COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD.

Colonel William Byrd, the second of the name and title, was born, we suppose, at the seat of his father, at or near the falls of James River, (now Richmond,) on the 28th of March, 1674; and, at the early age of ten or eleven years, was sent over to England for his education. Here, we are told, "under the particular care and direction of Sir Robert Southwell, and ever favored with his particular instructions, he made a happy proficiency in polite and various learning. By the same noble friend he was introduced to the acquaintance of many of the first persons of that age for knowledge, wit, virtue, birth, or high station; and particularly contracted a most intimate and bosom friendship with the learned and illustrious Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery. He was called to the bar in the Middle Temple, studied for some time in the Low Countries, visited the Court of France, and was chosen Fellow of the Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and ornament of his country, he was made receiver general of his majesty's revenue here; was thrice appointed public agent to the court and ministry of England; and being thirtyseven years a member, at last became president of the council of this colony."

To this account we may add that, in the year 1727, he was appointed by Governor Gooch one of the commissioners on the part of Virginia to meet the commissioners on the part of North Carolina, and run the dividing line betwixt the two colonies, which had been for some years in controversy between them; and discharged the office in a very able and satisfactory manner. Of this work whilst it was in progress, it appears that he kept a regular journal which he afterwards wrote out in a more extended form

for the amusement of his family and friends, and had fairly transcribed by a copyist in a large folio volume bound in parchment, which is still extant. He left also another similar journal entitled ~ A Progress to the Mines,” in the year 1732; and a third entitled "A Journey to the Land of Eden," (a new purchase so called,) in the year 1733; preserved in the same volume.*

Colonel Byrd resided, for the greater part of his life, at his elegant seat of Westover, on the North side of James river, which he had inherited from his father, and had greatly improved and embellished by his own care. He had also been duly mindful to furnish his establishment with a large and valuable Library, and to adorn it with a splendid collection of portraits of his friends and acquaintances among the English nobility and gentry, by the first artists of the age. Here, we are told, he lived in a courtly style, and dispensed his polite and hospitable attentions to a large circle of guests and visiters, who were always happy to enjoy his conversation and the social pleasures of his festive board.

For his character, we are assured by one of his cotemporaries, that he was "a well-bred gentleman, and polite companion, a splendid economist, and prudent father of a family; the constant enemy of all exorbitant power, and hearty friend to the liberties of his country." To this we may add, what Mr. Burk has noted before us, that he had

* These tracts have all been published together, by Edmund Ruffin, Esq., in a single volume, entitled "The Westover Manuscripts," and are well worth reading for the curious and amusing information which they contain relating to the natural and social history of our State, and for the clear and pleasing style in which they are written.

a laudable zeal for collecting and preserving the memorials and antiquities of his native land.*

Colonel B. died at his own house, on the 26th of August, 1744, in the 71st year of his age; and his body was buried in the garden where he had often walked, and where a monument of white marble still serves to indicate his grave, and, worn by time for more than a century of years, still recalls his memory with grateful praise.t

*Mr. B. adds in a note:

and private journal are in

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'Manuscript copies of his public my possession, and the manuscript copies of the State records from whence I derived materials for my two first volumes were collected and preserved by him."Vol. 3rd., p. 114.

See the inscription copied in the Preface to the Westover Manuscripts, from which this notice is chiefly taken.

THE RUNNING OF THE DIVIDING LINE

BETWEEN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, IN 1728.

[As the running of the Dividing Line between Virginia and North Carolina, in the year 1728, was a transaction of some little importance and interest in our annals, we think it may be well to submit here a brief notice of the occasion of it, taken from the narrative of the affair by Colonel William Byrd, in "The Westover Manuscripts ;" and to add some documents relating to it which we have found where our readers might not be apt to look for them, in the Appendix to Williamson's History of North Carolina, (vol. 2nd, p. 233,) and which may serve to make the narrative more complete.]

Both the French and Spaniards had, in the name of their respective monarchs, long ago taken possession of that part

of the northern continent that now goes by the name of Carolina; but finding it produced neither gold nor silver, as they greedily expected, and meeting such returns from the Indians as their own cruelty and treachery deserved, they totally abandoned it. In this deserted condition that country lay for the space of ninety years, till king Charles II., finding it a derelict, granted it away to the earl of Clarendon and others, by his royal charter, dated March the 24th, 1663. The boundary of that grant towards Virginia was a due west line from Luck island, (the same as Colleton island,) lying in 36 degrees of north latitude, quite to the South sea.

But afterwards sir William Berkley, who was one of the grantees and at that time governor of Virginia, finding a territory of 31 miles in breadth between the inhabited part of Virginia and the above-mentioned boundary of Carolina, advised the lord Clarendon of it. And his lordship had interest enough with the king to obtain a second patent to include it, dated June the 30th, 1665.

This last grant describes the bounds between Virginia and Carolina in these words: "To run from the north end of Coratuck inlet, due west to Weyanoke creek, lying within or about the degree of thirty-six and thirty minutes of northern latitude, and from thence west, in a direct line, as far as the South sea." Without question, this boundary was well known at the time the charter was granted, but in a long course of years Weyanoke creek lost its name, so that it became a controversy where it lay. Some ancient persons in Virginia affirmed it was the same with Wicocon, and others again in Carolina were as positive it was Nottoway river.

In the mean time, the people on the frontiers entered for land, and took out patents by guess, either from the

king or the lords proprietors. But the crown was like to be the loser by this uncertainty, because the terms both of taking up and seating land were easier much in Carolina. The yearly taxes to the public were likewise there less burthensome, which laid Virginia under a plain disadvantage.

This consideration put that government upon entering into measures with North Carolina, to terminate the dispute, and settle a certain boundary between the two colonies. All the difficulty was, to find out which was truly Weyanoke creek. The difference was too considerable to be given up by either side, there being a territory of fifteen miles betwixt the two streams in controversy.

However, till that matter could be adjusted, it was agreed on both sides, that no lands at all should be granted within the disputed bounds. Virginia observed this agreement punctually, but I am sorry I cannot say the same of North Carolina. The great officers of that province were loath to lose the fees accruing from the grants of land, and so private interest got the better of public spirit; and I wish that were the only place in the world where such politics are fashionable.

All the steps that were taken afterwards in that affair, will best appear by the report of the Virginia commissioners, recited in the order of council given at St. James', March the 1st, 1710, set down in the appendix. * *

The lieutenant governor of Virginia, at that time colonel Spotswood, searching into the bottom of this affair, made very equitable proposals to Mr. Eden, at that time governor of North Carolina, in order to put an end to this controversy. These, being formed into preliminaries, were signed by both governors, and transmitted to England, where they had the honour to be ratified by his late majesty and assented to by the lords proprietors of Carolina.