George Alsop is the author of one of the wittiest books to emerge from colonial America, A Character of the Province of Mary-Land ... (1666), which grew directly out of his experiences as an indentured servant. The book combines prose and verse in promoting an image of Maryland as a land of unparalleled opportunity, a virgin womb awaiting fertilization, and in discussing a number of topics related directly or indirectly to Maryland's economic destiny, including the Susquehanna Indians, English politics, and the virtues of commerce.

Alsop was born in Westminster parish, a London suburb, sometime around mid-June 1636. The son of a tailor, Peter Alsop, and his wife Rose, Alsop appears to have been of modest economic means, which helps to explain his championing of the lot of indentured servants. A staunch Anglican and Royalist, Alsop fled England during Cromwell's reign, arriving in Maryland after a terrifying voyage of five months...