le to convey. Withal, there was about her a naivete
mingled with sadness, that gave her a surpassing charm."[93]

Further evidence is unnecessary. Enough has been said to show clearly
that in the matter of gallantry a great change took place among the
wealthy Virginia planters during the colonial period; that in the 17th
century they were by no means chivalrous in their treatment of women;
that at the time of the Revolution and in succeeding years homage to
the gentler sex was an important part of the social code. It is but
one more link in the long chain of evidence that shows that society in
Virginia was not an imitation of society in England, but was a
development in the colony; that the Virginia aristocracy was not a
part of the English aristocracy transplanted to the shores of the New
World, but a growth produced by local conditions.

A study of the spirit of honor in the colony leads us to the same
conclusion. It is not difficult to demonstrate that during the greater
part of the colonial period the Virginia aristocracy was not
characterized by the chivalric conception of what was honorable. The
mercantile atmosphere that they brought with them from England was not
well suited to this spirit. None were quicker to seize an unfair
advantage in a bargain, and the English and Dutch merchants that
traded with the Virginians made repeated complaints of unfair
treatment. So great were their losses by the system of credit then in
vogue in the colony that it was the custom for traders to employ
factors, whose business it was to recover bad debts from the planters,
and prolonged lawsuits became very frequent. The use of tobacco as
money caused a great amount of trouble, and the Virginians were not
slow to take advantage of any fluctuation in the value of their medium
of exchange. This was the occasion of great injustice and suffering.
It was the standing complaint of the clergy that they were defrauded
of a part of their salaries at frequent intervals by the varying price
of tobacco.

Accusations of frauds in regard to weights were also made against the
planters, and this species of deception at one time was so general,
that it became necessary to pass a special law declaring the English
statute concerning weights to be in force in Virginia. The Act is as
follows, "To prevent the great abuse and deceit by false stillyards in
this colony, It is enacted by this Assembly, That whoever shall use
false stillyards willingly sh