freeman was entitled to vote for the burgesses. On July 30th, the "first legislative body that ever sat in America assembled at Jamestown," and two burgesses from each of the eleven boroughs. were chosen to this popular assembly. Virginia was now no longer limited to the settlement at Jamestown, as ten other boroughs sent their representatives to this legislature. Two years afterwards a new charter from the king granted a full legal right to this body, and provided that no orders from England should "bind the said colony unless ratified in the General Assemblies." From 1619 to the present day the colony, and later the State, of Virginia has had a free government, at all times making its own laws.

CHAPTER VII.

PLYMOUTH.

47. The Reformation. The sixteenth century has a distinctive place in history as the age of the Reformation. The leading states of Europe, at the time of Columbus's discovery, were Christian nations acknowledging the Pope of Rome as the Head of the Church. One of the results of the Revival of Learning that followed the fall of Constantinople (1453) was the growth of individual thought. Men like Luther in Germany, and Calvin in France, began to disagree with the Roman Church in some of its doctrines and customs. Protesting against what seemed to them errors, they received the name of Protestants. In England the Protestant faith grew rapidly, so that in 1534 the nation withdrew its allegiance from Pope Clement VII.

48. The Puritans. From the time of Henry VIII., the English people as a nation have continued to hold the Protestant faith, with the exception of the few years under Queen Mary. When Elizabeth was seated on the throne, the struggle between Catholics and Protestants was practically ended. The Church of England was established, and the larger part of the people accepted their ruler as the supreme authority in religious as well as civil

matters.

But the influence of Calvin, the French Huguenots, and the Netherlanders was felt in England as well as upon the continent, and before Elizabeth's reign came to a close there was a large and growing number of Puritans, who desired, as they said, to purify the Church. At the beginning of the reign of James I., in 1603, the Puritans were a body of earnest men, determined to change the Church of England in many respects, and make it accord more closely with their views.

49. The Separatists. -Laws were passed against the Puritans during the reign of Elizabeth, and punishments were inflicted upon those who refused either to attend church or to comply with its ordinances. The larger part of the Puritans, believing that they would eventually become sufficiently strong, desired to remain in the Church and "purify" it from within. These were called NonConformists, continuing to attend church, but not conforming to all the church rites. A small number of the Puritans withdrew from the Church entirely and met together to worship by themselves. These people planned to form a new church, which should be in accordance with their ideas, and therefore have received. the name of Separatists or Independents. They were Puritans who carried their opposition to the Church of England to a

greater extent than did the Non-Conformists, and who therefore were persecuted more severely.

50. The Pilgrims. — One band of the Separatists lived in and near Scrooby, a village in Nottinghamshire on the main road between London and York. Persecuted for religion's sake, they determined to become exiles rather than abandon their faith. They made an attempt to flee to Holland in 1607, and, though they were prevented that year, they succeeded in reaching Amsterdam, after much suffering, in 1608. Journeying to Leyden the next year, the Pilgrims, as they were now called, remained there for eleven years. They had an opportunity to become acquainted with the church, the free schools, the mode of thought, and the form of free government of the Dutch. Their numbers continually grew, until in 1620 there were several hundred attendants at the Leyden Church, having John Robinson as their pastor.

Bradford's History. "When, by the travail and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labors, as in other places of the land, so in the north parts, many became enlightened by the word of God, and had their ignorance and sins discovered by the word of God's grace, and began, by his grace, to reform their lives and make conscience of their ways, the work of God was no sooner manifest in them, but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by the profane multitude, and the ministers urged with the yoke of subscription, or else must be silenced; and the poor people were so vexed with apparators and pursuivants and the Commission Courts, as truly their affliction was not small. . . . So many, therefore, of these professors as saw the evil of these things in these parts, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth, they shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and, as the Lord's free people joined themselves, (by a covenant of the Lord,) into a church estate, in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all his ways, made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatever it would cost them. And that it cost them much pains, trouble, sorrow, affliction, and persecution, and expense of their estates, etc., this ensuing history will declare."

51. The Exile. The Pilgrims were lovers of home, though they had been compelled to flee to foreign shores. They were of the middle class of Englishmen, hardy farmers, and skilled mechanics. They were anxious that their children should be English and not Dutch, and that they should always love and be loyal to old England. It thus happened that, after a few years, a strong desire sprang up among the Pilgrims to establish a colony in the English possessions in America. Other reasons were given for the intended emigration, among them being the wish to Christianize the Indians. Attempts were accordingly made to obtain the needed means, and at length arrangements were entered into with the London Company ( 35). This company was to provide the necessary supplies

and vessels, and was to receive from the Pilgrims a large proportion of the profits.

When the time for departure came, it was

found that vessels had been provided for much less than half of the

band destined to establish the second permanent English colony on the coast of America.

53. The Voyage.- The "Mayflower," a vessel of 180 tons, was very small for such a voyage; the autumn of the year was not suitable for a trip across the Atlantic; the sailors were unacquainted with the route; at the present time such a journey would be deemed foolhardy. The voyage was stormy, and sixty-three days passed before America was reached. The intention had been to reach some point on the coast of New Jersey, near the mouth of the Hudson, but the captain of the "Mayflower," for some reason, brought the vessel into the harbor of Provincetown, at the extreme end of Cape Cod. After a month of explora

tion, a party sent out from the vessel landed at Plymouth, December 11th. This is the date according to the old style of reckoning, and December 21st, 1620, N. S. (New Style), is the day celebrated as Forefathers' Day.

Delft-Haven. -The company of Pilgrims that set sail from Delft-haven, on July 22d, 1620, left a large company of their friends who would willingly have gone with them. Bradford himself tells the story of the parting: "That night was spent with little sleepe by ye most, but with friendly entertainmente & christian discourse and other reall expressions of true christian love. The next day, the wind being faire, they wente aborde, and their friends with them, where truly dolfull was ye sight of that sade and mournfull parting; to see what sighs and sobbs and praires did sound amongst them, what tears did gush from every eye, & pithy speeches peirst each harte; that sundry of ye Dutch strangers yt stood on ye key as spectators, could not refraine from tears. . . . their Reved. pastor falling downe on his knees, . . with watrie cheeks commended them with most fervente praiers to the Lord and his blessing. And then with mutuall imbrases and manly tears, they tooke their leaves one of another; which proved to be ye last leave to many of them.”

54. The Compact. While the Pilgrims were still in Provincetown Harbor, a meeting was held, November 11th, in the cabin of the "Mayflower." They had arrived at land which was not under the control of the London Company, and some were thought "not well affected to unity and concord." A compact was drawn up, and solemnly agreed to by all the men, forty-one in number, which was to be the fundamental law of the government. (Appendix A.) "Due submission and obedience" were promised, and John Carver was chosen governor. Bancroft calls this occasion the "birth of popular constitutional liberty."

55. The First Winter. Though Plymouth is much farther south than either Scrooby or Leyden, yet the newly arrived immigrants found the winter there much more severe. To the Pilgrims, suffering from the extreme cold, and lacking sufficient nourishing food,