Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Standard, Vol. 7: July, 1920
On the last day of July, in the year 1620, Dutch peasants in the fields be low Leyden could have seen on the decks of canal boats drifting down the Old Rhine, a group of men and women equipped with boxes and bun dles that betokened a long journey. The emigrants were part of a dissent ing English congregation which had sought refuge in Holland a dozen years before, when King James I an nounced his royal intention of making the dissidents conform to the Episcopal Worship or else harrying them out of the land. In spite of the hospitality and perfect toleration of the Dutch, the English colony never felt at home in Holland. They were a little group in the midst of strangers. Language, cus toms, business, religion, politics, were all reminders that they were aliens; nor did they wish to lose their nationality and see their children grow up Dutch. A twelve-year truce negotiated in 1609 between Holland and Spain was about to expire, and none knew but that the heroic northern provinces of the Nether lands might again have to pass through the long ordeal of blood and fire from which they had been delivered by the genius of William the Silent a gen cration before. In view of all this the more determined members of the Ley den congregation had decided to leave that goodly and pleasant citie, which had been their resting place near 12 years, for they knew they were pil grimes and lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest countrie, and quieted their spirits. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.