Upon the disgrace of Davison, Brewster removed to Scrooby, where from 1590
until September 1607 he held the position of "Post," or postmaster
responsible for the relays of horses on the post road, having previously,
for a short time, assisted his father in that office. About 1602 his
neighbours began to assemble for worship at his home, the Scrooby manor
house, and in 1606 he joined them in organizing the Separatist church of
Scrooby. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1607 (for which he was imprisoned
for a short time), he, with other Separatists, removed to Holland in 1608
to obtain greater freedom of worship. At Leiden in 1609 he was chosen
ruling elder of the Congregation. In Holland he supported himself first by
teaching English and afterwards in 1616-1619, as the partner of one Thomas
Brewer, by secretly printing, for sale in England, books proscribed by the
English government, thus, says Bradford, having "imploymente inough." In
1619 their types were seized and Brewer was arrested by the authorities of
the university of Leiden, acting on the instance of the British ambassador,
Sir Dudley Carleton. Brewster, however, escaped, and in the same year, with
Robert Cushman (c. 1580-1625), obtained in London, on behalf of his
associates, a land patent from the Virginia Company. In 1620 he emigrated
to America on the "Mayflower," and was one of the founders of the Plymouth
Colony. Here besides continuing until his death to act as ruling elder, he
was also--regularly until the arrival of the first pastor, Ralph Smith (d.
1661), in 1629 and irregularly afterward--a "teacher," preaching "both
powerfully and profitably to ye great contentment of ye hearers and their
comfortable edification." By many he is regarded as pre-eminently the
leader of the "Pilgrims." He died, probably on the 10th of April 1644.

See Ashbel Steele's _Chief of the Pilgrims; or the Life and Time of William
Brewster_ (Philadelphia, 1857); and a sketch in William Bradford's _History
of the Plimouth Plantation_ (new ed., Boston, 1898).

BREZE the name of a noble Angevin family, the most famous member of which
was PIERRE DE BREZE (c. 1410-1465), one of the trusted soldiers and
statesmen of Charles VII. He had made his name as a soldier in the English
wars when in 1433 he joined with Yolande, queen of Sicily, the constable
Richmond and others, in chasing from power Charles VII.'s minister La
Tremoille. He was knighted by Charles of Anjou in 1434, and presently