more than one thousand dollars, was made to the town accompanied by a fund adequate to keep the fountain in good condition, but coupled with a requirement securing its perpetuity. The inhabitants gladly recognized both the gift and the tribute paid to one of the honored fathers of the town, but insisted upon perpetuating at their expense the name of the donor upon the same monument. To this he consented, but requested his name to be inscribed on its rear where it now appears. Mr. Woodman's mind seems often to have recurred to monuments to others, though oblivious of any for himself. Among his early and valued friends at the West, was Colonel William S., a son of Alexander Hamilton, who in 1850 died in California, but whose grave was unmarked and threatened with desecration. Many years after this, on learning the condition of things, he caused suitable gravestones to be prepared in Boston with proper inscriptions thereon, and to be placed so as to perpetuate the memory of his friend, and protect the sacred spot from molestation. Some one has truly said, "The world knows nothing of its greatest men." It is not affirmed in behalf of the subject of this sketch that he possessed a genius which dazzles by its effulgence, or that his life was characterized by events to elicit popular applause. To the one he made no pretence, and to the other he paid but little respect. What is claimed is, that his ideal of life was noble, and the measure of its attainment was high and honorable. What that ideal was, he has not left in doubt. In the closing words of his address at the Buxton Centennial, his prayer was that the orator on the next similar occasion " may be able to say of us, as we of those who have gone before, that though our names are forgotten and we sleep in unknown graves, yet that in the humble path allotted us we too served our generation faithfully and well, and that the world was the better for our having lived." They esteemed him most who knew him best. Though not demonstrative in his professions, his regard for his friends, embracing a wide circle, was strong and abiding. His hospitality, though unostentatious, was hearty, largely extended, and generous. Nothing gave him more pleasure than to gather about him a circle of kindred spirits where free play could be given to the spirit evoked by reminiscences of his youth, and to the discussion of themes which interested him most, though seldom alluding to himself or his own affairs. He was surrounded in his library, his daily workshop when at home, by books of history, biography, and standard literature on all subjects of the choicest kinds, and these were to him an unfailing source of pleasure and profit. But when wearied by the work, which his business and wide correspondence with his friends entailed upon him, or when his spirit was inclined to sadness in seeing the circle of endeared ones narrowing more and more, he would fly away to visit his native state, or to some distant section of the country with every portion of which he became familiar. The religious element was more strongly and deeply rooted in his nature than from his ordinary conversation an observer would naturally infer. He was a despiser of shams both in politics and religion, and this he was apt to indicate on all suitable occasions without fear or favor. But he respected true statesmanship, and gave credit to it when found in the ranks of any party. He was also a believer in the fundamentals of christianity from the Unitarian standpoint, was an accustomed worshiper, a diligent reader of the Scriptures, very fond of sacred poetry, and though not closely allied with any church, he took care to note in the genealogy of his father's family the date of his own baptism; and while, as he said, not attaching much importance to it, he was not infrequently heard to revert to this consecration of himself by his "blessed mother" with pleasure. The following extract from the address delivered on the occasion of reading his grandfather's sermon is a fitting close to this paper, Let us, their descendants, see to it, and especially let those whose lines. have fallen in these pleasant places see to it, that the altar becomes not desolate, that its fire goes not out, but that in the future as in the past, the divine flame shall be a lamp to the feet and a light to the path of erring man-a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. His death occurred March 30, 1889, suddenly and without suffering from protracted disease, and his remains were interred in Buxton, in the cemetery adjacent to the old church where repose the ashes of his ancestors, whose memory he signally honored, and of whom he was a most worthy descendant. In closing this public testimonial, the writer said he could hardly refrain from adding in his individual capacity, that he counted himself fortunate in having enjoyed the intimate friendship of Mr. Woodman for more than fifty years, and though shocked and saddened by the abrupt severance of earthly ties, the pathway now so shaded by recollections of endeared companionship in the past, is illumed by anticipation of a reunion with him, and with other departed worthies, Where the faded flower shall freshen, Where the shaded sky shall brighten, Where the morn shall wake in gladness, Where the daylight dies in fragrance THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM GORGES, 1636 TO 1637. Read before the Maine Historical Society, December 22, 1885. BY CHARLES EDWARD BANKS. FOR fifteen years (1620-35) the Council for New England had guided the political destinies of the colonization of these shores under the wise leadership of Sir Ferdinando Gorges "who hath been," said King Charles, "an imediat mover and a principal Actor to the great prejudice of his Estate." Early in 1635 the Council determined to surrender their great charter to the king. They had been bereaved by the death of prominent members, oppressed with great pecuniary losses in the pursuit of their colonial schemes, assailed before the Privy Council again and again by the rival Virginia companies and other envious persons until, as they say, "These Crosses did draw upon us such a disheartened weakness as there only remained a Carcass in a manner breathless." 1 The king accepted the resignation of their patented rights as tendered by them June 7, 1635, with reservation of all grants and vested privileges. The year before2 they had mutually agreed upon a division of the territory among themselves, and now they asked his Majesty to confirm these allotments. To Sir Ferdinando Gorges fell the segment between the Piscataqua and Kennebec rivers, to which he gave the name of Province of New Somersetshire. This allotment did not give him power to establish a civil government, and it was still necessary for him to secure a charter from the crown for the sovereignty, as well as the title to the soil of the territory. The death of his intimate associate and co-worker, John Mason, whom he describes as ' a man of action" took place November 26, of this same year. This untimely misfortune necessitated renewed activity on the part of Gorges, as he was now the only 1 Records of the Council for New England, April 18, 1635. 2 Ibid. one of the patentees who attempted to develop the resources and possibilities of the several divisions of the patent. While pursuing, therefore, the work of acquiring seigniorial privileges in the new province, he provided for the immediate wants of his future subjects by dispatching his nephew Captain William Gorges to the colony, clothed with such authority as he could delegate to an agent at that time. Captain William Gorges was the second son of Sir Edward Gorges of Charlton Manor by his wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir George Speke, K.B. He was baptized at Wraxall, February 9, 1605-6, and was therefore thirty years old upon his arrival in the province1. Sir Edward died when William was nineteen years of age, leaving four sons and four daughters, of whom Thomas, the youngest son, was in orders, and became arch-deacon of Winchester, prebendary of Westminster and doctor of divinity. William chose the profession of arms and became an officer in the garrison with his uncle Sir Ferdinando." He was a favorite nephew "whome I esteme next my owne children " 8 wrote the old knight. From the parapets of the magnificent fortress of Plymouth overlooking the banks of the Tamar, this subaltern was transported to the forest wilds of an almost unknown country, to govern scarce half a thousand people from the loop-holes of a blockhouse on the banks of the Saco. The province from Piscataqua to Kennebec was "no other than a meer Wilderness, here and there by the Sea-side a few scattered plantations, with as few houses." To this fringe of settlements on the coast of Maine, he came in the winter of 1635-36, as I judge, in company, perhaps, with his kinsman Francis Champer nowne.5 4 As soon as the distant portions of his new territorial jurisdiction could be informed of his arrival, it is probable that preparations were immediately made to organize a provisional government and hold court, although it is not the earliest recorded instance of a formal judicial tribunal in the limits of the present 1 New England Gen. Hist. Register, xxix, 112. 2 Sir Ferdinando Gorges says he "had been my lieutenant in the fort of Plymouth and in extant letters and documents of that period he is called captain. Trelawny Papers, 98, 99, 105, 139, 390. * Letter, Gorges to Winthrop, August 23, 1637, printed in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. vii. 4 Underhill, Newes from America, 20. "Champernowne was related by marriage to Sir Ferdinando. |