All the way from 'the New England Jezebel' to 'a
Prototype of Joan of Arc' run the epithets whole-
heartedly applied by enemies or friends. In between
lie such labels as 'that proud dame, that Athaliah,' 'a
notorious Imposter,' 'a dayngerous Instrument of the
Devell raysed up by Sathan,' 'A Breeder of Heresies,'
'a persuasive advocate of the right of individual judg-
ment,' 'a she-Gamaliel,' 'a New England Vittoria
Colonna,' 'a dear saint servant and of God.' (That
last is her husband speaking. Poor man, he suffered
more on her account than any one else!)

A character that can be interpreted so diversely
provokes examination. Anne Hutchinson partook in
some ways of the spirit of her time and of her fellow-
pioneers in New England, but in other, important
ways she stands out against the background of primi-
tive Massachusetts, at swords' points with its leaders,
sinewed with the courage to tell how she differed, and
endowed with the personality to make what she said
effective. Clearly she was an individual; there was
something 'in' her.

Incidentally, what she did was interesting. Her life
was a melodrama. She left her comfortable home in
England for conscience' sake, she persuaded her family
to come to America, she became the leader of a power-
ful party in the colony, she collided with the clergy,
she was tried before the General Court of Massa-
chusetts, she was expelled from the colony and excom-
municated from the church, she helped to found a
freer settlement in a new wilderness, in later years she
sought still another refuge, and finally she perished,

-viii-