The story of the Byrd family is but the story of the Virginia aristocracy. A similar development is noted in nearly all of the distinguished families of the colony, for none could escape the influences that were moulding them. The Carters, the Carys, the Bollings, the Lees, the Bookers, the Blands at the time of the Revolution were as unlike their ancestors of Nicholson's day as was William Byrd III unlike his grandfather, the painstaking son of the English goldsmith. Such were the effects upon the Virginia aristocracy of the economic, social and political conditions of the colony. There can be no doubt that the Virginia gentleman of the time of Washington and Jefferson, in his self-respect, his homage to womanhood, his sense of honor, his power of command, in all that made him unique was but the product of the conditions which surrounded him. And although the elegance and refinement of his social life, the culture and depths of his mind can, to some extent, be ascribed to the survival of English customs and the constant intercourse with the mother country, these too were profoundly influenced by conditions in the colony. FOOTNOTES: [1] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 12. [2] Nar. of Early Va., p. 125. [3] Ibid., pp. 140-141. [4] Ibid., pp. 159-160. [5] Ibid., p. 192. [6] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. I, p. 154. The facts here presented form a complete refutation of the assertion, so frequently repeated by Northern historians, that the Virginia aristocracy had its origin in this immigration of dissipated and worthless gentlemen. The settlers of 1607, 1608 and 1609 were almost entirely swept out of existence, and not one in fifty of these "gallants" survived to found families. Most of the leading planters of Virginia came from later immigrants, men of humbler rank, but of far more sterling qualities than the adventurers of Smith's day. [7] Nar. of Early Va., p. 415. [8] Neill, Va. Carolorum. [9] Ibid. [10] Ibid. [11] Ibid. [12] Ibid. [13] Va. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 317. [14] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 182. [15] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 179. [16] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 170. [17] As late as the year 1775 we find Dr. Samuel Johnson, with his usual dislike of America, repeating the old error. In speaking of the rebellious colonists, he says: "Sir, they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, Temple Classics, Vol. III, p. 174. [18] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, pp. 380, 366. [19] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 377. [20] Neill, Va. Carolorum. [21] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, pp. 372, 377, 574. [22] Bruce, Soc. Hist. of Va., p. 164; Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 531. [23] Wm. and Mary Quar., Vol. IV, p. 39. [24] Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 153. [25] Va. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 366. [26] Bruce, Soc. Hist. of Va., p. 91. [27] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 16.