the condition and the trials of the Church at home. To save, therefore, the necessity of explaining, in every instance, the causes of strife and difficulty, as they were successively developed in different provinces, I have thought it better, once for all, to trace back the troubled stream to its fountain-head, and to show, that, throughout the course pursued by it for many years, it had borne the fortunes of the whole Nation upon its bosom. In the second place, the work of English Colonization was very slow; and frequent were the failures, and severe the disappointments, before any definite or visible results could be attained. Yet, the notice even of these abortive efforts could not be wholly omitted; because they contain, oftentimes, evidence of the faithful motives which led the rulers of the Church and Nation to make them. Thirdly, the uniform and distinct recognition of the Church in the Charters under which our earliest Colonies were established, has made it impracticable to separate her history, at that time, from the history of the Colonies themselves. It became necessary, therefore, to describe not only the geographical position of the several countries named, but also the varying character of the enterprises which led to our possession of them. In the words of one who was himself a prominent actor in the scenes which he has described, and whose testimony will often be cited in the present Volume, 'as Geography without

History seemeth a carkasse without motion, so History without Geography wandreth as a vagrant without a certaine habitation'. I have found it, moreover, impossible to gain an adequate knowledge of the spirit which animated many faithful members of the Church in the settlement of our first Colonies, only from those formal histories which recorded the commencement and progress of the work. Numerous other documents, printed and manuscript, were to be consulted; and, although I cannot believe that I have yet examined all, and in many quarters the search has proved fruitless, yet, in others, where I least expected it, valuable and interesting informa

tion has been obtained.

For these reasons, I have been led to tarry longer in the review of James the First's reign, than might by some persons have been thought necessary. But I do not regret that I have bestowed so much time upon this part of the subject: and, if the reader should feel, in the perusal of these pages, any portion of that deep interest which I have experienced in analyzing and comparing the documents from which their substance is derived, I shall be cheered by the reflection that my enquiries have not been in vain.

The future progress of the work,-should I be permitted, amid many and pressing avocations, to make it as I wish,-is not likely to be retarded by

1 Smith's History of Virginia, p. 169.

the operation of those causes to which I have just referred. For, when the Proprietary and Charter governments of the Colonies, settled under James the First, were abolished, at the end of that monarch's reign, by the arbitrary and tyrannical exercise of his prerogative, the chain of historical evidence was thereby broken, and, as a modern historian of Virginia has truly said, 'a black and melancholy chasm supplies the place of order and arrangement 2. The want, therefore, of materials created by that single cause, and the inability of the Church to extend her influence to our Colonies, by reason of the vicissitudes through which she herself was soon afterwards made to pass, must necessarily confine a great portion of the remaining history to much narrower limits, than those which I have prescribed to myself in the present Volume. Not, indeed, that evidences of zealous and faithful devotion will be found wanting, throughout an age which is commonly regarded as devoid of them; nor lessons, profitable for correction and instruction, fail to be derived, even from those periods which seem to be most discouraging. Nevertheless, as the points of rest are confessedly fewer, so the intervening space may be traversed more rapidly. I hope, in consequence, to be able to comprise within my second Volume, the whole of that sequel of the history which occurs between the com

2 Burk's History of Virginia, ii. 6. Petersburg, Virginia, 1822.

mencement of Charles the First's reign, and the establishment of our first Colonial Bishopric in Nova Scotia, in 1787; and, in the third and concluding Volume, to bring down the course of the narrative to the present day. It is possible, indeed, that further elements of information may be obtained upon some points, and that others, which are already put in order for the press, may be enlarged; but I do not think it probable that any material departure will be made from the plan which I have ventured to mark out.

It is right to state, in this place, that, by the use of the term 'Colony,' I intend not to restrict its meaning within the limits of any precise definition, but to employ it in its widest sense. The different signification of the words by which the Colonies of Greece and Rome were designated,-which Adam Smith has justly pointed out as being in accordance with the different character of their respective settlements 3,-together with the various points of interest which mark the system of Colonization pursued by them and by other countries, I propose to examine, more particularly, in a chapter which will be devoted to that purpose, at the end of my second Volume.

Smith's Wealth of Nations, b. iv. c. vii. See also Brougham's Colonial Policy, i. 36. The Greek word, drouía, signifies a separation of dwelling, a departure from

home, a going out of the house. The Latin word, colonia, signifies simply a plantation, or cultivation of the land.

In Clark's Summary of Colonial Law, 'The British Colonies, or Plantations,' are defined to be 'remote possessions or provinces of this realm, occupied for the purposes of trade or cultivation. If this definition were strictly to be followed, it is evident that the military possessions of Gibraltar and Malta would be excluded. On the other hand, if the possession of territory is alone to give the rule, Honduras would be excluded; since, by treaty of peace with Spain in 1763, British subjects have only rights of occupation secured to them in that settlement; and, for a long time, it was held not to be a territory belonging to the British Sovereign, within the Navigation Act. For the present, therefore, I prefer taking the word 'Colony' in the sense assigned to it by Johnson, namely, 'A body of people drawn from the mother-country to inhabit some distant place;' and to apply it, generally, as the most convenient appellation, to denote any foreign possession belonging to, or connected with, the British Empire.

I thankfully avail myself of this opportunity to acknowledge the help which, from various quarters, has been extended to me. To the Bishop of London