John Aldens Return to Miles Standish (The Liver Sketching Club)

This drawing is inspired by the famous love triangle between Captain Miles Standish (about 1584 - 1656), John Alden (about 1599 - 1687) and Priscilla Mullens. Standish was a soldier and member of the Pilgrims who helped establish the Plymouth Colony in North America (now Massachusetts, USA). According to the story, Standish asked his friend, John Alden, a crew member on the Mayflower voyage to America in 1620 to ask Priscilla Mullens, a passenger of the Mayflower, for her hand in marriage. Priscilla rejected his proposal and was later engaged to Alden. Standish was furious by the news and felt betrayed by his friend. Soon after Standish was sent to war and was thought to have been killed, however this news turned out to be untrue. On his return to Plymouth Colony he asked for their forgiveness and the three friends were reunited. This love story was also narrated in a long poem 'The Courtship of Miles Standish' by the American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) in 1858.