At a general Assembly of the Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut, holden at New-Haven, on the second Thursday of October, 1774.

RESOLVED by this Assembly, that his Honour the Governor be, and he is hereby desired to cause six hundred copies of the queries from the Secretary of State, dated 5th July, 1773, and the answers thereto, prepared by his Honour, and laid before this Assembly, to be printed, and cause the same to be distributed to the several towns in this colony, in proportion to their list of estates.

GEORGE WYLLYS, Sec'y.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SEVERE DROUGHT IN 1749, FROM A MS. OF MR. JAMES BLAKE, OF DORChester.

THIS summer was the severest drought in this country that has ever been known in the memory of the oldest persons among us. It was a dry spring; and by the latter end of May the grass was burnt up, so that the ground looked white and it was the 6th day of July, before any rain (to speak of) came. The earth

was dried like powder to a great depth; and many wells, springs, brooks, and small rivers were dried up, that were never known to fail before: and the fish in some of the rivers died. The pastures were so scorched, that there was nothing green to be seen; and the cattle waxed poor, and by their lowing seemed to call upon their owners for relief, who could not help them.

Although the dry grass was eaten so close, that there were but a few thin spires to be seen, yet several pastures took fire, and burnt fiercely. My pasture took fire near the barn, by a boy's dropping a coal as he was carrying fire to the water-side; and though there seemed to be so little grass, yet what there was, by the ground's being so dry, blazed and flashed like gun-powder, and run very fast along the ground, and in one place burnt some fence and we were forced to work hard to keep it from the barn, and to extinguish it; having the help of sundry men that happened to be here. It spread over about half an acre of ground before we could stop it; and where there were lumps of cow-dung, it would burn till the whole lump was consumed, and burn a hole in the ground; and we were obliged to use much water to quench it.

"There was a great scarcity of hay, being but a very little cut of the first crop; and salt-marsh failed nearly as much as the English meadow. English hay was then sold for £3 and £3-10, old tenor, per hundred. Barley and oats were so pinched, that many had not much more than their seed again; and many cut down their grain before it was ripe, for fodder. Flax almost wholly failed, as also garden herbs of all sorts; and the Indian corn rolled up and wilted. And there was a melancholy prospect of the greatest dearth that ever was known in this land.

"In the time of our fears and distress, the government ordered a day of public fasting and prayer and God was graciously pleased to hear and answer our petitions in a very remarkable manner: for, about the 6th of July, the course of the weather altered, and there came such seasonable and plentiful rains, as quite changed the face of the earth; and that grass which we generally concluded was wholly dead, and could not come again under several years, was revived, and there was a good second crop of mowing, it looking more like the spring than the latter part of the year: and the Indian corn recovered, and there was a very good harvest.

"And whereas it was thought, in the fall of the year, that a multitude of cattle must die for want of food, insomuch that they sent and fetched hay from England; yet

God in his providence ordered us a moderate winter, and we were carried comfortably through it, and I did not hear of many, if any, cattle that died. But by reason of so many cattle having been killed off last fall, beef, mutton, and butter are now, in May, 1750, very dear. Butter is 7s. 6d. old tenor pr. lb.

66

Upon the coming of the rains, and renewing of the earth, last fall, the government appointed a day of public thanksgiving.

"[This summer, June 18th was said to be the hottest day that was ever known in the northerly part of America.]"

GRAND JURY'S BILL AGAINST MARY OSGOOD.

Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, } Anno, R. & Reginæ in New England.

ss.

Gulielmi et Mariæ
Anglice, &c. Quarto.

Annoq. Domini 1692.

THE jurors for our sovereign lord and lady, the King and Queen, present, that Mary Osgood, wife of Capt. John Osgood, of Andover, in the county of Essex, about eleven years ago, in the town of Andover aforesaid, wickedly, maliciously, and feloniously, a covenant with the Devil did make, and signed the Devil's Book, and took the Devil to be her God, and consented to serve and worship him, and was baptized by the Devil, and renounced her former Christian baptism, and promised to be the Devil's, both body and soul forever, and to serve him; by which diabolical covenant, by her made with the Devil, she the said Mary Osgood is become a detestable Witch, against the peace of our sovereign lord and lady, the King and Queen, their crown and dignity, and the laws in that case made and provided.

Ponit se.

ROBERT PAGE, Foreman.

Billa vera.
Non cul-found.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE REV. JAMES NOYES, FIRST MINISTER OF NEWbury.

REVEREND JAMES NOYES was born in England, at Choulderton, in Wiltshire, in the year 1608. His father was a minister of that town: His mother a sister of the Rev. Robert Parker.

He had his education, chiefly, under Mr. Thomas Parker, the son of Robert. By him he was invited from Brazen-nose College, in Oxford, to assist in the care and charge of the public school at Newbury; and which they kept together until they came into NewEngland, in 1634.

Soon afterwards they began a settlement, to which they gave the name of Newbury; gathered a church, and Mr. Parker became the pastor, and Mr. Noyes the teacher. In this station, Mr. Noyes continued for something more than twenty years.

His sickness was long and tedious, which he bore with patience, and even cheerfulness, and died October 22d, 1656, in the 48th year of his age. He left six sons and two daughters, all of whom lived to be married. Two of his sons, James and Moses, were educated at Harvard college; commenced in 1659, and were settled in the ministry in Connecticut.

James was pastor of a church in Stonington, and died December 30th, in the year 1719, in the 81st year of his age, and 56th of his ministry.

Moses was pastor of a church in Lyme. He died Nov. 10th, 1729, in the 86th year of his age, after having resided with his people 60 years.

A DESCRIPTION AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ISLES OF SHOALS.

SITUATION.] THERE are eight Islands in the cluster that bears this name, compactly situated, viz Hog Island, of about 350 acres; Star Island, of about 150 acres; Haley's or Smutty-Nose Island, of about 100 acres. These are the principal, and the only ones that

are habitable. The others are Cedar, White, Londonner's, Malaga, and Duck Islands; the largest of which contains about eight acres, the smallest one acre. They lie nine miles S. E. of Portsmouth light-house, (N. H.) and 21 N. E. of the light-houses at Newburyport. N. lat. 42° 59′ W. Long. from London, 70° 30'. The line, which divides New-Hampshire from Maine, passes between these islands, leaving Haley's, Hog, Duck, Cedar, and Malaga isles, on the Ñ. E. in Maine; and the others on the S. W. in New-Hampshire.* Some have entertained the idea, that these islands, at some former period, joined to some of the points or bluffs, that project from the main, near Hampton. The Rev. Mr. Tuck was of this opinion.t

DISCOVERY.] These islands were discovered by the celebrated Capt. JOHN SMITH, in 1614, and by him named Smith's Isles. For reasons unknown to the writer, they shortly after obtained their present name. The deed given by the Indian sagamores to John Wheelright and others, in 1629, includes "the Isles of Shoals, so called by the English."‡

HARBOUR.] The only secure harbour in these islands is Haley's, which opens to the S. W. having Haley's island S. E. Malaga N. W. a wall, built by Mr. Haley, between 70 and 80 paces in length, on the N. E. This little, well-sheltered harbour is of great importance, not only to the fishermen of these islands, but to merchant vessels coming on this coast, who, not infrequently, have been obliged to put into the Shoals, in distress. Many lives and much property have been saved by means of this harbour, and the timely and humane exertions of these hardy islanders. The wall, which secures this harbour, is in a state of decay. The enterprising proprietor

* In Governor Wentworth's commission of 1764, the boundaries of New Hampshire are described in part as follows: "And by a dividing line, parting the Isles of Shoals, and running through the middle of the harbour between the said islands to the sea, on the south-easterly side, the south-westerly part of said Islands, to be accounted part of our province of New-Hampshire." The above line meets the south line of New-Hampshire, at a point a few miles east,ward of the Shoals.

+ MS. Letter of Judge Sewall to the author.

See Belknap's History, vol. I. Ap. p. 2.