[249] Kate Mason Rowland, _Life of Mason_, i. 228-241. [250] Edmund Randolph, MS. _Hist. Va._ See, also, W. W. Henry, _Life of P. Henry_, i. 422-436. [251] Edmund Randolph, MS. _Hist. Va._ See, also, W. W. Henry, _Life of P. Henry_, i. 422-436. [252] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1582. [253] _Am. Arch._ vi. 1598-1601, note. [254] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1129, 1130. CHAPTER XIII FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA On Friday, the 5th of July, 1776, Patrick Henry took the oath of office,[255] and entered upon his duties as governor of the commonwealth of Virginia. The salary attached to the position was fixed at one thousand pounds sterling for the year; and the governor was invited to take up his residence in the palace at Williamsburg. No one had resided in the palace since Lord Dunmore had fled from it; and the people of Virginia could hardly fail to note the poetic retribution whereby the very man whom, fourteen months before, Lord Dunmore had contemptuously denounced as "a certain Patrick Henry of Hanover County," should now become Lord Dunmore's immediate successor in that mansion of state, and should be able, if he chose, to write proclamations against Lord Dunmore upon the same desk on which Lord Dunmore had so recently written the proclamation against himself. Among the first to bring their congratulations to the new governor, were his devoted friends, the first and second regiments of Virginia, who told him that they viewed "with the sincerest sentiments of respect and joy" his accession to the highest office in the State, and who gave to him likewise this affectionate assurance: "our hearts are willing, and arms ready, to maintain your authority as chief magistrate."[256] On the 29th of July, the erratic General Charles Lee, who was then in Charleston, sent on his congratulations in a letter amusing for its tart cordiality and its peppery playfulness:--