 | |  |
A DESCRIPTION of New England:
OR
THE OBSERVATIONS, AND
discoveries, of Captain John Smith (Admirall
of that Country) in the North of America, in the year
of our Lord 1614: with the successe of sixe Ships,
that went the next year 1615; and the
accidents befell him among the
French men of warres:
With the proofe of the present benefit this
Countrey affords: whither this present yeare,
1616, eight voluntary Ships are gone
to make further tryall.
At LONDON
Printer by Humfrey Lownes, for Robert Clerke; and
are to be sould at his house called the Lodge,
in Chancery lane, over against Lin-
colnes Inne. 1616.
[Smith's title of "Admiral of New England" seems to stem from 1617, when he was "contracted ...
to be Admirall" after he was unable to get away from Plymouth in that year (New Englands Trials [1622],
sig. B3r; and Advertisements, 16). There is obviously a chronological anomaly in his use of the title in the
summer of 1616, unless it was, perhaps jokingly, conferred on him on his return from defeat at the hands
of French privateers late in 1615. In the absence of substantiating evidence of any kind, the editor is inclined
to go along with the suggestion of Richard Arthur Preston that the title was more of a promise than a gift,
and that "if it was more than a figment of Smith's fervent imagination, [the promise] was never fulfilled"
(Gorges of Plymouth Fort: A Life of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Captain of Plymouth Fort, Governor of New England, and
Lord of the Province of Maine [Toronto, 1953], 160).
It should be noted that Robert Clerke, mentioned at the bottom of the page, also engraved the accompanying
map of New England (see the caption to the map).
Two title pages with specially printed presentation inscriptions have come to light relatively recently.
One of these reads: "For the Right Honourable the/Lord Elesmore Lord High/Chancelor of England"
(Joseph Sabin et al., eds., A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, XX [New York, 1927-1928], 223); now
in the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif The other has a similar inscription, "For the Right Honourable,
Sir/Edward Coke, Lord Chiefe/Justice of England" and is now in the Folger Shakespeare Library,
Washington, D. C. (see the following page). To provide for the inscriptions the decoration and one of the
line dashes were omitted and the title lowered. The purpose of these inscriptions was obviously to obtain
support for Smith's plans to colonize New England, though neither worthy appears to have paid any heed.
In fact, "Lord Elesmore" (Sir Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere) resigned from his office within a year
due to ill health and was succeeded early in 1618 by Sir Francis Bacon (see the "Letter to Bacon," immediately
following in this volume). Meanwhile, Smith proposed some sort of fishing-exploring expedition
under the aegis of King Christian IV of Denmark, King James's brother-in-law (see the Fragments, in Vol.
III). Verily, in those years Smith was "a voice crying in the wilderness."
The editor is grateful to the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations for permission
to reproduce this title page.]
| | |