/ HUGH PETER. From the original portrait in the possession of C. E. Treffry, Esquire, of Place Fowey, Cornwall, England. HUGH PETER PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST FOURTH PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. " I have lived in a Country where in seven years I never saw a beggar, nor heard an oath, nor looked upon a drunkard." God's Doings and Man's Duty. HUGH PETER. H flfcosafc PUT TOGETHER BY ELEANOR BRADLEY PETERS (MRS. EDWARD MCCLURE PETERS) NEW YORK Privately printed 1909 FROM VOLUME xxxvni OF THE HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. WORDS FROM THE WORKMAN. THE workman on this mosaic has tried, bit by bit, to build up a portrait and, in a general way, a life of this interesting man. The result is necessarily rough and incomplete, but a nicer finish would only amplify without adding value to these pages. The end in view was not elaboration or beauty of style, but exactness, and a near and correct sight of our subject, through his friends, acquaintances and himself. Although but six years in this country, he yet left a lasting stamp of his own work and life upon New England ; add to this the fact that to the end he spoke of New England as "home," and we may freely claim him as one of the founders of our Commonwealth and common country. The workman has sought to sink himself in his subject, and hardly more than two or three pages are in his own words ; all else is in the language of others ; as far as possible in the words of those who lived intimately, or at least contemporaneously, with Hugh Peter. No eulogy is attempted, facts are given and the reader can weigh for himself. A man of Peter's restless and varied activity, was certain both to say and to do too much ; of this he himself was fully conscious, and at the last deplored his lack of judgment and excess of zeal ; but these errors stand alone against him, He did a vast amount of real and far- iv HUGH PETER. reaching good during his life, and that of a kind little thought of in those days. Indeed, the only cause one can find for the exceeding and venomous hatred displayed against him, lies in the catholicity of his thought, feeling and action, and in his remarkably practical and common- sense views and suggestions, whereby he belonged, in spirit, if not in body, not to the seventeenth century, but fully to our own day. The compiler is indebted to the papers of the late Edmund Fanning Peters for certain extracts which have been used in this article and which it might have been difficult to find elsewhere. The portrait of Hugh Peter is due to the courtesy of C. E. Treffry, Esquire, of Place, Fowey, Cornwall, England. The Rev. Sidney Hubbell Treat has also, through the loan of certain interesting old volumes, contributed to these pages. New York, March 1, 1902. E. B. P. HUGH PETER This edition is limited to one hundred and fifty copies on hand-made paper, for the author. HUGH PBTBR 159S-166O. "I WAS the son of considerable parents, from Fowey in Cornwall, my father a merchant, his ancestors driven thence from Antwerp for religion I mean the reformed ; my mother of the same town of a very ancient family, the name Treffrey of Place, or the place in that town of which I would not boast." Thus writes Hugh Dirkwood, otherwise Hugh Peter. He was baptized in the parish of St. Ewe, in Fowey, the entry in the parish record reading thus : " Anno RR. Elizabeth '41-Hugh the son of Thomas Dirkwood, baptized 7th June 1598," and the accompanying note : " Otherwise Hugh Peters, Chaplain and adviser to Oliver Cromwell ; beheaded by Charles II, on Tower Hill. J. J. T."* He was the third child and second son of Thomas Dirkwood and Martha Treffrey, she being a descendant of Sir John Treffrey who, in the 14th century, defended Fowey against the French. Why and when Thoma Dirkwood changed his name to Peter no one knows ; bu * Error : he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Charing Cross. The initials are supposed to be those of the Rev. Justin Treffrey, and the date 1668-1698. 2 HUGH PETER : the time was evidently between 1599 and 1610; perhaps about the period that Martha Treffrey's sister, Deborah, marries Henry Peter,* M. P. for Fowey, who descended from a sister of the Sir William Peter, famous as having been " secretary and of the Privy Council to four kings and queens of this realm, and seven times ambassador abroad in foreign lands." He was also appointed one of the trustees for the young king, in the will of Henry VIII. Whatever the exact status of the Dirkwoods towards the Peters it is certain that Hugh Peter assumed not only the name but the coat of arms of that family. Perhaps Henry Peter, M. P. for Fowey, is the uncle he mentions in the sketch of his life in the Last Legacy. f " These J lived in very great abundance ; their Losses at Sea grew very great ; in the midst of which Losses, my elder Brother being at Oxford, I was sent to Cambridge, and that Estate I had by an Uncle, I left with my Mother, and lived at the University, and a little from thence, about eight years ; took my degree of Master of Arts, where I spent some years vainly enough, being but 14 years old when thither I came ; my Tutor died, and I was expos'd to my shifts." He was at Trinity College, and took his degree of B.A., in 1616. In 1622, he received the degree of A.M., but to continue in his own words : " Coming from thence [Cambridge], at London God struck me with the sense of my sinful estate, by a Sermon I heard under Pauls, which is about 40 years since [consequently in 1620] which Text was The burden of Dumah, or Idumea, and stuck fast. This made me to go into Essex ; And after being quieted by another Sermon in that Country, and the Love and Labours of Mr. Thomas Hooker, I there Preacht, there married with a good Gentlewoman, till I went to London to ripen my Studies, not intending to preach at all ; where I attended Dr. George Sibs, and Davenports Ministry, with others, and I hope with some profit. But in short time was forced to preach by importunity of * During the civil war Thomas Peter, son of Henry Peter and Deborah Treffry, was on the royalist side. He was at one time a prisoner in the Tower, from which he was rescued through the influence of his first cousin, Hugh Peter. t " A Dying Father's Last Legacy to an Only Child." J His family. Thomas. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 3 Friends, having had a Licence from Dr. Mountain Bishop of London before, and to Sepulchers I was brought by a very strange providence, for preaching before at another place and a young man receiving some good would not be satisfied, but I must preach at Sepulchers once monthly for the good of his Friends ; in which he got his end (if I might not shew vanity) and he allowed Thirty pounds per Annum to that Lecture, but his person unknown to me : he was a Chandler, and dyed a good man, and Member of Parliament. At this Lecture the Resort grew so great that itcontracted envie and anger : Though I believe above an hundred every week were perswaded from sin to Christ. I wish I may not be judged for saying so : There was six or seven thousand Hearers, and the Circumstances fit for such good work. But I am tender ; there I had some trouble, who could not conform to all : and went to Holland, where I was five or six years, not without the presence of God in my Work ; But many of my Acquaintance going for New England had engaged me to come to them when they sent, which accordingly I did : And truly my reason for myself and others to go, was merely, not to offend Authority in the difference of Judgment ; and had not the Book for Encouragement of Sports on the Sabbath come forth, many had staid. That good man, my dear firm Friend, Mr. White of Dorchester, and Bishop Lake, occasioned, yea, founded that Work, and much in reference to the Indians, of which we did not fail to attempt, with good success to many of their souls through God's blessing. See Bishop Lake's Sermon, 1 King, 8.37. who profest to Mr. White of Dorchester, he would go himself with us, but for his age, for which he had the late King's gracious Patent, Licence and Encouragement. There I continued seven years."* Felt's memoir of Peter states that he prayed for the Queen at St. Sepulcher's, saying *' that as she came into the Goshen of safety, so the light of Goshen might shine into her soul, and that she might not perish in the day of Christ." This came to Laud's ears who forbade Peter's * Quotations are made exactly as found, though many are so confusedly expressed and so bristle with pronouns that they are sadly In need of order and clearness. The compiler, however, dares not meddle with them. 4 HUGH PETER : ministry and had him confined in the New Prison for " some time before any articles were exhibited against him. Though certain noblemen offered bail for him it was refused." In 1627, Aug. 17, before going to Holland, being suspected of heterodoxy, "he subscribed a submission and protestation addressed to the Bishop of London, setting forth his admission to the doctrine and discipline of the English government and his acceptance of the episcopal government."* He was one of the earliest members of the Massachusetts Bay Company. In May, 1628, he subscribed to the joint stock of the Plantation, and he was one of the fourteen who signed the first instructions to Endecott, Sept. 13, 1628. He also attended the Courts of the Company, held on the llth and 13th of May, 1629. List of Subscribers. " In the name of god [sic] Amen. London, May, 1628. Sundrie men owe vnto the general stock of the adventurers for plantacon intended att Massachusetts Bay in New England, in America the some of tow thousand one hundreth and fiftie pound. And is for soe much vnderteken by the pticuler persons menconed hereafter, by there seuerall and generall stock for the aforesaid plantacon. Subscripcons to be by them adventured. In this point, where vnto the Almighty grant prosperous and happie Success, that the same may redound to his glorie, the propagation of the Gospell of Christ, and the particular good of the seuerall Adventurers, that now are or hereafter shall be Interested therein. The persons nowe to be made debtors to the generall Stock being as followeth : Sr. Kich'd Saltonstall, Knt, oweth 100 Mr Isacke Johnson Esqr 100 Mr Samuel Aldersey 50 John Venn 50 Hugh Peter 50" [and others.] Letter from Mathew Cradock to Capt. John Endecott, r< from my house in Swithens Lane neare London stone * Dictionary of National Biography. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 5 this 16th February, 1628-9. . . . But for Mr Peters, he is now in Holland from whence his return hither I hold to be uncertain." In Holland, Peter was pastor of an Independent church in Rotterdam. There he made the acquaintance of John Forbes, a noted Presbyterian divine, with whom he travelled into Germany to see Gustavus Adolphus, and of Sir Edward Harwood, an English commander in the Dutch service, who fell at the siege of Maestricht in 1652. It seems probable that he was Sir Edward's secretary."* Sir William Brereton, who visited Rotterdam in 1634, describes Peter as a "right zealous and worthy man," and states that he was paid a salary of 5000 guilders by the Dutch government, f On leaving Holland, he returned to England and sailed from Plymouth, in July, 1635, in company with the younger Winthrop, Vane, and others, in the "Abigail." Gov. Winthrop, in his Journal, says : " Mo 8, 6 arrived the Defence & the Abigail, ten weeks from Plymouth with two hundred and eighty persons and many cattle infected also with small pox ;" in spite of which no deaths occurred. Speaking of Peter's arrival, Winthrop says : "Amongst others came Mr. Peter, pastor of the English church in Rotterdam who being persecuted by the English ambassador, who would have brought his and other churches to the English discipline, and not having had his health these many years, intended to advise with the ministers here about his removal." That he was pursued while in England is evident from a letter Samuel Reade (step-son of Peter) writes to John Winthrop, jr., from London Aug. 2, 1635, saying that he is thankful " alsoe for my father's [Peter's] escape out o cruell bands. We learn if you had stayed but 2 dayes longer my father would scarcely have avoided them for they bad taken an extraordinary cunning course for his attachment." "Thisyeere [1635] came over the Famous servant of Christ Mr Hugh Peters whose courage was not inferior to any of these transported servants of Christ, but because * Dictionary of National Biography; Harleian Miscellany. Travels of Sir William Brereton. 6 HUGH PETER: his native Soile hath had the greatest share of his labours, the lesse will be said of him here : With courage bold Peters a Souldier stout In Wildernesse for Christ begins to war, Much worke he finds 'mongst people, yet hold out ; With fluent tongue he stops phantastick jars. Swift Torrent stayes of liberties large vent ; Through crooked wayes of error daily flowing, Shiloe's soft streames to bath in would all bent ; Should he while they in Christian freedome growing, But back thou must, thy Talents Christs will have, Improved for him, his glory is thy crowne, And thou base dust while he thee honour gave ; It matters not though the world on thee do Frowne."* Within a few weeks of his arrival, "Mr. Hugh Peters preaching at Boston & Salem moved the country to raise a stock for fishing as the only probable means to free us from that oppression which the seamen and others hold us under."f Two mouths later (January, 1635-6) we find him going from place to place intent on this same work, " and so prevailed as he procured a good sum of money to be raised to set on foot the fishing business to the value of [ ] and wrote into England to raise as much more. The interest was to set up a magazine of all provisions & other necessaries for fishing that men might have things at hand & for reasonable prices whereas now the merchants & seamen took advantage to sell at most excessive rates, in many things two for one &c."J April 26, 1636, "The Charity of Dartmouth of 120 tons arrived laden with provisions. Mr. Peters bought all the provisions at 50 in the 100 (which saved the country 200) & distributed them to all the towns as each town needed. "| Mar. 3, 1635-6, Peter was admitted freeman, with Vane, Shepherd, Rogers, Harlakenden and others. Winthrop calls him "a man of a very public spirit & singular activity for all occasions," and adds that he "went * Wonder-working Providence of Sion's Saviour. Being a Relation of the first planting In New England in the yeere 1628. Mass. Hist. Coll., 2nd series, Vol. Ill, p. 164. fWinthrop's Journal, Nov. 26, 1636. I Winthrop's Journal. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 7 from place to place laboring both publicly and privately to raise up men to a better frame of spirit." That Peter came to New England without any definite resolution to remain here is evident from the following letter from Samuel Reade to John Winthrop, jr. London, March 5, 1635-6. "We wonder we haue noe certaine information whether my father Peter intendeth to stay with you, or to returne. It is necessary it should speedily be determined of, that his church may know how to dispose of themselues. Mr. Davenport supplyeth his place yet."* Writing to his son, 1636, 2mo. 26, Winthrop says "The Lord in much mercy sent us a ship the 12 of this present with provisions but she had put in at Pascataqua & sold much there ; for she brought only 39 hogsheads of meal, 25 of peas, 8 of oatmeal, 40 of malt & some beef & prunes & aqua vitae, & 18,000 of [unknown]. My brother Peter bought it all & divided it amongst the"f ["about 16 lines are gone," says Savage, "the paper being thin."] Is this the same as the "Charity" referred to above ? When provisions are sent in the Rebecca to the "Governor of the Plantation upon the mouth of the Connecticut," amongst others is found "a hogshead of pork which my brother Peter puts in."J The same year, shortly after their arrival, "Mr. Vane and Mr. Peter finding some distraction in the Common- wealth arising from difference in judgment and withal some alienation of affection among the magistrates and some other persons of quality and that hereby factions began to grow among the other people, some adhering more to the old governour, Mr. Winthrop, and others to the late governour Mr. Dudley, the former carrying matters with more lenity and the latter with more severity they procured a meeting at Boston of the governour, Deputy, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Wilson, and there was present Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Dudley and themselves. "J: The result was a desire among the clergy that Mr. Winthrop should be more severe, in the future, in his * Mans. Hist. Coll., 5th series, Vol. I, p. 217. fWinthrop'a Journal, p . 456 t Wlnthrop'8 Journal. 8 HUGH PETER: dealings with transgressors against the law, and ten articles were drawn to this effect. May 25, 1636. "The Gounr, Deputy Gounr, Tho : Dudley, John Haynes, Rich Bellinghara Esq, Mr Cotton, Mr Peter and Mr. Shepheard are in treated to make a draught of lawes agreeable to the word of God, wch may be the ffundamentalls of the Comonwealth & to present the same to the nexte Genall Court."* In 1636, Mo. 3, 15, "Mr. Peters preaching at Boston made an earnest request to the church for four things 1. That they would spare their teacher Mr. Cotton for a time that he might go through the Bible and raise marginal notes upon all the knotty places of the scripture. 2. That a new book of martyrs might be made to begin where the other had left. 3. That a form of church government might be drawn according to the scriptures. 4. That they take order for employment of people especially women and children in the winter time ; for he feared that idleness would be the ruin both of church and commonwealth :f "10-4 mo. 1636. "Mr. Fenwick . . . intends about a month hence with my brother Peter to be with you." Winthrop to his son John Winthrop, Gov. of the Plantation at the mouth of the Connecticut.! 1636. 4 mo. 23. " Mr. Fenwick, my brother Peter &c. set forth on horseback on the 27 of this month and will expect your shallop at the upper town to carry them down the river and so will join Mr. Peirce's pinnace to Long Island, Hudson's River, &c.," writes Winthrop to his son. This journey was doubtless owing to the fact that Sir Harry Vane and Hugh Peter " were associated with Winthrop by the patentees of Connecticut, in the agency for the management of their estate. The three made proclamation of the rights of their principals and required a recognition of them on the part of the emigrants to that region." Peter being so well viewed by the Dutch took the journey to reconcile the disputes between them and the English. J * Records of Mass. Bay Colony. t Wlnthrop's Journal. J This Journey of Hugh Peter's is undoubtedly the foundation of the statement made by several writers that Thomas Peter was in Connecticut in 1636. I can find no evidence of Thomas being in this country prior to 1646. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 9 "In the year 1635, I, Lion Gardener, Engineer and Master of works of Fortification in the legers of the Prince of Orange, in the Low Countries, through the persuasion of Mr. John Davenport, Mr. Hugh Peters with some other well-affected Englishmen of Rotterdam, I made an agreement with the forenamed Mr. Peters for 100 per annum, for four years, to serve the company of patentees, namely, the Lord Say, the Lord Brooks [Brook], Sir Arthur Hazilrig, Sir Mathew Bonnington [Bonighton ?] , Sir Richard Saltingstone [Saltonstall], Esquire Fenwick, and the rest of their company, [I say] I was to eerve them only in the drawing, ordering and making of a city, town, or forts of defence Mr Wintbrop, Mr Fenwick, and Mr Peters persuaded me that they would do their utmost endeavour to persuade the Bay-men to desist from war a year or two, till we could be better provided for it ... So they returned to Boston. But our great expectation [of having many laborers sent to him] at the River's mouth, came only to two men, viz. Mr Fenwick and his man, who came with Mr Hugh Peters, and Mr Oldham and Thomas Stanton, bringing with them some Otter-skin coats, and Beaver and skeins of wampum."* Pequot Warres, by Lion Gardener. That they were not long gone is evident from the following : " 1636, Mo. 5, 6. Many ships lying ready at Natascott to sail Mr. Peter went down and preached aboard the Hector and the ships going forth met an east wind which put them in again ; whereupon he staied and kept the sabbath with them.f" Dec. 21, 1636. Having preached acceptably at Salem he is made pastor there, joining the church, Jan. 8, 1636, O. S. His name stands first in the records of admission to full communion, 8/11, 1636, the year ending March, 1637. He was their fourth minister, Higginson and Skelton having died and Roger Williams having been removed in November. The church at Saugus (Lynn) had wished to have him but he preferred Salem. This same year, 1636, he was granted 300 acres at Jeffreys Creek now * Mass. Hist. Coll., 3rd seris, Vol. m, p. 136. t Wintbrop'8 Journal. 10 HUGH PETER : Manchester. He, and Captain Endecott, each had two acres at the west end in Salem bordering upon Captain Trask and father Wood bury 's lot. "June 15th 1636. Laid out to Mr. Peters 150 acres of land by order from the selectmen bounded southerly by the land of the farm of Porter and land commonly called Joshua Rea's land easterly with ye land of William Kaimonts to a bound tree at the northwest corner of ye said Raimont's land northerly with the land of Nathan and Jno. Putnam, westerly with a little river or brooke until it meets with Joshua Reas land bounds and then buttes upon his land until it comes to the bound tree yt belongs to farmer Porter and Josh Rae."* March 12, 1637. "Capt. Sedgwick, John Johnson, and Mr. Robt. Keayne are desired to speak with Mr Peters, and Mr Peirce about the Price of the coates and urines which the country had last summer. "f In 1637, Hugh Peter writes to John Winthrop : " Wee haue heard of a dividence of women and children in the bay and would bee glad of a share viz : a young woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good [these were Pequot captives] . I wrote to you for some boys for Bermudas which I thinke is considerable. Besides wee are bold to impart our thoughts about the corne at Pequoit which wee wish were all cut down, or left to the Naragansicks rather than for vs to take it, for wee feare it will proue a snare thus to hunt after their goods whilst wee come forth pretending only the doing of justice, and wee beleeue it would strike more terror into the Indians so to doe : It will quit cost to vs to keepe it." "The 23d of this 7th mo 1637 Mr Hugh Peter delivred into the Court a deed of Mr Robert Saltonstall, makeing over all the estate that hee hath, or shall have, to satisfy his creditors. "f Nov. 20, 1637. " For the colledge, the Governour, Mr Winthrope, the Deputy, Mr Dudley, the Treasurer, Mr Bellingham,MrHumfrey, Mr Harlakenden, Mr Staughton, Mr Cotton, Mr Wilson, Mr Damport, Mr Wells, Mr Sheopard and Mr Peters, these, or the greater part of them, whereof Mr Wiuthrop, Mr Dudley, or Mr * Salem Town Records- t Records of Mass. Bay Colony. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 11 Belliugham to bee always one, to take order for a colledge at Newtowne." This was the founding of Harvard College, and May 2, 1638, "It is ordered that Newtowne shall hereafterward be called Cambridge."* Nov., 1637. " Mr Dunkaen and Increase No well were appointed to take Mr Peters his account between this and the next Courte."* Dec., 1637. Peters reproved Vane, then governor, because of his expressing dislike to a meeting of Cotton and the elders about differences of opinion ; Peter adds "that the Ministers are saddened by his jealousy of their deliberations and his apparent inclination to restrain their liberty." The governor apologized. f Mar. 12, 1638 . . . "this Court hath therefore ordered that the freemen of every towne (or some part thereof chosen by the rest) wthin this Jurisdiction shall assemble together in their severall townes, and collect the heads of such necessary and fundamental laws as may bee sutable to the times and places whear God by his Pvidence hath cast us, & the heads of such lawes to deliver in writing to the Governor for the time being before the 5th day of the 4th month called June, next, to the intent that the same Governor, together with the rest of the standing councell, & Mr Richard Bellingham Esq, Mr Bulkley, Mr Phillips, Mr. Peters, and Mr Sheopard . . . [and others] may vpon the survey of such heads of lawes, make a compendious abridgment of the same for the Generall Court."* . . . March 12, 1638. " Whereas there hath been divers complaints made concerning oppsion in wages, in prizes of comodities, in smiths worke, in excessive prizes for the worke of draughts and teames and the like, to the great dishonour of God, the scandoll of the gosple & the greife of divers of God's people . . . the Court . hath ordered it, that it shall bee onely considered by Mr Endecott, Mr Bellingham, Mr Harlakenden, Mr Staughton, Mr Peters, Mr Noise, [and twenty more] whom the Court hath desired in that perticoler & to bring into the next Generall Court their thoughts for the remediing of the same."* * Records of Mass. Bay Colony. t Felt's Ecclesiastical History of New England. 12 HUGH PETER: In 1638, the town of Salem paid Mr. Peter for "weights, beame and scales." About 1637 or 1638, Peter's first wife dies, probably in England, for in March 6, 1636-7, a letter says : "Mrs. Peters is yet in Holland and James Downinge with her, but we now daily expect them." Mrs. Peter, the gentlewoman to whom Peter refers in his "Last Legacy," was Mistress Reade, widow of Col. Edmund Reade, of Essex, England, and is said to have been the daughter of Thomas Cooke of Pebmarsh. She seems to have been Reade's second wife and was apparently much older than Peter. Her name was Elizabeth. Her husband died in or about 1624, and she soon after married Peter. Colonel Reade's children were, as nearly as I have been able to discover:* 1. Edmund, born 1595 ; died young. 2. William; died 1659. 3. Samuel. 4. Edmund, born 1604; died 1613. 5. Thomas, the youngest son, died Dec., 1677; he was a Colonel in the Parliamentary army and Governor of Stirling, and was associated with Monk at the Restoration. 6. Margaret, died, 1672, in Ipswich, Mass. ; she married John Lake, presumably in England. 7. Martha, died, 1662, in Ipswich, Mass. ; married (1st) Daniel Epps, in England ; (2nd) Samuel Symonds. 8. Elizabeth, baptized November 27, 1614; married John Winthrop, jr., in England, in 1635, and their first child Elizabeth, is baptized in July, 1636. John Winthrop's second wife, Elizabeth Reade, was the mother of all his children and came to this country with him. The elder Winthrop, after this marriage, always refers to his son's father-in-law as " my brother Peter." This was customary at the time as is evidenced by Cromwell's addressing Richard Mayor, whose daughter married Richard Cromwell, as "Dear brother" and w Loving brother. "I In April, 1638, we first hear of the person who was to be Peter's second wife : Upon the 12th day of the month Peter's church together with the others, " kept a solemn * They may not be arranged in the order of their birth, the dates being mostly unknown ; but Elizabeth appears to be the youngest daughter, t Cromwell's Correspondence. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 13 fast-day for divine deliverance from the threatening evil of a general governor for the colonies and the consequent dissolution of their charter privileges and the loss of all their religious liberty." The next day Peter writes thus to Winthrop : " To the noble Gouernour in Boston ; Hon. Sir, I much thanke you for yours, and together am sorry for the sickness of our frends. I am still troublesome to you. I haue sent Mrs D. Sh.* letter which puts mee to new trouble, for though she takes liberty upon my Cossen Dowuing's speeches, yet (Good Sir) let mee not bee a foole in Israel. I had many good answers to yesterday's worke and amongst the rest her letter : which (if her owne) doth argue more wisdome than I thought shee had. You haue often sayd I could not leaue her; what to do is very considerable. Could I with comfort and credit desist, this seemes best ; could I goe on, and content my selfe, that were good ; my request is, that this bearer my hart's halfe may well observe what is best. For though I now seeme free agayne yet the depth I know not. Had shee come ouer with mee I thinke I had bin quieter. This shee may know, that I haue sought God earnestly, for the next weeke, I shall bee riper : 1 doubt shee gaynes most by such writings ; and shee deserues most where shee is further of. My very hart is with you and I am Yours euer H : Peter If you shall amongst you advise mee to write to hir I shall forthwith, our towne lookes vpon mee as contracted and so I haue sayd my selfe what wonder the changef would make I know not." Extract from letter of Endecott to John Winthrop : April 13, 1638. "I cannot but acquaint yow with my thoughts concerning Mr Peter, since hee receaued a letter from Mrs Sheffield, which was yesterday in the eveninge after the fast ; shee seeming in her letter to abate of her affeccions towards him, and dislikinge to come to Salem vppon such terms as hee had written. I finde that [s]hee begins now to play her parte, and if I mistake not, you will * Deliverance Sheffield. t " Charge " was printed, but evidently a mistake. 14 HUGH PETER : see him as greatly in loue with her (if shee will but hold a little) as euer shee was with him ; but hee conceals it what hee can as yett. The begininge of the next weeke you will heare further from him "*.... Later, Peter again writes to Winthrop : " Sir ... I know not well whither Mrs Sh. haue set mee at liberty or not ; my conclusion is, that if you find I cannot make an honorable retreat then I shall desire to advance . . . Once more for Mrs Sh. I had from Mr Hibbens and others, her fellow passengers, sad discouragement, where they saw her in her trim" . . . Poor woman, probably very seasick, and sadly out of trim, but very likely no worse than her fellow passengers. Emanuel Downing writes to Winthrop in 1638 : " My Cosen P. is constant to his dayly charge, soe that all his friends are resolved to leave him to his owne way, yet blessed be God his preaching is verie profitable and comfortable to all." August or September, 1638, Francis Weston, an advocate of Williams, complains of Mr Peter of the Salem church, as not being allowed to ask questions in time of public worship. He also objects that the wife of Peter and others who came from Rotterdam after he did, had been received as members of his church at Salem though they brought no letters of recommendation. | This approximately places Peter's marriage to Deliverance Sheffield, of whom we know only that she joined the church in Boston, March 10, 1639, and was dismissed to the church in Salem, Jan. 2, 1640. Nov. 12, 1638. He had 230 acres of land granted him, in addition to 50 more at the head of Forest River, granted him the previous year, part of which bears his name to this very day. J Dec. 6, 1638. He was present at the execution in Boston, of Dorothy Talby, she being of his congregation in Salem . The unfortunate woman , suffering from religious mania, had murdered one of her children. This form of insanity was entirely misunderstood in those days. * Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th series, Vol. VII, p. 157. t Felt's Ecclesiastical History of New England. t Felt's Memoir of Hugh Peters. REPRODUCTION OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY HUGH PETER. From Massachusetts Archives, Vol. ccxl, page 33. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 15 He was a witness, though a somewhat reluctant one, against Mrs Hutchinson, and took little part in that affair. May 22, 1639. Mr Peter is desired to write to Holland for 500 worth of salt peter, and 40 worth of match.* June 6, 1639. He is granted five hundred acres of land by the Court. June 19th. Granted to Mr Peters the Marsh lyiugover against his now dwelling containing about one and one- half acres or thereabouts on the other side of the water. Peter writes to the church at Dorchester :| " Salem-1-5-39. Reuerend and deerly beloued in the lord, wee thought it oure bounden duty to acquaynt you with the names of such persons as haue had the great censure past vpon them in this our church, with the reasons thereof; Beseeching you in the lord not only to reade their names in publicke to yours, but also to giue vs the like notice of any dealt with in like manner by you, that so wee may walke towards them accordingly ; for some of vs here haue had communion iguorantly with such as haue bin cast out of other churches. 2 Thes : 3, 14. wee can do no lesse than haue such noted as disobey the truth. Roger Williams and his wife, John Throckmorton and his wife, Thomas Olney and his wife, Stukeley Westcot and his wife, Mary Halliman and Widow Reeues. These wholy refused to heare the church, denying it and all the churches in the Bay to bee true Churches and (except two) are all rebaptized. John Elford for obstinacy, after diuers syns hee stood guilty of, and proued by witness, William James for pride and diuers other evills, in which he remained obstinate. John Talby for much pride, and unnaturalnes to his wife, who was lately executed for murdering her child. William Walcot for refusing to bring his children to the ordinance, neglecting willingly family dutyes, &c. Thus wishing the Continued enioyment of both the Staues( Beauty and Bands) and that y our soules may flovrish as watered gardens, rest y w in the lord Jesus, Hu : Peter. * Records of Mass. Bay Colony. t Tbe original letter is in the Mass. Archives, Vol. CCXL, p. 33. 16 HUGH PETER: By the churches order and in her name. For the church in Dorchester." June 6, 1639. Mr Endecott, Mr Downing and Mr Hauthorne are to dispose of the house which Mr Peters bought, as they can, and return the money for the college* [Harvard] . June, 1639. He had an Indian servant, named Hope, who was whipped for running away and for drunkenness. Sept. 4, 1639. Writing from Salem he speaks of " my wife," but we know not the date of his marriage. " My wife desires my daughter to send to Hanna that was her mayd, now at Charltowne, to know if shee would dwell with vs for truly wee are so destitute (hauing now but an Indian) that wee know not what to doe."f " My wife is very thankful for her apples and desires much the new fashioned shoes," he writes to Winthrop in 1639. His health is seldom good. In 1636, he writes : " but God's hand hath bin and is upon mee, more and more in the weakness of my body, which declynes dayly." And again in 1638 : " My head is not well, nor any part at present for I cannot get sleepe." 3 mo. 3 day, 1638. Endecott writes from Salem, to Winthrop : " and would however [have seen you] had not Mr. Peters' illness onely detayned mee for he hath bene very ill. But I hope the worst is past though hee be as sick in his thoughts aa ever." Hugh Peter's daughter Elizabeth, his only child, to whom he dedicated his " Last Legacy," was born in Salem, and was baptized there the first day of the eighth month, (Oct.) 1640. It must have been about the time of his daughter's birth that his wife first showed signs of mental disorder, and perhaps he refers to this in a letter dated 1640, when he says: "Deepe melancholy is getting fast vpon mee agayne and tethers mee at home." And again in the same year : " Am also at present fallen into a sore fit of my old hypochondriacal melancholy through cold and care." He often refers to Ipswich in his letters, and frequently goes there, several of his step-children being settled in that town. * Records of Mass. Bay Colony. t Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th series, Vol. VI. PREACHER, PATEIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 17 The first discourse ever delivered within the limits of Wenham (first called Enon), was preached by him from a small hill now leveled, but long known as Peter's Pulpit, and his text was : " In Enon, near to Salem, because there was much water there." John, in. 23. In 1835, the town of Wenham voted to grant Hugh Peter's hill to the first church in Salem, upon condition of their erecting there a monument to him. The offer was to hold good for three years : it was not accepted and the land passed to an ice company. Peter owned a farm of three or four hundred acres in Marblehead, near what is now Devereux. In 1640, the Court requested the Churches of Salem, Roxbury and Boston to relinquish their pastors for the mission to England. The churches strenuously objected. Impetus was given to ship building in 1640-41, by Hugh Peter and Richard Hollingsworth causing a ship to be begun in the February of that year. She was of 300 tons and was finished and launched in June. She was perhaps the Mary Ann of Salem, mentioned in 1643. The inhabitants of Boston forthwith built a ship of 150 tons. " These are the ministers of the Bay. At Salem, Master Peter, Pastor, Master Norris, Teacher, and his sonne a School Master. Long Island is begun to be planted, a Church was gathered for that Island atLynne, in the Bay. Master Peter of Salem was at the gathering. At Northern, alias Piscattaqua, is master Larkham Pastor, One master H. K.* was also lately Minister there, with Master Larkham. They two fell out about baptizing of children, receiving of members, buriall of the dead, and the contention was so sharp, that Master K. and his party rose up, and excommunicated Master Larkham, and some that held with him : And further Master Larkham flying to the Magistrates, Master K. and a Captainf raised Armes and expected belpe from the Bay : Master K. going before the troop with a Bible upon a pole's top, and he, or some of his party giving forth, that their side were Scots, and the other English : Whereupon the Gentlemen of Sir Ferdinaudo Gorges plantation came in, and kept * Hansard Knollys. t Underbill. HUT. COLL. VOL. XXX vm 2 18 HUGH PETER: Court with the Magistrates of Piscattaqua (who have also a Patent) being weake of themselves. And they fined all them that were in armes, for a Riot, by Indictment, Jury and Verdict, formally Nine of then were censured to be whipt, but that was spared. Master K. and the Captain their Leaders, were fined 100 1. apiece, which they were not able to pay. To this broyle came Master Peter of Salem and there gave his opinion at Northam, that the said excommunication was a nnlity."* " A nd particularly, Master Peter went from Salem on foot to New Dover, alias Piscattnqua, alias Northam, to appease the difference betweene Master Larkham and Master K. when they had been up in Armes this last Winter time. He went by the sending of the Governour, Counsell and Assistants of the Bay, and of the Church of Salem, and was in much danger of being lost returning, by losing his way in the woods, and some with him, but God be blessed they returned.''! "Mr. Peters and Mr. Dalton with one of Acamenticus went [1641] from Pascataquack with Mr. John Ward [of Haverhill] who was to be entertained there for their minister ; and though it be but 6 miles yet they lost their way and wandered 2 days and 1 night without food or fire in the snow and wet."J June 2, 1641. "The Court doth entreat leave of the church of Salem for Mr. Peters, of the church of Roxberry for Mr. Wells and of the church of Boston for Mr. Hibbens to go to England upon some weighty occations for the good of the country, aa is conceived ;" and this time the congregation sacrificing itself, permitted him to depart. He left, with Weld of Roxbury and Hibbens of Boston, as agents for the Colony, to attend to its interests in the mother country, and principally to plead for a decrease of the taxes. "There being no ship which was to return right for England," they went to Newfoundland intending to take a passage from thence in the fishing fleet. They left Boston, * Plain Dealing or Newea from New England, by Tboi. Lechford. Mane. HUt. Coll., 3rd series, Vol. Ill, p. 98. t Ibid., p. 106. i Winthrop's Journal, II, p. 29. Records of Mass. Bay Colony. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 19 August 3rd, accompanied by John Winthrop the younsrer. They were 14 days to Newfoundland. Peter and Weld preached to the people there " who were much nffected with the word taught, and entreated them with all courtesy." He writes on July 27, 1641, " If the Lord continue my life, then I do hereby authorize them [Gott and Horn] to do all my affairs as if myself was present, as in looking into my house, to dispose of my ground, mill, and other things as in wisdom they shall see meet." While on his way to England a commission was forwarded to him from Connecticut, signed by Hnynes and Winthrop. "Whereas the bearer, Mr. Hugh Peters, minister of Salem, ia sent at the public request to England to negociate with the present parliament there about such matters as concern us, which we confide to his care and fidelity, this is to authorize him, if occasion permit him to go to the Netherlands, to treat with the West Indian Company there concerning a peaceable neighborhood between us and them of New Netherlands and whatever he shall further think proper touching the West Indies." " 1642, Mo. 6. Mr. Welde, Mr. Peter, and Mr. HSbbens who were sent hst year into England, had procured 500 which they sent over in linen, woollen, and other useful commodities for this country, which, because the stock might be preserved and returned this year for a further supply, were put off together for about eighty pounds profit, and the principal returned by Mr. Stoughton in the next ship."* " My first work was with the first, to go for Ireland, which I did with many hazards ; then I was at sea, with my old patron, the Earl of Warwick, to whom I owed my life," he writes. From June to Sept., 1642, he was chaplain to the forces for the reduction of Ireland, in the expedition commanded by Alexander, Lord Forbes, and the same year he wrote an account of this expedition. March 10, 1643. One of the ends of his mission was attained in the relief of New England from all duties on exports and imports to and from the mother country, which were for the home consumption of the colonists. July 5, 1643. He attended Mr Chaloner (who was in * Wlnthrop'8 Journal, n, p. 78. 20 HUGH PETEB: Waller's Plot) in prison and at his execution. Chnloner, advised by Peter, on the scaffold, explained the p:irt he had taken in the plot, and then desired Mr Peter to pray with him. The same year he was sent by Parliament to Holland, to borrow money for the Protestant sufferers in Ireland and raised 30,000. Jan. 4, 1644. He attends Sir John Hotham at his execution ; and on the scaffold received public thanks from Sir John for his excellent instruction and nssi-stance. Mar. 12, 1644. In a speech of Archbishop Laud's, at the beginning of his trial, after speaking of the persons whom he had been the means of converting from Romanism, the Archbishop said: "Let any clergyman of England come forth and give a better account of his Zeal to the Church." Peter, who stood near him replied that however he was only an humble individual among many hundreds of ministers in the kingdom, he had been instrumental thro' divine aid, in bringing not only twenty- two from Papistry but one hundred and twenty, who witnessed a good profession, as true Protestants and sincere Christians. He added that others as well as himself, were able to produce hundreds of real converts to the Church, for each whom the Prelate could.* He accompanied the Earl of Warwick, upon his expedition for the relief of Lyme, during May and June of 1644, and subsequently gave "a large Relation to the Commons of all the Business of Lyme where he was with the Earl of Warwick." June 6, 1645. He is chaplain to the train, "the regiments in charge of the baggage wagons and artillery ",f While Laud was in prison he charged Peter with conspiring to banish him to New England and begged that he might not be sent over-seas, pleading his age and infirmities. This had indeed been thought of, but as a means of saving him from death, and Peter's request therefore had been a motion made in Commons. July 20, 1645. "On the Lord's day [at the siege of Bridgewater,] Mr. Peters in the forenoon preached a preparation sermon, to encourage the soldiers to go on ; Mr Bowles likewise did in part in the afternoon. After t Felt's Memoir of Hugh Peters. i Gardener's Great Civil War, II, 297. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 21 both sermons the drums beat, the army was drawn out into the field : the commanders of the forlorne hope, who were to begin the storm, and the soldiers, being drawn together in the field, were there also afresh exhorted to do their duties (with undaunted courage and resolution) by Mr. Peters, who did it (as one says of him) tarn Marte Quam Mercurio."* In 1645, at the storming of Bridgewater, " Mr. Peters and Mr. Boles, in their sermons, incouraged the Soldiers to the work. About 7 at night the fort being drawn out, and these that Commanded the storm and forlorn, Mr. Peters, in the Field, gave them an Exhortation to do their duties/'-f "Mr. Peters who brought up the Letter from Sir Thomas Fairfax was called into the House, and made a large Relation of the particular passages in the taking of Bridgewater ; he also produced several Commissions in Characters, which the House referred to a Committee, to be decyphered, and gave 100 to Mr. Peters for his unwearied services, and sent a letter of thanks to Sir Thomas Fairfax for all his great services and particularly for this of Bridgewater."t Aug. 29, 1645. Friday. A fast was kept through the army to seek God for a blessing upon the designs against Bristol : Mr Del and Mr Peters kept the day at the head quarters.* Aug., 1645. At this time, in compliance with Peter's former application to Parliament, he obtained the passage of an ordinance, enlarging that of 1643, which allowed all exports to New England to be free from duties without the previous restriction. Sept. 9, 1645. "Mr. Peter was called into the House and gave them a particular Account of the Siege of Bristol, and the cause of sitting down before it to prevent the plunder and cruelties of Prince Rupert in that Country, and he pressed the desire of Sir. Thomas Fairfax to have Recruits sent to him." Sept., 1645. " Mr. Peters Preached in the Market Place at Torrington, and convinced many of their Errors in * Anglia Rediviva; England's Recovery. The History of the Motions, Actions and Successes of the Army under tlr Thomas Fairfax, by Joshua Sprigg, M. A. London, 1H47. t Whitelocke's Memorials, ed. 1732, p. 6r-. i Whitelocke's Memorials, ed. 1732, p. 157. Whitelocke's Memorials, ed. 1782, p. 171. 22 HUGH PETEB: adhering to the King's Party, and that he, with Lieut. Col. Berry* were sent to Plymouth to treat with the Governor, "f Oct. 1, 1645. "The Co r t thinketh it meete y* Mr Peet" and Mr Weld, being sent ov r as prsons fit to negociate for y e country, haveing been long absent, desire they may und r stand the Co r ts mind y* they desire their qpsence here, and speedy returne."J It is probably about this time that he wrote the following letter : " To my truly honourable and faithful General Sir Thomas Fairfax : " Sir, one of the greatest comforts I have had in this world, next to the grace of God in Christ to my poor Soul, hath been to be a member of your Army, and a spectator of his presence with you and it, what others do, I know not ; but it is my duty to return to my work, and to meet you again ; which I am bold to do with this simple present. I know your mind, that must not, will not, be flattered ; nor am I skillful in that mystery : I have seen you upon earth, and doubt not to meet you triumphing in heaven. I only must crave leave to speak your own words, that your great experience of God's Power and mercy, have made strong obligation upon you to love Him and the saints, which I have seen you do impartially ; you have made it your interest, and now, you find you are not deceived, the God of all your unparalled mercy dwell in that thriving soul of yours, strengthen you throughout to the completing of this great work, yea, Sereus in Coelum redeas, diuque Laetus intersis populo Britanno. "For myself (if it be worth your acceptance) I am resolved to live and die in your and the kingdom's Service, and as you have obliged three kingdoms to you and many thousands of saints, so none of them more to honour you than, Sir Your ever faithful servant in Christ Hugh Peters."$ * Perhaps this Is " Capt. Lteut." Berry who killed Gen. Cavendish. 1 Whltelocke, ed. 1732, p. 194. Wbitelocke gives this Information Feb. 28, 1045 (0. 8.), Baying: " Letters from the Army certified that" . . . but it appears to me that this event took place in the previous September. t Records of Mass. Bay Colony, Vol. II, p 137. Memorials of the Civil War, ed. by Bob. Bell (Fairfax Correspondence) PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 23 Oct. 7, 1645. " Letters brought by Mr. Peters from Lieutenant General Cromwell certified that, after he hud entered Winchester Town, he summoned the Castle who denied, then he planted six Guns, and after firing them round sent a second Summons for a Treaty, which he refused : That he made a Breach with two hundred Shot, and then the Governor beat a Parley, which was agreed to, and Colonel Hammond and Major Harrison, for Cromwell, agreed upon Articles for Surrender of the Castle, which was well manned with six hundred eighty Horse and Foot, near two hundred Gentlemen Officers, and their Servants, victualled with fifteen thousand Weight of Cheese, store of Wheat and Beer, twenty Barrels of Powder, seven Pieces of Cannon. The Works exceeding strong, eight hundred Pounds of Butter, one hundred forty Quarters of Wheat and Meal, seven thousand Weight of Bisket, great store of other Provisions, Arms and Ammunition. "The Messenger of the good news had fifty Pound given him Mr. Peters was called in, and made a particular Relation of the taking of Winchester Castle. Oct 7, 1645."* "Mr. Peters, also being requested to make a relation to the House of Commons, spake as follows : The reader will like to hear Mr. Peters for once, a man concerning whom he has heard so many falsehoods, and to see an old grim scene through his eyes. Mr. Peters related That he came into Basing House some time after the storm, on Tuesday, 14th of October 1645 ; * and took a view first of the works which were many, the circumvallion being above a mile in compass. The Old House had stood (as it is reported) two or three hundred years, a nest of Idolatry ; the New House surpassing that in beauty and stateliness ; and either of them fit to make an emperor's court. The rooms before the storm (it seems), in both Houses, were all completely furnished ; provisions for some years rather than months ; 400 quarters of wheat ; bacon divers rooms full, containing hundreds of flitches ; cheese proportionable ; with oatmeal, beef, pork ; beer divers cellars-full and that very good.' Mr. Peters having taken a draught of the * Whitelocke, ed. 1732, p. 175. 24 HUGH PETER: same. f A bed in one room, furnished, which cost 1,300 Popish books, many with copes, and such utensils. In truth, the House stood in its full pride; and the Enemy was pursuaded that it would be the last piece of ground taken by the Parliament, because they had so often foiled our forces which had formerly appeared before it. In the several rooms and about the House, there were slain seventy-four, and only one woman, the daughter of Dr. Griffith, who by her railing,' poor lady, ' provoked our soldiers (then in heat) into a farther passion. There lay dead upon the ground Major Cuffle ; a man of great account amongst them, and a notorious Papist; slain by the hands of Major Harrison, that godly and gallant gentleman' all men know him 'and Robinson the Player, who a little before the storm was known to be mocking and scorning the Parliament and our Army : eight or nine gentlewomen of rank, running forth together, were entertained by the common soldiers somewhat coarsely ; yet not uncivilly, considering the action in hand. "'The plunder of the soldiers continued till Tuesday night, one soldier had a hundred-and-twenty pieces of gold for his share ; others plate, and others jewels ; among the rest one got three bags of silver which (he being not able to keep his own counsel) grew to be common pillage amongst the rest, and the fellow had but one half-crown left for himself at last. The soldiers sold the wheat to country-people ; which they held up at good rates a while ; but afterwards the market fell, and there were some abatements for haste. After that, they sold the household stuff, whereof there was good store, and the country loaded away many carts ; and they continued a great while, fetching out all manner of household stuff, till they had fetched out all the stools, chairs and other lumber, all of which they sold to the country-people by piecemeal. "'In all these great buildings, there was not one bar left in all the windows (save only what were on fire), before night. And the last work of all was the lead ; and by Wednesday morning they had hardly left one gutter about the House. And what the soldiers left the fire took hold on ; which made more than ordinary haste ; leaving PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 25 nothing but bare walls and chimneys in less than twenty hours ; being occasioned by the neglect of the Enemy in quenching a fire ball of ours at first.' What a scene ! 'We know not how to give a just account of the number of persons that were within. For we have not quite three hundred prisoners, and it may be have found a hundred slain, whose bodies, some being covered with rubbish, came not at once to view. Only riding to the House on Tuesday night we heard divers crying in vaults for quarters, but our men could neither come to them, nor they to us. Amongst those that we saw slain, one of their officers lying on the ground, seeming so exceedingly tall, was measured ; and from his great toe to his crown was 9 feet in length' [sic]. "The Marquis* being pressed by Mr. Peters arguing with him, urging him to yield before it came to storm, broke out and said : f That if the King had no more ground in England but Basing House, he would adventure as he did, and so maintain it to the uttermost ;' meaning with these Papists ; comforting himself in his disaster, 'that Basing House was called Loyalty.' But he was soon silenced in the question concerning the King and Parliament; and could only hope 'That the King might have a day again.' And thus the Lord was pleased in a few hours to show us what mortal seed all earthly glory grows upon, and how just and righteous the ways of God are, who taketh sinners in their own snares, and lifteth up the hands of His despised people. "This is now the twentieth garrison that hath been taken in this Summer, by this Army ; and I believe most of them the answers of the prayers and trophies of the faith, of some of God's servants. "The Commander of this Brigade, Lieutenant-General Cromwell, 'had spent much time with God in prayer the night before the storm, and seldom fijrhts without some Text of Scripture to support him. This time he rested upon that blessed word of God, written in the Hundred and fifteenth Psalm, eighth verse. 'They that make them are like unto them ; so is every one that trusteth in * The Marquis of Winchester. 26 HUGH PETER: them. Which, with some verses going before was now accomplished.' "Mr. Peters presented the Marquis's own Colours, which he brought from Basing; the Motto of which was, Donee Pax redeal terris; the very same as King Charles gaee upon his Coronation-money, when he came to the Crown. So Mr. Peters; and then withdrew, getting by and by 200 1. a year settled on him."* Jan. 18, 1646. Sunday. At Dartmouth, Mr Del in the morning and Mr Peters in the evening, exhorted the soldiers to do their duty.f "For the right honourable the Lord Fairfax, these : May it please your Lordship, as soon as we were masters of the town, I sent a letter to your Lordship in the express to your house. The two forts are since surrendered, aud Mr Peters this bearer, can relate all the particulars, it is one of the greatest businesses the General hath yet done, to God be the Glory, I take my leave, aud remain Your Lordship's most humble servant, I. RUSHWOBTH. Dartmouth, January 20, 1645." (1646. N. S.) Jan. 23, 1646. " Mr Peters came from the Army to the House, and made them a Narration of the storming and taking of Dartmouth, and of the valour, unity and affection of the Army, and presented several Letters, Papers and Crucifixes and other Popish things taken in the Town. "J "Peter was chaplain in the campaign of 1645-46; Whenever a town was to be assaulted, it was his business to preach a preparatory sermon to the storming parties ; at Bridgewater, Bristol and Dartmouth his eloquence was credited with a share in inspiring the soldiers. During the siege of Bristol he made converts of five thousand clubmen ; when Fairfax's army entered Cornwall his dispatches specially mentioned the usefulness of Peter in persuading his countrymen to submission. ... In addition to his duties as chaplain Peter exercised the * Whltelocke ; ed. 1732, p. 218. Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell. f AngliaRedivlva. i Whltelocke, ed. 1732, p. 189. PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 27 functions of a confidential agent of the general and of a war correspondent. Fairfax habitually employed him to represent to the parliament the condition of the army, the motives which determined his movements and the detail of his successes."* Feb. 28, 1646. Saturday. "His excellency had intelligence that salt ash was quitted by the enemy, and their works left undemolished ; that the Governour of Mount Edgecombe was resolved to conclude upon a treaty negociated by Master Peters : " The conditions for the surrender of mount Edgecomb, a place of great strength and consideration, were this day presented to the General by Master Coriton, Master Tower, Master Glanville, and Master Trevisa, gentlemen of the country, who were glad of the opportunity to present themselves to the General for his favour; the propositions were ratified by his excellency and letters of recommendation were agreed unto, to be drawn and sent on their behalf to the parliament, their reasonable coming in was a good service and master Peters' industry ; this negociation was great, and worthy all acceptation and acknowledgement.''! March 21, 1645 (1646, N. S.). "Mr Peters newly come from the Army, was called into the House and made them a particular relation of the proceedings of Sir Thomas Fairfax there, as is before mentioned, and that Hoptou's Horse that were disbanded were near five thousand. "That the Lord Hopton was not gone for Oxford, but took shipping for France, and many of the Commanders with him, and some before, and others went to their own houses, that Pendennis Castle was closely besieged and that the General intended to return towards Exeter. "Order for an hundred pounds per annum to be settled on Mr. Peters, and his Heirs, out of the Earl of Worcesters Estate and fifty pounds to the Gentleman that brought the Letters from Sir. Thomas Fairfax. "J April 3, 1646. Peter preached a sermon, "God's Doings and Man's Duty," before the Lord Mayor and * Dictionary of National Biography. t Anglla Kcdiviva. i Whltelocke, ed. 1732, p. 198. 28 HUGH PETER: Aldermen of the City of London and the Assembly of Divines ; this sermon was one of Thanksgiving " for the recovery of the West and disbanding of five thousand of the King's Horse !" and was printed by R. Ra worth for G. Culvert at the sign of the Black and Spread Eagle at the west end of Pauls. 1646. The following extracts are made from this sermon : "Since you are still buzzed in the ear with a desperate increase ot error, give me to leave this expedient by way of a query. The wound seems to be in the understanding, and the cure must be there (under favour) What if some convenient places in the city were set apart two or three times weekly, where Godly learned men, appointed by yourselves, and the leaders or heads of these errors, aa they are termed, might have leave to come, and there in a brotherly way take and give satisfaction? For as conclaves have always been dangerous, so these poor erring men can not have the benefit to appear with boldness, and reasonable souls may sooner certainly be taught with reason and scripture than with cudgels and blows." "I could wish some of my learned brethren's quarrelling hours were rather spent upon clearing the originals, and so conveying pure scripture to posterity, than in scratching others with their sharpened pens, and making cockpits of pulpits." "Men and Brethren, whilst we are disputing here, they are perishing there and going to hell by droves. If I know anything, what you have gotten by the sword must be maintained by the word I say the word, by which English Christians are made : in other countries disci- pline makes them so. Drive them into a church together and then dub them Christians ; you will find too much of this abroad and hence it comes to pass that most of their religion lies in polemics, which is the trade we are likely to drive if God prevent not." "What Mr. Peters further asked for was not stricter discipline, but more attractive preaching. Nor were men's bodies to be neglected. Why was not the Charterhouse employed in helping the widows and orphans of those who had been slain in the war ? Why were there PREACHER, PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST. 29 so many beggars in the city? Why could not the Courts do justice more quickly? And as a means thereto, why could not the language of the law be English instead of French that badge of conquest? There might even be two or three friend-makers set up in every parish without whose labour and leave none should implend another. Why were poor debtors to be kept in prison? Why should men's names be exposed to detraction ? "I know no publiek person, but ought to carry a spare handkerchief to wipe off dirt ; yet certainly blasting men's names in print, is not the way to clear a cause in dispute. Let us look to our duty and the Lord will care for our reproaches." In a letter from Giles Firmin* to John Winthrop, written from England in 1646, appears the following: "Mr. Peter hath done very much service since hjther hee came. I could wish hee did not too much countenance the Opinjanists, which Avee did so cast out in New England. I know he abhores them in hjs heart, but hee hath many hang vpon him, being a man of such vse. I hope God will preserve him spottlesse, notwithstanding vjle aspersions cast vpon hjm, but I percejue jt is by the Presbylerjans, agaynst whom some tjme hee lets dropp a sharp word." "Colchester, 1st July."f 1646. "A plantation was this year begun at Pequod River by Mr. John Winthrop Junr., Mr. Thomas Peter, a minister, (brother to Mr. Peter of Salem) and this Court power was given to them two for ordering and governing the plantation till further order, &c."J In 1646, Cromwell commanded Peter to raise a regi- ment of foot for service in Ireland. This attempt was unsuccessful, but undoubtedly gave rise to the report that Peter was a colonel. August, 1646. An ordinance sent up to the Lords for settling 200 pounds per annum upon Mr. HughPeter. October, 1646. Ordinance for settling 200 pounds per annum on Mr. Hugh Peters. || * A physician of Ipswich, Mass., and a man of repute and standing. t Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th series, vol. VII, p. 277. i Winthrop's Journal, II, 25. Whitelocke, ed. 1732, p. 218. Whltelocke, ed. 1732, p. 223. Evidently tht same as the preceding. 80 HUGH PETER: In this year he published his "Last Report of the English Wars," in which he answered seven questions. 1. " Why he was silent at the surrender of Oxford." He replied that the place was so near London and the occurrence so generally known there was no need of his giving it greater publicity. He also adds "You had nothing committed there by ours that had not its rise from integrity and faithfulness to the State." 2. " What he observed at Worcester, it being the last town in the Kings hands?" He speaks in hi