"By a strange caprice of the king, these instructions were sent carefully sealed up and inclosed in a box, not to be opened till their arrival in Virginia." Thus, destitute of a leader at the time when they most needed one, they chose the gallant Captain John Smith, so well known from "the romantic tale of his own life and Englishmen's lives, for his sake, being saved once and again, by the personal devotion of the generous but ill-requited Pocahontas." Under him the first permanent settlement of the English in America was effected, and James Town built. In 1609 the expedition under Lord Delaware set out; and "under his enlightened and beneficent auspices the colony soon assumed a wholesome and active appearance." Ill health, however, compelled him within two years to return to England: but Sir Thomas Dale arriving soon after, with a fresh supply of emigrants, the colony continued prosperous, its affairs subsequently retrograded; and Lord Delawarr again went out in the year 1618,--but unfortunately only to die, near the bay which still bears his name. "Finally it was not till 1620, after so many abortive efforts had been made both by Government and powerful bodies to form an establishment in North Virginia, that at length it received, under unexpected circumstances, an influx of settlers which soon rendered it by far the most prosperous of all colonies in North America. This was the emigration of a large band of Puritans, who suffering under the intolerance of the English Government, on account of non-conformity, first passed into Holland, and afterward found an asylum in America."