When and where it was written, and whether it was all composed at one time, are matters much in dispute.The first book, descriptive of Virginia and its people, is complete; the second book, a narration of discoveries in America, is unfinished.Only the first book concerns us.That Strachey made notes in Virginia may be assumed, but the book was no doubt written after his return to England [This code of laws, with its penalty of whipping and death for what are held now to be venial offenses, gives it a high place among the Black Codes.One clause will suffice:
"Every man and woman duly twice a day upon the first towling of the Bell shall upon the working daies repaire unto the church, to hear divine service upon pain of losing his or her allowance for the first omission, for the second to be whipt, and for the third to be condemned to the Gallies for six months.Likewise no man or woman shall dare to violate the Sabbath by any gaming, publique or private, abroad or at home, but duly sanctifie and observe the same, both himselfe and his familie, by preparing themselves at home with private prayer, that they may be the better fitted for the publique, according to the commandments of God, and the orders of our church, as also every man and woman shall repaire in the morning to the divine service, and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and Catechism upon paine for the first fault to lose their provision, and allowance for the whole week following, for the second to lose the said allowance and also to be whipt, and for the third to suffer death."]
Was it written before or after the publication of Smith's "Map and Description" at Oxford in 1612? The question is important, because Smith's "Description" and Strachey's "Travaile" are page after page literally the same.One was taken from the other.Commonly at that time manuscripts seem to have been passed around and much read before they were published.Purchas acknowledges that he had unpublished manuscripts of Smith when he compiled his narrative.Did Smith see Strachey's manuscript before he published his Oxford tract, or did Strachey enlarge his own notes from Smith's description? It has been usually assumed that Strachey cribbed from Smith without acknowledgment.If it were a question to be settled by the internal evidence of the two accounts, I should incline to think that Smith condensed his description from Strachey, but the dates incline the balance in Smith's favor.
Strachey in his "Travaile" refers sometimes to Smith, and always with respect.It will be noted that Smith's "Map" was engraved and published before the "Description" in the Oxford tract.Purchas had it, for he says, in writing of Virginia for his "Pilgrimage" (which was published in 1613):
"Concerning-the latter [Virginia], Capt.John Smith, partly by word of mouth, partly by his mappe thereof in print, and more fully by a Manuscript which he courteously communicated to mee, hath acquainted me with that whereof himselfe with great perill and paine, had been the discoverer." Strachey in his "Travaile" alludes to it, and pays a tribute to Smith in the following: "Their severall habitations are more plainly described by the annexed mappe, set forth by Capt.
Smith, of whose paines taken herein I leave to the censure of the reader to judge.Sure I am there will not return from thence in hast, any one who hath been more industrious, or who hath had (Capt.
Geo.Percie excepted) greater experience amongst them, however misconstruction may traduce here at home, where is not easily seen the mixed sufferances, both of body and mynd, which is there daylie, and with no few hazards and hearty griefes undergon."There are two copies of the Strachey manuscript.The one used by the Hakluyt Society is dedicated to Sir Francis Bacon, with the title of "Lord High Chancellor," and Bacon had not that title conferred on him till after 1618.But the copy among the Ashmolean manuscripts at Oxford is dedicated to Sir Allen Apsley, with the title of "Purveyor to His Majestie's Navie Royall"; and as Sir Allen was made "Lieutenant of the Tower" in 1616, it is believed that the manuscript must have been written before that date, since the author would not have omitted the more important of the two titles in his dedication.
Strachey's prefatory letter to the Council, prefixed to his "Laws"(1612), is dated "From my lodging in the Black Friars.At your best pleasures, either to return unto the colony, or pray for the success of it heere." In his letter he speaks of his experience in the Bermudas and Virginia: "The full storie of both in due time [I] shall consecrate unto your view....Howbit since many impediments, as yet must detaine such my observations in the shadow of darknesse, untill I shall be able to deliver them perfect unto your judgments," etc.
This is not, as has been assumed, a statement that the observations were not written then, only that they were not "perfect"; in fact, they were detained in the "shadow of darknesse" till the year 1849.
Our own inference is, from all the circumstances, that Strachey began his manuscript in Virginia or shortly after his return, and added to it and corrected it from time to time up to 1616.
We are now in a position to consider Strachey's allusions to Pocahontas.The first occurs in his description of the apparel of Indian women:
