Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian: A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, 1773-1774.Fithian, Philip Vickers
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Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian: A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, 1773-1774.
Fithian, Philip Vickers
Carter family; Virginia -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
the other hand we see labourers at the Tables & in the Parlours of
their Betters enjoying the advantage, & honour of their society and
Conversation--I do not call it an objection to this, that some few,
who have no substance but work like Slaves as nec[e]ssity drives them
for a few Months in the year; with the price of this Labour they visit
Philadelphia; & having there acquired a fashionable Coat, & a Stock of
Impudence, return home to spend the remainder of the year, in idleness
& disgrace!--But you will find the tables turned the moment you enter
this Colony. The very Slaves, in some families here, could not be
bought under 30000£. Such amazing property, no matter how deep it is
involved, blows up the owners to an imagination, which is visible in
all, but in various degrees according to their respective virtue, that
they are exalted as much above other Men in worth & precedency, as
blind stupid fortune has made a difference in their property;
excepting always the value they put upon posts of honour, & mental
acquirements--For example, if you should travel through this Colony,
with a well-confirmed testimonial of your having finished with Credit
a Course of studies at Nassau-Hall; you would be rated, without any
more questions asked, either about your family, your Estate, your
business, or your intention, at 10,000£; and you might come, & go, &
converse, & keep company, according to this value; & you would be
dispised & slighted if yo[u] rated yourself a farthing cheaper. But
when I am giving directions to you, from an expectation that you will
be shortly a resident here, altho you have gone through a College
Course, & for any thing I know, have never written a Libel, nor stolen
a Turkey, yet I think myself in duty bound to advise you, lest some
powdered Coxcomb should reproach your education, to cheapen your price
about 5000£; because any young Gentleman travelling through the
Colony, as I said before, is presum'd to be acquainted with Dancing,
Boxing, playing the Fiddle, & Small-Sword, & Cards. Several of which
you was only entering upon, when I left New-Jersey; towards the Close
of last year; and if you stay here any time your Barrenness in these
must be detected. I will however allow, that in the Family where you
act as tutor you place yourself, according to your most accute
Calculation, at a perfect equidistance between the father & the eldest
Son. Or let the same distance be observed in every article of
behaviour between you & the eldest Son, as there ought to be, by the
latest & most approved precepts of Moral-Philosophy, between the
eldest Son, & his next youngest Brother. But whenever you go from
Home, where you are to act on your own footing, either to a Ball; or
to a _Horse-Race_, or to a _Cock-Fight_, or to a _Fish-Feast_, I
advise that you rate yourself very low, & if you bett at all, remember
that 10,000£ in Reputation & learning does not amount to a handfull of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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