tant authorities on the early history of America. The first accounts, both of Virginia and New England, are contained in the "General History;" and Smith's name as ruler and writer is inseparably connected with the first years of the country.

One of the earliest of the old relations is "A Discourse of the Plantation of the Southern Colony in Virginia," by George Percy, a brother of the Earl of Northumberland, and one of the original adventurers. His work is a fragment, but is interesting for its striking description of the sufferings of the colonists in 1607. The writings collected by Smith in the "General History" refer to the same time. The authors were rough soldiers, for the most part, and write vigorously. They have strong loves and hates; praise warmly or denounce bitterly; and having seen what they relate, they describe it vividly. Hence the value of their narratives, which are history in its original essence, and remain the chief original authorities for the events of the settlement.

These first annalists are succeeded by William Strachey, author of a "History of Travel in Virginia Britannia" and "A True Repertory of the Wrack and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates." Strachey was a pious man, and takes for his motto, "This shall be written for the generations to come, and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord." The "History of Travel" was dedicated to Sir Allen Apsley, the father of Lady Hutchinson, and induced him, it is said, to advise the Pilgrim emigration to America. The "True Repertory" suggested "The Tempest," which entitles it to a place in literary history, and is remarkable for the force, almost the magnificence, of its picture of the storm which wrecked the Sea-Venture.

Among the earliest and most interesting works writ ten in the colony was Raphe Hamor's "True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia." This reaches to the summer of 1614, and contains an account of affairs in the colony, and of the expedition of Sir Thomas Dale to restore Pocahontas. Hamor, like Strachey, was wrecked in the Sea-Venture, and came to Virginia in 1610, where he became secretary of the Council. He was "for five years a personal workman there," and writes: "I know no one country yielding without art or industry so many fruits sure I am, England doth not." Many of his descriptions are enthusiastic. He is struck by "the great fields and woods abounding in strawberries, much fairer and more sweet than ours; maricocks of the fashion of a lemon, whose blossom may admit comparison with our most delightsome and beautiful flowers; " and on the subject of converting the Indians, he breaks forth with, "When these poor heathen shall be brought to entertain the honor of the name and glory of the Gospel of our blessed Savviour they shall cry with the rapture of so inexplicable mercy 'Blessed be the King and Prince of England, and blessed be the English nation and blessed forever be the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, that sent these English as angels to bring such glad tidings amongst us!" It was rather a flight of fancy to imagine the poor heathen bursting forth in that manner. At the time the English angels were destroying angels, pursuing them with fire and sword, burning their towns and fishing-wears, and putting them to death.

Some good men, however, had the better aim in view; and while Dale and Argall were sailing to and

fro, doing the hard work of rulers in the new country, a quiet student in the "Rock Hall" parsonage, at the City of Henricus, was writing "Good News from Virginia," an appeal for the conversion of the Indians, which appeared in London in 1613. The author was that worthy "Apostle of Virginia," Alexander Whitaker, who had left a good estate ("his warm nest") and a quiet parish in England, to come out and do his lifework in Virginia, where work was most needed. We have caught a glimpse of him "exercising" on Saturday nights at Sir Thomas Dale's house, preaching and teaching the catechism on Sunday in the church; and we read his words now, "I will abide in my vocation until I be lawfully called from hence." Three years afterwards he was called. He was drowned in James River; and his title of "Apostle" and this "Good News from Virginia," with its earnest cry: "Awake, you truehearted Englishmen! remember that the plantation is God's, and the reward your country's," are his epitaph.

Finally, there came to Virginia with Governor Wyat in 1621, George Sandys, brother of Sir Edwin, who translated Ovid's "Metamorphoses," on the banks of James River. Dryden calls him "the best versifier of the former age," and his friend Drayton, when he sailed from England, sent this salute and farewell after him:

"And worthy George, by industry and use
Let's see what lines Virginia will produce,
Entice the muses thither to repair,

Entreat them gently; train them to that air:
For they from hence may thither hap to fly."

This prophecy that Virginia might one day shine in poesy, had at least a beginning of fulfillment. George Sandys enticed his muse to the virgin land, but it was a

bad time for poetic dreams. The very year after his arrival came the Indian massacre. The poet, lost in a dream of Ovid and the fine shapes of Greece, was startled by savage yells. He tells of the interruption, and the conditions under which he wrote. His book was "limned by that imperfect light which was snatched from the hours of night and repose sprung from the stock of the ancient Romans but bred in the new world-having wars and tumults to bring it to light instead of the muses." Nevertheless it was brought to light, taken to England and printed there, and admired by the greatest poets of the time. Sandys also translated a part of the Eneid, and wrote "A Paraphrase of the Psalms of David," which Charles I. "delighted to read in, while prisoner in Carisbrooke Castle." He was treasurer of the colony; introduced the first water-mill into America; and his portrait is attractive. He was "an accomplished gentleman, with sable silvered hair, eyes mild and intelligent," and in his "slashed doublet and lace collar, was a combination of the scholar, the courtier, and the soldier." Thus the rude first years with their rude soldier-authors writing prose relations had flowered into an Augustan era of lace collars and poesy.

This glance at some of the works written in Virginia during the Plantation period will convey a general idea of their character. It is impossible to speak of them in more detail in this place, and only a careful examination will indicate their merit. They possess not only a special value as the original authorities for the earliest American history, but a virile and sinewy force, which entitles them to rank with the best English literature produced during the seventeenth century.

XXIV.

OUTLINE OF VIRGINIA UNDER JAMES I.

BEFORE passing from the period of the Plantation to that of the Colony, let us see what Virginia was like at the end of the first quarter of the seventeenth century. It is only by going away from the world of the present into the world of the past, that we are able to understand the past, to live again in its scenes, and learn

Mere statements

any lesson which it has to teach us. of historical events in the annals of a people are of secondary value. What we wish is to have a picture. of the men themselves; of their daily lives, their occupations, their peculiar views, and all that makes them a distinct study. Any other theory of history. is commonplace and conventional.

Let us attempt then to catch a glimpse of this old land and people,—of Virginia and the Virginians at the death of James I. Only a silhouette is possible here; but the outline will be accurate, and based on ample authority.1 If we take the chronicles for guide-books, and descend James River from near the present city of Richmond to Chesapeake Bay, we shall see, as we float on the broad current, nearly the whole of what was then Virginia pass before us.

This up-country is the frontier. Around the "Falls" on the seven hills, where the capital of Virginia is going to be built in time, adventurous settlers have erected

1 The details in this chapter are derived from the inestimable volumes of Hening, and the old cotemporary publications which present many indications of the life of the time.