290 A Century of Science 



Half a dozen towns, including Boston, had al 

 ready been begun, when it was decided that a site 

 upon the bank of Charles River, three or four 

 miles inland, would be most favourable for the cap 

 ital of the Puritan colony. It would be somewhat 

 more defensible against a fleet than the peninsulas 

 of Boston and Charlestown. The warships to be 

 dreaded at that moment were not so much those of 

 any foreign power as those of King Charles him 

 self ; for none could tell that the grim clouds of 

 civil war then lowering upon the horizon of Eng 

 land and Scotland might not also darken the coast 

 of Massachusetts Bay. When the site was selected, 

 on the 28th of December, 1630, it was agreed that 

 the governor, deputy governor, and all the Court 

 of Assistants (except Endicott, already settled at 

 Salem) should build their houses here. Fortu 

 nately no name was bestowed upon the new town. 

 It was known simply as the New Town, and here 

 in the years before 1638 the General Court was 

 several times assembled. During those seven 

 years the number of Puritans in New England in 

 creased from about 1500 to nearly 20,000. It 

 was also clear that the King s troubles at home 

 were likely to keep him from molesting Massachu 

 setts. With the increased feeling of security, Bos 

 ton came to be preferred as the seat of government, 



