Boston Church – William Henry Bartlett (1854)

William Henry Bartlett provides some beautiful illustrations of Boston’s church, town hall, and the medieval buildings that adorn the town. He compliments this with an emotional narrative of the Pilgrim’s ill-fated attempt to flee to Holland from Boston, which saw them betrayed by their ship’s captain and handed over to the authorities:

"It was with the wealth accumulated during this period that the Bostonians erected their parish church, the finest in all England, with the lofty tower, which was visible for leagues over the sur- rounding fens, and which served as a landmark to mariners out at sea. But this prosperity was already declining in the days of the Pilgrims. About 1470, in consequence of some dispute, the Hanseatic merchants quitted Boston, and the trade of the place began immediately to decline. While a further blow to its importance was occasioned by the dissolution of the monasteries, several of which were contained within its circuit. To Boston, then, the principal company of the emigrants turned their eye, and secretly hired a vessel to take them over to Holland. Brewster seems to have had the conduct of this business, and of the arrangements relative to the embarkation. He had himself collected his books and valuables, and the remainder of the company such articles as could be carried over, the rest having, most probably, been sold to gather a scanty store of funds to meet the first exigencies of their new position in Holland. And now, abandoning for ever their native villages, they repaired as secretly as possible to the appointed rendezvous. The master had agreed to be ready on a certain day, and to take them and their goods in at a convenient place. Here they were first to experience that 'hope deferred which maketh the heart sick.' Having reached Boston, they found the captain had not yet arrived, and were compelled to remain in that town, sadly reducing their scanty funds, and exposed to the continual risk of discovery. At length the captain made his appearance, but only to betray them. Under cover of night they, with all their goods, embarked, fondly supposing that the bitterness of death was passed; when the ship was suddenly boarded by the searchers and other officers, with whom the captain had complotted before hand. They were then turned out into open boats, where the mercenary officials, well aware of the helplessness of their situation, rifled and ransacked them, even to their very shirts, in quest of money, — the persons of the women being subjected to the same indecent scrutiny. The unfortunate band were then carried into the town, where they were made a spectacle and wonderment to the multitude which came flocking on all sides to behold them; and at last, 'being by the catchpole officers rifled and stripped of their money, books, and much other goods" they were earned before the magistrates and put into ward, and messengers sent off 'to inform the Lords of the Council of their capture, and to inquire their pleasure concerning them.'"

Some fifty years later, Marcus Huish and Elizabeth Chettle captured a similar scene.