102 



FREE school; and in 1671, under Jolm Morton as teacher, and Thomas 

 Hinckley as steward ot" the fund, such a school was opened in the 

 colony. This is a most interesting incident; the Cape which afforded 

 the first shelter to the fathers, supported the first public seminary for 

 the education of the children! 



Morton, who was a nephew of the secretary of the colony, proposed 

 merely to teach the youth of o7is town "to read, write, and to cast ac- 

 counts." But a grammar-school was soon established in Plymouth; 

 and several were actually in operation in other places as eai"ly as the 

 year 1680. 



The fisheries, I conclude, were considered pubhc property, and were 

 generally leased to individuals for the benefit of the colony, or of par- 

 ticular towns. The subject of "rents" and of "profits" is continually 

 referred to in the records, and orders to grimt leases to petitioners, or 

 to protect lessees in the enjoyment of the privileges stipulated in the 

 covenants with them, are of frequent occurrence. An ordinance of the 

 lattfr^r description of extreme severity was passed in 167S — the court 

 directing that all fishing vessels not belonging to the colony should be 

 seized lor public use by warrant from the governor, or one of his as- 

 sistants, and that the lessees of the colony fisheries should be entitled 

 to damages, to be paid them out of the proceeds of the vessels seized 

 and confiscated. The people of IMassachusetts were alone exempted 

 from the penalties of this extreme measure. 



Randolph, the first collector of the customs of Boston, gave a general 

 account of the different Nev/ England colonies at this period, and said 

 of "New Ptyraouth" that the people were principally "farmers, gra- 

 ziers, and fisJiermen ;" that there were "very few merchants, tliey being 

 suppfied with all foreign commodoties from Boston;" and that "they 

 have no ships of bm-den, but only small ketches and barkes, to trade 

 along the coast, and take fish." 



The colony of Plymouth was united Virith Massachusetts by the 

 charter of William and Mary in 1692, and a separate notice of its fish- 

 eries accordingly ceases at that date. 



John Aid en, the last of the Pilgrim band, died only five years pre- 

 viously. He fived in America sixty-seven years ; and m every admin- 

 istration during the whole time he participated in public affairs. 



To regard his connexion with our subject as merely official, his re- 

 lations commenced with the first, and terminated only Avith the last, of 

 the incidents tha,t I have here recorded. But we know, besides, that 

 his private interest in the " wealth of seas" and in general trade was 

 often extensive. 



Sufficient has now been said to sho"w the general course of affairs 

 among our fathers, and to connect the branch of industry under notice 

 with some of the most hallowed names in our annals. Mark Antony,* 

 — ^« — ^ . — _ 



* The Eomans, lite the Egyptians, csrried the art of rearing fish to great perfection ; and 

 almost every rich citizen had a tish-poud. At some of their feasts a thousand of the choicest 

 fishes were set upon their tables ; and at a supper given to Vitellius by his brother, there was 

 double that nimiber provided for the guests. It was a custom, at oiie time, to caiTy the dol- 

 phin to their eating-rooms alive, in order to glut their eyes with the changes of its color whea 

 djing. They were, perhaps, the most seusual and liLxurious people who have ever lived. 

 Their gormandizing habits may be seen from the ckcumistance of Juli.u3 Csesai-'s haviug takea 



