Page:Historic towns of the southern states (1900).djvu/94

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in American history; to gaze upon her old houses is to behold the finest type of colonial architecture; while to read her annals is to be fired with the truest patriotism and to mingle in the best society of the picturesque days of long ago.

GEORGE CALVERT, FIRST LORD BALTIMORE.

REPRODUCED FROM AN OLD PRINT.

From our New World point of view, Annapolis is very old, dating back to 1608, when Captain John Smith, exploring the Chesapeake Bay, sailed up the Severn in search of favorable sites for settlements. She is fortunate in the figures that stand on her threshold, for next after the gallant Captain come the noble Calverts—George, Cecilius, Leonard, than whom were never lordlier men. To Cecilius, pledges made to his father were redeemed when, in 1632. Charles I. made him vast grants of lands beyond the Atlantic, in return for which all that