Queen Mary. Here Elizabeth resorted for a while; and Charles I., while the plague was raging in London, came here to confer with the Dutch ambassadors. In short, a large proportion of our English monarchs seem to have been drawn hither, either by war or public business, or the delights of the chase in the neighbouring New Forest.

At the present day, Southampton is a gay, thriving town, about half divided between the pursuits of pleasure and business. It is the head-quarters of the Royal Yacht Club, and the station for the West India and other mail-steamers. It has far outgrown its original boundaries, but a large portion of its walls and gates are yet remaining, and a ramble round them will carry one back to the wars of the middle ages, and the time when the quaint-looking, high-sterned little " Mayflower" took in her cargo for the shores of America. One of the old towers bears the name of Edward the Black Prince. Here is the venerable old chapel called "Godde's House," wherein were interred the conspirators against Henry V., whose parting scene is immortalized by Shakspeare, and which was appointed by Queen Elizabeth as a place of worship for the fugitive Protestants expelled from the Netherlands. On the bank above the river, at a spot called "The Platform," is a curious old cannon, presented to the town by Henry VIII. Standing a little in advance of the old walls, it overlooks the broad, beautiful river, at the very spot where the "Mayflower" and "Speedwell," most probably, took in their passengers; and, save the erection of a steamboat pier, the features of the scene are but very little changed during the two centuries that have since elapsed.

Small as she was, the little ship which carried the Pilgrims and their fortunes was strong and staunch, and did good service in the cause of New England colonization. Mr. Hunter observes, that from Mr. Sherley's letter to Governor Bradford (Prince, p. 187), it appears that she was still employed in crossing between the two countries in 1629. A company of Mr. Robin