result of the voyage upon which he set out in 1583 is one of the most memorable events of the sixteenth century. Shaping his course towards Newfoundland, he, in the name of his sovereign, took possession of that country with imposing ceremonies; afterwards sailing southward,
daughters were to have lordships over territories twenty miles square. The trustees were empowered to lease the soil subject to certain prescribed conditions: to every emigrant from England, a grant of sixty acres, with ample common for cattle in addition, was to be made, to hold good for a period of three lives. After he had been in the enjoyment of the property for three years, having in the meanwhile put it in a state of cultivation, he was to be permitted to buy it, if he wished, for a small sum. In order to acquire the right to become first a lessee, and afterwards a purchaser of land in the colony, it was necessary that the emigrant on his arrival should deliver to an officer, to be appointed for that purpose, one quarter of wheat, four bushels of barley and oats, and two bushels of peas and beans respectively, a hatchet, a pickaxe, one handsaw and one spade, the whole amounting in value to forty-three shillings. These different articles were to be redelivered before the end of six weeks, provided that the emigrant was over age. If not yet an adult, they were to be held until the person, if of the male sex, was in a position to support a family, and if of the female, until marriage. Every one who brought into the colony five men who intended to make a permanent settlement there, was to be entitled to two thousand acres in fee simple; each of the five men was also to receive one hundred and twenty acres, the tenure to be absolute. A quit rent of twenty shillings, to begin running three years after the acquisition of the patent, was to be imposed on every one thousand acres included in the tract taken up. The grant to a married woman on the basis of persons she had imported, was to be two-thirds less in the area allowed than it was to be in the case of a man adding the same number of persons to the population. In the case of a child, it was to be three-fourths. These conditions of tenure will be found of especial interest when we come to examine the similar conditions adopted by the London Company in the distribution of the soil of Virginia. They were the earliest provisions made by Englishmen for the conveyance of land in the region of country now known as the United States, and they are not the less significant because they were never carried into practice. See also Articles of Agreement between Gilbert and Sir George Peckham (Close Roll, 24 Elizabeth, part VI), and Gilbert and Sydney (Close Roll, 24 Elizabeth, part VII, British State Papers). Sainsbury Abstracts for 1582, p. 16 et seq., Va. State Library.
