extremity of the island was chosen as the site for the city, and there the foundations were laid.

22. Disaster attended the enterprise. The Indians were still hostile. When peace was concluded Sir Walter conferred on Manteo, one of the Indian chiefs, the title of Lord of Roanoke-a silly piece of business. The copper-colored nobleman could do nothing to aid the colonists. The fear of starvation soon compelled White to return to England for supplies. Had the settlers given themselves to tilling the soil and building houses, no further help would have been needed. The 18th of August was the birthday of Virginia Dare, the first-born of English children in the New World. When White set sail for England he left behind a colony of a hundred and eight persons, whose fate has never been ascertained.

23. Raleigh soon sent out two supply-ships to succor his starving colony, but his efforts to reach them were unavailing. The vessels which he sent with stores went cruising after Spanish merchantmen and were captured by a man-of-war. Not until 1590 did the governor return to search for the unfortunate colonists. The island was a desert. No soul remained to tell the story of the lost.

24. Sir Walter, after spending two hundred thousand dollars in the attempt to found a colony, gave up the enterprise. He assigned his rights to an association of London merchants, and it was under their authority that White made the final search for the settlers of Roanoke. From this time very little in the way of discovery was accomplished by the English until 1602, when the work was renewed by BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD.

25. Thus far all the voyages to America had been by way of the Canary Islands and the West Indies. Abandoning this path, Gosnold, in a small vessel, called the Concord, sailed directly across the Atlantic, and in seven weeks reached Maine. The distance thus gained was fully two thousand miles. Explorations were made from Cape Elizabeth to Cape Cod. Here the captain, with four of his men, went on shore. It was the first landing of Englishmen within the limits of New England. On the most westerly of the Elizabeth Islands the first New England settlement was begun.

26. It was a short-lived enterprise. A traffic was opened with the natives which resulted in loading the Concord with sassafras

a Superior Council, residing in England, and an Inferior Council, residing in the colony. All legislative authority was vested in the king. In the organization of the companies no principles of selfgovernment were admitted. A foolish provision in the patent required the proposed colony to hold all property in common for five years. The best law of the charter allowed the emigrants to retain in the New World all the rights of Englishmen.

4. In August, 1606, the Plymouth Company sent their first ship to America. In the autumn another vessel was sent out, which remained in the country until the following spring. Encouraged by the reports which were brought back, the company, in the summer of 1607, despatched a colony of a hundred persons. A settlement was begun at the mouth of the River Kennebec. A block-house and several cabins were built, and the place named St. George. Then the ships returned to England, leaving a colony of forty-five persons; but the winter of 1607-8 was very severe. Some of the settlers were starved and some frozen; the store-house was burned, and when summer came the remnant escaped to England. 5. The London Company had better fortune. A fleet of three vessels was fitted out under command of Christopher Newport. In December the ships, having on board a hundred and five colonists, among whom were Wingfield and Smith, left England. Newport foolishly took the old route by way of the Canaries, and did not reach America until April. It was the design to land on Roanoke Island, but a storm carried the ships northward into the Chesapeake. Entering the bay, the vessels came to the mouth of a beautiful river, which was named in honor of King James. Proceeding up stream about fifty miles, Newport found on the northern bank a peninsula noted for its beauty; the ships were moored and the emigrants went on shore. Here, on the 13th day of May (Old Style), 1607, were laid the foundations of Jamestown, the oldest English settlement in America. 6. Meanwhile a new impulse was given to the affairs of North Virginia by the activity of John Smith. In 1609 he left Jamestown and returned to England. There he formed a partnership with four wealthy merchants of London to trade in furs and establish a colony within the limits of the Plymouth grant. Two ships

were freighted with goods and put under Smith's command. The summer of 1614 was spent on the coast of Maine, where a traffic was carried on with the Indians. But Smith himself found nobler work to do. Beginning as far north as practicable, he explored the country, and drew a map of the whole coast from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. In this map, which is a marvel of accuracy considering the circumstances under which it was made, the country was called NEW ENGLAND. In November the ships returned to Plymouth, taking with them the proofs of a successful voyage.

7. In 1615 a small colony of sixteen persons, led by Smith, was sent out in a single ship. When nearing the American coast, they encountered a storm, and were obliged to return to England. In spite of these reverses, the leader renewed the enterprise, and raised another company. Part of his crew became mutinous and left him in mid-ocean. His own ship was captured by a band of French pirates, and himself imprisoned in the harbor of Rochelle. But he escaped in an open boat and made his way to London. He now published a description of New England, and urged the company of Plymouth to action. But the London Company was jealous of its rival, and put obstacles in the way. The years 1617-18 were spent in making plans of colonization, until finally the Plymouth Company was superseded by a new corporation called the COUNCIL OF PLYMOUTH. On this body were conferred almost unlimited powers and privileges. All that part of America lying between the fortieth and the forty-eighth parallels of north latitude, and extending from ocean to ocean, was given in fee simple to the forty men who composed the council. More than a million of square miles were embraced in the grant.

8. John Smith was now appointed admiral of New England. The king issued a proclamation enforcing the charter, and every thing gave promise of the early settlement of America. Such were the schemes of men to people the Western Continent. Meanwhile, a Power above the will of man was working out the same result. The time had come when, without the knowledge or consent of James I. or the Council of Plymouth, a permanent settlement should be made on the shores of New England.

9. About the close of the sixteenth century, a number of poor