[14] The following is from an account of Plymouth Colony in 1627: "Upon the hill they have a large square house with a flat roof stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannons, commanding the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their Church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the Captain's door; they have their cloaks on and place themselves in order three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor in a long robe; beside him on the right hand comes the preacher, and on the left hand the Captain, and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day."
[15] sagamore. An Indian chief of the second rank; sachem, a chief of the first rank; pow-wow, a conjurer or medicine-man.
[16] Goldinge. A well-known translator of the Elizabethan age.
[17] The Mayflower set sail for England on April 5, 1621.
[18] Priscilla Mullins (or Molines) was the daughter of William Mullins, who died in the February following the landing of the Pilgrims.
[19]"In his journey, as he was crossing the Alps and passing by a small village of the barbarians with but few inhabitants, and those wretchedly poor, his companions asked the question among themselves by way of mockery if there were any canvassing for offices there; any contention which should be uppermost, or feuds of great men one against another. To which Caesar made answer seriously, 'For my part I had rather be the first man among these fellows, than the second man in Rome.'" Plutarch's Life of Caesar, A. H. Clough's translation.
[20] Genesis, ii, 18.
[21] illusion. An illusion is a misleading or deceptive appearance. The happiness that he had looked forward to was turning out to be false and unreal.
[22] Baal and Astaroth were the two chief divinities of the Phoenicians, male and female respectively. To worship Baal and Astaroth is to give oneself up to worldly desires and pleasures.
[23] The Mayflower, in England, is the hawthorn; in the New England States, the trailing arbutus.