Were Pocahontas and John Rolfe in love?

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Revised from; Nov. 10, 2018

How can anyone determine whether Pocahontas and John Rolfe were in love? We have no words from Pocahontas on the subject. We do have some indication of John Rolfe's feelings at a single point in time in his letter to Sir Thomas Dale asking for permission to marry Pocahontas, but there are some issues with that letter (to be discussed below). Authors and (and sometimes historians) make assumptions on the topic based on their understanding of the historical circumstances, the few vague comments available from 17th Century sources, and how Pocahontas's short life ultimately played out. In the end, though, we will never know with any degree of certainty what their feelings were for each other. Some factors we may try to consider to give us the tiniest bit of insight are the following:
  • How can we define 'love' and would that definition have applied under the Jamestown circumstances?
  • What was the nature of a typical colonial marriage and how likely is it that romantic love was a factor in a marriage?
  • What was the nature of a typical Powhatan marriage and how likely is it that romantic love was a factor in a marriage?
  • Were the circumstances of Jamestown so unique that "a typical colonial marriage" was not even possible?
  • Does the fact that Pocahontas was a prisoner make the question almost impossible to answer?
  • How would the previous marriage of Pocahontas to Kocoum and the possibility of a child from that marriage impact Pocahontas's ability to love John Rolfe?
  • What do we know about the marriages of other captives that might shed some light on the question?
  • Would the differences in their cultures have had an impact on their ability to love each other?
  • What comments or evidence from contemporary sources might give us some insight on the question of romance in their marriage?
Relevant John Rolfe timeline
  • 1585 - John Rolfe, born May 5 (?)
  • 1596 - estimated birth year of Pocahontas (the date of 1595 is cited by some; we don't really know)
  • 1609 - John Rolfe embarks for Jamestown on Captain Newport's 'Third Supply'
  • 1609 - the Sea Venture shipwrecks off the coast of Bermuda
  • 1610 - John Rolfe's wife and daughter die in Bermuda
  • 1610 - Rolfe and surviving passengers, after rebuilding boats, arrive in Jamestown
  • 1610 - Jamestown is nearly abandoned, but the arrival of Lord De La Warr with settlers and supplies forces its continuation
  • 1612 - Rolfe begins to cultivate tobacco at Varina on the James River
  • 1613 - Pocahontas is captured and held for ransom by Captain Argall
  • 1613 - likely first meeting of Pocahontas and John Rolfe
  • 1614 - presumed date of the John Rolfe letter to Sir Thomas Dale requesting permission to marry Pocahontas
  • 1614 - Rolfe marries Pocahontas, which leads to the 'Peace of Pocahontas'
  • 1615 - son Thomas Rolfe is born
  • 1616 - Rolfe, Pocahontas and son, Thomas, sail for England
  • 1617 - Pocahontas dies in England just as they depart on their return to Jamestown
  • 1617 - Thomas is ill, and Rolfe, fearing he will not survive the voyage, leaves him in England in the care of his brother
  • 1619 - Rolfe marries Jane Pierce, his third wife
  • 1619 - Rolfe wrote of the first African slaves brought to Virginia
  • 1620 - daughter Elizabeth is born
  • 1621 - March 10, Rolfe's will names son Thomas as his primary heir (link)
  • 1622 - John Rolfe dies of unknown causes (his widow remarries 3 years later); Rolfe is not named as a death in the Powhatan uprising; note that his wife and daughter survive the uprising; Rolfe had likely already died prior to March 22, the date of the uprising
Clearly, we can never get a definitive answer to the question of "Did John Rolfe love Pocahontas?" and "Did she love him?" The relationship took place over 400 years ago, and the circumstances of their relationship were unusual to say the least. Fortunately, we have some evidence in John Rolfe's 1614 letter to Sir Thomas Dale, which gives us a hint of his thought processes at one point in time. Nevertheless, we must take into account the various pressures on both of them, and realize that any conclusions we reach are necessarily speculative.

On the other hand, we know more about John Rolfe's feelings for Pocahontas than we do about her feelings for him, as she left no written words on the issue. Too, she was a hostage of the English confined in enemy territory. Some Native Americans (but not only them) are inclined to believe the worst, even describing their relationship as abusive. Unfortunately, we'll never know the truth about that, or whether the romantic movies about their relationship, which paint the rosiest of pictures, have any relationship to fact.

My personal opinion is that Pocahontas was resigned to her fate and did her best to survive in a difficult time. Love was probably less of an issue than survival and the possibility of returning to her tribe at some point in the future.

The thoughts of some historians and ethnohistorians are posted below. I will try to address the questions above as I am able.
According to historians ...

Rebecca K. Jager (2015) Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea: Indian Women as Cultural Intermediaries and National Symbols
  • "It is difficult to determine whether Pocahontas or Rolfe married for love; marriages in Powhatan culture and in English culture were often based on ambition, not necessarily love. According to English colonial interpretations, Pocahontas and Rolfe experienced a genuine and pure love that transcended racial boundaries and initiated a period of peace." p. 138
Helen Rountree (1989) The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture
  • "After her capture in 1613 she languished in captivity among the English for a year, during which she fell in love with John Rolfe. Their marriage, approved by her father, took place in April 1614 and established peace between the English and the Powhatans." p. 91
  • "... Pocahontas was married off as soon as she reached puberty in 1610 to that 'pryvate Captayne called Kocoum.' And it was probably because of that less-than-stellar future that she was so amenable to conversion when the English captured her and treated her as a 'princess' in the permanent European sense." p. 113

My comment:
Rountree, back in 1989, suggested in these two comments that Pocahontas was motivated by both love and ambition in her approach to marriage. However, there is no way of knowing for sure if Pocahontas truly "fell in love with John Rolfe."
Camilla Townsend (2004) Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma
  • "... It was once commonplace to assert that the Indian girl had adored white men, English culture, and the Christian God. She turned away from her supposedly violent, backward, and narrow-minded people, hoping to become a bridge of peace as she herself embraced a better way of life and helped Jamestown to flourish. Just as she had once placed John Smith's needs above her own safety and her family's harmony, she later desperately hoped to please John Rolfe and accepted all that he had to teach. p. 117, 118

    This view of events sheds more light on the people who advanced and embraced it than it does on Pocahontas. ... it is impossible to believe that Pocahontas had no independent agendas and desires of her own and that she worshiped unquestioningly the white male figures of our legends. Such a view demeans and objectifies her, in that it deprives her of the full range of human feelings and reactions.  p. 118

    Unfortunately, the recent corrective to this misrepresentation has often failed to grant Pocahontas any real control over her own behavior. In the politically sensitive 1970s and 1980s it became popular in some quarters to focus almost exclusively on the fact that she was a prisoner and a hostage. The conclusion was that, rather than running forward to accept all that white culture had to offer, she had been forced--virtually at gunpoint--to convert to Christianity and marry a white man. But while Pocahontas had been a hostage for over a year when she married John Rolfe, she clearly retained some control over what happened to her. Certain facts make this evident". p. 118

    [My summary of the facts according to Townsend:
    1) Two of her brothers spoke to her alone, and subsequently, Powhatan sent three relatives to her wedding.
    2) We have no evidence that John Rolfe was a brutal person who would want to be married to Pocahontas if she didn't somewhat reciprocate his feelings.
    3) Pocahontas appeared to be happy to go to London at the request of the Virginia Company. Townsend believes so because she doesn't think the Virginia Company would send someone to London at their expense if that person was contrary and likely to embarrass them.] p. 118, 119

    "It was clear that Pocahontas was doing, at least to some extent, what she wanted to do."  p. 119

    {Townsend explains that Pocahontas would have wanted to ally the Powhatans with the English to ensure their survival. She may also have seen the marriage to Rolfe as a boost to her own status.]

    "What Pocahontas's feelings were for Rolfe is an open question, but it was clear that she was fond of him at the very least. ... He was a well-dressed gentleman, a favorite of Dale's and of Whitaker's; he read from their ceremonial tome, and servants listened to him. He loved her and was willing to defend his love for her before a hostile community. She let her preference show: Rolfe believed she loved him back." p. 120

    "Her feelings, whatever they were, should not be dismissed or taken for granted. They were undoubtedly complicated. ... Pocahontas may have loved John Rolfe. If so, it was not because she was dazzled by his English ways but rather because she wanted to, because he answered her needs as they were then. She alone knew what she saw in him." p. 121

My comment:
Townsend has spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not Pocahontas and Rolfe loved each other. She rejects the old thinking, that Pocahontas was enamored with English men, as well as the later thinking that, Pocahontas, being a prisoner, was not free to make any decisions for herself. Her conclusion appears to be that Rolfe loved Pocahontas and that Pocahontas had at least some fondness for him in return, and that her feelings were of her own free will. Townsend leaves the question somewhat open as to whether or not Pocahontas truly loved John Rolfe.
From John Smith
  • ..". shee never had desire to goe to her father, nor could well endure the society of her owne nation: the true affection she constantly bare her husband was much, and the strange apparitions and violent passions he endured for her love, as he deeply protested, was wonderfull,"  from The Generall Historie, in Horn (2007) p. 431

Smith was relying on the written words of Sir Thomas Dale, Alexander Whitaker and John Rolfe when he wrote this, and had only spoken to Pocahontas briefly in late 1616 in England (some 8 years earlier). It's doubtful he had any real insight into Pocahontas's feelings on this matter. Whether he was right or wrong about this is anybody's guess. On the other hand, if he witnessed some interaction between Pocahontas and Rolfe during the visit to Brentwood, that may have contributed to the line above about "the true affection she constantly [bore] her husband." But I'm more inclined to think these lines were only based on the writings.
A Native American voice ...

Monica Stretten, "A descendant of Pocahontas reveals the disturbing truth about this storied figure — and it's something all Americans need to hear," Nov. 30, 2017, See video.
  • "The United States loves their version of Pocahontas, but they do not love her people. I'm an enrolled member of the Chickahominy Indian tribe of Virginia. My community is one of the remaining tribes that formed the Powhatan confederacy. which was led by Pocahontas's father, Chief Powhatan. American folklore has romanticized the story of Pocahontas, negating the fact that she was only around 11 or 12 years old when Jamestown was settled, and she was used as a political asset during negotiations with English colonists. She was forced to marry an older, foreign man, and was moved to England where she eventually died and was never able to move to her homeland. This is not a story of romance. This is a story of rape and kidnapping." - spoken words from video posted Nov. 30, 2017

My comment;
Few fans of the Pocahontas story wish to think of her as a rape victim, but this point of view exists among some Native Americans and others who note that Pocahontas was kidnapped and held against her will. She may have been married to Kocoum at the time, and as she was of child-bearing age, she may have already had a child. Pocahontas was not free to leave Jamestown, and if Sir Thomas Dale and John Rolfe had decided that a union was in order, then Pocahontas likely had little choice in the matter. From a presentist perspective, this can very well be described as coercion and rape.

But Pocahontas and John Rolfe did not live in the 21st Century. Marriages were arranged for economic and diplomatic purposes by leaders and parents in both English and Native American societies in those days. The marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe was a diplomatic win for the English, and led to the "Peace of Pocahontas," which temporarily at least saved some lives on both sides. Pocahontas may have seen herself as filling the role of an intermediary, as would have been the case had she been exchanged or captured by a neighboring Indian tribe.

Worth noting, too, is that when Thomas Dale inquired of Powhatan (through the interpreter, Thomas Savage) about the possibility of acquiring a specific 11-year-old half-sister of Pocahontas for marriage, Powhatan explained that he had already married the girl off to a weroance from a neighboring tribe in exchange for two baskets of oyster shell beads. Assuming the story was true, and not just an excuse, should we also apply a 21st Century standard to that union? (Even if the story were not true, Powhatan certainly would have made an excuse that was plausible under the circumstances.)
Discussion of the questions posed at the top of this page (in progress)

How can we define 'love' and would that definition have applied under the Jamestown circumstances?

This is a huge topic and one that I won't be able to give justice. Pocahontas and John Rolfe were contemporaries of Shakespeare, and we know that love and attraction were major plot drivers in his works. (I'm not trying to imply that either of them would have read Shakespeare, but that the same emotions noticed by Shakespeare may have applied to them.) Then there's the biological concept of 'love', which reduces the concept to lust, attraction and attachment. On some level, there must be a concept of 'love' that combines romantic love and biological love (analogous to combining 'God' and 'science'). We must also factor in the circumstances of Jamestown, from which we are 400 years removed.

As I consider myself more 'logical' than 'spiritual', I'll focus on the  biological concept of love as proposed by Fisher et al (2002). The emotion we call love is a combination of three discrete neural systems, lust, attraction and attachment. Lust is the hormonal driven system that motivates people to seek sexual gratification. Note that John Rolfe was still fairly young (late 20s), had lost his first wife during the voyage to Jamestown, and there were virtually no eligible English women in Jamestown. (The single woman Anne Burras married in 1608, prior to Rolfe's arrival in Jamestown. More women arrived in 1620 and after.) Attraction is "increased energy and focused attention on a preferred mating partner." It is characterized by "feelings of exhilaration, 'intrusive thinking' about the love object, and a craving for emotional union ..." We can see examples of obsession and intrusive thinking in Rolfe's letter to Sir Thomas Dale. Attachment is seen in animals: "mutual territory defense and/or nest building, mutual feeding  and  grooming, the  maintenance  of  close  proximity, separation anxiety, shared parental chores, and other affiliative behaviors" and in humans: "feelings of calm, security, social comfort, and emotional union" (p. 413, 141). We have little evidence on this aspect of their relationship other than that they had a child, Thomas, in 1615, and that Thomas accompanied the pair to England.

By the Fisher et al definition, it's not difficult to assume "love" on the part of John Rolfe, at least during the time of the famous letter to Sir Thomas Dale. Pocahontas's feelings are more obscure, but we can't rule out the possibility of love.

"Defining the Brain Systems of Lust, Romantic Attraction,and Attachment" Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 31, No. 5, October 2002, pp. 413–419, by Helen E. Fisher, Ph.D., Arthur Aron, Ph.D., Debra Mashek, M.A., Haifang Li, Ph.D., and Lucy L. Brown, Ph.D.

Fisher et al (2002) PDF

What was the nature of a typical colonial marriage and how likely is it that romantic love was a factor in a marriage?

For the Jamestown colonists circa 1613, 1614, the marriage customs of England would have informed the settlers' thoughts and behavior, as there had not yet been enough marriages in Jamestown to establish unique colonial marriage customs. In England, marriages among the gentleman class were typically affairs of business rather than love that sought to better improve the status and conditions of the families of both parties. However, John Rolfe was probably not a "landed" gentleman, since he had left England to better his circumstances in the highly risky environment of Jamestown. He had already lost a wife and daughter and was far separated from his extended English family, so he would have presumably been free to pursue any available unattached woman, provided the union met the approval of colony leader, Sir Thomas Dale. The circumstances of Jamestown made for few choices of a partner, but Rolfe had the good fortune and propitious timing to encounter Pocahontas soon after her capture by Capt. Argall. He quickly became infatuated with her, and love, as defined above, appears to have motivated Rolfe to take action and extend his hand to Pocahontas. Dale, sensing the possibility of improved relations with the Indians, quickly gave his assent to their union.

How would the previous marriage of Pocahontas to Kocoum and the possibility of a child from that marriage impact Pocahontas's ability to love John Rolfe?

Native American author, Paula Gunn Allen (2003) wrote this in Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy Entrepreneur Diplomat
  • "It is unlikely that Pocahontas was a virgin when Argall took her to Jamestown .... It is quite likely that Pocahontas had borne at least one child be the Indian man Kocuom*, whom some sources say she married. [23] Because of the customary path a woman took toward maturity, particularly a maturing medicine woman, it is improbable that she remained unmarried as late as age sixteen. Because children belonged to the clan rather than to an individual, and because a mother's sisters were seen as co-mothers of her offspring, Pocahontas's move to Jamestown and marriage to John Rolfe would have been a reasonably ordinary event; any child would have remained part of the birth family, with one mom absent." , p. 218

My comment:
Although I have doubts about how much authority the non-Powhatan, non-historian Gunn Allen can bring to this topic, I respect her Native American viewpoint on the issue. Although she doesn't address the question of Pocahontas's feelings for Rolfe, she implies here that Pocahontas would have assumed her child (if one existed) would have been well taken care of in her absence. The suggestion here is that she may have been able to "move on." 

* 'Kocuom' is Gunn Allen's spelling, as opposed to the more common 'Kocoum.'

What do we know about the marriages of other captives that might shed some light on the question?

In my opinion, the examples of other marriages between settlers and Indians are unlikely to shed much light on the specific situation of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. There are many examples of Indian-settler marriages, including marriages of Indians with captive white settlers, as well as marriages between (mostly) male settlers and Native American women. An entire culture (Métis) emerged in Canada from the latter type of unions. However, there are so many variables with each situation and couple, making evidence anecdotal and not easily transferable to the Pocahontas case. The Pocahontas-John Rolfe marriage was unique for a number of reasons. It happened so early in the history of English-Indian relations that there was no prior blueprint for either Rolfe or Pocahontas to follow. The English and Indians were still getting to know each other. The English were still operating under the general principle that the natives should not be unduly angered, but that the settlement would survive only if the English and Indians found ways to cooperate with each other. Pocahontas was a captive, but she was considered by the English to have a special status as the daughter of the paramount chief, Wahunsenaca (Powhatan). (John Rolfe was apparently criticized by King James I of England for marrying above his commoner station.) This made it likely (or at least possible) that she was treated better than Indians in later years. Pocahontas was also a symbol to the English of how the natives could be converted to Christianity and become willing subjects of England. She represented an opportunity to the English, and so she had a much different status than Indians later on after the circumstances of settlement had changed (1622 being a major turning point). Because of these factors, we should look at the Pocahontas-John Rolfe marriage as a unique pairing that bears little similarity to other mixed unions.

That said, the stories of some early settler-Indian unions are pretty fascinating. For example, there is the case of a white settler John Tanner, who was captured by Ojibwa Indians in 1789 at the age of about 9. He was adopted by an Indian family to replace children that had died. He stayed with the Indians so long that he became fully acculturated.  He married Indian women twice and had children. His story has absolutely nothing to do with Pocahontas and John Rolfe, which happened in a different era, far away and 175 years earlier. Nevertheless, it's worth a read for general background knowledge: A narrative of the captivity and adventures of John Tanner (PDF)

More to come ...
Mary C. Fuller quotation from Voyages in Print: English Travel to America 1576-1624 (1995)
  • "This narrative of cultural harmony via romance, the unexpected love of two individuals remaking the relations between their societies, overlays a harder story of kidnapping, imprisonment, and abandonment. Indeed, the English treatment of Pocahontas looks even odder in the light of Smith's claim that she had saved the colony over and over." p. 121
Two versions of the John Rolfe letter to Sir Thomas Dale (2014)

As I pointed out on the 'Did Pocahontas willingly convert' page, there is more than one version of the John Rolfe letter to Sir Thomas Dale. There's the well-known version that appeared in Ralph Hamor's publication, which he appears to have edited, and there's the presumed original letter of John Rolfe, with his signature, that is housed in the Bodleian Library and made available online here. The two versions are mostly the same, with many changes in spelling and some minor (?) differences in word choice, but there is one section in the original which is completely omitted from the Ralph Hamor version. Remember, Hamor's version was the one seen by the English public back in the day, so we must assume he had significant reason to delete the section, which amounted to about 127 words. The "real" John Rolfe unredacted version is at left with the omitted section in blue: The two version are presented side by side here for easier analysis. Links to the originals follow. Note the large gap on the version at right 2/3 of the way down the column, which may be Ralph Hamor's selective redaction to better spin the contents for English consumption. (Once again, thanks to Camilla Townsend for pointing all of this out to me.)

Presumed original version of John Rolfe letter

When your leisure shall best serve you to pvse theise lynes, I trust in God the begynninge will not strike you into a greater admiracon, then the ende will gyve you good Content. It is a matter of noe small moment, Conceminge myne owne pticular, wch heare I impart vnto you, and wch toucheth me soe nearely as the tendernes of my Salvacon. Howebeit I freely subiect myselfe to yor grave & mature Iudgement, deliberacon, approbacon, and determynacon, assuringe my selfe of yor zealous admonicons & godly Comforts; either pswadinge me to desist, or encouraginge me to psist herein wth a religious feare, & godly Care, ffor wth (from the very instant that this beganne to roote it selfe wthin the secrett bosome of my hart) my dailye & earnest prayers have byn, still are, and over shalbe
 
 

powred foorth wth a sincere & godly zeale to be directed, ayded and governed in all my thoughts, woords, and deeds, to the glory of God, and for my eternall Consolacon to psever wherein I never had more neede, nor (till nowe) coulde ever ymagyne to have byn moved wth the lyke occasion
But (my Case standinge as it doth) what better wordly refuge can I heere seeke, then to shelter my selfe vnder the safety of yor favourable pteccon? and didd not my Cause pceede from an vnspotted & vndefiled Conscience) I shoulde not dare to offer to your view & approved Iudgement these passions of my troubled Soule, soe full of feare and tremblinge is hipocrisie &*dissimulacon. But knoweinge myne owne innocency, & godly fervor in the whole prosecucon hereof, I doubt not of yor
beninge acceptance and Clement construction. As for malitious depravors, & turbulent Spiritts, to whome nothinge Is tastefull, but what pleaseth there vnsavoury palate, I passe not for them" beinge well assured (by the often tryall and provinge my selfe in my holiest meditacons and prayers) that I ame called herevnto by the spiritt of God* and it shalbe sufficient for me to be protected by yorselfe in all vertuous & pious endeavors. And for my more happy proceedinge herein my daily oblacons shalbe ever addressed to bringe to passe soe good effects that yor selfe and all the worlde maye truely saye, this is ye woorke of God and merveilous in our eyes.
 
But to avoide teadious preambles, and to come more neare the


matter, ffirst suffer me wth yor patience to sweepe & make cleane the waye wherein I walke from all suspicons and doubte wch maye lye covered therein, and faithfully to reveale vnto you what shoulde move me therevnto.
 
Lett therefore this my well advised ptestacon, wch here I make betweene God and my owne Conscience be a sufficient wyttnes, at the dreadfull day od Iudgement (when the secretts of all mens harts shalbe opened) to condemne me herein yf my chief e intent & purpose be not to stryve with all
my power of boddy and mynde in the vndertakinge of soe waighty a matter (noe waye leade soe farr foorth as mans weaknes may pmytt, wth thevnbridled desire of Carnall affection) for the good of the Plantacon, the honor of or Countrye, for the glorye of God, for myne owne salvacon, and for the Convertinge to the true knowledge of God and Iesus Christ an vnbeleivinge Creature, namely Pohahuntas" To whom emy hart and best thoughts are and have byn a longe tyme soe intangled & inthralled in soe intricate a Laborinth, that I was even awearied to vnwynde my selfe thereout. But Almighty God whoe never faileth his that truely invocate his
holy name, hathe opened the Gate and led my be the hande, that I might playnely see and discerne the safest pathes wherein to treade.
 
To you therefore (most noble Sr) the Patron and ff ather of vs in this Countrye, doe I vtter the effects of my longe
Contynued affection
 
 
 
(wch haue made a mighty warre in my medytacons) and here I doe truely relate to what issue this dangerous Combatt is come vnto wherein I have not onely examyned, but throughly tryed & pared my thoughts even to the Quicke, before I coulde fynde and fitt wholesome and apt applicacons to Cure soe dangerous an vlcer. I never failed to offer my dailye and faithfull prayers to God for hys sacred and holye assistance, I forgatt not to sett before myne eyes the frailtie of mankynde,
 
 
 
154 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
 
his proxies to ill, his indulgency of wicked thoughts wth many other impfections, wherein man is daylie insnared, and often
tymes overthrowen, and them Compared wth my present estate. Woe am I ignorant of the heavy displeasure wch Almighty God Conceyved against the Sonnes of Leuie and Israeli for marrienge of straunge wyves, nor of the inconvenyences wch maye thereby anise, wih other the lyke good mocons wch made me looke aboute warely and with circuspection, into the grounde and principall agitacons wch thus shoulde provoke me to be in love wth one, whose education hath byn rude, her manners barbarous, her generacon Cursed, and soe discrepant in all nutriture from my selfe, that often tymes with feare and tremblinge Ihaue ended my pryvate Controversie wth this, Surely theise are wicked instigations hatched by him whoe seeketh and delighteth in mans distinction, And soe wth fervent prayers to be ever preserved from such diabolicall assaults I have taken some rest.
 
 
Thus when I haue thought, I have onteyned my peace and Quyetnes beholde, an other, but more gratious temptacon hath made breaches into my holiest and strongest meditacons with
which I have byn putt to a newe tryall, in the stricter manner then the former, ffor (besides the many passions and sufferings wch I have daylie, howerly, yea in my sleepe endured even awakeinge me to astonishment,
taxinge me wth remissnes and Carelessnes refusinge and neglectinge to pforme, the duety of a good Christian, pullinge me by the eare, and cryene why doest not thowe endeavour to make her a Christian; and these haue
happened to my greater wonder, even when shee hath byn farthest sepated from me, wch in Comon reason (were it not an
vndoubted woorke of god) might breede a forgettfullnes of a farre more woorthy Creature) besides this I saye, the holy Spiritt of God hath often demaunded of me, why I was Created? if not for transitory pleasures and worldly vanyties, but to labour in the Lords vyneyard there to sowe and plant, to nourishe and encrease the ffruyts thereof, daylie addinge wth the good husband of the Gospell somewhat to the Tallent'' that in the
ende the ffruyts may be reaped to the Comfort of Laborer in this lyfe, and in the worlde to come, And yf this, as vndoubtedly,
 
LETTER PROM ROLFS TO DALE 155
 
This is the service Iesus Christ Christ requyreth of his best servants And woe to him that hath theise Instruments of pietye
offered and putt into his hands, and willfully dispise to woorke wth them. Lykewyse addinge heerevnto her greate apparance
 
 
of love to me, her desyre to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God her Capablenes of vnderstanding her aptnes
and willingnes to receyve any good impression, and also the spirituall besides her owne incytements stirringe me vpp here-
vnto. What shoulde I doe? shall I be of soe an vntoward a disposicon to refuse to leade the blynde into the right waye? shall I be soe vnnaturall not to gyve breade to the hungry, or soe vncharitable not to Cover the naked? shall I dispise to actuate theise pious duetyes of a Christian? shall the base feare of displeasinge the worlde overpower and wthholde me from revealinge to man theise spirituall woorkes of the Lorde, wch in my medytacons and my prayers I have daylie made knowne vnto him. God forbidd" I assuredly trust he hath thus dealt wth me for my eternall felicitye, for his glory, and I hope soe to be guyded by his heavenly grace, That in the ende by my faith- full paynes and Christianlyke labour I shall attayne to that blessed promise pronounced by the holye Prophett Daniell to the righteous, that bringe many to the true knowledge of God,
namely, that they shall shine lyke the Starres for ever and ever. A sweeter comfort cannott be to a true Christian nor a greater
encouragement for him to labour all the dayes of his lyfe in the pformance thereof, nor a greater gayne of Consolacon to be
desired at the hower of death, and at the daye of Iudgement.

Agayne  for the lawfullnes of marriage. I hope I doe not farre erre from the meaninge of the holy Apostle, That the vnbeleivinge husband is sanctified by the beleivings wyefe, and the vnbeleivinge wiefe by the beleivinge husband &c. vppon wch place Mr Calvin in his Institucons lib. 4. cap. 16° Sect 6° sayeth, Even as the Children of the Iewes were called a holy seede, becawse beinge made heires of the same Covenant wch the Lorde made wth Abraham, they were different from the Children of the vngodly ffor the same reason even yett also the Children of Christians are accompted holye, yea although they be the
 
156 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
 
yssue but of one parent faithfull, and (as the Prophett wytnesseth) they differ frome the vncleane seede of Idolatry. And thus wth my readinge and conference wth honest and religious psones have I receaved noe small incouragement, besides serena mea conscientia, pure from the fylth of impuritye quce est instar muri ahenei. If I shoulde sett downe at lardge the pturbacons and godly motions wch have stroue wthin me in this my godly Conflict. I shoulde but make a tedious and vnnecessary volume, but I doubt not these shalbe sufficient both to Certifie you of my true intente, in dischardginge my duety to God, and to your selfe. To whose gratious providence I humbly submytt my selfe for his Glorye, your honor our Countryes good, the benefitt of this Plantacon, and for the Convertinge an irregenerate to regeneracon, which I beseech God to graunte for his deare sonne Christ Iesus sake.
 
 

Nowe if the vulgar sorte, whoe square all mens actions by the bare rule of theire owne filthines, shall taxe or taunt me in this my godly labor, Lett them knowe tis not my hungrye appetite to gorge my selfe wth incontinencye, Sure (if I woulde and were soe sensually inclyned) I might satisfie suche desire, though not wthout a seared Conscience, yet wth Christians more pleasinge to the eye and lesse fearefull in the offence vnlawfully Comytted. Nor am I in soe desperate estate that I regarde not what becometh of me, nor am I out of hope but one daye to see my Countrye nor soe voyde of ffriends, nor meane in Birth but there to obtayne a matche to my greate content
 
 
nor have I ignorantly passed over my hoapes there, or regardlessly seeke to loose the love of my ffriends by takinge this Course. I knowe
them all & have not rashely overslipped any. But shall it please God thus to dispose of me (which I earnestly desire to fulfill my ends afore sett downe) I will hartely accept it as a godly taxe appointed me, And I will never cease (god assistinge me) vntill I have accomplished and brought to pfection soe holy a woorke, in wch I will daylie praye God to blesse me to myne and her eternall happines. And thus desireinge noe longer to lyve to
enioye the blessings of God, then this my Resolucon doe tende to suche godly endes as are by me before declared, not doubtinge
 
LETTER FROM ROLPE TO DALB 157
 
of your gracious acceptance, I take my leave beseechinge Almighty God to rayne downe vppon you such plentiude of his heavenly graces as your harte can wishe and desire. Ans doe I reste
 
At yor Commaund most willinge to be desposed.
 
Jo Rolfe.
 
https://archive.org/stream/jstor-4243341/4243341_djvu.txt
Ralph Hamor redacted version

When your leasure shall best serve you to peruse these lines, I trust in God, the beginning will not strike you into a greater admiration, then the end will give you good content. It is a matter of no small moment, concerning my own particular, which here I impart unto you, and which toucheth mee so neerely, as the tendernesse of my salvation. Howbeit I freely subject my selfe to your grave and mature judgement, deliberation, approbation and determination; assuring my selfe of your zealous admonitions, and godly comforts, either perswading me to desist, or incouraging me to persrst therein, with a religious feare and godly care, for which (from the very instant, that this began to roote it selfe within the secret bosome of my brest) my daily and earnest praiers have bin, still are, and ever shall be

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produced forth with as sincere a godly zeale as I possibly may to be directed, aided and governed in all my thoughts, words and deedes, to the glory of God, and for my eternal consolation. To persevere wherein I never had more neede, nor (till now) could ever imagine to have bin moved with the like occasion.
But (my case standing as it doth) what better worldly refuge can I here seeke, then to shelter my selfe under the safety of your favourable protection? And did not my ease proceede from an unspotted conscience, I should not dare to offer to your view and approved judgement, these passions of my troubled soule, so fulle of feare and trembling is hypocrisie and dissimulation. But knowing my owne innocency and godly fervor, in the whole prosecution hereof, I doubt not of you benigne acceptance, and clement construction. As for malicious depravers, and turbulent spirits, to whom nothing is tastful, but what pleaseth their unsavory pallat, I passe not for them being well assured in my perswasion (by the often triall and proving of my selfe, in my holiest meditations and praiers) that I am called hereunto by the spirit of God; and it shall be sufficient for me to be protected by your selfe in all vertous and pious indeavours. And for my more happie proceeding herein, my daily oblations shall ever be addressed to bring to passe so good effects, that your selfe, and all the world may truely say: This is the worke of God, and it is marvelous in our eies.

But to avoide tedious preambles, and to come

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neerer the matter: first suffer me with your patience, to sweepe and make cleane the way wherein I walke, from all suspicions and doubts, which may be covered therein, and faithfully to reveale unto you what should move me hereunto.

Let therefore this my well advised protestation, which here I make betweene God and my own conscience, be a sufficient witnesse, at the dreadfull day of judgement (when the secret of all mens harts shall be opened) to condemne me herein, if my chiefest intent and purpose be not, to strive with all my power of body and minde, in the undertaking of so mightie a matter, no way led (so farre forth as mans weaknesse may permit) with the unbridled desire of carnall affection: but for the good of this plantation, for the honour of our countrie, for the glory of God, for my owne salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, and unbeleeving creature, namely Pokahuntas. To whom my hartie and best thoughts are, and have a long time bin so intangled, and inthralled in so intricate a laborinth, that I was even awearied to unwinde my selfe thereout. But almighty God, who never faileth his, that truely invocate his holy name hath opened the gate, and led me by the hand that I might plainely see and discerne the safe paths wherein to treade.


To you therefore (most noble Sir) the patron and Father of us in this countrey doe I utter the effects of this my setled and long continued affection


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(which hath made a mightie warre in my meditations) and here I doe truely relate, to what issue this dangerous combate is come unto, wherein I have not onely examined, but throughly tried and pared my thoughts even to the quicke, before I could finde any fit wholesome and apt applications to cure so daungerous an ulcer. I never failed to offer my daily and faithfull praiers to God, for his sacred and holy assistance. I forget not to set before mine eies the frailty of mankinde,
 
 
 
 
 
 his prones to evill, his indulgencie of wicked thoughts, with many other imperfections wherein man is daily insnared, and oftentimes overthrowne, and them compared to my present estate. Nor was I ignorant of the heavie displeasure which almightie God conceived against the sonnes of Levie and Israel for marrying strange wives, nor of the inconveniences which may thereby arise, with other the like good motions which made me looke about warily and with good circumspection, into the grounds and principall agitations, which thus should provoke me to be in love with one whose education hath bin rude, her manners barbarous, her generation accursed, and so discrepant in all nurturiture from my selfe, that oftentimes with feare and trembling, I have ended my private controversie with this: surely these are wicked instigations, hatched by him who seeketh and delighteth in mans destruction; and so with fervant praiers to be ever preserved from such diabolical assaults (as I tooke those to be) I have taken some rest.

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Thus when I had thought I had obtained my peace and quietnesse, beholde another, but more gracious tentation hath made breaches into my holiest and strongest meditations; with which I have bin put to a new triall, in a straighter manner then the former: for besides the many passions and sufferings, which I have daily, hourely, yea and in my sleepe indured, even awaking mee to astonishment, taxing me with remisnesse, and carelesnesse, refusing and neglecting to performe the duetie of a good Christian, pulling me by the eare, and crying: why dost not thou indevour to make her a Christian? And these have happened to my greater wonder, even when she hath bin furthest seperated from me, which in common reason (were it not an undoubted worke of God) might breede forgetfulnesse of a farre more worthie creature. Besides, I say the holy spirit of God hath often demaunded of me, why I was created? If not for transitory pleasures and worldly vanities, but to labour in the Lords vineyard, there to sow and plant, to nourish and increase the fruites thereof, daily adding with the good husband in the Gospell, somewhat to the tallent, that in the end the fruites may be reaped, to the comfort of the laborer in this life, and his salvation in the world to come? And if this be, as undoubtedly
 
 
 
 
this is, the service Jesus Christ requireth of his best servant; wo unto him that hath these instruments of pietie put into his hands, and wilfully despiseth to work with them. Likewise, adding hereunto her great appa-

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rance of love to me, her desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God, her capablenesse of understanding, her aptnesse and willingnesse to receive anie good impressions, and also the spirituall, besides her owne incitements stirring me up hereunto. What should I doe? Shall I be of so untoward a disposition, as to refuse to leade the blind into the right way? Shall I be so unnaturall, as not to give bread to the hungrie? or uncharitable, as not to cover the naked? Shall I despise to actuate these pious dueties of a Christian? Shall the base feare of displeasing the world, overpower and with holde mee from revealing unto man these spirituall workes of the Lord, which in my meditations and praiers, I have daily made knowne unto him? God forbid. I assuredly trust hee hath thus delt with me for my eternall felicitie, and for his glorie: and I hope so to be guided by his heavenly graice, that in the end by my faithfull paines, and christianlike labour, I shall attaine to that blessed promise, Pronounced by that holy Prophet Daniell unto the righteous that bring many unto the knowledge of God. Namely, that they shall shine like the starres forever and ever. A sweeter comfort cannot be to a true Christian, nor a greater incouragement for him to labour all the daies of his life, in the performance thereof, nor a greater gaine of consolation, to be desired at the hower of death, and in the day of judgement.

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Againe by my reading, and conference with honest and religious persons, have I received no small encouragement, besides serena mea conscientia, the cleerenesse of my conscience, clean from the filth of impurity, quae est instar muri ahenei, which is unto me, as a brasen wall. If I should set down at large, the perturbations and godly motions, which have striven within mee, I should but make a tedious and unnecessary volume. But I doubt not these shall be sufficient both to certifie you of my tru intents, in discharging of my dutie to God, and to your selfe, to whose gracious providence I humbly submit my selfe, for his glory, your honour, our Countreys good, the benefit of this Plantation, and for the converting of one unregenerate, to regeneration; which I beseech God to graunt, for his deere Sonne Christ Jesus his sake.

Now if the vulgar sort, who square all mens actions by the base rule of their own filthinesse, shall taxe or taunt me in this my godly labour: let them know, it is not any hungry appetite, to gorge my selfe with incontinency; sure (if I would, and were so sensually inclined) I might satisfie such desire, though not without a seared conscience, yet with Christians more pleasing to the eie, and lesse fearefull in the offense unlawfully committed. Nor am I in so desperate an estate, that I regard not what becommeth of me; nor am I out of hope but one day to see my Country, nor so void of friends, nor mean in birth, but there to obtain a mach to my great con-

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tent: nor have I ignorantly passed over my hopes there, or regardlesly seek to loose the love of my friends, by taking this course: I know them all, and have not rashly overslipped any.
But shall it please God thus to dispose of me (which I earnestly desire to fulfill my ends before sette down) I will heartely accept of it as a godly taxe appointed me, and I will never cease, (God assisting me) untill I have accomplished, and brought to perfection so holy a worke, in which I will daily pray God to blesse me, to mine, and her eternall happines.
And thus desiring no longer to live, to enjoy the blessings of God, then this my resolution doth tend to such godly ends, as are by me before declared: not doubting




of your favourable acceptance, I take my leave, beseeching Almighty God to raine downe upon you, such plenitude of his heavenly graces, as your heart can wish and desire, as so I rest,


At your commaund most willing to be disposed off

John Rolfe.

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_John_Rolfe_to_Sir_Thomas_Dale_1614
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