--since they had God on their side? They controlled the House of Commons,
and made themselves felt there, till James declared that he preferred a
hermitage to ruling such a pack of malcontents. The clergy renewed their
persecutions; the government of England was a despotism of the strictest
kind; and the fire which had been repressed in Puritan bosoms began to
emit sullen sparks through their eyes and lips.

A group of them in the north of England established a church, and called
upon all whom it might concern to shake off anti-Christian bondage. John
Robinson and William Brewster gave it their support, and their meetings
were made interesting by the spies of the government. Finally they were
driven to attempt an escape to Holland; and, after one miscarriage, they
succeeded in getting off from the coast of Lincolnshire in the spring of
1608, and were transported to Amsterdam. They could but tarry there; their
only country now was Heaven; meanwhile they were wandering Pilgrims on the
face of the earth, as their Lord had been before them. From Amsterdam they
presently removed to Leyden, where they conducted themselves with such
propriety as to win the encomiums of the natives. But their holy
prosperity did not make them happy, or enable them to be on comfortable
terms with the Dutch language; they could not get elbow-room, or feel that
they were doing themselves justice; and as the rumors of a fertile
wilderness overseas came to their ears, they began to contemplate the
expediency of betaking themselves thither. It was now the year 1617; and
negotiations were entered into with the London Company to proceed under
their charter.

The London Company were disposed to consider the proposition favorably,
but the affair dragged, and when it was brought before the government it
was quashed by Bacon, who opined that the coat of Christ must be seamless,
and that even in a remote wilderness heretics must not be permitted to