68
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
ernor when the stamp act passed, and though
he was loyal to his superiors in England, he
had no heart in the enforcement of this or of
the Revenue act which followed. After the
passage of the latter act he prorogued the leg-
islature from time to time both on account of
sickness and in order to avoid a (luarrel. He
was sick a long time, and March 3, 1768, he
died, and was buried in the north aisle of the
church in Williamsburg. According to his
will, proved at Yorktown, he left a wife
Catherine; a brother-in-law. Francis Wollas-
ton ; a brother, William Fau(|uier ; and two
sons, Francis and William Fauquier.
Fauquier was a very afifable and agreeable man, though somewhat excitable. He was an excellent talker, and delighted in the company of Dr. William Small, the professor ot natural philosophy at William and Mary College, and of George Wythe, the great Williamsburg lawyer ; and at his table many rising young men of Virginia, like JefTerson and John Page, learned their lessons in the rights of man. As an indication of his interest in scientific mat- ters it may be mentioned that his brother Wil- liam read before the Royal Society in London an article prepared by him in Virginia on 'Hailstones observed in Virginia, July 9, 1758." His influence in another respect was not so fortunate. He diffused in the colony a passion for playing cards, which lasted till it was rebuked by the orders of the Revolution- ary county committees in 1775.
Amherst, Jeffrey, titular governor of Vir- ginia ( 1763-1768; , was the second son of Jef- frey Amherst, of Riverhead, Kent county. England. His family had no influence, and the remarkable fact of the rise of Amherst 'rom page to field marshal is a tribute to his own merit. He was page to the Duke of
Dorset, who procured for him an ensigncy in
the (iuards in 1731. He next served on Gen-
eral Ligonier's staff, and afterwards on that
of the Duke of Cumberland. In 1756 he was
made lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth regi-
ment. When Pitt became chancellor, and was
fitting out an expedition to North America,
he picked out Amherst as the man to lead.
The expedition that sailed from Portsmouth in
May, 1758, was 14,000 strong, and was em-
barked in fifteen -ships under the command of
Admiral Boscawen. On reaching the Island
of Cape Breton he captured Louisburg, and in
September, Amherst was as a reward ap-
pointed commander-in-chief of the forces in
the place of James Abercrombie. In Novem-
ber, 1758, he captured Fort Duquesne from
the French. He was even more successful in
the dififerent campaigns of the next year
(1759). Ticonderoga fell before him, and his
generals Sir William Johnson and W^olfe took
Fort Niagara and Quebec, which in 1760
was followed by the surrender of Montreal,
the capital of Canada. Amherst was at once
appointed governor-general of North America,
and in 1761 received the thanks of parliament
and w^as made a knight of the Bath. The
French sued for peace, but war still continued
with the Indians. They were led by Pontiac,
and Amherst proved unfit to deal with him.
His failure no doubt was the chief cause of
his return to England in 1763. There Pon-
tiac's conspiracy was unknow'n, and Amherst
w^as received as the conqueror of Canada and
made governor of Virginia and colonel of the
60th or American regiment. His fame became
very great. In 1770 he was made governor
of Guernsey, and in 1772. a privy council-
lor and lieutenant-general of the ordinance.
During the American war he served in the
capacity of adviser to the government. His
