Pilgrims

A generic definition of a Pilgrim is someone who travels for a religious purpose.  The Pilgrims that left England to avoid persecution, founding the Plymouth Colony in the New World, sailed in the Mayflower, which returned for England on April 5, 1621.

Walter Scott published a poem on pilgrims titled "The Palmer", after pilgrims who carried palm leaves on their pilgrimage:

"O, open the door, some pity to show,
Keen blows the northern wind!
The glen is white with the drifted snow,
And the path is hard to find.


"No outlaw seeks your castle gate,
From chasing the King's deer,
Though even an outlaw's wretched state
Might claim compassion here.


"A weary Palmer, worn and weak,
I wander for my sin;
O, open, for our Lady's sake!
A pilgrim's blessing win!


"I'll give you pardons from the Pope,
And reliques from o'er the sea,—
Or if for these you will not ope,
Yet open for charity.


"The hare is crouching in her form,
The hard beside the hind;
An aged man, amid the storm,
No shelter can I find.
"You hear the Ettrick's sullen roar,
Dark, deep, and strong is he,
And I must ford the Ettrick o'er,
Unless you pity me.


"The iron gate is bolted hard,
At which I knock in vain;
The owner's heart is closer barr'd,
Who hears me thus complain.


"Farewell, farewell! and Mary grant,
When old and frail you be,
You never may the shelter want,
That's now denied to me."


The Ranger on his couch lay warm,
And heard him plead in vain;
But oft amid December's storm,
He'll hear that voice again:


For lo, when through the vapours dank,
Morn shone on Ettrick fair,
A corpse amid the alders rank,
The Palmer welter'd there.

Plymouth Incorporated

'The Bellerophon had hardly anchored, when orders came from the admiral, Lord Keith, which were soon after seconded by others from the Admiralty, enjoining that no one, of whatever rank or station, should be permitted to come on board the Bellerophon, excepting the officers and men belonging to the ship. On the 26th, the vessel received orders to move round to Plymouth Sound.'

Plymouth has long been an important coastal city for England, with passenger and commercial trade passing through its port.  It was the point of departure for the Pilgrims coming to America.  Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to go to America too.  But he was captured during his escape from France.  Instead of America, the ship carrying the defeated Napoleon Bonaparte aimed for the Plymouth Sound.  Later, Napoleon was shipped to St. Helena.

On November 12, 1439, Plymouth became the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.  The text above is from Walter Scott's "Life of Napoleon".

The Baronetcy of Nova Scotia

'...it is not to be omitted, that through the Swintons Sir Walter Scott could trace himself to William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, the poet and dramatist...'

The above text is from "Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott", by John Gibson Lockhart.  In addition to being a poet and dramatist, William Alexander was a colonizer, receiving, on September 29, 1621, a charter to colonize the Baronetcy of Nova Scotia (from Rampant Scotland).

Alexander's territory, granted to him by King James I of England, stretched through New Brunswick into what is now part of the United States.  An attempt to establish a colony called Port Royal effectively bankrupted Alexander by 1632. 

In 1636, under the regime of Charles I, Alexander was made Earl of Stirling.  Charles also gave him rights to Long Island (now part of New York), from the Plymouth Colony.