117 



dressed the deacon in a loud voice, 'If you do, you are a plaguy cun- 

 ning man.' " 



I will only add that the words, "7m'/// make you fishors of men s'' were 

 used as the text at the ordination of Mr. Tucke; and that among the 

 votes passed by the inhabitants at the time of his settlement, was one 

 imposing a fine of "fortv shillings old tenor" on all who "every fall, 

 when he has his wood to carry home, is able to come, but will not 

 come." 



Such is a rapid view of afliiirs at the eight islands that lie off the 

 entrance of the Piscataqua, while they belonged to the British crown. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



From 1614 to the Rcvoliitlonary Controversy. 



The settlement of Massachusetts is to be traced directly to the fish- 

 eries. Lest this statement should be thought too broad, and to need 

 qualification, 1 will cite from the best authorities extant to sustaip it. 

 And first, Hubbard, who says the " occasion" of planting this colony 

 was, that, "As some merchants from the west of England had a long 

 time frequented the parts about Monhegan, for the taking of fish, &c., 

 so did others, especially those of Dorchester, make the hke attempt 

 upon the northern promontory of INIassachusetts Bay, in probability first 

 discovered by Captain Smith before or in the year 1614," and called 

 Cape Ann, in honor of the royal consort of King James. " Here," he 

 continues, " did the aforesaid merchants first erect stages whereon to 

 make their fish, and yearly sent their ships thither for that end, for 

 some considerable time, until the fame of the plantation at New Ply- 

 mouth, with the success thereof, was spread abroad through all the 

 western parts of England," &c. Again, he says that, " On this con- 

 sideration it was that some merchants and other gentlemen about Dor- 

 chester did, about the year 1624, at the instigation of Mr. White,* the 



* The Rev. John White (as stated in the Chronicles of Massachusetrs) was bom in 1575, and 

 in IfidS became rector of a parish in Dorchester. He removed from that place, and was ali- 

 sent for several years, hut n-ninied to Dorchi-ster, and died there in lt)lH. In the civil wars 

 in England he took sides with tlic rnritans. He was one (d' the assembly of divines of West- 

 minster, and " sliowed himself one of the most learned and moderate amonu them, and his 

 judgment was much relied on thi^rein." Callemler, in his Historical Discourse on Khode 

 Island, calls him tiu! " fatiier of the Massachusetts colony."' His name often occurs in the 

 meetin;fs of the Massachusetts Comjiany in London. Tiie church in wiiich he preached in 

 Dorchester was deuiolisiied in \f*Z\. That city, the " cradle of the Massuchusetts colony," 

 Bends two members to Parliament; it is on the river Frome, I'JO nnles from London. 



The "Planter's I'h'a," a tract wliirh was printed in Lfuidon in KiMO, soon after Winthrop 

 and his cfimpany sailed for Massacliusetrs, has L'eiierally been ascrilied lo Mr. White. A chap- 

 ter of this tract is to be found in Young's Chronicles of ^lassachusetts. It fully warrants tlie 

 etatements in the text in relation to the original objects of colonization, as the fallowing ex- 

 tracts will show: 



" Abont the year 1623," flays Mr. White, or the writer of the Plea, "some westeni merchants, 

 who had continued a traih- of fishing for cod atid bartering for furs in those parrs for divers 

 years before, eoneeiviiig that a culony planted on the eoast might further tlu'in in tiiose eni- 

 phtymi-nts, bctlioUKJit tbemselve.s how they mii.'lit ItIhu tiiat ]M-oject to cHect, tind conuniini- 

 cated their purpose to others, ftlleiring tlie coMveniency of cmnpassing liu'ir project witii a 

 small ciiarue, by the o])portunity <d" their hshing tnide, in wiiich they accustomed to doulde- 

 man tln-ir whips, that, by the hei|i of many haiicis, they migiit despateii their voyage and hule 

 their ship with lish while the fishing season lasted, which could not be douo with a bare sailing 



