s alike
the corrupter of private morals and the debaucher of nations. To these
considerations may be added a willingness at least on the part of the
government, to rid itself of idle profligates and unruly spirits.
Guided by this chart, it is not difficult to understand why efforts
similar to those which had proved abortive, should now be successful.

The character of the first emigrants to the Virginia colony, and the
products of the country sent home, confirm these views. They are
described as "many gentlemen, a few laborers, several refiners,
goldsmiths, and jewellers," and the returning ships were freighted
with cedar and with a glittering earth, which was mistaken for gold.
Another party is spoken of by a chronicler of the times, as "many
unruly gallants sent hither by their friends to escape ill destinies."
Doubtless among those denominated gentlemen and gallants were some
noble souls, like, though _longo intervallo_, to the heroic
Smith.

While the Virginia colony was slowly struggling against adverse
circumstances, and attracting to herself the cavaliers who, in various
capacities and with different fortunes, had figured in those troubled
times, important changes were going on at home destined to exert a
mighty influence on the New World. That awakening of the intellect
occasioned by the speculations of Wyckliff, the morning star of the
Reformation, more than two hundred years before, and to which Luther
and Calvin had imparted a fresh impulse, was performing its destined
work. By the assertion of the right of private judgment in matters of
religion, the pillars of authority had been shaken. Nothing was
considered as too sacred to be examined. To the tribunal of the mind
of every man, however undisciplined and illiterate, were brought, like
criminals to be tried, the profoundest mysteries and most perplexing
questions of theology, and in proportion to the ignorance of the
judge, was the presumption with which sentence was pronounced. A
general love of dogma prevailed. The cross-legged tailor plying his
needle on his raised platform; the cobbler in the pauses of beating
the leather on his lap-stone; and the field-laborer as he rested on
his spade; discussed with serene and satisfied assurance problems,
before the contemplation of which, the ripest learning and highest
order of mind had veiled their faces. Dissatisfaction with the
condition of things spread more and more. All, in both Church and
State, was cons