and their disinterested spirit, must necessarily inspire us. We cannot
but regret to find how early, in many of the Puritan communities, that
piety became tinged with fanaticism, and that free spirit degenerated
into bigotry and intolerance in their treatment of others, who had an
equal claim with themselves to a freedom of private judgement, and to
the adoption or rejection of any peculiar forms or mode of discipline.

It is hoped, that a story founded on the history of these admirable,
but sometimes misguided, men, may prove interesting to many who have
hitherto been but slightly acquainted with the fate of their self-
exiled countrymen; and may tend to remove the prejudice with which, in
many minds, they are regarded: for, while we remember their errors and
infirmities, we should also remember that their faults were essentially
those of the age in which they lived, and the education they had
received; while their virtues were derived from the pure faith that
they possessed, and which was dearer to them than aught on earth
beside.

KING’S PYON HOUSE,
HEREFORD



THE
PILGRIMS OF NEW ENGLAND.



CHAPTER I.