The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-02-07
Viruinia'S E arly Days.

Henry NVriOtheSey, Earn Oh Ao ousiitI1'ti'P
Ion and Baron OF T'lchneld, to Whon'
/ shakespeare dedicated his Venus ana ana
Adonis" was once the owner OF two Die
manuscript folios, now in the Library OF
Congress- which are soon to DO copied
and printed by order OF Congress. mo
manuscript Is record Of the trhns '1 4
tionY OF the Virginia Company OF Lon
don. and throws d flood OF light on the
early history of THAT colony.
Aside from the valiinbll historical
mailer contained within the leather
nnvers Of tho tough old folios, the his
tory Of the books themselves is OF inter-
est. involving as It does tho names OF
men of world wide fame. Excerpts
from the volumes were made IN lSo6 ny,
Conway Robinson, and publishedsb by the
virginia Historical Society. 4,
Robinson, however, merely touched the
surface OF the matter buried In tho
n,,aint relation OF tho Virginia COM
nanys affairs In the introduction to
Conway Robinson's publication Q. sketch
Is given OF the history Of the two old
ayol,ir7 es, This sketch is in quotation
marks, though the authorship Or authoruy
for t is not given. Is Z, |. y. /, u
n il, one OF the old mansions Of Chelsea,
England, which tradition says was once
the home OF Thomas More, the author
&of4"Utopia," there lived In 1924 Sir Jo Q, IN
Danvers. a prominent N mem M per O. me
Virginia Company, and the friend OF the
Earl OF Southampton, president Of the
Z con, par,y. 8 Danvers had married the
buxom widow Herbert who broug Mt to
! his n home ten little y Herberts, one
$oe whom was afterwards known to fame
as the gentle religious poet, George Her
bert. III. /,
Tho King having resolved to Sannul the
chatter OF the Virginia Company, and
m attempt having been made to secure
the records Of the company. a$vlsit was
made to Sir John Danvers BY edward
&Col1tngwood, secretary Of the company,
who sug gested that a copy be made OF
tha records. A copyist was employed, and
to insure secrecy he was locked lnADan-
vers's house, where the two volumes were
filled with records. CollingWood the1l
compared the copy, page BY page Win 4
the original, and certified to the correct
ness Of the transcript. His attest Is
as clear to-day as it was on June -, 1874,
when It. was signed. Three days before
the work was done Lord Chiof Jusnce
Lev. the cold man eloquent" OF Milton s
sonnet, pronounced judgment against
TIL. Virginia Company. 5
X Sir John Danvers took the two manu- Z.
script volumes to the Earl Of southam p
COPY Of the com any' 8 transactions, anu
expressed his pleasure by throwing his,
arm around the neck of Sir John. Then
turning to his brother, rs he said II LOT LOT
them be kept at my house at Tichheld;
they arc the evidences Of my honor, and
+ value them more than the evidence OF
my lands. a5s, q "
Tho Earl OF Southampton died in that
year. 1924. and was succeeded by his son
~ her ol-TO
Surer OF England, and lived until 1861.
Tho manuscript records were purchased
from this Earl for sixty guineas BY VIII
liam Byrd aud tor and receiver general
OF the colony OF Virginia. This was the
father OF William Byrd, Of Westoyer. who
inherited the books and placed them IN
the library there. sg I!
The Rev. William Stith. brother-in-
law Of Peyton Randolph. first presi-
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 Varina.
and 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 Thomas
Jefferson. One is that the books fell into
the hands or teylOn y tIdHuo1p4!, i:sWioSo
library was purchased by Jefferson a fterl
Rnndolph's sudden death in Phmiladel-
mia in 1775. Jefferson himself, however.
wrote to Col. Hugh !. Taylor IN 1873
that he purchased the, books from the
library OF Col. Richard Bland, who had
borrowed them from the Westover Ia
brarv and had never returned them.
bland was Jealous antiquarian with q
notorluos habit OF borrowing old BOOKS
and forgetting to return them.
fl When Jeffcrson's library was purchals-
cd IN the United States government N
1878 the two sfolios We're included IN the
lot. They were placed In tne Library OF
Congress, where they have ever since re-
posed, At present they are kept IN e. g . steer
safe In the manuscript room, IN company ny
with other priceless manuscrirts.
Thesbooks contain n record OF the VT :,
roinin Company'sy transactions, from April
Is 1919, to Juno Z, 1924. The first volume
contains 1854 pages and the second Ssi,
The handwriting is small and compa CT,
and ~, a. copy in ordinary print would M
several large volumes The work OF
copyinr will be done. Of course, ~ an
expert, who will be kept at the The task
for many months. IT is proposed by
Congress to print 1000 copies OF the r. re-
cords for the use of tho Senate. inc
House Of Representatives and the LIZ
80 ~ ~ Frongress,-New York Sun.