reason to believe that the first part, which details
the benefits to be derived from the colonization of
Maryland, is contemporary with the first year or
two of settlement.

    The text of the Houghton manuscript is virtually
identical to the 1635 printing reproduced here from
a promotional pamphlet entitled A Relation of
Maryland (Readex Microprint, 1966). Although
one scholar has argued that another printing of the
charter preceded the 1635 edition, a careful exami-
nation of the wording and typography of both leads
inevitably to the conclusion that the following is the
earliest printed translation of Maryland's Charter.
With it and the Houghton manuscript, we have the
text of one of the basic documents in Maryland
history, the very language of which enticed the first
settlers to the New World and governed their lives.