There—­except for a remarkable momentary appearance of one of them, and except for the visits of a few confidential friends—­they remained lost forever to the view of men.  Presents were made to them by leading persons among the colonists, and they received remittances from friends in England.  Governor Hutchinson, when he wrote his History, had in his hands the Diary of Goffe, begun at the time of their leaving London, and continued for six or seven years.  They were for a time encouraged by a belief, founded on their interpretation of the Apocalypse, that the execution of their comrades was “the slaying of the witnesses,” and that their own triumph was speedily to follow.  Letters passed between Goffe and his wife, purporting to be between a son and mother, and signed respectively with the names of Walter and Frances Goldsmith.  Four of these letters survive; tender, magnanimous, and devout, they are scarcely to be read without tears.

In the tenth year of his abode at Hadley Whalley had become extremely infirm in mind and body, and he probably did not outlive that year.  Mr. Russell’s house was standing till within a little more than half a century ago.  At its demolition, the removal of a slab in the cellar discovered human remains of a large size.  They are believed to have belonged to the stout frame which swept through Prince Rupert’s lines at Naseby.  Goffe survived his father-in-law nearly five years, at least; how much longer, is not known.  Once he was seen abroad, after his retirement to Mr. Russell’s house.  The dreadful war, to which the Indian King Philip bequeathed his long execrated name, was raging with its worst terrors in the autumn of 1675.  On the first day of September, the people of Hadley kept a fast, to implore the Divine protection in their distress.  While they were engaged in their worship, a sentry’s shot gave notice that the stealthy savages were upon them.  Hutchinson, in his History, relates what follows, as he had received it from the family of Governor Leverett, who was one of the few visitors of Goffe in his retreat.  “The people were in the utmost confusion.  Suddenly a grave, elderly person appeared in the midst of them.  In his mien and dress he differed from the rest of the people.  He not only encouraged them to defend themselves, but put himself at their head, rallied, instructed, and led them on to encounter the enemy, who by this means were repulsed.  As suddenly the deliverer of Hadley disappeared.  The people were left in consternation, utterly unable to account for this strange phenomenon.  It is not probable that they were ever able to explain it.”