The History of Henry Esmond
William Makepeace Thackeray
The Esmonds of Virginia The estate of Castlewood, in Virginia, which was given to our ancestors by King Charles the First, as some return for the sacrifices made in His Majesty scause by the Esmond family, hes in Westmoreland County, between the rivers Potomac and Rappahannoc, and was once as great as an English Principality, though in the early times its revenues were but small. I ndeed, for near eighty years after our forefathers possessed them, our plantations were in the hands of factors, who enriched themselves one after another, though a few scores of hogsheads of tobacco were all the produce that, for long after the Restoration, our family received from their Virginian estates. My dear and honored father. Colonel Henry Esmond, whose history, written by himself, is contained in the accompanying volumes, came to Virginia in the year 1718, built his house of Castlewood, and here permanently settled. After a long stormy life in England, he passed the remainder of his many years in peace and honor in this country; how beloved and respected by all his fellow-citizens, how inexpressibly dear to his family, I need not say. His whole life was a benefit to all who were connected with him. He gave the best example, the best advice, the most bounteous hospitality to his friends; the tenderest care to his dependents; and bestowed on those of his immediate family such a blessing of fatherly love and protection as can never be thought of, by us, at least, without veneration and thankfulness; and my sons children, whether established here in our Republic, or at home in the always beloved mother country, from which our late quarrel hath separated us, may surely be proud to be descended from one who in all ways was so truly noble. My dear mother died in 1736, soon after our return from England, whither my parents took me for my education; and where I made the acquainta(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)