The avarice of counsellor Clark was attracted to this Island, -the hallowed ark that had rescued his fathers from the mingled horrors of a night storm, upon an inclement and unknown shore, and in succeeding years the support of the destitute and the wretched. His master made the wished for grant, and accordingly on the 3d of March, 1687-8, it was surveyed and laid out for his use. Immediately, in defiance of arbitrary threatenings, and the heaviest denunciations, a town-meeting was called, and a firm and united resolution was adopted, to reclaim the Island at every hazard. A committee was chosen to collect subscriptions to defray the expenses. Amidst the indignation of his townsmen and neighbors, 'the secretary stood alone.' He immediately arrested the committee for levying taxes upon his majesty's subjects, and they, together with the town clerk and minister of Duxbury, were bound over to the Supreme Court at Boston.

The following letter from Rev. John Cotton, then pastor of the church at Plymouth, to Rev. Mr. Mather of Boston, is feelingly descriptive of these scenes.

Plymouth, July 9, 1688. "Awful and considerable changes have attended poor Plymouth since your departure from the Gurnet, by reason of the motions about Clark's island. The committee chosen about that affair were at so much charge as necessitated our people to engage, by free and voluntary subscriptions, to re-imburse them, and to vote the securing some lands till the money was paid them. For this (******) telches, the committee with a writ, charging that they had resolved and raised money upon his majesty's subjects contrary to law, and the town clerk, godly Elder Faunce, for calling the vote, and Mr. Wiswall for writing the paper, £3 7s. each, beside their expenses, and all were bound over to the Superior Court at Boston, where they are all likely to be considerably fined, besides costs of court, &c."

But the reign of tyranny was short. A report of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England reached America early in the year 1689, but before the news of the entire and glorious revolution there had arrived in Boston, Andros was seized and imprisoned by the inhabitants of that town. This took place on the morning of the 18th of April, and William and Mary were proclaimed in Boston on the 29th of the month following. The people of Plymouth at the same time declared their detestation of Counsellor Clark by a spirited manifesto, which bears date April 22d, 1689, setting forth his oppressions and his crimes, and declaring that they seized upon his person, resolving to secure him for the hands of justice to deal with him ac

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cording to his demerit. He was accordingly imprisoned and I put in irons, and the next year sent with Andros, his master, in the same ship to England. The government there were not disposed to view their officers in the same light, and they were soon liberated and rewarded for their services in the cause of the British monarch. Nearly a century rolled away, and this account was fully settled, between the injured colonists and their royal masters,-in several distinct payments, the first of i which was made on the 19th of April, 1775. Clark, laden with the rewards of his perfidy and baseness, returned to his native town. Under the new charter regular courts were established, and the counsellor began the practice of the law. The sacredness of those august tribunals could not shield him from obloquy and merited insult. Even his domestic misfortunes were not forgotten. At an early period of his life, his wife had obtained a divorce from him, but after his return, laden with the spoils of tyranny, which enabled them to move in the higher circles of domestic life, she again became united to him, and these facts, clothed in epigrammatic style, were noted on the blank leaves of the books of authorities which he car

Fried with him into court. Tradition has faithfully preserved these memorials of the domestic character of the counsellor,and this illustrates and enforces a venerable maxim, that "the way of transgressors is hard.”

The residence of Mr. Clark was on the spot which is now occupied by the house of the late Judge Thomas, on the west side of the main street in Plymouth. It was here that he died, January 31, 1717, in the 74th year of his age; and a simple slate stone with the following inscription still marks the spot on the burying hill in Plymouth where the remains of the counsellor were deposited.

"Here lies buried

the body of

NATHANIEL CLARK, ESQ. who died January 31, 1717,

in the 74th year of his age.

The following notice, from the ecclesiastical records of those times, shows still more fully the character of the counsellor in the domestic relation, and the reputation which he sustained in the venerable church of Plymouth.

'The elder, speaking a few serious words to Nathaniel Clark, a child of the church, he broke forth into a wicked passion and spoke vile words, intimating as if the church would clear the guilty and condemn the innocent; abusing also Paul's words to the maniacs, as if it were better and nearer to salvation to be out of such a church than in it, &c. Being, at another time,

called before the church, he answered that he would not come, that he had nothing to say to them, nor would he have anything to do with them; two of the brethren were desired to call on him, but he refused to attend to their admonition, and at length, absenting himself from public worship and from the meeting of the church, he was judged worthy to be rejected, and it was accordingly voted unanimously that he be disowned.'

1686. This year died at Duxbury, John Alden, aged 89 years, one of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, and believed to have been at the time of his death, the last surviving signer of the original compact of Government. He was born in England in 1597. On his arrival, he resided the first seven years in Plymouth, and owned a considerable tract of land where the Iron factory now stands. He afterwards removed to Duxbury, and took up 169 acres of land in one body, where he spent the residue of his days. He was, for many years, deeply engaged in the public concerns of the colony; being elected an assistant as early as 1633, and continued in that office, with but little interruption, until the time of his death.

After the death of Captain Standish, he was for some time treasurer of the colony. He possessed much native talent, was decided, ardent, resolute, and persevering, indifferent to danger, a bold and hardy man, stern, austere, and unyielding; of exemplary piety, and of incorruptible integrity; "an ironnerved puritan, who could hew down forests and live on crumbs." He hated innovations and changes, steadily walked in the ways of his youth, and adhered to the principles and habits of those whom he had been taught to honor. The uncertainty of his claim to the honor of being the first to leap on the Plymouth rock has been noticed in page 31. He married Priscilla Mullins, and the following pleasant anecdote respecting his good fortune in obtaining the hand of that lady, whom he was commissioned to solicit for his friend Captain Standish, is related by Rev. Timothy Alden, in his collection of American epitaphs, as having been carefully handed down by tradition. "In a very short time after the decease of Mrs. Standish, the captain was led to think, that if he could obtain Miss Priscilla Mullins, a daughter of Mr. William Mullins, the breach in his family would be happily repaired. He therefore, according to the custom of those times, sent to ask Mr. Mullins's permission to visit his daughter. John Alden, the messenger, went and faithfully communicated the wishes of the captain. The old gentleman did not object, as he might have done on account of the recency of Captain Standish's bereavement. He said it was perfectly agreeable to him, but the young lady must also be consulted. The damsel was called

into the room, and John Alden, who is said to have been a man of most excellent form, with a fair and ruddy complexion, arose, and in a very courteous and prepossessing manner delivered his errand. Miss Mullins listened with respectful attention, and at last, after a considerable pause, fixing her eyes upon him with an open and pleasant countenance, said 'prithee John why do you not speak for yourself?' He blushed and bowed, and took his leave, but with a look which indicated more than his diffidence would permit him otherwise to express. However, he renewed his visit, and it was not long before their nuptials were celebrated in ample form." What report he made to his constituent, after the first interview, tradition does not unfold, but it is said, how true the writer knows not, that the captain never forgave him to the day of his death. From this union descended all of the name in the United States. They had four sons, viz. John, David, Joseph and Jonathan. John lived in Boston, and commanded the armed sloop belonging to Massachusetts. He received unwarrantable and abusive treatment, at the time of the Salem witchcraft, by being summoned before the magistrate on that occasion, and imprisoned. He died in 1702, without issue. Joseph settled in Bridgewater; David resided in Duxbury, and was often chosen a deputy to the General Court. He had two sons, Benjamin and Samuel. Benjamin had four sons, David, Bezaliel, Wrastling and Abiather. Jonathan, son of the first John, occupied the paternal estate at Duxbury, and had three sons, Andrew, Jonathan and John. This John, the youngest, was much employed in public affairs, was often a member of the Gen. Court and Colonel of Militia. He inherited the homestead estate in Duxbury; his sons were John; Samuel, who died in England without issue; Judah, who married a Miss Row in Boston, and died on his passage to Glasgow soon after; Briggs, who died October, 1796. He was for several years chosen representative to the General Court, and was much respected as a patriot and citizen. Andrew Alden, the son of Jonathan, settled in Lebanon, Connecticut; he had three sons, John, Judah, and Roger.Judah was a captain in the Revolutionary army, a brave and intelligent officer, but was taken prisoner and died in the hands of the enemy. Roger Alden graduated at Yale College, was for some time secretary to General Washington, and afterwards aid de camp to General Huntington. He is now Postmaster, and superintendent of military stores at West Point. A son of David Alden, whose name was Samuel, lived in Duxbury, and died at the age of 93; he was the father of Colonel Ichabod Alden, of the Revolutionary army, who was killed by the

savages in Cherry Valley, in 1778. One of Jonathan Alden's daughters married Mr. Bass, of Braintree; one married Josiah, a son of the warrior Miles Standish; the other married Samuel Delano, a son of the early pilgrims.

Mrs. Bass was a maternal ancestor of two Presidents of the United States, John Adams and John Q. Adams. Many excellent citizens may be enumerated among the descendants of John Alden. Judah Alden, Esq. who possesses the paternal domain of his great ancestor, at Duxbury, was a valiant officer in the American army during the eight years of the revolutionary struggle, and is now President of the Massachusetts Society of Cincinnati.

The Rev. Timothy Alden, late minister of Yarmouth, and his son Timothy, late President of Meadville College, in Pennsylvania, were of this descent.

1687.-The town voted to regulate the price of grain, for the payment of salaries. Tar was made in great abundance, and disposed of in payment of salaries. Shingles and clapboards were considerable articles of traffic; but furs and peltry were the principal, as in all new countries. In town-meeting, January 23d, was read an order from his excellency to substantiate their title to Clark's Island, which had never before been called in question. This occasioned great excitement, and the town firmly resolved to defend their right to said Island to the utmost of their power, and chose a committee to act in behalf of the town accordingly; and voted, also, that the town will defray the expense, and a tax of ten pounds in silver money was ordered forthwith for that purpose.-See account of Nathaniel Clark, 1689, June 22d. It was agreed to make sale of Clark's Island, Saquish, the Gurnet, and a certain cedar swamp called Colchester Swamp, to help defray the above mentioned charges. Clark's Island was sold to Samuel Lucas, Elkenah Watson, and George Morton, in 1690. At that period, under the government of Andros, the titles to real estate were frequently called in question throughout New England, by which many individuals were grievous sufferers.

1690. The general court of elections assembled at Plymouth, as formerly, on the first Tuesday of June. Thomas Hinckley was again elected governor, and William Bradford deputy governor. The deputies from Plymouth were John Bradford and Isaac Cushman. In August, the same year, another was called to which the same deputies were re-elected. It was now a very desirable object with the colonial government to procure a charter for the colony, and they appointed the following persons as agents to apply to the English government for said charter: Sir Henry Ashurst, of England, Rev.