USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 45
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ACCUSATION.
And I remember when he was for having the churchwardens provide lay readers, who should on Sundays read to their congregations some printed sermons ; and so far he declared in Council his approbation thereof, that such practice had like to have had the sanction of the Government, had I not withstood it as destructive to the establishment of the Church.
ANSWER.
The Governor's memory must in this matter have exceedingly failed him, when he represents this of lay readers either as a new project-for VOL. II .- 27
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(as I quoted above) there is a law of the country for it, duly put in practice when there is no minister to officiate-or as a project of mine. The thing I would have rectified in it was, that I understood that readers took upon them to read what sermons they thought fit, and I was for their reading only the homilies. This meeting with some opposition, (for it was alleged, if nothing but the homilies were read, the people would not come to Church,) it was, with the Governor's consent, accommodated thus :- that where there was a minister in the parish, the minister should direct what sermons the reader should read at the distant church or chapel, and where there was no minister the Commissary should do it. But for the horrid innuendo this part of my accusation is capable of-as if ministers were hereby in- tended to be laid aside and lay readers set up in their places, and so the establishment of the Church destroyed-there was never any such thing thought of, far less argued, in Council. I have upon all occasions acquainted your Lordship and your predecessor when vacancies fell by the death of the minister, and pressed for a speedy supply; and whenever they came in they were immediately provided with parishes, if the Governor himself did not delay them.
ACCUSATION.
These and many other instances that might be given, which induce me to believe that a reformation of what has chiefly (as I apprehend) given occasion to your Diocesan's letter, will not be pressed very heartily by your Commissary, especially if he made no such solemn promise at his ordina- tion as his Bishop reminds you all of. Wherefore I judge it to be more incumbent upon the several members now in Convention diligently to in- quire of the disorders which your Diocesan takes notice of, and earnestly to apply yourselves to proper means for redressing them.
ANSWER.
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Whether I did heartily press reformation in pursuance of your Lordship's letter, your Lordship will more readily apprehend from the copy of my speech to the Convention, than from these hard prognostications of it. And though, by means of this letter of the Governor's and other more clandestine pre- possessions, they were sufficiently inflamed, your Lordship will observe that, instead of accusing me of any irregularities, when I put the question, Whether any of them knew of any that did not punctually conform to the established Liturgy, they answered only that there were several things that were not observed by any, by reason of the circumstances of the coun- try, which particulars were ordered to be mentioned by the committee appointed to answer your Lordship's letter, and that your Lordship's direc- tions be requested therein. But the worst innuendo of all is a doubt here suggested, and more industriously circulated in his private insinuations,- at least in the insinuations of his emissaries,-as if I never had Episcopal ordination. The Governor, indeed, words it somewhat doubtfully. "Espe-
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cially (says he) if he made no such promise at his ordination as his Bishop reminds you all of." He was satisfied before that I was ordained with Episcopal ordination in Scotland. The doubt he here suggests is concern- ing the form of that ordination,-whether it had any such stipulation as the English form has. I had told him that I was ordained by the very same English book of ordination,-as indeed I was. But, if he could not believe that,-having it only from my own testimony,-he might have remembered that I showed him my license under the hand and seal of your Lordship's predecessor, in which, among other things, is certified that I promised to conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as by law established ; so that there was no occasion for throwing out this reflection.
These are the accusations I am charged with in that letter : the sum of which is,-1st. A difference of opinion about presentation, which I own, and have given your Lordship my reasons for it; which yet I humbly submit to your more mature judgment. 2d. Some few irregularities as to the Liturgy, which were owing partly to sickness and weakness disabling me at that time to perform the whole service, and partly to the circum- stances of the country, which will not admit of exact conformity as in England. This will be more fully explained in the clergy's answer to your Lordship's letter.
But that all this heat and anger should break out now, when the pre- tended causes were the same all along,-both during his nine years' go- vernment and all his predecessors', from the first seating of the country,- everybody here observes is owing to his late resentments because I could not go along with him in several late innovations, which have given such distaste to the country that our House of Burgesses have complained of them to his Majesty. Had he taken the advice of the Council, he might have made himself and the country easy. But he is so wedded to his own notions that there is no quarter for them that go not into them. He is now endeavouring to remove several gentleman of the Council of the most unblemished characters. But, his resentment having more ways to reach me than any of the rest, he has exerted himself to the utmost of his en- deavours both to ruin me with the College and my parish and your Lord- ship. But your Lordship's backwardness to discard an old servant without some crime proved against him, and the clearness of my title to be president of the College by the charter, and the love of my parishioners, give him great uneasiness,-though my interest is a very unequal match for his. The fair, candid way with which your Lordship has used me, notwithstanding the vast pains he has taken to supplant me with your Lordship, has laid me under great obligations of gratitude, and the highest esteem of your Lord- ship's candour and justice.
I doubt not there are many other things laid to my charge which I have never heard of, and therefore cannot answer at this distance. But, if your Lordship will give me leave to come home, I hope I shall be able to clear myself of all imputations to your Lordship, as I had the good fortune
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to do formerly in the like case to your Lordship's predecessor, who sifted all those matters to the bottom.
I hope your Lordship will pardon all this trouble. God forgive them who have occasioned it. I am only on the defensive. The equity of my judge gives me great boldness,-knowing that I have endeavoured to keep a good conscience, and that whereinsoever I have erred I am ready to submit to your Lordship's judgment, and to correct whatever you think amiss in my conduct. Being, with all sincerity, my Lord, Your Lordship's most
Obliged and humble servant,
JAMES BLAIR.
No. II.
EXTRACTS FROM A PAMPHLET REPORTING THE PROCEEDINGS OF A JUBILEE AT JAMESTOWN IN COMMEMORATION OF THE SECOND CEN- TENNARY ANNIVERSARY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA, MAY 13, 1807.
DUE notice having been given of the intended celebration, the pre- parations commenced on the 10th. A packet, a sloop and schooner had arrived before the 12th, with bands of musicians and a company of artil- lery and cannon, and with a number of visitors.
On the 12th, the beach began to assume the appearance of a regular encampment, from the erection of tents for the sale of various articles ; and the scene was agreeably diversified by groups of beautiful women who were every moment passing from the main into the island. It was not unusual to see groups of pilgrims stealing away from the throng and bustle of preparation, from the wild revelry of joy and the enthusiasm of satis- fied and rapturous exultation, to saunter among the ruins, and converse in fancy among the tombs with the illustrious dead whose virtues and achieve- ments had furnished the motives for their assemblage. It was in the highest degree interesting and edifying to trace the effects produced upon the minds and faces of the spectators by the view of these venerable re- mains of other times. The eye, in surveying the ruin of the church-steeple garlanded to its summit with irregular festoons of smilax and ivy, carried back the mind to the interesting incidents and events of the first settlers.
A crowd of pilgrims were discovered on their hands and knees within the churchyard, removing the dust and rubbish from the mouldering and mutilated tombs, and exploring with anxious though patient curiosity the almost effaced characters which affection and piety had sketched there in the vain expectation that they would be immortal. Whilst engaged in
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these pious and interesting offices, a pleasing melancholy insensibly stole over the mind; the grosser passions of our nature, the dull pursuits of the world, were forgotten, whilst each for a moment by the witchery of fancy imagined himself in the presence of those gallant and venerable spirits , that once animated and informed the mortal tenants of those graves.
As it were by general consent, the discovery of the oldest stone became an object of general emulation, and, in the course of the examination, the results, as they seemed to be successful, were triumphantly announced. Not even the searchers of gold-mines, whose mania is so deservedly ridi- culed and censured by Smith and our other historians, could have ex- ceeded the zeal and patience with which the pilgrims of 1807 examined every character or fragment that promised to throw light on the character of their fathers and the antiquities of their nation.
Beyond 1682, nothing legible could be traced; but, from the freshness of the marble bearing this date, contrasted with the surrounding masses of mutilated and mouldering decay, it was the general impression that this stone was comparatively young.
Among the group of objects calculated to excite reflection on such an occasion, it was impossible to avoid noticing the growth of a sycamore,* whose germ had been inscrutably deposited between the fissure of two massy tombs, whose growth was gradually but certainly effecting their demolition. In vain did a brawny wreath of the poisoned oak, having first wound itself round the sycamore, grasp the trembling marbles for the purpose of averting their fall. The sycamore was a lever that in- cessantly propelled them from their centres, and it was obvious that no- thing but its death could save them from falling without the line of the base. To a reflecting mind every incident is fruitful. This seemed to be a struggle between life and death; and, what may appear extraordinary, it was the general wish that death should come off victorious in the contest.
On the 13th, the dawn was ushered in by a cannon : a second announced the first faint etchings of the sun on the edge of the horizon. During the night, several vessels had arrived, and the eye rested with pleasure on the spectacle of thirty-two sail at anchor in the cove, boats plying incessantly off and on from the shore, groups of beautiful women every moment making their appearance, crowds flocking in and from every part of the adjacent country, and the Powhatan evolving in silent majesty his flood, margined as far as the eye could reach with cultivated plantations and gay villas.
About 11 o'clock, the long-deserted shores of Jamestown witnessed a spectacle equally picturesque and impressive. It was no longer the mourn- ful image and gloomy silence of depopulation. Thirty-two vessels graced the ancient harbour; upward of four hundred ladies embellished the scene, which became every moment more animated by the increasing con-
* Platanus Occidentalis.
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course of citizens, and upon which the presence of the military, and a band of music of Captain Nestle and his company of artillerists from Nor- folk, reflected no small lustre.
At 12 o'clock, in consequence of arrangements previously agreed upon by the joint committees from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Petersburg, and Wil- liamsburg, a procession marched to the ruins of the old church-steeple and the lugubrious group of tombstones contiguous to those ruins. The order of the procession was as follows :-
1. Bishop Madison, and the orators of the day.
2. The deputies from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Petersburg, and Williams- burg.
3. The ladies.
4. Band of music.
5. Artillery.
6. A cannon-ball weighing five cwt., supported by eight men .*
7. Citizens at large.
During the procession, several tunes of a solemn nature were struck by the music, and cannons fired at proper intervals. Upon reaching the ruins, the venerable Bishop of Virginia ascended a tombstone, and, in that affect- ing, pathetic manner which characterizes all his religious effusions, poured out a prayer strongly expressive of the national gratitude for that peculiar protection which the Deity has been pleased to bestow on the feeble but auspicious germ planted two hundred years ago in the wilderness,-a germ from which a State has sprung up now highly prosperous and flourishing. Here two sentiments equally dear to the human heart, and equally power- ful,-religion and patriotism,-united their influence; and that influence was irresistibly felt: pious tears were seen hanging on many a cheek fur- rowed by age or adorned with youthful bloom.
BISHOP MADISON'S PRAYER.
O GOD! Parent Almighty, who, though unseen, upholdest this ponderous ball, and, breathing through the immensity of space, fillest with stupendous life all which it inhabit; Spirit invisible, God of our forefathers, to thee we raise the voice of praise and thanksgiving; oh, hear us, and deign to accept this our imperfect homage. Thou great and glorious Being, who, according to the plans of thy wisdom, didst first inspire our forefathers with the elevated idea of seeking an asylum for man in this Western world; thou, who badest the terrors of death to retire from their hearts, the re- morseless billows of the deep to be at rest, and the horrors of the howling wilderness no longer to alarm, oh, hear, and, on this eventful day, suffer us to pour forth, from the fulness of our souls, the tide of reverential affec- tion, of joy, and of gratitude; suffer us, the descendants and the heirs of
* This ball was originally brought over for the purpose of awing the aborigines.
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those mighty men whose footsteps, under thy gracious providence, here were first impressed to approach thy divine Majesty, to declare the won- drous things which thou hast done for us, and to implore thy continued protection.
Assembled in thy sight, we now prostrate ourselves before thee, upon that ground which thou, O God, didst choose whereupon to rest the wearied feet of our progenitors. Twice one hundred times hath this earth, in obedience to thy command, performed its faithful revolution around the fountain of light, since thy providential goodness was here testified by our ancestors with heartfelt songs of gratitude and praise. The stream of time hath swept before thee the generations which since have arisen and passed away; but we, upon whom this day hath fallen, will rejoice in thy presence, and, with a sincere and ardent gratitude, will recall to vivid memory thy former and thy present mercies.
Hallowed be the place where thou didst particularly manifest thy good- ness to our forefathers, and where the heavenly plan for spreading wide the blessings of social rights first beamed forth. It was here, O God, it was on this chosen ground, that thou didst first lay the sure foundations of political happiness. Here didst thou say to our forefathers, who, under thy guidance, had defied the perils of an untried ocean, "Here fix your abode; here shall the great work of political salvation commence ; here I will strike deep the roots of an everlasting empire, where justice and liberty and peace shall flourish in immortal vigour, to the glory of my name and the happiness of man. Here ye shall sleep; but your sons and your daughters shall possess the land which stretcheth wide before you; shall convert the wilderness and solitary place into fields smiling with plenty; shall, in ages yet to come, exceed the sands upon the sea-shore in number; shall, when two hundred years are accomplished, here resort, here recall to mind your valour and your sufferings, and here, touched with a lively sense of the blessings vouchsafed to them, they shall exalt and adore my name, and acknowledge that the mightiness of my arm and the overshadowing of my Spirit hath done those great and excellent things for them."
Such, O God, was thy will. To thy servants now before thee has been given the high boon of living to see the light of that day, and of acknowledging that thy promises are as steadfast as the everlasting hills. To us has been given the triumph which this day affords. It was thy providence which reared the tender plant that here took root, and which nourished it with the dews of heaven until its branches have cast their shade from ocean to ocean. It was thy providence, gracious Benefactor of man, which awoke in our breasts a just sense of the inappreciable value of our rights, and infused that indomitable spirit which effected a revo- lution the most important in the annals of time, and which led to the establishment of civil governments throughout this rising empire upon the broad and firm basis of equal laws. It was thy providence which in-
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spired that wisdom which hath guarded us against the horrors of war, and which, amidst the dread convulsions that agitate the Old World, hath still irradiated this thy chosen land with the blessings of peace. To thee, O God, we ascribe, as is most due, that never-ceasing current of national prosperity which has daily increased, and which, under thy auspices, we trust, will continue to increase, until its waters, spreading throughout every region of the earth, shall gladden, with their salubrious streams, nations which are now the victims of ambition, and thence diffuse peace and good-will among the whole family of mankind.
Continue, gracious Benefactor, thy mercies toward us. Oh, teach us ever to love and to reverence thy name; teach us that the God of virtue can love only virtue; teach us that it is thou only, the first Source of happiness, who can secure it to the human race. Impress upon our hearts an ardent love for thy holy religion : may its pure and sublime morality be to us the rule of all duties : may it guard us against the debasing in- fluence of licentiousness and vice, and inspire the people of these United States with those inflexible virtues which republics demand: may the love of our country and obedience to law be the dignified characteristic of citizens : may they never forget that, without religion, morality dies; and that, without morality, republics are swept from before thee with the besom of destruction.
Bless all the constituted authorities, and so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands that they may drive from among us all manner of vice.
Give prosperity to the different seminaries of learning; increase true knowledge, and infix upon the hearts of the rising generation a just sense of the duties which they owe to themselves, to their fellow-creatures, and to their God.
Finally, O God, pardon our offences, and deign to hear our imperfect prayer, for the sake of thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ .*
The prayer being over, the citizens repaired to a lawn in front of the principal house on the peninsula, for the purpose of hearing the orations and poems prepared for the day. Mr. B. G. Baldwin, from Winchester, then a student at William and Mary,-afterward Judge Baldwin, of Staunton,-spoke first. He was followed by Mr. John Madison, also a student from the upper country. The speeches were creditable to the
* While we approve the patriotic sentiments of this prayer, we cannot but lament the absence of that without which no prayer can be acceptable to God,-the spirit of penitence, of true Christian humility. It was the fault of the age. Let any one, after reading this prayer, turn back to the beginning of our work, and read that sent over with our early colonists to be used, not by a Bishop or other minister, but by the officers on guard in behalf of themselves and soldiers: let him compare the two together, and he will see the difference between the theology of 1607 and 1807.
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patriotism and talents of these young men. Then followed two odes, by Mr. C. B. Blanchard, of Norfolk, and Mr. Le Roy Anderson, of Williams- burg, which were interesting to the, assembly.
Two days and nights were spent in these and other exercises of a dif- ferent character. After feasting and mirth on the island, which con- tinued two days and nights, the scene was transferred to Williamsburg, where another day and night was spent in like manner, -. very unlike the manner of the first days of our forefathers on the island, whose first act was the solemn celebration of the Lord's Supper.
No. III. ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF PARISHES.
[The following was furnished at my request by my friend, Mr. Hugh Blair Grigsby, of Norfolk, to whom I am indebted for many other things in the fore- going articles. ]
MY DEAR SIR :- Your letter of the 18th was received last evening, and I hasten to reply at once to your interrogatories.
1. AUGUSTA .- So called from the Princess Augusta, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales, who was the eldest son of George II., but died before his father. The county of Augusta was created in 1738, and Frederick in the same year, and were thus named after the Prince and Princess of Wales.
2. DALE .- This is a fancy name, probably applied from the local pro- priety of the name,-probably from Dale Manor in England, from which some of the vestry may have emigrated; just as George Mason the first called the county of Stafford from Stafford in England. (See note to George Mason's Life in Virginia. Convention of 1776.) Thomas Dale was High- Marshal of Virginia in 1611.
3. BECKFORD .- The name of a place in England, and a common name of persons; but I know not its application here. By-the-way, its true meaning is bec fort, (a strong beak.)
4. SOUTH FARNHAM .- Farnham is the name of a town in Surrey, Eng- land, in which the Bishop of Winchester has a castle. Its products are hops and corn. It is on the banks of the Wey.
5. TRURO .- This is the name of a borough in Cornwall, England, and is the shipping-port of the tin and copper ore found in its vicinity. Pro- bably there were mines in the vicinity of Truro parish, in Virginia, or some of its people came from Truro.
6. FINCASTLE .- The name of this parish was taken from the county of Fincastle, which was so called after the country-seat of Lord Botetourt, in England. Fincastle county was taken from Botetourt in 1774. In Oc-
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tober, 1776, the county of Fincastle was divided into Kentucky, Wash- ington, and Montgomery,-the name of Fincastle having been dropped. The town of Fincastle, however, which had been incorporated in 1772, retained the name.
7. PETSWORTH .- The true name is Petworth, and is the name of a town in Surrey, England, which contains a church in which the Percys were buried. If the parish were created before 1630, it was doubtless so called in honour of Percy, who was for a short time Governor of Virginia, and was of the noble house of Northumberland. A likeness of Percy (with his amputated finger) is in our Historical Hall,-having been presented by Conway Robinson, who saw the original portrait in England. The name Petso, to which you allude, is only an abbreviation of " Petswo.," which was the old way of recording the word, as Norfolk was written "Norff.," or "Norfo."
8. ANTRIM .- This is the name of a parish in the county of Antrim, on the northeast coast of Ireland, of which Belfast is one of the principal towns, as also Lisburn and Carrickfergus,-all noted in the history of that great effort to Saxonize Ireland. It is the head-quarters of the Protestants and Scotch-Irish. It is an immense county of two hundred and seventy- one thousand inhabitants. Some descendant of the Scotch-Irish (as were the Lewises) gave one parish that name.
9. ST. JAMES'S NORTHAM .- Northam is a common name of a hundred places in England, (signifying north settlement,) and corresponds with Southam, Eastham, and Westham.
10. STRATTON MAJOR .- Stratton is the name of a town in Cornwall, England, and individuals took the name from the town. The Strattons came over to Virginia early and were scattered on the eastern and western shores of the Chesapeake. It was doubtless named by some minister who came over from Cornwall. That is to say, the minister suggested the name to the representative of the county, who proposed it in the House of Burgesses.
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