Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/571

 the statute of 1691 were the same as under the Cohabitation Act of 1680; William Hislett succeeded William Robinson, who was in his turn succeeded by Samuel Boush. Among those who owned property in the town were such prominent citizens as Malachi Thruston, who built a residence and other houses on the six lots which he purchased, William Knott, who also erected three buildings, Peter Hobson, who lived in the town, Bryant Cahill, Thomas Nash, Thomas Walke, and Francis Simpson. Several lots were purchased by mechanics. A lot having on it a house and garden was in 1695 sold for nine pounds sterling. The records of 1699 show that Norfolk at that time had at least one wharf. The inhabitants in the previous year had been visited by an epidemic. Although the Act for Ports, which was as carefully considered as the Cohabitation Act of 1680, the policies of the two being practically identical, had been passed at the urgent suggestion of Nicholson, nevertheless, in the following year he openly expressed his dislike of the law, and sought, by increasing its unpopularity, to secure its repeal. This inconsistent conduct was attributed at the time to the influence of the English merchants, with whose trade in Virginia the Act for Ports interfered as much as the former Cohabitation Acts had done. In the session of 1692-93, the statute was suspended by the