Note 287 — Chapter XX

It appears, that while Mr. Williams was in England, he was obliged to provide for his own support, while his large family, we may presume, were injured by his absence. The General Assembly of the towns of Providence and Warwick, expressed in a letter, their regret, that they could not send him money, in consequence of their domestic trials, but informed him that they meant to aid his family. In his “Bloody Tenet made more Bloody,” he mentions his exertions to supply the poor in London with fuel, during the civil wars; to which service he was led, probably, by his benevolent and active temper, as well as by the desire to obtain a subsistence. He says: “I can tell, that when these discussions were prepared for the public in London, his time was eaten up in attendance upon the service of the Parliament and city, for the supply of the poor of the city with wood, during the stop of the coal from Newcastle, and the mutinies of the poor for firing [for which service, he adds in a note, through the hurry of the times and the necessity of his departure, he lost his recompense to this day.] It is true, he might have run the road of preferment, as well in Old as in New-England, and have had the leisure and time of such who eat and drink with the drunken, and smite with the fist of wickedness their fellow-servants.” (p. 38.) In his letter to the town of Providence, in 1654, he says, “I was unfortunately fetched and drawn from my employment, and sent to so vast distance from my family to do your work of a high and costly nature, for so many days, and weeks, and months together, and there left to starve, or steal, or beg, or borrow. But blessed be God, who gave me favor to borrow one while, and to work another, and thereby to pay your debts there, and to come over with your credit and honor, as an agent from you, who had in your name grappled with the agents and friends of all your enemies round about you.” Few stronger examples of disinterested patriotism could be found in any age or country.