"The conceit that the American continent was a richly endowed virgin bride awaiting a husband enjoyed considerable usage at this time. It was not just a courtier's knack for flattery that had inspired Walter Raleigh to name the eastern seaboard of North America "Virginia" in honor of Elizabeth I. A deeper meaning was intended since Raleigh, ins his plea for the occupation of Guiana, had described it as a "country that hath yet her maidenhead, never scared, turned, nor wrought, the face of Earth hath not been torn, nor the virtue and the sale of the soil spent by manurance."

Lawrence James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, page 12