228 SPOFFORD 



shore on the Chesapeake Bay, says the water- fowl " arrive 

 in millionous multitudes about the middle of September, and 

 take their winged farewell about the midst of March." '♦ There 

 be wild turkeys extream large," wrote Dr. Clayton to the 

 Royal Society in 1688, and he gives their weight at fifty to sixty 

 pounds each. 



Tobacco, the great indigenous staple of Virginia, grew 

 luxuriantly in her soil, became to her planters a great source of 

 wealth, a world-monopoly for more than a century, and sup- 

 plied a currency and a measure of value. 



With their material wants supplied thus bountifully by all the 

 kingdoms of nature, the Virginia planters of later years formed 

 a class of men who lived generously and entertained hand- 

 somely. Says the historian Beverly: " the gentry pretend to 

 have their victuals drest and served up as nicely as if they were 

 in London." Indeed, the intercourse between Virginia and the 

 old country was by no means infrequent. Visits to relatives 

 abroad, or from those abroad to their friends in America, were 

 of constant occurrence. The social intercourse at home was 

 intimate and lively. Daily, almost, the gentlemen and ladies 

 of the rural gentry would mount their horses (for carriages 

 were but little used) and ride three, five, ten or more miles to 

 visit neighbors, dining together and returning in the evening. 

 Every house was a house of entertainment, for hotels were al- 

 most unknown. Any decent stranger was sure of welcome. 

 There were frequent card-parties, horse-races, shooting-matches, 

 athletic sports (like quoits, wrestling, fencing and running) 

 river-parties, hunting-meets, and riding-matches. The tables 

 of well-to-do citizens were always supplied with malt liquors, 

 wines, brandy or rum. The favorite wine was Madeira, though 

 claret, port and Sauterne were not uncommon. A generous, 

 not to say profuse, style of living prevailed, and ' old-fashioned 

 Virginia hospitality ' was a term daily illustrated in a commu- 

 nity where George Washington records that his family did not 

 once sit down to dinner alone for twenty years. 



Dress and manners partook largely of the style and habits of 

 cultivated people in Europe at the period. The Rev. Hugh 

 Jones records that at Williamsburg, the early capital, " may be 



