On this date in 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North America in what is now St John’s, Newfoundland.

Frye citing a folk song, which he describes as “a delightful bit that could only have come from one place in the world, southeastern Newfoundland”:

“Oh mother dear, I wants a sack

With beads and buttons down the back. . .

Me boot is broke, me frock is tore,

But Georgie Snooks I do adore. . .

Oh, fish is low and flour is high,

So Georgie Snooks he can’t have I”  (CW 12, 241-2)