266
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. OCT. 2, 1920.
retention of the ship during the winter
and of her dispatch homewards in 1621,
never once chances to mention her name
nor that of the Speedwell. They are to
him'always the "larger " and the "lesser "
ship. Nor in a letter of which he quotes
part, in which the Agent Weston reports the
return of the vessel, and alludes with dis-
. appointment to her having no cargo, does
the name appear. And this is the more
remarkable as Bradford does mention by
name the ship, the * Fortune, ' which came
rom England in 1621, and in the rest of his
history we find that nearly every other
ship mentioned is named either by himself
or Bothers in course of correspondence.
Bradford moreover, tells us that some of the
second party from Leyden came out in
1630 in the Mayflower. But he utters not a
word of recognition of an old friend, if it
Tvas the same ship, or of the coincidence of
names if it was not.
The same is the case with the other passenger in the Mayflower, Governor E. Winslow, who has left a record. His narrative
- ' A Relation or Journall of the beginning of
New Plimouth,' (published by George Mourt) makes no mention of the ship's name. Nor do we find it in his ' Good News from New England," 1624.
Captain John Smith more than once men- tions the voyage and seems familiar with the details, but gives no name.
It is not till we come to Nathaniel Morton's
- New England's Memorial ' published in
1669 that we find the names we are seeking. He transcribes almost verbatim Bradford's words and inserts, after the first mention of the two ships, "called ^the Mayflower," fi called the Speedwell " respectively. After that the poor Mayflower comes to her own.
There is, however, just one really con- temporary witness to show that the May- flower is not legendary. There is a MS. volume entitled 'Plimouth's Great Book of Deeds of Lands enrolled from Ano. 1627 to Ano. 1651.' It contains records of allot- ments, and at the head of one of the lists, written apparently in Bradford's own hand occur the words "The Falles of their ground which came first over in the May Floure, according as their lots were cast, 1623."
This record has reference to a very in- teresting and important crisis in the history of the Plymouth Colony. It marks the point when the Colonists abandoned the system of Communism which they had adopted and maintained since they left England. The system had broken down and Bradford
records its abandonment with words of
shrewd and emphatic criticism well worthy
of note at the present time.
The Pilgrim Fathers had no idea of achieving fame for themselves or for their vessel. They knew not *how precious every detail of information would become. We should not have wondered if, in the course of their records, they had refrained from parading the name or bringing it into pro- minence. But that for 50 years it should have occurred to nobody to make mention of the name, and that neither by chance observation, nor by incidental allusion the secret should have come out, seems indeed a remarkable fact. It affords a wholesome warning against the argument from silence. G. CCJTHBERT BLAXLAND.
Ringshall Rectory, Stowmarket.
- , 4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY, RESTORATIONS
PAST AND PROSPECTIVE. The voice of the influential press has brought public enthu- siasm, and a vast subscription to the desired repair of some parts of the abbey that had decayed to the point of threatening disaster. We may anticipate that the result will be commendable, and no redundant restora- tions or "carrying out of intended comple- tions " will be suffered in spite of the tempta- tion of adequate funds. Unfortunately previous restorations have not been happy, and for at least a century any interference with the fabric has been the subject of protest usually unavailing. We need hardly refer to the changes made at the instigation of Beans Horsley, Vincent and Ireland. Thereafter the published protests assume sufficient importance to be the subject of the following bibliographical note.j
M'A Letter to the Dean and Chapter of West- minster on the Intended Alterations in the Interior of Westminster Abbey by a Clergyman of the Church of England.' 1844. This was proceeded by letters contributed to the Builder (June 24 and Oct. 25, 1843) dealing with Daan Tarton's re-arrangement of the choir screen, &c.
2. A 4to Circular, 4 pp. only. ' App3ndix to the Memorial concerning Westminster Abbey,
_circa 1870.^^ss^> .:<
3. Protests published in The Athenceum, Aug. 17, 1878, and The Builder, Sept. 7, 1878, reprinted in slip form for general distribution.
4. 'Concarning Westminster Abbey,' a pamphlet (14 pp., 8vo), issued by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, circa 1893.
5."? Architecture ,?and History of ^Westminster Abbey,' a paper read before the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings, by William Morris, July 1, 1884. This was reprinted with
