But I have no desire to discuss the merits or demerits of the Puritans,
having long ago learned the wisdom of saving my sympathy for more modern
objects than Hecuba. My object is to direct the attention of my readers
to a collection of documents where they may see those worthies as they
were in their daily living and thinking. The collections of our various
historical and antiquarian societies can hardly be said to be _published_
in the strict sense of the word, and few consequently are aware how much
they contain of interest for the general reader no less than the special
student. The several volumes of "Winthrop Papers," in especial, are a
mine of entertainment. Here we have the Puritans painted by themselves,
and, while we arrive at a truer notion of the characters of some among
them, and may accordingly sacrifice to that dreadful superstition of
being usefully employed which makes so many bores and bored, we can also
furtively enjoy the oddities of thought and speech, the humors of the
time, which our local historians are too apt to despise as inconsidered
trifles. For myself I confess myself heretic to the established theory of
the gravity of history, and am not displeased with an opportunity to
smile behind my hand at any ludicrous interruption of that sometimes
wearisome ceremonial.
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