70 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



and it is very doubtful whether any settler ever wandered 



further inland than six miles before the second half of the 



eighteenth century. 



As Cover- Sir D. Kirke, the first Governor under the new regime, 



nor, Kirke ^lade Ferryland his capital, occupied it with his settlers, who 



introduces •' r ^ r 



rent, were variously estimated at thirty or one hundred persons 



licences, ^ (i6q8), made Lord Baltimore's house (which was within a 



and excise, \ ^ /' ^ 



1638-53, quoit's throw of the sea) his residence, mounted in ' Ferryland, 



St. John's, Bay Bulls, etc.', 'some few,' or according to 



others fifty-six cannon ; and, if settlers were so insubordinate 



as to live by the shore or to sell strong drink, he fined them, 



or, in other words, levied rent and licence fees. He also 



levied, or said that he levied, under a special power in his 



charter, an excise of five per 120 fish on alien fishermen. 



He loved the air, which, he said, perfectly well agreed with 



all God's creatures except Jesuits and schismatics ; and was 



loath to leave what he loved in 1640, when he was re-called, 



and replaced for awhile by two merchants named John 



Downing and William Rigby. In 1649, by special request 



from Charles I, his sister Lady Hopkins joined him, his 



wife and family, at Ferryland ; ^ and in 1 65 1 he was summoned 



home by Cromwell's Council of State on suspicion of complicity 



into which with Prince Rupert. Commissioners were appointed to 



sioners inquire into Kirke's profits from licences, rents, and excise^ 



inquire; to collect the same, and to stand possessed of his property, 



especially his cannon, pending inquiry. New Commissions, 



for one year only, were issued in 1652 and 1653 to the same 



effect. Sir D. Kirke was allowed to return to Ferryland in 



1652, but died in 1653, probably in an English prison, where 



he was detained at the suit of Cecil, the then Lord Baltimore. 



Before his death he was cleared of complicity with Prince . 



Rupert and his possessions were restored. It was said by 



Cecil, Lord Baltimore, that before his death he curried favour 



with Cromwell by making Cromwell's son-in-law, Claypole, 



* Charles I's letter, Nov. 16, 1648, is in Egerton MSS. 2395, fol. 36. 



