Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/82

 Wissagusset was then speedily abandoned.

The energetic Sir Ferdinando Gorges, in connection with an able partner named Mason, had obtained a grant of territory from Naumkeag, now Salem, to the Kennebec, and thence to Canada. This grant was named Laconia. Portsmouth and Dover, in New Hampshire, were now founded; but the "Company of Laconia" did not prosper, and these towns long remained mere fishing stations. Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando, obtained at this time a grant of ten miles on the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay; he was also appointed lieutenant-general of New England, Francis West being the admiral sent out to prohibit disorderly trading within the limits of the patent held by the Council for New England. Gorges brought with him a clergyman of the Church of England, named Morrell, who was appointed, by the archbishop of Canterbury, commissary of ecclesiastical affairs. His mission was looked on with no favor by the stern Puritans, and in the course of a year or so he returned to England without having attempted any interference with the colonists or their religious views and practices.

The following year, another clergyman, by name Lyford, was recommended by the partners in London, to supply the pastoral office vacant at New Plymouth: he was as little acceptable as Morrell, and soon after, under charge of practising against the colony, he and a few adherents were expelled. Migrating to Nantasket, at the entrance of Boston harbor, the expelled colonists formed a new settlement at that point.

The colony of New Plymouth, though still feeble, gave encouraging signs of life and energy, for though there were no luxuries as yet to be met with, there was wholesome food and a good supply of pure water to drink. "The nonexistence of private property, the discontent and unwillingness to labor thence arising, and the exorbitant interest, as high as forty-five per cent paid for money borrowed in London, were, however, serious drawbacks to the prosperity of the colony. It was found necessary, indeed, to enter into an agreement that each family should plant for itself; and an acre of land was accordingly assigned to each person in fee. Under this stimulus, the production of corn soon became so great, that, from buyers, the colonists became sellers to the Indians. At the end of the fourth year after its settlement, Plymouth had thirty-two dwelling houses, and a hundred and eighty-four inhabitants. The general stock, or whole amount of the investment, personal services included, amounted to £7,000, or $34,000. The London partners were very unwilling to make any further advances. John Robinson died in Holland, and several years elapsed before his family, and the rest of the Leyden congregation could find means to transport themselves to New Plymouth. Those already there—passengers by the Mayflower, the Fortune, the Anne, and the Little James—were afterward distinguished as the 'old comers,' or 'forefathers.' Six or seven years elapsed before the colony received any