map of the coast from Maine to Cape Cod, [1] and called the country New
England. The next year Smith led out a colony; but a French fleet took him
prisoner, no settlement was made, and five years passed before the first
permanent English colony was planted in the Plymouth Company's grant--by
the Separatists.

[Illustration: SMITH'S MAP OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.]

THE SEPARATISTS.--To understand who these people were, it must be
remembered that during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Protestant
Episcopal Church was the Established Church of England, and that severe
laws were passed to force all the people to attend its services. But a
sect arose which wished to "purify" the church by abolishing certain forms
and ceremonies. These people were called Puritans, [2] and were divided
into two sects:

1. Those Puritans who wished to purify the Church of England while they
remained members of it.

2. The Independents, or Separatists, who wished to separate from that
church and worship God in their own way.

The Separatists were cruelly persecuted during Queen Elizabeth's reign,
and afterward. One band of them fled to Holland (in 1608), where they
found peace; but time passed and it became necessary for them to decide
whether they should stay in Holland and become Dutch, or find a home in
some land where they might continue to remain Englishmen. They decided to
leave Holland, formed a company, and finally obtained leave from the
London Company to settle near the mouth of the Delaware River.