But another evidence against the correctness of the statement of Winslow and Prince is the fact, that the plague was raging in Leyden at the time of Robinson's death, and that, during the prevalence of that disorder, all public funerals were suspended. This I find to have been customary in Leyden, even if the deceased had not been ill of the prevailing malady. Roger White, in his letter, alludes to the prevalence of the plague; and in ! the book of records of interments in Leyden, I found a corroboration of this in the large number of deaths that daily occurred. In one church alone, twenty-five persons were buried in a single day, and this only three days before Robinson's death. In the lists of other churches, whole families would appear to have been buried at the same time; the names of husband, wife, and three or more children appearing, in several cases, upon the register.

The attentions of the professors and learned men would not, I believe, be lessened by the poverty of him whom they thought worthy; and, although it proves nothing in this immediate connection, yet it may not be uninteresting to know the manner of Robinson's interment.

It was not without some difficulty that I found at Leyden the place of Robinson's grave, being misled at first by the statement of Prince, that he was buried in a church which had been granted to his congregation. Having sought at the Stadt House and at other places for some record, without success, I at last, in a small closet attached to the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, full of old dustcovered volumes, fell upon one which contained a record of the receipts of the different churches in Leyden, from 1619 to 1629. Most of these receipts were for burialfees; and, on looking over the lists of each church for the year 1625, the year of Robinson's death, I found the receipt for his interment at the Peter's Kerk, the church in which I then was. The title of this manuscript volume

yet felt no pain but weakness all the time of his sickness. The physic he took wrought kindly, in man's judgment; yet he grew every day weaker than other, feeling little or no pain, yet sensible till the very last. Who fell sick the 22d of February, and departed this life the 1st of March. He had a continual inward ague, which brought the but, I thank the Lord, was free of the plague, so that all his friends could come freely to him." See Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1794, Vol. III., p. 39; also, Young's Pilgrims, p. 478.

is Blaffaarden van de Hoofd-Kerken, Ad. 1619 tot 1629; and the receipt for Robinson's burial, an attested fac-simile of which I send with this,* is in the following words:

1625.
10 Mart.

}

Openen en huer van Jan Robens

engels predekant-9 florins. Open and hire for John Robens English preacher — 9 florins.

This sum of nine florins † is the lowest paid for any person whose burial is recorded. Mr. De Pecker, who, under the Director-General at the Hague, is the administrator of the affairs of the churches in Leyden, and who is well acquainted with the mode of interment at different periods, informed me that this sum was paid only for the hire, for a few years, of a place immediately under the pavement in one of a large number of square pits, containing space sufficient for four coffins. At the end of seven years, these bodies were all removed. For tombs which were walled up the prices paid were much higher. The profession of each person buried is named in the register; and those against whose names the receipt of nine florins is put were, I found, invariably persons in the humblest walks of life, journeymen-weavers, &c.; while others, who are noted as mechanics or artisans, were buried in places of fifteen and eighteen florins. While looking over this record, Mr. Van Pecker remembered, that, previously to 1812, there had been in the hands of the secretary of the Kerkmeesters a Gravenboeck, or general record of burials in Leyden. During that year, this book was deposited among the archives at the Stadt House, where it now is. The record of Robinson's interment, as it appears in that, I shall give in a note,‡ merely mentioning here, that, while the day of his death is stated in Roger White's letter to be the 1st of March, the day of his funeral appears by the Gravenboeck to have been the 4th of March, and the day on which the interment fees were paid appears, by the church receipt-book, to have been the 10th of March.

But to return. I have perhaps shown to your satisfaction,

* See Note C.

The proportion of the florin to the fine mark of Cologne was the same at that time as at present. The value of the florin, in United States currency, is forty cents. ‡ Note Ċ.

*Se

I

TOT

e

that no church was granted to Robinson's congregation; e and also, that, from the want of any contemporary testimony to the fact of attentions at his grave, and from the fact that the plague raged at the time of his death, during which all public funerals were prohibited, there is good reason for believing that no such attentions as have been narrated were shown.

I have found, however, evidence of an attention on the part of the University of Leyden to Robinson, which does not appear to be mentioned by any of our authors. It is his admission, in 1615, as a subject of the University, an admission which exempted him from the control of the town magistrates, and which, in addition to several other privileges, entitled him to receive, free of town and state duties, every month, half a tun of beer, and every three e months about ten gallons of wine.* This privilege was extended, as an honorary distinction, to many persons of eminence who visited Leyden; and the learned Dr. Siegenbeck, the historian of the University, mentioned to me the possibility of Robinson's name being inscribed in its books, although he was himself unaware of such being the case, and also unaware of the fact that such a person or that such a congregation had ever been in Leyden. †

On looking over the catalogue of the students admitted. after 1609, which is not printed, but a part of which has been recently copied by order of the Senate of the University, I found the record of Robinson's admission in the following words:

"1615,
Sept. 5°.
Coss: permissu.

Joannes Robintsonus, Anglus,

Ann. xxxix. Stud. Theol. alit Familiam."

It will be seen that this honor was not accorded until after six or seven years' residence in the city, and, from

* See Note D., for an attested copy of his admission, and a notice of the privileges attending it.

t I received, while making these inquiries, a great deal of kind assistance from many of the professors and learned men of Leyden, two of whom, Dr. Dermout and Dr. Leemans, I must thank most cordially; but I was forced to believe that the impression made by the Pilgrims had not been very strong, when I found the fact of their presence for ten years in that town was quite unknown to all with whom I spoke.

the marginal remark, "Consulum permissu," it is not improbable that some objection had been previously made by the town magistrates. The record of the admission of Robert Durie, the pastor of the English church, is in somewhat different form. He arrived at Leyden in 1609, and early the next year received that honor which was so slow in reaching the pastor of the Pilgrims.

The record for him is thus:

And again, in the following year, there is another inscription, probably of the son of Durie.

"1611, Aug. 3. Gratis.

Johannes Duræus, Scholus, An. xii. Stud. Phil. habit. apud Parentes." It is not improbable that this privilege was given to Robinson on account of the part which he took in opposition to the opinions of Arminius; although in the records of the University there appears no account of those public discussions with Episcopius in which he engaged, and of which both Bradford and Winslow give us notices.* So I am informed by Professor Sandifort, the present Recording Secretary of the University, who was kind enough

Mr. Young quotes, p. 42, in reference to these discussions, a passage from Hoornbeeck's Summa Controversiarum Religionis, 1658. Hoornbeeck was for a long time Professor of Divinity at Utrecht, where, in 1653, he published the first edition of the book to which Mr. Young refers. In that there is no allusion to Robinson as having taken part in any discussions. In the same year, Hoornbeeck removed to Leyden, and there, in 1658, published his second edition, containing the passage referred to. (See Note E.) Mr. Young says that he finds no notice of this discussion in any life of Episcopius. Bradford tells us that Episcopius was put to a "non-plus." If one may believe in the great powers of argument that the biographers of Episcopius accord him, this will appear to be no small triumph. In Het Leven van Simon Episcopius, Amsterdam, 1776, many discussions are mentioned, from all of which he came off triumphant. His peculiar powers were, however, particularly displayed on one occasion, when opposing Dr. Sibrandus. "In the year 1610, Episcopius held a public disputation with Dr. Sibrandus, and in this his language was so clear, his logic so strong, and his arguments so convincing, that many who knew nothing of the Latin tongue declared themselves converted to his side. One burgher, in particular, on hearing the discussion, became convinced of the truth of Episcopius's doctrine, and being asked how he could judge, as they spoke only in Latin, of which he knew not a word, replied,- Die eerst kwaad wordt, die heeft het verlooren, — The first who becomes angry, he I know has lost.'"

to examine for me the Acta Senatus Academici for 1612, 1614, and 1615. But as such public disputations were at that time of constant recurrence in Leyden, and of little importance in their results, it was very rare that any record of them was made. It is to be lamented that in these. discussions Robinson is found taking the part of the bigots. But principles, in a certain sense, change with times, and it would be unjust to judge his conduct by the standard of other days than his own. There are few, I think, among the sons of the Pilgrims, who would not wish to find him ranged with the friends, rather than with the persecutors and final butchers, of the wise, the just, the generous Barneveldt.*

Some words used by Governor Bradford in his correspondence with the "Directors and Counsellors of the Colony of New Netherlands " have been also frequently referred to as a proof of the favorable position in which the Pilgrims stood towards the Dutch when in Holland; but a little reflection upon the circumstances under which those letters were written will, I think, somewhat lessen their value as evidence in regard to this point. The correspondence is preserved in Governor Bradford's letterbook, to which I have before referred, and is published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The first letter from the Dutch officers, which is not given in the letter-book, contained, as we may infer from the reply, many fine congratulatory words, and also propositions of friendship and commerce. Its date was March 9th, 1627. The reply, of March 19th, 1627, alludes to the professions of good-will contained in the Dutch letter, adding, that they are "expressed with over high titles"; and after congratulating the Dutch Directors and Council on the friendship then subsisting between their two governments at home, which should alone make them also friends, continues:-"Yet are many of us further tied by the good and courteous entreaty which we have found in your country, having lived there many years with freedom and good content, as many of our friends do to this day;

* The active part which the professors of Leyden, opposed to Arminius, took in the pursuits against Barneveldt, Hugo Grotius, and others, will be found mentioned in nearly all the contemporary notices, as also in Brandt's History of the Reformation in the Low Countries.