The grapevine must have been buzzing in those days--what is a land agent?--a man who represents the proprietary--what is a proprietary, anyway?--the people who have taken our land away from us--who is this land agent?--Thomas Kirton, from England--what will he do?--make us pay rent--rent our own land?--something like taxes--I won't do it--how can he make us?--what right have they-- The Northern Neckers had probably not fully realized that they no longer owned their own land until they came face to face with a land agent. Thomas Kirton came to Virginia in 1670 and opened a land office in Northumberland County. He was to be assisted by Edward Dale, a prominent citizen of Lancaster. Kirton came armed with credentials, a copy of the patent and power of attorney for himself and Dale. He presented these documents to the General Court at Jamestown, April 5, 1671. He was recognized and action was prompt "... the said letters, patent being read in court ...," "obedience" and "submission" was given and recorded. This complete acceptance of Kirton, and what he stood for, by the Colonial Government was another shock to the settlers of the Northern Neck. There had never been "anything to so move the grief and passion of the people as uncertainty whether they were to make a country for the King or for the Proprietors." It had become a very real fact to the settlers now that they had landlords over them. They had been accustomed to the utmost freedom and independence and this was an almost unbearable blow. A strange thing about the story of the proprietary is that the people who lived within it had very little understanding as to what it was all about. Most of them lived all of their lives without understanding the terms of the proprietary. This was partly due to the fact that everything was done in secret. Even the Colonial Government was kept in the dark as to the various changes and renewals, while the proprietors increased their authority over the domain of the Northern Neck. Kirton's main duty was to collect quit-rents. The quit-rent was handed down from the feudal system of medieval times. In simple terms--it was the "bond between the lord and the land." The quit-rent was a monetary payment to relieve the tenant of obligations, such as laboring for the lord of a manor on a certain number of days a week, or paying him with a portion of the produce. Under the system of the quit-rent the tenant still had complete control of his land although he did not own it. He was free to bequeath the land to his heirs. Kirton had little success in collecting quit-rents although they were small, only two shillings per one hundred acres. The settlers had no intention of paying anything to the proprietors unless they were compelled to do so. As the years went on they acquiesced to a certain degree, but the quit-rents were never willingly paid.