Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/86

 assert that there was an imminent prospect &#8220;that the number and infiniteness of the people will outgrow the matter whereon they worke for their life and sustentation, and shall one infest and become a burthen to another.&#8221; The overflowing population was compared to blood that was too great in quantity to be held in the walls of the veins, or to swarms of young bees in the month of June. The suggestion of Sir George Peckham and Christopher Carlile with reference to making America a refuge for the unemployed poor, found hearty approval among the supporters of the Virginian enterprise. Dale expressed the prevailing sentiment of the Company, when he stated in his letter to Secretary Winwood, written in 1616, that Virginia was an admirable country for the &#8220;emptying of the full body&#8221; of England. The Colony did not realize the hopes of its founders in this respect. The population of England continued to increase without any substantial diminution of the extreme poverty among the lower