22
The University Courier.
A Study of the Sources of Longfellow's Courtship of Miles Standish.
The principal sources from which Longfellow drew this poem are to be found in the customs of the people, affairs with the Indians, the passions of mankind, and the inventions of the poet. These, with the early New England traditions, have been woven into a most beautiful tale of fiction by the hand of an artist.
The leading and most numerous facts are drawn from history. Miles Standish, John Alden, Priscilla Mullens and many other characters mentioned in the poem were prominent figures in colonial days, and came over in the Mayflower. In fact the name of every individual mentioned by the poet may be found in the remaining records of the Plymouth Colony. Both Alden and Standish held important offices in the early colonial government. Alden's influence in colonial affairs was much greater than one would suppose from reading the poem. In matters of religion he was a Puritan. While Standish did not subscribe to the faith of the Puritans, the command of the Puritan army of ten men, a membership in the executive council and the guardianship of the colonial treasury were given to him on account of the confidence of the colonists in his ability and integrity.
The boasts of the Puritan Captain concerning his bold adventures and narrow escapes in the Hollandish wars have a strong appearance of probability; for the colonial records state that Miles Standish was a distinguished commissioned officer in the British army during the Flemish wars. In extolling the praises of the colonial Captain to Priscilla, Alden mentions his distinguished ancestors, says he is a descendant of Hugh Standish, a nobleman, and the owner of a vast estate in England of which the Puritan commander was defrauded. The last will and testament of Standish confirms this statement and makes his eldest son, William, heir apparent of this property in England.
Among the old colonial archives may still be found the papers of the administrator of the Captain's estate. Among other things, it contains a list of his books, in which was the
"Commentaries of Caesar," "Bariffe's Artillery Guide." and the "Bible," mentioned in the poem. In all probability Longfellow had seen the list of books in the Captain's library, and perhaps his armor and sword which was in possession of a descendant during the first quarter of the present century, a descendant who allowed the armor to be destroyed by rust and who lost the sword.
The Puritan Captain points with pride to his howitzers on the roof of the church. This is a fact mentioned in history, and known to every school boy. A primary school history is not complete without the illustration of the six great apostles frowning from the roof of the Puritan Temple, and speaking with tongues of fire to the savage intruders. But while the poet makes Standish boast of his "great and invincible army" of twelve men and that, like Caesar, ke knew the names of each. The records of Beadford and others, say nothing about the commander's personal acquaintance with each of his soldiers. The poet's powers of invention are undoubtedly the source from which he drew that statement.
Governor Beadford's record of events of Feb. 27, which states that, on a neighboring hill, an Indian was seen, and that, when they beckoned to him to come to them, he disappeared in the forest, is probably the authority on which Longfellow bases the following in part V:
"Lo! as they turned to depart, they saw the form of an Indian
Watching them from the hill; but while they spake with each other,
Pointing with out-stretched hands and saying, 'Look!' and he had vanished."
Every one who has read the colonial history of Massachusetts, remembers that Canonicus, sachem of the Narragansetts, sent a rattlesnake skin filled with arrows as a challenge of war and that Governor Beadford returned the skin filled with powder and bullets. But Longfellow robs him of the glory of his boldness to magnify the merits of his hero in the following lines:
" Then from the rattlesnake skin, with a sudden contemptious gesture
Jerking the Indian arrows, he (Standish) filled it with powder and bullets.
Full to the very jaws and handed it back to the savage."