1755 May 6 To Cash of the Right Honble the Lord Fairfax £ s d 40 To Ditto my Pay &ca. of the Country 61 To Cash recd as a present from the As 6 25 4 To Ditto of Ditto lodgd with Capt? Mercer 117 To Ditto of Ditto for Ditto To Ditto borrowd of Col! Carlyle 20 15 A MARCH MEETING, 1908 STATED MEETING of the Society was held at No. 25 Beacon Street, Boston, on Thursday, 26 March, 1908, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the President, HENRY LEFAVOUR, LL.D., in the chair. The Records of the last Stated Meeting were read and approved. The CORRESPONDING SECRETARY pro tempore reported that a letter had been received from the Rev. CHARLES EDWARDS PARK accepting Resident Membership. The Hon. FRANK WARREN HACKETT of New Castle, New Hampshire, was elected a Corresponding Member. Mr. GEORGE L. KITTREDGE offered, as a note on Mr. Edes's discussion before this Society in March, 1899, of the Places of Worship of the Sandemanians in Boston,1 the following entry under date of 15 August, 1773, from the unprinted Journal of John Boyle, the Boston bookseller and printer: 2 Aug. 15 The Sandemanians met in their New Meeting-House in Middle Street for the first Time. Mr. Kittredge added that Boyle's Journal, which runs from 1759 to 1778, was well worth printing. 1 Publications of this Society, vi. 109–130. • For Boyle, see ibid. vi. 321 note 4, ix. index. Mr. HORACE E. WARE made the following communication: AN INCIDENT IN WINTHROP'S VOYAGE TO NEW ENGLAND. It will be recalled that four ships of the Massachusetts Bay Company's great expedition to these shores in 1630 left Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, April 8, 1630, Governor Winthrop being on board the Arbella. It had been arranged a few days before the departure that of these vessels the Arbella should be admiral; the Talbot, viceadmiral; the Ambrose, rear-admiral; and the Jewel, captain. The masters of the vessels were, of the Arbella, Captain Peter Milbarne; of the Talbot, Mr. Thomas Beecher; of the Ambrose, Captain John Lowe; of the Jewel, Mr. Nicholas Hurlston. Seven other vessels left Southampton for the Massachusetts Bay a few weeks later.1 Before proceeding with the main narrative, it may be well to consider certain conditions then existing which are of historical importance in connection therewith. Charles the First, ever in need of money, had lately entered upon his eleven years' experiment of trying to govern without a Parliament. The nation had been at war with Spain for something over five years, but without important consequences to either party; and it may be stated, by way of anticipation, that this war was to be terminated by the Treaty of Madrid, November 5, 1630.2 Louis XIII was King of France, but its government was being directed by the masterful Richelieu. Certain of the relations between that country and England were in what might be called a state of unstable equilibrium, for while the Treaty of Susa, April 24, 1629, had ostensibly put an end to the war begun in the early part of 1627,3 at least two matters remained unsettled at the time of Winthrop's departure. One of these arose previous to the Treaty, the other for the most part, at least, from proceedings subsequent thereto. Both of them will be referred to later, but I will here state their nature in brief. Upon the marriage of Charles I with Henrietta Maria, the sister 1 Palfrey, History of New England, i. 313. 2 Cambridge Modern History, iv. 275. Ibid. iv. 266-275. of Louis XIII, the latter had promised to pay as his sister's dowry the sum of eight hundred thousand crowns. Only about one half of this amount had been paid, leaving four hundred thousand crowns or thereabouts still payable. At the time of Winthrop's departure the English were in possession of Quebec and certain important places in Acadia. Quebec had been taken in July, 1629, subsequent to the peace established by the Treaty of the previous April, by David Kirke, commander of an expedition sent out by a company formed by Sir William Alexander, Gervase Kirke,' and other Englishmen, who had a commission and letters of marque from King Charles, issued before the Treaty. A return of all these places had been demanded by the King of France. In this expedition, David Kirke was captain of the largest ship, one of about 300 tons, and his brothers Lewis and Thomas were the respective captains of two of the other vessels.2⚫ It will be remembered that Winthrop's History of New England is in the form of a journal in which the events are narrated more or less contemporaneously with the dates under which they are entered. I take from that History under their respective dates the following entries bearing upon the subject: 1630, April 25. We stood W. and by S. and saw two ships ahead of us as far as we could descry. In the afternoon the wind came W. and by S. but calm still. About five of the clock, the rear-admiral and the Jewel had fetched up the two ships, and by their saluting each other we perceived they were friends, . . . About nine of the clock, they both fell back towards us again, and we steered N. N. W. . . . April 26. The wind still W. and by S. close weather, and scarce any wind. The two ships, which we saw yesterday, were bound for Canada. 1 In the Massachusetts Colony Records (i. 36), under date of March 17, 162829, is the following entry: A warrant was made ffor payment of 120t to Mr Nathaniell Wright, for so much pd by him to Mr Jarvis Kerke, Mr Wm Barkley, & Mr Robrt Charlton, ffor the shippe. The Jarvis Kerke here referred to is the Gervase Kirke named in the text, both forms of the name being found in the Calendars of State Papers. This entry was made a few days after the date of the Charter, March 4-14, 1628-29, but before organization thereunder. * Henry Kirke, First English Conquest of Canada (1871), p. 69. Capt. Kirk was aboard the admiral. They bare up with us, and falling close under our lee, we saluted each other, and conferred together so long till his vice-admiral was becalmed by our sails, and we were foul one of another; but there being little wind and the sea calm, we kept them asunder with oars, etc., till they heaved out their boat, and so towed their ship away. They told us for certain, that the King of France had set out six of his own ships to recover the fort from them. About one of the clock Capt. Lowe sent his skiff aboard us, (with a friendly token of his love to the governour,) to desire our captain to come aboard his ship, which he did, and there met the masters of the other ships and Capt. Kirk, and before night they all returned to their ships again, Capt. Lowe bestowing some shot upon them for their welcome.1 The record here states that there were gales and high winds April 27, 28, and 29. April 29th. We had been now three weeks at sea, and were not come above three hundred leagues, being about one third part of our way, viz., about forty-six north latitude, and near the meridian of the Terceras.2 This night Capt. Kirk carried the light as one of our consorts. May 2d. The Ambrose and Jewel were separated far from us the first night, but this day we saw them again, but Capt. Kirk's ships we saw not since. ... May 18th. Towards night (our rear-admiral being near two leagues to leeward of us) we bare up, and drawing near her, we descried, some two leagues more to leeward, two ships, which we conceived were those two of Capt. Kirk's, which parted from us in the storm, May 2.3 Under May 19, the author states that they were 44° 12′ North, and by their account in the midway between the false bank and the main bank. The Arbella and the Jewel reached Salem June 12 and June 13, respectively; the Ambrose arrived at Salem June 18; and on July 2 the Talbot arrived at Charlestown. By recalling in a summary way what has been told by Parkman and 1 History of New England (1853), i. 15, 16. Ibid. i. 17. Terceira is one of the large islands of the central group of the Azores. It is in slightly above 27° west longitude. Under date of May 9, Winthrop says that the fleet was a little west of Corvos. Corvo and Flores are the two islands comprising the northwestern group of the Azores and are in slightly above 31° west longitude. Upon the two estimates the fleet made about four degrees of longitude in ten days. History of New England, i. 17, 18, 21. |