A ROMANCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. "O, if we could but see the shape of our dear mother England, as poets are wont VOLUME I. BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE: JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. M DCCC XLIX. 1849 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, BY JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. BOSTON: THURSTON, TORRY, AND COMPANY, 31 Devonshire Street. PREFACE. THIS Romance was written some years ago, and was afterwards thrown aside, as on the whole not likely to interest the general reader. The subject was first suggested to me by a friend (far more capable of doing justice to it than myself), who had however entirely abandoned the ground. As, upon second thoughts, however, the epoch still seems to me to possess certain attractions, I submit, with great diffidence, the following pages to the public. The crepuscular period which immediately preceded the rise of the Massachusetts Colony, possesses more of the elements of romance than any subsequent epoch. After the arrival of Winthrop with the charter, the history of the province is as clear as day-light; but during the few previous years there are several characters flitting like phantoms through the chronicles of the time, about whose life and personal adventures, either at home or in the wilderness, but little is known. They differ entirely from the group of personages who succeeded them. Their appearance is in striking, wilful contrast to the general aspect of the place and the age. For the purposes of history, perhaps it is of no great consequence that the strict account of their lives has not been written, but the singularity of their appearance gives them a certain romantic interest. It |