Bacon's Rebellion, a Williamsburg Scandal & Colonel Chiswell's Sword: Three Plays from Virginia's Colonial History

By Ron Larson

Perhaps no state rivals Virginia when it comes to colonial history. Yet, there are many aspects of Virginia's early history that are either unknown or vaguely known by the general public. Over the last thirty years, Larson has written over thirty plays that deal with these aspects and the generally well-known men and women involved in them. These people include such names as Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Patrick Henry, Meriwether Lewis, John Robinson, Nathaniel Bacon, William Berkeley, John Chiswell, George Wythe, Martha Jefferson Randolph, Harry Lee, Nancy Randolph, John Randolph, Theodosia Burr and Edmund Pendleton.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450239752

Book preview

bk.jpg

Bacon’s Rebellion, A Williamsburg Scandal

& Colonel Chiswell’s Sword

Three Plays from Virginia’s Colonial History

Copyright © 2010 by Ron Larson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-4502-3974-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-3975-2 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 7/15/10

Contents

BACON’S REBELLION

Act I

Act II

Act II

Act III

Act III

A WILLIAMSBURG SCANDAL

Act I

Act I

Act II

Act II

COLONEL CHISWELL’S SWORD

Act I

Act II

Act II

Act III

Act III

BACON’S REBELLION

A Play in Three Acts

Ron Larson

Characters

Nathaniel Bacon, gentleman; Elizabeth’s husband; Stephen’s friend; Polly’s lover

Stephen Bassett, gentleman; Nathaniel’s friend and former tutor; later, Elizabeth’s lover

Polly Jones, waitress; Nathaniel’s lover

Sarah Lundsford; waitress; Stephen’s lover

Elizabeth Bacon, Nathaniel’s wife; later, Stephen’s lover

Sir William Berkeley, Governor of the Colony of Virginia

Sir Herbert Jeffries, gentleman; Agent of King Charles the Second for Colonial Affairs

A butler; four lower-class women

The action takes place at the Crow’s Nest, an inn and pub, London, England; and at the residences of Nathaniel Bacon and Sir William Berkeley, near Jamestown, Virginia, 1674-1676.

Act I

Scene — A room above the Crow’s Nest, an inn and pub near London’s waterfront on a late night in early spring, 1674. The room is plain but clean and pleasant enough for seamen who often occupy it. A large table, center, with the following items: a pad of paper, an inkwell and quill, a Bible, an ashtray, a map and a lit lamp. Two chairs flank the table, and a third one center, faces down. Up center, a bed with a plain cotton blanket; a fourth chair is near the bed. An unlit fireplace, left center. The room’s only window is uncurtained, middle right. It reveals that it is pitch-black outside. A doorway, up right. At rise, Nathaniel Bacon, a handsome young man of twenty-seven, is sitting in the right chair near the table, poring over a map. Stephen Bassett, his friend and former tutor, an attractive and somewhat older man, is sitting in the opposite chair. Both are smoking and have a mug of ale. Judging from their clothing, one would not guess that they are members of England’s squirearchy, a class just below nobility. Noise is heard occasionally from the pub downstairs, especially when the door is opened.

Bacon: (With his left index finger on the map.) Here’s where I plan to make my purchase. Ten thousand acres of prime land, fronting the St. Charles inlet of the Chesapeake Bay.

Bassett: Yes, the inlet’s waters are deep enough to allow ocean-going vessels to reach the shoreline.

Bacon: Thus cutting transportation costs when we ship our tobacco.

Bassett: Are you sure it’s available?

Bacon: I am.

Bassett: Why would such a choice piece of property go unclaimed?

Bacon: It was claimed. But I learned just yesterday from my great aunt that its previous owner had to forfeit it for some reason or another. She said she’d hold this plum for me until I make up my mind.

Bassett: I’d wager she’ll be hearing from you soon.

Bacon: (Laughs.) Yes, I bet you would. I posted a letter to her this morning.

Bassett: Your great aunt. Of course. She’s a Culpeper, isn’t she?

Bacon: Right. She’s now the wife of Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia. They’ve just recently married. His first wife was barely in the ground.

Bassett: Funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables, eh?

Bacon: (Laughs.) Apparently so, my learned former tutor.

Basset: I’m surprised that Sir William’s back in power after what happened in the forties.

Bacon: (Rises.) They say he was removed for corruption, and that may be true. But I suspect the main reason is that Cromwell demanded it. Sir William was very close to Charles the First. He even had a play performed before the king, a comedic Coriolanus, I’m told. I’d wager his version was every bit as despicable as the Bard’s.

Bassett: (Rises and stretches.) It’s a wonder that good King Charles didn’t laugh his head off.

Bacon: (Laughs.) Yes, that would have saved the Roundheads some trouble. But they would have lost the pleasure of seeing the King’s head roll. (Pause.) It’s well that we’re best friends. If that remark were ever to get out —

Bassett: We’re both for the people! That’s one reason we’re friends. That’s why we both detest Coriolanus.

Bacon: The King apparently liked Berkeley’s version. Mr. Berkeley became Sir Berkeley less than one year after his play was staged.

Bassett: Did he now? I already dislike him

Bacon: The people before royalty. That’s what you taught me, and that’s what I believe, to Father’s chagrin. And he’s pleased that the Stuarts are back on the throne, but he’s more pleased to have given me eighteen hundred pounds to get me out of his hair.

Bassett: (Looking at the map.) How many of those ten thousand acres would that amount buy?

Bacon: I would purchase the entire ten thousand. But, of course, I couldn’t do that unless you, a free-thinker, could convince my Anglican father to cough-up a few thousand more pounds to support my family and the ten indentured servants I’m taking with me.

Bassett: (Laughs.) I, convince your father to fork over more money? Why the Pope himself would have a better chance of doing that.

Bacon: Well, if my father is not fond of you, my wife and I are. That’s why we want to help you out.

Bassett: Your generosity is certainly appreciated. That, and what my father has given me, should be enough to purchase a fair amount of land and support the three servants I’m taking with me, Sarah and her two brothers.

Bacon: Sarah. She’ll make you a fine wife.

Bassett: I wonder about her sometimes. (Pause.) She’s in no hurry to get up here. She knows I’m here.

Bacon: She’s a working woman. The place is run over with salts. Why, I could hardly get up the stairs myself. (Pause.) But I know what you’re saying. Polly knew I’d be needing another brew.

Bassett: Nat, I’d like to make my purchase near yours.

Bacon: I’d been hoping you’d say that. Brothers should be neighbors. But it’ll be the blind leading the blind as we learn the tobacco business.

Bassett: True. The only thing I know about tobacco is that I love to smoke it.

Bacon: And the same goes here. (He reaches into his shirt pocket and extracts a small cigar.) I’m out of phosphorus sticks. I hope you have one. (Stephen gives him a match from his shirt pocket and Nathaniel lights up.) Yes, Sir! Tobacco’s mighty fine, especially with a brew. (He drains his mug.) Our women are surely neglecting us. All for the sake of the almighty pound.

Bassett: The tobacco business may not be that promising.

Bacon: I’m reading your mind, but I don’t agree. The Stuarts have always been against the weed. James the First even wrote a treatise against it, calling it filthy and unwholesome. And, yes, I know Sir William’s against it as well, as he encourages Virginians to diversify.

Bassett: Well, then, you’re making my point, aren’t you?

Bacon: The point is, my friend, tobacco is money, and money is higher than any king or governor. (He sings I Love Tobacco.)

V-1 We’re gonna grow tobacco, my friend

The weed is what everyone will need

When hooked on a habit that’s hard to break

You gotta concede, we don’t have much at stake

V-2 I know tobacco may be bad for your health

But so’s everything else, if done to excess

‘Cept maybe the accumulation of wealth

So here’s a big thumbs up to tobacco, and to our success

C    I love tobacco, when it’s smoked, snuffed or chewed

I love tobacco, it’s sometimes better than food

I love tobacco, it makes you feel so renewed

It’s a right nice plant with a really attitude

V-3 Yeah, toback will always be on the throne

You just can’t get past this fact of life

King Charles the Second may moan and groan

But it makes living, and making a living feel oh, so right

R C

Bassett: I hope you’re right. And I hope that old sea captain was right when he told me Governor Berkeley is a tyrant who controls everything from the Council to church vestries. Why, Berkeley even dissolved the House of Burgesses and it hasn’t been convened for the past fifteen years. In short, the captain said that in Virginia politics and villainy are synonymous.

Bacon: There might be a silver lining in a dark cloud. To paraphrase my cousin, Francis, most old men love their wives because they’ve been mistresses, nurses and companions for them over the years. I imagine that Berkeley is no exception.

Bassett: And since Lady Berkeley is fond of you —

Bacon: Yes, he could be most helpful to us. I’ll be on my best behavior. (Pause.) I won’t smoke in front of him, for one thing.

Bassett: (Laughs.) That’s a good idea.

(A sharp knock is heard; Nathaniel moves up to open the door. A gorgeous Molly Jones enters with two mugs and hands them to the men.)

Jones: I’m sorry, gentlemen. But I’m sure you’ve seen how busy we are today. One of the girls is sick, and the Full Moon docked this afternoon.

Bacon: (Kisses her on the cheek.) Well, as they say, business before pleasure.

Jones: But my main business in life is your pleasure. (She returns the kiss.) How are you today, Stephen?

Bassett: Very well, thanks. Especially after what our friend here told me today.