The eighteenth century, immediate parent of the nineteenth, grandparent of the twentieth, occupies the stage.
In the year 1704, just over a decade since Dr.Blair had obtained the charter for his College, the erratic and able Governor of Virginia, Francis Nicholson, was recalled.

For all that he was a wild talker, he had on the whole done well for Virginia.

He was, as far as is known, the first person actually to propose a federation or union of all those English-speaking political divisions, royal provinces, dominions, palatinates, or what not, that had been hewed away from the vast original Virginia.

He did what he could to forward the movement for education and the fortunes of the William and Mary College.

But he is quoted as having on one occasion informed the body of the people that "the gentlemen imposed upon them." Again, he is said to have remarked of the servant population that they had all been kidnapped and had a lawful action against their masters.