Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1904-04-29
EARLY DAYS IN VIRGINIA.
The Story of them to be Copied and Pre-
served by Order Of Congress.

The Story of them to be Copied and Pre-
served by Order of Congress.
Henry Writhesley, Earl of Southamp
ton and Baron of Tichfield, to whom
Shakespeare dedicated his Venus ant
Adonis,' was once the owner of twt
big manuscript folios, now in the Libr
ary of Congress. which are soon to b'
copied and printed by order of Con
gress. The manuscript is record O.
the transactions of the Virginia Com
pany of London, and throws a.flood o.
light on the early history of that colony
Aside from the valuable historical
matter contained within the leather
covers of the tough old folios. the his
tory of the books themselves is of int
crest. involving as it does the names oi
men of world wide fame. Excerpts
from the volumes were made in 1856 by
IConway Robinson. and published by
the Virginia Historial Society.
Robinson, however, merely touched
the surface of the matter buried in the
quaint relation Of the Virginia Com
pany's affairs. In the introduction to
Conway RObinsOn's publication a
sketch ls given of the history of the two
old volumes. This sketch is in quota.
tion marks, though the authorship or
authority for it is not given.
| In one of the old mansions of Chel-
sea, England, which tradition says
was once the home of Sir Thomas
More, the author of UTOPIA" ther Q
lived in 1924 Sir John Danvers, a prom
inent member of the Virginia Com.
pany. and the friend of the Earl of
Southampton, President of the COM
rany. Danvers had married the buxOm
widow Herbert. who brought to his
home ten little Herberts, one of whom
was afterwards known to fame as the
gentle religious poet, George Herbert.
The King having resolved to annual
the charter of the Virginia Company,
and an attempt having been made to
secure the records of the company, a
visit was made to Sir Jonn Danvers by
Edward Collingwood, secretary of the
company, who suggested that copy
be made OF the records. A copyist was
employed, and to insure secrecy he was
locked in Danvers' house, where the
two volumes were filled with the re-
cords. Collingwood then compared
the copy, page by page, with the ORR
ginal, and certified to the correctness
of the tran cript. His attest is as clear
to-day as it was on June 10. 1924, when
it was signed. Three days before the
work was done Lord Chief Justice Ley,
the "0ld man eloquent" of Millions
sonnet, pronounced judgment against
the Virginia Company.
Sir John Danvers took the two man.
uscript volumes to the Earl of South
hampton, who was highly gratified to
have copy of the company's trans
actions, land expressed his pleasure
by throwing his arm around the neck
of Sir John. Then, turning to his
brother, he said ''Let them be kept
at my house at Tichfield they are the
evidence of my honor, and value them
more than the evidences of my lands"
The Earl of Southampton died in
that year, 1924, and was succeeded by
his son Thomas, who became Lord High
Treasurer of England. and lived until
1867. The manuscript records were
purchased from this Earl for sixty
guineas by William Byrd. auditor and
receiver general of the colony of Vir-
ginla. This was the father of William
Byrd, of Westover, who inherited the
books and placed them in the library
there.
The Rev. William Stith, brother
in-law of PeytOn Randolph. first Presl-
dent of the Continental Congress, wrote
history of Virginia in 1746, drawing
much of his material from the manu-
script volumes in the Byrd library.
The parson was living at the glebe of
Varnia, on the James river, the old
settlement OF Sir Thomas Dale, better
known since the civil war as Dutch
Gap.
There are two accounts regarding
the acquisition OF the records by Thorn.
as Jefferson. One is that the books
fell into the hands of Peyton Randolph,
whose library was purchased by JEFF
ferson after Randolph's sudden death
in Philadelphia in 1775. Jefferson
himself, however, wrote to Colonel
Hugh P. Taylor in 1928 that be purchas.
ed the books from the library of Colonel
Richard Bland, 'whO had borrowed
them from the estover library and
had never returned them" Bland was
jealous antiquarian with notorious
habit of borrowing old books and for
getting to return them.
When Jefferson library was puT.
chased by the United States govern.
ment in 1915 the two folios were In
cluded in the lot. They we're placed
in the Library of Congress, where they
have ever since reposed. At present
they are kept in steel safe in the
manuscript room, in company with
other pric, less manuscripts.
The books contain record of the
Virginia Company's transactions from
June I, 1924, to April %, 1873. The
first volume contains 354 pages and
the second 3S7. The handwriting is
small and compact, and copy in or.
dinary print would fill several large
volumes. The work of copying will
be done, of course, by an expert, who
will be kept at the task for many
months. 1t is proposed by Congress
to print 1000 copies of the records for
, the use of the Senate, the House O1