port returned to England, he carried with him as a portion of his cargo, the specimens of glass which had been thus produced.[1] In the spring of 1609, the manufacture was continued with success.[2] During the memorable Starving Time following on the departure of Smith from the Colony, the work which had been in progress at the glass-house must have ceased entirely. Nothing more was heard of glass manufacture in Virginia until 1621, in which year there was an effort to reestablish it on a permanent footing.
In 1621, the Company entered into a contract with Captain William Norton, who had decided to emigrate to the Colony with his family, under the terms of which he was to carry over with him four Italians skilled in glass-making, and also two servants, the expense of transporting these six persons to be borne by him, while the Company was to furnish their general equipment. In the course of three months after his arrival in Virginia, Norton was required to erect a house for the manufacture of every variety of glass. The privilege of exclusive manufacture was to be enjoyed by him during a period of seven years, and he was expected to give not only his personal superintendence to the work, but also to instruct apprentices in the art of making glass. As a reward for this, he was to receive one-fifth of the moiety of the product reserved for the Company and was to be allowed in addition, four hundred acres of the public land. It was expressly provided that no beads were to be retained by Norton, for these could only be useful as a medium of exchange in the Indian trade, in which the Company alone had the right to engage.[3]
