Mae. 11. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



229 



Now, as to the expression " worthies, famous in 

 English history." I presume I need do no more 

 concerning its application to Lord Orrery, Sir 

 Robert Walpole, &c, than say, it was used as sig- 

 nifying " men of mark," without intending to en- 

 dorse their " worth " either morally, mentally, or 

 politically ; its application to Colonel Hill and 

 Colonel Byrd, as meaning " men of worth," might, 

 did your limits permit, be defended on high 

 grounds. 



Then as to the possibility of Vandyke's having 

 painted the portraits. If C. will have the kind- 

 ness to look at C. Campbell's History of Virginia, 

 he will find, — 



"1654. At a meeting of the Assembly, William 

 Hatchin, having been convicted of having called 

 Colonel Edward Hill 'an atheist and blasphemer,' 

 was compelled to make acknowledgment of his offence 

 upon his knees before Colonel Hill and the Assembly." 



This Colonel Hill, generally known as Colonel 

 Edward Hill the Elder, a gentleman of great 

 wealth, built the mansion at Shirley, where his 

 portrait, brought from England, hangs in the 

 same place, in the same hall in which he had it 

 put up. It represents a youth in pastoral costume, 

 crook in hand, flocks in the background. By a 

 comparison of dates, C. will find it possible for 

 Vandyke to have painted it. (See Bryan's En- 

 gravers and Painters.) It has descended, along with 

 the estate, to his lineal representative, the present 

 owner. Its authenticity rests upon tradition 

 coupled with the foregoing facts, as far as I know 

 (though the family may have abundant docu- 

 mentary proof), and I doubt very much whether 

 many " Vandykes in England " are better ascer- 

 tained. I would add that several English gen- 

 tlemen, among them, as I have heard, a distin- 

 guished ambassador recently in this country, re- 

 cognised it as a Vandyke. This picture, amongst 

 others, was injured by the balls fired from the 

 vessels which ascended the James river, under 

 command of General Arnold, then a British 

 officer. On the younger Mr. Hill's tomb at 

 Shirley is a coat of arms, a copy of which, had I 

 one to send, would probably point out his family 

 in England.* 



As to Colonel Byrd's portrait. There were, I 

 believe, three gentlemen of this name and title, 



* It is curious to observe how matters of history 

 appear and disappear as it were. " The mighty Totti- 

 pottimoy," says Hudibras (part ii. cant. ii. 1.421.),— on 

 which the Rev. Dr. Nash has this note : " I don't 

 know whether this is a real name or only an imitation 

 of North- American phraseology ; the appellation of an 

 individual, or a title of office: "— Tottipottimoy was 

 king of the warlike and powerful Pamunkies, and was 

 defeated and slain by the Virginians, commanded by 

 Colonel Hill, in the action from which Bloody Run 

 takes its name. 



more or less confounded in reputation, the second 

 of whom, generally known as " Colonel Byrd the 

 Elder," by reason of his son's history, was born 

 in 1674. The picture is of his father, that is, of 

 " old," or " the first Colonel Byrd," and is in the 

 same style as that of Colonel Hill's, representing 

 a shepherd lad. He was an English gentleman of 

 great wealth, and certainly of some benevolence. 

 In Campbell's Virginia, p. 104. (see also Old- 

 mixon, vol. i. p. 427.), it is stated, 1690, a large 

 body of Huguenots were sent to Virginia. " The 

 refugees found in Colonel Byrd, of Westover, a 

 generous benefactor. Each settler was allowed a 

 strip of land running back from the river to the 

 foot of the hill (Henrico County). Here they 

 raised cattle," &c. He sent his son to England to 

 be educated under the care of a friend, Sir Ro- 

 bert Southwell. The son became a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society, " was the intimate and bosom 

 friend of the learned and illustrious Charles Boyle, 

 Earl of Orrery," was the author of the Westover 

 MSS. (mentioned in Oldmixon's preface, 2nd ed.), 

 portions of which, " Progress to the Mines," 

 " History of the Dividing Line," &c, have been 

 printed, others are in the library of the American 

 Philosophical Society.* His portrait is " by 

 Kneller, a fine old cavalier face," says Campbell. 

 The letters received at Westover might prove not 

 uninteresting even to C, seeing that there were 

 so many titled people among the writers ; and to 

 a gentleman of education and intelligence, the 

 Westover library would have been a treasure- 

 house. In the Loganian Library in this city is a 

 large MS. folio, whose title-page declares it to be 

 " a catalogue of books in the library at Westover, 

 belonging to William Byrd, Esq.," from which it 

 appears that in Law there were the English re- 

 porters (beginning with Y. B.) and text-writers, 

 laws of France, Scotland, Rome (various editions 

 of Pandects, &c.) ; Canon Law, with numerous ap- 

 proved commentators on each. In Physic a great 

 many works, which, as I am told, were, and some 

 still are, of high repute : I note only one, Poor 

 Planter s Physician interleaved. This, to every 

 one who has been upon a great Virginia plant- 

 ation, bespeaks the benevolence characteristic of 

 the proprietors of Westover. In Divinity, besides 

 pages of orthodox divines, Bibles in various lan- 

 guages (several in Hebrew, one in seven vols.), 

 are Socinius, Bellarmine, &c. The works on Me- 

 tallurgy, Natural History, Metaphysics, Military 

 Science, Heraldry, Navigation, Music, &c, are very 

 numerous ; and either of the collections of history, 

 or entertainment, or classics, or political science, 

 would form no inconsiderable library of itself. 



* There is a curious passage in the Westover MSS. 

 concerning William Penn, of which Mr. Macaulay 

 should have a copy, unless one has been already sent 

 to him. 



