of one Mr Richard Moor, by profession a carpenter. The new colony arrived upon the island just at the time the three sailors were about to depart with their ambergris; which Moor having discovered, he immediately seized and disposed of it for the benefit of the company. So valuable a booty gave vast spirit to the new company; and the adventurers settled themselves upon St George's island, where they raised cabins. As to Mr Moor, he was indefatigable in his duty, and carried on the fortifying and planting the island with incredible diligence; for we are told, that he not only built eight or nine forts or rather blockhouses, but insured the settlers to martial discipline. Before the first year of his government was expired, Mr Moor received a supply of provisions and planters from England; and he planned out the town of St George as it now stands.

The fame of this settlement soon awakened the jealousy of the Spaniards, who appeared off St George's with some vessels; but being fired upon from the forts, they sheered off, though the English at that time were so ill provided for a defence, that they had scarce a single barrel of gunpowder on the island. During Moor's government the Bermudas were plagued with rats which had been imported into them by the English ships. This vermin multiplied so fast in St George's island, that they even covered the ground, and laid nests in the trees. They destroyed all the fruits and corn within doors; nay, they increased to such a degree, that St George's island was at last unable to maintain them, and they swam over to the neighbouring islands, where they made as great havoc. This calamity lasted five years, though probably not in the same degree, and at last it ceased all of a sudden.

On the expiration of Moor's government, he was succeeded by Captain Daniel Tucker, who improved all his predecessor's schemes for the benefit of the island, and particularly encouraged the culture of tobacco. Being a severe disciplinarian, he held all under him so rigidly to duty, that five of his subjects planned as bold an enterprise for liberty as was perhaps ever put in execution. Their names were Barker, who is said to have been a gentleman; another Barker, a joiner; Goodwin, a ship-carpenter; Paet, a sailer; and Saunders, who planned the enterprise. Their management was as artful as their design was bold. Understanding that the governor was deterred from taking the pleasure of fishing in an open boat, on account of the dangers attending it, they proposed to build him one of a particular construction, which accordingly they did in a secret part of the island; but when the governor came to view his boat, he understood that the builders had put to sea in it. The intelligence was true: for the adventurers, having provided themselves with the few necessaries they wanted, sailed for England; and notwithstanding the storms they encountered, their being plundered by a French privateer, and the incredible miseries they underwent, they landed in 42 days' time at Cork in Ireland, where they were generously relieved and entertained by the Earl of Thomond.

In 1619 Captain Tucker resigned his government to Captain Butler. By this time the high character which the Summer islands bore in England rendered it fashionable for men of the highest rank to encourage their settlement; and several of the first nobility of England had purchased plantations among them. Captain Butler brought over with him 500 passengers, who Bermudas became planters on the islands, and raised a monument to the memory of Sir George Summers. The island was now so populous (for it contained about a thousand whites), that Captain Butler applied himself to give it a new constitution of government by introducing an assembly, the government till this time being administered only in the name of the governor and council. A body of laws was likewise drawn up, as agreeable to the laws of England as the situation of the island would admit of. One Mr Barnard succeeded Captain Butler as governor, but died six weeks after his arrival on the island; upon which the council made choice of Mr Harrifon to be governor till a new one should be appointed. No fewer than 3000 English were now settled in the Bermudas, and several persons of distinction had curiosity enough to visit it from England. Among these was Mr Waller the poet, a man of fortune, who being embroiled with the parliament and commonwealth of England, spent some months in the Summer islands, which he has celebrated in one of his poems as the most delightful place in the world. The dangers attending the navigation, and the untowardly situation of these islands, through their distance from the American continent, seem to be the reasons why the Bermudas did not now become the best peopled islands belonging to England; as we are told that some time ago they were inhabited by no fewer than 10,000 whites. The inhabitants, however, never showed any great spirit for commerce, and thus they never could become rich. This, together with the gradual alteration of the soil and climate already taken notice of, soon caused them to dwindle in their population; and it is computed that they do not now contain above half the number of inhabitants they once did, and even these seem much more inclined to remove to some other place than to stay where they are; so that unless some beneficial branch of commerce be found out, or some useful manufacture established, the state of the Bermudas must daily grow worse and worse.