paid to agriculture. tlers, was to clear the forests, and supply themselves with food from the soil. But the fertility of the earth taught them soon to look to agriculture as a source of wealth, as well as of subsistence. It therefore became the leading object of industry in the colonies.

The first business of the set

The method adopted by the first settlers to clear the land was very slow and laborious, compared with the present modes. They used generally to cut down the trees and dig up the stumps, before tillage.

Tobacco was early cultivated in Virginia, and soon began to be exported. The year after the colony landed, the people gathered corn of their own planting, the seed of which they received of the Indians. Vineyards were attempted, and experienced vinedressers were sent over for the purpose of taking care of them. Flax, hemp, barley, &c., were cultivated to a considerable extent. Rye was first raised in Massachusetts, in 1633. Ploughs were early introduced into the country.

The first neat cattle, ever brought into New-England, were introduced by Mr. Winslow, in 1624. In 1629, one hundred and forty head of cattle, some horses, sheep, and goats, were brought to Massachusetts Bay. In a few years they became so numerous as to supply all the wants of the inhabitants. In 1623, the cattle in Virginia had increased to above one thousand head.

New-York raised considerable beef and pork for exportation, and in 1678, they exported sixty thousand bushels of wheat.

The colo

Sec. 55. ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. nists, during this period, being chiefly occupied in gaining a subsistence, and in protecting themselves against their enemies, had occasion for few articles beyond the necessaries and comforts of life. Arts and manufactures could, therefore, receive but little encouragement, beyond the construction of such articles, and even those were principally imported.

In 1620, one hundred and fifty persons came from Eng

and to Virginia to carry on the manufacture of silks, iron, potash, tar, pitch, glass, salt, &c., but they did not succeed. In 1673, Chalmer says of New-England, "There be five iron works which cast no guns-no house in New-England has above twenty rooms-not twenty in Boston have ten rooms each—a dancing school was set up here, but put down-a fencing school is allowed. There be no musicians by trade. All cordage, sail-cloth, and mats, come from England-no cloth made there worth four shillings per yard-no alum, no copperas, no salt, made by their sun."

The first buildings of the settlers were made of logs and thatched, or were built of stone. Brick and framed houses were soon built in the larger towns, and afterwards in the villages. The frames and brick were, however, in some instances, imported. The first mill in New-England was a wind-mill, near Watertown, but it was taken down in 1632, and placed in the vicinity of Boston. Water-mills began to be erected the next year. The first attempt to build water-craft, in New-England, was at Plymouth, in 1626. A house carpenter sawed their largest boat into two parts, and lengthened it five or six feet, built a deck, and rigged it into a convenient vessel, which did service for seven years. The first vessel, built in Massachusetts, was a bark in 1631, called The Blessing of the Bay. In 1633, a ship of sixty tons was built at Medford. In 1636, one of one hundred and twenty tons was built at Marblehead. In 1641, a ship of three hundred tons was launched at Salein, and one of one hundred and sixty tons at Boston. From this time ship building rapidly extended in the northern colonies.

The first printing in New-England, was done in 1639, by one Day. The proprietor of the press, was a clergyman, by the name of Glover, who died on his passage to America. The first thing printed was the Freeman's Oath, the second an almanack, and the third an edition of the Psalms. No other printing press was established in America, during this period. John Elliot, the celebrated missionary, having translated the Bible into the Indian language, had it printed at Cambridge in 1664.

The mode of travelling considerable distances was on foot or on horseback, there being no carriages for that purpose, and the roads from one village to another being only narrow foot-paths, through forests.

Sec. 56. POPULATION. We may estimate the po

pulation of the English American colonies at the close of this period at about 200,000.

It is impossible to ascertain very exactly the population of the American colonies at the close of this period. The estimates made by writers are vague, and often contradictory. The estimate of Dr. Humphries in 1701, which seems as well entitled to credit as any other, is as follows:

Making a deduction from this account, so as to bring the estimate to the close of our period, we state the whole white population of the English American colonies, in 1689, at about two hundred thousand.

Sec. 57. EDUCATION. In New-England, schools were founded, at the outset of the colonies, for the education of all classes: In the southern colonies, provisions for the education of the higher classes only were attempted during this period.

Scarcely had the American colonists opened the forests, and constructed habitations, before they directed their attention to the object of education.

Previously to 1619, the King of England authorized the collection of moneys, throughout the kingdom, to erect a college in Virginia, for the education of Indian children; one thousand five hundred pounds were collected for this purpose, and Henrico was selected as a suitable place for the seminary. The same year, the Virginia company granted ten thousand acres of land for the projected university. This donation, while it embraced the original object, was intended also for the foundation of a seminary of learn, ing for English scholars.

In addition to a college, the colonists, in 1621, instituted a school at Charles' city for the benefit of all the colony, which

they called the East India School. For the maintenance of the master and usher, one thousand acres of land were appropriated, with five servants and an overseer. From this school, pupils were to be transferred to the college at Henrico, when the latter should be sufficiently endowed. These establishments in Virginia, however, failed of success, and in 1692, their funds were given to William and Mary's college, which we shall notice hereafter.

Still more attentive to education were the northern colonies. In 1630, a general court of Massachusetts Bay appropriated the sum of four hundred pounds towards the commencement of a college. In 1637, the college was located at Newtown, which, not long after, was called Cambridge, in memory of Cambridge, in England, where many of the colonists had received their education. Mr. John Harvard, a worthy minister, dying at Charlestown about this time, bequeathed nearly eight hundred pounds to the college, in consideration of which legacy, it was called after him. In 1642, was held the first commencement, at which nine were graduated.

To this institution, the plantations of Connecticut and New-Haven, so long as they remained unable to support a similar one at home, contributed funds from the public purse; and sent to it such of their youth as they wished to be educated. Private subscriptions were also made from the uni- • ted colonies, to aid the institution.

Great attention was also paid by all the colonies to the subject of common schools. As a specimen of the arrangements common to the New-England colonies, we may notice those of Connecticut. By her first code, in 1639, only six years from the time the first house was erected within the colony, it was ordered that every town, consisting of fifty families, should maintain a good school, in which reading and writing should be well taught, and that in every county town a good grammar school should be instituted. Large tracts of land were appropriated by the legislature as a permanent support of these schools, and the selectmen of every town were required to see that all heads of families instructed their children and servants to read the English tongue well.

REFLECTIONS.

Sec. 58. At the commencement of this period, our history presented us with a continent, over whose surface an interminable wilderness had for ages cast its deep and solemr

shade. If we approach the shore, and look through the gloom that gathers over it, the scenes which strike the eye are Indians at their war dance, or perhaps flames curling round some expiring captive, or wild beasts mangling their

prey.

Passing from this point of time to the close of our period, a space of eighty-two years, the prospect is greatly changed. We now see smiling fields and cheerful villages in the place of dismal forests; instead of beasts of prey, we see grazing herds; instead of the kindling faggot, we witness the worship of Jesus Christ; and instead of the appalling war whoop, we listen to the grateful songs of David. In the beautiful words of scripture, the wilderness has begun to blossom as the rose, and the desert is becoming vocal with the praises of God.

But how is it that a change so wonderful has been brought to pass? We have indeed seen the hardy spirit of enterprise leaving the luxuries of Europe, and plunging into the forests of America. But we have also seen our forefathers struggling with difficulties, and often trembling on the very brink of ruin. We have seen them amidst Indian war, desolating famine, and pestilence; and we have wondered, after the storm has passed, to see them rise with renovated strength. and seem to gather power and advantage from circumstan ces calculated to overwhelm them.

Admitting, then, the extraordinary energy, wisdom, enterprise, and hardihood, of the first settlers of America, still we are driven to the admission of a benign providence working in their favor, and mysteriously establishing their strength and security, by exercising them for years with danger, trial, and misfortune.

Nor are these the only considerations which excite our admiration, in regard to the first settlers of North America. Although, in the eloquent words of Mr. Walsh, It was their peculiar lot, at one and the same time, to clear and cultivate a wilderness; to erect habitations and procure sustenance; to struggle with a new and rigorous climate; to bear up against all the bitter recollections inseparable from distant and lonely exile; to defend their liberties from the jealous tyranny and bigotry of the mother country; to be perpetually assailed by a savage foe, the most subtle and the most formidable of any people on the face of the earth:"still, they looked forward to the welfare of future generations; laid broad and deep foundations for religious institutions' made the most careful provisions for learning, and