Part 6 (1/2)
I offer all this testimony to show that our Colonial Cavalier was only the child of his age, when he too shook the dice, and shuffled the cards.
Being short of cash, his bets were generally made in tobacco, or, failing that, in flesh and blood. Many a slave found a new master in the morning, because his old master had been unlucky at play the night before.
In a community so absorbed in the excitement of hazard, the lottery of course took deep hold. The first plantation in America was aided by a grand ”standing lottery,” with along list of ”welcomes, prises and rewards,” amounting to more than ten thousand crowns. The declaration sets forth that ”all prises, welcomes and rewards drawne wherever they dwell, shall of the treasurer have present pay, and whosoever under one name or poesie payeth three pound in ready money, shall receive six s.h.i.+llings and eight pence, or a silver spoone of that value at his choice.”
”The money for the Adventurers is to be paid to Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, and Treasurer for _Virginia_, or such officers as he shall appoint in City or Country, under the common seale of the company for the receit thereof.”
The example thus set, was followed whenever the colonies felt a pressure for money. In Virginia a lottery was established to meet the expenses of the French and Indian War--the drawing directed to be ”in the Burgesses'
Room of the Capital at Williamsburgh at ten in the morning. Prizes current money from 5 to 2000. The lucky numbers to be published in the _Gazette_.”
In Maryland, in the eighteenth century, a ”Scheme of Lottery is humbly proposed to the Public for Raising the sum of 510 pounds, current money, to be applied towards completeing the Market-House in Baltimore-Town in Baltimore Co., buying two Fire-Engines and a parcel of Leather-Buckets for the use of the said Town, enlarging the present Public Wharf and Building a new one.”
If gambling was a favorite pastime and the lottery a popular excitement, the Cavalier was not a stranger to manlier sports. Of a brave and ardent temper, and a fine physique, he found at once his work and play in the hardy amus.e.m.e.nts of the chase. He had learned from the Indian to stalk the deer, walking stealthily behind his horse till a good chance offered to shoot close at hand, and lay the unsuspecting deer at his feet. Sometimes, in the bright October weather, the air would be blue with the smoke of the fires built to start the game. Now, in his heavy leather boots, he would start afoot after wild hare, or by the light of the moon, with a band of servants and dogs, he would hunt the 'possum and the c.o.o.n. This habit of hunting was so universal that the Colonial Cavalier well merited the sarcasm of _The Spectator_, which described the English country gentleman as lying under the curse p.r.o.nounced in the words of Goliath, ”I will give thee to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Hunting as a sport may not be spiritualizing, but it certainly is not brutalizing, and as much cannot be said for all the sports of that day, in the Southern colonies of America.
The c.o.c.k-fight and the gouging-match never lacked as eager a throng of spectators, as gathers to-day at a football game; yet both were brutal and disgusting. They roused the amazement of every foreigner, that such things should be tolerated in a civilized country. The gouging-match was simply a fight of the lowest order. Not only were fists freely used, but the test of success was the ability of the stronger bully to gouge out the eye of his adversary. The under man could only save his sight by humiliating himself to cry out, ”Kings Cruse!” or ”Enough!”
Anbury, who witnessed several of these matches, says: ”I have seen a fellow, reckoned a great adept in gouging, who constantly kept the nails of both his thumb and second finger long and pointed; nay, to prevent their breaking or splitting, he hardened them every evening in a candle.”
So familiar was this brutal practice that it supplied a Southern orator in after years with a rhetorical climax when, inciting his countrymen to make war on the mercantile interests of Great Britain, he exclaimed: ”Commerce is the apple of England's eye. There let us gouge her!”
The c.o.c.k-fight was scarcely less degrading than the gouging-match. When a fight was announced, the news spread like lightning, and from all over the country people came thronging, some bringing c.o.c.ks to be entered in the match, but all with money or tobacco to bet on the result. The scene was one of wild excitement. Men and boys cheered on their favorites, and watched with delight, while the furious c.o.c.ks thrust at each other with their long spurs of cruel steel.
It is pleasant to turn away from such scenes and sports as these, to read of the _Knights of the Golden Horseshoe_ riding up into the wild fastnesses of the Blue Ridge Mountains with Governor Spotswood. It was a right knightly expedition, and one of the most picturesque in American history. They wound through the forest, and forded the rivers, and climbed rocky mountains, and took possession of peak after peak in the name of ”His Majesty George the Third.” Their horses were shod with iron, which was not usual in those days, and on their return, Governor Spotswood presented each of the Cavaliers as a memento of the journey, with a tiny gold horse-shoe, set with jewels, and bearing the legend, ”_Sic juvat transcendere montes_.” The thrifty old king disapproved of this extravagance, and left the Governor to pay for the mementoes out of his own pocket.
Riding on horseback was the chief recreation, as well as the chief mode of getting about, at the South. As the planters grew richer, they delighted to own fine horses and outfits. Was.h.i.+ngton's letter-book contains an order sent to London for elaborate equipments: ”1 man's riding saddle, hogskin seat, large plated stirrups, double-reined bridle and Pelham bit plated. A very neat and fas.h.i.+onable Newmarket saddle-cloth. A large and best portmanteau, saddle, bridle and pillion, cloak-bag, and surcingle. A riding-frock of a handsome drab-coloured broadcloth with plain double gilt b.u.t.tons. A riding waistcoat of superfine scarlet cloth and gold lace, with b.u.t.tons like those of the coat. A blue surtout coat. A neat switch whip, silver cap. Black velvet cap for servant.”
Was.h.i.+ngton, as methodical in private affairs as in public, kept in his household books, a register of the names and ages of his horses and his dogs. Here we may read the entire family history of _Ajax_ and _Blueskin_, _Valiant_ and _Magnolia_, or of the foxhounds _Vulcan_, _Singer_, _Ringwood_, _Music_, and _True Love_.
There was a peculiar intimacy between the foxhounds and their master, for they were a.s.sociated with some of the happiest hours of his life, and when they came in from a field-day, torn by the briars through which they had struggled or limping from thorns in the foot, they were tenderly cared for, bandaged, and looked after. No amus.e.m.e.nt so delighted Was.h.i.+ngton as riding across country with Lord Fairfax in one of the hunts which that gentleman and sportsman was so fond of organizing at Greenaway Court. On a brisk yet soft autumn morning, through the blue Virginia haze, the gentry for miles around came to the ”meet.” The huntsmen might be heard urging on the dogs with cries of ”Yoicks! Yoicks! Have at him! Push him up!” till the fox, which had doubled on its tracks, round and round the thick covert, at length broke away, and the cry was raised of ”Tally-ho! Gone away!” The huntsman blew his horn, the whipper-in cracked his whip, the hounds were in full cry, and the entire field of scarlet-coated riders broke in, in a mad gallop, through brush and briar. A strong fox will ”live” before hounds on an average of an hour, but sometimes the hunt lasted all day, and covered thirty miles or more. The lessons of endurance, of woodcraft, and of hardy strength, which the Virginia gentlemen learned in these hunts, stood them in good stead in the life-and-death struggle on sterner fields.
A great lover of animals was Charles Lee, who was always surrounded by a troop of dogs, and who made himself somewhat unwelcome as a visitor, by insisting on bringing them into the house with him wherever he went. ”I must have some object to embrace,” he once wrote to a friend. ”When I can be convinced that men are as worthy objects as dogs, I shall transfer my benevolence, and become as staunch a philanthropist as the canting Addison affected to be.”
Apparently he never changed his mind, but died still devoted to his dogs and his horses. Men who loved horses, of course loved horse-racing as well. The Carolina Jockey Club was a famous inst.i.tution. Its annual races drew crowds from the neighboring country, and the population gave itself up to several days' festivity, ending in a ball. In Virginia, the sport was no less popular. _The Gazette_ of October, 1737, announces that ”On St. Andrew's Day, there are to be horse-races and several other Diversions for the entertainment of the Gentlemen and Ladies at the Old Field.” The programme of this entertainment recalls the days of Merrie England.
Besides the race of twenty horses for a prize of five pounds, the advertis.e.m.e.nt gives notice:
”That a hat of the value of 20s. be cudgelled for, and that after the first challenge be made, the Drums are to beat every quarter of an hour for 3 challenges round the Ring, and none to play with their left hand.
”That a violin be played for by 20 Fiddles, no person to have the liberty of playing unless he bring his fiddle with him. After the prize is won, they are all to play together, and each a different tune, and to be treated by the company.
”That 12 Boys of 12 years of age do run 112 yds, for a hat of the cost of 12 s.h.i.+llings.
”That a flag be flying on said Day, 30 feet high.
”That a handsome entertainment be provided for the subscribers and their wives; and such of them as are not so happy as to have wives, may treat any other lady.
”That drums, trumpets and hautboys be provided to play at said entertainment.
”That after dinner the Royal Health, His Honor the Governor's, etc., are to be drunk.
”That a Quire of Ballads be sung for, by a number of songsters, all of them to have liquor sufficient to clear their wind-pipes.
”That a pair of silver buckles be wrestled for, by a number of brisk young men.
”That a pair of handsome shoes be danced for.