“ He began life as a seaman, and rose to the position of merchant captain. He settled at Taunton, Massachusetts, for several years engaging there in farming and boat-building, and in 1703 returned to England. His acquaintance with the destitute East End of London, and the miserable condition of the children there, inspired him with the idea of providing a refuge for such of them as had no legal protector; and after seventeen years of unwearied exertion, he obtained in 1739 a royal charter authorizing the establishment of his hospital for foundling infants (see Foundling Hospitals) . ”