a spoon of silver ! They had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought her husband deserv'd a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China in our house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increas'd, augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (edited from his manuscript by John Bigelow, Philadelphia, 1868), 177-210 passim.
82. Society in Virginia (1732)
BY COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD
Byrd was a man of education and wealth, living on his Virginian estate in a style of great magnificence. His accounts of business and pleasure trips are witty and interesting. — Bibliography: Doyle, English in America, Virginia, 339-364; Winsor, Narrative and Critical Histor, V, 278-284; Tyler, American Literature, II, 270-279; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 99. — For earlier accounts of Virginian society, see Contemporaries, I, ch. x.
THIS famous Town [Germanna] consists of Colo. Spotswood's enchanted Castle on one Side of the Street, and a Baker s Dozen of ruinous Tenements on the other, where so many German Familys had dwelt some Years ago ; but are now remov'd ten Miles higher, in the Fork of Rappahannock, to Land of their Own. There had also been a Chappel about a Bow-Shot from the Colonel s house, at the End of an Avenue of Cherry Trees, but some pious people had lately burnt it down, with intent to get another built nearer to their own homes. Here I arriv'd about three a clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at Home, who receiv'd her Old acquaintance with many a gracious Smile. I was carry'd into a Room elegantly set off with Pier Glasses, the largest of which came soon after to an odd Misfortune. Amongst other favourite Animals that cheer'd this Lady's Solitude, a Brace of Tame Deer ran familiarly about the House, and one of them came to stare at me as a Stranger. But unluckily Spying his own Figure in the Glass, he made a spring over the Tea Table that stood under it, and shatter'd the Glass to pieces, and falling back upon the Tea Table, made a terrible Fracas among the China. This Exploit was so sudden, and accompany'd with such a Noise, that it surpriz'd me, and perfectly
