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Archiver > MAYFLOWER > 2007-12 > 1199107823
From:
Subject: Re: [MFLR] Morrell's 1623 Poem Written in Plymouth ColonyAvailableOnline
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:30:23 -0500
Hi Stacy,
Thanks for sending this - and for posting it on the SAIL1620 site. I had read it many years ago in Plymouth, but had forgotten about it. It seems to me that it might be composed not from personal observation so much as from a bit of that combined with reading Winslow's published description of Indian society etc. Since two people might have observed the same thing equally, it's hard to decide. However, I should think that Bradford or Winslow would have remembered to mention it, if Morrell had accompanied any of the expeditions to visit Indians. So I assume it's principally based on reading Winslow's reports, as regards the Indians. The rest is too incoherent to assume any particular observation. It's general material saying New England's a nice place. True enough.
I sent my book typescript to the publisher on Friday. 1249 double-spaced pages! The bibliography is over 200 pp. So it should boil down to around 600 when finally produced. Now I have to organize the illustrations. I hope to have about 75, but it's not certain how many will be allowed. I had them ready, but they were lost in a computer crash. That computer is being dissected, in the hope that the contents can be transferred to an external hard drive. Otherwise I have to re-photograph a lot of pictures - not impossible, since I own many of them (or the museum does, or a friend does). But it's time-consuming.
Time, however, will be consumed by external readers. The publisher will send it out to two or three anonymous commenters. Only after receiving their remarks will the publisher say a final yes or no on publishing the book. I suppose it will be a yes, but usually some revisions will be requested. If it's a no, the same process goes on by sending it to a different publisher. &c. &c. &c. &c.
If all goes smoothly, the book should appear in the late spring or summer.
Happy New Year!
Jeremy
"Stacy Wood" <> wrote:
>New England. Or a briefe enarration of the ayre, Earth, Water, Fish and
>Fowles of that Country. With a Description of the Natures, Orders, Habits
>and Religion of the Natives; in Latine and English Verse (London, 1625)
>
>By Rev. William Morrell
>
>
>
>An Introduction
>
>
>
>There are a few published eyewitness reports of early Plymouth Colony. The
>most famous is William Bradford's history Of Plimoth Plantation that
>actually begins in 1550 and runs through1647-8. Perhaps the next best known
>is the journal known as Mourt's Relation that mainly covers the period from
>the Pilgrim's departure from England in Nov 1620 through the first winter to
>23 March 1621. It appears to be a joint effort of both Bradford and Edward
>Winslow and was published in England in 1622. Edward Winslow, in his Good
>Newes from New England published in 1624, picks up the story with the
>arrival of the next ship, "Fortune", in November 1621 up through the arrival
>of the "Anne" and "Little James" in September 1623. Winslow also includes a
>chapter on the "manners, customs, religious opinions and ceremonies of the
>Indians." Caleb Johnson's www.MayflowerHistory.com
><http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/>; website includes a few letters from
>Plimoth settlers during the first decade as well as Bradford's 1624-1630
>Letter Book.
>
>
>
>A lengthy discourse in poetry of the Colony and its surrounds was published
>by the Church of England (Episcopal) clergyman and Cambridge graduate
>William Morrell in 1625. In 1623 he had accompanied Capt. Robert Gorges who
>had been sent to establish a second settlement in what is now Weymouth. The
>settlement being a failure, Gorges had returned to England that same year,
>leaving Morrell behind. Morrell had a commission from the Ecclesiastical
>Court in England to be a superintendent of the churches that might be
>established in New England. Finding that everything was well organized, he
>decided to remain in the Colony and study the flora and fauna of New England
>and also the native people. Morrell does not name any individuals in his
>poem. Bradford does mention Morrell, however, in his account of the events
>of 1623 in which he states that he was unaware of Morrell's reason for
>coming to New England until Morrell's departure in 1624 or 1625, as Morrell
>had never made the reason known.
>
>
>
>Morrell's observations, recorded in both Latin hexameters and his own
>translation into English, were published in 1625. It is interesting to
>compare both his and Winslow's description in Good Newes of the native
>people. Both were recorded at about the same time. Winslow departed for
>England shortly after Morrell's arrival. Some readers may be disturbed by
>Reverend Morrell's typical white/English 17th century mind-set. Others may
>find Morrell's 17th century spelling amusing. The bottom line, however, is
>that, like many others writing home from New England, the new settlers were
>trying to entice others to join them. As Morrell states:
>
>
>
>"A grand-childe to earth's paradize is borne,
>
>Well lim'd, well nerv'd, faire, riche, sweete, yet forlorne,
>
>Thou blest director, so direct my verse
>
>That it may winne her people, friends, commerce."
>
>
>
>Extracts have appeared in the both the 2007 Fall and Winter issues of the PA
>Mayflower Society's JR PA Mayflower and the complete English text is now
>posted on the PA Society's www.SAIL1620.org <http://www.sail1620.org/>;
>Website. It has been taken from the poem's publication in 1896 in the
>Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 1, pages 125-139
>and is courtesy of The Pilgrim Hall Museum collection. It appears with the
>original spelling and punctuation. Multiples of five line numbers have been
>added. Those who wish to read the Latin text will find it in that MA
>Historical Society source.
>
>
>
>
>-------------------------------
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