hono'ble. Sr. William Berkley Kt. Governour and Captain Generall of Virginia. justifiable then the resistance of an acknowledging | His Sacred Majestie his Commission to the Rt. subject for a short time. But, Mr. Speaker, these suggestions proceed not from any apprehensions of danger, for I am to old to feare the greatest of them deaths, yet an imprudent criminous way to it, I Charles the Second by the Grace of God King shall ever abhor. Show me but an honorable path, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Deand if, without the caution of securitie, I walke fender of the Faith, &c. To our Trustie and Welnot in it, exclude me forever from your good opin- beloved Sir Wm. Berkeley, Knt. and to such other ions. I have many more important prevalent rea- person and persons as we, in and by our Instrucsons to dissuade me from investing myselfe with tions under our Sign Manuall have named and these honours you lay before mee; those that are assigned or hereafter shall name and assigne to be acquainted with me know them, and to others they our Councill of and for our Colony and Plantation are not materiall. And now, Mr. Speaker, since in Virginia, for the time being, Greeting: Whereyou have thought me worthy to be nominated for as we are willing to give all encouragement to that your Governour, it will be noe unpardonable bold- Plantation, and minding that our Colony and Peoness, if I presume to interpose my advice to you, ple there should be regulated as well in Ecclesiaswhich is, that you make choice of one, who hath ticall as Temporall Government according to the more vigorous quallities to manage and support your Lawes and Statutes of this our Realme of England affaires, and who hath more dexteritie to untie those which wee purpose to have established there, and knotts which I can neither unloose nor break being resolved not to impeach and hinder, but to amongst the Councill; There are many in your own promote and advance the perticular interest of such body, which are more than sufficient for it, which of the Planters there as shall conforme themselves I dare not name, because it were an injury to give as Loyall Subjects, and in all due obedience to our to any (soe equally worthie) precedence, though it Government, and to discourage such as shall be were but in the Catalogue of their names. And found disturbers of the peace and impugners of the now, Mr. Speaker, give me leave to return where Government of said Colony, Know ye, therefore, I began, which is, to give the honorable House most that wee for the effecting the premises, and the humble Thanks for their intended munificence to better ordering, Governing, and manageing the me, which I shall the more cheerfully doe; because affairs of the said Colony and Plantation in Virthose are egredients to put an acceptable Eincture upon this Apologie; ffor considering my present condition (if I had not irrefragable reasons on the Eeazines it is proposed to me to dissuade me from it,) I should be worthily thought hospitall mad, if I would not change povertie for wealth,-contempt for honor: But many urgent reasons obstruct the way of those desired assents. But it is now time to begg pardon for troubling you thus long. Your Most Humble and Affectionate ffriend and Servant WILLIAM BERKELEY.* From my House March 19th, 1659. [1660.] The Councill's Assent to the Choice of Sir William Berkeley. Wee doe unanimously concurr in the Election of Sr. William Berkeley to be the present Governour of this Colony : March 21th, 1559 [1660.] JOHN WALKER THO. CLAIBORNE. THO. DEWE EDW: CARTER THO. SWANN AUGUSTIN WARREN. This appears to be the "LETTER" referred to in the following Order of the Assembly:"Whereas, the honorable Sir William Berkeley desired the advice of the late Councell and their concurrence in his acceptance of the Government, It is ordered, that he have the free liberty of treating with them, and that his Letter and their Subscription approving his election be recorded. Hening, I. 544. ginia, and of all the persons now inhabiting, or which shall hereafter inhabit there, until we shall find some more convenient means, upon mature advice, to give more ample directions for the same, and reposing assured trust and confidence in the understanding, care, fidelitie, experience and circumspection of you, the said Sir William Berkeley, have nominated and assigned, and by these presents doe nominate and assigne, you the said Sir William Berkeley, to be the present Governour: And you, the said Sir William Berkeley and such other persons, as wee in and by Instructions under our Signe Manuall have named and assigned or shall hereafter name and assigne, to be our present Council of and for the said Colony and Plantation in Virginia: Giveing, and by these presents granting unto you and them respectively, full power and authoritie, respectively to performe and execute the places, powers, and authorities incident to a Governour and Councill of Virginia, respectively, and to direct and Governe, correct and Punish our Subjects now inhabiting or being, or which shall hereafter inhabit or be in Virginia, or in Isles, Ports, Havens, Creeks, or Territories thereof, either in time of Peace or Warr; or to order and direct the affaires touching or concerning that Colony or Plantation in those fforaigne parts onely; And to execute and performe all and every other matters and things concerning that Plantation as fully and amply as any Governour and Councill there resident at any time within the space of thirty yeares now last past, had or might performe. And because by the discoverie | time to time proceed as well according to such inof well experienced men the Limmits and Bounds structions as are in these presents expressed, and of the said Plantation may be augmented and the alsoe according to such instructions as you or they Trade and commerce for the maintenance and en- doe now or shall hereafter receive from us, or the riching of the inhabitants there from time to time Lords and others of our Privie Councill here. And residing much advanced, Our will and pleasure is, that you and they our said Governour and Counand wee doe by these presents give and grant unto cill there for the time being shall be from time to you the said Sir William Berkeley, and other the time subordinate, subject, and obedient to the Lords, persons by us nominated and assigned, or hereafter Commissioners, and Committees here for our Planto be nominated and assigned of our Councill there tations for the time being, touching the present as aforesaid, or any four and more of you or them, Government of that Plantation, and according to whereof the Governour for the time being to be such orders and directions as they from time to allwayes one, full power and authoritie to grant one time shall conceive and sett downe. Provided alor more Commission or Commissions, or to any our wayes, and our express will and pleasure is, And subjects addressing themselves unto our said Gov- we doe hereby give full power and authoritie unto ernour and Councill for the discoverie of the said you the said Sir William Berkeley and such other Country and Ports, bounds, limits, and extents person as shall be Governour there for the time thereof: And alsoe for the findeing out what trades being, according to the true meaning of these preshall be the most necessarie to be undertaken for sents, and our intentions herein before declared, the benefit and advantage of the said Colony and that upon the death or discontinuance of any of Plantation, and the good of the People inhabiting our Council there, you the said Sir William Berkeor which shall inhabit there, both by Sea and Landley and such other person as shall be Governour And further upon all occasions, as you and they or there, and our Councill there for the time being, or any four or more of you and them, whereof the the greater part of them shall elect, nominate and Governour for the time being to be allways one, appoint, such other sufficient, able, and discreet shall think fitt to send out forces for the subduing person or persons in the roome and place of him of the Indians and Salvages of the said Country, and them soe dyeing or discontinuing during the and likewise make warr and peace with them in all continuance of this our present commission; And such cases as may stand with the safetie of the that you and they shall from time to time returne said Colony and our Honour, keeping always suffi- and certifie the names and qualities of such person cient forces for the holding up the places there now or persons soe by you and them to be elected, nomienjoyed. And if it shall happen you the said Sir nated and appointed in the place and roome of such William Berkeley to dye or in case your urgent of our Councill there dyeing or discontinuing as occasions allowed by four or more of our said aforesaid, unto us, or the Lords and others our Councill there shall call you thence at any time, Commissioners of Plantations here, to the end that then our will and pleasure is, and wee doe hereby such person or persons to be by you or them soe Give and grant unto the said persons by us soe elected, nominated and appointed in manner as named or to be named of our Councill there for the aforesaid, may receive allowance or disallowance time being or the greater number of them full of such their election and choice in the roome and power and authoritie upon the death or in the ab-place of such of Councill there as shall either dye sence of you the said Sir William Berkeley to or discontinue, as there shall be cause, or to us or elect, nominate and assigne one of our said Coun- our said Commissioners for Plantations here, seeme cill to be the present Governour for the said Colony and Plantation in Virginia, and soe to doe from time to time as often as the case shall require. And we doe by these presents assigne and appoint such persons as by our said Councill or the greater number of them, from time to time shall be elected and chosen to be the present Governour, and the said Governour and the rest of our said Commis-authoritie to administer unto the persons by us sioners by our Instructions named or to be named as aforesaid to be our present Councill for the said Colony and Plantation for Virginia, giveing and by these presents granting unto you and them or the greater number of you and them respectively full power and authority to execute and performe the places, powers, and authorities of a Governour and a Councill respectivelie, in manner and forme afore-Thomas Pettus, Henry Perry, Edward Hill, Thomas Swann, said. Nevertheless, our will and pleasure is that Esqrs. and Thomas Ludwell, Secretary, or any three or you and they and every of you and them from more of them, were appointed to administer the Oath. meet: And our further will and pleasure is that you the said Sir William Berkeley having first taken your oath for the execution of the said place, and office of Governour of the said Colony and Plantation of Virginia, for the well ordering and disposing thereof according to Commission issued forth for that purpose,* wee doe Give you full power and named or to be named, or to be elected, nominated, and appointed, upon death or discontinuance, as aforesaid, to be our Councill there, and every of them the like oath, upon the Holy Evangelists, as you shall have soe first taken as aforesaid, willing and requireing you and them to be diligent and at* Francis Morrison, Henry Browne, William Bernard, tendant in the execution of this our Service and | suffered for and by your Subjects to ages of happiCommandement: And alsoe requiring all our love-ness: Soe for ever prayes ing Subjects there to be directed and governed by you, or the greater number of you and them our said Councill in all things according to the true intention and meaning of these presents. And lastly our will and pleasure is, that this cur Commission shall continue in force untill such time as wee by some other writing under our Signett, Privy Seale, or Great Seale, of England shall signifye our pleasure to the contrary: In Witness whereof Wee have caused these our Letters to be made Patents; witness ourself at Westminster the one and thirtyeth day of July, in the twelfth yeare of our Reigne, [1660.] Per Ipsum Regem. BARKER. [Sir William Berkley's Letter to the King.] May it please your Majestie. I have received a Commission from your Sacred Ma'tie to be Governour of this your Ma'ties Colony of Virg'a and doe most humbly throw myselfe at your Ma'ties ffeet in a dutifull thankfullness to your Majestie, that you yett think me worthy of your Royall Commands. It is true, may it please your most Sacred Majestie that in a fervent desire to doe your Majestie all the service I could with possibility arrive to, I did something which if misrepresented to your Majestie, may cause your Majestie to think me guiltie of a weekness I should ever abhor myself for; But it was noe more, may it please your Majestie, than to leape over the fold to save your Majesties fflock, when your Majesties enemies of that fold had barred up the lawfull entrance into it, and enclosed the Wolves of Scisme and rebellion ready to devour all within it. Nor did I adventure on this, without the advice and impulsion of your Majesties best Subjects in these parts, (whom I believe more timely inspired with the same spirit, your Majesties other Subjects after were,) threatened me with the omission of that duty which I owed to your Majestie, if I neglected my utmost endeavours of preserving all your Majesties then perishing Loyall Subjects in this country; 1 have thousand witnesses of this, beside the Awful Reverence I ever had of your Sacred Majestie, which would never suffer me to support myself by an untruth, who would rather begg your Majesties pardon for any mistaken endeavors to doe your Majestie Service-then justifye myselfe in the wrong, interpreting the best way to it. But this relation I only make your Majestie, which because God is my witness (as farr as I am able to know my own heart) I always in all conditions had more feare of your Majesties ffrownes then the Swords or Tortures of your Enemies. God of Heaven turne those years of affliction your Majestie has' Your Majesties most Humble most Dutifull Loyal & Obedient March 18, 1660, [1661.] MY CHILDHOOD HOURS. BY THE STRANGER. My childhood hours, my childhood hours, Oh! could my tears recall your bloom To be once more what I have been; To feel that buoyancy of heart The youthful only know, Free from the cankering, madning smart, To bend before the holy shrine With those I loved to kneel, While o'er the spirit peace divine And heavenly zephyrs steal :To dream the dream of early years, To dream and wake no more, Till o'er this dreary land of tears I look from Love's bright shore : To be-but all has pass'd away, Such thoughts are worse than vain, Life's early beam, its morning ray Can ne'er return again. Yet must I mourn for hours by-gone, I wandered o'er the hills of morn, Sad memory will backward glide Gleaning the distant past, The gems of childhood cast. Childhood, dear childhood! in thy name Is writ the bliss of time Thy loves were constant, still the same, Now friends are false and breathing lies, The requiem o'er a universe Of cloudless love and light, The scintillations of a heart, That deemed earth's joys were pure, Waking and writhing 'neath a smart It must for aye endure : These have been mine, and these are mine, I sorrow for the morn of life The love its brightness wore, Ere yet with bitterness made rife I left its orient shore. And if I weep, is it a shame ? E'en let the heart's flood flow; Its waters bathe a cheerless name And wear a living wo. In the long vista of dark years Perhaps the sunlight sleeps, That shall exhale these early tears And give the bliss it keeps. It is a hope, a lure at best, But still the heart will cling To ashes for a beam of rest, A balm for suffering. My childhood hours, your loss I mourn! From thee and sweet existence torn, THE RISING MOON. Hail beauteous orb! bright Queen of the night, Thou com'st at the soft tranquil hour of E'en When the bright god of day no longer is seen; When the Morning Star wearied has retired to rest NATURE'S GEMS, OR AMERICAN WILD FLOWERS IN THEIR NATIVE HAUNTS. By EMMA C. EMBURY. With 20 plates of plants carefully colored after nature, and landscape views of their localities from drawings on the spot, by E. Whitfield. New York, D. Appleton, & Co. Philadelphia, G. S. Appleton. 1845. We noticed this beautiful annual some months ago, as we had the pleasure of seeing it before completed and could speak of its promise; but its examination since finished has afforded higher gratification than we ever expected. The binding is beautiful, being of cream-colored morocco, embellished with flowers, birds, plants and vines, all richly gilt. The letter-press is very good, and the matter much superior to that of the annuals we have seen for the year. The stories are well-written, pointed and just long enough. Those by the editor, Mrs. Embury, bear the impress of Nature's sweet influences on the heart of the gifted authoress. She has evidently lingered often in the deep shades of the wild wood, watching bird and flower, and filling her soul with the mystic and thrilling voices of Nature heard in wind and stream. She has been assisted by Tuckerman, Hoffman and others, but most of the volume is from her own pen. The designs are well executed and pleasing, being drawings of some wild flower in its native home, which is a landscape view of some spot famed either for beauty or sublimity in nature. They embrace several of our most beautiful scenes, such as Passaic Falls and views on the Hudson and Juniata, &c. The coloring might and doubtless will be improved in the future Gems Mrs. Embury promises. We have derived great pleasure from the volume, and we trust some daughter of the South will follow this example of her Northern sister, and we shall have the gorgeous and splendid flowers of our own bright portion of this fair garden of America thus fitly represented. The South is proverbially the land of flowers, and almost all hearts teem with thrilling associations, connected with many flowers of our clime. We have selected as a specimen of the book, The Elfin Exile, by the editor, a story which is beautifully associated with the subject of the work. The choice was difficult, as many are almost equal in originality and execution. This annual, so appropriate for a Christmas or New Year's present, may be found at Nash & Woodhouse's, Richmond. THE ELFIN EXILE. (Fairy Flax; Passaic Falls, N. J.) 'Tis but a fancy, born 'mid woodland dells, You say we have no fairies in America-it is true the race are not found here, but did you never hear the story of the gentle Mimosa? Let us sit down on this mossy old root, and while the brook tinkles pleasantly at our feet I will tell you what befel the Elfin Exile. The fairy Mimosa was one of the sweetest and tenderest of creatures; not beautiful, if bloom and radiance are essential to beauty, but so gentle, so full of kindly affections, so exquisitely sensitive to all tender and good impulses that her face beamed with a loveliness far better than mere beauty. And the lone Star of Evening keeps watch o'er the bles'd. 'Simple in all her tastes, she never decked herself in the gay colors which her sisters often assumed. | the tale. Titania was in a particularly ungracious A vesture of dark green, bound to her slender waist mood, for one of the stateliest of the fays, whom by a girdle of silver thread drawn from the web which the wood-spider weaves beneath the moonlight, was her usual garb; but the sinless purity of her nature was her chief ornament, while she was always decked with the ever-changing but ever precious gems of good and kindly thoughts. Though one of the most sensitive of the fairy tribe, she had yet guarded her heart from elfin love. A vague terror took possession of her when she looked upon the affection of others, and with trembling haste she closed her sympathies, even as a flower shuts its petals from the fervid sunbeam. she would fain have kept at her feet until he had won some favor, flew off at the precise moment when she had decided that it would not be inconsistent with propriety to allow him to kiss her hand. Under such circumstances the tale of Oberon's misconduct was received with double indignation. The elfin monarch obtained timely notice of the gathering storm from his faithful Puck, and spreading his winglets on the night-breeze he was soon beyond the reach of conjugal anger. The gentle Mimosa, conscious of her innocence, but outraged and degraded by the insolence of the king, appeared Now the fairies, though a gentle, are also a most with downcast eyes before her enraged mistress. freakish race, and Titania, their queen, the love- All the gossips of the fairy court gathered round liest and the noblest, is also the chiefest in elvish her to witness her disgrace, and they who would whim. Long before the time when she quarrelled have given their crowns to win one kiss from their with her petulant lord for the little Indian change- monarch, now turned up their eyes in holy horror, ling, (the story is told in the veritable pages of one and fluttered their wings with virtuous indignation. William Shakspeare,) she had troubled his repose The end of the matter was, that Mimosa was by a jealousy, which, sooth to say, was not always tried and convicted of lèse majesté; but the queen, causeless. King Oberon, like most other mon- who now affected magnanimity, commuted the archs, loved sometimes to lay aside his dew-gemmed punishment of banishment into imprisonment for erown and rest his head upon a lowly pillow. The three moons in the green leaf of a primrose which stately beauty of his regal bride did not always the skill of the mason caterpillar soon converted suffice for the happiness of a spirit which shared into a prison house. some of the weaknesses of that humanity to which it was linked by invisible bonds. One midsummer night, the fairies had met to celebrate an elfin marriage, and gaily was the dance kept up in the charmed ring, while sweetly did the harebells chime their soft music to the tiny feet of the merry troop. Oberon, wearied with the gayety, withdrew from the midst of the joyous fays, and as he wandered listlessly away, he espied Mimosa half hidden beneath the shadow of a cowslip leaf. It may be that Titania would have relented when she recovered from her fit of ill-humor, but unhappily, she was deprived of the opportunity of showing mercy by a strange freak of human affection. There was a certain young and lovely lady, who had wedded the object of her heart's best love, and now forsaking parents and friends and country, she was about to embark on the broad sea, to find a new home in the wilds of America. But with that caprice of human will, which, while it makes great sacrifices, yet pines over small wants, she who had willingly resigned all the blessings of kindred, now sought to bear with her to a strange land some blossoms from the soil which her infant feet had trod. A sister's care, therefore, sought out a clump of English primroses, and placing them, together with the earth to which they clung, in a garden vase, she enclosed them beneath a crystal canopy, Believing herself safe from the eyes of her gay companions, she had loosed the clasps of her dark robe, and the rich, soft moonlight fell full upon her upturned brow, while it seemed to nestle tenderly upon her half-veiled bosom. Oberon was in one of those moods of idlesse which always leave the heart or the senses dangerously free. He gazed upon the loveliness of the half sad, half dreaming to protect them from the blighting sea-breeze, until fairy, until a sweet bewilderment took possession of him, and with a sudden impulse he glided like a ray of light to the feet of Mimosa. Starting from her reverie, and hastily folding her robe around her shrinking form, the fairy sprang from her graceful repose, but she escaped not until Oberon had tasted the sweets of a kiss stolen from unsullied lips. It happened, most unluckily, that a cross, gnarledlooking old fairy, who had never, in her whole life, been pretty enough to tempt a lover, or good enough to win one, had, just at that moment, peered out from her covert in the poisonous foxglove's bell, Her keen eyes beheld the whole affair, and with the speed of malice, she had flown to the queen with they should reach the land of promise. Strange to say, out of all the vast field of flowers that makes England a garden, the girl, unconsciously, selected those in which Mimosa was immured. Enclosed in her narrow cell, with the light coming dimly to her eyes through the green walls of her prison-house, Mimosa was weeping over her unmerited punishment, when suddenly she felt the earth convulsed around her. The slender limbs of the plant swayed as if a mighty tempest had burst upon them, and the timid fairy swung at the mercy of the blast, without power to discover the cause of this unwonted disquiet. Every fibre of her tender frame felt the vibration of this sudden disruption of |