here." After some discussion of the subject, two committees were appointed to draw up arguments for and against the proposed transfer, with instructions to report to the full Court on the following morning. This was done, and after an animated debate the Company voted " by erection of hands," "that the government and patent should be settled in New England," and an order was thereupon drawn up for carrying out this vote, perhaps the most important resolution ever adopted by any corporate body. Less than two months afterward, the Court, as the records set forth, "having received extraordinary great commendations of Mr. John Winthrop, both for his integrity and sufficiency, as being one every way well fitted and accomplished for the place of Governor," chose him the first Governor under the new system. Mr. John Humfrey, another signer of the Agreement at Cambridge, was at the same time chosen Deputy-Governor; and eighteen Assistants were also selected, of whom the most prominent were Sir Richard Saltonstall, Isaac Johnson, Thomas Dudley, John Endicott, and William Coddington.

On the very day of the election, Winthrop announced the result to his wife in a letter which is too characteristic of the writer not to be inserted here.

"To my verye lovinge Wife, M" Winthrop the elder at Groton, Suff k "MY DEARE WIFE, -I am verye sorye that I am forced to feed thee wth lettres, when my presence is thy due, & so much desired: but my trust is, that he who hath so disposed of it, will supply thee wth patience, & better comforte in the want of him whom thou so much desirest: The Lord is able to doe this, & thou mayst expect it, for he hath promised it. Seeinge he calls me into his worke, he will have care of thee & all o' & o' affaires in my absence: therefore I must sende thee to him, for all thou lackest: goe boldly (sweet wife) to the throne of Grace; if anythinge trouble thee, acquainte the Lord wth it; tell him, he hath taken thy husband from thee, pray him to be a husband to thee, a father to thy children, a master to thy householde, thou shall finde him faithfull: thou art not guilty of my departure, thou hast not driven me awaye by any unkindnesse, or want of dutye, therefore thou mayst challenge protection & blessinge of him.

"I prayse the Lorde I am in health & cheerfull in my course, wherein I find God gratiously present, so as we expect, he wilbe pleased to direct & prosper us. We have great advantage because we have many

prayers.

"Bee not discouraged (deare heart) though I sett thee no tyme of my returne; I hope it shall not be longe, & I will make no more staye then I needs must.

"So it is that it hath pleased the Lorde to call me to a further trust in this businesse of the Plantation, then either I expected or finde myselfe fitt for, (beinge chosen by the Company to be their Governor). The onely thinge that I have comforte of in it is, that heerby I have assurance that my charge is of the Lorde & that he hath called me to this worke: O that he would give me an heart now to answeare his goodnesse to me, & the expectation of his people! I never had more need of prayers, helpe me (deare wife) & lett us sett o' hearts to seeke the Lorde, & cleave to him sincearly.

"My brother & sisters salute you all: my sonne remembers his dutye to thee, & salutations to all the rest. Comende me kindly to all o freinds at Groton hall, & to Mr Leigh & his wife, my neighbor Cole & his wife, o freinds at Castleins & all that love us. So the Lorde blesse thee & all o' children & companye. So I kisse my sweet wife & rest "thy faithfull husband "Jo: WINTHROP.

"Остов: 20, 1629.

With

"I would faine knowe if thou shalt be like to goe me, for thou shalt never have so good opportunity. Let John enq out 2 or 3: Carpenters & knowe how many of o" neighbo" will goe, that we may provide shipps for them."

Immediately after the election Winthrop entered on the discharge of his new duties; and during the autumn and winter he was busily occupied in making the necessary preparations for embarking with a large company as soon as the spring opened. Yet he found time to write many letters to his wife, who remained at Groton while he was in London, all of them breathing the tenderest affection for her, and the most entire trust in God. Several of them have already been printed by Mr. Savage, and we had marked for citation three or four of those which are now first printed; but our extracts have already been so copious, that we have room for only one more. It is, however, one of the most interesting and characteristic of the letters written at this time.

"To my verye loving Wife Mrs. Winthrop the elder at Groton, Suffolk. "LONDON March 10: 1629.*

"MINE OWNE, MINE ONELY, MY BEST BELOVED, Methinkes it is verye longe since I sawe or heard from my beloved, & I misse all

readye the sweet comfort of thy most desired presence: but the rich mercye & goodnesse of my God makes supplye of all wants: Blessed be his great & holy name. Ah my good wife, we now finde what blessinge is stored up in the favour of the Lorde; he only sweetens all conditions to us, he takes our cares & feares from us, he supports us in our dangers, he disposeth all our affaires for us, he will guide us by his counsell in our pilgrimage, & after will bringe us to glorye.

"John is returned from S: Hampton, where he lefte our boyes well & merrye: & this morninge we are ridinge thither, & from thence I shall take my last farewell of thee till we meet in new E or till midsomer that it please God our shipps returne. My deare wife be of good courage, it shall goe well with thee & us, the hairs of thy head are numbred, he who gave his onely beloved to dye for thee, will give his Angells charge over thee: therefore rayse up thy thoughts, & be merrye in the Lorde, labour to live by thy Faith; if thou meet with troubles or difficultyes, be not dismayed; God doth use to bringe his children into the streights of the redd sea &c, that he may shew his power & mercye in makinge a waye for them: All his courses towards us, are but to make us knowe him & love him; the more thy heart drawes towards him in this, the freer shall thy condition be from the evill of Affliction.

"Our friends heer are all in health (blessed be God) & desire to be heartyly comended to thee. I am exceedingly beholdinge to my good brother & sister D, I can fasten no recompence upon them for all the chardge my selfe & my company have putt them to. I have received much kindnesse also from my Lady Mildmay & from others, whereof some have been meer strangers to me, the Lord reward them: It doth much incourage us to see, how the eyes & hearts of all good people are upon us, breathinge many sweet prayers & blessings after us. Comende

my hearty love to all our friends, I cannot now name them, but thou knowest whom I meane. Nowe I beseech the Lord & father of mercye to blesse thee & all thy companye, my daughter W: Ma: Mat: Sam: Deane, & the little one unknowne, Tho: Am:* & the rest: Tell Am: I am very much beholdinge to her brother, desire her to give him thanks for me tell my n: Culproke I am beholdinge to his sonne in lawe for oysters he sent me, but could not see him to give him thankes. My deare wife farewell, once againe let us kisse & imbrace, so in teares of great Affection I rest

"Thine ever

"Jo: WINTHROP."

* “The persons indicated by Tho: and Am: were undoubtedly his servants Thomas and Amy. The others, previously alluded to, were Henry's wife, his own daughter Mary, Martha Fones (afterwards the wife of his son John), and his sons Samuel and Deane."

On the very day on which this letter was written, Winthrop went down to Southampton to embark for his new home, leaving his wife, his eldest son, and the younger members of the family, to follow in the spring or summer of the next year. But the little fleet had not yet arrived; and so late as the 29th of March, the day with which "The History of New England" opens, most of the vessels were not ready for sea. Nevertheless, on that day Winthrop set sail from the Cowes, as it was then called, in the "Arbella," a ship of three hundred and fifty tons, accompanied by three other ships, the "Talbot," the "Ambrose," and the "Jewell." Their progress, however, was much hindered by storms and adverse winds; and it was not until the 10th of April that they passed the Lizard, and the emigrants took their last lingering look of their old home.

We have thus briefly traced, under the guidance of his accomplished descendant, the personal history of the new Governor, from his birth in an obscure hamlet, now visited by the traveller only from respect to the memory of its illustrious son, through a not very eventful life, down to the period when he bade a final adieu to Old England to become the first man in New England; and have endeavored to show by what influences his character was formed, and under what circumstances his youth and early manhood were passed. If from this point we look back over the first forty years of his life, we shall find abundant reason to rejoice that the chief duty of governing the infant colony was intrusted to such a man. In every relation which he had hitherto been called to sustain, he had preserved an unblemished reputation; and to his growing experience he had added a continually widening influence. A faithful husband, a kind father, an upright magistrate, and a sincere and humble Christian, he had at all times shown himself equal to the demands which the occasion made on him. The courage and the magnanimity, the moderation and the firmness, the forgetfulness of his own interests in his anxiety for the public welfare, and the readiness to forgive personal injuries, by which his course as Governor of the Massachusetts Colony were marked, were only the natural fruits of his previous training and culture. In the full vigor of manhood,

with a mature judgment, a character formed under the best influences, and a various experience, he was placed at the head of an enterprise which required the exercise of all his powers for its successful prosecution. If his physical organization had been less vigorous, or his judgment less ripe, if the religious element had not entered so largely into his character, or if he had had less acquaintance with human nature, the new colony would scarcely have been so early or so firmly established.

From the day on which the "Arbella" left the shores of England, his life becomes a part of the public history of this country, and its details have been often written. In "The History of New England" he has raised a durable monument to his own memory; and in the learned pages of Bancroft and Palfrey, and in the writings of other historians of lesser fame, he holds a conspicuous and honorable place. But on the examination of this part of his career we do not now purpose to enter. Within the last twelve months, new and important light has been shed on the subject by the publication, under the auspices of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of a volume containing several hundred inedited letters, addressed either to John Winthrop or to John Winthrop, Jr., by Cradock, Hugh Peters, Winslow, Endicott, Roger Williams, and others; and one or two more volumes of a similar character may be looked for from the same source. We have also the promise of another volume of the "Life and Letters," which will include considerable new material, and bring the narrative down to his death, a period of nearly twenty years. Until these materials are available for use, it is scarcely advisable to attempt a new examination of Governor Winthrop's public life; and we therefore reserve what we wish to say on this subject, and a general estimate of his character, for some future opportunity. If the papers and letters hereafter to be published are only half as important and instructive as those now brought to light, our readers will have no occasion to regret the delay.