and one +which could never be altered by selectmen, whether at home or +abroad. For generations, no person was allowed to choose a seat in +church, a committee, usually the magistrates, settling the places +of all. In the beginning, after the building of any meeting-house, +the seats were all examined and ranked according to their +desirability, this process being called, "dignifying the pews." +All who held the highest social or ecclesiastical positions were +then placed; and the rest as seemed good, the men on one side, the +women on another, and the children, often on a low bench outside +the pews, where they were kept in order by the tithing man, who, +at the first symptom of wandering attention, rapped them over the +head with his hare's foot mounted on a stick, and if necessary, +withdrew them from the scene long enough for the administration of +a more thorough discipline. + +There are perpetual complaints of partiality--even hints that +bribery had been at work in this "seating the meeting-house," and +the committee chosen found it so disagreeable a task that Dudley +Bradstreet, when in due time his turn came to serve, protested +against being compelled to it, and at last revolted altogether. + +At Boston a cage had been set up for Sabbath-breakers, but Andover +found easier measures sufficient, though there are constant +offences recorded. A smile in meeting brought admonishment, and a +whisper, the stocks, and when the boys were massed in the +galleries the tithing man had active occupation during the entire +service, and could have had small benefit of the means of grace. +Two were necessary at last, the records reading: "We have ordered +Thomas Osgood and John Bridges to have inspection over the boys in +the galleries on the Sabbath, that they might be contained in +order in the time of publick exercise." + +Later, even worse trouble arose. The boys would not be "contained," +and the anxious selectmen wrote: "And whereas there is grevious +complaints of great prophaneness of ye Sabbath, both in y time of +exercise, at noon time, to ye great dishonor of God, scandall of +religion, & ye grief of many serious Christians, by young persons, +we order & require ye tything-men & constables to tak care to p'vent +such great and shamefull miscarriages, which are soe much observed +and complained of." + +The little Bradstreets, chilled to the bone by sitting for hours +in the fireless church, could rush home to the warm hearth and the +generous buttery across the street, but many who had ridden miles, +and who ate a frosty lunch between services may be pardoned for +indulging in the "great and shameful miscarriages," which were, +undoubtedly, a rush across the pews or a wrestle on the meeting- +house steps. Even their lawlessness held more circumspectness than +is known to the most decorous boy of to-day, and it gained with +every generation, till neither tithing-men nor constables had +further power to restrain it, the Puritans of the eighteenth +century wailing over the godlessness and degeneracy of the age as +strenuously as the pessimists of the nineteenth. Even for the +seventeenth there are countless infractions of law, and a study of +court records would leave the impression of a reckless and utterly +defiant community, did not one recall the fact that life was so +hedged about with minute detail, that the most orderly citizen of +this day would have been the disorderly one of that. + +One resource, of entertainment, was always open to Puritan +households. Hospitality was on a scale almost of magnificence, and +every opportunity seized for making a great dinner or supper, the +abundant good cheer of which was their strongest reminder of +England. The early privations were ended, but to recall them gave +an added zest, and we may fancy Roger Clap repeating the +experience found in his memoir, with a devout thankfulness that +such misery was far behind them. + +"Bread was so scarce, that frequently I thought the very crusts of +my father's table would have been very sweet unto me. And when I +could have meal and water and salt boiled together who could wish +better. It was not accounted a strange thing in those days to +drink water, and to eat samp or hominy without butter or milk. +Indeed it would have been strange to see a piece of roast beef, +mutton or veal, though it was not long before there was roast +goat." + +Generous living had become the colonial characteristic. Even in +the first years, while pressure was still upon them, and supplies +chiefly from England, one of them wrote: + +"Sometimes we used bacon and buttered pease, sometimes buttered +bag pudding, made with currants and raisins, sometimes drinked +pottage of beer and oatmeal, and sometimes water pottage well +buttered." + +Health had come to many who had been sickly from childhood. In +fact, in spite of the theory we are all inclined to hold, that +"the former days were better than these," and our ancestors men +and women of a soundness and vigor long since lost, there is every +proof that the standard of health has progressed with all other +standards, and that the best blood of this generation is purer and +less open to disorder than the best blood of that. Francis +Higginson may stand as the representative of many who might have +written with him: + +"Whereas I have for divers years past been very sickly and ready +to cast up whatsoever I have eaten, . . . He hath made my coming +to be a method to cure me of a wonderful weak stomach and +continual pain of melancholy mind from the spleen." + +His children seem to have been in equally melancholy case, but he +was able after a year or two of New England life to write: + +"Here is an extraordinary clear and dry air, that is of a most +healing nature to all such as are of a cold, melancholy, +phlegmatic, rheumatic temper of body." + +The Puritans, as life settled into a less rasping routine than +that of the early years, grew rotund and comfortable in +expression, and though the festivities of training days, and the +more solemn one of ordination or Thanksgiving day, meant sermon +and prayers of doubled length, found this only an added element of +enjoyment. Judge Sewall's diary records many good dinners; +sometimes as "a sumptuous feast," sometimes as merely "a fine +dinner," but always with impressive unction. At one of these +occasions he mentions Governor Bradstreet as being present and +adds that he "drank a glass or two of wine, eat some fruit, took a +pipe of tobacco in the New Hall, wished me joy of the house and +desired our prayers." + +At Andover he was equally ready for any of these diversions, +though never intemperate in either meat or drink, but, like every +magistrate, he kept open house, and enjoyed it more than some +whose austerity was greater, and there are many hints that +Mistress Bradstreet provided good cheer with a freedom born of her +early training, and made stronger by her husband's tastes and +wishes. The Andover dames patterned after her, and spent many of +the long hours, in as close following of honored formulas as the +new conditions allowed, laying then the foundation for that +reputation still held by Andover housewives, and derided by one of +her best known daughters, as "the cup-cake tendencies of the +town." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A FIRST EDITION. + + +Though the manuscript of the first edition of Anne Bradstreet's +poems was nearly if not entirely complete before the removal to +Andover, some years were still to pass before it left her hands +entirely, though her brother-in-law, knowing her self-distrustful +nature, may have refused to give it up when possession had once +been obtained. But no event in her life save her marriage, could +have had quite the same significance to the shy and shrinking +woman, who doubted herself and her work alike, considering any +real satisfaction in it a temptation of the adversary. Authorship +even to-day has its excitements and agitations, for the maker of +the book if not for its readers. And it is hardly possible to +measure the interest, the profound absorption in the book, which +had been written chiefly in secret in hours stolen from sleep, to +ensure no trenching on daylight duties. We are helpless to form +just judgment of what the little volume meant to the generation in +which it appeared, simply because the growth of the critical +faculty has developed to an abnormal degree, and we demand in the +lightest work, qualities that would have made an earlier poet +immortal. + +This is an age of versification. The old times--when a successful +couplet had the same prominence and discussion as a walking match +to-day; when one poet thought his two lines a satisfactory +morning's work, and another said of him that when such labor +ended, straw was laid before the door and the knocker tied up--are +over, once for all. Now and then a poet stops to polish, but for +the most part spontaneity, fluency, gush, are the qualities +demanded, and whatever finish may be given, must be dominated by +these more apparent facts. Delicate fancies still abound, and are +more and more the portion of the many; but Fancy fills the place +once held for Imagination, a statelier and nobler dame, deaf to +common voices and disdaining common paths. Every country paper, +every petty periodical, holds verse that in the Queen Anne period +in literature would have given the author permanent place and +name. All can rhyme, and many can rhyme melodiously. The power of +words fitly set has made itself known, and a word has come to be +judged like a note in music--as a potential element of harmony--a +sound that in its own place may mean any emotion of joy or sorrow, +hate or love. Whether a thought is behind these alluring rhythms, +with their sensuous swing or their rush of sound, is immaterial so +long as the ear has satisfaction; thus Swinburne and his school +fill the place of Spenser and the elder poets, and many an "idle +singer of an empty day" jostles aside the masters, who can wait, +knowing that sooner or later, return to them is certain. + +Schools have their power for a time, and expression held in their +moulds forgets that any other form is possible. But the throng who +copied Herrick are forgotten, their involved absurdities and +conceits having died with the time that gave them birth. The +romantic school had its day, and its power and charm are +uncomprehended by the reader of this generation. And the Lake +poets, firmly as they held the popular mind, have no place now, +save in the pages where a school was forgotten and nature and +stronger forces asserted their power. + +No poet has enduring place whose work has not been the voice of +the national thought and life in which he has had part. Theology, +politics, great questions of right, all the problems of human life +in any age may have, in turn, moulded the epic of the period; but, +from Homer down, the poet has spoken the deepest thought of the +time, and where he failed in this has failed to be heard beyond +his time. With American poets, it has taken long for anything +distinctively American to be born. With the early singers, there +was simply a reproduction of the mannerisms and limitations of the +school for which Pope had set all the copies. Why not, when it was +simply a case of unchangeable identity, the Englishman being no +less an Englishman because he had suddenly been put down on the +American side of the Atlantic? Then, for a generation or so, he +was too busy contending with natural forces, and asserting his +claims to life and place on the new continent, to have much +leisure for verse-making, though here and there, in the stress of +grinding days, a weak and uncertain voice sounded at times. Anne +Bradstreet's, as we know, was the first, and half assured, half +dismayed at her own presumption, she waited long, till convinced +as other authors have since been, by the "urgency of friends," +that her words must have wider spread than manuscript could give +them. Now and again it is asserted that the manuscript for the +first edition was taken to London without her knowledge and +printed in the same way, but there is hardly the slightest ground +for such conclusion, while the elaborate dedication and the many +friendly tributes included, indicate the fullest knowledge and +preparation. All those whose opinion she most valued are +represented in the opening pages of the volume. + +Evidently they felt it necessary to justify this extraordinary +departure from the proper sphere of woman, a sphere as sharply +defined and limited by every father, husband and brother, as their +own was left uncriticised and unrestrained. Nathaniel Ward forgot +his phillipics against the "squirrel's brains" of women, and +hastened to speak his delight in the little book, and Woodbridge +and John Rogers and sundry others whose initials alone are affixed +to their prose or poetical tributes and endorsements, all banded +together to sustain this first venture. The title page follows the +fashion of the time, and is practically an abstract of what +follows. + + * * * * * + + THE TENTH MUSE, + + LATELY SPRUNG UP IN AMERICA, + + OR + + _Severall Poems, compiled with great variety of Wit and + Learning, full of Delight, wherein especially is contained a + Compleat discourse, and Description of_ + + ( ELEMENTS, + ( CONSTITUTIONS, + THE FOUR--( AGES OF MAN, + ( SEASONS OF THE YEAR. + + _Together with an Exact Epitomie of the Four + Monarchies, viz.:_ + ( ASSYRIAN, + THE ( PERSIAN, + ( GRECIAN, + ( ROMAN. + + _Also, a Dialogue between Old England and New, concerning + the Late Troubles; with divers other pleasant and serious + Poems._ + + + BY A GENTLEWOMAN IN THOSE PARTS. + + Printed at London for Stephen Bowtell at the signe of the + Bible in Popes Head-Alley, 1650. + + * * * * * + +Whether Anne herself wrote the preface is uncertain. It is +apologetic enough for one of her supporters, but has some +indications that she chose the first word should be her own. + +KIND READER: + +Had I opportunity but to borrow some of the Author's wit, 'tis +possible I might so trim this curious work with such quaint +expressions, as that the Preface might bespeak thy further +Perusal; but I fear 'twill be a shame for a Man that can speak so +little, to be seen in the title-page of this Woman's Book, lest by +comparing the one with the other, the Reader should pass his +sentence that it is the gift of women not only to speak most, but +to speak best; I shall leave therefore to commend that, which with +any ingenious Reader will too much commend the Author, unless men +turn more peevish than women, to envy the excellency of the +inferiour Sex. I doubt not but the Reader will quickly find more +than I can say, and the worst effect of his reading will be +unbelief, which will make him question whether it be a woman's +work and aske, "Is it possible?" + +If any do, take this as an answer from him that dares avow it: It +is the Work of a Woman, honoured, and esteemed where she lives, +for her gracious demeanour, her eminent parts, her pious +conversation, her courteous disposition, her exact diligence in +her place, and discreet managing of her Family occasions, and more +than so, these Poems are the fruit but of some few houres, +curtailed from her sleep and other refreshments. I dare adde but +little lest I keep thee too long; if thou wilt not believe the +worth of these things (in their kind) when a man sayes it, yet +believe it from a woman when thou seest it. This only I shall +annex, I fear the displeasure of no person in the publishing of +these Poems but the Author, without whose knowledg, and contrary +to her expectation, I have presumed to bring to publick view, what +she resolved in such a manner should never see the Sun; but I +found that diverse had gotten some Scattered Papers, and affected +them well, were likely to have sent forth broken pieces, to the +Authors predjudice, which I thought to prevent, as well as to +pleasure those that earnestly desired the view of the whole. + +Nathaniel Ward speaks next and with his usual conviction that his +word is all that is necessary to stamp a thing as precisely what +he considers it to be. + + Mercury shew'd Appollo, Bartas Book, + Minerva this, and wish't him well to look, + And tell uprightly which did which excell, + He view'd and view'd, and vow'd he could not tel. + They bid him Hemisphear his mouldy nose, + With's crack't leering glasses, for it would pose + The best brains he had in's old pudding-pan, + Sex weigh'd, which best, the Woman or the Man? + He peer'd and por'd & glar'd, & said for wore, + I'me even as wise now, as I was before; + They both 'gan laugh, and said it was no mar'l + The Auth'ress was a right Du Bartas Girle, + Good sooth quoth the old Don, tell ye me so, + I muse whither at length these Girls will go; + It half revives my chil frost-bitten blood, + To see a Woman once, do aught that's good; + And chode by Chaucer's Book, and Homer's Furrs, + Let Men look to't, least Women wear the Spurrs. + N. Ward. + +John Woodbridge takes up the strain in lines of much easier verse, +in which he pays her brotherly tribute, and is followed by his +brother, Benjamin, who had been her neighbor in Andover. + + UPON THE AUTHOR; BY A KNOWN FRIEND. + + Now I believe Tradition, which doth call + The Muses, Virtues, Graces, Females all; + Only they are not nine, eleven nor three; + Our Auth'ress proves them but one unity. + Mankind take up some blushes on the score; + Monopolize perfection no more; + In your own Arts confess yourself out-done, + The Moon hath totally eclips'd the Sun, + Not with her Sable Mantle muffling him; + But her bright silver makes his gold look dim; + Just as his beams force our pale lamps to wink, + And earthly Fires, within their ashes shrink. + _B. W._ + + IN PRAISE OF THE AUTHOR, MISTRESS ANNE + BRADSTREET, + + Virtues true and lively Pattern, Wife of the + Worshipfull Simon Bradstreet Esq: At present + residing in the Occidental + parts of the World in America, + _Alias Nov-Anglia_. + + What golden splendent Star is this so bright, + One thousand Miles twice told, both day and night, + (From the Orient first sprung) now from the West + That shines; swift-winged Phoebus, and the rest + Of all Jove's fiery flames surmounting far + As doth each Planet, every falling Star; + By whose divine and lucid light most clear, + Nature's dark secret mysteryes appear; + Heavens, Earths, admired wonders, noble acts + Of Kings and Princes most heroick facts, + And what e're else in darkness seemed to dye, + Revives all things so obvious now to th' eye, + That he who these its glittering rayes views o're, + Shall see what's done in all the world before. + _N. H._ + +Three other friends add their testimony before we come to the +dedication. + + UPON THE AUTHOR. + + 'Twere extream folly should I dare attempt, + To praise this Author's worth with complement; + None but herself must dare commend her parts, + Whose sublime brain's the Synopsis of Arts. + Nature and Skill, here both in one agree, + To frame this Master-piece of Poetry: + False Fame, belye their Sex no more, it can + Surpass, or parrallel the best of Man. + _C. B._ + + ANOTHER TO MRS. ANNE BRADSTREET, + + Author of this Poem. + + I've read your Poem (Lady) and admire, + Your Sex to such a pitch should e're aspire; + Go on to write, continue to relate, + New Historyes, of Monarchy and State: + And what the Romans to their Poets gave, + Be sure such honour, and esteem you'l have. + _H. S._ + + AN ANAGRAM. + + ANNA BRADSTREET. DEER NEAT AN BARTAS. + + So Bartas like thy fine spun Poems been, + That Bartas name will prove an Epicene. + + ANOTHER. + + ANNA BRADSTREET. ARTES BRED NEAT AN. + +There follows, what can only be defined as a gushing tribute from +John Rogers, also metrical, though this was not included until the +second edition. + +"Twice I have drunk the nectar of your lines," he informs her, +adding that, left "thus weltring in delight," he is scarcely +capable of doing justice either to his own feelings, or the work +which has excited them, and with this we come at last to the +dedication in which Anne herself bears witness to her obligations +to her father. + + _To her most Honoured Father, Thomas Dudley, Esq; + these humbly presented,_ + + Dear Sir of late delighted with the sight + Of your four Sisters cloth'd in black and white. + Of fairer Dames the Sun n'er Saw the face, + Though made a pedestal for Adams Race; + Their worth so shines in these rich lines you show + Their paralels to finde I scarely know + To climbe their Climes, I have nor strength nor skill + To mount so high requires an Eagle's quill; + Yet view thereof did cause my thoughts to soar, + My lowly pen might wait upon these four + I bring my four times four, now meanly clad + To do their homage, unto yours, full glad; + Who for their Age, their worth and quality + Might seem of yours to claim precedency; + But by my humble hand, thus rudely pen'd + They are, your bounden handmaids to attend + These same are they, from whom we being have + These are of all, the Life, the Muse, the Grave; + These are the hot, the cold, the moist, the dry, + That sink, that swim, that fill, that upwards fly, + Of these consists our bodies, Clothes and Food, + The World, the useful, hurtful, and the good, + Sweet harmony they keep, yet jar oft times + Their discord doth appear, by these harsh rimes + Yours did contest for wealth, for Arts, for Age, + My first do shew their good, and then their rage. + My other foures do intermixed tell + Each others faults, and where themselves excel; + How hot and dry contend with moist and cold, + How Air and Earth no correspondence hold, + And yet in equal tempers, how they 'gree + How divers natures make one Unity + Something of all (though mean) I did intend + But fear'd you'ld judge Du Bartas was my friend. + I honour him, but dare not wear his wealth + My goods are true (though poor) I love no stealth + But if I did I durst not send them you + Who must reward a Thief, but with his due. + I shall not need, mine innocence to clear + These ragged lines will do 't when they appear; + On what they are, your mild aspect I crave + Accept my best, my worst vouchsafe a Grave. + From her that to your self, more duty owes + Then water in the boundess Ocean flows. + _Anne Bradstreet_. + March 20, 1642. + +The reference in the second line, to "your four Sisters, clothed +in black and white," is to a poem which the good governor is said +to have written in his later days, "on the Four Parts of the +World," but which a happy fate has spared us, the manuscript +having been lost or destroyed, after his death. His daughter's +verse is often as dreary, but both dedication and prologue admit +her obligations to du Bartas, and that her verse was modeled upon +his was very plain to Nathaniel Ward, who called her a "right du +Bartas girl," with the feeling that such imitation was infinitely +more creditable to her than any originality which she herself +carefully disclaims in the + + PROLOGUE. + + 1 + + To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings, + Of cities founded, Commonwealths begun, + For my mean pen are too superior things: + Or how they all, or each their dates have run + Let Poets and Historians set these forth, + My obscure Lines shall not so dim their worth. + + 2 + + But when my wondring eyes and envious heart + Great Bartas sugared lines, do but read o'er + Fool I do grudg the Muses did not part + 'Twixt him and me that overfluent store; + A Bartas can do what a Bartas will + But simple I according to my skill. + + 3 + + From school-boyes' tongues no rhet'rick we expect + Nor yet a sweet Consort from broken strings, + Nor perfect beauty, where's a main defect; + My foolish, broken, blemish'd Muse so sings + And this to mend, alas, no Art is able, + 'Cause nature, made it so irreparable. + + 4 + + Nor can I, like that fluent sweet-tongu'd Greek, + Who lisp'd at first, in future times speak plain + By Art he gladly found what he did seek + A full requital of his, striving pain + Art can do much, but this maxima's most sure + A weak or wounded brain admits no cure. + + 5 + + I am obnoxious to each carping tongue + Who says my hand a needle better fits, + A Poet's pen all Scorn I should thus wrong, + For such despite they cast on Female wits; + If what I do prove well, it won't advance, + They'l say it's stolen, or else it was by chance. + + 6 + + But sure the Antique Greeks were far more mild + Else of our Sexe, why feigned they those Nine + And poesy made, Calliope's own child; + So 'mongst the rest they placed the Arts' Divine, + But this weak knot, they will full soon untie, + The Greeks did nought, but play the fools & lye. + + 7 + + Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are + Men have precedency and still excel, + It is but vain unjustly to wage warre: + Men can do best, and women know it well + Preheminence in all and each is yours; + Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours. + + 8 + + And oh ye high flown quills that soar the Skies, + And ever with your prey still catch your praise, + If e're you daigne these lowly lines your eyes + Give Thyme or Parsley wreath, I ask no bayes, + This mean and unrefined ure of mine + Will make you glistening gold, but more to shine. + +With the most ambitious of the longer poems--"The Four Monarchies"-- +and one from which her readers of that day probably derived the most +satisfaction, we need not feel compelled to linger. To them its +charm lay in its usefulness. There were on sinful fancies; no +trifling waste of words, but a good, straightforward narrative of +things it was well to know, and Tyler's comment upon it will be +echoed by every one who turns the apallingly matter-of-fact pages: +"Very likely, they gave to her their choicest praise, and called +her, for this work, a painful poet; in which compliment every modern +reader will most cordially join." + +Of much more attractive order is the comparatively short poem, one +of the series of quaternions in which she seems to have delighted. +"The Four Elements" is a wordy war, in which four personages, +Fire, Earth, Air and Water, contend for the precedence, glorifying +their own deeds and position and reproaching the others for their +shortcomings and general worthlessness with the fluency and fury +of seventeenth century theological debate. There are passages, +however, of real poetic strength and vividness, and the poem is +one of the most favorable specimens of her early work. The four +have met and at once begin the controversy. + + The Fire, Air, Earth and Water did contest + Which was the strongest, noblest and the best, + Who was of greatest use and might'est force; + In placide Terms they thought now to discourse, + That in due order each her turn should speak; + But enmity this amity did break + All would be chief, and all scorn'd to be under + Whence issued winds & rains, lightning & thunder. + The quaking earth did groan, the Sky looked black, + The Fire, the forced Air, in sunder crack; + The sea did threat the heav'ns, the heavn's the earth, + All looked like a Chaos or new birth; + Fire broyled Earth, & scorched Earth it choaked + Both by their darings, water so provoked + That roaring in it came, and with its source + Soon made the Combatants abate their force; + The rumbling, hissing, puffing was so great + The worlds confusion, it did seem to threat + Till gentle Air, Contention so abated + That betwixt hot and cold, she arbitrated + The others difference, being less did cease + All storms now laid, and they in perfect peace + That Fire should first begin, the rest consent, + The noblest and most active Element. + +Fire rises, with the warmth one would expect, and recounts her +services to mankind, ending with the triumphant assurance, that, +willing or not, all things must in the end be subject to her +power. + + What is my worth (both ye) and all men know, + In little time I can but little show, + But what I am, let learned Grecians say + What I can do well skil'd Mechanicks may; + The benefit all living by me finde, + All sorts of Artists, here declare your mind, + What tool was ever fram'd, but by my might? + Ye Martilisk, what weapons for your fight + To try your valor by, but it must feel + My force? Your Sword, & Gun, your Lance of steel + Your Cannon's bootless and your powder too + Without mine aid, (alas) what can they do; + The adverse walls not shak'd, the Mines not blown + And in despight the City keeps her own; + But I with one Granado or Petard + Set ope those gates, that 'fore so strong were bar'd + Ye Husband-men, your Coulters made by me + Your Hooes your Mattocks, & what ere you see + Subdue the Earth, and fit it for your Grain + That so it might in time requite your pain; + Though strong-limb'd Vulcan forg'd it by his skill + I made it flexible unto his will; + Ye Cooks, your Kitchen implements I frame + Your Spits, Pots, Jacks, what else I need not name + Your dayly food I wholsome make, I warm + Your shrinking Limbs, which winter's cold doth harm + Ye Paracelsians too in vain's your skill + In Chymistry, unless I help you Still. + + And you Philosophers, if e're you made + A transmutation it was through mine aid, + Ye silver Smiths, your Ure I do refine + What mingled lay with Earth I cause to shine, + But let me leave these things, my fame aspires + To match on high with the Celestial fires; + The Sun an Orb of fire was held of old, + Our Sages new another tale have told; + But be he what they will, yet his aspect + A burning fiery heat we find reflect + And of the self same nature is with mine + Cold sister Earth, no witness needs but thine; + How doth his warmth, refresh thy frozen back + And trim thee brave, in green, after thy black. + Both man and beast rejoyce at his approach, + And birds do sing, to see his glittering Coach + And though nought, but Salamanders live in fire + And fly Pyrausta call'd, all else expire, + Yet men and beasts Astronomers will tell + Fixed in heavenly Constellations dwell, + My Planets of both Sexes whose degree + Poor Heathen judg'd worthy a Diety; + There's Orion arm'd attended by his dog; + The Theban stout Alcides with his Club; + The valiant Persens, who Medusa slew, + The horse that kil'd Beleuphon, then flew. + My Crab, my Scorpion, fishes you may see + The Maid with ballance, twain with horses three, + The Ram, the Bull, the Lion, and the Beagle, + The Bear, the Goat, the Raven, and the Eagle, + The Crown, the Whale, the Archer, Bernice Hare + The Hidra, Dolphin, Boys that water bear, + Nay more, then these, Rivers 'mongst stars are found + Eridanus, where Phaeton was drown'd. + Their magnitude, and height, should I recount + My Story to a volume would amount; + Out of a multitude these few I touch, + Your wisdome out of little gather much. + + I'le here let pass, my choler, cause of wars + And influence of divers of those stars + When in Conjunction with the Sun do more + Augment his heat, which was too hot before. + The Summer ripening season I do claim, + And man from thirty unto fifty framed, + Of old when Sacrifices were Divine, + I of acceptance was the holy Signe, + 'Mong all thy wonders which I might recount, + There's none more strange then Aetna's Sulphry mount + The choaking flames, that from Vesuvius flew + The over curious second Pliny flew, + And with the Ashes that it sometimes shed + Apulia's 'jacent parts were covered. + And though I be a servant to each man + Yet by my force, master, my masters can. + What famous Towns, to Cinders have I turned? + What lasting forts my Kindled wrath hath burned? + The Stately Seats of mighty Kings by me + In confused heaps, of ashes may you see. + Where's Ninus great wall'd Town, & Troy of old + Carthage, and hundred more in stories told + Which when they could not be o'ercome by foes + The Army, thro'ugh my help victorious rose + And Stately London, our great Britian's glory + My raging flame did make a mournful story, + But maugre all, that I, or foes could do + That Phoenix from her Bed, is risen New. + Old sacred Zion, I demolished thee + Lo great Diana's Temple was by me, + And more than bruitish London, for her lust + With neighbouring Towns, I did consume to dust + What shall I say of Lightning and of Thunder + Which Kings & mighty ones amaze with wonder, + Which make a Caesar, (Romes) the world's proud head, + Foolish Caligula creep under 's bed. + Of Meteors, Ignus fatuus and the rest, + But to leave those to th' wise, I judge it best. + The rich I oft made poor, the strong I maime, + Not sparing Life when I can take the same; + And in a word, the world I shall consume + And all therein, at that great day of Doom; + Not before then, shall cease, my raging ire + And then because no matter more for fire + Now Sisters pray proceed, each in your Course + As I, impart your usefulness and force. + +Fully satisfied that nothing remains to be said, Fire takes her +place among the sisterhood and waits scornfully for such poor plea +as Earth may be able to make, surprised to find what power of +braggadocio still remains and hastens to display itself. + + The next in place Earth judg'd to be her due, + Sister (quoth shee) I come not short of you, + In wealth and use I do surpass you all, + And mother earth of old men did me call + Such is my fruitfulness, an Epithite, + Which none ere gave, or you could claim of sight + Among my praises this I count not least, + I am th' original of man and beast, + To tell what Sundry fruits my fat soil yields + In Vineyards, Gardens, Orchards & Corn-fields, + Their kinds, their tasts, their Colors & their smells + Would so pass time I could say nothing else. + The rich, the poor, wise, fool, and every sort + Of these so common things can make report. + To tell you of my countryes and my Regions, + Soon would they pass not hundreds but legions; + My cities famous, rich and populous, + Whose numbers now are grown innumerous, + I have not time to think of every part, + Yet let me name my Grecia, 'tis my heart. + For learning arms and arts I love it well, + But chiefly 'cause the Muses there did dwell. + + Ile here skip ore my mountains reaching skyes, + Whether Pyrenean, or the Alpes, both lyes + On either side the country of the Gaules + Strong forts, from Spanish and Italian brawles, + And huge great Taurus longer then the rest, + Dividing great Armenia from the least; + And Hemus, whose steep sides none foot upon, + But farewell all for dear mount Helicon, + And wondrous high Olimpus, of such fame, + That heav'n itself was oft call'd by that name. + Parnapus sweet, I dote too much on thee, + Unless thou prove a better friend to me: + But Ile leap ore these hills, not touch a dale, + Nor will I stay, no not in Temple Vale, + He here let go my Lions of Numedia, + My Panthers and my Leopards of Libia, + The Behemoth and rare found Unicorn, + Poyson's sure antidote lyes in his horn, + And my Hiaena (imitates man's voice) + Out of great numbers I might pick my choice, + Thousands in woods & plains, both wild & tame, + But here or there, I list now none to name; + No, though the fawning Dog did urge me sore, + In his behalf to speak a word the more, + Whose trust and valour I might here commend; + But times too short and precious so to spend. + But hark you wealthy merchants, who for prize + Send forth your well man'd ships where sun doth rise, + After three years when men and meat is spent, + My rich Commodityes pay double rent. + Ye Galenists, my Drugs that come from thence, + Do cure your Patients, fill your purse with pence; + Besides the use of roots, of hearbs, and plants, + That with less cost near home supply your wants. + But Mariners where got your ships and Sails, + And Oars to row, when both my Sisters fails + Your Tackling, Anchor, compass too is mine, + Which guides when sun, nor moon, nor stars do shine. + Ye mighty Kings, who for your lasting fames + Built Cities, Monuments, call'd by your names, + Were those compiled heaps of massy stones + That your ambition laid, ought but my bones? + Ye greedy misers, who do dig for gold + For gemms, for silver, Treasures which I hold, + Will not my goodly face your rage suffice + But you will see, what in my bowels lyes? + And ye Artificers, all Trades and forts + My bounty calls you forth to make reports, + If ought you have, to use, to wear, to eat, + But what I freely yield, upon your sweat? + And Cholerick Sister, thou for all thine ire + Well knowst my fuel, must maintain thy fire. + + As I ingenuously with thanks confess, + My cold thy fruitfull heat doth crave no less; + But how my cold dry temper works upon + The melancholy Constitution; + How the Autumnal season I do sway, + And how I force the gray-head to obey, + I should here make a short, yet true narration. + But that thy method is mine imitation + Now must I shew mine adverse quality, + And how I oft work man's mortality; + He sometimes finds, maugre his toiling pain + Thistles and thorns where he expected grain. + My sap to plants and trees I must not grant, + The vine, the olive, and the fig tree want: + The Corn and Hay do fall before the're mown, + And buds from fruitfull trees as soon as blown; + Then dearth prevails, that nature to suffice + The Mother on her tender infant flyes; + The husband knows no wife, nor father sons. + But to all outrages their hunger runs: + Dreadful examples soon I might produce, + But to such Auditors 'twere of no use, + Again when Delvers dare in hope of gold + To ope those veins of Mine, audacious bold; + While they thus in mine entrails love to dive, + Before they know, they are inter'd alive. + Y' affrighted nights appal'd, how do ye shake, + When once you feel me your foundation quake? + Because in the Abysse of my dark womb + Your cities and yourselves I oft intomb: + O dreadful Sepulcher! that this is true + Dathan and all his company well knew, + So did that Roman far more stout than wise + Bur'ing himself alive for honours prize. + And since fair Italy full sadly knowes + What she hath lost by these remed'less woes. + Again what veins of poyson in me lye, + Some kill outright, and some do stupifye: + Nay into herbs and plants it sometimes creeps, + In heats & colds & gripes & drowzy sleeps; + Thus I occasion death to man and beast + When food they seek, & harm mistrust the least, + Much might I say of the hot Libian sand + Which rise like tumbling Billows on the Land + Wherein Cambyses Armie was o'rethrown + (but winder Sister, 'twas when you have blown) + I'le say no more, but this thing add I must + Remember Sons, your mould is of my dust + And after death whether interr'd or burn'd + As Earth at first so into Earth returned. + +Water, in no whit dismayed by pretensions which have left no room +for any future claimant, proceeds to prove her right to the +championship, by a tirade which shows her powers quite equal to +those of her sisters, considering that her work in the floods has +evidenced itself quite as potent as anything Fire may claim in the +future. + + Scarce Earth had done, but th' angry water moved. + Sister (quoth she) it had full well behoved + Among your boastings to have praised me + Cause of your fruitfulness as you shall see: + This your neglect shews your ingratitude + And how your subtilty, would men delude + Not one of us (all knows) that's like to thee + Ever in craving from the other three; + But thou art bound to me above the rest, + Who am thy drink, thy blood, thy Sap, and best: + + If I withhold what art thou? dead dry lump + Thou bearst nor grass or plant, nor tree nor stump, + Thy extream thirst is moistn'ed by my love + With springs below, and showres from above + Or else thy Sun-burnt face and gaping chops + Complain to th' heavens, if I withhold my drops + Thy Bear, thy Tiger and thy Lion stout, + When I am gone, their fierceness none needs doubt + Thy Camel hath no strength, thy Bull no force + Nor mettal's found in the courageous Horse + Hinds leave their calves, the Elephant the fens + The wolves and Savage beasts forsake their Dens + The lofty Eagle, and the stork fly low, + The Peacock and the Ostrich, share in woe, + The Pine, the Cedar, yea, and Daphne's Tree + Do cease to nourish in this misery, + Man wants his bread and wine, & pleasant fruits + He knows, such sweets, lies not in Earth's dry roots + Then seeks me out, in river and in well + His deadly malady I might expell: + If I supply, his heart and veins rejoyce, + If not, soon ends his life, as did his voyce; + That this is true, Earth thou can'st not deny + I call thine Egypt, this to verifie, + Which by my falling Nile, doth yield such store + That she can spare, when nations round are poor + When I run low, and not o'reflow her brinks + To meet with want, each woeful man bethinks; + And such I am in Rivers, showrs and springs + But what's the wealth, that my rich Ocean brings + Fishes so numberless, I there do hold + If thou should'st buy, it would exhaust thy gold: + + There lives the oyly Whale, whom all men know + Such wealth but not such like, Earth thou maist show. + The Dolphin loving musick, Arians friend + The witty Barbel, whose craft doth her commend + With thousands more, which now I list not name + Thy silence of thy Beasts doth cause the same + My pearles that dangle at thy Darling's ears, + Not thou, but shel-fish yield, as Pliny clears, + Was ever gem so rich found in thy trunk + As Egypts wanton, Cleopatra drunk? + Or hast thou any colour can come nigh + The Roman purple, double Tirian dye? + Which Caesar's Consuls, Tribunes all adorn, + For it to search my waves they thought no Scorn, + Thy gallant rich perfuming Amber greece + I lightly cast ashore as frothy fleece: + With rowling grains of purest massie gold, + Which Spains Americans do gladly hold. + + Earth thou hast not moe countrys vales & mounds + Then I have fountains, rivers lakes and ponds; + My sundry seas, black, white and Adriatique, + Ionian, Baltique, and the vast Atlantique, + Aegean, Caspian, golden rivers fire, + Asphaltis lake, where nought remains alive: + But I should go beyond thee in my boasts, + If I should name more seas than thou hast Coasts, + And be thy mountains ne'er so high and steep, + I soon can match them with my seas as deep. + To speak of kinds of waters I neglect, + My diverse fountains and their strange effect: + My wholsome bathes, together with their cures; + My water Syrens with their guilefull lures, + The uncertain cause of certain ebbs and flows, + Which wondring Aristotles wit n'er knows, + Nor will I speak of waters made by art, + Which can to life restore a fainting heart. + Nor fruitfull dews, nor drops distil'd from eyes, + Which pitty move, and oft deceive the wise: + Nor yet of salt and sugar, sweet and smart, + Both when we lift to water we convert. + Alas thy ships and oars could do no good + Did they but want my Ocean and my flood. + + The wary merchant on his weary beast + Transfers his goods from south to north and east, + Unless I ease his toil, and do transport + The wealthy fraight unto his wished port, + These be my benefits, which may suffice: + I now must shew what ill there in me lies. + The flegmy Constitution I uphold, + All humours, tumours which are bred of cold: + O're childhood and ore winter I bear sway, + And Luna for my Regent I obey. + As I with showers oft times refresh the earth, + So oft in my excess I cause a dearth, + And with abundant wet so cool the ground, + By adding cold to cold no fruit proves found. + The Farmer and the Grasier do complain + Of rotten sheep, lean kine, and mildew'd grain. + And with my wasting floods and roaring torrent, + Their cattel hay and corn I sweep down current. + Nay many times my Ocean breaks his bounds, + And with astonishment the world confounds, + And swallows Countryes up, ne'er seen again, + And that an island makes which once was main: + Thus Britian fair ('tis thought) was cut from France + Scicily from Italy by the like chance, + And but one land was Africa and Spain + Untill proud Gibraltar did make them twain. + Some say I swallow'd up (sure tis a notion) + A mighty country in th' Atlantique Ocean. + I need not say much of my hail and Snow, + My ice and extream cold, which all men know, + Whereof the first so ominous I rain'd, + That Israel's enemies therewith were brain'd; + And of my chilling snows such plenty be, + That Caucasus high mounts are seldome free, + Mine ice doth glaze Europes great rivers o're, + Till sun release, their ships can sail no more, + All know that inundations I have made, + Wherein not men, but mountains seem'd to wade; + As when Achaia all under water stood, + That for two hundred years it n'er prov'd good. + Deucalions great Deluge with many moe, + But these are trifles to the flood of Noe, + Then wholly perish'd Earths ignoble race, + And to this day impairs her beauteous face, + That after times shall never feel like woe, + Her confirm'd sons behold my colour'd bow. + Much might I say of wracks, but that He spare, + And now give place unto our Sister Air. + +There is a mild self-complacency, a sunny and contented assertion +about "sister Air," that must have proved singularly aggravating +to the others, who, however, make no sign as to the final results, +the implication being, that she is after all the one absolutely +indispensable agent. But to end nowhere, each side fully convinced +in its own mind that the point had been carried in its own favor, +was so eminently in the spirit of the time, that there be no +wonder at the silence as to the real victor, though it is +surprising that Mistress Bradstreet let slip so excellent an +opportunity for the moral so dear to the Puritan mind. + + Content (quoth Air) to speak the last of you, + Yet am not ignorant first was my due: + I do suppose you'l yield without controul + I am the breath of every living soul. + Mortals, what one of you that loves not me + Abundantly more than my Sisters three? + And though you love fire, Earth and Water well + Yet Air beyond all these you know t' excell. + I ask the man condemn'd that's neer his death, + How gladly should his gold purchase his breath, + And all the wealth that ever earth did give, + How freely should it go so he might live: + No earth, thy witching trash were all but vain, + If my pure air thy sons did not sustain, + The famish'd thirsty man that craves supply, + His moving reason is, give least I dye, + So both he is to go though nature's spent + To bid adieu to his dear Element. + + Nay what are words which do reveal the mind, + Speak who or what they will they are but wind. + Your drums your trumpets & your organs found, + What is't but forced air which doth rebound, + And such are ecchoes and report of th' gun + That tells afar th' exploit which it hath done, + Your songs and pleasant tunes they are the same, + And so's the notes which Nightingales do frame. + Ye forging Smiths, if bellows once were gone + Your red hot work more coldly would go on. + Ye Mariners, tis I that fill your sails, + And speed you to your port with wished gales. + When burning heat doth cause you faint, I cool, + And when I smile, your ocean's like a pool. + I help to ripe the corn, I turn the mill, + And with myself I every Vacuum fill. + The ruddy sweet sanguine is like to air, + And youth and spring, Sages to me compare, + My moist hot nature is so purely thin, + No place so subtilly made, but I get in. + I grow more pure and pure as I mount higher, + And when I'm thoroughly varifi'd turn fire: + So when I am condens'd, I turn to water, + Which may be done by holding down my vapour. + + Thus I another body can assume, + And in a trice my own nature resume. + Some for this cause of late have been so bold + Me for no Element longer to hold, + Let such suspend their thoughts, and silent be, + For all Philosophers make one of me: + And what those Sages either spake or writ + Is more authentick then our modern wit. + Next of my fowles such multitudes there are, + Earths beasts and waters fish scarce can compare. + Th' Ostrich with her plumes th' Eagle with her eyn + The Phoenix too (if any be) are mine, + The Stork, the crane, the partridg, and the phesant + The Thrush, the wren, the lark a prey to th' pesant, + With thousands more which now I may omit + Without impeachment to my tale or wit. + As my fresh air preserves all things in life, + So when corrupt, mortality is rife; + + Then Fevers, Pmples, Pox and Pestilence, + With divers more, work deadly consequence: + Whereof such multitudes have di'd and fled, + The living scarce had power to bury the dead; + Yea so contagious countryes have we known + That birds have not 'Scapt death as they have flown + Of murrain, cattle numberless did fall, + Men feared destruction epidemical. + Then of my tempests felt at sea and land, + Which neither ships nor houses could withstand, + What wofull wracks I've made may well appear, + If nought were known but that before Algere, + Where famous Charles the fifth more loss sustained + Then in his long hot war which Millain gain'd + Again what furious storms and Hurricanoes + Know western Isles, as Christophers Barbadoes; + Where neither houses, trees nor plants I spare, + But some fall down, and some fly up with air. + Earthquakes so hurtfull, and so fear'd of all, + Imprison'd I, am the original. + Then what prodigious sights I sometimes show, + As battles pitcht in th' air, as countryes know, + Their joyning fighting, forcing and retreat, + That earth appears in heaven, O wonder great! + Sometimes red flaming swords and blazing stars, + Portentous signs of famines, plagues and wars, + Which make the Monarchs fear their fates + By death or great mutation of their States. + I have said less than did my Sisters three, + But what's their wrath or force, the fame's in me. + To adde to all I've said was my intent, + But dare not go beyond my Element. + +Here the contest ends, and though the second edition held slight +alterations here and there, no further attempt was made to add to +or take away from the verses, which are as a whole the best +examples of the early work, their composition doubtless beguiling +many weary hours of the first years in New England. "The four +Humours of Man" follows, but holds only a few passages of any +distinctive character, the poem, like her "Four Monarchies," being +only a paraphrase of her reading. In "The Four Seasons," there was +room for picturesque treatment of the new conditions that +surrounded her, but she seems to have been content, merely to +touch the conventional side of nature, and to leave her own +impressions and feelings quite out of the question. The verses +should have held New England as it showed itself to the colonists, +with all the capricious charges that moved their wonder in the +early days. There was everything, it would have seemed, to excite +such poetical power as she possessed, to the utmost, for even the +prose of more than one of her contemporaries gives hints of the +feeling that stirred within them as they faced the strange +conditions of the new home. Even when they were closely massed +together, the silent spaces of the great wilderness shut them in, +its mystery beguiling yet bewildering them, and the deep woods +with their unfamiliar trees, the dark pines on the hill-side, all +held the sense of banishment and even terror. There is small token +of her own thoughts or feelings, in any lines of hers, till late +in life, when she dropped once for all the methods that pleased +her early years, and in both prose and poetry spoke her real mind +with a force that fills one with regret at the waste of power in +the dreary pages of the "Four Monarchies." That she had keen +susceptibility to natural beauty this later poem abundantly +proves, but in most of them there is hardly a hint of what must +have impressed itself upon her, though probably it was the more +valued by her readers, for this very reason. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. + + +Though the series of quaternions which form the major part of the +poems, have separate titles and were written at various times, +they are in fact a single poem, containing sixteen personified +characters, all of them giving their views with dreary facility +and all of them to the Puritan mind, eminently correct and +respectable personalities. The "Four Seasons" won especial +commendations from her most critical readers, but for all of them +there seems to have been a delighted acceptance of every word this +phenomenal woman had thought it good to pen. Even fifty years ago, +a woman's work, whether prose or verse, which came before the +public, was hailed with an enthusiastic appreciation, it is +difficult to-day to comprehend, Mrs. S. C. Hall emphasizing this +in a paragraph on Hannah More, who held much the relation to old +England that Anne Bradstreet did to the New. "In this age, when +female talent is so rife--when, indeed, it is not too much to say +women have fully sustained their right to equality with men in +reference to all the productions of the mind--it is difficult to +comprehend the popularity, almost amounting to adoration, with +which a woman writer was regarded little more than half a century +ago. Mediocrity was magnified into genius, and to have printed a +book, or to have written even a tolerable poem, was a passport +into the very highest society." + +Even greater veneration was felt in days when many women, even of +good birth, could barely write their own names, and if Anne +Bradstreet had left behind her nothing but the quaternions, she +would long have ranked as a poet deserving of all the elegies and +anagrammatic tributes the Puritan divine loved to manufacture. The +"Four Seasons," which might have been written in Lincolnshire and +holds not one suggestion of the new life and methods the colonists +were fast learning, may have been enjoyed because of its reminders +of the old home. Certainly the "nightingale and thrush" did not +sing under Cambridge windows, nor did the "primrose pale," fill +the hands of the children who ran over the New England meadows. It +seems to have been her theory that certain well established forms +must be preserved, and so she wrote the conventional phrases of +the poet of the seventeenth century, only a line or two indicating +the real power of observation she failed to exercise. + + THE FOUR SEASONS OF THE YEAR. + + _SPRING._ + + Another four I've left yet to bring on, + Of four times four the last Quarternion, + The Winter, Summer, Autumn & the Spring, + In season all these Seasons I shall bring; + Sweet Spring like man in his Minority, + At present claim'd, and had priority. + With Smiling face and garments somewhat green, + She trim'd her locks, which late had frosted been, + Nor hot nor cold, she spake, but with a breath, + Fit to revive, the nummed earth from death. + Three months (quoth she) are 'lotted to my share + March, April, May of all the rest most fair. + Tenth of the first, Sol into Aries enters, + And bids defiance to all tedious winters, + Crosseth the Line, and equals night and day, + (Stil adds to th' last til after pleasant May) + And now makes glad the darkned nothern nights + Who for some months have seen but starry lights. + Now goes the Plow-man to his merry toyle, + He might unloose his winter locked soyle; + The Seeds-man too, doth lavish out his grain, + In hope the more he casts, the more to gain; + The Gardener now superfluous branches lops, + And poles erect for his young clambring hops. + Now digs then sowes his herbs, his flowers & roots + And carefully manures his trees of fruits. + The Pleiades their influence now give, + And all that seemed as dead afresh doth live. + The croaking frogs, whom nipping winter kil'd + Like birds now chirp, and hop about the field, + The Nightingale, the black-bird and the Thrush + Now tune their layes, on sprayes of every bush. + + The wanton frisking Kid, and soft fleec'd Lambs + Do jump and play before their feeding Dams, + The tender tops of budding grass they crop, + They joy in what they have, but more in hope: + For though the frost hath lost his binding power, + Yet many a fleece of snow and stormy shower + Doth darken Sol's bright eye, makes us remember + The pinching North-west wind of cold December. + My Second month is April, green and fair, + Of longer dayes, and a more temperate Air: + The Sun in Taurus keeps his residence, + And with his warmer beams glareeth from thence + This is the month whose fruitful showers produces + All set and sown for all delights and uses: + The Pear, the Plum, and Apple-tree now flourish + The grass grows long the hungry beast to nourish + The Primrose pale, and azure violet + Among the virduous grass hath nature set, + That when the Sun on's Love (the earth) doth shine + These might as lace set out her garments fine. + The fearfull bird his little house now builds + In trees and walls, in Cities and in fields. + The outside strong, the inside warm and neat; + A natural Artificer compleat. + The clocking hen her chirping chickins leads + With wings & beak defends them from the gleads + My next and last is fruitfull pleasant May, + Wherein the earth is clad in rich aray, + The Sun now enters loving Gemini, + And heats us with the glances of his eye, + Our thicker rayment makes us lay aside + Lest by his fervor we be torrified. + All flowers the Sun now with his beams discloses, + Except the double pinks and matchless Roses. + Now swarms the busy, witty, honey-Bee, + Whose praise deserves a page from more than me + The cleanly Huswife's Dary's now in th' prime, + Her shelves and firkins fill'd for winter time. + The meads with Cowslips, Honey-suckles dight, + One hangs his head, the other stands upright: + But both rejoice at th' heaven's clear smiling face, + More at her showers, which water them apace. + For fruits my Season yields the early Cherry, + The hasty Peas, and wholsome cool Strawberry. + More solid fruits require a longer time, + Each Season hath its fruit, so hath each Clime: + Each man his own peculiar excellence, + But none in all that hath preheminence. + Sweet fragrant Spring, with thy short pittance fly + Let some describe thee better than can I. + Yet above all this priviledg is thine, + Thy dayes still lengthen without least decline: + + _SUMMER._ + + When Spring had done, the Summer did begin, + With melted tauny face, and garments thin, + Resembling Fire, Choler, and Middle age, + As Spring did Air, Blood, Youth in 's equipage. + Wiping the sweat from of her face that ran, + With hair all wet she pussing thus began; + Bright June, July and August hot are mine, + In th' first Sol doth in crabbed Cancer shine. + His progress to the North now's fully done, + Then retrograde must be my burning Sun, + Who to his Southward Tropick still is bent, + Yet doth his parching heat but more augment + Though he decline, because his flames so fair, + Have throughly dry'd the earth, and heat the air. + Like as an Oven that long time hath been heat, + Whose vehemency at length doth grow so great, + That if you do withdraw her burning store, + 'Tis for a time as fervent as before. + Now go those foolick Swains, the Shepherd Lads + To wash the thick cloth'd flocks with pipes full glad + In the cool streams they labour with delight + Rubbing their dirty coats till they look white; + Whose fleece when finely spun and deeply dy'd + With Robes thereof Kings have been dignified, + Blest rustick Swains, your pleasant quiet life, + Hath envy bred in Kings that were at strife, + Careless of worldly wealth you sing and pipe, + Whilst they'r imbroyl'd in wars & troubles rife: + Wich made great Bajazet cry out in 's woes, + Oh happy shepherd which hath not to lose. + + Orthobulus, nor yet Sebastia great, + But whist'leth to thy flock in cold and heat. + Viewing the Sun by day, the Moon by night + Endimions, Dianaes dear delight, + Upon the grass resting your healthy limbs, + By purling Brooks looking how fishes swims, + If pride within your lowly Cells ere haunt, + Of him that was Shepherd then King go vaunt. + This moneth the Roses are distil'd in glasses, + Whose fragrant smel all made perfumes surpasses + The cherry, Gooseberry are now in th' prime, + And for all sorts of Pease, this is the time. + July my next, the hott'st in all the year, + The sun through Leo now takes his Career, + Whose flaming breath doth melt us from afar, + Increased by the star Ganicular, + This month from Julius Ceasar took its name, + By Romans celebrated to his fame. + Now go the Mowers to their flashing toyle, + The Meadowes of their riches to dispoyle, + With weary strokes, they take all in their way, + Bearing the burning heat of the long day. + The forks and Rakes do follow them amain, + Wich makes the aged fields look young again, + The groaning Carts do bear away their prize, + To Stacks and Barns where it for Fodder lyes. + My next and last is August fiery hot + (For much, the Southward Sun abateth not) + This Moneth he keeps with Vigor for a space, + The dry'ed Earth is parched with his face. + August of great Augustus took its name, + Romes second Emperour of lasting fame, + With sickles now the bending Reapers goe + The rustling tress of terra down to mowe; + And bundles up in sheaves, the weighty wheat, + Which after Manchet makes for Kings to eat: + The Barly, Rye and Pease should first had place, + Although their bread have not so white a face. + The Carter leads all home with whistling voyce. + He plow'd with pain, but reaping doth rejoice, + His sweat, his toyle, his careful wakeful nights, + His fruitful Crop abundantly requites. + Now's ripe the Pear, Pear-plumb and Apricock, + The prince of plumbs, whose stone's as hard as Rock + The Summer seems but short, the Autumn hasts + To shake his fruits, of most delicious tasts + Like good old Age, whose younger juicy Roots + Hath still ascended, to bear goodly fruits. + Until his head be gray, and strength be gone. + Yet then appears the worthy deeds he'th done: + To feed his boughs exhausted hath his Sap, + Then drops his fruit into the eaters lap. + + _AUTUMN._ + + Of Autumn moneths September is the prime, + Now day and night are equal in each Clime, + The twelfth of this Sol riseth in the Line, + And doth in poizing Libra this month shine. + The vintage now is ripe, the grapes are prest, + Whose lively liquor oft is curs'd and blest: + For nought so good, but it may be abused, + But its a precious juice when well its used. + The raisins now in clusters dryed be, + The Orange, Lemon dangle on the tree: + The Pomegranate, the Fig are ripe also, + And Apples now their yellow sides do show. + Of Almonds, Quinces, Wardens, and of Peach, + The season's now at hand of all and each, + Sure at this time, time first of all began, + And in this moneth was made apostate man: + For then in Eden was not only seen, + Boughs full of leaves, or fruits unripe or green, + Or withered stocks, which were all dry and dead, + But trees with goodly fruits replenished; + Which shows nor Summer, Winter nor the Spring + Our Grand-Sire was of Paradice made King: + Nor could that temp'rate Clime such difference make, + If cited as the most Judicious take. + October is my next, we hear in this + The Northern winter-blasts begin to hip, + In Scorpio resideth now the Sun, + And his declining heat is almost done. + The fruitless trees all withered now do stand, + Whose sapless yellow leavs, by winds are fan'd + Which notes when youth and strength have passed their prime + Decrepit age must also have its time. + + The Sap doth slily creep toward the Earth + There rests, until the Sun give it a birth. + So doth old Age still tend until his grave, + Where also he his winter time must have; + But when the Sun of righteousness draws nigh, + His dead old stock, shall mount again on high. + November is my last, for Time doth haste, + We now of winters sharpness 'gins to taste + This moneth the Sun's in Sagitarius, + So farre remote, his glances warm not us. + Almost at shortest, is the shorten'd day, + The Northern pole beholdeth not one ray, + Nor Greenland, Groanland, Finland, Lapland, see + No Sun, to lighten their obscurity; + Poor wretches that in total darkness lye, + With minds more dark then is the dark'ned Sky. + Beaf, Brawn, and Pork are now in great request, + And solid meats our stomacks can digest. + This time warm cloaths, full diet, and good fires, + Our pinched flesh, and hungry marres requires; + Old cold, dry Age, and Earth Autumn resembles, + And Melancholy which most of all dissembles. + I must be short, and shorts the short'ned day, + What winter hath to tell, now let him say. + + _WINTER._ + + Cold, moist, young flegmy winter now doth lye + In swaddling Clouts, like new born Infancy + Bound up with frosts, and furr'd with hail & snows, + And like an Infant, still it taller grows; + December is my first, and now the Sun + To th' Southward Tropick, his swift race doth run: + This moneth he's hous'd in horned Capricorn, + From thence he 'gins to length the shortned morn, + Through Christendome with great Feastivity, + Now's held, (but ghest) for blest Nativity, + Cold frozen January next comes in, + Chilling the blood and shrinking up the skin; + In Aquarius now keeps the long wisht Sun, + And Northward his unwearied Course doth run: + The day much longer then it was before, + The cold not lessened, but augmented more. + Now Toes and Ears, and Fingers often freeze, + And Travellers their noses sometimes leese. + + Moist snowie Feburary is my last, + I care not how the winter time doth haste, + In Pisces now the golden Sun doth shine, + And Northward still approaches to the Line, + The rivers 'gin to ope, the snows to melt, + And some warm glances from his face are felt; + Which is increased by the lengthen'd day, + Until by's heat, he drives all cold away, + And thus the year in Circle runneth round: + Where first it did begin, in th' end its found. + +With the final lines a rush of dissatisfaction came over the +writer, and she added certain couplets, addressed to her father, +for whom the whole set seems to have been originally written, and +who may be responsible in part for the bald and didactic quality +of most of her work. + + My Subjects bare, my Brain is bad, + Or better Lines you should have had; + The first fell in so nat'rally, + I knew not how to pass it by; + The last, though bad I could not mend, + Accept therefore of what is pen'd, + And all the faults that you shall spy + Shall at your feet for pardon cry. + +Mr. John Harvard Ellis has taken pains to compare various passages +in her "Four Monarchies" with the sources from which her +information was derived, showing a similarity as close as the +difference between prose and verse would admit. One illustration +of this will be sufficient. In the description of the murder of +the philosopher Callisthenes by Alexander the Great, which occurs +in her account of the Grecian Monarchy, she writes: + + The next of worth that suffered after these, + Was learned, virtuous, wise Calisthenes, + Who loved his Master more than did the rest, + As did appear, in flattering him the least; + In his esteem a God he could not be, + Nor would adore him for a Deity. + For this alone and for no other cause, + Against his Sovereign, or against his Laws, + He on the Rack his Limbs in pieces rent, + Thus was he tortur'd till his life was spent + Of this unkingly act doth Seneca + This censure pass, and not unwisely say, + Of Alexander this the eternal crime, + Which shall not be obliterate by time. + Which virtue's fame can ne're redeem by far, + Nor all felicity of his in war. + + When e're 'tis said he thousand thousands slew, + Yea, and Calisthenes to death he drew. + The mighty Persian King he over came, + Yea, and he killed Calisthenes of fame. + All countreyes, Kingdomes, Provinces he won, + From Hellespont, to the farthest Ocean. + All this he did, who knows not to be true? + But yet withal, Calisthenes he slew. + From Nacedon, his English did extend, + Unto the utmost bounds o' th' Orient, + All this he did, yea, and much more 'tis true, + But yet withal, Calisthenes he slew. + +The quotation from Raleigh's "History of the World," which +follows, will be seen to hold in many lines the identical words. + +"Alexander stood behind a partition, and heard all that was +spoken, waiting but an opportunity to be revenged on Callisthenes, +who being a man of free speech, honest, learned, and a lover of +the king's honour, was yet soon after tormented to death, not for +that he had betrayed the king to others, but because he never +would condescend to betray the king to himself, as all his +detestable flatterers did. For in a conspiracy against the king, +made by one Hermolaus and others, (which they confessed,) he +caused Callisthenes, without confession, accusation or trial, to +be torn assunder upon the rack. This deed, unworthy of a king, +Seneca thus censureth. [He gives the Latin, and thus translates +it.] 'This is the eternal crime of Alexander, which no virtue nor +felicity of his in war shall ever be able to redeem. For as often +as any man shall say, He slew many thousand Persians, it shall be +replied, He did so, and he slew Callisthenes; when it shall be +said, He slew Darius, it shall be replied, And Callisthenes; when +it shall be said, He won all as far as to the very ocean, thereon +also he adventured with unusual navies, and extended his empire +from a corner of Thrace, to the utmost bounds of the orient; it +shall be said withal, But he killed Callisthenes. Let him have +outgone all the ancient examples of captains and kings, none of +all his acts makes so much to his glory, as Callisthenes to his +reproach'." + +The school girl of the present day could furnish such arrangements +of her historical knowledge with almost as fluent a pen as that of +Mistress Bradstreet, who is, however, altogether innocent of any +intention to deceive any of her readers. The unlearned praised her +depth of learning, but she knew well that every student into whose +hands the book might fall, would recognize the source from which +she had drawn, and approve the method of its use. Evidently there +was nothing very vital to her in these records of dynasties and +wars, for not a line indicates any thrill of feeling at the tales +she chronicles. Yet the feeling was there, though reserved for a +later day. It is with her own time, or with the "glorious reign of +good Queen Bess," that she forgets to be didactic and allows +herself here and there, a natural and vigorous expression of +thought or feeling. There was capacity for hero-worship, in this +woman, who repressed as far as she had power, the feeling and +passion that sometimes had their way, though immediately subdued +and chastened, and sent back to the durance in which all feeling +was held. But her poem on Queen Elizabeth has here and there a +quiet sarcasm, and at one point at least rises into a fine scorn +of the normal attitude toward women: + + She hath wip'd off the aspersion of her Sex, + That women wisdome lack to play the Rex. + +Through the whole poem runs an evident, almost joyous delight in +what a woman has achieved, and as she passes from point to point, +gathering force with every period, she turns suddenly upon all +detractors with these ringing lines: + + Now say, have women worth or have they none? + Or had they some, but with our Queen is't gone? + Nay, masculines, you have thus taxed us long; + But she, though dead, will vindicate our wrong. + Let such as say our sex is void of reason, + Know 'tis a slander now, but once was treason. + +Sir Philip Sidney fills her with mixed feeling, her sense that his +"Arcadia" was of far too fleshly and soul-beguiling an order of +literature, battling with her admiration for his character as a +man, and making a diverting conflict between reason and +inclination. As with Queen Elizabeth, she compromised by merely +hinting her opinion of certain irregularities, and hastened to +cover any damaging admission with a mantle of high and even +enthusiastic eulogy. + + AN ELEGIE + + upon that Honourable and renowned Knight + _Sir Philip Sidney,_ who + was untimely slain at the Siege of Zutphen, + _Anno, 1586._ + + When England did enjoy her Halsion dayes, + Her noble Sidney wore the Crown of Bayes; + As well an honour to our British Land, + As she that swayed the Scepter with her hand; + Mars and Minerva did in one agree, + Of Arms and Arts he should a pattern be, + Calliope with Terpsichore did sing, + Of poesie, and of musick, he was King; + His Rhetorick struck Polimina dead, + His Eloquence made Mercury wax red; + His Logick from Euterpe won the Crown, + More worth was his then Clio could set down. + Thalia and Melpomene say truth, + Witness Arcadia penned in his youth, + Are not his tragick Comedies so acted, + As if your ninefold wit had been compacted. + To shew the world, they never saw before, + That this one Volume should exhaust your store; + His wiser dayes condemned his witty works, + Who knows the spels that in his Rhetorick lurks, + But some infatuate fools soon caught therein, + Fond Cupids Dame had never such a gin, + Which makes severer eyes but slight that story, + And men of morose minds envy his glory: + But he's a Beetle-head that can't descry + A world of wealth within that rubbish lye, + And doth his name, his work, his honour wrong, + The brave refiner of our British tongue, + That sees not learning, valour and morality, + Justice, friendship, and kind hospitality, + Yea and Divinity within his book, + Such were prejudicate, and did not look. + In all Records his name I ever see + Put with an Epithite of dignity, + Which shows his worth was great, his honour such, + The love his Country ought him, was as much. + Then let none disallow of these my straines + Whilst English blood yet runs within my veins, + O brave Achilles, I wish some Homer would + Engrave in Marble, with Characters of gold + The valiant feats thou didst on Flanders coast, + Which at this day fair Belgia may boast. + The more I say, the more thy worth I stain, + Thy fame and praise is far beyond my strain, + O Zutphen, Zutphen that most fatal City + Made famous by thy death, much more the pity: + Ah! in his blooming prime death pluckt this rose + E're he was ripe, his thread cut Atropos. + Thus man is born to dye, and dead is he, + Brave Hector, by the walls of Troy we see. + O who was near thee but did sore repine + He rescued not with life that life of thine; + But yet impartial Fates this boon did give, + Though Sidney di'd his valiant name should live: + And live it doth in spight of death through fame, + Thus being overcome, he overcame. + Where is that envious tongue, but can afford + Of this our noble Scipio some good word. + + Great Bartas this unto thy praise adds more, + In sad sweet verse, thou didst his death deplore. + And Phoenix Spencer doth unto his life, + His death present in sable to his wife. + Stella the fair, whose streams from Conduits fell + For the sad loss of her Astrophel. + Fain would I show how he fame's paths did tread, + But now into such Lab'rinths I am lead, + With endless turnes, the way I find not out, + How to persist my Muse is more in doubt; + Wich makes me now with Silvester confess, + But Sidney's Muse can sing his worthiness. + The Muses aid I craved, they had no will + To give to their Detractor any quill, + With high disdain, they said they gave no more, + Since Sidney had exhausted all their store. + They took from me the Scribling pen I had, + I to be eas'd of such a task was glad + Then to reveng this wrong, themselves engage, + And drove me from Parnassus in a rage. + + Then wonder not if I no better sped, + Since I the Muses thus have injured. + I pensive for my fault, sate down, and then + Errata through their leave, threw me my pen, + My Poem to conclude, two lines they deign + Which writ, she bad return't to them again; + So Sidneys fame I leave to Englands Rolls, + His bones do lie interr'd in stately Pauls. + + _HIS EPITAPH._ + + Here lies in fame under this stone, + Philip and Alexander both in one; + Heir to the Muses, the Son of Mars in Truth, + Learning, Valour, Wisdome, all in virtuous youth, + His praise is much, this shall suffice my pen, + That Sidney dy'd 'mong most renown'd of men. + +With Du Bartas, there is no hesitation or qualification. Steeped +in the spirit of his verse, she was unconscious how far he had +moulded both thought and expression, yet sufficiently aware of his +influence to feel it necessary to assert at many points her +freedom from it. But, as we have already seen, he was the Puritan +poet, and affected every rhymester of the time, to a degree which +it required generations to shake off. In New England, however, +even he, in time came to rank as light-minded, and the last shadow +of poetry fled before the metrical horrors of the Bay Psalm Book, +which must have lent a terror to rhyme, that one could wish might +be transferred to the present day. The elegy on Du Bartas is all +the proof needed to establish Anne Bradstreet as one of his most +loyal followers, and in spite of all protest to the contrary such +she was and will remain. + + IN HONOUR OF DU BARTAS. + + Among the happy wits this age hath shown + Great, dear, sweet Bartas thou art matchless known; + My ravished eyes and heart with faltering tongue, + In humble wise have vowed their service long + But knowing th' task so great & strength but small, + Gave o're the work before begun withal, + My dazled sight of late reviewed thy lines, + Where Art, and more than Art in nature shines, + Reflection from their beaming altitude + Did thaw my frozen hearts ingratitude + Which rayes darting upon some richer ground + Had caused flours and fruits soon to abound, + But barren I, my Dasey here do bring, + A homely flower in this my latter Spring, + If Summer, or my Autumm age do yield + Flours, fruits, in Garden Orchard, or in Field, + Volleyes of praises could I eccho then, + Had I an Angels voice, or Bartas pen; + But wishes can't accomplish my desire, + Pardon if I adore, when I admire. + O France thou did'st in him more glory gain + Then in St. Lewes, or thy last Henry Great, + Who tam'd his foes in warrs, in bloud and sweat, + Thy fame is spread as far, I dare be bold, + In all the Zones, the temp'rate, hot and cold, + Their Trophies were but heaps of wounded slain, + Shine the quintessence of an heroick brain. + The oaken Garland ought to deck their brows, + Immortal Bayes to thee all men allows, + Who in thy tryumphs never won by wrongs, + Lead'st millions chained by eyes, by ears, by tongues, + Oft have I wondred at the hand of heaven, + In giving one what would have served seven, + If e're this golden gift was show'd on any, + They shall be consecrated in my Verse, + And prostrate offered at great Bartas Herse; + My muse unto a child I may compare + Who sees the riches of some famous Fair, + He feeds his Eyes, but understanding lacks + To comprehend the worth of all those knacks + The glittering plate and Jewels he admires, + The Hats and Fans, the Plumes and Ladies tires, + And thousand times his mazed mind doth wish, + Some part (at least) of that great wealth was his, + But feeling empty wishes nought obtain, + At night turnes to his mothers cot again, + And tells her tales, (his full heart over glad) + Of all the glorious sights his Eyes have had; + But finds too soon his want of Eloquence, + The silly prattler speaks no word of sense; + But feeling utterance fail his great desires + Sits down in silence, deeply he admires, + Thus weak brained I, reading thy lofty stile, + Thy profound learning, viewing other while; + Thy Art in natural Philosophy, + Thy Saint like mind in grave Divinity; + Thy piercing skill in high Astronomy, + And curious insight in anatomy; + Thy Physick, musick and state policy, + Valour in warr, in peace good husbandry, + Sure lib'ral Nature did with Art not small, + In all the arts make thee most liberal, + A thousand thousand times my senseless sences + Moveless stand charmed by thy sweet influences; + More senseless then the stones to Amphious Luto, + Mine eyes are sightless, and my tongue is mute, + My full astonish'd heart doth pant to break, + Through grief it wants a faculty to speak; + Thy double portion would have served many, + Unto each man his riches is assign'd + Of name, of State, of Body and of mind: + + Thou had'st thy part of all, but of the last, + O pregnant brain, O comprehension vast; + Thy haughty Stile and rapted wit sublime + All ages wondring at, shall never climb, + Thy sacred works are not for imitation, + But monuments to future admiration, + Thus Bartas fame shall last while starrs do satnd, + And whilst there's Air or Fire, or Sea or Land. + But least my ignorance shall do thee wrong, + To celebrate thy merits in my Song. + He leave thy praise to those shall do thee right, + Good will, not skill, did cause me bring my mite. + + HIS EPITAPH. + Here lyes the Pearle of France, Parnassus glory; + The World rejoyc'd at's birth, at's death, was sorry, + Art and Nature joyn'd, by heavens high decree + Naw shew'd what once they ought, Humanity! + And Natures Law, had it been revocable + To rescue him from death, Art had been able, + But Nature vanquish'd Art, so Bartas dy'd; + But Fame out-living both, he is reviv'd. + +Bare truth as every line surely appeared to the woman who wrote, +let us give thanks devoutly that the modern mind holds no capacity +for the reproduction of that + + "Haughty Stile and rapted wit sublime + All ages wond'ring at shall never climb," + +and that more truly than she knew, his + + "Sacred works are not for imitation + But Monuments to future Admiration." + +Not the "future Admiration" she believed his portion, but to +the dead reputation which, fortunately for us, can have no +resurrection. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CHANCES AND CHANGES. + + +With the appearance of the little volume and the passing of the +flutter of interest and excitement it had aroused, the Andover +life subsided into the channel through which, save for one or two +breaks, it was destined to run for many years. Until 1653, nothing +of note had taken place, but this year brought two events, one +full of the proud but quiet satisfaction the Puritan mother felt +in a son who had ended his college course with distinction, and +come home to renew the associations somewhat broken in his four +years absence; the other, a sorrow though hardly an unexpected +one. Samuel Bradstreet, who became a physician, living for many +years in Boston, which he finally left for the West Indies, was +about twenty at the time of his graduation from Harvard, the +success of which was very near Anne Bradstreet's heart and the +pride of his grandfather, Governor Dudley, who barely lived to see +the fruition of his wishes for this first child of his favorite +daughter. His death in July, 1653, softened the feeling that seems +slowly to have arisen against him in the minds of many who had +been his friends, not without reason, though many of them had +showed quite as thorough intolerance as he. With increasing years, +Dudley's spirit had hardened and embittered against all who +ventured to differ from the cast-iron theology his soul loved. +Bradstreet and Winthrop had both been a cross to him with the +toleration which seemed to him the child of Satan himself. His +intense will had often drawn concessions from Winthrop at which +his feelings revolted and he pursued every sort of sectary with a +zeal that never flagged. Hutchinson wrote: "He was zealous beyond +measure against all sorts of heretics," and Roger Williams said +bitterly: "It is known who hindered but never promoted the liberty +of other men's consciences." + +Between the "vagaries of many sectaries," the persistent and +irrepressible outbreaks from Roger Williams, the bewildering and +confounding presumption of Anne Hutchinson, who seems to have been +the forerunner of other Boston agitations of like nature, Governor +Dudley's last days were full of astonishments, not the least being +the steady though mild opposition of his son-in-law Bradstreet to +all harsh measures. Toleration came to seem to him at last the +crowning sin of all the ages, and his last recorded written words +are a valiant testimony against it. There was a curious tendency +to rhyme in the gravest of these decorous Fathers; a tendency +carefully concealed by some, as in John Winthrop's case, who +confined his "dropping into poetry" to the margins of his +almanacs. Others were less distrustful, and printed their "painful +verses" on broad sheets, for general circulation and oppression. +Governor Dudley rhymed but once, but in the bald and unequal +lines, found in his pocket after death, condensed his views of all +who had disagreed from him, as well as the honest, sturdy +conviction in which he lived and died. They were written evidently +but a short time before his death, and are in the beginning much +after the order of his daughter's first poem. + + Dim Eyes, deaf Ears, cold Stomach, shew + My dissolution is in view, + Eleven times seven near liv'd have I. + And now God calls I willing Die, + My Shuttle's shot, my Race is run, + My Sun is set, my Day is done. + My span is measured, Tale is told, + My Flower is faded and grown old. + My Dream is vanish'd, Shadows fled, + My Soul with Christ, my Body Dead, + Farewel dear Wife, Children and Friends, + Hate Heresie, make Blessed Ends, + Bear Poverty, live with good Men; + So shall we live with Joy agen. + Let men of God in Courts and Churches watch, + O're such as do a Toleration hatch, + Lest that ill Egg bring forth a Cockatrice + To poison all with Heresie and Vice. + If Men be left and otherwise Combine, + My epitaph's I DY'D NO LIBERTINE. + +To the old Puritan, scowling to the last at any shade of +difference from the faith to which he would willingly have been a +martyr, a "Libertine" included all blasphemous doubters and +defiers of current beliefs--Quakers, Antinomians and other +pestilent people who had already set the Colony by the ears and +were soon to accomplish much more in this direction. The verses +were at once creed and protest, and are a fair epitome of the +Puritan mind in 1650. Other rhymes from other hands had expressed +equally uncompromising opinions. He had survived the anagramatic +warning sent to him by an unknown hand in 1645, which still stands +on the files of the first Church in Roxbury, and which may have +been written by one of his opponents in the General Court. + + THOMAS DUDLEY. + + Ah! old must dye, + A death's head on your hand you need not weare; + A dying head you on your shoulders bear; + You need not one to mind you you must dye, + You in your name may spell mortalitye. + Young men may dye, but old men, these dye must, + 'Twill not be long before you turn to dust. + Before you turn to dust! ah! must! old! dye! + What shall young men doe, when old in dust do lye? + When old in dust lye, what New England doe? + When old in dust do lye it's best dye too. + +Death condoned these offences, and left only the memory of his +impartial justice and his deep and earnest piety, and Morton wrote +of him, what expressed the feeling even of his enemies: "His love +to justice appeared at all times, and in special upon the +judgement seat, without respect of persons in judgement, and in +his own particular transactions with all men, he was exact and +exemplary. His zeal to order appeared in contriving good laws and +faithfully executing them upon criminal offenders, heretics and +underminers of true religion. He had a piercing judgement to +discover the wolf, though clothed with a sheepskin. His love to +the people was evident, in serving them in a public capacity many +years at his own cost, and that as a nursing father to the +churches of Christ. He loved the true Christian religion, and the +pure worship of God, and cherished as in his bosom, all godly +ministers and Christians. He was exact in the practice of piety, +in his person and family, all his life. In a word he lived +desired, and died lamented by all good men." + +This was stronger language than the majority of his fellow- +colonists would have been inclined to use, his differences with +Governor Winthrop having embittered many of the latter's friends. +Winthrop's persistent gentleness went far toward quieting the +feeling against him, which seems to have taken deep root in +Dudley's breast, but the jealousy of his authority, and +questioning of his judgement, though perhaps natural from the +older man, brought about many uncomfortable complications. All the +towns about Boston had been ordered to send their quota to aid in +finishing the fort built in 1633, but Governor Dudley would not +allow any party from Newtown to be made up, nor would he give the +reason for such course to Governor Winthrop. There was cause, for +Salem and Saugus had failed to pay their share of money, and +Dudley's sense of justice would not allow his constituents to do +their share till all had paid the amount levied. Remonstrated +with, he wrote a most unpleasant letter, a habit of his when +offended, refusing to act till the reluctant Salem had paid. This +letter, brought to Winthrop by Mr. Hooker, he returned to him at +once. The rest of the story may be given in his own words. The +record stands in his journal given in the third person, and as +impartially as if told of another: "The governour told them it +should rest till the court, and withal gave the letter to Mr. +Hooker with this speech: I am not willing to keep such an occasion +of provocation by me. And soon after he wrote to the deputy (who +had before desired to buy a fat hog or two of him, being somewhat +short of provisions) to desire him to send for one, (which he +would have sent him, if he had known when his occasion had been to +have made use of it), and to accept it as a testimony of his good +will; and lest he should make any scruple of it, he made Mr. +Haynes and Mr. Hooker, (who both sojurned in his house) partakers +with him. Upon this the deputy returned this answer: 'Your +overcoming yourself hath overcome me. Mr. Haynes, Mr. Hooker, and +myself, do most kindly accept your good will, but we desire, +without offence, to refuse your offer, and that I may only trade +with you for two hogs;' and so very lovingly concluded." + +There was no word, however, of yielding the disputed point, which +was settled for him a few days later. "The court being two days +after, ordered, that Newtown should do their work as others had +done, and then Salem, &c., should pay for three days at eighteen +pence a man." + +The records of that time hold instance after instance of the +old man's obstinacy and Winthrop's gentle and most patient +consideration. To Anne, however, who came in contact only with his +milder side, it was an irreparable loss, and she never spoke of +him save with grateful and tender remembrance, her elegy on his +death, though conventional as the time made her, being full of the +sorrow time soothed but never destroyed. + + _To the Memory of my dear and ever honoured Father,_ + _Thomas Dudley Esq._ + + _Who deceased July 31, 1653, and of his Age, 77._ + + By duty bound, and not by custome led + To celebrate the praises of the dead, + My mournfull mind, sore prest, in trembling verse + Presents my Lamentations at his Herse, + Who was my Father, Guide, Instructor too, + To whom I ought whatever I could doe: + Nor is't Relation near my hand shall tye; + For who more cause to boast his worth than I? + Who heard or saw, observed or knew him better? + Or who alive then I, a greater debtor? + Let malice bite, and envy knaw its fill, + He was my Father, and Ile praise him still. + Nor was his name, or life lead so obscure + That pitty might some Trumpeters procure. + Who after death might make him falsly seen + Such as in life, no man could justly deem. + Well known and lov'd where ere he liv'd, by most + Both in his native, and in foreign coast, + These to the world his merits could make known, + So needs no Testimonial from his own; + But now or never I must pay my Sum; + While others tell his worth, Ile not be dumb: + One of thy Founders, him New England know, + Who staid thy feeble sides when thou wast low, + Who spent his state, his strength & years with care + That After-comers in them might have a share, + True Patriot of this little Commonweal, + Who is't can tax thee ought, but for thy zeal? + Truths friend thou wert, to errors still a foe, + Which caus'd Apostates to maligne so. + Thy love to true Religion e're shall shine, + My Fathers God, be God of me and mine, + Upon the earth he did not build his nest, + But as a Pilgrim. what he had, possest, + High thoughts he gave no harbour in his heart, + Nor honours pufft him up, when he had part; + Those titles loathed, which some do too much love + For truly his ambition lay above. + His humble mind so lov'd humility, + He left it to his race for Legacy; + And oft and oft, with speeches mild and wise, + Gave his in charge, that Jewel rich to prize. + No ostentation seen in all his wayes, + As in the mean ones of our foolish dayes. + Which all they have, and more still set to view, + Their greatness may be judg'd by what they shew. + His thoughts were more sublime, his actions wise, + Such vanityes he justly did despise. + Nor wonder 'twas, low things n'er much did move + For he a Mansion had, prepar'd above, + For which he sigh'd and pray'd & long'd full sore + He might be cloath'd upon, for evermore. + Oft spake of death, and with a smiling chear, + He did exult his end was drawing near, + Now fully ripe, as shock of wheat that's grown, + Death as a Sickle hath him timely mown, + And in celestial Barn hath hous'd him high, + Where storms, nor showrs, nor ought can damnifie. + His Generation serv'd, his labours cease; + And to his Fathers gathered is in peace. + Ah happy Soul, 'mongst Saints and Angels blest, + Who after all his toyle, is now at rest: + His hoary head in righteousness was found; + As joy in heaven on earth let praise resound. + Forgotten never be his memory, + His blessing rest on his posterity: + His pious Footsteps followed by his race, + At last will bring us to that happy place + Where we with joy each other's face shall see, + And parted more by death shall never be. + + HIS EPITAPH. + + Within this Tomb a Patriot lyes + That was both pious, just and wise, + To Truth a shield, to right a Wall, + To Sectaryes a whip and Maul, + A Magazine of History, + A Prizer of good Company + In manners pleasant and severe + The Good him lov'd, the bad did fear, + And when his time with years was spent + If some rejoyc'd, more did lament. + +Of the nine children, of whom Anne Bradstreet was the most +distinguished, the oldest son of his second wife took most +important part in the colonial life. Joseph Dudley, who was born +in 1647, became "Governor of Massachusetts, Lieutenant-Governor of +the Isle of Wight, and first Chief-Justice of New York. He had +thirteen children, one of whom, Paul, was also a distinguished +man; being Attorney-General and afterward Chief-Justice of +Massachusetts, Fellow of the Royal Society, and founder of the +Dudleian Lectures at Harvard College." His honors came to him +after the sister who prized them most had passed on to the Heaven +for which, even when happiest, she daily longed. None of the sons +possessed the strong characteristics of the father, but sons and +daughters alike seem to have inherited his love of books, as well +as of hospitality, and the name for every descendant has always +held honor, and often, more than fair ability. The preponderance +of ministers in every generation may, also, still gladden the +heart of the argumentative ancestor whose dearest pleasure was a +protracted tussle with the five points, and their infinitely +ramifying branches, aided and encouraged by the good wine and +generous cheer he set, with special relish, before all who could +meet him on his own ground. + +It was fortunate for the daughter that many fresh interests were +springing up in her own family, which in 1654, received a new +member. One had already been added, in the person of the youngest +son John, who had been born in 1652, and was still a baby, and now +marriage gave another son, who valued her almost as heartily as +her own. Seaborn Cotton, whose name held always a reminder of the +stormy days on which his eyes opened, had grown into a decorous +youth, a course at Harvard, and an entering of his father's +profession, and though the old record holds no details, it is easy +to read between the lines, the story that told itself alike to +Puritan and Cavalier, and to which Mistress Dorothy listened with +a flutter beneath the gray gown that could not disguise the pretty +girlish outlines of her dainty figure. Dorothy, as well as the +other daughters, had been carefully trained in every housewifely +art, and though part of her mother's store of linen bleached in +Lincolnshire meadows, may have helped to swell her simple outfit, +it is probable that she spun and wove much of it herself. A +fulling mill, where the cloth made at home was finished and +pressed, had been built very early in the history of the town, and +while there were "spinsters" who went from house to house, much of +the work was done by mother and daughters. Seaborn Cotton, who +must often during his courtship have ridden over from Boston, +found Dorothy like the Priscilla she may have known, busy in the +graceful fashion of that older time, and-- + +... As he opened the door, he beheld the form of the maiden Seated +beside her wheel, and the carded wool like a snow-drift Piled at +her knee, her white hands feeding the ravenous spindle, While with +her foot on the treadle she guided the wheel in its motion. + +Like Priscilla, too, she must have said-- + +... I knew it was you, when I heard your step in the passage, For +I was thinking of you as I sat there spinning and singing. + +Dorothy had in full her mother's power of quiet devotion, and +became a model mother, as well as minister's wife, for the parish +at Hampton, N. H., where the young pastor began work in 1659, and +where after twenty-eight years of such labor as came to all +pioneers, she passed on, leaving nine children, whose name is +still a familiar one in New England. Though the date of the next +daughter's marriage is not quite as certain, it is given by some +authorities as having taken place in the previous year, and in any +case was within a few months of the same time. Contrary to the +usual Puritan rule, which gave to most men from two to four wives, +Sarah outlived her first husband, and married again, when a +middle-aged but still young-hearted woman. + +Marriage inevitably held some suggestion at least of merry-making, +but the ceremony had been shorn of all possible resemblance to its +English form. The Puritans were in terror lest any Prelatical +superstitions or forms should cling to them in faintest degree, +and Bradford wrote of the first marriage which took place in the +Plymouth Colony: "The first marriage in this place, which, +according to the laudable custom of the Low Countries, in which +they had lived, was thought most requisite to be performed by the +magistrate, as being a civil thing, ... and nowhere found in the +Gospel to be laid on the ministers as a part of their office." + +Winthrop, three of whose marriages had been in the parish +church of his English home, shared the same feeling, and when +preparations were made for "a great marriage to be solemnized at +Boston," wrote: "The bridegroom being of Hingham, Mr. Hubbard's +church, he was procured to preach, and came to Boston to that end. +But the magistrates hearing of it, sent to him to forbear. We were +not willing to bring in the English custom of ministers performing +the solemnity of marriage, which sermons at such times might +induce; but if any minister were present, and would bestow a word +of exhortation, &c., it was permitted." + +Fortunately for Dorothy and Sarah Bradstreet, their father was a +magistrate, and his clear and gentle eyes the only ones they were +obliged to face. Andover couples prefered him to any other and +with reason, for while following the appointed method strictly, +"giving the covenant unto the parties and also making the prayers +proper for the occasion," he had no frowns for innocent enjoyment, +and may even have allowed the dancing which was afterward +forbidden. + +In the beginning, as the largest in the township, his house had +probably served as stopping-place for all travellers, where they +were entertained merely as a matter of courtesy, though an +"inholder" or "taverner" had been appointed and liscenced for +Andover in 1648. Only an honored citizen could hold this office, +and marriages were often celebrated in their houses, which +naturally were enlarged at last to meet all necessities. But the +strong liquors of the inn often circulated too freely, and +quarrels and the stocks were at times the end of a day which it +had been planned should hold all the merriment the Puritan temper +would allow. Such misfortunes waited only on the humbler members +of the community, who appear to have been sufficiently quarrelsome +and excitable to furnish more occupiers of both pillory and +stocks, than the religious character of the settlement would seem +to admit, and who came to blows on the least provocation, using +their fists with genuine English ardor, and submitting to +punishment with composure, if only the adversary showed bruises +enough for compensation. Wine and beer flowed freely at both the +marriages, as they did at every entertainment, but Governor +Bradstreet, while having due liking for all good cheer, was +personally so abstinent that none would be likely in his presence +to forget proper bounds. Ministers and laymen alike drank an +amount impossible to these later days, and that if taken now would +set them down as hopeless reprobates; but custom sanctioned it, +though many had already found that the different climate rendered +such indulgence much more hazardous than the less exhilarating one +of England. + +As the family lessened, the mother seems to have clung even more +closely to those that remained, and to have lost herself in work +for and with them. Whatever may have been written at this time, +appears to have been destroyed, nothing remaining but the poem +"Contemplations," which is more truly poetry than any of its more +labored predecessors, its descriptive passages holding much of the +charm of the lovely landscape through which she moved to the +river, flowing still through the Andover meadows. + + CONTEMPLATIONS. + + Some time now past in the Autumnal Tide + When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed + The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride + Where gilded o're by his rich golden head. + Their leaves and fruits seemed painted but was true + Of green, of red, of yellow mixed hew, + Rapt were my sences at this delectable view. + + I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, + If so much excellence abide below; + How excellent is he that dwells on high? + Whose power and beauty by his works we know. + Sure he is goodness, wisdome, glory, light, + That hath this under world so richly dight; + More Heaven than Earth was here, no winter & no night. + + Then on a stately oak I cast mine Eye, + Whose ruffling top the Clouds seemed to aspire; + How long since thou wast in thine Infancy? + Thy strength and stature, more thy years admire. + Hath hundred winters past since thou wast born? + Or thousand since thou brakest thy shell of horn, + If so, all these as nought, Eternity doth scorn. + + Then higher on the glistening Sun I gazed, + Whose beams was shaded by the leavie Tree, + The more I looked, the more I grew amazed, + And softly said, what glory's like to thee? + Soul of this world, this Universes Eye + Had I not, better known, (alas) the same had I. + + Thou as a bridegroom from thy Chamber rushes + And as a strong man, joyes to run a race, + The morn doth usher thee with smiles and blushes + The Earth reflects her glances in thy face. + Birds, insects, Animals with Vegetive, + Thy heart from death and dulness doth revive: + And in the darksome womb of fruitful nature dive. + + Thy swift Annual and diurnal Course, + Thy daily streight and yearly oblique path. + Thy pleasing fervor and thy scorching force, + All mortals here the feeling knowledg hath. + Thy presence makes it day thy absence night, + Quaternal Seasons caused by thy might; + Hail Creature full of sweetness, beauty and delight. + + Art them so full of glory, that no Eye + Hath strength, thy shining Rayes once to behold? + And is thy splendid throne erect so high? + As to approach it can no earthly mould. + How full of glory then must thy Creator be? + Who gave this bright light luster unto thee, + Admir'd, ador'd for ever, be that Majesty. + + Silent alone, where none or saw or heard, + In pathless paths I lead my wandering feet; + My humble eyes to lofty Skyes I rear'd, + To sing some song my mazed Muse thought meet. + My great Creator I would magnifie, + That nature had thus decked liberally; + But Ah, and Ah, again my imbecility. + +The reader who may be disposed to echo this last line must bear in +mind always, that stilted as much of this may seem, it was in the +day in which it appeared a more purely natural voice than had been +heard at all, and as the poem proceeds it gains both in force and +beauty. As usual she reverts to the past for illustrations and +falls into a meditation aroused by the sights and sounds about +her. The path has led to the meadows not far from the river, +where-- + + I heard the merry grasshopper then sing, + The black-clad Cricket, bear a second part, + They kept one tune and plaid on the same string, + Seeming to glory in their little Art. + Shall Creatures abject, thus their voices raise? + And in their kind resound their makers praise, + Whilst I as mute, can warble forth no higher layes. + + * * * * * + + When present times look back to Ages past, + And men in being fancy those are dead, + It makes things gone perpetually to last, + And calls back moneths and years that long since fled. + It makes a man more aged in conceit, + Then was Methuselah, or's grandsire great; + While of their persons & their acts his mind doth treat. + + * * * * * + + Sometimes in Eden fair, he seems to be, + Sees glorious Adam there made Lord of all, + Fancyes the Apple, dangle on the Tree, + That turn'd his Sovereign to a naked thral, + Who like a miscreant's driven from that place, + To get his bread with pain and sweat of face + A penalty impos'd on his backsliding Race. + + * * * * * + + Here sits our Grandame in retired place, + And in her lap, her bloody Cain new-born, + The weeping Imp oft looks her in the face, + Bewails his unknown hap and fate forlorn; + His Mother sighs to think of Paradise, + And how she lost her bliss to be more wise, + Beleiving him that was, and is Father of lyes. + + * * * * * + + Here Cain and Abel came to sacrifice, + Fruits of the Earth and Fallings each do bring, + On Abels gift the fire descends from Skies, + But no such sign on false Cain's offering; + With sullen, hateful looks he goes his wayes; + Hath thousand thoughts to end his brothers dayes, + Upon whose blood his future good he hopes to raise. + + * * * * * + + There Abel keeps his sheep no ill he thinks, + His brother comes, then acts his fratracide + The Virgin Earth, of blood her first draught drinks, + But since that time she often hath been clay'd; + The wretch with gastly face and dreadful mind, + Thinks each he sees will serve him in his kind, + Though none on Earth but kindred near, then could he find. + + * * * * * + + Who fancyes not his looks now at the Barr, + His face like death, his heart with horror fraught, + Nor Male-factor ever felt like warr, + When deep dispair with wish of life hath fought, + Branded with guilt, and crusht with treble woes, + A vagabond to Land of Nod he goes; + A City builds, that wals might him secure from foes. + + * * * * * + + Who thinks not oft upon the Father's ages. + Their long descent, how nephews sons they saw, + The starry observations of those Sages, + And how their precepts to their sons were law, + How Adam sigh'd to see his Progeny, + Cloath'd all in his black sinful Livery, + Who neither guilt, nor yet the punishment could fly. + + * * * * * + + Our Life compare we with their length of dayes + Who to the tenth of theirs doth now arrive? + And though thus short, we shorten many wayes, + Living so little while we are alive; + In eating, drinking, sleeping, vain delight, + So unawares comes on perpetual night, + And puts all pleasures vain unto eternal flight. + + * * * * * + + When I behold the heavens as in their prime, + And then the earth, (though old) stil clad in green + The stones and trees insensible of time, + Nor age nor wrinkle on their front are seen; + If winter come and greeness then do fade, + A Spring returns, and they more youthfull made; + But man grows old, lies down, remains where once he's laid. + + * * * * * + + By birth more noble then those creatures all, + Yet seems by nature and by custome curs'd, + No sooner born, but grief and care makes fall, + That state obliterate he had at first: + Nor youth, nor strength, nor wisdom spring again, + Nor habitations long their names retain, + But in oblivion to the final day remain. + + * * * * * + + Shall I then praise the heavens, the trees, the earth, + Because their beauty and their strength last longer + Shall I wish there, or never to have had birth, + Because they're bigger & their bodyes stronger? + Nay, they shall darken, perish, fade and dye, + And when unmade, so ever shall they lye, + But man was made for endless immortality. + +Here at last she is released from the didactic. She can look at +the sun without feeling it necessary to particularize her +knowledge of its-- + + "... swift Annual and diurnal Course, + Thy daily streight and yearly oblique path." + +Imagination has been weighted by the innumerable details, more and +more essential to the Puritan mind, but now she draws one long +free breath, and rises far beyond the petty limit of her usual +thought, the italicised lines in what follows holding a music one +may seek for in vain in any other verse of the period: + + Under the cooling shadow of a stately Elm, + Close sate I by a goodly Rivers side, + Where gliding streams the Rocks did overwhelm; + A lonely place with pleasures dignifi'd, + I once that lov'd the shady woods so well, + Now thought the rivers did the trees excel, + And if the sun would ever shine there would I dwell. + + * * * * * + + While on the stealing stream I fixt mine eye, + Which to the longed-for Ocean held its course, + I markt not crooks, nor rubs that there did lye + Could hinder ought but still augment its force, + _O happy Flood, quoth I, that holds thy race + Till thou arrive at thy beloved place, + Nor is it rocks or shoals that can obstruct thy pace_. + + * * * * * + + Nor is't enough that thou alone may'st slide, + But hundred brooks in thy cleer waves do meet, + So hand in hand along with thee they glide + To Thetis house, where all embrace and greet: + Thou Emblem true of what I count the best, + O could I lead my Rivolets to rest, + So may we press to that vast mansion, ever blest. + + * * * * * + + Ye fish which in this liquid Region 'bide, + That for each season have your habitation, + Now salt, now fresh where you think best to glide, + To unknown coasts to give a visitation, + In Lakes and ponds you leave your numerous fry, + So nature taught, and yet you know not why, + You watry folk that know not your felicity. + + * * * * * + + Look how the wantons frisk to taste the air, + Then to the colder bottome streight they dive, + Eftsoon to Neptun's glassie Hall repair, + To see what trade they great ones there do drive + Who forrage ore the spacious, sea-green field, + And take the trembling prey before it yield, + Whose armour is their scales, their spreading fins their shield. + + * * * * * + + While musing thus with contemplation fed, + And thousand fancies buzzing in my brain, + The sweet tongu'd Philomel percht ore my head, + And chanted forth a most melodious strain, + Which rapt me so with wonder and delight, + I judg'd my hearing better then my sight, + And wisht me wings with her awhile to take my flight. + + * * * * * + + O merry Bird (said I) that fears no snares, + That neither toyles nor hoards up in thy barn, + Feels no sad thoughts, no cruciating cares + To gain more good, or shun what might thee harm. + Thy cloaths ne're wear, thy meat is everywhere, + Thy bed a bough, thy drink the water deer, + Reminds not what is past nor whats to come dost fear. + + * * * * * + + _The dawning morn with songs thou dost prevent, + Sets hundred notes unto thy feathered crew, + So each one tunes his pretty instrument, + And warbling out the old, begin anew, + And thus they pass their youth in summer season, + Then follow thee into a better Region, + Where winter's never felt in that sweet airy legion_. + + * * * * * + + Up to this point natural delight in the sights + and sounds of a summer's day has had its way, and + undoubtedly struck her as far too much enjoyment + for any sinful worm of the dust. She proceeds, therefore, + to chasten her too exuberant muse, presenting + for that sorely-tried damsel's inspection, the portrait + of man, as Calvin had taught her to view him. + + * * * * * + + Man at the best a creature frail and vain, + In knowledg ignorant, in strength but weak, + Subject to sorrows, losses, sickness, pain, + Each storm his state, his mind, his body break, + From some of these he never finds cessation + But day or night, within, without, vexation, + Troubles from foes, from friends, from dearest + nears't Relation. + + * * * * * + + And yet this sinfull creature, frail and vain, + This lump of wretchedness, of sin and sorrow, + This weather-beaten vessel wrackt with pain, + Joyes not in hope of an eternal morrow; + Nor all his losses crosses and vexations + In weight and frequency and long duration, + Can make him deeply groan for that divine Translation. + + * * * * * + + The Mariner that on smooth waves doth glide, + Sings merrily and steers his Barque with ease, + As if he had command of wind and tide, + And now become great Master of the seas; + But suddenly a storm spoiles all the sport, + And makes him long for a more quiet port, + Which 'gainst all adverse winds may serve for fort. + + * * * * * + + So he that saileth in this world of pleasure, + Feeding on sweets, that never bit of th' sowre, + That's full of friends, of honour and of treasure, + Fond fool, he takes this earth even for heav'n's bower. + But sad affliction comes & makes him see, + Here's neither honour, wealth nor safety, + Only above is found all with security. + + * * * * * + + O Time the fatal wrack of mortal things, + That draws oblivion's curtain over Kings, + Their sumptuous monuments, men know them not, + Their names without a Record are forgot, + Their parts, their ports, their pomp's all laid in th' dust, + Nor wit nor gold, nor buildings scape time's rust; + But he whose name is grav'd in the white stone + Shall last and shine when all of these are gone. + +With this poem, Anne Bradstreet seems to have bidden a final +farewell to any attempt at sustained composition. A sense of +disgust at the poor result of long thought and labor appears to +have filled her, and this mood found expression in a deprecating +little poem in which humor struggles with this oppressive sense of +deficiency and incompleteness, the inclination on the whole, +however, as with most authors, being toward a lenient judgment of +her own inadequate accomplishment. + + THE AUTHOR TO HER BOOK. + + Thou ill-form'd offspring of my feeble brain, + Who after birth didst by my side remain, + Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise then true + Who thee abroad, expos'd to publick view, + Made thee in raggs, halting to th' press to trudg, + Where errors were not lessened (all may judg) + At thy return my blushing was not small, + My rambling brat (in print,) should mother call, + I cast thee by as one unfit for light, + Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight; + Yet being mine own, at length affection would + Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: + I wash'd thy face, but more defects I saw, + And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw. + I stretcht thy joynts to make thee even feet, + Yet still thou run'st more hobling then is meet; + In better dress to trim thee was my mind, + But nought save home-spun Cloth, i' th' house I find + In this array, mong'st Vulgars mayst thou roam + In Critick's hands, beware thou dost not come; + And take thy way where yet thou art not known, + If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none; + And for thy Mother, she alas is poor. + Which caused her thus to turn thee out of door. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE LEGACY. + + +Though it was only as a poet that Anne Bradstreet was known to her +own time, her real strength was in prose, and the "Meditations, +Divine and Morall," written at the request of her second son, the +Rev. Simon Bradstreet, to whom she dedicated them, March 20, 1664, +show that life had taught her much, and in the ripened thought and +shrewd observation of men and manners are the best testimony to +her real ability. For the reader of to-day they are of incomparably +more interest than anything to be found in the poems. There +is often the most condensed and telling expression; a swift +turn that shows what power of description lay under all the +fantastic turns of the style Du Bartas had created for her. That +he underrated them was natural. The poems had brought her honor in +the old home and the new. The meditations involved no anxious +laboring after a rhyme, no straining a metaphor till it cracked. +They were natural thought naturally expressed and therefore +worthless for any literary purpose, and as she wrote, the wail of +the Preacher repeated itself, and she smiled faintly as the words +grew under her pen: "There is no new thing under the sun, there is +nothing that can be sayd or done, but either that or something +like it hath been done and sayd before." + +Many of the paragraphs written in pain and weakness show how +keenly she had watched the course of events, and what power of +characterization she had to use, three of them especially holding +the quiet sarcasm in which she occasionally indulged, though +always with a tacit apology for the possession of such a quality. +"Dimne eyes are the concomitants of old age; and short-sightednes +in those that are eyes of a Republique, foretells a declineing +state." + +"Authority without wisdome, is like a heavy axe without an edge, +fitter to bruise than polish." + +"Ambitious men are like hops that never rest climbing so long as +they have anything to stay upon; but take away their props, and +they are of all, the most dejected." + +The perpetual dissensions, religious and political, which +threatened at times the absolute destruction of the Colony, were +all familiar to her, and she draws upon them for illustrations of +many points, others being afforded by her own experience with the +eight children to whom she proved so devoted and tender a mother. +Like other mothers, before and since, their differences in +temperament and conduct, seem to have been a perpetual surprise, +but that she had tact enough to meet each on his or her own +ground, or gently draw them toward hers, seems evident at every +point. That they loved her tenderly is equally evident, the diary +of her second son mentioning her always as "my dear and honored +mother," and all of them, though separated by early marriages for +most of them, returning as often as practicable to the old roof, +under which Thanksgiving Day had taken on the character it has +held from that clay to this. The small blank-book which held these +"Meditations" was copied carefully by Simon Bradstreet, and there +is little doubt that each of the children did the same, +considering it as much theirs as the brother's for whom it was +originally intended. Whatever Anne Bradstreet did, she had her +children always in view, and still another blank-book partially +filled with religious reflections, and found among her papers +after death, was dedicated, "To my dear children." The father +probably kept the originals, but her words were too highly valued, +not to have been eagerly desired by all. A special word to her son +opens the series of "Meditations." + +FOR MY DEARE SONNE SIMON BRADSTREET. + +Parents perpetuate their lines in their posterity, and their +maners in their imitation. Children do naturally rather follow the +failings than the virtues of their predecessors, but I am +persuaded better things of you. You once desired me to leave +something for you in writing that you might look upon when you +should see me no more. I could think of nothing more fit for you, +nor of more ease to my selfe, than these short meditations +following. Such as they are I bequeath to you: small legacys are +accepted by true friends, much more by dutiful children. I have +avoyded incroaching upon others conceptions, because I would leave +you nothing but myne owne, though in value they fall short of all +in this kinde, yet I presume they will be better priz'd by you for +the Author's sake. The Lord blesse you with grace heer, and crown +you with glory heerafter, that I may meet you with rejoyceing at +that great day of appearing, which is the continuall prayer of + +Your affectionate mother, + +A. B. + +March 20, 1664. + +MEDITATIONS, DIVINE AND MORALL. + +I. + +There is no object that we see; no action that we doe; no good +that we injoy; no evill that we feele or feare, but we may make +some spiritu(a)ll, advantage of all: and he that makes such +improvement is wise as well as pious. + +II. + +Many can speak well, but few can do well. We are better Scholars +in the Theory then the practique part, but he is a true Christian +that is a proficient in both. + +III. + +Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age +of spending; a negligent youth is usually attended by an ignorant +middle age, and both by an empty old age. He that hath nothing to +feed on but vanity and lyes must needs lye down in the Bed of +Sorrow. + +IV. + +A ship that beares much saile, and little or no ballast, is easily +overset; and that man, whose head hath great abilities, and his +heart little or no grace, is in danger of foundering. + +V. + +It is reported of the peakcock that, prideing himself in his gay +feathers, he ruffles them up; but, spying his black feet, he soon +lets fall his plumes, so he that glorys in his gifts and adornings +should look upon his Corruptions, and that will damp his high +thoughts. + +VI. + +The finest bread hath the least bran; the purest hony, the least +wax; and the sincerest Christian, the least self love. + +VII. + +The hireling that labors all the day, comforts himself that when +night comes he shall both take his rest and receive his reward; +the painfull Christian that hath wrought hard in God's vineyard, +and hath born the heat and drought of the day, when he perceives +his sun apace to decline, and the shadows of his evening to be +stretched out, lifts up his head with joy, knowing his refreshing +is at hand. + +VIII. + +Downny beds make drosey persons, but hard lodging keeps the eyes +open. A prosperous state makes a secure Christian, but adversity +makes him Consider. + +IX. + +Sweet words are like hony, a little may refresh, but too much +gluts the stomach. + +X. + +Diverse children have their different natures; some are like flesh +which nothing but salt will keep from putrefaction; some again +like tender fruits that are best preserved with sugar: those +parents are wise that can fit their nurture according to their +Nature. + +XI. + +That town which thousands of enemys without hath not been able to +take, hath been delivered up by one traytor within; and that man, +which all the temptations of Sathan without could not hurt, hath +been foild by one lust within. + +XII. + +Authority without wisdome is like a heavy axe without an edge, +fitter to bruise than polish. + +XIII. + +The reason why Christians are so both to exchange this world for a +better, is because they have more sence than faith: they se what +they injoy, they do but hope for that which is to come. + +XIV. + +If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we +did not sometimes tast of adversity, prosperity would not be so +welcome. + +XV. + +A low man can goe upright under that door wher a taller is glad to +stoop; so a man of weak faith, and mean abilities may undergo a +crosse more patiently than he that excells him, both in gifts and +graces. + +XVI. + +That house which is not often swept, makes the cleanly inhabitant +soone loath it, and that heart which is not continually purifieing +itself, is no fit temple for the spirit of God to dwell in. + +XVII. + +Few men are so humble as not to be proud of their abilitys; and +nothing will abase them more than this--What hast thou, but what +thou hast received? Come, give an account of thy stewardship. + +XVIII. + +He that will undertake to climb up a steep mountain with a great +burden on his back, will finde it a wearysome, if not an +impossible task; so he that thinks to mount to heaven clog'd with +the Cares and riches of this Life, 'tis no wonder if he faint by +the way. + +XIX. + +Corne, till it has passed through the Mill and been ground to +powder, is not fit for bread. God so deales with his servants: he +grindes them with grief and pain till they turn to dust, and then +are they fit manchet for his Mansion. + +XX + +God hath sutable comforts and supports for his children according +to their severall conditions if he will make his face to shine +upon them: he then makes them lye down in green pastures, and +leads them beside the still waters: if they stick in deepe mire +and clay, and all his waves and billows goe over their heads, He +then leads them to the Rock which is higher than they. + +XXI. + +He that walks among briars and thorns will be very carefull where +he sets his foot. And he that passes through the wilderness of +this world, had need ponder all his steps. + +XXII. + +Want of prudence, as well as piety, hath brought men into great +inconveniencys; but he that is well stored with both, seldom is so +insnared. + +XXIII. + +The skillfull fisher hath his severall baits for severall fish, +but there is a hooke under all; Satan, that great Angler, hath his +sundry bait for sundry tempers of men, which they all catch +gredily at, but few perceives the hook till it be too late. + +XXIV. + +There is no new thing under the sun, there is nothing that can be +sayd or done, but either that or something like it hath been both +done and sayd before. + +XXV. An akeing head requires a soft pillow; and a drooping heart a +strong support. + +XXVI. + +A sore finger may disquiet the whole body, but an ulcer within +destroys it: so an enemy without may disturb a Commonwealth, but +dissentions within overthrow it. + +XXVII. + +It is a pleasant thing to behold the light, but sore eyes are not +able to look upon it; the pure in heart shall see God, but the +defiled in conscience shall rather choose to be buried under rocks +and mountains then to behold the presence of the Lamb. + +XXVIII. + +Wisedome with an inheritance is good, but wisedome without an +inheritance is better then an inheritance without wisedome. + +XXIX. + +Lightening doth generally preceed thunder, and stormes, raine; and +stroaks do not often fall till after threat'ning. + +XXX. + +Yellow leaves argue the want of Sap, and gray haires want of +moisture; so dry and saplesse performances are symptoms of little +spirituall vigor. + +XXXI. + +Iron till it be thoroughly heat is uncapable to be wrought; so God +sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and +then beats them on his anvile into what frame he pleases. + +XXXII. + +Ambitious men are like hops that never rest climbing soe long as +they have anything to stay upon; but take away their props and +they are, of all, the most dejected. + +XXXIII. + +Much Labour wearys the body, and many thoughts oppresse the minde: +man aimes at profit by the one, and content in the other; but +often misses of both, and findes nothing but vanity and vexation +of spirit. + +XXXIV. + +Dimne eyes are the concomitants of old age; and short-sightednes, +in those that are eyes of a Republique, foretells a declineing +State. + +XXXV. + +We read in Scripture of three sorts of Arrows--the arrow of an +enemy, the arrow of pestilence, and the arrow of a slanderous +tongue; the two first kill the body, the last the good name; the +two former leave a man when he is once dead, but the last mangles +him in his grave. + +XXXVI. + +Sore labourers have hard hands, and old sinners have brawnie +consciences. + +XXXVII. + +Wickednes comes to its height by degrees. He that dares say of a +lesse sin, is it not a little one? will ere long say of a greater, +Tush, God regards it not! + +XXXVIII. + +Some Children are hardly weaned, although the breast be rub'd with +wormwood or mustard, they will either wipe it off, or else suck +down sweet and bitter together; so is it with some Christians, let +God embitter all the sweets of this life, that so they might feed +upon more substantiall food, yet they are so childishly sottish +that they are still huging and sucking these empty brests, that +God is forced to hedg up their way with thornes, or lay affliction +on their loynes, that so they might shake hands with the world +before it bid them farewell + +XXXIX. + +A Prudent mother will not clothe her little childe with a long and +cumbersome garment; she easily forsees what events it is like to +produce, at the best but falls and bruises, or perhaps somewhat +worse, much more will the alwise God proportion his dispensations +according to the Stature and Strength of the person he bestows +them on. Larg indowments of honor, wealth, or a helthfull body +would quite overthrow some weak Christian, therefore God cuts +their garments short, to keep them in such trim that they might +run the wayes of his Commandment. + +XL. + +The spring is a lively emblem of the resurrection. After a long +winter we se the leavlesse trees and dry stocks (at the approach +of the sun) to resume their former vigor and beauty in a more +ample manner then what they lost in the Autumn; so shall it be +at that great day after a long vacation, when the Sun of +righteousness shall appear, those dry bones shall arise in far +more glory then that which they lost at their creation, and in +this transcends the spring, that their leafe shall never faile, +nor their sap decline. + +XLI. + +A Wise father will not lay a burden on a child of seven yeares +old, which he knows is enough for one of twice his strength, much +less will our heavenly father (who knows our mould) lay such +afflictions upon his weak children as would crush them to the +dust, but according to the strength he will proportion the load, +as God hath his little children so he hath his strong men, such as +are come to a full stature in Christ; and many times he imposes +waighty burdens on their shoulders, and yet they go upright under +them, but it matters not whether the load be more or less if God +afford his help. + +XLII. + +I have seen an end of all perfection (sayd the royall prophet); +but he never sayd, I have seen an end of all sinning: what he did +say, may be easily sayd by many; but what he did not say, cannot +truly be uttered by any. + +XLIII. + +Fire hath its force abated by water, not by wind; and anger must +be alayed by cold words, and not by blustering threats. + +XLIV. + +A sharp appetite and a thorough concoction, is a signe of an +healthfull body; so a quick reception, and a deliberate +cogitation, argues a sound mind. + +XLV. + +We often se stones hang with drops, not from any innate moisture, +but from a thick ayer about them; so may we sometime se marble- +hearted sinners seem full of contrition; but it is not from any +dew of grace within, but from some black Clouds that impends them, +which produces these sweating effects. + +XLVI. + +The words of the wise, sath Solomon, are as nailes and as goads +both used for contrary ends--the one holds fast, the other puts +forward; such should be the precepts of the wise masters of +assemblys to their hearers, not only to bid them hold fast the +form of sound Doctrin, but also, so to run that they might obtain. + +XLVII. + +A shadow in the parching sun, and a shelter in the blustering +storme, are of all seasons the most welcome; so a faithfull friend +in time of adversity, is of all other most comfortable. + +XLVIII. + +There is nothing admits of more admiration, then God's various +dispensation of his gifts among the sons of men, betwixt whom he +hath put so vast a disproportion that they scarcely seem made of +the same lump, or sprung out of the loynes of one Adam; some set +in the highest dignity that mortality is capable of; and some +again so base, that they are viler then the earth; some so wise +and learned, that they seem like Angells among men; and some again +so ignorant and Sotish, that they are more like beasts then men: +some pious saints; some incarnate Devils; some exceeding +beautyfull; and some extreamly deformed; some so strong and +healthfull that their bones are full of marrow; and their breasts +of milk; and some again so weak and feeble, that, while they live, +they are accounted among the dead--and no other reason can be +given of all this, but so it pleased him, whose will is the +perfect rule of righteousness. + +XLIX. + +The treasures of this world may well be compared to huskes, for +they have no kernell in them, and they that feed upon them, may +soon stuffe their throats, but cannot fill their bellys; they may +be choaked by them, but cannot be satisfied with them. + +L. + +Sometimes the sun is only shadowed by a cloud that wee cannot se +his luster, although we may walk by his light, but when he is set +we are in darkness till he arise again; so God doth sometime vaile +his face but for a moment, that we cannot behold the light of his +Countenance as at some other time, yet he affords so much light as +may direct our way, that we may go forward to the Citty of +habitation, but when he seems to set and be quite gone out of +sight, then must we needs walk in darkness and se no light, yet +then must we trust in the Lord, and stay upon our God, and when +the morning (which is the appointed time) is come, the Sun of +righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. + +LI. + +The eyes and the eares are the inlets or doores of the soule, +through which innumerable objects enter, yet is not that spacious +roome filled, neither doth it ever say it is enough, but like the +daughters of the horsleach, crys, give, give! and which is most +strang, the more it receives, the more empty it finds itself, and +sees an impossibility, ever to be filled, but by Him in whom all +fullness dwells. + +LII. + +Had not the wisest of men taught us this lesson, that all is +vanity and vexation of spirit, yet our owne experience would soon +have speld it out; for what do we obtain of all these things, but +it is with labour and vexation? When we injoy them it is with +vanity and vexation; and, if we loose them, then they are lesse +then vanity and more then vexation.: so that we have good cause +often to repeat that sentence, vanity of vanityes, vanity of +vanityes, all is vanity. + +LIII. + +He that is to saile into a farre country, although the ship, +cabbin and provision, be all convenient and comfortable for him, +yet he hath no desire to make that his place of residence, but +longs to put in at that port where his bussines lyes; a Christian +is sailing through this world unto his heavenly country, and heere +he hath many conveniences and comforts; but he must beware of +desire(ing) to make this the place of his abode, lest he meet with +such tossings that may cause him to long for shore before he sees +land. We must, therefore, be beer as strangers and pilgrims, that +we may plainly declare that we seek a citty above, and wait all +the dayes of our appointed time till our chang shall come. + +LIV. + +He that never felt what it was to be sick or wounded, doth not +much care for the company of the physitian or chirurgian; but if +he perceive a malady that threatens him with death, he will gladly +entertaine him, whom he slighted before: so he that never felt the +sicknes of sin, nor the wounds of a guilty conscience, cares not +how far he keeps from him that hath skill to cure it; but when he +findes his diseases to disrest him, and that he must needs perish +if he have no remedy, will unfeignedly bid him welcome that brings +a plaister for his sore, or a cordiall for his fainting. + +LV. + +We read of ten lepers that were cleansed, but of one that returned +thanks: we are more ready to receive mercys than we are to +acknowledg them: men can use great importunity when they are in +distresses, and show great ingratitude after their successes; but +he that ordereth his conversation aright, will glorifie him that +heard him in the day of his trouble. + +LVI. + +The remembrances of former deliverances is a great support in +present distresses: he that delivered me, sath David, from the paw +of the Lion and the paw of the Beare, will deliver mee from this +uncircumcised Philistin; and he that hath delivered mee, saith +Paul, will deliver mee: God is the same yesterday, to-day, and +forever; we are the same that stand in need of him, to-day as well +as yesterday, and so shall forever. + +LVII. + +Great receipts call for great returnes; the more that any man is +intrusted withall, the larger his accounts stands upon God's +score: it therefore behoves every man so to improve his talents, +that when his great Master shall call him to reckoning he may +receive his owne with advantage. + +LVIII. + +Sin and shame ever goe together. He that would be freed from the +last, must be sure to shun the company of the first. + +LIX. + +God doth many times both reward and punish for the same action: as +we see in Jehu, he is rewarded with a kingdome to the fourth +generation, for takeing veangence on the house of Ahab; and yet a +little while (saith God), and I will avenge the blood of Jezevel +upon the house of Jehu: he was rewarded for the matter, and yet +punished for the manner, which should warn him, that doth any +speciall service for God, to fixe his eye on the command, and not +on his own ends, lest he meet with Jehu's reward, which will end +in punishment. + +LX. + +He that would be content with a mean condition, must not cast his +eye upon one that is in a far better estate than himself, but let +him look upon him that is lower than he is, and, if he see that +such a one beares poverty comfortably, it will help to quiet him; +but if that will not do, let him look on his owne unworthynes, and +that will make him say with Jacob, I am lesse then the least of +thy mercys. + +LXI. + +Corne is produced with much labour, (as the husbandman well +knowes), and some land askes much more paines then some other doth +to be brought into tilth, yet all must be ploughed and harrowed; +some children (like sowre land) are of so tough and morose a +dispo(si)tion, that the plough of correction must make long +furrows on their back, and the Harrow of discipline goe often over +them, before they bee fit soile to sow the seed of morality, much +lesse of grace in them. But when by prudent nurture they are +brought into a fit capacity, let the seed of good instruction and +exhortation be sown in the spring of their youth, and a plentiful! +crop may be expected in the harvest of their yeares. + +LXII. + +As man is called the little world, so his heart may be cal'd the +little Commonwealth: his more fixed and resolved thoughts are like +to inhabitants, his slight and flitting thoughts are like +passengers that travell to and fro continually; here is also the +great Court of justice erected, which is always kept by conscience +who is both accuser, excuser, witness, and Judge, whom no bribes +can pervert, nor flattery cause to favour, but as he finds the +evidence, so he absolves or condemnes: yea, so Absolute is this +Court of Judicature, that there is no appeale from it--no, not to +the Court of heaven itself--for if our conscience condemn us, he, +also, who is greater than our conscience, will do it much more; +but he that would have boldness to go to the throne of grace to be +accepted there, must be sure to carry a certificate from the Court +of conscience, that he stands right there. + +LXIII. + +He that would keep a pure heart, and lead a blameless life, +must set himself alway in the awefull presence of God, the +consideration of his all-seeing eye will be a bridle to restrain +from evill, and a spur to quicken on to good duties: we certainly +dream of some remotenes betwixt God and us, or else we should not +so often faile in our whole Course of life as we doe; but he that +with David sets the Lord alway in his sight, will not sinne +against him. + +LXIV. + +We see in orchards some trees so fruitful, that the waight of +their Burden is the breaking of their limbs; some again are but +meanly loaden; and some among them are dry stocks: so it is in the +church, which is God's orchard, there are some eminent Christians +that are soe frequent in good dutys, that many times the waight +thereof impares both their bodys and estates; and there are some +(and they sincere ones too) who have not attained to that +fruitfullness, altho they aime at perfection: And again there are +others that have nothing to commend them but only a gay +profession, and these are but leavie Christians, which are in as +much danger of being cut down as the dry stock, for both cumber +the ground. + +LXV. + +We see in the firmament there is but one Sun among a multitude +of starres, and those starres also to differ much one from the +other in regard of bignes and brightnes, yet all receive their +light from that one Sun: so is it in the church both militant +and triumphant, there is but one Christ, who is the Sun of +righteousnes, in the midst of an innumerable company of Saints and +Angels; those Saints have their degrees even in this life, Some +are Stars of the first magnitude, and some of a lesse degree; and +others (and they indeed the most in number), but small and +obscure, yet all receive their luster (be it more or less) from +that glorious Sun that inlightenes all in all; and, if some of +them shine so bright while they move on earth, how transcendently +splendid shall they be when they are fixt in their heavenly +spheres! + +LXVI. + +Men that have walked very extravagantly, and at last bethink +themselves of turning to God, the first thing which they eye, is +how to reform their ways rather than to beg forgivenes for their +sinnes; nature lookes more at a Compensation than at a pardon; but +he that will not come for mercy without mony and without price, +but bring his filthy raggs to barter for it, shall meet with +miserable disapointment, going away empty, beareing the reproach +of his pride and folly. + +LXVII. + +All the works and doings of God are wonderfull, but none more +awfull than his great worke of election and Reprobation; when we +consider how many good parents have had bad children, and againe +how many bad parents have had pious children, it should make us +adore the Soverainty of God who will not be tyed to time nor +place, nor yet to persons, but takes and chuses when and where and +whom he pleases: it should alsoe teach the children of godly +parents to walk with feare and trembling, lest they, through +unbeleif, fall short of a promise: it may also be a support to +such as have or had wicked parents, that, if they abide not in +unbeleif, God is able to grasse them in: the upshot of all should +make us, with the Apostle, to admire the justice and mercy of God, +and say, how unsearchable are his wayes, and his footsteps past +finding out. + +LXVIII. + +The gifts that God bestows on the sons of men, are not only +abused, but most Commonly imployed for a Clean Contrary end, then +that which might be so many steps to draw men to God in +consideration of his bounty towards them, but have driven them the +further from him, that they are ready to say, we are lords, we +will come no more at thee. If outward blessings be not as wings to +help us mount upwards, they will Certainly prove Clogs and waights +that will pull us lower downward. + +LXIX. + +All the Comforts of this life may be compared to the gourd of +Jonah, that notwithstanding we take great delight for a season in +them, and find their Shadow very comfortable, yet their is some +worm or other of discontent, of feare, or greife that lyes at +root, which in great part withers the pleasure which else we +should take in them; and well it is that we perceive a decay in +their greennes, for were earthly comforts permanent, who would +look for heavenly? + +LXX. + +All men are truly sayd to be tenants at will, and it may as truly +be sayd, that all have a lease of their lives--some longer, some +shorter--as it pleases our great landlord to let. All have their +bounds set, over which they cannot passe, and till the expiration +of that time, no dangers, no sicknes, no paines nor troubles, +shall put a period to our dayes; the certainty that that time will +come, together with the uncertainty how, where, and when, should +make us so to number our days as to apply our hearts to wisedome, +that when wee are put out of these houses of clay, we may be sure +of an everlasting habitation that fades not away. + +LXXI. + +All weak and diseased bodys have hourly mementos of their +mortality. But the soundest of men have likewise their nightly +monitor by the embleam of death, which is their sleep (for so is +death often called), and not only their death, but their grave is +lively represented before their eyes, by beholding their bed; the +morning may mind them of the resurrection; and the sun approaching, +of the appearing of the sun of righteousnes, at whose comeing +they shall all rise out of their beds, the long night shall +fly away, and the day of eternity shall never end: seeing these +things must be, what manner of persons ought we to be, in all +good conversation? + +LXXII. + +As the brands of a fire, if once feverered, will of themselves goe +out, altho you use no other meanes to extinguish them, so distance +of place, together with length of time (if there be no intercourse) +will cool the affectiones of intimate friends, though tjere should +be no displeasance between them. + +LXXIII. + +A Good name is as a precious oyntment, and it is a great favor to +have a good repute among good men; yet it is not that which +Commends us to God, for by his ballance we must be weighed, and by +his Judgment we must be tryed, and, as he passes the sentence, So +shall we stand. + +LXXIV. + +Well doth the Apostle call riches deceitfull riches, and they may +truely be compared to deceitfull friends who speake faire, and +promise much, but perform nothing, and so leave those in the lurch +that most relyed on them: so is it with the wealth, honours, and +pleasures of this world, which miserably delude men, and make them +put great confidence in them, but when death threatens, and +distresse lays hold upon them, they prove like the reeds of Egipt +that peirce instead of supporting, like empty wells in the time of +drought, that those that go to finde water in them, return with +their empty pitchers ashamed. + +LXXV. + +It is admirable to consider the power of faith, by which all +things are (almost) possible to be done; it can remove mountaines +(if need were) it hath stayd the course of the sun, raised the +dead, cast out divels, reversed the order of nature, quenched the +violence of the fire, made the water become firme footing for +Peter to walk on; nay more than all these, it hath overcome the +Omnipotent himself, as when Moses intercedes for the people, God +sath to him, let me alone that I may destroy them, as if Moses had +been able, by the hand of faith, to hold the everlasting arms of +the mighty God of Jacob; yea, Jacob himself, when he wrestled with +God face to face in Peniel: let me go! sath that Angell. I will +not let thee go, replys Jacob, till thou blesse me, faith is not +only thus potent, but it is so necessary that without faith there +is no salvation, therefore, with all our seekings and gettings, +let us above all seek to obtain this pearle of prise. + +LXXVI. + +Some Christians do by their lusts and Corruptions as the Isralits +did by the Canaanites, not destroy them, but put them under +tribute, for that they could do (as they thought) with lesse +hazard, and more profit; but what was the Issue? They became a +snare unto them, prickes in their eyes, and thornes in their +sides, and at last overcame them, and kept them under slavery; so +it is most certain that those that are disobedient to the +Commandment of God, and endeavour not to the utmost to drive out +all their accursed inmates, but make a league with them, they +shall at last fall into perpetuall bondage under them, unlesse the +great deliverer, Christ Jesus come to their rescue. + +LXXVII. + +God hath by his providence so ordered, that no one country hath +all Commoditys within itself, but what it wants, another shall +supply, that so there may be a mutuall Commerce through the world. +As it is with countrys so it is with men, there was never yet any +one man that had all excellences, let his parts, naturall and +acquired, spirituall and morall, be never so large, yet he stands +in need of something which another man hath, (perhaps meaner than +himself,) which shows us perfection is not below, as also, that +God will have us beholden one to another. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PURITAN REIGN OF TERROR. + + +The ten years which followed the death of Governor Winthrop early +in 1649, were years of steady outward prosperity, yet causes were +at work, which gradually complicated the political situation and +prepared the necessity for the explanation which the mother +country at last peremptorily demanded, Simon Bradstreet being +selected as one of the men most capable of suitable reply. So long +as Winthrop lived, his even and sagacious course hindered many +complications which every circumstance fostered. Even in the +fierce dissensions over Anne Hutchinson and her theories, he had +still been able to retain the personal friendship of those whom as +a magistrate he had most severely judged. Wheelwright and +Coddington, who had suffered many losses; Sir Harry Vane, who had +returned to England sore and deeply indignant at the colonial +action; Clark and Williams, bitter as they might be against +Massachusetts principles, had only affection for the gracious and +humane governor, who gave himself as freely as he gave his +fortune, and whose theories, however impracticable they may at +times have seemed, have all justified themselves in later years. +Through the early privations and the attempts of some to escape +the obligations laid upon them, by the mere fact of having come +together to the unknown country, he set his face steadily against +all division, and there is no more characteristic passage in his +Journal than that in which he gives the reasons which should bind +them to common and united action. Various disaffected and uneasy +souls had wandered off to other points, and Winthrop gives the +results, at first quietly and judicially, but rising at the close +to a noble indignation. + +"Others who went to other places, upon like grounds, succeeded no +better. They fled for fear of want, and many of them fell into it, +even to extremity, as if they had hastened into the misery which +they feared and fled from, besides the depriving themselves of the +ordinances and church fellowship, and those civil liberties which +they enjoyed here; whereas, such as staid in their places kept +their peace and ease, and enjoyed still the blessing of the +ordinances, and never tasted of those troubles and miseries, which +they heard to have befallen those who departed. Much disputation +there was about liberty of removing for outward advantages, and +all ways were sought for an open door to get out at; but it is to +be feared many crept out at a broken wall. For such as come +together into a wilderness, where are nothing but wild beasts and +beast-like men, and there confederate together in civil and church +estate, whereby they do, implicitly at least, bind themselves to +support each other, and all of them that society, whether civil or +sacred, whereof they are members, how they can break from this +without free consent, is hard to find, so as may satisfy a tender +or good conscience in time of trial. Ask thy conscience, if thou +wouldst have plucked up thy stakes, and brought thy family 3000 +miles, if thou hadst expected that all, or most, would have +forsaken thee there. Ask again, what liberty thou hast towards +others, which thou likest not to allow others towards thyself; for +if one may go, another may, and so the greater part, and so church +and commonwealth may be left destitute in a wilderness, exposed to +misery and reproach, and all for thy ease and pleasure, whereas +these all, being now thy brethren, as near to thee as the +Israelites were to Moses, it were much safer for thee after his +example, to choose rather to suffer affliction with thy brethren +than to enlarge thy ease and pleasure by furthering the occasion +of their ruin." + +What he demanded of others he gave freely himself, and no long +time was required to prove to all, that union was their only +salvation. + +He had lived to see the spirit of co-operation active in many +ways. Churches were quietly doing their work with as little +wrangling over small doctrinal differences as could be expected +from an age in which wrangling was the chief symptom of vitality. +Education had settled upon a basis it has always retained, that of +"universal knowledge at the public cost"; the College was doing +its work so effectually that students came from England itself to +share in her privileges, and justice gave as impartial and even- +handed results as conscientious magistrates knew how to furnish. +The strenuous needs and sacrifices of the early days were over. A +generation had arisen, knowing them only by hearsay, and for even +the humblest, substantial prosperity was the rule. Johnson, in his +"Wonder-Working Providence," wrote words that held no exaggeration +in their description of the comfort which has, from that day to +this, been the characteristic of New England homes. "The Lord hath +been pleased to turn all the wigwams, huts, and hovels the English +dwelt in at their first coming, into orderly, fair, and well-built +houses, well furnished many of them, together with orchards, +filled with goodly fruit-trees, and gardens with variety of +flowers.... There are many hundreds of laboring men, who had not +enough to bring them over, yet now, worth scores, and some, +hundreds of pounds. The Lord whose promises are large to His Sion, +hath blessed his people's provision, and satisfied her poor with +bread, in a very little space. Everything in the country proved a +staple commodity. And those who were formerly forced to fetch most +of the bread they eat, and the beer they drink, a thousand leagues +by sea, are, through the blessing of the Lord, so increased, that +they have not only fed their elder sisters, Virginia, Barbadoes +and many of the Summer Islands, that were preferred before her for +fruitfulness, but also the grandmother of us all, even the fertile +isle of Great Britain." + +With such conditions the colonists were happy, and as the work of +their hands prospered, one might have thought that gentler modes of +judgment would have grown with it, and toleration if not welcome +have been given to the few dissenting minds that appeared among +them. Had Winthrop lived, this might have been possible, but the +new generation, fast replacing the early rulers, had their +prejudices but not their experience, and were as fierce opponents +of any new _ism_ as their fathers had been before them, while their +rash action often complicated the slower and more considerate +movements of the elders that remained. + +For England the ten years in which the Colony had made itself a +power, had been filled with more and more agitation and distress. +There was little time for attention to anything but their own +difficulties and perplexities, the only glances across seas being +those of distrust and jealousy. Winthrop happily died before the +news of the beheadal of Charles I. had reached New England, and +for a time, Cromwell was too busy with the reduction of Ireland +and the problem of government suddenly thrust upon him, to do +anything but ignore the active life so much after his own heart, +in the new venture of which he had once so nearly become a part. +It is possible that the attitude of New England for a time based +itself on the supposition, that life with them was so thoroughly +in harmony with the Protector's own theories that interference was +impossible. There were men among them, however, who watched his +course warily, and who were not indisposed to follow the example +he had set by revolt against hated institutions, but for the most +part they went their way, quietly reticent and content to wait for +time to demonstrate the truth or error of their convictions. But +for the most there was entire content with the present. + +Evidently no hint of a possible and coming Restoration found +slightest credence with them, and thus they laid up a store of +offences for which they were suddenly to be called to account. +When at last the Restoration had been accomplished and Charles II, +whose laughing eyes had held less mockery for William Penn than +any among the representatives of sects he so heartily despised, +turned to question how Quakers had fared in this objectionable and +presumptuous Colony of New England, the answer was not one to +propitiate, or to incline to any favor. The story is not one that +any New Englander will care to dwell upon, even to-day, when +indifference is the rule toward all theological dissension, past +or present. It is certain that had Winthrop lived, matters could +never have reached the extremity they did. It is equally certain +that the non-combatants conquered, though the victory was a bloody +one. Two sides are still taken to-day, even among New England +authorities. For Quakers, there is of course but one, yet in all +their statements there seems to be infinitely less bitterness than +they might reasonably have shown. That one or two wild fanatics +committed actions, which could have no other foundation than +unsettled minds, cannot be denied by even the most uncompromising +advocate of the Quaker side. But they were so evidently the result +of distempered and excited brains, that only a community who held +every inexplicable action to result from the direct influence of +Satan, could have done anything but pass them by in silent +forbearance. + +Had John Cotton been alive in the year in which the Quakers chose +Boston as their working ground, his gentle and conciliating +nature, shown so fully in the trial of Anne Hutchinson, would have +found some means of reconciling their theories with such phases of +the Puritan creed as were in sympathy with them. But a far +different mind held his place, and had become the leading minister +in the Colony. John Norton, who had taken Nathaniel Ward's place +at Ipswich, was called after twenty years of service, to the +Boston church, and his melancholy temperament and argumentative, +not to say pragmatical turn of mind, made him ready to seize upon +the first cause of offence. + +News of the doings of the obnoxious sect in England had been fully +discussed in the Colony, and the law passed as a means of +protection against the heresies of Anne Hutchinson and her school, +and which had simply waited new opportunity for its execution, +came into exercise sooner than they had expected. + +It is difficult to re-create for our own minds, the state of +outraged susceptibility--of conviction that Jehovah in person had +received the extremity of insult from every one who dared to go +outside the fine points for a system of belief, which filled the +churches in 1656. The "Inward Light" struck every minister upon +whose ears the horrid words fell, as only less shocking than +witchcraft or any other light amusement of Satan, and a day of +public humiliation had already been appointed by the General +Court, "to seek the face of God in behalf of our native country, +in reference to the abounding of errors, especially those of the +Ranters and Quakers." + +The discussion of their offences was in full height, when in July, +1656, there sailed into Boston harbor a ship from the Barbadoes, +in which were two Quaker women, Mary Fisher and Anne Austin. + +Never were unwelcome visitors met by a more formidable delegation. +Down to the wharf posted Governor and Deputy-Governor, four +principal Magistrates, with a train of yeoman supplemented by half +the population of Boston, who faced the astonished master of the +vessel with orders which forced him to give bonds to carry the +women back to the point from whence they came. This might have +seemed sufficient, but was by no means considered so. The unhappy +women were ordered to goal till the return of the vessel; a few +books brought with them were burned by the executioner, and from +every pulpit in the Colony came fierce denunciations of the +intruders. + +They left, and the excitement was subsiding a little when a +stronger occasion for terror presented itself in another vessel, +this time from England, bearing eight more of the firebrands, four +men and four women, besides a zealous convert made on the way from +Long Island, where the vessel had stopped for a short time. Eleven +weeks of imprisonment did not silence the voices of these self- +elected missionaries, and the uncompromising character of their +utterances ought to have commended them to a people who had been +driven out of England for the identical cause. A people who had +fallen to such depths of frenzied fanaticism as to drive cattle +and swine into churches and cathedrals and baptize them with mock +solemnity, who had destroyed or mutilated beyond repair organs, +fonts, stained glass and every article of priestly use or +adornment, might naturally have looked with understanding and +sympathetic eyes on the women who, made desperate by suffering, +turned upon them and pronounced their own preachers, "hirelings, +Baals, and seed of the serpent." + +The Quakers frowned upon Church music, but not before the Puritan +Prynne had written of choirs: "Choirsters bellow the tenor as it +were oxen; bark a counterpart, as it were a kennel of dogs; roar +out a treble, as it were a sort of bulls; and grunt a bass, as it +were a number of hogs." They arraigned bishops, but in words less +full of bitterness, than those in which one of the noblest among +Puritan leaders of thought, recorded his conviction. Milton, +writing of all bishops: "They shall be thrown down eternally, into +the darkest and deepest gulf of hell the trample and spurn of all +the other damned ... and shall exercise a raving and bestial +tyranny over them ... they shall remain in that plight forever, the +basest, the lowermost, the most dejected and down-trodden vassels +of perdition." + +No word from the most fanatical Quaker who ever appeared before +tribunal of man, exceeded this, or thousands of similar declarations, +from men as ready for martyrdom as those they judged, and +as obstinately bent upon proving their creed the only one that +reasonable human beings should hold. The wildest alarm seized +upon not only Massachusetts but each one of the confederated +colonies. The General Court passed a series of laws against +them, by which ship-masters were fined a hundred pounds if a +Quaker was brought over by them, as well as forced to give +security for the return of all to the point from whence they came. +They enacted, also, that all Quakers who entered the Colony from +any point should "be forthwith committed to the House of +Correction, and at their entrance to be severely whipped, and by +the master thereof to be kept constantly to work, and none +suffered to converse or speak with them during the time of their +imprisonment." + +No Quaker book could be imported, circulated or concealed, save on +penalty of a fine of five pounds, and whoever should venture to +defend the new opinions, paid for the first offence a fine of two +pounds; for the second, double that amount and for the third, +imprisonment in the House of Correction till there should "be +convenient passage for them to be sent out of the land." + +Through the streets of Boston went the crier with his drum, +publishing the law which was instantly violated by an indignant +citizen, one Nicholas Upsall, who, for "reproaching the honored +Magistrates, and speaking against the law made and published +against Quakers," not only once but with a continuous and +confounding energy, was sentenced to pay a fine of twenty pounds, +and "to depart the jurisdiction within one month, not to return, +under the penalty of imprisonment." + +Then came a period in which fines, imprisonments, whippings and +now and then a cropping of ears, failed to lessen the numbers who +came, with full knowledge of what the consequences must be, and +who behaved themselves with the aggressiveness of those bent upon +martyrdom. More and more excited by daily defiance, penalties were +doubled, the fine for harboring a Quaker being increased to forty +shillings an hour, and the excitement rising to higher and higher +point. Could they but have looked upon the insane freaks of some +of their visitors with the same feeling which rose in the +Mohammedan mind, there would have been a different story for both +sides. Dr. Palfrey describes the Turk's method, which only a Turk, +however, could have carried out: "Prompted by that superstitious +reverence which he (the Turk) was educated to pay to lunatics, as +persons inspired, he received these visitors with deferential and +ceremonious observance, and with a prodigious activity of +genuflections and salams, bowed them out of his country. They +could make nothing of it, and in that quarter gave up their +enterprise in despair." + +The General Court was the despairing body at this time. Months had +passed, and severity had simply multiplied the numbers to be dealt +with. But one remedy remained to be tried, a remedy against which +Simon Bradstreet's voice is said to have been the only one raised, +and the General Court, following the advice of Endicott and +Norton, passed the vote which is still one of the darkest blots on +the old records-- + +"Whereas, there is an accursed and pernicious sect of heretics +lately risen up in the world who are commonly called Quakers, who +take upon them to be immediately sent of God and infallibly +assisted; who do speak and write blasphemous things, despising +government and the order of God in church and commonwealth, +speaking evil of dignities, reproaching and reviling magistrates +and the ministers of the Gospel, seeking to turn the people from +the faith, and to gain proselytes to their pernicious ways; and +whereas the several jurisdictions have made divers laws to +prohibit and restrain the aforesaid cursed heretics from coming +amongst them, yet notwithstanding they are not deterred thereby, +but arrogantly and presumptuously do press into several of the +jurisdictions, and there vent their pernicious and devilish +opinions, which being permitted, tends manifestly to the +disturbance of our peace, the withdrawing of the hearts of the +people from their subjection to government, and so in issue to +cause division and ruin if not timely prevented; it is therefore +propounded and seriously commended to the several General Courts, +upon the considerations aforesaid, to make a law that all such +Quakers formerly convicted and punished as such, shall (if they +return again) be imprisoned, and forthwith banished or expelled +out of the said jurisdiction, under pain of death; and if +afterwards they presume to come again into that jurisdiction, then +to be put to death as presumptuously incorrigible, unless they +shall plainly and publicly renounce their cursed opinions; and for +such Quakers as shall come into any jurisdiction from any foreign +parts, or such as shall arise within the same, after due +conviction that either he or she is of that cursed sect of +heretics, they be banished under pain of severe corporal +punishment; and if they return again, then to be punished +accordingly, and banished under pain of death; and if afterwards +they shall yet presume to come again, then to be put to death as +aforesaid, except they do then and there plainly and publicly +renounce their said cursed opinions and devilish tenets." + +This was not the first time that death had been named as the +penalty against any who returned after banishment, and it had +proved effectual in keeping away many malcontents. But the Quakers +were of different stuff, the same determined temper which had made +the Puritan submit to any penalty rather than give up his faith, +being the common possession of both. + +In an address made to the King, partly aggressive partly +apologetic in tone, the wretched story sums itself up in a single +paragraph: "Twenty-two have been banished upon pain of death. +Three have been martyred, and three have had their right ears cut. +One hath been burned in the hand with the letter H. Thirty-one +persons have received six hundred and fifty stripes. One was beat +while his body was like a jelly. Several were beat with pitched +ropes. Five appeals made to England were denied by the rulers of +Boston. One thousand, forty-four pounds' worth of goods hath been +taken from them (being poor men) for meeting together in the fear +of the Lord, and for keeping the commands of Christ. One now lieth +in iron fetters condemned to die." + +That Massachusetts felt herself responsible for not only her own +safety but that of her allies, and that this safety appeared to be +menaced by a people who recognized few outward laws, was the only +palliation of a course which in time showed itself as folly, even +to the most embittered. The political consequences were of a +nature, of which in their first access of zeal, they had taken no +account. The complaints and appeals of the Quakers had at last +produced some effect, and there was well-grounded apprehension +that the sense of power which had brought the Colony to act with +the freedom of an independent state, might result in the loss of +some of their most dearly-prized privileges. The Quakers had +conquered, and the magistrates suddenly became conscious that such +strength as theirs need never have dreaded the power of this +feeble folk, and that their institutions could never fall before +an attack from any hands save those of the King himself, toward +whom they now turned with an alarmed deprecation. The Puritan +reign of terror for New England was over, its story to this +generation seeming as incredible as it is shameful. Brutality is +not quite dead even to-day, but there is cause for rejoicing that, +for America at least, freedom of conscience can never again mean +whipping, branding and torturing of unnamable sorts for tender +women and even children. Puritan and Quaker have sunk old +differences, but it is the Quaker who, while ignoring some phases +of a past in which neither present as calm an expression to the +world as should be the portion of the infallibility claimed +tacitly by both sides, is still able to write: + +"The mission of the Puritans was almost a complete failure. Their +plan of government was repudiated, and was succeeded by more +humane laws and wiser political arrangements. Their religion, +though it long retained its hold in theory, was replaced by one +less bigoted and superstitious. It is now a thing of the past, a +mere tradition, an antiquated curiosity. The early Quakers, or +some of them, in common with the Puritans, may illustrate some of +the least attractive characteristics of their times; but they were +abreast, if not in advance, of the foremost advocates of religious +and civil freedom. They were more than advocates--they were the +pioneers, who, by their heroic fortitude, patient suffering and +persistent devotion, rescued the old Bay Colony from the jaws of +the certain death to which the narrow and mistaken policy of the +bigoted and sometimes insincere founders had doomed it. They +forced them to abandon pretentious claims, to admit strangers +without insulting them, to tolerate religious differences, and to +incorporate into their legislation the spirit of liberty which is +now the life-blood of our institutions. The religion of the +Society of Friends is still an active force, having its full share +of influence upon our civilization. The vital principle--'The +Inward Light'--scoffed at and denounced by the Puritans as a +delusion, is recognized as a profound spiritual truth by sages and +philosophers." + +Through it all, though Simon Bradstreet's name occurs often in the +records of the Court, it is usually as asking some question +intended to divert attention if possible from the more aggressive +phases of the examination, and sooth the excited feelings of +either side. But naturally his sympathies were chiefly with his +own party, and his wife would share his convictions. There is no +surprise, therefore, in finding him numbered by the Quakers as +among those most bitterly against them. + +It is certain that Simon Bradstreet plead for moderation, but some +of the Quaker offences were such as would most deeply wound his +sense of decorum, and from the Quaker standpoint he is numbered +among the worst persecutors. + +In "New England Judged by the Spirit of the Lord," a prominent +Quaker wrote: "Your high-priest, John Norton, and Simon +Bradstreet, one of your magistrates, ... were deeply concerned in +the Blood of the Innocents and their cruel sufferings, the one +as advising, the other as acting," and he writes at another: +point "Simon Bradstreet, a man hardened in Blood and a cruel +persecutor." + +There is a curious suggestiveness in another count of the same +indictment. "Simon Bradstreet and William Hathorn aforesaid were +Assistant to Denison in these executions, whose Names I Record to +Rot and Stink as of you all to all Generations, unto whom this +shall be left as a perpetual Record of your Everlasting Shame." + +William Hathorn had an unwholesome interest in all sorrow and +catastrophe, the shadow of these evil days descending to the +representative Nathanael Hawthorne, whose pen has touched Puritan +weaknesses and Puritan strength, with a power no other has ever +held, but the association was hardly more happy for Bradstreet +then, than at a later day when an economical Hathorn bundled him +out of his tomb to make room for his own bones. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +HOME AND ABROAD. + + +In the midst of all this agitation and confusion Anne Bradstreet +pursued her quiet way, more disposed to comment on the misdoings +of the Persians or Romans than on anything nearer home, though +some lines in her "Dialogue between Old England and New," indicate +that she followed the course of every event with an anxious and +intelligent interest. In 1657, her oldest son had left for +England, where he remained until 1661, and she wrote then some +verses more to be commended for their motherly feeling than for +any charm of expression: + + UPON MY SON SAMUEL HIS GOEING FOR ENGLAND, + NOVEM. 6, 1657. + + Thou mighty God of Sea and Land, + I here resigne into thy hand + The Son of prayers, of vowes, of teares, + The child I stayed for many yeares. + Thou heard'st me then and gave'st him me; + Hear me again, I give him Thee. + He's mine, but more, O Lord thine own, + For sure thy Grace is on him shown. + No friend I have like Thee to trust, + For mortall helps are brittle Dust. + Preserve O Lord, from stormes and wrack, + Protect him there and bring him back; + And if thou shall spare me a space, + That I again may see his face, + Then shall I celebrate thy Praise, + And Blesse thee for't even all my Dayes. + If otherwise I goe to Rest, + Thy Will bee done, for that is best; + Perswade my heart I shall him see + Forever happefy'd with Thee. + +There were others of much the same order on his return, in 1661, +but her feelings centered then on the anxieties and dangers of the +course which had been resolved upon. The enemies of the Colony +were busy in London, and the King was strongly inclined to take +very decisive measures for its humiliation. Explanations must be +made by some one who had had personal experience in every case now +used against them, and after long and troubled consultation the +Colonial Government reluctantly decided to send two Commissioners +to England, selecting John Norton and Simon Bradstreet as best +capable of meeting the emergency. + +There was personal peril as well as political anxiety. The King +constitutionally listened to the first comer rather than the +second, and had already sided with the Quakers. To Norton it +seemed a willful putting of his head into the lion's jaws, and he +hesitated, and debated, and at last, from pure nervousness fell +violently ill. The ship which was to carry them waited, and +finally as it seemed impossible for him to rally his forces, began +unlading the provisions sent on board. The disgusted Government +officers prepared explanatory letters, and were on the point of +sending them when Mr. Norton came to his senses, and announced +that the Lord had "encouraged and strengthened his heart," and he +went decorously on board. + +The mission, though pronounced by some Quaker historians a +failure, was in reality after many delays and more hard words a +tolerable success. The King was still too uncertain of his own +position to quarrel with as powerful a set of friends as the +Massachusetts Colony were now disposed to prove themselves, and +the Commissioners returned home, bearing a renewal of the charter, +though the letters held other matters less satisfactory to the +Puritan temper. The King required an oath of allegiance from all, +and that "all laws and ordinances ... contrary or derogative to +his authority and government should be annulled and repealed." + +Toleration was made obligatory, and one clause outraged every +Puritan susceptibility; that in which it was ordered that, "in the +election of the Governor or Assistants, there should be only +consideration of the wisdom and integrity of the persons to be +chosen, and not of any faction with reference to their opinion or +profession." + +Governor Dudley's shade must have looked with amazed dismay and +wrath upon this egg, which could hardly fail to "a Toleration +hatch," filled with every evil his verses had prophesied, and +there were many of the same mind. But popular dissatisfaction in +time died away, as no ill results came from the new methods, which +were ignored as often as possible, and the working of which could +not be very effectually watched in England. Simon Bradstreet, +though censured by many, pursued his quiet way, thankful to be +safely at home again with his head in its proper place, and his +wife rejoiced over him in various poems which celebrated the +letters he wrote, and every detail of his coming and going. + +The summer of 1666 brought one of the sharpest trials her life had +ever known, the destruction of her house by fire taking place in +July. Each change of location to one of her tenacious affections +and deep love of home, had been a sharp wrench, and she required +long familiarity to reconcile her to new conditions. Though the +first and greatest change from England to America would seem to +have rendered all others trivial and not to be regarded, she had +shrank from each as it came, submitting by force of will, but +unreconciled till years had past. In Andover she had allowed +herself to take firm root, certain that from this point she would +never be dislodged, and the house had gradually become filled not +only with treasured articles of furniture and adornments, but with +the associations to which she always clung. There were family +portraits and heirlooms brought from the old home in Lincolnshire; +a library of nearly eight hundred volumes, many of them rare +editions difficult to replace, as well as her own special books +and papers. + +For these last there was no hope of renewal. Many of them were the +work of her early womanhood; others held the continuation of her +Roman Monarchy; small loss to the world at large, but the +destruction of a work which had beguiled many hours of the bodily +suffering from which she was seldom free. The second edition of +her poems, published after her death, held an apology found among +her papers, for the uncompleted state of this monarchy, in which +she wrote: + + To finish what's begun was my intent, + My thoughts and my endeavors thereto bent; + Essays I many made but still gave out, + The more I mus'd, the more I was in doubt: + The subject large my mind and body weak, + With many more discouragements did speak. + All thoughts of further progress laid aside, + Though oft persuaded, I as oft deny'd, + At length resolv'd when many years had past, + To prosecute my story to the last; + And for the same, I, hours not few did spend, + And weary lines (though lanke) I many pen'd: + But 'fore I could accomplish my desire + My papers fell a prey to th' raging fire. + And thus my pains with better things I lost, + Which none had cause to wail, nor I to boast. + No more I'le do, sith I have suffer'd wrack, + Although my Monarchies their legs do lack: + No matter is't this last, the world now sees + Hath many Ages been upon his knees. + +The disaster finds record in the Rev. Simon Bradstreet's diary: + +"July 12, 1666. Whilst I was at N. London my father's house at +Andover was burnt, where I lost my Books and many of my clothes, +to the valieu of 50 or 60 pounds at least; The Lord gave, and the +Lord hath taken, blessed bee the name of the Lord. Tho: my own +losse of books (and papers espec.) was great and my fathers far +more being about 800, yet ye Lord was pleased gratiously many +wayes to make up ye same to us. It is therefore good to trust in +the Lord" + +The "newe house" built at once and furnished with the utmost +elegance of the time, Simon Bradstreet's prosperity admitting the +free expenditure he always loved, could by no means fill the place +of the old. She looked about each room with a half-expectation +that the familiar articles with which so much of her outward life +had been associated, must be in the old places, and patiently as +she bore the loss, their absence fretted and saddened her. One of +her latest poems holds her sorrow and the resignation she came at +last to feel: + + "In silent night when rest I took, + For sorrow neer I did not look, + I waken'd was with thundring nois + And Piteous shreiks of dreadfull voice; + That fearfull sound of fire and fire, + Let no man know is my desire. + + I, starting up the light did spye, + And to my God my heart did cry + To strengthen me in my Distress + And not to leave me succourlesse, + When coming out, beheld a space, + The flame consume my dwelling place. + + And, when I could no longer look, + I blest his name that gave and took, + That layd my goods now in the dust; + Yea so it was, and so 'twas just. + It was his own; it was not mine + ffar be it that I should repine. + + He might of All justly bereft + But yet sufficient for us left. + When by the Ruines oft I past, + My sorrowing eyes aside did cast, + And here and there the places spye + Where oft I sate, and long did lye. + + Here stood that Trunk and there that chest; + There lay that store I counted best; + My pleasant things in ashes lye, + And them behold no more shall I. + Vnder thy roof no guest shall sitt, + Nor at thy Table eat a bitt. + + No pleasant tale shall 'ere be told, + Nor things recounted done of old. + No Candle 'ere shall shine in Thee, + Nor bridegroom's voice ere heard shall bee. + In silence ever shalt thou lye; + Adieu, Adieu; All's vanity. + + Then streight I 'gin my heart to chide, + And did thy wealth on earth abide? + Dids't fix thy hope on mouldering dust, + The arm of flesh dids't make thy trust? + Raise up thy thoughts above the skye + That dunghill mists away may flie. + + Thou hast a house on high erect, + Fram'd by that mighty Architect + With glory richly furnished, + Stands permanent tho: this be fled. + 'Its purchased and paid for too + By him who hath enough to doe. + + A prise so vast as is unknown + Yet by his gift is made thine own. + Ther's wealth enough, I need no more; + Farewell my Pelf, farewell my Store. + The world no longer let me Love, + My hope and Treasure lyes Above." + +The fortunes of the new house were hardly happy ones. With the +death of his wife Governor Bradstreet left it in possession of a +younger son, Captain Dudley Bradstreet, who was one of the most +important citizens of Andover, having been "selectman, colonel of +militia, and magistrate," while still a young man. His father's +broad yet moderate views and his mother's gentle and devoted +spirit seem to have united in him, for when the witchcraft +delusion was at its height, and even the most honored men and +women in the little community were in danger of their lives, he +suddenly resolved to grant no more warrants for either apprehension +or imprisonment. This was shocking enough to the excited +popular mind, but when he added to such offence a plea, which +he himself drew up for some of the victims, who, as they admitted, +had made confession of witchcraft "by reason of sudden surprisal, +when exceedingly astonished and amazed and consternated and +affrighted even out of reason," there was no room left for any +conviction save that he was under the same spell. Loved as he had +been by all the people whom he had served unselfishly for twenty +years, the craze which possessed them all, wiped out any memory of +the past or any power of common sense in the present, and he fled +in the night and for a long time remained in hiding. The delusion +ended as suddenly as it had begun, a reaction setting in, and the +people doing all in their power to atone for the suspicion and +outrage that had caused his flight. Placable and friendly, the old +relations were resumed as far as possible, though the shadow had +been too heavy an one ever to pass entirely. + +Another terror even greater had come before the century ended: An +act of treachery had been commited by a citizen of Andover, a +Captain Chubb, who had in 1693 been in command of Fort Pemaquid, +and having first plied a delegation of Penobscot Indians with +liquor, gave orders for their massacre while still in their +drunken sleep. In an after attack by French and Indians upon the +fort, he surrendered on promise of personal safety, and in time, +returned to Andover, disgraced, but abundantly satisfied to have +saved his scalp. + +The rest of the story is given by Cotton Mather in the Magnalia: + +"The winter, (1693) was the severest that ever was in the memory +of Man. And yet February must not pass without a stroke upon +Pemquid Chub, whom the Government had mercifully permitted after +his examination to retire unto his habitation in Andover. As much +out of the way as to Andover there came above thirty Indians about +the middle of February as if their errand had been for vengeance +upon Chub, whom, with his wife they now massacred there." +Hutchinson comments gravely: "It is not probable they had any +knowledge of the place of his abode, but it caused them greater +joy than the taking of many towns. Rapin would have pronounced +such an event the immediate judgement of Heaven. Voltaire, that in +the place of supposed safety, the man could not avoid his +destiny." + +The towns mustered hastily, but not before the flames of the +burning buildings had arisen at many points, and terrified women +and children had been dragged from their beds and in one or two +cases murdered at once, though most were reserved as captives. +Dudley Bradstreet and his family were of this latter number. The +house was broken into and plundered; his kinsman who attempted +defence, cut down on the spot, and the same fate might have +overtaken all, had not an Indian who had received some special +kindness from the colonel, interfered and prevented the butchery. +The family were carried some fifty rods from the house and then +released and allowed to return, and by this time the soldiers were +armed and the party routed. No sense of safety could be felt then, +or for many years thereafter, and from terror and other causes, +the house was in time forsaken by its natural owners and passed +into other hands, though no tenant, even of sixty years standing +has had power to secure to it any other title than that which it +still holds--"the Bradstreet house." + + * * * * * + +For its first occupants possession was nearly over. The vitality +which had carried Anne Bradstreet through longer life than could +have been imagined possible, was nearly exhausted. + +Constant weakness and pain and occasional attacks of severe +illness marked all the later years of her life, which for the last +three, was a weariness to herself, and a source of suffering to +all who saw her suffer. Certain that it could not last long, she +began at one time the little autobiographical diary, found among +her papers after death, and containing the only personal details +that remained, even these being mere suggestions. All her life she +had been subject to sudden attacks of faintness, and even as early +as 1656, lay for hours unconscious, remaining in a state of +pitiful weakness many days thereafter. One of these attacks found +record on a loose paper, added by one of her sons to the +manuscript book of "Religious Reflections," and showing with what +patience she met the ills for the overcoming of which any +physician of the time was powerless, and against which she made a +life-long resistance. It was the beginning of a battle which has +ever since held its ground in New England, to "enjoy poor health," +yet be ready for every emergency, being a state of things on which +the average woman rather prides herself, medicine, quack or home- +brewed, ranking in importance with the "means of grace." + +SUBMISSION AND RELIANCE. + +"July 8th, 1656. I had a sore fitt of fainting, which lasted 2 or +3 days, but not in that extremity which at first it took me, and +so moch the sorer it was to me, because my dear husband was from +home (who is my chiefest comforter on Earth); but my God, who +never failed me, was not absent, but helped me, and gratiously +manifested his Love to me, which I dare not passe by without +Remembrance, that it may bee a support to me when I shall have +occasion to read this hereafter, and to others that shall read it +when I shall possesse that I now hope for, that so they may bee +encourage'd to trust in him who is the only Portion of his +Servants. O Lord, let me never forgett thy Goodness, nor question +thy faithfullness to me, for thou art my God: Thou hast said, and +shall not I believe it? Thou hast given me a pledge of that +Inheritance thou hast promised to bestow upon me. O, never let +Satan prevail against me, but strengthen my faith in Thee, 'till I +shall attain the end of my hopes, even the Salvation of my Soul. +Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly." + + DELIVERANCE FROM A FITT OF FAINTING. + + Worthy art Thou O Lord of praise! + But ah! it's not in me; + My sinking heart I pray thee raise, + So shall I give it Thee. + + My life as Spider's webb's cut off, + Thos fainting have I said, + And liveing man no more shall see, + But bee in Silence layd. + + My feblee Spirit Thou didst revive, + My Doubting Thou didst chide, + And tho: as dead mad'st me alive, + I here a while might 'bide. + + Why should I live but to thy Praise? + My life is hid with Thee; + O Lord no longer bee my Dayes, + Then I may froitfull bee. + +"August 28, 1656. After much weaknes and sicknes when my spirits +were worn out, and many times my faith weak likewise, the Lord was +pleased to uphold my drooping heart, and to manifest his Love to +me; and this is that which stayes my Soul that this condition that +I am in is the best for me, for God doth not afflict willingly, +nor take delight in grieving the children of men: he hath no +benefitt by my adversity, nor is he the better for my prosperity; +but he doth it for my Advantage, and that I may be a Gainer by it. +And if he knowes that weaknes and a frail body is the best to make +mee a vessell fitt for his use, why should I not bare it, not only +willingly but joyfully? The Lord knowes I dare not desire that +health that sometimes I have had, least my heart should bee drawn +from him, and sett upon the world. + +"Now I can wait, looking every day when my Saviour shall call for +me. Lord, grant that while I live I may doe that service I am able +in this frail Body, and bee in continual expectation of my change, +and let me never forget thy great Love to my soul so lately +expressed, when I could lye down and bequeath my Soul to thee, and +Death seem'd no terrible Thing. O, let mee ever see thee, that Art +invisible, and I shall not bee unwilling to come, tho: by so rough +a messenger." + +Through all the long sickness the family life went on unchanged, +save in the contracting circle, from which one child and another +passed. There was still strength to direct the daily round of +household duties, and to listen with quick sympathy to the many +who came to her trouble. There was not only the village life with +its petty interests, but the larger official one of her husband, +in which she shared so far as full knowledge of its details +allowed, Simon Bradstreet, like Governor Winthrop, believing +strongly in that "inward sight" which made women often clearer +judges than men of perplexed and knotty points. Two bits of family +life are given in a document still in existence and copied by the +New England Historical and Genalogical Register for 1859. To it is +appended the full signature of Anne Bradstreet, in a clear, +upright hand, of singular distinctness and beauty when compared +with much of the penmanship of that period. But one other +autograph is in existence. It is evident from the nature of the +document, that village life had its infelicities in 1670, quite as +fully as to-day, and that a poem might have grown out of it, had +daily life been thought worthy of a poem. + +"This witnesseth, that wee heard good(tm) Sutton say, there was +noe horses in his yard that night in wch Mr Bradstreetes mare was +killed, & afterwards that there was none that he knew of; but +being told by Mr Bradstreete that hee thought hee could p've hee +drave out some, then hee sd, yes, now I remembr there was 3 or 4. + +"Further, wee testifie the sd. Sutton sd. att yt tyme there was +noe dogg there, but his wch was a puppy, & Mr Danes that would not +byte. + + ANNE BRADSTREET + MERCY BRADSTREET + DUDLEY BRADSTREET + JOHN BRADSTREET + EDWARD WHITTINGTON + ALEXANDER + SESSIONS + [his marke] + ROBTE. RB BUSELY." + +Law was resorted to in even small disagreements with a haste and +frequency excellent for the profession employed, but going far to +intensify the litigious spirit of the day, and tolerant as Simon +Bradstreet was in all large matters, his name occurs with +unpleasant frequency in these petty village suits. This suit with +goodman Sutton was but one of many, almost all of which arose from +the trespasses of animals. Fences were few, and though they were +viewed at intervals by the "perambulators," and decided to be +"very sufficient against all orderly cattle," the swine declined +to come under this head, and rooted their way into desirable +garden patches to the wrath and confusion of their owners, all +persons at last, save innholders, being forbidden to keep more +than ten of the obnoxious animals. Horses, also, broke loose at +times, and Mr. Bradstreet was not the only one who suffered loss, +one of the first tragedies in the little town, being a hand to +hand fight, ending in a stabbing of one of the parties, both of +whom belonged to good families and were but lightly judged in the +trial which followed. They were by no means a peaceful community, +and if the full truth be told, a week of colonial life would prove +to hold almost as large a proportion of squabbles as any town +record of to-day. + +The second one gives some difficulties connected with the marriage +of Governor Bradstreet's daughter Mercy, which took place Oct. 31, +1672, but not till various high words had passed, and sufficient +hard feeling been engendered to compel the preparing of the +affidavit, which probably, whatever its effect may have been on +the parents, did not touch the happiness of the young pair for +whose respective rights they had debated. + +"When Mr. Johnathan Wade of Ipswich came first to my house att +Andover in the yeare 72, to make a motion of marriage betwixt his +son Nathaniel and my daughter Mercy hee freely of himself told mee +what he would give to his son vz. one halfe of his Farme att +Mistick and one third p't of his land in England when hee dyed, +and that hee should have liberty to make use of p't of the imp'ved +and broken upp ground upon the sd Farme, till hee could gett some +broken upp for himselfe upon his owne p't and likewis | that hee +should live in and have the use of halfe the house, and untill he +had one | of his owne built upon his p't of the farme. I was +willing to accept of his | offer, or at least sd. nothing against +it; but p'p'ounded that hee would make | his sd soil a deede of +guift of that third p't of his land in England to enjoy to | him +and his heires after his death. This hee was not free to doe, but +sd. it was | as sure, for he had soe putt it into his will, that +his 3 sons should have | that in England equally devyded betwixt +them, vz. each a 3 p't. I objected | he marry | againe and have +other children, wich hee thought a vaine obieccon. Much | othr +discourse there was about the stocke on the Farme, &c., but +remayneing unwilling | to give a deede for that in England, saying +he might live to spend it, and often | repeating hee had soe +ordered it in his will, as aforesd., wch hee should never altr +without | great necessity, or words to that purpose. Soe wee p'ted +for that tyme leaveing | that mattr to further consideracon. After +hee came home hee told sev'all of my | Friends and others as they +informed me, that hee had p'ffered to give his son Nathaniel bettr +then 1000 lb | and I would not accept of it. The next tyme hee +came to my house, after some | discourse about the premises and +p'esining his resolucon as form'ly ingaged, and left it to him to +add wt he pleased | towards the building of him a house &c., and +soe agreed that the young p'sons might | p'ceede in marriage with +both or Consents, wch accordingly they did. S. BRADSTREET." + +"The Honble Simon Bradstreet Esqr | made Oath to the truth of the +above written Sept. 21th, 1683, before Samuell Nowell, Assistant. + +"The interlines [as aforesaid], line 19th, and [as they informed +me] line 22th, were before the Oath was made." + +The brackets are in the original and were used as quotations +marks. Governor Bradstreet's name and all above it are in his +handwriting; all below it is in Mr. Nowell's. + +Another Mercy Bradstreet, niece of the Mercy whose name figures in +the foregoing statement, and the daughter of the oldest son, +married Dr. James Oliver, from whom are descended Dr. Oliver +Wendell Holmes and Wendell Phillips, while Lucy, the daughter of +Simon, the second son, became the ancestress of Dr. Channing and +of Richard N. Dana, the poet and his distinguished son. Many of +the grandchildren died in infancy, and the pages of the second +edition of their grandmother's poems are sprinkled with elegies +long and short, upon the babies almost as well loved as her own, +though none of them have any poetical merit. But her thoughts +dwelt chiefly in the world for which she longed, and there are +constant reminders of what careless hold she kept upon the life +which had come to be simply a burden to be borne with such +patience as might be given her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE END. + + +Through all these later years Anne Bradstreet had made occasional +records, in which her many sicknesses find mention, though never +in any complaining fashion. + +Now and then, as in the following meditation, she wrote a page +full of gratitude at the peace which became more and more assured, +her doubting and self-distrustful spirit retaining more and more +the quietness often in early life denied her: + +MEDITATIONS WHEN MY SOUL HATH BEEN REFRESHED WITH THE CONSOLATIONS +WHICH THE WORLD KNOWES NOT. + +Lord, why should I doubt any more when thou hast given me such +assured Pledges of thy Love? First, thou art my Creator, I thy +creature; thou my master, I thy servant. But hence arises not my +comfort: Thou art my ffather, I thy child. Yee shall [be] my Sons +and Daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Christ is my brother; I +ascend unto my ffather and your ffather, unto my God and your God. +But least this should not be enough, thy maker is thy husband. +Nay, more, I am a member of his Body; he, my head. Such +Priviledges, had not the Word of Truth made them known, who or +where is the man that durst in his heart have presumed to have +thought it? So wonderfull are these thoughts that my spirit failes +in me at the consideration thereof; and I am confounded to think +that God, who hath done so much for me should have so little from +me. But this is my comfort, when I come into Heaven, I shall +understand perfectly what he hath done for me, and then shall I be +able to praise him as I ought. Lord, haveing this hope, let me +pruefie myself as thou art Pure, and let me bee no more affraid of +Death, but even desire to be dissolved, and bee with thee, which +is best of all. + +Of the same nature are the fragments of diary which follow: + +July 8th, 1656. I had a sore fitt of fainting which lasted 2 or 3 +days, but not in that extremity which at first it took me, and so +much the sorer it was to me because my dear husband was from home +(who is my chiefest comforter on Earth); but my God, who never +failed me, was not absent, but helped me, and gratiously +manifested his Love to me, which I dare not passe by without +Remembrance, that it may be a support to me when I shall have +occasion to read this hereafter, and to others that shall read it +when I shall posesse that I now hope for, that so they may bee +encourag'd to trust in him who is the only Portion of his +Servants. + +O Lord, let me never forget thy Goodness, nor question thy +faithfulness to me, for thou art my God: Thou hast said and shall +I not beleive it? + +Thou hast given me a pledge of that Inheritance thou hast promised +to bestow upon me. O, never let Satan prevail against me, but +strengthen my faith in Thee 'till I shall attain the end of my +hopes, even the Salvation of my Soul. Come, Lord Jesus; come +quickly. + + What God is like to him I serve, + What Saviour like to mine? + O, never let me from thee swerve, + For truly I am thine. + +Sept. 30, 1657. It pleased God to viset me with my old Distemper +of weakness and fainting, but not in that sore manner sometimes he +hath. I desire not only willingly, but thankfully, to submitt to +him, for I trust it is out of his abundant Love to my straying +Soul which in prosperity is too much in love with the world. I +have found by experience I can no more live without correction +than without food. Lord, with thy correction give Instruction and +amendment, and then thy strokes shall bee welcome. I have not been +refined in the furnace of affliction as some have been, but have +rather been preserved with sugar then brine, yet will He preserve +me to His heavenly kingdom. + +Thus (dear children) have yee seen the many sicknesses and +weaknesses that I have passed thro: to the end that, if you meet +with the like, you may have recourse to the same God who hath +heard and delivered me, and will doe the like for you if you trust +in him: and, when he shall deliver you out of distresse, forget +not to give him thankes, but to walk more closely with him +then before. This is the desire of your Loving Mother, + A. B. + +With this record came a time of comparative health, and it is not +till some years later that she finds it necessary to again write +of sharp physical suffering, this being the last reference made in +her papers to her own condition: + +May 11, 1661. It hath pleased God to give me a long Time of +respite for these 4 years that I have had no great fitt of +sickness, but this year, from the middle of January 'till May, I +have been by fitts very ill and weak. The first of this month I +had a feaver seat'd upon me which, indeed, was the longest and +sorest that ever I had, lasting 4 dayes, and the weather being +very hott made it the more tedious, but it pleased the Lord to +support my heart in his goodness, and to hear my Prayers, and to +deliver me out of adversity. But alas! I cannot render unto the +Lord according to all his loving kindnes, nor take the cup +salvation with Thanksgiving as I ought to doe. Lord, Thou that +knowest All things, know'st that I desire to testefye my +thankfulnes, not only in word, but in Deed, that my Conversation +may speak that thy vowes are upon me. + +The diary of "Religious Reflections" was written at this period +and holds a portrait of the devout and tender mind, sensitive and +morbidly conscientious, but full of an aspiration that never left +her. The few hints as to her early life are all embodied here, +though the biographer is forced to work chiefly by inference: + + TO MY DEAR CHILDREN: + + This Book by Any yet unread, + I leave for you when I am dead, + That, being gone, here you may find + What was your living mother's mind. + Make use of what I leave in Love + And God shall blesse you from above. + A. B. + +MY DEAR CHILDREN: Knowing by experience that the exhortations of +parents take most effect when the speakers leave to speak, and +those especially sink deepest which are spoke latest--and being +ignorant whether on my death-bed I shall have opportunity to speak +to any of you, much lesse to All--thought it the best, whilst I +was able to compose some short matters, (for what else to call +them I know not) and bequeath to you, that when I am no more with +you, yet I may bee dayly in your remembrance, (Although that is +the least in my aim in what I now doe) but that you may gain some +spiritual Advantage by my experience. I have not studied in this +you read to show my skill, but to declare the Truth---not to sett +forth myself, but the Glory of God. If I had minded the former, it +had been perhaps better pleasing to you,--but seing the last is +the best, let it bee best pleasing to you. The method I will +observe shall bee this--I will begin with God's dealing with me +from my childhood to this Day. In my young years, about 6 or 7 as +I take it, I began to make conscience of my wayes, and what I knew +was sinful, as lying, disobedience to Parents, &c., I avoided it. +If at any time I was overtaken with the like evills, it was a +great Trouble. I could not be at rest 'till by prayer I had +confest it unto God. I was also troubled at the neglect of Private +Dutyes, tho: too often tardy that way. I also found much comfort +in reading the Scriptures, especially those places I thought most +concerned my Condition, and as I grew to have more understanding, +so the more solace I took in them. + +In a long fitt of sicknes which I had on my bed I often communed +with my heart, and made my supplication to the most High who sett +me free from that affliction. + +But as I grew up to bee about 14 or 15 I found my heart more +carnall, and sitting loose from God, vanity and the follyes of +youth take hold of me. About 16, the Lord layed his hand sore upon +me and Smott mee with the small pox. When I was in my affliction, +I besought the Lord, and confessed my Pride and Vanity and he was +entreated of me, and again restored me. But I rendered not to him +according to the benefitt received. + +After a short time I changed my condition and was marryed, and +came into this Contry, where I fond a new world and new manners, +at which my heart rose. But after I was convinced it was the way +of God, I submitted to it and joined to the church at Boston. + +After some time I fell into a lingering sicknes like a consumption, +together with a lamenesse, which correction I saw the Lord sent to +humble and try me and doe mee Good: and it was not altogether +ineffectual. + +It pleased God to keep me a long time without a child, which was a +great grief to me, and cost mee many prayers and tears before I +obtained one, and after him gave mee many more, of whom I now take +the care, that as I have broght you into the world, and with great +paines, weaknes, cares, and feares, brought you to this, I now +travail in birth again of you till Christ bee formed in you. + +Among all my experiences of God's gratious Dealings with me I have +constantly observed this, that he hath never suffered me long to +sitt loose from him, but by one affliction or other hath made me +look home, and search what was amisse so usually thos it hath been +with me that I have no sooner felt my heart out of order, but I +have expected correction for it, which most commonly hath been +upon my own person, in sicknesse, weaknes, paines, sometimes on my +soul, in Doubts and feares of God's displeasure, and my sincerity +towards him, sometimes he hath smott a child with sicknes, +sometimes chastened by losses in estate,--and these Times (thro: +his great mercy) have been the times of my greatest Getting and +Advantage, yea I have found them the Times when the Lord hath +manifested the most love to me. Then have I gone to searching, and +have said with David, Lord search me and try me, see what wayes of +wickednes are in me, and lead me in the way everlasting; and +seldom or never, but I have found either some sin I lay under +which God would have reformed, or some duty neglected which he +would have performed. And by his help I have layed Vowes and Bonds +upon my Soul to perform his righteous commands. + +If at any time you are chastened of God, take it as thankfully and +Joyfully as in greatest mercyes, for if yee bee his yee shall reap +the greatest benefit by it. It hath been no small support to me in +times of Darkness when the Almighty hath hid his face from me, +that yet I have had abundance of sweetness and refreshment after +affliction, and more circumspection in my walking after I have +been afflicted. I have been with God like an untoward child, that +no longer than the rod has been on my back (or at least in sight) +but I have been apt to forgett him and myself too. Before I was +afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy statutes. + +I have had great experience of God's hearing my Prayers, and +returning comfortable Answers to me, either in granting the thing +I prayed for, or else in satisfying my mind without it; and I have +been confident it hath been from him, because I have found my +heart through his goodnes enlarged in thankfullnes to him. + +I have often been perplexed that I have not found that constant +Joy in my Pilgrim age and refreshing which I supposed most of the +servants of God have; although he hath not left me altogether +without the wittnes of his holy spirit, who hath oft given mee his +word and sett to his Seal that it shall bee well with me. I have +sometimes tasted of that hidden manna that the world knowes not, +and have sett up my Ebenezer, and have resolved with myself that +against such a promise such taste of sweetnes, the Gates of Hell +shall never prevail. Yet have I many times sinkings and droopings, +and not enjoyed that felicity that sometimes I have done. But when +I have been in darknes and seen no light, yet have I desired to +stay myself upon the Lord. And, when I have been in sicknes and +pain, I have thought if the Lord would but lift up the light of +his Countenance upon me, altho he ground me to powder, it would +bee but light to me; yea, oft have I thought were if hell itself, +and could there find the Love of God toward me, it would bee a +Heaven. And, could I have been in Heaven without the Love of God +it would have been a Hell to me; for in Truth, it is the absence +and presence of God that makes Heaven or Hell. + +Many times hath Satan troubled me concerning the verity of the +Scriptures, many times by Atheisme how could I know whether there +was a God; I never saw any miracles to confirm me, and those which +I read of how did I know but they were feigned. That there is a God +my Reason would soon tell me by the wondrous workes that I see, +the vast frame of the Heaven and the Earth, the order of all things, +night and day, Summer and Winter, Spring and Autumne, the dayly +providing for this great houshold upon the Earth, the preserving +and directing of All to its proper end. The consideration of +these things would with amazement certainly resolve me that +there is an Eternall Being. + +But how should I know he is such a God as I worship in Trinity, +and such a Savior as I rely upon? tho: this hath thousands of +times been suggested to mee, yet God hath helped me ever. I have +argued this with myself. That there is a God I see. If ever this +God hath revealed himself, it must bee in his word, and this must +be it or none. Have I not found that operation by it that no +humane Invention can work upon the Soul? Hath not Judgments +befallen Diverse who have scorned and contemd it? Hath it not been +preserved thro: all Ages mangre all the heathen Tyrants and all of +the enemies who have opposed it? Is there any story but that which +shows the beginnings of Times, and how the world came to bee as +wee see? Doe wee not know the prophecyes in it fullfilled which +could not have been so long foretold by any but God himself? When +I have gott over this Block, then have I another pott in my way, +That admitt this bee the true God whom we worship, and that be his +word, yet why may not the Popish Religion bee the right? They have +the same God, the same Christ, the same word; they only interprett +it one way, wee another. This hath sometimes stuck with me, and +more it would, but the vain fooleries that are in their Religion, +together with their lying miracles and cruell persecutions of the +Saints, which admitt were they as they terme them, yet not so to +be dealt with all. The consideration of these things and many the +like would soon turn me to my own Religion again. But some new +Troubles I have had since the world has been filled with +Blasphemy, and Sectaries, and some who have been accounted sincere +Christians have been carryed away with them, that sometimes I have +said, Is there ffaith upon the earth? and I have not known what to +think. But then I have remembered the words of Christ that so it +must bee, and that, if it were possible, the very elect should bee +deceived. Behold, faith our Savior, I have told you before. That +hath stayed my heart, and I can now say, Return, O my Soul, to thy +Rest, upon this Rock Christ Jesus will I build my faith; and if I +perish, I perish. But I know all the Powers of Hell shall never +prevail against it. I know whom I have trusted, and whom I have +believed, and that he is able to keep that I have committed to his +charge. Now to the King, Immortall, Eternall, and invisible, the +only wise God, bee Honor and Glory forever and ever! Amen. This +was written in much sicknesse and weakness, and is very weakly and +imperfectly done; but, if you can pick any Benefitt out of it, it +is the marke which I aimed at. + +For a few of the years that remained there were the alternations +to which she had long been accustomed, but with 1669 she had +become a hopeless and almost helpless invalid, longing to die, yet +still held by the intense vitality which must have been her +characteristic, and which required three years more of wasting +pain before the struggle could end. In August, of 1669, she had +written one of the most pathetic of her poems: + + Aug: 31, 69. + + As weary pilgrim now at rest, + Hugs with delight his silent nest + His wasted limbes now lye full soft + That myrie steps have trodden oft. + Blesses himself to think upon + his dangers past, and travails done. + The burning sun no more shall heat + Nor stormy raines on him shall beat. + The bryars and thornes no more shall scratch, + nor hungry wolves at him shall catch + He erring pathes no more shall tread + nor wilde fruits eate, instead of bread + for waters cold he doth not long + for thirst no more shall parch his tongue. + No rugged stones his feet shall gaule, + nor stumps nor rocks cause him to fall. + All cares and feares, he bids farewell + and meanes in safity now to dwell. + A pilgrim I, on earth, perplext, + Wth sinns wth cares and sorrovys vext + By age and paines brought to decay. + And my Clay house mouldring away + Oh how I long to be at rest + and soare on high among the blesst. + This body shall in silence sleep + Mine eyes no more shall ever weep + No fainting fits shall me assaile + nor grinding paines my body fraile + Wth cares and fears n'er cumbred be + Nor losses know, nor sorrows see + What tho my flesh shall there consume + it is the bed Christ did perfume + And when a few yeares shall be gone + this mortall shall be cloth'd upon + A corrupt Carcasse ddwne it lyes + A glorious body it shall rise + In weakness and dishonour sowne + in power 'tis rais'd by Christ alone + When soule and body shall unite + and of their maker have the sight + Such lasting joyes shall there behold + as care ne'r heard nor tongue e'er told + Lord make me ready for that day + then Come dear bridegrome, Come away. + +The long waiting ended at last, and her son, Simon Bradstreet, +wrote in his diary: + +"Sept. 16, 1672. My ever honoured & most clear Mother was +translated to Heaven. Her death was occasioned by a consumption +being wasted to skin & bone & she had an issue made in her arm +bee: she was much troubled with rheum, & one of ye women yt tended +herr dressing her arm, s'd shee never saw such an arm in her Life, +I, s'd my most dear Mother but yt shall bee a Glorious Arm. + +"I being absent fro her lost the opportunity of committing to +memory her pious & memorable xpressions uttered in her sicknesse. +O yt the good Lord would give unto me and mine a heart to walk in +her steps, considering what the end of her Conversation was, yt so +wee might one day have a happy & glorious greeting." + +Dorothy, the wife of Seaborn Cotton and the namesake of her +grandmother, had died in February of the same year, making the +first break in the family circle, which had been a singularly +united one, the remainder all living to advanced years. Grief at +the loss had been softened by the certainty that separation could +not last long, and in spite of the terror with which her creed +filled even the thought of death, suffering had made at last a +welcome one. No other touch could bring healing or rest to the +racked and weary body, and deeply as Simon Bradstreet mourned her +loss, a weight rolled away, when the long suffering had ended. + +That the country-side thronged to the funeral of the woman whose +name was honored in every New England settlement, we may know, but +no record remains of ceremony, or sermon, or even of burial place. +The old graveyard at Andover holds no stone that may perhaps have +been hers, and it is believed that her father's tomb at Roxbury +may have received the remains, that possibly she herself desired +should lie by those of her mother. Sermons were preached in all +the principal churches, and funeral elegies, that dearest form of +the Puritan muse, poured in, that by John Norton being the best +illustration of manner and method. + + A FUNERAL ELOGY, + + _Upon that Pattern and Patron of Virtue, the truely + pious, peerless matchless Gentlewoman_ + + MRS. ANNE BRADSTREET, + + _right Panaretes,_ + + _Mirror of her Age, Glory of her Sex, whose + Heaven-born-Soul its earthly Shrine, chose its native + home, and was taken to its Rest upon 16th + Sept. 1672._ + + Ask not why hearts turn Magazines of passions, + And why that grief is clad in several fashions; + Why she on progress goes, and doth not borrow + The small'st respite from the extreams of sorrow, + Her misery is got to such an height, + As makes the earth groan to support its weight, + Such storms of woe, so strongly have beset her, + She hath no place for worse, nor hope for better + Her comfort is, if any for her be, + That none can shew more cause of grief then she. + Ask not why some in mournfull black are clad; + The sun is set, there needs must be a shade. + Ask not why every face a sadness shrowdes; + The setting Sun ore-cast us hath with Clouds. + Ask not why the great glory of the Skye + That gilds the stars with heavenly Alchamy, + Which all the world doth lighten with his Rayes, + The _Persian_ God, the Monarch of the dayes; + Ask not the reason of his extasie, + Paleness of late, in midnoon Majesty, + Why that the pale fac'd Empress of the night + Disrob'd her brother of his glorious light. + Did not the language of the stars foretel + A mournfull Scoene when they with tears did Swell? + Did not the glorious people of the Skye + Seem sensible of future misery? + Did not the low'ring heavens seem to express + The worlds great lose and their unhappiness? + Behold how tears flow from the learned hill, + How the bereaved Nine do daily fill + The bosom of the fleeting Air with groans, + And wofull Accents, which witness their Moanes. + How doe the Goddesses of verse, the learned quire + Lament their rival Quill, which all admire? + Could _Maro's_ Muse but hear her lively strain, + He would condemn his works to fire again, + Methinks I hear the Patron of the Spring, + The unshorn Deity abruptly sing. + Some doe for anguish weep, for anger I + That Ignorance should live, and Art should die. + Black, fatal, dismal, inauspicious day, + Unblest forever by Sol's precious Ray, + Be it the first of Miseries to all; + Or last of Life, defam'd for Funeral. + When this day yearly comes, let every one, + Cast in their urne, the black and dismal stone, + Succeeding years as they their circuit goe, + Leap o'er this day, as a sad time of woe. + Farewell my Muse, since thou hast left thy shrine, + I am unblest in one, but blest in nine. + Fair Thespian Ladyes, light your torches all, + Attend your glory to its Funeral, + To court her ashes with a learned tear, + A briny sacrifice, let not a smile appear. + + Grave Matron, whoso seeks to blazon thee, + Needs not make use of witts false Heraldry; + Whoso should give thee all thy worth would swell + So high, as'twould turn the world infidel. + Had he great _Maro's_ Muse, or Tully's tongue, + Or raping numbers like the _Thracian_ Song, + In crowning of her merits he would be + Sumptuously poor, low in Hyperbole. + To write is easy; but to write on thee, + Truth would be thought to forfeit modesty. + He'l seem a Poet that shall speak but true; + Hyperbole's in others, are thy due. + Like a most servile flatterer he will show + Though he write truth, and make the Subject, You. + Virtue ne'er dies, time will a Poet raise + Born under better Stars, shall sing thy praise. + Praise her who list, yet he shall be a debtor + For Art ne're feigned, nor Nature fram'd a better. + Her virtues were so great, that they do raise + A work to trouble fame, astonish praise. + When as her Name doth but salute the ear, + Men think that they perfections abstract hear. + Her breast was a brave Pallace, a Broad-street, + Where all heroick ample thoughts did meet, + Where nature such a Tenement had tane, + That others Souls, to hers, dwelt in a lane. + Beneath her feet, pale envy bites her chain, + And poison Malice, whetts her sting in vain. + Let every Laurel, every Myrtel bough + Be stript for leaves t'adorn and load her brow. + Victorious wreaths, which 'cause they never fade + Wise elder times for Kings and Poets made + Let not her happy Memory e're lack + Its worth in Fame's eternal Almanack, + Which none shall read, but straight their lots deplore, + And blame their Fates they were not born before. + Do not old men rejoyce their Fates did last, + And infants too, that theirs did make such hast, + In such a welcome time to bring them forth, + That they might be a witness to her worth. + Who undertakes this subject to commend + Shall nothing find so hard as how to end. + _Finis & Non,_ + JOHN NORTON. + +Forty years of wedded life, and a devotion that remained unaltered +to the end, inclined Simon Bradstreet to a longer period of +mourning than most Puritan husbands seemed to have submitted to, +but four years after her death, the husband, at seventy-three, +still as hale and well-preserved as many a man of fifty, took to +himself another wife. + +She was the widow of Captain Joseph Gardner of Salem, killed in +the attack on the Narragansett fort in December, 1675, and is +described by her step-son Simon, in his diary as "a Gentl. of very +good birth and education, and of great piety and prudence." Of her +prudence there could hardly be a doubt, for as daughter and sister +of Emanuel and George Downing, she had had before her through all +her early years, examples of shrewdness and farsightedness for all +personal ends, that made the names of both, an offence then and in +later days. But no suspicion of the tendencies strong in both +father and son, ever rested on Mistress Gardner, who was both +proud and fond of her elderly husband, and who found him as tender +and thoughtful a friend as he had always been to the wife of his +youth. For twenty-one years he passed from honor to honor in the +Colony, living in much state, though personally always abstemious +and restrained, and growing continually in the mildness and +toleration, from which his contemporaries more and more diverged. +Clear-sighted, and far in advance of his time, his moderation +hindered any chafing or discontent, and his days, even when most +absorbed in public interests, held a rare severity and calm. No +act of all Bradstreet's life brought him more public honors than +his action against Andros, whose tyranny had roused every man in +New England to protest and revolt. Almost ninety years old, he met +the deputation who came to consult him, and set his hand to a +letter, which held the same possibilities and was in many senses, +the first Declaration of Independence. From the Town House in +Boston went out the handbill, printed in black letter and signed +by fifteen names, the old patriarch heading the list. Bancroft, +who is seldom enthusiastic, tells the story of the demand +upon Andros of immediate surrender of the government and +fortifications, and the determination of the passionate and +grasping soldier to resist. + +"Just then the Governor of the Colony, in office when the charter +was abrogated, Simon Bradstreet, glorious with the dignity of +four-score years and seven, one of the early emigrants, a +magistrate in 1630, whose experience connected the oldest +generation with the new, drew near the town-house, and was +received with a great shout from the free men. The old magistrates +were reinstated, as a council of safety; the whole town rose in +arms, with the most unanimous resolution that ever inspired a +people; and a declaration read from the balcony, defending the +insurrection as a duty to God and the country. 'We commit our +enterprise,' it is added, 'to Him who hears the cry of the +oppressed, and advise all our neighbors, for whom we have thus +ventured ourselves, to joyn with us in prayers and all just +actions for the defence of the land.' On Charlestown side, a thousand +soldiers crowded together; and the multitude would have been +longer if needed. The governor vainly attempting to escape to the +frigate was, with his creatures, compelled to seek protection by +submission; through the streets where he had first displayed his +scarlet coat and arbitrary commission, he and his fellows were +marched to the town-house and thence to prison. All the cry was +against Andros and Randolph. The castle was taken; the frigate was +mastered; the fortifications occupied." + +Once more Massachusetts assembled in general court, and the old +man, whose blood could still tingle at wrong, was called again to +the chair of state, filling it till the end of all work came +suddenly, and he passed on, leaving a memory almost as tenderly +preserved as that of "the beloved governor," John Winthrop. + +In the ancient burial place at Salem may still be seen the tomb of +the old man who had known over sixty years of public service. + + SIMON BRADSTREET. + + Armiger, exordine Senatoris, in colonia Massachusettensi + ab anno 1630, usque ad anum 1673. Deinde ad anum 1679, + Vice-Gubernator. Denique ad anum 1686, ejusdem coloniae, + communi et constanti populi suffragio, Gubernator. Vis, + judicio Lynceario preditus; guem nec numma, nec honos + allexit. Regis authoritatem, et populi libertatem, aequa + lance libravit. Religione cerdatus, vita innocuus, mundum + et vicit, et deseriut, 27 die, Martii, A. D. 1697. + Annog, Guliel, 3t ix, et Aet, 94. + +Few epitaphs hold as simple truth. "He was a man," says Felt, "of +deep discernment, whom neither wealth nor honor could allure from +duty. He poised with an equal balance the authority of the King, +and the liberty of the people. Sincere in Religion and pure in his +life, he overcame and left the world." + +The Assembly was in session on the day of his death and, "in +consideration of the long and extraordinary service of Simon +Bradstreet, late Governor, voted L100, toward defraying the +charges of his interment." + +They buried him in Salem where his tomb may still be seen in the +old Charter Street burying-ground, though there is grave doubt if +even the dust of its occupant could be found therein. His memory +had passed, and his services meant little to the generation which +a hundred years later, saw one of the most curious transactions of +the year 1794. That an ancestor of Nathanael Hawthorne should have +been a party to it, holds a suggestion of the tendencies which in +the novelist's case, gave him that interest in the sombre side of +life, and the relish for the somewhat ghoul-like details, on +which he lingered with a fascination his readers are compelled to +share. On an old paper still owned by a gentleman of Salem, one +may read this catastrophe which has, in spite of court orderings +and stately municipal burial, forced Simon Bradstreet's remains +into the same obscurity which hides those of his wife. + +"Ben, son of Col B. Pickman, sold ye tomb, being claimed by him +for a small expence his father was at in repairing it aft ye yr +1793 Or 1794 to one Daniel Hathorne, who now holds it." Having +taken possession, Daniel Hawthorne, with no further scruples +cleaned out the tomb, throwing the remains of the old Governor and +his family into a hole not far off. The New England of Simon +Bradstreet's day is as utterly lost as his own dust. Yet many of +the outward forms still remain, while its spirit is even more +evident and powerful. + +Wherever the New England element is found--and where is it not +found?--its presence means thrift, thoroughness, precision and +prudence. Every circumstance of life from the beginning has taught +the people how to extract the utmost value from every resource. +Dollars have come slowly and painfully, and have thus, in one +sense, a fictitious worth; but penuriousness is almost unknown, +and the hardest working man or woman gives freely where a need is +really felt. The ideal is still for the many, more powerful than +the real. The conscientiousness and painful self-consciousness of +the early days still represses the joyful or peaceful side of +life, and makes angles more to be desired than curves. Reticence +is the New England habit. Affection, intense as it may be, gives +and demands small expression. Good-will must be taken for granted, +and little courtesies and ameliorations in daily life are treated +with disdain. "Duty" is the watchword for most, and no matter how +strange the path, if this word be lined above it, it is trodden +unquestioned. + +As in the beginning, the corner-stone still "rests upon a book." +The eagerness for knowledge shown in every act of the early +colonial years has intensified, till "to know" has become a demon +driving one to destruction. Eternity would seem to have been +abolished, so eager are the learners to use every second of time. +Overwork, mental and physical, has been the portion of the New +England woman from the beginning. Climate and all natural +conditions fostered an alertness unknown to the moist and equable +air of the old home. While for the South there was a long +perpetuation of the ease of English life, and the adjective which +a Southern woman most desires to hear before her name is "sweet"; +the New England woman chooses "bright," and the highest mark of +approval is found in that rather aggressive word. Tin pans, +scoured to that point of polish which meets the New England +necessity for thoroughness, are "bright," and the near observer +blinks as he suddenly comes upon them in the sun. A bit of +looking-glass handled judiciously by the small boy, has the same +quality, and is warranted to disconcert the most placid +temperament; and so the New England woman is apt to have jagged +edges and a sense of too much light for the situation. "Sweetness +and light" is the desirable combination, and may come in the new +union of North and South. The wise woman is she who best unites +the two. Yet, arraign New England as we may--and there are many +unmentioned counts in the indictment--it is certain that to her we +owe the best elements in our national life. "The Decadence of New +England" is a popular topic at present. It is the fashion to sneer +at her limitations. Our best novelists delight in giving her +barrenness, her unloveliness in all individual life--her +provincialism and conceit, and strenuous money-getting. + +"It is a good place to be born in," they say, "provided you +emigrate early," and then they proceed to analyze her very +prominent weaknesses, and to suppress as carefully as possible +just judgment, either of past or present. Her scenery they cannot +dispense with. Her very inadequacies and absurdities of climate +involve a beauty which unites Northern sharpness of outline with +Southern grace of form and color. The short and fervid summer owns +charms denied a longer one. Spring comes uncertainly and +lingeringly, but it holds in many of its days an exquisite and +brooding tenderness no words can render, as elusive as that half- +defined outline on budding twigs against the sky--not leaves, but +the shadow and promise of leaves to be. The turf of the high +pasture-lands springing under the foot; the smell of sweet fern +and brake; the tinkle of cow-bells among the rocks, or the soft +patter of feet as the sheep run toward the open bars--what New +England boy or girl does not remember and love, till loving and +remembering are over for the life we live here? Yet in all the +ferment of old and new beliefs--the strange departures from a +beaten track--the attitude always, not of those who have found, +but of those who seek, there has ever been the promise of a better +day. The pathos which underlies all record of human life is made +plain, and a tender sadness is in the happiest lines. And this is +the real story of New England. Her best has passed on. What the +future holds for her it is impossible to say, or what strange +development may come from this sudden and overmastering Celtic +element, pervading even the remotest hill-towns. But one +possession remains intact: the old graveyards where the worthies +of an elder day sleep quietly under stones decaying and crumbling +faster than their memories. It all comes to dust in the end, but +even dust holds promise. Growth is in every particle, and whatever +time may bring--for the past it is a flower that "smells sweet and +blossoms in the dust"--for present and future, a steady march +toward the better day, whose twilight is our sunshine. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Agawam + Andover, Mass. + Andros, Governor + Arbella, the + Bay Psalm Book + Belcher, Governor + Berkeley, Sir William + Bibles, Geneva + Blaxton, Rev. Mr. + Bradford, William + Bradstreet, Simon + " Anne + " Dorothy + " Dudley + " Hannah + " John + " Mercy + " Sarah + " Simon, Jr. + Buchanan, Mr. + Cage for Offenders + Cambridge, Mass. + " Synod of + Cattle keeping + Charlestown, Mass + Chapman, Version of Homer + Church Music + Chests, Family + Clapp, Roger + Compton, William, Lord + Coddington, Rev. Mr + Cotton, John + " Seaborn + Contemplations, a Poem + Cromwell, Oliver + Criticism, Personal + Dennison, Daniel + Digby, Sir Kenelm + Dodd, Puritan minister + Downing, Emanual + Drinking Customs + Dryden, John + " Erasmus + Du Bartas + Dunkirkers + Dudley, Anne + " Dorothy + " John + " Joseph + " Paul + " Robert + " Roger + " Thomas + " Samuel + Education in New England + Eliot, Rev. John + Elizabeth, Queen + Endicott, Rev. John + Fire, in Andover + Firmin, Giles + Folger, Peter + Food in New England + Four Ages of Man, (poem) + Four Elements, The, (poem) + Four Humours of Man, (poem) + Four Monarchies, (poem) + Four Seasons, (poem) + Fulling Mill + Furniture, Colonial + Galton + Gardener, Capt. Joseph + Goffe, Thomas + Grandmothers, Puritan + Harvard College + Hathorn, Daniel + " William + Hawthorne, Nathanael + Harvey, Discovery of Circulation of the Blood + Higginson, Rev. Francis + Hospitality in New England + Hooker, Rev. Thomas + Holmes, Oliver Wendell + House-lots + Homes, Nonconformist + Hutchinson, Anne + " Colonel + " Mrs. Lucy + Hurlstone, Mr. + Hubbard + Hunting + Indians + Inns + Ipswich, Mass + Jamestown, Va. + Johnson, Lady Arbella + " Isaac + " Rev. Mr. + Labor, Scarcity of + Lempingham, Castle of + Laud, Bishop + Law in the Colony + Libertines + Light, the Inward + Lincoln, Earl of + Lowe, Rev. Mr. + Marbury, Thomas + Marriage + Masson's Life of Milton + Mansell, Mt. + Mather, Cotton + Medical Profession in Mass. + Meditations, Divine and Moral + Michaud + Milton, John + Montaigne, Essays of + New England + Nonconformists + Northumberland, Duke of + Norton, John + Nowell, Rev. Mr. + Pareus, David + Parker, Thomas + Pemble, William + Peters, Hugh + Phipps, Sir William + Pearce, William + Pewter Plate + Pelham + Players + Poems, Anne Bradstreet's + Poets, American + Poole, Mrs. Elizabeth + Preston, Dr. + Puritan + Puritanism + Quarles, the Emblems of + Quakers in New England + Renascence + Revolution, a Spiritual + Religious Reflections + Road-making + Robinson, Rev. John + Rogers, John + Rupert, Prince + Ruskin, John + Russ, Goodman and Goodwife + Salem + Saltonstall, Sir Robert + Schools, Andover + " New England + Servants, English + " Indian + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Anne Bradstreet and Her Time, by Helen Campbell + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNE BRADSTREET AND HER TIME *** + +This file should be named 6854.txt or 6854.zip + +Produced by Robert Fite, Tom Allen, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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