and the inhabitants of
the valley have each been benefited by the other; each section has its
virtues and its faults, its advantages and its disadvantages, and
Virginia does not derive its character from either one, but the elements
of both are mixed up in her. This is not the result of chance, or the
mere work of man, but the order of a superintending Providence that
presides in human affairs.

The government of Virginia now devolved upon John Robinson, Sr.,
president of the council, but he dying in a few days, Thomas Lee
succeeded as president. Had Lee lived longer, it was believed his
influence and connexions in England would have secured for him the
appointment of deputy governor. He was father of Philip Ludwell, Richard
Henry, Thomas L., Arthur, Francis Lightfoot, and William. As
Westmoreland, their native county, is distinguished above all others in
Virginia as the birth-place of great men, so perhaps no other Virginian
was the father of so many distinguished sons as President Lee.

The Earl of Albemarle, after whom the county of that name was called,
was still titular governor-in-chief. Of this nobleman, when ambassador
at Paris, Horace Walpole says: "It was convenient to him to be anywhere
but in England. His debts were excessive, though ambassador, groom of
the stole, governor of Virginia, and colonel of a regiment of guards.
His figure was genteel, his manner noble and agreeable. The rest of his
merit was the interest Lady Albemarle had with the king through Lady
Yarmouth. He had all his life imitated the French manners till he came
to Paris, where he never conversed with a Frenchman. If good breeding is
not different from good sense, Lord Albemarle, at least, knew how to
distinguish it from good nature. He would bow to his postillion while he
was ruining his tailor."

Lee was succeeded by Lewis Burwell, of Gloucester County, also president
of the council. During his brief administration, some Cherokee chiefs,
with a party of warriors, visited Williamsburg for the purpose, as they
professed, of opening a direct trade with Virginia. A party of the
Nottoways, animated by inveterate hostility, approached to attack them;
and the Cherokees raised the war song; but President Burwell effected a
reconciliation, and they sat down and smoked together the pipe of peace.
A New York company of players were permitted to erect a theatre in
Williamsburg. President Burwell, who was educated in England, was
distinguished for