tly offended at Rolfe for having presumed to
marry a princess without his consent; but that upon a fuller
representation of the matter, his majesty was pleased to express himself
satisfied. There is hardly any folly so foolish but that it may have
been committed by "the wisest fool in Christendom."
"The Virginia woman, Pocahontas, with her father counsellor, have been
with the king, and graciously used, and both she and her assistant well
placed at the masque."[120:A] She was styled the "Lady Pocahontas," and
carried herself "as the daughter of a king." Lady Delaware and other
noble persons waited on her to masquerades, balls, plays, and other
public entertainments. Purchas, the compiler of Voyages and Travels, was
present at an entertainment given in honor of her by the Bishop of
London, Doctor King, which exceeded in pomp and splendor any other
entertainment of the kind that the author of "The Pilgrim" had ever
witnessed there.
Sir Walter Raleigh, after thirteen years' confinement in the Tower, had
been released on the seventeenth of March preceding, and, upon gaining
his liberty, he went about the city looking at the changes that had
occurred since his imprisonment. It is not improbable that he may have
seen Pocahontas.
Early in 1617 John Rolfe prepared to embark for Virginia, with his wife
and child, in Captain Argall's vessel, the George. Pocahontas was
reluctant to return. On the eve of her embarkation it pleased God to
take her unexpectedly from the world. She died at Gravesend, on the
Thames, in the latter part of March. As her life had been sweet and
lovely, so her death was serene, and crowned with the hopes of religion.
"The Virginia woman, whose picture I sent you, died this last week at
Gravesend, as she was returning home."[120:B] The parish register of
burials at Gravesend, in the County of Kent, contains the following
entry: "1616, March 21, Rebecca Wrothe, wyffe of Thomas Wrothe, Gent. A
Virginia Lady borne, was buried in the Chancell." The date, 1616,
corresponds with the historical year 1617. It appears that there was
formerly a family of the name of Wrothe resident near Gravesend. This
name might therefore easily be confounded with that of Rolfe, the sound
being similar. Nor is the mistake of Thomas for John at all improbable.
Gravesend Church, in which Pocahontas was buried, was destroyed by fire
in 1727, and no monument to her memory remains, if any ever
existed.[121:A]
According to Stra
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