memorable town; an house for the general entertainment of their persons and estates: and yet it was not long before an unhappy accident burnt unto the ground their house, wherein some of their principal persons then lay sick; who were forced nimbly to fly out of the fired house, or else they had been blown up with the powder then lodged there. After this, they soon went upon the building of more little cottages; and upon the settling of good laws, for the better governing of such as were to inhabit those cottages. They then resolved, that until they could be further strengthened in their settlement, by the authority of England, they would be governed by rulers chosen from among themselves, who were to proceed according to the laws of England, as near as they could, in the administration of their government; and such other by-laws, as by common consent should be judged necessary for the circumstances of the Plantation. § 10. If the reader would know, how these good people fared the rest of the melancholy winter, let him know, that besides the exercises of Religion, with other work enough, there was the care of the sick to take up no little part of their time. 'Twas a most heavy trial of their patience, whereto they were called the first winter of this their pilgrimage, and enough to convince them and remind them that they were but Pilgrims. The hardships which they encountered, were attended with, and productive of deadly sicknesses; which in two or three months carried off more than half their company. They were but meanly provided against these unhappy sicknesses; but there died sometimes two, sometimes three in a day, till scarce fifty of them were left alive; and of those fifty, sometimes there were scarce five well at a time to look after the sick. Yet their profound submission to the will of God, their Christian readiness to help one another, accompanied with a joyful assurance of another and better world, carried them chearfully through the sorrows of this mortality: nor was there heard among them a continual murmur against those who had by unreasonable impositions driven them into all these distresses. And there was this remarkable providence further in the circumstances of this mortality, that if a disease had not more easily fetcht so many of this number away to Heaven, a famine would probably have destroyed them all, before their expected supplies from England were arrived. But what a wonder was it that all the bloody salvages far and near did not cut off this little remnant! If he that once muzzled the lions ready to devour the man of desires, had not admirably, I had almost said, miraculously restrained them, these had been all devoured! but this people of God were come into a wilderness to worship Him; and so He kept their enemies from such attempts, as would otherwise have soon annihilated this poor handful of men, thus far already diminished. They saw no Indians all the winter long, but such as at the first sight always ran away; yea, they quickly found, that God had so turned the hearts of these barbarians, as more to fear, than to hate his people thus cast among them. This blessed people was as a little flock of kids, while there were many nations of Indians left still as kennels of wolves in every corner of the country. And yet the little flock suffered no damage by those rapid wolves! We may and should say, "This is the Lord's doing; 'tis marvellous in our eyes." But among the many causes to be assigned for it, one was this. It was afterwards by them confessed, that upon the arrival of the English in these parts, the Indians employed their sorcerers, whom they call powaws, like Balaam, to curse them, and let loose their demons upon them, to shipwreck them, to distract them, to poison them, or in any way to ruin them. All the noted powaws in the country spent three days together in diabolical conjurations, to obtain the assistance of the devils against the settlement of these our English; but the devils at length acknowledged unto them, that they could not hinder those people from their becoming the owners and masters of the country; whereupon the Indians resolved upon a good correspondence with our new-comers; and God convinced them that there was no enchantment or divination against such a people. § 11. The doleful winter broke up sooner than was usual. But our crippled planters were not more comforted with the early advance of the Spring, than they were surprized with the appearance of two Indians, who in broken English bade them, welcome Englishmen! It seems that one of these Indians had been in the eastern parts of New-England, acquainted with some of the English vessels that had been formerly fishing there; but the other of the Indians, and he from whom they had most of service, was a person provided by the very singular providence of God for that service. A most wicked ship-master being on this coast a few years before, had wickedly spirited away more than twenty Indians; whom having enticed them aboard, he presently stowed them under hatches, and carried them away to the Streights, where he sold as many of them as he could for Slaves. This avaritious and pernicious felony laid the foundation of grievous annoyances to all the English endeavours of settlements, espe cially in the northern parts of the land for several years ensuing. The Indians would never forget or forgive this injury; but when the English afterwards came upon this coast, in their fishing-voyages, they were still assaulted in an hostile manner, to the killing and wounding of many poor men by the angry natives, in revenge of the wrong that had been done them; and some intended Plantations here were hereby utterly nipt in the bud. But our good God so ordered it, that one of the stoln Indians, called Squanto, had escaped out of Spain into England; where he lived. with one Mr. Slany, from whom he had found a way to return into his own country, being brought back by one Mr. Dermer, about half a year before our honest Plymotheans were cast upon this continent. This Indian (with the other) having received much kindness from the English, who he saw generally condemned the man that first betrayed him, now made unto the English a return of that kindness: and being by his acquaintance with the English language, fitted for a conversation with them, he very kindly informed them what was the present condition of the Indians; instructed them in the way of ordering their Corn; and acquainted them with many other things, which it was necessary for them to understand. But Squanto did for them a yet greater benefit than all this: for he brought Massasoit, the chief Sachim or Prince of the Indians within many miles, with some scores of his attenders, to make our people a kind visit; the issue of which visit was, that Massasoit not only entred into a firm agreement of peace with the English, but also they declared and submitted themselves to be subjects of the King of England; into which peace and subjection many other Sachims quickly after came, in the most voluntary manner that could be expressed. It seems this unlucky Squanto having told his countrymen how easie it was for so great a monarch as K. James to destroy them all, if they should hurt any of his people, he went on to terrifie them with a ridiculous rhodomantado, which they believed, that this people kept the plague in a cellar (where they kept their powder), and could at their pleasure let it loose to make such havock among them, as the distemper had already made among them a few years before. Thus was the tongue of a dog made useful to a feeble and sickly Lazarus! Moreover, our English guns, especially the great ones, made a formidable report among these ignorant Indians; and the hopes of enjoying some defence by the English, against the potent nation of Narraganset Indians, now at war with these, made them yet more to court our friendship. This very strange disposi tion of things, was extreamly advantageous to our distressed planters: and who sees not herein the special providence of the God who disposeth all? CHAPTER III. CONAMUR TENUES GRANDIA;* OR, A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFICULTIES, THE DELIVERANCES, AND OTHER ARRIVED UNTO THE CONSISTENCY OF A COLONY. § 1. SETTING aside the just and great grief of our new planters for the immature death of their excellent governour, succeeded by the worthy Mr. Bradford, early in the Spring after their first arrival, they spent their summer somewhat comfortably, trading with the Indians to the northward of their Plantation; in which trade they were not a little assisted by Squanto, who within a year or two dyed among the English; but before We attempt great things with slender resources. his death, desired them to pray for him, That he might go to the Englishman's God in Heaven. And besides the assistance of Squanto, they had also the help of another Indian, called Hobbamok, who continued faithful unto the English interests as long as he lived; though he sometimes went in danger of his life among his countrymen for that fidelity. So they jogged on till the day twelvemonth after their first arrival; when there now arrived unto them a good number more of their old friends from Holland, for the strengthening of their new Plantation; but inasmuch as they brought not a sufficient stock of provisions with them, they rather weakened it, than strengthened it. If Peter Martyr could magnifie the Spaniards, of whom he reports, They led a miserable life for three days together with parched grain of maize only, and that not unto satiety; what shall I say of our Englishmen, who would have thought a little parched Indian Corn a mighty feast? But they wanted it, not only three days together; no, for two or three months. together, they had no kind of Corn among them: such was the scarcity, accompanied with the disproportion of the inhabitants to the provisions. However, Peter Martyr's conclusion may be ours: With their miseries this people opened a way to those new lands, and afterwards other men came to inhabit them with ease, in respect of the calamities which those men have suffered. They were indeed very often upon the very point of starving; but in their extremity the God of Heaven always furnished them with some sudden. reliefs; either by causing some vessels of strangers occasionally to look in upon them, or by putting them into a way to catch fish in some convenient. quantities, or by some other surprizing accidents; for which they rendered unto Heaven the solemn thanks of their souls. They kept in such good working case, that besides their progress in building, and planting, and fishing, they formed a sort of a fort, wherein they kept a nightly watch for their security against any treachery of the Indians, being thereunto awakened by an horrible massacre, which the Indians lately made upon several hundreds of the English in Virginia. § 2. In one of the first Summers after their sitting down at Plymouth, a terrible drought threatened the ruin of all their summer's husbandry. From about the middle of May to the middle of July, an extream hot sun beat upon their fields, without any rain, so that all their corn began to wither and languish, and some of it was irrecoverably parched up. In this distress they set apart a day for fasting and prayer, to deprecate the calamity that might bring them to fasting through famine; in the morning of which day there was no sign of any rain; but before the evening the sky was overcast with clouds, which went not away without such easie, gentle, and yet plentiful showers, as revived a great part of their decayed corn, for a comfortable harvest. The Indians themselves took notice of this answer given from heaven to the supplications of this devout people; and one of them said, "Now I see that the Englishman's God is a good God; for he hath heard you, and sent you rain, and that without such tempest and thunder as we use to have with our rain; which after our Powawing for it, breaks down the corn; whereas your corn stands whole and good still; surely, your God is a good God." The harvest which God. thus gave to this pious people, caused them to set apart another day for solemn Thanksgiving to the glorious Hearer of Prayers! § 3. There was another most wonderful preservation vouchsafed by God unto this little knot of Christians. One Mr. Weston, a merchant of good note, interested at first in the Plymouth design, afterwards deserted it; and in the year 1622 sent over two ships, with about sixty men, to begin a plantation in the Massachuset-Bay. These beginners being well refreshed at Plymouth, travelled more northward unto a place known since by the name of Weymouth; where these Westonians, who were Church of England-men, did not approve themselves like the Plymotheans, a pious, honest, industrious people; but followed such bad courses, as had like to have brought a ruin upon their neighbours, as well as themselves. Having by their idleness brought themselves to penury, they stole corn from the Indians, and many other ways provoked them; although the Governour of Plymouth writ them his very sharp disapprobation of their proceedings. To satisfie the exasperated Salvages, divers of the thieves were stockt and whipt, and one of them at last put to death by this miserable company; which did no other service than to afford an occasion for a fable to the roguish Hudibras, for all accommodation was now too late. The Indians far and near entred into a conspiracy to cut off these abusive English; and lest the inhabitants of Plymouth should revenge that excision of their countrymen, they resolved upon the murther of them also. In pursuance of this plot, Captain Standish, the commander of the militia of Plymouth, lodging on a night with two or three men in an Indian house, the Indians proposed that they might begin the execution of their malice by the assassination of the Captain, as soon as he should be fallen asleep. However, the watchful Providence of God so ordered it, that the Captain could not sleep all that night; and so they durst not meddle with him. Thus was the beginning of the plot put by: but the whole plot came another way to be discovered and prevented. Massasoit, the southern Sachim, falling sick, the Governour of Plymouth desired a couple of gentlemen, whereof one was that good man, Mr. Winslow, to visit this poor Sachim: whom after their long journey they found lying at the point of death with a crue of hellish Powaws, using their ineffectual spells and howls about him to recover him. Upon the taking of some English physick, he presently revived; and thus regaining his lost health, the fees he paid his English doctor were, a confession of the plot among several nations of the Indians, to destroy the English. He said, that they had in vain solicited him to enter into that bloody combination; but his advice was, that the Governour of Plymouth should immediately take off the principal actors |