He drew up a most elaborate constitution, too, for his kingdom,
making almost more offices than there were citizens to fill them.
For, after all, his kingdom was a mere wilderness containing two
fishing villages and here and there a few scattered settlements.
And when the deputy governor arrived to rule this kingdom he found
his "palace" merely a broken-down store house with "nothing of
household stuff remaining but an old pot, a pair of tongs and a
couple of irons."
Thus side by side with the Puritan colonies of New England,
colonies which were almost republics, there was planted a feudal
state which was almost a monarchy. Of all the New England colonies,
New Hampshire and Maine were the only two which were not founded
for the sake of religion. For although the English Church was
established in both as the state religion that was merely because
the proprietors were of that Church. The colonies were founded for
the sake of trade and profit. But they grew very slowly.
In 1647 Sir Ferdinando Gorges died, and Maine was left much to
itself. For his son John took little interest in his father's great
estate. Thirty years later his grandson, another Ferdinando, sold
his rights to Massachusetts. From that time till 1820, when it
was admitted to the Union as a separate state, Maine was a part of
Massachusetts.
Neither did the heirs of Mason pay much attention to their estates
at first.
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