. The buildings were principally of stones
quarried out of the cliffs, and were cool as well as solid edifices.
They were low, however, and of no great size on the ground. At the
governor's farm, his private property, there was a dwelling of some
pretension; low, like all the rest, but of considerable extent. Here
Bridget now passed much of her time; for here it was thought best to
keep the children. So cool and salubrious was the air on the Peak, that
two schools were formed here; and a large portion of the children of the
colony, of a suitable age, were kept in them constantly. The governor
encouraged this plan, not only on account of the health of the children,
but because great care was taken to teach nothing but what the children
ought to learn. The art of reading may be made an instrument of evil, as
well as of good; and if a people imbibe false principles--if they are
taught, for instance, that this or that religious sect should be
tolerated, or the reverse, because it was most or least in conformity
with certain political institutions, thus rendering an institution of
God's subservient to the institutions of men, instead of making the last
subservient to the first--why, the less they know of letters, the
better. Everything false was carefully avoided, and, with no great
pretensions in the way of acquisitions, the schools of the Peak were
made to be useful, and at least innocent. One thing the governor
strictly enjoined; and that was, to teach these young creatures that
they were fallible beings, carefully avoiding the modern fallacy of
supposing that an infallible whole could be formed of fallible parts.

Such is an outline of the condition of the colony at the period which we
have now reached. Everything appeared to be going on well. The Henlopen
arrived, discharged, loaded, and went out again, carrying with her the
last barrel of oil in the Bight. The whalers had a jubilee, for their
adventures made large returns; and the business was carried on with
renewed spirit. In a word, the colony had reached a point where every
interest was said to be prosperous--a state of things with communities,
as with individuals, when they are, perhaps, in the greatest danger of
meeting with reverses, by means of their own abuses.

Chapter XXVI.

"Cruel of heart, and strong of arm,
Proud in his sport, and keen for spoil,
He little reck'd of good or harm,
Fierce both in mirth and toil;
Yet like