By the time of his attaining the age of five and thirty William COURTEN had already become—for that period—a great capitalist. He then, in 1606, established in London a commercial house which added to the ordinary business of merchants on the largest scale, that of marine insurers, and also that of adventurers in the whale fishery. His partners in the firm were his younger brother, Peter COURTEN, and John MOUNCEY. One half of the joint stock belonged to the founder; the other half was divided between the junior partners. For nearly a quarter of a century this mercantile partnership prospered marvellously. Its annual returns are said to have averaged £200,000. It built more than twenty large ships, and kept in constant employment more than four hundred seamen and fishermen. The head of the firm gradually acquired a large landed property which included estates in the several counties of Worcester, Gloucester, Leicester, Nottingham, Essex, and Kent. This great prosperity had, of course, its drawbacks. Amongst the earliest checks which are recorded to have befallen it was a Crown prosecution of COURTEN (in company with several other foreign merchants of note, among whom occur the names of BURLAMACHI, VANLORE, and DE QUESTER) on the frequent charge—so obnoxious to the political economy of that age—of ‘the unlawful exportation of gold.’ [Sidenote: _Domestic Corresp._, James I, vol. cix, § 90; 96; vol. cx, § 86; vol. cxi, § 66. _Signs Manual_, vol. xii, § 26. (R. H.)] COURTEN was brought into the Star Chamber and was fined £20,000; a sum so enormous as to excite a suspicion of the accuracy of the record, but for its repeated entry. The prosecution was instituted in June, 1619; the defendant’s discharge bears date July, 1620. But it may fairly be assumed that only a portion of the nominal fine was really exacted. Another and much more serious check to the prosperity of the enterprising merchant came from his embarking in the grand but hazardous work of planting colonies. [Sidenote: 1626. COLONIAL ENTERPRISES OF SIR WM. COURTEN.] In 1626, William COURTEN—then Sir William, having received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, on the 31st of May, 1622—petitioned the King for ‘licence to make discoveries and plant colonies in that southern part of the world called _Terra Australis incognita_, with which the King’s subjects have as yet no trade,’ and his petition was granted. [Sidenote: _Domestic Corresp._, Charles I, vol. xiv, § 33.] What ensued thereupon is thus told in an authoritative manuscript account preserved in the Sloane collection:—