New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-05-13
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
FRANCIS HIGGINSoN.

MAKERS OF AMERICA. Life of Francis Higginson'
By Thomas Wentworth Hggnson. l6mo, pp 1os'
Dodd Mead & Co.
II was certainly fitting that life of the first
minister in the Massachusetts, Bay Colony should
find place in such o series as that Of the Makers
of America" and equally SO that the life should
be written by Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higgin-
,ou. the descendant of the old Puritan. Yet the
sketch shows how meagre the material for such a
biography really is, and how little oil incident oi
adventure can be eXhumed to enhance It's interest.
Cotton Mather in the Magnolia" put on record
a good deal of the mythology that passed for MS
tory in his time. Special providences partaKing
of the nature of miracles were too common III tn"
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries TO cause COM
ment and grave divines thought HUE Oh accepuns
such stories as Mathers about the various wiokeo
men who threatened deridcd the pious MI mig
sinson, and were in consequence punished WIN
sudden death or mysterious disaster. III must pe
admitted that these lively legends lend an interest
70 the chronicle which it loses in the hands Oh more
scrunplous modern annalists, who are estopped by
.,,.;r serse Of responsibility from relating any
thing more than the record expressly warrants
Colone, Hiccinson has indeed done his best to
make his narrative entertaining by quoting
con;ouslv from the imaginative Mather, whose
oysrnents he neither indorses nor rejects
The simple facts are that Francis Iligginson
has Iicestershire clergyman of university edu-
cation and good parts, who, like many OF MS
class. TURNED against the Anglican Church ana
Episcopacy and beginning at home by being merely
n Protestant, drifted in America, into separation
He was hardly fitted for the Church militant,
being physically and constitutionally feeble. BE-
fore leaving England he had been threatened oy
consumption The sea voyage did him so much
yood that he believed himself cured. But the
change for the better was transient ana the
severity of the New-England climate undid all
the benefits of the sea air. and IN lew years
closed a career which had promised to be dis
nnguished Francis Higginson wrote the best
,ccount of the voyage TO New. England on an early
.,rierant shin which we now possess. His ex-
oerience was. however, unusually mild, though he
lost one of his own children at sea. But that
child was n cripple, so frail that her life could
NOT in anv circumstances have been long Small
nov ton broke out on the vessel, yet caused no
deaths Nearly every other voyage OF the klnd
nroved far more disastrous-and no wonder, con-
sidering the way passengers were crowded ana
the things they ate and drank. Ministers, II Is
true. were privileged persons, and had the Dest
nrovision in all kinds that could be Afforded
Their agreements with the Governors were very
liberal and advantageous TO themselves, ana VINO
over else failed in the new colonies they had
.oIerablv firm assurance of succeeding, at least
materially
Francis Hirrinson was Of no small service to
vEngland as the writer Of the little DOCK
called "New-Englands Plantation a continual
ton of the journal of the Voyage, IN which ne
gave a perfectly truthful and quite attractive de-
rcription of the country cpnscientiously setting
down the drawbacks well as the advantages
The publisher, Michael Sparks, prefaced the book
in whic said
reode the trutb without any frothy bonn
hesting words. or any quaint, new-devlsed addl-
t;onss. and the encOmium justified by the
anthor's frankness and simplicity. Here again
Colonel Higginson has deserved well OF his readers
in printing large extracts from the description Oh
his ancestor which is still full of interest oniy
one mistake does he make, namely, In repeating
a local legend to the effect that there were lions
hmopQ the New England fauna; but he gives ths
ktory as hearsay, and does not pretend to any per-
sonal knowledge of the subject. The good humor
and for the time liberal tone Of the Salem MIN
lsters are conspicuous in nearly all his writings
ind vet brief though his sojourn was TO DE upon
American soil. he was called to take part in a
quarrel growing out of the protest oil certain
influential citizens against the non-conformity of
the new preachers with the English Church. The
protest of these citzens-who were expelled the
colony for their pains-was really much better
grounded than their adversories allowed The
latter however, were in the ascendant ana SO
had things their own way Separation was the
controlling tendency and the home directors could
make no stand against it.
Perhaps the most creditabe thing Francis Hlg-
ginson ever did was TO draw up statement OF
the positions Of the Colonial Church so liberal
that in after years, when the Church wanted 10
prosecute the Quakers it was found necessary TO
reconstruct the constitution before any warrant
for such action could be found. But the poor
man had little time TO make his mark. lie had
indeed become popular in the pulpit and respected
out of it soon after his arrival. But the long
and hard winters were too much for him, and
he fell into what called "a hectic fever" but
was no doubt, consumption, and the end came
swiftly He left widow and eight children, and
Colonel Higginson follows the fortunes of most
of the latter, incidentally showing how many
distinguished New-Englanders have since sprung
from that humble and distant root. Higgnson
himself was removed too to exercise much
Influence directly upon his country time but
through his descendants he has certainly secured
wide representation.