Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/39

INTRODUCTION. 9 that wealth... had turned the attention of both chap.i. the sovereign, and the nation, towards the new 1578. world. 8 A plan for making 1 permanent settlements in those parts of America which the English had before only visited, was then projected Letters and patronized by persons of rank and influ- ^ ed ence. To select a man qualified for the arduous cSt. 67 task of planting a colony in a new world, and disposed to engage in it, was among the first objects to which their attention was directed. Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Compton, in Devon- shire, had rendered himself conspicuous for his military services both in France and Ire- land, and by a treatise concerning the north- west passage, in which great ingenuity and learning are stated by doctor Robertson to have been mingled with the enthusiasm, the credulity and sanguine expectation which in- cite men to new and hazardous undertakings. On this gentleman the adventurers turned their eyes, and he was placed at the head of the enterprise which was contemplated. On the 11th of June 1578, he obtained letters patent from the queen vesting in him the powers that were required'. This is the first charter to a colony, granted by the crown of England; Its articles merit attention, as they unfold the ideas of that age, £ Robertson. VOL. I. C