CANTO FIFTH.

STANZA XI.

Brother, the spirit of my son is gone;

I burned my lodge to speak my mighty grief.

Williams says, "The chiefe and most aged peaceable father of the countrey, Canonnicus, having buried his sonne, he burned his own palace, and all his goods in it, (amongst them to a great value), in a solemn remembrance of his son, and in a kind of humble expiation to the gods, who (as they believe) had taken away his sonne from him."

I am thy father, thou shalt be my son.

See the extract from Williams' testimony, in note to stanza xxii, of canto iv.

STANZA XXIV.

The sable fox-hide did his loins enclose—

The sable fox-tail formed his nodding crest.

The Indians had a superstitious regard for the black fox. Williams says, they considered it a Manittoo-a god, spirit, or divine power.

STANZA XXXII.

Hast thou forgot, when, by Cohannet's stream,
To curse the strangers every charm was tried.

"But before I pass on, let the reader take notice of a very remarkable particular which was made known to the planters at Plymouth some short space after their arrival; that the Indians, before they came to the English to make friendship with them, got all the Pawaws in the country, who, for three days together, in a horrid and devilish manner, did curse and execrate them

with their conjurations, which assembly and service they held in a dark and dismal swamp."-N. E. Memorial.

How I appeared, and, by the embers' gleam,
To the hard rock my lance's point applied,
And scored my mandate.

The inscriptions on the rocks by Taunton river have afforded a subject of much speculation to the antiquary. It would not be strange if the indians ascribed to them a supernatural origin.

STANZA XLII.

An odor, strange, though not offensive, spread

About him, as he near and nearer drew;

If my recollection serves me, Dr. Good, in his Book of Nature, supposes that the seeming power of fascination in serpents may arise from an odor emitted by them. The tale of the Hunter and the Rattlesnake, in the New England Legends, must furnish the author with a justification for the use which he has made of this serpent in the text; and it ought also to be added, that his description of the serpent, in the act of exercising his mysterious powers, is not essentially different from that in the tale to which he has referred.

STANZA LXII.

Here stretched Aquidnay tow'rd the ocean blue.

Aquidnay is the Indian name for Rhode Island. This name is variously written—sometimes Aquidneck, sometimes Aquetnet, and sometimes Aquidnet. Winthrop generally writes it Aquidnay, and the author has chosen so to write it, for no other reason, than that the sound is a little more agreeable. There is some reason to conclude that Aquetnet is nearer its true etymology. See the following note.

STANZA LXX.

Another sachem sways

The Isle of peace.

Aquene signified, in the Narraganset dialect, peace. It is possible that Aquetnet, as the name of this island has been some

times written, may be its derivative; et is a termination usually denoting place. But whether this be or be not its etymology, the designation is not inapplicable, since the island must have been a place of security against the roving Maquas, Pequots, Tarrateens, &c.

STANZA LXXII.

There Sowams gleamed,—if names the muse aright,
Till in the forest far his glories fade;

Calender intimates that Sowams is properly the name of a river, where the two Swansey rivers meet and run together for near a mile, when they empty themselves in the Narraganset Bay. Sowamset may, therefore, indicate some town or other place on the banks of the river. These names have been used by some as synonymous.

CANTO SIXTH.

STANZA III.

Who with the laboring axe,

On Seekonk's eastern marge, invades the wood?

Nothing is said of Williams, by the histories of the age, from the time he left Salem, until his expulsion from Seekonk, afterwards called Rehoboth. We learn, from some of Williams' letters, that, after purchasing land from Massasoit, he there built and planted, before he was informed by Governor Winslow that he was within the limits of the Plymouth patent. Until this information, he had supposed himself to be beyond the limits of either Plymouth or Massachusetts. And, certainly, the language of the Plymouth patent was sufficiently equivocal to countenance almost any construction of it in reference to the western (otherwise called southern) bounds of its grant. I will transcribe its words, that the reader may judge for himself. It grants the lands "lying between Cohasset rivulet toward the north, and Narraganset river toward the south, the great Western Ocean toward the east, and a straight line, extending into the main land toward the west, from the mouth of Narraganset

river to the utmost bounds of a country called Pokanoket, alias Sowamset, and another straight line, extending directly from the mouth of Cohasset river toward the west, so far into the main land westward, as the utmost limits of Pokanoket, alias Sowamset."

What is here intended by Narraganset river? Is it the bay or some river falling into the bay? Was it intended by the utmost bounds of Pokanoket? Do the words of the patent include or exclude that territory? The truth is, that the geography of the country was, at that time, very imperfectly understood, and the words of the patent are not a true description of the territory to be granted. The charter of Rhode Island is a proof that the Plymouth patent was not considered as embracing within its limits what is called Pokanoket, alias Sowamset; since that charter covers a considerable part of that very territory. But, if Pokanoket was not included by the Plymouth patent, Williams ought not to have been treated as a trespasser. It is not my purpose to discuss the question of boundaries. These observations are made for the purpose of showing that Williams had his reasons for believing that he was out of the jurisdiction of Plymouth.

STANZA XXII.

And brandishing his blade, he jeering said,
That vengeance gave it eyes and appetite ;

It soon would eat—but eat in silence dread.

"He [an Indian slain by Standish] bragged of the excellency of his knife: Hinnaim namen, hinnaim michen, matta cuts: that is to say, by and by it should see, by and by it should eat, but not speak."

CANTO SEVENTH.

STANZA V.

His flock no more,—with strifes now sorely riven.

The opinions for which Williams was banished, were but the beginning of schism in the Massachusetts churches, and his banishment but the commencement of persecution. Many members of the church of Salem still adhered to him, and finally followed him to Providence.

STANZA XXI.

O'er yonder distant brow

Smokes in the vale Neponset's peopled town.

Neponset is the name of a river in Massachusetts. On the banks of this river there seem to have been several Indian towns or villages, at the time of Williams' banishment.

เ

STANZA LVII.

And by the lock he held a trunkless head,

'Timequassin, to cut off, or behead, which they are most skillful to do in fight."— Williams' Key.

CANTO EIGHTH.

STANZA XVI.

Who cannot see,

That a dark cloud o'er our New England lowers ?
The tender conscience struggles to be free-

The tyrant struggles, and retains his power.

Williams seems to have had a strong presentiment that a season of persecution was approaching, and often expressed a desire that his plantation might be a shelter for persons distressed for conscience.