[268] His signature is Stegge. He was the maternal uncle of Colonel William Byrd, the first of the name in the colony, who came thither a youth, as the heir of his large landed estate, which included the present site of Richmond.
[269] A son of Sir George Yeardley, a former governor of Virginia, and Lady Temperance, his wife, who was born in Virginia.
[270] The letter is given in full in Thurloe’s State Papers, ii. 273, and is republished in the Richmond Standard of Feb. 11, 1882, by the present writer.
[271] Hening, ii. 24.
[272] Ibid. ii. 49.
[273] The quit-rent was one shilling for every fifty acres of land, the latest consideration in its acquirement. It was first granted to the Adventurers, by the Company, in tracts of one hundred acres, after five years’ service in the colony. If planted and seated within three years, the quantity was augmented by another hundred acres. Later, each person removing to the colony at his own expense, with the intention to settle and remain, was entitled to fifty acres of land. The right extended also to every member of his family or person whose passage-money he defrayed. These rights upon “transports” were called “head-rights,” and were assignable.
[274] The locality of the murder is indicated by a small stream known as Bacon Quarter Branch.
[275] It is given in a rare little tract: An Historical Account of some Memorable Actions, Particularly in Virginia; Also Against the Admiral of Algier, and in the East Indies: Perform’d for the Service of his Prince and Country. By Sr Thomas Grantham, Kt [Motto]. London: printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane, MDCCVI. 18º. The copy in the Virginia State Library is thought to be the only one in this country, pp. 12, 13: “If Virtue be a Sin, if Piety be Guilt, if all the Principles of Morality and Goodness and Justice be perverted, we must confess that those who are called Rebels may be in Danger of those high Imputations, those loud and severe Bulls, which would affright Innocency, and render the Defence of our Brethren and the Enquiry into our sad and heavy Oppressions Treason. But if there be (as sure there is) a just God to appeal to; if Religion and Justice be a Sanctuary here; if to plead the Cause of the Oppress’d; if sincerely to aim at the Publick Good, without any Reservation or By-Interest; if to stand in the Gap, after so much Blood of our Dear Brethren bought and sold; if after the Loss of a great Part of His Majesty’s Colony, deserted and dispeopl’d, and freely to part with our Lives and Estates to endeavor to save the Remainder, be Treason,—Let God and the World judge, and the Guilty die. But since we cannot find in our Hearts One single Spot of Rebellion and Treason, or that we have in any manner aimed at the Subversion of the Settl’d Government, or attempting the Person of any, either Magistrate or Private Man,—notwithstanding the several Reproaches and Threats of some who for sinister Ends were disaffected to Us, and censure our Just and Honest Designs,—Let Truth be bold and all the World Know the Real Foundation of our Pretended Guilt.”
[276] This is shown by the preservation of books to this day in the several departments of literature which are identified, by ownership in inscribed name and date, with the homes of the Virginia planter of the seventeenth century, many of which have fallen under the personal inspection of the present writer, who has some examples in his own library. A little later, private libraries were numerous in Virginia, and in value, extent, and variety of subject embraced, the exhibit will contrast favorably with that of any of the English colonies in America.
[277] [On the later designation of “Old Dominion,” see Historical Magazine, iii. 319; and J. H. Trumbull on Indian names in Virginia in Historical Magazine, xvii. 47.—Ed.]