USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > The Ancient City.: A History of Annapolis, in Maryland, 1649-1887 > Part 17
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"THE ANCIENT CITY. "
adhered to and preserved inviolate ; and that each and every gentle- man, present at this meeting, will use his utmost endeavor to those laudable ends."
This mosaic of sentiment, politics, and festivities presents Annapolis as it was a hundred years ago.
It was at this period that Eddis, the English Surveyor of Customs at Annapolis, wrote : "I am persuaded there is not a town in England oi the same size as Annapolis, which can boast of a greater number of fashionable and handsome women ; and were I not satisfied to the con- trary. I should suppose that the majority of our belles possessed every advantage of a long and familiar intercourse with the manners and habits of your great (London) metropolis."
During the winter these lovely and accomplished women had op- portunity to display their graces in fortnight balls. The rooms for dancing, (the present Assembly Rooms) were large and of elegant construction, and were illuminated with great brilliancy. At each end of the room were apartments for the card tables, "where select companies enjoy the circulation of the party-colored gentry, without having their attention diverted by the sound of fiddles, and the evolu- tions of youthful performers."
It is to the credit of the citizens of Maryland that, during the gloom and distress occasioned by the Revolution, the convention prohibited balls throughout the province. The public mind, however, did not seem to need the legal prohibition for it was engaged in too serious business to pursue the phantom of social pleasures.
One of the most faithful pictures of Annapolis life immediately pre- ceeding the beginning of the hostilities of the Revolution is drawn by the pen of Mr. Eddis who was part of what he described. In his cheerful and entertaining style, under date of January 18, 1771, he writes from Annapolis :
"In a former letter, I attempted to convey some idea of the truly picturesque and beautiful situation of our little capital. Several of the most opulent families have here established their residence; and hospitality is the characteristic of the inhabitants. Party prejudices have little influence on social intercourse : the grave and ancient en- joy the blessings of a respectable society, while the young and gay have various amusements to engage their hours of relaxation, and to promote that mutual connexion so essential to their future happi- ness.
"You well know, that I have ever been strongly attached to the rational entertainment resulting from theatrical exhibitions. When I bade farewell to England, I little expected that my passion for the drama could have been gratified, in any tolerable degree, at a distance so remote from the great mart of genius ; and I brought with me strong prepossessions in behalf of favourite performers, whose merits were fully established, by the universal sanction of intelligent judges. My pleasure and my surprise were therefore excited in proportion, on finding performers in this county equal, at least, to those who sustain the best of the first characters in your most celebrated provincial theatres. Our governor, from a strong conviction that the stage, under proper regulations, may be rendered of general utility, and made subservient to the great interests of religion and virtue, patronizes the American Company ; and as their present place of exhibition is on a small scale, and inconveniently situated, a subscription,
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HISTORY OF ANNAPOLIS.
by his example, has been rapidly completed to erect a new theatre, on a commodious, if not an elegant, plan. The manager is to de- liver tickets for two seasons, to the amount of the respective sub- scriptions ; and, it is imagined, that the money which will be re- ceived at the doors, from non-subscribers, well enable him to con- duct the business without difficulty ; and when the limited number of performances is completed, the intire property is to be vested in him. This will be a valuable addition to our catalogue of amusements. The building is already in a state of forwardness, and the day of opening is anxiously expected."
On November 2, 1771, Mr. Eddis introduces another scene in An- napolis life. To his correspondent in England, he says :
"In this remote region, my dear friend, the phantom pleasure is pursued with as much avidity as on your side of the Atlantic ; and cer- tainly with as much gratification except by the injudicious herd who form ideas of happiness from comparison alone.
"Our races, which are just concluded, continued four days, and afforded excellent amusement to those who are attached to the pleas- ures of the turf ; and, surprising as it may appear, I assure you there are few meetings in England better attended, or where more capital horses are exhibited.
"In order to encourage the breed of this noble animal, a jockey club has been instituted, consisting of many principal gentlemen in this and in the adjacent provinces many of whom have imported from Bri- tain, at a very great expense, horses of high reputation.
"In America, the mild beauties of the autumnal months amply com- pensate for the fervent heats of summer, and the rigid severity of winter. Nothing could exceed the charming serenity of the weather during these races ; in consequence of which there was a prodigious concourse of spectators, and considerable sums were depending on the contest of each day. On the first, a purse of one hundred guineas was run for, free only for the members of the club ; and on the three following days subscription purses of fifty pounds each. Assemblies, and theatrical representations, were the amusements of the evening, at which the company exhibited a fashionable and brilliant ap- pearance.
"Our new theatre, of which I gave you an account in a former letter. was opened to a numerous audience the week preceding the races. The structure is not inelegant, but, in my opinion, on too narrow a scale for its length ; the boxes are commodious, and neatly decorated ; the pit and gallery are calculated to hold a number of people without incommoding each other ; the stage is well adapted for dramatic and pantomimical exhibitions ; and several of the scenes reflect great credit on the ability of the painter. I have before observed, that the per- formers are considerably above mediocrity ; therefore, little doubt can be entertained of their preserving the public favour, and reaping & plenteous harvest."
Mr. Eddis was disposed to give the country of his choice credit for every virtue it possessed. In these glowing sentences he depicts the conservatism of their sentiments and the beauty and accomplishments of American women, which latter opinions were founded centirely by the Maryland and Virginia ladies he had met and chiefly those of Annapolis, since Mr. Eddis appears to have been in no other parts of this conti- nent. On December 24, 1771, he writes from the Maryland capital :
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"'THE ANCIENT CITY. ''
"Whatever you have heard relative to the rigid puritanical principles and economical habits of our American brethren, is by no means true when applied to the inhabitants of the southern provinces. Liberality of sentiment, and genuine hospitality, are every where prevalent ; and I am persuaded they too frequently mistake profuseness for generosity, and impair their health and their fortunes, by splendor of appearance and magnificence of entertainments.
"The quick importation of fashions from the mother country is really astonishing. I am almost inclined to believe, that a new fashion is adopted earlier by the polished and affluent American, than by many opulent persons in the great metropolis ; nor are opportunities wanting to display superior elegance. We have varied amusements, and numerous parties, which afford to the young, the gay, and the ambi- tious, an extensive field to contend in the race of vain and idle competi- tion. In short, very little difference is, in reality. observable in the manners of the wealthy colonist and the wealthy Briton. Good and bad habits prevail on both sides the Atlantic.
"It is but justice to confess, that the American ladies possess a na- tural ease and elegance in the whole of their deportment ; and that while they assiduously cultivate external accomplishment, they are still anxiously attentive to the more important embellishments of the mind. In conversation they are generally animated, and en- tertaining, and deliver their sentiments with affability and propriety. In a word, there are, throughout these colonies, very many lovely . women, who have never passed the bounds of their respective pro- vinces, and yet, I am persuaded, might appear to great advantage in the most brilliant circles of gaiety and fashion.
"In this country the marriage ceremony is universally performed in the dwelling houses of the parties. The company, who are invited, assemble early in the evening, and after partaking of tea and other refreshments, the indissoluble contract is completed. The bride and bridegroom then receive the accustomed congratulations: cards and dancing immediately succeed ; an elegant supper, a cheerful glass, and the convivial song close the entertainment.
"There are few places where young people are more frequently grati- fied with opportunities of associating together than in this country. Besides our regular assemblies, every mark of attention is paid to the patron Saint of each parent dominion ; and St. George, St. Andrew, St. Patrick, and St. David, are celebrated with every partial mark of national attachment. General invitations are given, and the appear- ance is always numerous and splendid.
"The Americans, on this part of this continent, have likewise a Saint, whose history, like those of the above venerable characters, is lost in fable and uncertainty. The first of May is, however, set apart to the memory of Saint Tamina, on which occasion the natives wear a piece of a buck's tail in their hats, or in some conspicuous situation. Dur- ing the course of the evening, and generally in the midst of a dance, the company are interrupted by the sudden intrusion of a number of persons habited liked Indians, who rush violently into the room, sing- ing the war song, giving the whoop, and dancing in the style of those people ; after which ceremony a collection is made, and the retire well satisfied with their reception and entertainment.
"In this province there are scarce any vestiges of the original inhab- itants, but it does not appear that their numbers have been reduced
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by any inhuman or indirect practices of the British settlers. In Dor- set county, on the eastern shore of Maryland, there are indeed the re- mains of a nation, once populous and powerful, who, to this day, re- tain considerable tracts of valuable land, for which they receive an annual consideration, but by no means equivalent to the real value. When every other Indian nation thought it necessary to retire beyond the range of the European settlements, these people it seems deter- mined to continue on their native spot. But being precluded from their former occupations and pursuits, they became totally indolent and inactive ; and a different habit of living, a violent propensity to spir- ituous liquors, and the havock occasioned by the small-pox, and other disorders, to which they were unaccustomed, reduced their numbers to such a degree, that at this time not twenty of their descendants remain."
Polities is the child of government. America had its politics and Maryland a noted part of it before the Revolution. It had not reached exact national delineation before the throes over the Stamp Act began, but in Maryland there was a one line of policy which the citizens, on all occasions, "in season and out of season" pursued, and that was to resist with manly courage all infringements of their rights by the Crown's officers. Mr. Eddis, seeing with an Englishman's eye, portrays this determination in the following extract from An- napolis, Feb. 17,1772 :
"The annual revenue of the proprietary, arising from the sale of lands, and the yearly quit rent, after deducting all the various charges of government, averages at twelve thousand five hundred pounds per annum. All offices, excepting those in the service of the customs, are in his gift, or in the gift of his representative for the time being. This patronage includes a very extensive range of lucrative, and re- spectful stations ; and consequently throws great weight and influ- ence into the scale of government.
"This influence is considered by many, as inimical to the essential in- terests of the peeple ; a spirit of party is consequently excited ; and every idea of encroachment is resisted, by the popular faction, with all the warmth of patriotic enthusiasm.
"I have before observed, that elections in this province are trien- nial. The delegates returned, are generaliy persons of the greatest consequence in their different counties ; and many of them are per- fectly acquainted with the political and commercial interests of their constituents. I have frequently heard subjects debated with great powers of eloquence, and force of reason ; and the utmost regularity and propriety distinguish the whole of their proceedings.
"During the sitting of the assembly, the members of both houses receive a stated sum for their attendance on public business ; and the number of days being properly certified, they are regularly paid their respective claims at the conclusion of each session."
"Provincial and country magistrates are appointed by the gover- nor. The former are commissioned to try capital offences, and im- portant causes relative to property ; the latter preside in the county courts. They have likewise, individually, power to determine causes
. Members of the upper house, nine shillings sterling per diem ; those of the lower, about eight shilling and six-pence.
.
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"THE ANCIENT CITY. "'
of the value of forty shillings ; and to inflict punishment on servants, complaint being regularly made, and the matter proved by their em- ployers.
"The governor has a discretionary authority to pardon persons capi- tally convicted ; and by the principles of the constitution, he is obliged to sign all warrants for the execution of those who suffer agreeable to sentence.
"A litigious spirit is very apparent in this country. The assizes are held twice in the year, in the city of Annapolis, and the number of causes then brought forward, is really incredible. Though few of the. gentlemen who practice in the courts have been regularly called to the bar, there are several who are confessedly eminent in their pro- fession ; and those who are possessed of superior abilities, have full employment for the exertion of their talents, and are paid in due pro- portion by their respective clients.
"The natives of these provinces, even those who move in the hum- bler circles of life, discover a shrewdness and penetration, not gener- ally observable in the mother country. On many occasions, they are inquisitive, even beyond the bounds of propriety ; they discriminate characters with the greatest accuracy ; and there are few who do not seem perfectly conversant with the general, and particulr interests of the community. An idea of equality also seems to prevail, and the. inferior order of people pay but little external respect those who occupy superior stations.
By October 3rd, 1772, there was another color in the political cur- rent. This is the sneering and inappreciative language which Mr. Eddis uses, evidently with the sincerest belief that he fitly described them, towards the patriots who were in the van in opposing British encroachments upon the just rights and liberties of the colonies :
"Under pretence of supporting the sacred claims of freedom, and of justice, factious and designing men are industriously fomenting jealousy and discontent ; and unless they are stopt in their progress by the immediate and determined exertions of the wise and moderate, they will aggravate the dissention which is become but too evident, and involve this now happy country in complicated misery."
In the decade preceding the Revolution and part of that contem- poraneous with it, its life of fashion and frivolity reached its height at the capitol. Wealth gave leisure and education ; education and leisure created the desire for refined and fashionable pleasures. The presence of a large number of officials, part of whom had come from the realm of "Merry England," and had imported its follies and pleasures, not only added to the reportoire of social amusements, but the emoluments of office gave the means of gratifying their tastes. These enlarging the fund of native resources of society, not only did the fame of the elegance and enjoyment of life at Annapolis extend to the utmost bounds of the Province, but it invaded the sister com- monwealth of Virginia, and one of the frequent visitors of Annapolis, and participant in the pleasures and excitements of its race-courses, its card-parties, and its balls, was George Washington, then a colonel in the service of his State.
The only place in Maryland that offered to the devotees of fashion the opportunity to gratify a refined and cultivated taste for social pleasures, it became the rendezvous of a gay and voluptuous society. The very emptiness of their minds and lack of useful employment be-
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gat a longing for these trivial pleasures, which they called enjoyment because it relieved "from the ennui of the moment, even by occupa- tion in trifles." The seat of a wealthy government, the daily life of its inhabitants was softened by the refinements of art, the indolence of wealth, and the substantial benefits of opulence. The furniture of their houses was constructed of the most costly woods and the most valuable marbles, each enriched by the elegant devices of the painter's and sculptor's arts. When they paid their social debts, or gathered for the stately minnet, they came in equipages light and handsome, drawn by fleetest coursers, and managed by livried slaves in richest apparel. Three-fourths of the dwellings of the city, by their style and elegance, gave proof of the wealth of the people whilst the em- ployment of a French hair dresser, by one lady at a thousand crowns a year, was an out-cropping of that luxury which made it the home of a gay and haughty circle of giddy voluptuaries and social auto- crats.
Nor was the element of evil wanting in this dwarfed prototype of European social life. Youth, beauty, wealth, and intelligence soon chastened the rigors of the primitive virtues of the settlers of the pro- vince and city into the refinement of continental manners. The fas- cinating and dangerous attractions of gayety, whilst they earned for Annapolis the title of the Athens of America, the chronicles of those times warrant the belief, that "her pleasures, like those of lux- urious and pampered life in all ages, ministered neither to her happi- ness nor her purity."#
After the Revolution, its life of fashion subsided, its commerce de- parted, wealth gradually took its flight from Annapolis, and the city fell into a somnolent state. In its days of dreamy slumber a Naval Commission reported that "A polar expedition is useless to determine the Earth's Axis. Go to Annapolis rather. It should be called the pivot-city. It is the centre of the universe, for while all the world around it revolves it remains stationary. One advantage is that you always know where to find it. To get to Annapolis you have but to cultivate a colossal calmness and the force of gravity will draw yon towards the great centre-once there, there is no certrifugal force to displace you, and you stay. By natural evolution your hands disap- pear in your breeches pockets and you assume the most marked char- acteristic of the indigenous Annapolitan. No glove merchant ever flourished there. Annapolitans in heaven have heads and wings, their hands disappear. On old tombstones you may see them as An- gels, on earth they resemble exclamation points, all heads and tails, like the fish they eat. Natural evolution developes itself in a taste for oysters, as they need no carving, and a phosphorous diet swells the brain ; they talk politics continually. Annapolis keeps the Severn river in its place. This will be useful when the harbour of Baltimore dries up. Annapolitans are waiting for this. They are in no hurry, they don't mind waiting. Two or three centennials will do it."
A fair specimen of the raillery Annapolis has outlived. This face- tious description, once well-nigh historical, no longer represents An- napols of the present which begins to stir in its slumber long and profound.
The whistle of the locomotive, as it crosses the Severn, echoing · MeMahone p. 256.
10
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"'THE ANCIENT CITY. '' '
above the hill-tops of encompassing walls, is arousing "The Ancient City," to its advantages. The infusion of new blood, that sees with new eyes the opportunities its location presents, indicates the renais- sance of its importance as "a port of trade," and railroad and capi- tal are to make of "THE TOWN LAND AT PROCTORS" what legislative enactments, surveyor's plats and commissioners' warrants could not ac- complish.
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CHAPTER XXXII. THE FIRST AMERICAN THEATRE ERECTED IN ANNAPOLIS.
1752-1887.
The first theatre in America was built at Annapolis. In the Maryland Gazette, of June 18th, 1752, appeared the following advertisement :- "By permission of his honor the president, (Benjamin Tasker, Esq., then president or governor of the province, ) at the new theatre in Annapolis, by the company of comedians from Virginia, on Monday next, being the 22nd of this instant, will be performed, "The Beggars' Opera," likewise farce, called the "Lying Valet," to begin precisely at 7 o'clock. Tickets to be had at the printing office. Box 10 s. pit 1s. 6d. No person to be admitted behind the scenes."
The principal performers appear to have been Messrs. Wyrill, Her- bert, Eyanson, Kean, and Miss Osborne. The company played whilst in Annapolis, "The Busy Body," "Beaux Stratagem," "Recruiting Officer,"" "London Merchant,"' "Cato," "Richard III," and other dramas. This company afterward performed at Upper Marlborough and Piscataway, on the Western Shore, and at Chestertown, on the Eas- tern.
At the same time the Virginia company was here, Mr. Richard Bucknell and company exhibited some curious wax figures, represent- ing the Queen of Hungary sitting on her throne, and the Duke, her son, and courtiers in attendance. In 1760, the Gazette announced that "by permission of his Excellency, the Governor, a theatre is erecting in this city which will be opened soon by a company of come- dians who are now at Chester Town." This company arrived March 3rd, and began performing the same evening. They remained until May 12th.
The following show the dramas performed in that period : Plays. March 3. Orphans.
6. Recruiting Officer.
8. Venice Preserved.
10. Richard III.
Farces. Lethe, or Esop in the Shades. Miss in her Teens. Mock-Doctor. King and the Mil- ler.
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13. Provoked Husband.
= 15. Fair Penitent.
20. Stratagem.
22. George Barnwell.
24. Busy-Body.
27. Revenge.
= 29. Bold Stroke for a Wife.
(In Passion week the Theatre was closed.) April 7.ªRomeo and Juliet. 66 8. Provoked Husband.
9. Othello.
10. Constant Couple.
Stage Coach.
" 11.1 Romeo and Juliet.
" 12. Suspicious Husband.
April 14. Richard III. (Ben of Mr. Douglass.)
15. Fair Penitent. (Mr. Palmer.)
16. Venice Preserved. (Mr. Murray.)
" 17. Provoked Husband. (Mrs. Douglass.)
19. Revenge. (Mr. Hallam.)
22. Stratagem. (Mrs. and Miss Dowthaitt.) Lying Valet.
= 23. Orphan. (Miss Crane and Comp.) 24. Constant Couple. (Mr. Morris.)
May 5. Douglass. (Mrs. A. Hallam.)
8. Jew of Venice. (Mr. Morris.)
12. Gamester. (Mr. Scott.)
Stage Coach. Anatomist.
Lethe.
Lying Valet ..
Mock-Doctor.
Lying Valet.
Damon and Phil- lida.
Honest Yorkshire- man.
Devil to Pay. King and the Mil- ler. Miss in her teens ..
Mock-Doctor.
Hob.
Lying Valet.
Devil to Pay.
Yorkshireman.
Lethe.
Lethe.
Yorkshireman.
Virgin Unmasked
Lethe. Toy Shop,
The company then went to Upper Marlboro' and played several weeks.
On Saturday, the 18th of February, 1769, a new theatre was opened by the American company of comedians with Romeo and Juliet. The company then consisted of Messrs. Hallam, Jefferson, Verling, Wall, Darby, Morris, Parker, Godwin, Spencer, Page, Walker, Os- borne, and Burdett, Mrs. Jones, Walker, Osborne, Burdett, Malone, Parker and Mrs. Hallam. This company was held in high estimation in Annapolis, and especially for its performance of Richard III. Miss Hallam excited the admiration of the poets, and the Muse's flame was kindled in her honor. One of the stanzas to this star of the stage ran :
"Around her, see the Graces play, See Venus' Wanton Doves, And in her Eye's Pellucid Ray, See little Laughing Loves. Ye Gods ! 'Tis Cytherea's Face."
It was this theatre that Mr. Eddis, the ever-faithful chronicler, so quaintly described in his letter dated from Annapolis, November 2nd, 1771, and printed in the preceding chapter :
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