David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ John was again in Dublin in 1719. More than a year thereafter he removed to London, taking with him his youngest brother Francis, now a Master of Arts, who was fortified with a letter from the Dublin Primate, Archbishop King, to the Bishop of London (Robinson) . The bishop ordained him in 1721, and he joined the family colony in Virginia. He was a superior scholar and an eloquent preacher, so that he had the choice of several parishes, and settled in St Margaret’s Parish, King William County. ”

“ He told me he had heard an excellent report of my sons . . . . he said he preferred in the husband of his child virtue without fortune, above the largest property, accompanied with piety and discretion.” On the 29th March 1714 Peter was married to the Huguenot girl, whose grandfather died in March 1715, leaving £1000. John wrote to him that he had found a parish for him in Virginia. “He had taken his degree, and was ready to be ordained at the time he received John’s letter. ”

“ Next year, however, the Lord-Lieutenant having removed from the regiments under orders for Spain the names of all subalterns under sixteen years of age, John Fontaine applied for one of the vacancies. But his Lordship had resolved to sell all the commissions, and so John’s prospects of success were more than doubtful. “At last (says his father) on the very eve of departure, finding that some of the commissions were unsold, General Ingoldsby went himself to the Lord-Lieutenant and obtained an Ensign’s commission for John, without our having to pay anything more than the office fees.” ”

“ Nothing more can (we think) be wished for as to extent of territory, but to be thankful for this great enlargement, and the great deliverance from our powerful enemies the French and Spaniards, and from popery and slavery which in our opinion is as great if not a greater blessing than any, or indeed all the others put together. ”

“ Our great desire to hear from you will not permit us to be any longer silent, as the peace is now concluded so much to our advantage, and more especially so to all those who possess estates in North America, bounded on the north by the North Pole, on the south by the Gulf of Florida, and the west by the great river Mississippi. ”

“ Whilst those Indians continue uninstructed in the principles of Christ’s true religion, they will be cruel and treacherous. We are greatly concerned to hear of the horrible cruelties committed by those infidels upon your out-settlers. ”

“ But those ministers had left him in a helpless condition in Spain. In order to take possession of his German dominions, he had to steal away from Spain like a poor hunted refugee. [2]
To return to John Fontaine. He staid in Dublin for some time after leaving the army. The result of some grave family consulations was, that it would be desirable to obtain a settlement for the clan in Virginia. And John, having a love of travel and adventure, was sent across the ocean to make enquiries and to buy an estate. ”

“ The poor natural inhabitants still remain as thorns in your sides, lest you and we should forget the past deliverances. We pray to God to open their understandings, and make tliem one flock with us, obedient to the same God and Saviour. ”

“ She presents her readers with a pleasing portrait of John Fontaine, “from an original likeness by Worlidge,” and with another of the reverend and venerable refugee “after an original likeness in the possession of Miss Fontaine, Bexley, England.”
↑ Lord Peterborough’s case is faithfully reported in “Collins’ Peerage,” though in the ambiguous language which such a case required :— "The possession he gained of Catalonia, of the Kingdom of Valencia, &c, gave opportunity to the Earl of Galway to advance to Madrid without a blow. . . . ”