New-York tribune., 1920-08-29
The Man in Lcyden

THE Pilgrims sailed, by night
with the North Star and the
pointers" of the Little Bear
Shakespeare's guards" in his magnifi-
cent lines In the second act Of "Othel-
To- as guides of direction. AS they
watched those constant friends a man
in Leyden must have sat at window
that opened. on the North and dreamed
of the Mayf1ower plowing westward
John Robinson was the figure of ori-
eNtation for the little band that met
the first winter at Plymouth. For sew
en- years, at Leyden, he was the domi-
nant form in the Separatist group, and
il was in his house that the last day
| in Holland was devoted to humiliation.
fasting and prayer
For years John Robinson was some
what of a mystery. A man with a
keen, active mind, who had enjoyed
special opportunity of conversing with
persons of diverse nations, estates and
dispositions in great Variety" so lib
e>al that he could send the Pilgrims
to sea, as Winslow records, with the
charge "before God and His blessed
Angels to follow himself no further
than he followed Christ" his later days
are we'll known; his early years have
been a subject for conjecture.
But now we have light on his youth.
Walter H. Burgess, in his John Rob-
inson, Pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers
(Harcourt, Brace e. Howe), presents
documentary evidence proving that the
Robinson homestead was at Sturton,
England, in the heart of the Pilgrim
district that included Scrooby, Auster-
ficld and Gainsborough. Hitherto, his
torians have given major attention to
Scrooby and Austertield because of
their association with Brewster and
William Bradford; but now, since the
Wills of both of Robinson's parents
have been found registered at York,
we are in possession of reliable in
formation as to the family and it's
status in Sturton
Robinson's Early Days
The details of proof as to Robinson's
early days in Sturton are increased and
made more valuable and vital through
the existence Of the wills of Robinson's
father-inlaw and mother-in-law. He
married Bridget White, and the last
testaments of her parents reveal fam
lily background not to be despised. AS
we say to-day, Robinson married
SWELL Mr.. Burgess, having given us
something of the atmosphere of the
tcyhood of the Pilgrim pastor, opens
for US doors that re-create possible
scenes in his school and Cambridge
days.
Then comes the sweep of the great
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
discussions on religion that caused the
forming of the Separatist group, the
standing forth Of Brewster and Robin
son as protagonists of their faith, the
exodus to Holland and the eventual
sailing of the Mayfowcr
1t is impossible, in the compass of
this too brief review, to give any idea
of the chapters of this book that run
from eight to twenty-ninc, matter of
200 pages. In them are to be found
the essential facts of the whole reli-
gious controversy that eliminated in
the act of the Pilgrim migration. Woven
into the mat of this presentation are
rich, vivid threads that glitter with the
color of the daily life, struggles, hours
of detection and elation, of the cour-
ageous little band at Leyden during the
months before they cut the cable of
centuries of European anchorage and
steered into the setting sun.
Walter II. Burgess has given us. in
John Robinson, Pastor of the Pilgrim
Fathers, background book. 1t should
be read and studied by all persons who
seek to know the veritable causes for
the Pilgrims coming to America, who
desire to be able to paint into the
general picture true and lasting por-
trait of the great Pilgrim pastor.