Entrance to Charter House, London. This photograph was loaned by Mr. Howard M. Chapin, Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence.
A delightful and, at the same time, amusing love story has come to light which reveals one of the last glimpses of Roger Williams in the Old World. It seems that the wife of his patron, Lady Masham, had a cousin, Jane Whalley, with whom the young chaplain fell in love. He proceeded to write two letters to Miss Whalley’s aunt and guardian, Lady Barrington, asking for the hand of her niece. In the first, he mentions the fact that the affair has caused considerable talk and he hints that Miss Jane returns his affection. Then he sums up his worldly possessions—an expected trifling legacy from his mother, a little money (“sevenscore pieces”) and a small library (“a little yet costly study of books”). Pitiful means, indeed, for winning a young lady of rank! Yet Roger Williams frankly pointed out to the aunt that the advantages were not all on one side, for in spite of Miss Whalley’s high birth, she had a most passionate temper.
Everything considered, it is not strange that the struggling minister was flatly rejected. The second letter addressed to Lady Barrington is such as only a disappointed, angry lover could write. He says in plain language that the Lord is very angry with her ladyship and that if she does not repent, all sorts of dreadful things are likely to happen to her. The lengthy sermon-letter is filled with Scriptural quotations. Still, although he asserts, “We hope to live together in the heavens though the Lord have denied that union on earth,” time proved a rapid healer. In less than two years he had transferred his affection to a Miss Mary Warnard, or Barnard, and made her his wife.
The sequel of the unfortunate love affair is rather interesting. Of course Miss Jane married another man, but, as it happened, he was a clergyman like her former sweetheart. In turn she came to know the pioneer life of New England as did Roger Williams, being located for some years in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She later returned to old England, where her husband became chaplain to her cousin, Oliver Cromwell, who was also a friend of Roger Williams. In fact, Cromwell’s real family name was Williams and some historians have even asserted that he was related to Roger Williams.
The correspondence with Lady Barrington is of importance aside from the disappointing love passages it records. For here is given an early inkling of that unrest and dissatisfaction in religious matters that was to play so large a part in the future life of the youthful chaplain. Already beginning to protest against the established forms of worship, he writes, “A tender conscience hath kept me back from honor and preferment.” Then follows the merest hint of having received a call from New England.
By this time Roger Williams had formed the habit of thinking for himself and of holding firmly to what he believed to be right, whether others agreed with him or not. During his stay in Essex, he used to talk over religious subjects with his fellow-clergymen and to explain why he differed from them on certain points. Among these companions were Thomas Hooker and John Cotton, whose lives ran parallel to his on both sides of the water. The three friends rode through the countryside earnestly discussing the burning questions uppermost in their minds. Little did they dream where these same discussions would lead! Had Master Hooker and Master Cotton been told that the argumentative man who rode by their side was to become one of the makers of American history and a leader in world thought, they would most likely have said, “Oh, no. Roger Williams is our friend, but he is really a very short-sighted and very obstinate fellow.” Indeed, he had gained the reputation among his Sussex neighbors of being “divinely mad.”
These, then, are the few meager facts of the beginnings of Roger Williams’ existence before he set his face toward the New World. His life in England will always remain more or less of a mystery. Not so, fortunately, his life in America. His hardships, trials, adventures and sufferings have become familiar history. And it is this part of the story that is most important, for Roger Williams is, first and last, a great American.
CHAPTER II
WESTWARD, HO!
In order to understand why Roger Williams should have wanted to make his home on this side of the water, we should know a little something of the England in which he lived. It was not then the free, liberal country it is to-day. In many matters, especially those relating to religion, a man could not do as he chose, but as he was told. To-day, one can attend any church he pleases; then he was forced by law to attend the established church. The king was the head of both church and state.
Now it was not surprising that all persons of that day did not care to support the same church. They were not able to think alike, any more than we who live to-day. Curious, indeed, it would be if we held exactly the same views as our neighbors and worshiped in the same church. Some of the men of Roger Williams’ day objected to the teachings of the national church, others wished to do away with its forms and ceremonies. And because they could not conscientiously worship the way the sovereign commanded, serious trouble arose. Those who were independent enough to defy the king were liable to be fined, banished or imprisoned. And the prisons of those days were anything but pleasant places in which to spend one’s time!