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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
Edited by E. A. Benians
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English Literature for Schools
CAPTAIN JOHN
SMITH
TRAVELS
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
Edited by E. A. Benians
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
Edited by E. A. Benians
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The True Travels, Adventures and O b ­
servations of C A P T A I N J O H N S M I T H
in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, and
The General History of Virginia, N e w
England and the Summer Isles, Books I—III
Edited with Introduction and Notes by
E.
A. B E N I A N S , M . A .
Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE :
at the University Press
1908
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
Edited by E. A. Benians
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
Edited by E. A. Benians
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PREFATORY
NOTE
T H I S book contains the greater part of Captain John
Smith's " True Travels and Adventures " and the first
three books of his " General History of Virginia, New
England and the Summer Isles." A number of
passages, most of them short, have been omitted, as
being, for various reasons, unsuited to the purpose of
the present edition. The text is that of the early
editions of Captain Smith's w o r k s ; but the majority
of the emendations suggested in Professor Arber's
edition have been adopted, and a few others added
where they appeared to be necessary. The spelling
has been modernised, excepting the spelling of un­
familiar n a m e s ; and the punctuation and paragraph­
ing adapted to the purpose of this edition.
No
indication has been given, either in the text or in the
notes, of omissions or emendations, but the changes
have been as few as possible. The introduction and
notes have been kept within narrow limits, as they
are designed only to facilitate the intelligent reading
of the book. The headings of the chapters are those
given by Captain Smith, but in most cases they have
been considerably curtailed.
E. A. B.
«
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
Edited by E. A. Benians
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CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction
vii
T r a v e l s of Captain John Smith
The
i
G e n e r a l History of Virginia, N e w E n g l a n d and
the S u m m e r Isles
53
T h e First B o o k
59
T h e Second B o o k
93
T h e Third Book
Notes
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.
235
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
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INTRODUCTION
THERE is no need to anticipate on this introduction
the story which Captain Smith tells of his own life in
his " True Travels and Adventures." But something
may be said to fill up the gaps, and to show what
manner of man Captain Smith was, and what work
he did in the early days of our colonial history. " To
Christ and my country a true soldier and faithful
servant," he signed himself in t h e preface to a book
written in 1626, towards the end of his life; and that
title, modest but full of meaning, is, without doubt, no
more than his due. As a boy he was full of restless­
ness and the longing for adventure. The little farm—
seven acres of pasture—which his father bequeathed
to him, could not satisfy his ambitious spirit. He
burned " to see daily new countries, peoples, fashions,
governments, stratagems." Tales of the wider world
came to him as a perpetual invitation to see and do,
to take some part and to make a name in the stir of
its great affairs. The daring desire of adventure and
achievement, which made England so much alive in
the later years of Queen Elizabeth's long reign;
which moved Hawkins and Drake, Gilbert, Raleigh
and Frobisher to their voyages of exploration,
conquest, and piracy ; which sent young men,
" Some to the wars to seek their fortune there,
Some to discover islands far away,"
animated John Smith, so t h a t at the age of fifteen,
with' ten shillings in his pocket, he was seeking his
fortune as a soldier in France and the Netherlands.
Of t h e mishaps which befell him in France, of a
pirate cruise in the Mediterranean, of his service in
Vll
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John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
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viii
INTRODUCTION
the wars in Hungary against the Turk, of his
captivity amongst the Tartars, his escape, wanderings
about Europe and in Africa, and of many other
similar adventures he tells, briefly and concisely, in
his " True Travels." W h e n he returned to England
in 1604, a young man of twenty-four, having crowded
more into ten years than most men, even of his own
class, experienced in a lifetime, he had gained a
knowledge of war and men, and of the character and
power of other nations which was to stand him in good
stead in his later work.
Hitherto his career had been a not uncommon one,
and not distinguished from t h a t of many other men
of the day, save perhaps by a greater variety of
incident and an unusual run of good fortune.
But from this time Smith ceased to be a mere
adventurer. He remained the same self-confident,
resourceful, restless m a n ; but his life was hence­
forward dignified by the fact t h a t he worked for a
definite and worthy end. His name is associated for
ever with one of the great achievements of the
English race—the colonization of the Atlantic coast of
North America. From a soldier of fortune he became
" a soldier to his country's honour true." His youth
had been spent in seeking adventure and experience,
but his maturer years were devoted to solid work;
and it is this which lifts him above the average man
of his type. Though he never lost his liking for the
romantic, as appears in his writings, which are
occasionally embellished from his own fancy, his
manhood saw adventure for the sake of adventure
and gain subordinated to the great work which he
was helping to begin. For his own part he was
indifferent to personal profit from his enterprises;
and, towards the end of his life, could say truly that he
had not retained in America even the house he had
built or the land he had ' digged with his own hands.'
In his last book he complains sadly of the little
inclination Englishmen showed for the serious work
of colonization. " Had my designs been," he writes,
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978-1-107-69811-6 - The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain
John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
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INTRODUCTION
ix
" to have persuaded men to a mine of gold . . . or some
new invention to pass the South Sea, or some strange
plot to invade some strange monastery, or some
chargeable fleet to take some rich carracks, or letters
of marque to rob some poor merchant or honest
fishermen: what multitudes of both people and money
would contend to be first employed."
All this is interesting as showing t h a t Smith's ideas
of English oversea expansion were different from
those of his immediate predecessors.
He had a
soberer and clearer conception of the task before his
country. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth vast and
ambitious schemes were cherished. Men like Drake
and Raleigh thought of conquering a colonial empire
from Spain by the sword, and of discovering, as the
Spaniard had done, an Eldorado, a land rich in gold
and silver. They made their expeditions and their
explorations, and did for England invaluable work;
but they had neither the strength to win an empire,
nor the good fortune to discover an Eldorado; they
did not succeed even in founding a colony. Smith
was a man cast in the same great mould as they, but
it was not by achievements such as they designed
t h a t he expected the expansion of England. Instead,
he saw a vision of colonies built by the settler and
the trader, by the toil and courage of thousands of
individuals who would transfer their energies to the
New World and work strenuously to establish homes
and commonwealths in a strange land. He imagined
for England an empire, large as t h a t of Spain or
Portugal, formed of countries planted by English
emigrants, of " b a r b a r o u s and inhuman n a t i o n s "
brought by the efforts and patience of Englishmen to
" civility and h u m a n i t y " ; but he knew t h a t such a
dominion could only be gained slowly, by systematic
work and wise policy, by abandoning dreams of an
Eldorado in the moon, and by setting to work in the
territory which the efforts of Raleigh and others
had marked out as the sphere of English colonization.
An ardent patriotism inspired him. He realized that
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John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
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X
INTRODUCTION
England, in her surplus population and in the
character of her people, possessed the means for
great achievements, if she went the right way to work;
and he could not bear to think that she should be
backward in the race for oversea expansion and
dominion, while Spain and Portugal had succeeded
so conspicuously. " T h e King of Spain," he wrote,
" regards but how many powerful kingdoms he keeps
under his obedience, and for the savage countries he
hath subjected they are more than enough for a good
cosmographer to nominate; and are three molehills so
much to us, and so many empires so little for him ?
For my own part 1 cannot choose but grieve, that the
actions of an Englishman should be inferior to any,
and t h a t the command of England should not be
as great as any monarchy that ever was since the
world began—I mean not as a tyrant to torment
all Christendom, but to suppress her disturbers and
conquer her enemies." These ideas Smith slowly
developed and, according to the opportunities that he
had, put into practice; and, when the opportunity of
deeds was denied to him, he turned his ideas into
pamphlets and books, labouring to convince his
countrymen of the possibilities which lay before
them.
Living as Smith did in the early days of English
colonization it was not possible for him to achieve
very much. Men who make beginnings have often
to be content with scanty results. It is theirs only to
lay the foundation on which posterity can build.
Smith, moreover, was not a rich man, and was thus
dependent for his opportunities upon the enterprise
of others, since colony planting in an age of beginnings
necessitated combined efforts and the risking of
money. His work in America may be summed up
very simply. He was the life and soul of the expedition
which left England in 1606 to plant a colony in
Virginia; and it was mainly due to his leadership,
common sense, and determination that this expedition,
though not by any means the first to make the
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John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
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INTRODUCTION
xi
attempt, was the first to succeed. The colony of
Virginia, thus founded, grew, though with some
vicissitudes, to become the foremost in wealth and
prestige of all the English American colonies and the
mother state of the existing American Union.
The story of this expedition, as well as of some
t h a t preceded it, is told in the selection from Smith's
" General History " which this book contains. With
what scanty means, and in the face of what obstacles,
the work was done and the colony planted, the reader
will be able to learn for himself; and also to judge
how far the success was due to the exertions of
Captain Smith. It must be remembered that Smith
is telling his own tale, and that his detractors and
opponents whom he handles so severely had more
to say in defence of their conduct than he records.
But, however t h a t may be, and however impatient
and self-confident Smith may seem at times, there
can be no doubt t h a t he was a great man, and one
who deserves to hold a high place amongst the many
other men who have hazarded their lives and lavished
their fortunes, small or great, in the building up for
Great Britain of her dominions beyond the seas.
Smith lived until 1631; but, in spite of the fact t h a t
he left Virginia in 1609, he never had the opportunity to
return, though he followed the fortunes of the colony
with unremitting interest, and wrote its history down
to the year 1624. In 1614 he visited New England,
sailing along the coast from Cape Cod to Penobscot
Bay, which successful voyage gained him the title of
Admiral of New England. A concise but invaluable
account of this part of America forms the sixth book
of his " G e n e r a l History." He attempted other
voyages to America, but without success. That
which has given him an imperishable title to fame
was achieved when he was a young man of twenty
eight.
He wrote in all fourteen books, published between
1608 and 1630. Except the " T r u e Travels," which
dealt with his early adventures, and his " Accidence
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Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, Books I–III
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xii
INTRODUCTION
for Young Seamen," all related to colonization in
America and the W e s t Indies. The last to be
published was " On the pathway to erect a plantation,"
a subject on which Smith was entitled to speak with
authority. From this we may quote a short passage
illustrative of the spirit and arguments of the writer.
He is saying t h a t Englishmen should be spurred on
by the example of the Portuguese and Spaniards,
"whose everlasting actions before our eyes will
testify our idleness and ingratitude to all posterity,
and neglect of our duty and religion we owe our God,
our King, and country, and want of charity to those
poor savages whose countries we challenge, use, and
possess: except we be but made to mar what our
forefathers m a d e ; or but only tell what they did;
or esteem ourselves too good to take the like pains
where there is so much reason, liberty, and action
offers itself. Having as much power and means as
others, why should Englishmen despair, and not do
as much as any ? W a s it virtue in those heroes to
provide t h a t which doth maintain us, and baseness in
us to do the like for others to come ? Surely n o ;
then seeing we are not born for ourselves but each to
help other; and our abilities are much alike at the
hour of our birth and minute of our d e a t h ; seeing
our good deeds or bad, by faith in Christ's merits,
are all we have to carry our souls to heaven or hell;
seeing honour is our lives' ambition, and our ambition
after death to have an honourable memory of our life:
and seeing by no means we would be abated of the
dignity and glory of our predecessors, let us imitate
their virtues to be worthily their successors; or at
least not hinder, if not further, them t h a t would do
their utmost and best^endeavour."
E. A. B .
August
12, I908.
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