Project Gutenberg's The Birth of the Nation, by Mrs. Roger A. Pryor This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Birth of the Nation Jamestown, 1607 Author: Mrs. Roger A. Pryor Illustrator: William de Leftwich Dodge Release Date: November 18, 2013 [EBook #44229] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIRTH OF THE NATION *** Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been preserved. Cover THE BIRTH OF THE NATION The First English Church in America. 'Tis just three hundred years ago We sailed through unknown Narrows And landed on an unknown coast Amid a flight of arrows. We planted England's standard there, And taught the Western savage. In its defence we lightly held His tomahawk and ravage. And there, between two forest trees, We raised our first rude altar; Roofed by a storm-rent sail we read Old England's Prayers and Psalter, An echo in the strange, new land Awoke to slumber never: It caught old England's battle-word— "God and my Right" forever! THE BIRTH OF THE NATION JAMESTOWN, 1607 BY MRS. ROGER A. PRYOR AUTHOR OF "THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON AND HER TIMES," "REMINISCENCES OF PEACE AND WAR" ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM DE LEFTWICH DODGE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1907 All rights reserved Copyright, 1907, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1907. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. To M. GORDON PRYOR RICE IN TOKEN OF HER MOTHER'S LOVE AND ADMIRATION CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGES Jamestown Celebration. Legends of the Discovery of America. Columbus. The Cabots. Pope Alexander VI. Amerigo Vespucci. The Power of Spain. Queen Elizabeth's Patent. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Our Shores only sighted by the English before 1600 1-7 CHAPTER II Sir Walter Raleigh. Expedition to Islands near North Carolina. Glowing Reports. Failure of First Colony. Enmity of Indians. Second Colony to Roanoke Island. Virginia Dare. Expedition for Relief of Colony. Colonists had Disappeared. Fate never Known 8-15 CHAPTER III Death of Queen Elizabeth. James I., Appearance and Character. Corrupt Court. Poverty of Common People. Highway Robbers. London Company undertakes Virginia Colony. The Necessities of a Countess. Extravagance. Political, Religious, and Literary Aspects of the Time. Royal Charter obtained for New Colony 16-33 CHAPTER IV [vii] England's First Colony. Emigrants Subject to Commercial Corporation, to Domestic Council, to Superior Council, to Arbitrary Rule of King. The Three Ships. Christopher Newport. Allowance for Each Man. Cargo of Ships. Sealed Orders. Robert Hunt. Books Brought. Character of Colonists. Names of Most Prominent. Captain John Smith. Motives of Adventurers. Attitude toward Indians. Little Interest in England. Drayton's Poem 34-44 CHAPTER V Story of Voyage by Thomas Studley. George Percy. Dissensions among Voyagers. Career of John Smith. Ships enter Chesapeake Bay. A Virginia Welcome. Council as appointed by Sealed Orders. Wingfield elected President, April 26, 1607. Indians. Colonists land at Jamestown, May 13. Smith excluded from Council. Appearance of Forest. Religious Service. First Night in the New Land 45-55 CHAPTER VI Appearance of New Country. Percy's Description. Flora. Fruits. Fauna. Condition and Customs of Indians. Their Implements 56-63 CHAPTER VII Religion of Powhatan's Tribe. Kiwassa. Okeus. Sacrifice of Children. Conversion of Indians almost Impossible. Temple at Uttamussac. Dress and Chants of Priests. Immortality. Fables taught by Priests. Enmity of Powhatan to English. Suspected of Massacre of Roanoke Colonies. Prophecies of Priests. No Written Language of Indians. The Will of the King Law. Law of Succession. Cruelty of Powhatan. Indian Habitations. No Furniture. Fire. Light. Occupations and Games of Men. Work done by Women and Children. Henry Spelman's Story. Indians' Provision for the Future. Maidens and Young Braves. Music and Dancing. Traits of Indian Women. Tenderness toward Children. Powhatan's Unconquerable Hatred. Fate of Indian settled by Massacre of 1622 64-84 CHAPTER VIII Chief of Paspahegh Tribe welcomes Newport. His Appearance. His Behaviour. Work of Colonists. Interviews with Indians. Wochinchopunck. Indians' Skill in Archery. Expedition up the River. Town of Powhatan. Percy's Description. Site of Richmond. Cross Erected. Indians' Assault upon Jamestown. Fort put in Fighting Order. John Smith under Suspicion. First Trial by Jury. Smith Acquitted. Reconciliation through Hunt. Smith admitted to Council. The Eucharist. Savages desire Peace. Newport leaves for England 85-95 CHAPTER IX The First Mail to England. Enthusiastic Praise of New Country. Policy of Colonists to encourage Immigration. Sir Walter Cope's Letters. Council discuss Abandonment of Colony. Zuñiga and Newport. Council decides to send Colonists and Provisions. Letters from Zuñiga to Philip III. of Spain. Letter from Dudley Carleton. Affairs at the Colony. First Church. Illness. Percy's Narrative. First Graves in Virginia. England's Selfishness. John Smith's Narrative. Diverse Elements in Colony. Character of Wingfield. Deposed, and Ratcliffe put in his Place. Wingfield's Defence. Indians bring Food. No True Friendship. Smith seizes Image of Okeus. Savages ransom it with Provisions. Game of Southern Virginia. Smith takes the Helm. Log Cabins and Church Built 96- 115 CHAPTER X Winter of Unusual Severity. Starvation Threatened. Idleness and Waste. Corn procured from Indians. Plans made and Abandoned. Newport Long Overdue. John Smith explores the Chickahominy. Important Voyage. Spends a Month with the Powhatans. Description of Region. Murder of Two of Smith's Men by Indians. Smith's Adventures. Captured by the Savages. March to Powhatan. Incident told by William Symondes. Smith's Life in Danger. Opechancanough tempts Him. Message sent Jamestown. Indian Orgies. Banquets for Prisoner. Conducted to Powhatan's Residence on York River 116- 132 CHAPTER XI Werowocomoco. Powhatan's Absolute Power. His Cruelty. Indian Cookery. Bathing. Worship. Powhatan's Wives and Children. His Affection for his Children. Pocahontas. The Dress of Indian Women. The Mirror in the Woods. Smith received by Powhatan. Powhatan's Costume. A Feast. Pocahontas saves Smith. He is assigned to her Service. Powhatan asks the Cause of the Coming of the English. Smith's Reply. Flatters Powhatan. Powhatan's Attempt to terrify Smith. Professes Friendship. The Truth of the Pocahontas Incident Discussed. Her Kindness to the English 133- 155 CHAPTER XII Indians conduct Smith to Jamestown. His Enemies There. He is sentenced to be Hanged. Newport arrives and releases Smith and Wingfield. Smith sends Gifts to Powhatan. The Character of the New Colonists. "Newport's News." The King and Carr. Contrast between Elizabeth and James. Newport's Visit to Powhatan. The Feast. Finger-bowls and Napkins. Exchange of a Christian for a Savage. Ill-advised Gifts to Powhatan. Newport Outwitted. A Disaster from Fire. The Gold Fever. Wingfield and Archer return to England. Twenty Swords for Twenty Turkeys 156- 176 CHAPTER XIII [viii] [ix] [x] [xi] The Church Rebuilt. The Arrival of the Phœnix. Smith's "True Relation of Virginia." Powhatan's Plot. Indian Thieves Captured. Released at the Prayer of Pocahontas. Age of Pocahontas. Her Visits to the Fort. Her Attire and "Wheels." Chanco. A Comparison and a Contrast 177- 186 CHAPTER XIV Exploration. Greed of the London Company. Dread of Banishment to Virginia. A Voyage of Adventure. Smith's Map of Virginia. Golden Dreams Dispelled. Mutineers. Smith made President of Virginia. A New Ship and an English Maid. Orders from England. A Violent Quarrel. Foolish Gifts from James I. to Powhatan. Indian Ceremonies. Nymphs. Diplomacy. The Coronation of Powhatan. The Departure of Newport. Illicit Traffic. Flying Squirrels. "A Rude Answer" 187- 205 CHAPTER XV Famine Threatened. "Gentlemen" and Hard Work. A Remedy for Profanity. "Noblesse Oblige." Indian Summer. Soap and the Plague. The First Marriage. A Fortunate Family. Powhatan Hostile. Indians refuse Supplies. Smith secures Food. Heavy Snow. The Colonists in Terror of Starvation. Smith's Daring Plan. Powhatan's Cunning. A Friendly Chief. Smith's Interview with Powhatan. The Long Harangues and an Apologia. Powhatan's Scheme foiled by Pocahontas. A Savage Lear. Smith wrests Supplies from Opechancanough. The Perfidy of Two Dutchmen. Ten Colonists Drowned. Pocahontas again to the Rescue. Smith returns to Jamestown 206- 227 CHAPTER XVI Smith's Enemies in England. A New Charter. Its Most Significant Article. Limits of the Colony Defined. New Rulers for Virginia. The Governor's Arbitrary Power. This Nation's Real Founders. The King's Position. His Poverty. Interest of the Clergy in Virginia. Strachey's Description. Zuñiga's Anger. Nine Vessels sail to Virginia. John Rolfe and his First Wife. A Hurricane and the Plague. Many of the New Settlers Worthless and Profligate. The Sea Venture. Sir George Somers. The Bermudas. The Scene of Shakespeare's "Tempest." Andrew Marvel's Poem. Prayer, Marriage, and Birth. Ambergris. New Ships Built 228- 242 CHAPTER XVII Smith Hard at Work. The Traitor Dutchmen. Wochinchopunck captured and Escapes. Smith's Retaliation for Indian Outrage. An Indian's Eloquence. Smith gains Influence over Indians. Search for Raleigh's Lost Colony. Silk Grass. Smith's Energy. Rats. Argall's News. Seven Vessels reach Jamestown. Ratcliffe claims Authority. Resistance and Chaos. New Colonies Planted. Smith buys Place near Present Site of Richmond. Mutineers. Relations with Indian Emperor Closed. Career in Virginia Ended. Percy made President pro tem. Character of Smith. Visits and names New England and Boston. Extracts from Writings. Diverse Opinions of Smith. Thomas Fuller's View. Smith's Closing Years in London. His Poverty. Grave and Epitaph in St. Sepulchre. Attitude toward Pocahontas. English Unwilling to marry Indians. Indian Resentment. Smith's Offer to subdue Indians after Massacre of 1622 Declined. America's Debt of Gratitude to Smith 243- 271 CHAPTER XVIII Unruly Youths returned to England. Mischievous Letter from Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe's Death. Percy's Administration. "Beggar's Bush." Loss of Smith Disastrous. Indian Risings. Disease. Famine. "The Starving Time." Coming of the Deliverance and the Patience. Condition of Jamestown. The New Governor. Machumps and Namontack. All the Colonists embark for England. Turned back by Lord Delaware. A New Order of Things. The Church repaired and Adorned. Services Frequent. Mortality of Early Settlers 272- 293 CHAPTER XIX Delaware's Wise Rule. A Nemesis for Traitors. Delaware's return to England. Strachey's Manuscripts. Friendly Indians. The Marriage of Pocahontas to Kocoun. Indian Marriage Customs. The Costume of an Indian Princess. Human Sacrifices to Okeus. Pocahontas held for Ransom. John Rolfe's Letter to Governor Dale. The Baptism of Pocahontas. Her Marriage to John Rolfe. "The Lady Rebekah" 294- 313 CHAPTER XX Governor Dale asks in Marriage Powhatan's Youngest Daughter. Powhatan's Reception of the Messenger. The Alliance Politely Declined. The Last Years of the Old Emperor. His Successor. The Great Massacre. Jamestown saved by Chanco. The capture and Death of Opechancanough 314- 321 CHAPTER XXI Pocahontas at Court. Smith writes the Queen of her Goodness to the Colony. Her Dignified Deportment. King James's Jealousy. Pocahontas reproaches John Smith. Her Death and Burial. Her Son and his Descendants. John Randolph of Roanoke 322- 331 CHAPTER XXII [xii] [xiii] [xiv] The Patriots of Jamestown. Their Services as Founders of the Freedom of America. Address of Hon. Roger A. Pryor. The Town after Seat of Government was removed to Williamsburg. The Old Graveyard. The Lone Cypress. The Gift of Jamestown, by Mr. and Mrs. Barney, to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Gift of the Government to Women of the Association. Restoration by Them. The Old Town Exhumed. Relics found beneath the Mould of More than Two Centuries 332- 339 CHAPTER XXIII Legends of the Old Stone House: Pocahontas; Smith; Blackbeard and his Hidden Treasure; Nathaniel Bacon. Conclusion 340- 352 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The First English Church in America Frontispiece FACING PAGE Queen Elizabeth 8 King James I. 20 Old London—1607 44 Memorial erected by Clergy of the Episcopal Church at Jamestown Island 52 "The trembling Indian in his canoe hurried past it with bated breath" 68 Smith's Island, where John Smith was captured by the Indians 124 The Mirror in the Woods 138 "She rushed forward, and laid her own head upon his" 144 King James and a Petitioner 162 Powhatan Oak, over Three Hundred Years Old 166 Old Fort—Jamestown Island 180 "The newly crowned potentate started with terror" 200 "'Powhatan comes to kill you all'" 222 Captain George Percy 258 St. Luke's, near Smithfield, built in 1623. The Oldest Protestant Church in America 266 Captain John Smith. From the Bust by Baden-Powell 270 Lord Delaware 286 Pocahontas Memorial Window 290 Marriage of Pocahontas 312 Powhatan Rock, under which the Indian Chief is said to be Buried 320 Pocahontas at Court 322 Royal Palace, Whitehall 328 Jamestown Church Tower 336 THE BIRTH OF THE NATION INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER I We are about to commemorate the settlement of the English at Jamestown three hundred years ago. Under God's blessing, we are not only at peace with all the world, but are bound by ties of close friendship to the great kingdoms and republics on earth. Therefore, we may confidently expect to welcome numbers of their representatives to our three hundredth birthday celebration. Many will be the banners unfurled in waters which ebbed and flowed in awful silence but three hundred years ago, or were stirred only by the paddle of the Indian canoe; and loud the thunders of welcome and greeting from shores which echoed then with the scream of the eagle and the war-whoop of the savage. [xv] [xvi] [1] [2] The story of a world emerging from the darkness in which it had been hidden for countless ages will always thrill the imagination. Phantom ships loom dimly out of the mists of a far-off time. Strange names are whispered in vague traditions, which are found in no written record—names of mighty mariners, who were blown by tempests upon a strange coast,—Arthur; Malgro; Brandon; a "Fryer of Lynn," who by reason of his "black art" reached the North Pole in 1360; Madock, "sonne of Quinneth, Prince of Wales," a man of peace, who sought refuge in a wilderness because of strife among his brethren; Leif, the Norwegian; Nicolo Zeno, the Venetian; Hanno, the Carthaginian! Colossal figures tremble for a moment on the horizon, and are lost in fog and doubt. At last the great Genoese sails forth, and becomes a tangible figure in history. Often as his story may be told, familiar as it is to every schoolboy in the land, we can never hear it without a keen realization of its personal relations to ourselves. "It would be impossible," said Daniel Webster, "for us to read the discovery of our continent without being reminded how much it has affected our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be unnatural for us to contemplate with unaffected minds that most touching and pathetic scene when the great discoverer of America stood on the deck of his shattered bark, the shades of night falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping; tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate hope and despair tossing his own troubled thoughts; extending forward his harassed frame, straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted him a moment of rapture and ecstasy, in blessing his vision with the sight of an unknown world." Intensely interesting are the narratives of the daring adventurers who followed Columbus—of the Cabots who landed and claimed the country for the English crown; of the Spaniards and Portuguese upon whom Pope Alexander the Sixth generously bestowed the world, giving to the Spaniards the western, and to the Portuguese the eastern part of it,[1] for in those days it was but necessary for any pirate or sea adventurer from either nation to land and erect a stone or stick on the coast, to constitute a valid claim to possession in the name of Spain or Portugal and a right to drive out or exterminate the ancient inhabitants and owners of the land. But of all the early adventurers none is so interesting to us as Amerigo Vespucci, whose name we bear. He won for himself this honour simply and solely because of his literary ability, which enabled him to write an interesting narrative of his adventures. The historian is fortunate who has no one to contradict him. He may draw his pictures from imagination and make them as gorgeous as he pleases. There is no reason to believe that Vespucci failed to make liberal use of this privilege; but that did not in the least retard the success of his book. It has been repeatedly asserted that it was not through his fault that the name of this continent was given to him, rather than to the man who deserved that honour; that his German translator, Martin Waldsemüller, suggested it; that the idea was comical enough to catch the fancy of the Portuguese, who at once adopted it. The Spaniards, on the other hand, resented it, and complained bitterly that the honour was stolen from the rightful possessor. On the death of Columbus, Vespucci entered the service of Spain, and was stationed at Seville, with the title of pilot-major. Part of his duty was to mark out on charts the tracks to be followed by Spanish navigators, and he always distinguished the new world, first, by the words "Amerigo's Land," and presently, "America"! This settles his responsibility for a fraud which never did and never will deceive anybody. He was a skilful navigator,—a great man in his day and generation,—but no renown to him has gone with the name he strove to make immortal. Vespucci has ever been deemed a very inconsiderable person in comparison with Columbus, although it has come to pass that half the world bears his name. The Spaniard, with fire and sword, swiftly followed Vespucci. He took possession of Florida, overthrew the temples and idols in Mexico, conquered Peru! The French were already here,—that did not signify,—the power of Spain was speedily established. Before the English flag "floated over so much as a log fort, Spain was mistress of Central America." Her ships crept along the coast, peered into Chesapeake Bay, and explored harbours and inlets with reference to future possession. It was quite time for England to remember and confirm her claim. Spain was her enemy. Spain was growing rich from American gold, and powerful by reason of American possessions. Already four hundred vessels came annually from the harbours of Portugal and Spain (and some from France and England), to the shores of Newfoundland. Queen Elizabeth granted a liberal patent[2] to one of her bravest soldiers, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with the right to establish a colony. With Sir Walter Raleigh's aid, he equipped a squadron of three ships, but misfortunes befell his little vessels, and he attempted to return to England with two ships, the Hind and the Squirrel. A great storm arose; the oldest mariner had "never seen a more outrageous sea," and in it the Squirrel perished. The Hind returned to tell the story of Sir Humphrey's devotion and courage; how out of the darkness a brave voice rang out—the voice of the good old knight to whom the Queen had given with her blessing a golden anchor set with pearls—"Be of good cheer, my friends! We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land," and how his ship went down in the night! Such was the spirit of the few Englishmen who came hither before 1600 on fruitless voyages—sighting our shores only —like sea-birds which hover on restless wing near the coast for a moment, then wheel and return to their nests in some far-away island. CHAPTER II [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] With Sir Walter Raleigh the history of the English colonies in America begins. He was a prime favourite with Queen Elizabeth, and she knew how to exalt and abase, to create and destroy. To Raleigh she gave viceregal powers over any and all of England's prospective colonies, with no limit to his control over territories, of which he could bestow grants according to his pleasure. He sent out an exploring expedition to the islands near North Carolina. The adventurers returned with glowing accounts of the country. The season was summer—seas were tranquil, skies clear; no storms ever gathered on those peaceful shores; all was repose. The gentle inhabitants were in harmony with the scene; flowers and fruit abounded, grapes were clustered close to the coast and cooled by the spray of a quiet sea; there was no winter, no cold. A hundred islands clustered along the shores, inhabited by "people the most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as lived after the manner of the golden age." No wonder a new expedition of one hundred and eight colonists was soon organized. Seven vessels were equipped, and sailed under the happiest auspices. But, alas! the "gentle people" living after the manner of the golden age proved thievish and deceitful; disasters, many and varied, followed; the adventurers forsook the "paradise of the world," and the enterprise came to naught. Queen Elizabeth. From an engraving after the painting by Zucchero. History has preserved no stranger, more mysterious story than the next experiment of Sir Walter Raleigh. To insure the permanence of his second colony, he decided to send families, women and children, to the fruitful Islands of Roanoke, to make a permanent home, and found "the City of Raleigh." A fleet of transport ships carried eighty-nine men, seventeen women, and eleven little children, with every appliance for comfort, and ample provision of implements of husbandry. The colony arrived in August, after a five months' voyage, and were dismayed to find the island strewn with human bones. They had "expected sundry decent dwelling-houses"; they found the ruins of the houses and forts their predecessors had erected. The men who had been left behind by the first governor had been murdered by the loving, gentle, and faithful people. There was nothing to do but make the best of it. But the charm was broken. The colonists were alarmed and disheartened. The Indians were not friends—that became evident at once. Realizing their danger, weakness, and utter dependence upon England, the heartsick immigrants looked with dismay upon the departure of the ships, and they implored their Governor to return and represent their true condition to Elizabeth, "the Godmother of Virginia," and to the powerful Raleigh, her servant. On the 18th of August, according to the ancient author's report, "Ellinor, the Governour's daughter, and wife to Ananias Dare, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoke, which being the first Christian there borne, was called 'Virginia.'" The Governor was loth to leave his colony, his daughter, and grandchild, but they "thought none would so truly procure theire supplyes as he, which though he did what he could to excuse it, yet their importunitie would not cease till he undertooke it; and had it under all their hands how unwilling he was but that necessity and reason did doubly constraine him." Of course, the Governor promised to hasten his return. The story is a strange one—of feeble effort, cupidity, [9] [10] [11] indifference. The Governor did not reach England until November. Raleigh at once fitted out two small vessels which sailed the following April, but the crew,[3] "being more intent on a gainful voyage than the relief of a colony, ran in chase of prizes, were themselves overcome and rifled." In this maimed, ransacked, and ragged condition, they returned to England, and, the writer adds, "their patron was greatly displeased." After this, for a whole year no relief was sent. Raleigh had now spent forty thousand pounds on his colonies with no return, and he turned them over to Sir Thomas Smith. When White sailed again with three ships, history was repeated. He "buccaneered among the Spaniards, until three years elapsed before he actually arrived at Roanoke." Nothing was to be seen of the settlers there! The Governor seems to have taken things with admirable coolness! His own account is an amazing bit of narrative, when we remember the one hundred and fifteen men, women, and little children, his own Ellinor, and Virginia Dare! He tells first of his troublesome voyage. The sea was rough and his "provisions were much wet"; the boat when they attempted to land tossed up and down, and some of his sailors were drowned, so it was late when he arrived. The Governor was romantic. He and his company sang old familiar English songs, but no chorus came in response from the silent shore. "Seeing a fire through the woods we then sounded a trumpet, but no answer could we heare. The next morning we went to it, but could see nothing but the grasse and some rotten trees burning. We went up and downe the Ile and at last found three faire Romane Letters carved: C. R. O., which presently we knew to signifie the place where I should find them, according to a secret note betweene them and me: which was to write the name of the place they would be upon some tree, dore, or post: and if they had beene in any distresse, to signifie it by making a crosse above it. But we found no sign of distress" (doubtless the writer had been tomahawked before he finished his signal), "then we went to a place where there were sundry houses, and on one of the chief posts, carved in fayre capitall Letters, C. R. O. A. T. A. N., without any signe of distresse." Lead and iron and shot were scattered about overgrown with weeds, and some "chists were found which had been hidden and digged up againe, which when I saw I knew three to be my owne, but books, pictures, and all things els were spoyled. Though it much grieved me, yet it did comfort me to know they were at Croatan." But the Governor never went in search of them at the Indian village indicated! He weighed anchor to that end, but cables broke, etc. Considering they had but one anchor and their "provision neare spent," they determined to go to Trinidad or some other island "to refresh ourselves and seeke for purchase that winter, and the next spring come againe to seeke our countrymen." But they met in the meantime with "many of the Queene's ships and divers others," and "left seeking our colony, that was never any of them found nor seene to this day 1622. And this was the conclusion of this plantation after so much time, labour, and charge consumed. Whereby we see," continues the Governor, who was poetic as well as romantic:— "Not all at once nor all alike, nor ever hath it been, That God doth offer and confer his blessings upon men." A most philosophic Governor, truly! Even to this day we feel more emotion at the possible fate of these hapless Englishmen. Had they perished from famine? Had they fallen before the Indian tomahawk? Had the women and children been spared and given to the chiefs according to savage custom? Alas for Virginia Dare! Three years they had looked for succour, and been basely forsaken by their countrymen. They were not forgotten altogether. Part of the errand of every ship thereafter, and part of every order sent out to the colony, was to "seek for Raleigh's men." But they had disappeared utterly—as silently and surely as the morning dew before the sun. Twenty years later friendly Indians told a story of doubtful value to William Strachey and others; but the secret is still a secret, and this disappearance of more than a hundred human beings is one of the strangest events in history. CHAPTER III When Lord Bacon was informed that his great Queen Elizabeth had died just before daybreak, he exclaimed, "A fine morning before sun-rising,"—the rising of King James the First. Far more appropriate would have been the words, "The sun has set before the night." James the First shambles across the pages of history a grotesque figure enough,—tottering on weak legs which seem incapable of supporting his padded dirk-proof doublet, with pockets further distended by the unread petitions ("sifflications" as he termed them) of his unhappy subjects. From his mother, so conspicuous for grace and beauty, he seems to have inherited nothing, unless we may credit the painters, who have given him beautiful hands. His broad Scotch was rendered more uncouth by a thick tongue which filled to overflowing his coarse mouth. His lips never closed over his teeth. This body was a fitting casket for a depraved mind and heart. In vain may the elder D'Israeli and others modify, apologize, and cunningly seek out redeeming traits! His was a low, base nature, proven by every action —and never disproven by the brave words and pious formula with which he adorned his speech. Only three years before the Virginia colonists set forth upon their momentous enterprise, Sir Charles Percy and Thomas [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Somerset had posted down to Scotland to hail James Stuart King of England. As King James of Scotland he had led rather a hard life—and although his mother's beautiful head had but lately fallen under an English axe, and although he had vowed eternal vengeance upon her murderers, he accepted the crown with childish eagerness. His first request was peremptory: he must have money forthwith for his journey to London, and the crown jewels of England must be immediately forwarded for the use of his homely wife. The Council ventured to ignore the latter. They thought he would hurry to London to attend the funeral of Elizabeth—seeing she had herself named him as her successor. "Give not my crown to a rascal!" she had said with her dying breath; "My cousin of Scotland is a king!" It was not to be supposed, however, that he would hasten his movements to honour "the defunct Queen," as he called her (seeing she had cut off his mother's head), so he dawdled on the way, hunting, feasting, and discovering the charms of "Theobald's" in Hertfordshire, where he afterwards spent so much of his royal time. All the way, in season and out of season, he would indulge in the oft-repeated words, "I am the King," as if to reassure himself of the fact and recall his powers and privileges. Casting about for opportunities to use them, his eye fell upon a petty thief, a cut-purse who had stolen some trifling coin from a courtier, had confessed his guilt, and begged for mercy. James had the man hanged without legal trial, and when some cringing follower suggested that this procedure was irregular, had exclaimed, "God's wounds! I make what likes me law and gospel." (His oath—and each one of England's sovereigns had his own favourite profanity—was a little milder than Elizabeth's "God's death" and stronger than previous kings' "God's blood," "God's eyes," etc.) "God's wounds," stammered King James, "I make what likes me law and gospel!" He also made what liked him knights and lords. Shutting his eyes, which could never endure the sight of a naked blade (and good reason!), he laid the knight-conferring sword on shoulders which might well tingle under the accolade, seeing how narrowly eyes escaped being put out, and ears cut off. He bestowed this distinction upon nearly every person he met during his journey. By the time he set foot in his palace of Whitehall, he had knighted two hundred individuals, without respect to distinction of merit or station. Before he had been three months a king, he had bestowed the hitherto highly esteemed honour of knighthood upon seven hundred. It seemed to be a relief to his feelings, immediately after a tedious oration or ceremony, to create twenty or more knights. Nor was he chary even of the honour of the English peerage, which Elizabeth had held at so high a value. He presently added sixty-two names to the list of peers. By that same token those of us who hunger for noble descent are very shy of the strawberry leaves that grew in James the First's time, and diligently seek for those that flourished under the smiles of earlier potentates. King James I. This was the grotesque figure before which England's great noblemen kneeled down and did their homage: Lord Bacon, Cecil, the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Grey, and hosts of others. To Northumberland Lord Bacon had written: "Your Lordship shall find a prince the furthest from vain-glory that may be, and rather like a prince of the ancient form than of the latter time. His speech is swift and cursory, and in the full dialect of his nation, in speech of business short, in speech of discourse large," etc. Other persons, however, were less indulgent than Bacon. They marked his "legs too weak to carry his body, his tongue too large for his mouth, his goggle eyes, rolling and yet vacant, his apparel neglected and dirty, his unmanly fears and ridiculous precautions," and expressed their consequent astonishment and disgust. As time went on, these personal defects paled in importance compared with the low tastes and principles he developed. It matters not that he was learned in the Latin tongue, and an obstinate supporter, in word at least, of the Protestant faith. All history of poor human nature proves that taste, beauty, learning may coexist with diabolical wickedness. It is hard to [18] [19] [20] [21] believe it, although we see it every day. It was abundantly proven in King James's reign. Of course we may imagine the society led by such a court. Never was there more injustice, outrageous favouritism, disregard of the rights of birth and property, more vice in high places, more extravagance, drunkenness, and debauchery. It was unsafe to walk in the streets of London after nightfall. A portion of the city was set apart as a refuge for murderers and lawbreakers, whence the law had no power to drag them. Life was held cheap in King James's time. Heads fell on the block as a matter of course. Great ladies drove in their coaches to see Mrs. Turner executed. "Saw three men hanged and so to breakfast," said Samuel Pepys a little later. The common people were wretchedly poor. They slept on straw and lived on barley. Only the servants of the rich could eat rye bread. Vagrants and beggars swarmed over the kingdom. In a pamphlet entitled "Grievous Groans of the Poor," the writer complains that "The country is pitifully pestered with those who beg, filch, and steal for their maintenance, and travel the highway of hell until the law bring them to fearful hanging." What to do with these swarming "rogues," in case they could not be hanged, was a tough question with Lord Coke,[4] conveniently answered later by imposing them upon the starving colonists. The picturesque beggar was not a very costly luxury. A curious pamphlet entitled "Stanley's Remedy, or the Way to Reform Wandering Beggars, Thieves, Highway Robbers, and Pickpockets," was published in 1646, in which the cost of the diet and maintenance of every thievish, idle, drunken person in the kingdom was estimated at threepence a day at least. Of course it was unsafe for "true men" to travel except in numbers and well armed, and whoever was about to take a journey had to wait until a tolerably strong caravan had mustered for the same route. Among the chief places of danger was Gadshill in Kent, where Falstaff achieved the glory of killing the already dead Percy. Thieves are always more interesting in a story than noblemen, but the Virginia colony was more intimate with the latter than the former; at least until the King graciously reënforced their numbers with a cargo of outlaws. The company that undertook to support the colony was a London Company, and the adventurers were mainly citizens of London. Those who held the title of "gentlemen" may reasonably be supposed to have known something of the luxuries they were now exchanging for the hardships of colonial life. Some idea of the extravagance of the time may be gleaned from old diaries and letters. A very curious letter has been preserved, which reveals the domestic economy of a family of distinction during the reign of James the First. It is from the daughter of Sir John Spenser and wife of the Earl of Northampton to her lord soon after their marriage. It is an amusing list of the necessities of a lady of rank: "My sweet life, now I have declared to you my mind for the settling of your estate, I suppose it were best for me to bethink and consider within myself what allowance were meet for me," and she proceeds to ask the sum of £2600, to be paid quarterly. In addition to this, she must have £600 quarterly for sundries not to be accounted for. In addition, the lady feels that she needs "three horses that none shall dare lend or borrow," two gentlewomen and a horse for each; six or eight mounted gentlemen, two coaches lined with velvet, four horses to each; a coach for each of her women with gold lace, scarlet cloth; four horses, and two coachmen for each coach; carriages for six laundresses and other serving women; a gentleman usher on horseback; two footmen; all of which to be maintained by her husband. For apparel she needs twenty gowns, £6000 to buy jewels, £4000 to buy a pearl chain, in all $76,000. For her house she wishes him to furnish beds, stools, chairs, cushions, carpets; silver warming-pans; fair hangings, and cupboards of plate, "all things fine and delicate." And in addition to all these she thinks it would save trouble to have £2000 in case of emergency. The letter concludes, "It is my desire that you lend no money, as you love God, to my Lord Chamberlain, who would have all, perhaps your life, from you." And then, on second thoughts, she asks that when her husband becomes an earl £2000 more be allowed her and double attendance.[5] A note to the letter adds, "Her husband went out of his wits." We cannot begin to describe the Elizabethan magnificence in dress. The artificial taste for dainty and costly living was also abundantly evident in the epicurism of the time. The court that allotted a scanty diet of cereal, oil, and vinegar to the men it sent out to subdue a wilderness, could partake of no simple food or drink. The cookery was complicated and consisted mainly of "villanous compounds" of great cost. Butter, cream, marrow, ambergris, lemons, spices, dried fruits, oranges, the scarce sugar—all of these entered largely in the composition of dishes. We read, among the simple dishes, of an artificial hen made of paste, sitting upon eggs in each of which, enclosed in paste, was a fat nightingale seasoned with ambergris, then the most costly of flavours. There were snails stewed or fried in oil, vinegar, and spices; frogs dressed into fricassees. There was a wonderful receipt for cooking herring. "In hell they'll roast thee like a herring," was the warning to Tam O'Shanter, but herrings were not roasted in King James's time, Scotchman although he was. Here is a receipt for salted herring[6] or "herring-pie," a little bit of which might serve as an appetizer: "Take salt herrings being watered (soaked), wash them between your hands and you shall loose the fish from the skin; take off the skin whole, and lay them in a dish; then have a pound of almond paste ready; mince the herrings and stamp them with the almond paste; two milts or roes; five or six dates, some grated manchet, sugar, sack, rose-water and saffron; make the composition somewhat stiff and fill the skins; put butter in the bottom of your pie, lay on the herring, and on them dates, gooseberries, currants, barberries, and butter; close it up and bake it; being baked, liquor it with butter, verjuice, and sugar." There was once a gathering of marquises, lords, knights, and squires at Newcastle to celebrate a great anniversary, and each guest was required to bring a dish. The specimen of Sir George Goring was reckoned a masterpiece. It consisted [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] of four huge, brawny pigs, piping hot, bitted and harnessed with ropes of sausages all tied to a monstrous bag- pudding.[7] The narrator explains that "on some occasions a coarse and clownish dish was a pleasing variety." We can imagine George Percy, John Smith, Gosnold, Newport (all of whom were doubtless received in court circles), dining on this costly fare, and drinking healths on their knees when the King was toasted. So much of the drinking was attributed to Danish influence that it was a common saying that "The Danes had again conquered England." Before we join our colonists in their perilous enterprise we briefly sketch some of the peculiarities of the life whence they came. This will help to account for some things that follow. Of the political and literary aspects of the times, we must be allowed a short notice, in order that the ensuing story may be better understood. A great convulsion, incident upon the Reformation, had passed over the world. It raged on the Continent, and then extended to England and Scotland, where it lasted until the death of Queen Elizabeth and the accession to the throne of James the First, when Protestantism was firmly established. The Roman Catholics were in high disfavour. The dreadful Gunpowder Plot had aggravated the bitterness against them. England, all the corruption at court notwithstanding, was full of religious enthusiasts. With them the experiment in Virginia was only the beginning of the conversion of a great multitude of savages. The first charter expressed[8] a pious longing that "so noble a work may by the providence of God hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty in the propagating of the Christian religion to such people as sit in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God." "This is the work we first intended," says a writer of the time, "and have published to the world to be chief in our thoughts; to bring the infidel people from the worship of Devils to the service of God." "The end of this voyage is the destruction of the Devil's Kingdom," said the good clergyman who preached to the adventurers on the eve of their embarkation. A more restless, inconsistent age cannot possibly be imagined. In literature a race of giants appeared whose works were the expression of the times. The epoch flowered in the great names which have made the age of Elizabeth so illustrious. Bacon had published his "Advancement of Learning," Spenser his "Faerie Queene," Shakespeare was at the head of a great group of literary giants. A fine stage was set for the monarch, just three years on his throne. He might have been the central jewel of a splendid setting! He might have been the inspiration of a noble era. All the material was at his hand. As it was, it is marvellous he did not plunge the country into ruin. Old England owes much to her House of Commons: "A troublesome body," said James, "but how can I get rid of it? I found it here!" When Bartholomew Gosnold, Richard Hakluyt, Robert Hunt, John Smith, and others succeeded in obtaining a royal charter from the King, he busied himself in drawing up the instrument for the government of the colony.[9] "Everything began and ended with the King." A council of thirteen in London, appointed by himself, was to govern, controlling a subordinate council in Virginia. Trial by jury was allowed to criminals. The Christian religion was to be preached to the Indians. In other respects, the colony would have no rights other than those which King James the First chose to allow it. There were to be two colonies, one hundred miles to intervene between the boundaries of the two. The boundaries of the southern colony were enlarged and exactly defined in 1609. It was to embrace the territory two hundred miles north and two hundred miles south of the mouth of James River, and "to reach up into the land from sea to sea." This vast territory was coolly claimed by the King of England, without the slightest regard to the present sojourners on the soil. Had they been wandering tribes never remaining long in one place, had the area of country been a debatable land, the claim might have been reasonable, but it soon appeared that the kingdom of Powhatan had descended to him from generation to generation, or been acquired by conquest. The land was accurately measured and "staked out," and was owned by his captains, who knew and respected their boundaries. All these things combined, we can better understand the disasters and sufferings which ensued upon the landing of our adventurers. CHAPTER IV The most momentous hour in the history of this country was when three small ships "fell down the Thames from London," freighted with one hundred and five Englishmen on their way to plant England's first colony. "This was the event," said a great American, "which decided our own fate; which guided our destiny before we were born, and settled the conditions in which we should pass that portion of our existence which God allows to men on earth." The story of the company which was organized in London for this expedition, of the charter granted by James the First, of the means adopted to insure its success, and the mistakes we can now so easily perceive—all this has been told in many histories. It is a long story; also one involving side issues not within the scope of this writing. It is sufficient to say that the emigrants were subjected[10] to the ordinances of a commercial corporation of which they could not be members; to the dominion of a domestic council in the appointing of which they had no voice; to the control of a superior council in England which had no sympathy with their rights; and finally to the arbitrary legislation of the sovereign. [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] Of the names of the three little ships which fell down the Thames, we can be quite sure of two, the Discovery and the Goodspeed. The other—the flagship—is quoted sometimes as Sarah Constant, again as Susan Constant. They were small ships, one only a "pinnasse"; and were under the command of another Christopher—Christopher Newport. Christopher Columbus discovered us, Christopher Newport colonized us. He was an "experienced navigator"; but his career in Virginia abundantly illustrated the fact that England's great hero was not the only admiral who could do some very foolish things on land. However, he brought our colony safely, and through many sea perils, to Virginia. We happen to know something of his men, and everything of his cargo. Of the latter, we have a careful list. Each man had one suit of "apparrell, three paire of Irish stockings, four paire of shooes," and canvas to make a bed. Of arms and tools he had no stint, also iron utensils for cooking and wooden spoons and platters. The ration for each man was twelve bushels of cereal (oatmeal or peas), one gallon of aqua vitæ, two gallons of vinegar, one of oil. This for a whole year! Some of the grain was to be carefully "kept for sowing." For meat the immigrant must rely on his gun, and the rivers would yield him food. The admiral was provided with a goodly cargo of small mirrors, bells, and glass beads with which to purchase the friendship of "the naturells," and also substantial articles of food. The Virginia real estate was not to be purchased. King James had a simpler method of acquiring it. The tiny ships afforded small space for furniture, bedding, or other household articles. The officers of the colony, Governor, Council, etc., were not yet known, and could therefore claim no privileges. The eccentric King had ordered their names to be placed in a sealed box, to be opened when they landed. Some private packages were, however, allowed. The clergyman, Master Robert Hunt, carried "a goodly number of books." Master Wingfield had also, as he tells us, "sorted many books in my house to be sent up to mee in a truncke at my goeing to Virginia with divers fruits, conserves and preserves, which I did sett at Master Croft's house at Ratcliff. I understand that my truncke was thear broken up, much lost, my sweetmeates eaten at his table, some of my bookes seene in his hands, and whether amongst them my Bible was there ymbeasiled I knowe not." That his divers conserves and preserves should have been given precedence over his Bible and books was not without reason. Books and Bibles could be bought or borrowed, but very little sugar was imported into England at that time, and sweetmeats were a rare and costly luxury. The Englishman had no marmalade for his breakfast until the Queen of Scots introduced it. There were, as we have said, one hundred and five men who went forth to subdue the wilderness. These men were to make the reign of James the First memorable as the commencement of the English colonies in America—"colonies," says Hume, "established on the noblest footing that has been known in any age or nation." They were destined for more than this—more than the historian's fancy could have foreseen in its wildest flight into the regions of romance. Most of the company were "gentlemen," unused to labour, who probably had never handled an axe or suffered a physical privation...