English settlers in concert with the savages; the natural proneness of
the New-Englanders to engage in temporary undertakings, even though
doubtful and hazardous, such were some of the motives which soon drew
together a host, comprehending nearly all the effective force of the
country. The officers were grave deacons, justices of the peace, and
other similar dignitaries; and in the ranks were many warm householders,
sons of rich farmers, mechanics in thriving business, husbands weary of
their wives, and bachelors disconsolate for want of them. The disciples
of Whitefield also turned their excited imaginations in this direction,
and increased the resemblance borne by the provincial army to the motley
assemblages of the first crusaders. A part of the peculiarities of the
affair may be grouped in one picture, by selecting the moment of General
Pepperell's embarkation.

It is a bright and breezy day of March; and about twenty small white
clouds are scudding seaward before the wind, airy forerunners of the
fleet of privateers and transports that spread their sails to the
sunshine in the harbor. The tide is at its height; and the gunwale of a
barge alternately rises above the wharf, and then sinks from view, as it
lies rocking on the waves in readiness to convey the general and his
suite on board the Shirley galley. In the background, the dark wooden
dwellings of the town have poured forth their inhabitants; and this way
rolls an earnest throng, with the great man of the day walking in the
midst. Before him struts a guard of honor, selected from the yeomanry
of his own neighborhood, and stout young rustics in their Sunday
clothes; next appear six figures who demand our more minute attention.
He in the centre is the general, a well-proportioned man with a slight
hoar-frost of age just visible upon him; he views the fleet in which lie
is about to embark, with no stronger expression than a calm anxiety, as
if he were sending a freight of his own merchandise to Europe. A