stions, which
bid fair to tear them to pieces. Hence, Robinson determined to remove
his flock, and in May, 1609, they made the city of Leyden, twenty
miles distant, their permanent abode. Their pastor, Richard Clifton,
remained in Amsterdam, and the care of the congregation in their new
home was confided to John Robinson and William Brewster.[10]

In Leyden the Pilgrims were compelled to adapt themselves, as they had
in Amsterdam, to conditions of life very different from those to which
they had been trained in their own country. As far as they can be
traced, a majority seem to have found employment in the manufacture of
woollen goods, for which the city was famous. Their uprightness,
diligence, and sobriety gave them a good name and pecuniary credit
with their Dutch neighbors, who testified twelve years later that in
all their stay in Holland "we never had any suit or accusation against
any of them."[11]

To Robinson, Brewster, and Bradford the change was a decided gain. As
the site of a great university, Leyden furnished them intercourse with
learned men and access to valuable libraries. Robinson was admitted a
member of the university, and before long appeared as a disputant on
the Calvinist side in the public discussions. Brewster taught the
English language to the Dutch, and, opening a publishing house,
printed many theological books. Bradford devoted himself to the study
of the ancient languages, "to see with his own eyes the ancient
oracles of God in all their native beauty."[12]

Their stay at Leyden covered the period of the famous twelve years'
truce between Spain and Holland, and their number increased from one
hundred to three hundred. Among the new-comers from England were John
Carver, Robert Cushman, Miles Standish, and Edward Winslow. Towards
the end of the period the exiles began to think of a second
emigration, and this time it was not persecution that suggested the
thought. In expectation of the renewal of hostilities with Spain, the
streets of Leyden sounded with the beating of drums and preparations
of war. Although Holland afforded them religious freedom, they won
their subsistence at the price of unremitting toil, which might be
made even harder by renewal of hostilities. A more sentimental reason
was found in the desire to perpetuate their existence as a religious
body of Englishmen.

By the summer of 1617 the majority of the Scrooby congregation had
fully decided to emigrate, and it only rem