formerly allotted. There was also a division of the cattle and goats. In the edition of the Memorial, by Judge Davis, page 389, will be found a particular allotment of cows and goats to individual families, and by that list the state of several families may be determined. The division of cows and goats took place soon after the connexion of the Plymouth settlers with the company of merchant adventurers in England was dissolved.In 1624, Mr. James Shirley, merchant of London, and one of the adventurers, a warm friend to the pilgrims, gave a heifer to the plantation to begin a stock for the poor. In 1638, the townsmen of New Plymouth met at the governor's, all the inhabitants from Jones's river to Eel river, respecting the disposition of the stock of cows given by Mr. Shirley. The amount of the stock was very considerable, and a respectable committee was appointed to dispose of the same. In one of his letters, this benevolent gentleman says, 'If you put off any bull calves, or when they grow to bigger stature, I pray let that money's worth purchase hose and shoes for the poor of Plymouth, or such necessaries as they may want; and this I pray make known to all.' 'All this gentleman's letters,' observes the editor of the Memorial, 'exhibit the most estimable disposition. When Plymouth shall distinguish its streets and public places with the name of ancient worthies, that of Shirley should not be forgotten.'

In March of this year, messengers arrived at Plymouth from the governor of the Dutch plantation at Hudson's river, with letters dated at Manhattas, Fort Amsterdam, March 9th, 1627, and written in Dutch and French. In these letters, the Dutch congratulated the English on their prosperous and commendable enterprise, tendered their good will and friendly services, and offered to open and maintain with them a commercial intercourse. The governor and council of Plymouth sent an obliging answer to the Dutch, expressing a thankful sense of the kindness which they had received in their native country, and a grateful acceptance of the offered friendship. The letters were signed by Isaac De Razier, Secretary.

In September, of the same year, the Plymouth planters received a visit from De Razier. Having arrived at the Plymouth trading-house at Manomet, according to his request, governor Bradford sent a boat for him, and he arrived at Plymouth, in the Dutch style, with a noise of trumpeters. was a chief merchant, and second to the governor.

He

The people of Plymouth entertained him and his company several days, and some of them accompanied him on his return to Manomet, and purchased of him some commodities, especially

wampum peack or wampum. The Plymouth settlers were unacquainted with wampum, as an article of commerce, but, from the information received from the Dutch, they were induced to purchase the article of the Indians, to the value of £50, for traffic; it was unsaleable the two first years; but afterwards became a very important article of trade, especially with the inland Indians, who did not make it. Wompompague,' says Mr. Gookin, 'is made, artificially, of a part of the wilk's shell; the black is double the value of the white. It is made principally by the Narraganset and Long Island Indians. Upon the sandy flats and shores of those coasts, the wilk shells are found.' In Roger Williams's key, wampum is considered as the Indian money, and is described in the 24th chapter of that interesting tract. One fathom of this, their stringed money, is worth five shillings. Their white money they call wampum, which signifies white; their black, suckawhock, suki signifying black.' The editor of the Memorial says he received from the late professor Peck, a reply to some inquiries on this subject. He was satisfied that wampum was made from the shell of the paquawhock, or quahog. A traveller in this country in the year 1760, describing his journey from Newark to New York, by the way of Saten Island, has the following remark: 'In my way, I had an opportunity of seeing the method of making wampum. It is made of the clam shell; a shell consisting within of two colors, purple and white, and in form not unlike a thick oyster shell. The process of manufacturing it is very simple. It is just clipped to a proper size, which is that of a small oblong parallelopiped, then drilled, and afterwards ground to a round smooth surface, and polished. The purple wampum is much more valuable than the white; a very small part of the shell being of that color.'

1628. The Plymouth company had, for some time, been endeavoring to obtain a patent of a tract of land on the Kennebec river, as a place of trade. This year their object was accomplished, and they erected a house high up the river, and furnished it with corn and other commodities, for a market.This year died Mr. Richard Warren, one of the passengers in the Mayflower, and a man of great usefulness during the sufferings and difficulties of the first settlement. Elizabeth Warren, the widow of Richard Warren, survived her husband about 45 years. She died in 165, aged 90. Honorable mention is made of her in the Plymouth records. They had seven children, two sons and five daughters, all of whom married in Plymouth, excepting Abigail, the youngest daughter, who married Antony Snow, of Marshfield. Richard Warren stands at

the head of the ninth share in the division of cattle in 1627. His location of lands was near Eel river, and the farm has remained in possession of his descendants till within about seven years. The late Honorable James Warren, of Plymouth, was

a descendant from Richard Warren.

This year commenced the troubles occasioned by the eccentric Thomas Morton, of famous Merry Mount' and 'May Pole' memory; but as this 'Lord of Misrule' was not an inhabitant of Plymouth, and as his affairs were transacted chiefly. at Mount Wallaston, (Braintree,) the reader is referred to the New-England Memorial for particulars.

In 1623 or 1629, some Plymouth people, putting into Nantasket, met with a Mr. Ralph Smith, in a very miserable condition, but finding him to be a sober-minded man, and having officiated as a minister, they, by his earnest desire, brought him to Plymouth, where he was settled as their first minister.-See Ecclesiastical History.

1629.-This year, Dr. Fuller, one of the first emigrants, a skilful physician as well as pious man, was called to visit some sick people at Salem, as a malignant disease prevailed there among a company of English emigrants under the care of Mr. (afterwards governor) John Endicott. Governor Bradford, and some others from the church of Plymouth, went to Salem, to assist in the ordination of Mr. Skelton, pastor, and Mr. Higginson, teacher, or ruling elder, by giving the right hand of fellowship. In August of this year, thirty-five families of the Leyden church arrived at Plymouth. They were received with great joy, and the expenses of their transportation were paid gratuitously by the undertakers, and they were supported from the public stores for more than a year. Mr. Allerton, who made a third voyage to England in the autumn of 1628, as agent for Plymouth, returned some time in this month. He assisted very much the families of the Leyden church in their removal to this place. *

* Mr. Isaac Allerton was chosen the first and only assistant to Governor Bradford in 1621, and continued to be elected to that office, until 1624 when the number was increased. He was sent five times to England, as agent for the colony. In 1629, he employed the notorious Thomas Morton, as his secretary, which gave so great offence, that he was obliged to dismiss him. Mr. Allerton accompanied Gov. Bradford and Dr. Fuller to Salem in July 1629, to assist in the ordination of Mr. Skelton and Mr. Higginson. In point of property he ranked the first, paying taxes to the amount of £3, 11s, when Mr. Edw. Winslow next to him in wealth paid £2, 5s. His character may be inferred from the following passage quoted from

1630. Another portion of the Leyden people, about sixty in number, arrived on the 8th of May. Their transportation, amounting to £550, was paid by the undertakers. 'The . generosity of the chiefs of the colony to their Leyden brethren,' says Mr. Baylies, 'is unparalleled. They almost deprived themselves of the common necessaries of life to get them over, and to support them, until they were able to support themselves!' Execution. John Billington, indicted for murder, was found guilty, and executed in October. This was the first execution in Plymouth colony. Governor Bradford says, 'He was one of the profanest amongst us. He was from London, and I know not by what friends shuffled into our company. We used all due means about his trial; he was found guilty, both by grand and petit jury; and we took the advice of Mr. Winthrop, and others, the ablest gentlemen in the Massachusetts Bay, who all concurred with us that he ought to die, and the land be purged from blood.' He was guilty of the first offence in the colony in 1621, when he suffered an ignominious punishment. Governor Bradford, writing to Mr. Cushman in 1625, says, Billington still rails against you, and threatens to arrest you, I know not wherefore; he is a knave, and so will live and die.' Billington waylaid and shot one John Newcomen, in revenge for some affront. It was Francis, who, in 1621, discovered the lake that has the name of Billington sea. In October of this year, the ship called the Handmaid arrived at Plymouth, having been twelve weeks at sea, and lost all her masts. About sixty passengers arrived, all well; but of twentyeight cows shipped, ten were lost.

Whereas our ancient work of fortification, by continuance of time is decayed, and christian wisdom teacheth us to depend upon God in the use of all good means for our safety, it is agreed by court, that fortifications be made in March or April, and the governor and council measure the work, and appoint

Whereas Mr.

the old colony Records, p. 43. "1633 decb'r 2d. Will. Bradford was appointed in the behalfe of the Court to enter upon the estate of Godbert Godbertson and Zarah his wife, and to discharge the debts of the said Godbert so far as his estate will make good. And whereas the greatest part of his debts are owing to Mr. Isaack Allerton of Plymouth merchant late brother of the said Zarah, the said Isaack hath given free leave to all other his creditors to be fully discharged before he receive any thing of his particular debts to himself, desiring rather to lose all than other men should lose any." He married Fear Brewster, daughter of the Elder, for his second wife. His son Isaac was graduated at Cambridge in 1560. The posterity of Mr. Allerton are numerous in the U. S.

the whole of their joint and separate part of labor, and, in case any shall fail to do their part, they to forfeit ten shillings a day for each default, and to pay his or their part of labor, as the overseers shall agree.'

1632.-In the autumn of this year governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, Rev. Mr. Wilson, and some other gentlemen from Boston, visited Plymouth. In Winthrop's journal the party is thus described: The governor, with Mr. Wilson, pastor of Boston, and two captains,' &c. The two captains, it may be presumed, were Endicott and Underhill. They went on board Captain Pierce's ship, (October 28th) which had just before arrived from England, and were put on shore at a place called Massagascus. The next morning, the governor and his company went on foot to Plymouth, and arrived within the evening. The governor of Plymouth, Bradford, with Mr. Brewster the elder, and some others, came forth and met them without the town and conducted them to the governor's house, where they were kindly entertained, and feasted every day at several houses. On the Lord's day was a sacrament, which they did partake in, and in the afternoon Mr. Roger Williams, (according to their custom) propounded a question, to which their pastor, Mr. Smith, spake briefly. Rev. Mr. Williams prophecied, and after, the governor of Plymouth spake to the question; after him, the elder, then some two or three more of the congregation. Then the elder desired the governor of Massachusetts and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which they did. When this was ended, the deacon, Mr. Fuller, put the congregation in mind of the contribution, upon which the governor and all the rest went down to the deacon's seat and put into the bag, and then returned.'

October 31st. Wednesday, about five in the morning, the governor and his company came out of Plymouth, the governor of Plymouth, with the pastor and elder, &c. accompanying them nearly half a mile out of town in the dark. The lieutenant, Holmes, with two others, and the governor's man, came along with them to the great swamp, about ten miles. When they came to the great river, they were carried over by one Ludham, their guide, (as they had been when they came) the

*The term prophesying, in the sense intended by Governor Winthrop in his account of the religious exercises at Plymouth, has become obsolete. It originated in the reign of Elizabeth, when the puritans maintained frequent religious exercises, in which texts of scripiure were interpreted or discussed, one speaking to the subject after another, in an orderly method.