NEW ENGLAND ABOUT 1625
Three Visitors
to Early Plymouth
LETTERS ABOUT THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND DURING ITS FIRST SEVEN YEARS
BY JOHN PORY, EMMANUEL ALTHAM AND ISAACK DE RASIERES
Edited by Sydney V. James, Jr.
with an Introduction by Samuel Eliot Morison
Plimoth Plantation
© Plimoth Plantation, Inc., 1963
Contents
- INTRODUCTION vii
- EDITOR’S PREFACE xi
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
- JOHN PORY (1572-1635) 3
- John Pory to the Earl of Southampton, January 13, 1622/1623, and later 5
- John Pory to the Governor of Virginia (Sir Francis Wyatt), Autumn, 1622 14
- EMMANUEL ALTHAM (1600-1635/1636) 21
- Emmanuel Altham to Sir Edward Altham, September, 1623 23
- Emmanuel Altham to Sir Edward Altham, March, 1623/1624 36
- Emmanuel Altham to James Sherley, May, 1624 42
- Emmanuel Altham to Sir Edward Altham, June 10, 1625 53
- ISAACK DE RASIERES (1595-1669 or later) 63
- Isaack de Rasieres to Samuel Blommaert, c. 1628 65
- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 81
- INDEX 83
Introduction
We all know what the Pilgrim Fathers wrote aboutthemselves and their settlements on the (not so)“stern and rockbound coast”; but how many peopleknow that they were visited thrice, between 1622 and 1627, byoutsiders who left on record candid accounts of what they saw?That is the reason for this book. These three accounts—one bya gentleman from Virginia, one by an Englishman straight fromEngland, and the other by a Dutchman from New Amsterdam—arebrought together between two covers, so that we can see howthe Pilgrims and New Plymouth appeared to visitors who sharedneither their particular beliefs nor their intention to live in NewEngland.
John Pory’s, the Virginian account, was discovered early inthis century and published in a small limited edition, long sinceout of print. De Rasieres’ Dutch account is best known; it wasdiscovered in mid-nineteenth century, was promptly translated,and has several times been printed. Three of the Altham lettershave never before been printed. The manuscripts were purchasedby the late Dr. Otto Fisher, who kindly permitted us to publishthis editio princeps. The fourth Altham letter, printed some yearsago, ha