A period of two hundred and fifty years since the settlement of the town includes and covers a history of no ordinary character, involving progress and development, not merely of customs, manners and opinions, but of principles, passions and government. The city is a creation, as it were, by the art and industry of man; and, with the reverence of Cotton Mather himself, we add, "With the help of God!" and we venture the comparison that no change or growth, improvement or embellishment, is to be found in the settlement or the city, that may not be paralleled in the growth, advancement and elevation of its people: indeed, we go even farther than this, the material progress to be seen around us, in all its multifarious forms and combinations, item by item, small or great, is indicative only of the advancement of the people, and marks the progress of moral, mental and intellectual power--of art, science and knowledge. We take this opportunity to acknowledge our indebtedness to several friends for the loan and use of many rare and valuable works in the preparation of this history, and in particular to Messrs. John A. Lewis and John L. DeWolf, of Boston, and Mr. J. Ward Dean, of the N. E. His. Gen. Society. TABLE OF CONTENTS: I. Topography of Boston. 13 The Peninsula. Two Islands. Anne Pollard. Curious Descriptions. The Mill Creek. Great South Cove. The North Cove. Boston Common. II. The Public Ferries. 27 The Great Ferry. Order of Court, Nov. 1630. Lease to Edward Converse. Ferry to Winnisimmet; Grant to Harvard College. Bad "peag," money. Wampompeague. Judge Sewall over the Ice. Charlestown mother of Boston. Andros Revolution and Fires. Portsmouth Stage. Paul Revere crossing. III. The Boston Cornfields. 37 Spragues at Charlestown; Dividing the Land; Corn from the Indians; Fencing the Fields, &c. The Cornfields and Pastures; The Granary. IV. Puritan Government. 45 Authority of the Company. Ex post facto Laws. Punished for a pun. Fines and Ear-cropping. Whipping through three towns. Set in his own Stocks. Regulating the Dress of Women. The "Body of Liberties." Ward on Kissing Women. John Dunton on the Laws. V. Narragansett Indians. 57 Murder of Mr. Oldham. Visit of Miantonomo to Gov. Vane, Treaty, &c. Narragansett Art. Coining money. Marriage of Children. Egyptian Custom. Marriage of Cleopatra.