Getting into malaria. The author refers to reports that the inhabitants of the Tidewater were basically sick with malaria constantly and as a consequence quite generally "[sluggish, indolent, and idle]" as well as fucking cranky Makes me wonder about observed regional moods.
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"The journal which recorded [Richards' wife's fury about his infidelity] was normally kept in English, but when things went wrong Richards switched to French, and when they went very wrong he wrote in Italian" fellas I could read about Tidewater marital conflicts all day
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Here's Sarah Harrison Blair, who repeatedly refused to vow to obey her husband James at their marriage ceremony. "Dr. Blair finally agreed to take his chances and the wedding went forward without any promise of obedience. Their married life together proved to be deeply unhappy."pic.twitter.com/j3f4pFLjM2
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"At a rich planter's table as late as 1773, the northern tutor Philip Fithian was startled to hear an argument on the question of whether women had souls." no word any resulting consensus
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Oh cute. Unmarried mothers were whipped bloody in public. If she was a servant, she had to serve another term to compensate her master for time lost to pregnancy, even if he was the father.
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Wow, remember Lucy Byrd, with the iron? Her husband William is a D I C K. "With very mixed success he attempted to seduce relatives, neighbors, casual acquaintances, strangers, prostitutes, the wives of his best friends, and servants [whom he often raped]."pic.twitter.com/oAhSO17dM1
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His entire diary is just pages and pages of "I visited Mrs So-and-so, rogered her twice very well, neglected my prayers" "I met a very tall woman and rogered her three times" "rogered [Betty S-t-r-d] twice, for which God forgive me" literally his entire diary for years unreal
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"An old Tidewater folk saying in Prince George's County, Maryland, defined a virgin as a girl who could run faster than her uncle."
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"The founders of New England made rape a hanging crime. In the courts of Chesapeake it was sometimes punished less severely than petty theft." Tidewater trying real hard to make the Puritans look good
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Onto childrearing and character. Lots of Rules and Etiquette covering a basically barbaric spirit. Yet: George Washington read a translation of Seneca's dialogues, and Addison's Cato, and frequently quoted the latter.
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Lucy Parke Byrd, with the iron and the dick husband? Also had a crazy father, Col. Daniel Parke! Publicly challenged the governor of Maryland to a duel. Kidnapped a married woman from England as a concubine. When the local priest condemned him from the pulpit? DUEL.pic.twitter.com/LptCu4ZxAg
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End of conversation
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