original settlement of Plymouth, and a large tract of land on Kennebeck river in Maine. Q. What was the number of inhabitants in Plymouth at that time?

A. Nearly three hundred.

CONVERSATION VI.

Arrival of Gov. Winthrop.-Dorchester founded.-First day of thanksgiving.-Watertown, Boston, and Roxbury settled-First general court at Boston.-Death of Mr. Johnson.-Death of Francis Higginson.-Newtown [Cambridge] founded.-Ipswich founded. -Sumptuary laws.-Settlement at Connecticut river.-Small-pox among the Indians.

Q. When did Governor Winthrop and his company arrive at Massachusetts, and at what place did they first land?

A.

June 12, 1630, and landed first at Salem, whence they soon after passed to Charlestown.*

Q. What was the whole number of persons attached to this company ?

A.

They were in all 1500 persons, of various occupations, who came in a fleet of 17 vessels, ten of which arrived at nearly the same time with Governor Winthrop, and the other 7 before the end of the year.

Q. Did they all proceed to Salem ?

* Governor Winthrop removed from Charlestown to Boston in the autumn of 1631.

A. Four principal men, Warham, Maverick, Rossiter, and Ludlow, arriving sooner than the rest, were put ashore at Nantasket, and in a few days removed to Matapan, where they began to build a town.

Q. What was the name of the town thus founded?

A.

Q.

Dorchester.

When and on what account was the first day of public thanksgiving kept in the Massachusetts colony?

A. On the 8 of July, 1630, for the safe arrival of the fleet.

Q. Who was the first minister of Charlestown, and when was he installed?

A. Mr. John Wilson, installed August 27, 1630.

Q.

When was the first court of assistants holden at Charlestown ?

A. August 23, same year.

The first question proposed was, How the ministers should be maintained.

Q. When and by whom were Watertown, Boston, and Roxbury settled?

A. All in the summer and autumn of 1630; Watertown, by Sir Richard Saltonstall and Mr. Phillips; Boston, by Mr. Johnson and some of the principal inhabitants of Charlestown; and Roxbury, by Mr. Pynchon and others.*

Install, v. to invest with office.

* There was residing on the peninsula, [Boston,] at that

Q. When was the first general court holden at Boston ?

Q. Were the Massachusetts colonists visited with sickness, soon after their arrival at Charlestown?

A. They were, of whom several died.

Among these was the Lady Arbella Johnson,* and, a month afterwards, her husband, Mr. Isaac Johnson. He was the first magistrate who died in Massachusetts, and was distinguished for piety, wisdom, and public spirit.

Q. What other eminent man died in the colony this year?

A. Francis Higginson, one of the ministers of Salem, a zealous and useful preacher. He was mild in doctrine, but strict in discipline; grave in his deportment; cautious in his decisions: firm to his purposes; and exemplary in his life.

Q. When was Newtown [afterward Cambridge] founded?

A. In 1631.

Q. When was the first considerable accession made to the settlers at Newtown?

time, a Mr. William Blackstone, who came and invited the Charlestown settlers thither, on account of an excellent spring of water on that side of the river. The peninsula was then called by the English, Trimountain, and by the Indians, Shawmut. Mr. Blackstone was an Episcopal clergyman, who had previously settled at Shawmut,and being the first English inhabitant there, was the rightful owner of the whole peninsula. He would never join any of the N. E. churches, alleging as a reason, "I came from England, because I did not like the lord bishops, and I cannot join with you, because I would not be under the lord brethren." He finally removed to Rhode-Island.

* A daughter of the Earl of Lincoln. She came "from a paradise of plenty to a wilderness of wants," and was unequal to the trials of so great a transition.

A. In 1632, by a company from England. In this year they built their first meetinghouse. Deputy-governor Dudley, secretary Bradstreet, and other gentlemen of note, also settled there about this time.

Q. When was the first meetinghouse begun to be built in Boston ?

A. In 1632, by the congregation of Boston and Charlestown.

Q. Who was their minister ?

A. John Wilson, also the first minister of Charlestown.

The church in the latter place having become large, the members amicably divided themselves into two churches, one of which was in Boston and the other in Charlestown, where Mr. Thomas James became the pastor.

Q. When and by whom was Ipswich founded?

A. In 1633, by John Winthrop, son of the governor, and twelve others.

Q. Who was the first minister of Ipswich?
A. Rev. Nathaniel Ward.

Q. What sumptuary laws were passed this year in Massachusetts ?

A. Laws against idleness, luxury, and

extortion.

The court ordered, that no artificers, such as carpenters and masons, should receive more than two shillings a day, and labourers but 18 pence, and proportionably; and that no commodity should be sold at above 4 pence in the shilling above the cost of the goods in England.

Q. When was the first settlement made at Connecticut river, and by whom?

Sumptuary, a. relating to expense.

A. In 1633, by a company sent from Plymouth, who were invited thither by the natives. Q. What remarkable calamity befel the Indians in Massachusetts in 1633 ?

A. The breaking out of the small-pox among them, of which several of their chiefs and very many of their people died.

Above 30 of John Sagamore's people of Winisimet were buried in one day. John Sagamore, by his own desire, was brought among the English, where he died in the persuasion that he should go to the Englishman's God, leaving his son to be brought up by Mr. Wilson. The colonists visited them in their sickness, administered to their necessities, buried their dead, and took home many of their children.

Q. What were some of the most important results of labour in the Massachusetts colony in 1633 ?

A. A ship of 60 tons was built at Medford; the first water-mill in the colony was erected in Dorchester, and another at Roxbury; and rye was produced for the first time.

CONVERSATION VII.

Change in the government of Massachusetts.-Dangers from the government abroad.-Dangers from the natives at home.-Banishment of Roger Williams.-Surrender of Plymouth charter.-Newbury, Concord, and Hingham settled.-Sir Henry Vane.-Emigration to Connecticut.-Murder of John Oldham.-Ann Hutchinson. -Harvard College founded.-Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company.-Earthquake.-First printing press.-Southampton settled. Extreme cold.-Hugh Peters.-Progress of New-England.

Q. When were the first representatives assembled in Massachusetts ?