Journal of Proceedings.
xxxvii
Pierce, and it anchored before Boston on November 23rd, 1631. He
married, in 1633, Ann Mumford, who was betrothed to him in England,
and he died on May 20th, 1690, in his 86th year, and was buried in the
minister's tomb, which was partly built by subscription. One of the
great literary works of John Eliot was his translation of the New
Testament into the Indian language, published in 1661, and the transla-
tion of the whole Bible in 4to. in 1663, bearing a title which is unpro-
nounceable. The pilgrims carried with them recollections of their old
homesteads in the Lea Valley. Even at the present day Nazing presents
an antique appearance, and many of the buildings, shaded with gigantic
oaks and elms, are perhaps in much the same state as when the Eliots
took a last farewell of the place of their nativity. In the quiet flower-
decked meadows, far away from high roads and the trail of the iron
horse, stand the labourers' cottages, still with thatched roofs, gable ends,
low eaves, and often with massive stacks of chimneys, many of which
are built outside the walls. There are other wooden houses of a higher
class, with tiled roofs, and gables, and overhanging storeys, built in the
same style as the old house erected by William Curtis (a native of
Nazing) in 1638, on the margin of a little stream called Stoney Brook,
in Roxbury, Massachusetts. One might believe that he had in his
mind's eye these Nazing houses when he erected that venerable home-
stead in the new land. The house of the Curtis's still exists, corres-
ponding exactly with some now in Nazing, and it is still in the possession
of the lineal descendants of the original owner. The furniture is stated
by Dr. Lossing, in his paper on "Historic Buildings in America," to be
very antique, and it is not, perhaps, an idle fancy to picture the Nazing
pilgrims bearing with them their household possessions, as precious
remembrances of their Essex homes, like those who sailed from the
"Dutchman's shore" in the "Mayflower," as Holmes sang :—
" Along with all their furniture to fill their new abodes,
To judge by what is still on hand at least a hundred loads."
When we consider the intense interest connected with these records of
the humbler inhabitants of this quiet corner of Essex, and the large
part it probably had in the making of New England, we cannot but
wonder at the obtuseness of our county historians in preferring the dull
records of the births, marriages and deaths of Lords of Manors to the
living flesh and blood interest of the story of these early emigrants.
We may look in vain for any account of the Nazing pilgrims in the
pages of Morant or Wright. It is astounding how little the ordinary
county history gives of the really fascinating records of the districts the
ponderous tomes are supposed to illustrate. Topography, natural
productions, the tracing out of the social life of the common people,
the varying prices of provisions and produce—all, in fact, which the
true student of history wishes to know is neglected that the pedigree of
"Sir Fitz-Herbert Noodle," or my "Lord Tomnoddy" may be given
with the tedious detail so dear to the compilers, and always deemed so
necessary to the grandeur of the subject! The parish of Nazing is
situated on the north-west corner of the Half-hundred of Waltham;
part of it being on an elevation, it is very pleasant and healthy, and in
approaching it from Broxbourne across the Nazing Marshes and up the
quiet lanes, the church is seen standing boldly out on a promontory of
the hill,
" Where bleak Nazing's lonely tower o'erlooks
Her verdant fields."
From the church itself may be had a fine view over portions of the