Grades among the _pure in blood_--Aristocrats--The tribe
_fungi_--An overseer's duty--Managers and attorneys--Pickings
and gleanings--Managers' wives and managing ladies--
Aristocratic shops--"My daughters"--Education--"Field days" of
the militia--The Antiguan aide-de-camp.
As in commencing my chapter on colour, I deemed it necessary to
mention the different grades and gradations among that
olive-tinted race; so in writing upon the white population of
Antigua, it will be first proper to remark, that there are two
_distinct classes_ to be found among them: the one born in the
island, (but of course of European extraction,) and consequently
termed Creoles;[53] the other, persons of both sexes, who have
emigrated from England in search of wealth, or whose domestic
ties, or government appointments, have caused them to leave the
land of their birth, and made them, for a time at least,
residents in this bonny little island.[54]
In these two classes, then, are to be found all the descendants
of the fair-haired Saxons, from the president of the island, down
to the low, ignorant, but proud, pauper--proud of his untarnished
blood! who, in Antiguan vulgarism, is known by the appellation of
"bottom-foot buckra." Of this last-mentioned class much may be
said. Many and various are their "traits" of character, and
arduous their "trials" to enable them to "keep up appearances."
But perhaps it may appear more orthodox to scan over the
peculiarities and "manners and customs" of the "tip-tops" first.
The head of Antiguan society is of course her majesty's
representative--"His Excellency the Governor." Then comes the
"President of the Island," who, in absence of the
commander-in-chief, exercises his duties, and takes his place in
society. After the president, the members of the council and
house of assembly rank next among the grandees, all of whom, no
doubt, are--
"Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors."
Then comes the "bench and the bar,"--the occupiers of pulpits,
and the followers of Galen,--government officers, and the
officers of her majesty's customs,--a few gallant sons of Mars
from some of England's "wooden walls," who in cruising about
these seas, pay Antigua an occasional visit,--officers from the
stationed regiments,--and a long line of merchants, attorneys,
managers, and nondescripts--and there the line is drawn. "These
several gentry," with their wives and daughters, aunts, sisters,
and cousins, constitute the first class among the white
population, or more properly speaking, form the aristocracy of
Antigua.
But it must be observed, these aristocrats, although forming one
body, mixing in the same society, and equally looking upon
themselves as _exclusives_, may yet be divided into two distinct
classes--the one springing from a good old stock, the other
comprehending the _self-elected_ ones. I shall confine myself
more particularly in this chapter to the latter class, as being
better exemplifiers of the "ups and downs of life."
Now although the tribe _fungi_, of which the mushroom is a
member, luxuriates better in a damp climate, than in one so
excessively hot; yet some species of them may be met with in all
parts of the world. I have often seen their long slender stalks,
and pallid-looking caps extending the limits of the _vegetable
world_ in Antigua; and therefore it does not surprise me to find
so many of the mushroom family among the animal creation in that
part of the globe, obtruding their tall heads, even in the
aristocratic circles of the community. Like their brethren among
the vegetables, some of them grow upon the ground, and "derive
their nourishment from the soil," while others "spring up on
various substances, presented by nature or art."
The first of these two varieties of mushrooms are to be met with
among the descendants of those poor white persons, who in former
years came to Antigua to act, in the literal sense of the word,
as "servants of servants," but whose offspring, by dint of petty
traffickings and small gatherings, amassed a sufficient sum of
money to make them forget their origin, and contemning their
natural parents, look for some "Jupiter Ammon" to stand
progenitor for them in their stead. The latter class are the wild
branches of some sapless tree, who, with scarce a change of
raiment in their wallets, or the clink of a coin in their purse,
were shipped off to the West Indies to be killed or cured--reap
dollars like thistles, or starve in the attempt.
By the "good luck," as it is termed, which sometimes attends such
needy adventurers upon their arrival in this country, they
obtained, perhaps, employment as overseers upon the different
estates, (I am now speaking of the manner in which such affairs
were conducted some years before emancipation, when the
proprietors were obliged, by law, to maintain so many white
servants to so many slaves,) where they were quickly installed
into their duty. This consisted in calling over the names of the
negroes before daylight of a morning, seeing them properly
whipped, when such chastisement was deemed necessary, or perhaps
whipping them, as the case might be; inspecting the labours of
the gang of negroes in the field, who were cutting canes or
preparing the land for planting; flying from thence to the
mill-door, where some awkward "boatswain" had let the
mill-tackling get wrong, (for which crime he was coolly ordered a
dozen or two,) or, perchance, if it were a "cattle-mill" instead
of a "windmill," a gang of mules had turned restive, or one
unfortunate over-driven animal had dropped down dead, or else
three or four of the wooden cogs of the mill were broken, and the
cattle were obliged to be taken out until it should be mended.
Then he had to visit the "rum-still," and overlook the process of
distillation, taking down, upon a dirty piece of paper, the
number of gallons of "high-wines," "rum," and "low-wines." From
the "still" he marched to the "boiling-house," to inspect the
making of sugar; and from thence to the "curing-house," to see
the sugar "potted," (that is, packed in hogsheads, tierces, or
barrels.) Then there were staves to be given out to the coopers,
and boards to the carpenter, besides dispensing medicines to the
sick slaves, and cane-tops to the hungry mules. And then, when
all these multitudinous occupations were performed, and the
different store-houses well secured, he proceeded to the "great
house," and, after scrubbing his face with brown soap and a jack
towel, smoothing, if possible, his straggling, sun-burnt locks,
and exchanging his dirty white jacket for one of broad-cloth, or
a coat whose cuffs and collar bore ample marks of time, he made
his appearance in the dining-room or hall, where a high stool or
an education chair was placed for him near his master, at whose
old jokes and worn-out tales he felt obliged to laugh, while he
indulged in such luxuries as fowls' necks and odd ends of
pudding, washed down by a single glass of wine.
His labours were now over for the night, unless it were the sugar
harvest, and then he was expected to return to the boiling-house,
where, amid clouds of densest steam, he remained until twelve or
one in the morning, and then, as the last copper was cooled down,
he marched off the tired negroes, and, having well locked the
door, quitted the furnace-like heat of the building to wend his
weary way home in the cold night air.
During former days of slavery, it has often been the practice to
carry on the boiling of sugar throughout the whole night. Upon
such occasions, the poor overseer had to keep his place in the
boiling-house, to see that the slaves attended to their duty.
There is an anecdote told of a West Indian overseer which proves
him to have been rather clever in the art of dissimulation. He
was a man of reserved manners and of extreme taciturnity, seldom
speaking to the negroes, unless, indeed, giving them a stroke or
two from a rattan which, from custom, he carried in his hand, can
be termed _speaking;_ but he was a favourite with his employer,
who thought him _watchful_ as well as careful--two very necessary
virtues in days of slavery. From some cause or the other, he had
lost the sight of one of his eyes, but which disaster, from a
latent spark of pride, he was very desirous of concealing. While
in the "boiling-house" during the day, quietly seated in his
cherry-tree chair, and narrowly watching the movements of the
negroes, it was his custom to place his hand over the affected
organ. But as evening came on, and "tired nature" craved repose,
he altered his plan of operation, and covering his other eye, he
allowed his rayless orb to glare "horribly stern" upon the
toiling slaves, who, unconscious of his visual defect, and noting
his movements, by which one of his eyes was ever apparently fixed
upon them, exclaimed--"Eh! eh! war dis?--buckra oberseer cleber
true; he make one yeye (eye) sleep while toder keep watch!"
To return to our overseer's duty. Perhaps some of my readers may
be inclined to think this kind of life described not the most
enviable, and their "good luck" in meeting with such a situation
very illusory. Like, however, the solitary waste in the Eastern
story of "Abdallah," this life of drudgery leads to riches. A few
years over, and if the overseer is "smart" in his business, he
gets promoted to "manager," marries, perhaps, his former master's
daughter, or some other fair one, starts his horse and gig,
purchases a dozen or two of wine, and a decent suit of clothes;
and what with his salary, and the pickings and gleanings procured
from off the property, he begins to make a show, and ventures to
give a dinner-party to the "great people."
Another year or so, and if the island is blessed with fine and
copious rains, and the estate makes a good crop in consequence,
the proprietor in England experiences great delight, and by the
return packet, despatches a commission, promoting our _ci-devant_
overseer to the situation of attorney as well as manager. Now, in
truth, he begins to raise his head, like other mushrooms after a
shower of rain, and thinks himself a man of family. His gig is
replaced by a rattling, shaking, tumble-down carriage, drawn by a
pair of spavined horses, and further graced by a shoeless
coachman, his head surmounted by a pitiful beaver, encircled by a
gold or silver band, his only other article of livery consisting
of a scarlet waistcoat, made perhaps from some cast-off militia
uniform. A little meagre black boy, whose habiliments are upon a
similar scale to the coachman's, serves the office of footman,
and attends upon "the ladies" in their morning drive, with a
grace and grimace most admirably seconded by the monkeys in the
zoological gardens of London. Nor is the starting of this
equipage all that marks the change; Mr. Attorney becomes more
egotistical every day--his cellar receives a stock of champagne,
(_or perry_,) and he cries, "Taste my wine--it is excellent, I do
assure you. I cannot drink bad wine; I have never been used to
it!" His larder becomes replenished with richer fare. "Try this
turtle-soup," says he; "you'll find it superb--my cook is
celebrated for his skill. I can tolerate nothing that is
indifferent at _my table_." He procures a commission in the
militia, and sets up for the house of assembly; and being
elected, takes his place among that august body with a vast deal
of dignity. He makes no long speeches, 'tis true; but, instead,
shakes his head with an overpowering gravity, and insinuates, "I
think the more," taking good care, however, to chime in with the
strongest party.
His family becomes of some importance; his sons are intended for
the bar, or the church; and one is destined to step into his own
shoes. He next looks out for some poor damsel, who, to save
herself from actual starvation, agrees to wear out her strength,
and prostrate her talents in endeavouring to inculcate into the
minds of his daughters the elementary branches of education for a
sum your washerwoman would scorn to take.
Thus, as we have seen, the overseer rises to manager, the manager
to attorney, and, like the worthless grub, when it puts on the
butterfly's painted wings, and, soaring on the bland and
beautiful zephyr, scorns his former race, who yet remain
grovelling in the dust, and fancies itself of a higher creation;
so the attorney, as he gains the pinnacle of his ambition,
forgets his former lowly state and penniless pockets, and, with
haughty brow and over weening pride, proclaims himself an
aristocrat. How very fast mushrooms do spring up!
But it may be asked, "What salary does an attorney receive to
enable him to keep up all this state of grandeur? surely it must
be something handsome?" In answer, it must be remarked, that such
affairs are not conducted in the West Indies as they are in
England. This is the country for a poor man to make a display in
--here he may run his carriage without fearing a visit from a
tax-gatherer; or dress up his servant in livery without having to
pay 1l. 4s. per annum. His wine costs him about 2s. sterling per
bottle; claret, 1s.; and "real Cognac" can be obtained for 2s.
6d. Before emancipation, the attorney and manager employed as
many of the slaves as suited them, in the capacity of domestic
servants, which slaves were of course fed from the estate
provision; then the attorney has one or two horses allowed him,
and if he purchases any more from his private funds, the estate
finds them in corn and grass; he keeps a flock of sheep, for
which the property also stands caterer; and now and then his
employer may forward him a hogshead of porter, or a pipe of
Madeira, besides other little presents, consisting of barrels of
beef, or pork, or any other little matters. Thus, in the end, his
pomp and grandeur is kept up at a very moderate charge to his own
pockets.
It cannot be supposed that I intend to assert, that the
aristocracy of Antigua is wholly composed of the _fungi_ tribe,
or that all her planters are of the upstartish class it has
pleased me to describe. Far from it; an attentive perusal of
these pages will prove, on the contrary, that there are to be
found among them families, whose genealogical tree bears many a
goodly shoot--through whose veins runs a stream of England's
richest blood: the names of Warner, Williams, Byam, Martin,
Ottleys, with many others, have long stood pre-eminent in the
annals of Antigua; while their descendants have kept up their
high station in the society of the island.
But to return to the mushroom gentry. While they are travelling
the high-road to preferment and honour, their wives are
proceeding with railway speed in the paths of affectation and
conceit. From the more useful occupations of washing their own
clothes, and mending their own stockings, they now play the part
of "my lady," and pass their time in lolling upon a sofa, with an
open book before them, ready to take up should "company" arrive;
or with wondering ears, listen to their daughters bungling
through one of Mozart's waltzes, or stammering over a French
fable.
Yet it is but proper to observe, all the "ladies" of this class
of aristocrats do not spend their time in this indolent manner.
No--far from it. Many of them have an eye to business amid all
their grandeur, and keep, in a little tenement adapted to the
purpose, a good stock of salt pork and salt fish; mackerels,
herrings, and "alewives;"[55] corn-flour, tobacco, and candles;
besides various articles of finery and coarse cloths, which they
dispense to the negroes upon the neighbouring estates, at the
very moderate profit of about 50 per cent.! Nor is this the
sum-total of their industry; their yard is well supplied with
poultry, their gardens with vegetables, if they lack flowers; and
many a goodly-sized swine enriches their pigsties. When these
last-mentioned quadrupeds have exchanged their Saxon for their
Norman names, as "Wamba" observes, the lady of the house, on
"notable thoughts intent," packs up their delicate "sides and
quarters," and conveys them, or has them conveyed, to a snug
corner of the carriage about to convey her honourable husband to
the capital, to meet in "conclave grave" his noble compeers.
After setting down their master at the door of the court-house,
"Mr. John," the coachman, or "Mr. Thomas," the footman, draws
these choice viands from their retreat; and while the owner of
the defunct pigs is busy in making laws, or settling the affairs
of nations, his servants are disposing of them to the best
bidder, or laying in a store of bread in their stead. In the same
manner, corn-fed mutton, poultry, eggs, and fresh butter, find
their way to St. John's market; and, by the magician-like wand of
commerce, return to our manager's managing lady, in the form of
wine, tea, or loaf-sugar.
Of course, when these "ladies of distinction" draw on their
mitts, and make their appearance in the drawing-room, the _shop_
is banished from thoughts and conversation; and if not
literature, at least topics of scandal, rank, and lineage, are
discussed in its place. Some great-great-grandfather, who, from
some freak of royalty has been dubbed knight, or else some
imaginary kinsman, is called up from their long-forgotten tomb,
to stand as a kind of foundation to their present greatness.
Their daughters are carefully instructed in all the various modes
of setting forth their own charms, and of publishing their own
exalted rank, by expressing their contempt for all beneath them.
The scornful toss of the head, the disdainful curve of the
upper-lip, the affected heave of the shoulders, the insolent
stare, and the air of proud condescension, is studied with far
more intenseness than their grammars or geographies. Meet them
where you will, in the place of worship or the "public show,"
their manners are equally haughty; and their boasted pretension
to superiority is even expressed in the very bending of their
knees, when in acts of supposed adoration.
The more juvenile part of the community are, of course, debarred
by their youth from keeping up with proper dignity their rank in
life; but in the very nursery, the lessons of pride and
affectation are engrafted, soon to become strong and flourishing
shoots.
The days of extreme ignorance are certainly passed; the days when
the young white Creole was left entirely to the care of their
black, or low-coloured nurses, who imagined they could not better
discharge their duty than by giving them their own way. The days
when girls of fourteen could find no other amusement than, seated
upon the floor, amid their negro attendants, to pass their time
in eating "sling," or sucking sugar-canes, while their listless
mothers lay stretched upon their couch, leaving their children to
learn their alphabet as best they could. In later years, as
before remarked, a poor English girl is generally procured to
instruct them in the early branches of knowledge, curl their
hair, and teach them their "steps," until the period arrives when
their parents deem it necessary to send them to England, and
place them at some suburban seminary. Here they are taught to
sketch a landscape, complete a butterfly in Poonah painting, play
some of the fashionable airs, with variations, upon a piano,
speak Anglicised French, dance a quadrille, and perhaps embroider
a footstool. Their education is then supposed to be completed,
and they are re-shipped to the West Indies, to astonish "papa and
mamma," play their part upon the theatre of life, and swell the
ranks of the female _coterie_.
In the days when the militia was in being in Antigua, the ladies
of these self-elected aristocrats, were very fond of alluding to
the martial rank of their relatives, particularly in their visits
to England--talking of "my husband, the colonel," "Capt. X------,
my papa," or "Lieut. Z------, my brother." The gentlemen, many of
them, were also very proud of wearing their uniform upon
"field-day," which occurred once a month, and no doubt felt
themselves, as they buckled on their glittering swords, like
"Hudibras, grow valorous." The governor, as commander of the
force, was allowed by the militia laws an honorary staff, which
consisted of six officers, who bore the local rank of
lieutenant-colonels.
An anecdote is related of a gentleman of Antigua, who formed one
of this _cortège_, and who was no little pleased with his high
rank, and garnished shoulders. Business or pleasure called him to
England, and he carried "home" with him his growing daughters to
gather instruction, and his smart aide-de-camp's dress to reap
applause. Arrived in London, and the fatigues of the voyage over,
our aide-de-camp arrayed himself in his gay uniform, and hiring a
carriage, drove with his daughters to a fashionable seminary. His
card was sent in "Lieutenant-colonel ------" and the lady of the
establishment met him with all possible grace, and bowed and
courtesied to his inquiries with elegant obsequiousness. No
references were of course asked for--no entrance money demanded:
his gay apparel was a sufficient passport, and the gentle
"_maitresse d'ecole_" only thought herself too happy in acquiring
the patronage of an officer of such high rank.
Time sped on, and the recess was at hand--the young ladies
remained with their instructress during its period--the
scholastic duties were again resumed, and another six months
passed away. The various items swelled to a vast amount, yet no
remittance came--no aide-de-camp made his appearance. A faintish
tremour played around the lady's heart, and, unwillingly, she
began to think of moneyless "soldiers of fortune." Letters were
despatched to put the tardy sire in remembrance of his daughters'
improvements in their various studies, and urge for a
remuneration. But alas! like "sleep," at the call of our fourth
"Henry," it came not; and in the end, the lady was only too happy
to get rid of her fair charges without receiving any payment,
resolving, however, in her mind, never to trust again a West
Indian _aide-de-camp_.
------
[53] It is an erroneous opinion held by some English people, that
only coloured persons are called _Creoles;_ the word being, in
its proper sense, applied to all who are born in the West Indies.
[54] These two classes are of coarse subdivided into many others,
according to their different stages in society.
[55] A description of salted fish, brought from America.