Literature, Principally Belletristic - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

· LiteratureJ
Principally Belletristic .
the dated daily entries wherever he visited between Annapolis and Bos­
ton.173 He like Kimber used the term buckskin, in his case for a southern
frontiersman or backwoodsman. Vignettes of individuals, scenes of re­
gional society, and perceptive commentary on the state of religion and
the fine arts are, like the irony and caricature and other features already
mentioned, all a part of this work.
Highly personal and autobiographical was "The Recantation and Con­
fession of William Marshall alias Johnson, made before his Excellency
and the Council," a rattling good narrative of a common man's life of
wandering, his capture by Indians, and fear of being punished as a de­
serter.174 This memoir stands in contrast and style and erudition with
Jonathan Boucher's Reminiscences of an American Loyalist, 1738-
1789, an autobiography of the Loyalist clergyman who wrote before,
during, and after the Revolution on persons and events and the social
and political actions of which he had been a part.175 The work remained
in manuscript except for a few brief excerpts until half a century ago.
Today it stands as one of the classic literary documents giving a royalist'S
view of life in America and as a description of his treatment by pro­
vincial southern patriots.
There appear to be more personal records of several varieties surviv­
ing from eighteenth-century colonial Virginia than from Maryland, and
in periodical or book most of the literarily or historically significant ones
have been published within the past century. Several which cannot here
be considered have been cited or quoted in earlier chapters. The journal
of John Barnwell's journey into Indian country was printed in the V irginia
Magazine of History and Biography, V and VI. The Journal of
John Fontaine, I710-1719 was re-edited quite recently (Charlottesville,
1972 ). Others remain in manuscript. The various journals or field books
kept in 1728, the rough drafts or skeletons for William Byrd's "Histories"
of the Dividing Line, repose in the London Public Record Of­
fice or the British Museum.176 Though they are not nearly so entertaining
or even informative as the fleshed-out versions, they are highly interesting
as documentary evidence contributing to our understanding of how Byrd's
creative mind worked. These remain unpublished except for some ab­
stracts. Then there is the William Black diary, kept by Witham Marshe's
opposite number at the 1744 Pennsylvania Indian treaty conference, of
which some selections have been printed.177
In the same period is the 1746-1751 diary of the Reverend Robert
Rose (1696?-1751), who traveled over much of the colony and men­
tions his reading and friends such as William Fitzhugh and Mrs. Spots­
wood and Colonel William Beverley as well as Colonel Chiswell. He
seems to have come over in some official capacity with Spotswood,
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