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and that
John Smith of
Virginia had examined and
extolled the deep waters of the Piscataqud.
Sir Ferdinand Gorges, the most energetic member of the council of Plymouth, always ready to encounter risks in the cause of colonizing America, had not allowed repeated ill success to chill his confidence and decision; and now he found in
John Mason, ‘who had been governor of a plantation in
Newfoundland, a man of action,’ like himself.
It was not difficult for
Mason,
who had been elected an associate and secretary of the council, to obtain a grant of the lands between
Salem River and the farthest head of the
Merrimac; but he did no more with his vast estate than give it a name.
The passion for land increased; and
Gorges and
Mason next took a patent for
Laconia, the whole country between the sea, the
St. Lawrence, the
Merrimac, and the
Kennebec; a company of English merchants was formed; and under its auspices permanent plantations were established on the banks of
the
Piscataqua.
1 Portsmouth and
Dover are among the oldest towns in
New England.
Splendid as were the anticipations of the proprietaries, and lavish as was their enthusiasm in liberal expenditures, the immediate progress of the plantations was inconsiderable, and, even as fishing stations, they do not seem to have prospered.
When the country on
Massachusetts Bay was
granted to a company, of which the zeal and success were soon to overshadow all the efforts of proprietaries merchants, it became expedient for
Mason to
procure a new patent; and he now received a fresh
