The above shows the shape of the rock with the inscriptions upon it, being a reduced copy from that taken under the direction of the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1830, and published in the Antiquitates Americana. It is supposed by some, that these inscriptions were made by the Northmen, and signify in Icelandic characters, that Thorfinn Karlsefne arrived here in A. D., 1007, and took possession of the country: others suppose them to be of much earlier origin, and ascribe them to the Phoenicians.

After the discovery of Columbus in 1492, a general spirit of enterprise and inquiry was awakened in the European nations. In 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, under the patronage of Henry VII. of England, commenced a voyage of discovery. He was accompanied by his son Sebastian, and three hundred men, with two caravals freighted by the merchants of London and Bristol: On the 24th of June they were surprised by the sight of land; which being the first they had seen; Cabot called it Prima Vista, which in Italian, his native tongue, signifies, first sight. This is generally supposed to be some part of the island of Newfoundland. A few days afterwards, they discovered a smaller island which they named St. Johns. Continuing westerly, they soon reached the continent, and then sailed along the coast northwardly, to the latitude of sixty-seven and a half degrees. Finding that the coast stretched towards the east, they turned back, and sailed south ever with the intention to find the passage to India," till they came to the southernmost part of Florida. Their provisions now failing, and a mutiny breaking out among the mariners, they returned to England, without attempting a settlement, or conquest in any part of the New World.

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In 1524, John Verrazzano, an Italian in the service of France,

sailed along the American coast from Florida to Labrador, and named the country New France. In 1534, the French fitted out another expedition under James Cartier. He discovered and named the gulf of St. Lawrence; the year following he sailed up the river St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, built a fort and took possession of the country in the name of the French king. These, and other discoveries and settlements, made by the French, afterwards proved the source of many calamities to the British Colonies, till the conquest of Canada in 1760.

For a long period after the discovery of Cabot, the English monarchs appear to have given but little attention to the country which they afterwards claimed. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth, and sent out two ships commanded by Amidas and Barlow to America, to examine the country in order to make a settlement. They landed at Roanoke, and were well received by the natives. On their return they gave so flattering an account of the country, that Queen Elizabeth delighted with the idea of possessing so fine a territory, named it Virginia, as a memorial that the discovery was made under a virgin queen. This name was afterwards applied to the country along the whole coast. The exertions of Raleigh, however, to plant a permanent colony proved unsuccessful.

In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold sailed in a small barque from Falmouth, England, with thirty-two persons, for the northern parts of Virginia with the intention of making a settlement. Steering due west, as near as the winds would permit, after a passage of seven weeks, discovered land on the American coast, May 14th. Sailing along the shore the next day they discovered a head land in the latitude of forty-two degrees, where they came to anchor; and taking a great number of Cod at this place, they named it Cape Cod. On the 21st they discovered an island, which they called Martha's Vineyard. On the 28th they concluded to commence a settlement on one of the Elizabeth Islands; so named by them in honor of the Queen. They landed on Cuttahunk the westernmost Island, and in nineteen days, a fort and store house were completed. While the men were occupied in this work, Gosnold crossed the Bay and landed on the main land, where he amicably trafficked with the natives. Upon his return to the island, he found that a portion of his men who were to have remained, so discontented, that he concluded to abandon the design of a settlement, and the whole company returned to England.

The discovery made by Gosnold, incited a spirit of enterprise, and by the influence of Richard Hakluyt, a most active promoter of the English settlements in America, an association of gentlemen was formed, for the purpose of establishing colonies in

America. Upon their application to king James, a patent was granted in 1606, for the settling two plantations in America, one called North, the other South Virginia. The Southern district, called the first colony, he granted to the London Company; the Northern, called the second colony, he granted to the Plymouth Company. North Virginia was allotted as a place of settlement, to several knights, gentlemen, and merchants of Bristol, Plymouth, and other parts of the west of England.

In 1607, owing to the encouragement given for the settlement of North Virginia, Sir John Popham and others sent out two ships under the command of George Popham and Ralegh Gilbert, with a hundred men, with ordnance and all provisions necessary until they might obtain further supplies. They sailed from Plymouth the last of May, and on the 11th of August, landed on a peninsula at the mouth of Kennebec river now in the state of Maine. Here, after a sermon was delivered, and their patent and laws were read, they built a store-house, fortified it and gave it the name of Fort St. George. On December 5th, the two ships sailed for England, leaving a colony of forty-five persons, Popham being president, and Gilbert, admiral. The ships which arrived the next year with supplies, brought the news of the death of Sir John Popham and Sir John Gilbert. These misfortunes, with the death of Capt. George Popham, the loss of the stores the preceding winter by fire, with the barren aspect of the country, so dispirited the colony, that they unanimously resolved to return in these ships to England.

In 1609, Henry Hudson an Englishman in the service of the Dutch, attempted to penetrate to the East Indies, by sailing a north-westward course. Having attempted in vain this passage, he followed the track, which the Cabots had marked for him a century before. He coasted along the foggy shores of Newfoundland; shaped his course for Cape Cod; worked into the Chesapeak, where the English were settled; sailed into the Manhattan or Hudson river; and departed in October for England. The Dutch sent ships the next year to Manhattan, to open a trade with the natives.

In 1614, Capt. John Smith, who some years before had been Governor of Virginia, was sent out with two ships from England, to North Virginia, with instructions to remain in the country, and to keep possession. He ranged the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod; made a discovery of the river Piscataqua, and the Massachusetts Islands. He also traded with the natives for furs. From the observations he made on the coast, islands, headlands, &c. on his return home, he formed a map, and presented it to king Charles, who in the warmth of admiration, declared the country should be called New England. Smith in his voyage

made several discoveries, and distinguished them by peculiar names. The north promontory of Massachusetts Bay, he named Tragaligzanda, in honor of a Turkish lady to whom he had been a slave at Constantinople. Prince Charles, however, in filial respect to his mother, called it Cape Ann; a name which it still retains. The three small islands at the head of the promontory, Smith called the Three Turks Heads, in memory of his victory over three Turkish champions; but this name was also changed. Another cluster of Islands, to which the discoverer gave his own name, Sinith's Isles was afterwards called the Isle of Shoals, which name it still retains.

"The base and perfidious action of one man subjected English adventurers to present inconveniences, and to future dangers. Smith had left behind him one of his ships, to complete her lading, with orders to Thomas Hunt, the master, to sail with the fish, that he should procure on the coast, directly for Malaga. Hunt however, under pretence of trade, having enticed twenty-four of the natives on board his ship, put them under hatches, and carried them to Malaga, where he sold them to the Spaniards. This flagrant outrage disposed the natives in that part of the country where it was committed, to revenge the injury on the countrymen of the offender; and the English were hence constrained to suspend their trade, and their projected settlement in New England.

An opportunity was soon offered to the Indians, to show their resentment, if not to inflict revenge. In the course of the year, the English adventured to dispatch to the same coast another vessel, commanded by Captain Hobson, for the purpose of erecting a plantation, and establishing a trade with the natives; but it was found next to impracticable to settle any where within their territories. Two Indians, Epenow and Manowet, who had been carried by Hunt to England, were brought back in Hobson's vessel, to be serviceable toward the design of a plantation; but they united with their countrymen in contriving means, by which they might be revenged on the English. Manowet died soon after their arrival. Epenow, not allowed to go on shore, engaged his old friends, who visited the vessel, to come again, under pretext of trade. On their approach at the appointed time with twenty canoes, he leaped overboard, and instantly a shower of arrows was sent into the ship. The Indians, with desperate

Hubbard says, that Hunt, "like a wicked varlet," decoyed them; and that he took 20 Indians from Patuxet [now Plymouth], and 7 from Nauset [Eastham]. I. Mather says the same thing. But, as Hubbard and the best authorities give the aggregate number of 24, it is probable, that 4 only were taken from Nauset, and that this figure has been mistaken for 7. Mather also says, that Hunt carried these Indians to Gibraltar, and there sold as many of them, as he could, for £20 a man, until it was known whence they came; "for then the friars in those parts took away the rest of them, that so they might nurture them in the Christian religion."

courage, drew nigh, and, in spite of the English muskets, carried off their countrymen. Several Indians were killed in the skirmish. The master of the ship and several of the company were wounded. Discouraged by this occurrence, they returned to England."

The rise of the English Puritans by whom the first permanent settlement in New England was effected is generally dated about the year 1550. The controversy which resulted in the separation from the Church of England is said to have originated "on occasion of bishop Hooper's refusing to be consecrated in the Popish habits." Hooper was a zealous, a pious, and a learned man, who had gone out of England in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII, and resided at Zurich. Pierce hence observes, "that the habits have, from the very infancy of our Reformation, been an offence to very learned and pious men." The archbishop of Canterbury, with other bishops and divines, having concluded on an order of divine worship, an act, confirming that new liturgy, had passed both houses of Parliament, January 15, 1549. It was protested against, however, by the bishops of London, Durham, Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worcester, Westminster, and Chichester. The Parliament enacted, that all divine offices should be performed according to the new liturgy, and subjected such of the clergy, as should refuse the service, or officiate in any other manner, to forfeitures and imprisonment; and, for the third offence, to imprisonment for life. Whoever should write or print against the book were to be fined £10 for the first offence; £20 for the second; and to be imprisoned for life for the third. The Council immediately appointed visitors, to see that the liturgy was received throughout England."

"Although the era of the Puritans commenced in the reign of Edward VI; yet that pious young prince very soon after began an ecclesiastical reformation. Had he lived to perfect it according to his intentions, the Puritans would probably have been satisfied. But he died in 1553, at the early age of XVI; and was succeeded by queen Mary, a bigoted Papist, under whose administration John Rogers, of pious memory, was burnt at Smithfield; and bishop Hooper, with other pious reformers, suffered martyrdom. On the accession of queen Elizabeth, the reformation, which had been begun by Edward, was, in some degree, restored; but that illustrious queen, addicted to show, and jealous of prerogative, soon made the Puritans feel the weight of her royal power. Bishops and other clergymen were deposed, for refusing the oath to the queen's supremacy. At length (31st Jan. 1563) the convocation of the English clergy met, and finished

* Holmes' Annals.