THE END OF PLYMOUTH COLONY. 171 after the bay horse : your distance is your advantage, by v/hich you may observe their motions. Yet let me remind you of that great statesman, Ecclesiastes viii. 14. Few wise men rejoice at their chains ; I do believe Plymouth's silence, Hampshire's neglect, and the rashness and impru- dence of one at least, who went from New England in dis- guise by night (Increase Mather), hath not a little con- tributed to our general disappointment." By her inaction Plymouth lost Colonial existence, possi- bly statehood, and for two centuries her brilliant history with the liberal sentiments of her founders has been eclipsed by the more enterprising, wealthy, and prosperous Colony of the Bay. " Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these, It might have been."
