werful influence to induce her husband to give up these
irregular assemblies; and, without compromising his own opinions, to
endeavor to ward off the enmity of the men of Boston.

She earnestly besought him again to leave the Congregation of Salem--
the greater portion of which had already deserted him and his cause--
and to return to Plymouth, where a safe and a happy home might yet be
afforded to them, and where no persecution for conscience' sake, need
be feared. But all her arguments and her persuasions were alike
ineffectual. On this one point she found her Roger firm and
inflexible--for on this point he felt that his honor and his conscience
were both concerned; and, even for Edith's sake; he could not act
contrary to their dictates. He knew that danger hung over his head;
and, though he would not shrink from it himself, he besought her to
seek a temporary refuge with her parents, and remain at Plymouth until
the threatened storm had blown over. But it was now Edith's turn to
show herself firm and decided; and so clearly did Roger perceive that
separation would be to her a far greater trial than any other that
could befall her in his company, that he forbore to urge a measure that
it wrung his own heart to propose.

At length the boding storm began to break over his head. For all his
supposed offences he was again summoned before the General Assembly at
Boston; and, in fear and anxiety, Edith saw him depart. She knew full
well that he would never renounce, or even soften down, his opinions,
through any fear of man; and she did not, for a moment, desire that he
should thus lower himself in her estimation and his own. But she also
knew the bitterness of the enmity felt towards him by the authorities
at Boston, and she could not repress her apprehensions of its
consequences.

As she anticipated, Roger refused to acknowledge himself guilty of an
offence against the church or state; nor would he even yield one point
of his religious or political opinions, during a long disputation with
the celebrated pastor Hooker. He was, therefore, declared contumacious
by the government: and, with the assent of all the assembled clergy,
except his friend Elliot, he was banished from the territory of
Massachusetts.

Six weeks were allowed him by the General Assembly to make his
preparations, and remove beyond the boundary of their dominions: but as
this term would have brought the time of his banishment to the winter
season, wh