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HISTORY OF MARYLAND. CHAPTER XVIII. " A geographical description of the country I shall not attempt (as having little skill in the mathematicks), enough of that hath been formerly written ; nor is it a place now to learn to discover. I shall abhor to spirit over any; but go along with such as are voluntarily desirous to go thither, and lead them with my blunt relation (for truth knowTs little of eloquence) aboard the Ships thither bound, and carrying you into the Country, shew you the courtesies of the place, the disposition of the Inhabitants, the commodities, and give all sorts of people advice how and where to set down for their present benefit and future accommodation."1 Such is the language of one of the earliest writers upon Maryland, employed, probably by Governor Stone, to set forth, in proper phrase, the advantages which the province held out to colonists; and. no better introduction than the above paragraph could be found for a chapter upon the country and the people of Maryland, their manners and customs, character and pursuits, as they were at this period of 1770 circa, when the once infant and feeble colony had almost attained the full proportions of a State, and, whether arrived at its majority or not, was at least preparing to assert its manhood by throwing off the oppressive and obstructive dominion of the parent country. Without going deeper into the details of the geography of the country than Hammond thought proper to go, it is still expedient to imitate him by entering the State through the Chesapeake Bay, that noble arm of the sea which had so much to do with determining the character and pursuits of the early colonists. This bay constituted their strength and their weakness; it afforded them their highway and their market-house; it was the main source of their wealth, and the cause of much of that careless husbandry which is still a reproach to the kindly soils of Maryland. The people owed to the bay many of their amphibious habits; while the exceeding facility of social intercourse which it allowed them in a country without roads, and in an age when it still took j:he court of Great Britain five days to go from London to Bath, did much to shape and to ameliorate their manners. The bay was, to the early colonists of Maryland, much more than the railroad is 1 Hammond's Leah and Eachel, p. 10; London, 1656;
Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
Publisher | J. B. Piet |
Place of Publication | Baltimore |
Date | 1879 |
Language | eng |
Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Title | 00000022 |
Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Transcript | HISTORY OF MARYLAND. CHAPTER XVIII. " A geographical description of the country I shall not attempt (as having little skill in the mathematicks), enough of that hath been formerly written ; nor is it a place now to learn to discover. I shall abhor to spirit over any; but go along with such as are voluntarily desirous to go thither, and lead them with my blunt relation (for truth knowTs little of eloquence) aboard the Ships thither bound, and carrying you into the Country, shew you the courtesies of the place, the disposition of the Inhabitants, the commodities, and give all sorts of people advice how and where to set down for their present benefit and future accommodation."1 Such is the language of one of the earliest writers upon Maryland, employed, probably by Governor Stone, to set forth, in proper phrase, the advantages which the province held out to colonists; and. no better introduction than the above paragraph could be found for a chapter upon the country and the people of Maryland, their manners and customs, character and pursuits, as they were at this period of 1770 circa, when the once infant and feeble colony had almost attained the full proportions of a State, and, whether arrived at its majority or not, was at least preparing to assert its manhood by throwing off the oppressive and obstructive dominion of the parent country. Without going deeper into the details of the geography of the country than Hammond thought proper to go, it is still expedient to imitate him by entering the State through the Chesapeake Bay, that noble arm of the sea which had so much to do with determining the character and pursuits of the early colonists. This bay constituted their strength and their weakness; it afforded them their highway and their market-house; it was the main source of their wealth, and the cause of much of that careless husbandry which is still a reproach to the kindly soils of Maryland. The people owed to the bay many of their amphibious habits; while the exceeding facility of social intercourse which it allowed them in a country without roads, and in an age when it still took j:he court of Great Britain five days to go from London to Bath, did much to shape and to ameliorate their manners. The bay was, to the early colonists of Maryland, much more than the railroad is 1 Hammond's Leah and Eachel, p. 10; London, 1656; |
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