two Jesuits from whose own lips they could learn the truth, if they pleased to summon them. Oh skillful hand of divine Providence! Winter was then fully upon us, and in the ship we were in want of everything. Thus, had we not been provided for, we should have died of cold and hardships. But what need of a long story? The Jesuits are at once summoned, and, gazed at by all, are led into the town. We are ordered to give our evidence. We, of course, attest what was perfectly true, that our captain was a royal officer and not a pirate, and that what he had done to us had been done in obedience to orders, rather than from his own free will. Accordingly, our captain was set at liberty; and in company with him we were detained in the town, and very well used, while awaiting orders from London. These were long delayed; and in the interval we frequently engaged in arguments with the ministers, and more frequently still with others, for nearly every one was permitted to have access to us, although we were not allowed to go out. In every other respect, as I have said, we were very kindly treated. Finally we received orders to sail from Pembroke to London. But the voyage proved a long one. Protracted delays intervened; to avoid a long enumeration of these, let it suffice to say that by order of the English king we were landed at Dover, and thence sent to Calais in France. At Calais we were hospitably received by the governor and the dean of the city, and rested three days; thence we came to Amiens, where we now are. We remained in captivity during nine months and a half. We were in the ship all the time, except when we landed at Pembroke, as related. There were three months during which we daily received only about two ounces of bread, and a small quantity of salt fish, with water that was nearly always fetid; so that we marvel at not having fallen sick. Few of the English escaped illness, and some of them even died as the result. But God doubtless watched over us in answer to the prayer of Your Paternity and of all our Society; may He grant in his goodness that it result to his own greater glory and in my salvation and better life. This I hope for, through the prayers and the blessing of Your Paternity, which, with all possible humility and affection, I solicit on my knees. May the Lord Jesus ever watch over Your Paternity and may our Father with utmost goodness and favor increasingly bestow upon you his Most Holy grace. Your Paternity's Obedient son and unworthy servant, Amiens, May 26, 1614. INTRODUCTION JOHN ROLFE, the author of this letter, came of an ancient family of Heacham, in the county of Norfolk, England, and was the son of John Rolfe and Dorothea Mason. He was baptized in the church at Heacham, May 6, 1585. In 1609 he went to Bermuda in the Third Supply with Sir Thomas Gates. While there, a wife, to whom he had been married in England, bore him a daughter, who was christened Bermuda, but soon died. The parents reached Virginia in May, 1610, where the mother died. Rolfe was the first Englishman to introduce the cultivation of tobacco in Virginia (1612). Not long after, Pocahontas was captured by Samuel Argall and brought to Jamestown. Rolfe fell in love with her and married her about April 5, 1614. Two months later he was made recorder of the colony; he remained in this office till 1619. He and his Indian bride went with Sir Thomas Dale, in 1616, to England, where Pocahontas was introduced at court by Lady Delaware and her portrait was engraved by Simon de Passe. While in England, he sent a description of Virginia to King James and to Sir Robert Rich. In the spring of 1617 he and Pocahontas made ready to return, with Samuel Argall as deputy-governor, when Pocahontas sickened and died at Gravesend, March 21, 1617. After his return Rolfe married Jane, daughter of Captain William Peirce, and had a grant of land in Mulberry Island. It was singular that this son-in-law of Powhatan should meet his death at the hands of the savages in the massacre of 1622. He left behind by Pocahontas one son, |