[707] “Blackstone retained nothing in America of his ministerial character but his canonical coat. He devoted himself to the cultivation of the six or seven acres of land which he retained in his possession, and planted, it is said, the first orchard of apple-trees in New England. He left Boston because he was annoyed by its strict sectarian laws. Banishing himself again to the wilderness, he settled in a place now called Cumberland, on the banks of the Pawtucket river. Here he built a house in the midst of a park, planted an orchard near it, and divided his time between study and labor. He called his retreat “Study Hill,” and resided there until his death in May, 1675.
“He was a man of a kind and benevolent heart; and when he went to Providence to preach, as he did occasionally, notwithstanding his disagreement in opinion with Roger Williams, he would carry with him some beautiful apples as a present to the children, who had never seen such fruit before. Indeed, the kind called Yellow Sweetings were first produced in his orchard; and the older inhabitants, who had seen apples in England, had never before seen that sort.” Shawmut, or the Settlement of Boston, p. 27.
[708] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 152.
[709] Bancroft, p. 359. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 313.
[710] Hutchinson, Prince, Hubbard.
[711] Ibid. Charlestown Records.
[712] Mass. Col. Rec., Bancroft.
[713] Bancroft, Story, Palfrey. See the Charter, in Massachusetts Hist. Col.
[714] Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard.
[715] See [chap. 19, pp. 245] et seq.