Part 1
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A CHARACTER OF THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND BY GEORGE ALSOP
A Character of the Province of MARYLAND.
By GEORGE ALSOP.
1666.
Baltimore, 1880.
ALSOP’S MARYLAND.
1666.
REISSUED AS
Fund-Publication, No. 15.
A Character of the Province of MARYLAND.
By GEORGE ALSOP.
1666.
Baltimore, 1880.
GOWANS’ BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA. 5
“Thy fathers went down into Egypt with three score and ten persons, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.” . . . _Moses._
“Two things are to be considered in writing history, truth and elocution, for in truth consisteth the soul, and in elocution the body of history; the latter without the former, is but a picture of history; the former without the latter, unapt to instruct. The principle and proper work of history, being to instruct, and enable men by their knowledge of actions past, to bear themselves prudently in the present, and providently towards the future.” . . . _T. Hobbes._
NEW YORK:
WILLIAM GOWANS.
1869.
64 COPIES PRINTED ON LARGE PAPER 4TO.
A
CHARACTER OF THE PROVINCE
OF
MARYLAND.
DESCRIBED IN FOUR DISTINCT PARTS.
ALSO
A SMALL TREATISE ON THE WILD AND NAKED INDIANS (OR SUSQUEHANOKES) OF MARYLAND, THEIR CUSTOMS, MANNERS, ABSURDITIES, AND RELIGION.
TOGETHER WITH
A COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS.
BY
GEORGE ALSOP.
A NEW EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND COPIOUS HISTORICAL NOTES.
BY JOHN GILMARY SHEA, LL.D.,
MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
_Our western world, with all its matchless floods,_ _Our vast transparent lakes and boundless woods,_ _Stamped with the traits of majesty sublime,_ _Unhonored weep the silent lapse of time,_ _Spread their wild grandeur to the unconscious sky,_ _In sweetest seasons pass unheeded by;_ _While scarce one muse returns the songs they gave,_ _Or seeks to snatch their glories from the grave._ ALEXANDER WILSON, The Ornithologist.
_The greater part of the magnificent countries east of the Alleghanies is in a high state of cultivation and commercial prosperity, with natural advantages not surpassed in any country. Nature, however, still maintains her sway in some parts, especially where pine-barrens and swamps prevail. The territory of the United States covers an area of 2,963,666 square miles, about one-half of which is capable of producing everything that is useful to man, but not more than a twenty-sixth part of it has been cleared. The climate is generally healthy, the soil fertile, abounding in mineral treasures, and it possesses every advantage from navigable rivers and excellent harbors_ . . . MRS. SOMERVILLE.
NEW YORK: WILLIAM GOWANS.
1869.
5
Not entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by W. GOWANS,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
J. MUNSELL, PRINTER, ALBANY.
DEDICATED
TO
THE MEMORY
OF
LORD BALTIMORE.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The subscriber announces to the public, that he intends publishing a series of works, relating to the history, literature, biography, antiquities and curiosities of the Continent of America. To be entitled
GOWANS’ BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA.
The books to form this collection, will chiefly consist of reprints from old and scarce works, difficult to be produced in this country, and often also of very rare occurrence in Europe; occasionally an original work will be introduced into the series, designed to throw light upon some obscure point of American history, or to elucidate the biography of some of the distinguished men of our land. Faithful reprints of every work published will be given to the public; nothing will be added, except in the way of notes, or introduction, which will be presented entirely distinct from the body of the work. They will be brought out in the best style, both as to type, press work and paper, and in such a manner as to make them well worthy a place in any gentleman’s library.
A part will appear about once in every six months, or oftener, if the public taste demand it; each part forming an entire work, either an original production, or a reprint of some valuable, and at the same time scarce tract. From eight or twelve parts will form a handsome octavo volume, which the publisher is well assured, will be esteemed entitled to a high rank in every collection of American history and literature.
Should reasonable encouragement be given, the whole collection may in the course of no long period of time become not less voluminous, and quite as valuable to the student in American history, as the celebrated Harleian Miscellany is now to the student and lover of British historical antiquities.
W. GOWANS, _Publisher_.
INTRODUCTION.
George Alsop, the author of this curious tract, was born according to the inscription on his portrait, in 1638. He served a two years’ apprenticeship to some trade in London, but seems to have been wild enough. His portrait and his language alike bespeak the rollicking roysterer of the days of the restoration, thoroughly familiar with all the less reputable haunts of London. He expresses a hearty contempt for Cromwell and his party, and it may be that the fate which confined him to a four years’ servitude in Maryland was an order of transportation issued in the name of the commonwealth of England. He speaks disdainfully of the “mighty low and distracted life” of such as could not pay their passage, then, according to _Leah and Rachel_ (p. 14), generally six pounds, as though want of money was not in his case the cause of his emigrating from England. He gives the letters he wrote to his family and friends on starting, but omits the date, although from allusions to the death of Cromwell in a letter dated at Gravesend, September 7th, he evidently sailed in 1658, the protector having died on the 3d of September in that year.
In Maryland he fell to the lot of Thomas Stockett, Esq., one of three brothers who came to Maryland in 1658, {10} perhaps at the same time as Alsop, and settled originally it would seem in Baltimore county. It was on this estate that Alsop spent the four years which enabled him to write the following tract. He speaks highly of his treatment and the abundance that reigned in the Stockett mansion.
Alsop’s book appeared in 1666. One of the laudatory verses that preface it is dated January, 1665 (5/6), and as it would appear that he did not remain in Maryland after the expiration of his four years, except perhaps for a short time in consequence of a fit of sickness to which he alludes, he probably returned to London to resume his old career.
Of his subsequent life nothing is known, and though Allison ascribes to him a volume of Sermons, we may safely express our grave doubts whether the author of this tract can be suspected of anything of the kind.
The book, written in a most extravagant style, contains no facts as to the stirring events in Maryland history which preceded its date, and in view, doubtless, of the still exasperated state of public feeling, seems to have studiously avoided all allusion to so unattractive a subject. As an historical tract it derives its chief value from the portion which comprises its _Relation of the Susquehanna Indians_.
The object for which the tract was issued seems evident. It was designed to stimulate emigration to Maryland, and is written in a vulgar style to suit the class it was to reach. While from its dedication to Lord Baltimore, and the merchant adventurers, we may infer that it was paid for by them, in order to encourage emigration, especially of redemptioners. {11}
Much of the early emigration to America was effected by what was called the redemption system. Under this, one disposed to emigrate, but unable to raise the £6, entered into a contract in the following form, with a merchant adventurer, ship owner or ship master, and occasionally with a gentleman emigrant of means, under which the latter gave him his passage and supplies:
THE FORME OF BINDING A SERVANT.
[From _A Relation of Maryland_, &c., 1635.]
This indenture made the ...... day of .............. in the ......... yeere of our Soveraigne Lord King Charles &c betweene .............. of the one party, and .............. on the other party, Witnesseth that the said .............. doth hereby covenant, promise and grant to and with the said .............. his Executors and Assignes, to serve him from the day of the date hereof, vntill his first and next arrivall in Maryland, and after for and during the tearme of ...... yeeres, in such service and employment as the said .............. or his assignes shall there employ him, according to the custome of the countrey in the like kind. In consideration whereof, the said .............. doth promise and grant, to and with the said .............. to pay for his passing and to find him with Meat, Drinke, Apparell and Lodging, with other necessaries during the said terme; and at the end of the said terme, to give him one Whole yeeres provision of Corne and fifty acres of Land, according to the order of the countrey. In witnesse whereof, the said .............. hath hereunto put his hand and seale the day and yeere above written.
Sealed and delivered in the presence of
The term of service, at first limited to five years (_Relation of Maryland_, 1635, p. 63), was subsequently reduced to four (Act of 1638, &c.), and so remained into the next {12} century (Act of April, 1715). Thus a woman in the _Sot Weed Factor_, after speaking of her life in England, says:
Not then a slave for twice two year, My cloaths were fashionably new, Nor were my shifts of linnen Blue; But things are changed; now at the Hoe, I daily work and Barefoot go, In weeding Corn or feeding Swine, I spend my melancholy Time.
Disputes arose as to the time when the term began, and it was finally fixed at the anchoring of the vessel in the province, but not more than fourteen days were to be allowed for anchoring after they passed the Capes (Act of 1715). When these agreements were made with the merchant adventurer, ship owner or ship captain, the servants were sold at auctions, which were conducted on the principle of our tax sales, the condition being the payment of the advances, and the bidding being for the term of service, descending from the legal limit according to his supposed value as a mechanic or hand, the best man being taken for the shortest term. Where the emigrants made their agreement with the gentleman emigrant, they proceeded at once to the land he took up, and in the name of the servant the planter took up at least one hundred acres of land, fifty of which, under the agreement, he conveyed to the servant at the expiration of his term of service.
Alsop seems to have made an agreement, perhaps on the voyage, with Thomas Stockett, Esq., as his first letter from America mentions his being in the service of that gentleman. His last letter is dated at Gravesend, the 7th of September, and his first in Maryland January 17 (1659), making a voyage of four months, which he loosely calls five, and describes as “a blowing and dangerous passage.” {13}
Through the kindness of George Lynn Lachlin Davis, Esq., I have been enabled to obtain from J. Shaaf Stockett, Esq., a descendant of Captain Stockett, some details as to his ancestor, the master of our author, during his four years’ servitude, which was not very grievous to him, for he says, “had I known my yoak would have been so easie (as I conceive it will) I would have been here long before now, rather than to have dwelt under the pressure of a Rebellious and Trayterous government so long as I did.”
A manuscript statement made some years later by one Joseph Tilly, states: “About or in y^e year of o^r Lord 1667 or 8 I became acquainted w^{th} 4 Gent^n y^t were brethren & then dwellers here in Maryland the elder of them went by y^e name of Coll^o Lewis Stockett & y^e second by y^e name of Capt^n Thomas Stockett, y^e third was Doct^r Francis Stockett & y^e Fourth Brother was M^r Henry Stockett. These men were but y^n newly seated or seating in Anne Arunndell County & they had much business w^h the Lord Baltimore then pp^{etor} of y^e Provinces, my house standing convenient they were often entertained there: they told mee y^t they were Kentish men or Men of Kent & y^t for that they had been concerned for King Charles y^e first, were out of favour w^{th} y^e following Governm^t they Mortgaged a Good an estate to follow King Charles the second in his exile & at their Return they had not money to redeem their mortgage, w^{ch} was y^e cause of their coming hither. JOSEPH TILLY.”
Of the brothers, who are said to have arrived in the spring or summer of 1658, only Captain Thomas Stockett remained in Maryland, the others having, according to family tradition, returned to England. As stated in the {14} document just given, they settled in Anne Arundell county, and on the 19th of July, 1669, “Obligation,” a tract of 664 acres of land was patented to Captain Thomas Stockett, and a part still after the lapse of nearly two centuries remains in the family, being owned by Frank H. Stockett, Esq., of the Annapolis bar.
By his wife Mary (_Wells_ it is supposed), Captain Thomas Stockett had one son, Thomas, born April 17, 1667, from whose marriage with Mary, daughter of Thomas Sprigg, of West River, gentleman (March 12, 1689), and subsequent marriage with Damarris Welch, the Stocketts of Maryland, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey are descended.
The arms of this branch, as given in the family archives, are “Or a Lyon rampant sable armed and Langued Gules a cheife of y^e second a castle Tripple towred argent betwixt two Beausants—to y^e crest upon a helm on a wreath of y^e colours, a Lyon Proper segeant supporte on a stock ragged and trunked argent Borne by the name of Stockett with a mantle Gules doubled Argent.” These agree with the arms given by Burke as the arms of the Stocketts of St. Stephens, county of Kent.
Thomas Stockett’s will, dated April 23, 1671, was proved on the 4th of May in the same year, so that his death must have occurred within the ten intervening days. He left his estate to his wife for life, then his lands to his son Thomas, and his posthumous child if a son, and his personal estate to be divided among his daughters. His executors were his brothers Francis and Henry and his brother (in-law) Richard Wells. His dispositions of property are brief, much of the will consisting of pious expressions and wishes. {15}
To return to the early Maryland emigration, at the time there was evident need for some popular tract to remove a prejudice that had been created against that colony, especially in regard to the redemptioners. The condition of those held for service in Maryland had been represented as pitiable indeed, the labor intolerable, the usage bad, the diet hard, and that no beds were allowed but the bare boards. Such calumnies had already been refuted in 1656 by Hammond, in his _Leah and Rachel_. Yet it would seem that ten years later the proprietor of Maryland found it necessary to give Alsop’s flattering picture as a new antidote.
The original tract is reproduced so nearly in fac simile here that little need be said about it. The original is a very small volume, the printed matter on the page being only 2 1/8 inches by 4 7/8. (See note No. 1).
At the end are two pages of advertisements headed “These Books, with others, are Printed for Peter Dring, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the Sun in the Poultrey, next door to the Rose Tavern.”
Among the books are Eliana, Holesworth’s Valley of Vision, Robotham’s Exposition of Solomon’s Song, N. Byfields’ Marrow of the Oracle of God, Pheteplace’s Scrutinia Sacra, Featly Tears in Time of Pestilence, Templum Musicum by Joannes Henricus Alstedius, two cook books, a jest book, Troads Englished, and ends with A Comment upon the Two Tales of our Renowned Poet Sir Jeffray Chaucer, Knight.
At the end of this is the following by way of erratum: “Courteous Reader. In the first Epistle Dedicatory, for Felton read Feltham.”
A
CHARACTER
Of the PROVINCE of
MARY-LAND,
Wherein is Deſcribed in four diſtinct Parts, (_Viz._)
I. _The Scituation, and plenty of the Province._
II. _The Laws, Cuſtoms, and natural Demeanor of the Inhabitant._
III. _The worſt and beſt Vſage of a Mary-Land Servant, opened in view._
IV. _The Traffique, and Vendable Commodities of the Countrey._
ALSO
A SMALL _Treatiſe_ on the Wilde and Naked INDIANS (or _Suſquehanokes_) of _Mary-Land_, their Cuſtoms, Manners, Abſurdities, & Religion.
Together with a Collection of Hiſtorical LETTERS.
By GEORGE ALSOP.
_London_, Printed by _T. J._ for _Peter Dring_, at the ſign of the Sun in the _Poultrey_; 1666.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE
CÆCILIUS LORD BALTEMORE, (see note No. 2)
Absolute Lord and Proprietary of the Provinces of _Mary-Land_ and _Avalon_ (see note No. 3) in _America_.
MY LORD,
I have adventured on your Lordships acceptance by guess; if presumption has led me into an Error that deserves correction, I heartily beg Indempnity, and resolve to repent soundly for it, and do so no more. What I present I know to be true, Experientia docet; It being an infallible Maxim, _That there is no Globe like the occular and experimental view of a Countrey_. And had not Fate by a necessary imployment, consin’d me within the narrow walks of a four years Servitude, and by degrees led me through the most intricate and dubious paths of this Countrey, by a commanding and undeniable Enjoyment, I could not, nor should I ever have undertaken to have written a line of this nature.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
If I have wrote or composed any thing that’s wilde and confused, it is because I am so my self, and the world, as far as I can perceive, is not much out of the same trim; therefore I resolve, if I am brought to the Bar of _Common Law_ for any thing I have done here, to plead _Non compos mentis_, to save my Bacon.
There is an old Saying in English, _He must rise betimes that would please every one_. And I am afraid I have lain so long a bed, that I think I shall please no body; if it must be so, I cannot help it. But as _Feltham_ (see note No. 4) in his _Resolves_ says, _In things that must be, ’tis good to be resolute_; And therefore what Destiny has ordained, I am resolved to wink, and stand to it. So leaving your Honour to more serious meditations, I subscribe my self,
My Lord Your Lordship most Humble Servant, GEORGE ALSOP.
To all the Merchant Adventurers for MARY-LAND, together with those Commanders of Ships that saile into that Province.
SIRS,
_You are both Adventurers, the one of Estate, the other of Life: I could tell you I am an Adventurer too, if I durst presume to come into your Company. I have ventured to come abroad in Print, and if I should be laughed at for my good meaning, it would so break the credit of my understanding, that I should never dare to shew my face upon the Exchange of (conceited) Wits again._
_This dish of Discourse was intended for you at first, but it was manners to let my Lord have the first cut, the Pye being his own. I beseech you accept of the matter as ’tis drest, only to stay your stomachs, and I’le promise you the next shall be better done, ’Tis all as I can serve you in at present, and it may be questionable whether I have served you in this or no. Here I present you with_ A Character of Mary-Land_, it may be you will say ’tis weakly done, if you do I cannot help it, ’tis as well as I could do it, considering several Obstacles that like blocks were thrown in my way to hinder my proceeding: The major part thereof was written in the intermitting time of my sickness, therefore I hope the afflicting weakness of {24} my Microcosm may plead a just excuse for some imperfections of my pen. I protest what I have writ is from an experimental knowledge of the Country, and not from any imaginary supposition. If I am blamed for what I have done too much, it is the first, and I will irrevocably promise it shall be the last. There’s a Maxim upon Tryals at Assizes, That if a thief be taken upon the first fault, if it be not to hainous, they only burn him in the hand and let him go_ (see note No. 5): _So I desire you to do by me, if you find any thing that bears a criminal absurdity in it, only burn me for my first fact and let me go. But I am afraid I have kept you too long in the Entry, I shall desire you therefore to come in and sit down._
G. ALSOP.
THE PREFACE TO THE READER.
The Reason why I appear in this place is, lest the general Reader should conclude I have nothing to say for my self; and truly he’s in the right on’t, for I have but little to say (for my self) at this time: For I have had so large a Journey, and so heavy a Burden to bring _Mary-Land_ into _England_, that I am almost out of breath: I’le promise you after I am come to my self, you shall hear more of me. Good Reader, because you see me make a brief Apologetical excuse for my self, don’t judge me; for I am so self-conceited of my own merits, that I almost think I want none. _De Lege non judicandum ex solâ linea_, saith the Civilian; We must not pass judgement upon a Law by one line: And because we see but a small Bush at a Tavern door, conclude there is no Canary (see note No. 6). For as in our vulgar Resolves ’tis said, _A good face needs no Band, and an ill one deserves none_: So the French Proverb sayes, Bon Vien il n’a faut point de Ensigne, Good Wine needs no Bush. I suppose by this time some of my speculative observers {26} have judged me vainglorious; but if they did but rightly consider me, they would not be so censorious. For I dwell so far from Neighbors, that if I do not praise my self, no body else will: And since I am left alone, I am resolved to summon the _Magna Charta_ of Fowles to the Bar for my excuse, and by their irrevocable Statutes plead my discharge. _For its an ill Bird will befoule her own Nest_: Besides, I have a thousand _Billings-gate_ (see note No. 7) Collegians that will give in their testimony, _That they never knew a Fish-woman cry stinking Fish_. Thus leaving the Nostrils of the Citizens Wives to demonstrate what they please as to that, and thee (Good Reader) to say what thou wilt, I bid thee Farewel.
GEO. ALSOP.
THE AUTHOR TO HIS BOOK.