Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 Part 21

_24th, Monday._ We walked with our captain into the town, for his house stood a little one side of it, and the first house he took us to was a tavern. From there, he conducted us to the governor, who dwelt in only a common house, and that not the most costly. He is an old man, quiet and grave.[410] He was dressed in black silk, but not sumptuously. Paddechal explained the reasons of our visit. The governor inquired who we were, and where from, and where we were going. Paddechal told him we were Hollanders, and had come on with him from New York, in order to depart from here for England. He asked further our names, which we wrote down for him. He then presented us a small cup of wine, and with that we finished. We went then to the house of one John Tayller, or merchant tailor,[411] to whom William van Cleyf had recommended us; but we did not find him. We wanted to obtain a place where we could be at home, and especially to ascertain if there were any Dutchmen. They told us of a silversmith who was a Dutchman, and at whose house the Dutch usually went to lodge. We went in search of him, but he was not at home. At noon we found this merchant tailor, who appeared to be a good sort of a person. He spoke tolerably good French, and informed us there was a ship up for England immediately, and another in about three weeks. The first was too soon for us, and we therefore thought it best to wait for the other. We also found the silversmith, who bade us welcome. His name was Willem Ros, from Wesel. He had married an Englishwoman, and carried on his business here. He told us we might come and lodge with him, if we wished, which we determined to do; for to lie again in our last night's nest was not agreeable to us. We exchanged some of our money, and obtained six shillings and sixpence each for our ducatoons, and ten shillings each for the ducats. We went accordingly to lodge at the goldsmith's, whom my comrade knew well, though he did not recollect my comrade.[412] We were better off at his house, for although his wife was an Englishwoman, she was quite a good housekeeper.

[Footnote 410: Simon Bradstreet, elected in May, 1679, was governor of Ma.s.sachusetts till 1686--the last governor under the old charter. He had come out in 1630, and was now seventy years old.]

[Footnote 411: Original, "Jan Tayller of [Dutch for _or_] Marchand Tayller." No John Taylor of Boston answering to the description has been identified.]

[Footnote 412: Sluyter was from Wesel, on the Rhine. Though it was a German town, many of its inhabitants were Dutch (like Peter Minuit) and Walloon.]

_25th, Tuesday._ We went in search of Mr. Paddechal this morning and paid him for our pa.s.sage here, twenty shillings New England currency, for each of us. We wanted to obtain our goods, but they were all too busy then, and promised they would send them to us in the city the next day. We inquired after Mr. John Pigon, to whom Mr. Robert Sanders, of Albany, promised to send Wouter the Indian, with a letter, but he had received neither the letter nor the Indian; so that we must offer up our poor Indian to the pleasure of the Lord. We also went to look after the ship, in which we were going to leave for London. We understood the name of the captain was Jan Foy. The ship was called the _Dolphin_, and mounted sixteen guns.[413] Several pa.s.sengers were engaged. There was a surgeon in the service of the ship from Rotterdam, named Johan Owins, who had been to Surinam[414] and afterwards to the island of Fayal,[415] from whence he had come here, and now wished to go home. There was also a sailor on board the ship who spoke Dutch, or was a Dutchman. The carpenter was a Norwegian who lived at Flushing.

[Footnote 413: Captain John Foy appears in the records of the court of a.s.sistants, as still master of the _Dolphin_, in 1691.]

[Footnote 414: A Dutch settlement in Guiana, owned at this time by the province of Zeeland; the present Dutch Guiana.]

[Footnote 415: In the Azores.]

_26th, Wednesday._ We strove hard to get our goods home, for we were fearful, inasmuch as our trunk was on deck, and it had rained, and a sea now and then had washed over it, that it might be wet and ruined; but we did not succeed, and Paddechal in this exhibited again his inconsiderateness, and little regard for his promise. We resolved to take it out the next day, go as it would.

_27th, Thursday._ We went to the Exchange in order to find the merchant tailor, and also the skipper, which we did. We agreed for our pa.s.sage at the usual price of six pounds sterling for each person, with the choice of paying here or in England; but as we would have less loss on our money here, we determined to pay here. After 'change was over there was preaching,[416] to which we had intended to go; but as we had got our goods home, after much trouble, and found several articles wet and liable to be spoiled, we had to stay and dry them.

[Footnote 416: The Thursday Lecture.]

_28th, Friday._ One of the best ministers in the place being very sick, a day of fasting and prayer was observed in a church near by our house. We went into the church, where, in the first place, a minister made a prayer in the pulpit, of full two hours in length; after which an old minister delivered a sermon an hour long, and after that a prayer was made, and some verses sung out of the Psalms. In the afternoon, three or four hours were consumed with nothing except prayers, three ministers relieving each other alternately; when one was tired, another went up into the pulpit.[417] There was no more devotion than in other churches, and even less than at New York; no respect, no reverence; in a word, nothing but the name of Independents; and that was all.

[Footnote 417: This fast is not noted in the elaborate list in Mr.

Love's _Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England_. The Old South Church had a fast on June 29, O.S., but this was June 28, N.S.]

_29th, Sat.u.r.day._ To-day a captain arrived from New York, named Lucas, who had sailed from there last Friday. He said no ships had arrived there from Europe, and that matters remained as we left them. There was a report that another governor was coming to New York, and it was said he was a man who was much liked in Boston; that many complaints had been made against the other one, such as oppressing the people, imposing high duties when his instructions provided they should not be more than two per cent., I believe, rendering a false account, in which he had charged a dock as having been made at a cost of twenty-eight pounds sterling which had not cost a cent, as the citizens had constructed it themselves, etc.[418] This will perhaps cause some change in these parts and relieve the people. Lucas brought with him the sister and brother-in-law of Ephraim's wife, recently married, but we had never spoken to them.[419]

[Footnote 418: There was an official inquiry into these charges. See accusation and defense in _N.Y. Col. Doc._, III. 302, 308.]

[Footnote 419: The bridegroom was Captain Theunis de Key (b. 1659), son of Jacob Theuniszen van Tuyl of New York. The bride was Helena van Brugh, half-sister of Elizabeth Rodenburg, being the daughter of the latter's mother Catharina Roelofs by her second husband, Johannes Pieterszen van Brugh of Haarlem and later of New York.]

_30th, Sunday._ We went to church, but there was only one minister in the pulpit, who made a prayer an hour long, and preached the same length of time, when some verses were sung. We expected something particular in the afternoon, but there was nothing more than usual.

JULY _1st, Monday._ We wrote to De la Grange, at New York, concerning our letters from Europe, and also to Robert Sanders, at Albany, in relation to Wouter.

_2d, Tuesday._ We had a conversation with the captain at the Exchange.

He intended to sail round Ireland, which suited us very well, for although it was said the Hollanders were at peace with the Turks, there were many English vessels taken by them daily, and under such circ.u.mstances we ran some danger of being plundered, fighting with them, and perhaps being carried into Barbary. It was therefore better to go around, although it would be late. We went on board the ship with the captain, in order to look through her. She pleased us very much, as she was larger than the _Charles_, in which we came over. We bespoke a berth in the gunner's room, on the starboard side. The ship was said to be a good sailer, and the captain to be one of the most discreet navigators of this country. All that was agreeable to us. In the evening Ephraim's wife's sister and her husband called upon us, but they were not much in a state to be spoken to, in regard to what was most necessary for them, nor was there much opportunity.

_3d, Wednesday._ Our captain said he would leave a week from to-day.

Nothing further occurred.

_4th, Thursday._ Nothing transpired.

_5th, Friday._ In the afternoon Thomas [Theunis] De Key and his wife, half-sister of Elizabeth Roodenburgh, came to visit us, but we conversed little about religious matters, following the providence of the Lord.

_6th, Sat.u.r.day._ Nothing occurred.

_7th, Sunday._ We heard preaching in three churches, by persons who seemed to possess zeal, but no just knowledge of Christianity. The auditors were very worldly and inattentive. The best of the ministers whom we have yet heard is a very old man, named Mr. John Eliot,[420]

who has charge of the instruction of the Indians in the Christian religion. He has translated the Bible into their language. After we had already made inquiries of the booksellers for this Bible, and there was none to be obtained in Boston, and they told us if one was to be had, it would be from Mr. Eliot, we determined to go on Monday to the village where he resided, and was the minister, called Rocsberry [Roxbury]. Our landlord had promised to take us, but was not able to do so, in consequence of his having too much business. We therefore thought we would go alone and do what we wanted.

[Footnote 420: Rev. John Eliot (1604-1690), the Apostle to the Indians, came over to Ma.s.sachusetts in 1631 and in 1632 was ordained as "teacher" of the church of Roxbury. He soon engaged in efforts to Christianize the Indians, and in 1646 began to preach to them in their own tongue. He formed a community and church of "praying Indians" at Natick, and others elsewhere. His translation of the Bible into the dialect of the Ma.s.sachusetts Indians was completed in 1658. The first edition of the New Testament, printed at Cambridge, was issued in 1661, the whole Bible (Old Testament of 1663, New Testament of 1661 imprint, and metrical version of the Psalms) in 1663.]

JULY _8th, Monday._ We went accordingly, about six o'clock in the morning, to Rocxberry, which is three-quarters of an hour from the city, in order that we might get home early, inasmuch as our captain had informed us, he would come in the afternoon for our money, and in order that Mr. Eliot might not be gone from home. On arriving at his house, he was not there, and we therefore went to look around the village and the vicinity. We found it justly called Rocxberry, for it was very rocky, and had hills entirely of rocks. Returning to his house we spoke to him, and he received us politely. As he could speak neither Dutch nor French, and we spoke but little English, we were unable to converse very well; however, partly in Latin, partly in English, we managed to understand each other. He was seventy-seven years old,[421] and had been forty-eight years in these parts. He had learned very well the language of the Indians, who lived about there.

We asked him for an Indian Bible. He said in the late Indian war, all the Bibles and Testaments were carried away, and burnt or destroyed, so that he had not been able to save any for himself; but a new edition was in press, which he hoped would be much better than the first one, though that was not to be despised. We inquired whether any part of the old and new edition could be obtained by purchase, and whether there was any grammar of their language in English. Thereupon he went and brought us one of the Old Testaments in the Indian language, and also almost the whole of the New Testament, made up with some sheets of the new edition of the New Testament, so that we had the Old and New Testaments complete.[422] He also brought us two or three small specimens of the grammar. We asked him what we should pay him for them; but he desired nothing. Thereupon we presented him our _Declaration_ in Latin,[423] and informed him about the persons and conditions of the church whose declaration it was, and about Madam Schurman[424] and others, with which he was delighted, and could not restrain himself from praising G.o.d the Lord, that had raised up men, and reformers, and begun the reformation in Holland. He deplored the decline of the church in New England, and especially in Boston, so that he did not know what would be the final result. We inquired how it stood with the Indians, and whether any good fruit had followed his work. Yes, much, he said, if we meant true conversion of the heart; for they had in various countries, instances of conversion, as they called it, and had seen it amounted to nothing at all; that they must not endeavor, like scribes and Pharisees, to make Jewish proselytes, but true Christians. He could thank G.o.d, he continued, and G.o.d be praised for it, there were Indians whom he knew, who were truly converted of heart to G.o.d, and whose profession, he believed, was sincere. It seemed as if he were disposed to know us further, and we therefore said to him, if he had any desire to write to our sort of people, he could use the names which stood on the t.i.tle-page of the _Declaration_, and that we hoped to come and converse with him again.

He accompanied us as far as the jurisdiction of Roxbury extended, where we parted from him.

[Footnote 421: Eliot was not quite seventy-six.]

[Footnote 422: The first edition of the whole Bible seems to have been 1040 copies, of the separate New Testament, 500. Many copies were lost or destroyed in the Indian war of 1675-1676; but 16 copies now existing of the New Testament, and 39 of the Bible, in this first edition, are listed in Mr. Wilberforce Eames's bibliography. In 1677 Eliot began to prepare a revised edition of the whole work. It was published in 1685. The printing of the New Testament portion was begun in 1680 and finished in the autumn or winter of 1681; the printing of the Old Testament was not begun until 1682.

Wonderful to relate, the identical copy of the Old Testament (edition of 1663, and metrical Psalms) which Eliot presented to Danckaerts and Sluyter is still in existence, in the library of the Zeeland Academy of Sciences at Middelburg in the Netherlands. It lacks the t.i.tle-page, but in its place contains the following ma.n.u.script note. See the _Proceedings_ of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, XIII. 307-310, and the Dutch pamphlet there named.

"All the Bibles of the Christian Indians were burned or destroyed by these heathen savages. This one alone was saved; and from it a new edition, with improvements, and an entirely new translation of the New Testament, was undertaken. I saw at Roccsberri, about an hour's ride from Boston, this Old Testament printed, and some sheets of the New.

The printing-office was at Cambridge, three hours' ride from Boston, where also there was a college of students, whether of savages or of other nations. The Psalms of David are added in the same metre.

"At Roccsberri dwelt Mr. Hailot, a very G.o.dly preacher there. He was at this time about seventy years old. His son was a preacher at Boston. This good old man was one of the first Independent preachers to settle in these parts, seeking freedom. He was the princ.i.p.al translator and director of the printing of both the first and second editions of this Indian Bible. Out of special zeal and love he gave me this copy of the first edition, for which I was, and shall continue, grateful to him. This was in June, 1680.

"Jasper Danckaerts."]

[Footnote 423: The Labadists' declaration of their orthodoxy and of their reasons for separating themselves from the national (Dutch Reformed) church was first issued in French, in 1669. Two editions of a Dutch translation were published: the first, "translated from the French by N.N.," at Amsterdam in 1671; the second, "translated from the French by P. Sluiter," at Herford in 1672, both by the same printer. Of the former, there is a copy in the library of Haverford College; of the latter, in the New York Public Library. Two editions in German are also known (Herford, 1671, 1672). The Latin, here referred to, is ent.i.tled "Protestatio Sincera Purae et Verae Reformatae Doctrinae Generalisque Orthodoxiae Johannis de Labadie,"

and is to be found in the book _Veritas sui Vindex, seu Solemnis Fidei Declaratio Joh. de Labadie, Petri Yvon, Petri du Lignon, Pastorum_, etc. [the Dutch and German have also the names of "Henry and Peter Sluiter, preachers," on the t.i.tle-page] (Herford, 1672).]

[Footnote 424: Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678), a woman of prodigious learning, held in the highest esteem by literary contemporaries in Holland as well as other lands. She renounced her literary a.s.sociations to affiliate herself with Jean de Labadie and his followers, shared their fortunes at Amsterdam, Herford, Altona, and Wieuwerd, where William Penn visited her in 1677; and died among them at Wieuwerd in 1678.]

_9th, Tuesday._ We started out to go to Cambridge, lying to the northeast of Boston, in order to see their college and printing office. We left about six o'clock in the morning, and were set across the river at Charlestown. We followed a road which we supposed was the right one, but went full half an hour out of the way, and would have gone still further, had not a negro who met us, and of whom we inquired, disabused us of our mistake. We went back to the right road, which is a very pleasant one. We reached Cambridge about eight o'clock. It is not a large village, and the houses stand very much apart. The college building is the most conspicuous among them. We went to it, expecting to see something unusual, as it is the only college, or would-be academy of the Protestants in all America, but we found ourselves mistaken. In approaching the house we neither heard nor saw anything mentionable; but, going to the other side of the building, we heard noise enough in an upper room to lead my comrade to say, "I believe they are engaged in disputation." We entered and went up stairs, when a person met us, and requested us to walk in, which we did. We found there eight or ten young fellows, sitting around, smoking tobacco, with the smoke of which the room was so full, that you could hardly see; and the whole house smelt so strong of it that when I was going up stairs I said, "It certainly must be also a tavern."[425] We excused ourselves, that we could speak English only a little, but understood Dutch or French well, which they did not.

However, we spoke as well as we could. We inquired how many professors there were, and they replied not one, that there was not enough money to support one. We asked how many students there were. They said at first, thirty, and then came down to twenty; I afterwards understood there are probably not ten. They knew hardly a word of Latin, not one of them, so that my comrade could not converse with them. They took us to the library where there was nothing particular. We looked over it a little. They presented us with a gla.s.s of wine. This is all we ascertained there. The minister of the place goes there morning and evening to make prayer, and has charge over them; besides him, the students are under tutors or masters.[426] Our visit was soon over, and we left them to go and look at the land about there. We found the place beautifully situated on a large plain, more than eight miles square, with a fine stream in the middle of it, capable of bearing heavily laden vessels. As regards the fertility of the soil, we consider the poorest in New York superior to the best here. As we were tired, we took a mouthful to eat, and left. We pa.s.sed by the printing office, but there was n.o.body in it; the paper sash however being broken, we looked in, and saw two presses with six or eight cases of type. There is not much work done there. Our printing office is well worth two of it, and even more.[427] We went back to Charlestown, where, after waiting a little, we crossed over about three o'clock. On our way home our skipper, John Foy, met us; we spoke to him, and in our respective names, paid him the money for our pa.s.sage, six pounds each. He wished to give us a bill of it, but we told him it was unnecessary, as we were people of good confidence. I spoke to my comrade, and we went out with him, and presented him with a gla.s.s of wine. His mate came to him there, who looked more like a merchant than a seaman, a young man and no sailor. We inquired how long our departure would be delayed, and, as we understood him, it would be the last of the coming week. That was annoying to us. Indeed, we have found the English the same everywhere, doing nothing but lying and cheating, if it but serves their interest. Being in the house again, Ephraim's brother-in-law, Mr. De Key, and his wife made us a visit.

[Footnote 425: The first building of Harvard College, the building "thought by some to be too gorgeous for a Wilderness, and yet too mean in others apprehensions for a Colledg" (Johnson, _Wonder-Working Providence_, p. 201), had partly tumbled down in 1677. The building now visited was the "New College," the second Harvard Hall, built with difficulty 1672-1682 and destroyed by fire in 1764. Edward Randolph, in a report of October 12, 1676, writes: "New-colledge, built at the publick charge, is a fair pile of brick building covered with tiles, by reason of the late Indian warre not yet finished. It contains 20 chambers for students, two in a chamber; a large hall which serves for a chappel; over that a convenient library." A picture of the building may be seen in the _Proceedings_ of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, XVIII. 318.]

[Footnote 426: Rev. Urian Oakes, minister of Cambridge, was at this time acting president, and was installed as president in the next month. There were apparently seventeen students in the college at this time who subsequently graduated, and perhaps a few others. The library no doubt contained more than a thousand, perhaps more than fifteen hundred books.]

[Footnote 427: The allusion is to the printing-office at Wieuwerd, which Dittelbach, _Verval en Val der Labadisten_ (Amsterdam, 1692), p.

50, says was a very costly one. The Labadists had everywhere maintained their own printer, Loureins Autein going with them in that capacity from Amsterdam to Herford. As to the building occupied by the famous Cambridge press, Randolph mentions "a small brick building called the Indian colledge, where some few Indans did study, but now it is a printing house." Printing here was this year at a low ebb; nothing is known to have been printed but the second edition of Eliot's Indian New Testament.]

_10th, Wednesday._ We heard that our captain expected to be ready the first of the week.

_11th, Thursday._ Nothing occurred.

_12th, Friday._ We went in the afternoon to Mr. John Teller's, to ascertain whether he had any good wine, and to purchase some for our voyage, and also some brandy. On arriving at his house, we found him a little cool; indeed, not as he was formerly. We inquired for what we wanted, and he said he had good Madeira wine, but he believed he had no brandy, though he thought he could a.s.sist us in procuring it. We also inquired how we could obtain the history and laws of this place.

At last it came out. He said we must be pleased to excuse him if he did not give us admission to his house; he durst not do it, in consequence of there being a certain evil report in the city concerning us; they had been to warn him not to have too much communication with us, if he wished to avoid censure; they said we certainly were Jesuits, who had come here for no good, for we were quiet and modest, and an entirely different sort of people from themselves; that we could speak several languages, were cunning and subtle of mind and judgment, had come there without carrying on any traffic or any other business, except only to see the place and country; that this seemed fabulous as it was unusual in these parts; certainly it could be for no good purpose. As regards the voyage to Europe, we could have made it as well from New York as from Boston, as opportunities were offered there. This suspicion seemed to have gained more strength because the fire at Boston over a year ago was caused by a Frenchman. Although he had been arrested, they could not prove it against him; but in the course of the investigation, they discovered he had been counterfeiting coin and had profited thereby, which was a crime as infamous as the other. He had no trade or profession; he was condemned; both of his ears were cut off; and he was ordered to leave the country.[428] Mr. Tailler feared the more for himself, particularly because almost all strangers were addressed to him, as we were, in consequence of his speaking several languages, French, some Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc., and could aid them. There had also some time ago a Jesuit arrived here from Canada, who came to him disguised, in relation to which there was much murmuring, and they wished to punish this Jesuit, not because he was a Jesuit, but because he came in disguise, which is generally bad and especially for such as are the pests of the world, and are justly feared, which just hate we very unjustly, but as the ordinary lot of G.o.d's children, had to share. We were compelled to speak French, because we could not speak English, and these people did not understand Dutch. There were some persons in New York who could speak nothing but French, and very little English. The French was common enough in these parts, but it seemed that we were different from them. Of all this we disabused Mr.

Tailler, a.s.suring him we were as great enemies of that brood as any persons could be, and were, on the contrary, good Protestants or Reformed, born and educated in that faith; that we spoke only Dutch and French, except my companion, who could also speak Latin, and had not come here to trade, but to examine the country, and perhaps some morning or evening the opportunity might arrive for us to come over with our families, when affairs in Europe, and especially in Holland, might be settled, as the times there had been bad enough; that if they would be pleased to listen to Mr. Eliot, the minister at Roxbury, he could give them other testimony concerning us, as we had particularly conversed with him. This seemed in some measure to satisfy him. I think this bad report was caused by some persons who came from New York, truly worldly men, whom we had not sought when we were there, nor they us, and who, although they knew better, or at least ought to have known better, yet out of hatred to the truth, and love of sin, said of us what they conceived, and their corruption inclined them to say. But the Lord who alone knows us rightly will forgive them, and make Himself known to them if it pleases Him, and then they will know us.

[Footnote 428: The case is that of Peter Lorphelin, accused in connection with the great fire of August 8-9, 1679, computed to have resulted in a loss of two hundred thousand pounds. Found guilty of clipping coin, he was punished as above; _Records of the Court of a.s.sistants_, I. 145. No real evidence seems to have connected him with the fire.]

_13th, Sat.u.r.day._ As we had promised Mr. Eliot to call upon him again, we went to Roxbury this morning. We found him at home, but he excused himself that he had not much time, and had a great deal to do. He called his son, who was there, and who also appeared to be a minister,[429] to speak with us; but we excused ourselves, and said we would not hinder him and would rather leave. However, several questions and reasons pa.s.sed between us in relation to the Confession which we had given him, and which he praised highly, and in relation to the professors of it, both pastors and people, in regard to which we satisfied him; but the son, who was neither as good nor as learned as his father, had more disposition or inclination to ridicule and dispute, than to edify and be edified. We told him what was good for him, and we regretted we could not talk more particularly to him. But the father remarked that if the professors were truly what they declared in the Confession, he could not sufficiently thank G.o.d for what He had done. We a.s.sured him it was so, and took our leave. He requested us to stop and dine with him, but we excused ourselves.

[Footnote 429: Doubtless Benjamin Eliot, youngest son of the Apostle, who a.s.sisted his father in his labors as pastor and as translator.]