of learning and the diffusion of Christianity as any individual in the southern colonies of this continent, a passing tribute is due to his memory. He was a native of Scotland, in which country he received his education, and was beneficed in the Episcopal church there. Having a prospect of discharging his ministerial functions more usefully elsewhere, he quitted his preferments, and went into England towards the close of the reign of Charles II. The then Bishop of London (Dr. Compton) prevailed upon him to go as a missionary into Virginia, and his first visit to this country was made about the year 1685. A careful and diligent observer of the true state of things within the colony, he was enabled correctly to apprehend its wants; and by his exemplary deportment and unremitting labours in the discharge of his ministerial duties, he did good service to the cause of religion, and obtained the confidence and affection of all classes in the community. Recommended by the intrinsic worth of his character to the Bishop of London, he was appointed commissary, as we have seen, in 1689; and so far from relaxing in the discharge of pastoral duty, after his appointment, he deemed himself thereby bound to furnish a brighter example of ministerial fidelity and diligence to all the clergy of the colony. Dr. Blair was eminently a practical man; and blessed as he was with sincere piety, a clear mind, and indefatigable perseverance, his services were invaluable to the church in Virginia. Perceiving that the only safe reliance of the country for duly qualified clergymen must be upon her own sons, and that the effort to obtain them was hopeless in the absence of schools and higher seminaries of learning, he directed his energies to the encouragement of education. His labours in the cause were unwearied. It will be remembered that in the legislation of 1662, one of the enactments provided for the erection of a college: this wise provision had been permitted to slumber on the statute book. Dr. Blair revived the project; and at no little

personal expense and labour, succeeded at last, as will be seen hereafter, in the accomplishment of his wishes.

Of the activity and practical usefulness of this excellent man, sufficient evidence will be furnished in the statement, that when, at the advanced age of eighty-eight, he died, he had been during sixty-four years a minister of the gospel; fifty-three years commissary for Virginia; president of a college for forty-nine years; and a member of the king's council for fifty.

As a monument of his piety, he has left behind him four volumes of discourses upon the sermon on the mount, of which an opinion may be formed from the fact that they received the warm approbation of Dr. Doddridge.* To his active usefulness and piety he added learning, and possessed in an eminent degree the virtues of hospitality and generosity; while his manner in the discharge of his various important duties was such as conciliated the esteem and affection of men of all parties and of all opinions. With the single exception of Dr. Bray, the commissary of Maryland, there was no clergyman of the establishment ever sent to this country, during its colonial existence, to whom the church in the southern part of the continent was more deeply indebted: and the American of this day, as he looks upon the walls of William and Mary, the second college built upon the continent, may recall, with a feeling of thankfulness, the memory of Dr. James Blair.†

Under the auspices of Sir Francis Nicholson, the first act of the commissary was an effort to procure the necessary funds for the erection of the contemplated college. The aid of the legislature was deemed necessary, and to obtain it, it was proposed that the lieutenant-governor should convene an assembly: peculiar circumstances,

Family Expositor.

t Dr. Waterland's Preface to Blair's Discourses; 3 Burk, 111; 2 Miller's Retrospect, 336; Hum

phrey's History of the Venerable Society, 9, 10, 11; 2 Holmes's Annals, 22.

however, rendered this measure impossible at that time, and all hope of immediate assistance from the legislature was abandoned. But Dr. Blair was not easily to be discouraged. A private subscription-list was opened by him, and in a short time two thousand five hundred pounds were contributed towards the object; and this sum was furnished in part by the liberality of a few merchants in London. It was not until the year 1691 that legislative patronage was obtained for the proposed seminary. In that year the project received the sanction of the assembly, and was by that body warmly recommended to the patronage of their majesties. The commissary was at the same time deputed as the agent of the legislature to visit England, and present the petition for the college. The support afforded by the lieutenant-governor to the plan deserves honourable notice. The legislature, as a testimony of affection and respect, having presented to Sir Francis Nicholson the sum of three hundred pounds, he immediately bestowed one-half of it upon the college. Those who are interested in the literature of the country, will gratefully concur in the propriety of recording the names of men who were among the friends of education in North America, at that early period when friends were necessarily few.

The agency of Dr. Blair proved entirely successful. The charter was drawn in exact conformity to his wishes, and the whole measure met with the royal favour. The sum of two thousand pounds was then due from Virginia to the crown on account of certain quit-rents, and this sum was bestowed by the king upon the college. In addition to this donation, a grant was made to the institution, of twenty thousand acres of choice land, together with the revenue arising from a tax of one penny per pound on all tobacco exported from Virginia or Maryland to any of the other colonies;* and the office of surveyor-general of Virginia was granted by the charter to the corporation, to be

* 2 Burk, 311, 313, 314.

executed by deputies appointed by the president and masters, subject to the approbation of the governor and council. The college was also empowered to send one representative to the House of Burgesses; and Dr. Blair was named in the charter as the first president of the new institution, which received the name of William and Mary.*

In the year 1693, the legislature determined that the college should be erected at Williamsburg, which was then called Middle Plantation; and not long afterward, an export duty for its benefit was imposed upon all skins and furs sent out of the colony.† But the indefatigable commissary was doomed to encounter difficulties still. The money which had been subscribed was collected, and the college edifice commenced; but in the year 1705, when it was half completed, it was burned to the ground. It was now sixteen years since Dr. Blair had first exerted himself in this important work; and at the end of that long period, he found himself under the necessity of commencing his toilsome task anew. Such discouragements might well have damped his ardour; and had he been an ordinary man, it is not improbable that the disappointments of the past would have checked all future effort. But true to his character, he persevered, and at length had the happiness of seeing the college completed.

The want of clergymen, however, was one not to be immediately supplied, even after the college went into operation; and as it was a want very deeply felt, the legislature, deeming the provision made for the clergy inadequate, in 1696 enacted, that each minister should have sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco as a salary: and that where glebes had not been already purchased, they should be forthwith obtained; and that dwellings should be erected upon them for the comfortable residence of the clergy.‡

Trott's Laws of the British Plantations, article "Virginia." + 3 Hening's Stat., at large, 123.

34.

Trott's Laws, "Virginia," No.

CHAPTER V.

1700-1731.

Kindness to the French Refugees-Their good Character-Their ChurchPunishment of Vice and Blasphemy-Kindness to German SettlersTheir Church-Progress of William and Mary College-Instruction of the Indians-List of Parishes-State of the Church-Numbers and Character of the Clergy-Causes of the depressed state of Religion examined.

THE opening of the century upon which we are now entering was marked by an act of humanity, which stands out in strong contrast to that spirit of intolerance, already recorded, which found its victims among the unfortunate Quakers. It is well known that upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, an immense number of French Protestants found their way into foreign countries; of these, about forty thousand sought refuge in England, and parliament, with a noble generosity, voted fifteen thousand pounds sterling to be distributed among persons of quality, and all such as were incapable, from age or infirmity, of labouring for a subsistence. Of these unfortunate refugees, King William, in the year 1690, sent a large portion to Virginia, and lands were allotted to them on James River. These were naturalized by a special law passed for the purpose, and in 1699 another body of six hundred, conducted by their clergyman, Phillipe de Richebourg,* came over, and were placed on the south side of James River, about twenty miles above the falls, on lands formerly occupied by a powerful tribe of Indians called the Monacans.

In the year 1700 the assembly of Virginia passed an act,

* 1 Martin's History of North Carolina, 232.