USA > New York > New York City > Dutch New York (early history of the Dutch in New York) > Part 20
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The superstition in the Seventeenth Century main- tained that the first corpse to be buried in a cemetery could not rest, or was carried away by Satan, and many families took their dead to other cities and villages rather than have them buried in a new churchyard.
The Dutch in New Netherland seem to have soon outgrown this superstition, and in some cases even were not particular about being buried in consecrated ground, but started family cemeteries of their own on their own lands. Thus John Lecount in his will (1697) desires that his body may be buried in the garden of his own house by his sister-in-law. Frederick Philipse also (1700) directs " my body to be interred at my burial place at the upper mill " (near Tarrytown).
The customs observed at the funeral processions dif- fered in nearly every town, village, and hamlet. In one the preachers would precede, in others follow im- mediately after the coffin; here it was preceded by the orphans and inmates of the poorhouse, at another place it would be followed by them. Sometimes the relatives or friends would carry the coffin, then again the poor.
The pomp and splendor displayed at funerals, not- withstanding the heavy fines imposed by the govern- ment, increased so much towards the end of the Seven- teenth Century that the consistories of the churches begged the government to take stronger measures. It was all in vain, for the rulers themselves were some of the worst offenders. At many of the funerals of mem- bers of that body, not only were the councils and
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church-members of the places where they had been employed represented, but the very horses were made to go lame, and all the undertakers of the city were present. No funeral (except a State funeral) was more solemn and costly than that of an acting burgo- master. The dinners served at funerals were as bril- liant and plentiful as the wedding and christening dinners. Prohibitions and fines were powerless to stop the extravagance. In the middle of the Seventeenth Century, however, these dinners began to be discon- tinued in the cities, and people were satisfied with serv- ing wine and cakes only on returning from the funeral. The body buried, the company returned home. He who has presided thanks those present for attending and invites them to come into the house. Then re- freshments are served. Each drinks what he likes and departs at will. The rich are buried in the churches, and Rhine wine is served; the middle class serve French wine; and the poorer classes, beer. In Gronin- gen this was called "consolation beer," elsewhere "dead beer." Often this wine or beer was taken in excess. The dinners at funerals remained in vogue in the northern provinces for a long time, and although the serving of hot dishes was forbidden, the amount spent on the cold collations often left the relatives in debt for a long time. In burgher families the Bible was placed on the coffin, from which a preacher, a " consoler," or a member of the " church board " read a chapter and afterwards said a prayer. In some places in Friesland a light lunch was also partaken of then. At the ap- pointed hour, - for every hour later, an additional fine had to be paid, - the bells began to toll from the church in which the entombment was to take place, and sometimes also from the churches that were passed on the way. After the undertaker had asked if anybody
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present wished to take a last look at the dead, the coffin was closed and placed on the bier, feet foremost. This was important, for bodies of those who had com- mitted suicide or who had fallen by the hands of the executioner were carried head first to the grave. In- deed, it was only by special favor that a suicide was buried in consecrated ground, either in Holland or here. Thus, Hendrick Jansen, in 1664, hanged himself and destroyed his life on the branch of a tree on this side of the Fresh Water. The prosecutor therefore demanded " that his goods be forfeit, the corpse drawn on a hurdle as an example and terror to others, and brought to the place where it was found hanging and there shoved under the earth; further that a stake, pole or post shall be set there in token of an accursed deed." However, it was decided that as Jansen had always been an exemplary burgher, and his next neigh- bors, eight in number, had requested a decent burial, the body should be interred in a corner of the church- yard, after the ringing of the nine o'clock bell.
Dutch and English were alike, both at home and in their colonies, in serving generous quantities of funeral baked meats and entertaining the friends and relatives of the deceased on a scale far beyond their means. Generous provision is frequently made in the wills for their funerals by people of high and low degree. Ouzel Van Swieton (1693) is somewhat exceptional in direct- ing his body "to be buried in a moderate Christian burial." On the other hand, Edward Mann (1702) gives " all his wages now due on board H. M. S. Jersey to be employed for the defraying of my funeral ex- penses." It is evident that even a common soldier's wake was expensive, for we read in 1653 that
Jan Peeck demanded 48 fl. 18 stivers from Jan Gerrit- sen, for victuals consumed at the funeral of Jan Bronck,
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a soldier, who had been shot dead, for which defendant had given security. "Defendant says it is true, he has been at the party, consuming the victuals, but as he is no heir nor has received any benefits from deceased, he main- tains, he is not bound to pay." It was decided that plain- tiff must look for payment to the estate of deceased, or his pay from the Company.
Gloves, rings, scarves, and hatbands were given to the mourners here, as they were in Holland. Many wills contain bequests of this nature. Henry Clark (1679) appoints five friends to carry him to his grave and " to have scarves and gloves according as the cus- tom is." Captain Thos. Exton (1668) leaves seven beavers "to buy wine for the officers and gentlemen who accompany my corpse to the grave." Thomas Pell (1669) gives his body " to a comely burial that it may be decently buried in such a comely manner that God may not be dishonored." Henry Clarke (1679) ap- points five friends to carry him to his grave "and to have scarves and gloves according as the usual custom is." Christopher Dean ( 1689) leaves " to each of those who shall bear up my pall at my funeral, a ring value 15 shillings, and a mourning hat band." Lucas Santen (1692) leaves " to my landlord Capt. John Clopps fIo to buy him a mourning ring, in consideration of the trouble I have given him."
Lawrence Deldyke (1690) leaves fio "to expend at New York among my friends and acquaintances to be disbursed by Mr. James Mills, my attorney."
The expenses of a funeral at the end of our period are clearly shown in the following examples. Lock- erman : Charges for them that carried the body of Maria Lockerman to the grave, 200 guilders; Clerk of the yard, 49 guilders; Mr. Thos. Lovell, for trans- lating the last will of Maria L., 18 guilders; Albert
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Bosch, for shrines for the coffin, 16 g. 10 s .; Dr. Lock- hart, for medicines, 34 g .; Edward Griffith for two beavers, 48 g .; a carpenter for 21/2 days' work, 20 g. William Helcker : " Coffins, £I os. 3d .; Angeltie Moll, for undress ye dead, IIS. 9d .; William Portuguese wife for ditto, 5s. 101/2d .; candles and rum, 3s .; 1/2 gross pipes, 2s. 7d .; a place in the church, 9s."
The funeral expenses of John Oort amounted to £30 Is. 6d. " To Johans Von Ekelyn ( 1697) for beer at his funeral, £1; to the charges of his funeral, £2-19-9." Justice White for funeral charges, £5; to Daniel Weeks for a coffin, 6 shillings; to John Rogers, for digging the grave, 6 shillings. James Dewsbury: "Paid to nurse, £2-8-o; for funeral charges, £3- 15-0."
Peter Jacob Marius; funeral :
To 29 gallons of wyne at 6s. 9d. per gallon £
9
15 9
To 19 pairs of gloves at 2s. 3d.
2
4 3
For bottles and glass broke, paid
O
3 7
Paid 2 women each 2 days attendance 0 15 0
Paid a suit of mourning for ye negro woman freed by ye testator and making 3 4 72
Paid for 800 Cokies and 1} gross of Pipes at 3s. 3d.
6
7 73
Paid for speys [spice] for ye burnte wyne and sugar O
I I
Paid to the Sexton and Bell ringer, for making ye grave and ringing ye bell 2
2
O
Paid for ye Coffin
4
O
O
Paid for gold and making 14 mourning rings
2 I6 0
Paid for 3 yards beaver stuff at 7s. 6d., buttons and making it for a suit of mourning
I
I4 6
Paid for & vat of single Beer
O
7
6
Whole amount of Funeral Charge is
3I
6 82
S. d.
SAMUEL BAYARD.
As at weddings silver medals were sometimes pre- sented either before or after a funeral. If presented before, they were worn at the funeral. They were in all shapes, round, octagonal, oval, square, etc., some- times cast, sometimes engraved with the portrait of
SILVER SPOONS RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
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the deceased, or with mythological figures, inscrip- tions in prose or verse, or sometimes only inscribed with the date of birth and death of the deceased, with or without a verse from the Holy Scriptures. Some- times the design was a skull and crossbones surrounded by a wreath of laurels, and the dates were added when the medal was required. The memory of the deceased was perpetuated by these medals and by the legacies of the rich to the church and the poor. There were few rich burghers who did not leave generously to both. An enormous amount of money was also spent on the carved tombstones.
CHAPTER XII
TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS
I N Holland, during the Seventeenth Century, as well as in England, France, and Germany, the two fashionable as well as low vices were drinking and gambling. The government made stringent laws regulating the opening and closing of taverns, and heavy penalties were imposed for infractions of the liquor laws; but no barriers seemed strong enough to stem the flood of drunkenness. Youth drank as heavily as middle age. The reason for tavern excesses may probably be found in the lack of simple pleasures and sociability in the home circles. When the office hours were over, the shop closed, and the school dis- missed, the youth had as a choice for spending his evening the somewhat cold and severe paternal dwell- ing, the open street with its mischievous and boisterous play, and the tavern. At home there were no enter- taining books for youthful perusal, and the atmos- phere was lacking in sympathy and companionableness. The tavern, therefore, with its drinking, dicing, card- playing, and many other games that lent themselves to gambling, offered irresistible attractions. The young men of the day, therefore, in all classes were sadly dissipated.
.
In New Amsterdam, there was, if possible, even more license than in Fatherland. There are many evidences that, so far from being a crime or a sin, drunkenness
264
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was not even a reproach. Weddings and funerals and all occasions of feasts and merry-making were opportunities for hard drinking, of which the guests took full advantage. Drunkenness among women was by no means rare, and the clergy, as a rule, did not set an example of strict sobriety. In fact, habitual drunkenness was charged against more than one of them. It is indeed astonishing to find that drunken- ness was frequently treated in the court proceedings as an excuse for having committed serious offenses, such as assault, as we have seen. There are many cases in which men repudiated leases, deeds, contracts, etc., pleading that they were drunk when they entered into the engagements. It is evident that the law allowed a man twenty-four hours to get sober in, be- cause the court would not hold him to his agreement if he could prove that he denounced the transaction on the following day. An instance of a man's readi- ness to acknowledge drunkenness occurs in 1655, in a case of abuse, in which a certain Christiaen Anthony was called as a witness. He declared that "on the evening the Burghery marched, he came from the Fort sorely fuddled, and does not properly know what passed between Jan van Leyden and Webber's wife."
In Holland the tavern was one of the most impor- tant institutions of burgher life. It was the citizen's club, and the most respectable members of the commun- ity did not hesitate to spend much of their leisure time there in friendly intercourse and jovial company. The civic governments, which had held their meetings in the large hall of a neighboring abbey or monastery in earlier days, after the Reformation met in the tav- erns or inns, and were served by the host at the city's expense. If a prince, an ambassador, or any other person of high rank, visited the city, he took up his
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quarters at the Peacock, the Angel, the Pig, the Gold Cup, or at any of the city's inns, where the munici- pality offered him the "wine of honor," and the city paid his expenses, or some of the highest officials of the city government paid the expenses amongst themselves.
The literary societies also and the various guilds met at the taverns, and entertained there. The notable burghers of Leyden and the professors visited the inns daily and drank their pint of ale or wine. Of Simon Abbes Gobbema it is said that he divided his time between his study and the Marksmen's Home in the morning as well as in the afternoon. There were also inns for the "thin beer folks," - people that imbibed all day, characters who were held up to ridi- cule in all the plays of the period. These inns were often kept by landlords of questionable honesty, who more than once were put in the stocks; but their inns were always scrupulously clean. The hostess saw to it that everything shone brightly, from the cuspidor to the grill, and the tiles on the floor were as clean as the plate that was used at table; even the dice were brightly polished.
In the country, however, inns were not quite so well kept. One of these is described in Van Sauten's Light Shower. He says that it was ten times colder inside than outside; that one man had to sit on a pail and another on a turf basket, and that a lump of clay was used as a candle-holder. He adds that a blind horse could not do any damage inside. There is hardly one amongst the hundreds of comedies and farces of the Seventeenth Century in which the most dis- gusting scenes of drunkenness and vice are not depicted. Usually, when our staid burghers took wine, they drank three glasses. Such was the advice of Bernagin in his
--
TAVERN SCENE TENIERS
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Wedding-Contractor (1685). The first glass, he said, was for health, the second for taste, and the third for sleep; any more after that might serve as recreation.
There were innumerable kinds of wine, beer, and " hot drinks " that were used in Holland in the Seven- teenth Century. In Godewyck's White Bread's Chil- dren, a young blade says :
Then I came to the Lion; the hostess said " hello Roel ! run and give the gentleman a chair with a cushion. What will the gentleman drink? We have some good wines clear in the glass and fine in colour. Do you like Vin d'Anjou, good Bacherach, Neuren, or Vin du Court; or do you like Manebach?" Then when I go to the Horse -it is "Sir! go into the room, we have Delé wine; there 's none nicer. Or do you like Vin d'Ay, or beauti- ful Muscadel wine? I will go into the cellar and open a barrel. We have Mentser wine, Elsasger and Rin- chouwers; they are silvery fine, much better than Pictou wine. Do you like Bordeaux wine, or good wine of Orleans ?" So do I pass the time from sunrise to sunset.
Dordrecht was then the chief wine-market and nearly monopolized the trade. In the Seventeenth Century ice was used to cool the wine, which was kept in barrels, stone jugs, and leather bottles. The wine was drawn from the barrels in jugs which held from a pint to half a gallon, and the customers drank from steins and horns. The beer was drawn in jugs from one quart to one gallon in capacity, and was drunk out of pewter mugs and steins with lids, - in village inns out of wooden bowls. In the smaller inns the host or hostess sold " spare beer," small thin beer, and common beer. In the better class inns the beers used were Dordrecht, Delft, London, English White, Groninger Cluyn, Hamburger, Mentzel, Ipswich, Lu- beck brew, and other heavy beers. Much care was
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given to the beer, and no wonder, for it was the only drink of the ordinary burgher. "Beer is the drink of every man. All that can, drink beer." Caudles, possets, and other hot drinks were common. Gin, called " drinkable fire " by Professor van Genns, was only drunk by the poorer classes, and was called gin- water until 1667. When we first hear of this drink, it is called " clear " and "genever." In the first half of the Seventeenth Century the gin-distilleries were unimportant. In 1672, it was still comparatively un- known, but was used by the army before Alphen. A student who valued his name would not openly call for a glass of genever. A glass of Spanish wine with brandy in winter, and a glass of white wine with spirit of lemon in summer was the strongest drink used. During the Thirty Years' War brandy came into gen- eral use in Germany. In the taverns they used Arak, besides Orange, Prince, and Quinjaets essences. Ra- tafia was also known. After drinking generously of Saint Laurent and Burgundy, people took a mouthful of ratafia to warm the stomach.
The favorite drinks in New Netherland were ale, beer, Rhenish, French, and Spanish wines, wormwood wine, distilled waters, brandy, gin, rum, bitters, cider, and perry. In 1656, a pipe of sack and the excise came to 443.17 florins. In 1659, twenty-four ankers of Annis waters and 7 ankers of bitters (Borstwater) cost 350 florins. New drinks occasionally make their appear- ance, however. In 1653, on a petition of Peter le Feber for leave to sell liquors or waters of a peculiar virtue, he was allowed to sell them in large or small bottles at his own house. In March, 1656, Solomon Lachair was called on to say where he got a flask of Rosa Solis he lately drank with some friends.
It was not customary in the Seventeenth Century
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for frequenters of alehouses or inns to empty only their one little pint, jug, or mutchkin. They loved com- pany, and oftentimes the host also "joined " in the treat. Then there were dice, cards, or other games; and they drank a round or a " clover leaf." The clover leaf, or the drink round, consisted of three drinks in succession, as the saying was that all good things are three, - three graces, three cardinal virtues, three friend's kisses, three conundrums, three times hurrah, three times to church, three sounds of the bugle, and numberless other three times, but, above all, the thrice clinking of the filled glasses, which, according to tradi- tion, was a custom of the Greeks and Romans.
In the more respectable taverns, where everything was so arranged that the municipality, the guilds, the county judges, and the commissioners of dykes could hold a banquet or large dinner, the china closets were well provided with all kinds of silver mugs and pewter tankards, glass bottles and beakers, cups and saucers and platters in all shapes and sizes, some simply and others artistically cut and engraved, and all made specially for the various beverages. Among them may be mentioned the " handholders," or Frankfort " full holder," the large Rhine wine glasses, then so generally known, always of green glass, blown round, wide, and rather flat, which sometimes held a quart of wine, and which were so heavy that it took both hands to lift them to the lips. According to Van Man- der, the painter Frans Floris would drain this glass sixty times against anybody who undertook to drink thirty.
As clubs or missiles, when effectively used, these glasses would often convincingly close an argument about local politics, Quaker baiting, or the relative merits of favorite champions at hockey, bowls, nine-
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pins, or tric-trac. Thus, in 1654, Johannes Withart v. Francois Tyn, plaintiff, demands two hundred guil- ders for the surgeon's bill, pain and smart, as well as loss of time on account of the wound which defendant wilfully inflicted on his face with a glass; demands costs also. Withart finally had to pay the Schout " 50 gl. - half for the poor and half for himself - and 10 guilders to be expended for a treat, and more- over pay the sum of 10 guilders to be laid out at Abram La Nooy's, and a fee of Notary Schelluyne amounting to 24 gl." Johannes Withart seems to have been a truculent character, for about the same time the Schout stated that he had drawn a sword, therewith went to the house of Captain Krigier and elsewhere, and had been guilty of street riot. He was condemned to pay a fine of fifty guilders, ten more for a treat, and ten to be laid out at Abram La Nooy's.
Another familiar drinking-vessel was the birch- beaker, cut from the birch tree, hollowed out, and instead of being carved, left with the original bark, varnished inside with the rosin of the pine tree, and various spices, such as nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, and cloves, leaving these stuck on the inner surface. Then there were bocals in the shape of vessels or boats, or of the various emblems belonging to navigation, com- merce, and fisheries, engraved on them. In almost every prominent household and in all the large taverns these glasses were to be found, because at every dinner given on special occasions they were used.
The most celebrated drinking-vessel of the day was the " Clover Leaf with the Stem," which is so often referred to in the old Dutch plays (see facing page 272). It was found in every tavern of any importance. A contemporary writer gives the following description of this famous vessel :
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TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS
On top we see three small round chalices in the shape of a three-leafed clover leaf. Each chalice has its stem, which are joined together, and rest on a globe. Each stem is hollow, and when the chalices are filled, the wine can be seen running down the stems into the ball-shaped bowl underneath, so that when the drinker drinks out of one of the three chalices, or rather sips, the two others empty into the bowl underneath, otherwise it would be impossible to drink without spilling the wine. As the drinkers sip, now from the first, then from the second, and the third, of the chalices, the wine in the bowl would be the last; and this accordingly represents the stem of the clover-leaf. On each of the small chalices hangs a small plate with a coat-of-arms, which is exchanged for the arms of the nobleman giving the banquet or in whose honour it is given. The three chalices, with their bowl underneath, rested on a large trellis-work globe, all hol- low, in which a die was to be seen, and according to the number on the die, which came on top when the cup was shaken, the drinks were taken. The whole cup rested on a foot of finely decorated earthenware, with gilt borders. When drinking out of one of the chalices, the drinker said, "Three glasses are three drinks, three makes a ' clover leaf.'" The company would answer, "Hey; he is a man who without spilling can empty a clover leaf and still be thirsty!" Then the cup was passed along to the next.
Hard drinking was the fashion at all family and public entertainments, as we have already seen. In 1605, at the wedding of the preacher Johannes Serva- tius, a forty-gallon barrel of wine was drunk. For burgomasters' and guild dinners the wine was ordered by the barrel.
In Holland the principal inns were always situated near the city-gates. The principal city-gate of New Amsterdam was the ferry-landing, and there was situ- ated the principal inn of the town. It was originally
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built by the Company, and was leased to various ferry- men who managed it as a tavern. It also served the purposes of a town hall for the City Fathers, and a room in it was also used as a school. It is a conspicu- ous landmark on all the old maps of the Dutch towns. The first ferryman mentioned is Cornelis Dircksen. In 1642, he deeded a house, garden, and sixteen to seventeen morgens of land together with the Ferry on Long Island.
The dinners given in the taverns by order of the burgomasters, guilds, or other corporate bodies were usually very elaborate, and consisted principally of roasts, pasties, and sugared fruit. At the installation of the new burgomaster of Dordrecht in 1668, there were brought on the table ten dishes (platters) with mutton, roast beef, and veal, two dishes with boar's heads, ten dishes with rabbits, fowls, and pigeons, eight dishes with pasties of hare, pork, and capons, further soups, salads, horseradish, crackers, cake, waffles, jel- lies, and marchpane.
In New Amsterdam many a social and civic dinner was given in the City Tavern. These were frequently marred by uninvited revelers, who in their cups invaded the privacy of inoffensive guests. An early instance of this occurs in March, 1644, when declaration was made by Nicholas Coorn, Hans Kierstede, Jan Jacob- sen, and Gysbert Opdyck, who with the minister and their wives had been invited to sup with Philip Gerrit- sen at the City Tavern, concerning an outrageous attack on the party made by Captain John Underhill, Lieu- tenant George Baxter, and other Englishmen. Captain Underhill was an important personage. Gerritsen peti- tioned against his unpunished behavior again in May, and the Fiscal was ordered to obtain satisfaction for him on the Captain's return.
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