which warped his whole nature. To that superstition this loving husband, warm friend, and courtly gentleman sacrificed everything his old friends, his peace of mind, his name in Virginia and in history. For a quarter of a century he ruled the colony to the fullest. satisfaction of the people. He was an elegant host and a cordial companion, who made everybody welcome. He displayed not the least desire to invade the rights of the Virginians; on the contrary he defended them on every occasion. It may be said with truth that in all these years he was the sincere friend of Virginia and the Virginians. All his interests and affections were centred there in his wife and his home. It was "the most flourishing country the sun ever shone over," he said. But one day rebellion raised its head in this beautiful land. His idol, the divine right, was flouted by these old friends. That moment he became a changed The Virginians he had loved so were monsters. He made war on them; that was natural and commendable, since they made war on him. But what was not commendable, was, that he was merciless to them when they were at his mercy; and that having shed the blood of the husbands, he insulted the wives for their very devotion.

man.

It is a study. Scarcely does all history show us a stranger picture of this poor human nature; a more lamentable portrait than that of the courtly gentleman with the friendly smile for everybody, growing to be the pitiless old despot with the fires of hate burning under the white hairs, and the insatiable thirst for blood in the once kindly heart.

XXI.

THE LAST YEARS OF THE CENTURY.

THE great protest of a brave people against bad gov ernment had thus come to nought. Virginia had levied war on the crown and put all to the hazard; the cause had gone down in blood; the Royalists were up again ; and after the hot turmoil came the reaction and a sort of despair.

Revolution, when it fails, is a very bad business. One of the most disagreeable of all the results is to listen to the victors, and to read what is written by them. Bacon was dead and his well-armed housekeepers had gone home; so, according to Colonel Ludwell, King'sman, the unnatural and monstrous rebellion had "not proceeded from any fault in the government, but rather from the lewd dispositions of desperate fortunes" in certain conspirators, whose aim was to achieve the vile end of "taking the country wholly out of his Majesty's hands." Virginia was "in a worse condition than before," and had much better have not risen, since she had lost everything and gained nothing. As to that, Colonel Ludwell differed from Bacon and his men, who believed that a people ought to resist wrong, without counting the cost.

These old rebels of Bacon had given up the struggle because they were forced to do so; but they were not broken in spirit, and even Berkeley's followers joined with them in resisting the foreign people. The English Commissioners demanded the surrender of the journals of the Burgesses, and the Burgesses refused to

surrender them. "Such a power had never been exercised by the King of England," they declared. Foremost among the new rebels was the old anti-rebel, Major Robert Beverley. He was Clerk of the House, and refused to obey, and was fined and imprisoned. When the Journals were wrested from him the Burgesses rose in their wrath. They voted that the seizure was a violation of their privileges, and desired satisfaction to be given them that no such violation should be offered them for the future;" an inspiring flash in the black darkness of overthrow.

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But the die was cast. Virginia was in the hands of the Royalists. Dead bodies in chains no longer rotted on gibbets, but reform had been crushed, and the old friends of Bacon preserved a sombre silence. To the end of the century there is little stir in general politics. The King's governors come and go, ruling, and generally fleecing, the Virginians. Some are rather good, but the good is negative while the bad is positive. After Berkeley comes Sir Herbert Jeffries (1677), who is followed (1678) by Sir Henry Chicheley, who is succeeded (1679) by Thomas Lord Culpeper, him of the famous Patent, the associate of Arlington. He is remembered by a financial scheme which he invented, otherwise a trick. He fixed values by proclamation. By official edict the value of crowns, rix dollars, and pieces-of-eight was raised from five shillings to six: at which rate they were to be a legal tender (first American legislation). His own salary, however, was to be excepted from the effect of the proclamation; and when the perverse Virginians insisted that he, too, should be paid at the legal rate, he issued a second proclamation reversing the first.

Lord Howard of Effingham comes next (1684), and a year afterwards the news of the accession of his Majesty James II. is received with "extraordinary joy." It is the regulation sentiment, but does not last. The King's governor claims the right to veto the laws of the Burgesses, when they resist and are dissolved. His Majesty hears of their perversity, and is irritated; why are those Virginia people so "disaffected and unquiett?" They are ever creating trouble; see their resistance in the matter of the Journals. Their man Beverley shall be "disfranchised and prosecuted;" and as they are so rebellious they shall have more rebel blood on their soil. "Our rebellious subjects taken in arms" with Monmouth are to be sent to 66 our dominions in America and kept there, and continue to serve their masters for ten years at least."

Worse than all, in the eyes of the Virginians, it is soon plain that King James II. has made up his mind to the great crime of subverting their religion. His Majesty and the Church are at daggers draw in England, and now the Virginia planters tell each other in a whisper that the Papists in their own midst are concocting a terrible plot which will far exceed the Gunpowder business. These vile incendiaries are in consultation with the savages; they mean to steep Virginia in gore and make her a dependency of Rome. Thereat the good Church of England Virginians shudder. Their last remnant of extraordinary joy at the accession of his Majesty disappears, and they buckle on their swords to fight. The province is in a blaze. John Waugh, an ardent clergyman, is inflaming the men of Stafford, and urging them to take up arms in defense of the Protes tant cause. The Rappahannock men are already in arms,

and his lordship, the Governor, has to send three Honorables of the Council to reason with them. Colonel Scarborough, on the Eastern shore, is prosecuted for blurting out hotly: "His Majesty, King James, would wear out the Church of England! Others for treasonable expressions to the same effect, are put in irons; the horse-racing and fox-hunting Virginians are actually going to fight for their religion!

Nothing came of all the excitement, and Lord Effingham went back to England, having signalized his government by no other event than a treaty with the Mohawk warriors in New York. He sailed for England in 1688, but before he arrived, his master, James II., had sailed for France not to return; and (April, 1689) William and Mary, King and Queen of England, are proclaimed at James City: "Lord and Lady of Virginia.'

The extraordinary joy" no doubt flamed out again, in official reports or proclamations; but after all it seemed doubtful whether the Dutch Prince was going to do much for Virginia. He was rather dull and phlegmatic, it appeared, and did not remove Lord Howard of Effingham. That nobleman preferred living in England and drawing his salary there; and after a short interregnum, during which old Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, President of the Council, was at the head of the colony, the country had inflicted upon it, as Effingham's Lieutenant, his Excellency, Governor Francis Nicholson. This was a bad beginning; the new reign, as far as Virginia was concerned, did not promise to differ greatly from the old.

1 During the reign of James II. a seal was ordained for Virginia, but not used until about the end of the century. This consisted of the English shield with the inscription "En dat Virginia quintum," England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Virginia.