90 
OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 
for his turnips presents the entire spirit of Puritan 
gardening more comprehensively than volumes writ¬ 
ten about it could, albeit Winthrop himself was, gen¬ 
erally speaking, far more gracious and gentle than the 
holders of religious convictions of a similar nature 
seemed to know how to be. 
He was an exceptional man in every way, however; 
otherwise he would scarcely have been chosen Gover¬ 
nor by the twelve “gentlemen” who took the first step 
towards the actual freedom of this continent— 
though they may not have been aware of it—when 
they pledged themselves to each other to take up 
permanent residence in New England with their 
families, providing the charter of the “Governor & 
Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng¬ 
land,” and the administration under it, were trans¬ 
ferred to the Colony. Two sons-in-law of Thomas, 
third Earl of Lincoln, were among the group—John 
Humphrey and Isaac Johnson—as well as the man¬ 
ager of his estates, Thomas Dudley; another, The- 
ophilus Eaton, who was a merchant in London, had 
been a Minister to Denmark; and every man of the 
group was of high standing and independent fortune. 
Poor Lady Arabella Johnson, daughter of the noble 
earl, came with her husband and the rest in the 
Arabella; but the “wilderness of wants” in which she 
found herself proved too much for her endurance, 
