Virginia successfully colonised; first perma nent English settlement in America 1611-1633 1492 1607 Mayflower set sail, September 6, 1620; arrived at Plymouth Bay, December 21, 1620. CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I The Pilgrim Fathers-Founders of a New World-Residence in Holland-Negotiations concluded and leave-taking-The Speedwell and the Mayflower—The Mayflower alone-Compact signed-Cape Cod-Plymouth Rock-Cold of winter-Indians-Mortality among settlers-Honour that belongs to the Fathers - IndependencyGrowing prosperity. LEADERS IN COLONY William Brewster, John Carver, William Bradford, Miles Standish, Edward Winslow. CHAPTER I FOUNDING OF NEW PLYMOUTH The Pilgrim Fathers. There are dates and epochs in the history of our sea-girt isle which will never fade from the memory of men: the Norman Conquest in 1066; the signing of Magna Charta in 1215; the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588; the Revolution of 1688. But one tolerably familiar with the great landmarks of history would probably be puzzled to remember what there was specially remarkable about the year 1620. Yet that year was signalised by a movement which, whether we consider its beginning, or the far-reaching and fruitful issues that sprang from it, is absolutely without parallel in the history of the world. It was the year the Mayflower cast anchor in Plymouth Bay. Its crew all told did not number more than one hundred and two, and of these twenty-eight were women. “Giants in heart they were, who believed in God and the Bible.” They had crossed the then comparatively untraversed path of the Atlantic for love of God, and in search of ? liberty of conscience. ? |