History of the Virginia Company of London; with letters to and from the first Colony, never before printed

Front matter

POCAHONTAS See Howe's Historical Collections of Virginia HISTORY OF THE Virginia Company of London, WITH LETTERS TO AND FROM THE FIRST COLONY NEVER BEFORE PRINTED. BY EDWARD D. NEILL. NEC FALSA DICERE, NEC VERA RETICERE. ALBANY. N. Y. . JOEL MUNSELL, 82 STATE STREET. 1869. " 3 See nitnit) lifely to be bisljcarteneb by ttie Sleuber groiutl) of die SMrginia plantation, rufjtcl) for tlje time migljt baoe been, not only a ease but a blesSeb mother of a numerous anb tljriuing generation, branching far, into otl-er colonie**, anb get is ! 3 eibe no relieve, but enttoine ©irginia roitb a right mi) pen birectcb, mt) hanbS evecteb, for ber goob. i'ur c ha 6, IV, 1809. stager. ©ob tlje gather, ©on anb fiolt) ©host which goes before us in tllcSc things, (if not in miraculous fire anb doubt; pillars, as when SSrael tueut to 6anaan, yet in tlje light of reason anb right consequence of arguments ; j come into us ani> fill us nntb tlje -Spirit of tuisbom anb unberStaitbing, tl-e Spirit of counsel anb of fortitube, tlje Spirit of fnoiulebge ani> fear of tlje Jorb, 3 mat' abb tlje spirit of mutt* anb counsel, tfjat be mat) ooucl)Safe to go mitl) uS, anb roe tuitlj §im, anb after 4>im to Virginia. Sfmen, C1 Slmen ! 'Be tljou the illpha anb Omega of ISuglaub S plantation in SSirginia, 0 ©ob ! " i< u v c I) a e , IV, 1826.

Preface

. the month of May, 1868, a memorial was presented by the writer, to the Congress of the United States of America, calling attention to two large folio volumes of manuscript in their Library, containing the Transactions of the Virginia Company of London during the important period of their existence, and if they should deem them worthy of being printed, offering without compensation to annotate and super intend their publication. The communication was read in the Senate, ordered to be printed, referred to the Committee on Library, and attracted no attention. Believing that there should be some distinct history of a Company that planted the first permanent English settlement in America, and in 1619 instituted the first representative legislative Assembly, whose members were elected by general suffrage, this work has been prepared, and by the liberality of a true disciple of Aldus, who has a love for historical studies, Mr. Munsell, of Albany, New York, is presented to the public.

The main sources of information have been the manuscript records of the Company, the history of the preservation of which for about two hundred and fifty years, is full of interest. In one of the old mansions of rural Chelsea, which tradition says was the home of Sir Thomas More, the warm friend of Erasmus, and author of the political romance of Utopia, there dwelt, in 1624, Sir John Danvers, a prominent member of the Virginia Company, who had married the gentle and comely widow Herbert, already the mother of ten children, two of whom were George, the holy poet, and Edward, the philosophical Deist. After the king resolved to destroy the charter of the Company, an attempt was made to obtain the records by their opponents. The Secretary of the Company, Collingwood, probably under the direction of Deputy Nicholas Ferrar, one day

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. visited Sir John Danvers, and mentioned that three London merchants had lately called upon him to obtain information. A clerk of Collingwood was immedi ately secured as copyist, and, to preclude discovery, was locked up in a room of Danver's house, while he transcribed the minutes. After the transactions were copied on folio paper, to prevent interpolation, each page carefully compared with the originals by Collingwood and then subscribed " Con. Collingwood," Danvers took them to the President of the Company, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. The Earl was highly gratified in the posses sion of a duplicate copy of the Company's transactions, and expressed it by throwing his arms around the neck of Sir John, and then turning to his brother, said : " Let them be kept at my house at Tichfield ; they are the evidences of my honor, and I value them more than the evidences of my lands."

During the same year Southampton died ; and Thomas, his son, was heir and successor to the title, and became Lord High Treasurer of England, and lived until 1667. Shortly after the death of the latter, William Byrd of Virginia, the father of Hon. William Byrd of Westover, purchased the manuscript records from the executors of the Earl for sixty guineas. Rev. William Stith, who subsequently became President of William and Mary College, while living at Varina, on James river, the old settlement of Sir Thomas Dale, better known since the civil war as Dutch Gap, obtained these records from the Byrd library at Westover ; and most of the material of his History of Virginia, completed in 1746, was drawn therefrom. Stith's brother-in-law, Peyton Randolph, became the first President of the Con tinental Congress, and while visiting a friend at his seat near Philadelphia, in October, 1775, suddenly died.

When his library was sold it was purchased by Thomas Jefferson, and among the books were the manuscript records of the London Company, that had been used by Stith. The United States having purchased the books of President Jefferson, these manuscripts are now preserved in the library of Congress. They are bound in two volumes, and contain the Company's transactions from April 28, 1619, until June 7, 1624. The first volume contains 354 pages, and concludes with this statement : " Memoranda that wee, Edward Waterhouse and Edward Collingwood, secretaries of the Companies for Virginia and the Sumer Hands, have examined and compared the Booke going before, conteyning one hundred seventy-seven leaues from Page 1 to Page 354, with the originall Booke of Courts itself. And doe finde this Booke to be a true and pfect copie of the said originall Courte Booke, sauinge that there is wanting in the copie, of Court of the 20th May, 1620, and the beginning of the Qr Court held 22nd ; but as farre as is here entered in this copie doth truly agree with the originall itself.

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. V " And to every page I, Edward Collingwood, haue sett my hand and both of us do hereby testifie as above that it is a true copie. " Jan. 28, 1623 [1624 N. S.] *' EDW ; WATERHOUSE, Secret. " ED : COLLINGWOOD, Secret." The second volume contains 387 pages, and is concluded with the following note : " Memorand. That wee Edward Collingwood, Secretary of the Company for Virginia, and Thomas Collett, of the Middle Temple, gentleman, have perused, compared and examined this present booke, begininge att page 1, att a Prepara tiue Court held for Virginia the 20th of May, 1622, and endinge at this present page 387 att a Preparatiue Court held the 7th of June, 1624. And wee doe finde that this coppie doth perfectlie agree with the originall books of the Court belonging to the Company in all things, saue that in page 371, the graunt of 800 acres to Mr. Maurice Berkley is not entred, and save that in page 358 we wanted the Lord's letter to Mr. Deputy Ferrar, so that we could not compare itt and like wise sauing that in Page 348 wee wanted the Gouernor and Counsell's Letter from Virginia in w'ch respect I, Edward Collingwood, haue not sett my hand to those three pages, but to all the rest I haue sett my hand severally to each in confirmacon, that they agree truly with the Originalls.

And in witness and con firmacon that this booke is a true coppy of the Virginia Courts, wee have here under ioyntly sett our hands the 19th day of June, 1624. "THOMAS COLLETT.1 " EDWARD COLLINGWOOD, Seer." Judgment against the Virginia Company had been pronounced only three days before the last note was written, by that Lord Chief Justice Ley, called by John Milton the " old man eloquent," in a sonnet to the Judge's daughter — " honour'd Margaret." On the 15th of July the King ordered all their papers to be given to a Com mission, which afterwards met weekly at the house of Sir Thomas Smith. The entries in the minutes were damaging to the reputation of Smith and others of the Commission, and it is presumed that no great effort was made to preserve the originals. Repeated searches have been made for them in England, but they have not been discovered.

Prefixed to the minutes of each meeting are the names of the principal lords, knights, gentlemen and merchants present. In some cases more than one hundred are recorded, and it is regretted that the limits of the work prevented the publication of some of these lists, showing the presence of Generals Cecil and Horatio Vere ; men of letters like Edward Herbert, afterwards Lord Cherbury ; eminent i Thomas Collett was a nephew of John and Nicholas Ferrar.

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. VI physicians, as Gulston and Anthony ; the poets, John Donne and George Sandys ; and divines, as Samuel Purchas and others. Besides the journals of the Company, use has also been made of a large folio manuscript volume, containing the letters of the Company and the Colony, with other papers from the year 1621 to 1625, and a smaller folio also in manuscript, but prepared at a later period, containing copies of early papers. The effort has been to reproduce the actors, and the spirit of the age in which they lived. Allusions in stage-plays, the letters of friends, and notices in the chronicles of the period, have been interwoven with the narrative wherever prac ticable. No one can read the correspondence of that era without being impressed that the colonization of Virginia interested the public mind of England as much as the gold discoveries and settlement of the Pacific coast has occupied the American mind during the last quarter century.

The return of Gosnold in 1602, with the announcement that he had found a short, direct northern route to America, avoiding the diseases and delay incident to the circuitous voyage by way of the West Indies, created an excitement at the London Exchange akin to the laying of the transatlantic cable in modern days, and was talked over at the fireside, and referred to on the stage. Marston's play of Eastward Ho, written in 1605, and popular for years, act III, scene 2d, introduces a talk about Virginia, in the Blue Anchor Tavern, by Billingsgate : Seagull. " Come, drawer, pierce your neatest hogshead, and let's have cheare — not fit for your Billingsgate taverne, but for our Virginian Colonel ; he will be here instantly. Drawer. " You shall have al tilings fit, sir ; please you have any more wine ?

Spendal. " More wine, Slave ! whether we drinke it or no, spill it, and drawe more. Seagull. " Come, boyes, Virginia longs till we share the rest of her maiden head. Spendal. " Why, is she inhabited alreadie with any English ? Seagull. " A whole countrie of English is there, man, bread of those that were left there in '79 ; they have married with the Indians, and make 'hem bring forth as beautifull faces as any we have in England ; and therefore the Indians are so in love with 'hem, that all the treasure they have, they lay at their feete. Scapethrift. " But is there, such treasure there Captaine as I have heard ? Seagull. " I tell thee, golde is more plentifull there, then copper is with us ■ and for as much redde copper as I can bring, I'le have thrise the weight in gold. Why, man, all their dripping pans and chamber-potts are pure gould ; and all the chaines with which they chaine up their streets are massie gold ; all the prisoners they take are fetered in gold ; and for rubies aud diamonds they goe forth in holy dayes and gather 'hem by the sea-shore, to hang on their childrens coates, and

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. VII sticke in their childrens caps, as commonly as our children weare saffron gilt brooches, and groates with holes in 'hem. Scapethrift. " And is it a pleasant countrie withall ? Seagull. " As ever the sunne shin'd on ; temperate and ful of all sorts of ex cellent viands ; wild bore is as common there as our tamest bacon is here ; venison as mutton. And then you shall live freely there, without sargeants or courtiers, or lawyers or intelligencers. Then for your meanes to advancement, there it is simple, and not preposterously mixt. You may bee an alderman there, and never be scavenger ; you may bee any other officer, and never be a slave. You may come to preferment enough and never be a pandar ; to riches and fortune enough and have never the more villanie nor the lesse witte. Besides, there wee shall have no more law than conscience, and not too much of eyther ; serve God enough, eate and drinke enough, and ' enough is as good as a feast.' Spendthrift.

" God's me ! and how farre is it thither *? Seagull. " Some six weekes saile, no more, with any indifferent good winde. And if I get to any parte of the Coast of Africa, i'le saile thither with any winde ; or when I come to Cape Finister, there's a foreright winde continually wafts us, till we come to Virginia." The interest in America at that period, will also be seen by the perusal of the following Bebliotheca Vikginiajta ; A list of books published by direction or during the existence of the Virginia Company : 1608. A True Relation of such occurrences and accidents of noate as hath hapned in Virginia since the first planting of that Collony, which is now resident in the South part thereof, till the last returne from thence. Written by Captaine Smith, Coronell of the said Collony, to a worshipfull friend of his in England.

London : Printed for John Tappe, and are to bee solde at the Grey-hound in Paules-Church-Yard, by W. W. 1608. Quarto, black letter. The editor, J. H., in his Preface says : " Some of the bookes were printed under the name of Thomas Watson, by whose occasion I know not unlesse it were the ouerrashnesse or mistakinge of the workemen." 1609. Virginia Richly Valued,1 by the description of the maine land of Florida, her next neighbour ; etc. Written by a Portugal! gentleman of Elvas, emploied in all the action and translated out of Portuguese by Richard Hakluyt. At London : 1 See page 26.

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. Printed by Felix Kyngston for Matthew Lownes, and are to be sold at the signe of the Bishop's head in Paul's Church yard. 1609. 4to. pp. 180. A Sermon Preach'd at White Chappel, in the Presence of many Honourable and Worshipfull the Adventurers and Planters for Virginia, 25 April, 1609. Pub lished for the benefit and use of the Colony, planted and to be planted there, and for the advancement of their Christian purpose. By William Symondes, Preacher at Saint Saviours in Southwarke. London : Printed by J. Winder for Eleazar Edgar. 1609. 4to. The Epistle Dedicatory is to the " right noble and worthie Advancers of the Standard of Christ among the Gentiles, the Adventurers for the Plantation of Virginia." Nova Britannia, Offeringe most excellent Fruites by Planting in Virginia. Ex citing all such to be well affected to further the same.

London : Printed for Samuel Macham. 1609. 4to, black letter. Saules Prohibition Staid, a reproof to those that traduce Virginia. London, 1609. Small 4to. A Good Speed to Virginia. Esay 42. 4. " He shall not saile nor be discouraged, till he have set judgement in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law." London : Printed by Felix Kyngston for William Welbie, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Grey-hound in Paul's Church-yard, 1609. 4to, Black letter, 15 leaves. The " Epistle Dedicatorie," to the Lords, Knights, Merchants and Gentlemen adventurers for the plantation of Virginia, is subscribed R. G., and dated " From mine house at the North-end of Sithe's lane, London, April 28, Anno 1609." The writer regretted that he was able " neither in person, nor purse to be a partaker in the businesse." 1610.

A Sermon preached in London, before the right honorable the Lord La Warre Lord Governour and Captaine Generall of Virginea, and others of his Maiesties Counsell for that kingdome, and the rest of the Aduenturers in that Plantation at the said Generall his leaue taking of England his native countrey, and departure for Virginea, February 21, 1609. By W. Crashaw. Bachelor of Divinitie and Preacher at the Temple.1 London : Printed for William Welby, and are to be sold in Pauls Churchyard at the signe of the Swan, 1610. A true and sincere declaration of the purpose and ends of the Plantation begun in Virginia, of the degrees which it hath received ; and means by which it hath i For complete title see pp. 34, 35.

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. IX beene advanced ; and the resolution and conclusion of his Majesties Councel of that Colony, for the constant and patient prosecution thereof, until by the mercies of God it shall re-tribute a fruitfull harvest to the Kingdom of Heaven, and this Commonwealth. Sett forth by the authority of the Governors and Councellors established for that Plantation. Small 4to, pp. 26. A true Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in Virginia, with a confutation of such scandalous reports as haue tended to the disgrace of so worthy an enter prise. Published by aduise and direction of the Councell of Virginia. A wood-cut, representing one man planting a tree, and another watering a tree, with a circlet of clouds above, and the word Jehovah in Hebrew, in the centre. London : Printed for William Barrett, and are to be sold at the blacke Beare in Pauls Church-yard. 1610.

Small 4to, pp. 68. 1611. The Relation of the Right Honourable the Lord De-Lawarre, Lord Gouernour and Captaine Generall of the Colonie, planted in Virginia. London: Printed by William Hall for William Welbie dwelling in Pauls Church-yeard at the Signe of the Swan. 4to, pp. 15. 1612. The New Life of Virginea : Declaring the former successe and present estate of that plantation, being the second part of Nova Britannia. Published by the authoritie of his Majesties Counsell of Virginea. London : Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for William Welby dwelling at the signe of the Swan in Paul's Church-yard. 1612. This work is dedicated to " Sir Thomas Smith of London, Governour of the Moscovia and East India Companies, one of his Majesties Counsell for Virginia, and Treasurer for the Colony." In the dedicatory Epistle, signed R. I., it is said that " the malitious and looser sort (being acoompanied with the licentious vaine of stage poets) have whet their tongues with ecornfull taunts against the action itselfe, insomuch as there is no common speech, nor publike name of any thing this day (except it be the name of God) which is more wildly depraved, traduced and derided by such unhallowed lips than the name of Virginea."

A Map of Virginea, with a description of the Countrey, the Commodities, Peo ple, Government and Religion. Written by Captain Smith, sometimes Governour of the Countrey. Whereunto is annexed the Proceedings of those Colonies since their first departure from England. Taken faithfully as they were written out of the writings of Doctor Russel, Tho : Studley, &c. And the Relations of divers other diligent Observers there present then, and now many of them in England. By W. S. At Oxford, Printed by Joseph Barnes. 1612. 4to, pp. 39. 2* X

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. The Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginea, since their first beginning from England in the yeare of our Lord 1606, till this present 1612. With all their Accidents that befell them in their Journies and Discoveries, &c. Unfolding even the fundamental Causes, from whence have sprang so many Miseries to the Undertakers, and Scandals to the Businesse. And perused and confirmed by diverse now resident in England, that were Actors in this Business. By W. S. At Oxford, printed by Joseph Barnes. 1612. pp. 109. For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lavves Diuine, Morall and Martiall, &c. Alget qui non ardet. Res nostræ subinde non sunt, quales quis optaret, sed quales esse possunt. Printed at London for Walter Barre. 1612. 1613. Good Newes from Virginia.1 Sent to the Counsell and Company of Virginia, resident in England.

From Alexander Whitaker, the Minister of Henrico in Virginia. Wherein also is a narration of the present state of that Country, and our Colonies there. Perused and published by direction from that Counsell. And a preface prefixed of some matters touching that Plantation, very requisite to be made knowne. London. The preface of 34 pages is from the pen of W. Crashaw, a distinguished divine. A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia, and the successe of the affaires there till the 18 of June, 1614.2 Together With a Relation of the seuerall English Townes and fortes, the assured hopes of that countrie, and the peace concluded with the Indians. The Christening of Powhatan's daughter and her marriage with an English man. Written by Raphe Hamor the younger, late Secretary in that Colony.

Alget, qui non ardet. Printed at London by John Beale for William Welby dwelling at the signe of the Swanne in Pauls Church-yard. 1615. 4to, pp. 69. The dedication is " To the Truly Honorable and right worthy Knight, Sr Thomas Smith, Gouernour of the East India, Muscouia, North-west passages, Somer Islands Companies, and Treasurer for the first Colony in Virginia." In the Epistle to the Reader, the same language is used about stage-players as in the Daily Prayer appended to the bloody code of 1612.3 1617. Purchas, his Pilgrimage, etc. By Samuel Purchas Parson of St. Martins by Ludgate, London. Una Deus, una veritas. 1 See page 78. 2 See page 88. 3 See page 64.

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. XI London ; Printed by William Stansby for Henry Fetherstone, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard, at the signe of the Rose. 1617. This is the 3d edition, much enlarged, and gives an abstract of Rolfe's relation of Virginia, then in manuscript. 1619. A Note of the Shipping, Men, and Provisions sent to Virginia, by the Trea surer and Company in the yeere 1619. With the Orders and Constitutions partly collected out of his Majesties Letters Patent, and partly ordained upon mature deliberation by the Treasurer, Counsail, and Company of Virginia, for the better governing of the Actions and Affaires of the said Company, here in England residing. 1619. 4to. Another Note of the shipping, Men, and Provisions sent to Virginia, by the Treasurer and Company, in the yeere 1619. Published by his Majesties Counsell for Virginia. 4to, pp. 16.

With the names of the Adventurers, with their several Summs adventured, paid in to Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, late Treasurer of the Company for Vir ginia. 4to, pp. 30. And another list of the Names of some other adventurers. With the summs paid by Order to Sir Baptist Hickes, Knight, and to Sir Edwin Sandys Knight. 1620. A Declaration of the State of the Colonie and Affaires in Virginia, with the Names of the Adventurors, and Summes adventured in that Action.1 By his Ma jesties Councell for Virginia, 22 Junij 1620. London : Printed by T. S. 1620. 4to. Declaration by his Majesties Councell for Virginia, touching the present estate of their Colony in that Country dat. 20 Sep. 1620. 4to, pp. 11. 1622. Virginias God be thanked,2 or a Sermon of Thanksgiving on Ps. cvii. 23, for the happie Successe of the Affayres in Virginia, this last yeare.

"Preached by Patrick Copland at Bow- Church in Cheapside, before the Honorable Virginia Company, on Thursday the 18 of Aprill 1622. And now published by the Commandement of the said honorable Company. "Hereunto are adjoyned some Epistles, written first in Latine (and now Englished) in the East Indies by Peter Pope, an Indian youth, borne in the bay of Bengala, who was first taught and converted by the said P. C. And after bap tized by Master John Wood, Dr in Divinitie, in a famous Assembly before the 1 See page 193. 1 See page 377.

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. XII Right Worshippfull the East India Company at S. Denis in Fan-Church streete in London December 22, 1616. " London. Printed by J. D. for William Sheffard and John Bellamie, and are to be sold at the two Grey-hounds in Corne-hill, neere the Royal Exchange. 1622." 4to. Dedication to Va. Co., 3 pp. Sermon, 36 pp. Appendix, 6 pp. A Consolation for our Grammar Schooles : Or a faithfull and most comfortable Incouragement, for laying of a sure Foundation of all good Learning in our Schooles, aud for prosperous building thereupon. More especially for all those of the inferiour sort, and all ruder Countries and Places : Namely for Ireland, Wales, Virginia, with the Sommer Islands, and for their mores Speedie attaining of our English Tongue by the same labour, that all may speake one and the same language.

And withall, for the helping of all such as are desirous speedlie to recover that which they had formerlie got in the grammar schooles : and to pro ceed aright therein, for the perpetual benefit of these our Nations, and of the Churches of Christ. London ; Printed by Richard Field, for Thomas Man, dwelling in Paternoster Row, at the sign of the Talbot. 1622. 4to, pp. 84. There is an Epistle prefixed, " to the right Honourable, and right Worshipful the Governour, Councell and Companie for Virginia, and of the Sommer Islands, that beginning with the Lord, and carefully planting and watering of his sacred Religion, they may find a more happy Growth and Increase, and evermore sound and lasting joy to their own Soules. Especially for drawing the poor Natives in Virginia, and all other of the rest of the Rude and Barbarous from Sathan to God."

" With the Judgment and Approbation of Dr. James Usher and Dr. Daniel Featly, March 16, 1620." 1 His Maiesties gracious letter to the Earl of Southampton Treasurer of the Vir ginia Company commanding the present and setting up of Silke Workes and Planting of Vines in Virginia. Also a Treatise of making silke by John Bonnoel. London : Felix Kyngston, 1622, 4to. Bonnoel was " silk-worm raiser to the King." 2 The Company in their letter to the colonial authorities say : " We now commend this Booke unto you. * * * The paines and industry of the Authour for the benefit of the Plantations (being a member of our Company) are sufficient arguments of his good affection to the action." A Declaration of the State of the Colony and Affaires in Virginia ; with a relation of the barbarous Massacre in the time of Peace, and League, treacherously executed by the native Infidels upon the English, the 22 of March last.

To gether with the names of those that were then massacred, that their lawful heirs 1 For a notice of this book of John Brinsley, see page 273. 2 See page 258.

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. XIII by this notice given may take order for the inheriting of their Lands and Estates in Virginia.1 And a Treatise annexed, written by that learned Mathematician Mr. Henry Briggs of the North-west Passage to the South Sea, through the Con tinent of Virginia, and by Fretum Hudson. Also a Commemoration of such worthy benefactors as have contributed their Christian Charitie towards the ad vancement of the Colony. And a Note of the charges of necessarie Provisions fit for every Man that intends to go to Virginia. Published by Authoritie. London, for Robert Maylbourne. 1622. 4to, pp. 54. A Sermon upon the VIII verse of the Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.2 Preached to the Hon. Company of the Virginian Plantation, 13 Nouemb. 1622. By John Donne, Doctor of Divinity, and Dean of St. Paul's, London. 4to, 1622.

In an introductory note addressed to the Virginia Company the author says : " By your favours, I had some place amongst you before ; but now I am an adventurer ; if not to Virginia, yet for Virginia : for every man that prints adventures. * * * * g^ for printing of this Sermon, I am not only under your invi tation, but under your commandment." It wiU be noticed in the Orders for first expedition, page 5, Newport's ship is called the Sarah Constant, while on pages 15, 17, the ship is mentioned as the Susan Constant. The discrepancy is caused by following the manuscript records in the first instance, and the statement of Purchas in the other pages. The reader's attention is called to the List of Errata, following the Index, made necessary by the absence of the author from his native land while the work was passing through the press.

The paragraph, page 377, on Copland's Thanksgiving Sermon, should have followed page 292, and been dated April 10th, 1622. Weever, in the preface to his work on Monuments, published in 1631, says : " I likewise write the orthographie of the old English as it comes to my hands, and if by the copying out of the same it be any manner of ways mollified, it is much against my will, for I hold originals the best." It has been my aim to retain the spelling of the manuscripts from which I have made extracts, but certain contractions which could not be represented by modern type have necessarily been omitted. The paragraphs extracted are complete, care having been taken to avoid an hiatus. If a few students of the colonial history of America shall derive any pleasure or information from the perusal of the work, the great object of its publication will have been attained.