Part 13

“We are always accustomed to regard the past as a better and purer time than the present; there is a vague, traditional simplicity and innocence hanging about it, almost Arcadian in character. I can find no ground on which to base this pleasant fancy. Taken altogether I do not believe that the morals of Weymouth or of her sister towns were on the average as good in the eighteenth century as in the nineteenth. The people were sterner and graver, the law and the magistrate were more severe; but human nature was the same, and would have vent. There was, I am inclined to think, more hypocrisy in those days than now; but I have seen nothing which has led me to believe that the women were more chaste, or that the men were more temperate, or that, in proportion to population, fewer or less degrading crimes were perpetrated. Certainly the earlier generations were as a race not so charitable as their descendants, and less of a spirit of kindly Christianity prevailed among them.”

Speaking now in the light of subsequent investigation and long study, I can bear testimony that this passage was written neither in a depreciatory spirit, nor in one of pessimistic exaggeration. I have learned more since writing it. I acknowledge I do not, on better acquaintance, fancy that “prison-house of Puritanism” wherein our race had “the key turned upon its spirit for two hundred years.” Frankly, I see truth in Matthew Arnold’s indictment,--“a defective type of religion, a narrow range of intellect and knowledge, a stunted sense of beauty, a low standard of manners.”

Let us for a moment, in a realistic mood, face the facts of that unlovely period. And first, of morals. The early church records of Weymouth no longer exist; and, perhaps, it is well for the good names of not a few of your families that the fire of April 23, 1751, swept away the old Meeting-house, and with it the documents there stored. The records of the Braintree church remain in part; and, of such as remain, I have made historical use. Those who care so to do may familiarize themselves with my conclusion.[105] So far as morality is concerned, the picture presented is not of a character which would lead us to covet for our sons and daughters a recurrence of that past.

Next, temperance:--As respects the _in_-temperance of that colonial period, I myself caught a youthful glimpse of its vanishing skirts. Distinctly do I recall the village tavern, the village bar-room,--for in Quincy, in my youth, bar-room and post-office were one,--and, moreover, the village drunkards. They were as familiar to eye and tongue as the minister, the squire, or the doctor. I see them now, seated in those wooden arm-chairs on the tavern porch, waiting to see the Plymouth stage drive up. The drunkard reeling home in broad daylight is an unknown spectacle now; then, he hardly excited passing notice.

Take religion next:--I submit in all confidence that the world has outgrown eighteenth century theology. It is a cast-off garment; and one never to be resumed. Bitter, narrow, uncharitable, intolerant, an insult to reason, the last thing it preached was peace on earth and good will among men. I have had occasion to examine into its utterances and to set forth its tenets. Those curious on the subject may there inform themselves.[106] You would not sit in church to-day, and listen to what was then taught,--an angry, a revengeful and an unforgiving God.

Schools:--Prior to 1850 the schools of Massachusetts were archaic, the primitive methods alone were in vogue; and not until after that time was any attention at all paid either to scientific instruction, or to the laws of sanitation. Charity! the care of the insane! the treating of the sick! In your Weymouth records for the town meeting of March 17, 1771, you will find the following: “Voted, to sell the poor that are maintained by the town for this present year at a Vendue to the lowest bidder.” Do you realize what that meant, and who were included in the “poor that are maintained by the town?” It was the old-time substitute for the asylum, the almshouse and the hospital. In those days the care of the demented was farmed out to him or her who would assume it at the lowest charge to the public. Even as late as 1843, and in the immediate neighborhood of Boston, naked maniacs could be seen confined in cages, or unlighted sheds, connected with the almshouse or abutting on the public way.[107] Or take this other Weymouth record of August 28, 1733, exactly one year before my ancestor, Rev. William Smith, was ordained your minister.

“Voted by the Town to give Twenty pounds to any person who will take two of the children of the Widow Ruth Harvey (that is) the Eldest Daughter and one of the youngest Daughters (a twin), and take the care of them until they be eighteen years old.”

Twenty pounds in those days was $66.60 of the money of our days; and that in old tenor bills! A public inducement to baby-farming is not now held out. And so I might go on to the close of the chapter, did time permit. But Macaulay has said it all before, and why now repeat in more prosaic terms the tale of ancient wrong? Rather let me close with this passage from his History:

“It is now the fashion to place the golden age in times when noblemen were destitute of comforts the want of which would be intolerable to a modern footman; when farmers and shopkeepers breakfasted on loaves the very sight of which would raise a riot in a modern work-house; when to have a clean shirt once a week was a privilege reserved for the higher class of gentry; when men died faster in the purest country air than they now die in the most pestilential lanes of our towns, and when men died faster in the lanes of our towns than they now die on the coast of Guiana.... There is scarcely a page of the history or lighter literature of the seventeenth century which does not contain some proof that our ancestors were less human than their posterity. The discipline of work-shops, of schools, of private families, though not more efficient than at present, was infinitely harsher. Masters, well born and bred, were in the habit of beating their servants. Pedagogues knew of no way of imparting knowledge but by beating their pupils. Husbands, of decent station, were not afraid to beat their wives.... The more carefully we examine the history of the past, the more reason shall we find to dissent from those who imagine that our age has been fruitful of new social evils. The truth is that the evils are, with scarcely an exception, old. That which is new is the intelligence which discerns, and the humanity which remedies them.”

FOOTNOTES:

[100] Savage’s _Winthrop_, v. 1, p. 194, n.

[101] Concerning this curious and very interesting map, see _Proceedings Mass. Hist. Soc._ (Second Series), v. 1, pp. 211-214. There is a reproduction of the map in the large-paper edition of Winsor’s _Narrative and Critical History of America_, v. 3, p. 380, with a descriptive note relating thereto.

[102] As both Maverick and Blackstone were men of education, and apparently not without some means, belonging distinctly to the upper class of English life, and as they were also contemporaries of young Robert Gorges, it would seem more than probable that they were associates of his, and came over to New England in his party. Morell certainly was another of the same class. As respects Maverick, though he distinctly says he came to New England in 1624, yet he makes the statement forty years after the event, and as a matter of recollection. He was not speaking exactly, nor apparently from record. He may very well, therefore, have got the time generally as 1624, when in fact he arrived here late in 1623; or he may have removed from Wessagusset to Winnisimmet, and there established himself permanently during the spring of the following year. Hence his statement. On the other hand, it has been suggested that he came over with Capt. Christopher Levett, and plausible grounds can be given in support of such a theory. The exact date and circumstances of his coming will probably never be known. The only facts which can be stated with certainty are that he came about the same time as Robert Gorges, and that he was more or less associated with Robert Gorges’s father, Sir Ferdinando. That he married the widow of David Thompson also does not admit of doubt.

[103] _Supra_, p. 36.

[104] See _The Antinomian Controversy_; _Three Episodes of Massachusetts History_, Part II, pp. 363-581; _Antinomianism in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1636-1638_; Prince Society Publications, 1894.

[105] See paper entitled, _Some Phases of Sexual Morality and Church Discipline in Colonial New England_, in Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society, June, 1891. (Proceedings, Second Series, vol. vi, pp. 477-516.)

[106] Massachusetts: Its Historians and its History. Boston, 1893.

[107] See the article entitled, _Insanity in Massachusetts_, by Dr. S. G. Howe, in _North American Review_ for January, 1843, vol. 56, pp. 171-191.

INDEX.

=Abell=, Robert, 93.

=Aberdeceest=, 9.

=Abington=, 47.

=Acadia=, 120.

=Act= to prevent monopoly, 80.

=Adams=, Abigail, Mrs, 70, 84, 115, 116, 145. Charles F., Jr., 5, 89, 97, 114. Henry, 93. John, 84. John Q., 38, 57.

=Allen=, John, 93.

=Ann=, Cape, 9.

=Antinomian= controversy, 139.

=Applegate=, Thomas, 91.

=Arnold=, 79. Matthew, 143, 144, 152.

=Back= river, 62.

=Bacon=, 6.

=Banbury=, England, 108.

=Bare= Cove, 91.

=Barnard=, Elder Massachiel, (First non-conformist minister), 35-37, 97, 99, 112, 131.

=Barnstable=, 100, 102. Church, 100, 101.

=Bass= River, Beverly, 100.

=Bates=, Elder Edward, 98, 104. Joshua, 85. Samuel, 98.

=Bayley=, Nathaniel, 77.

=Beacon= Hill, 135.

=Bent=, Rev. Josiah, 103.

=Bernard=, Gov., 72. Rev. Mr., 141.

=Beverly=, 100.

=Bicknell=, 36.

=Blackstone=, William, 34, 35, 44, 68, 129, 131, 134, 135, 138, 142. Lands at Wessagusset, 129. One of the Gorges company, 131, 134.

=Blancher=, Samuel, 80.

=Boston=, 21, 31, 55, 104, 134, 142, 144. Bay, 9, 12, 24, 30, 33, 37, 121, 131, 133, 137. Church sends delegation to Weymouth, 139. Church troubles, 139. Evacuation of, 145. First occupied by a Weymouth settler, 35, 127, 131. Tea-party, 73.

=Bowdoin=, James, 82.

=Bradford=, Gov., 11, 13, 14, 16, 30.

=Braintree=, 45, 75, 79, 142, 145, 152.

=Bridge= in Wessaguscus, 91.

=Bridgewater=, 75.

=Briggs=, Clement, 93.

=Brighton=, 135.

=Bristol=, England, 29.

=Britten=, 141.

=Britton=, James, 106.

=Burslam=, John, 130, 138.

=Burslem=, 43, 44. Plantation, 35.

=Bursley=, 36, 46, 93. Joanna (Hull), 100. John, 100, 111.

=Burslyn=, John, 45.

=Butler’s= “Hudibras,” 19-21.

=Calvin=, 6.

=Cambridge=, 135, 141.

=Castle Island=, 91.

=Chamberlain=, George W., 87.

=Chapman=, Maria W., 55.

=Chard=, William, 57.

=Charity=, vessel, 11, 13, 133.

=Charles I=, 128.

=Charles= river, 135, 137.

=Charlestown=, 104, 130, 135, 136, 145.

=Chelsea=, 130.

=Chesapeake=, frigate, 145.

=Chicatabot=, 38.

=Churches= in Massachusetts Bay in 1635, 112.

=Clark=, Dr., 88.

=Concord=, 74.

=Continental= army, enlistments in, 77. currency, 80, 82.

=Copp=, John, 57.

=Cotton=, Rev. John, 104, 139, 140.

=Cromwell=, Oliver, 6.

=Cruden’s= Concordance, 68, 108.

=Cushing=, Adam, 62. E., 80.

=Cushman=, Robert, 11.

=Cuttyhunk=, 125.

=Damariscove= Islands, 8, 125.

=Delfthaven=, Holland, 10.

=Distemper=, throat, in Weymouth, 52.

=Dorchester=, 36, 45, 108, 110. Council, 90, 98.

=Dover=, 102.

=Downing=, Sarah, 49.

=Dudley=, Gov., 141.

=Duxbury=, 23.

=East= Boston, 136.

=Easton=, 47.

=Edinburgh= (Scotland) tumult, 141.

=Eliot=, Rev. John, 104.

=Ellis=, Rev. George E., 89.

=Episcopacy= in New England, 30, 33, 34, 102, 110, 139, 142.

=Erasmus=, 6.

=Ferry= to Quincy Point, 56, 91.

=Fictitious= execution described, 18, 19.

=Fire= at Plymouth, 31.

=First= settlement of Boston bay, 126, 127.

=Fitcher=, Lieut., 38.

=Fore= river, 13-15, 24, 29, 53, 64, 74, 76, 121-124, 133, 134, 137.

=Fortune=, vessel, 10.

=French=, 36. Stephen, 93, 98, 104.

=Fry=, Elizabeth, 92. Mary, 92. William, 92.

=Furnival’s= Inn, 11.

=Galileo=, 6.

=Gardner=, Henry, 74. Sir Christopher, an emissary of Gorges, 134. returns to England, 135.

=Gettysburg=, 149.

=Gibbon=, 60.

=Glover=, John, 93.

=Goold=, Capt., 75.

=Gorges=, Ferdinando, 29, 30, 128, 130, 137, 141, 144. His plantation on the Kennebec, 125. John, 34, 35, 44. Robert, 29-31, 33, 34, 36-38, 94, 114, 130, 131, 137. Character of his colonists, 30, 134. Date of settlement at Wessagusset, 114, 126. His company, 30, 89, 91, 93, 94, 110, 134. His grant in New England, 29, 30. Returns to England, 31. Visits Wessagusset, 29, 94. Settlement, commercial, 131. Continuous, 131. Ecclesiastical and feudal, 127, 128. Its keynote, 135. Its original planters harried or exiled, 133. Regarded as a plague spot, 132-140. Self-perpetuating, 129.

=Gosnold=, Bartholomew, 125.

=Gray=, Haryson, 74.

=Great= hill, 53, 85, 95, 139, 145. Pond, 62.

=Greene=, Richard, 11, 14.

=Gustavus= Adolphus, 6.

=Guy= Fawkes’ Day, 31, 66.

=Hampden=, John, 6.

=Hancock=, John, 82.

=Harris=, Walter, 93.

=Hart=, Edmond, 93.

=Harvey=, Ruth, 65, 154.

=Heber=, Bp. Reginald, 32.

=Hingham=, 75, 86, 91, 100, 102, 110.

=Hobart=, Peter, 87.

=Hobbamock= [Hobomok], 26, 120.

=Holbrook=, Ichabod, 98. John, 98.

=Holmes=, Oliver Wendell, 122.

=Horsford=, E. N., 123.

=Hubbard=, 102. Rev. William, 140.

=Hull= (town), 37. Agnes, 101. Benjamin, 100. Company, 91, 93, 99, 112. No record that it formed a church, 112, 113. Joanna, 100. Rev. Joseph, 36, 45, 67, 86, 88, 93, 95, 99-101, 103, 105, 106, 108, 110, 112, 113, 138, 139. Effect of his arrival at Weymouth, 110, 138. Claims a Weymouth pulpit, 110. Deputy to Gen’l Court from Hingham, 110. Farewell sermon, at Weymouth, 110. Perhaps an Episcopal clergyman, 139.

=Humphrey=, James, 61, 63, 71, 72, 77, 98, 115, 116. Jonas, 98.

=Hunt’s= hill, 62.

=Hutchinson=, Mrs. Anne, 67, 105, 140-142.

=Indian= depredations, 17.

=Influence= of Weymouth settlement on Massachusetts, 132.

=Isle= of Shoals, 43, 101.

=Jeffers=, John, 44.

=Jeffery=, 44.

=Jeffrey=, Thomas, 43.

=Jeffries= [Jeffreys], William, 34-37, 43, 44, 93, 138. Residence in Wessagusset, 35, 130, 138.

=Jenner=, Rev. Thomas, 67, 68, 102-105, 110, 113. Invited to Weymouth, 110.

=Johnson=, Edward, 18.

=Keayne=, Robert, 103, 104.

=Kennebec=, 125.

=Kepler=, 6.

=King=, 36. Philip’s War, 28, 49, 129, 145.

=Kingman=, 36, 79. Henry, 91.

=King-Oak= hill, 5, 53, 54, 85, 117, 121, 151.

=Lenthall=, Rev. Robert, 67, 68, 90, 98, 103-105, 111, 113, 140, 143. Character of, 143.

=Levett=, Christopher, 130.

=Lexington=, 74.

=Leyden=, Holland, 9, 27.

=Lincoln=, Abraham, 6, 136. Mass., 147.

=Liquor= nuisance at Mt. Wollaston, 39.

=London=, England, 144.

=Long=, Richard, 91. Island, 76.

=Longfellow=, Henry W., quoted, 25, 119, 120. His dealing with history, 120-123.

=Lothrop=, Rev. Mr., 100.

=Loud=, John J., 47.

=Lovell=, 36. Enoch, 61. James, 98. Robert, 98. Solomon, 74, 78, 80-82, 85.

=Loyalty= of Weymouth settlers to Church of England, 110.

=Ludden=, 93.

=Luther=, Martin, 6.

=Lyford=, Rev. John, 37.

=Lynn=, 106.

=Macaulay=, 154.

=Makepeace=, Thomas, 106.

=Martin=, Ambrose, 106.

=Massasoit=, 21.

=Mather=, 106. Cotton, 102, 135.

=Maverick=, Samuel, 129-131, 134-136, 141. Character of, 136.

=Mayflower=, 7, 10, 126.

=Maypole= at Merrymount, 38, 44, 84, 116, 133. At Penobscot bay, 125.

=Merchant= Adventurers, London, 9, 10.

=Merrymount= settlement broken up Standish, 41-43. May-pole, 44, 116.

=Milton= hill, 55. John, 6.

=Monatoquit=, 41, 137.

=Monhegan= island, 125.

=Montgomery=, 79.

=Moon= head, 76.

=Morell= [Morrell], Rev. William, 30-34, 95, 96, 109, 112, 130, 131, 137, 142. A Clergyman of the Established Church, 96, 109, 137. Poem by, 32, 33. Returns to England, 96, 138.

=Morton=, Thomas, of Merrymount, 12, 17, 21, 36, 38, 40-44, 53, 84, 94, 116, 130, 133-135. Character of his party, 38, 39, 133. His “New English Canaan,” 17-19, 21. Landing of, 11, 12. Not at first connected with Gorges, 133. Possibly one of Weston’s Colony, 12, 133. Visits Weymouth, 36, 37.

=Mount= Wollaston, 45, 56, 84, 91, 94, 134. Becomes Merrymount, 38. Location of, 37, 38.

=Mystic= river, 137.

=Nahawton=, 95.

=Narragansett= Fort, 50.

=Nash=, Alexander, 55. Captain, 82. Gilbert, 87, 118, 126, 131, 132, 146, 147. Jacob, 98. James, 98.

=Nateaunt=, 95.

=Neponset= river, 130, 134, 135, 137.

=New= Bedford, 125.

=New= English Canaan, extracts from, 37, 40, 41, 53, 54. [See Morton.]

=Newman=, Rev. Samuel, 47, 68, 69, 92, 104, 105, 107, 108, 111, 113.

=Newport=, R. I., 106.

=Noddle’s= Island, 136.

=North= river, 22. Weymouth, 75, 95, 103.

=Northleigh=, England, 101.

=Norton=, Jacob, 51.

=Norumbega=, 123.

=Old= North (First) Church, 87, 88. South Church, Boston, 69, 73. Spain, 5, 6, 35, 56, 131, 139, 145.

=Oldham=, John, 34, 35, 37, 44. expelled from Plymouth, 37.

=Opposition= to the ecclesiastical system of Plymouth, 109.

=Oxford= University, England, 101, 108.

=Oyster= river, 101.

=Paine=, Rev. Thomas, 69. Robert Treat, 70.

=Parker=, James, 93.

=Pecksuot=, 23, 25, 26, 28, 40, 119, 122, 124, 144, 145.

=Penobscot= bay, 125. Expedition, 81.

=Peirce=, John, 11.

=Pequod= war, 46, 47.

=Penn’s= hill, Braintree, 145.

=Phillips= creek, 6, 13, 123.

=Pike=, Rev. Mr., 102.

=Plymouth=, 5, 16, 17, 21, 23, 29, 31, 39, 43, 44, 94, 95, 113, 116, 120-122, 153.

=Pool=, 36.

=Poole=, Joseph, 49.

=Popham= plantation, 125.

=Porter=, 36.

=Portsmouth=, N. H., 135, 136.

=Pratt=, Ebenezer, 61. John, 49. Phineas, 17, 22, 24, 121. Escapes to Plymouth, 22-24, 121, 122.

=Prayer-book= used at Weymouth, 139.

=Prince=, Rev. Thomas, 98, 99, 129, 131. Chronicles, 97, 131.

=Provincetown= harbor, 126.

=Quakers=, 101.

=Queen= Ann’s turnpike, 55. war, 145.

=Quincy= (town), 142. John, 84. Point, 56.

=Randall=, John, 98.

=Robert=, 98.

=Randolph=, 75.

=Rassdall, Mr.=, 38.

=Rawlins=, Thomas, 93.

=Reade=, William, 111.

=Rehoboth=, 47, 68, 92, 107, 108.

=Revere=, Paul, 120.

=Richards=, Thomas, 93.

=Richmond=, Va., 148.

=Robinson=, John, 27, 28.

=Roxbury=, 102, 104. Neck, 55.

=Sable=, Cape, 56.

=Saco=, Me., 103, 105.

=Salem=, 100.

=Salisbury=, Surgeon, 11.

=Sanders=, 14, 16, 17.

=Sandwich= Bay, 14.

=Savage=, James, 88, 101-103, 118.

=Scituate=, 100.

=Seekonk=, 107.

=Shakespeare=, 6.

=Shannon=, frigate, 145.

=Shaw=, John, 98. Joseph, 98.

=Shawmut=, 127, 129, 135, 144.

=Shoals=, Isle of, 9.

=Shrimp=, Capt. [Standish], 41, 42.

=Silvester=, Richard, 106, 141. [See Sylvester.]

=Site= of Weston’s Block-house, 123, 124.

=Sloan= collection, 123.

=Smith=, 141. Abigail, 70, 84, 115, 116. John, 106. Rev. William, 51-57, 70, 75, 86, 108, 115, 154.

=Smoking= Flax Blood-Quenched, 121.

=South= Shore Railroad, 150, 151.

=Southampton=, 10.

=Sparrow= (vessel), 8.

=Speedwell= (vessel), 10.

=Squanto=, 13, 14, 144.

=St. Bartholomew= Act, 101.

=St. Buryan’s=, Cornwall, 101.

=St. Mary’s= Hall, Oxford (England), 101.

=Standish=, Miles, 13, 23-28, 39, 41-43, 50, 118-124, 144, 145. His account of visit to Merrymount, 42, 43. Longfellow’s version of, 119, 120. Relieves Wessagusset, 24-26, 119-123. Sir Hugh, 119. Thurston de, 119.

=Stoughton=, Israel, 103.

=Stow=, 74.

=Swan= (vessel), 11, 13, 14, 17, 23, 24, 27, 29, 31.

=Sylvester=, Richard, 66, 93. [See Silvester.]

=Symmes=, Rev. Zechariah, 104.

=Taunton= River, 62.

=Thacher=, Rev. Peter, 69, 113. Rev. Thomas, 69, 108, 151.

=Thompson=, David, 130, 134, 135, 137. Character of, 135. Never at Wessagusset, 135.

=Thompson’s= Island, 130.

=Three= Episodes of Massachusetts History, 121, 126.

=Tirrel=, John, 78.

=Torrey=, John, 61. Jonathan, 98. Joseph, 61. Paul, verses by, 51. Rev. Samuel, 69, 98. William, 93, 98.

=Troubles= from paper currency, 78-80.

=Trumbull=, J. Hammond, 104, 106.

=Tufts=, Cotton, 47, 52, 55, 64, 71, 74, 75, 78, 85.

=Upham=, 36. John, 46, 111.

=Vane=, Sir Harry, 141, 142.

=Vinson=, John, 62, 98. Lieut., 82.

=Virginia= massacre, 21.

=Walford=, Thomas, 130, 134, 142. Character of, 136.

=Wampetuc=, 95.

=Warren=, Joseph, “Solemn League and Covenant,” 73.

=Waters=, Henry, 123.

=Wattawamat.= [See Wituwamat.]

=Weaver=, Clement, 93.

=Webacowett=, Jonas, 95.

=Webb=, Christopher, 103.

=Weld=, Rev. John, 104.

=Wessagusset= [Wessaguscus] (early name of Weymouth), 12, 44, 86, 91, 94, 109. Described in Wood’s N. E. Prospect, 44. Distress in winter, 14-16. Double name of, 35. History indistinct from 1623 to 1628, 37. Importance of its early history, 118. Morton’s colony destroyed, 27. Name changed to Weymouth, 100, 111, 116. Original site of, 123. [See Weymouth.]

=Weston=, Andrew, 133. Thomas, 8-11, 89, 124, 125, 130, 133, 144. Abandons Plymouth colony, 10. At Wessagusset, 29, 133. Character of, 10. Dies in Bristol, Eng., 29. Influence of, in settlements at Plymouth and Weymouth, 9. Plans for settlement, 8, 9, 125. Returns to England, 133. Trials of his colony, 14-17, 21.