Many thanks to both you and Stuart Butler. I now have the copies from which to write the appropriate footnote. I like Joseph Ball's term "designedly burnt." Then again, I like of his words, for example, in another to Joseph Chinn he calls his overseers "slubbering sons of bitches" -- turning a adjective (slubbery)  into a verb while at it.  The man certainly was not shy about writing what he thought. 

Craig

On Apr 24, 2013, at 6:35 PM, Michael Nicholls wrote:

> The governor's message in The Journal of the House of Burgesses, 1742-1747, 1748-49 p 235 indicates that it was thought to be arson. The Norfolk County Order Book 16 October 1746 - 17 Aug 1750 f. 83 shows that a local man was paid  in the county levy for 1748 for guarding Wm Beesley to Wmsburg on suspicion of Beesley having burnt the capitol. I don't remember having looked any further into this--Mick
> Michael L. Nicholls
> Professor of History, Emeritus
> Dept. of History
> Utah State University
> Logan, UT 84322-0710
> 
> [log in to unmask]

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