3. Cordovan. From the city of Cordoba, Spain, noted for the leather prepared there.

8. Corselet. A breastplate and backpiece forming a protection for the upper part of the body.

Sword of Damascus. Damascus in Syria is one of the oldest cities in the world. The swords made here were once famous not only for their remarkably fine temper, but for the artistic figures and mystic characters wrought in the blade. The secret of their make is now largely a lost art.

1-20. Miles Standish was at this time about thirty-six years of age, though the description seems to make him older. He had evidently left England for the Netherlands to fight with the Dutch against Spain. In Holland he had met his compatriots, the Puritans, cast his fortunes with them, and embarked as one of their number for the New World. John Alden, at this time about twenty-one, had joined the Pilgrims when their vessel touched at the port of Southampton.

19. “While yet an abbot, Gregory’s interest had been awakened by the fair faces and flaxen hair of a group of Saxon youths exposed for sale in the slave-market at Rome. ‘Who are they?’ he asked. ‘Angles,’ was the reply. ‘It suits them well,’ he said; ‘with faces so angel-like.’” (Painter, History of English Literature.)

20. The Mayflower. The name of the vessel that carried the Pilgrims to America.

28. Arcabucero. A Spanish word, originally meaning archer, now generally equivalent to musketeer.

22-33. The pictures given of their personal appearance is completed and reinforced by the first words the two men speak. Compare the character indications of 25-30 and 32, 33.

52. Sagamore, sachem. These words are the titles of Indian chiefs, the former being a subordinate, the latter a principal chief.

Pow-wow, an Indian medicine-man.

53. Indian names.61. Rose Standish. “In Young’s Chronicles of the Pilgrims, Boston, 1841, is a note thus: ‘Jan. 29, dies Rose, the wife of Captain Standish.’ In William Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation is recorded: ‘Captain Standish his wife dyed in the first sickness, and he maried againe and hath 4 sones lieving, and some are dead.’” Cited by Malfroy.

69. Barriffe’s Artillery Guide. An early work on military tactics, written by a Puritan, William Barriffe.

83. The Mayflower started on her return voyage, April 5, 1621.

85. Priscilla. “Mr. Molines [Mullen] and his wife, his sone and his servant dyed the first winter. Only his dougter Priscilla survived, and maried with John Alden.” (Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation.)

100. Iberian. Iberia, Spain. This was, however, an Alpine village. As CÆsar and his companions were passing through the place, they were struck with its poverty and wretchedness. Some one mockingly asked whether there were any canvassing for offices there. To this CÆsar replied: “For my part, I would rather be the first among these fellows than the second man in Rome.” The account is given in Plutarch’s Life of Caesar.

104. Flanders. Allusion to CÆsar’s campaign against the Nervii, who occupied that part of the Netherlands known as Flanders.

113. This battle is depicted in CÆsar’s Commentaries, Book II, chapter 25.

136. Since Rose Standish died. See note on line 61.

140. The loss of her father, mother and brother is mentioned in Bradford’s History of the Plymouth Plantation. See note, line 85.

206. Astaroth, Baal. Divinities of ancient Syria, mentioned in the Old Testament. Milton refers to them:

210. Mayflowers. In England this name is applied to the hawthorn; in America to a trailing plant “having white or rose-colored flowers.” “The trailing arbutus or mayflower grows abundantly in the vicinity of Plymouth, and was the first flower that greeted the Pilgrims after their fearful winter.” (Whittier.)212. Children lost in the woods. The pathetic story of the cruel destruction of two children by exposure and desertion is told in an ancient English ballad:

224. The hundredth Psalm. The music to which the words were being sung was the same as “Old Hundred.”

232. Many English books and translations were printed by the early Dutch printers of Amsterdam and Leyden, notably by the Elzivirs of the latter place.

245. Compare Luke ix: 62.

248. Jeremiah xxxiii: 11.

321. In Young’s Chronicles of the Pilgrims we read that the ancestors of Miles Standish were of a warlike spirit, and that the family record can be traced back as far as to Ralph de Standish, 1221.

324. Crest. The distinguishing mark worn by a knight, usually upon the helmet or above the shield.

Argent. Silver, or resembling silver.

325. Gules. Of a red color.

344. Reference to Revelation xxi.

362. The account is given in 2 Samuel, xi and xii.

415. Wat Tyler. The leader of an insurrection in London, slain by Jean Standuich. This happened under Richard II., about 1381.

421. You too, Brutus! Notwithstanding the friendship existing between them, Brutus conspired against the life of CÆsar. It is stated that when Brutus advanced to strike him, CÆsar said, “And you too, my son!”

442. Elder of Plymouth. William Brewster (1560-1644).

481. In this dramatic incident the poet has used the facts as they occurred, with very little change. The incident of the rattlesnake-skin and the challenge is historic; it took place in 1622.

496. The plot requires that the choleric Captain should at this stage be removed from the presence of Alden and Priscilla, leaving the issue in a state of suspense. For this purpose the author finds the material of the annals almost ready shaped. The only alteration required was to change the time when the expedition under Standish started to relieve the threatened Weymouth Colony. This took place in March, 1623, but in the poem it is made to happen in April, 1621.

559. Alden’s position with one foot on the gunwale and one on the rock is a striking visualization of a mood.

572. Adamantine. “By him forbidden to unlock these adamantine gates.” (Paradise Lost, Book II, 853.)

597. The shipmaster, like Standish, is not a devout Puritan.

601. Songs. Not songs, but rather a series of rhythmic sounds accompanying their work.

605. Gurnet Point. A headland at the entrance to Plymouth harbor, on the north side.

606. Before landing at Plymouth the Pilgrims had spent some time in looking for a suitable locality. A party of them had gone on shore and examined the environs here. They had then met some Indians; hence the name, “First Encounter.”

607. Took the wind on her quarter. Holding a course such that the wind struck the vessel at a point “between abeam and astern.” What must have been the exact course of the vessel?

626. Like the spirit of God. Reference to Genesis i: 2.

657. Dissolves the spell of its silence. Old superstition. So in Hamlet, (Act I, sc. 1, l. 44,) where Bernardo says, “It [the ghost] would be spoke to.”

665. Havilah. Genesis ii: 10-14.

755. Goliath of Gath. 1 Sam. xvii: 14.

Og, king of Bashan. Numbers xxi: 33.

815. The details of this expedition and the resulting encounter are taken from Winslow’s Relation of Standish’s Expedition as given in Dr. Young’s Chronicles. Here we are informed that such an expedition took place in 1623, under command of Captain Standish. Other details worked into the poem are also mentioned here: the defiance of Wattawmat (771-781); Pecksuot (783-787); the observation of Hobomak (813-815); and the grim trophy placed by the Captain on the roof of the fort when he returned to the colony.

828. Merestead. “Meer” and “mear” are old terms, meaning boundary. Hence, the plot of ground inclosed by boundaries.

829. Glebe. Sod or turf.

846. The original homestead is still owned by the descendants of John Alden. It is in Duxbury, on the coast, a short distance southeast from Boston.

858-864. An almost literal rendering of verses 11, 12, 13, and 21 of Proverbs xxxi.

872. Bertha the Beautiful Spinner. According to one account she was the daughter of Burkhard of Swabia. In 921 she became the wife of Rudolph II., king of Burgundy beyond Jura. She is represented on the monuments of the time as sitting on her throne, spinning.

927. A complete description of the garb of a Hebrew high priest is given in Exodus, xxviii: 4-43.

936. Ruth and Boaz. Ruth iv: 10-12.

943. Lo! when the service was ended. It will be interesting to note what difference it would have made with respect to a satisfactory outcome if the Captain had appeared before the service began.

1013. The valley of Eshcol. It was the part of the Promised Land from which the spies brought back a cluster of grapes of marvelous size. Numbers xiii: 23, 24.