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214. Royal Officials. In a review of civil affairs, it can not be said that England ever employed her best brains in governing America. Younger sons of great families, who were too stupid or too dissolute to find places at home, were made governors, secretaries, or treasurers in the colonies,

A. D. 1702-1709.

and used their opportunities for mending their fortunes as rapidly as possible. Such, in New York, was the haughty but imbecile Lord Cornbury, a cousin of Queen Anne, who applied to his own pleasure the funds voted for the defense of the harbor, and told the Colonial Assembly that it had no rights but such as the queen was pleased to allow it. He was more useful to the colony, however, than a better governor might have been, for he effectually taught the people to stand for their rights. Here and there a royal officer may have been more justly and kindly disposed, but as a class they regarded their own interests first, England's next, but a long way after, and those of the colonies last of all.

A. D. 1724-1748.

Even at home the great dignitaries who had charge of colonial affairs were usually less wise than great. The Duke of Newcastle, who for twenty-four years was minister for British America, owed his position partly to his incapacity, being appointed through Sir Robert Walpole, then prime minister of England, who feared to have men of ability about him. The duke is said to have directed letters to the "Island of New England," and to have been unable to tell whether Jamaica was in the Mediterranean Sea or elsewhere.

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Read Volumes I. and II. of Tyler's "History of American Literature;" Volume I. of Duyckinck's "Cyclopædia of American Literature; " Franklin's "Autobiography;" Palfrey's or Elliott's "History of New England; Irving's "History of New York by Dietrich Knickerbocker;" Longfellow's "Courtship of Miles Standish" and "New England Tragedy;" Whittier's 'Margaret Smith's Journal," "Mabel Martin," and "The Changeling;" Hawthorne's "Twice Told Tales," and other stories of the colonies in New England.

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NOTE TO TEACHERS.-Younger classes may do well to omit Chapter XIII for the present, or to use it only for reading and explanation in the class-room. Older pupils will be profited by studying the several topics with the aid of the books above mentioned and others, and making them the subjects of written essays.

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1. Rev. John Cotton, "the patriarch of New England," was a bright scholar at the University of Cambridge, and for twenty years a noted Puritan preacher in his English home. For refusing to kneel at the sacrament, he incurred the displeasure of Archbishop Laud, and was compelled to flee the country. Cotton could write or speak readily in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. His oratory was simple, and his sermons pointed and eminently practical. He originated the practice in New England of observing the Sabbath from Saturday evening until Sunday evening. His more important writings were "Milk for Babes," a religious book for children, and "The Power of the Keys," a treatise on church government. Mr. Cotton died at Boston in the year 1652.

2. Increase Mather was born in Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard, and married a daughter of Rev. John Cotton. He is said to have passed sixteen hours daily in his study. He was the author of nearly one hundred publications. Cotton Mather was his son. His death occurred in 1723.

3. During the same period "there had been established in the American colonies at least forty-three newspapers,-one in Georgia, four in South Carolina, two in North Carolina, one in Virginia, two in Maryland, five in Pennsylvania, eight in New York, four in Connecticut, three in Rhode Island, two in New Hampshire and eleven in Massachusetts."-Tyler's "History of American Literature."

4. Benjamin Franklin.-The "Encyclopædia Britannica" describes Franklin as "the most uniformly readable writer of English who has yet appeared on his side of the Atlantic. An inexhaustible humor, a classic simplicity, an exquisite grace, and uniform good sense and taste informed and gave permanent interest to every thing he wrote. No man ever possessed in a greater degree the gift of putting an argument into an anecdote." His style was largely modeled upon the three books with which he was most familiar in his early life-Addison's "Spectator," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," and Locke's "Essay on the Understanding." When Franklin was on his way from Boston to Philadelphia, in 1724, the shipcaptain reported at New York that his passenger had "a trunk full of books." This was such an unusual occurrence for the times that Governor Burnet requested an interview with the lad who was possessed of such an evident literary turn. He received him with great cordiality, and manifested a warm interest in the intelligent printer.

When Whitefield visited America in 1740, Franklin went to hear one of his sermons in Philadelphia. Although he did not approve of the great divine's Orphan House scheme in Georgia, he was so moved by the preacher's eloquence of appeal that first he gave what copper coins he had in his pocket, then added a few silver pieces, and finally could not resist giving all the gold he had about his person.

During his long public career, Benjamin Franklin accepted very meager compensation for his services. He drew principally upon his private fortune for expenses. To show his faith in the value of the continental loan he invested $15,000 in its securities. When president of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania he devoted his entire salary to charities. Franklin was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the framers of the United States Constitution. Twenty thousand Americans attended his funeral in 1790.

5. Captain Kidd has come to be regarded as the ideal pirate,-a man devoid of all feeling, a buccaneer of the high seas; but he probably was not so bad as he is generally reputed. It is known that he was more merciful than most of the privateers of his time. When Kidd set out under Admiralty orders to suppress piracy, King William was to receive one tenth of the profits of the cruise, and Governor Bellomont of New York eight tenths, leaving but one tenth for himself. This arrangement proved so unprofitable to the captain that he sailed for the coasts of Africa and Asia, and commenced privateering on his own account. In 1699 he boldly returned to American waters, and sailed into Long Island Sound, Delaware Bay, and several bays along the New England coast. Seventy thousand dollars worth of treasure which he buried on Gar

diner's Island, was recovered by Bellomont. Traditions are numerous that Captain Kidd also buried rich treasure at Block Island, Monhegan, and several other points on the American coast, but diligent search has failed to find any of it. Kidd's boldness is illustrated by his appearance in the streets of Boston when he knew a large reward was offered for his arrest. Within a week he was seized and sent to jail. He was taken to London, where his trial and execution occurred A. D. 1701.

ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS DURING THE SECOND COLONIAL PERIOD.

WILLIAM III., A. D. 1689–1702, and MARY II., 1689-1694, called by Whigs to the throne, gladly proclaimed by colonies (22 140, 143, 144); charter William and Mary College (201).

ANNE, A. D. 1702-1714, takes contract for supplying Spanish West Indies with African slaves (2148); sends Lord Cornbury to govern New York (214).

GEORGE I., A. D. 1714-1727, Elector of Hanover, in Germany.

GEORGE II., A. D. 1727–1760, grants Georgia to Oglethorpe as asylum for the unfortunate (2150); has part in the War of Austrian Succession, known in America by his name (175).

GEORGE III., A. D. 1760-1820, of despotic temper, but loyally regarded by Americans (219). See also 2231, 235, 244, 251.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.-PART II.

Section

Revolution of 1688?

I.

What were the causes and results of the English.

2.

Describe the Witchcraft delusion?

3. Describe the policy of Parliament toward the colo

nies.

4. State the literary progress of the colonies about the time of Queen Anne's accession.

140, 143, 144

141, 142

145-148

149

5. Describe the founding of Georgia.

150-154

6. Sketch the course of French discoveries in the Mississippi Valley.

155-159

7. Sketch the course of colonization on the Gulf.

160-164

8.

Name the chief French military stations.

165

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Name the four wars between the English and

French colonies, giving their dates.

state its results.

Describe Queen Anne's War.

What were the chief events of King George's

Give the preliminary events of the French and

167

Describe King William's War in America, and

166, 168, 169

170-173

174, 175

Indian War.

176-178

14.

Name the chief events in the French and Indian
War.

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Name some of the first books written in Virginia.
Name some of the most distinguished clergymen
in New England.

195-197

198

19.

What can you tell of Governor Bradford and
other distinguished colonists?

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