George Bancroft, History of the Colonization of the United States, Vol. 1, 17th edition.

[319] and a plot was formed for the entire destruction of the

Chap. VIII.} 1623

English. But the grateful Massassoit revealed the design to his allies; and the planters at Weymouth were saved by the wisdom of the older colony and the intrepid gallantry of Standish. It was ‘his capital exploit.’ Some of the rescued men went to Plymouth; some sailed for England. One short year saw the beginning and end of the Weymouth plantation. ‘Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public,’ observes the childless Lord Bacon, with complacent self-love, ‘have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men.’ Weston's company, after having boasted of their strength, as, far superior to Plymouth, which was enfeebled, they said, by the presence of children and women, owed their deliverance to the colony that had many women, children, and weak ones with them.

The danger from Indian hostilities was early removed; the partnership with English merchants occasioned greater inconvenience. Robinson and the rest of his church, at Leyden, were suffering from deferred hopes, and were longing to rejoin their brethren in America. The adventurers in England refused to provide them a passage, and attempted, with but short success, to force upon the colonists a clergyman more

1624 to 1626

friendly to the established church; thus outraging at once the affections and the religious scruples of those whom they had pledged themselves to cherish Divisions ensued; and the partners in England, offended by opposition, and discouraged at the small returns from their investments, deserted the interests of their associates in America. A ship was even despatched to rival them in their business; goods, which were sent for their supply, were sold to them