the number of his communicants increasing. Since his first coming to that settlement, he had baptized 114 persons, of whom five were adults;' and he continued to labour steadily in the same Mission till the year 1741, when, on the death of Mr. Killpatrick, he was transferred to Trinity Bay, but with instructions to render what service he could to his old flock at Bonavista. In this, however, he was soon relieved by the appointment of the Rev. Mr. Peaseley, a Graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Mr. Jones continued six years at Trinity Bay, where, during the summer season, the number of residents was about 600; but, finding the winters too severe for his constitution, he asked leave, after twenty-five years' service, to be sent to a warmer climate, and was accordingly appointed to a Mission in the Moskito Country.

His successor in the Mission of Bonavista, Mr. Peaseley, remained there but a short time; being transferred to St. John's, in compliance with a petition from the inhabitants, who alleged that they had purchased a house for the Missionary, and bound themselves to an annual payment of forty pounds. In his letter, dated November 1, 1745, he says, that the congregation, which was large on his arrival, continued to increase, insomuch that the Church could scarcely contain it. Besides attending to his own flock at St. John's, Mr. Peaseley was in the habit of making periodical visits during the summer to Petty Harbour.

His allowance from the people, notwithstanding their pledge to the Society, was either not kept up, or very irregularly paid; and in consequence of the embarrassments into which he was on this account not unfrequently thrown, Mr. Peaseley was, on his own petition,

1 Journal, vol. vi. p. 213.

removed, in 1750, to the Mission of St. Helen's, South Carolina.

The next Missionary of St. John's and the Out-Harbours, was the Rev. Edward Langman, of Balliol College, Oxford, appointed at the request of the inhabitants, among whom he had already been residing some time, and who were, therefore, well able to appreciate the value of his services. On his return thither to take possession of his cure in 1752, he reported that the congregation was numerous, and the number of communicants thirty. Of one hundred families, which, exclusive of the garrison, formed the entire population of the town, forty were of the communion of the Church of England, fifty-two Roman Catholic, and eight Dissenters.

In 1759 he undertook a Missionary voyage to Placentia, where he remained a month ministering to a congregation of sixty or seventy fishermen, and performing the several offices of the Church. During this visit, he baptized fifty persons, some of them forty, some thirty, some twenty years of age, and fifteen infants. The next summer he paid a similar Missionary visit to the harbour of the South East.

The following Ecclesiastical returns of the population in those settlements, almost a hundred years ago, may be interesting, at least in the country itself. Mr. Langman found in Reneuse twenty-five families, of which nine were Protestant, and sixteen Irish Romanists, the whole population amounting to one hundred and forty. In Fermeuse nearly the whole population, amounting to one hundred, were Roman Catholic. In Ferryland there were sixtyfour Protestants, and eighty-six Roman Catholics. In this visit he baptized thirty-eight children, and distributed copies of the Bible, Book of Common Prayer, and Catechism.'

1 Journal, vol. xv. p. 49.

At St. John's he was in the habit of catechising the children in the face of the congregation, every Wednesday and Friday, during the season of Lent, and frequently read one of the Homilies, with which the people seemed well pleased.

In 1761 he continued his course of Missionary visits, and found in the Bay of Bulls forty-five families, of which thirty-seven were Roman Catholics from Ireland, the remainder Protestant. The eleven families resident in Whitlass Bay were almost all Irish.

The following year the town and garrison of St. John's were taken by the French, and a general plunder ensued, by which Mr. Langman was a great sufferer.' But independently of these losses, which he computes at 1307., his position at St. John's must have been a very hard one. The allowance of 50%. a-year, granted to him by the Society, was obviously insufficient for the decent support of a married man. A house, though promised, had never been provided for him by his congregation; and so niggardly or inconsiderate were they, that, even for the little gratuities which he received, he was compelled "to go and beg, as a poor man would for an alms." On more than one occasion he refers with satisfaction to the absence of religious strife, and to the fact that several families of Dissenters were in the habit of joining in the public worship of the Church, and of receiving the Holy Communion. He continued to discharge the same laborious duties, till his death in 1783.

In 1766, the Rev. Lawrence Coughlan submitted to the Society a memorial from the inhabitants of Harbour Grace and Carbonear, praying that he, having for some time been resident among them, might be appointed their Missionary, 1 Journal, vol. xv. p. 249.

2 Original Letters, vol. xxii. 1. 36.

and offering a salary of 50l. towards his maintenance. Mr. Coughlan was accordingly nominated to this Mission. He had no sooner arrived, than he proceeded to establish a school for the education of poor children. In 1769, he reported, that he had the satisfaction of observing, that "drunkenness, swearing, and sabbath-breaking," had become much less frequent since his arrival, and that his congregations were very numerous, including many Irish Roman Catholics, as he was able to preach in the Irish language.

The Rev. James Balfour went as Missionary to Trinity Bay, with the outharbours of Old and New Perlican and Bonaventure, in 1765. In acknowledgment of his services, the parishioners, soon after his arrival, built him a house; but after nine years spent in this Mission, which was not less than forty leagues in circuit, he was removed to the more important station of Harbour Grace, vacant by the resignation of Mr. Coughlan, in 1773. In a letter, dated 1778, he reports, that the population of this settlement consisted of 4,462 Protestants, and 1,306 Roman Catholics. The number of communicants varied from 150 to 200.

In 1787, a memorial from the principal inhabitants of Placentia was laid before the Society, setting forth the great want of a clergyman in that settlement, and their willingness to contribute to his support. This application deserves more especially to be noted, as it was recommended by His late Majesty King William IV., who was, at the time, in command of the Pegasus, on that station, and had given the sum of fifty guineas towards the erection of the church; to which, also, he presented a handsome set of vessels, which are still used at the celebration of the Holy Communion.

A A

CHAPTER XVI.

NOVA SCOTIA.

Ceded to Great Britain-Settlers sent out by Board of Trade-Grants to Clergymen and Schoolmasters-Rev. W. Tutty-Rev. M. Moreau-Rev. Mr. Burger-Rev. P. Bryzelius-Rev. R. Vincent-Rev. P. De la RocheScarcity and Distress-Rev. T. Wood-Visit to Indian Tribes-Rev. J. Bennet, Coast Missionary-Rev. W. Ellis-Rev. J. Eagleson-Difference of Language and of Forms of Worship-A public Seminary at Windsor recommended-Rev. John Breynton-Statistics of Halifax-Influx of Refugees from the States-Ejected Missionaries appointed to Nova Scotia -Bishop of Oxford's allusion to them.

NOVA SCOTIA, after having been occupied by the English and French alternately, for more than a century, was finally ceded to Great Britain, in 1713,' at the close of the war of the Spanish succession. But we shall at once proceed to the period when the first Mission was established.

In April, 1749, the Society received a communication from the Board of Trade and Plantations, to the effect that His Majesty had determined to send out a body of settlers to the province of Nova Scotia; and the Commissioners further stated, that it was proposed to settle these persons in six townships, in each of which a site for a church would be given, and 400 acres of land adjacent thereto be granted in perpetuity to a minister and his successors, and 200 acres, in like manner, to a schoolmaster. Other liberal advantages were offered, and the Society was solicited to name

1 Haliburton's History of Nova Scotia, vol. i. p. 91.