CHAPTER XIV. LORD’S POINT
[37] Page 129--Miss Joan Wake, Hon. M. A. Oxon., F.S.A.F.R. Hist. S., the Hon. Secretary of the Northamptonshire Record Society, Lamport Hall, Northampton, England, writing in _Northamptonshire Past and Present_, Vol. II, No. 4, 1957, p. 184, tells of her visit to Plymouth and the _Eirenarcha_.
“From Milton I was taken to Plymouth and introduced to the Plymouth Rock, which--dare I say it?--was something of a disappointment. I had imagined the disembarkation on it of the whole of the crew and passengers of the _Mayflower I_, but doubt very much whether three--or even two--of the Pilgrim Fathers, hanging around each others necks, could have balanced on it with any degree of stability. How ever, there it is--surrounded with its railing, facing lovely Cape Cod Bay, and properly regarded with great veneration--one of the famous stones of history. Plymouth, by the way was eagerly awaiting the arrival of _Mayflower II_, which at that moment lay becalmed in the middle of the Atlantic.
“Plymouth is naturally very conscious of its history, and in the Hall of the Pilgrim Society is a most interesting collection of records, pictures, furniture, clothes, books, etc. The most thrilling object to me was a second edition (1592) of William Lambard’s _Eirenarcha_, an early treatise on the office of Justices of the Peace. Bound in brown calf, the book is embossed with the arms of William Cecil, first Lord Burghley, to whom originally it first belonged. As the catalogue states, Burghley was the colleague of William Davison, Secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, and Davison, in turn, was the early patron of William Brewster, one of the founders of Plymouth, Mass. It was therefore, quite possibly William Brewster who brought this book over in the Mayflower, where it has been known to have been for long in the possession of the “Trial Justices” (Justices of the Peace) for Plymouth. Be that as it may, we have here a concrete example of the way in which this famous institution, which has worked so successfully in the mother country since the 14th century, was carried with the flag not only into this “remote, heathen and barbarous land” (as America is described in Queen Elizabeth’s Letters Patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert), but into all the three other continents, where, in a modified form it has in many places survived, even since the flag has been withdrawn.
“About ten miles south of Plymouth, buried deep in vast woods, is the summer residence of Mr. and Mrs. John Lord, whom I had met in Northampshire, Mrs. Lord being sister to Squire Brudenell of Deene. I spent a night with them in their tiny little house in a beautiful glade of the forest, looking across a grassy slope to a large artificial lake which is used to flood the cranberry bogs in frosty weather. We passed some of these bogs as we came through the woods, for cranberry growing and preserving is carried on extensively in this district, as it well may be if 150 million people are to have cranberry sauce with their roast turkey on Thanksgiving Day.”
[38] Page 129--The full impact of William Lambard’s _Eirenarcha_ and the use of the Common Law by the Pilgrims is explained by C. C. Parnes _Plymouth and the Common Law_, pp. 27-48.
=Transcriber’s Notes=
Perceived typographical errors in the author’s work have been silently corrected.
Unusual spelling and punctuation in quoted text have been retained.
Footnotes have been renumbered.