Prisoners of Hope: A Tale of Colonial Virginia

by Mary Johnston

  CHAPTER III

  A COLONIAL DINNER PARTY

  Three days later the master of Verney Manor gave a dinner party.

  At Jamestown, twenty miles away, the Assembly had just adjourned after abusy session. A law debarring that "turbulent people" the Quakers fromfurther admittance into the colony, and providing cold comfort for thosealready within its doors, was passed with acclamation, as was anotheragainst Anabaptists, and a third concerning the hue and cry forabsconding servants and slaves. The selling rates for wines and strongwaters were fixed, a proper penalty attached to the planting of tobaccocontrary to the statute, a regulation for the mending of the highwaysadopted, a fine imposed for non-attendance at church, the Navigation Actformally protested against, the trainbands strengthened, anappropriation made for the erection of new whipping-posts and pillories,a cruel mistress deprived of the slave she had mistreated, a harborer ofschismatics publicly reproved, and a conciliatory message and presentsent to the up-river Indians--when the Assembly adjourned with theconsciousness of having nobly done its duty. The only measure upon whichthere was not unanimity of opinion was one proposing the erection ofschool-houses at convenient cross-roads, and the Governor's weight beingthrown into the balance against it, it was promptly quashed.

  The burgesses from the fourteen counties filled the twenty houses thatconstituted the town to suffocation. Up-river planters, too, had comein, choosing the time the Assembly was in session to attend to theirinterests in the "city." Several ships were in harbor, and theircaptains, professing themselves tired of salt water, threw themselvesupon the hospitality of their friends ashore. The crowded populationoverflowed into the houses of the neighboring planters, who, after themanner of their kind, entertained profusely, giving jovial welcome andgood liquor to all comers. There was a constant jingling of reins alongthe bridle paths, a constant passing of white-sailed sloops upon theriver, as gentlemen in riding coats and jack boots, or in laced coatsand silk stockings, fared to and fro between plantation and town. In theintervals of business the worthy burgesses and their fellow plantersmade merry. They were good times--for king's men--and it behooved everyloyal subject to follow (at a respectful distance) his Majesty'sexample, and get all possible enjoyment from a laughing world. So therewere horse-races and cock-fights and bear-baitings, as well as dinnersand suppers, at which much sack and aqua vitae was drunk to king, church,and reigning beauties. And if a quarrel sprung, full armed, from theheated brains of young gallants, crossed rapiers did but add a piquancy,a dash of cayenne, to life.

  Popular with the elder gentlemen because of his excellent Madeira, quickwit, jovial soul, and friendship with the Governor, and with the youngerby virtue of being father to Mistress Patricia Verney, Colonel RichardVerney had no difficulty in securing a score of guests for a day'sentertainment at Verney Manor.

  About ten in the morning of the appointed day the guests began toarrive, some by water, some on horseback, Colonel Verney meeting eacharrival with a stately bow and a high-flown speech of welcome, andhanding him on to the hall where stood Sir Charles Carew and the ladiesof the household.

  Upon a pillion behind her father, Major Miles Carrington,Surveyor-General to the Colony, came Mistress Betty Carrington, bosomfriend to Mistress Patricia Verney. Her sweetly serious face, pensiveeyes, and smooth, dark hair, with her dress of sober silk and kerchiefof finest lawn, demurely crossed over her bosom, contrasted finely withPatricia's radiant beauty, decked in shimmering satin and rich lace, andheightened by a tinge of vermilion upon the smooth cheek, and a longblack patch beneath the left temple. The two met like friends whom wearyyears have parted, and indeed they had not seen each other for nearly aweek.

  All the guests, save one, had arrived. Colonel Verney fidgeted, sent aservant wench to look at the kitchen clock, and dispatched his secretaryto an upstairs window, whence was visible a long stretch of whatcourtesy called the highroad.

  The secretary returned and whispered his master. "God be thanked!"exclaimed the latter. "I feared that his machine had mired in theTwo-Mile Swamp, or had toppled into a gully coming through the Devil'sStrip. Gentlemen, the Governor's coach is in sight. Shall we adjourn tothe porch and there await his Excellency?"

  A mighty straining, jingling and lumbering came with the breeze down theroad and proceeded from a pillar of dust which was approaching the housewith reasonable rapidity. Presently the road changed from a trough ofdust into a ribbon of greensward. The cloud dissipated itself, streamingaway like the tail of a comet, and a ponderous and much begilt coach,drawn by six horses, their manes and tails tied with red ribbons, andoutriders in gorgeous livery at the heads of each pair, rolled, orrather bumped into sight. With a seasick motion it undulated over thegreen acclivities of the road, and finally drew up beside the greathorse-block at the gate.

  Two lackeys sprang from their perch behind the vehicle, flung open thedoor, and lowered a short flight of steps. A very stately gentleman,richly dressed, with a handkerchief of point in one hand and a jeweledsnuff-box in the other, descended the steps, placing one shapely leg inits maroon-colored stocking before the other with the mannered grace ofthe leader of a Coranto.

  Colonel Verney met him with a low bow and smiling face, after which thetwo embraced, for they were old friends.

  "My dear Governor!"

  "My dear Colonel!"

  "I am charmed to welcome your Excellency to my poor house."

  "My dear Colonel, I am charmed to be here. Gad! the possession of theonly chariot in the Colony is a burdensome honor! I thought dinner wouldbe over, and the stirrup cup in order while I was creeping, like a snailwith his house on his back, over these 'fair and pleasant roads'--as Icall them in my book, eh, Dick! But you have a goodly company, I see;Ludwell, Fitzhugh, Carey, Anthony Nash, mine ancient enemy Lawrence,Wormeley, Carrington our Puritan convert and his pretty daughter, youngPeyton, and that pretty fellow, your nephew or cousin, is he? Odzooks!he is much what I was at his age, begotten of Delilah and Lucifer, handof iron in glove of velvet, eh, Dick! I hear he is hail-fellow-well-metwith the King and with Buckingham and Killigrew and their wild set. Ah,boys will be boys! 'We have heard the chimes at midnight,' eh, Dick?"

  And the Governor in high good humor skipped up the steps with theagility of youth, bent low with sugared compliments over the hands ofhis hostesses and of Mistress Betty Carrington, and gave courteousgreeting to the assembled gentlemen, after which the company flowed backinto the grateful twilight of hall and "great room," where the weather,the state of the crops, and the last horse-race engaged them until theannouncement of dinner.

  With a flourish of his costly handkerchief, the Governor offered his armto the young mistress of the house, and led the way to the dining-room,where old Humfrey, the butler, marshaled the guests to their seats.Mistress Betty Carrington had for her cavalier Sir Charles Carew, towhose honeyed words she listened with a species of awe, wondering in herinnocent soul if all the wild tales they told of this very fine,smooth-tongued, handsome gentleman could be true.

  Doctor Anthony Nash made a long and fluent grace wherein much latinitywas aired, a neat allusion made to the _jus divinum_, and an anathemahurled against those "who break down the carved work of the sanctuary."Then was uncovered the mighty saddle of mutton, reposing in the dish ofhonor, the roast pig, the haunch of venison, the sirloin of beef, thebreast of veal, the powdered goose, the noble dish of sheepshead andbluefish, and the pasty in which was entombed a whole flock of pigeons.These _pieces de resistance_ were flanked by bowls of oysters, by rowsof wild fowl skewered together, by mince pies and a grand salad, whileupon the outskirts of the damask plain were stationed trenchers piledwith wheat bread, platters of pease and smoking potatoes, cauliflowerand asparagus, and a concoction of rice and prunes, seasoned with maceand cinnamon and a pinch of assafoetida. A great silver salt-cellarstood in the centre of the table, and smaller receptacles of the samemetal held pepper and spices. Silver flagons of cider and ale wereplaced at intervals, the Madeira, Fayal and Rhenish awaiting upon thes
ideboard the moment when, the cloth drawn and the ladies gone, agentlemanly carousal should be inaugurated.

  The company drew their Russian leather chairs closer to the table,spread over their silken knees the fringed damask napkins, and for aspace little was to be heard but the sound of knife and spoon (forksthere were none), for the morning ride had sharpened appetites. Theservants passed from chair to chair; the master, seconded by hisdaughter and sister, pricked his guests on to fresh attacks, pressing athird slice of mutton on one, a fresh helping of capon upon another,protesting that a third ate as though it were a fast day, and that afourth drank as though the October were sea-water.

  When the cloth was drawn and the banquet put on, tongues were loosened.The Governor quoted passages from his "Lost Lady" to Patricia, liftingher lovely flushed face from the carving of a tart with wonderfullyconstructed towering walls. Behind a second turreted marvel of pastry,Mistress Lettice and Mr. Frederick Jones sighed and ogled with antiquegrace. Sir Charles Carew, fingering his cherries, told a piquant littlecourt anecdote to Mistress Betty Carrington, and was lazily amused atthe blush and veiled eyelids with which the young lady received it.Young Mr. Peyton, on her other side, looked very black.

  The wine was put on and the toast to King and Church drunk standing,after which the ladies dipped their white fingers into the basin ofperfumed water, dried them on the silver-fringed napkin, and sailed tothe door, through which, after the profoundest of courtesies on the oneside and the lowest of bows upon the other, they vanished, leaving thegentlemen to wine and wassail.

  Colonel Verney drank to the Governor; the Governor to Colonel Verney;Sir Charles to the author of the "Lost Lady" and the "Discourse and Viewof Virginia," so tickling the Governor's vanity thereby that he becamealtogether charming. Mr. Peyton toasted Mistress Betty Carrington, andMr. Frederick Jones, Mistress Lettice Verney, "fairest and most discreetof ladies." They drank to Captain Laramore's next voyage, to Mr.Wormeley's success in vine planting, to Major Carrington's conversion.They drank confusion to Quakers, Independents, Baptists and infidels, tothe heathen on the frontier and the Papists in Maryland, the Dutch onthe Hudson and the French on the St. Lawrence,--"Quebec in exchange forDunkirk!" In short, there were few things in heaven or earth butjustified draughts of Madeira.

  The room filled with a blue and fragrant mist proceeding from twentypipe-bowls. Mr. Peyton sang a pretty song of his own composing. Thecompany applauded. Sir Charles Carew, in a richly plaintive tenor voice,sang a lyric of Rochester's. Several of the gentlemen looked askance(the clergyman had left the room with the ladies), but on the Governor'scrying out "Excellent!" they considered themselves over-squeamish, andclapped loudly.

  Sir Charles, being dry after his song, drank to Hospitality,--"A duty,"he said, smiling, "that you gentlemen make so paramount that you mustwonder at the omission of 'Thou shalt be hospitable' from theDecalogue."

  "Faith, sir!" cried Mr. Peyton, "God is too good a Virginian not toconsider such a commandment superfluous."

  The Governor commenced a story which all present, but one, had heard adozen times. It mattered the less, as it was a good one. Sir Charlescapped it with a better. The Governor told a weird tale of Lunsford'smen, the "babe-eating" regiment. Sir Charles recounted a littleadventure of His Grace of Buckingham with a quack astrologer, a Courtlady, and an orange girl, which made the company die of laughter.

  "Rat me! but you tell a story well, sir!" said the Governor, wiping hiseyes.

  "I serve King Charles the Second, your Excellency."

  "And so have to live by your wit, eh, sir?"

  "Precisely, your Excellency."

  "Emigrate to Virginia, man! to the land of good eating, good drinking,good fighting, stout men, and pretty women--who make angelic wives." Andthe Governor, who loved his own wife with chivalric devotion, kissed alocket which he wore at his neck. "Come to Virginia where we need loyalmen and true. Lord! we all thought the millennium was come with theking, but damme! if it doesn't seem as far off as ever! Not that hisMajesty is to blame," he added quickly, as though fearing that his wordsmight be taken as an aspersion upon Charles's ability to conduct themillennium single-handed. "The naughty spirit of the age sets itselfagainst the Lord's Anointed. The Puritan snake is but scotched, notkilled. It's the old prate of freedom of conscience, government by thepeople, and the like disgusting stuff (no offense to you, MajorCarrington) that makes the trouble of the times both here and at home. Isigh for the good old days when, for eleven sweet years, no Parliamentsat to meddle in affairs of state, when Wentworth kept down faction andthe saintly Laud built up the Church which he adorned." And the Governorburied his woes in the Rhenish.

  "Sir William Berkeley's loyalty is proverbial," said Sir Charlessuavely. "The King knows that while he is at the helm in Virginia, thecolony is on the high road to that era of peace and prosperity which hismajesty so ardently desires--for his tax-paying people. And I havethought more than once of late that I might do worse than to dispose ofmy majority in the 'Blues,' bid the Court adieu, and obtaining from hisMajesty a grant of land, retire here to Virginia to pass my days on myown land and amid a little court of my own, in the patriarchal fashionyou gentlemen affect. Under certain circumstances it is a course I mightpossibly pursue." He glanced at his kinsman, whose countenance showedhigh approval of a plan which dovetailed nicely with one of his ownmaking.

  "Can you guess the 'certain circumstances' which are to give us thepleasure of his confounded company?" whispered Mr. Peyton to Mr. Carey.

  "An easy riddle, Jack. Damn the insolent, smooth-spoken knave of hearts,and confound the women! They all drop to a court card."

  "Not Mistress Betty Carrington. _She_ looks below the surface."

  "Humph! What does she see below thine? An empty gourd with a fewmadrigals and sonnets, and fine images, conned from the 'Grand Cyrus,'rattling about like dried seeds?"

  "Hush, thou green persimmon! the Governor is speaking."

  The governor rose with care to his feet. His wig was awry, his cravat offine mechlin under one ear. Benevolent smiles played like summerlightning across his flushed face. He raised his tankard slowly and withattentive steadiness. "Gentlemen," he said in a high voice, "we haveeaten and we have drunken. Dick Verney's wine is as old as the hills andas mellow as sunlight. It groweth late, gentlemen, and some of you havemiles to travel, and it takes cool heads to ride the 'planter's pace.'For William Berkeley, gentlemen, Governor of Virginia by the grace ofGod and his Majesty, King Charles the Second, it takes more than DickVerney's wine to fluster him. I call a final toast. I drink again to ourloving friend and host, the worshipful Colonel Richard Verney, to hisbeauteous daughter and sister, to his man-servant and his maid-servant,his ox and his ass, and the stranger which is within his gates." Hesmiled benignly at a reflection of Sir Charles in a distant mirror."Gentlemen, the devil, you see, can quote scripture. Let the cup goroun', go roun', go roun'."

  The toast was drunk with fervor, and the party broke up.

  The Governor, with Colonel Ludlow and Captain Laramore, was to sleep atVerney Manor, and Mistress Betty Carrington was left by her father tobear Patricia company for a day or two. One by one the remainder of thecompany rode or sailed away, those who had an even keel beneath thembeing in much better case than their brethren on horseback.

  When the last sail showed a white speck in the distance, Patricia andBetty came out upon the porch and sat them down, one on either side ofthe Governor, with whom they were great favorites. Colonel Ludlow andCaptain Laramore were at dice at a table within the hall, and ColonelVerney had excused himself in order to hear the evening report from hisoverseers. Sir Charles Carew, very idle and purposeless-looking, loungedin a great chair, and studied the miniature upon his snuff-box. TheGovernor, whom the wine had mellowed into a genial softness, a kind ofsunset glow, alternately puffed wide rings of smoke into the air, andpaid compliments to the young ladies. The evening breeze had sprung up,rustling the leaves of the trees, and bringing with it the sound of thewater. In the weste
rn sky crimson islets forever shifted shapes in a seaof gold. A rosy light suffused the earth. In it the water turned to thepink of a shell, the marshes became ethereal and far away, earth and skyseemed one. The flashing wings of gull and curlew were like fairy sailsfaring to and fro.

  "If I had wings," said Patricia dreamily, her hands clasped over herknees, "I would fly straight to that highest island of cloud. The one,Betty, that looks like a field of daffodils, with those beautiful peaksrising from it, and the violet light in the hollows. I would set up mystandard there, Sir William, and the island should be mine, and I wouldrule the fairies that must inhabit it, with a rod of iron--as you ruleVirginia," she ended with a laugh.

  The Governor laughed with her. "You would have no such stiff-necked folkto deal with, my love, as have I."

  "No, they should all be good Cavaliers and Churchmen--no Roundheads, noservants--and if Indians on neighboring isles threatened we would prayfor a wind and sail away from them, around and around the bright bluesky."

  "And when you are gone to take possession of your castle in the air whatwill poor Virginia do?" gallantly demanded the governor.

  "Oh, she would still exist! But I am not going to-night. The princess ofthe castle in the air is engaged to his Excellency the Governor ofVirginia for a game of chess. In the mean time here comes my father, whoshall entertain your Excellency while Betty and I go for a walk. Come,Lady-bird."

  The two graceful figures twined arms and moved off down the walk. SirCharles looked after them a moment, then, with a "Permit me, sir," tothe Governor, he snapped the lid of his snuff-box and started down thesteps. The Governor laughed. "We will excuse you, sir," he saidgraciously. "Dick," to Colonel Verney, as the young gentleman hastenedafter the ladies, "that fine spark is to be your son-in-law, eh?"

  "It is the wish of my heart, William."

  "Humph!"

  "He has birth and breeding. His father was my good friend and kinsman,and as loyal a Cavalier as ever gave life and lands for the blessedMartyr. He died in my arms at Marston Moor, and with his last breathcommended his son to me. My dear wife was then expecting the birth ofour child, of Patricia. I can see him now as he smiled up at me (he wasever gay) and said, 'If it's a girl, Dick, marry her to my boy.' Well!he died, and his brother took the boy, and my wife and I came over seas,and I never saw the lad from that day to this, when he comes at myinvitation to visit us."

  "Well, he is a very pretty fellow! And what does Patricia say to him?"

  "Patricia is a good daughter," said the Colonel sedately, "and ispossessed of sense beyond the average of womenkind. She knows theadvantages this match offers. Sir Charles Carew can give her a title,and a name that's as old as her own. He is a man of parts anddistinction, has served the King, is familiar with the courts of Europe.I do not pin my faith to the tales that are told of him. His father wasa gallant gentleman, and I am not the man to believe ill of his son.Moreover, if, as he hath half promised, he will come to Virginia, hewill throw off here the vices of the Court, the faults of youth, andbecome an honest Virginia gentleman, God-fearing, law-abiding,reverencing the King, but not copying him too closely--such an one asthou or I, William. The king should give him large grants of land, andso, with what Patricia will have when I am gone, there will be laid thefoundation of a great and noble estate, which, please God, will belongin the fair future of this fair land to a great and noble family sprungfrom the union of Verney and Carew. Patricia, trust me, sees all thiswith my eyes."

  "Humph!" said the Governor again.