By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
--BRYANT.
That strange shipDespairstill lingered before the headquarters of the governor, much to his annoyance. In February, 1677, when the ships and soldiers came from England, they brought a full and free pardon for Robert Stevens and Ester Goffe.
"What power hath that strange old wizard that he leads kings as it were by the nose?" asked the governor.
"'Fore God, I know not, governor," put in Hugh Price. "I would rather all the rebels in Bacon's army should have escaped than this one."
As Robert was about to depart from the vessel to repair his father's estates, near Jamestown, Sir Albert took him aside and said:
"Money you will find in abundance for your estate. Henceforth, take no part in the quarrels of your country. Hot-blooded politicians bring on these quarrels, and they leave the common people to fight their battles. The care of your sister, she who is to be your wife, and your unfortunate mother will engage all your time."
"But Mr. Price, what shall I do with him?"
"Harm him not."
"He will harm me, I trow."
"No, not with the king's favor on you; he dare not."
Robert promised to heed all the excellent advice of Sir Albert, and he set forth with his slaves and a full purse to repair the ruined estates on the James River. He met many old friends to whom he was kind. They asked him many questions regarding his mysterious benefactor; but Robert assured them that he was as much a mystery to him as to them.
Hugh Price and his associate, Giles Peram, were nonplussed, puzzled and intimidated by the strong, vigorous, and at the same time mysterious arm which had suddenly been raised to protect him whom they hated.
"It is extraordinary! It is very extraordinary!" declared Peram, clearing his throat and strutting over the floor.
"Where is your wife?"
"On board the shipDespair."
"Bring her home. Why do you not send and bring her home? The trouble is over, and we have put down the rebellion."
"I will."
After the arrival of the commission and soldiers from England, the hanging went on at a brisk pace, and Mrs. Price had lived like one stupefied on board theDespair, not daring to go ashore. She seldom spoke, and never save when addressed. She acted so strangely, that her daughter feared she was losing her mind. All day long she would sit with her sad eyes on the floor, and she had not smiled since she came aboard.
When the messenger came from the shore, with the command from Hugh Price for her to come to the home he had provided, she started like a guilty person detected in crime. Turning her great, sad eyes on the man who had been their protector in their hour of peril, she asked:
"Shall I go?"
"The place of a good wife is with her husband," he answered.
Then Rebecca, appealing to him, asked:
"Must I obey Hugh Price?"
"Is he your father?"
"No."
"You are of age?"
"I am."
"Then choose with whom you will live, Hugh Price, or with your brother on the James River."
"I will live with my brother."
Mrs. Price cast her eyes on the river filled with floating ice and, shuddering, said:
"The water is so dark and cold, and the boat is so frail."
"Shall I take you in mine?" asked Sir Albert.
"Will you?"
"If you desire it."
The boat was lowered, and Mrs. Price was tenderly assisted into it. Then he climbed down into the stern, seized the rudder, and gave the command to his four sturdy oarsmen:
"Pull ashore."
It was a bleak, cold, wintry day. The wind swept down the ice-filled river. From the deck, closely muffled in wraps and robes, Rebecca saw her mother and Sir Albert depart for the snow-clad shore. Her eyes were blinded with tears, for she knew how unhappy her mother was. As she watched the boat gliding forward amid the floating blocks of ice, she was occasionally alarmed at the Deeming narrow escapes it made.
The current was very swift, for the tide was running out, and tons of ice were all about the boat; but a skilful hand was at the helm, and the little boat darted hither and thither, from point to point, safely through the waters. Once she was quite sure it would be crushed between two small icebergs; but it glided swiftly out of danger.
The nearer they approached the shore, the denser became the ice pack, and the danger accordingly increased. At almost every moment, Rebecca uttered an exclamation of fear lest the boat should be crushed.
Just as she thought all danger was over, and when they were within a short distance of shore, a heavy cake of ice, which had been sucked under by the current, suddenly burst upward with such fury as to crush the boat. The shrieks of the unfortunate occupants filled the air for a single second, then all sank below the cold waves.
Two heads rose to the surface a second later, and those on the ship as well as those on shore recognized them as Sir Albert St. Croix and Mrs. Price. Holding the screaming woman in one arm, Sir Albert nobly struck out for shore, and no doubt would have reached it, for he was a bold swimmer, had not a large cake of ice borne them down to a watery grave.
When they were found, three days later, they were closely locked in each other's arms. Robert Stevens came from Jamestown, and he and his sister had the body of their mother buried at the old churchyard in the ruins of Jamestown. Sir Albert was also, by order of his captain, buried at the same place.
All winter long, Captain Small of theDespairremained in the York River; but at early spring he came to the James River and, summoning both Robert and Rebecca aboard his vessel, informed them that his dead master had, by a will, left them a vast fortune in money, jewels and lands, in both America and England.
"He also gave you the shipDespair," concluded the captain.
"This is very strange." said Robert. "I can scarcely believe it."
Captain Small, however, had the will to prove it.
"Now what will you do with the ship?" the captain asked.
"What do you advise? We know nothing of such matters."
"She would make an excellent merchantman, and I would be willing to rent her of you and give you one half the profits."
"No, no, captain; take her, and give us one fourth."
Captain Small was delighted with his new employer's liberality, and the nameDespairwas changed toHope. The vessel soon became famous as a merchantman all over the world. Her honest master, Captain Small, became wealthy, at the same time increasing the wealth of the owners.
Robert and Ester Goffe were married one year after the death of Mrs. Price. Hugh Price never molested Robert, but gave himself up to dissipation and was killed in a drunken brawl two years after his wife's death. Giles Peram continued to make himself a nuisance about the home of Robert Stevens and to annoy his sister, until the indignant brother horsewhipped him and drove him from the premises. Shortly after Giles was seized with fever of which he died.
Rebecca went with her brother and his wife to Massachusetts on a visit and, while there, met a young Englishman of good family, whom she married within a year and took up her abode in New England, while Robert returned to Virginia to pass his days in the land of his nativity, the wealthiest and one of the most respected in the colony.
One evening, five years after the removal of Berkeley, a stranger rode to Robert's plantation. His face was bronzed and his frame hardened by exposure and hardships; but his eye had the flash of an eagle's. It was dusk when he reached Robert's plantation, and he took the planter aside and asked:
"Do you not know me?"
"No."
"Lawrence," the stranger whispered.
"What! Mr. Lawrence?"
"Whist! do not breathe it too loud. I am proscribed, and though Berkeley is gone, Culpepper, his successor, is no friend of mine. All believe me dead, so I am to the world; but I have something to tell you of yourself and your parents that will interest you."
Then Mr. Lawrence told Robert a sad story which brought tears to his eyes before it was finished.
"I have come at the risk of my life from Carolinia to tell you this, my friend. I promised never to reveal it while he lived; but, now that both are gone, it were best that you know."
Robert tried to prevail on him to remain; but he would not, and, mounting his horse, he galloped away into the darkness. Stevens never saw or heard of the "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" again.
A few days later a man, passing the old graveyard at Jamestown, observed that the body of Sir Albert St. Croix had been removed and placed by the side of the woman whom he died to save. A month later, on a head-stone, appeared the following strange inscription:
"Father and mother sleep here."
Before closing this volume, it will be necessary to revert once more to the tyrant whose misrule of Virginia had brought about Bacon's Rebellion. At last, the assembly had to beg Berkeley to desist, which he did with reluctance. A writer of the period said, "I believe the governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone." He was finally induced to consent that all the rebels should be pardoned except about fifty leaders--Bacon at the head of them; but these chief leaders were attainted of treason, and their estates were confiscated. First to suffer was the small property of the unfortunate Drummond; but here Berkeley found the hidden rock on which his bark wrecked, for this roused the voice of the banished Sarah Drummond, and her cry from the wilderness of Virginia went across the broad Atlantic and reached the throne of England. She had friends in high places in the Old World, and she was restored, and Berkeley was censured for what he had done.
All laws made by Bacon were repealed by proclamation, and the royalists triumphed; but Governor Berkeley was ill at ease. The Virginians hated him for his merciless vengeance on their people, and a rumor reached his ears that he was no better liked in England. The very king whom he had served turned against him, and, worn down by sickness and a troubled spirit, he sailed for England. All Virginia rejoiced at his departure, and salutes were fired and bonfires blazed, and all nature seemed to rejoice in the blessed hope that the reign of tyranny was ended forever.
[Illustration.]
Ye End.
Address of the Massachusetts Legislature to King Charles II
Albemarle has Stevens appointed governor
Alderman, slayer of King Philip
Andros, Major Edward, commissioned to receive the surrender of New York
Andros and Captain Ball at Saybrook
Angel of deliverance
Arlington and Culpepper grants denounced by Bacon
Arrival of the first English troops in Virginia
Assembly begs Berkeley to desist in hanging rebels
Attack on the swamp fort
Austin, Anna, the fanatical Quaker
Bacon, Nathaniel
Bacon's "Quarter Branch"
Bacon's threat
Bacon sends a messenger to Jamestown for his commission
Bacon defeats the Indians
Bacon arrested
Bacon's confession
Bacon's flight
Bacon rousing his friends
Bacon marching on Jamestown
Bacon captures Jamestown
Bacon and Berkeley meet
Bacon commissioned by Berkeley
Bacon hangs Berkeley's spy
Bacon urged to depose Berkeley
Bacon's Indian campaign
Bacon again rallying his hosts
Bacon uses the wives of royalists as shields
Bacon repulses the attack of Berkeley's longshoremen
Bacon besieges Jamestown
Bacon enters Jamestown
Bacon burns Jamestown
Bacon marches to meet the foe on the Potomac
Bacon ill
Bacon's death a mystery
Bacon rebels attainted of treason
Bacon's laws repealed
Baconites deserting Ingram
Battle between Claybourne and Calvert on the Potomac
Battle of the Severn, March 25, 1654
Battle of Brookfield
Battle of Bloody Run
Bennett, Richard, succeeds Berkeley
Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of Virginia
Berkeley, Sir William, character of
Berkeley's proclamation against Puritan pastors
Berkeley invites Charles II. to come to Virginia
Berkeley, deposed by roundheads in 1650, retires to Greenspring Manor
Berkeley restored in 1660 by Charles II.
Berkeley's opinion of free schools and printing
Berkeley informs home government that all trouble with the Indians is happily over
Berkeley's excuse for refusing Bacon's commission
Berkeley denounces Bacon as a rebel
Berkeley pardons Bacon
Berkeley preparing to resist Bacon
Berkeley and Bacon meet
Berkeley revokes Bacon's commission and denounces him a rebel
Berkeley in possession of Jamestown
Berkeley demands surrender of Jamestown
Berkeley's attack on Bacon's works
Berkeley's tyranny at York
Berkeley's departure from Virginia
Berkeley's territory conveyed to the Duke of York
Bland, execution of
Brent reported advancing
Buckingham succeeds Clarendon
Burning of Jamestown
Calvert, Sir George, at Jamestown, 1630
Calvert, Governor of Maryland
Carolinia, William Hawley, governor of
Carolinia settled by New Englanders
Carolinia constitution
Carteret, New Jersey conveyed to
Carteret enters New Jersey with a hoe on his shoulder
Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, deposed
Census of New England in 1675
Charles I. beheaded in 1649
Charles II. declared king of England in 1660
Charles II. pursuing the judges of his father
Charles II., character of
Charles II. profligate and careless
Charles II.'s opinion of Sir William Berkeley
Cheeseman, trial of
Cheeseman's death
Cheeseman, Mrs., before Berkeley
Church and his men surrounded at Punkateeset
Clarendon in exile
Claybourne, William, the great rebel, at Kent Island
Clove, Anthony, governor of reconquered New Amsterdam
Coddington's, William, commission for governing islands within limits of Rhode Island charter
Commissioners sent to demand Massachusetts charter
Connecticut obtains a new charter under Winthrop
Connecticut after the restoration
Connecticut under Winthrop procures another constitution
Cromwell, Oliver, rules England as Protector
Cromwell, Oliver, dies in 1658 and names his son Richard as his successor
Culpepper, Lord, and Arlington receive from Charles II. grant of all Virginia for thirty-one years
Curles, Bacon's home
Death of Nathaniel Bacon
De Vries robbed by the Indians
De Vries chosen president of popular assembly
Dixwell, John, one of the executioners of Charles I
Drummond, William, appointed Governor of Carolinia in 1666
Drummond brings North Carolinia into notice of the world
Drummond before Berkeley
Drummond, execution of
Drummond, Sarah, banished with her children
Drummond's, Sarah, appeal reaches the throne
Dutch capture New York
Dyer, Mary, execution of
Effect of the restoration on Virginia
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, founded by Carteret
Elliott, John, missionary among Indians
Emigrants to Carolinia
Emigrants to New Jersey from New England
English government in a state of chaos after the death of Cromwell
Endicott, John, Governor of Massachusetts
Execution of Robinson and Stevenson
Farlow, Captain, hung by Berkeley
Fisher, Mary, in Massachusetts
Forebodings of war
Gathering of Virginians at Curles
Goffe and the fencing-master
Goffe, William, one of the judges who tried and condemned Charles I
Goffe and Whalley hiding from the king's men
Gorges recovers his claim
Greene, Roger, guide into Carolinia wilderness
Greenspring Manor, Berkeley's country residence
Grievances of Virginians
Hadley attacked by the Indians
Hansford, Colonel, prepares to resist Berkeley
Hansford abandons Jamestown
Hansford hung
Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Virginia in 1629
Harvey, Sir John, deposed by Wert
Hawley, Governor of Carolinia
Heath, Sir Robert, receives patent to lands south of Virginia
Hollanders attack Indians at Hoboken
Indian war of 1644
Indians in New Amsterdam driven to New Jersey
Indian advancement in education
Indians' lands taken from them
Ingram chosen in place of Bacon
Ingram's surrender
James, Duke of York, has all New Netherland granted to him by his brother Charles II
Jamestown besieged by Bacon
Jamestown captured by Bacon
Jamestown destroyed by Bacon and has never been rebuilt
Judges who tried and condemned Charles I
Kieft, Governor of New Netherland, demands the murderer of the wheelwright
Kieft sends an expedition against the Indians
Kieft recalled, perishes on his way to Holland
King Philip aims a blow at Hadley, Hatfield and Northampton
King's men, character of
Lancaster attacked by Indians
Lawrence escapes into the wilds of North Carolinia
Law against Quakers repealed in 1661
Laws made by Bacon repealed
Longtail, Claybourne's trading ship
Lovelace appointed Governor of New York
Massachusetts controls the New England confederacy
Massachusetts' charter threatened
Massachusetts after the restoration
Massachusetts not punished for her defiance
Massasoit, death of, 1661
Matapoiset, attack on
Meeting between Carteret and Nicolls
Middle Plantation oath
Money first coined hi North America (in Massachusetts), 1652
Muddy Brook, fight at
Narragansetts, Philip among
Navigation act, one of Virginia's grievances
New Amsterdam granted a government like the free cities of Holland
New Amsterdam conquered by the English and changed to New York
New England confederation
New England, growth of
New England colonies slandered
New Haven colony
New Jersey, how effected by change
New Jersey charter
New Jersey's encouragement to emigrants
New Jersey falls into the hands of the Dutch
New York not represented in Parliament
New York attacked by the Dutch
New York re-captured by the Dutch and re-christened New Amsterdam
Nicolls, Col. Richard, arrives at Now Amsterdam
Nicolls succeeded by Lovelace in 1667 as the governor of New York
Nipmucks, Philip among
North Carolinia's first legislature in 1666
Nutten (now Governor's Island), Indians agree to go to
Old Dominion, how Virginia derived the name of
Oliverian plot
Opechancanough captured when almost one hundred years old and assassinated
Orange changed to Albany
Parliament orders a fleet to Virginia in 1650
Pavonia, the territory of Pauw
Philip's, King, opposition to war
Philip, King, weeps on hearing that white man's blood has been shed
Philip, King, among the Nipmucks
Philip, King, pursued
Philip, King, death of
Pokanokets rejected Christianity
Popular assembly, the first at New Amsterdam
Population of Virginia
Printz, governor of Swedes in Delaware
Puritans of New England
Quakers persecuted in Massachusetts
Quitrents demanded of people in New Jersey
Raritans of New Jersey persecuted by the Dutch
Rhode Island granted a new charter in 1644
Rhode Island granted another charter in 1663
Rising, John, on the Delaware
Roundheads conquer Virginia in 1653
Rowlandson, Mrs., narrative of attack on her house
Royalists, triumph of
Sassaman, John, Christian Indian who betrayed the plans of Philip
Savage sent to Mount Hope
South Kingston, Indians at
Stuyvesant, Peter, sent as governor to New Amsterdam
Stuyvesant forms treaty with New England
Stuyvesant and the Swedes on the Delaware
Stuyvesant recaptures Fort Cassimer
Stuyvesant's answer to the English demand to surrender
Stuyvesant consents to surrender New Amsterdam
Stuyvesant goes to Holland
Stuyvesant returns to New York
Sudbury, attack on
Suffrage confined to freeholders, under Charles II
Swansey, beginning of King Philip's war on
Swedes on the Delaware, trouble with
Swen, Schute, captures Fort Cassimer and names it Fort Trinity
Van Dyck kills an Indian squaw in his peach orchard
Van Dyck killed by Indians in retaliation
Vane, Sir Henry, a victim of the restoration
Vane, Sir Henry, executed
Virginia divided into eight shires
Virginia restored to monarchy
Virginia threatened with civil war
Virginia, home ruled
Virginia's defence, 1675
Washington, Major John, kills Indians while bringing a flag of truce
Whalley, one of Cromwell's generals
Wheelwright murdered by Indians
Wilford, Captain, hung by Berkeley
Windsor, Indian attack on
Winthrop and Governor Stuyvesant
Winthrop, John, and Charles II.
PERIOD VI.--AGE OF TYRANNY.
A.D. 1643 TO A.D. 1680.
1644.SECOND INDIAN MASSACRE in Virginia; 800 whites   killed,--April 18.
1645.CLAIBORNE'S REBELLION in Maryland; Gov. Calvert   fled to Virginia.
1649.CHARLES I., King of Great Britain, beheaded,--Jan. 30.
1650.FIRST SETTLEMENT in North Carolina, on the   Chowan River, near Edenton.
1653.OLIVER CROMWELL appointed Lord Protector of   Great Britain,--Dec. 16.
1655.RELIGIOUS WAR in Maryland between Protestants   and Catholics; New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.
1656.QUAKERS came to Massachusetts; cruel treatment   by Puritans.
1660.MONARCHY restored in Great Britain; Charles II. Â Â king,--May 29.NAVIGATION ACTS passed restricting colonial trade.
1663.CLARENDON GRANT to Lord Clarendon and others,--March   24. (This grant extended from 30° to36° lat., and from ocean to ocean.)CHARTER OF RHODE ISLAND, giving religious liberties,   granted,--July 8.
1664.NEW NETHERLANDS granted to the Duke of York   and Albany,--March 12.
NEW JERSEY granted to Berkeley and Carteret,--June 24.
STUYVESANT surrenders New Amsterdam (New York City).
FORT ORANGE, N. Y., named Albany,--Sept. 24.
ELIZABETH, N. J., settled by emigrants from Long Island.
1665.CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN united under the   name of Connecticut,--May.
SECOND CHARTER of Carolina; boundary extended   to 29° lat.,--June 30.
CLARENDON COLONY, near Wilmington, N. C., permanently   settled.
1670.DETROIT, MICH., settled by the French. CARTERET COLONY settled on Ashley River, near Charleston, S. C.
1671.MARQUETTE established the Mission of St. Ignatius, Â Â at Michilimackinac.
1673.VIRGINIA granted to Culpepper and Islington. MARQUETTE AND JOLIETTE explored the Mississippi River to the Arkansas.
1674.MARQUETTE founded a Missionary Station at Chicago, 111.
1675.MARQUETTE founded a mission at Kaskaskia, Ill. KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England began.
1676.BACON'S REBELLION against Berkeley in Virginia,   one hundred years before independence.QUINQUEPARTITE DEED formed in East and West Jersey--west to the Quakers   and east to Carteret. Dividing line from Little Egg Harbor to lat.41° 41' on the northernmost branch of the Delaware River.