of the first Colonial period, "no mention is anywhere made in the records of schools, or any provision for the instruction of youth."
Another significant fact is that there was no permanent printing press in the colony until 1729. Education and literature were frowned upon. Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia from 1641 to 1677, in one of his reports remarked:
"I thank God there are no free schools nor printing; and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. God keep us from both."
It is needless to say that a society made up of such persons, and under such conditions, could not possibly be favorable to the cultivation of literature. Indeed, so unfavorable was it that, during the whole of her history Virginia has not produced a purely literary work of even the second rank. Many of the planters came from the ruling families of England, and from the discipline acquired from the managing of large estates they learned that mastery over men and events that made the state "the Mother of Presidents," of fiery orators and astute statesmen, but the conditions were far from conducive to literary life and effort.
Early Writings in Virginia. — The literature of the Colonial age in Virginia is so scanty and uninteresting as to deserve little attention. Much of it was written for purely practical ends with little thought of finish or literary beauty. Interspersed with this is the work of
