Selected quad for the lemma: country_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
country_n	call_v	town_n	village_n	1,428	5	9.2518	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52886	A short account of the present state of New-England, Anno Domini 1690	N. N.	1690 (1690)	Wing N57; ESTC R20012	9,099	12

A Short Account OF THE Present STATE OF New-England Anno Domini 1690. SIR THAT large tract of Land which lies between the Degrees of Forty and Forty-five is known by the general Name of New-England but divided into many Provinces and Colonies must of which had in times past distinct Governments and made such Laws as seem'd best and most agreeable to their particular Frames and Constitutions which interfering with the Interests of their Neighbours and indeed being framed for some private Interest more than for the Publick Good they lived not in that Peace and Quiet which was necessary for the Preservation and good Establishment of those Young Settlements but had continual petts differences among themselves till in the Year 1686 they were all united and cast into one Government which was committed to the care of Sir Edmond Andross The Names of the several Colonies and Provinces are these that follow Road Island Plymouth Narraganset Country Connecticot New-Hampshire Province of Maine the Massachusett's-Colony Road-Island is of a considerable bigness and justly called the Garden of New-England for its Fertility and Pleasantness It abounds with all things necessary for the life of Man is excellent for Sheep Kine and Horses and being environed by the Sea it is free'd from the dangers of Bears Wolves and Foxes which much molest and damnisse those that live on the Continent The People for some tract of time had a Charter to themselves lived under a Governour of their own choosing and Laws of their own making But in Year 1686 upon serving the Quo Warranto they freely resigned up their Charter to His Majesty and continue so well satissied with the surrender that they do not so much as petition for their Charter again Here is a medley of most Perswasions but neither Church nor Meeting-house except one built for the use of the Quakers who are here very numerous and have annually a General Meeting from all Quarters Many of the others regard neither Time nor Place nor Worship and even some very sober men have lived so long without it that they think all instituted Religion useless The People live in great plenty send Horses and Provisions to Barbadoes and the Leeward-Islands and sell great numbers of fat Oxen and Sheep to the Butchers of Boston The settlement of this Colony was in this manner The People of Boston who always had a perfect hatred against all those who differed in Opinion from them had some Quakers in the Land and how to rid themselves fairly of these they had many Consultations which at last ended in this result They would banish them to some place or other from whence they might be sure to be never troubled with them again So they banish'd the Quakers to this Island where in all probability they must have perish'd with hunger or else been destroyed by the Heathens hither these poor people being come dig themselves Caves in the earth and by the kindness of the Indians outlive the severity of a long and sharp Winter The Spring coming on they obtain'd leave from the Sachem to manure the ground and in a little time wrought themselves into good Estates which some even of the first setlers enjoy to this day Being thus happily settled they Petitioned King Charles II. that they might have a Charter to themselves fearing least they should fell under the lash of the Bostoners again who had been so Inhumane and Barbarous to them in their banishment Plymouth compared with the former is but a mean and poor Country yet the ground well compensates the Husbandman's labour with good crops of Corn and being wash'd by the Sea they make great benefit by Fishery as also their Bay of late years is much inrich'd by great numbers of Whales which come into it and even the Rocky Mountains yield them considerable prosit for on them grow plenty of Pine-trees out of which they make abundance of Tar for their Ships The Religion of the Country is exactly after the model of Boston and the Massachusetts from whom they receive Directions and Ministers This People being without Law and without Government from England chose Governours and made Laws for themselves of all which Hinckleys is the most Famous whereby they stript the poor Quakers of all that many of them had for not coming to their Meetings In this Estate they continued without any Charter till King James ordered them to be under the Governmene of Sir Edmond Andross The late Address they made to Their Majesties acknowledges as much in which they petition for Their Majesties Grant to be a distinct Government The Narragansett Countrey is a large tract of Ground little inhabited but the greatest part of the Country is taken up by several Persons Some of the Bostoners claim a propriety for several miles together but never take care to make the least Improvement Churches here are none and but a few Houses I cannot say there is one English Town in the whole Province What is most considerable in the Narragansett Country is the settlement of the French Protestants who on the violence of the Persecution left their Country came over to New-England and took up their habitation in this Wilderness where they have made good improvement live comfortably and have planted great numbers of Vines which they say thrive well and it is hoped will be very beneficial to them This Wilderness leads to a very fertile and pleasant Country called Connecticott which may be truly styled the glory of the Maine for richness of Soil and product of the Ground there being great plenty of Wheat Barley and Grain with abundance of Sheep Kine and Horses It may well be called as many will have it the Aegypt of America from its wonderful fertility and that from the overflowing of the great Riven Connecticott which like Nilus annually overfloweth the banks and thereby inricheth the Soil This Country hath many inhabitants who live in great plenty and communicate largely towards the support of Boston whether they send annually great quantity of Wheat and other grain with many Head of fed Cattle As New-England in General is Healthy so this Countrey shares in that great Blessing However after great Glutts of Rain the Feavey and Ague make some unwelcome Visits among them Here are many Towns and Villages the greatest of all is called Hartford where they have their general Meetings and keep Courts of Judicature and transact publick Affairs In this Town are two Meeting-Houses for publick Worship which shews it is large and well Peopled In Religion they generally follow the Model of the Massachusetts Independents by whom they are managed and governed in all things This People lived for some time under a Charter-Governmet but in the Year 1687 resigning their Charter they desired to be put under Sir Edmond Andross's Government and at his Arrival among them they received him with great joy and lived very quiet under him till the grand rising at Boston whose Example they followed

and set up their Charter again New-Hampshire is another Province very healthy and well settled hath an excellent Harbour for Ships where they may ride very secure in all weather Their Soil is none of the best nor the Countrey the most pleasant in the World but yet as it is they raise abundance of Corn and Provision and the meanness of the Soil is fully compensated another way For in this and in the neighbouring Province of Maine grow those stately Trees which make as good Masts as any in the World and in such abundance that scarce any part of the World can shew the like They send many to England and have wherewith to supply not only Their Majesties Navy but if well Husbanded the whole Nation It is pity there should be such havock made of those stately Trees which without number they Yearly cut down and saw into Boards The People live friendly together freer in Conversation than most of their Countrey-men and given to Hospitality What Religion they have comes from Boston but at present their chief Town is destitute of all publick Worship for their Teacher with whom they entred into mutual Church-Covenant has forsaken them having got himself a richer Church in Boston This people for many Years have lived under the immediate Government of the Crown of England and being in the late rising stirred up by some of their neighbours to assume a Government to themselves answered that they were well and easy and desired so to continue The Province of Maine is an excellent Tract of Land but I am afraid at this time without Inhabitants the People being either killed or carried away captives by the Indians or else fled to Boston for preservation of their Lives As in New-Hampshire so here grow the Trees for Masts with all other sorts of Timber for Shipping upon which Account it is preferable to any part of New-England The Soil is very rich well requiting the Husbandmans labour and pains So bountiful hath Nature been to the Land and no less kind to the Sea-coast For on these shoars is the best Fishing ground in all the English Dominions where are annually caught Ship-loads of Cod and other great Fishes For Harbour it may compare with most Countries of the World having those that are spacious and secure against all Storms as if God Almighty had designed it for a great and mighty People I lament the present desolations of this Countrey for it had Towns Villages and Forts till very lately but now the Towns are burnt and the Forts demolished for which devastations in great measure they are bound to thank their New Lords of Boston The Governour Sir Edmond Andross had so covered the Countrey against the Incursions of the Indians that all the time the Government rested in his hands the People were in the greatest safety and not the least mischief happened unto them But upon the Rising of the People of Boston the Patriots there re-called the Forces from thence and left the whole Countrey a Prey to their savage Enemies So that April last when the Bostoners took the Reins of Government into their hands to the 30th of July there were above an hundred of the poor Countrey People killed or carried away captives Houses burnt Forts razed and all their Goods pillaged by the Enemy It remains to give a Description of the Massachusetts which is the least of all the Coloines but would be accounted the greatest nay they are very desirous to appropriate the name of New-England to themselves and endeavour what they can to extend their Common-wealth over the greatest part of that Continent For they claim a right to a great part of the Narraganset-Countrey alledging that the Lands belong to them because they bought it of the Natives In the like manner they say that the Province of Maine is theirs for Mr. Vsher bought the Government as well as the Soil of the Proprietor and they bought it of Mr. Vsher They may also lay a Title to Connecticott and Plymouth because there the generallty of the People are of the same perswasion with them of Boston and those Colonies have all along been Governed and Managed by the Massachusetts But yet by their Charter they are bounded within Merimack River and Charles River which bounds it is to be hoped Their Majesties will not suffer them to exceed The Countrey in some part is very stony and mountainous so that for many miles together little else is to be seen but Shrubs a few scattering Trees and the grisly head of Rocks In other places it is very dry and sandy little profitable to the Husbandman without great plenty of Rain and Showers The Soil is but poor of it self and yet at first settlement the Countrey-mans labour was well rewarded with good crops of Wheat excellent Pease and other Grain but for many Years the Wheat hath been continually blasted and the Pease breed a Worm in themselves which eats out the heart and leaves only the husk for the Planter For the generality of the people they are very censorious and ready on all occasions to judge one another and some there are among themselves that attribute this plague to the immediate hand of God for the cruelty of the people against the Quakers The cause is secret but it is a general observation that much about that time when the Quakers suffered came the blasting on the Wheat and the Worm into the Pease Indian Corn is the staff of the Land and that on which they have the greatest dependance for if that fails all is gone The sins committed in Husking of it are very great and notorious it is much to be feared God will enter into judgement with them for it and smite the Indian Corn with a Curse The Commodities of the Colony are quickly reckoned up for thô in Print they boast of the Trade they can drive with their Fish and Lumber-Goods yet they have in truth but little Lumber and less Fish except what they receive from the Fishermen and Inhabitants of the Province of Maine and New Hampshire and not one Tree in the Land that will make a Mast for a Ship 'T is true the Massachusetts build many Ships and other Vessels but they bring most of their Materials from other Countreys as also they send abroad many Vessels laden with Boards Pipe Staves and Provisions all which are but as borrowed Goods which they fetch out of the neighbouring Colonies This Colony hath many Towns and Villages of which the greatest is Boston large and well peopled where are kept the Courts of Judicature and the publick Records of the Countrey The people are naturally courteous affable and obliging but for the Government of them who are all of the gathered Churches their Separate way makes them very high and unsociable looking on others as mean abject creatures who deserve their Pity rather than their Company In their Dealings they are very crasty and subtle out-doing even Jews themselves who as I heard a