the burial-place of Robinson. "In the chancel whereof he lies buried." Now Robinson was not buried in the chancel of the church in which he had preached (if he had preached in any), but under the pavement of the aisle of the Peter's Church, the former cathedral; and this I shall show farther on by two separate records of his interment.*

Had Robinson's congregation enjoyed any church, it must have been by an act of the magistrates; for, after the Reformation in Holland, the control of all church buildings. and ecclesiastical funds was transferred to the civil authorities. These funds are in part preserved to the present day, and the payment of all clergymen, of different denominations, is still, in the Netherlands, one of the regular expenses of the state.† of the state. With some difficulty, I obtained permission to have the Dagboek of the magistrates of Leyden examined, for 1608, 1609, and 1620; and although the grant made to the English congregation, of which I have just spoken, of a chapel attached to Saint Catherine's Almshouse, is there recorded, yet no notice was to be found of any church being granted to, or of any magisterial act being performed in favor of, any other English congregation.‡

*To one at a distance, on looking at these passages from Prince in connection with the fact of Robinson's burial at the Peter's Church, the idea might suggest itself that it was that the Cathedral Church which had been granted to his congregation. But, besides that the records of the Peter's Church show nothing of the kind, a moment's reflection will make clear its improbability. To the other English congregation, which they were not prevented through fear of England from favoring, the magistrates only granted the use of a small chapel, the Catherine's, which served, at the same time, for the French Protestants. (See Note A.) To a sect with which they had no communion, and which they feared to favor, they would not be likely to give up their own high-church."

The different churches in the Netherlands are now under the control of two departments, one of which is devoted to the Protestant, the other to the Catholic church. At the head of each department is a Director-General, whose rank and pay are but little lower than those of a cabinet minister. The expenses of religion are paid entirely by the state, unless a congregation see fit to give their pastor more than the regular salary assigned to him. The budget for 1843 of the Director-General of the Reformed Church is of 1,432,142 florins, of forty cents American each. Of this sum, 1,058,807 florins is for the Reformed (Calvinist) churches; 34,940 florins for the Lutheran; 9,900, for the Anabaptists; 21,000 florins for the Remonstrants; and 22,350 florins for Jewish Rabbis, and repairs of the synagogues. Of the remainder, 31,800 florins are taken up by the expenses of the department, including 8,000 florins, the salary of the Director-General, and the rest is devoted to the education of small children of the different sects.

The budget of the Catholic direction is of 520,000 florins. Since the separation of Belgium, this department has lost much of its former importance.

Neal, in his History of the Puritans, says (Vol. I., p. 577), under date 1595:"The violent proceedings of the bishops drove great numbers of the Brownists into

Again, there are two very voluminous histories of Leyden; one, the Beschrijving der Stadt Leyden, door Orlers, 4to., Leyden, 1641; the other, Beschrijving der Stad Leyden, door Van Mieris, 3 vol., fol., Leyden, 1762; in both of which the history of each church is given separately, as is also that of the small chapels attached to the 'different almshouses. These notices are written with great apparent accuracy, and certainly with great minuteness, many pages being often devoted to the smallest Gasthuys Kapelletje, every change in its different occupants mentioned, the acts of the magistrates in relation to it recorded, and in some cases the putting of new planks to the floor, or fresh whitewash upon the walls, most faithfully chronicled. Yet, with all this minuteness, I can find in neither of these books any allusion whatever to the presence in Leyden of any other English community than that of which I have before spoken.

I think that the absence of all record at Leyden, and the absence of all notice in the early writings of the Pilgrims, give strong grounds for believing that no church was granted to them, and I may cite again that passage of Bradford's journal in which he states, that, but for fear of offending England, they would have received some public favor. The public favor to be shown would certainly be the granting them a public place of worship.

I am myself convinced that no regular church was granted them, and I am disposed to believe that their religious assemblies were held in some hired hall, or in the

Holland, where their leaders, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Smith, Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Jacob, and others, were gone beforehand, and, with the leave of the States, were erecting churches," &c. For this statement he gives no authority, and his accuracy in facts would seem to be no greater than in dates. In his second volume, p. 47, he alludes to the treaty with Queen Elizabeth, under which Presbyterian churches were erected in the Netherlands. In Note A., I shall give the fourteenth clause of the treaty of 1585, the only early treaty between England and the Netherlands, containing a stipulation upon matters of religion; but I am unable to find in the records of the States General, which I examined at the Hague, any thing to justify the first statement of Neal. There is, indeed, a short notice, on the 5th October, 1596, stating that the propositions of several English, in different cities, on matters of religion, were advertised, in order that the cities might know of them in time; but I can find nothing further in the records relating to English religious affairs, up to 1620, the point at which my examination stopped. What the propositions were does not appear. The following is a copy of the record:

"1596, Octob. 5.- Is openinge en advertentie gedaan van het geene by eenige van de Engelsche Natie in verscheide steeden op het stuk van de Religie word voorgestelt, ten einde de Steeden willen in tyds daar op letten dat egeene inconvenienten daar uit en koomen te onstaan."

house of Robinson, their pastor. That it was not uncommon, at that time, for different sects in the Netherlands to hold religious meetings in private houses, we have the authority of Cardinal Bentivoglio, who, in his Relazione di Fiandra, tells us, that "the public exercises of religion are not permitted in the cities to any sect but the Calvinists, neither is it allowed that any other doctrines than theirs shall be taught publicly in the schools. The exercises of all others are permitted in private houses, which are in fact as if public, the places of preaching being spacious and of sufficient size for any assembly." * No allusion to their place of worship can, I believe, be found in any of the original writings of the Pilgrims,

* "Non vien permesso però l'esercitio publico nelle città se non a' Calvinisti, come ho accennato di sopra; nè si consente, che s' insegni altra dottrina publicamente nelle scuole, che quella della lor setta. A tutte l'altre è permesso l'esercitio nelle case private; che si possono dir però come publiche, predicandosi in luoghi spatiosi, e capaci d'ogni concorso. Bentivoglio, Relazione di Fiandra, Parte II., Cap. II.

Both Bancroft, in his History, and Young, in his notes, have referred to Bentivoglio, as authority for statements made in their respective writings. The former says, Vol. I., p. 302, — "His [Robinson's] congregation inspired the nuncio of Rome with respect"; and Young, in a note on p. 43, says, "The English Separatists in Holland attracted the notice of Cardinal Bentivoglio." I should feel great delicacy in differing from either of these accomplished writers, but I must confess my inability to find in Bentivoglio's writings any allusion either to "Robinson's congregation," or to "the English Separatists," in Holland. There is, however, in immediate connection with the passage I have cited above, an allusion to certain Puritani d'Inghilterra; but does not that apply to the different English and Scottish Presbyterian congregations which were at that time collected in most of the large towns of the Netherlands? (See Note A.) These congregations, of which Ames, Parker, and others were the preachers, were known as Puritans; while Robinson's church at Leyden, and Johnson's at Amsterdam, were known only as Brownists or Separatists. In Governor Bradford's Dialogue (see Young, p. 436), he speaks of" those reproached by the name of Puritans as persons quite distinct from" those that are reproached by the name of Brownists and Separatists."

Again, Bentivoglio makes no allusion to the English Puritans being at Leyden, but says, after naming the towns in which the principal heretical sects are distributed: -- "I Puritani Inglesi sono in Amsterdam quasi tutti per l' istesso rispetto [occasione del traffico]; e se ne trattengono alcuni medesimamente per occasione di mercantia nella città di Midelburgo in Zelanda.” I am not aware that any Separatist congregation existed at Middleburg, except for a few years prior to 1589,during the time, in fact, that Brown was taking refuge in that city; there was, however, in that place, an English Presbyterian church, connected with the English factory, for this was a place of much resort for English traders. In Bradford's Dialogue (see Young, p. 424), he tells us that Johnson, who afterwards became the teacher of the Separatists at Amsterdam, was preacher, at one time, "to the company of English of the Staple of Middleburg," and the Presbyterian church formed of that company is the one, I should suppose, to which Bentivoglio alludes.

I do not find, in other parts of Bentivoglio's writings, any passage which shows that he was acquainted with the existence of a sect of Separatists distinct from the Puritans or Presbyterians. In his essay Dello Stato della Religione in Scotia, he speaks of the Catholics and Puritans as being the two sects of the country; and in his other essay, Della Religione in Inghilterra, he alludes to three sects, first the Catholics, then the Protestant Calvinists, and continues,-"Sono in gran numero ancora in Inghilterra i puri Calvinisti che si chiamano Puritani."

por in those of any other person prior to Prince. Neal, who wrote about the same time, says that "they hired a meetinghouse," * although for this he gives no authority. A passage in Winslow's Narration speaks of the house of Robinson as being large, and that it was the place of the feast which was prepared for the Pilgrims at their departure, by those who remained at Leyden. If large enough for this purpose, it certainly would be large enough for their usual meetings, and, considering the straitened circumstances in which they were, it is hardly probable that more than one large building would be hired by them.

When I found from the Record of Interments, preserved at the Stadt House in Leyden, the spot of Robinson's dwelling at the time of his decease, I had hoped to settle this point satisfactorily to my own mind; but his house was probably taken down a few years after his death, as a row of small buildings now occupies its site, which were put there about the year 1650.

2. As to the attentions shown at the grave of Robinson. In addition to the concluding part of the note from Prince, which I have before cited, there is the following passage in Winslow's Brief Narration. "When God took him away from them and us by death, the University and ministers of the city accompanied him to his grave with all their accustomed solemnities, bewailing the great loss that not only that particular church had whereof he was pastor, but some of the chief of them sadly affirmed that all the churches of Christ sustained a loss by the death of that worthy instrument of the gospel." ‡

Cotton Mather has followed this, using Winslow's words almost verbatim. Hubbard mentions his death, without any comment upon the conduct of the Dutch.|| Neal, in his History of New England, says nearly the same as Winslow, whom he mentions in his preface as one of the principal authorities on which he relied. "They lamented his death as a public loss; and, though he

* History of New England, p. 81.

They, I say, that stayed at Leyden, feasted us that were to go, at our pastor's house, being large; where we refreshed ourselves, after tears, with singing of psalms, making joyful melody in our hearts as well as with the voice." See Young, p. 384. See Young, p. 392. § Magnalia, p. 46, Book I., Vol. I. || Hubbard, p. 96.

never had been of their communion, they did him the honor to attend his body to the grave."

I believe that all these statements in relation to attentions at the grave are incorrect. Prince, in his account of them, uses language somewhat similar to that of Winslow, although he does not refer to him as an authority, but states that he derived his information from the "most ancient people" of Leyden. In the matter of a grant of a church, which he took from the same authority, I have perhaps shown that there is some cause to doubt the memory of these most ancient people; and their accuracy, perhaps, was no greater in relation to the circumstances of the funeral. The original authority for this statement would appear to be Winslow, who was not, however, in Holland at the time of Robinson's death (1625), but in Plymouth, and who could of course speak only from hearsay. For a point of greater importance than this, it might be well to inquire how far a book written under the circumstances of the Brief Narration, - an advocate defending his client, may be safely relied upon as historical authority. The statement of Winslow has been followed ever since; but, had a circumstance so flattering to the memory of their former pastor and to the remaining part of his congregation occurred, would it not have been mentioned by all the earlier writers, and particularly by Morton, whose history, compiled in great part from Bradford's journal, was published several years after this statement had been made? He, however, has no allusion to it. Would it not also have been mentioned by the persons of Robinson's congregation who attended him to the grave, and who, in their letters to their former companions at Plymouth, give minute particulars of his death? Copies of these letters are preserved in Bradford's letter-book, which has been printed in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society; but upon any honors or friendly attentions shown to them at that time they are silent.‡

*Neal's New England, p. 123.

† See Note B.

The letter of Roger White, dated Leyden, April 28th, 1625, says: "It hath pleased the Lord to take out of this vale of tears your and our loving and faithful pastor and my dear brother, Mr. John Robinson, who was sick some eight days, beginning first to be sick on a Saturday morning; yet the next day, being the Lord's day, he taught us twice; and the week after grew every day weaker than other,