Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/68

 Ix INTRODUCTION.

their cause and repel these attacks at Court. The unwil- lingness of the Government to send these Commissioners was only equalled by the distaste of those upon whom their choice had fallen — Mr. Bradstreet and the Rev. Mr. Nor- ton — for this delicate and unpleasant duty. Mr. Norton was particularly disinclined to have any thing to do with the matter, but his scruples were finally overcome. Having recovered from a severe attack of sickness, whose sudden approach delayed their departure, Norton embarked with Bradstreet on the loth of February. On the following morning they set sail for England, John Hull, the mint- master of the Colony, being a fellow-passenger with them. They arrived in London the last of March, and were suc- cessful in their endeavors, — to divert the anger of the king, to put a favorable construction on the past acts of the Col- ony, and to secure for it an extension of the royal favor. On the 3d of September, they returned in the ship '^ Society," bringing with them a letter from the King, in which the charter -privileges were confirmed, and all past errors par- doned. The satisfaction which this gave was more than counterbalanced by the rest of the letter, which enjoined a fuller establishment of the King's authority, and contained other matter equally distasteful to the people. The conse- quence was, that the two agents became extremely unpopu- lar, and this cold treatment was thought to have hastened the death of Norton, who grew very melancholy, and died on the 5th of the following April. While they w^ere in England, fears were entertained for their safety, and re- ports came in private letters that they had been detained, and that Mr. Norton was in the Tower. And, according to Sewel, the Quaker historian, who gives no very flatter-

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