University of Virginia Library

SIR THOMAS SMITH.

Sir Thomas Smith, an eminent merchant of London, and the chief of
the assignees of the patents of Sir Walter Raleigh, was the first President
of the Council of the London Company of Virginia, and its treasurer

SIR THOS SMITH

First Treasurer of the Virginia Company

until the close of the year 1618, when he was succeeded by Sir
Edwin Sandys, who was succeeded by his brother, George Sandys, who
came to Virginia and completed, on the banks of the James river, a
translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, the first English book prepared
in America, which was published in London in 1621. The portrait
of George Sandys appears in this work. Sir Thomas Smith was a
man of ability, and evidently an astute politician. He is stated by the
historian, Rev. E. D. Neill, to have been embassador to Russia, but it is
probable that the envoy was another of the same name and title, who
died Nov. 28, 1609.