no traitor, but a priest; ready to suffer in the name of Him ho redeemed me. God forbid that I should fly for fear of your swords, or recede from justice.' They required him, once more, to take off the censures from the prelates. No satisfaction has yet been made.' was the answer, and I will not absolve them. Then they told him he should instantly die. 'Reginald,' said he to itzurse, I have done you many kindnesses; and do you come against me thus armed?' The Baron, resolute as himself, and in a worse purpose, told him to get out from thence, and die; at the same time laying hold of his robe. Becket withdrew the robe, and said, be would not move. Fly, then,' said Fitzurse, as if at this moment a compunctious feeling had visited him, and he would have been glad to see the intent frustrated, in which his pride, more than his oath, constrained him to persist. Nor that either,' was Becket's answer; if it is my blood you want, I am ready to die, that the church may obtain liberty and peace: only, in the name of God, I forbid you to hurt any of my people. Still it appears, that in some, at least, there was a wish to spare his life: one struck him between the shoulders with the flat part of the sword, saying, Fly, or you are dead!" And the murderers themselves, afterwards declared, their intention was to carry him prisoner to the king; or if that was impossible, put him to death in a place less sacred than the church; but he clung to one of the pillars, and struggled with the assailants. Tracy he had nearly thrown down, and Fitzurse he thrust from him with a strong hand, calling him pimp. Stung by the opprobrious appellation, Fitzurse no longer hesitated whether to strike. A monk, Edward Grimes, of Cambridge, was his name, interposed his arm, which was almost cut off by the blow. Becket, who had bowed in the attitude of prayer, was wounded by the same stroke in the crown of his head. His last words were, 'To God, to St Mary, and the Saints, who are patrons of this church, and to St Dennis, I commend myself, and the church's cause! The second blow brought him to the ground, on his face, before St Benedict's altar; he had strength and composure enough to cover himself with his robes, and then to join his hands in prayer, and in that position died under their repeated strokes, each pressing near, to bear a part in the murder. Brito cleft his scull; and an accursed man, the subdeacon, Hugh of Horsea, known by the appellation of the Ill Clerk, scattered the brains over the pavement from the point of his sword.

command that the body should be honourably buried;
for, though the primate had been his enemy while
living, he would not persecute him when dead, but
remitted to his soul whatever offences he had com-
mitted against him and his royal dignity. This was
acting as became him, convinced as he was, that in
the grounds of the dispute he stood justified to his
own heart, and to his people. If he did not per-
severe in this dignified and becoming course, it is
because a sane opinion may be subdued, though
insanity is invincible when the world appears com-
bined against it.

*

As the pope had authorized and enjoined prayers to the new saint, that he should intercede with God for the clergy and people of England, Henry, either from prostration of mind, or in policy far less to be excused, determined to implore his intercession in the most public manner, and with the most striking circumstances. Landing at Southampton, he there left his court and the mercenaries whom he had brought over, and set off on horseback with a few attendants for Canterbury. When he came within sight of its towers he dismounted, laid aside his garments, threw a coarse cloth over his shoulders, and proceeded to the city, which was three miles distant, barefoot over the flinty road, so that in many places, his steps were traced in blood. He reached the church trembling with emotion, and was led to the martyr's shrine; there, in the crypt, he threw himself prostrate before it, with his arms extended, and remained in that posture, as if in earnest prayer, while the Bishop of London solemnly declared in his name, that he had neither commanded nor advised, nor by any artifice contrived the death of Thomas à Becket, for the truth of which he appealed to God; but because his words, too inconsiderately spoken, had given occasion for the commission of that crime, he now voluntarily submitted himself to the discipline of the church. The monks of the convent, eighty in number, and four bishops, abbots, and other clergy who were present, were provided each with a knotted cord; he bared his shoulders, and received five stripes from the prelates, three from every other hand. When this severe penance had been endured, he threw sackcloth over his bleeding shoulders, and resumed his prayers, kneeling on the pavenient, and not allowing a carpet to be spread beneath him; thus he continued all that day, and till the midnight bell tolled for matins. After that hour, he visited all the altars of the church, prayed before the bodies of all the saints who were there deposited, then returned to his deNo single circumstance shows more clear-votions at the shrine till day-break. During this ly how deeply the fetters of Romish super- whole time he had neither eat nor drank; but now, stition had sunk into men's souls, than the after assisting at mass, and assigning, in addition to terrible penance which Henry II. under- other gifts, forty pounds a year for tapers, to burn went for his hasty utterance of feelings, perpetually before the martyr's tomb, he drank which were certainly justified, if any meassome water, in which a portion of Becket's blood was mingled. He then set off for London, where ure of provocation can justify anger. His he found himself in a state incapable of exertion, enemies did not pretend that he wished to and it was necessary to bleed him. The believers suggest the assassination of Becket, or that in Becket have not failed to remark, that on the the death of this prelate did not deeply af- morning when Henry completed his reconciliation flict him. He was the actual, but the invol- with the canonized martyr, the king of Scotland was untary, cause of his death; and for this offence, a powerful monarch, who was, to say no more, no way deficient in intellect or moral energy, suffered thus.

When the news reached Henry, he was at once alarmed for its consequences. At first, he broke out into loud and passionate lamentations, then seemed to be overpowered and stupified by the violence of his emotions; he put on sackcloth and ashes, and for three days was incapable either of consolation or counsel. At length, by the advice of those who, meantime, had consulted what might best be done in these unexpected and most critical circumstances, an embassy was sent to the pope, and messengers to Canterbury. The latter were instructed to inform the clergy of that church, how deeply the king grieved for the death of Becket, and abhorred the murder: to say, that if any guilt attached to him for words rashly spoken in his anger, it might best be expiated by their prayers; and to

struck with remorse for the cause of the crime, and

defeated and taken.

357

these observations are equally honourable
to his candor and to his good sense.

The corruptions, doctrinal and practical, of the
Roman Church were, in these ages, at their height.
They are studiously kept out of view by the writers
who still maintain the infallibility of that church;
and in truth, that a system, in all things so unlike
the religion of the Gospel, and so opposite to its
spirit, should have been palmed upon the world, and
established as Christianity, would be incredible, if
the proofs were not undeniable and abundant.

The indignation, which these corruptions ought properly to excite, should not, however, prevent us from perceiving that the papal power, raised and supported as it was wholly by opinion, must originally have possessed, or promised, some peculiar and manifest advantages to those who acknowledged its authority. If it had not been adapted to the condition of Europe, it could not have existed. Though in itself an enormous abuse, it was the remedy for some great evils, the palliative of others. We have but to look at the Abyssinians, and the Oriental Christians, to see what Europe would have become without the papacy. With all its errors, its corruptions, and its crimes, it was, morally and intellectually, the conservative power of Christendom. Politically, too, it was the saviour of Europe; for, in all human probability, the west, like the east, must have been overrun by Mahommedanism, and sunk in irremediable degradation, through the pernicious institutions which have every where accompanied it, if, in that great crisis of the world, the Roman Church had not roused the nations to an united and prodigious effort, commensurate with the danger.

In the frightful state of society which prevailed
during the dark ages, the church every where ex-
erted a controlling and remedial influence. Every
place of worship was an asylum, which was always
respected by the law, and generally even by law less
violence. It is recorded, as one of the peculiar
miseries of Stephen's miserable reign, that during
those long troubles, the soldiers learned to disregard
the right of sanctuary. Like many other parts of the
Romish system, this right had prevailed in the
heathen world, though it was not ascribed to every
temple. It led, as it had done under the Roman
empire, to abuses which became intolerable; but
it originated in a humane and pious purpose, not
only screening offenders from laws, the severity of
which amounted to injustice, but, in cases of private
wrong, affording time for passion to abate, and for
the desire of vengeance to be appeased. The cities
of refuge were not more needed, under the Mosaic
dispensation, than such asylums in ages when the
administration of justice was either detestably in-
human, or so lax, that it allowed free scope to
individual resentment. They have therefore gen-
erally been found wherever there are the first rudi-
ments of civil and religious order The church-
yards also were privileged places, whither the poor
people conveyed their goods for security. The
protection which the ecclesiastical power extended
in such cases, kept up in the people, who so often
tachment to the church. They felt that religion
stood in need of it, a feeling of reverence and at-
had a power on earth, and that it was always ex-
ercised for their benefit.

The tenth chapter gives a "View of the
Papal System," and no part of the work
appears to have been composed with more
care. We regret that the limits which the
The civil power was in those ages so inefficient
nature of the work imposed, prevented Mr for the preservation of public tranquillity, that when
a country was at peace with all its neighbours, it
Southey from enlarging upon a fact in the was liable to be disturbed by private wars, indi-
history of religion of much interest, which viduals taking upon themselves the right of decid-
has lately been much illustrated. We meaning their own quarrels, and avenging their own
the obvious and direct derivation of a large wrongs. Where there existed no deadly feud,
part of the ritual and practices, and not a pretexts were easily made by turbulent and rapa-
cious men, for engaging in such contests, and they
few of the tenets of the papal church, from were not scrupulous whom they seized and impris
the classical paganism which it supplanted. oned, for the purpose of extorting a ransom. No
But a part of two paragraphs is all that is law, therefore, was ever more thankfully received,
given to this subject. Before he speaks of than when the Council of Clermont enacted, that,
the defects and abuses of this system, he from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise on Monday.
makes an eloquent admission of its vast in every week, the truce of God should he observed,
on pain of excommunication. Well might the in-
usefulness, and remarks upon its adaptation offensive and peaceable part of the community
to the state of society in which it existed; | (always the great, but in evil times, the inert, and

create. God their creator!

therefore the suffering part) regard, with grateful | ject to any secular authority, seeing that they could
devotion, a power, under whose protection they
slept four nights of the week in peace, when other-
wise they would have been in peril every hour.:
The same power by which individuals were thus
benefited, was not unfrequently exercised in great
national concerns; if the monarch were endangered
or oppressed either by a foreign enemy, or by a
combination of his Barons, here was an authority
to which he could resort for an effectual interposi-
tion in his behalf; and the same shield was extended
over the vassals, when they called upon the pope to
defend them against a wrongful exertion of the sove-
reign power.

The reverse of this picture calls forth all the author's powers. His eloquent exposure of the horrible falsehoods and villanies of the church must satisfy the most violent hater of the papacy. The seven-hilled city is to him a moral and spiritual Gehenna; and one cannot but think, as he reads the closing paragraphs of this chapter, that Mr Southey must have permitted the works of unauthorized writers to inculpate the church of Rome further than justice would allow, and have thrown upon this church an entire responsibility for the monstrous errors and crimes of individuals. We refer to such passages as these:

If the boundless credulity of mankind be a mournful subject for consideration, as in truth it is, it is yet more mournful to observe the profligate wickedness with which that credulity has been abused. The Church of Rome appears to have delighted in insulting as well as in abusing it, and to have pleased itself with discovering how far it was possible to subdue and degrade the human intellect, as an eastern despot measures his own greatness by the servile prostration of his subjects. If farther proof

be found in the prodigious doctrine of Transubstan

figurative words in a literal sense; and the Romanists do not shrink from the direct inference, that if their interpretation be just, Christ took his own body in his own hands, and offered it to his disciples. But all minor difficulties may easily be overlooked, when the flagrant absurdity of the doctrine itself is regarded. For, according to the Church

Christ had bestowed upon the pope, when be spake as such, the same infallibility which resided in himself. And were he utterly to neglect his duty, and by his misconduct drag down innumerable souls to Hell with him, there to be eternally tormented, no mortal man might presume to reprove him for his faults. Even this monstrous proposition has been advanced, that, although the catholic taith teaches all virtue to be good, and all vice evil; nevertheless, if the pope, through error. should enjoin vices to be committed, and prohibit virtues, the church would be bound to believe that vices were good, and virtues evil, and would sin in conscience were it to believe otherwise. He could change the nature of things, and make injustice justice. Nor was it possible that he should be amenable to any secular power, for he had been called God by Constantine, and God was not to be judged by man: under God, the salvation of all the faithful depended on him, and the commentators even gave him the blasphemous appellation of Lord God the Pope! It was disputed in the schools, whether he could not abrogate what the apostles had enjoined, determine to the creed; whether he did not, as God, partician opinion contrary to theirs, and add a new article pate both natures with Christ; and whether he were not more merciful than Christ, inasmuch as he delivered souls from the pains of purgatory, whereas we did not read that this had ever been done by our Saviour. Lastly, it was affirmed, that he might do things unlawful, and thus could do

more than God!

The truth is, that the idea of toleration had not yet found its way from heaven into men's hearts; bigotry, fierce, intolerant, and persecuting, was the common reproach of all those who had the power of exhibiting it. A wiser and better principle may have been planted there, but it repined in other ages, and was of tardy and imperfect growth. We suppose that few of the descendants of the puritans will be indignant at the assertion, that our fathers brought with them, and exercised upon each other, a spirit of intolerance akin to that from which they fled. The "Lords Brethren" wore not the mitres of

the "Lords Bishops," but they were not far behind them in a spirit of persecution, her church peculiar glory from the reformanor do we know why England can claim for tion. This was a glorious event, and they who forwarded it are worthy to be held in everlasting remembrance; but they were so boundless in its range and in its effects, not Englishmen alone. A change so wide, Wickliffe have due honour; but let it be was not the result of partial causes. remembered that Huss, and Jerome of Prague, and Luther, and many noble spirits of many nations toiled and died for the same

Let

We are unable to follow Mr Southey through his second volume, and must omit much that we proposed to say of this part of his work. It is in a high degree interesting, and, as a history, is undoubtedly in general correct; but some of his views and state

neglect, than that the "scale of the work own. He gives no other reason for this is not one which would require or justify 2 display of research,"-which is altogether insufficient.

All this was certain, because the church was in-cause in which he and his brethren laboured. fallible. Where this infallibility resided, the Romanists have differed among themselves, some vesting it in the pope, others requiring the concurrence of a General Council. Infallible, however, it was determined that the Roman Catholic Church must be, and thus the key-stone was put to this prodigious structure of imposture and wickedness. than has already appeared were needful, it would served; but, after all, this Roman Church been perplexed by his never citing his auIt may be that this language is well de-ments, which we cannot stop to particularize, appear to us erroneous. We have tiation. This astonishing doctrine arose from taking was identified with the Church of England thorities, even when he speaks of facts for many centuries. We ask it not in dis- which he cannot consider well established. respect, but where shall the line be drawn? Indeed he scarcely refers to any work or Where is the history to begin which is to writer, excepting some articles in the Quarshed upon the Church of England the ances-terly Review, which are known to be his tral and heritable glory which Mr Southey declares it to be his purpose to illustrate. If the first of these volumes speaks of the Church of England, then let the reader remember the passages just quoted. the Church of England begins its existence But if with the reformation of king Henry VIII., let us look at this beginning. Henry himself, with Cranmer and his associates, are to be supposed the founders of this church; but,-to particularize nothing more,-in what light Mr Southey regards the doctrine of Substantiation, we have seen, and how zealously the earliest English reformers clung to this doctrine, let the horrors of The Lollards pit," and the torment and martyrdom of Anne Askew, testify. Most true it is, that Cranmer and his brethren in martyrdom abjured this error before their glorious deaths; but it is not less true, that these venerable men deserved the rebuke cast upon them by Joan Bocher.

of Rome, when words of consecration have been pronounced, the bread becomes that same actual body of flesh and blood in which our Lord and Saviour suffered upon the Cross; remaining bread to the sight, touch, and taste, yet ceasing to be so.— and into how many parts soever the bread may be broken, the whole entire body is contained in every

part.

66

Of all the corruptions of christianity, there was none which the popes so long hesitated to sanction as this. When the question was brought before Hildebrand, he not only inclined to the opinion of Berenger, by whom it was opposed, but pretended to consult the Virgin Mary, and then declared, that she had pronounced against it. Nevertheless, it prevailed, and was finally declared, by fnnocent III., at the fourth Lateran Council, to be a tenet necessary to salvation. Strange as it may appear, the doctrine had become popular, with the people, for its very extravagance, with the clergy, because they grounded upon it their loftiest pretensions. For if there were in the sacrament this actual and entire sole presence, which they denoted by the term of transubstantiation, it followed that divine worship was something more than a service of prayer and thanksgiving; an actual sacrifice was performed in it, wherein they affirmed the Saviour was again offered up, in the same body which had suffered on the Cross, by their hands. The priest, when he performed this stupendous function of his ministry, bad before his eyes, and held in his hands, the Maker of Heaven and Earth; and the inference which they deduced from so blasphemous an assumption was, that the clergy were not to be sub-them!"

It is a goodly matter to consider your ignorance!' said the undaunted woman, to those who sate in judgment on her. Not long ago you burnt Anne Ascue for a piece of bread, and yet came yourselves soon after to believe and profess the same doctrine, for which you burnt her! And now, forsooth, you will needs burn me for a piece of flesh, and and in the end you will come to believe this also, when ye have read the Scriptures, and understand

Antiquarian Researches: comprising a His-
tory of the Indian Wars in the Country
bordering Connecticut River and Parts
Adjacent, and other Interesting Events,
from the first Landing of the Pilgrims,
to the Conquest of Canada by the English,
in 1760: with Notices of Indian Depre-
dations in the Neighbouring Country:
and of the first Planting and Progress of
Settlements in New England, New York,
and Canada. By E. Hoyt, Esq. Green-
Collections of the New Hampshire Histori-
field, Mass. 1824. 8vo. pp. 312.
cal Society, for the Year 1824. Volume I.
Concord, N. H. 1824. 8vo. pp. 336.
THE early history of our country has lately
become an object of increasing curiosity
nd interest to the public. The years,
which have elapsed since the Pilgrims first
planted the standard of civil and religious
liberty on the iron-bound shores of New
England, have been slowly obliterating the
scattered original records of their individ-

ual character and conduct. Two centuries suggested by the perusal of such works as have gradually deepened the obscurity, those whose titles stand at the head of this which involves the minute history of the article. They differ in character, as well olden times, and enlarged the shadowy as in the degree of interest which they are precincts, within which imagination may likely to excite, but the main object, that range with that freedom, which is obstruct of preserving and rendering accessible ed by the dull realities of the present. The what is known of the early history of New forms of our fathers loom through the haze England, is the same. of antiquity, which rests on the intellectual horizon, concealing the thousand details, which fetter the energies and chill the ardour of fancy, and presenting only the grander features of the prospect.

scribe it, had it been unsuccessful.

another writer, we notice here, as worthy of the consideration of those, who imagine The following, though a quotation from that the standard of education is lower, in professors do not talk Latin fluently and some of our colleges, at this day, than it quote the ancients on all occasions, whether was in that of Cotton Mather, because the in season or out of it.

by which he annexed a salary to the mathematical
and astronomical professors in Oxford, says geom-
Sir Henry Saville, in the preamble of the deed
try was almost totally abandoned and unknown in
study of the ancients.
England. The best learning of the age was the

great deal of interest, and cheerfully reWe have read Mr Hoyt's book with a commend it to the public. To the general reader we think it will be more amusing we are acquainted. The style is easy and than any history of the period with which agreeable; the accounts of various writers are digested in a judicious and pleasing manner, while some particulars are supplied, which we believe can be found in no other publication. The writer passes light-defence of the morality and expediency of a bounty on Indian scalps. The effect of such We cannot agree with the author in his in cold blood, the captives who were unaa practice on the minds of the scalp-hunters-the temptation thus held forth to slay, and the example given to the natives, seem to us powerful considerations against it. As ble to keep up with the victorious party; been feeble. Though the bounty offered a measure of expediency it seems to have for single scalps was occasionally enormous, -on one occasion, we believe, a hundred barbarous trophies; and we hope, for the pounds, but a small amount on the whole honour of human nature, that it was beseems ever to have been paid for those which has no better defenders than those who choly must be the state of that country, cause there were few to ask for it. Melanfor a price. Much cruelty is doubtless inare ready to hunt and mangle human beings cited to a degree unknown in the technical savages. The passions are necessarily exseparable from a warfare conducted with and mechanical combats of civilized armies-and

The situation and circumstances of the planters of New England, during the first sixty or seventy years of the colonies, were of a peculiar character, and such as take a strong hold upon the imagination. They were stirring times in which our ancestors lived, and this peaceable, calculat-ly over many portions of our annals, which ing, and realizing land was once the very are of a more dry and uninteresting charCountry of romance. What adventure indeed could be more particulars which are likely to gratify those acter, and dwells at greater length on those wild, than that of the passengers in the who read only for amusement. May-Flower, and what language would therefore, that it will be a popular work, have been thought too extravagant to de- and hope the author will enjoy, as we think We think, project, undertaken at such hazards and edition, to present it to the public freed Such a he deserves, the opportunity of a second with such means, would be looked upon, at from the various typographical errors to this day, as utter madness. Indeed the which he alludes, and in a more elegant Pilgrims themselves considered their suc- form than it is at present. cess as the result of a direct and special interposition of Providence. The first settlers did not, it is true, traverse the country with good steed, lance, and brand, in search of captive knights or distressed damsels, but their conduct and their language was often little less extravagant. Their enemies appeared in a different, but scarcely a more questionable shape. They were not giants, or ogres, ensconced in castles of steel and defended by attendant sprites; but savage warriors, swift of foot and subtle of mind, lurking in trackless forests and swamps, and assisted, as our ancestors most religiously believed, by the devil. Spectres and witchcraft were received articles of belief, and, with the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other, our progenitors waged war alike against the visible and in

visible world.

The character of the aborigines is now likewise regarded with the interest which it deserves. They were once considered as little better than the brutal tenants of the soil; as a race cowardly, treacherous, mindful of injuries, but insensible to benefits, whose ferocity could never be tamed and their affections never secured. was a false representation. But this tive consideration has shown that their ag; More attengressions were rarely unprovoked, and that, in the fury of contest, there were some who remembered and repaid future benefits. If some of the alleviations of civilized warfare were unknown among them, some of its worst features equally absent, and among the anecdotes, which have come down to us, of the chief tains who figured in those eventful times, many may compare with those of Spartan

or Roman greatness.

were

Considerations like these are naturally

tice a few things which may amuse or in-
After these general remarks, we shall no-
terest our readers, as they occurred to us
in the course of our perusal.

Ward and Cotton, and accepted by the
Among the collection of laws framed by
magistrates in 1641, which were copied al-
most literally from those of Moses, is the
following.

ried, or such as have newly built or planted, and
Men betrothed and not married, or newly mar-
not received the fruits of their labour, and such as
are faint-hearted men, are not to be pressed or
forced against their wills, to go forth to wars.

execution, it seems remarkable, in the first
If these were ever really carried into
place, that any person should have been
pressed or forced against his will to go
forth to wars;" and secondly, that if such a
such a nature should have been admitted.
principle was acknowledged, exceptions of
The framers of the code were probably
better acquainted with the book of Deuter-
onomy than the real state and exigencies
of the colony. And again.

are not to be accepted, much less sought for.
And in war, men of a corrupt and false religion
Sassacus' fort with ram's horns; it would
Truly we wonder our ancestors did not
carry the parable so far as to fight against
consider that those under "a covenant of
have been little less extravagant, when we
works" were looked upon as men of a
corrupt and false religion."

feelings with which a scalp is stripped from many horrible examples of this are of another character, and such as we are in every history of this kind. But the trust were rare in the darkest days of New a dying enemy, to be preserved for barter, England. We have alluded to the bitterprevailed among the partisans of the time. The following is an instance. In Captain ness of the passions, which occasionally Lovewell's battle at Pigwacket, his lieutenant, Robbins, who, by the way, had been a told that scalp-hunter, was wounded-and we are

to load his gun, that he might despatch another of
conscious of his fate, he requested bis companions
the enemy, should he return to the spot.

the story had been more to the credit of
We select the following as a specimen of
the colonial government.
our author's manner of writing. We wish

sumptuary law, which directed the select-warriors; Incas met him at the head of five hundred
There was more worldly wisdom in the moh invaded the Mohegans with nine hundred of his
But prior to the termination of the war Miantoni-
men of each town
to take notice of the apparel of any of the in- conflict commenced, Uncas advanced singly and
of his men, on a large plain; both prepared for ac-
judge to exceed their rank and abilities, in the cost- ber of men with you, and so have I with me; it is
tion, and advanced within bow shot
habitants, and to assess such persons as they shall thus addressed his antagonist. You have a num-
Before the
especially in wearing ribbons and great boots, ated in a private quarrel between us. Come like a
liness or fashion of their apparel, in any respect, a great pity that such brave warriors should be kill-

360

his delusive conduct, seized and disarmed the whole the case stood, or rather hung with their
Wonalonset, the chief,
squaw horse, who unhorsed their mare and
without the loss of a man.
with his Pennacooks, and others who had agreed brought her to her former tameness."
on the peace, were released: the others being fugi-
tives from Philip, were retained prisoners, to the
number of about two hundred, and afterwards sent
to Boston, and seven or eight of their leaders hang-
ed; the remainder were sold into slavery in for-

man, as you profess to be, and let us fight it out.
If you kill me, my men shall be yours; but if I kill
you, your men shall be mine. Miantonimoh re-
plied, my men came to fight, and they shall fight.'
Uncas instantly fell upon the ground, and his men
poured a shower of arrows upon the Narragansets
and with a horrible yell, advanced rapidly upon
them and put them to flight. Uncas and his men
pressed on and drove them down a precipice, scat-eign parts.
tering them in all directions. Miantonimoh was
overtaken and seized by Uncas, who by a shout

called back his furious warriors. About thirty
Narragansetts were slain, and many wounded,
among whom were several noted chiefs. Finding
himself in the hands of his implacable enemy,
Miantonimoh remained silent, nor could Uncas, by
Had
any art, force him to break his sullen mood.
you taken me,' said the conqueror, I should have
asked you for my life.' No reply was made by
the indignant chief, and he submitted without a
murmur to his humiliating condition. He was af-
terwards conducted to Hartford, by his conqueror,
and delivered to the English, by whom he was held
in duress, until his fate should be determined by
the commissioners of the colonies.

After an examination of his case, the commissioners resolved, 'That as it was evident that Uncas could not be safe while Miantonimoh lived; but either by secret treachery, or open force, his life would be constantly in danger, he might justly put such a false and blood-thirsty enemy to death; but this was to be done out of the English jurisdiction, and without cruelty or torture.' Miantonimoh was delivered to Uncas, and by a number of his trusty men marched to the spot, where he was captured,

Truly the contriver of this abominable deception had his reward.

The seizure of the Indians by Major Waldron was not forgotten. Some who had been sold into slavery abroad, had found means to return home, and with impatience awaited an opportunity to revenge themselves. A confederacy was formed by the Pennacooks and Pigwackets, and soine others, to surprise Waldron and his neighbours at Dover. The place was then defended by five garrisone houses, situated on each side of the river, in which the people generally secured themselves in the night. But as the Indians were frequently in the town for the purpose of trading with the people, no suspicions were entertained of their hostile plan, and the guards had become very remiss.

The night of the twenty-seventh of June was chosen for carrying their plan into excution. In the evening two Indian women were admitted into several of the garrisoned houses, which gave them an opportunity of observing the manner in which the gates were opened. They informed Major Waldron that a number of Indians would arrive

The latter part of this story, we observe en passant, which speaks of the iron-heels, rather forgets the beginning, which would seem to imply that the animal had been long enough in the woods to get clear of her shoes.

The work remaining to be noticed in this article, is the first fruits of the New Hampshire Historical Society. The great benefit, which has accrued to the interests of literature and science, by the division of literary labour effected by various associa tions, is too well understood and appreciated to need any consideration in this place. We may only observe that the objects of the various historical and antiquarian societies in this country are particularly praiseworthy. Much has thus been already preserved, that would long since have probably been lost to the world and much more will doubtless be collected, that is now in a fair way to become so.

Among the various interesting articles contained in this work, we shall notice one or two which we think particularly so. Nearly half the volume is occupied by a reprint of Penhallow's Narrative of Indian

attended by two Englishmen, to see that no torture the Major, while at supper, 'Brother, what would Wars from 1703 to 1726, a book so exceed

was inflicted; and the moment that he arrived at the fatal spot, one of Uncas' men came up behind, and with his hatchet split the scull of the unfortunate chief. It is stated that the savage Uncas then cut out a piece of the shoulder of the dead body, and ate it, with triumph, exclaiming. It is the

sweetest meat I ever ate; it makes my heart strong! The body was buryed on the spot, and a heap of stones piled upon the grave. The place since that time has been known by the name of Sachem's Plain, and is situated in the town of Nor

wich in Connecticut.

Wal

"When I

the next day to trade with him; and an Indian
then at the house, hospitably entertained, said to
you do if the strange Indians should come.'
dron replied, that he would assemble one hundred ing scarce, that it was with great difficulty
men by the motion of his hand. No suspicions that a perfect copy could be found in the
however were excited by these insinuations, and country. It is an entertaining account, but,
In a short time a like all other original accounts, is too fre-
the family retired to repose.
large body of Indians entered the town; Waldron's quently such as to be little creditable to the
gate was opened, and they rushed into his room.
Springing from his bed, and seizing his sword, he morality of the first settlers.
drove them back, but as he was returning for his asked one of the chief sachems," says Pen-
gun, he was stunned by the stroke of a hatchet-hallow, wherefore it was that they were
drawn into his hall, and seating him in a chair, so bigotted to the French, considering their
they asked, Who shall judge Indians now?" They traffic with them was not so advantageous
then proceeded to torment him, by cutting his body
and face in the most horrid manner; and at length as with the English? he gravely replied,
despatched him, took the other people, pillaged the that the friars taught them to pray, but
the English never did," and he admits
house, and set it on fire.
that the argument was well founded.

Among other stories in this account, we have one of the conduct of an Indian widow, which shows that the natives were not always without a certain share of what Touchstone calls, “natural philosophy."

Horrible as the action of Uncas on this occasion must appear to every one, it was that of a savage, whose education had not The author, while speaking of the Indian taught him better things; and we have no hesitation in considering it less worthy of deer traps (which were made by bending detestation, than the treacherous conduct down a sapling, having a loop affixed to the at Cocheco, of Major Waldron, a man edu-end, and securing it so as to be easily discated under the light of christianity, and engaged by an animal passing through it) one of place and authority among a people alludes to an anecdote related, in a very luSamuel Butterfield, who being sent to Groton as who valued themselves upon the purity of dicrous manner, by Wood in his New EngAs one of our principal a soldier, was with others attacked as they were their religion. The account is thus given land's Prospect. aims in this Gazette is to amuse our read-gathering in the harvest; his bravery was such, by Mr Hoyt. ers, we shall extract the account from that he killed one and wounded another, but being overpowered by strength, was forced to submit; Wood, though not particularly to the pur- and it happened that the slain Indian was a sagapose of this review.

Hostilities, which had extended along the sea

coast into Maine, still continued, and most of the settlements in that quarter partook of the general calamity. The Massachusetts forces were now at liberty to turn their arms in that direction; and Captains Sill and Hawthorn, with two companies, were sent to Cocheco, where they joined Major Waldron at that place. At this time about four hundred Indians bad assembled in the vicinity of the Major's house, part of whom were Pennacooks, who had agreed on terms of peace, but now began to show a hostile spirit. Sill and Hawthorn were desirous of attacking them, but the Major finally devised a plan to seize them by a stratagem. He proposed to the Indians a training and sham-fight the next day. With the forces he had with him, he was to join the two companies of Sill and Hawthorn, which were to form one party, and the Indians the other, and the latter agreed to the play. At the time appointed the parties met, and Wal dron, as commander, diverted them some time, and received their harmless fire; he then contrived to surround them, and closing in his troops, changed

more, and of great dexterity in war, which caused "An English mare, having strayed from a matter of lamentation, and enraged them to such her owner, and grown wild by her long so- a degree that they vowed the utmost revenge: some journing in the woods, ranging up and down were for whipping him to death, others for burning him alive, but differing in their sentiments, they with the wild crew, stumbled into one of these submitted the issue to the Squaw Widow, concludtraps, which stopt her speed, hanging her, ing she would determine something very dreadful; like Mahomet's tomb, betwixt earth and but when the matter was opened, and the fact conheaven; the morning being come, the In-sidered, her spirits were so moderate as to make dians went to look what good success their venison traps had brought them, but seeing such a long-scutted deer prance in their merritotter, they bade her good morrow, crying out, "What cheer, what cheer, Englishman's squaw horse ?" having no better epithet than to call her a woman-horse; but being loth to kill her and as fearful to approach the friscadoes of her iron-heels, they posted to the English to tell them how

no other reply than Fortune L'guerre. Upon which some were uneasy, to whom she answered, if by killing him, you can bring my husband to life again, I beg you to study what death you please; but if not, let him be my servant;' which he accordingly was, during his captivity, and had favor shewn him.

We suspect that Butterfield was comely of aspect, as well as strong of arm.

We were much interested by the last will and testament of Standish, the famous

Plymouth commander, which is here published entire. We have usually suspected the worthy captain, if his descendants will allow us the expression, to have been a kind of Gallio in too many things, and were gratified to find the following among the codicils of his will.

Further my will is, that Martha Marcye Robenson, whom I tenderly loue for her grand farthers sacke, shall haue three pounds in some thing to go forward for her two years after my decease which my will is my overseers shall see performed That he had some longings after the "flesh-pots of Egypt," appears from the last devise.h

I give vnto my son and heire aparent Allexander Standish, all my lands as heire aparent by lawful! decent in Ormistick, Borsconge, Wrightington, Maudsley, Newburrow, Crawston, and in the Isle of Man, and given to mee as right heire by lawful decent but surruptuously detained from mee, my great grandfather being a vond or younger brother

from the house of Standish of Standish.

ant on this side the Atlantic.

361

In the work before us, the author has not the country, might, like Fontenelle, thank attempted to make the thorough reforma- his stars that he has not yet learned what tion, which, we suppose, he would agree grammarians call a preposition. There is with us in thinking desirable. Although very little exaggeration in this. It is ache has introduced some valuable improve- tually true, that very few of our eminent ments, he has retained the general system scholars of fifty or sixty years of age, can of grammar taught in all our schools. We parse an ordinary paragraph according to regard this system as radically, and almost common grammatical rules; and many of totally false; and the study of the common them never learned to do it. books which teach it, as one of the most useless and stupid exercises ever imposed upon the growing mind. We shall not now detail our reasons for this opinion, as most of them have been given to our readers, in several numbers of the Gazette, "On the the remarks which have been published in Common Systems of English Grammar."

who did not make English grammar a sepa rate study, yet acquired much knowledge It may be said, that most of the learned, of it from studying the Latin and Greek. There is some truth in these languages affords great assistance in than is commonly imagined. The study of n this; but much less We do not mean to deny, that the study in our own; not only of those which are dedetermining the exact meaning of the words of grammar is attended with important ad-rived from the Latin and Greek, but of all vantages; but we believe, that few of these that are brought into use during the study. advantages result from the system itself. The constant use of the dictionary for the We think this matter worthy the atten- The mind is exercised in determining the will express precisely the meaning of the They appear to be almost wholly incidental. purpose of determining what English word tion of the heirs male, if there be any now meaning of words, phrases, and sentences, Latin or Greek word, gives the mind a remaining of this intrepid soldier. knows but the broad lands of Borconge, attending carefully and critically to the meaning with facility and accuracy, and Who and, by this means, acquires the habit of habit of selecting terms for expressing its Maudsley, &c., more substantial matters sense of what is heard and read. This is greatly enlarges its stock, from which the than the landless coronet of the Dudleys, nearly all the advantage that can be de- selection is to be made. Add to this, that may one day find, like that, a lawful claim-rived from studying the common treatises when the etymology of an English word is not depend on the correctness of the sys- better understood, and less liable to be foron grammar, and it is obvious that this does discovered, its exact meaning is generally tem. Some of the rules of orthography are gotten. useful, but these belong to a child's second Spelling-Book. A few definitions of words are given more accurately than in our dictionaries; these, with the examples of incorrect modes of expression, and some of the rules for punctuation, are useful. It is commonly supposed, that parsing is of great consequence, from its disclosing the relations which exist between the several words We close this desultory article with the in a sentence; but this will appear of much expression of our best wishes for the suc-less account, when it is observed, how very understood as casting any censure upon Mr cess of the respective authors of the works, few of these relations are accurately defined. Picket. He has doubtless a more favouraIn these prefatory remarks, we shall not be which have given occasion to it, and our It cannot add much to the scholar's knowl-ble opinion of the common system of English best acknowledgments for the entertain- edge, to tell him, that a preposition shows grammar than we have expressed, or he ment they have afforded us. the relation between two words, while the would not have made it the ground-work of nature of that relation is not explained; or his book. But our objections to the general the connexion is undefined. that a conjunction connects two words, while system cannot be applied to this, more than that give to his work a real value, which made some very important improvements, to other grammars; and the author has we can concede to no other within the reach of the public. Our business, therefore, with him, is to give him credit for all the good he has done, and thereby encourage him, and others, to make further advances in the work of reformation.

Towards the end of the volume is a resolve of the Commissioners of the United Colonies concerning the Quakers. This, which is in the usual bigoted and intolerant style of the day, we should not have noticed, but for a qualification annexed to the signature of Governor Winthrop, which, if we rightly understand it, is in the highest degree honourable to him. "Looking," says he, "at the article as a query, and not as an act, I subscribe."

Analytical School Grammar. Picket's Grammar of the English Language, comprising its Principles and Rules: Adapted to the business of Instruction in Primary Schools. By A. Picket, Author of the American School Class Books, the Juvenile Spelling Book, &c. &c. Second Edition modified, and greatly improved. New York. 1824. 18mo. pp. 252.

PROBABLY many of our readers already know, that Mr Picket has for many years been a most faithful and efficient labourer in the good cause of improving our system of education. We cannot say, whether his exertions have been uniformly judicious; but we believe his principles to be generally correct; his labours have certainly been great; and we regret to learn, that his compensation has been far less than his services have merited. His principles have been considerably in advance of those which are applied in most of our schools, and the public cannot be immediately prepared to appreciate them.

parsing the English language be so impor-
If a knowledge of the common system of
tant as is generally imagined, how comes it
to pass that so few good writers of any age
have been at all dependent upon it? It is
scarcely a century since parsing was un-
known. Our aged fathers all tell us, that
to school.
it was taught little or none when they went
among us,-those who are distinguished for
Even the most literary men
good writing and speaking, have rarely
much acquaintance with this notable art.
Had we a sentence hard to resolve accord-
ing to the principles and rules of Murray,
we surely should not consult a president or
a professor of a college, except he were
very young, nor a learned clergyman, nor
an eminent lawyer or judge. Nay, if both
houses of congress would make your ques-
tion the order of the day, in committee of
the whole, it is doubtful whether they could
afford any aid; and many a one of them,
whose eloquence is celebrated throughout
46

wards an extensive and correct knowledge of our language; and we think, that they These are great and important aids toconstitute the principal advantages which are derived from studying the dead languages. The grammatical structure of these is so different from that of our own, that very little advantage can be derived from comparing them.

we shall mention, consists in the definitions which are given to the technical language The first of these improvements, which of this science. These definitions are given in the form of explanations and remarks after the several sections; and they are much more numerous, clear, and comprehensive than are to be found in the works in common use. ever, partial, obscure, or erroneous, owing to the general vagueness and falsity of the Many of them are, howsystem which they are designed to illustrate. But enough is well done, to encourage the scholar greatly in the important habit of inquiring carefully and critically