The reasons for the singular custom of burying the dead with their feet to the west, are two, and special: first, when Christ begins his millenarian reign, he will come from the west, and his saints will be in a ready posture to rise and meet him: secondly, the papists and episcopalians bury their dead with their feet to the east.
Was I to give a character of the people of Norwich, I would do it in the words of the famous Mr. George Whitefield, (who was a good judge of mankind,) in his farewel-sermon to them a short time before his death; viz. “When I first preached in this magnificent house, above 20 years ago, I told you, that you were part beast, part man, and part devil; at which you were offended. I have since thought much about that expression, and confess that for once I was mistaken. I therefore take this last opportunity to correct my error. Behold! I now tell you, that you are not part man and part beast, but wholly of the devil.”
Lyme stands on the east side of Connecticut River, opposite Saybrook; and resembles Lewisham. The township is 16 miles long, and 8 wide; and forms four parishes.
Saybrook is situated on the west side of Connecticut river, 20 miles west from New-London, and resembles Battersea. The township is twenty miles long and six wide, and forms four parishes. This town was named after the Lords Say and Brook, who were said to claim the country, and sent, in 1634, a Governor and a large number of people from England to build a fort and settle the colony. See p. 17. It was principally owing to this fort that Hertford and Newhaven made good their settlements: it prevented Sassacus from giving timely aid to Connecticote and Quinnipiog.
Saybrook is greatly fallen from its ancient grandeur; but is, notwithstanding, resorted to with great veneration, as the parent town of the whole colony. The tombs of the first settlers are held sacred, and travellers seldom pass them without the compliment of a sigh or tear. On one mossy stone is written,
“Here pride is calm’d, and death is life.”
In 1709, this town was honoured by a convention of contending independent divines, who were pleased with no constitution in church or state.—This multitude of sectarians, after long debates, published a book, called The Saybrook Platform, containing the doctrines and rules of the churches in Connecticut. The only novelty in this system is, that Christ has delegated his ministerial, kingly, and prophetical power, one half to the people, and the other half to the ministers. This proposition may be thought in Europe a very strange one; but, if it be recollected, that the people in the province claimed all power in heaven and on earth, and that the ministers had no other ordination than what came from the people, it will appear, that the ministers hereby gained from the people one half of their power. From this article originated the practice of the right hand of fellowship at the ordination of a minister. No one can be a minister, till he receives the right hand of the messenger who represents six deacons from six congregations. The conclusion of this reverend and venerable body is, “The Bible is our rule.”
Mr. Neal says, p. 610, “That every particular society is a compleat church, having power to exercise all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, without appeal to any classis:—they allow of synods for council and advice, but not to exercise the power of the keys.”
If Mr. Neal had taken the trouble to read the History of the Church of Massachusets-Bay, written by the Reverend Mr. John Wise, a minister of that church, he would have found that the contrary to all he has advanced is the truth. The people of that province held the keys from 1620 to 1650: then the ministers got possession of them by their own vote, which was passed into a law by the General Assembly. The vote was, “There cannot be a minister, unless he is ordained by ministers of Jesus Christ.” Thus commenced ordination by ministers in New-England. The people were alarmed at the loss of the keys, and asked the ministers who had ordained them? The ministers answered, The people. Then, replied the people, we are the ministers of Jesus Christ, you are not ministers; and we will keep the power. A violent contest ensued between the people and the ministers; but the latter, by the help of the General Assembly, retained the power of the keys, and instituted three ecclesiastical courts, viz. 1, the minister and his communicants; 2, the associations; and 3, the synod. There lies an appeal from one to the other of these courts, all which exercise so much ecclesiastical power that few are easy under it. The first court suspends from communion, the second re-hears the evidence, and confirms or sets aside the suspension; the synod, after hearing the case again, excommunicates or discharges the accused. From the last judgment no appeal is allowed by the synod. The excommunicated person has no other resource than petitioning the General Assembly of the province, which sometimes grants relief, to the great grief of the synod and ministers. But the representatives commonly pay dear for overlooking the conduct of the synod at the next election.
The people of Connecticut have adopted the same mode of discipline as prevails in Massachusets-Bay, but call the synod a Consociation.
To show that the synods are not quite so harmless as Mr. Neal reports, I will give an instance of their authority exercised in Connecticut in 1758. A Mr. Merret, of Lebanon, having lost his wife, with whom he had lived childless forty years, went to Rhode-Island, and married a niece of his late wife, which was agreeable to the laws of that province. By her having a child, Mr. Merret offered the same for baptism to the minister of whose church he was a member. The minister refused, because it was an incestuous child; and cited Merret and his wife to appear before himself and his church upon an indictment of incest. Merret appeared; the verdict was, “Guilty of incest.” He appealed to the Association, which also found him guilty of incest. He again appealed to the Consociation, and was again found guilty of incest. Merret and his wife were then ordered to separate, and make a public confession, on pain of excommunication. Merret refused; whereupon the minister read the act of excommunication, while the deacons shoved Merret out of the meeting-house. Being thus cast out of the synagogue, and debarred from the conversation of any one in the parish, it was well said by Mr. Merret: “If this be not to exercise the power of the keys, I know not what it is.” The poor man soon after died with a broken heart, and was buried in his own garden by such christian brethren as were not afraid of the mild puissance of the Consociation.
Mr. Neal says, also, p. 609, after evincing his jealousy at the growth of the Church of England in New-England: “If the religious liberties of the plantations are invaded by the setting up of spiritual courts, &c., they will feel the sad effects of it.” In this sentiment I agree with Mr. Neal; but, unluckily, he meant the bishops courts, and I meant the courts of synods, composed of his “meek, exemplary, and learned divines of New-England,” but who are more severe and terrible than even was the Star-Chamber under the influence of Laud, or the Inquisition of Spain. The ecclesiastical courts of New-England have, in the course of 160 years, bored the tongues with hot needles, cut off the ears, branded the foreheads of, and banished, imprisoned, and hanged more quakers, baptists, adamites, ranters, episcopalians, for what they call heresy, blasphemy, and witchcraft, than there are instances of persecution in Fox’s book of Martyrology, or under the bishops of England since the death of Henry VIII. And yet Mr. Neal was afraid of spiritual courts, and admired the practice of New-England churches, who only excommunicated offenders, delivering them over to the civil magistrates to torture and ruin. If I remember right, I once saw the Inquisition of Portugal act after the same manner, when the priest said, “We deal with the soul, and the civil magistrate with the body.”
Time not having destroyed the walls of the fort at Saybrook, Mr. Whitefield, in 1740, attempted to bring them down, as Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho, to convince the gaping multitude of his divine mission. He walked several times round the fort with prayer, and rams’-horns blowing; he called on the angel of Joshua to come and do as he had done at the walls of Jericho; but the angel was deaf, or on a journey, or asleep, and therefore the walls remained. Hereupon George cried aloud: “This town is accursed for not receiving the messenger of the Lord; therefore the angel is departed, and the walls shall stand as a monument of sinful people.” He shook off the dust of his feet against them, and departed, and went to Lyme.
Killingsworth is ten miles west from Saybrook, lies on the sea, and resembles Wadsworth. The town is eight miles square, and divided into two parishes. This town is noted for the residence of the Rev. Mr. Elliot, commonly known as Dr. Elliot, who discovered the art of making steel out of sand, and wrote a book on husbandry, which will secure him a place in the Temple of Fame.
Windham, the second county in the ancient kingdom of Sassacus, or colony of Saybrook, is hilly; but the soil being rich, has excellent butter, cheese, hemp, Indian-corn, and horses. Its towns are twelve.
Windham resembles Rumford, and stands on Winnomantic River. Its meeting-house is elegant, and has a steeple, bell, and clock. Its court-house is scarcely to be looked upon as an ornament. The township forms four parishes, and is ten miles square.
Strangers are very much terrified at the hideous noise made on summer evenings by the vast number of frogs in the brooks and ponds. There are about thirty different voices among them, some of which resemble the bellowing of a bull. The owls and whippoorwills complete the rough concert, which may be heard several miles. Persons accustomed to such serenades are not disturbed by them at their proper stations; but one night in July, 1758, the frogs of an artificial pond, three miles square, and about five from Windham, finding the water dried up, left the place in a body, and marched, or rather hopped, towards Winnomantic River. They were under the necessity of taking the road and going through the town, which they entered about midnight. The bull-frogs were the leaders, and the pipers followed without number. They filled the road, forty yards wide, for four miles in length, and were for several hours in passing through the town unusually clamorous.
The inhabitants were equally perplexed and frightened: some expected to find an army of French and Indians; others feared an earthquake, and dissolution of Nature. The consternation was universal. Old and young, male and female; fled naked from their beds, with worse shriekings than those of the frogs. The event was fatal to several women. The men, after a flight of half a mile, in which they met with many broken shins, finding no enemies in pursuit of them, made a hault, and summoned resolution enough to venture back to their wives and children, when they distinctly heard from the enemy’s camp these words: Wight, Hilderkin, Dier, Tete. This last, they thought, meant treaty, and, plucking up courage, they sent a triumvirate to capitulate with the supposed French and Indians. These the men approached in their shirts, and begged to speak with the general; but, it being dark and no answer given, they were sorely agitated for some time betwixt hope and fear: at length, however, they discovered that the dreaded inimical army was an army of thirsty frogs going to the river for a little water.
Such an incursion was never known before nor since; and yet the people of Windham have been ridiculed for their timidity on this occasion. I verily believe an army under the Duke of Marlborough would, under like circumstances, have acted no better than they did.
In 1768 the inhabitants of Connecticut River were as much alarmed by an army of caterpillars as those of Windham were at the frogs; and no one found reason to jest at their fears. Those worms came in one night and covered the earth, on both sides of the river, to an extent of three miles in front and two in depth. They marched with great speed, and eat up everything green for the space of one hundred miles, in spite of rivers, ditches, fires, and the united efforts of 1,000 men. They were, in general, two inches long, had white bodies covered with thorns, and red throats. When they had finished their work they went down to the river Connecticut, where they died, poisoning the waters, until they were washed into the sea. This calamity was imputed by some to the vast number of logs and trees lying in the creeks, and to cinders, smoke, and fires, made to consume the waste wood for three or four hundred miles up the Connecticut River; while others thought it augurated future evils, similar to those of Egypt. The inhabitants of the Verdmonts would unavoidably have perished with famine, in consequence of the devastation of these worms, had not a remarkable Providence filled the wilderness with wild pigeons, which were killed by sticks as they sat upon the branches of the trees, in such multitudes that 30,000 people lived on them for three weeks. If a natural cause may be assigned for the coming of the frogs and caterpillars, yet the visit of the pigeons to the wilderness in August has been necessarily ascribed to the interposition of infinite Power and Goodness. Happy will it be for America, if the smiling providence of Heaven produces gratitude, repentance, and obedience, amongst her children!
Lebanon lies on the west side of Winnomantic River. The best street, which has good houses on both sides, is one mile long and one hundred yards wide. An elegant meeting-house, with steeple and bell, stands in the centre. The township is ten miles square, and forms four parishes. This town was formerly famous for an Indian school, under the conduct of Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, whose great zeal for the spiritual good of the savages in the wilderness induced him to solicit a collection from England. Having met with success, his school at Lebanon became a college in the province of Newhampshire, where he has converted his godliness into gain, and promises fair to excuse government from the expense of a superintendent of Indian affairs.
Coventry lies on the same river; the houses are straggling. The township is ten miles square, and consists of two parishes. Here are two ponds, the one three and the other four miles long, and half as wide, well filled with mackerel and other fish.
Mansfield lies east of Coventry, on Winnomantic and Fundy Rivers; the houses are scattered. The township is eight miles square, and divided into two parishes.
Union and Wilmington lie on Winnomantic River, forming two parishes. Each township is six miles square.
Ashford lies on the Fundy, in a township ten miles square, and forms three parishes. The people of the town have distinguished themselves by a strict enforcement of the colony-laws against heretics and episcopalians, for not attending their meeting on the Sabbath.
Woodstock lies on Quinnibaug, and resembles Finchley. The township is ten miles square, and divided into three parishes. Woodstock had the honour of giving birth to the Rev. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, D. D., a learned divine of the Church of England, and well known in the literary world.
Killingsley lies east of Woodstock. The township, twenty miles long and six wide, forms three parishes.
Pomfret stands on Quinnibaug River, and resembles Battersea. The township is twelve miles square, and forms four parishes, one of which is episcopal. Fanaticism had always prevailed in the county of Windham over christian moderation: where, about the year 1770, after many abuses, the episcopalians found a friend in Godfree Malebone, Esq. who built on his own estate an elegant church, which was patronized by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, who appointed a clergyman.
We read that David slew a lion and a bear, and afterwards that Saul trusted him to fight Goliath. In Pomfret lives Colonel Israel Putnam, who slew a she-bear and her two cubs with a billet of wood. The bravery of this action brought him into public notice; and it seems he is one of fortune’s favourites. The story is as follows: In 1754 a large she-bear came in the night from her den, which was three miles from Mr. Putnam’s house, and took a sow out of his pen. The sow, by squeaking, awoke Mr. Putnam, who hastily ran to the poor creature’s relief; but, before he could reach the pen, the bear had left it, and was trotting away with the sow in her mouth. Mr. Putnam took up a billet of wood and followed the screaming of the sow, till he came to the foot of the mountain where the den was. Dauntless he entered the horrid cavern, and, after walking and crawling on his hands and knees for fifty yards, came to a roomy cell, where the bear met him with great fury. He saw nothing but the fire of her eyes, but that was sufficient for our hero; he accordingly directed his blow, which at once proved fatal to the bear, and saved his own life at a most critical moment. Putnam then discovered and killed the two cubs; and having, though in Egyptian darkness, dragged them and the dead sow, one by one, out of the cave, he went home, and calmly reported to his family what had happened. The neighbors declared, on viewing the place by torchlight, that his exploit exceeded those of Samson or David. Soon after, the General Assembly appointed Mr. Putnam a lieutenant in the army marching against Canada. His courage and good conduct raised him to the rank of Captain the next year. The third year he was made a Major, and the fourth a Colonel. Putnam and Rogers were the heroes through the last war. Putnam was so hardy, at a time when the Indians had killed all his men and completely hemmed him in upon a river, as to leap into the stream, which in a minute carried him down a stupendous falls, where no tree could pass without being torn to pieces. The Indians reasonably concluded that Putnam, their terrible enemy, was dead, and made their report accordingly at Ticonderoga; but soon after a scouting party found their sad mistake in a bloody rencontre. Some few that got off declared that Putnam was yet living, and that he was the first son of Hobbomockow, and therefore immortal. However, at length the Indians took this terrible warrior prisoner, and tied him to a tree, where he hung three days without food or drink. They did not attempt to kill him, for fear of offending Hobbomockow; but they sold him to the French at a great price. The name of Putnam was more alarming to the Indians than cannon, and they never would fight him after his escape from the falls. He was afterwards redeemed by the English.
Plainfield and Canterbury lie on Quinnibaug River, opposite to one another, and have much the appearance of Lewisham. Each township is eight miles square, and forms two parishes.
Voluntown lies on a small river, and resembles Finchley Common. The township is fifteen miles long and five wide, and forms three parishes, one of which is Presbyterian. This sect has met with as little christian charity and humanity in this hair-brained country as the Anabaptists, Quakers, and Churchmen. The Sober Dissenters of this town, as they style themselves, will not attend the funeral of a Presbyterian.
The Kingdom of Connecticote forms two counties, viz. Hertford and Litchfield, which contain about 15,000 houses and 120,000 inhabitants. The county of Hertford excels the rest in tobacco, onions, grain of all sorts, hay, and cider. It contains twenty-one towns, the chief of which I shall describe, comparing the rest to the towns near London.
Hertford town is deemed the capital of the province; it stands forty miles from Saybrook, and the same distance from Newhaven, on the west bank of Connecticut River, and is formed into squares. The township is twenty miles from east to west, and six in breadth, comprising six parishes, one of which is episcopal.
The houses are partly of brick and partly of wood, well built, but, as I have observed in general of the towns in Connecticut, do not join. King’s Street is two miles long and thirty yards wide, well paved, and cut in two by a small river, over which is a high bridge. The town is half a mile wide. A grand court-house, and two elegant meetings, with steeples, bells, and clocks, adorn it. In 1760 a foundation of quarry-stone was laid for an Episcopal church in this town, at the expense of nearly 300l., on which occasion the episcopalians had a mortifying proof that the present inhabitants inherit the spirit of their ancestors. Samuel Talcott, Esq. one of the Judges of the County Court, with the assistance of a mob, took away the stones, and with them built a house for his son. What added to so meritorious an action, was its being justified by the General Assembly and the Consociation. In 1652 this town had the honour of executing Mrs. Greensmith, the first witch ever heard of in America. She was accused, in the indictment, of practising evil things on the body of Ann Cole, which did not appear to be true; but the Rev. Mr. Stone, and other ministers, swore that Greensmith had confessed to them that the devil had had carnal knowledge of her. The Court then ordered her to be hanged upon the indictment. Surely none of the learned divines and statesmen studied in the Temple or Lincoln’s Inn! It should seem that every Dominion or township was possessed of an ambition to make itself famous in history. The same year Springfield, not to be outdone by Hertford, brought Hugh Parsons to trial for witchcraft, and the jury found him guilty. Mr. Pincheon, the Judge, had some understanding, and prevented his execution till the matter was laid before the General Court in Boston, who determined that he was not guilty of witchcraft. The truth was, Parsons was blessed with a fine person and genteel address, insomuch that the women could not help admiring him above every other man in Springfield, and the men could not help hating him; so that there were witnesses enough to swear that Parsons was a wizzard, because he made the females love and the men hate him.
In Hertford are the following curiosities: 1. A house built of American oak in 1640, the timbers of which are yet sound, nay, almost petrified; in it was born John Belcher, Esq. Governor of Massachusets-Bay, and New-Jersey. 2. An elm, esteemed sacred, for being the tree in which their Charter was concealed. 3. A wonderful well, which was dug sixty feet deep without any appearance of water, when a large rock was met with. The miners, boring this rock in order to blast it with powder, drove the auger through it, upon which the water spouted up with such great velocity that it was with difficulty the well was stoned. It soon filled and ran over, and has supported, or rather made, a brook for above one hundred years.
The tomb of Mr. Hooker is viewed with great reverence by his disciples. Nathaniel, his great-grandson, a minister in Hertford, inherits more than all his virtues, without any of his vices.[34]
Weathersfield is four miles from Hertford, and more compact than any town in the colony. The meeting-house is of brick, with a steeple, bell, and clock. The inhabitants say it is much larger than Solomon’s Temple. The township is ten miles square; parishes four. The people are more gay than polite, and more superstitious than religious. This town raises more onions than are consumed in all New-England. It is a rule with parents to buy annually a silk gown for each daughter above seven years old, till she is married. The young beauty is obliged, in return, to weed a patch of onions with her own hands; which she performs in the cool of the morning, before she dresses her beefsteak. This laudable and healthy custom is ridiculed by the ladies of other towns, who idle away their mornings in bed, or in gathering the pink, or catching the butterfly, to ornament their toilets; while the gentlemen, far and near, forget not the Weathersfield ladies’ silken industry.
Weathersfield was settled in 1637 by the Rev. Mr. Smith and his followers, who left Watertown, near Boston, in order to get out of the power of Mr. Cotton, whose severity in New-England exceeded that of the bishops in Old-England. But Mr. Smith did not discard the spirit of persecution as the sole property of Mr. Cotton, but carried with him a sufficient quantity of it to distress and divide his little flock.
Middletown is ten miles below Weathersfield, and beautifully situated upon the Connecticut, between two small rivers one mile asunder, which is the length of the town and grand street. Here is an elegant church, with steeple, bell, clock, and organ; and a large meeting without a steeple. The people are polite, and not much troubled with that fanatic zeal which pervades the rest of the colony. The township is ten miles square, and forms four parishes, one episcopalian. This and the two preceding towns may be compared to Chelsea.
The following towns, which lie on the Connecticut River, are so much alike that a description of one will serve for the whole, viz. Windsor, East Windsor, Glastenbury, Endfield, Suffield, Chatham, Haddam, and East Haddam. Windsor, the best, is cut in two by the river Ett, which wanders from the northward 100 miles, through various meadows, towns, and villages, and resembles Bedford. Township ten miles square, forming three parishes. It was settled in 1637 by the Rev. Mr. Huet and his associates, who fled from religious slavery in Boston, to enjoy the power of depriving others of liberty.
The following towns, lying back of the river towns, being similar in most respects, I shall join also in one class, viz. Hebron, Colchester, Bolton, Tolland, Stafford, and Sommers.
Hebron is the centre of the province, and it is remarkable that there are thirty-six towns larger and thirty-six less. It is situated between two ponds, about two miles in length and one in breadth, and is intersected by two small rivers, one of which falls into the Connecticut, the other into the Thames. A large meeting stands on the square, where four roads meet. The town resembles Finchley. The township is eight miles square; five parishes, one is episcopal. The number of houses is 400; of inhabitants, 3,200. It pays one part out of seventy-three of the governmental taxes, and is a bed of farmers on their own estates. Frequent suits about the Indian titles have rendered them famous for their knowledge in law and self-preservation. In 1740 Mr. George Whitefield gave them this laconic character: “Hebron,” says he, “is the stronghold of Satan; for its people mightily oppose the work of the Lord, being more fond of earth than heaven.” This town is honoured by the residence of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Pomeroy, an excellent scholar, an exemplary gentleman, and a most thundering preacher of the New-Light order. His great abilities procured him the favour and honour of being the instructor of Abimeleck, the present king of Mohegin. He is of a very persevering, sovereign disposition, but just, polite, generous, charitable, and without dissimulation. Avis alba. Here also reside some of the descendants of William Peters, Esq. already spoken of, among whom is the Rev. Samuel Peters,[35] an episcopal clergyman, who, by his generosity and zeal for the Church of England, rendered himself famous both in New and Old-England, and in some degree made an atonement for the fanaticism and treason of his uncle Hugh, and of his ancestor on his mother’s side, Major-General Thomas Harrison, both hanged at Charing-Cross in the last century.
Colchester has to boast of the Rev. John Buckley for its first minister, whose grandfather was the Rev. Peter Buckley, of Woodhill, in Bedfordshire in Old-England; who, after being silenced by the bishop for his misconduct, went to New-England in 1635, and died at Concord in 1658.
John Buckley was a great scholar, and, suffering prudence to govern his hard temper, he conciliated the esteem of all parties, and became the ornament of the Sober Dissenters in Connecticut. He was a lawyer, a physician, and divine. He published an ingenious pamphlet to prove that the title of the people to their lands was good, because they had taken them out of the state of nature. His argument satisfied many who thought their titles were neither legal, just, nor scriptural; indeed, it may seem conclusive, if his major proposition be granted, that the English found Connecticut in a state of nature. His son John was a lawyer and physician of great reputation, and was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court very young. He and his father were suspected to be not sound in faith, because they used in their prayers, “From battle and murder, and from sudden death, good Lord deliver us, for the sake of thine only Son, who commands us thus to pray, Our Father,” &c., &c. Peter Buckley was possessed of a gentleman’s estate in Bedfordshire, which he sold, and spent the produce among his servants in Massachusets-Bay. His posterity in Colchester, in Connecticut, are very rich, and, till lately, were held in great esteem, which, however, they lost by conforming to the Church of England.
There is nothing remarkable to be observed of any of the other towns I have classed with Hebron, except Stafford, which possesses a mineral spring that has the reputation of curing the gout, sterility, pulmony, hysterics, &c., &c., and therefore is the New-England “Bath,” where the sick and rich resort to prolong life and acquire the polite accomplishments.
Herrington, Farmington, and Symsbury, lying on the west of Hertford, and on the river Ett, will finish the county of Hertford.
Herrington is ten miles square, and forms two parishes.
Farmington resembles Corydon. The township is fifteen miles square, and forms eight parishes, three of which are episcopal. Here the meadow-land is sold at 50l. per acre.
Symsbury, with its meadows and surrounding hills, forms a beautiful landscape, much like Maidstone, in Kent. The township is twenty miles square, and consists of nine parishes, four of which are episcopal. Here are copper mines. In working one, many years ago, the miners bored half a mile through a mountain, making large cells, forty yards below the surface, which now serve as a prison, by order of the General Assembly, for such offenders as they choose not to hang. The prisoners are let down on a windlass into this dismal cavern, through a hole which answers the triple purpose of conveying them food, air, and—I was going to say—light, but that scarcely reaches them. In a few months the prisoners are released by death, and the colony rejoices in her great humanity and the mildness of her laws. This conclave of spirits imprisoned may be called with great propriety the Catacomb of Connecticut. The light of the sun and the light of the Gospel are alike shut out from the martyrs, whose resurrection-state will eclipse the wonder of that of Lazarus. It has been remarked by the candid part of this religious colony, that the General Assembly and Consociation have never allowed any prisoners in the whole province a chaplain, though they have spent much of their time and public money in spreading the gospel in the neighbouring colonies among the Indians, Quakers, and episcopalians, and though, at the same time, those religionists preach damnation to all people who neglect to attend public worship twice every Sabbath, fasting, and thanksgiving days, provided they are appointed by themselves, and not by the King and Parliament of Great Britain. This well-founded remark has been treated by the zealots as springing more from malice than policy.
I beg leave to give the following instances of the humanity and mildness the province has always manifested for the episcopal clergy.
About 1746, the Rev. Mr. Gibbs, of Symsbury, refusing to pay a rate imposed for the salary of Mr. Mills, a dissenting minister in the same town, was, by the collector, thrown across a horse, lashed hands and feet under the creature’s belly, and carried many miles in that humane manner to gaol. Mr. Gibbs was half dead when he got there; and though he was released by his church wardens, who, to save his life, paid the assessment, yet, having taken cold in addition to his bruises, he became delirious, and has remained in a state of insanity ever since.
In 1772 the Rev. Mr. Moyley, a missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, at Litchfield, was presented by the Grand Jury for marrying a couple belonging to his parish, after the banns had been duly published, and consent of parents obtained. The Court mildly fined Mr. Moyley 20l. because he could not show any other license to officiate as a clergyman than what he had received from the Bishop of London, whose authority the Court determined did not extend to Connecticut, which was a chartered government. One of the Judges said: “It is high time to put a stop to the usurpations of the Bishop of London, and to let him know that, though his license be lawful, and may empower one of his curates to marry in England, yet it is not so in America; and if fines would not curb them in this point, imprisonment should.”
The second county in the Kingdom of Connecticote, and the most mountainous in the whole province, is Litchfield, which produces abundance of wheat, butter, cheese, iron ore, &c., and has many iron works, foundries, and furnaces. It contains the following fourteen towns:
Litchfield is watered by two small rivers. An elegant meeting-house and decent court-house, with steeple and bells, ornament the square, where three roads meet. The best street is one mile long. It resembles Dartford. The township is twelve miles square, and forms five parishes, one of which is episcopal.
Though Litchfield is the youngest county of Connecticut, yet in 1766 it set an example to the rest worthy of imitation. The province had always been greatly pestered by a generation of men called “quacks,” who, with a few Indian nostrums, a lancet, a glister-pipe, rhubarb, treacle-water mixed with Roman bombast of vena cava and vena porta, attacked fevers, nervous disorders, and broken bones, and, by the grace of perseverance, subdued Nature, and helped their patients to a passage to the world of spirits before they were ready. The surgeons and physicians who were not quacks formed themselves into a society for the encouragement of literature and a regular and wholesome practice. But their laudable endeavours were discountenanced by the General Assembly, who refused to comply with their solicitations for a charter; because the quacks and the people said, “If the charter were granted, the learned men would become too rich by an monopoly, as they did in England.” The answer to this question was, “Would it not be better to permit a monopoly to preserve the health and lives of the people, than to suffer quacks to kill them and ruin the province?” The reply proved decisive in that fanatical Assembly, viz. “No medicine can be serviceable without the blessing of God. The quacks never administer any physic without the prayers of the minister.” One doctor proposed the trial of a dose of arsenic—whether it would not kill any one who would take it, though twenty ministers should pray against it. He was called a profane man, the petition was rejected, and quackery remains triumphant.[36]
New-Milford lies on the Osootonoc River. A church and meeting, with steeples and bells, beautify the town, which resembles Fulham. The township, twelve miles square, forms five parishes, of which two are episcopal.
Woodbury lies on the same river, and resembles Kentish-town. The township, twelve miles square, is divided into seven parishes, three of them episcopal. In this town lives the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, who is a good scholar and a great preacher. He has attempted to shew a more excellent way to heaven than was known before. He may be called the Athenian of Connecticut, for he has published something new to the christian world. Zuinglius may learn from him.
The following towns lie also on the Osootonoc, viz. Sharon, Kent, Salisbury, New Fairfield, Cornwall, Goshen, and Canaan; and all of them resemble Finchley. Each township is ten miles square.
Sharon forms three parishes, one of which is episcopal. It is much noted on account of a famous mill, invented and built by a Mr. Joel Harvey upon his own estate; for which he received a compliment of 20l. from the Society of Arts in London. The water, by turning one wheel, sets the whole in motion. In two apartments wheat is ground; in two others, bolted; in another, thrashed; in a sixth, winnowed; in the seventh, hemp and flax are beaten; and in the eighth, dressed. Either branch is discontinued at pleasure, without impeding the rest.
The other towns of Litchfield county are: New-Hertford, Torrington, Hartland, and Winchester; all which lie on the river Ett. The townships are severally about six miles square, and each forms one parish.
The Kingdom of Quinnipiog constituted the Dominion of Newhaven, divided into two counties, viz. Newhaven and Fairfield; these again divided into seventeen townships, about twelve miles square each. The number of houses is nearly 10,000, and that of the inhabitants 60,000.
The county of Newhaven is hilly, and has a thin soil, enriched, however, by the industry of its inhabitants. The chief commodities are flax, rye, barley, white beans, and salt hay. It contains eight towns, four of which lie on the Sound, and the others on the back of them. Newhaven township comprises fourteen parishes, three of them episcopal and one Sandemanian. The town, being the most beautiful in New-England, if not in all America, is entitled to a minute description. It is bounded southly by the bay, into which the river Quinnipiack empties itself; easterly and westerly by two creeks two miles asunder; and northerly by a lofty mountain, that extends even to the river St. Lawrence, and forms a highland between the rivers Hudson and Connecticut, standing in a plain three miles by two in extent. This plain is divided into 300 squares of the size of Bloomsbury Square, with streets twenty yards wide between each division. Forty of these squares are already built upon, having houses of brick and wood on each front, about five yards asunder; every house with a garden that produces vegetables sufficient for the family. Two hundred houses are annually erected. Elms and button-trees surround the centre square, wherein are two meetings, the court-house, the gaol, and Latin school; in the fronts of the adjoining squares are Yale College, the chapel, a meeting, and a church: all these grand buildings with steeples and bells. The market is plentifully supplied with every necessary during the whole year, excepting greens in winter. But the harbour is incommoded by flats near the town for one mile in width, and by ice in winter. The former evil is, in some measure, remedied by long and expensive wharves, but the latter is incurable. The people, however, say their trade is greater than that of Norwich or New-London; and their shipping, of different burthens, consists of nearly 200 sail.
According to Dr. Mather, Newhaven was, about 1646, to have been made a city, the interests of the colony with Cromwell’s party being then very great; but a wonderful phenomenon prevented it. As the good Dr. Mather never wanted faith through the whole course of his “Magnalia,” and as the New-Englanders to the present time believe his reports, I will here present my readers with the history of this miracle:
“The people of Newhaven fitted out a ship, and sent her richly laden for England, to procure a patent for the colony and a charter for the city. After the ship had been at sea some weeks, there happened in New-England a violent storm, which induced the people of Newhaven to fast and pray, to inquire of the Lord whether their ship was in that storm or not. This was a real fast: for the people neither eat nor drank from sunrise to sunset. At five o’clock in the afternoon they came out of the meeting, walking softly, heavily, and sadly, homewards. On a sudden the air thundered and the lightnings shone abroad. They looked up towards the heavens, when they beheld their ship in full sail, and the sailors steering her from West to East. She came over the meeting, where they had fasted and prayed, and there was met by a euroclydon, which rent the sails and overset the ship. In a few moments she fell down near the weathercock, on the steeple, and instantly vanished. The people all returned to the meeting, when the minister gave thanks to God for answering the desires of his servants, and for giving them an infallible token of the loss of their ship and charter.”
This, and divers other miracles which have happened in New-England, have been and still are useful to the clergy in establishing the people in the belief that there is a great familiarity between God and their ministers. Hence the ministers govern the superstitious; whilst the deacon, the lawyer, and the merchant, for lucre, wink at the imposition. Yet the ministers, in their turn, are governed by their abettors.
Thou genius of adventure, that carriedst Columbus from eastern to western shores, the domain of savage beasts and savage men, now cursed with the demons of superstition and fanaticism, oh, kindle in no other breast the wish to seek new worlds! Africa already mourns, and Europe trembles!
The true character of Davenport and Eaton, the leaders of the first settlers of Newhaven, may be learnt from the following fact: An English gentleman of the name of Grigson, coming on his travels to Newhaven about the year 1644, was greatly pleased with its pleasant situation, and, after purchasing a large settlement, sent to London for his wife and family. But, before their arrival, he found that a charming situation, without the blessings of religious and civil liberty, would not render him and his family happy; he resolved, therefore, to quit the country and return to England as soon as his family should arrive, and accordingly advertised his property for sale; when, lo! agreeable to one of the Bible laws, no one would buy, because he had not, and could not obtain, liberty of the selectmen to sell it. The patriotic virtue of the selectmen thus becoming an insurmountable bar to the sale of his Newhaven estate, Mr. Grigson made his will, and bequeathed part of his lands towards the support of an episcopal clergyman, who should reside in that town, and the residue to his own heirs. Having deposited his will in the hands of a friend, he set sail with his family for England, but died on the passage. This friend proved the will, and had it recorded, but died also soon after. The record was dexterously concealed, by glueing two leaves together; and, after some years, the selectmen sold the whole estate to pay taxes, though the rent of Mr. Grigson’s house alone, in one year, would pay taxes for ten. Some persons hardy enough to exclaim against this glaring act of injustice, were soon silenced and expelled the town. In 1750 an episcopal clergyman was settled in Newhaven, and, having been informed of Grigson’s will, applied to the town clerk for a copy, who told him there was no such will on record, and withal refused him the liberty of searching. In 1768, Peter Harrison, Esq. of Nottinghamshire in England, the king’s collector in Newhaven, claimed his right of searching public records; and, being a stranger, and not supposed to have any knowledge of Grigson’s will, obtained his demand. The alphabet contained Grigson’s name, and referred to a page which was not to be found in the book. Mr. Harrison supposed it to have been torn out; but, on closer examination, discovered one leaf much thicker than the others. He put a corner of the thick leaf in his mouth, and soon found it was composed of two leaves, which with much difficulty having separated, he found Grigson’s will! To make sure of the work, he took a copy of it himself, and then called the clerk to draw and attest another, which was done. Thus furnished, Mr. Harrison instantly applied to the selectmen, and demanded a surrender of the land which belonged to the Church, but which they as promptly refused; whereupon Mr. Harrison took out writs of ejectment against the possessors. As might be expected, Mr. Harrison, from a good man, became, in ten days, the worst man in the world; but, being a generous and brave Englishman, he valued not their clamors and curses, though they terrified the gentlemen of the law. Harrison was obliged to be his own lawyer, and boldly declared he expected to lose his cause in New-England; but after that he would appeal, and try it, at his own expense, in Old-England, where justice reigned. The good people, knowing Harrison did not get his bread by their votes, and that they could not baffle him, resigned the lands to the Church on that gentleman’s own terms, which in a few years will support a clergyman in a very genteel manner. The honest selectmen yet possess the other lands, though report says Mr. Grigson has an heir of his own name residing near Holborn, in London, who inherits the virtues of his ancestor, and ought to inherit his estate.
The sad and awful discovery of Mr. Grigson’s will, after having been concealed for one hundred years, would have confounded any people but those of Newhaven, who study nothing but religion and liberty. Those pious souls consoled themselves by comparison: “We are no worse,” said they, “than the people of Boston and Windham County.” The following will explain this justification of the saints of Newhaven:
In 1740 Mrs. Cursette, an English lady, travelling from New-York to Boston, was obliged to stay some days at Hebron; when, seeing the church not finished, and the people suffering great persecutions, she told them to persevere in their good work, and she would send them a present when she got to Boston. Soon after her arrival there Mrs. Cursette fell sick and died. In her will she gave a legacy of 300l. old tenor (then equal to 100l. sterling) to the Church of England in Hebron, and appointed John Handcock, Esq. and Nathaniel Glover, her executors. Glover was also her residuary legatee. The will was obliged to be recorded in Windham County, because some of Mrs. Cursette’s lands lay there. Glover sent the will to Deacon S. H——, of Canterbury, ordering him to get it recorded, and keep it private, lest the legacy should build up the Church. The Deacon and Registrar were faithful to their trust, and kept Glover’s secret twenty-five years. At length the Deacon was taken ill, and his life was supposed in great danger. Among his penitential confessions, he told of his having concealed Mrs. Cursette’s will. His confidant went to Hebron, and informed the wardens that for one guinea he would discover a secret of 300l. old tenor consequence to the Church. The guinea was paid and the secret disclosed. A demand of the legacy ensued. Mr. Handcock referred to Glover, and Glover said he was neither obliged to publish the will nor pay the legacy: it had lapsed to the heir-at-law. It being difficult for a Connecticut man to recover a debt in the Massachusets-Bay, and vice versa, the wardens were obliged to accept from Mr. Glover 30l. instead of 300l. sterling; which sum, allowing 200l. as lawful simple interest at six per cent. for twenty-five years, ought in equity have been paid. This matter, however, Mr. Glover is to settle with Mrs. Cursette in the other world.
Newhaven is celebrated for having given the name of “pumpkin-heads” to all the New-Englanders. It originated from the “Blue Laws,” which enjoined every male to have his hair cut round by a cap. When caps were not to be had, they substituted the hard shell of a pumpkin, which being put on the head every Saturday, the hair is cut by the shell all round the head. Whatever religious virtue is supposed to be derived from this custom, I know not; but there is much prudence in it: first, it prevents the hair from snarling; secondly, it saves the use of combs, bags, and ribbons; thirdly, the hair cannot incommode the eyes by falling over them; and fourthly, such persons as have lost their ears for heresy, and other wickedness, cannot conceal their misfortune and disgrace.
Cruelty and godliness were perhaps never so well reconciled by any people as by those of Newhaven, who are alike renounded for both. The unhappy story of Deacon Potter has eternalized the infamy of their Blue Laws, and almost annexed to their town the name of Sodom. The Deacon had borne the best of characters many years; he was the peacemaker, and an enemy to persecution; but he was grown old, was rich, and had a young wife. His young wife had an inclination for a young husband, and had waited with impatience for the death of her old one, till at length, resolving, if possible, to accelerate the attainment of her wishes, she complained to the magistrate that her husband did not render her due benevolence. The Judge took no notice of what she said. She then swore that her husband was an apostate, and that he was fonder of his mare, bitch, and cow, than of her; in which allegation she was joined by her son. The Deacon was brought to trial, condemned, and executed with the beasts, and with them also buried in one common grave. Dr. Mather, with his usual quantity of faith, speaks of the Deacon as very guilty, as having had a fair, legal, and candid trial, and convicted on good and scriptural evidence. I am willing to allow the Doctor as much sincerity as faith. He had his information from the party who condemned the Deacon; but there are manuscripts, which I have seen, that state the matter thus: Deacon Potter was hanged for heresy and apostacy, which consisted in showing hospitality to strangers, who came to his house in the night, among whom were Quakers, Anabaptists, and Adamites. This was forbidden by the Blue Laws, which punished for the first and second offence with fines, and with death for the third. His wife and son betrayed him for hiding the spies and sending them away in peace. The Court was contented with calling his complicated crimes beastiality; his widow with a new husband; and the son with the estate; while the public were deceived by the arts of the wicked junto.
I have related this story to shew the danger of admitting a wife to give evidence against her husband, according to the Blue Laws; and to caution all readers against crediting too much the historians of New-England, who, either from motives of fear or emolument, have in numberless instances designedly disguised or concealed the truth. Such persons whose stubborn principles would not bend to this yoke, were not suffered to search the colonial records; and those who have dared to intimate that all was not right among the first settlers, have been compelled to leave the country with the double loss of character and property.
To Newhaven now belongs Yale College, of which I have promised my readers a particular account. It was originally, as already mentioned, a School, established by the Rev. Thomas Peters at Saybrook, who left it his library at his death. It soon acquired the distinguished appellation of “Schola Illustris,” and about 1700 was honoured by the General Assembly with a charter of incorporation, converting it into a college, under the denomination of Yale College, in compliment to a gentleman of that name, governor of one of the West India Islands, and its greatest benefactor. The charter constitutes a president, three tutors, twelve overseers, and a treasurer; and exempts it from any visitation of the Governor or Assembly, in order to secure it against the control of a King’s Governor, in case one should ever be appointed. I have already observed that a power of conferring Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees was granted by the charter, and that the corporation have thought proper to assume that of conferring Doctors’ degrees. By the economical regulations of the College, there are a professor of divinity, mathematics, and natural philosophy; and four classes of students, which were at first attended by the president and the three tutors; but the president has long been excused that laborious task, and a fourth tutor appointed in his stead. Each class has its proper tutor. Once a week the president examines them all in the public hall, superintends their disputations and scientific demonstrations, and, if any student appears to be negligent, orders him under the care of a special tutor—a stigma which seldom fails of producing its intended effect. Greek, Latin, geography, history, and logic, are well taught in this seminary; but it suffers for want of tutors to teach the Hebrew, French, and Spanish languages. Oratory, music, and politeness, are equally neglected here and in the colony. The students attend prayers every morning and evening, at six o’clock. The president, professor, and one of the tutors, reads and expounds a chapter, then a psalm is sung, after which follows a prayer. The hours of study are notified by the College bell, and every scholar seen out of his room is liable to a fine, which is seldom excused. The amusements for the evenings are not cards, dancing, or music, but reading and composition. They are allowed two hours’ play with foot-ball every day. Thus cooped up for four years, they understand books better than men or manners. They then are admitted to their Bachelor’s degree, having undergone a public examination in the arts and sciences. Three years afterwards they are admitted to their Master’s degree, provided they have supported moral characters. The ceremony used by the president upon these occasions is to deliver a book to the intended Master in Arts, saying: “Admitto te ad secundum Gradum in Artibus, pro more Acadæmiarum in Anglia; tradoque tibi hunc librum, una cum protestate publici prælegendi quoties cunque ad hoc munus evocatus fueris.” For Bachelors the same, mutatis mutandis. A diploma in vellum, with the seal of the College, is given to each Master, and signed by the president and six fellows or overseers. The first degrees of Masters were given in 1702. The students in late years have amounted to about 180. They dine in the common hall at four tables, and the tutors and graduates at a fifth. The number of the whole is about 200.
Yale College is built with wood, and painted a sky colour; it is 160 feet long and three stories high, besides garrets. In 1754, another building of brick, 100 feet long and three stories high, exclusive of garrets, with double rooms, and a double front, was added, and called Connecticut Hall. About 1760, a very elegant chapel and library was erected, with brick, under one roof. But it cannot be supposed the latter is to be compared with the Vatican or the Bodleian. It consists of eight or ten thousand volumes in all branches of literature, but wants modern books; though there is a tolerable sufficiency, if the corporation would permit what they call Bishops’ and Arminian books to be read. Ames’ Medulla is allowed, while Grotius de Veritate Religionis is denied. It was lately presented with a new and valuable apparatus for experimental philosophy. The whole library and apparatus was given by various persons, chiefly English.
The General Assembly have endowed this College with large tracts of land, which, duly cultivated, will soon support the ample establishment of an university; but, even at present, I may truly say, Yale College exceeds the number, and perhaps the learning, of its scholars all over British America. This seminary was in 1717 removed from Saybrook to Newhaven; the extraordinary cause of its transition I shall here lay before the reader.
Saybrook Dominion had been settled by Puritans of some moderation and decency. They had not joined with Massachusets-Bay, Hertford, and Newhaven, in sending home agents to assist in the murder of Charles I. and the subversion of the Lords and Bishops; they had received Hooker’s heretics, and sheltered the apostate from Davenport’s millenarian system; they had shewn an inclination to be dependent on the Mother Country, and had not wholly anathematized the Church of England. In short, the people of Hertford and Newhaven suspected that Saybrook was not truly protestant; that it had a passion for the leeks and onions of Egypt; and that the youth belonging to them in the “Schola Illustris” were in great danger of imbibing its lukewarmness.
A vote therefore passed at Hertford, to remove the College to Weathersfield, where the leeks and onions of Egypt would not be thought of; and another at Newhaven, that it should be removed to that town, where Christ had established his dominion from sea to sea, and where he was to begin his millenarian reign. About 1715 Hertford, in order to carry its vote into execution, prepared teams, boats, and a mob, and privately set off for Saybrook, and seized upon the College apparatus, library, and students, and carried all to Weathersfield. This redoubled the jealousy of the saints at Newhaven, who thereupon determined to fulfil their vote; and, accordingly, having collected a mob sufficient for the enterprise, they sat out for Weathersfield, where they seized by surprise the students, library, &c. &c. But, on the road to Newhaven, they were overtaken by the Hertford mob, who, however, after an unhappy battle, were obliged to retire with only a part of the library and part of the students. Hence sprung two colleges out of one. The quarrel increased daily, everybody expecting a war more bloody than that of Sassacus; and no doubt such would have been the case, had not the peacemakers of Massachusets-Bay interposed with their usual friendship, and advised their dear friends of Hertford to give up the College to Newhaven. This was accordingly done in 1717, to the great joy of the crafty Massachusets, who always greedily seek their own prosperity, though it ruin their best neighbours.
The College being thus fixed forty miles further west from Boston than it was before, tended greatly to the interest of Harvard College; for Saybrook and Hertford, out of pure grief, sent their sons to Harvard, instead of the College at Newhaven. This quarrel continued until 1764, when it subsided into a grand continental consociation of ministers, which met at Newhaven to consult the spiritual good of the Mohawks and other Indian tribes, the best method of preserving the American Vine, and the protestant, independent liberty of America: a good preparatory to the rebellion against Great Britain.
The Rev. Mr. Naphtali Dagget is the fourth president of Yale College since its removal to Newhaven. He is an excellent Greek and Latin scholar, and reckoned a good Calvinistic divine. Though a stranger to European politeness, yet possessing a mild temper and affable disposition, the exercise of his authority is untinctured with haughtiness. Indeed, he seems to have too much candour and too little bigotry to please the corporation and retain his post many years. The Rev. Mr. Nehemiah Strong, the College professor, is also of an amiable temper, and merits the appointment.
Were the corporation less rigid, and more inclined to tolerate some reasonable amusements and polite accomplishments among the youth, they would greatly add to the fame and increase of the College, and the students would not be known by every stranger to have been educated in Connecticut. The disadvantage under which they at present appear, from the want of address, is much to be regretted.
Beauford, Guilford, and Milford, are much alike.
Guilford is laid out in squares, after the manner of Newhaven, twenty of which are built upon. The church and two meetings stand in the centre square. One of the meetings is very grand, with a steeple, bell, and clock. The parishes in it are eight, three of them episcopal.
This town gave birth to the Rev. Samuel Johnson, D. D., who was the first episcopal minister in Connecticut, and the first president of King’s College in New-York. He was educated and became a tutor in the College at Saybrook, was an ornament to his native country, and much esteemed for his humanity and learning.
The Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, in a sermon he preached in the great meeting, gave the character of the people of Guilford in 1740. His text was, “Anoint mine eyes with eye-salve.” After pointing out what was not the true eye-salve, he said: “I will tell you what is the true eye-salve: it is faith, it is grace, it is simplicity, it is virtue. Ah, Lord! where can they be found! Perhaps not in this grand assembly.”
I have frequently quoted the Rev. George Whitefield, without that ludicrous intention which, possibly, the reader may suspect me of. I admire his general character, his good discernment, his knowledge of mankind, his piety, his goodness of heart, his generosity, and hatred of persecution, though I think his zeal was sometimes too fervent. I ever viewed him as an instrument of Heaven, as the greatest Boanerges and blessing America ever knew. He turned the profligate to God; he roused the lukewarm christian; he tamed the wild fanatic, and made Felix tremble.
It is true, he has also made wise men mad; but this is the natural effect of the word, which is the savour of life and the savour of death at one and the same time. New-England before his coming was but the slaughter-house of heretics. He was admired by the oppressed episcopalians, the trembling Quakers, the bleeding Baptists, &c., &c. He was followed by all sects and parties, except the Sober Dissenters, who thought their craft in danger. He made peace where was no peace, and even his enemies praised him in the gate. Whitefield did what could not have been done without the aid of an Omnipotent arm: he planted charity in New-England, of which the increase has been a thousand-fold. He is lauded where the wicked cease from troubling; where his works of faith, love, and charity, clothe him; and where the glory of eternity blesses him with a welcome ineffably transporting. May his virtues be imitated, his imperfections forgiven, and his happiness obtained by all!
Wallingford, Durham, Waterbury, and Derby, finish the County of Newhaven. Wallingford is the best of the four: it lies on the Quinnipiack River, and forms eight parishes, two of which are episcopal. The town street is one mile long, and the houses stand pretty thick on both sides. The church and two meetings, one with a steeple, bell, and clock, stand in the middle of the street. The grave-stones point out the characters of the first settlers. An extract from one follows:
“Here lies the body of Corporal Moses Atwater, who left England in 1660, to enjoy the liberty of conscience in a howling wilderness.”
The second county in the Kingdom of Quinnipiog is Fairfield. It is situated west of Osootonoc River, and contains nine townships, five of which lie on the sea, and resemble one another; and on the back of them are situated four others, which also have a mutual resemblance. The soil is rich and uneven; the chief productions, excellent wheat, salt hay, and flax. Those townships which lie out on the sea are Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, and Stratford. This last I shall describe.
Stratford lies on the west bank of the Osootonoc River, having the sea, or Sound, on the south; there are three streets running north and south, and ten east and west. The best is one mile long. On the centre square stands a meeting, with steeple and bell, and a church, with a steeple, bell, clock, and organ. It is a beautiful place, and from the water has an appearance not inferior to Canterbury. Of six parishes contained in it, three are episcopal. The people are said to be the most polite of any in the colony, owing to the singular moderation of the town in admitting latterly Europeans to settle among them. Many persons come also from the Islands and southern provinces for the benefit of their health. Here was erected the first episcopal church in Connecticut. A very extraordinary story is told concerning the occasion of it, which I shall give the reader the particulars of, the people being as sanguine in their belief of it as they are of the ship’s sailing over Newhaven.
An ancient religious rite called the Powwow was annually celebrated by the Indians, and commonly lasted several hours every night for two or three weeks. About 1690 they convened to perform it on Stratford Point, near the town. During the nocturnal ceremony, the English saw, or imagined they saw, devils rise out of the sea, wrapped up in sheets of flame, and flying round the Indian camp, while the Indians were screaming, cutting, and prostrating themselves before their supposed fiery gods. In the midst of the tumult, the devils darted in among them, seized several and mounted with them in the air, the cries and groans issuing from whom quieted the rest. In the morning, the limbs of Indians, all shrivelled and covered with sulphur, were found in different parts of the town. Astonished and terrified at these spectacles, the people of Stratford began to think the devils would take up their abode among them, and called together all the ministers in the neighbourhood to exorcise and lay them. The ministers began and carried on their warfare with prayer, hymns, and abjurations; but the powwows continued, and the devils would not obey. The inhabitants were about to quit the town, when Mr. Nell spoke and said, “I would to God Mr. Visey, the episcopal minister at New-York, was here; for he would expel those evil spirits.” They laughed at his advice; but on his reminding them of the little maid who directed Naaman to cure his leprosy, they voted him their permission to bring Mr. Visey at the next powwow. Mr. Visey attended accordingly; and as the powwow commenced with howling and whoops, Mr. Visey read portions of the holy scriptures, litany, &c. The sea was put into great commotion; the powwow stopped; the Indians dispersed, and nevermore held a powwow in Stratford. The inhabitants were struck with wonder at this event, and held a conference to discover the reason why the devils and the powwowers had obeyed the prayers of one minister, and had paid no regard to those of fifty. Some thought the reading of the holy scriptures, others thought that the litany and Lord’s prayer, some again that the episcopal power of the minister, and others that all united, were the means of obtaining the heavenly blessing they had received.
Those that believed that the holy scriptures and litany were effectual against the devil and his legions, declared for the Church of England; while the majority ascribed their deliverance to complot between the devils and the episcopal minister, with a view to overthrow Christ’s vine planted in New-England. Each party acted with more zeal than prudence. The Church, however, increased, though oppressed by more persecutions and calamities than were ever experienced by puritans from bishops and powwowers. Even the use of the Bible, the Lord’s prayer, the litany, or any part of the prayer-book was forbidden; nay, ministers taught from their pulpits, according to the Blue Laws, “that the lovers of Zion had better put their ears to the mouth of hell and learn from the whispers of the devil, than read the bishops’ books;” while the Churchmen, like Michael the archangel contending with the devil about the body of Moses, dared not bring against them a railing accusation. But this was not all. When the episcopalians had collected timber for a church, they found the devils had not left town, but only changed their habitation—had left the savages, and entered into fanatics and wood. In the night before the church was to be begun, the timber set up a country-dance, skipping about and flying in the air with as much agility and sulphurous stench as ever the devils had exhibited around the camp of the Indian powwowers. This alarming circumstance would have ruined the credit of the Church, had not the episcopalians ventured to look into the phenomena, and found the timber had been bored with augers, charged with gunpowder, and fired off by matches—a discovery, however, of bad consequence in one respect: it prevented the annalists of New-England from publishing this among the rest of their miracles. About 1720, the patience and sufferings of the episcopalians, who were then but a handful, procured them some friends even among their persecutors; and those friends condemned the cruelty exercised over the Churchmen, Quakers, and Anabaptists, in consequence of which they first felt the effects of those gentle weapons, the New-England whisperings and backbitings; at length were openly stigmatized as Armenians, and enemies of the American Vine. The conduct of the Sober Dissenters increased the grievous sin of moderation, and nearly twenty of their ministers, at the head of whom was Dr. Cutler, President of Yale College, declared, on a public commencement, for the Church of England. Hereupon the General Assembly and Consociation, finding their comminations likely to blast the American Vine, instantly had recourse to flattery, larded with tears and promises, by which means they recovered all the secessors but four, viz. Dr. Cutler, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Whitemore, and Mr. Brown, who repaired to England for holy orders. Dr. Cutler had the misfortune to spend his life and great abilities in the fanatical, ungrateful, factious town of Boston, where he went through fiery trials, shining brighter and brighter, till he was delivered from New-England persecution, and landed where the wicked cease from troubling. Dr. Johnson, from his natural disposition, and not for the sake of gain, took pity on the neglected church at Stratford, where for fifty years he fought the beast of Ephesus with great success.[37] The Doctor was under the bountiful protection of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, incorporated by William III., to save from the rage of republicanism, heathenism, and fanaticism, all such members of the Church of England as were settled in our American colonies, factories, and plantations beyond the sea. To the foresight of that monarch, to the generous care and protection of that society, under God, are owing all the loyalty, decency, christianity undefiled with blood, which glimmer in New-England. Dr. Johnson having settled at Stratford among a nest of zealots, and not being assassinated, other dissenting ministers were induced to join themselves to the Church of England, among whom were Mr. Beach and Mr. Penderson. These gentlemen could not be wheedled off by the Assembly and Consociation; they persevered, and obtained names among the Literate that will never be forgotten.