Note 316 — Chapter XVII · FROM TIDEWATER TO THE MOUNTAINS.

In writing to James Stanhope, secretary of state, Spotswood says: “Such is the unaccountable temper of the People that they have generally chosen for their Representatives Persons of the meanest Estates and Capacitys in their Countys, And as if the House of Burgesses were resolved to copy after the patern of their Electors, of the few Gentlemen that are among them, they have expelled two for having the Generosity to serve their Country for nothing, w’ch they term bribery.” Official Letters, ii. 129. This reminds one of the language applied by Sherwood and Ludwell to Bacon’s followers (see above, p. 102); and suggests the presence among the burgesses of a considerable party which felt it necessary to contend against aristocratizing tendencies. To establish the principle that representatives might serve without pay would tend to disqualify poor folk from serving in that capacity.