.ART DYER op RHODE ISLAND 
 THE QUAKER. MARTYR THAT 
 WAS HANGED m B05TON COMMON 
 
Columbia (HnitJer^ftp 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
V 
 
 "^ 
 
MARY DYER 
 
 OF RHODE ISLAND 
 
 rii 
 
 THE QUAKER MARTYR 
 
 THAT WAS HANGED ON BOSTON 
 COMMON, JUNE 1, 1660 
 
 BY 
 
 IKJRATIO ROGERS 
 
 ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT 
 OF RHODE ISLAND 
 

 ir><:lf^ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The interest awakened by a paper read 
 by me last fall before the Rhode Island 
 Historical Society, of which I was then the 
 President, has induced me to revise the 
 matter then used, and to accept the offer 
 of the publishers of this volume to issue it 
 in its present form. 
 
 The material for a sketch of Mary Dyer is 
 meagre, and necessarily has to be gathered, 
 bit by bit. from many soiu'ces, the principal 
 of which are George Bishop's Netv England 
 Judged hy the Spirit of the Lord. Part L. 
 1661, and Part XL. 1667. — both parts, some- 
 what abbreviated, again printed in 1703: 
 John Whiting's Truth and Innocency De- 
 fended against Fahhood and Envy, A)id the 
 Martyrs of Jesus, and Suffere?'s for his sake, 
 
 V 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 Vindicated, 1702; A Call from Death to Life, 
 being an Account of the Sufferings of Mat'ma- 
 duke Stephe7i8on, William Robinson and Mary 
 Dyer, in New England, in the year 1659, 
 printed by Friends in London, 1660, a private 
 reprint of which was made in 1865, includ- 
 ing Marmaduke Stephenson's A Call from 
 Death to Life, and other papers, w^ith an 
 Introduction; Joseph Besse's A Collection of 
 the Sufferings of the People called Quakers, 
 1753; Sewel's History of the People called 
 Quakers ; Bowden's History of the Society of 
 Friends m America; and the Massachusetts 
 Records. In addition to these, however, 
 many works, too numerous to mention, have 
 been consulted and drawn from; for the 
 labor involved in such a study is out of all 
 proportion to the space occupied by the 
 
 narrative. 
 
 H. R. 
 
 Providence, R.I., February, 1896. 
 
Mary Dyer of Ehode Island, 
 
 THE QUAKER MARTYR THAT WAS HANGED 
 ON BOSTON COMMON, JUNE 1, 1660. 
 
 Among the most pathetic chapters of 
 New England history are those that 
 recount the sufferings for conscience 
 sake. Every gradation of cruelty known 
 to Puritan persecution was practised 
 upon the Quakers. Many of the victims 
 of this religious intolerance were inhab- 
 itants of Rhode Island visiting neighbor- 
 ing colonies, for the hand of persecution 
 could not reach across its border; the 
 government of Rhode Island, in 1657, 
 when urged by the Commissioners of the 
 
MARY DYER 
 
 United Colonies to expel the Quakers 
 from its boundaries, writing in reply 
 as follows : " And as concerning these 
 quakers (so caled) which are now 
 among us, we have no law among us 
 whereby to punish any for only declar- 
 ing by words, &c, their mindes and 
 understandings concerning the things 
 and ways of God, as to salvation and 
 an eternal condition." ^ 
 
 Massachusetts Bay was the most ac- 
 tive of the New England persecutors, but 
 Plymouth Colony and the colonies along 
 the Connecticut River also shared the 
 persecuting spirit. When the Quakers 
 first arrived in Boston Harbor, in 1656, 
 Massachusetts was without legislation 
 specially aimed at the new sect ; but 
 lack of legislation did not stand in the 
 way of intolerance, and then, too, the 
 
 1 See Appendix 1. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 3 
 
 General Court rapidly provided con- 
 stantly increasing punishment for what 
 they denominated "the cursed sect of 
 Quakers," whom they denounced in an 
 address to the King, in 1660, as " open 
 and capitall blasphemers, open seducers 
 from the glorious Trinity, . . . and from 
 the Holy Scriptures as the rule of life, 
 open ennemyes of government itself as 
 established in the hands of any but men 
 of theire owne principles, . . . and malig- 
 nant and assiduous promoters of doc- 
 trines directly tending to subvert both 
 our churches and state." The forms of 
 law were but scantily observed. " You 
 are court, jury, judge, accusers, wit- 
 nesses, and all " — vsaid Coddington. The 
 Puritan ministers were particularly for- 
 ward in the persecution. The Rev. John 
 Norton, one of the pastors of the Boston 
 First Church, was clamorous for the pas- 
 
MARY DYER 
 
 sage of the law of banishment under 
 penalty of death upon return, and it 
 was his pen that wrote the so-called vin- 
 dication of the Massachusetts authorities 
 for putting Quakers to death in 1659. 
 The Rev. John Wilson, another of the 
 pastors of the Boston First Church, 
 seemed fairly beside himself as the sad 
 work proceeded. " I would carry fire 
 in one hand," said he, " and fagots in 
 the other, to burn all the Quakers in the 
 world. . . . Hang them," he cried, "or 
 else" — and then he significantly drew 
 his finger across his throat, suggestive 
 of cutting it. 
 
 The stocks and the pillory, stripes at 
 the whipping-post or at the tail of an 
 ox-cart, fines and imprisonment, brand- 
 ing and mutilation, banishment and 
 death upon the gallows, were meted 
 out with shocking barbarity to unre- 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 5 
 
 sisting victims, who exhibited a con- 
 stancy and a heroism in suffering never 
 surpassed in the history of the world. 
 Many were imprisoned, some for years. 
 Some were reduced from comfort to 
 penury by tiie fines imposed upon them. 
 Some had their ears cut off, and the 
 law provided for boring the tongue 
 through with a hot iron. Two were 
 ordered to be sold into slavery to pay 
 their fines, and large numbers were mer- 
 cilessly whipped. Neither age nor sex 
 was spared. William Brend, a man of 
 years, was gii^en " in all One Hundred 
 and Seventeen Blows with a pitch'd 
 Rope, so that his Flesh," in the words 
 of the narrator, " was beaten Black, and 
 as into a Gelly ; and under his Arms the 
 bruised Flesh and Blood hung down, 
 clodded as it were in Baggs ; and so 
 into One was it beaten that the sign of 
 
6 MARY DYER 
 
 one particular Blow could not be seen." 
 He was also starved for five days, and 
 for sixteen hours was put into irons, 
 neck and heels, so that it was thought 
 he w^ould die — all of which so excited 
 the populace that the authorities prom- 
 ised that the jailer should be punished, 
 but no further notice was taken of it. 
 
 Christopher Holder of Rhode Island 
 was barbarously whipped, was then kept 
 for three days without food or water, 
 and without bed or straw, and for nine 
 weeks was imprisoned without fire in 
 the cold winter season. Afterwards he 
 was ajDprehended again, was again cru- 
 elly whipped, his right ear was cut oft:', 
 and other barbarities were at different 
 times practised upon him. 
 
 Defenceless women, maidens and ma- 
 trons, were stripped naked to the waist, 
 and, thus exposed to the public gaze, 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 
 
 were beaten with whips of threefold 
 knotted cord until the blood ran down 
 their bare backs and bosoms. George 
 Bishop, the Quaker historian of the 
 time, whose narrative is couched in the 
 form of an address to the Massachusetts 
 General Court, being an answer to an 
 apologetic declaration issued by the Court 
 after the hanging of two Quakers in 
 1659, thus relates the treatment dealt 
 out to two Rhode Island women in 
 Boston. " Horred Gardner is the next," 
 says Bishop, " who being the Mother of 
 many Children, and an Inhabitant of 
 Newport in Rhode Island, came with 
 her Babe sucking at her Breast, from 
 thence to Weymouth (a Town in your 
 Colony) where having finished what she 
 had to do, and her Testimony from the 
 Lord, unto which the witness of God 
 answered in the People, she was hurried 
 
8 MARY DYER 
 
 by the baser sort to Boston, before your 
 Governour, John Endicot, who after he 
 had entertained her with much abusive 
 Language, and the Girl that came with 
 her to help bear her Child, he com- 
 mitted them both to Prison, and Ordered 
 them to be whipp'd with Ten Lashes 
 apiece, which was cruelly laid on their 
 Naked Bodies, with a three-fold-knotted- 
 Whip of Cords, and then were continued 
 for the space of Fourteen Days longer 
 in Prison, from their Friends, who could 
 not Visit them. The Woman came a 
 very sore Journey, and (according to 
 Man) hardly accomplishable, through a 
 Wilderness of above Sixty Miles, between 
 Rhode Island and Boston ; and being 
 kept up, after your Cruel Usage of their 
 Bodies, might have died ; but you had 
 no Consideration of this, or of them, tho' 
 the Mother had of you, who after the 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 9 
 
 Savage, Inhumane and Bloody Execu- 
 tion on her, of your Cruelty aforesaid, 
 kneeled down, and Prayed — The Lord 
 to Forgive you — which so reached upon 
 a Woman that stood by, and wrought 
 upon her, that she gave Glory to God, 
 and said — That surely she could not have 
 done that thing, if it had not been hy the 
 Spirit of the Lord.'' 
 
 The other Rhode Island woman was 
 Catharine Scott, an ancestress of the 
 author, and a sister of the famous Mrs. 
 Anne Hutchinson. She went to Boston 
 to be near a young friend of hers in 
 his sufferings, Christopher Holder, al- 
 ready alluded to, who afterwards mar- 
 ried her daughter. Of her, Bishop thus 
 writes : " And Katharine Scot^ of the 
 Town of Providence, in the Jurisdiction 
 of Rhode-Island (a Mother of many 
 Children, one that had lived with her 
 
10 MARY DYER 
 
 Husband, of an Unblameable Conver- 
 sation, and a Grave, Sober, Ancient 
 Woman, and of good Breeding, as to 
 the Outward, as Men account) coming 
 to see the Execution of the said Three, 
 as aforesaid, whose Ears you cut off, 
 and saying upon their doing it pri- 
 vately, — That it was evident they ivere 
 going to act the Works of Darkness, or 
 else they would have hrought them forth 
 Publickly, and have declared their Of- 
 fence, that others may hear and fear. — 
 Ye committed her to Prison, and gave 
 her Ten Cruel Stripes with a three-fold- 
 corded-knotted-Whip, with that Cruelty 
 in the Execution, as to others, on the 
 second Day of the eighth Month, 1658. 
 Tho' ye confessed, when ye had her 
 before you, that for onght ye knew, 
 she had heen of an Unhlamedble Conver- 
 sation ; and tho' some of you knew 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 11 
 
 lior Father, and called him Mr. Mar- 
 bery, and that she had been well-bred 
 (as among Men) and had so lived, and 
 that she was the Mother of many Chil- 
 dren ; yet ye whipp'd her for all that, 
 and moreover told her, — That ye loere 
 likely to have a Law to Hang her, if 
 she came thither agahi. To which she 
 answered, — If God call us, Wo he to 
 us, if ice come not; And I question 
 not, hut he ivhom ice love, ivill make us 
 not to count our Lives dear unto our- 
 selves for the sake of his Name. To 
 which your Governour, John Endicot, 
 replied — And we shall he as ready to 
 take aioay your Lives, as ye shall he to 
 lay thein down'' ^ 
 
 1 The Scott family were staunch Quakers and very- 
 friendly with Mary Dyer. One of the daughters, 
 Patience, when only eleven years old, was imprisoned 
 in Boston with Mary Dyer when the latter was ban- 
 
12 MAKY DYER 
 
 To thoroughly comprehend the relig- 
 ious situation in New England at the 
 time of these persecutions, and the spirit 
 actuating both persecutors and victims, 
 it is necessary to bear in mind the 
 environments of those times, and to 
 breathe the atmosphere, so to speak, 
 then pervading society. The sensuous 
 splendor and formalism that character- 
 ized the worship of the Romish Church, 
 
 and the extravao^ant indulg-ences al- 
 es o 
 
 lowed its members, resulted in the re- 
 
 ished from ^Massachusetts. Another daughter, Mary, 
 who afterwards married Christopher Holder, was im- 
 prisoned in Boston with Mary Dyer when the latter 
 returned there and met her death, ^lary Scott being 
 allowed to return home after having been admonished 
 by the General Court. Still another daughter, Hannah 
 Scott, married "Walter Clarke, a strong Quaker and for 
 a number of years Governor of Rhode Island, and it is 
 from her that the author is descended. Mrs. Catharine 
 Scott's father was the Rev. Francis Marbury of Lon- 
 don, and her mother was a sister of Sir Erasmus 
 Dryden, Bai't., grandfather of John Drydeu the poet. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 13 
 
 ligious revolt in the sixteenth century 
 known as the Protestant Reformation. 
 The reforming spirit, when once aw^ak- 
 enecl, is difficult to hold in check, and, 
 as decade succeeded decade, new re- 
 formers sought to reform former refor- 
 mations, until in a few score years 
 the Lutheran and Anglican Churches 
 seemed conservative indeed, and a large 
 religious party of heterogeneous ele- 
 ments easy to fall apart, sprang up in 
 England know^n as Puritans, which, as 
 the name implied, desired to purify the 
 reformed churches. Aught suggestive 
 of Rome or Romish faith or forms, 
 was an object of Puritan abomination. 
 Uniformity of worship among Protes- 
 tants became impossible, as each shade 
 of belief, while advocating uniformity, 
 insisted that all should conform to their 
 particular tenets, and, until liberty of 
 
14 MAEY DYER 
 
 conscience was established whereby 
 every one was free to judge and act for 
 himself in matters of religion, cruelty 
 and oppression were exercised by those 
 of the ascendant faith towards those 
 not in accord with their views. 
 
 In order to enjoy greater toleration, 
 a considerable number of Puritans re- 
 moved from England to Holland, where 
 they formed churches of their own ; but, 
 in course of time, not relishing the 
 manners of the Dutch, they emigrated 
 to America and settled at Plymouth. 
 From time to time numbers who found 
 strict conformity to the Church of Eng- 
 land irksome, came to America, and 
 in 1630 Massachusetts Bay was settled, 
 the colonies on the Connecticut River 
 being settled a few years later. Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, though not the earliest 
 of the New England colonies, became 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 15 
 
 at once from its settlement the leading 
 and representative Puritan colony, and 
 to it reference is almost exclusively 
 made in this volume when Puritan 
 thought and social manners here in 
 America are alluded to. 
 
 In Massachusetts Bay, Church and 
 State were firmly united, and only mem- 
 bers of the church were admitted as 
 freemen. The Puritan ministers were 
 looked up to by the legislators, and 
 were called upon to frame laws. They 
 were also called to sit in council and 
 give advice in matters of religion and 
 cases of conscience which came before 
 the General Court, and without them 
 the Court never proceeded to any act 
 of an ecclesiastical nature. Religion was 
 the absorbing question of the times. 
 The Rev. Francis Higginson, in his 
 Election Sermon in 1663, said: "It 
 
16 MARY DYER 
 
 concerneth New England always to re- 
 member, that they are origmally a plan- 
 tation religious, not a plantation of 
 trade. The profession of the purity of 
 doctrine, worship and discipline is written 
 upon her forehead. Let merchants, and 
 such as are increasing cent per cent re- 
 member this, that worldly gain was not 
 the end and design of the people of New 
 England, but religion." President Oakes 
 of Harvard College, in his Election Ser- 
 mon in 1673, in referring to Massachu- 
 setts Bay, said, " I look upon this as a 
 little model of the glorious kingdom of 
 Christ on earth." 
 
 The Puritans made the saving of souls 
 a dismal, dreary piece of business ; for 
 salvation with them seemed to rest on 
 abject fear of hell fire and eternal dam- 
 nation, rather than on the atoning love 
 of that meek and gentle Saviour who 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 17 
 
 offered up his life for iis on Calvary. 
 Their sermons extended through hours, 
 and their prayers were exhaustingly pro- 
 tracted. People were fined for not at- 
 tending church and were compelled to 
 contribute to the support of the minis- 
 ters. Any infraction of the Sabbath met 
 with speedy punishment. They were 
 solemn in appearance, austere in manner, 
 plain in attire, and grave in speech, 
 which was interlarded with scriptural 
 phrases. The Bible, and especially the 
 books of the Old Testament, they claimed 
 as their guide, and quaint Old Testament 
 names were given to their children, one 
 of Mary Dyer's sons being named Maher- 
 shallalhashbaz. They were a God-fearing 
 people and never forgot that there were 
 souls to be saved, or rather that there 
 were souls in danger of being dannied ; 
 for they seemed never to emerge from 
 
18 MARY DYEK 
 
 the gloom and shadow of fear mto the 
 joyous brightness of hope, and hence, 
 by the standards of to-day, their lives 
 were comparatively joyless. As might 
 be expected, their laws were rigorous to 
 the last degree. Not only were immo- 
 rality and levity, but even many of the 
 innocent enjoyments of life were sternly 
 repressed. Especially w^ere improprieties 
 between the sexes relentlessly punished,^ 
 and innocent intercourse between them 
 and the advances towards marriage were 
 regulated by law. Women w^ere for- 
 bidden to expose their arms or necks to 
 
 1 To such an extreme was this carried, if the date 
 of the birth of a young married couple's first-born 
 indicated any impropriet}'' before marriage, the parents 
 were publicly punished, though they had been married 
 for months. 
 
 In the colony of New Haven it was ordered in 
 1050, " That no master of a familye shall give inter- 
 teinment or habitation to any young man to sojourne 
 in his familye, but by the allowance of the inhabitants 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 19 
 
 view, and it was ordered that their 
 sleeves should reach down to their 
 wrists, and their gowns should be closed 
 around their throats. Sumptuary laws 
 and all other kinds of laws regulating 
 private conduct were in force. The use 
 of tobacco w^as forbidden, and so was 
 dancing at weddings. In 1659 the 
 General Court of Massachusetts Bay 
 passed the following law, viz. : " For 
 pventing disorders arising in severall 
 places w^^in this jurisdicon, by reason of 
 some still observing such Aestivalis as 
 were super stitiously kept in other coun- 
 trys, to the great dishonour of God and 
 offence of others, it is therefore ordered 
 
 of the towne where he dwells, under the penalty of 
 twenty shillings per week. And it is allso ordered, 
 that no young man that is neither married, nor hath 
 a servant, nor is a publique officer, shall keepe house 
 by himselfe, without the consent of the towne, for and 
 under paine or penalty of twenty shillings a week." 
 
20 MARY DYER 
 
 by this Court and the authority thereof, 
 that whosoever shall be found observing 
 any such day as Christmas or the like, 
 either by forbearing of labour, feasting, 
 or any other way, uppon any such ac- 
 counts as aforesajd, every such person 
 so offending shall pay for every such 
 offence five shillings as a fine to the 
 county." 
 
 Of course, in a community thus con- 
 stituted, any divergence from the ortho- 
 dox standard of religious belief would 
 not be tolerated ; and Koger Williams 
 became the first victim of Puritan ortho- 
 doxy in 1635, founding the Colony of 
 Providence Plantations the next year 
 upon a basis utterly at variance with 
 President Oakes's "little model of the 
 glorious kingdom of Christ on earth," 
 and which, in the judgment of the 
 world, was a vast improvement upon it. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 21 
 
 Within a feAV years succeeding Roger 
 Williams's banishment, the Rev. John 
 Wheelwright, Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, 
 Samuel Gorton, and many others, were 
 thrust out of Massachusetts Bay in rapid 
 succession under varying circumstances 
 pf indignity and cruelty. The Quakers 
 were the next class of religious victims 
 to feel the hand of Puritan persecution ; 
 but, peaceful as were their professions, 
 they were made of sterner stuff than 
 the preceding victims of Puritan oppres- 
 sion, and, undaunted by either threats or 
 sufferings, fairly repressed the persecut- 
 ing spirit by surfeiting it with more 
 victims courting martyrdom than could 
 be disposed of. At a time of such a 
 relio:ious awakening; as the middle of the 
 seventeenth century, and, in the words 
 of Hildreth, as "one among many other 
 results of that violent fermentation of 
 
22 MARY DYER 
 
 opinions among part of the English 
 Puritans, which Cromwell, to the hor- 
 ror of the conservative Presbyterians, 
 allowed to go on almost unchecked," 
 George Fox founded the sect called 
 Quakers or Friends, Fox beginning his 
 preaching about the year 1647. 
 
 For the leading traits of the Quaker 
 belief I shall borrow and abridge from 
 the Quaker writer Hallowell, in his 
 Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts. In 
 common with the Puritans, the Quakers 
 believed in the divinity of Jesus, the 
 Christian atonement, a future life either 
 in heaven or hell, and the inspiration 
 of the Bible. In common with the Puri- 
 tans, they condemned as idolatrous the 
 ceremonial service of the Established 
 Church; but they also denied the efficacy 
 of ordination, baj)tism, formal prayer, 
 and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 23 
 
 They sought to restore the spirituality 
 and simplicity of primitive Christianity. 
 Their reliance upon what they called the 
 Inward Light, as a sufficient guide in 
 matters of religion, has always distin- 
 guished them from all other religious 
 sects. This Inward Light may be briefly 
 explained as follows : God is an indwell- 
 ing Spirit, and humanity is his holy 
 temple. His law is written upon the 
 hearts of all men ; and obedience to it 
 will lead them into all truth, so far as 
 religious truths are revealed to men. 
 Through the operation of this law the 
 soul of man is accessible to his Creator. 
 It is the rule of life to which every one 
 must subject himself, and out of which 
 duty is evolved. The logic of this car- 
 dinal principle of Quakerism led straight 
 to repudiation of the authority of an or- 
 dained ministry, to the withdrawal from 
 
24 MARY DYER 
 
 church membership, and the refusal to 
 pay church tithes. Intellectual training 
 alone cannot fit men to be religious 
 teachers. The Spirit of God must first 
 illuminate their souls and sanctify their 
 lives. The Puritans rebelled against 
 prelacy, and held in special abhorrence 
 the forms and ceremonies borrowed from 
 Rome by the English Church. Coming 
 into power, they established their own 
 church, and compelled an unwilling peo- 
 ple to conform to and support it. The 
 Quakers probed deeper. They rebelled 
 against prelate and presbyter alike. 
 They claimed not toleration, but liberty 
 of conscience for all as an inalienable 
 right ; they demanded the absolute sepa- 
 ration of Church and State, denounced 
 the clergy as priests and hirelings, and 
 in spite of fiendish persecution refused 
 to acknowledge their authority or to 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 25 
 
 contribute so much as a farthing to their 
 maintenance. Silent meditation, inter- 
 rupted only by a short prayer or exhor- 
 tation by one or more of them, who, 
 perchance, were moved hy the Spirit, 
 constituted their only form of worship. 
 They substituted simple affirmation for 
 the oath, defending the innovation with 
 apt and telling quotations from script- 
 ure. They held meetings for worship, 
 and were generally careful to abstain 
 from all unnecessary secular employ- 
 ment on the first day of the week, but 
 they did not regard it as especially the 
 '' Lord's Day." They claimed that all 
 days are alike holy in the sight of God. 
 They regarded the use of the plural 
 number in addressing one person as a 
 species of flattery, and adopted the sim- 
 ple thee and thou of the Bible. They 
 addressed all men by their Christian 
 
26 MARY DYER 
 
 names only, regtarding all other modes 
 of address as " flattering titles."' They 
 declared that it is not lawful for Chris- 
 tians to kneel or prostrate themselves to 
 any man, or to bow the body, or to 
 uncover the head to men ; that it is not 
 lawful for a Christian to use superfluities 
 in apparel, as are of no use save for 
 ornament and vanity ; that it is not 
 lawful to use games, sports, plays, nor, 
 among other things, comedies, among 
 Christians, under the notion of recrea- 
 tions, which do not agree with Christian 
 silence, gravity, and sobriety. They 
 considered war an evil as opposite and 
 contrary to the spirit and doctrine of 
 Christ as light to darkness, and they 
 would not fight. 
 
 That injustice may not be done, it 
 should be borne in mind that the perse- 
 cution of the Quakers in Massachusetts 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 27 
 
 was the work of the ministers and of 
 the higher civil magistrates ; that but a 
 portion of the church members, and few, 
 if any, who were not, approved of it ; 
 that as only church members were free- 
 men and entitled to vote, those in au- 
 thority were elected by the church 
 members only ; and yet, when the pen- 
 alty of death was sought to be imposed 
 upon those who returned from the ban- 
 ishment meted out to the Quakers, the 
 utmost difficulty was encountered, and 
 only after a stubborn resistance was the 
 law enacted by the General Court by a 
 bare majority of one. Popular tumults 
 were frequently excited by the treatment 
 of the Quakers, and, in the case of Wil- 
 liam Brend already alluded to, we have 
 seen that the authorities, in order to 
 allay the popular discontent, had to 
 promise to bring the jailer to justice, he 
 
28 MARY DYER 
 
 having been the instrumentality used in 
 perpetrating the cruelties. It was urged 
 by those in favor of the law that its 
 mere existence, operating in terror em, 
 would be all-sufficient, and that its en- 
 forcement would never be necessary. 
 Those stern old Puritans were full of 
 grim determination, and it never entered 
 their heads that their Quaker opponents 
 could be as doggedly tenacious in uphold- 
 ing their views as they were themselves. 
 Certain it is that those Massachusetts 
 lawmakers did not reckon upon the ex- 
 istence of a zeal, a courage, a heroism — 
 call it what you will — that would break 
 down and triumph over their own deter- 
 mination, which was well-nigh relentless. 
 They had never seen a self-sacrifice that 
 conquered by its very submissiveness, and 
 overwhelmed persecutors by a surfeit of 
 victims offering themselves for sacrifice. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 29 
 
 The Quakers were absolutely fearless. 
 They counted their lives as nothing in 
 upholding their views, and they not only 
 did not avoid martyrdom, but they 
 studiously courted it; and therein lay 
 their jDower and the secret of their final 
 triumph. 
 
30 MAKY DYER 
 
 II 
 
 Mary Dyer of Rhode Island, in the 
 words of George Bishop, the old Quaker 
 chronicler, written after her death, was 
 " a Comely Grave Woman, and of a 
 goodly Personage, and one of a good 
 Report, having a Husband of an Estate, 
 fearing the Lord, and a Mother of Chil- 
 dren." Governor Winthrop of Massa- 
 chusetts, a less friendly writer, refers to 
 her, in 1638, as "the wife of one William 
 Dyer, a milliner in the New Exchange, 
 a very proper and fair woman, and both 
 of them notoriously infected with Mrs. 
 Hutchinson's errors, and very censorious 
 and troublesome, (she being of a very 
 proud spirit, and much addicted to revela- 
 tions)." Gerard Croese, a Dutch writer, 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 31 
 
 states that she was reputed as a " person 
 of no mean extract and parentage, of 
 an estate pretty plentiful, of a comely 
 stature and countenance, of a piercino- 
 knowledge in many things, of a wonder- 
 ful sweet and pleasant discourse, so fit 
 for great affairs, that she wanted nothino- 
 that was manly, except only the name 
 and the sex." 
 
 William Dyer and his wife emigrated 
 from London to Boston, in Massachusetts 
 Bay, where they were admitted members 
 of the Rev. Mr. Wilson's church, Decem- 
 ber 13, 1635. That they were better 
 educated than the majority of people of 
 that day, is apparent from the character 
 of the i)ublic positions William Dyer held 
 in Rhode Island, and from the letters of 
 Mrs. Dyer that have come down to us,^ 
 and the fact that she was a great friend 
 
 ^ See Appendix II. 
 
82 MAllY DYER 
 
 of the gifted Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. 
 When the latter was arraigned before the 
 elders and was expelled from the church, 
 Mary Dyer rose and walked by her side 
 out of the building. The Dyers followed 
 the Rev. Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. 
 Hutchinson in the Antinomian move- 
 mentj and in March, 1637, William 
 Dyer signed a remonstrance affirming 
 the innocence of Mr. Wheelwright and 
 that the Court had condemned the truth 
 of Christ. In consequence of this he 
 and others of like sympathies were dis- 
 franchised and disarmed, "because," in 
 the language of the order, " the opin- 
 ions and revelations of Mr. Wheel- 
 wright and Mrs. Hutchinson have 
 seduced and led into dangerous errors 
 many of the people here in New Eng- 
 land ; " and early in the next year they 
 were forced to leave Massachusetts, 
 
THE QFAKEIJ MAUTYR 33 
 
 removing first to Portsmouth, Rhode 
 Island, and the following year to New- 
 port in the same State. 
 
 Palfrey, the historian, says that Mary 
 Dyer was an object of peculiar abhor- 
 rence in Boston on account of an absurd 
 story of her having given birth to a 
 monster, a divine judgment for her 
 attachment to Mrs. Hutchinson. The 
 story in all its disgusting detail is given 
 by Governor Winthrop in his History 
 of Neiv England , and by Cotton Mather 
 in his Magnalia Christi Ainericana. 
 
 William Dyer was a person of conse- 
 quence in Rhode Island. In 1638 he 
 was elected Clerk, and in 1640 Secre- 
 tary of Portsmouth and Newport, hold- 
 ing the office until May, 1647, and 
 thereafter for a year he was the Gen- 
 eral Recorder under the Parliamentary 
 Patent. Two years later he was the 
 
34 ' MARY DYER 
 
 Attorney-General of the Colony. At 
 different times he held various other 
 offices and positions of public trust, 
 such as a Commissioner, a Deputy, Gen- 
 eral Solicitor, Secretary of the Coun- 
 cil, etc. 
 
 William and Mary Dyer had six 
 children, and among their numerous 
 descendants are some of the best 
 known and most respected citizens of 
 Rhode Island.^ 
 
 ^ William and Mary Dyer's descendants include 
 the late Benjamin Dyer and Charles Dyer, leading 
 merchants in Providence in the early part of this cen- 
 tury; the late Elisha Dyer, senior, also prominent 
 there in business; the late Governor Elisha Dyer, who 
 filled with honor the Executive Cliair of the State; 
 the late Daniel W. Lyman, to whose munificence 
 Brown University is indebted for the Lyman Gym- 
 nasium ; General Elisha Dyer, until recently Adjutant- 
 General of the State ; Mr. James IL Chace, an exten- 
 sive cotton manufacturer in Providence ; the Hon. 
 Jonathan Chace, formerly a United States Senator 
 from Rhode Island ; and numy others too numerous 
 to mention. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 35 
 
 In 1652 William Dyer accompanied 
 Roger Williams and John Clarke, who 
 were sent from Rhode Island to Eng- 
 land to obtain a revocation of the 
 extraordinary powers granted to Wil- 
 liam Coddington ; and Mrs. Dyer 
 accompanied her husband. Though 
 William Dyer returned home early in 
 1653, his wife remained abroad sev- 
 eral 3^ears longer, becoming a convert 
 to- Quaker doctrines and a minister in 
 that society. In 1657 she landed in 
 Boston en route for her home in Rhode 
 Island. The year before her coming, 
 the arrival of the earliest Quakers in 
 Boston had so wrought up the ministers 
 and authorities of Massachusetts Bay 
 that various repressive measures had 
 been adopted, and hence when Mary 
 Dyer, and a widow named Ann Burden 
 who came to settle up her deceased hus- 
 
36 MARY DYER 
 
 band's estate, set foot in Boston, they 
 were arrested and cast into prison ; for 
 although Mary Dyer's sole business was 
 to pass that way to Rhode Island, she 
 was kept a close prisoner so that none 
 might have communication with her, 
 until her husband, hearing that she had 
 arrived and was in prison, went after 
 her. Then she was not released and 
 suffered to depart until he had bound 
 himself in a great penalty not to lodge 
 her in any town of Massachusetts Bay, 
 nor to permit any to have speech with 
 her on her journey. In 1658 she was 
 expelled from the Colony of New Haven 
 for preaching Quaker doctrines. 
 
 As well might the Puritan perse- 
 cutors of the United Colonies have 
 attempted to stop the inflowing tide of 
 the mighty ocean by their legal fulmi- 
 nations as to curb Quaker zeal by their 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 37 
 
 cruel enactments, so the victims flocked 
 on their way to the jails, the whip- 
 ping posts and the pillories, yea, even 
 to the gallows. 
 
 In June, 1659, William Robinson, a 
 merchant of London, and Marmaduke 
 Stephenson, a countryman of the east 
 part of Yorkshire, 'were moved by the 
 Lord,' in Quaker phrase, to go from 
 Ehode Island to Massachusetts to bear 
 w^itness against the persecuting spirit 
 existing there; and with them went 
 Nicholas Davis of Plymouth Colony, 
 and Patience Scott of Providence, Rhode 
 Island, a girl of about eleven years of 
 age, and a daughter of the Catharine 
 Scott already referred to. They were 
 all arrested and committed to prison to 
 await the next meeting of the Court 
 of Assistants in the following Septem- 
 ber. During their incarceration Mary 
 
38 MARY DYER 
 
 Dyer was moved of the Lord to go 
 from Rhode Island to visit the pris- 
 oners, and she too was arrested and 
 imprisoned. On September 12, 1659, 
 the Court banished the four adults from 
 Massachusetts upon pain of death, if 
 after the 14th of September they should 
 be found within the jurisdiction, but 
 Patience Scott was discharged, as, in 
 the words of the chronicler, " the child, 
 it seems, was not of years, as to law, 
 to deal with her by banishment." ^ 
 
 1 Governor Hutchinson in his History of Massachu- 
 setts, Vol. I. p. 183, says : " Patience Scott, a girl of 
 about eleven years of age, came I suppose from Provi- 
 dence ; her friends lived there ; and professing herself 
 to be one of those whom the world in scorn calls 
 quakers, was committed to prison, and afterwards 
 brought to court. The record stands thus : '■ The 
 court duly considering the malice of satan and his 
 instruments by all means and ways to propagate error 
 and disturb the truth, and bring in confusion among 
 us — that satan is put to his shifts to make use of such 
 a child, not being of the years of discretion, nor under- 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 39 
 
 Nicholas Davis and Mary Dyer 
 departed to their homes without the 
 jurisdiction of Massachusetts, but Wil- 
 liam Robinson and Marmaduke Ste- 
 phenson, though released from prison, 
 determined to stay within the jurisdic- 
 tion and try the bloody law unto death. 
 On October 8, within thirty days of 
 her banishment, Mary Dyer with other 
 Rhode Island Quakers went to Boston 
 to visit Christopher Holder, then in 
 prison, where she was again arrested 
 and held for the action of the authori- 
 ties. Five days later William Robinson 
 and Marmaduke Stephenson, who had 
 
 standing the principles of religion — judge meet so 
 far to slight her as a quaker, as only to admonish and 
 instruct her according to her capacity, and so discharge 
 her, Capt. Hutchinson undertaking to send her home.' 
 Strange such a child should be imprisoned ! it would 
 have been horrible if there had been any further 
 severity." 
 
40 MARY DYER 
 
 been travelling about spreading their 
 doctrines through Massachusetts and 
 Rhode Island since their release from 
 prison, also went to Boston to look the 
 bloody laws in the face, in the words 
 of the Quaker chronicler ; and they too 
 were arrested and cast into prison. 
 
 The issue was now clearly made be- 
 tween Quaker and Puritan. The Quaker 
 defied the unjust Puritan laws, and dared 
 martyrdom. Dare the Puritan authori- 
 ties inflict it ? 
 
 On October 19 the three prisoners 
 were brought before Governor Endicott 
 and the Assistants, and demand having 
 been made of them — Why they came 
 again into that jurisdiction after hav- 
 ing been banished from it upon pain of 
 death if they returned? — they severally 
 declared that the cause of their coming 
 was of the Lord and in obedience to 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 41 
 
 him. The next day they were again 
 hrought l)efore the magistrates, when 
 the Governor called to the keeper of the 
 prison to pull off their hats, which hav- 
 ing been done, he addressed them sub- 
 stantially as follows : " We have made 
 many laws and endeavored in several 
 ways to keep you from among us, but 
 neither whipping nor imprisonment, nor 
 cutting off ears, nor banishment upon 
 pain of death, will keep you from 
 among us. We desire not your death." 
 Notwithstanding which, he immediately 
 added : '^ Hearken now to your sentence 
 of death." Then he stopped : where- 
 upon William Robinson desired to read 
 to the magistrates and the large audi- 
 ence assembled there a paper prepared 
 by him, containing a declaration of his 
 call by the Lord to Boston and the rea- 
 son of his staying within the jurisdiction 
 
42 MARY DYER 
 
 after his banishment. The Governor 
 with much feeling said : " You shall not 
 read it, nor will the court hear it read." 
 Upon its being passed to the Governor, 
 and read by him to himself, he said : 
 " William Robinson, you need not keep 
 such an ado to have it read, for ye spake 
 yesterday more than is here written." 
 To which Robinson replied, " Nay," and 
 desired again that it might be read, that 
 all the people might hear the cause of 
 their coming and of their stay there, 
 and wherefore they were put to death. 
 But the Governor would not allow him 
 to read it, and proceeded to pronounce 
 sentence of death upon him, whereupon 
 he was carried back to prison. Then 
 the Governor addressed Marmaduke 
 Stephenson, and, more partial to him, 
 apparently, than to William Robinson, 
 said, " If you have anything to say, 
 
THE QTAKEK MARTYR 43 
 
 you may speak/' But Steplienson was 
 silent, and spoke not, so sentence of 
 death was pronounced upon him also. 
 When the Governor ceased speaking, 
 however, Stephenson hfted up his voice 
 in this wise : '' Give ear, ye magistrates, 
 and all who are guilty, for this the Lord 
 hath said concerning you, who will per- 
 form his promise upon you, that the 
 same day that you put his servants to 
 death shall the day of your visitation 
 pass over your heads, and you shall be 
 cursed forevermore, the Lord of Hosts 
 hath spoken it ; therefore in love to you 
 all take warning before it be too late, 
 that so the curse might be removed ; for 
 assuredly if you put us to death, you 
 will bring innocent blood upon your own 
 heads, and swift destruction will come 
 upon you : " whereupon he, too, was 
 sent back to jail. 
 
44 MARY DYER 
 
 Then Mary Dyer was brought to the 
 bar of the Court, and the Governor pro- 
 nounced sentence upon her as follows : 
 " Mary Dyer, you shall go from hence 
 to the place from whence you came, 
 and from thence to the place of execu- 
 tion, and there be hanged till you be 
 dead." To which she said, " The will 
 of the Lord be done." — ^^Take her 
 away. Marshal," quoth the Governor. 
 She replied, " Yea, and joyfully I go." 
 And on her way to prison she used simi- 
 lar words, with praises to the Lord. To 
 the marshal who had her in custody, 
 she said, " Let me alone, for I should 
 go to prison without you." — "I believe 
 you, Mrs. Dyer, " he rejoined, "but I 
 must do what I am commanded." 
 
 Great influence was brought to bear to 
 prevent the execution of the sentences. 
 Governor Winthrop of Connecticut ap- 
 
TETE QUAKER MARTYR 45 
 
 peared before the Massachusetts authori- 
 ties, urijrino: that the condemned be not 
 put to death. He said that he would 
 beo; it of them on his bare knees that 
 
 o 
 
 they would not do it. Colonel Temple ^ 
 also addressed the authorities, and said 
 that if according to their declarations 
 they desired the prisoners' lives absent 
 rather than their deaths present, he 
 would beg them of the authorities, and 
 would carry them away at his own 
 charge, and give them a house to live 
 in, and corn to feed on, and land for 
 them and their heirs to plant on, that 
 so once within a year they should be 
 
 1 The proceedings of the General Court of Massachu- 
 setts for October 19, 1658 {Records of Mass., VoL lY. 
 Part I. p. 355), show that "the honourable Colonell 
 Thomas Temple is, by comission from his highness 
 the Lord Protector, constituted governor of Acady 
 and Xova Scotia, from INIereliquish on the east, to St. 
 Georges and Musconcus on the confines of Xew Eng- 
 land, on the west." 
 
46 MARY DYER 
 
 able to provide for themselves; and if 
 any of them should come hither again, 
 he would a£>ain fetch them at his own 
 charge. Governor Endicott, the Rev. 
 John Wilson, and the whole pack of 
 persecutors, however, seemed to thirst 
 for blood; and it was determined that 
 somebody must die. 
 
 The 27th of October, 1659, was fixed 
 for the triple execution, and elaborate 
 preparations, for those days, were made 
 for it. Popular excitement ran high, 
 and the people resorted to the prison 
 windows to hold communication with 
 the condemned, so the male prisoners 
 were put in irons, and a force was 
 detailed, in the words of the order, "to 
 watch with great care tlie towne, espe- 
 cially the prison." Captain James Oliver 
 was ordered to detail one hundred sol- 
 diers " proportionably out of each com- 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 47 
 
 pany in Boston, completely armed with 
 pike, and nmsketeers with powder and 
 bullet/' to escort the prisoners to the 
 place of execution; though subsequently 
 the order was modified so that thirty- 
 six of the soldiers were to remain in 
 and about the town, while the rest went 
 to the place of execution. 
 
 The eventful day having arrived, 
 Captain Oliver and his military guard 
 attended to receive the prisoners. The 
 marshal and the jailer brought them 
 forth, the men from the jail, and Mary 
 Dyer from the House of Correction. 
 They parted from their friends at the 
 prison full of joy, thanking the Lord 
 that he accounted them worthy to suf- 
 fer for his name and had kept them 
 faithful to the end. The condemned 
 came forth hand in hand, Mary Dyer 
 between the other two, and when the 
 
48 MARY DYER 
 
 marshal asked her, "Whether she was 
 not ashamed to walk hand in hand 
 between two young men," for her com- 
 panions were much younger than she, 
 she replied, "It is an hour of the great- 
 est joy I can enjoy in this world. No 
 eye can see, no ear can hear, no tongue 
 can speak, no heart can understand, the 
 sweet incomes and refreshings of the 
 spirit of the Lord which now I enjoy." 
 The concourse of people was immense, 
 the guard was strong and strict, and 
 when the prisoners sought to speak the 
 drums were caused to be beaten. 
 
 The method of execution was ex- 
 tremely simple in those days. A great 
 elm upon Boston Common constituted 
 the gallows. The halter having been 
 adjusted round the prisoner's neck, he 
 was forced to ascend a ladder affording 
 an approach to the limb to be used for 
 
THE (QUAKER MARTYR 49 
 
 the fatal purpose, to which limb the 
 other end of the halter was attached. 
 Then the ladder was pulled aw^ay, and 
 the execution, though rude, was com- 
 plete. 
 
 Having arrived at the place of exe- 
 cution/ the Rev. Mr. Wilson tauntingly 
 said to the prisoners, "Shall such Jacks 
 as you, come in before authority with 
 your Hats on ? " To w^hich Robinson 
 replied, " Mind you, mind you, it is for 
 not putting off the Hat w^e are put to 
 Death." The prisoners took a tender 
 leave of one another, and William Rob- 
 inson, wdio was the first to suffer, said, 
 as he was about to be turned off by 
 
 1 Peleg W. Chandler, writing in 1841, in Chand- 
 ler's Criminal Trials, Vol. I., j). 44, note, says in regard 
 to the execution of the Quakers : " These executions 
 are supposed to have taken place on Boston Connnon, 
 probably near where the Mollis Street Church now 
 stands." 
 
 E 
 
50 MARY DYER 
 
 the executioner, " I suffer for Christ, in 
 whom I lived, and for whom I die." 
 Marmaduke Stephenson came next, and, 
 being on the ladder, lie said to the 
 people, ^^ Be it known unto all this day, 
 that we suffer not as evil-doers, but for 
 conscience sake." Next came Mary 
 Dyer's turn. Expecting immediate 
 death, she had been forced to wait at 
 the foot of the fatal tree, with a rope 
 about her neck, and witness the vio- 
 lent taking off of her friends. With 
 their lifeless bodies hanging before her, 
 she was made ready to be suspended 
 beside them. Her arms and legs were 
 bound, and her skirts secured about her 
 feet ; her face was covered with a hand- 
 kerchief which the Rev. Mr. Wilson, 
 who had been her pastor when she lived 
 in Boston, had loaned the hangman. 
 And there, made ready for death, with 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 51 
 
 the halter round her neck, she stood 
 upon the fatal ladder in calm serenity, 
 expecting to die. Human devices to 
 arouse terror and to break her spirit 
 had failed. She stood there on that 
 grim height, gazing backward, as it 
 were, upon time, and forward into eter- 
 nity, without a tremor. In another 
 moment her life would be like a tale 
 that is told. Just then an order for a 
 reprieve, upon the petition of her son 
 all unknown to her, arrives. The hal- 
 ter is loosed from her neck and she is 
 unbound and told to come down the 
 ladder. She neither answered nor 
 moved. In the words of the Quaker 
 chronicler, " she was waiting on the 
 Lord to know his pleasure in so sudden 
 a change, having given herself up to 
 dye." The people cried, '' Pull her 
 down.'" So earnest were they that she 
 
52 MARY DYER 
 
 tried to prevail upon them to wait a 
 little whilst she mi^ht consider and 
 know of the Lord what to do. The 
 people were pulling her and the ladder 
 down together, when they were stopped, 
 and the marshal took her" down in his 
 arms, and she was carried back to 
 prison. 
 
 All this dismal spectacle made by the 
 authorities, of Mary Dyer, on the 27tli 
 of October, 1659, was but a cold-blooded 
 refinement of cruelty to shake her con- 
 stancy and overcome her fortitude. It 
 was a mere prearranged scheme, for 
 before she set forth from the prison 
 it had been determined that she was 
 not to be executed, as shown by the 
 reprieve itself, which reads as follows: 
 ^'Whereas Mary Dyer is condemned by 
 the Generall Court to be executed for 
 liir offences, on the petition of William 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 53 
 
 Dier, liir sonne, it is ordered that tlie 
 sajd Mary Dyer shall have liberty for 
 forty-eight liowers after this day to 
 depart out of this jurisdiction, after 
 which tjme, being found therein, she is 
 forthwith to be executed, and in the 
 meane time that she be kept a close 
 prisoner till hir sonne or some other be 
 ready to carry hir away w"'in the afore- 
 sajd tyme ; and it is further ordered, 
 that she shall be carrjed to the place 
 of execution, and there to stand upon 
 the gallowes, with a rope about her 
 necke, till the rest be executed, and 
 then to returne to the prison and re- 
 majne as aforesajd." 
 
 Evidently her Puritan persecutors 
 did not know Mary Dyer. When she 
 returned to prison and understood the 
 ground of the rejDrieve, she refused it, 
 and the next morning she wrote to the 
 
54 MARY DYER 
 
 General Court, again refusing to accept 
 her life from her persecutors. She said : 
 " My life is not accepted, neither avail- 
 eth me, in comparison with the lives 
 and liberty of the Truth and Servants 
 of the living God, for which in the 
 Bowels of Love and Meekness I sought 
 you; yet nevertheless with wicked 
 Hands have you put two of them to 
 Death, which makes me to feel that 
 the Mercies of the Wicked is cruelty ; 
 I rather chuse to Dye than to live, as 
 from you, as Guilty of their Innocent 
 Blood." 
 
 Such constancy and courage as the 
 prisoners had displayed greatly excited 
 the populace against the authorities, 
 who were in a quandary w^hat to do 
 with Mary Dyer ; for as the reprieve 
 had been kept secret, neither young 
 William Dyer nor any one else had ap- 
 
THE QUAKEE ISIARTYR 55 
 
 peared to take charge of his mother; 
 so the day after the execution some 
 officials came and took her in their 
 arms and set her on horseback and 
 conveyed her fifteen miles towards 
 Rhode Island and left her with a horse 
 and man to be conveyed further. Pop- 
 ular indignation was both loud and 
 deep. So pronounced was it that the 
 authorities deemed it necessary to put 
 forth a declaration in vindication of 
 their course, or rather, it would seem, 
 an apology; for such reprehensible and 
 indefensible conduct could not be vindi- 
 cated, and it is in answer to that apol- 
 ogy that George Bishop wrote his book, 
 to which I have already referred. Par- 
 ticularly did the Massachusetts authori- 
 ties claim credit for their reprieve of 
 Mary Dyer, and ingeniously and indus- 
 triously did they seek to soften the 
 
56 MARY DYER 
 
 judgment of men upon the martyrdom 
 of Robinson and Stephenson, by vaunt- 
 ing the consideration they claimed to 
 have shown Mary Dyer — an argument 
 which we shall see reacted upon them 
 when we come to note its effect upon 
 the recipient of the boasted clemency. 
 
 Mary Dyer went to Rhode Island, 
 where she did not tarry long, as she 
 spent most of the winter on Long Island. 
 Terribly in earnest was she; and her 
 sufferings in no wise abated her purpose 
 to combat, even unto death, the wicked 
 persecution taking place in Massachu- 
 setts. She was especially roused at the 
 attempt to vindicate the execution of 
 Robinson and Stephenson ; and the clem- 
 ency extended to her she believed to be 
 a mere device to divert, in a measure, 
 popular indignation. She therefore de- 
 termined to go again to Boston, and 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 57 
 
 again defy the authorities, forcing them 
 either to practically annul their unjust 
 laws, if they did not proceed against 
 her, or else by her death to awaken 
 popular indignation that would compel 
 the repeal of them. She arrived in 
 Boston May 21, 1660, and ten days 
 later she was brought before the magis- 
 trates. ^^Are you the same Mary Dyer," 
 inquired Governor Endicott, ^Hhat was 
 here before?" — '^I am the same Mary 
 Dyer that was here the last General 
 Court," she undauntedly replied. " You 
 will own yourself a Quaker," the Gov- 
 ernor inquired, ^' will you not?" — "I 
 own myself to be reproachfully so 
 called," responded Mary Dyer.^ Then 
 
 1 W. M. Ferriss,in the article on " Friends " in the 
 American Cyclopcedia, says: "They soon adopted the 
 name of 'the Religions Society of Friends,' by which 
 they are always known among themselves. The origin 
 of the name Quaker is not entirely certain. By some 
 
58 MAEY DYER 
 
 the Governor said, " Sentence was passed 
 upon you the last General Court ; and 
 now likewise — You must return to the 
 prison, and there remain till to-morrow 
 at nine o'clock ; then thence you must 
 go to the gallows, and there be hanged 
 till you are dead." Mary Dyer replied, 
 " This is no more than what thou saidst 
 before." — "But now," said the Gov- 
 ernor, "it is to be executed. Therefore 
 prepare yourself to-morrow at nine 
 o'clock." Then she spoke thus : " I 
 came in obedience to the will of God 
 
 it is affirmed that it was given ' in derision, because 
 they often trembled under an awful sense of the 
 infinite purity and majesty of God.' By others it is 
 said that it was first applied to them in 1650, when 
 George Fox was brought before the magistrates of 
 Derby, and he having told them to 'quake at the 
 name of the Lord,' one of them, Gervase Bennet, an 
 Independent, caught up the word, and, says Fox, 
 'was the first that called us Quakers.' However the 
 name originated, it soon became the one by which 
 they were generally known in all parts of the world." 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 59 
 
 the last General Court, desiring you to 
 repeal your unrighteous laws of banish- 
 ment on pain of death; and that same 
 is my work now, and earnest request, 
 although I told you that if you refused 
 to repeal them, the Lord would send 
 others of his servants to witness against 
 them." Whereupon the Governor sneer- 
 ingly inquired if she was a prophetess? 
 To which she replied, she spoke the 
 words the Lord spoke in her ; and now 
 the thing was come to pass. She then 
 proceeded to speak of her call, when 
 the Governor cried, *•' Away with her ! 
 away with her ! " And she was taken 
 back to jail. Her husband, who was 
 not a Quaker, and did not share her 
 views, wrote a letter of earnest inter- 
 cession for his wife's life to Governor 
 Endicott, but in vain.^ 
 
 1 See Appendix III, 
 
60 MARY DYER 
 
 On June 1, 1660, at nine o'clock, 
 Mary Dyer again set out from the jail 
 for the gallows on Boston Common, 
 surrounded by a strong military guard. 
 As she stood upon the fatal ladder, she 
 was told if she would return home, she 
 might come down and save her life. 
 " Nay," she replied, " I cannot ; for in 
 obedience to the will of the Lord God 
 I came, and in his will I abide faithful 
 to the death." Captain John Webb, the 
 commander of the military, said to her 
 that she had been there before, and had 
 the sentence of banishment on pain of 
 death, and had broken the law in com- 
 ing again now, as well as formerly, and 
 therefore she was guilty of her own 
 blood. '' Nay," she replied, " I came to 
 keep blood-guiltiness from you, desiring 
 you to repeal the unrighteous and unjust 
 law of banishment upon pain of death. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 61 
 
 made against the innocent servants of 
 the Lord, therefore my blood will be 
 required at your hands who wilfully do 
 it ; but for those that do it in the sim- 
 plicity of their hearts, I do desire the 
 Lord to forgive them. I came to do 
 the will of my Father, and in obedience 
 to his will I stand even to the death." 
 Then her old Puritan pastor, the Rev. 
 Mr. Wilson, bade her repent, and be 
 not so deluded and carried away by 
 the deceit of the devil. To which she 
 replied, " Nay, man, I am not now 
 to repent." Being asked whether she 
 would have the Elders pray for her, she 
 replied, "I know never an Elder here." 
 They asked whether she would have 
 any of the people pray for her ? She 
 responded, " I desire the prayers of all 
 the people of God." Some scoffingly 
 said, " It may be she thinks there are 
 
62 MARY DYER 
 
 none here." Looking about, she said, 
 " 1 know but few here." Then they 
 spoke to her again, that one of the 
 Elders might pray for her. She replied, 
 " Nay, first a child, then a young man, 
 then a strong man, before an Elder of 
 Christ Jesus." And more she spake of 
 the eternal happiness into which she 
 was about to enter ; and then, without 
 tremor or trepidation, she was swung 
 off, and the crown of martyrdom de- 
 scended upon her head. Thus died 
 brave Mary Dyer.^ Her remains were 
 buried on Boston Common, and there 
 they now rest in an unknown grave. 
 
 1 Dr. Snow, in his History of Boston, p. 198, says : 
 " One of the officers under the gallows at the time of 
 her execution, Edward Wanton, was so affected at 
 the sight, that he became a convert to the cause of the 
 Friends." The same writer informs us that Wanton 
 was arrested on May 4, 1664, for holding a Quaker 
 meeting at his house in Boston. 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 63 
 
 In the Friends' Records of Portsmouth, 
 Rhode Island, is this entry : " Mary 
 Dyer the wife of William Dyer of New- 
 port in Rhode Island : She was put to 
 death at the Town of Boston with y^ 
 like cruil hand as the martyrs were in 
 Queen Mary's time, and there buried 
 upon y^ 31 day of y^ 3^ mo. 1660." It 
 will be observed there is an error of a 
 day in the date. 
 
 Mary Dyer's Puritan persecutors, 
 strange to say, have found many apolo- 
 gists whose excuses are flimsy indeed. 
 Had her persecutors been Romish priests 
 instead of Puritan ministers and magis- 
 trates, such apologists, it is believed, 
 would entertain different views. The 
 persecutions of the Quakers were purely 
 religious and were by no means con- 
 fined to those who were guilty of impro- 
 prieties of manner or conduct. Some of 
 
64 MARY DYER 
 
 the worthiest inhabitants of Massachu- 
 setts were cruelly punished for afford- 
 ing the Quakers shelter, or giving them 
 food, or attending their meetings, and 
 even for merely deprecating the inhu- 
 manities practised upon them. There 
 was nothing in Quaker doctrine or 
 practice inherently difficult to get on 
 with. If Rhode Island found no diffi- 
 culty in enduring the Quakers, why 
 could not the other New England Colo- 
 nies endure them just as well? 
 
 The Puritan persecutors themselves 
 said that Mary Dyer was guilty of her 
 own blood. Human rights were noth- 
 ing to them when their purposes were 
 crossed, and they wondered at a hero- 
 ism they could not understand, and 
 which was ready to face death, if need 
 be, in the struggle with oppression. 
 The horrible persecutions themselves 
 
THE QUAKER MARTYR 65 
 
 produced the martyrs. Men's minds 
 were wrought up to the highest pitch, 
 and some were so roused that they 
 were willing to die to put down such 
 wrongs. The feeling is well illustrated 
 by the woman who, in 1658, at the 
 sight of the cruel and bloody infliction 
 of thirty-three stripes each upon two 
 Quakers, at Barnstable, with a three- 
 corded knotted whip, cried out in the 
 grief and anguish of her spirit : " How 
 long, Lord, how long shall it be ere 
 thou avenge the blood of thine elect?" 
 And afterwards in her bewailings she 
 cried : "Did T forsake father and mother 
 and all my dear relatives to come to 
 New England for this ? Did I ever 
 think that New England would come 
 to this ? Who would have thought 
 it?" 
 
 Mary Dyer did not die in vain. But 
 
66 MARY DYER 
 
 one more Quaker was executed,^ and 
 then the torrent of public indignation 
 made itself effectually felt. Governor 
 Endicott stormed and raved at his 
 brother-magistrates for Avhat he deemed 
 their weakness, but it was all in vain ; 
 for they would not further imbrue their 
 hands in human blood for such a cause, 
 and even if they would the King sent 
 over to forbid it, ordering the Quakers 
 to be sent to England for trial and 
 punishment. Though the royal order 
 was subsequently modified, and persecu- 
 tion began again and continued for 
 nearly twenty years, yet it went on 
 only intermittently and with decreas- 
 ing severity until it ceased altogether.^ 
 
 1 William Leddra, the last Quaker martyr to 
 suffer death in Massachusetts, was hung on Boston 
 Common iMarch 14, IGGl. 
 
 2 See Appendix IV. 
 
THE QUAKER MAllTYR 67 
 
 Roger Williams, the great apostle of 
 Soul-Liberty, was thrust out of Massa- 
 chusetts for conscience sake, but Mary 
 Dyer, a humbler sufferer in the same 
 great cause, to enable the Heaven-im- 
 planted principle to obtain root on 
 Massachusetts soil itself, persisted in 
 remaining and watering it with her 
 blood, and God gave the increase ; so 
 that nowhere on the face of the earth 
 to-day is liberty of conscience more 
 free or more highly revered than on 
 the very spot where, in the words of 
 General Atherton, one of her persecu- 
 tors, " Mary Dyer did hang as a flag 
 for others to take example by." 
 
 Each must judge for himself of the 
 credit due Mary Dyer for her suffer- 
 ings and death. It is a growing belief 
 that when, in coming ages, the roll 
 shall be made up of those whose lives 
 
68 MARY DYER 
 
 or deaths contributed to the establish- 
 ment among men of the immortal prin- 
 ciple of liberty of conscience, inscribed 
 in enduring fame upon it will be found 
 the name of Mary Dyer. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 Letter from the Commissioners of the United 
 Colonies to Rhode Island^ concerniiig the 
 Quakers. 
 
 " The Commissioners being Informed that 
 divers quakers are arrived this summer att 
 Road Hand, and entertained there which 
 may prove dangerous to the Collonies, 
 thought meet to manifest theire minds to 
 the Governor there as follovveth: 
 
 "Gent: 
 
 " Wee suppose you have understood that 
 the last yeare a companie of quakers arived 
 att Boston upon noe other account than to 
 desperse theire pernisiouse opinions had they 
 not bene prevented by the prudent care of 
 that Goverment, whoe by that experience 
 they had of them being sencable of the 
 
 71 
 
72 APPENDIX I 
 
 Danger that might beefale the Christian 
 Religion heer proffessed, by suffering such 
 to bee Received or continued in the Countrey, 
 presented the same unto the Comissioners 
 att theire meetinge att Plymouth whoe 
 upon that occation co mended it to the 
 generall courts of the united Collonies, 
 that all quakers, Rantors, and such notori- 
 ous heretiques might bee prohibited coming 
 among us and that if such should arise 
 from amongst ourselves speedy care might 
 bee taken to Remove them (and as wee are 
 Informed) the severall Jurisdictions have 
 made provision accordingly ; but it is by 
 experience found that means will fall short 
 without further care by Reason of youer Ad- 
 mition and Receiveing of such from whence 
 they may have oppertunitie to creep in 
 amongst us or meanes to enfuse and spred 
 theire Accursed tenates to the great trouble 
 of the Collonies if not to the subversion of 
 the " [lawes] '' professed in tliem ; Notwith- 
 standing any care that hath been hitherto 
 
APPENDIX I 73 
 
 taken to prevent the same whereof wee 
 cannot bnt bee very sencable and thinke 
 noe care to great to preserve us from such 
 a pest the Contagion whereof (if Received) 
 within youer Collonie were dangerous, &c 
 to bee defused to the other by means of the 
 Intercourse, especially to the places of trad 
 amongst us ; Avhich wee desire may bee 
 with safety continued between us ; Wee 
 therefore make it our Request that you as 
 well as the Rest of the Collonies take such 
 order heerin that youer Naigh hours may bee 
 freed from that Danger ; That you Remove 
 those Quakers that have been Received, 
 and for the future prohibite theire coming 
 amongst you ; whereunto the Rule of Charitie 
 to youer selves and us (wee conceive) doth 
 oblidge you wherin if you should wee 
 hope you will not be wanting; yett wee 
 could not but signify this our Desire ; and 
 further declare that wee apprehend that it 
 wil bee our Duty seriously to consider 
 what further provision God may call us to 
 
74 APPENDIX I 
 
 make to prevent the aforsaid mischiefe; 
 and for our further guidance and direction 
 heerin wee desire you to Imparte youer 
 mind and Resolution to the Generall court 
 of the Massachusetts which Assembleth the 
 14th of October next ; wee have not further 
 to trouble you att present but to Assure 
 you wee desire to continew youer loveinge 
 Frinds and Naighbours, the Comissioners 
 of the united Collonie. 
 
 "Boston Septem. 12, 1657. 
 
 "Simon Bradstreet, Presedent. 
 
 " Daniel Denison, 
 
 " Thomas Prence, 
 
 " John Mason, 
 
 "John Taylcott, 
 
 " Theophilus Eaton, 
 
 "William Leete.*' 
 
 [Hazard's State Papers, Vol. II. p. 370; also Ehodc 
 Island Colonial Records, Vol. I. p. 374.] 
 
APPENDIX I 76 
 
 Letter from the Government of the Colony of 
 Rhode Island^ in rej^hj to the letter from 
 the Commissioners of the United Colonies^ 
 concerning the Quakers. 
 
 "Much honoured Gentlemen. 
 
 "Please you to understand, that there 
 hath come to our view a letter subscribed 
 by the honour'd gentlemen commissioners of 
 the united coloneys, the contents whereof 
 are a request concerning certayne people 
 called quakers, come among us lately, &c. 
 
 " Our desires are, in all things possible, 
 to pursue after and keepe fayre and loveing 
 corespondence and entercourse with all the 
 colloneys and with all our countreymen in 
 New England ; and to that purpose we have 
 endeavoured (and shall still endeavour) to 
 answere the desires and requests from all 
 parts of the countrey, coming unto us, in all 
 just and equall returnes, to which end the col- 
 oney have made seasonable provision to pre- 
 
76 APPENDIX I 
 
 serve a just and equal entercourse between 
 the coloneys and us, by giving justice to 
 any that demand it among us, and by re- 
 turning such as make escapes from you, or 
 from the other coloneys, being such as fly 
 from the hands of justice, for matters of 
 crime done or committed amongst you, &c. 
 And as concerning these quakers (so caled) 
 which are now among us, we have no law 
 among us whereby to punish any for only 
 declaring by words, &c. their mindes and 
 understandings concerning the things and 
 ways of God, as to salvation and an eternal 
 condition. And we, moreover, finde, that 
 in those places where these people aforesaid, 
 in this coloney, are most of all suffered to 
 declare themselves freely, and are only op- 
 osed by arguments in discourse, there they 
 least of all desire to come, and we are in- 
 formed that they begin to loath this place, 
 for that they are not opposed by the civill 
 authority, but with all patience and meek- 
 nes are suffered to say over their pretended 
 
APPENDIX I 77 
 
 revelations and admonitions, nor are they 
 like or able to gain many here to their way ; 
 and surely we find that they delight to be 
 persecuted by civill powers, and when they 
 are soe, they are like to gaine more adherents 
 by the conseyte of their patient sufferings, 
 tlian by consent to their pernicious sayings. 
 And yet we concive, that theire doctrines 
 tend to very absolute cutting downe and 
 overturning relations and civill government 
 among men, if generally received. But as 
 to the dammage that in likelyhood accrue 
 to the neighbour collone3's by their being 
 here entertained, we conceive it will not 
 prove so dangerous (as else it might) in 
 regard of the course taken by you to send 
 them away out of the countrey, as they come 
 among you. But, however, at present, we 
 judge it requisitt (and doe intend) to com- 
 mend the consideration of their extravagant 
 outgoings unto the generall assembly of 
 our colloney in March next, where we hope 
 there will be such order taken, as may, in all 
 
78 APPENDIX I 
 
 honest and contientious manner, prevent the 
 bad effects of their doctrines and endeav- 
 ours ; and soe, in all courtious and loving re- 
 spects, and with desire of all honest and 
 fayre commerce with you, and the rest of our 
 honoured and beloved countreymen, we rest 
 "Yours in all loving respects to serve you, 
 
 " Benedict Arnold, Presid. 
 " William Baulston, 
 "Randall Howldon, 
 " Arthur Fenner, 
 "William Feild. 
 
 "From Providence, at the court of tryals, 
 "held for the coloney, October 13'^ 1657. 
 
 " To the much honoured, the Generall Court, 
 " sitting at Boston, for the Colloney of 
 " Massachusetts." 
 
 [Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, Vol. I. Appen- 
 dix XI. p. 45o ; also Hazard's State Papers, Vol. II. 
 p. 552 ; also Ehode Island Colonial Becords, Vol. I. p. 
 376.] 
 
APPENDIX I 79 
 
 Letter from the General Assemhly of the Col- 
 ony of Providence Plantations to the Massa- 
 chusetts Bay Colony^ in reply to the letter of 
 the Commissioners concerning the Quakers. 
 
 " Honored Gentlemen : 
 
 " There hath beene presented to oure view 
 by our Honored president, a letter bearing 
 date September 25*^ last, subscribed by the 
 Honoured gentlemen Commissioners of the 
 United Collonys concerninge a company of 
 people (lately arrived in these parts of the 
 world), commonly knowne by the name of 
 Quakers, whoe are generally conceived per- 
 nicious, either intentionally, or at least wise 
 in efect, even to the corruptinge of good 
 manners and disturbinge the common peace 
 and sosieties of the places where they arise 
 or resort unto, &c. 
 
 ''Now, whereas, freedom of different con- 
 sciences, to be protected from inforcements 
 was the principle ground of our Charter, 
 
80 APPENDIX I 
 
 both with respect to our humble sute for 
 it, as also to the true intent of the Honour- 
 able and renowned parleiment of England 
 in grauntinge of the same unto us; which 
 freedom we still prize as the greatest hapi- 
 nes that men can posess in this world. 
 
 '' Therefore, we shall for the preservation 
 of our civill peace and order, the more 
 seriously take notice that those people and 
 any other that are here, or shall come 
 amongst us, be impartially required, and to 
 our utmost constrayned to perform all duties 
 requisitt towards the maintaineinge the right 
 of his Highness and the government of that 
 most renowned Parliament of England in 
 this collony, Avhich is most happily included 
 under the same dominion and graciously 
 taken into protection thereof: And in case 
 they the sayd Quakers which are here, or 
 who shall arise or come among us, doe 
 refuse to subject themselves to all duties 
 aforesayed, as trayninge, watchinge, and 
 such other ingadgements, as other members 
 
APPENDIX I 81 
 
 of civill societies, for the preservation of 
 the same in justice and peace ; then we 
 determine, yea, and we resolve (however) 
 to take and make use of the first opur- 
 tunity to inform our agent residinge in 
 England, that we may humbly present the 
 matter (as touchinge the considerations 
 premised, concerninge the aforenamed peo- 
 ple called Quakers) unto the supreame 
 authority of England, humbly craveing their 
 advice and order, how to carry ourselves in 
 any further respect towards these people soe, 
 that therewithall theire may be noe damadge, 
 or infringement of that chiefe principle in 
 our charter concerninge freedom of con- 
 sciences, and we alsoe are soe much the 
 more incouradged to make our addresses 
 unto the Lord Protector, his highness and 
 government aforesayd ; for that we under- 
 stand there are, or have beine many of the 
 foresayed people suffered to live in Eng- 
 land; yea even in the heart of the nation. 
 And thus with our truly thankfull acknowl- 
 
82 APPENDIX I 
 
 edments of tlie honourable care of the hon- 
 ored gentlemen commissioners of the United 
 Collonies, for the peace and welfare of the 
 whole country, as is expressed in their most 
 friendly letter, we shall at present take 
 leave and rest. 
 
 " Yours, most affectionately de- 
 "sirous of your honors and 
 " welfaire. 
 
 "John Sanford, 
 
 "Clerk of the Assembly. 
 
 "Portsmouth, March 13th, 1657-8. 
 
 " From the General Assembly of the Col- 
 "lony of Providence Plantations. 
 
 " To the much Honored John Endicott, 
 " Governor of the Massachusetts, to 
 "be alsoe imparted to the Honorable 
 " Commissioners of the United Collo- 
 " nies at their next meeting. These — " 
 
 IBhode Island Colonial Becords^ Vol. I. p. 378.] 
 
APPENDIX I 83 
 
 Why the authorities of Rhode Island sent 
 two letters five months apart, to the General 
 Court of Massachusetts in reply to the letter 
 of the Commissioners of the United Colo- 
 nies, is inexplicable ; for the letter signed by 
 the Clerk of the General Assembly of Rhode 
 Island evidently refers to the Commissioners' 
 letter of September 12, 1657, notwithstand- 
 ing the date spoken of in the letter signed 
 by the Clerk, is September 25. 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 Mary Dyer's Letter to the Massachusetts Gen- 
 eral Court after she had received sentence 
 of death. 
 
 "To the General Court now in Boston. 
 
 " Whereas I am by many charged with the 
 Guiltiness of my own Blood; if you mean, 
 in my coming to Boston, I am therein 
 clear, and justified by the Lord, in whose 
 Will I came, who will require my Blood of 
 you, be sure, who have made a Law to take 
 away the Lives of the Innocent Servants 
 of God, if they come among you, who are 
 called by you. Cursed Quakers; altho' I 
 say, and am a living Witness for them and 
 the Lord, that he hath Blessed them, and 
 
 84 
 
APPENDIX II 85 
 
 sent them unto j^ou : Therefore be not 
 found Fighters against God, but let my 
 Counsel and Request be accepted with you, 
 To Repeal all such Laws, that the Truth 
 and Servants of the Lord may have free 
 Passage among you, and you be kept from 
 shedding Innocent Blood, which I know 
 there are many among you would not do, 
 if they knew it so to be : Nor can the En- 
 emy that stirreth you up thus to destroy 
 this Holy Seed, in any measure countervail 
 the great Damage that you will by thus 
 doing procure : Therefore, seeing the Lord 
 hath not hid it from me, it lyeth upon me, 
 in Love to your Souls, thus to persuade 
 you : I have no self-ends, the Lord know- 
 eth, for if my Life were freely granted by 
 you, it would not avail me, nor could I 
 expect it of you, so long as I should daily 
 hear or see the Sufferings of these People, 
 my dear Brethren and Seed, with whom 
 my Life is bound up, as I have done these 
 two Years; and now it is like to encrease, 
 
86 APPENDIX TI 
 
 even unto Death, for no evil Doing, but 
 coming among you : Was ever the like 
 Laws heard of, among a People that pro- 
 fess Christ come in the Flesh? And have 
 such no other Weapons, but such Laws, to 
 fight against Spiritual Wickedness withall, 
 as you call it ? Wo is me for you ! Of 
 whom take you Counsel? Search with the 
 Light of Christ in ye, and it will shew you 
 of whom, as it hath done me and many 
 more, who have been disobedient and de- 
 ceived, as now you are ; which Light, as 
 you come into, and obeying what is made 
 manifest to you therein, you will not Re- 
 pent, that you were kept from shedding 
 Blood, tho' it were from a woman: It's not 
 mine own Life I seek (for I chuse rather 
 to suffer with the People of God, than to 
 enjoy the Pleasures of Egypt) but the Life 
 of the Seed, which I know the Lord hath 
 Blessed ; and therefore seeks the Enem}'- 
 thus vehemently the Life thereof to De- 
 stroy, as in all Ages he ever did : Oh ! 
 
APPENDIX II 87 
 
 hearken not unto him, 1 beseech you, for 
 the Seed's sake, which is one in all, and is 
 dear in the sight of God ; which they that 
 touch, touch the Apple of his Eye, and 
 cannot escape his Wrath ; whereof I hav- 
 ing felt, cannot but perswade all Men that 
 I have to do withal, especially you who 
 name the Name of Christ, to depart from 
 such Iniquity, as shedding Blood, even of 
 the Saints of the Most High : Therefore 
 let my Request have as much Acceptance 
 with you (if you be Christians) as Esther 
 had with Ashasuerus (whose Relation is 
 short of that that's between Christians) 
 and my Request is the same that hers was ; 
 and he said not, that he had made a Law, 
 and it would be dishonourable for him to 
 Revoke it; but when he understood that 
 these People were so prized by her, and so 
 nearly concerned her (as in Truth these 
 are to me) as you may see what he did for 
 her: Therefore I leave these Lines with 
 you, Appealing to the faithful and true 
 
88 APPENDIX II 
 
 Witness of God, which is one in all Con- 
 sciences, before whom we must all appear ; 
 with whom I shall eternally Rest, in ever- 
 lasting Joy and Peace, whether you will 
 hear or forbear : With him is my Reward, 
 with Whom to live is my Joy, and to dye 
 is my Gain, tho' I had not had your forty 
 eight Hours warning, for the Preparation 
 to the Death of Mary Dyar. 
 
 " And know this also. That if through the 
 Enmity you shall declare your selves worse 
 than Ahasuerus, and confirm your Law, tho' 
 it were but by taking away the Life of one 
 of us. That the Lord will overthrow both 
 your Law and you, by his righteous Judg- 
 ments and Plagues poured justly upon you, 
 who now whilst you are warned thereof, 
 and tenderly sought unto, may avoid the 
 one, by removing the other : If you neither 
 hear nor obey the Lord nor his Servants, 
 yet will he send more of his Servants among 
 you, so that your end shall be frustrated, 
 that think to restrain them, you call Cursed 
 
APPENDIX II 89 
 
 Quakers^ from coming among you, by any 
 Thing you can do to them ; yea, verily, he 
 hath a Seed here among you, for whom we 
 have suffered all this while, and yet Suffer ; 
 whom the Lord of the Harvest will send 
 forth more Labourers to gather (out of the 
 Mouths of the D^evourers of all sorts) into 
 his Fold, where he will lead them into fresh 
 Pastures, even the Paths of Righteousness, 
 for his Names sake : Oh ! let none of you 
 put this good Day far from you, which verily 
 in the Light of the Lord I see approaching, 
 even to many in and about Boston, which 
 is the bitterest and darkest professing Place, 
 and so to continue so long as you have 
 done, that ever I heard of ; let the time 
 past therefore suffice, for such a Profession 
 as brings forth such Fruits as these Laws 
 are. In Love and in the Spirit of Meekness 
 I again beseech you, for I have no Enmity 
 to the Persons of any ; but you shall know. 
 That God will not be mocked, but what 
 you sow, that shall you reap from him, that 
 
90 APPENDIX II 
 
 will render to everyone according to the 
 Deeds done in the Body, whether Good or 
 Evil; Even so be it, saith 
 
 *'Mary Dyar." 
 
 "A Copy of this was given to the General 
 Court after Mary Dyar had received the 
 Sentence of Death, about the •8^'^ or 9*^^ 
 Month, 1659." 
 
 [Bishop's New England judged by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, 288.] 
 
 3Iary Dyers Letter to the Massachusetts Gen- 
 eral Courts written the day after she was 
 reprieved on the gallows tree. 
 
 "The 28**^ of the 8^'- Month, 1659. 
 
 " Once more to the General Court, As- 
 sembled in Boston, speaks Mary Dyar, even 
 as before : My Life is not accepted, neither 
 availeth me, in Comparison of the Lives 
 and Liberty of the Truth and Servants of 
 the living God, for which in the Bowels of 
 
APPENDIX II 91 
 
 Love and Meekness I sought you; yet nev- 
 ertheless, with wicked Hands have you put 
 two of them to Death, which makes me to 
 feel, that the Mercies of the Wicked is Cru- 
 elty; I rather chuse to Dye than to Live, 
 as from you, as Guilty of their innocent 
 Blood: Therefore, seeing my Request is 
 hindred, I leave you to the Righteous Judge, 
 and Searcher of all Hearts, who, with the 
 pure measure of Light he hath given to 
 every Man to profit withal, will in his due 
 time let you see whose Servants you are, 
 and of whom you have taken Counsel, which 
 I desire you to search into : But all his 
 Counsel hath been slighted, and you would 
 none of his Reproofs. Read your Portion, 
 Prov. 1:24, to 32. For verily the Night 
 cometh on you apace, wherein no Man can 
 Work, in which you shall assuredly fall to 
 your own Master, in Obedience to the Lord, 
 whom I serve with my Spirit, and pity to 
 your Souls, which you neither know nor 
 pity: I can do no less than once more to 
 
92 APPENDIX n 
 
 warn you, to put away the Evil of your 
 Doings, and Kiss the Son, the Light in you, 
 before his Wrath be kindled in you; for 
 where it is, nothing without you can help 
 or deliver you out of his Hand at all ; and 
 if these things be not so, then say. There 
 hath been no Prophet from the Lord sent 
 amongst you ; though we be nothing, yet 
 it is his Pleasure, by Things that are not, 
 to bring to nought Things that are. 
 
 " When I heard your last Order read, it 
 was a disturbance unto me, that was so freely 
 Offering up my Life to him that gave it 
 me, and sent me hither so to do, which 
 Obedience being his own Work, he glori- 
 ously accompanied with his Presence, and 
 Peace, and Love in me, in which I rested 
 from my labour, till by your Order, and the 
 People, I was so far disturbed, that I could 
 not retain any more the words thereof, 
 than that I should return to Prison, and 
 there remain Forty and Eight Hours ; to 
 which I submitted, finding nothing from 
 
APPENDIX II 93 
 
 the Lord to the contrary, that I may know 
 what his Pleasure and Counsel is concern- 
 ing me, on whom I wait therefore, for he 
 is my Life, and the length of my Days ; 
 and as I said before, I came at his Com- 
 mand, and go at his Command. 
 
 "Mary Dyar." 
 
 [Bishop's New England judged by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, 311.] 
 
APPENDIX III 
 
 William Dyers j^etition to G-overnor Endicott 
 for mercy to his luife. 
 
 " Honor^ S' 
 
 " It is no little greif of mind, and sadness 
 of hart that I am necessitated to be so 
 bould as to supplicate yo' Honor*^ self w'^ 
 the Hon'''^ Assembly of yo' Generall Courte 
 to extend yo' mercy & favoure once agen 
 to me & my children. Little did I dream 
 that ever I shuld have had occasion to pe- 
 titon you in a matter of this nature, but 
 so it is that throu the devine providence 
 and yo' benignity my sonn obtayned so 
 much pitty and mercy att yo' hands as to 
 
 94 
 
APPENDIX III 95 
 
 enjoy the life of his mother, now my sup- 
 plication to yo'^ Hono" is to begg affec- 
 tionately, the life of my deare wife. Tis 
 true I have not seen her above this half 
 yeare & therefore cannot tell how in the 
 frame of her spiritt she was moved thus 
 againe to runn so great a Hazard to her- 
 self, and perplexity to me & mine & all 
 her freinds & well wishers : so itt is from 
 Shelter Hand about by Pequid Narragan- 
 sett & to the Towne of Providence she 
 secrettly & speedyly journyed, & as se- 
 crettly from thence came to yo' jurisdic- 
 tion, unhappy journy may I say, ^ woe 
 to that generation say I that gives occa- 
 sion thus of greif & troble (to thos that 
 desire to be quiett) by helping one an- 
 other (as I may say) to Hazard their lives 
 for I know not whatt end or to what pur- 
 pose : If her zeale be so greatt as thus 
 to adventure, oh Lett yo' favoure & Pitty 
 surmount itt & save her life. Lett not 
 yo"" forwonted compassion bee conquered by 
 
96 APPENDIX TIT 
 
 her inconsiderate madness, & how greatly 
 will yo' renowne be spread if by so con- 
 quering you become victorious. What shall 
 I say more. I know you are all sensible 
 of my condition, and lett the reflect bee, 
 and you will see whatt my petiton is and 
 what will give me ^ mine peace, oh 
 Lett mercies wings once more sore above 
 justice ballance, & then whilst I live 
 shall I exalt yo' goodness butt other 
 wayes twill be a languishing sorrow, yea 
 so great that I shuld gladly suffer the 
 blow att once much rather: I shall for- 
 beare to troble youre Hon' w*'' words ney- 
 ther am T in a capacity to expatiat 
 myself att present: I only say that yo*" 
 selves have been & are or may bee hus- 
 bands to wife or wives, so am I, yea to 
 one most dearely beloved : oh do not de- 
 prive me of her, but I pray give her me 
 once agen & I shall bee so much obleiged 
 for ever, that I shall endeavo' continually 
 to utter my thankes & render yo' Love 
 
APPENDIX III 97 
 
 & Hon'" most renowned : pitty mee, I begg 
 itt w'*" teares, and rest yo"" 
 
 "most humbly suppliant 
 
 "W Dyre 
 "Portsrn^ 27'^ of 3^ 1660 
 
 "Most Hon"** S' Lett these lines by yo' 
 favo"" bee my Petiton to yo"" Hon**^® Gen- 
 erall Court: at present Sitting 
 
 "sd W D" 
 
 [From 3Iass. Archives, X. p. 266 (MSS.).] 
 
 H 
 
APPENDIX IV 
 
 Duration of the persecution of the Quakers 
 hy the Colony of Massachusetts. 
 
 Besse, in Vol. II. p. 225, gives the Royal 
 Mandate for the release of the Quakers, as 
 follows: — 
 
 "Charles R. 
 
 '' Trusty and Welbeloved, we greet you 
 "well. Having been informed that several 
 " of our Subjects among you, called Quakers^ 
 "have been and are imprisoned by you, 
 " whereof some have been executed, and 
 " others (as hath been represented unto us) 
 " are in Dang-er to underofo the Like : We 
 " have thought fit to signify our Pleasure, 
 "in that Behalf for the future, and do 
 "require, that if there be any of those 
 
 98 
 
APPENDIX IV 99 
 
 "People called Quakers amongst you, now 
 "already condemned to suffer Death, or 
 "other Corporal Punishment, or that are 
 "imprisoned, or obnoxious to the like Con- 
 "demnation, you are to forbear to proceed 
 "any farther, but that you forthwith send 
 " the said Persons (whether condemned or 
 "imprisoned) over to this our Kingdom of 
 " England^ together with their respective 
 " Crimes or Offences laid to their charge, 
 "to the End such Course may be taken 
 "with them here, as shall be agreeable to 
 " our Laws, and their Demerits. And for 
 "so doing, these our Letters shall be your 
 "sufficient Warrant and Discharge. Given 
 "at our Court at Whitehall^ the 9'^ Day 
 "of September 1661, in the thirteenth Year 
 "of our Reign. 
 
 " Subscribed, To our Trusty and Welhe- 
 " loved John Endicot, Esq : and to all 
 " a7id every other the Governour or Gov- 
 " ernours of our Plantation of New-Eng- 
 " land, and of the Colonies thereunto he- 
 
100 APPENDIX IV 
 
 " longing^ that now are^ or hereafter shall 
 " he : And to all and every the Ministers 
 " and Officers of our said Plantation and 
 " Colonies whatever^ ivithin the Continent 
 " of New-England. 
 
 " By His Majesty's Command. 
 
 "WiL. Morris." 
 
 Upon the arrival of the Royal Mandate 
 at Boston the following order was issued : — 
 
 u 2^0 William Salter, Keeper of the Prison 
 at Boston. 
 
 " You are required, by Authority and Order 
 " of the General-Court, forthwith to release 
 " and discharge the Quakers^ who at pres- 
 " ent are in your Custody : See that you 
 " dont neglect this. 
 
 " By Order of the Court. 
 
 " Edward Rawson, Secretary^ 
 
 "Boston, the 9th of 
 " December, 1661." 
 
APPENDIX IV 101 
 
 Hallowell, in his Quaker Invasion of 
 Massachusetts^ p. 191, says : " A Quaker 
 jubilation followed this gaol delivery, but 
 the liberty they enjoyed was of short dura- 
 tion. Fear of further interference from 
 England having been allayed, the law of 
 May 22, 1661, with slight modification, was 
 reenacted. This was done on the 8th of 
 October, 1662. The fires of persecution 
 were rekindled. John Endicott pursued 
 the Friends with relentless cruelty until, in 
 March, 1665, death ended his wicked and 
 bloody career. 
 
 " Bellingham succeeded Endicott, but was 
 less persistent, and instances of cruelty, 
 under his administration, are not numerous. 
 His clemency was due in part to the in- 
 terference of royal commissioners, who, on 
 the 24th of May, 1665, submitted a series 
 of demands to the General Court, one of 
 which was, that the Quakers should be 
 allowed to attend to their secular business 
 without molestation. Bellingham died in 
 
102 APPENDIX IV 
 
 December, 1672. In November, 1675, per- 
 secution was revived by the passage of a 
 law prohibiting Quaker meetings, and in 
 May, 1677, it was further provided, that 
 the constables should '• make diligent search ' 
 for such meetings, and should 'break open 
 any door where peaceable entrance is denied 
 them.' For a brief period it seemed as if 
 the scenes of 1661 and 1662 were to be 
 reenacted. Men and women were seized, 
 dragged to gaol, imprisoned, fed on bread 
 and water, fined, and publicly whipped. In 
 the 6th month (August) fourteen Quakers 
 were taken at one meeting, and in the fol- 
 lowing week a second arrest of fifteen was 
 made. Most, if not all of them, in addition 
 to other punishment, suffered flogging at 
 the whipping post. These are the latest 
 cases of corporal punishment noted by 
 Besse. The Friends rallied in increasing 
 numbers and once more the authorities 
 were forced to respect their rights." 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 THE FIGURES REFER TO PAGES 
 
 Acady 45 
 
 Anglican Church 13 
 
 Antinomian movement 32 
 
 Arnold, Benedict 78 
 
 Atherton, General 67 
 
 Barnstable 65 
 
 Baulston, William . . , 78 
 
 Bellingham, Governor 101 
 
 Bennet, Gervase 58 
 
 Besse's History of the Friends . . vi, 98, 102 
 Bishop, George, New England Judged . . 
 
 V, 7, 30, 55, 90, 93 
 Boston, 2, 7, 8, 11, 12, 31, 33, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 
 47, 50, 56, 57, 62, 63, 71, 74, 78, 84, 
 90, 100 
 
 Boston Common 48, 49, 60, 62 
 
 First Church 3, 4 
 
 Bowden's History of the Quakers .... vi 
 
 105 
 
106 INDEX 
 
 Bradstreet, Simon 74 
 
 Brend, William, Persecution of . . . . 5, 27 
 
 Brown University 34 
 
 Burden, Ann 35 
 
 Call from Death to Life vi 
 
 Chace, James H 34 
 
 Jonathan 34 
 
 Chandler, Peleg W 49 
 
 Charles II., Mandate of, for release of 
 
 Quakers 98 
 
 Christmas, Massachusetts law against . . 19 
 
 Clarke, John 35 
 
 Walter 12 
 
 Coddington, William 3, 35 
 
 Connecticut 44 
 
 K-iver Colonies, Persecutions by . . . 2 
 
 Settlement of 14 
 
 Croese, Gerard, Description of Mary Dyer 
 
 by 30 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver 22 
 
 Dancing at weddings forbidden 19 
 
 Davis, Nicholas 37, 39 
 
 Denison, Daniel 74 
 
INDEX 107 
 
 Dryden, Sir Erasmus 12 
 
 John 12 
 
 Dyer, Benjamin 34 
 
 Charles ....,....'.•■ 34 
 
 Elisha, Sr 34 
 
 Governor 34 
 
 General 34 
 
 Mary vi, 11, 12, 17 
 
 Description of 30 
 
 Emigrates to Boston 31 
 
 Joins Bev. Mr. Wilson's Church . . 31 
 
 Letters of 31,84,90, 
 
 Joins in Antinoniian movement . . 32 
 
 Monstrosity born of 33 
 
 Descendants of 17, 34 
 
 Visits England 35 
 
 Adopts Quaker belief 35 
 
 Imprisoned in Boston 36 
 
 Expelled from New Haven .... 36 
 Banished from Massachusetts . . 38, 39 
 Again arrested in Boston .... 39 
 
 Trial of . . . " 40 
 
 Sentenced to death 44 
 
 Carried to place of execution ... 47 
 Reprieved 51, 52 
 
108 INDEX 
 
 Dyer, Mary, refuses reprieve . . . . 53, 54 
 
 Sent to Rhode Island 55 
 
 Visits Long Island 56 
 
 Keturns to Boston 57 
 
 Again sentenced to death .... 58 
 
 Execution of 60 
 
 Entry of death in Friends' Records 
 
 of Portsmouth 63 
 
 Apologists for persecutors of ... 63 
 A martyr for Soul-Liberty .... 67 
 Letter of intercession for her, by hus- 
 band of 94 
 
 Mahershallalhashbaz 17 
 
 William 30, 63 
 
 Offices held by 31, 33 
 
 Disarmed in Boston 32 
 
 Forced to leave Massachusetts ... 32 
 
 Settles in Rhode Island 33 
 
 Descendants of 17, 34 
 
 Visits England 35 
 
 Intercedes for his wife's life ... 59 
 
 Letter of intercession of 94 
 
 William, Jr 54 
 
 Eaton, Theophilus 74 
 
INDEX 109 
 
 Endicott, Governor John, 8, 11, 40, 46, 57, 59, 
 
 66, 82, 94, 99, 101 
 Execution, Puritan method of 48 
 
 Feild, William 78 
 
 Fenner, Arthur <, . „ 78 
 
 Ferriss, W. M 57 
 
 Field, see Feild. 
 
 Fox, George 22, 58 
 
 Friends, Name of . . » 57 
 
 See Quakers. 
 
 Gardner, Horred, Persecution of ... . 7 
 Gorton, Samuel 21 
 
 Hallowell's Quaker Invasion of Massachu- 
 setts 22, 101 
 
 Harvard College 16 
 
 Hazard's State Papers 74, 78 
 
 Higginson, Kev. Francis 15 
 
 Hildreth quoted 21 
 
 Holden, see Howldon. 
 
 Holder, Christopher 6, 12, 39 
 
 Holland , 14 
 
 Hollis Street Church 49 
 
 Howldon, Eandall 78 
 
110 INDEX 
 
 Hutchinson, Anne .... 9, 21, 30, 32, 33 
 
 Captain 39 
 
 Governor, History of Massachusetts . 38, 78 
 
 4 
 
 Immorality, Puritan rei)ression of .... 18 
 
 Leddra, William, Execution of 66 
 
 Leete, William 74 
 
 London 12, 31, 37 
 
 Long Island 56 
 
 Lutheran Church 13 
 
 Lyman, Daniel W 34 
 
 Gymnasium 34 
 
 IVIarbury, Rev. Francis 11, 12 
 
 Mary, Queen 63 
 
 Mason, John 74 
 
 Massachusetts, 4, 12, 16, 21, 26, 30, 31, 32, 36, 
 37, 38, 39, 40, Tj^, m, 67, 79, 98 
 
 Archives 97 
 
 General Court, 3, 7, 12, 15, 19, 27, 45, 57, 
 58, 59, 74, 83, 84, 90, 94, 97, 101 
 Order of, for release of Quakers . . 100 
 Letter to, from Rhode Island about 
 
 Quakers 79 
 
INDEX 111 
 
 Massachusetts, Persecution by 2 
 
 Kecords vi 
 
 Settlement of .... • 14 
 
 Union of Church and State in . . . . 15 
 Mather, Cotton, Account of Mary Dyer's 
 
 monstrosity 33 
 
 Mereliquish 45 
 
 Morris, Wil 100 
 
 Musconcus 45 
 
 Narragansett 95 
 
 New England, Religious situation in . . . 12 
 
 New Haven Colony 36 
 
 Family regulation in 18 
 
 Newport 7, 33, 63 
 
 Norton, Rev. John 3 
 
 Nova Scotia . 45 
 
 Oakes, President 16, 20 
 
 Oliver, Captain James 46, 47 
 
 Palfrey on Mary Dyer's monstrosity ... 33 
 
 Pequid 95 
 
 Plymouth 14, 72 
 
 Colony 37 
 
112 INDEX 
 
 Plymouth Colonyj Persecution by ... . 2 
 
 Portsmouth 33, 63, 82, 97 
 
 Prence, Thomas 74 
 
 Protestant Eeformation 13 
 
 Providence 9, 34, 37, 38, 78, 95 
 
 Plantations founded 20 
 
 See Rhode Island. 
 
 Puritan intolerance 20 
 
 Ministers' persecutions 3 
 
 Puritans, Influence of 15 
 
 Laws of 18, 19 
 
 Religious methods of . . 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 
 
 Removal of, to Holland 14 
 
 Rise of 13 
 
 Quaker belief 22 
 
 Fearlessness 29 
 
 Persecutions, Source of 26 
 
 Repression of Puritan persecution . . 21 
 
 Quakers, Besse's History of vi 
 
 Bowden's History of vi 
 
 SewePs History of vi 
 
 Derivation of name of 57 
 
 Puritan persecution of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 36, 65, 
 
 101, 102 
 
INDEX 113 
 
 Quakers, Puritan persecution of, Duration 
 
 of 66,98 
 
 Royal mandate for release of .... 98 
 
 Rawson, Edward 100 
 
 Religious situation in New England ... 12 
 
 Rhode Island, 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 
 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 55, 56, 63, 64 
 Answer to United Colonies as to Quak- 
 ers, by 2, 75, 79 
 
 Colonial Records 74, 78, 82 
 
 Founded 20 
 
 Robinson, William vi 
 
 Imprisoned in Boston 37 
 
 Banished from Massachusetts . . .38, 39 
 
 Again arrested in Boston 39 
 
 Trial of 40 
 
 Sentenced to death 42 
 
 Execution of 46 
 
 Attempted vindication of execution of . 56 
 
 Romish Church, Religious revolt from . . 12 
 
 St. Georges 45 
 
 Salter, William 100 
 
 Sanford, John 82 
 
 I 
 
114 INDEX 
 
 Scott, Catharine 9, 12, 37 
 
 Hannah 12 
 
 Mary 12 
 
 Patience 11, 37, 38 
 
 SewePs History of the Quakers vi 
 
 Shelter Island 95 
 
 Snow's History of Boston 62 
 
 Stephenson, Marmaduke vi 
 
 Imprisoned in Boston 37 
 
 Banished from Massachusetts . . .38, 39 
 
 Again arrested in Boston 39 
 
 Trial of 40 
 
 Sentenced to death 43 
 
 Execution of 4G 
 
 Attempted vindication of execution of . 56 
 
 Taylcott, John 74 
 
 Temple, Colonel Thomas 45 
 
 Tobacco, Use of, forbidden 19 
 
 United Colonies 36, 83 
 
 Letter from, to Rhode Island, about 
 
 Quakers . . . • 71 
 
 Ehode Island's reply to 75, 79 
 
INDEX 115 
 
 Wanton, Edward 62 
 
 Webb, Captain John 60 
 
 Weymouth 7 
 
 Wheelwright, Eev. John 21, 32 
 
 Whitehall 99 
 
 Whiting's Truth and Innocency Defended . v 
 
 Williams, Eoger 20,21,35,67 
 
 Wilson, Rev. John . . . 4,31,46,49,50,61 
 Winthrop, Governor, Description of Mary 
 
 Dyer, by 30 
 
 Account by, of Mary Dyer's monstrosity 33 
 Of Connecticut 44 
 
 Yorkshire 37 
 
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