Notes
This book of Latin satire by Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Aulus Persius Flaccus, and Quintus Horatius Flaccus was published in London, 1669. It was in the personal library of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, the last Royal Governor of Virginia. The book was likely one of Governor Dunmore's text books from his youth. His name is written inside the front cover: "Sum ex libris Johannis Murray."
After the arrival of the Hanover County militia, led by Patrick Henry, arrived outside Williamsburg on May 3, 1775, Dunmore evacuated his family from the Governor's Palace to his hunting lodge, Porto Bello, in nearby York County. About a year after Dunmore left Williamsburg, the governing body of Virginia sold off his property in a public sale on June 25, 1776. According to the handwritten note by Henry's great-grandson, Edward Fontaine (1814–1884), the book was sold at this sale and purchased by Henry. Note that Fontaine erroneously states the sale took place in 1775.
The book was passed down in the Fontaine branch of the Patrick Henry descendants. It came into the possession of Reverend Patrick Henry Fontaine (1869–1859), a great-great-grandson of Patrick Henry. His father, Edward Fontaine, wrote a memorandum detailing family traditions about Patrick Henry. Patrick Henry Fontaine descends from Patrick Henry through his oldest daughter, Martha Henry, and her husband, Col. John Fontaine.
Patrick Henry Fontaine gave the book to Dr. Robert Douthat Meade, the eminent biographer of Patrick Henry, to dispose of as he saw fit. In 1949, Dr. Meade donated the book to the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation.