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I derive my birth from one
of the fir&longs;t emigrants to New England,
being lineally de&longs;cended from Captain
John Underhill, who came into the

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Massachusetts in the year one thou&longs;and &longs;ix
hundred and thirty; of whom honourable
mention is made by that elegant, accurate,
and intere&longs;ting hi&longs;torian, the Reverend
Jeremy Belknap, in his Hi&longs;tory of New
Hamp&longs;hire.

My honoured ance&longs;tor had early imbibed
an ardent love of liberty, civil and
religious, by his &longs;ervice as a &longs;oldier among
the Dutch, in their glorious and successful
&longs;truggle for freedom, with Philip the
&longs;econd of Spain; when, though quite a
youth, he held a commi&longs;&longs;ion in the Earl
of Leice&longs;ter's own troop of guards, who
was then &longs;ent to the a&longs;&longs;i&longs;tance of that brave
people, by the renowned Queen Elizabeth
of England.

The extravagant pa&longs;&longs;ion, which that
prince&longs;s was &longs;uppo&longs;ed to entertain for various
male favourites, which occa&longs;ioned
the di&longs;grace of one, and the premature
death of another, while it has furnished
a darling theme to the noveli&longs;t, and

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has been wept over in the tragic &longs;cene,
has never yet received the &longs;ober &longs;anction
of the hi&longs;torian.

A traditional family anecdote, while it
places the affection of the queen for
Leice&longs;ter beyond doubt, may not be unpleasing
to the learned reader, and may
benefit the Engli&longs;h hi&longs;toriographer.

It is well known that this crafty queen,
though repeatedly &longs;olicited, never efficaciously
a&longs;&longs;i&longs;ted the Netherlanders, until
their affairs were apparently at the lowe&longs;t
ebb, and they in &longs;uch de&longs;perate circumstances,
as to offer the &longs;overeignty of their
country to her general, the Earl of
Leice&longs;ter. Captain Underhill carried the
di&longs;patches to England, and delivered them
at the office of Lord Burleigh. The &longs;ame
evening, the queen &longs;ent for the captain,
and, with apparent perturbation, inquired
of him, if he was the me&longs;&longs;enger from
Leice&longs;ter, and whether he had any private
di&longs;patches for her. He replied, that he

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had delivered all his letters to the secretary
of &longs;tate. She appeared much disappointed,
and, after mu&longs;ing &longs;ome time, &longs;aid,
“So Leice&longs;ter wants to be a king.” Underhill,
who was in the general's confidence,
replied that the Dutch had indeed
made the offer of the &longs;overeignty of their
country to her general—e&longs;teeming it a
great honour, as they &longs;aid, to have a subject
of her grace for their &longs;overeign. No,
replied the queen, it is not the Dutch;
they hate kings and their divine right;
it is the proud Leice&longs;ter, who yearns to
be independent of his own &longs;overeign, who
moves this in&longs;olent propo&longs;al. Tell him,
from me, that he mu&longs;t learn to obey, before
he is &longs;it to govern. Tell him, added
the queen, &longs;oftening her voice, that obedience
may make him a king indeed. Immediately
after Captain Underhill had
taken the public di&longs;patches, the queen &longs;ent
for him to her privy clo&longs;et, recalled her
verbal me&longs;&longs;age, delivered him a letter for

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Leice&longs;ter, directed with her own hand,
and a pur&longs;e of one hundred crowns for
him&longs;elf; charging him to enclo&longs;e the letter
in lead, &longs;ink it in ca&longs;e of danger in his
pa&longs;&longs;age by &longs;ea, and to deliver it privately.
On the receipt of this letter, Leice&longs;ter was
violently agitated, walked his chamber the
whole of the en&longs;uing night. Soon after, he
re&longs;igned his command, and returned to
England, animated by the brighte&longs;t hopes
of realizing the lofty &longs;ugge&longs;tions of his
ambition. With him Captain Underhill
returned, and upon the decea&longs;e of the
Earl of Leice&longs;ter, attached him&longs;elf to the
fortunes of the Earl of E&longs;&longs;ex, the unfortunate
&longs;ucce&longs;&longs;our to Leice&longs;ter in the queen's
favour. He accompanied that gallant
nobleman in his &longs;ucce&longs;sful attack upon
Cadiz, and &longs;hared his ill fortune in his
fruitle&longs;s expedition again&longs;t Tyronne, the
rebel chief of the revolted clans of Ireland;
and, returning with the Earl into England,
by his attachment to that imprudent

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nobleman, &longs;allying into the &longs;treets of London
in the petty in&longs;urrection, which co&longs;t
E&longs;&longs;ex his head, he was obliged to &longs;eek
&longs;afety in Holland, until the acce&longs;&longs;ion of
King James, in one thou&longs;and &longs;ix hundred
and three, when he applied for pardon
and leave to return to his native country.
But that monarch entertained &longs;uch an exalted
idea of the dignity of kings, and
from policy, affected &longs;o great a veneration
for the memory of his predece&longs;&longs;or, that
no intere&longs;t of his friends could procure
his pardon for an offence, which, in this
day and country, would be con&longs;idered a
&longs;imple rout or riot, and puni&longs;hed with a
&longs;mall fine, in that age of kingly glory was
&longs;uppo&longs;ed to combine trea&longs;on and blasphemy:
trea&longs;on again&longs;t the queen in
her political capacity, and bla&longs;phemy against
her as God's repre&longs;entative and
vicegerent on earth.

The Reverend Mr. Robin&longs;on, with a
number of other pious puritans, having

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fled, from the per&longs;ecuting fury of the English
prelates, to Holland, in one thou&longs;and
&longs;ix hundred and three, he dwelt and communed
with them a number of years. He
was &longs;trongly &longs;olicited to go with Governour
Carver, Elder Brew&longs;ter, and the other
worthies, part of Mr. Robin&longs;on's
church, to the &longs;ettlement of Plymouth,
and had partly engaged with them, as their
chief military officer; but, Captain Miles
Standi&longs;h, his brave fellow &longs;oldier in the
low countries, undertaking the bu&longs;ine&longs;s,
he declined.

How he joined Governour Winthrop,
does not appear, but he came over to New
England with him, and &longs;oon after we find
him di&longs;ciplining the Bo&longs;ton militia, where
he was held in &longs;uch high e&longs;timation that
he was cho&longs;en to repre&longs;ent that town in
the general court; but, his ideas of religious
toleration being more liberal than
tho&longs;e around him, he lo&longs;t his popularity,
and was, on the twentieth of November,

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one thou&longs;and &longs;ix hundred and thirty seven,
disfranchi&longs;ed and eventually bani&longs;hed
the juri&longs;diction of Ma&longs;&longs;achu&longs;etts.

The writers of tho&longs;e times differ, as to
the particular offence for which he was
puni&longs;hed. Some &longs;ay that it was for holding
the antinomian tenets of the celebrated
Ann Hutchin&longs;on, others that the
charge again&longs;t him was for &longs;aying, That
the government at Bo&longs;ton were as zealous
as the &longs;cribes and phari&longs;ees, and as Paul
before his conver&longs;ion. The be&longs;t account,
I have been able to collect, is, that at the
time when the zeal of our worthy forefathers
burned the ho tte&longs;t again&longs;t heretics
and &longs;ectaries, when good Roger Williams,
who &longs;ettled Providence, the pious Wheelwright,
and others, were bani&longs;hed, he,
with about &longs;ixty other imprudent per&longs;ons,
who did not believe in the then popular
arguments of fines, impri&longs;onment, disfranchisement,
confi&longs;cation, bani&longs;hments, and
halters for the conver&longs;ion of infidels,

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&longs;uppo&longs;ed that the chri&longs;tian faith, which
had &longs;pread &longs;o wonderfully in its infancy,
when the &longs;word of civil power was drawn
again&longs;t it, in that age, &longs;urrounded by numerous
pro&longs;elites, needed not the &longs;ame
&longs;word un&longs;heathed in its favour. The&longs;e
mi&longs;taken people &longs;igned a remon&longs;trance against
the violent proceedings, which were
the order of that day. William A&longs;pinwall
and John Cogge&longs;hell, two of the Bo&longs;ton
repre&longs;entatives, who &longs;igned the remonstrance,
were &longs;ent home, and the town ordered
to choo&longs;e others in their room. Some
of the remon&longs;trants recanted, &longs;ome were
fined, &longs;ome were disfranchi&longs;ed, and others,
among whom was Captain Underhill,
were bani&longs;hed.

It is &longs;aid by &longs;ome authors, that he was
charged with the heinous crime of adultery,
and that he even confe&longs;&longs;ed it. The
candid American author, above named,
has fallen into this error. As I am &longs;ure it
mu&longs;t have given him pain to &longs;peak evil

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even of the dead, &longs;o I am certain he will
rectify this mi&longs;take in the next edition of
his invaluable hi&longs;tory.

That author informs us, page forty three
of his fir&longs;t volume, “That he, Captain Underhill,
was privately dealt with, on suspicion
of adultery, which he di&longs;regarded, and
therefore on the next &longs;abbath was questioned
for it before the church; but the
evidence not being &longs;ufficient to convict
him, the church could only admoni&longs;h
him.”—Page forty five, “He went to
Bo&longs;ton, and in the &longs;ame public manner
acknowledged his adultery. But his confession
was mixed with &longs;o many excu&longs;es
and extenuations, that it gave no satisfaction.”

The unwary reader would perhaps conclude,
that actual adultery was intended, as
well as expre&longs;&longs;ed, in the&longs;e extracts. The
Reverend author him&longs;elf did not advert to
the idea, that the moral law of Bo&longs;ton, in
one thou&longs;and &longs;ix hundred and thirty

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seven, was not &longs;o lax as the moral law of the
&longs;ame place, in one thou&longs;and &longs;even hundred
and eighty four, as explained by the practice
of its inhabitants. The rigid discipline
of our fathers of that era often construed
actions, expre&longs;&longs;ions, and &longs;ometimes
thoughts, into crimes; which actions
in this day, even the mo&longs;t preci&longs;e would
con&longs;ider either innocent, indifferent, or
beneath the dignity of official notice.
The fact is, that Captain Underhill, &longs;o far
from CONFESSING, was never charged
with committing actual &longs;tatute book adultery.
At a certain lecture in Bo&longs;ton,
in&longs;tead of noting the referred texts in his
bible, according to the profitable cu&longs;tom
of the times, this gallant &longs;oldier had fixed
his eyes &longs;tedfa&longs;tly, and perhaps inordinately,
upon one Mi&longs;tre&longs;s Miriam Wilbore;
who it &longs;eems was, at that very time,
her&longs;elf in the breach of the &longs;pirit of an
exi&longs;ting law, which forbad women to appear
in public with uncovered arms and necks,

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by appearing at the &longs;ame lecture with a
pair of wanton open worked gloves, &longs;lit at
the thumbs and fingers, for the conveniency
of taking &longs;nuff; though &longs;he was
not charged with the latter crime of using
tobacco. It was the ADULTERY OF
THE HEART, of which my gallant ance&longs;tor
was accu&longs;ed, and &longs;ounded on that text of
&longs;cripture, “Who&longs;oever looketh on a woman
to lu&longs;t after her, hath committed adultery
with her already in his heart.”