The Earl of Warwick had always been a friend to the Company; and Lord Dorchester, then one of the Secretaries of State, is said to have exerted a powerful influence in behalf of it.

At last [March 4th, 1629], after much labour and large expenditures, the patent for the Company of Massachusetts Bay passed the seals." (_Ib._, p.

379.)] [Footnote 26: The precursor of this Company was a Joint Stock Association, established at Dorchester under the auspices of the Rev.
Mr.White, "patriarch of Dorchester," and called the "Dorchester Adventurers," with a view to fishing, farming, and hunting; but the undertaking was not successful, and an attempt was made to retrieve affairs by putting the colony under a different direction.

The Dorchester partners heard of some religious and well-affected persons that were lately removed out of New Plymouth, out of dislike of their principles of rigid separation, of which Mr.Roger Conant was one--a religious, sober, and prudent gentleman.

(Hubbard's History of New England, Chap.