SOURCE: Adams, Charles Francis. “The May-Pole of Merrymount.” The Atlantic Monthly XXXIX, Nos. 235, 236 (May, June 1877): 557-67, 686-97.

In the following essay, published in two parts in the May and June, 1877, issues of the Atlantic Monthly, Adams presents the historical context in which Morton lived, comments on Morton's wit and reputedly “loose” moral character, and offers an account of Morton's life in New England, including his difficulties with the law.

I. May-day, 1627.

The May-pole of Merrymount—that May-pole which inspired the historian Motley's first effort in literature, and which Hawthorne made the subject of a brilliant sketch—was erected on May-day of the year 1627. The 1st of May, old style, fell upon what is now the 10th of the month. Accordingly, on the tenth day of the coming month of May the full period of two hundred and fifty years will have elapsed since Thomas Morton and his motley...