rticularly welcome, and as Colonel Norwood recorded, "house
and purse were open to all such." Incidently, the term _Cavalier_
loosely applied at times to all gentlemen who came to Virginia in the
seventeenth century, irrespective of date, was a designation strictly
applicable to those of a political party, loyal to the cause of Charles
I, and it came into use during the Civil Wars in England nearly
thirty-five years after Jamestown was settled.

Not only were guests from far-away places accorded the utmost in
hospitality and given every indication that they were welcome, but
visitors from neighboring plantations were often honored guests and they
were ever the first consideration of their host. On 3 August 1658, Henry
Perry of "Buckland" in Charles City County had been subpoenaed to appear
in Court as a witness. On that day he had guests, so he addressed a
polite note to the Court stating that he had a "company of friends" and
therefore could not be present to testify as summoned to do. His
courteous note was recorded in the County Court records.

The custom, occasionally adhered to, in the present time, of laying an
extra place at the table for the possible coming of an unexpected guest
from near or far, had its American origin in the seventeenth century in
Virginia. More often then than now the extra place was filled at meal
time.

FAMILY TRAVEL

Since all the early Virginia plantations, both large and small, were
located either on the rivers or their estuaries, travel was almost
entirely by sloop for distances, and by shallop or skiff for brief
journeys. The families used such craft to attend church, and the
planters to attend Court, the Council or sessions of the Assembly. In
the latter half of the century, travel by horseback to the centers, or
to attend funerals, or to visit friends, if not too far distant, became
popular, especially as horses bred in the Colony had multiplied. The
more affluent planters owned numerous horses mentioned in wills and,
also, in inventories along with bridles, bits, stirrups and saddles.

In 1679, the Justices of Warwick County noted that a great number of
small horses were running wild on "every man's land" and, in
consequence, issued an order requiring that horses be penned, in order
that the breed in the County "might not be crossed unfavorably." The
same year, young Thomas Harris, son of Major William Harris of Henrico
County, bequeathed to "my cousin Richard Ligon all my h