III-

6iy

Chap.. XX. from the X, of James I. to the Revolution.

1623. on. (a) While they were in Spain,this great Favourite was created Earl ofCoventry and Duke of Buckingham (theonly Duke then in England) and his Pa-tent sent him thither. The King, thePrince and the Duke having at last alldiscovered with what Insincerity theKing of Spain acted, with Regard tothe Palatinate, and having thereuponaltered their Resolutions, in Respect tothe intended Marriage, with the Infan-ta of Spain, the Prince, concealing hisreal Intentions, found an Excuse for leav-ing Madrid, the ninth of September , andcame to St. Andero, on the eleventh.Here a Fleet of eight Men of War andtwo Pinnaces, unfier the Command ofReturns. the Earl of Rutland, waited for him.

He set Sail the eighteenth, and put intothe Islands of Scilly, the nine and twen-tieth.

Th e firft Settlement at Barbadoes.

It is difficult to fix the certain Time.*Americas *** when the English first came to Barba-^ ol - II. p. 2. does: However, as it is agreed at allHands, that it was before the Death ofKing James, I have thought it proper-est to place it towards the Conclusion ofthis King’s Reign. That it was in HisTime appears, by an Act of Assemblyin Barbadoes . This Act is entitled. AnAlt for the better ascertaining the Lawsof this Ijland, A. D. 1666. In which itit said, That all Acts confirmed by anyGovernour and Counsellour, President andCouncil, by Virtue of any Commissionfrom King James or Charles I, &c.which is a plain Proof, that it was dis-covered by the English, before theYear,1625.

What we know of the Matter IS ;About the Year, 1624. a Ship of SirWilliam Cur teal’s, returning from Fer-nambuc, in Brajil, was driven, by Stressof Weather, on this Coast, as the Por-tuguese had been before, it being not,as Ligon fays, far out of the Wty ;For it is the most Windwardly Ijlandof the Caribbees, Tobago only excepted.As indeed it is, Fob ago lying in elevenDegrees, sixteen Minutes, North Lati-tude, above a Degree nearer the Linethan Barbadoes.

That this Ship touched here, about 1624;theYear, 1624. we may conclude, forthese Reasons: It is plain, there wasno Sailing to Brajil, for any English-man, but under the Protection of theDutch /Cefi-India-Com pany; the Spa-niards and Portuguese making it Deathfor any Stranger to come among thermon this Part of the Continent.

Now, tho’ the Dutch Weft-India-Company, after the Expiration of theTruce, with Philip III. King of Spainand Portugal, began, by Permission ofthe States-General, to trade thither;

Yet they never sent any Fleet, ’till theBeginning of the Year, 1624* Beforewhich Time, we cannot imagine theEnglish would venture to Brajil, theDutch having not made any Settlement,and King James dying, Anno 1625, itseems proved plain enough, that SirWilham Curteeri’s Ship came to Barba-does, Anno 1624.

It does not any where appear^ thatSir William came in Person ; And whoand what this Knight was, we have novery good Account of. Ligon tells usonly, a Ship of Sir William Cur teen's .was driven upon this Coast, and ancho-red before it. The Men on Board thisShip landed, and staid some Time, toinform themselves of the Nature of thePlace, which they found overgrownwith Woods, and without any Beastsbut Hogs, th ^Portuguese, who had longbefore touched at this Place, having leftsome to breed there. It is likewiseprobable, that the Portuguese gave itthe Name it yet has, and which in theirTongue is Los Barbados, or the Barba-does, relating no Doubt to the Barbari-ty of the Country.

The English, who landed there outof Sir William Cur teen’s Ship, when theyreturned to England, gave Advice totheir Friends of the Discovery they hadmade ; And upon that, several Noble-men and others undertook to fettle aColony there. Ships were sent withMen, Provisions and Working Tools,to cut down the Woods, and clear theGrounds, and to plant Provisions for-their Subsistence.

William, Earl of Pembrook, amongothers, was a great Adventurer, in thefirst Settling of this Island, and he it

was

(a) In this Journy F was that the Prince first saw, at Paris, the Princess Henrietta Maria , whoWas afterwards his Qneen.