"
John Pory, of "the strong potations," who thinks that "good
company is the soul of this life," nevertheless comforts himself
in his solitude among the "crystal rivers and odoriferous woods"
by reflecting that he is escaping envy and expense. George
Sandys, scholar and poet, finds his solace during a Virginia
exile in continuing his translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses."
Colonel Norwood, an adventurer who belongs to a somewhat later
day, since he speaks of having "read Mr. Smith's travels," draws
the long bow of narrative quite as powerfully as the redoubtable
Smith, and far more smoothly, as witness his accounts of
starvation on shipboard and cannibalism on shore. This Colonel is
an artist who would have delighted Stevenson.
All of these early tellers of Virginia tales were Englishmen, and
most of them returned to England, where their books were printed
and their remaining lives were passed. But far to the north east
of Virginia there were two colonies of men who earned the right
to say, in William Bradford's quiet words, "It is not with us as
with other men, whom small things can discourage, or small
discontentments cause to wish themselves at home again.
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