gland.   For the interior adornment of churches the century had one sovereign agent, the whitewash,
which in addition to its cheapness and appearance of cleanliness, possessed for that age a symbolic
value as typifying the dispersal of mysticism and obscurity by the penetration of the pure light of
reason. The results, in Archbishop Secker s view, were particularly pleasing:  It not only diversifies
the walls very agreeably and decently, but affords useful matter for meditation for the people before
the service begins.   Sykes, Church and State, 233 34. For evidence of whitewashing the interior walls
of a Virginia church, see Kingston Parish Vestry Book, 26 November 1754, 53.
Apparently several Virginia churches, however, had wall paintings. Bishop Meade recalled that
at the Poplar Spring Church in Petsworth Parish there was   a broad cornice, painted with the re-
semblance of a bright blue sky, and clouds rolling off on either hand; below this were fragments of
the plaster, extending farther down at the corners, and representing an immense crimson curtain
drawn back. I remember seeing part of what seemed a very large cord and tassel. Momma said there
used to be an angel just where the curtain was drawn on one side, with a trumpet in his hand, and
rolling on toward him were vast bodies of clouds and angels in them, and that she used to fancy
one of the faces was like her dear little brother John, who was drowned when only ten years old. 
Meade, 1:323.
Upton offers evidence of several other colonial period paintings but observes that they, like the
Poplar Spring example, decorated the altarpiece texts that retained their dominant role. Upton, Holy
Things and Profane,118 20. Lambs Creek (King George) reportedly displayed a mural painting of angels
  floating in the clouds.  George Carrington Mason,   The Colonial Churches of Westmoreland and
King George Counties, Virginia,  VMHB 56 (1948): 292. Altarpieces were not infrequently donated
to Virginia parish churches. Col. John Stringer in 1689 provided 1,000 lbs. of tobacco to purchase
one for Hungars Parish. Ralph T. Whitelaw, Virginia s Eastern Shore: A History of Northampton and Accomack
Counties, 2 vols. (Gloucester, Mass., 1968), 1:106. Hanover Parish (King George) received a cushion,
pulpit cloth, communion plate, and an altarpiece from Robert Paine s estate. Robert K. Headley,
comp. Wills of Richmond County, Virginia, 1699 1800 (Baltimore, Md., 1983), 35. See also St. Paul s Parish
(Hanover) Vestry Book, 5 April 1743, 170.
62. Rawlings, Virginia s Churches, 191.
63. Gibson CJE, 1:228 29.
64. Upton emphasizes the display of the royal coat-of-arms in close conjunction with the Ten
Commandments, a powerful reminder, he believes, that the Church by its example and teaching
served the State and the regnant social order. Upton, Holy Things and Profane, 97 98. While it is rea-
sonable, even probable, that a sign of royal authority graced Virginia s parish churches, it is curious
that there is no mention of such in the extant building specifications, vestry orders for furnishings
and repairs, or in contemporary descriptions of churches.
65. Rawlings, Virginia s Churches, 137. Bruton, Lynnhaven (  white marble  ), Stratton Major, Upper,
Christ Church (Lancaster), St. Mary s White Chapel (  Portland stone  ), Christ Church (Middle-
sex), Cople, North Farnham, Blisland, and St. Peter s Parishes recorded stone or marble fonts. Ten
fonts and a bowlless pedestal are extant. Upton, Holy Things and Profane, 147 49.
66. As early as 1662, the assembly instructed churchwardens to provide churches with a bell   as
the ability of the parish will permitt.  Hening, 2:52. With the exception of the relatively few towns,
however, the great size and rural character of Virginia parishes generally prevented bells from serving
any useful purposes. Williamsburg s Bruton Parish had a bell as early as 1711, the gift of Governor
Spotswood, purportedly a ship bell salvaged from the Garland, which foundered off the North Caro-
lina coast late in 1709. It was replaced with a new bell in 1762, which was hung when the present
tower was added between 1769 and 1771. Goodwin, Colonial Church, 87; William Archer Rutherford
Goodwin, Historical Sketch of Bruton Church, Williamsburg, Virginia (Williamsburg, Va., 1903), 71; Rawlings,
Virginia s Churches, 67; Byrd Diary I, 115.
Adding the tower did not meet with universal approval. In a letter to the Virginia Gazette, a parish-
ioner noting the sorry state of Williamsburg s streets and urging their mending, observed that the
new tower was about as much needed as the   Emperour of Morocco s Pigeon-House.  Va. Gaz. (Pur-
die and Dixon), 15 February 1770. Christ Church Parish (Middlesex) and St. Peter s Parish received
bells from the bishop of London. Christ Church Parish (Middlesex) Vestry Book, 31 March1718,162; St. Peter s
.
360 notes to pages 65 66