Captain John Smith | Page 6

part of the
year, when it emerges it is mostly a dreary flat. Willoughby is a
considerable village in this shire, situated about three miles and a half
southeastward from Alford. It stands just on the edge of the chalk hills
whose drives gently slope down to the German Ocean, and the scenery
around offers an unvarying expanse of flats. All the villages in this part
of Lincolnshire exhibit the same character. The name ends in by, the
Danish word for hamlet or small village, and we can measure the
progress of the Danish invasion of England by the number of towns
which have the terminal by, distinguished from the Saxon thorpe,
which generally ends the name of villages in Yorkshire. The population
may be said to be Danish light-haired and blue-eyed. Such was John
Smith. The sea was the natural element of his neighbors, and John
when a boy must have heard many stories of the sea and enticing
adventures told by the sturdy mariners who were recruited from the
neighborhood of Willoughby, and whose oars had often cloven the
Baltic Sea.
Willoughby boasts some antiquity. Its church is a spacious structure,
with a nave, north and south aisles, and a chancel, and a tower at the
west end. In the floor is a stone with a Latin inscription, in black letter,
round the verge, to the memory of one Gilbert West, who died in 1404.
The church is dedicated to St. Helen. In the village the Wesleyan
Methodists also have a place of worship. According to the
parliamentary returns of 1825, the parish including the hamlet of
Sloothby contained 108 houses and 514 inhabitants. All the churches in
Lincolnshire indicate the existence of a much larger population who
were in the habit of attending service than exists at present. Many of
these now empty are of size sufficient to accommodate the entire
population of several villages. Such a one is Willoughby, which unites
in its church the adjacent village of Sloothby.
The stories of the sailors and the contiguity of the salt water had more
influence on the boy's mind than the free, schools of Alford and Louth
which he attended, and when he was about thirteen he sold his books
and satchel and intended to run away to sea: but the death of his father

stayed him. Both his parents being now dead, he was left with, he says,
competent means; but his guardians regarding his estate more than
himself, gave him full liberty and no money, so that he was forced to
stay at home.
At the age of fifteen he was bound apprentice to Mr. Thomas S. Tendall
of Lynn. The articles, however, did not bind him very fast, for as his
master refused to send him to sea, John took leave of his master and did
not see him again for eight years. These details exhibit in the boy the
headstrong independence of the man.
At length he found means to attach himself to a young son of the great
soldier, Lord Willoughby, who was going into France. The narrative is
not clear, but it appears that upon reaching Orleans, in a month or so
the services of John were found to be of no value, and he was sent back
to his friends, who on his return generously gave him ten shillings (out
of his own estate) to be rid of him. He is next heard of enjoying his
liberty at Paris and making the acquaintance of a Scotchman named
David Hume, who used his purse--ten shillings went a long ways in
those days--and in return gave him letters of commendation to prefer
him to King James. But the boy had a disinclination to go where he was
sent. Reaching Rouen, and being nearly out of money, he dropped
down the river to Havre de Grace, and began to learn to be a soldier.
Smith says not a word of the great war of the Leaguers and Henry IV.,
nor on which side he fought, nor is it probable that he cared. But he
was doubtless on the side of Henry, as Havre was at this time in
possession of that soldier. Our adventurer not only makes no reference
to the great religious war, nor to the League, nor to Henry, but he does
not tell who held Paris when he visited it. Apparently state affairs did
not interest him. His reference to a "peace" helps us to fix the date of
his first adventure in France. Henry published the Edict of Nantes at
Paris, April 13, 1598, and on the 2d of May following, concluded the
treaty of France with Philip II. at Vervins, which closed the Spanish
pretensions in France. The Duc de Mercoeur (of whom we shall hear
later as Smith's