of the King; after which we may presume he received a full pardon, and
perhaps was taken to England in obedience to the royal command, to await
it there. The conviction and reprieve are recorded in a folio of the
State Records of Virginia at Richmond, on a mutilated and scarcely
legible sheet,--a copy of which I present to my reader with all its
obliterations and broken syllables and sad gashes in the text, for his
own deciphering. The MS. is in keeping with the whole story, and may be
looked upon as its appropriate emblem. The story has been brought to
light by chance, and has been rendered intelligible by close study and
interpretation of fragmentary and widely separated facts, capable of
being read only by one conversant with the text of human affairs, and
who has the patience to grope through the trackless intervals of time,
and the skill to supply the lost words and syllables of history by
careful collation with those which are spared. How faithfully this
accidentally found MS. typifies such a labor, the reader may judge from
the literal copy of it I now offer to his perusal.

[Transcriber's note: Gaps in the text below are signified with an
asterisk.]

By his Excellency

Whereas his most Sacred Majesty has been Graciously pleased
by his Royall Com'ands to Direct and Com'and Me ffrancis
Lord Howard of Effingham his Maj'ties Lieut and Gov'r. Gen'll.
of Virginia that if George Talbott Esq'r. upon his Tryall should
be found Guilty of Killing M'r Christopher Rowsby, that Execution
should be suspended untill his Majesties pleasure should
be further signified unto Me; And forasmuch as the sd George
Talbott was Indicted upon the Statute of Stabbing and hath