Certainly The "Scruple Of
Conscience" Of The Leyden Brethren Did Not Hinder Him, For He Found It No
Bar, Though
Of the Established Church himself, to giving them instantly
all and more than was asked in their behalf, as soon
As he had them upon
his territory and they had applied for a patent. He well knew that it
would be matter of some expense and difficulty to bring the Leyden
congregation into agreement to go to either of the Virginia grants, and
he doubtless, and with good reason, feared that his repute and the
character and reputation of his own Company, with its past history of
failure, convict settlers, and loose living, would be repellent to these
people of "conscience." If they could be brought to the "going-point,"
by men more of their ilk, like Sir Edwin Sandys, Weston, and others, it
would then be time to see if he could not pluck the ripe fruit for
himself, - as he seems to have done.
"This advice," he says, "being hearkened unto, there were [those] that
undertook the putting it in practice [Weston and others] and it was
accordingly brought to effect," etc. Then, reciting (erroneously) the
difficulties with the SPEEDWELL, etc., he records the MAY-FLOWER'S
arrival at Cape Cod, saying, "The . . . ship with great difficulty
reached the coast of New England." He then gives a glowing, though
absurd, account of the attractions the planters found - in midwinter
- especially naming the hospitable reception of the Indians, despite the
fact of the savage attack made upon them by the Nausets at Cape Cod, and
adds:
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