for his part did his office, and rubb'd us up with a seasonable sermon. This was quite a new thing to our brethren of North Carolina, who live in a climate where no clergyman can breathe, any more than spiders in Ireland.

The Journey to the Land of Eden is an account of a visit to North Carolina, where Byrd had an estate; the ironical title of the pamphlet was inspired by the name of Governor Eden of that colony. The Progress to the Mines is especially interesting for the light it throws on the social customs of the Virginia aristocracy of the day; parts of it are as entertaining as a novel. A visit to the "castle" of Colonel Spotswood, Governor of Virginia from 1710 to 1722 and founder of the so-called order of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, is described in a particularly readable entry in the journal:

Here I arriv'd about 3 o'clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at home, who receiv'd her old acquaintance with many a gracious smile. I was carry'd into a room elegantly set off with pier glasses, the largest of which came soon after to an odd misfortune. Amongst other favourite animals that cheer'd this lady's solitude, a brace of tame deer ran familiarly about the house, and one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily spying his own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the tea table that stood under it, and shatter'd the glass to pieces, and falling back upon the tea table, made a terrible fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden, and accompany'd with such a noise, that it surpriz'd me, and perfectly frighten'd Mrs. Spotswood. But 'twas worth all the damage to shew the moderation and good humor with which she bore this disaster. In the evening the noble Colo. came home from his mines, who saluted me very civilly; and Mrs. Spotswood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him en Cavalier, was so kind too as to bid me welcome. We talkt over a legend of old storys, supp'd about 9, and then prattl'd with the ladys til 'twas time for a travellour to retire.

The writings of William Byrd reveal decided literary ability, though they were hurriedly composed with apparently no

intention of publication; their author was a man of wide cultivation, a keen observer, and more democratic in his sympathies than most men of his social class. In his common sense and humor and in the ease and directness of his style, he suggests Benjamin Franklin; in charm and urbanity of expression he shows the influence of Addison, with whose works he was of course intimately familiar. In reading the journals of this eighteenth century Virginian, one is particularly struck with the modernness of his style; of all the men of his time, whose writings have been preserved, Byrd seems to the reader of to-day to have expressed himself with the greatest ease and natural

ness.

Other Writers in the South.-Worthy of mention, but less noteworthy than those already discussed, are the following writers from Virginia and other Southern colonies: THOMAS WHITAKER, a Cambridge graduate, "the Apostle of Virginia" to the Indians, author of Good News from Virginia (1613); HENRY NORWOOD, who wrote an interesting account of his perilous trip across the seas (1641) entitled A Voyage to Virginia; JOHN HAMMOND, who wrote with enthusiasm and patriotic pride of Virginia and Maryland as two sisters, Leah and Rachel (1656); GEORGE ALSOP, author of a jumble of droll prose and verse, full of satiric descriptions and broad jesting, A Character of the Province of Maryland (1666); EBENEZER COOK, who ridicules Maryland in a verse satire of the Hudibras order, The Sot-Weed Factor, or A Voyage to Maryland, in which he relates his experiences with tobacco agents ("sot-weed factors"); JOHN LAWSON, author of a readable History of Carolina (1714), which, like the other histories of the period, is a medley of narration and description, charactersketches and comments; HUGH JONES, a professor in William and Mary College, who wrote in 1724 The Present State of Virginia; JAMES BLAIR, a cultured Scotchman and the first president of William and Mary College, whose sermons have a distinct literary quality; WILLIAM STITH, another president of that institution, who published at Williamsburg in 1747 The History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia; and PATRICK TAILEFER, who, with the help of two colleagues, published in 1740 A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia, a bitter arraignment of Governor Oglethorpe's management of the colony.

II. WRITERS IN MASSACHUSETTS

1. Histories and Diaries

WILLIAM BRADFORD (1588-1657)

His Life and Character.-William Bradford, the second governor of Plymouth, came over in the Mayflower with the Pilgrims. He had been with them in Holland and had taken a prominent part in the deliberations which resulted in the settlement of the first New England colony. Born in Yorkshire of humble parentage, he had slender opportunities for a liberal education, but he did succeed in gaining some knowledge of the classics; late in life he even set himself the difficult task of learning Hebrew in order that he might read the original tongue of the Old Testament writers. Upon the death of Governor Carver, not long after the landing of the Pilgrims, Bradford was chosen his successor and served the colony for many years as its official head. He was a well poised, industrious, consecrated man, ruling the little Puritan commonwealth with firmness and fairness, inspiring confidence by his strong character, his practical sense, and his piety. He had come with a band of earnest folk to found a religious community, where justice, freedom of conscience, and devotion to spiritual ideals should prevail. Governor Bradford does not appeal to the romantic imagination as does the adventurous Captain John Smith, who some years before had founded Virginia and whose career suggests an Elizabethan romance; but the Puritan governor is nevertheless a striking figure there in the Massachusetts wilderness, and in his struggles, political and religious, he is the hero of a new Pilgrim's Progress.

His Writings.—Bradford composed in whole or in part two works. The first of these, a Journal of the first thirteen months of the colony, is the joint labor of William Bradford and Edward Winslow, briefly detailing the trying experiences of the settlers during that time. Prefixed to the journal was a note signed "G. Mourt," which for a long time caused the book, through a mistaken notion of its authorship, to be referred to as Mourt's Relation. Far more important than this journal of Bradford and Winslow is Bradford's own larger work, the History of Plymouth Plantation, written between

1630 and 1646. Here is a good, straightforward piece of writing, conscientiously setting forth the history of the Plymouth colony. It is evident from his use of letters and official papers that the author wished to give an accurate account of the life and achievements of the people of Plymouth. The manuscript remained for many years in the Bradford family, finally coming into possession of the Prince Library in Boston; during the Revolution it disappeared, but was at last discovered (1855) in the library of the Bishop of London, who in 1897 returned it to the State of Massachusetts. It is of course one of the most precious documents in American history.

Bradford's work has few graces of style, but it has a simple dignity which commends it even to the modern reader, so evidently sincere was the writer in his desire to tell the truth. True Puritan that he was, Bradford often digressed to relate what seemed to him "special providences" and to detail with the severity of a Hebrew prophet the evidences of Divine vengeance on the enemies of the Puritans, whether the Indians or the gay Cavaliers back in England. Now and then the solemn elevation of style in certain passages in the History of Plymouth shows the influence upon the writer of that strong, simple, and musical Bible prose with which he was so familiar. Here, for instance, are two brief passages,' the first on the departure of the Pilgrims from Leyden and the second on the landing at Plymouth:

1

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 lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.

Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the

'The spelling in these passages has been modernized.

perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? And what multitudes there might be of them they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah, to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to the heavens) they could have little solace or content in respect of any outward objects. For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weatherbeaten face; and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. If they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the world What could now sustain them but the spirit of God and his grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endure forever.'

JOHN WINTHROP (1588-1649)

His Life and Character.-John Winthrop was a man of greater social prominence and better educational training than his fellow governor, William Bradford of the Plymouth colony. Winthrop was born in Suffolk, spent two years at Trinity College, Cambridge, studied law, and before he came to America had already considerable reputation in his profession. He became leader of the company which settled Massachusetts Bay in 1630, and for the rest of his days he was governor of that large and flourishing colony. Early in life he had thought of becoming a minister, but finally turned to the law, though his strong moral nature and his sympathy with the Puritan cause made him a great religious leader as well as a wise executive. He was led by his conscience to cast in his lot with the Puritans; forgetting the things behind, he courageously and uncomplainingly went with his people into the wilderness and founded Massachusetts. Winthrop's letters to his wife reveal a tenderness and beauty of sentiment which would do credit to the heart of the most devoted Cavalier; these letters go a long way, indeed, toward humanizing for us to-day the character of the old Puritan