facturing, for which the country is best adapted, was forbidden by England. During the Colonial period there were few exports save lumber, furs, and fish. The last item should not be overlooked, for so important a part did it play in the early history of Massachusetts that, to signify the source of her wealth, the figure of a codfish was hung in the State House in Boston. The rich fishing grounds off Cape Cod and the grand banks of Newfoundland were within easy reach. Whole townships and villages along the coast were devoted to this pursuit, the inhabitants leading a sort of dual life between the little farm at home and the sea. In later years the whale fishery became of great importance. The magnificent harbors all along the coast invited commerce. Shipbuilding grew to be a leading industry. Thus New England became, on account of its physical features like old England. Nature intended both for maritime enterprise and a manufacturing life. Both were to be sturdy intellectual centres from which was to emanate a wide-spread and dominating influence.. Literary Conditions.—(Tyler, 109-114; Richardson, I., ch. 2; Stedman, 11-26.) Among such men, in such an environment, literature was a natural product. All the conditions necessary for intellectual growth were early to be found. New England emphasized the things that Virginia neglected, and developed herself accordingly. Chief among the causes that made her, in time, a literary influence, were:
1. A Centralized Society. The people settled in groups and not, as in Virginia, on isolated plantations.
