where
we landed, and our much grieved Governor, first visiting the church,
caused the bell to be rung; at which all such as were able to come forth
of their house, repayered to church, which was neatly trimmed with the
wild flowers of the country, where our minister, Master Bucke, made a
zealous and sorrowful prayer, finding all things so contrary to our
expectations, and full of misery and misgovernment." This state of
things had been brought about by the treacherous conduct of their
neighbors, the savages, domestic feuds, fluctuations in the quantity and
quality of their food, bad water, and severe climatic diseases. While
"Master Bucke" was toiling with the little band at Jamestown, Whitaker
(son of Master Whitaker of St. John's College, Cambridge) was in
Henrico, whose deeds of love and patience in his noble work we would
gladly record, but for the desire of approaching, as speedily as
possible, the beginning and planting of the church in Elizabeth City
County. The first legislature of Virginia was convened under the
administration of Governor Sir George Yeardley, in the year 1626; but
before this we find, during the _first_ administration of Governor
Wyatt, nay, before that, during that of Sir Thomas Yeardley, in 1619, _a
starting point_ for our inquiries and investigations in regard to the
Hampton Church. By reference to the histories of the period, we find
that the pay of their clergy was fixed at L200 worth of corn and
tobacco. One hundred acres were marked off for glebes in every borough,
for each of which the company at home provided six tenants at the public
cost. They applied to the Bishop of London to find them a body of
"pious, learned, and painful ministers,"--"a charitable work," says
Wilberforce, "in which he readily engaged." Two years subsequent to this
occurred the massacre at Jamestown, and two years after that, we find,
amongst thirty-five provisions, the following, for the promotion of
religious knowledge and worship: That there shall be _erected_ a _house
of worship_, and there shall be a _burial ground on every plantation_;
that the colonists, under penalty, shall attend public worship, and that
there shall be uniformity in faith and worship, with the English
Church--prescribing also the observance of the feasts of the Church, and
a fast upon the anniversary of the Jamestown massacre; not forgetting,
by the way, to enjoin "respectful treatment, and the payment of a
settled stipend to the colonia