Seven miles back from the James, about halfway over to the blue York, stood
that cluster of houses called Middle Plantation, where Bacon's men had
taken his Oath. There was planned and builded Williamsburg, which was to be
for nearly a hundred years the capital of Virginia. It was named for King
William, and there was in the minds of some loyal colonists the notion,
eventually abandoned, of running the streets in the lines of a huge W and
M. The long main street was called Duke of Gloucester Street, for the
short-lived son of that Anne who was soon to become Queen. At one end of
this thoroughfare stood a fair brick capitol. At the other end nearly a
mile away rose the brick William and Mary College. Its story is worth the
telling.
The formal acquisition of knowledge had long been a problem in Virginia.
Adult colonists came with their education, much or little, gained already
in the mother country. In most cases, doubtless, it was little, but in many
cases it was much. Books were brought in with other household furnishing.
When there began to be native-born Virginians, these children received from
parents and kindred some manner of training. Ministers were supposed to
catechise and teach. Well-to-do and educated parents brought over tutors.
Promising sons were sent to England to school and university. But the lack
of means to knowledge for the mass of the colony began to be painfully
apparent.
In the time of Charles the First one Benjamin Symms had left his means for
the founding of a free school in Elizabeth County, and his action had been
solemnly approved by the Assembly.
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