is alluded to in the
records of Lower Norfolk County as "Lieutenant Thomas Willoughby,
gentleman." The term "esquire" was used only by members of the
Council, and was the most honorable and respectful which could be
obtained in Virginia, implying a rank which corresponded with the
nobility in England. It invested those that bore it with dignity and
authority such as has been enjoyed by the aristocrats of few
countries. The respect shown to the leading men of the colony is
evinced by an incident which befell Colonel William Byrd I, in 1685.
One Humphrey Chamberlaine, a man of good birth, became angry with
Byrd, and drew his sword in order to attack him. The man was
immediately seized and put in jail. At his hearing before the court he
declared in palliation of his act that he was a stranger in the
country and ignorant of its customs, but the justices thought this a
poor excuse, declaring that "no stranger, especially an English
gentleman, could be insensible of ye respect and reverence due to so
honorable a person" as Col. Byrd. Chamberlaine was fined heavily.[68]

The arrogance of these early aristocrats is shown even more strikingly
by the conduct of Col. John Custis in 1688. As collector of duties on
the Eastern Shore he had been guilty of great exactions, extorting
from the merchants unjust and unreasonable fees. This had proceeded so
far that it was reacting unfavorably upon commerce, and when foreign
traders began to avoid entirely that part of the colony, the people of
Accomack in alarm drew up a paper of grievances which they intended to
present to the House of Burgesses. Custis one day seeing this paper
posted in public, flew into a great rage and tore it down, at the same
time shaking his cane at the crowd that had assembled around him and
using many threatening words. In this Custis was not only infringing
on the rights of the people, but he was offering a distinct affront to
the House of Burgesses. Yet so great was the awe that his authority
and dignity inspired, that the people of Accomack not only allowed him
to keep the paper, but "being terrified and affrighted drew up no
other aggreivances att that time."[69]

Robert Carter was another planter whose "extraordinary pride and
ambition" made many enemies. Governor Nicholson accuses him of "using
several people haughtily, sometimes making the justices of the peace
of the county wait two or three hours before they can speak to
him."... "In contempt of him,