USA > Virginia > Virginia colonial decisions : the reports by Sir John Randolph and by Edward Barradall, of decisions of the general court of Virginia, 1728-1741, v. I > Part 12
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It was originally intended to lay off the city in the shape of a cypher, but that being deemed impracticable
'Hening. Vol. III, 197, 419,
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another plan, with most generous widths and distances, was adopted.
The one thing especially insisted on was Duke of Gloucester street, which was to be the main thorough- fare, and this was to be about a mile long and ninety- nine feet wide, with the college at one end and the capitol at the other, although back of the capitol there was quite a space laid off in streets and lots, but with some irregularity.1 In compliment to the Governor, who does not seem to have been overly modest about it, two streets were laid off,-one on either side and parallel to Duke of Gloucester street, one of which was named Francis and the other Nicholson, which names had at least the advantage of brevity,-over the main thoroughfare.
The act2 was as precise about the exact manner in which the capitol should be built as it was about any of its other objects, and the committee " appointed for the revisal of the laws " was required from time to time to inspect and oversee the building until it should be finished.
Of the completed work the Rev. Hugh Jones, A. M., in his "Present State of Virginia," containing about a hundred and fifty pages and published in 1722, says it was a " noble, beautiful and commodious pile," and doubtless it was, compared to all its surroundings, and it must be borne in mind that the Rev. Hugh Jones had been many years in the colony and was necessarily speaking comparatively.
But as this was the capitol that stood during all the manhood time of both Edward Barradall and Sir John Randolph, in which both of them served as members of the General Assembly, one as treasurer
'For plan see " Williamsburg." Frontispiece.
"Hening. Vol., III, 420.
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of the colony and speaker of the House of Burgesses, and the other as attorney-general and judge of one of the courts, also having practiced before the courts which held their sessions in the building, this capitol is of special interest, enough to make us desire to know more particularly what manner of building it was.
Taking Rev. Hugh Jones' account of the building we find of its interior that "In this is the secretary's office, with all the courts of law and justice, held in the same form, and near the same manner, as in Eng- land, except the ecclesiastical court. Here the Governor and twelve counsellors sit as judges in the General Courts, in April and October, whither trials and causes are removed from courts held at the Court Houses, monthly, in every county, by a bench of justices and a county clerk. Here are also held the Oyer and Termener Courts, one in summer and the other in winter, added by the charity of the late Queen, for the prevention of prisoners lying in jail above a quarter of a year before their trial. Here are also held court- martials, by judges appointed on purpose for the trial of pirates; likewise courts of admiralty for the trial of ships for illegal trade. The building is in the form of an 'H' nearly; the secretary's office and the General Court taking up one side below stairs, the middle being a handsome portico leading to the clerk of the assembly's office, and the House of Burgesses on the other side; which last is not unlike the House of Com- mons. In each wing is a good staircase, one leading to the council chamber, where the Governor and Council sit, in imitation of the King and Council, or the Lord Chancellor and House of Lords. Over this portico is a large room where conferences are held, and prayers are read to the General Assembly, which office I have had the honor for some years to perform.
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At one end of this is a lobby, and near it is the clerk of the council's office; and at the other end are several chambers for the committees of claims, privileges and elections; and over all these are several good offices for the receiver-general, for the auditor and treasurer, etc .; and upon the middle is raised a lofty cupola with a large clock."1
The act of assembly2 authorizing the erection of this building provided for a lot of ground four hundred and seventy-five feet square, upon which it was to stand, and a railing was to have been put around it, but by an act of 1704 this was changed and instead3 the grounds were enclosed with a brick wall, two bricks thick and four and a half feet high, distant sixty feet from the east and west ends of the building, and fifty feet from the north and south ends. "The bounds of the capitol were made to include the prison grounds as far as the spring, and stones were sent for and set up to distinguish the public property."
From Mr. Jones' description the act of assembly does not appear to have been exactly followed in the erection of the building, but it is probable that the dimensions then fixed were observed. Four compart- ments of the ground floor were to be twenty-five feet in length, in one of which was to be the grand staircase to the story above.
" This left in each building a room fifty feet long at each circular end, which was to be covered with flag- stone. ... The width of each part of the capitol was ordered to be twenty-five feet, - from inside to inside. . .. The grand folding doors, six feet in width, opened upon three porches and afforded an entrance into the respective buildings. The first story was to
1See Howe's History and Antiquities of Virginia, page 322.
2Hening. Vol. III, 197, 213, 419.
3Williamsburg, 208.
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be fifteen feet pitch, and the second story ten feet pitch. The entrance doors and windows of the first story were to be arched. The portico joining the two parts of the capitol was to be thirty feet long and twenty-five feet each way, raised upon piazzas and built as high as the other parts. Over the middle of the gallery was ordered a cupola to reach above the rest of the building. On it was to be a clock, and upon the top was to float, upon proper occasions, the Union Jack of Great Britain."1
The origin of the fire which destroyed this fine building is not known, but it progressed slowly enough to enable the public records to be removed. The burning of the capitol building gave opportunity for an agitation for the removal of the seat of govern- ment to some other place, and a committee of the House of Burgesses having been appointed to consider the subject, a report was made, adopted by the house, and a bill ordered for the condemnation of six hundred acres of land "near New Castle, on the Pamunky River." And this bill, in spite of the protestation of the people of Williamsburg, passed by a vote of forty-four to twenty. But the bill was defeated in the council, and Williamsburg was saved for the time.2
The assembly did not meet again until October 27, 1748, and after much opposition and a hard struggle on the part of " The City," a bill was passed providing for the erection of a new building on the old foundation. This was commenced April 1, 1751, and the last of the brick work completed in December of the same year.
John Blair, of the Council, who fifty years before had laid a brick in the first Williamsburg capitol, laid
1Williamsburg, 205. 2Id., 209.
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also the first and the last brick in the new building.1 In less than two years the building was completed for occupation, and is thus described by Mr. Jefferson :2 " The capitol is a light and airy structure, with a portico in front, of two orders, the lower of which, being Doric, is tolerably just in its proportions and ornaments, save only that the intercollonations are too large. The upper is Ionic, much too small for that on which it is mounted, its ornaments not proper to the order, nor proportioned within themselves. It is crowned with a pediment which is too high for its span. Yet on the whole it is the most pleasing piece of architecture we have."
The act does not, as did the act for the building of the first capitol, specify in detail the style and dimen- sions of this building, but appoints a committee, of which John Blair was the chairman, to contract for the work and to see to its execution. The new building was intended to be a temporary affair, for the fourth clause of the act3 states that rebuilding on the old foundation was not intended to be construed as fixing the seat of government at Williamsburg, and that the new capitol should only remain as a building for holding General Assemblies and General Courts until such time as it might be thought more convenient and advantage- ous to commence a building for these purposes " to be erected in some other place, more convenient to the inhabitants of the colony, and commodious for trade and navigation."
Except the brief account given by Mr. Jefferson, we have no description of the interior of the new building. The picture+ represents a brick structure
'Williamsburg, 210.
:13.
'Hening. Vol. VI, 197. 1748.
Williamsburg, 212. Howe's History and Antiquities of Virginia, 329.
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with six upper and four lower square-topped windows in front; an ample portico with six columns above and four below, with a high pointed top reaching ap- parently as high as the comb of the roof of the main building. The roof of the building is high, with a long slope, hipped at either end, and with tall brick chimneys projecting through the hips. There are around it Lombardy poplars appearing over one end, and a grass plat with a driving circle to the front. The brick wall enclosing the grounds of the first building is supposed to have served for the new.
This new capitol is fuller of interest to the patriotic reader than the old, for it was in it that Patrick Henry, on May 29-30, 1765, made his " treason- able " speech, and offered his resolutions against the stamp act; where Dabney Carr, on March 12, 1773, moved the appointment of a committee, which was unanimously adopted, to correspond with similar committees in the other colonies, and where, on May 15, 1776, Virginia passed the act of secession from the Kingdom of Great Britain, drafted by Edmund Pendleton, offered by Thomas Nelson, Jr., advocated by Patrick Henry and adopted without a dissenting vote.1
It was from their room in this building, in 1774, that the burgesses were summoned before him by Lord Dunmore, who dissolved the Assembly because of their protest against the Boston port bill, and the act setting June 1 as a day of fasting, and thereupon the burgesses betook themselves to the Raleigh Tavern and adopted resolutions against the stamped tea and everything else stamped.
In 1779 the General Assembly carried out its threat
'A granite slab erected by patriotic women marks the site of the capitol and records these historie facts.
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of 1748, and removed the seat of government to Rich- mond, leaving the capitol building for George Wythe to teach John Marshall law in, as Thomas Jefferson and others had been taught a few years before. And these were the men who were the state makers of a few years after, but who disagreed sadly about how it should be done, or rather as to how it had been done; John Marshall ultimately settling those questions in a series of famous decisions.
In 1832 the building got its final burning, and there being no occasion to rebuild it, the brick walls were later used for constructing a female academy, which after 1865, coming into the hands of a land company, was pulled down; and whither the bricks were removed the record does not say.1
On the site where the old capitol stood, has been erected by the ladies of the Association for the Preserva- tion of Virginia Antiquities a monument which tersely and lucidly records the historic events connected with the old capitol as I have narrated them.
Except the church, which has been written about in another chapter, the next most interesting of the old buildings of the eighteenth century standing in Williamsburg, was the Raleigh Tavern. Opposite page 232 of Dr. Tyler's most interesting book, "Williamsburg," is a picture of the old tavern, a wooden building erected in 1700 as one of the enter- prises of the new city, a story and a half high, dormer windows in the hipped roof making the second story (eight on each side of the views presented), brick chim- neys standing up high, and doors with triangular hoods, one in each front, and a few wooden steps up from the ground on each of the sides seen in the picture.
'Williamsburg, 212. The foundation, cleared of debris, protected by cement and plainly defined, remains an interesting ruin and relie of by-gone days.
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A leaden bust of Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom it was named, stood in a niche over the principal front door, and is still preserved.1
The tavern was convenient for the burgesses, for it stood not far from the capitol on the north side of Duke of Gloucester street. The principal apartment was the famous Apollo room, which was the main room of the tavern. The picture of it is given on page 235 of "Williamsburg," where it is said: "It was well lit, having a deep fireplace on each side of which a door opened, with carved wainscoating beneath the windows and above the mantelpiece. Over the mantelpiece and near the corner was a Latin motto, 'Hilaritas Sapientiæ et bonæ vitæ proles.'"
Cooke2 tells of the gathering of the planters there to enjoy the pleasures of the capital during the sessions of the General Assembly and pictures the street outside as "an animated spectacle of coaches-and-four, con- taining the 'nabobs ' and the dames; of maidens in silk and lace, with high-heeled shoes and clocked stockings; of youngsters pacing on spirited horses, - and all these people are engaged in attending the assemblies at the palace, in dancing in the Apollo, in snatching the pleasure of the moment and enjoying life under a regime which seemed made for enjoyment." And all the stories tell how Jefferson, then a law student, wrote that he was as happy the night before as " danc- ing with Belinda in the Apollo could make him."
Among the many that came to the capital came George Washington, also as a member of the House of Burgesses. In the summer of 1758, while off on the second and successful expedition to Fort Duquesne, he was elected to represent Frederick County, after
'Williamsburg, 1.
"History of Virginia, 398.
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having been once, or possibly twice, defeated. He would not leave the army, even for a season, to see to his political prospects, and pending the canvass one of his most active supporters1 writes him: "I am sorry to find that ye people and those whom I took to be yr friends, in a great measure change their sentiments, & now raise doubts of mres (measures) that seem to be clear with them before, this is ye consequence of yr back being turned." But in spite of these misgivings Washington was this time elected, receiving three hundred and nine out of seven hundred and ninety-five votes, there being four candidates and a plurality sufficient to elect, each voter having the privilege of voting for two candidates.2
About this time he had become engaged to be married to the widow Custis and on January 6, 1759, they were married, and a few months afterwards he was summoned to attend the session of the Assembly at Williamsburg. Mrs. Washington, of course, attended him, and though they had their own house and did not stay at the Raleigh Tavern, they were no doubt with the merry dancers in the Apollo, where he probably wore at times that blue coat with red silk lining and the parti-colored waistcoat which made him look so brave a figure at the recent wedding in the church in New Kent County.
Even though he was then not yet twenty-seven years of age, there was no more conspicuous figure at the capital than he, for he had saved Braddock's army after the disaster on the Monongahela, and later had gone back and helped to plant the British flag
'Gabriel Jones, the lawyer, who left his own canvass in Augusta County to advance Washington's interests in Frederick.
"Virginia Historical Collections.
Vol. XI, 117. Washington with his own hand copied the names of those who voted at this election, and arranged them in alphabetical order. Virginia Historical Magazine. Vol. VI, 162-173.
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on the French Fort. But just then it was more his modesty than his valor that made men look at him, for in the gatherings at Williamsburg the former was a rarer virtue than the latter. It was when he came to this session of the General Assembly that occurred the well-known scene of his complete embarrassment when the speaker of the house presented to him the vote of thanks of the Assembly for his distinguished military services.
Only one other building of the city demands notice here, if indeed that be required when the story of it is so well told in greater narratives than this. The palace completes the quartet of buildings, church,1 capitol and tavern, which pertain to the political and social life of Williamsburg.
In 1705, while Edward Nott was Governor, the General Assembly,2 with a large preamble, enacted that there should be built " an house for the residence of the Governor of the colony and dominion," and allotted many acres, after a while amounting to three hundred and sixty, which were planted with lindens and other trees.3
The dimensions fixed by the act for the palace were fifty-four feet in length and forty-eight in width, from inside to inside, two stories high, with a vault, glass windows, a slate covered roof, with a suitable kitchen and stable and various outhouses, for all of which the sum of three thousand pounds was appropriated. But three thousand pounds did not suffice and more than twice that sum was expended on it before it was finished.
The Rev. Hugh Jones can always be relied on to give
'See ante, Chapter V, of the College. See post, Chapter VII.
"Hening. Vol. III, 285.
3Cooke's History of Virginia, 397.
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a glowing account of anything, and he speaks1 of the palace as " a magnificent structure, built at the public expense, furnished and beautified with gates, fine gardens, offices, walks, a fine canal, orchards, etc., with a great number of the best arms, nicely posited by the ingenious contrivance of the most accomplished Col. Spotswood. This likewise has the ornamental addition of a good cupola or lantern, illuminating most of the town upon birth nights and other nights of occasional rejoicings."
It was not completed until after Governor Spots- wood came in 1710. He was the first to occupy it, and to him was principally due the beautifying of the grounds. It was afterwards either wholly rebuilt or greatly added to,2 for in the times of the later governors it had a front of seventy-four feet and a depth of sixty- eight. It was also flanked on either side by a small brick house, that on the right being the office of the Governor and that on the left the guard house.3
The interior accorded well with the exterior of the building and with the fine park that surrounded it, and on the walls of its great reception room hung the portraits of the King and Queen.4
Here was indeed a vice-royal court and there were few governors who did not make of the palace a place for sumptuous entertainments fit for the representatives of royalty to give to such loyal subjects as the Virginians were, until they were touched upon the spot vital to all true Englishmen.
Williamsburg had also a theatre, a source of amuse- ment demanded by the gay throng who spent so much of their time there while they were away from home.
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'Howe's History and Antiquities, 323.
*Williamsburg, 216
3Id., 217.
4Id. See the pictures, page 215.
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It was no great building, although Spotswood was its patron. Later, the first building, erected in 1716, was sold, and in 1751 a new theatre was constructed near the capitol. Sometimes the young men of the college performed in it, and sometimes the ladies and gentle- men of the town and county had amateur plays there. Dr. Tyler accompanies his interesting account of this playhouse, and of the actors who trod the boards, with a facsimile advertisement from the Virginia Gazette, of the performance of the Merchant of Venice, 1 and there, too, was played King Richard the Third, and others of Shakespeare's plays, although the stan- dard was by no means always so high.
Perhaps enough has been said about the town, but the account of the people, those, as he thought he saw them about 1722, given by the Rev.Hugh Jones, seems to be needed to complete our own vision of the place. He says:2 "Here dwell several very good families, and more reside here at their own homes in public times. They live in the same neat manner, dress after the same modes, and behave themselves exactly as the gentry in London. Most families of any note have a coach, chariot, berlin or chaise. The number of artificers here is daily augmented, as are the convenient ordinaries or inns, for the accommodation of strangers. The servants here, as in other parts of the country, are English, Scotch, Irish, or negroes.
"The town is regularly laid out in lots or square portions, sufficient each for a house and garden, so that they don't build contiguous, whereby may be prevented the spreading danger of fire; and this also affords a free passage for the air, which is very grateful in violent hot weather.
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'Williamsburg, 227.
The Present State of Virginia. Howe, 323.
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"Here, as in other parts, they build with brick, but most commonly with timber lined with ceiling, and cased with feather-edged plank, painted with white lead and oil, covered with shingles of cedar, &c., tarred over at first; with a passage generally through the middle of the house, for an air draft in summer. Thus the houses are lasting, dry and warm in winter, and cool in summer, especially if there be windows enough to draw the air. Thus they dwell comfortably, genteelly, pleasantly, and plentiful in their delightful, healthful, and, I hope, thriving City of Williamsburg."
CHAPTER VII EDUCATION
Although as late as 1671, Sir William Berkeley, the Governor, in answer to one of the questions1 pro- pounded to him from England as to what course was being taken in Virginia about instructing the people in the Christian religion, "and what provision is there made for the paying for your ministry," somewhat irrelevantly replied: "We have forty-eight parishes and our ministers are well paid, and by my consent should be better if they would pray oftener and preach less. . . . But, I thank God, there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both." Yet long before the date of the utterance of this remarkable sentiment, as far back as 1619, mention is made of the Governor having provided "sundry stuff for ye college," and even earlier there is a reference to contributions from the archbishops in England for the erection of a college in Virginia.2 In 1654, too, an act of the assembly pro- vided that " Indian servants be educated and brought up in the christian religion," and we know that chris- tianizing the Indians was one of the chief reasons given for the adventure of 1607 to Virginia.
But no college was seriously undertaken until near the close of the century, which Berkeley helped to make fam- ous in educational circles by the startling though not original views he took of the disadvantages of knowledge.
'Hening. Vol. II, 517.
2First Republic in America, 279, 294.
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But while the coming of these larger educational institutions tarried, teaching was by no means neglected in the colony.
Sir William Berkeley admits that at least as to instructing the people generally, there existed "the same course that is taken in England out of town: every man according to his ability instructing his children." It was a part of the obligation, too, of the master to have his apprentice instructed not merely in the trade he was to learn, but in at least reading, writing and arithmetic.
The wealthier classes had tutors for their boys and girls, or governesses for their girls. Scotch tutors, lay and clerical, seem to have been especially popular and Fithian says in his diary: "It has been the custom heretofore to have all their Tutors, and schoolmasters from Scotland, tho' they begin to be willing to employ their own countrymen."1
While there were no free public schools in the sense in which they now so universally exist, yet at quite an early date gifts by will and deed were made for the education of the poor, and buildings, if not money, were furnished by the vestries for that purpose, and the benefit of them was extended to colored people, although perhaps not to slaves.2
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