d the authority
of the governor collapsed like a pricked balloon.

Of this oligarchy of politician-planters, Colonel Byrd was indeed the
most notable. Already wealthy and influential, in 1687 he went to London
and secured, through the favor of William Blathwayt, the office of
receiver-general of the customs, to which was attached the office of
escheator; offices, among the most important in the colony, which he
held until his death. It was the duty of the receiver to receive the
quit-rents, and to receive them, at the option of the taxpayer, in
tobacco in exchange for certificates at the rate of about eight
shillings per hundredweight. Tobacco so received was stored in
warehouses, and sold at the close of the year by the receiver-general
for the benefit of the customs. The tobacco offered for the quit-rents
was naturally of inferior quality. Such as it was, the king favored
selling it at auction. But the Virginia assembly preferred to have the
receiver dispose of it by "private arrangement"; and in fact Colonel
Byrd found it convenient to make such "private arrangements" with
burgesses or members of the council, who sometimes paid as much as six
shillings for tobacco which would bring ten or twelve in the open
market.

Members of the legislature who profited by such practices were doubtless
willing to stretch a point in favor of the receiver of the customs. In
1679, before he had become receiver, Colonel Byrd was able to obtain
from the assembly, on condition of maintaining fifty armed men to repel
Indian attacks on the frontier, a grant of ten thousand acres at the
Falls extending on both sides of the James River. The grant was
disallowed in England, but other grants of great value were obtained
with little difficulty. Patents were easily obtained, but they did not
become effective until the land was "settled" by clearing and
cultivating a minimum tract. For a poor man this was the chief obstacle
to acquiring a great estate; but a rich man was often able to avoid it
altogether. In 1688, Byrd secured a patent for 3313 acres. He failed to
"settle" it and the title lapsed. But the land could not be granted
again until the lapse of title was officially declared in the office of
the escheator. Colonel Byrd was fortunately escheator as well as
receiver, and the lapse of his own title was not declared until 1701,
when the same tract was immediately repatented to Nathaniel Harrison,
who straightway transferred it to his neig