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Nicholson, whose administration was distinguished for so
much that was both beneficent and progressive, was succeeded
in 1705 by Edward Nott, who was nominally the lieutenant-governor.
The Earl of Orkney held the commission of governor-general,
but he never visited Virginia, and was satisfied
with drawing annually twelve hundred pounds sterling of the
two thousand attached to the office. Previous governors-in-chief
residing in England had reserved only one thousand for
themselves, but Orkney seemed to think that the fatigue of
enjoying himself in London was greater than the burden of
performing the functions of the post in the Colony, and
that, therefore, he was entitled to more than one half of
the compensation. This is only one of the numerous instances
occurring in those times of the depletion of the public treasury
by the conscienceless beneficiaries of sinecures who happened
to possess influence at court, but were without an honest
claim to the enjoyment of such substantial incomes. Orkney
is said to have drawn the salary of titular governor of Virginia
for the space of forty years, which meant that, during
that long interval, he had pocketed at least forty-eight
thousand pounds sterling, not one penny of which he had
earned by any real service.

The first official act of Nott was to recommend the revisal
of all the laws entered in the statute book; and the alterations
suggested by the long experience of the General Assembly
seem to have been frankly accepted by him, save only the
changes proposed in matters relating to the church. The
latter aroused the opposition of Commissary Blair; and his

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influence in that province was so great that all further discussion
of them was dropped.

We have already referred to the earnestness with which
the English Government had, previous to Nott's administration,
urged the erection of a dwelling-house for the acting
governor; but one excuse after another was offered for putting
off compliance. Neither the General Assembly, nor the governor,
as a rule, favored the erection of such a residence—
the first, because it would swell the public levy; the second
because an official mansion would compel him to expend a
large sum upon a wasteful hospitality, which, so long as he
lived in lodgings or with friends, he was able to avoid. After
Berkeley was superseded, none of the governors who followed
him were married, or if so, brought their wives to Jamestown.
Had Effingham, Culpeper, Andros, or Nicholson been accompanied
to the Colony by a spouse, it is quite possible that a
house of dignified proportions would have been built for the
accommodation of some one of them and his consort, through
the latter's influence. Effingham, Culpeper, and Andros were
anxious to lay aside all that could be saved out of their
salaries. Nicholson, being of a more liberal turn of mind,
would not have objected to the expense of promiscuous public
entertainment, but being alone, it is probable that he thought
that a spacious mansion would hardly be promotive of his
comfort and convenience. Nevertheless, this fact did not prevent
him, as we have seen, from urging the advisability of
its early construction. After Nott's arrival, three thousand
pounds sterling was appropriated by the General Assembly
for the cost of such a mansion. This sum was, perhaps,
equivalent to as much as forty thousand dollars in modern
currency, and was ample for the accomplishment of the purpose
in view.

There must have been some abuse on the part of the governors
of this period in making appointments to the county
benches, for the burgesses and councillors alike united in
voting for a bill which required that no commission should be

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issued to a justice without the concurrence of at least five
members of the council. Nott, thinking that this act would
infringe upon the powers of his office, vetoed it; and an act
of the same character, which reestablished the General Court
without any provision for an appeal to the crown, was returned
to the King with the disapproval of the Board of Trade, to
which Board it had been referred. The next step—so that
body asserted—would be for the General Assembly to
endeavor to emancipate itself from the royal prerogative in
all its transactions.

There bobbed up again, during this administration, the
old project of establishing a number of ports of entry and
departure. This project now, as before, had its origin in the
English Government's desire to assist the collectors of customs
in the several rivers in preventing illegal trading on
those waters; and now, as before also, the English merchants,
influenced by the hostile clamor of the shipmasters, apprehensive
of inconvenience, caused the suggested measure to
be dismissed.

Fire, which as we have seen, had brought to ruin every
public building in the Colony from time to time, now wiped
out the halls and dormitories of the College of William and
Mary. When once such a conflagration started, there were
no engines at that period to quench the flames; and when it
had died out for lack of more material to burn, there was no
insurance policy to make good the loss. The General Assembly,
for the benefit of the stricken college, at once renewed
the tax on skins and furs. Commissary Blair, giving up his
salary, directed all his energies to the collection of a large
fund for restoration, and on his earnest plea, one thousand
pounds sterling was reserved for the same purpose by Queen
Anne out of the revenue from quitrents. The new buildings
were nearly finished by the close of 1716. In the meanwhile, a
professorship of natural philosophy and mathematics had
been established. An endowment of one thousand pounds
sterling was granted to the college in 1718 by the General

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Assembly; and at a later date, an annual stipend was allowed
it out of the duties on exported tobacco and imported wines.

A free school was founded by Mrs. Mary Whaley in the
vicinity of Williamsburg.

Nott was succeeded in 1706 by Edmund Jennings, the
President of the Council, who served in the office for a period
of several years. Robert Hunter, who had been named
lieutenant-governor in 1708, had been captured by the French
in the course of the voyage to Virginia, and kept close prisoner
in Paris. During his incarceration there, he is said to have
received an application from Dean Swift for his appointment
to the bishopric of Virginia, should that office be created, as
was then anticipated. Had a separate diocese been established,
and the author of Gulliver's Travels been advanced
to its head and compelled thereby to remove to Jamestown,
what would he have thought of his environment? Not quite
so severely, of course, as the horses in Gulliver's last voyage
thought of human beings, but probably this new experience
would have furnished Swift with another chapter in the
history of the wanderings of his hero.

At a later day, Sir William Hamilton, the husband of the
renowned Emma, is reported to have solicited the appointment
to the governorship, which would have required him to take
up his residence in Virginia. Had both the great dean and
Nelson's siren become identified, even for a time, with the
community on the James, the romantic interest which it has
always derived from the haunting shades of Captain John
Smith, Pocahontas, and Nathaniel Bacon, would have been
vividly enhanced.