12 HISTORY OF THE [book. iii. 
such pursuits, at the time that Barbadoes was 
thus planted by a private merchant, was James 
Hay, earl of Carlisle. This nobleman was at that 
juncture engaged in the establishment of a colony 
in the island of St. Christopher, (as we shall hereaf¬ 
ter have occasion more particularly to relate), and, 
either not knowing of the earl of Marlborough’s 
patent, or conceiving that it interfered with his 
own pretensions,* he applied for and obtained, in 
the first year of Charles I. a warrant for a grant, by 
letters patent under the great seal of England, of 
all the Charaibean islands including Barbadoes; 
but when the grant came to be actually passed, 
the earl of Marlborough opposed it, on the ground 
of priority of right. The dispute between these 
noble lords continued for a considerable time; at 
length the contending parties thought it prudent 
to compromise the matter, and, on the earl of Car¬ 
lisle’s undertaking to pay the annual sum of £,.300 
to the earl of Marlborough and his heirs for ever, 
Marlborough waved his patent, and, in conse¬ 
quence of this arrangement, on the 2d of June 
1627, the earl of Carlisle’s patent passed the great 
seal, who thereupon became sole proprietor, f 
* It is said that he had obtained from James I. a grant, or warrant 
for a grant, under the great seal, of all the Charaibean islands, which 
the king erected into a province by the name of Carliola, on the mo¬ 
del of the palatinate of Durham. 
f Among other clauses in this grant are the following. “ Further 
know ye, that we, for us, our heirs, and sucessors, have authorized 
and appointed the said James earl of Carlisle, and his heirs, (of whose 
fidelity, prudence, justice, and wisdom, we have great confidence). 
