Jamestown (2016) s01e01 Episode Script
Episode 1
MAN: Daniel! [CRASHING THUNDER.]
Here, let me help you.
[WOMAN WAILS.]
Ma'am? Are we going to die out here? No.
The storm will pass.
I'll go to hell for what I've done.
What is it, Mistress Woodbryg? I had to leave England.
That's why I'm here.
That's why I'll surely die.
I killed a man.
MAN: That's the worst of it, I reckon.
Aren't you glad, Verity? Aren't you grateful that we're the ones to come to this new world? Hell's teeth, no! [BOTH LAUGH.]
- Land! - [BELL RINGING.]
Land! Heave! [LEERY HUBBUB.]
William Clemell.
Edward Manston.
Joshua Little.
Alice Kett.
Henry Sharrow.
Edmund Godfrey.
Henry? Alice.
I'm Silas.
- Oh.
- I'm to take you to my brother.
This is Pepper, the youngest Sharrow.
Here.
I hope you find this place as we do.
The most beautiful land that God ever made.
Verity Bridges.
Meredith Rutter! Meredith Rutter?! Sir.
Master Castell, sir.
You forgot the love token.
Oh, thank you, Mercy.
[SIGHS.]
Is she beautiful, Master Castell, sir? She is, Mercy.
[LAUGHS.]
I always wanted a mistress.
No disrespect intended, sir.
It is fine to have a master, but I always wished to have a mistress.
I'm excited enough to marry her myself.
Oh, thank you.
As you will see, Jocelyn, there is still much work to be done in building Jamestown.
I hope I didn't paint too rose-hued a picture when we met in Oxfordshire? I will leave you with Mercy, while I speak to the agent.
Let us be the first to congratulate you, sir, on your appointment - as our new governor.
- And on your recent knighthood.
I'm sure you'll understand, gentlemen, after such a taxing voyage, if I escort my wife home to rest and recuperate, before we begin the difficult business of governance.
[HORSE NEIGHS.]
[DOG BARKING.]
You look weary from your journey, Alice.
Oh, I don't mean that you appear anything but pretty.
What I mean is that I'm sure you'd like to rest.
Mm.
Why did Henry send his brothers to meet me? Is he not curious to see the woman he is to marry? We Sharrows are tenured to Master Massinger.
We work for our right to be here and the promise of our freedom one day.
So, the likes of us can't afford the price of a wife.
You cost him 150 pounds of the finest leaf tobacco.
[SHE LAUGHS.]
I'm glad to know I'm worth so many pounds of the finest tobacco.
The debt must be repaid with labour.
Henry has something of a hunger for work and improvement.
Eh? That's why we're here.
I know, Jocelyn, this is not what you were used to in England.
We made our arrangements in such haste.
We'll make the most of it.
You will stay here.
I have arranged to reside with a good friend until our wedding night.
I will let you settle in.
- You must be exhausted.
- Yes.
- Oh.
- Oh.
[ANIMAL SQUEALING.]
- [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- [DOG BARKING.]
[INSECT BUZZING.]
[SIGHS.]
Might I have some clean bedsheets? Eh them are the clean sheets, ma'am.
[GENTLE SOBBING.]
[SCREAMING.]
[WEEPING.]
Where might I find Meredith Rutter? [SCOFFS.]
A whole other world.
Meredith Rutter? [RATTLING.]
[DOOR OPENING, CREAKING.]
Henry, this is Alice.
We'll be married in a week.
Eh might I ask, sir, where can I find Meredith Rutter? What's your name? Verity.
Verity Bridges.
It's too late to be out on your own, Verity.
Jamestown is a hive of men starved of women.
I'll walk you to the tavern.
You can sleep the night there.
Ain't Alice Kett the lucky one? [RAUCOUS LAUGHTER.]
[SHE SIGHS.]
[SHE GASPS.]
No.
No.
[SHE YELLS.]
No! No! - [HE GRUNTS.]
- [SHE MOANS.]
- No! - [GRUNTING.]
[SHE CRIES.]
[SOBBING.]
The town will grow.
We might build a home out here.
[SIGHS.]
Imagine the views, Jocelyn.
What a place to raise children.
[SCOFFS.]
Children?! Children are thieves.
They exist merely to rob you of sleep.
Who are those men? That's Edgar Massinger.
He build his tobacco plantation with land he bought from the Company.
And the others? Marshall Redwick.
And the finely-dressed man is Secretary Farlow, my employer.
Samuel, I dined with Sir George several times on the journey.
He spoke so fondly of you, it gave me the most harmonious notion.
You must ask him to be groomsman at our wedding.
I have agreed with Christopher that he will.
- Christopher? - Dr Priestly.
The gentleman I spoke of.
He has been a kind friend to me since we arrived here.
He is to be my groomsman.
Oh.
[BELL TOLLS.]
- Meredith Rutter! - Get off! You are charged with slandering the Company, lewdness and drunkenness.
You are a reprobate.
And you, sir, are as fair and honest as any Virginia Company man.
- [LAUGHTER.]
- You're drunk now, are you not, Rutter? [BELCHING.]
[LAUGHTER.]
Sir Marshall Redwick, sir, I tried to be sober.
I didn't like it.
[LAUGHTER.]
You would stand here and mock this hearing, eh? Then I'll have you nailed by the ear to the post, - for the remainder of the day.
- You can't! Huh?! Huh?! - Huh?! - To the post! Ouch! Ouch! [LAUGHTER.]
- [HE GRUNTS.]
- [SHE WINCES.]
[GROANING.]
Our newly-arrived, newly-knighted governor, Sir George Yeardley wishes to address us all.
Ow! O-ow! [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
[GAVEL BANGING.]
You see standing before you a man proud.
Proud to be returned here as governor of all Virginia.
Proud to bring with me maids, to make wives, and confident that we can maintain I know why George Yeardley's come back.
He wants the same thing you were chasing nine years ago Gold.
We are building a new world.
A world where a man might start with nothing, and through his own labours and venturesome spirit he might prosper.
Towns will grow across this country, so that every man will enjoy fellowship and the freedom to pursue his own ambitions.
The Virginia Company would like to reward those who have served our colony from the very first day.
Those ancients of you who arrived here on the first ships will be granted your due.
Every man will receive 100 acres, to plant and cultivate as you see fit.
[HAPPY HUBBUB.]
Archibald Briggs Henry Sharrow Silas Sharrow Benjamin Briggs.
Nathanial Covington Is that the brother you're to marry? - [SOBBING.]
- Hey! He followed me down to the lake and I cried for him to stop, but He has no mercy in him.
I think he would have beaten the life out of me if I had not surrendered to him.
I will knee his balls up out of his throat.
No, Verity! No.
Hey.
Didn't the agent on the ship say we were to report our troubles to him? If the rules in this colony say you can have your face hammered to a post for blaspheming, then a man will hang for raping a woman.
Here, come here.
Samuel? Excuse me.
If you are to work closely with Sir George, would it not be a gesture of your devotion to him if you invite him to accompany you up the aisle? I could not cast Christopher aside simply to flatter the governor.
If Christopher was such a valiant friend, then he'd volunteer to step aside.
I would not so much as ask him.
Excuse me.
[MUTTERED CHATTERING.]
Samuel, I believe I feel rather faint, might we go home? There's such a weakness about me.
Jocelyn! Jocelyn! Heavens, ma'am! Is she withering, sir? You can wait outside now, thank you, Mercy.
I shall be just beyond that door, ma'am, and I shall be on my knees a-praying.
Have you been taken by this manner of frailty before? I believe you are to be groomsman to Samuel at our wedding.
An honour I am anticipating with great excitement.
There have been a turn of events I wish to discuss with you, Dr Priestly, If you'd be so kind.
I travelled here with Sir George Yeardley, a more benevolent man you could not wish to encounter.
- He's taken most kindly to my betrothed.
- Who can blame him? [LAUGHS.]
I am so pleased that you appreciate what this means, that you are receptive to my entreaty.
I'm not sure I yet follow your entreaty.
I had hoped you'd be gentleman enough to intuit our predicament.
Because of the change of circumstances, we wish that you step aside.
Samuel would like to pay Sir George the compliment of inviting him to serve as groomsman.
Ah.
I see.
Mistress Woodbryg, I'm curious as to why Samuel himself does not make this petition.
Well, he's too much of a gentleman to ask you.
Or perhaps to even think it.
Let us be frank, sir.
If Samuel is to advance here on this island, it will require influence.
I see that you are a lady well-versed - in the ways of the royal court.
- Mmm.
[BOTH CHUCKLE.]
[HE CHEERS.]
[SHE CHUCKLES.]
Henry will settle.
We have our own land now.
His soul will restore and he'll make a good husband.
I knew what I was accepting when my passage out here was paid.
To marry a man I'd never set eyes on before.
But when I found you on that wharf, Silas, that changed everything.
I had never seen such a beautiful face before.
I ain't ever known such a precious soul as yours, Alice.
But the stars, they aren't in our favour.
They aren't, they can't be.
[GRUNTS.]
Why are you so afraid of him? Henry kept me alive.
He kept Pepper alive.
He starved himself so that we might eat.
He fought with every ounce of himself so that we might survive.
We'll go upriver.
Trade for corn from the Indians.
But we can trade for corn in the town.
I don't want the corn in town.
Well, we've got so much land to clear, Henry, a shelter to build.
I don't possibly understand why you could think that Indian corn I'm not asking you to understand, I'm asking you to obey.
[NEIGHING.]
100 acres each.
That's a lot of land.
You've taken on a debt, Sharrow, from Master Massinger, to purchase your fine wife.
- He'll be paid.
- In labour.
- That's what you agreed.
- He'll be paid.
And how do you find your woman, Sharrow? She knows work.
That's why I picked myself a farm lass.
How does she find you? She finds me to be her husband.
100 acres is more than enough for you Sharrows to work.
Give your brother's share to Master Massinger and your debt will be cleared.
We've waited 12 years for this.
Worked every day for it.
I'll not give an acre up for a woman.
Your debt is called in, Sharrow.
You'll go to the recorder and transfer the land, or the law will have the final say in the matter.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
Verity Bridges? - No, my name is Abigail Lightfoot.
- Ah.
Were you thinking about taking the ship back to England? I had a look at this place and I decided it's not for me.
There's too much sky.
A lass might lose herself beneath so much sky.
If you go back, you'll be taken to prison, Verity.
I paid for your release, I paid for your passage, that means you're mine.
You'll stay and be married.
Come on.
Perhaps I might stay and not be married.
[LAUGHS.]
Come on.
Samuel, I wish you to reconsider if you truly would like me to be your groomsman.
[CHUCKLES.]
I insist.
If you were to invite the governor to accompany you up the aisle, I feel confident that your betrothed would recover in time for your wedding.
Christopher, you cannot believe that she is deliberately Perhaps if you were to try the suggestion, and see what effect it has on her.
Please don't wither away, Mistress Woodbryg.
The heat here makes folks wither.
I couldn't bear it if you were to leave just when you arrived.
- [KNOCKING.]
- Ma'am, I shall not leave your side.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
Governor.
Do you have a moment? Please come in.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Your letter, suggesting we send maids out here for marrying, most timely.
Thank you, Governor.
So that our directors might look upon your proposal more favourably, I implied to the Virginia Company that it was, in fact, my own notion.
I see.
My predecessor, Argyll, was determined that Marshall Redwick should follow him as governor.
I managed to persuade the company to appoint me.
So there will be resentment, which will stir up resistance.
I want you to report to me everything that Redwick and Secretary Farlow say.
You wish me to spy for you, Governor? That's as good a word as any.
I heard your wife is sick.
Perhaps it is the toll of the voyage, sir.
Then I won't keep you.
You are my eyes and ears here, Samuel.
We're loading muskets and powder because we're going into Indian territory.
There are still attacks.
I don't know why Henry wants us to take this trip, but I know it's not for corn.
Silas, will you speak with Henry while you're away? Tell him I refuse to marry him.
That is what was agreed.
He took on the debt.
He's the oldest.
- If it was possible - God, it has to be possible! Alice Alice.
Hey.
What? What is it? What? He followed me here.
I was searching for you.
It was not lust, Silas, it was not hunger, it was hatred.
I came here carrying as much hope as a woman can bear.
I will not marry your brother so that he might crush the soul out of me.
If I have to kill him with my own hands, I will defy him.
- Shh! - [SOBBING.]
You won't have to.
Don't let my dear mistress wither.
She has such a grievous sickness on her.
- [DOOR OPENS.]
- I fear so.
So, please, deliver her through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
- Amen.
- Is there no improvement, Mercy? I have wept and I have prayed.
I am praying right now, as I speak.
My thoughts are praying as my mouth is talking.
If there is a loving God above us, he will deliver this dear lady from the torment Be done with your babbling, Mercy.
When she chides me, sir, I take it as a blessed sign that there is life in her still.
- Hmm - I've spoken to Christopher.
And he has conceded that it might be best if I were to ask Governor Yeardley to serve as my groomsman.
- Hmm.
- Lord.
My mistress is the kindest-hearted, loveliest woman.
My dear master will be shook from his senses, Lord.
So, have mercy, Lord.
Amen.
- Thank you, Lord.
- Hmm.
MAN: Yeah, I'm going upriver to trade corn with the Indians.
What are the Sharrows to name the plantation? Err, the Sharrow Hundred.
I'm James.
Read.
Hello, James.
Oh! We make buckets out of military helmets.
Will you accept it? Get you started on your farm.
Oh.
What's that bruise on your hand? How'd you come by that? It was a perilous journey.
If you'll excuse me, Mr Read.
Where are the brothers? They've gone upriver.
Trade for corn with the Indians.
Where's the sense in that? Hmm.
[THEY SHOUT.]
Which one are you? Hey, hey! You pick a woman who's grateful.
Woman who's going to obey.
Going to work for you.
- She don't look that respectful to me.
- No, I know.
Ain't she fine, eh, Strawless? Any 12-year-old boy? Drove them dogs.
I've seen you looking, Strawless.
I've seen you looking.
What would you give for a night of pleasures with that girl, hey? Isn't it time for your bed? - I'll play you one last game for her.
- ALL: Oh! What are you going to put up for a night with the sweetest lady that walked off our ship? Oh, farthings.
Ha' pennies! - Come on, dig in! - She's worth more than that.
Come on, come on, come on.
That's it.
Yeah, all right.
That might do it.
Don't you throw those dice.
- Whoa, boys! - [THEY JEER.]
Whoa! A woman whose juice is up for a fight.
Yeah! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! - Oh! - [THEY CHEER.]
[HE SNORES.]
- Christopher.
- I'm pleased to see you are much restored, Mistress Woodbryg.
Entirely rejuvenated.
I have no doubt that Sir George will be flattered by Samuel's gesture of inviting him to be his groom.
He will say yes, because to say no might seem ungracious and a new governor could not risk such a friction with his devoted recorder.
And as he stands at the altar beside your husband-to-be, he will also be suspicious.
He will hear that I have been cast aside and he will wonder why.
He will surmise that a man who could do such a thing is a quite political animal.
He would then consider that there was a degree of calculation, are I say manipulation, in the offer.
Dr Priestley.
Are you telling me you do not wish to forfeit your role as groomsman? My fondness for Samuel rules my heart.
It is selfish of me, I know.
Then I understand.
We will leave the arrangements as they are.
For your sake.
You are consideration itself, Mistress Woodbryg.
I only hope that it's not too late.
- Jocelyn.
- Samuel.
Have you spoken to the governor? [SCOFFS.]
I was hoping to find an opportunity to do so today.
Darling, I could not bear it if you were to forsake dear Dr Priestley after he's been such a sweet companion to you.
- I implore you to reconsider.
- [LAUGHS.]
Why my mistress might invite the likes of common folk into her home, I do not know.
If there is a sweeter mistress in all of this colony, then I am a dog's arse.
Thank you for coming, Alice.
Please.
When I saw you in church, it came to my mind, I must invite dear Alice to show my gratitude.
Ma'am, if you feel that because of what occurred between us on the ship, you are in some way indebted to me It is sweet of you, Alice, to think some confidence is passed between us.
It was a fearful night.
Perhaps that intimidated your mind in some way.
That must be it.
- Yes.
- [LAUGHS.]
Having come all this way, we maids must look out for one another.
What is it that afflicted you so, Alice? Is your husband-to-be a kindly man? Such a thought has quite taken me.
The journey here, the rough sea.
The fact that this forbidding place is our lives now.
We're sisters of a sort.
- Yes, we are.
- Yes.
Your betrothed has been granted a parcel of land.
He has.
What is it, Alice? Some of the land will have to be given up to Master Massinger, in payment of the debt taken on to buy me.
Is that so? The marshal and the secretary demanded it.
Is that so? Where will she go, Meredith? Well, there isn't nowhere to go.
Nowhere! Only settlement out west, Berkeley Town.
The fool woman! Mistress Kett.
The kindness of your heart.
Could you? I will find her.
Could you pass me a nail? You can't go out there, mistress.
It isn't safe to.
Just tell me the way to go for Berkeley Town, Pepper.
West, along the river path but But you can't go.
Nine year ago, Yeardley were part of an expedition beyond the falls.
They tried to bribe the Powhatan, Pamunkey and the Chickahominy into telling them where the gold was to be found.
They didn't.
But it is here.
Yeardley was close to discovering it.
So, I've returned to find it.
Why might two farmers find what an expedition cannot? When I have the gold in my hand, brother then I'll be my own master.
We won't find it.
I will find the gold.
I'll do whatever it takes to find it.
That's why you need me.
Verity! [SHE LAUGHS.]
- Mistress Woodbryg.
- Hmm.
Perhaps I might speak with Recorder Castell.
I shall step outside.
I have been informed that Yeardley had a secret meeting with King James before he was appointed governor.
No-one in London knows what was said between them.
And Yeardley was immediately knighted.
I want you to find out what took place.
[SIGHS.]
Even supposing I was willing, Secretary Farlow, how am I to do that? You have the advantage of being inconsequential, Samuel.
Pass onto me anything you might overhear.
Or you might elicit with a seemingly innocent question.
Why was Yeardley knighted? What are King James's intentions for the colony? Secretary Farlow.
You are asking me to spy on our governor.
Spy.
Such a vulgar word.
Let us say that you're an emissary of intelligence.
- Sir, I must protest - You are here by my favour.
I can have you recalled to England before the month is out.
Samuel, I couldn't help overhearing what that loathsome man Farlow said to you.
Jocelyn, please, this is the business of the company and the colony.
- You cannot - It's only for your sake that I worry so.
Is that not what a devoted wife should do? I am caught in the most terrible perplexity.
Each man wants me to spy on the other.
[LAUGHS.]
Isn't that, well, perfect? The secretary wants to know what took place in the secret meet between King James and Yeardley, so we will tell him.
But there is no prospect of me discovering such a thing? Darling, we don't need to know.
We'll make it up.
We'll tell him something that serves to give you an advantage and weaken him.
I happen to know Farlow's You happen to know rather a lot, Jocelyn, for someone who's only just arrived.
Yes.
Redwick and Farlow are putting pressure on those men.
What are they called, the brothers? - Sharrow.
- Sharrow.
Pressure to give up land to the man you told me is intent on making a great fortune from tobacco.
Massinger.
So, we must use this opportunity to prevent them.
Jocelyn, much as I distrust those men, my conscience cannot allow me to do such a thing.
Verity! Verity! Verity Bridges! Where are you? Verity, you have to come back! [GROANS.]
[GRUNTS.]
Alice! Alice! Alice! - Oh! - Alice, get me out of here.
Alice! Help me.
Aren't you glad you got a friend brave enough to seek you out, Verity Bridges? There isn't one thing about this whole damn place that I don't hate! [SIGHS.]
You have to come back, Verity.
A shit-pants halfwit, I would have settled for.
A one-legged, one-eyed dog of a man, I would have found something to like about him.
Why did I have to be bought by a drunk? A drinker is a different man every day of the week.
And not one of them is worth a spit of love.
[SIGHS.]
Let's get you back, so you can wash up.
No, I'm not going back.
Well, where do you think you're going? There were women on the ship.
Er Ann-Marie, Geraldine, they were going to another settlement.
- What was it called? - Berkeley Town, what will you do there? I shall marry the first man I set my eyes on.
There'll be plenty who want a wife.
The taverner has paid your passage, they will know that.
Well, I will take my chances.
I'm not going back.
- Why should I? - Because I need you.
Do you think I don't want to run after what was done to me? Well, what if it's the same all across Virginia, Verity? What if these men have been on their own for so long, they're not men any more? The time will come when we have to stand and refuse and I know that, for me, that time is now.
But I need you by my side if I'm to do it.
And I want to be a strength and comfort to you.
Damn you, Alice Kett, you've made me weep.
And I I I hate weeping.
Weeping is for babies.
[SHE LAUGHS.]
Don't! Damn you, Alice Kett! I'll curse you for this every day of my life.
[SHE GIGGLES.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
- Mistress Woodbryg.
- Secretary.
I've come here in rather a hopeless plight.
I hope you could forgive the intrusion.
I'm to marry Samuel Castell in a few days' time, which means I will be committed to a life here.
I'm tormented with the need to know what will come of this place.
I shouldn't have come here.
Being disloyal to the man I'm betrothed to, I have no want to tell what I heard on the ship concerning the King.
Excuse me, I Mistress Woodbryg.
Please, sit down.
Sit down.
You're clearly too distressed to go anywhere.
Thank you.
You are a gentleman.
Now, what you were told clearly concerns you deeply.
Perhaps if you confide to me what it was, I might be able to reassure you.
Secretary, when I saw the plantations, I found myself thinking, "How can all of this be cast away?" Cast away? Is it true that King James so detests tobacco that he would jeopardise the entire colony by the forbidding of growing it? - Have I said something to upset you? - Forbid it? I believe the governor intends to arrange a gathering where he will announce it.
".
.
Vainglory, "but in lowliness of mind, "let each esteem other better than themselves.
" Oh, Lady Yeardley.
I'm in need of some spiritual sustenance.
What is it, Jocelyn? - [SHE SOBS.]
- Here.
It is not for myself that I weep.
Your husband's address brought such a wave of hope for those of us who believe in the New World.
It's so heartbreaking to see it undermined before it's even begun.
- Perhaps you could explain.
- It's wrong of me to interfere.
I should leave the governing-ance to the men.
See? I can't even say the word! BOTH: Governance.
Perhaps it is sentimental of me to feel so wounded about land being stolen away from poor farmers.
Who's stealing the land, Mistress Woodbryg? Sir.
There was a dear child on the ship who sought my counsel from time to time, Alice Kett.
Her man is being forced to give up his land to his neighbour.
To Massinger? I don't understand these things.
I simply thought if I were to pray and as I supplicated myself to the Lord, it came into my mind, if only there were a law to forbid the transference of land newly given to farmers.
You see the folly that fills my womanly mind.
Doesn't sound like folly at all to me, Mistress Woodbryg.
Thank you, Lady Yeardley.
I was so affected by your husband's address, I began thinking, if only he could convey such a law to the entire town, in those intoxicating words of his.
Shall we return to our reading? Hmm.
- Whoa! - [THEY LAUGH.]
- Whoa! - [INSECTS BUZZING.]
[GROWLING.]
- You slow down! - [THEY LAUGH.]
[HOWLING.]
[THEY BARK.]
[GROANS.]
Back! [BARKING.]
[GUNSHOT.]
Don't run.
- [THEY WHIMPER.]
- Walk backwards till you reach me.
Don't turn away.
Move down towards the river, you'll find a boat.
Get into it.
Henry, you are my brother.
And I love you.
But I want the land that was given to me.
My 100 acres to work myself.
We'll work it together.
You need me.
You cannot treat Alice this way, Henry.
That soft heart of yours will see you skinned alive one day.
You'll harm her no more.
She's mine to do with as I please.
[HE GRUNTS.]
[GRUNTING.]
You're not man enough to take her, Silas.
There may be Indians about.
I'll sleep in the boat with the provisions.
[HORSE WHINNIES.]
We won't let him do it.
We'll prevent Yeardley.
And how do you intend to defy the King? You will lose your position that same day.
That's what he wants.
That's why he proposes to announce it so publicly.
To force us to act against him so he might have us removed from office.
We don't need to take a stand against Yeardley.
Let the farmers do it.
Once we tell them they cannot grow tobacco, they will tear Yeardley down.
I'm not marrying a man who would gamble me away on the roll of a dice.
Woman, when I drink beyond my senses, there ain't no logic left in me.
Except one corner of the mind where cunning abides.
But that little devil of thinking it never deserts me.
It's like a heavenly angel taking care of me.
And that's why I gamble.
Do you suppose I'm some kind of fool? I paid for your passage.
I like the look of you.
Do you think I'm going to let some old, lechering sailor get his hands on you? If I thought I was going to lose that bet, I would never have made it.
Dice is a game of chance.
Oh, yeah, it is.
If you play it honestly.
Since I'm too afraid of chance, I think it's only fair that I cheat.
You let me believe I was to marry a man who would sell me? [GROANS, LAUGHTER.]
I think I've got myself a good wife.
Silas! Silas! [HE WAILS.]
You might actually look human if you took a comb to your hair about once a month.
I'm a different creature when I drink, and I drink every day.
Oh, I know all about men and drink.
You little thief.
If you thieve here, the same day, they'll take you up to the gallows.
If you thieve from me, I'll tell the marshal.
[SNIFFS.]
Sould I believe you would? [LAUGHS.]
I would.
Is that Silas Sharrow? Where's Henry? I should tell Alice.
Henry was smoking and there was powder.
When I woke, there was a fire on the boat, sir.
Henry was burning.
There was gunpowder exploding around him.
He fell into the water.
There was no life left in him by then.
Was it Indians? I don't believe it was, sir.
It was an accident.
What were you doing so far upriver, Sharrow? Henry wanted us to trade for corn.
The governor's called an assembly.
We'll have your brother's death recorded after that.
Where did Henry die, Silas? Near Westover.
- Further on the river.
- You went beyond Weyanoke, that's - a long way to go for corn.
- Let the man grieve, won't you? Silas put your arm around Pepper.
Comfort your brother.
Lift your eyes or it looks like guilt.
Let your neighbours console you in your sorrow and your loss.
- [SIGHS.]
- Come on.
[BELL TOLLS.]
To give men land and tell them they cannot profit from it is a miscalculation so lumpish it might even be beautiful.
They look fit to rip Yeardley down from his platform.
Better than that, my friend.
To rip him down from his position as governor.
[SPITS.]
We are here because we share a great purpose.
Let us serve well our great King, let us bringing honour.
Honour, justice and profit.
I'm here today to announce a change, a change in the providing and exploitation of land.
There are wondrous opportunities, farms will be the making of men, and tobacco will surely fill the fields of our new plantations.
On behalf of the Virginia Company, I will institute a law disallowing the sale or transference of any lands newly granted to ancients.
Secretary I'm so very sorry if I misled you.
I should have told you that evening on the ship.
I, too, was rather ruffled by drink, so perhaps I misunderstood what the governor was saying.
I do hope I've not caused you too much trouble.
[GASPS.]
No, yeah I never noticed how pretty you was till now.
- Oh.
- Aww.
There's times when the drink isn't your friend.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
W-watch Look at this.
[CHUCKLES.]
I traded this when I first got here.
I gave the Indians two barrels of ale for it.
Do you know what it is? I've never touched gold before.
Do you know what that means? It means, one day, this whole town is going to be mad with riches.
You and me, Verity we've got to be ready for it.
[LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS.]
[LAUGHING.]
[CHEERING.]
One day, Samuel, you're going to be governor here, master of all Virginia.
I know it and I love you.
Not many people could see the kindness in my brother.
He wouldn't let them.
I did.
I saw it my whole life.
And that's why I love you.
Pray with me, Silas.
[SNIFFLES.]
[SOBBING.]
[SOBBING.]
[FLIES BUZZING.]
What? [SHATTERED BREATHING.]
Here, let me help you.
[WOMAN WAILS.]
Ma'am? Are we going to die out here? No.
The storm will pass.
I'll go to hell for what I've done.
What is it, Mistress Woodbryg? I had to leave England.
That's why I'm here.
That's why I'll surely die.
I killed a man.
MAN: That's the worst of it, I reckon.
Aren't you glad, Verity? Aren't you grateful that we're the ones to come to this new world? Hell's teeth, no! [BOTH LAUGH.]
- Land! - [BELL RINGING.]
Land! Heave! [LEERY HUBBUB.]
William Clemell.
Edward Manston.
Joshua Little.
Alice Kett.
Henry Sharrow.
Edmund Godfrey.
Henry? Alice.
I'm Silas.
- Oh.
- I'm to take you to my brother.
This is Pepper, the youngest Sharrow.
Here.
I hope you find this place as we do.
The most beautiful land that God ever made.
Verity Bridges.
Meredith Rutter! Meredith Rutter?! Sir.
Master Castell, sir.
You forgot the love token.
Oh, thank you, Mercy.
[SIGHS.]
Is she beautiful, Master Castell, sir? She is, Mercy.
[LAUGHS.]
I always wanted a mistress.
No disrespect intended, sir.
It is fine to have a master, but I always wished to have a mistress.
I'm excited enough to marry her myself.
Oh, thank you.
As you will see, Jocelyn, there is still much work to be done in building Jamestown.
I hope I didn't paint too rose-hued a picture when we met in Oxfordshire? I will leave you with Mercy, while I speak to the agent.
Let us be the first to congratulate you, sir, on your appointment - as our new governor.
- And on your recent knighthood.
I'm sure you'll understand, gentlemen, after such a taxing voyage, if I escort my wife home to rest and recuperate, before we begin the difficult business of governance.
[HORSE NEIGHS.]
[DOG BARKING.]
You look weary from your journey, Alice.
Oh, I don't mean that you appear anything but pretty.
What I mean is that I'm sure you'd like to rest.
Mm.
Why did Henry send his brothers to meet me? Is he not curious to see the woman he is to marry? We Sharrows are tenured to Master Massinger.
We work for our right to be here and the promise of our freedom one day.
So, the likes of us can't afford the price of a wife.
You cost him 150 pounds of the finest leaf tobacco.
[SHE LAUGHS.]
I'm glad to know I'm worth so many pounds of the finest tobacco.
The debt must be repaid with labour.
Henry has something of a hunger for work and improvement.
Eh? That's why we're here.
I know, Jocelyn, this is not what you were used to in England.
We made our arrangements in such haste.
We'll make the most of it.
You will stay here.
I have arranged to reside with a good friend until our wedding night.
I will let you settle in.
- You must be exhausted.
- Yes.
- Oh.
- Oh.
[ANIMAL SQUEALING.]
- [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- [DOG BARKING.]
[INSECT BUZZING.]
[SIGHS.]
Might I have some clean bedsheets? Eh them are the clean sheets, ma'am.
[GENTLE SOBBING.]
[SCREAMING.]
[WEEPING.]
Where might I find Meredith Rutter? [SCOFFS.]
A whole other world.
Meredith Rutter? [RATTLING.]
[DOOR OPENING, CREAKING.]
Henry, this is Alice.
We'll be married in a week.
Eh might I ask, sir, where can I find Meredith Rutter? What's your name? Verity.
Verity Bridges.
It's too late to be out on your own, Verity.
Jamestown is a hive of men starved of women.
I'll walk you to the tavern.
You can sleep the night there.
Ain't Alice Kett the lucky one? [RAUCOUS LAUGHTER.]
[SHE SIGHS.]
[SHE GASPS.]
No.
No.
[SHE YELLS.]
No! No! - [HE GRUNTS.]
- [SHE MOANS.]
- No! - [GRUNTING.]
[SHE CRIES.]
[SOBBING.]
The town will grow.
We might build a home out here.
[SIGHS.]
Imagine the views, Jocelyn.
What a place to raise children.
[SCOFFS.]
Children?! Children are thieves.
They exist merely to rob you of sleep.
Who are those men? That's Edgar Massinger.
He build his tobacco plantation with land he bought from the Company.
And the others? Marshall Redwick.
And the finely-dressed man is Secretary Farlow, my employer.
Samuel, I dined with Sir George several times on the journey.
He spoke so fondly of you, it gave me the most harmonious notion.
You must ask him to be groomsman at our wedding.
I have agreed with Christopher that he will.
- Christopher? - Dr Priestly.
The gentleman I spoke of.
He has been a kind friend to me since we arrived here.
He is to be my groomsman.
Oh.
[BELL TOLLS.]
- Meredith Rutter! - Get off! You are charged with slandering the Company, lewdness and drunkenness.
You are a reprobate.
And you, sir, are as fair and honest as any Virginia Company man.
- [LAUGHTER.]
- You're drunk now, are you not, Rutter? [BELCHING.]
[LAUGHTER.]
Sir Marshall Redwick, sir, I tried to be sober.
I didn't like it.
[LAUGHTER.]
You would stand here and mock this hearing, eh? Then I'll have you nailed by the ear to the post, - for the remainder of the day.
- You can't! Huh?! Huh?! - Huh?! - To the post! Ouch! Ouch! [LAUGHTER.]
- [HE GRUNTS.]
- [SHE WINCES.]
[GROANING.]
Our newly-arrived, newly-knighted governor, Sir George Yeardley wishes to address us all.
Ow! O-ow! [INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
[GAVEL BANGING.]
You see standing before you a man proud.
Proud to be returned here as governor of all Virginia.
Proud to bring with me maids, to make wives, and confident that we can maintain I know why George Yeardley's come back.
He wants the same thing you were chasing nine years ago Gold.
We are building a new world.
A world where a man might start with nothing, and through his own labours and venturesome spirit he might prosper.
Towns will grow across this country, so that every man will enjoy fellowship and the freedom to pursue his own ambitions.
The Virginia Company would like to reward those who have served our colony from the very first day.
Those ancients of you who arrived here on the first ships will be granted your due.
Every man will receive 100 acres, to plant and cultivate as you see fit.
[HAPPY HUBBUB.]
Archibald Briggs Henry Sharrow Silas Sharrow Benjamin Briggs.
Nathanial Covington Is that the brother you're to marry? - [SOBBING.]
- Hey! He followed me down to the lake and I cried for him to stop, but He has no mercy in him.
I think he would have beaten the life out of me if I had not surrendered to him.
I will knee his balls up out of his throat.
No, Verity! No.
Hey.
Didn't the agent on the ship say we were to report our troubles to him? If the rules in this colony say you can have your face hammered to a post for blaspheming, then a man will hang for raping a woman.
Here, come here.
Samuel? Excuse me.
If you are to work closely with Sir George, would it not be a gesture of your devotion to him if you invite him to accompany you up the aisle? I could not cast Christopher aside simply to flatter the governor.
If Christopher was such a valiant friend, then he'd volunteer to step aside.
I would not so much as ask him.
Excuse me.
[MUTTERED CHATTERING.]
Samuel, I believe I feel rather faint, might we go home? There's such a weakness about me.
Jocelyn! Jocelyn! Heavens, ma'am! Is she withering, sir? You can wait outside now, thank you, Mercy.
I shall be just beyond that door, ma'am, and I shall be on my knees a-praying.
Have you been taken by this manner of frailty before? I believe you are to be groomsman to Samuel at our wedding.
An honour I am anticipating with great excitement.
There have been a turn of events I wish to discuss with you, Dr Priestly, If you'd be so kind.
I travelled here with Sir George Yeardley, a more benevolent man you could not wish to encounter.
- He's taken most kindly to my betrothed.
- Who can blame him? [LAUGHS.]
I am so pleased that you appreciate what this means, that you are receptive to my entreaty.
I'm not sure I yet follow your entreaty.
I had hoped you'd be gentleman enough to intuit our predicament.
Because of the change of circumstances, we wish that you step aside.
Samuel would like to pay Sir George the compliment of inviting him to serve as groomsman.
Ah.
I see.
Mistress Woodbryg, I'm curious as to why Samuel himself does not make this petition.
Well, he's too much of a gentleman to ask you.
Or perhaps to even think it.
Let us be frank, sir.
If Samuel is to advance here on this island, it will require influence.
I see that you are a lady well-versed - in the ways of the royal court.
- Mmm.
[BOTH CHUCKLE.]
[HE CHEERS.]
[SHE CHUCKLES.]
Henry will settle.
We have our own land now.
His soul will restore and he'll make a good husband.
I knew what I was accepting when my passage out here was paid.
To marry a man I'd never set eyes on before.
But when I found you on that wharf, Silas, that changed everything.
I had never seen such a beautiful face before.
I ain't ever known such a precious soul as yours, Alice.
But the stars, they aren't in our favour.
They aren't, they can't be.
[GRUNTS.]
Why are you so afraid of him? Henry kept me alive.
He kept Pepper alive.
He starved himself so that we might eat.
He fought with every ounce of himself so that we might survive.
We'll go upriver.
Trade for corn from the Indians.
But we can trade for corn in the town.
I don't want the corn in town.
Well, we've got so much land to clear, Henry, a shelter to build.
I don't possibly understand why you could think that Indian corn I'm not asking you to understand, I'm asking you to obey.
[NEIGHING.]
100 acres each.
That's a lot of land.
You've taken on a debt, Sharrow, from Master Massinger, to purchase your fine wife.
- He'll be paid.
- In labour.
- That's what you agreed.
- He'll be paid.
And how do you find your woman, Sharrow? She knows work.
That's why I picked myself a farm lass.
How does she find you? She finds me to be her husband.
100 acres is more than enough for you Sharrows to work.
Give your brother's share to Master Massinger and your debt will be cleared.
We've waited 12 years for this.
Worked every day for it.
I'll not give an acre up for a woman.
Your debt is called in, Sharrow.
You'll go to the recorder and transfer the land, or the law will have the final say in the matter.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
Verity Bridges? - No, my name is Abigail Lightfoot.
- Ah.
Were you thinking about taking the ship back to England? I had a look at this place and I decided it's not for me.
There's too much sky.
A lass might lose herself beneath so much sky.
If you go back, you'll be taken to prison, Verity.
I paid for your release, I paid for your passage, that means you're mine.
You'll stay and be married.
Come on.
Perhaps I might stay and not be married.
[LAUGHS.]
Come on.
Samuel, I wish you to reconsider if you truly would like me to be your groomsman.
[CHUCKLES.]
I insist.
If you were to invite the governor to accompany you up the aisle, I feel confident that your betrothed would recover in time for your wedding.
Christopher, you cannot believe that she is deliberately Perhaps if you were to try the suggestion, and see what effect it has on her.
Please don't wither away, Mistress Woodbryg.
The heat here makes folks wither.
I couldn't bear it if you were to leave just when you arrived.
- [KNOCKING.]
- Ma'am, I shall not leave your side.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
Governor.
Do you have a moment? Please come in.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Your letter, suggesting we send maids out here for marrying, most timely.
Thank you, Governor.
So that our directors might look upon your proposal more favourably, I implied to the Virginia Company that it was, in fact, my own notion.
I see.
My predecessor, Argyll, was determined that Marshall Redwick should follow him as governor.
I managed to persuade the company to appoint me.
So there will be resentment, which will stir up resistance.
I want you to report to me everything that Redwick and Secretary Farlow say.
You wish me to spy for you, Governor? That's as good a word as any.
I heard your wife is sick.
Perhaps it is the toll of the voyage, sir.
Then I won't keep you.
You are my eyes and ears here, Samuel.
We're loading muskets and powder because we're going into Indian territory.
There are still attacks.
I don't know why Henry wants us to take this trip, but I know it's not for corn.
Silas, will you speak with Henry while you're away? Tell him I refuse to marry him.
That is what was agreed.
He took on the debt.
He's the oldest.
- If it was possible - God, it has to be possible! Alice Alice.
Hey.
What? What is it? What? He followed me here.
I was searching for you.
It was not lust, Silas, it was not hunger, it was hatred.
I came here carrying as much hope as a woman can bear.
I will not marry your brother so that he might crush the soul out of me.
If I have to kill him with my own hands, I will defy him.
- Shh! - [SOBBING.]
You won't have to.
Don't let my dear mistress wither.
She has such a grievous sickness on her.
- [DOOR OPENS.]
- I fear so.
So, please, deliver her through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
- Amen.
- Is there no improvement, Mercy? I have wept and I have prayed.
I am praying right now, as I speak.
My thoughts are praying as my mouth is talking.
If there is a loving God above us, he will deliver this dear lady from the torment Be done with your babbling, Mercy.
When she chides me, sir, I take it as a blessed sign that there is life in her still.
- Hmm - I've spoken to Christopher.
And he has conceded that it might be best if I were to ask Governor Yeardley to serve as my groomsman.
- Hmm.
- Lord.
My mistress is the kindest-hearted, loveliest woman.
My dear master will be shook from his senses, Lord.
So, have mercy, Lord.
Amen.
- Thank you, Lord.
- Hmm.
MAN: Yeah, I'm going upriver to trade corn with the Indians.
What are the Sharrows to name the plantation? Err, the Sharrow Hundred.
I'm James.
Read.
Hello, James.
Oh! We make buckets out of military helmets.
Will you accept it? Get you started on your farm.
Oh.
What's that bruise on your hand? How'd you come by that? It was a perilous journey.
If you'll excuse me, Mr Read.
Where are the brothers? They've gone upriver.
Trade for corn with the Indians.
Where's the sense in that? Hmm.
[THEY SHOUT.]
Which one are you? Hey, hey! You pick a woman who's grateful.
Woman who's going to obey.
Going to work for you.
- She don't look that respectful to me.
- No, I know.
Ain't she fine, eh, Strawless? Any 12-year-old boy? Drove them dogs.
I've seen you looking, Strawless.
I've seen you looking.
What would you give for a night of pleasures with that girl, hey? Isn't it time for your bed? - I'll play you one last game for her.
- ALL: Oh! What are you going to put up for a night with the sweetest lady that walked off our ship? Oh, farthings.
Ha' pennies! - Come on, dig in! - She's worth more than that.
Come on, come on, come on.
That's it.
Yeah, all right.
That might do it.
Don't you throw those dice.
- Whoa, boys! - [THEY JEER.]
Whoa! A woman whose juice is up for a fight.
Yeah! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! - Oh! - [THEY CHEER.]
[HE SNORES.]
- Christopher.
- I'm pleased to see you are much restored, Mistress Woodbryg.
Entirely rejuvenated.
I have no doubt that Sir George will be flattered by Samuel's gesture of inviting him to be his groom.
He will say yes, because to say no might seem ungracious and a new governor could not risk such a friction with his devoted recorder.
And as he stands at the altar beside your husband-to-be, he will also be suspicious.
He will hear that I have been cast aside and he will wonder why.
He will surmise that a man who could do such a thing is a quite political animal.
He would then consider that there was a degree of calculation, are I say manipulation, in the offer.
Dr Priestley.
Are you telling me you do not wish to forfeit your role as groomsman? My fondness for Samuel rules my heart.
It is selfish of me, I know.
Then I understand.
We will leave the arrangements as they are.
For your sake.
You are consideration itself, Mistress Woodbryg.
I only hope that it's not too late.
- Jocelyn.
- Samuel.
Have you spoken to the governor? [SCOFFS.]
I was hoping to find an opportunity to do so today.
Darling, I could not bear it if you were to forsake dear Dr Priestley after he's been such a sweet companion to you.
- I implore you to reconsider.
- [LAUGHS.]
Why my mistress might invite the likes of common folk into her home, I do not know.
If there is a sweeter mistress in all of this colony, then I am a dog's arse.
Thank you for coming, Alice.
Please.
When I saw you in church, it came to my mind, I must invite dear Alice to show my gratitude.
Ma'am, if you feel that because of what occurred between us on the ship, you are in some way indebted to me It is sweet of you, Alice, to think some confidence is passed between us.
It was a fearful night.
Perhaps that intimidated your mind in some way.
That must be it.
- Yes.
- [LAUGHS.]
Having come all this way, we maids must look out for one another.
What is it that afflicted you so, Alice? Is your husband-to-be a kindly man? Such a thought has quite taken me.
The journey here, the rough sea.
The fact that this forbidding place is our lives now.
We're sisters of a sort.
- Yes, we are.
- Yes.
Your betrothed has been granted a parcel of land.
He has.
What is it, Alice? Some of the land will have to be given up to Master Massinger, in payment of the debt taken on to buy me.
Is that so? The marshal and the secretary demanded it.
Is that so? Where will she go, Meredith? Well, there isn't nowhere to go.
Nowhere! Only settlement out west, Berkeley Town.
The fool woman! Mistress Kett.
The kindness of your heart.
Could you? I will find her.
Could you pass me a nail? You can't go out there, mistress.
It isn't safe to.
Just tell me the way to go for Berkeley Town, Pepper.
West, along the river path but But you can't go.
Nine year ago, Yeardley were part of an expedition beyond the falls.
They tried to bribe the Powhatan, Pamunkey and the Chickahominy into telling them where the gold was to be found.
They didn't.
But it is here.
Yeardley was close to discovering it.
So, I've returned to find it.
Why might two farmers find what an expedition cannot? When I have the gold in my hand, brother then I'll be my own master.
We won't find it.
I will find the gold.
I'll do whatever it takes to find it.
That's why you need me.
Verity! [SHE LAUGHS.]
- Mistress Woodbryg.
- Hmm.
Perhaps I might speak with Recorder Castell.
I shall step outside.
I have been informed that Yeardley had a secret meeting with King James before he was appointed governor.
No-one in London knows what was said between them.
And Yeardley was immediately knighted.
I want you to find out what took place.
[SIGHS.]
Even supposing I was willing, Secretary Farlow, how am I to do that? You have the advantage of being inconsequential, Samuel.
Pass onto me anything you might overhear.
Or you might elicit with a seemingly innocent question.
Why was Yeardley knighted? What are King James's intentions for the colony? Secretary Farlow.
You are asking me to spy on our governor.
Spy.
Such a vulgar word.
Let us say that you're an emissary of intelligence.
- Sir, I must protest - You are here by my favour.
I can have you recalled to England before the month is out.
Samuel, I couldn't help overhearing what that loathsome man Farlow said to you.
Jocelyn, please, this is the business of the company and the colony.
- You cannot - It's only for your sake that I worry so.
Is that not what a devoted wife should do? I am caught in the most terrible perplexity.
Each man wants me to spy on the other.
[LAUGHS.]
Isn't that, well, perfect? The secretary wants to know what took place in the secret meet between King James and Yeardley, so we will tell him.
But there is no prospect of me discovering such a thing? Darling, we don't need to know.
We'll make it up.
We'll tell him something that serves to give you an advantage and weaken him.
I happen to know Farlow's You happen to know rather a lot, Jocelyn, for someone who's only just arrived.
Yes.
Redwick and Farlow are putting pressure on those men.
What are they called, the brothers? - Sharrow.
- Sharrow.
Pressure to give up land to the man you told me is intent on making a great fortune from tobacco.
Massinger.
So, we must use this opportunity to prevent them.
Jocelyn, much as I distrust those men, my conscience cannot allow me to do such a thing.
Verity! Verity! Verity Bridges! Where are you? Verity, you have to come back! [GROANS.]
[GRUNTS.]
Alice! Alice! Alice! - Oh! - Alice, get me out of here.
Alice! Help me.
Aren't you glad you got a friend brave enough to seek you out, Verity Bridges? There isn't one thing about this whole damn place that I don't hate! [SIGHS.]
You have to come back, Verity.
A shit-pants halfwit, I would have settled for.
A one-legged, one-eyed dog of a man, I would have found something to like about him.
Why did I have to be bought by a drunk? A drinker is a different man every day of the week.
And not one of them is worth a spit of love.
[SIGHS.]
Let's get you back, so you can wash up.
No, I'm not going back.
Well, where do you think you're going? There were women on the ship.
Er Ann-Marie, Geraldine, they were going to another settlement.
- What was it called? - Berkeley Town, what will you do there? I shall marry the first man I set my eyes on.
There'll be plenty who want a wife.
The taverner has paid your passage, they will know that.
Well, I will take my chances.
I'm not going back.
- Why should I? - Because I need you.
Do you think I don't want to run after what was done to me? Well, what if it's the same all across Virginia, Verity? What if these men have been on their own for so long, they're not men any more? The time will come when we have to stand and refuse and I know that, for me, that time is now.
But I need you by my side if I'm to do it.
And I want to be a strength and comfort to you.
Damn you, Alice Kett, you've made me weep.
And I I I hate weeping.
Weeping is for babies.
[SHE LAUGHS.]
Don't! Damn you, Alice Kett! I'll curse you for this every day of my life.
[SHE GIGGLES.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
- Mistress Woodbryg.
- Secretary.
I've come here in rather a hopeless plight.
I hope you could forgive the intrusion.
I'm to marry Samuel Castell in a few days' time, which means I will be committed to a life here.
I'm tormented with the need to know what will come of this place.
I shouldn't have come here.
Being disloyal to the man I'm betrothed to, I have no want to tell what I heard on the ship concerning the King.
Excuse me, I Mistress Woodbryg.
Please, sit down.
Sit down.
You're clearly too distressed to go anywhere.
Thank you.
You are a gentleman.
Now, what you were told clearly concerns you deeply.
Perhaps if you confide to me what it was, I might be able to reassure you.
Secretary, when I saw the plantations, I found myself thinking, "How can all of this be cast away?" Cast away? Is it true that King James so detests tobacco that he would jeopardise the entire colony by the forbidding of growing it? - Have I said something to upset you? - Forbid it? I believe the governor intends to arrange a gathering where he will announce it.
".
.
Vainglory, "but in lowliness of mind, "let each esteem other better than themselves.
" Oh, Lady Yeardley.
I'm in need of some spiritual sustenance.
What is it, Jocelyn? - [SHE SOBS.]
- Here.
It is not for myself that I weep.
Your husband's address brought such a wave of hope for those of us who believe in the New World.
It's so heartbreaking to see it undermined before it's even begun.
- Perhaps you could explain.
- It's wrong of me to interfere.
I should leave the governing-ance to the men.
See? I can't even say the word! BOTH: Governance.
Perhaps it is sentimental of me to feel so wounded about land being stolen away from poor farmers.
Who's stealing the land, Mistress Woodbryg? Sir.
There was a dear child on the ship who sought my counsel from time to time, Alice Kett.
Her man is being forced to give up his land to his neighbour.
To Massinger? I don't understand these things.
I simply thought if I were to pray and as I supplicated myself to the Lord, it came into my mind, if only there were a law to forbid the transference of land newly given to farmers.
You see the folly that fills my womanly mind.
Doesn't sound like folly at all to me, Mistress Woodbryg.
Thank you, Lady Yeardley.
I was so affected by your husband's address, I began thinking, if only he could convey such a law to the entire town, in those intoxicating words of his.
Shall we return to our reading? Hmm.
- Whoa! - [THEY LAUGH.]
- Whoa! - [INSECTS BUZZING.]
[GROWLING.]
- You slow down! - [THEY LAUGH.]
[HOWLING.]
[THEY BARK.]
[GROANS.]
Back! [BARKING.]
[GUNSHOT.]
Don't run.
- [THEY WHIMPER.]
- Walk backwards till you reach me.
Don't turn away.
Move down towards the river, you'll find a boat.
Get into it.
Henry, you are my brother.
And I love you.
But I want the land that was given to me.
My 100 acres to work myself.
We'll work it together.
You need me.
You cannot treat Alice this way, Henry.
That soft heart of yours will see you skinned alive one day.
You'll harm her no more.
She's mine to do with as I please.
[HE GRUNTS.]
[GRUNTING.]
You're not man enough to take her, Silas.
There may be Indians about.
I'll sleep in the boat with the provisions.
[HORSE WHINNIES.]
We won't let him do it.
We'll prevent Yeardley.
And how do you intend to defy the King? You will lose your position that same day.
That's what he wants.
That's why he proposes to announce it so publicly.
To force us to act against him so he might have us removed from office.
We don't need to take a stand against Yeardley.
Let the farmers do it.
Once we tell them they cannot grow tobacco, they will tear Yeardley down.
I'm not marrying a man who would gamble me away on the roll of a dice.
Woman, when I drink beyond my senses, there ain't no logic left in me.
Except one corner of the mind where cunning abides.
But that little devil of thinking it never deserts me.
It's like a heavenly angel taking care of me.
And that's why I gamble.
Do you suppose I'm some kind of fool? I paid for your passage.
I like the look of you.
Do you think I'm going to let some old, lechering sailor get his hands on you? If I thought I was going to lose that bet, I would never have made it.
Dice is a game of chance.
Oh, yeah, it is.
If you play it honestly.
Since I'm too afraid of chance, I think it's only fair that I cheat.
You let me believe I was to marry a man who would sell me? [GROANS, LAUGHTER.]
I think I've got myself a good wife.
Silas! Silas! [HE WAILS.]
You might actually look human if you took a comb to your hair about once a month.
I'm a different creature when I drink, and I drink every day.
Oh, I know all about men and drink.
You little thief.
If you thieve here, the same day, they'll take you up to the gallows.
If you thieve from me, I'll tell the marshal.
[SNIFFS.]
Sould I believe you would? [LAUGHS.]
I would.
Is that Silas Sharrow? Where's Henry? I should tell Alice.
Henry was smoking and there was powder.
When I woke, there was a fire on the boat, sir.
Henry was burning.
There was gunpowder exploding around him.
He fell into the water.
There was no life left in him by then.
Was it Indians? I don't believe it was, sir.
It was an accident.
What were you doing so far upriver, Sharrow? Henry wanted us to trade for corn.
The governor's called an assembly.
We'll have your brother's death recorded after that.
Where did Henry die, Silas? Near Westover.
- Further on the river.
- You went beyond Weyanoke, that's - a long way to go for corn.
- Let the man grieve, won't you? Silas put your arm around Pepper.
Comfort your brother.
Lift your eyes or it looks like guilt.
Let your neighbours console you in your sorrow and your loss.
- [SIGHS.]
- Come on.
[BELL TOLLS.]
To give men land and tell them they cannot profit from it is a miscalculation so lumpish it might even be beautiful.
They look fit to rip Yeardley down from his platform.
Better than that, my friend.
To rip him down from his position as governor.
[SPITS.]
We are here because we share a great purpose.
Let us serve well our great King, let us bringing honour.
Honour, justice and profit.
I'm here today to announce a change, a change in the providing and exploitation of land.
There are wondrous opportunities, farms will be the making of men, and tobacco will surely fill the fields of our new plantations.
On behalf of the Virginia Company, I will institute a law disallowing the sale or transference of any lands newly granted to ancients.
Secretary I'm so very sorry if I misled you.
I should have told you that evening on the ship.
I, too, was rather ruffled by drink, so perhaps I misunderstood what the governor was saying.
I do hope I've not caused you too much trouble.
[GASPS.]
No, yeah I never noticed how pretty you was till now.
- Oh.
- Aww.
There's times when the drink isn't your friend.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
W-watch Look at this.
[CHUCKLES.]
I traded this when I first got here.
I gave the Indians two barrels of ale for it.
Do you know what it is? I've never touched gold before.
Do you know what that means? It means, one day, this whole town is going to be mad with riches.
You and me, Verity we've got to be ready for it.
[LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS.]
[LAUGHING.]
[CHEERING.]
One day, Samuel, you're going to be governor here, master of all Virginia.
I know it and I love you.
Not many people could see the kindness in my brother.
He wouldn't let them.
I did.
I saw it my whole life.
And that's why I love you.
Pray with me, Silas.
[SNIFFLES.]
[SOBBING.]
[SOBBING.]
[FLIES BUZZING.]
What? [SHATTERED BREATHING.]