Sir Harry Vane 161 



by and by to show. " Their own generation," 

 says Mr. Hosmer, " believed that the Independents 

 drew their origin from America." Certainly there 

 had been witnessed in Boston, in the year when 

 Harvard College was founded, some noteworthy 

 manifestations of Independency, and scenes had 

 been enacted which had left a deep impress upon 

 Sir Harry's youthful mind. In 1635 the gossips 

 wrote : " Sir Henry Yane hath as good as lost his 

 eldest son, who is gone into New England for con- 

 science' sake ; he likes not the discipline of the 

 Church of England ; ... no persuasions of our 

 bishops nor authority of his parents could prevail 

 with him : let him go." The fascinating boy ar- 

 rived in Boston in October, 1635, and in the fol- 

 lowing March, having won all hearts, was elected 

 governor of Massachusetts. He witnessed the Pe- 

 quot war, the beautiful heroism and rare diplomacy 

 of Roger Williams, and the bitter strife which 

 ensued upon the teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson. 

 Mr. Hosmer gives a vivid picture of the life in the 

 little colony, the theological warfare, and the pas- 

 sionate tears of the young man as the difficulties 

 thickened around him. Perhaps his indiscreet 

 threat of an appeal to the throne in favour of 

 the Antinomians, as he sailed for England in the 

 summer of 1637, may have served to hasten the 



