1836 Potter's Early History of Narragansett, makes the third volume of the Collections of the Rhode-Island Historical Society. This is a very valuable work, compiled with great care, from authentic sources. It relates, almost exclusively, to that part of the State known as the Narragansett country. In 136, Judge Pitman delivered an address to the citizens of Providence, on the completion of the second century since the settlement of the Town. This was immediately printed. It is a fine historical discourse, but it does not pretend to be a History. Bull's Sketches of the History of the State, were published in the Rhode-Island Republican, at Newport. The author was Henry Bull, now deceased, well known throughout the State at least, as a gentleman of great industry and historical research.— These sketches contain the greater part of the public documents which relate to the State in the infancy of the various settlements within it. The inferences and remarks of Mr. Bull, and his views in relation to his subject, are well worthy of attention. Historical discourses have more recently, been delivered before several religious societies in the state. These generally relate to the societies before which they were delivered, and are very valuable as containing minute details in their histories. Among the most interesting of these, may be named, Ross' Discourse before the first Baptist church in Newport; Hall's, before the first Congregational Society, and Hague's before the first Baptist Society, in Providence. Most of the States in the Union, and most of the large cities and towns, have produced their local historians. With the exceptions before mentioned, neither the State of Rhode-Island, nor any of the municipal corporations within it, have, as yet, any printed account of their rise and progress, unless the incidental notices which they have received from the historians of other states, may be considered as such. These notices are short and unsatisfactory. The town, state, or nation that borrows a historian from its neighbors, must expect to have its virtues forgotten and its vices magnified. The ensuing work does not assume to be a History of Providence. The object of the author has been to collect facts for the future historian, and to classify and arrange them, chrono logically, with only so many of his own remarks, as were necessary to connect them together and make them understood. In his attempt, he is aware that he has sometimes embodied facts and documents, intimately connected with, and forming a part of, the history of the State. Without doing this, he deemed it impossible, in some instances, to give a fair view of the acts of the Town; while, in others, the proceedings of the State appeared to be founded upon and to have been the natural effects of, the doings of the Town. Besides this, in early times, the dividing line between the state, or rather the colony, and the town history was, by no means, so distinctly defined as now. For these reasons, he hopes his readers will pardon him, if he has trespassed upon the future historian of the State. Others may suppose that some of the facts collected are quite too minute and trifling. The object of the author being as before expressed, he believed himself less liable to censure for matters inserted, than for matters omitted. His aim throughout, has been, to omit no circumstance which might serve to illustrate the growth of the Town, or the changes which have taken place in the habits, the business, and the pursuits of the inhabitants. Many of the materials for this work were obtained from the office of the Secretary of State, and from the City Clerk's office. The General Assembly of the State and the City Council, upon the author's application, gave him leave to take their early records and files from the offices where by law they are deposited, and to make extracts and copies from them, at pleasure. The like permission was given him by the Historical Society of the State. He availed himself of this privilege, and the records and files of both State and City have been sedulously examined. The permission given him by the Society, opened to him their historical treasures, included in which, are the results of the antiquarian life of the late Theodore Foster, and many of the collections of the late venerable Moses Brown. While he thus acknowledges his obligations to the State, to the City, and to the Historical Society, he is not unmindful of the kindness of the keepers of those offices, nor of the numerous individuals who have likewise aided him in his labors. The early historians of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New-England, as well as the works relating to Rhode-Island first alluded to, have 1 also been examined. The author, at first, resolved to append notes of reference to the authorities upon which he has relied, and to the places in which the originals of the published documents may be found. This course, on second thought, he abandoned, because it seemed calculated to prove the extent of his researches, rather than to aid the reader; and besides, the nature of the documents copied, will, in most instances, determine the place where the originals are deposited. No alterations have been made in the documents published, excepting only in their orthography, which has been changed to that in general use at the present time. If such change deprives them of one innate mark of authenticity, it also renders them more easily read and understood. The orthography of Indian names of persons and places has been strictly preserved in the documents published. In the text, the author has used, what he believed to be, the common orthography of such names. It is by no means pleasing to see the same name, in the course of two or three pages, spelt in as many different ways; yet, as such diversity prevailed with our ancestors, who learned the language only by the ear, it has been preserved, with the wish that it may aid the curious philologist in his researches. Where any fact is referred to, the date of it is given in new style so far as relates to the year and the month. Bearing in mind, that, according to old style, March was the first month of the year, many supposed errors in the following work will disappear. If absolute exactness is desirable, in the date of any event occurring in or previous to 1752, the reader will add eleven days to the date given. The author avows a decided preference for facts over words, and for things over names. His labors have been among the first, and his researches have been after them. The materials here published were principally found where a like disregard for terms and language prevails. These circumstances may have induced in him an unwarranted carelessness in style and expression. If, however, he shall succeed in exciting a taste for things of old time, and in arousing attention to the facts which make up the history of Providence, his object will be accomplished. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.-General History, from the first settlement in 1636, to the reception of the first Charter to the Colony, in 1644. CHAPTER II.-General History, from the arrival of the Colony Charter, in 1644, to the adoption of the second Colony CHAPTER III.-General History, from the adoption of the Colony CHAPTER IV.-General History, from the Peace of 1763, to the CHAPTER V.-General History, from the Peace of 1783, to adoption of the Constitution of the United States, by the State CHAPTER VI.-General History, from 1790, to the City Charter. CHAPTER IX.-Newspapers and Periodical Publications. CHAPTER X.-Purchases of the Natives and Divisions of the Town. List of persons who have been Representatives to the |